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Not skirting the major issues

Posted By: piglet on 2007-10-26
In Reply to: Again, you are skirting the major issues and the cost... - Observer

It is just that our major issues differ immensely.


1.  I did read the article, and many more besides.  I did not state implicitly that we should model our healthcare system identical to France or Canada, it was only meant to represent that healthcare reform can work, that it is needed in this country, and that for the average individual to start seriously looking at it. There are great programs out there and there is absolutely no reason why we cannot take the best of them and create a whole new better system.


2. Yes, there will be some physicians who do not like the change, just as there will be citizens who do not like the change.  However, stating that they will not be willing to take a pay cut for the greater good of their patients is very narrow minded.  I helped recruit them to work in academic medicine and the VA system and never had a shortage of as you put it "the most brilliant minds of medicine" applying for those positions when they could have very easily went into the private sector for more money.  Furthermore, stating that if there were free tuition based medical schools, that the quality of our physicians would go down is an absolutely ignorant statement to make.  I cannot begin to fathom that line of thinking.  In those countries where tuition is either free based or fully reimbursed are creating a large percentage of "the most brilliant minds of medicine". 


3.  I never stated that socialized healthcare is not fraught with problems.  Our healthcare system is fraught with just as many. You cannot argue the statistics that in those countries where there is socialized healthcare, the citizens themselves are satisfied with it.  I believe the latest statistics are 78% of French citizens are satisified.  Granted there are issues on the table now in France, but many are stating that is because there is a creeping privatisation that is to be blamed.  My relatives in Montreal have no complaints, and they are the average middle class citizens.  And there is a very small percentage who are falling through the cracks compared to much more of your fellow Americans who are falling through our cracks.


5.  Insurance companies are driving are healthcare whether you chose to believe it or not.  Right now all across the United States there are insurance representatives walking the halls, looking through your patient records, deciding on the spot whether it is feasible for you to receive certain treatment or to stay an extra day, in which your physician will have to argue to ensure that you, the patient, is receiving the best care that he/she feels you deserve.  But because the money is not coming out of your pocket, who is to care right?


6. And last but not least, to make the leap that socialized medicine will lead to socialized government is ludicrous.  All I can say is what? 




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Again, you are skirting the major issues and the cost...
did you read all the France article? Their physicians make two-thirds less than ours...and why? Because there is no medical school tuition in France. Can you imagine what would happen to this country's quality of care if you made medical schools no tuition? Can you see Cornell Medical School, Harvard Medical School to name just two, schools who graduate the most brilliant minds in medicine...going to a no-tuition basis? How are they going to be able to train physicians with only government doled-out money to support them? The quality of physician in this country, followed rapidly by the quality of care would tank. If you come from academic medicine, ask those physicians how they feel about no tuition medical school and having their fees capped. Go ahead and ask them.

Our own socialized care is substandard. Articles every day about VA Hospitals and the deplorable conditions in many of them. Veterans having to wait weeks and months for appointments, etc. I know. I have seen the system at work. The government cannot oversee the socialized programs they have now. Medicare and Medicaid are both rife with waste and fraud. We all know this. Because the government cannot oversee them the way they should. And you want to extend this to every person in the US? Look at this reality-based. It is a fiasco in the making.

I am sure the Canadians and the UK thought it would be wonderful too. In the first months it may have been. However, things get skewed when the cost starts to catch up. That is when you end up with a population having over HALF their income taken off the top in taxes to feed the fatted calf. You will note that the article said France was considering taxing both earned and unearned income to feed THEIR calf. When that happens, ask the French how they feel about socialized medicine.

I don't know where you get that healthcare costs are driven by insurance companies. That is nuts. They don't set the fees doctors, clinics, drug companies, yada yada, charge. In fact, it was some of the organized insurance companies, like HMOs, who went to clinics, physicians, etc., to negotiate deals for their consumers...so that those clinics would accept a certain rate for their services. The clinics would agree to less than their normal fees in order to get the business of that HMO. That is the free market WORKING. The clinic I go to for my care, when I get a bill, the insurance company shows what they charged, what they paid, and in nice bold letters at the bottom it says that I am not responsible for the difference because the clinic agreed to that amount for that service, regardless of what their normal charge is.

