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Healthcare, Medicare, & the symptoms of a problem

2008-12-28T11:58:01Z

When The Medicare Part D prescription drug bill was formulated, it was
the big drug companies who essentially handed the Congress all of the
elements of the legislation. Who then, is the beneficiary of this little piece
of artwork? Certainly not us.

]]> This week a report that the federal budget now stands at 17% of our GNP, entitlements included. The report stated that 4.5% is social security, 4.5% is Medicare/Medicaid, and 4.5% is spent on Defense, the balance (not much runs everything else). The place to start is to rebuild the healthcare system. It is my belief that our health care system has morphed into a version of Wall Street, where the almighty dollar takes precedence over the actual health of Americans.
Healthcare premiums are killing our businesses and our budgets.

My wife recently had to go to the emergency room after a fall. We received bills from the Ambulance company, the laboratory, the x-ray outfit, the doctor who treated her...and finally a $3200 bill from a collection agency for the hospital. Who apparently lost our insurance info, never sent us a bill. When they realized it was over 90 days...went right to collection. I could
not figure out what the $3200 was for ...using their billing for an hour?

We got billed by all the people who did the work. It is simply put, another form of pillaging the people. President Elect Obama has made health care one of his priorities. Medicare and medicaid should be placed into a new health care system and placed under the Department of Health and Human services. I just don't see it as an effective stand alone agency.

If healthcare is to be legislated then lets get rid of part D and this time write it for the
people and not the drug companies. Use the buying power of the program to get deep discounts on prescription drugs. The people currently receiving Medicare/Medicaid can be placed under a new system where based on a sliding scale & reasonable premiums can be collected from those who are able to pay.

Another example of pillaging our government are all these little sweeteners that allow state governments to use Medicare to pay for resident placement and services for certain groups. It takes the burden off of the state. An example is the "Medicare based waiver" that pays for housing and staff to care for persons eligible to be placed in institutions, they have to be considered untreatable. As a result, you have a mini institution in a neighborhood near you
and you have no idea it is there ...but you are paying for it.

States need to step back up to the plate and stop relying on Federal funds to solve these problems. Get rid of the pork, I guess you would call it. States need to learn how to run
lean, mean government (so do the Feds), use cuts and not tax increases. A new health care system, needs to reign in separate billing by hospitals. Just like the grocery store you don't pay the butcher and the deli separate. You go to the register. So we have one bill, not 5 because they each have to pay for their Porsche that month.

Electronic records...as a veteran I can go to any Veterans facility in the country and my records are there. Create efficiencies in the system. As in the emrgency room...there appears to be 2 people treating patients and 40 people sitting at computers waiting to pounce on your insurance company. In many of our cities huge Medical facilities are taking over the skyline, gobbling
up block after block. It is a signature of the problem. If you analyzed the amount of space actually used to treat people. I would say is less than 25%. I would presume that most of the balance is for administration.

The cost of delivery is tied to the mortgages these facilities have. In the city of Portland Maine, which is nearby, the Medical facility is the most prominent landmark. It towers above and sprawls along the skyline. Gone are the shipbuilders, the fisherman, the foundries, the locomotive factory, the chandlers and all of the businesses that once marked a thriving vibrant city.

My great grandfather started a foundry in 1898. It went out of business in the 1980's. We could not compete with cheap foreign products. We had an efficient foundry. All our products were quality...not cheap. As we have gone over to a "service" economy health care has become
one of the largest economic sectors. The problem is ...it is not an industry...it is a symptom of our problem.

Apathy is no longer an option

2008-09-24T19:54:09Z

About this author: Rich, born in Denmark, is US Resident "Alien" since 1984 who has been living temporarily in Europe for the past 5 years. When he becomes eligible again, he will apply to be a US citizen.

My wife and I have been living outside the US for 5 years now. It has been interesting to view America from the outside. You don't realize it when you're living there, but the media that you're exposed to is very US-centric. It really is like being inside a bubble. Americans don't really get exposed much to how the rest of the world sees the US. America used to be the guiding light, the inspiration for other nations, the country where everyone wanted to emigrate to and start a new life. Well, that reputation has taken a hell of a beating over the last 8 years and especially the past 4-5 years -- mostly because of the Bush administration and the Republican party. The foreign policy. The war in Iraq. The environmental policy. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And Bush acting like a complete idiot everywhere he goes. That's to name just a few.

But you know what? You can't solely blame Bush and his cronies. And let me tell you, they aren't the only ones being targeted for criticism by the world outside the bubble. The comment we hear the most often over here is "How could you guys elect that idiot twice?" They have a point. We dropped the ball. We let the whole world down. And now we just look like a bunch of jerks with egg on our faces.

