August 26th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
My aim to stay up and watch the DNC didn’t quite pan out last night, it started at 12am and I watched the first hour on TV. For the second hour I was listening to NPR on my PSP. For the rest of the convention I was fast asleep but the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was listen to Michelle Obama’s speech. My first impression: WOW!
Michelle Obama is as eloquent as her husband if not more, she accurately gave people a better understanding of Senator Obama while reinforcing the themes of the Obama campaign. She touched on the journey their family have taken and most importantly focused on the plight of the middle class family in modern day America. Another highlight last night was Senator Kennedy’s speech which you can find here.
August 20th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
Watch for a good laugh:
August 9th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
I recently stumbled upon a site that details Senator McCain’s connections to various lobbyists. This site used data publicly available to construct this easy to navigate interface so that every person can determine the kind of politician Senator McCain really is as opposed to his ‘maverick’ status in the media. You are probably wondering if there is anything similar to this site concerning Senator Obama however a cursory Google search reveals there is not. The first observation you can make when looking at the site, is the 41 lobbyists that are connected to Senator McCain. A further glance reveals this sentence:
John McCain and his lobbyists have made half a billion dollars in the last decade working for a who’s who of corporate America and foreign dictators. Their clients have given the McCain more than $10 million in campaign donations.
$10 million is a lot of money but surprisingly no one in the media wants to talk about McCain’s corporate connections because it would ruin his image. Would you want to vote for a guy who has been taking large amounts of money from corporate America for the last decade or the guy who is a ’straight-talker’ and hero? Definitely the latter so what can we do about Senator McCain and his fake image moreover what can the Obama campaign do?
A few of my liberal blogging friends have suggested a more fierce counter attack on the part of the Obama campaign is needed however Eric Alterman states in his book: “Why We are Liberals” that Conservative voters are more likely to let their candidate slide on certain issues as long as he is seen to be advancing conservatism. Any attack on the part of the Obama campaign would be useless if that statement is true; Senator Obama is better off competing against Senator McCain on the issues which if the most recent TPM video holds true, will be very easy:
August 9th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
Well the folks over at Versionista.com sent me this email today, I thought I might add some pictures to explain what they found. Senator McCain, the supposed supporter of the troops removed a troop support site from his campaign website. Before and After:
The site in question:
Anyone care to explain this?… BB-Idaho correctly sourced this site in the comments so please do take a look.
August 3rd, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics |
My dad started an online course with the University of Arizona recently educating doctors in the practices of Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic medicine is an ancient Hindu system of healthcare that is quite different from the traditional western medicine that we all love and trust. In recent years, there has been a great intermixing of medicinal knowledge between the West and the East with more doctors educating themselves in the West with regards to Eastern medical knowledge like Acupuncture, Ayurveda, and Reiki. The advantages of these alternate forms of medicine are that they are generally low cost and in some cases work better for specific illnesses.
I am actually a big fan of acupuncture as it helps me de-stress which I have a hard time doing for some reason. These alternative types of medicine have aided in changing the American healthcare system to a small degree however greater change is advocated by Dr. Patch Adams. Dr. Adams has worked for the last 35 years to promote his different vision for healthcare and in doing so has traveled all over the world including 3 different war zones.
If anyone is a fan of Robin Williams, you might remember the movie Patch Adams which is actually about Dr. Adams and his life changing healthcare. The reason I bring up Dr. Adams today is because I am a big believer in Universal Healthcare having spoken to my older brother who lives under the NHS system in London. A few former french classmates for my post-grad who have nothing but good things to say about the French system. My father, a doctor who has worked within the Irish medical system for as long as I can remember and believes that everyone person has the right to health care.
Al Jazeera has a weekly segment entitled inside America, the most recent segment appearing two weeks ago concerning the healthcare system in America:
Inside USA - Healthcare Part 1
Inside USA - Healthcare Part 2
The simple and most startling point in this 30 minute show is that life expectancy in rural America is decreasing.
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