So, yes, in a way insurance companies do drive health care...but in a good way in my case, and I am sure in other cases across this country, if people would just open their eyes and look.

What this appears to be, on the face of it, is that people just do not want to pay for their own insurance, they want to turn it into yet another entitlement...the biggest one ever. If they want to let the government control them to that extent...more power to them. These same people who want to give up their personal right to control their own health care are the same people that complain about civil liberties and wiretapping. Don't tap my phone, but go ahead and take my health care completely out of my hands as long as you pay for it I don't have to.

No thanks. I do not want to be tied to the government for my health care and I do not want them making my decisions for me. One thing leads to another and before long the government (or more specifically, the Democrats) have you tied to them for your every need. Then, my friends, they have you. You will be living in a socialist country. And if that looks good to you...look at Venezuela. Look at the disparity there between those in power and the "people." Look at Cuba. Look at what socialist Germany turned into before World War II. Please look at history, folks. Socialism always evolves into a dictatorship. Always. Because once they have you dependent upon them for your every need...all I am saying is be careful what you ask for.
Hon, I'm a political major and history major...
xx
george will a major, major

conservative with vast influence for years and years.  Can't minimize this devastating blow no matter how much you try to defect subject to joe biden.


 


Issues people, issues. I need issues

I'm not seeing any discussion about issues.  Can we stick to the issues.  Jeeze - I want to hear good and bad about both candidates but with facts to back whatever is being said.


P-L-E-A-S-E.....I want issues.  How can I make any kind of determinatons about who I'm going to vote for if I don't hear about the issues.  Reading some of this I'm thinking I'd get more truth if I read the National Enquirer.


we have had 4 major

catastrophes in the last 8 years due to republican/conservative ideology of little to no government.  911, katrina, iraq war, wall street collapse, etc.  We have serious issues to deal with now.  Symbols can wait for the return of the good times under democratic LEADERSHIP.


 


Yes, there will be major job losses now /NM
N/M
One major question for you about your post...sm
Where is the $250M that O wants to put out coming from? and the $500 he plans to give away?? Oh, I know...he'll just have the Treasury print more money. You need to seriously read more than Wikipedia. Try the IRS filings for starters. If O is elected, we are in for an even more slippery slope for our government.
The major difference between Christians and...
radical Islam is free choice...it is your choice whether or not to accept Christ...we do not chop off heads. THAT is my way or the highway.
Not just my job, DH is the major earner. We shouldn't be.
penalized for working hard.
obama is ahead in all major

polls. Sympathy not required.


 


You will be glad they are there if we have a major attack...
like a gas attack, a major bombing, dirty bomb, etc. They are trained to handle that situation. The National Guard is not...hence what happened at Kent State. If you would prefer, lobby your congress to have your national guard trained to do this RATHER than the army. Did you ever stop and think this is yet another deterrent to any terrorists who might think about attacking us again? They have faced our military and our military put them on the run. I think it is a great idea. The army are not a bunch drooling bully wingnuts out to strip your civil liberties. They are trying to PROTECT your rights and your physical personf or that matter. They are invested in protecting this nation. they are better equipped to do that than the national guard is.
It sure does, rightly so; here is the major difference I am seeing....sm
Those of us with the temerity to criticize the Bush years and doctrine are met with blind, sickening loyalty, more total denial than a stadium full of junkies, and this is after watching the last 8 years!....Now a new man comes in, yes young, yes not as experienced as I personally wanted, but with new ideas, because all the past doctrines were so tragic and poisonous to the country, and BEFORE HE EVEN TAKES OFFICE or can even get ANYTHING off the ground, he is being criticized and maligned daily here.....heck, many people here have magic crystals balls and keep telling us to watch the doomsday that is about to happen. Now, a wise person can learn from the past, but how can you not call it blind partisanship when Pubs here just keep singing the praises of King George II and dooming the new President and his entire FUTURE legacy?
Right. Isn't his what major Bloomberg in New York was doing?
And now he is running for his 3rd term!
Is also against the Constitution.
Right. Isn't his what major Bloomberg in New York was doing?
And now he is running for his 3rd term!

