Quake

The fifth most powerful earthquake since 1900 hit Chile yesterday morning. The 8.8 magnitude quake has leveled buildings, mared roads, and already killed an untold number of people and may cost insurers $2 billion to $8 billion, according to estimates from catastrophe- modelers AIR Worldwide and Eqecat Inc.


Not much from the White House yet on the earthquake in Chile, but it's still very early and we are told Obama is monitering the situation. Meanwhile, other countries are already sending aid and assesing damages.
The tsunami generated by the quake topped at 3 feet, much milder than feared.

The Chilean government has deployed several thousand troops in effort to halt the massive looting in cities affected by the quake. Many people are still missing and some communities in the worst-hit central region of the South American country are still largely cut off by mangled roads.

Looking foward

The Olympics are one of the great unifying events, one of the events that allow us and the world to share in triumphs and come together around the spectacle. (so that's how it relates to government.)

So The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics has ended. The United States wound up in 1st place with a phenomenal 37 medals, with Germany coming in 2nd with 30 and Canada in 3rd with 26.

Check it out at the official website.

However, only 9 of thsoe 37 medals were gold, with 15 being silver and 13 bronze medalions. Canada won 14 gold medals, but only 5 bronze. Korea recieved 6 gold medals with Kim Yu-Na grabbing the gold in many ice-skating events. And let's not forget our speed skater Apolo Ohno or our victorious hockey team. And of course we encourage you to look into all the dedicated athletes who broke records and defied boundries. And don't forget the few who've died or been unfortunately disqualified.

Wow, it's been a really packed few weeks, hasn't it?

The United States triumph has led to a renewed invigoration of patriotism in America. Indeed, the federal government has at least some say in the budgeting and training of athelets and competing of them too: we boycotted the 1980 summer games in Moscow because of the war in afganistan.

So look into it.

Animals have rights too

They may not be human rights, but they still deserve the same protections. Or think of it in the way that humans have rights to own animals and they have the right to uphold thier rights through upholding animals. Assumer the former if you wish an unhurt head.

There are many opposing arguments for that assumption, but I'm not here to indoctrinate you. Look it up, or consult your local library.

So Anyway, there exists an animal welfare bill that is requiring animal rights officers to have adequate background checks and undergo longer periods of training.

This has arisen controversy over an already low-budget service requiring more expensive training. Proponents of the bill point to corruption and incompetence in undertrained officers that results in more animal rights abuse. Dissenters claim the agency is already streched too thin and cannot keep up with the instances of animal rights abuse.

We could give them more money, but nobody wants to spend any. Not even the politicians.

give up.

Explaining the title: Its not that I am against Public Health Care: I am all for the public option. BUT THE DEBATE WAS KILLED! PEOPLE ARN'T GOING TO LET IT HAPPEN!

Plus, the plan's all revamped now and has major changes, incorporating a bridge between the house and Senate bills.

Here's the meaningless mumbo-jumbo of exact articles and stuff.

Title I. Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans
Title II. The Role of Public Programs
Title III. Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care
Title IV. Prevention of Chronic Disease and Improving Public Health
Title V. Health Care Workforce
Title VI. Transparency and Program Integrity
Title VII. Improving Access to Innovative Medical Therapies
Title VIII. Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act)
Title IX. Revenue Provisions
Title X. Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act

Below is the lobotomized explanations of the stuff.

Paying:
"The House and Senate health insurance bills lower premiums through increased competition, oversight, and new accountability standards set by insurance exchanges. The bills also provide tax credits and reduced cost sharing for families with modest income. The President’s Proposal improves the affordability of health care by increasing the tax credits for families."

Consumer Protections
The Senate bill includes a “grandfather” policy that allows people who like their current coverage, to keep it. The President’s Proposal adds certain important consumer protections to these “grandfathered” plans. Within months of legislation being enacted, it requires plans to cover adult dependents up to age 26, prohibits rescissions, mandates that plans have a stronger appeals process, and requires State insurance authorities to conduct annual rate review, backed up by the oversight of the HHS Secretary.

Invest in Community Health Centers.
Community health centers play a critical role in providing quality care in underserved areas. About 1,250 centers provide care to 20 million people, with an emphasis on preventive and primary care. The Senate bill increases funding to these centers for services by $7 billion and for construction by $1.5 billion over 5 years. The House bill provides $12 billion over the same 5 years. Bridging the difference, the President’s Proposal invests $11 billion in these centers.

Strengthen Oversight of Insurance Premium Increases.
Both the House and Senate bills include significant reforms to make insurance fair, accessible, and affordable to all people, regardless of pre-existing conditions. One essential policy is “rate review” meaning that health insurers must submit their proposed premium increases to the State authority or Secretary for review. The President’s Proposal strengthens this policy by ensuring that, if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified, health insurers must lower premiums, provide rebates, or take other actions to make premiums affordable.

