People have asked me too many times to count why I'm not frustrated over the Hillary & Barack race or why I don't think it's that big a deal that it's gone on this long. Those people should live in my CD to appreciate what it's like to have a really complicated race with various candidates.
This should be most interesting. I hope I can keep up. Meanwhile, I am going to warn people I take very slim minutes and everyone must identify themselves if they speak and that if anyone is going to give a speech I need a copy of it for the records........that should shut up the peanut gallery that quibbles over commas in resolutions......oh, yeah, we're doing resolutions too. And, I have been present when people spent long times discussing commas, and word counts (all resolutions have to be in certain format and the words have to be counted).
I'm thinking that the resolutions are going to go pretty quickly and we will be moving on to the business of tossing Ryan out for the majority of the convention. On here I get to put on my "individual citizen" hat and endorse Marge Krupp (who has just passed the $80,000 mark in fund raising for a citizen candidate!) and my "blogger" hat. Tomorrow I will be an officer and I will not show any from of favoritism. I'll also be all business. Crazy as that sounds, I really can be very "all business" and kind of hard assed about rules. You have to be able to turn it on and turn it off. I'm generally very good at doing that......so good it's almost scary.
Then we also have a few elections for CD officers scheduled. My first convention doing minutes and we have three major things going on. Whew, I will need a good meal, drinks, and rest after that.
This is one of those things that most people who vote Dem but don't bother to get involved with should. Really. Because this is where the state party takes it's direction in the language of the DPW constitution. It's our platform and you can have an impact if you really want to. It's not easy, it's boring and tedious. But, if you don't participate, you really should never complain about the party. At least not to me. I kick.
I will taking photos and posting them on the Democratic Party of Racine County's website (blog).
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Question of Recession? continued
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 15 were in Alaska (4.9 percent), Michigan (4.4), Rhode Island (4.0), Pennsylvania (3.8), Wisconsin (3.6), Idaho (3.5), California (3.4), New Jersey (3.4), Oregon (3.4), and Vermont (3.4).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 22 were in Pennsylvania (+2,904), Wisconsin (+1,526) , Georgia (+1,481), New York (+1,478), and Iowa (+916), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-7,660), Ohio (-5,992), North Carolina (-5,584), Puerto Rico (-2,854), and Texas (-2,547).
In March the highest unemployment rate in Wisconsin, by metropolitan area, was Racine. A staggering 6.3%, and that was an improvement over the previous month, going down .4%. Figures taken from here. I don't know about how other people figure recessions, but for me there's a helluva one in Racine.
Now the POTUS says the Economic Stimulus package is going to help us out enormously. It appears that parts of the government think that sending us checks for $300- $1,200 is going to make a substantial difference. Say what? Is this deja vu all over again? Because I seem to remember getting one of those tax rebates checks compliments of GW a bit back and it didn't seem to do much then. How did it work out for you? Didn't work much for me. What's it going to do for the people in foreclosure? Make one or one and half house payments, in some cases only a partial one month payment? My friend Diane likes to say, "You can't spend the same nickel twice." So, all this talk about people racing out to spend that money is hogwash for the most part. If you can afford to use that cash to buy any non-essentials you didn't need it. And, the people who do need it, it's going to pay for something they already have or need. Most likely paying off bills. Money already spent -- just not transferred.
When the government has to start sending cash out to citizens to try to keep a gloomy economy from taking it's last breath, it's a recession. I can see a depression on the horizon soon. How do we stop it? We get mean. We get tough. We show the government just how pissed we are at the overwhelming advantages big business were given over the working class and how that harmed us. We do it with phone calls and letters. We do with blogs and talking to people directly anywhere you meet them. We kick Paul Ryan out! That would send a huge message to the great halls of power.
Frontline - Sick Around the World cont.
Reid reports next from Japan, the world's second largest economy and the country boasting the best health statistics. The Japanese go to the doctor three times as often as Americans, have more than twice as many MRIs, use more drugs, and spend more days in the hospital, yet Japan spends about half as much per capita as the United States. Reid finds out the secrets of the nation's success: By law, everyone must buy health insurance--either through an employer or a community plan--and unlike in the U.S., insurers cannot turn down a patient for a pre-existing illness, nor are they allowed to make a profit.
Reid's journey then takes him to Germany, the country that invented the concept of a national health care system. For it's 80 million people, Germany offers universal health care, including medical, dental, mental health, homeopathy and spa treatment. Professor Karl Lauterbach, M.D., a member of the German parliament, describes it as "a system where the rich pay for the poor and where the ill are covered by the healthy. It is ... highly accepted by the population." As they do in Japan, medical providers must charge standard prices which are negotiated with the government every year. As a consequence, physicians in Germany earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.
Taiwan researched many health care systems before settling on one where the government runs the financing, but Reid finds the delivery of health care is left to the market. Taiwanese health care offers medical, dental, mental and Chinese medicine, with no waiting time and for less that half of what we pay in the United States. Every person in Taiwan has a "smart card" containing all of his or her relevant health information, and bills are paid automatically. But what Reid finds is that the Taiwanese spend too little to sustain their health care system. According to Princeton's Tsung-Mei Cheng, who advised the Taiwanese government, "As we speak, the government is borrowing from banks to pay what there isn't enough to pay the providers."