It was reported on all the major news
All I have do to know what will be posted on this form is watch Fox commentators and read a few conservative websites. All some of you do is regurgitate the half-truths and out-right lies spoon fed to you by people with an agenda. Think for yourselves once in a while.
34 major scandals during bush's first term

 


 


34 Major Scandals during Bush's first term:

 


 

I've got some major gas here - everyone stand back.
x
Where should president be while major US city drowns?
nm
She has a major superiority complex, doesn't she?
Pathetic, actually.
NO! Major corporate & CEO greed & mismanagement
Same thing happened to Mervyn's Dept. Stores... greedy big company bought them up, then ran them into the ground. They were great stores, too.

No tears shed here for the corporate shake-outs going on in many industries: Auto, financial, stock market, power, etc. I just hope they eventually grab the HEALTH CARE industry by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shaking, as well. NO PITY HERE.
I think a major issue people ignore...(sm)

is why we are a target of terrorism.  US policies towards the middle east thus far have been nothing less than selfish.  What US news doesn't tell you about is how these policies actually affect people living there, and more often than not it is devastating.  That is where it began.


Granted, regardless of how we got here, we're in the middle of it right now and actions should be taken, but not actions like those that have been taken by the Bush administration.  The prisoners at Gitmo are a prime example.  They should have tried these people to see if they even needed to be there instead of holding them with no charges and torturing them.  The ones who are guilty should have gone through the legal system and suffered the consequences whether it be death or imprisonment. 


Here's what I see.  We went into Iraq on false pretenses about WMDs.  We found that to be false, so the cause was changed to saving the people of Iraq from a dictator -- a brutal dictator at that.  We were supposed to be providing them with democracy.  So, what do you think the Iraqi people think of us now?  Have we killed as many people as Saddam did yet?  Have we tortured people just like Saddam did?  Yes.  So, in their eyes, if this is now democracy, how much better is it than what they started out with?


If we are to set the standard by which other democracies use as a guideline, we need to get it right, and that includes respecting the culture, religion and social norms of other countries instead of trying to make them into something they are not.


I think a major issue people ignore...(sm)

is why we are a target of terrorism.  US policies towards the middle east thus far have been nothing less than selfish.  What US news doesn't tell you about is how these policies actually affect people living there, and more often than not it is devastating.  That is where it began.


Granted, regardless of how we got here, we're in the middle of it right now and actions should be taken, but not actions like those that have been taken by the Bush administration.  The prisoners at Gitmo are a prime example.  They should have tried these people to see if they even needed to be there instead of holding them with no charges and torturing them.  The ones who are guilty should have gone through the legal system and suffered the consequences whether it be death or imprisonment. 


Here's what I see.  We went into Iraq on false pretenses about WMDs.  We found that to be false, so the cause was changed to saving the people of Iraq from a dictator -- a brutal dictator at that.  We were supposed to be providing them with democracy.  So, what do you think the Iraqi people think of us now?  Have we killed as many people as Saddam did yet?  Have we tortured people just like Saddam did?  Yes.  So, in their eyes, if this is now democracy, how much better is it than what they started out with?


If we are to set the standard by which other democracies use as a guideline, we need to get it right, and that includes respecting the culture, religion and social norms of other countries instead of trying to make them into something they are not.


Another note:  You are saying that terror should be met with like force.  So, should Bush be waterboarded?