The common retort to hearing about what the rest of the world thinks about us is: "Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?! This is America. This is an American election." This to me is such an ignorant, short-sighted response. One thing many Americans don't seem to understand is that the US is a PART OF THE WORLD. It is not secluded inside a bubble. Our actions have a GLOBAL effect.

That is why this election is SO important. We need to prove to the world that we're not a bunch of apathetic assholes squandering the whole idea behind democracy. We need to prove that we can take RESPONSIBILITY for how we live and how that affects the entire world. To bring the US back to its roots as an inspiration and as a good example, we need a president that is intelligent, articulate, open-minded, aware, and inspiring.

I can't vote because I'm not a citizen (yet), so I really want to encourage every eligible person to vote. By now, it is obvious how I would vote if I was able to, but of course, I am not going to be so crass as to try bullying you to vote the same way. I just really would like to ask that you vote, period. (Hopefully, most of you will vote for Obama, though!) My wife and I are moving back to the US on November 19th. A McCain/Palin win is almost enough to make me change my mind about coming back at all and I really want to come back, so please help!

A lot of people hold onto the belief/custom that one should not talk about politics with friends, family, or coworkers. That your political stance is a private matter. To a certain point, I can agree with that. BUT NOT IN THIS ELECTION. Please do everything you can to get out there and make your opinions known. Bother your friends and family. Take the risk!

A note to anyone who doesn't believe in voting: Apathy is not an option anymore. Did you know that there are statistically more Democrats in the US than Republicans? There are 72 million registered Democrats, 55 million Republicans, and 42 million Independents (though this data is from 2004, the numbers couldn't have changed enough to make a noticeable difference). If all 72 million voted, the win would be by a healthy margin. So please make plans to vote. Set aside the time now. Plan ahead. And please encourage everyone you know to do the same.

If you haven't registered, you need to get on the ball because the deadlines are right around the corner. You can find out what your state's deadline here:

http://www.rockthevote.com/voting-is-easy/important-dates/

And if you are overseas, your deadline is October 3rd. More info here:

https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/home.htm

Identity Politics

2008-09-21T23:44:54Z

How does he do it? How does John McCain keep a straight face while accusing Barack Obama of planning a huge tax increase and of being at the core of a corrupt system run by lobbyists? (See McCain speech of Sept. 19.) A minute's glance at Obama's tax plan shows that he's planning a tax cut, and everyone knows Obama was a prime mover behind new restrictions on lobbyists passed by Congress last year. Meanwhile, McCain continues to base his campaign on advice from associates who have built their careers, fortunes, values and connections as lobbyists for major corporations.

Does NO ONE remember that McCain was one of "the Keating Five"?!! We have heard many details about McCain's behavior as a prisoner of war 35 years ago, but not a whisper about his behavior as a U. S. Senator when he was over 50 years old. He and four other Senators pressured the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to keep open the insolvent Lincoln Savings and Loan on behalf of McCain campaign contributor and personal friend Charles Keating (who also had business ties to Cindy McCain). Over 20,000 people, many of them retirees who had been persuaded to shift their money to uninsured accounts, lost all their savings. When asked if he believed his contributions had bought him influence with his representatives, Keating famously replied, "I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so." McCain agreed with the conclusion of the Senate Ethics Committee investigation, that he had shown "poor judgment."

Much more recently, McCain's first choice for economic advisor was former Senator Phil Gramm, a fierce fighter for deregulation, whose wife Wendy had a direct hand in facilitating the Enron disaster! At the end of her term as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Wendy Gramm passed a rule change deregulating trading in derivatives by energy companies. A few weeks afterward, she joined Enron's Board of Directors, where for eight years she and other well-paid directors blithely approved every conflict-ridden scheme brought before them. For over 20 years, John McCain has breathed the air and the worldview of many people like Charles Keating and the Gramms.

So how can John McCain keep a straight face when accusing Barack Obama of being at the core of the corrupt system McCain was in bed with all the time Obama was in college and later driving the streets of Chicago, helping impoverished people develop their own leadership skills to take on city hall to improve their lives? Either McCain is out of touch with reality (scary), or he is deliberately using lies as a campaign tactic (scarier?).

Perhaps McCain figures if he claims the opposite of anything Obama says, uninformed voters will logically conclude that one of them is lying. And who will they think is lying? The young Harvard-schooled lawyer with an unfamiliar name? Or the experienced, grandfatherly war veteran--who also happens to be comfortingly White?

McCain has thrown away his politics of "character" and opted for a politics of identity. Will this strategy work? You get to decide.