Reid's final destination is Switzerland, a country whose health care system suffered from some America's problems until, in 1994, the country attempted a major reform. Despite a huge private insurance business, a law called LAMal was passed, which set up a universal health care system that, among other things, restricted insurance companies from making a profit on basic medical care. Today, Swiss politicians from the political right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. Pascal Couchepin, the president of the Swiss Federation, argues: "Everybody has a right to health care. ... It is a profound need for people to be sure that if they are struck by destiny ... they can have a good health system.
"Sick Around the World is a FRONTLINE co-production with Palfreman Film Group. The film's correspondent is T.R. Reid. The writers are Jon Palfreman and T.R. Reid. The producer and director is Jon Palfreman. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional series funding is provided by the Park Foundation. Additional funding for Sick Around the World is provided by The Colorado Health Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund and The Colorado Trust. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The senior producer is Raney Aronson. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
Reid's journey then takes him to Germany, the country that invented the concept of a national health care system. For it's 80 million people, Germany offers universal health care, including medical, dental, mental health, homeopathy and spa treatment. Professor Karl Lauterbach, M.D., a member of the German parliament, describes it as "a system where the rich pay for the poor and where the ill are covered by the healthy. It is ... highly accepted by the population." As they do in Japan, medical providers must charge standard prices which are negotiated with the government every year. As a consequence, physicians in Germany earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.
Taiwan researched many health care systems before settling on one where the government runs the financing, but Reid finds the delivery of health care is left to the market. Taiwanese health care offers medical, dental, mental and Chinese medicine, with no waiting time and for less that half of what we pay in the United States. Every person in Taiwan has a "smart card" containing all of his or her relevant health information, and bills are paid automatically. But what Reid finds is that the Taiwanese spend too little to sustain their health care system. According to Princeton's Tsung-Mei Cheng, who advised the Taiwanese government, "As we speak, the government is borrowing from banks to pay what there isn't enough to pay the providers."
Reid's final destination is Switzerland, a country whose health care system suffered from some America's problems until, in 1994, the country attempted a major reform. Despite a huge private insurance business, a law called LAMal was passed, which set up a universal health care system that, among other things, restricted insurance companies from making a profit on basic medical care. Today, Swiss politicians from the political right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. Pascal Couchepin, the president of the Swiss Federation, argues: "Everybody has a right to health care. ... It is a profound need for people to be sure that if they are struck by destiny ... they can have a good health system.
"Sick Around the World is a FRONTLINE co-production with Palfreman Film Group. The film's correspondent is T.R. Reid. The writers are Jon Palfreman and T.R. Reid. The producer and director is Jon Palfreman. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional series funding is provided by the Park Foundation. Additional funding for Sick Around the World is provided by The Colorado Health Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund and The Colorado Trust. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The senior producer is Raney Aronson. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
WoW
The game now has over 10 million subscribers. Yes, you have to subscribe and pay to play. They're adding a new class now, Death Knights. I've always been very open minded about gaming........but, now I am maybe getting old? Now I'm beginning to wonder just how many young men played this game, or the older first person shooter games and ended up signing up for military duty thinking that it was going to be very "game like". I mean, 18 yr old men aren't exactly known for their intellect in the first place.
I think I can say pretty confidently my son never wanted to join the army and go play war after playing these games. But, then again, when he wasn't driving me crazy with gaming he was reading. He also had real life friends and was/is very liberal minded politically. But, what of the kids who come from families where war is romanticized? Perhaps homes where there is domestic violence?
Maybe my paranoia is kicking in here. But, sometimes I think these games have replaced the old Hollywood movies made to encourage men to "join up" because it was their duty. Movies where the good guys always won, John Wayne was always a bigger than life hero. You know the ones. Then came the post Vietnam movies that gave us a deeper look into the realities of war and I'm sure Saving Private Ryan didn't drive the numbers of young men to rush out to be an army of one. Just maybe these new games have replaced the old romantic war movies?
What's your thoughts? Am I paranoid? Am I onto something?
I think I can say pretty confidently my son never wanted to join the army and go play war after playing these games. But, then again, when he wasn't driving me crazy with gaming he was reading. He also had real life friends and was/is very liberal minded politically. But, what of the kids who come from families where war is romanticized? Perhaps homes where there is domestic violence?
Maybe my paranoia is kicking in here. But, sometimes I think these games have replaced the old Hollywood movies made to encourage men to "join up" because it was their duty. Movies where the good guys always won, John Wayne was always a bigger than life hero. You know the ones. Then came the post Vietnam movies that gave us a deeper look into the realities of war and I'm sure Saving Private Ryan didn't drive the numbers of young men to rush out to be an army of one. Just maybe these new games have replaced the old romantic war movies?
What's your thoughts? Am I paranoid? Am I onto something?
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