FEMA needs a major overhaul...Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims.
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims



In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

I begged him to let me continue, said Perlmutter, who left his home and practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania to come to Louisiana and volunteer to care for hurricane victims. People were dying, and I was the only doctor on the tarmac (at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) where scores of nonresponsive patients lay on stretchers. Two patients died in front of me.

I showed him (the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge) my medical credentials. I had tried to get through to FEMA for 12 hours the day before and finally gave up. I asked him to let me stay until I was replaced by another doctor, but he refused. He said he was afraid of being sued. I informed him about the Good Samaritan laws and asked him if he was willing to let people die so the government wouldn't be sued, but he would not back down. I had to leave.

FEMA issued a formal response to Perlmutter's story, acknowledging that the agency does not use voluntary physicians.

We have a cadre of physicians of our own, FEMA spokesman Kim Pease said Thursday. They are the National Disaster Medical Team. ... The voluntary doctor was not a credentialed FEMA physician and, thus, was subject to law enforcement rules in a disaster area.






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A Coast Guard spokesman said he was looking into the incident but was not able to confirm it.

Perlmutter, Dr. Clark Gerhart and medical student Alison Torrens flew into Baton Rouge on a private jet loaned by a Pennsylvania businessman several days after Katrina hit. They brought medicine and supplies with them. They stayed the first night in Baton Rouge and persuaded an Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot to fly them into New Orleans the next day.

I was going to make it happen, the orthopedic surgeon said. I was at Ground Zero too, and I had to lie to get in there.

At the triage area in the New Orleans airport, Perlmutter was successful in getting FEMA to accept the insulin and morphine he had brought. The pharmacist told us they were completely out of insulin and our donation would save numerous lives. Still, I felt we were the most-valuable resource, and we were sent away.

Gerhart said the scene they confronted at the airport was one of hundreds of people lying on the ground, many soaked in their own urine and feces, some coding (dying) before our eyes. FEMA workers initially seemed glad for help and asked Gerhart to work inside the terminal and Perlmutter to work out on the tarmac. They were told only a single obstetrician had been on call at the site for the past 24 hours.

Then, the Coast Guard official informed the group that he could not credential them or guarantee tort coverage and that they should return to Baton Rouge. That shocked me, that those would be his concerns in a time of emergency, Gerhart said.

Transported back to Baton Rouge, Perlmutter's frustrated group went to state health officials who finally got them certified -- a simple process that took only a few seconds.

I found numerous other doctors in Baton Rouge waiting to be assigned and others who were sent away, and there was no shortage of need, he said.

Perlmutter spent some time at the Department of Health and Hospital's operational center at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries before moving to the makeshift Kmart Hospital doctors established at an abandoned store to care for patients. After organizing an orthopedics room and setting up ventilators there, Perlmutter went back to the Swaggart Center and then to the LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center's field hospital to care for patients being flown in from the New Orleans area.

We saw elderly patients who had been off their medicine for days, diabetics without insulin going into shock, uncontrolled hypertension, patients with psychosis and other mental disorders, lots of diarrhea, dehydration and things you would expect. I slept on a patient cot there every night until I came home.

Gerhart said he felt the experience overall was successful and rewarding, although frustrating at times. You don't expect catastrophes to be well organized. A lot of people, both private citizens and government officials, were working very hard.

Perlmutter did not return home empty-handed. He brought a family of four evacuees back with him and is still working with Baton Rouge volunteer Hollis Barry to facilitate the relocation of additional hurricane victims to Pennsylvania.

He also returned with a sense of outrage. I have been trying to call Sen. Arlen Specter (of Pennsylvania) to let him know of our experience.

I have been going to Ecuador and Mexico (on medical missions) for 14 years. I was at ground zero. I've seen hundreds of people die. This was different because we knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA showed up late and then rejected help for the sake of organization. They put form before function, and people died.