I am tired of hearing about stuff that doesn't matter!! Are you?

2008-09-21T00:54:54Z

I am tired of hearing about the stuff that doesn't matter. It's like shiny thing swinging in front of babies. WHY ISN'T AMERICA GETTING PISSED OFF?!

Who really cares about lipstick choices, hairstyles, salad green preference, hair plugs, personal injuries or injustices.

I am even sick of hearing about pregnant daughters, shooting moose, emails with stars, the tails of airplanes and the costs of a wife's dress.

Aren't we all tired of the lies and comments about religious beliefs, flag pins, "crazy" pastors and age?

As Americans, true patriotic, red-blooded stewards of the greatest political experiment (gone right) in history we need to be talking about three things.

SURVIVAL. SUCCESS. DOMINANCE

Survival -
Of course we need to protect our people from terrorists and eminent threat. Let's force politicians to provide a better definition of these terms. Let's also force them to provide a better explanation of what they will do in the future to protect us from them.

Success -
Are we all going to just wait around to lose our jobs and start drifting around the country like poor American's in the 1920's and 1930's? The excess of the first couple of decades in the 1900s provided both good and bad. There were great philanthropists, but greedy people were the majority of the rich. The results was a crash of the markets, followed by something we call The Great Depression (with all of those important capital letters). The result of this was the rise of the Democrats, Social Security, industry regulation and many of the other protections that have eroded, under both parties, for the past 30 years. Yes these things slowed our growth and created a burden for the government (especially Social Security). But, they also ensured that we had protection against those within, or outside, who care about their own success at the expense of everyone else. Let's force our politicians to provide real answers to our economic situation. Let's be prepared not to like all of them (recovery may not come easy). Let's insist that they prove they have the support from Congressmen (and women) and Senators to force these idea to become laws. NO MORE EMPTY PROMISES FROM EITHER SIDE. NO MORE CANDY-COATED STORIES ABOUT HOW OUR "FUNDAMENTALLY-STRONG" ECONOMY WILL RECOVER WITHOUT EACH AND EVERY AMERICANS HELP!

Dominance -
The single most impressive thing about America has always been US, the American people. We dominated thought around the world not because we had the biggest army, or we had the most money. We dominated not because we spoke the loudest, were the most pugnacious or won the most medals in games. WE DOMINATED BECAUSE OUR STRUCTURE ALLOWED FOR PERSONAL FREEDOMS THAT WERE UNHEARD OF IN MOST PLACES OF THE WORLD. We were willing to accept a bit less from the government in return for allowing a little more for ourselves. Now we have candidates who actively (with support) announce the freedoms that they want to withhold or rescind. I TELL YOU WHAT, GIVE ME A STRONG ECONOMY FIRST. ENSURE MY SURVIVAL FIRST. Let us once again dominate by the simple fact of being AMERICANS rather than because we have more money or more guns.

If you have made it this far I am impressed. Many of our fellow citizens stopped reading long ago. They deserve whatever failed policies we have and what ever empty promises they get. SADLY 300 Million cannot steer a ship. It takes a small command unit to accomplish that. If you want to be part of the command unit, but like me, are not a big corporation or industry with an endless supply of cash and lobbyists, then please do two things:

1. Make a list of the fundamental or core issues you truly feel it will take to fix this country. *(this list should not contain anything issue that is specific to "you". It should be something that is applicable to ALL AMERICANS)

2. Contact Barack Obama's campaign and tell them that you will vote for him, but only if Mr. Obama can prove, not just talk about, the facts of how he will enact solutions. He must be able to show support from those who have the power to stalemate him (Congress and Senate).

The reason I have not put this same challenge to John McCain is because he has already made it clear, through words and action, that he believes the current process is at east 90% correct. I think it is much too far of a leap to expect him to change course (some might say again) at this late date.

Thank you from a frustrated fellow AMERICAN.

John McCain in the Land of Oz

2008-09-16T15:36:05Z

The cyclone of Republican campaign spin is carrying the house of political discourse to the Land of Oz, a land richly entertaining because it is nothing at all like our humdrum Kansas reality.

The original straight-talking McCain told people the environmental damage of offshore drilling wouldn't be worth the amount of oil extracted.

But he learned people won't make you Wizard if you don't promise easy answers. So now he lets them yell, "Drill, baby, drill!" even though he knows that any offshore drilling started today would not reduce gas prices until AFTER a baby born today finishes college--and then only by a nickel or so.

As L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz complained, "How can I help being a humbug . . . when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can't be done?" John McCain is a good man--but a bad wizard.

