yes, i was up between 3-5AM to watch the debates live. cuz, u know, its just not the same to watch the recording on cnn or youtube or wherever, cuz then you're not among the first to hear/see the action. it aint so fresh n clean no more. so i made sure to get it fresh from the source at the time of production, or something like that.
-- in my post below, i ripped a bit on mccain's health care plans, cuz i dont think it should be deregulated or privatized. to be fair, though, i do believe that health care has become a huge overhead cost for businesses and the ones that suffer the most are usually small to medium sized businesses. so something has to be done to reform this. something other than privatization. this brings me to my criticism of b-obama's healthcare plan as well. this criticism is actually about his tax plan, but over the past few weeks, b-obama has been trying to link his tax plan directly to healthcare, so i will endulge. b-obama wants to provide a tax cut for something like 95% of americans, he says, people making under $200,000. thats great. now, the problem lies in the fact that he also wants to use a similar threshold for small businesses. he claimed in the debate that this will only affect a "few" businesses as most small businesses make under $250,000 in revenue. as a firm believer that small and medium size businesses are the buffer and core of economies i disagree strongly with this. i hope someone smart tells b-obama that there are quite a bit more than a few businesses considered small to medium sized that make more than $250,000/yr in revenue. businesses with revenues of $2mil, $3mil, even upwards of $25mil are often considered small to medium sized. any economy needs to encourage these businesses and not stymy them with taxes. the healthcare part in this comes in the fact that more and more of these businesses are going under because of the evergrowing, sky-rocketing costs of healthcare. taxing individuals that make a certain amount is fine. taxing businesses that are at the core of economic growth at the same level as individuals, i dont think is wise. not knowing too much about the tax code or even healthcare, i would suggest that there be a tax code with threshholds for indiduals which is distinct from the thresholds for businesses. it only makes sense. at least in my head.
-- another problem i had with b-obama is he was given a golden opportunity to live up to his rhetoric as i mentioned in the post below: "to tell americans the hard truth, what they need to hear, and not just what they want to hear." The moderator asked both candidates if they are ready to admit to the public that things will get muh worse before they get better. americans aren't stupid. well at least most of them. or maybe just some of them. but regardless, smart people know that the economic "down-turn" in the US has not yet reached rock bottom and it's bound to go down before it rebounds. neither was man enough to say that, but simply begged the question with some lame response of something like we can skip the worst of it and the good ole days are not too far out in the future.
-- I enjoyed mccain pointing to b-obama and proclaiming him as "that one". bring a bit of debating back to debates. US debates in the last several cycles have seriously watered down the idea of debating. i enjoyed when b-obama used the age-old trick of using the opponents words against him ("...Well, you know, Sen. McCain, in the last debate and today, again, suggested that I don't understand. It's true. There are some things I don't understand.I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us.That was Sen. McCain's judgment and it was the wrong judgment.When Sen. McCain was cheerleading the president to go into Iraq, he suggested it was going to be quick and easy, we'd be greeted as liberators.That was the wrong judgment, and it's been costly to us..."). simply brilliant. thats debating.
-- finally, moving away from the US a bit, there are now rumors (pretty substantial ones) of a breakaway party forming in SA to provide an alternative to the ANC. I sincerely hope it gathers strength and is formed on a basis of more than just anger and greed. cuz it'd be nice to talk about meaningful debate in the run-up to SA elections, rather than this "the prez is already decided 2 yrs in advance" business...
chin chin.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
election rant - 1mth/7mths to go
the US election is less than 30 days away, the SA elections are about 7 months away, and we are full fledged in the midst of "silly season" in politics, as b-obama calls it. in fairness, it's hardly never silly season in politics. so in that light i think i just wanna offer a few thoughts, mostly on the us elections.
1st, apparently guilty-by-association is back, with sarah palin (who now reads the nyt) accusing obama of palling (nice choice of words) with terrorists. since they dont seem to be winning on substance, the idea is to convince americans that b-obama is not who he really says he is; that his character should be questioned and not trusted; that he's "not like us". by that, i can only assume they either mean that he is an alien, or that he's black.hmm, maybe both. and i dunno if you've heard, but u know, u can't trust those blackies. they go to churches where the pastor decries the government's treatment of minorities and the poor state of poor people in poor slums. not only that, he's also an elitist. cuz, u know, he's educated, and likes to eat healthy, and can actually put nouns and verbs and adjectives together to make a sensible sentence (take note gov), and plays basketball (wait...oops, thats not the elitist argument, thats the blackie argument)... maureen dowd from the nyt put the elitist argument nicely:
"We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?"
I would suggest that that happened around the time that g-dubbs convinced everyone that nuclear was pronounced nu-cu-lar. which brings me to the scariest thought. i'm almost sure that mccain-palin will win this election now. why? listen to the way she pronounces nu-cu-lar...she's obviously learned the lesson to winning US elections.