Both FEMA and the Coast Guard operate under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has been widely criticized for its disjointed, slow response to the devastation caused by Katrina. Federal officials are urging medical personnel who want to volunteer to help with disaster relief to contact the Medical Reserve Corps or the American Red Cross for registration, training and organization.


Issues

Certainly I agree the issues you mention must, must, MUST have our attention.  However, what we are doing this year is chosing a leader.  In my most humble opinion it is of the utmost importance to know what kind of person we are chosing to lead us.  We absolutely must look beyond what the politicians say; we must study their character and with whom they associate.  As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together.


 As a life long Democrat, I am totally against Obama.  There are a number of reasons, not the least of which is his choice of pastors.  I believe his chosen church is a radical, devisive, racist group.  If Pastor What's His name isn't enough; what about the priest who delivered the sermon ridiculing Hillary in that same church?  By no means am I a supporter of Hillary Clinton but that show was disgusting.  Neither can I support John McCain.  I have changed my registration from Democrat to Independent because neither mainstream political party represents my values.  My voice will be heard in the election but I will do a write-in for Lou Dobbs.  Would he make a good or great leader?  I don't know.  He talks the talk but would he walk the walk?  The only thing any of us can do is to vote and vote our convictions......and pray.


you have issues
x
Whether or not I have issues....
doesn't change the fact that they both did the same thing and one is being banned from speaking while the other is allowed to speak.  Sounds like one of them smelly ole double standards to me. 
Why? What does this have to do with issues
I read the first two paragraphs and then that was it. Do I need to keep reading? Is there something in the rest of this post that will tell me how Barack has voted in the past or how McCain has voted in the past? Will this post tell me how they will fix the health care system, win the war and bring the troops home, fix the housing economy and the newest FM/FM crisis? And all the other matters that affect my life every single day.

Your going on and on and on about a number and what kind of cars someone has. We all know that Cindy McCain is very wealthy and if she wants to own 50 or 100 cars I don't care. I also don't care how many pairs of shoes or purses she owns. If you are trying to say she is not a frugal person I'm sure we could pull up other issues like how the Obama's send their daughter to a $10,000 camp. We can talk about Todd & Sarah Palin eloping to save the cost of a wedding for her parents (now that's what I call smart money thinking). But to go on and on about what kind of cars and how many Cindy McCain owns, and personally I don't think very many people care what they buy their daughter or if her daughter bought the car herself. That is unless your a liberal making a lame attempt at trying to prove something, but I don't think many people care about their daughters car or what Cindy has. She's wealthy, her dad worked hard to give his family what they have, and Cindy has a degree in education has worked hard her whole life as a nurse and teacher among other things. If she wants to have more than a couple cars who cares.
You hit on some key issues........... sm
SS age eligibility has already been raised. I cannot draw full benefits until I am 67 years and some few months of age. I have to wonder if this will be raised further still. Will I still be clacking at the keyboard at 70 or even 80 years old? Granted, folks are living to an older age in general, but look at the medical condition of a lot of Baby Boomers. I see more 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds with serious health problems such as coronary artery disease and cancer which I attribute to unhealthy lifestyles as well as the mystery meat we buy at the supermarket. Who knows what that chicken was injected with to achieve such full and meaty breasts? All of which leads me to your next point......

Healthcare for those of Medicare age will very likely be rationed as you illustrated. Need a hip replacement? Sorry! Buy a wheelchair. Need a bypass? Forgedaboudit! Of course, this could possibly help with the SS issue as a younger and younger age group that needs lifesaving surgery dies off, leaving SS benefits for the survivors. Sounds like some kind of twisted reality show but I can see it happening. Sure makes my Golden Years something to look forward to............ NOT!