McCain the man knows Governor Sarah Palin never returned the money for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and that she only stopped building it because it might hurt Alaska's ability to get future federal appropriations. McCain the Wizard repeats just enough of the story to create the false illusion that Palin has rejected earmarks in the past.

McCain the man knows Barack Obama voted for age-appropriate sex education to help protect children from sexual predators. McCain the Wizard knows running an ad accusing Obama of promoting "comprehensive sex education" for kindergarteners will scare some people into voting against Obama.

McCain the man knows that Obama had nothing to do with the chain emails and internet postings about Palin that FactCheck.org assesses as "false" and "misleading." McCain the Wizard knows that if he places FactCheck.org's words on top of Obama's photo in an ad, many people will wrongly blame Obama for the rumors.

McCain the man knows that Obama's tax plan cuts taxes overall almost as much as McCain's plan. He knows Obama's plan cuts taxes eight times as much as his own plan for Americans making less than $38,000 (40% of us) and three times as much for the middle 20%. He knows that only those who earn more than $200,000 a year will pay more taxes under Obama's plan. McCain the Wizard can't spin this, so he just denies it and claims the opposite, trusting that people will not search out the facts.

McCain the man knows Obama was not even thinking of Sarah Palin when Obama called McCain's proposals "putting lipstick on a pig." McCain the Wizard demands an apology, even as ABC Nightline airs video of McCain calling Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan "putting lipstick on a pig." Did McCain intend to call Clinton a pig? Did he apologize? PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!

McCain does not have to create all the illusions himself. The Emerald City in Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is beautiful and unique mostly because everyone entering the city must lock green eyeglasses onto their heads. Most conservatives and liberals today eagerly lock on their red or blue eyeglasses.

If you wear the red eyeglasses:
You are unable to perceive any of the detailed proposals behind the mantras of "Hope," "Change," and "Yes, we can!"--but the red eyeglasses also block even the desire for specific definition of the slogans "Country First" and "Service."

Obama's ability to thoughtfully assess our nation's problems and craft a motivating speech is trivial; Palin's punchy delivery of a speech written by others before she was selected shows leadership.

Obama's pastor cursing the U. S. for its racism is unforgiveable; Palin's pastor saying the U. S. will not escape God's punishment is understandable.

Obama's not wearing a flag pin all the time proves his lack of true patriotism; Sarah Palin's speaking to the convention of the Alaskan Independence Party (whose primary goal is to lobby for a vote on secession from the U. S.) of which her husband was a seven-year member shows her open-mindedness.

McCain's original refusal to fall in line with right-wing orthodoxy on issues like permanent tax cuts for the rich, torture, immigration reform and offshore drilling is deeply disturbing, but when he concedes to pressure and GIVES UP these independent positions, you hail him as "OUR (tamed) maverick."

If you wear the red eyeglasses, Cindy McCain is a generous crusader for the good, but Teresa Heinz Kerry is an elitist heiress. If you wear blue eyeglasses, reverse that.

Voters will have to decide if they are going to demand impossible things of their leaders, if they enjoy being told diverting and comforting election-time stories, or if they want to come home to Kansas. In Baum's book, Dorothy decides she "was glad she had not gone up in a balloon;" it would have been a mistake to leave the ground with an untrustworthy guide. Dorothy learned to use her own power to solve her problems. If we want to be free and powerful, we will unlock our red and our blue eyeglasses, pull back the curtain, and see what's really there.

Drill, Drill, Drill the American People

2008-09-14T16:42:06Z

Its pretty obvious the recent run up of gasoline prices had less to do with supply shortages and more to do with driving up the cost of oil. So why do we hear from the oil companies that they need to drill immediately in ANWR and the continental shelf to ensure the shortages that don't exist won't continue. Why do we hear the republicans demanding that we drill now when it's common knowledge that it will take several years before any drilling can actually take place in areas currently not leased by the drilling companies? Why do we see the Democrats capitulating on the issue when the cornerstone of the Democrats energy plan is to wean ourselves from fossil fuels?

]]> The answer to these questions is Greed and Ignorance, greed on the part of the oil companies and their lapdogs in the federal government and ignorance on the part of the American people. Now I can understand the oil companies' actions and their sense of urgency but I don't understand the American people and their insistence upon shooting themselves in the foot. I feel the pain of $4.25 gas and the corresponding inflation in the prices of most goods and services as much as most Americans. But there has to come a time where we as citizens must toughen up and make the necessary changes to cope with the nations energy problems, not complain and whine as if we can't stand the pain. We must pull together as a country and do the right thing for ourselves for a change. We must demand a fair shake from the oil companies for the natural resources that belong to the American people.

