Sunday, March 5, 2006

Microsoft and Abramoff: Influence in an Anti-Trust Outcome? LXer.com: "Abramoff's guilty plea of last week helps us make our case and allows us to demonstrate our suspicions regarding Microsoft's ties to the Bush administration. The guilty plea also allows us to question whether Microsoft received favorable treatment by the Bush Justice department by paying Abramoff and his aides and partners, starting with Ralph Reed." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 9:02:14 AM

Healthcare Malcolm Gladwell: "In the comments on my about-face on health care, a number of people make the familiar criticisms of the Canadian system. Care is rationed. You wait a lot longer for certain elective procedures than in the United States. Technology is not as up to date, etc. etc. These arguments are, to some extent, entirely accurate. But I'm not sure they are relevant. They aren't criticisms of the system, after all. They are reflections of the how well the system is funded--and that's an important distinction. On a per capita basis, Canadians now spend on health care--and I"m not sure of the exact figure here--something like 60 percent of what Americans spend. If that were increased to, say, 65 percent, many of the rationing and wait-time problems would be alleviated. The problem with American health care, by contrast, is systemic. No simple increase in funding fixes the problem. In fact, we already spend far and more the most on health care than anyone else in the world. This was the mistake I made in my original debate with Adam Gopnik. I confused funding problems with structural problems." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 8:49:56 AM

Brian Schwietzer: We are cantakerous ... but you can trust us Here's an article about Brian Schweitzer from the Denver Post. Schweitzer, of course, is the governor of Montana and is being hailed as a possible presidential candidate in 2008. From the article, "Here's what it takes for a Democrat to get elected governor in Montana, a state that gave President Bush 58 and 59 percent of the vote in the last two national elections: "You wear blue jeans, boots and bolo ties. "You run TV ads that portray you on horseback, or out hunting with your family. You oppose gay marriage, and flaunt the "A" you received on the NRA's report card. "You stand by abortion rights for women. You listen to the voters about jobs, medical care and schools. You talk about the price for crops and the high cost of fuel, and vow to protect your state's great natural riches. "And you do it with plain-spoken Western purpose and cheer... "...the big enchilada - which earned him a recent profile on "60 Minutes" - is energy. Schweitzer wants to strip mine the plains of eastern Montana, turn its low-sulfur coal into liquid fuel and break America's dependence on foreign oil. "On his second day as governor, Schweitzer attended the funeral of Cpl. Raleigh Smith in tiny Troy, Mont. Smith was killed on patrol in Fallujah, defending his fellow Marines in a firefight. He died two weeks after his 21st birthday, and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for valor. He had enlisted to earn money for college, the obits said, in the hope of becoming a history teacher. "Schweitzer was moved that day. He promised himself, and at each subsequent soldier's funeral, that "the next generation will not be sent to some foreign land to subjugate an oil field. If we don't produce our own domestic energy, if we don't create new systems of conservation," he warned, "we will be beholden to those dictators and crooks for generations to come... "In Schweitzer's first term, the Montana legislature funded scholarships to help kids attend college, cut taxes for small businesses and helped workers get health care. Now he wants to transform the state into America's Persian Gulf. "'We are cantankerous in places like Montana,' Schweitzer said. 'But you can trust us. We are your friends. And when you need your oil we will have it for you. You won't have to send your children and your grandchildren to protect the coal fields of Montana.'" Category: 2008 Presidential Election 7:09:35 AM

© Copyright 2009 John Orr. Last update: 3/15/09; 10:54:30 AM.