I think that there would be a lot of issues...sm
around the world that Jesus would be interested in, not just gay marriage and abortion, and he would not exclude the good intentions of someone trying to bring the world together in peace.
I'm all for the issues....BUT
when I see a handful of racist on this board who I know full well voted for Obama just because he is a black man, it bears pointing out the facts they just aren't aware of. And that is very obvious. They scream republicans and racists in the same rant, but never stop to think all their name calling just points out the facts that they ARE racists..... but what they don't know is Martin Luther King was a REPUBLICAN (which I guarantee you they don't know...their elders have failed to tell them this or didn't know it themselves) and when enlightened, they shut their traps tight! This is what they do when they really have nothing intelligent to add to conversation and I have realized know absoutely NOTHING about the issues at hand as well.

Notice how quickly the ranting stopped when a HUGE fact was pointed out to them.

So, to be perfectly honest, those would not be the people to discuss issues with, because they really cannot get past color and ANYTHING said against Obama becomes a race thing....

sick to death of that!
You have some serious anger issues

Ann Coulter, has issues. nm
Nuff said.
Dude, where are my issues?
xx
What part of we got other issues do you
nm
why don't you address the issues here instead of
nm
real issues

such as celebrity, Ayers, etc.??


 


It's about the issues, not the name-calling.
nm
please stick to the issues
x
Issues. No particular order #2.
1. Civil Rights. Comprehensive Patriot Act reform. Expand hate crime status, deceptive voting practices, racial profiling, sentencing disparities for minority offenders and better support programs for ex-offenders as the reintegrate into free world to reduce recidivism in crime rates, incorporate medical treatment for drug offenders into sentencing and rehabilitation initiatives.
2. Economy. Job creation such as green jobs (clean technology, renewable energy), invest in national infrastructure jobs, address outsourcing issues such as NAFTA reform, end tax breaks for companies who outsource, tax incentives for companies who preserve American jobs, tax relief for the middle class, tax relief for small businesses and start-up businesses, ensure workers' freedom to unionize and right to organize, raise minimum wage, clean up mortgage industry, address predatory credit card practices.
3. Ethics. Address lobbying, federal contracts, tax breaks, earmarks and special interests practices and reform.
4. Faith. Maintain strict constitutional separation of church and state and ensure freedom of all religions.
5. Fiscal. Fiscal discipline, balance budget, reduce debt, tax system reform for better efficiency.
6. Foreign Policy. End war in Iraq, reform contracting practices relative to war reparations, restore alliances, renew American diplomacy, particularly in the Middle East, strengthen NATO, address global poverty, nuclear waste cleanup and nonproliferation.
7. Health Care. Quality, affordable, portable health care, accessible for all Americans, lower costs across the board and particularly for prescription drugs.
8. Immigration. Streamline immigration bureaucracy, legalization initiatives that keep families together, expansion of bilingual education for special needs of immigrants who seek legal status, eliminate incentive to immigrate illegally by cracking down on employers who hire illegals, a better working partnership with Mexico to promote economic development to reduce illegal immigration.
9. Poverty. Expansion of transitional jobs and career pathway programs aimed at low-income Americans in workforce, Green Job Corp, improve transportation access to jobs, promote responsible fatherhood, Community Development Block Grant programs, affordable housing.
10. Rural. Subsidize family farmers, not agribusiness, encourage organic and local agriculture, connect rural America with communications infrastructure improvements, improve health care delivery, education and roads, bridges, dams infrastructure
11. Seniors and Select Specialty Hospital. Protect Social Security, affordable health care, develop community based senior supportive care systems, expand outreach for seniors.
12. Technology. Insure an open internet as highway to connected and transparent democracy, modernize communications infrastructure. FCC reform to promote diversity in media ownership.
13. Women's issues. Protect Roe-vs-Wade, promote sex education in schools, access to birth control and promote stem cell research.

Issues smorgasbord.

1.     Civil Rights.  Comprehensive Patriot Act reform.  Expand hate crime status, deceptive voting practices, racial profiling, sentencing disparities for minority offenders and better support programs for ex-offenders as the reintegrate into free world to reduce recidivism in crime rates, incorporate medical treatment for drug offenders into sentencing and rehabilitation initiatives.