We must make substantial changes to current laws before we give up the rights to natural resources such as oil and natural gas on lands leased to drilling companies. We need to change existing law to allow the federal government to collect the appropriate amount of royalties in lieu of being under paid by the oil companies. In light of record profits we need to take away the corporate welfare known as incentives as well as tax breaks for oil companies drilling on federal land. We need to increase the fees for oil and natural gas that is harvested from the leases. We need to put some teeth into enforcement and oversight of the leases if the recent sex and corruption scandal in is any indication. It is time to hold the CEO's of these oil companies not just financially responsible but morally and ethically responsible for the conduct of the companies they lead as well as holding our public officials and employees to a much higher standard. We need to ensure that the companies that drill on public lands are held to high environmental standards while drilling and harvesting oil and natural gas on public lands. We must insist that these companies be financially responsible for environmental problems caused by their operations on these lands and in the oceans.

"Yet there is another compelling reason to oppose the plan: the federal system of offshore leasing has been characterized by gross mismanagement that has allowed big oil companies to avoid paying billions of dollars in royalties. There is no reason to doubt that an expansion of drilling leases would bring more of the same."

After all it's our natural resources the oil companies want to put on the world market, and then charge US consumers $4 a gallon (while raking in record profits), not theirs and we as owners of these natural resources should expect more return on our natural resources.

When these conditions are meant then we need to lift the moratorium on ANWR and the continental shelf. Then and only then should we allow our government to lease any additional areas for drilling by the oil companies.

To hear what the has to say on the subject.

Submitted by j2j2
J2t2@q.com

Some of Ray's Brief Dictionary of Political Buzz Words

2008-09-09T03:59:58Z

Bush (Bŭsh΄) Adjective. Democratic meanings: See Failure. 1.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as incompetent. 2.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as dishonest. 3.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as Nazi. 4.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as President. 5.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as stupid. 6.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as chicken hawk. 7.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as idiot, dry drunk, gun slingin, no account, failure. 8.) Filthy four letter word, loosely translated as King George the Incompetent. 9.) Filthy four letter word... period. Republican meanings: 1.) Simple, revered, bold, courageous - misunderstood, innocent, slandered, moral - wise, flawless, patriotic, straight forward, common sensical underdog. The Republicans are a naïve lot.

Estate Tax (Ĕstāt΄ Tăx) noun. 1.) The fair tax levied against the rich for the explicit purpose of leveling the playing field from one generation to the next and preventing the establishment of virtual Royalty in the United States of America. As in: America is the land of opportunity and someone who has the privilege of becoming rich should pay an estate tax, thereby donating much of their riches back to the public good when they die, and allow their children to become rich the old fashioned way - by working for it.

Ethics (Ĕth-ēēks΄) Adjective. 1.) An archaic term describing something that has not existed in the Whitehouse for over fifty years. 2.) A class that President George Bush the Second has ordered taught, in order to restore honor and dignity to the Royal Court... er... um... Whitehouse... 3.) Core traditional Republican values. 4.) Core traditional Democratic values. 5.) Doing "not just what is legal" but "doing what is right". 6.) The types of political processes used by President George Bush to advance the administration's agenda. As in: We got values - you see. 7.) The opposite of Karl Rove. 8.) The opposite of Dick Cheney. 9.) The opposite of... Oh... you get the point.

Extremist (Ĕx-trēm΄-ǐstss) noun. 1.) The other guy. 2.) Republican. 3.) Democrat. 4.) Pat Robertson. 5.) Dick Cheney. 6.) Donald Rumsfeld. 7.)Osama bin Laden 8.) Me.

Fag (Făg) See Karl Rove Adjective. 1.) A derogatory term used by homo-phobes (see Republican) to describe Godless hordes of homosexual men (see Democrat) that threaten to overwhelm the American way of life (see missionary position).

Faith (Fāth) noun. 1.) Belief in things unseen, but known in one's deepest core. As in: I have faith that the Bush Regime is lying to the American people. 2.) The idea that George Bush will not abuse the awesome power of warrantless wiretaps and the Unitary Executive to subvert The Constitution of the United States of America. 3.) The idea that some future President will not abuse the awesome power of warrantless wiretaps and the Unitary Executive to subvert The Constitution of the United States of America, if George the Second gets away with consolidating that much illegal, unbalanced, unchecked, unconstitutional power in the office of the Presidency. 4.) The belief by neo-cons that George the Incompetent is above the law. 5.) The blind belief that Dick Cheney will not shoot you, if you go hunting pet birds with him, after he has been drinking. 6.) The cute, naive, innocent quaint, and blind belief by neo-cons that creating a democracy in a country full of people that hate us will produce a country that loves us. 7.) A comforting belief to have when your life is passing before your eyes after Dick Cheney has shot you in the face and heart. 8.) The idea that electronic voting machines with no paper trails are actually posting your vote in the same way that you cast it. 9.) A comforting, uplifting, meaningful belief in God. 10.) A religion that turns its rigid fundamentalist dogma into a craven image of God. See Pat Robertson. See Osama bin Laden. 11.) The neo-con idea that you can force somebody to be free.

