Category Archives: Politics: National

I Don’t Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

Looming Layoffs at Schools Imperil Bloomberg’s Legacy

In proposing to lay off 4,100 teachers, Mr. Bloomberg turned a political third rail into fair game. He is taking on the teachers’ union amid an incendiary national debate over the impact of public employees’ benefits and protections on state and local governments.

If by “Imperil” you mean:

Generates a ton of respect for doing the hard work that must be done in order to ensure that the New York City School System doesn’t absolutely fail every single one of it’s students by reducing a bloated unionized work force.

The yeah.  Imperils is spot on!

Bin Laden: How Did It Begin

I think that taking a suspected criminal into custody and slamming his fingers in th desk drawer to find out who the murderer is is okay.

I think that keeping a suspected terrorist awake for 48 hours in order to get him to tell me where the other terrorists are is is okay to.

The Left doesn’t.

Whatever.

The latest fabrication of the Left is Rumsfeld and his “view” that enhanced interrogation methods don’t work.

Let’s see what he says:

Sounds like Rumsfeld is clear.

“Unquestionably it works … It produced an enormous amount of very very valuable intelligence information.”

I’m not sayin’ – I’m just sayin’

Regulation – Private Sector Style

So, this past weekend my wife informed me that we were going to buy a new washer and dryer.

Fine.

Then she told me that she would appreciate it if I conducted some research and came up with a make and model before we went to the store.

Fine.

The entirety of my research was this:

google.com

“Do front load washers work”

When I found out that the stink and break, I went to step 2:

consumerreports.com

“Top Load Washers”

Sort – Price

I found the top rated set in the price range I wanted.  I looked to make sure there was more than a dozen reviews.

Then I wrote it down on my paper.

Total time invested – 7 minutes.

Confidence – High.

My point is that there aren’t any written rules that document how a manufacturer should create a well made and quality machine.  Rather, they have to answer to the market.  It is CRITICAL to these folks that they are rated high in Consumer Reports.  If they aren’t rated well, I don’t buy.

And neither do you.

Why that wouldn’t work for milk is beyond me.

It’s Hard Not To Be A Leftist

Or, Republicans Can Be Leftists Too!

We all want to what we think is the best for the folks under our care; at least I HOPE that’s what we wanna do.  Now, I understand that at the margin, there are politicians that do enter the system and play the game for the sole purpose of enriching themselves, either with power or money–or both.

By and large, however, I think they play the game in an effort to serve well.

And often times serving well means, or can mean, parenting.

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Media Bias – II

Last month I posted about Media Bias as it pertained to the coverage in the Wisconsin Labor dispute between the public sector unions and Governor Walker.  In it, I decried that while Gallup DID, in fact, report on their poll that showed strong support for the limitation of State workers.  However, Gallup hid that report so deep and under such misguided headlines that it would never be found.

The top 3 most popular choices in dealing with state budgets?  Reducing the power and influence of the state worker.  Specifically, reducing the ability of the state unions to collectively bargain.

Recent headlines made me stop as I saw yet another case of media bias.

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Capitalism And It’s Failure

I just ran into a post of mine on another blog that I wrote in 2008.

Good stuff – Enjoy.

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We Dropped the Bomb 66 Years Ago: Look What Happened

Several days ago my friend over at Rational Republican posted about the plight of California.  A once great state relegated to the backwaters of the nation.

After years of continued liberal policies, the state that may very well have been the economic powerhouse of the nation is instead hemorrhaging people, earners and businesses.

It’s sad.

To put it into words, consider the years following the bombing of Japan.

See what the difference is between a pro-growth and pro-liberal mindset.

Consider Hiroshima and Detroit.

RR, you have to move.

School Choice: Now You See It Now You Don’t

So, the United States isn’t doing so well educating our kids:

Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment to be released Tuesday show 15-year-old students in the U.S. performing about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math.

And, on top of delivering horrible results, we’re spending more money than ever while watching our performance lag:

…with the exception of Switzerland, the United States spends more than any other country on education, an average of $91,700 per student between the ages of six and fifteen.

That’s not only more than other countries spend but it is also more than better achieving countries spend – the United States spends a third more than Finland, a country that consistently ranks near the top in science, reading, and math testing.

This isn’t new.  We’ve known this for a long time now.  And, just as long as we’ve been watching spending go up and achievement go down, we’ve been debating how to change one or both of those trajectories.  And of all those debates, few have been more contentious than all the others.  That subject?  That topic?

Choice.

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Shock And Awe

Prepare yourselves for the Shock and Awe Obama style that is certain to come this week.

Prepare yourself for a message and bombardment of populist bullshit the likes you haven’t seen in a long time.

High gas prices.

Election season right around the corner.

A fading President.

All perfect ingredients.

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United States and Medical Care: We’re #1

Of course we are.  No one really REALLY thinks that we’re not.

Some people, like those crazy guys that just moved in down the block, they DO think other parts of the world rank better.

Well, given the peculiarity of the health care market, and the fact that all other industrialized countries have a much less expensive, much more effective, it seems that too much government involvement is not the problem with our current health care system.

The problem is, of course, that it’s just not true.

Now, to be sure, there ARE studies that show the United States coming in some other place than first, but I don’t think the measurement system is really one that can be trusted to measure medical care delivery.  Afterall, they’re measuring things not really associated with medical care:

Mean Minimum Maximum
Health 25 20 40
Health Inequalities 30 20 30
Responsiveness Level 12.5 5 15
Responsiveness Distribution 12.5 5
Fair Financing 25 15 35

To be sure, some of these are fair measurements.  Others, however, not so much.  For example, Fair Financing.  This metric doesn’t speak to the quality of care, simply the amount of income to purchase it.  Others again, fail to measure the qualify of care given.  They simply measure distribution of said care.  Without a doubt the inclusion of such characteristics may be acceptable from your POLITICAL position, but it in no way measures the quality of care being delivered.

But really, the point I wanna make is this.  The world comes here for care.  We don’t go there.

In the past five years, would-be parents from as far as Istanbul and Uruguay have turned to healthy, young American mothers to serve as surrogates, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The babies are born U.S. citizens, but surrogacy agency officials say that’s not a primary motivation for the parents, who typically come from European and Latin American countries where surrogacy is illegal or socially unacceptable. The parents have exhausted other options and are willing to pay about $50,000 to $100,000 — part of which goes to the surrogate — to have biological children.

The world, having exhausted all other options, are willing t pay money to come to America to take advantage of our medical delivery services.

So, is the fact that people are willing, and ABLE mind you, to pay $50-$100k for a procedure, impacting the amount of money spent in American health care costs by the way, a good thing or a dirty rotten example of how America just sucks at all things medical care related?

Yeah.  That’s what I thought too.