2.     Economy.  Job creation such as green jobs (clean technology, renewable energy), invest in national infrastructure jobs, address outsourcing issues such as NAFTA reform, end tax breaks for companies who outsource, tax incentives for companies who preserve American jobs, tax relief for the middle class, tax relief for small businesses and start-up businesses, ensure workers' freedom to unionize and right to organize, raise minimum wage, clean up mortgage industry, address predatory credit card practices.


3.     Ethics.  Address lobbying, federal contracts, tax breaks, earmarks and special interests practices and reform.


4.     Faith.  Maintain strict constitutional separation of church and state and ensure freedom of all religions. 


5.     Fiscal.  Fiscal discipline, balance budget, reduce debt, tax system reform for better efficiency.


6.     Foreign Policy.  End war in Iraq, reform contracting practices relative to war reparations, restore alliances, renew American diplomacy, particularly in the Middle East, strengthen NATO, address global poverty, nuclear waste cleanup and nonproliferation.


7.     Health Care.  Quality, affordable, portable health care, accessible for all Americans, lower costs across the board and particularly for prescription drugs.


8.     Immigration.  Streamline immigration bureaucracy, legalization initiatives that keep families together, expansion of bilingual education for special needs of immigrants who seek legal status,  eliminate incentive to immigrate illegally by cracking down on employers who hire illegals, a better working partnership with Mexico to promote economic development to reduce illegal immigration.


9.     Poverty.  Expansion of transitional jobs and career pathway programs aimed at low-income Americans in workforce, Green Job Corp, improve transportation access to jobs, promote responsible fatherhood, Community Development Block Grant programs, affordable housing.


10.   Rural.  Subsidize family farmers, not agribusiness, encourage organic and local agriculture, connect rural America with communications infrastructure improvements, improve health care delivery, education and roads, bridges, dams infrastructure


11.   Seniors and Select Specialty Hospital.  Protect Social Security, affordable health care, develop community based senior supportive care systems, expand outreach for seniors.


12.   Technology.  Insure an open internet as highway to connected and transparent democracy, modernize communications infrastructure.  FCC reform to promote diversity in media ownership. 


13.   Women's issues.  Protect Roe-vs-Wade, promote sex education in schools, access to birth control and promote stem cell research. 


Issues and insights

I didn't know this - very interesting.  Funny how much you can learn by researching.


http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=302137342405551


 


Do....let us talk about some of these issues.

9/11/2001:  We all talk about 9/11.  How Pres. Bush should have known.  We did lose a lot of lives that day.  It was truly a sad day.  However, what about the World Trade Center bombing back in ྙ when Clinton was the pres.  That was by Islamic extremists.  Or about the US Embassy bombings in ྞ....also while Bill was in office suspect to have been coordinated by Osama Bin Laden.  Or the USS Cole incident in 2000 and once again Bill was in the White House and once again Osama was the suspect in the planning.  All these terrorists acts but the one people shout out about the most in 9/11 and how Bush is to blame.  Why?  Because more lives were lost in this one than with the other ones.  Weren't they all still terrorist attacks?  If Clinton had stood up and done something during his term....maybe 9/11 would not have happened at all but yet the blame all falls upon Bush.


Katrina:  Once again all Bush's faults and therefore all republicans faults.  Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was the "federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina, [and] could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials."  "If you go back to August 27th," President Bush had already "declared a state of emergency in the state of Louisiana under Title V of the Stafford Act, ... Ergo, Katrina became an Incident of National Significance on August 27th -- two days before the storm. But Chertoff apparently didn't realize this and waited till a day after [on August 30th] to make the determination on his own, one that according to the flow chart had already been made."  Honestly though, if you live in a place that is well below sea level and you hear a really bit storm is coming your way.....common sense.....you get the heck out of dodge.