Faith Based (Fāth Bās-dŭ) noun. 1.) A belief that does not make any sense and therefore must be taken on faith. 2.) The antonym of fact based. 3.) The Republican agenda. 4.) A belief, program, or initiative based on religion.5.) Attempting to base one's life on one's understanding of God's will.

Fatwa (Făt΄-wă) noun. 1.) Osama's ravings. 2.) The opinion of an Islamic leader. 3.) A rational for killing innocent people. 4.) An order for warrantless wiretaps. 5.) An excuse to subvert The Constitition of the United States of America 6.) Republican, for the ravings of Godless hordes of non-Christians. 7.) Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of a democratically elected foreign leader while he has a mass murdering dictator as a business partner.

Polls

2008-09-07T08:53:19Z

The most accurate polls available take into account the draw of votes by the other two candidates for President, Bob Barr, and Ralph Nader. Here are the latest results from differing organizations since Mid-August to 9/03/08:

Average 08/15 - 09/03 Obama by 3.8%

Democracy Corps (D) 09/01 - 09/03 Obama by 5%

CNN 08/29 - 08/31 Obama by 2%

ABC News/Wash Post 08/19 - 08/22 Obama by 6%

NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl 08/15 - 08/18 Obama by 5%

LA Times/Bloomberg 08/15 - 08/18 Obama by 1%

Sarah Palin National Debut

2008-09-04T21:37:44Z

I was very moved and impressed with Gov. Palin's speech at the Convention this evening. WoW! A mom of five, and wife to a hard working man she still refers to as "her guy". It was moving for the thousands in the Convention hall. She spent a good deal of her speech talking about her family being just a regular American family with its ups and downs. It was brilliant because it disarmed the mud being slung at her over her daughter's pregnancy and seeking office with a special needs child.

]]> I did not hear a lot of plans or issues discussed, but, then it will be President McCain who will be setting that agenda, not her. So, that was appropriate. She did deliver what was expected in the way of using the Obama/Biden weaknesses in her address, demonstrating she can play hard ball with the best of them. Very impressive.

And her statement about rural towns like the one she was mayor of, and guns and religion brought the house down. She knows how to reach out to Republicans, and that she did. I am now convinced that Palin adds a great deal to Sen. McCain's bid for the presidency. She will reach American women and moms in a way that Giuiliani, Lieberman, and Romney could not.

I'd read that Obama's poll numbers had gone up since his speech. I think Gov. Palin will do the same for McCain's numbers this next week. I hope so. America needs regular folks with families to govern with American families in mind. Gov. Palin said she would be an advocate for families with special needs when she is in the White House. I don't think anyone can argue with that. She was impressive.

Young Republican Bloggers

2008-08-30T16:45:12Z

I would like to invite any other young (16 to 30 year old) voters to get involved in blogging. I am new to blogging, and I a not that great a writer. But, my Mom got me a word processor and it corrects my spelling and grammar mistakes, so I can concentrate on saying what I want to say.

When I am done writing, I just copy and paste what I wrote on to a blog like this one at Poliwatch.

We Republicans have to get our voices out there. But, more importantly, we young Republicans have a real stake in the future of our country as we are going to live here for another 6 to 8 decades. We need to make our voices heard. Our voices are somewhat different than older Republicans who vote and forget about it.

We have a real stake in demanding a halt to deficit spending by Republicans and Democrats. We have a real stake in electing young Republicans who won't commit the errors of the Republicans who lost the elections in 2006 due to acting more like Democrats than even Democrats on some things like government spending and deficits and debt.

We young Republicans are going to be paying off those debts our of our own paychecks. We have to insure that Republicans who stand for fiscal responsibility and limited budgets and limited government intrusion into our personal lives, retake those principles for our Party and make them credible again. It is up to us. No one else is going to do this for us.

Become a young political blogger. You can sign up here and learn the tips and tricks right here. This is what attracted me to PoliWatch. Not only does PoliWatch offer side by side comparisons of different political views, but the managers here will help you and me learn the ropes and become effective bloggers. I have yet to find another blog on the internet that provides us young people this opportunity.