Improve Individual Responsibility
All Americans should have affordable health insurance coverage. This helps everyone, both insured and uninsured, by reducing cost shifting, where people with insurance end up covering the inevitable health care costs of the uninsured, and making possible robust health insurance reforms that will curb insurance company abuses and increase the security and stability of health insurance for all Americans.




According to Hills,
But the proposals — few of which are new — lack any ideas aimed at wooing Republicans, who have expressed intense skepticism about Obama’s stated intention to reach out to them. Pfeiffer emphasized that the plan does not represent a compromise package negotiated between Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress

Well good. Obama must be tired of compromising and getting nothing for his trouble. He must be a better man than most, though, if he's willing to extend a hand untarnished by spite and resentment.

Read More Here: http://www.heartland.org/healthpolicy-news.org/article/27103/Obamacares_Last_Stand.html
And Here: http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/02/22/obama-health-care-plan-explained/

“If we’re honest, part of the controversy also is that despite the extraordinary work that has been done through the Recovery Act, millions of Americans are still without jobs,” Mr. Obama said. “Millions more are struggling to make ends meet. So it doesn’t feel like much of a recovery yet. I understand that.”

(From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/us/politics/18obama.html)

The economy has indeed lost jobs on Mr. Obama’s watch, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently calculated that the recovery package, formally called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, had saved or created between 900,000 and 2.3 million jobs.

The economy has shed some three million jobs over the past year, but it would have lost closer to five million without stimulus,” said Mark Zandi, “The economy is still struggling, but it would have been much worse without stimulus.”

But how efficient was it? putting 800 billion dollars into the economy may have helped, but could we have spent it better? Some people say yes.

Money is just green paper. Putting more money into the econom without increasing production will just lead to inflation. Likewise with benefit packages: giving people money won't help revitalize the economy.

But it will help the person.

Read more about it.

Broken

Two months into the new year, Congress is at a standstill, stuck in party-line votes, heated debates and electoral politics.

Democrats are afraid to take chances on anything that might alienate voters, and Republicans can stand pat and hope the anti-incumbent mood brewing in the country will help weaken Democrats' control of Congress.

And we're still in a recession. No matter what economists predict and analysists observe, the unemployment rate is high and stuff.

According to a national poll , Eighty-six percent of people questioned say that the system of government is broken, with 14 percent saying no.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released February 16 found that 56 percent of those sampled said most Democrats in Congress do not deserve to be re-elected. An equal amount also said that most of their Republican counterparts don't deserve re-election.

Republicans are blaming it on democrats. "Obama has't reached out his hand to the conservative part of america." Is it someone elses fault you're not more open-minded? Is it the African American's fault that you're racist because he didn't "Reach out his hand to you"? Unclench your fist, Bish.

That's not to say Democrats are perfect either. Who was Scott Brown's opponent? Oh that's right, some chick who didn't get out enough to win one of the MOST DEMOCRATIC STATES IN AMERICA.

The main problem I have with republicans complaining about the economy is that they had 8 years in power to prevent and fix the crisis AND FAILED. What have republicans accomplished in the last decade? Not much. And they think they deserve a second chance? Your second chance is available now.

Unfortunately Democrats haven't accomplished much either in the past few years. Lets keep our fingers crossed

And I Hear He Was Such a Great Author

Once upon a time people smoked cigarettes. Everyone smoked some sort of way: housewives and the proletariat smoked Virginia Slims or Marlboro Lights, Career women smoked Mores, and teenagers go for menthols and anyone who didn't smoke was usually a uptight square, ambiguously gay or a puritan. (or so I've heard)

That's part of the reason why the general populace was reluctant to heed the Surgeon General's 1964 announcement that smoking was bad. Nowadays it is accepted that, say, ingesting smoke while pregnant could mess up your baby, and smoking in much of America is taboo.

So After the 2009 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirmed nearly all of the impositions a trial judge placed on tobacco businesses in 2006, which limited tobacco marketing and required potential health risks to be made known, the Tobacco industry decided to appeal to the Supreme Court. The main charge is whether the tobacco business is guilty of misleading the public on the adverse health risks involved with inhaling foreign substances.

RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, was also invoked. I admit I am a bit confused because RICO targets criminal organizations that are involved with stuff, not corrupt businesses who bend the morality line trying to make money.


(And that's Kurt Vonnegut acting all cool up there, folks. At least he admitted it was "A classy way to commit suicide" Ironically, he died of brain injuries when he fell in his apartment. At age 84.)