Weighing costs in choosing cancer care

What? Should this even be a consideration? Only in this country would we make life saving or life ending decisions based on the amount of money that it will cost. Don't get me wrong, with things the way they are now you have to make those kind of decisions or you could bankrupt your family. But my point is you shouldn't have to. Like fire and rescue, police protection and even the military our health systems should be socialized. It sucks otherwise, simply put, this system is set up to help a small number of people and corporations to get really rich. This is not a socially justifiable system. It is not democratic. It is autocratic and our society continues to become autocratic. We need to stop it, when will we do so?

Studies: Iraq costs US $12B per month

Here's a good Idea. Let's stop spending billions of dollars in Iraq and invest it in our OWN COUNTRY. A recent study shows that the U.S. is spending 12B a MONTH on George's War. The damage this does to our economy is unbelievable. This war in Iraq, the one GWB lied us into, is going to cost us more than the Vietnam War which lasted 12 years. Let's not even mention the human cost, or the cost of our standing in the world community, and yes that does mean something because people who hate us tend to do really bad things to us. But just imagine what it might do for our economy and our country to stop spending money on the military industrial complex, which doesn't make any contributions to our infrastructure, and spent it instead on jobs programs. You know, projects to rebuild our roads, put back commuter rails and continental rail systems, (re)build bridges and create renewable power sources. This would create jobs, teach real job skills to people who need it and rebuild our infrastructure. Folks, the New Deal worked. Ronnie Reagan and the idiots who have followed him have bought into the conservative tripe that government can't do things well. That's just not true. It is true that government should leave us alone for a lot of stuff but if government can send money to Iraq, and banks, and corporations selling god knows what, why can't government do other things. Like jobs programs? National Healthcare? Projects to rebuild our own national infrastructure? Cynthia Tucker is right on in this opinion piece. I just wish more people felt the same way.

Hillary's Rebuild America

Obama America's Promise

Bush to VETO bill banning waterboarding.

It's too bad to keep harping on one person's behaviour, but the president is such an easy target. He keeps doing stupid things that most normal Americans would completely disagree with. For instance the most recent and stupid is his statement that he will veto the bill banning waterboarding. According to Mr. Bush this bill will eliminate a valuable tool. Uh, What? The bill would limit interrogation methods to those listed in the Army field manual. I can't see the problem with that. Our president would rather we torture our prisoners. How can you justify that? Any justification is going to be an ends justify the means type of argument. Once you agree that that is okay, then you have entered the slippery slope where almost anything is okay if the ends are what you think they should be. This is the justification for eugenics! Torture of any kind by our government and it's operatives is not justifiable. We are supposed to be the good guys and this is among the worst thing this president could do. What a schmuck.

I have never so actively disliked a political individual in my life. He needs to be removed from office. It will take decades to recover from the damage that he and his administration have done. He is a total failure. Try typing that into a google search. Once we get the democrats back in office and in control of all the branches of government maybe we can have some that are progressive enough to repair all the damage done since Reagan and 1980. Put back the safety nets, repeal the patriot act and the tax cuts for the rich. Gawd who knows.


But the administration has said it is okay to torture. They have said it is okay to disappear someone, just ask Jose Padilla. They have said it is okay to listen to your conversations. They are willing to exchange YOUR liberties for a perceived safety. This safety is not real. We deserve our liberties and we will never be totally safe. But this administration will scare the bejeesus out of you so they can take your liberties and pretend to give you safety by allowing tortures. This is wrong. Torture is never okay. And this president calls himself a Christian. He should be ashamed.

3/11/08 addendum. A sad day. The house failed to override the Bush veto. Amazingly to me 188 representatives feel that torture is apparently okay. People are stupid.

Condi tries to save the administration's ass.

Ah, just a case of too little too late. Condi Rice is trying hard to save her boyfriend's butt and his legacy by actually attempting to accomplish something good in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. Of course our current pres apparently thought he could approach this issue with all the knowledge he got while dozing off in sunday school. Perhaps if, seven years ago, we actually pursued a peace process instead of rattling sabers, attacking countries that were no threat to us and acting in such a way as to convince the rest of the world that we are, indeed, an imperialist threat, something may be accomplished. But for now this is way too little way too late. For now me and the rest of the world are simply waiting for the next administration to put sanity back into the white house. Hoping that the Idiot in Chief doesn't cause us to self destruct in the meantime.