I hope you will take this opportunity as I have and promote a credible Republican Party for our future. The people here at Poliwatch will help anyone with a good head on their shoulders regardless of what party they belong to. Take advantage, its free. Take control, it is our country too and our future.

What is a Voter to do?

2008-08-21T03:20:06Z

Voters in America by landslide majorities disapprove of how their government is being run. What is such a voter to do? Well there are three options, but, only one makes any logical sense if the goal is to improve how government is run.

The first is option is to kick the dirt in disgust and stay home on election day.

The second option is to go vote for the same politician you did last time and the time before that. You know, that same politician who, along with his/her fellow politicians, are responsible for this government being run the way it is.

The third option, and the only one that makes any logical sense, is to vote, and this time vote for the challenger, even if you have to hold your nose to do it. Why does this make sense? Because if the average reelection rate for U.S. Congress drops from around 92% to 60%, the majority of politicians will develop a new found respect for the voters who just might kick their butt out next time around.

Politicians won't improve government unless we voters improve our sense of responsibility for electing and UNelecting them.

David R. Remer
Vote Out Incumbents Democracy

Fancy Comments (HTML)

2008-08-19T17:55:28Z

The day is coming when blogs will have menus for fancying up text in your comments on a blog. But, for 99% of blogs, that day is not here, yet. In the mean time, there are some simple codes one can use to give comments some zip and clarity for readers. Below are the most common and effectively used HTML codes:

]]> To make text bold, italicized, or underlined as below, use the tags which follow:
bold italicize underline
bold italicize underline
Note: underlining is NOT recommended on a webpage as it is reserved for hot links to other places

Also, these can be used together: bold italics
bold italics

Note the order! First tag used in front, is the last tag used to close.

To insert an internet address making your text a hot link - Taft College Distance Learning Home

"http://www.taftcollege.edu/dl/index.html">Taft
College Distance Learning Home

Do not forget that closing tag when hot linking a URL or internet address.

To start a paragraph section use

Paragraph of stuff

To force a line break within a paragraph use

To use a horizontal line to break up sections

BlockQuotes. To quote someone else's text so that it is indented from your own text, use the blockquote tags.

This text is blockquoted.

This text is blockquoted

Elements of Political Blogging

2008-08-18T23:07:39Z

Effective political blogging includes a number of features. While not all of these are included in every blogging article, you will find them liberally used by the best of the best in political blogging circles. This article will provide the very basic elements to effective political blogging.

The Elements

Title. The title is crucial to effective blogging or writing of anykind. It is the first thing the public sees, and a great many will decide whether or not to read further depending on what that title says.

Make is Short, Make it Simple! Make it Hot!

Four to seven words is ample for almost any political blogging article. Research has shown that web site surfers are scanners. They scan a page until their eyes and brain click on some combination of words that piques their interest. The normal brain process only a few words in a single scan. Therefore, Make it Short.

For the same reason, brain scanning capacity, you want to make the title Simple! Simple and easily recognizable words easy to process without digging deep into old memory for definitions, are most likely to be processed in a scan of web site page. Therefore, Make it SImple.

Make a title hot by making it current. This week the word Georgia no longer refers to a Southern State next to Alabama or Mississippi, but, to an Eastern European nation which has been invaded yet again, by Russians. Similarly, if the public is all in a tither over education, the economy, or Iraq, those are words that will make you title HOT!

Caution. Avoid tricks. Tricksters mislead the public by including Hot Words in their titles which have little or nothing to do with the content of their actual article. This kind of trick, may get your article a lot of scans, but, in the long run, will ruin your potential for creating a following of regular readers.

Introductory Paragraph. Your opening paragraph, on a majority of blogs and web sites, is all the reader sees on a political blog site main page. To read the complete article, the reader typically has to click on a link to the full page article.

Like the Title, this introductory paragraph needs to grab the readers interest and hopefully, leave them wanting to read more. Generally, you will want to use the same rules as for a Title. Short, simple, and hot. But, you also want to give careful attention in this paragraph to which readers this article will be of interest to, and appeal to them in these few sentences.

One of the hardest things for beginning writers to master is how to target an audience. Which, of course, requires first that one define their audience. This may at first appear to be an academic exercise, but, it is far more real world based that one would normally suspect. If you don't define your audience and their needs and wants, you can't possibly fulfill those needs and wants in the body of your article.

Always consider your audiences education and reading level. It is a commonly found sin amongst political bloggers to fail to anticipate the education and reading level of their audience. The use of Wa. D.C. insider acronyms like CBO and GAO, will gloss over a reader's eyes in a heartbeat if those acronyms are not immediately spelled out and given meaning to the reader who may not be familiar with them. Metaphors and analogies must also be carefully selected for commonplace understanding amongst readers. If in doubt, spell it out.