Iraq war:  The reason for the war was this:  The military objectives of the invasion were; end the Hussein regime; eliminate weapons of mass destruction; eliminate Islamic terrorists; obtain intelligence on terrorist networks; distribute humanitarian aid; secure Iraq’s oil infrastructure; and assist in creating a representative government as a model for other Middle East nations


As for Wall Street:  Firms such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman not only made billions of dollars packaging and selling these toxic loans, they also wagered with their own capital that the values of these investments would decline, further raising their profits. If any other industries engaged in such knowingly unscrupulous activities, there would be an immediate federal investigation.


At the same time, federal regulatory agencies such as the SEC stood idly by as Wall Street took advantage of the investment public during both the Internet and the housing bubbles. The SEC took almost no action against Wall Street after the dot-com implosion. And in the midst of the housing bubble, in 2006, only the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency pushed for any level of regulation to address subprime lending.


One has to wonder why Treasury secretaries under Presidents Clinton and Bush -- Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, respectively -- took no action to curb these abuses. It certainly was not because they did not understand Wall Street's practices -- both are former chief executives of Goldman Sachs. And why has Congress been so silent? The Wall Street investment banking firms, their executives, their families and their political action committees contribute more to U.S. Senate and House campaigns than any other industry in America. By sprinkling some of its massive gains into the pockets of our elected officials, Wall Street bought itself protection from any tough government enforcement.


This is no doubt the same reason why so many members of Congress were consistently blocking attempts to reform and downsize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are essentially giant, undercapitalized hedge funds. These two entities have been huge money machines for Democrats in both the House and the Senate, many of whom recently had the gall to ask why these companies hadn't been reformed in the past. Nor should several Republican congressmen and Senators who likewise contributed to watering down legislation aimed at reforming these institutions be let off the hook.


you have real issues
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I think you have daddy issues.
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You have daddy issues.
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You are so right. You educated yourself to the issues and now sm
You realize, as I do, that Obama is going to fight for us. He is going to penalize companies who outsource. That means OUR jobs. What is up with people on this board? I am sure if they paid attention like you did they would be voting Obama too. I, like you, have dissected every bit of info this year. I watched Dem and Repub primaries, follow all of the issues and it's so completely clear that Obama is the right one.
No, we vote on issues....
not on blind big "O" devotion. But would not expect you to understand that...lol.
Real issues
Read or heard on the news yesterday that in 2009 it will be the big investors in the commercial real estate market who will be facing disaster.  Will they be the next to get a bail-out?  I'd bet they will be trying.  I hope Obama and the Congress will put a big fat NO to any more bail-outs.
It is also the republicans who have issues with him
Bill Bennett and Phil Gingrey have both issued statements asking that Limbaugh back off from his statements. Get your statements correct. Obama is trying and getting good marks for listening to both sides. I listened yesterday when John Boehner said good meetings with Obama. As far as I am concerned, so far, so good.
Disagree with most of his issues

I completely disagree with the stimulus package.  Only 25% is geared towards improving the economy, the rest is a joke!  Honestly, it is hard for me to get excited about anything he is saying as far as healthcare or education as we have all heard that before.  Remember Hillary's big plans for healthcare?  Umm...ok?  Now Obama is trying the same thing.  Ummm...ok?  I don't think he is going to create any more jobs.  I do feel the media is making the situation worse and everyone is now using the economy as an excuse for EVERYTHING.  It is just getting ridiculous.  I make the same as I did 4 years ago, my house payment is the same, car payment is the same, I still shop at Target and WalMart, so I don't see anything directly affecting me as of yet.  If is does start to affect me, well I WILL blame it on Obama, as I personally haven't been having a hard time in the last 4 years. 


I'm a democrat and I didn't vote for him.  I didn't like him from the start.  I hope he can turn it around, but I'm not hopeful at all. 


You conflate about 16 different issues here. If you would
And a word of caution: Be very careful that you truly do know the history behind all of these different issues, because as someone who is currently working on a graduate degree in intelligence analysis, I do know the history and I will know whether you know - or simply repeat sound bites you've heard from your favorite "sources".