Partisan viewpoint. Let readers know up front whether this article is liberally biased, conservatively biased, or relatively independent of bias. This harkens back to trickster-ism. Fooling your readers into thinking your article is independent oriented only to have them discover that you are pedaling a far right or left agenda, will not grow your readership. If you are writing for Liberal views, then write for Liberals and don't worry about the independents and conservatives. They will peek in on occasion just to keep tabs on the opposition, especially if your readers are quoting your articles as ammunition. Be honest. It is the best policy in the long run.

Links and Sources. Effective political bloggers avoid writing books and doctoral theses through the small L liberal use of hyperlinks to sources where readers can both verify and pursue more in depth information or knowledge on your topic if they are interested. Where and whenever possible, research the internet for web sites providing deeper detail or more authoritative references, and hyperlink to those sources in your article. (A hyperlink is those few words of a different color in a paragraph which readers may click on to go to the source of the information for those words of a different color. (My apologies to the Wizard of Oz.)

Summary Paragraph. If your article takes readers on a twisting path to your conclusions, or provides a lot of details to get there, the summary paragraph is extremely important. Readers can forget what the point of the article was by the time they get to the end of the details.

A good, short, summary paragraph, reminds readers of the point being made, and gives them a yardstick by which they may applaud how well you supported and reached the conclusions you did. It also provides the reader the what they will take away with them when they go to another blog and write, "You know, So and So over at PoliWatch has this great article that proves 'This Gospel' is the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

It is the "This Gospel" which they will take with them and spread around, and "This Gospel" is what you provide them in the summary paragraph. When it comes to web surfers, it is often a case of LIFO (last in, first out). What they read last in your article, is most likely what they will write about first on another blog in spreading the gospel according to YOU.

Incidentals. The blog or web site software takes care of the rest, your name, web site address (URL), date, etc., so that you the blogger, can concentrate on making your point and influencing readers in high and low places to get off their high horse, or, come up to the level of pre-human in their political thinking.

Forgive me for stating the obvious here, but it bears infinite repeating. Spelling and grammar! If your writing is a puzzle, the pieces are missing. 'Nuff Said !

So, in summary, the elements are Title, Intro, Sources, and Summary.

Getting Around PoliWatch

2008-08-18T22:39:37Z

PoliWatch has become a feature rich and nested web site with much to offer by way of links on either our PoliWatch Main Page or our PoliWatch Forum Page.

On the PoliWatch Main Page, there is a menu of places to go for different kinds of information and links on the right side of the screen. As you move from page to page, there will always be a link on the page to take you back to the Main Page.

On the PoliWatch Forum Page, the menu is in the blue header under the red banner. Here again, as you move from page to page within the Forum, there will always be a link on the page to take you back to the Forum Home Page.

The PoliWatch Main Page provides partisan and non-partisan articles by our best and most accomplished political writers. This page also has links to daily mainstream media political news and another Resources page with a slew of links to government, political parties, political research organizations, other political blogs and much more.

The PoliWatch Forum Page contains political articles and comments submitted by our visitors, and a number of links to pages to help visitors who wish, to become published writers here at PoliWatch.

Both of our main pages provide a robust search box for finding keywords in any of the content on that part of the PoliWatch web site.

If you have questions, there is a link to email the manager at PoliWatch, who will respond to your questions as quickly as possible. Thank you for visiting and participating at PoliWatch, where solutions are our main focus.

Sign In vs. Anonymous

2008-08-18T21:52:18Z

In order to halt spammers and cretons from leaving garbage on this public accessible web site, PoliWatch requires everyone who wishes to leave comments or post articles on this site to either Sign In, or provide their name and email address for confirmation before their comment or article submission can be published.

The Sign In option allows frequent visitors to verify their identity once, and from then on, they simply have to click on the Sign In option, and the PW system will automatically sign them in. PoliWatch makes available several options for identity verification, including OpenID and TypeKey. These services will verify your email address, tie it to your ISP address, and from that point forward, you need not enter your name and email on this, or many other sites, anymore. Simply click sign in, and the system automatically logs you in using your ISP address which it also automatically detects.

The Anonymous option is not really anonymous. It simply means that you will be required to enter your name and email address before posting each comment or article, and your comments or articles will not be published until a PW editor has reviewed and approved the comment or article.

Exception: If you check the "Remember Me" box after signing in anonymously, in the future you will only need to enter your name, and our system will fill in the email and optional URL by matching your name and IP address to our database records.

The PW software records ISP addresses with every entry, and thus we have have a way of banning those who would leave garbage on our site, from ever entering anything here again.