2nd, this 700billion dollar bailout/rescue/screw-u plan that was just passed. 700billion. i can type that and not feel anything, cuz i seriously have no idea what that kind of money feels like or looks like or means. btw, 700billion is twice the GDP of south africa, and then some. to be sure, i was actually in favor of this plan; something had to be done to save the essential institutions of the nation. but, this only confirms by skepticism of gov'ts when they claim they have no money for x, y, or z program. if its enough of a priority, you have the means. esp in the US where you can just print money apparently and it has little short term effects. who cares about long term, thats for our children to deal with... this is also a problem that, for some reason, the sa govt has been able to convince people here about. "oh, ARV's are much too expensive, these western firms just need to lower their prices." or in the us: "public education has become too expensive and ineffecient, lets just get rid of it and send everyone (who can afford it) to private schools." stuff it. then, stuff it again. the money is there. prioritize. if the education of your kids are important, u do like many africans do, like my parents did, like my parents' parents did, and you sacrifice other things because it is a priority to ejumacate your kids. if keeping you peeps from dying from HIV, depleting the workforce, or providing affordable healthcare, or improving security, etc are priorities you make it happen. in the words of napoleon dynamite, gosh!
leads me to 3rd...interesting article in the nyt (promise, its not the only newspaper i read) about the difference between b-obama's and mccain's healthcare proposals. my good friend will probably disagree with me on this, cuz he worked for a company that's trying to get people and employers hooked on buying your own healthcare type thing. this is basically mccain's proposal: to allow companies to not provide healthcare for their employees and have people buy healthcare directly from the insurer. hmm, sounds good and will be cheaper for people like me, who so far (knock on wood) rarely go to the doctor and are not a health care "risk". however, those who are sick often or older or have multiple condictions will find that buying healthcare themselves will be very expensive. market-related bullshit. so, to address this, mccain will give individuals a 2500dollar credit and families 5000 to use to buy (subsidize) healthcare; never mind that the avg health care costs are around $12000 for the avg family. so mccain solves the problem of govt/employer provided and subsidised healthcare and cuts costs, but its dangerous in my view to leave sick people without the healthcare they need. what the hell is the role of government if its not to protect citizens, keep them alive, and keep them healthy. this nyt article concludes:
"I agree: the McCain plan would do for health care what deregulation has done for banking. And I’m terrified."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/opinion/06krugman.html?ref=opinion
btw, i have these same issues with the sa govt. they are just now getting serious about combating HIV and now there is a new Health minister that seems to have real plans other than eating herbs and taking showers to cure HIV. there is still no evidence that crime is seen as a real problem and is attacked head on on multiple fronts (this includes police salaries, the judicial system and process, and possibly the adoption of the death penalty). education still ranks ridiculously low in terms of priorities in my view. it also doesnt help that the govt heaps out money (not enough but ok) for education and for the past few years, the dept ends the year with millions left over. what do you they think think theyre running? an exxonmobil? a govt dept's responsibility is not to produce a profit at the end of the yr, its to spend all you have and even what you dont have and request more. but spend it wisely. currently the sa govt in terms of education is not spending nor is it spending wisely.
so far, i've ranted on and on for a while. i am, in spite of all, still an optimist and i am waiting to see president b-obama, for example, live up to his promise to "tell americans what they need to hear and not what they want to hear". so get rid of your gas guzzlers, petrol price will now be $10/gallon, because without that there will never be an incentive to invest in renewable energy- type thing. i'm looking forward to continued progress in sa as far as infrastructure, job creation, and investment in education (from early childhood on). and of course, i'm looking forward to the first world cup on african soil. people, esp white south africans, are too quick to lament to plight of sa and then pack up as quick as humanly possible to head to their paradise, aka australia. me thinks thats just silly. understandable in some cases, but silly. the glass is still half-full for sa. they just need more kicks in the rear (a strong opposition party, maybe...). as a SA newspaper put it this weekend, in 20 years, ill be proud to tell my kids that, yes, i was there.
random post #2345609: in case anyone was wondering, i had another terrific weekend (hopefully thats the case for a loong while) and for all those that often describe me as a perfect specimen (which is pretty much everyone), i would like to let you know that you were/ are...absolutely correct. i got confirmation by a very reliable and credible source this weekend that theres hardly anything wrong with me (except for one minor "thing" which of course will be dealt with in time). i would simply like to affirm all of you who believed in my perfection even when i didnt. watd'yaknow, u were right all this time!
1st, apparently guilty-by-association is back, with sarah palin (who now reads the nyt) accusing obama of palling (nice choice of words) with terrorists. since they dont seem to be winning on substance, the idea is to convince americans that b-obama is not who he really says he is; that his character should be questioned and not trusted; that he's "not like us". by that, i can only assume they either mean that he is an alien, or that he's black.hmm, maybe both. and i dunno if you've heard, but u know, u can't trust those blackies. they go to churches where the pastor decries the government's treatment of minorities and the poor state of poor people in poor slums. not only that, he's also an elitist. cuz, u know, he's educated, and likes to eat healthy, and can actually put nouns and verbs and adjectives together to make a sensible sentence (take note gov), and plays basketball (wait...oops, thats not the elitist argument, thats the blackie argument)... maureen dowd from the nyt put the elitist argument nicely:
"We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?"
I would suggest that that happened around the time that g-dubbs convinced everyone that nuclear was pronounced nu-cu-lar. which brings me to the scariest thought. i'm almost sure that mccain-palin will win this election now. why? listen to the way she pronounces nu-cu-lar...she's obviously learned the lesson to winning US elections.
2nd, this 700billion dollar bailout/rescue/screw-u plan that was just passed. 700billion. i can type that and not feel anything, cuz i seriously have no idea what that kind of money feels like or looks like or means. btw, 700billion is twice the GDP of south africa, and then some. to be sure, i was actually in favor of this plan; something had to be done to save the essential institutions of the nation. but, this only confirms by skepticism of gov'ts when they claim they have no money for x, y, or z program. if its enough of a priority, you have the means. esp in the US where you can just print money apparently and it has little short term effects. who cares about long term, thats for our children to deal with... this is also a problem that, for some reason, the sa govt has been able to convince people here about. "oh, ARV's are much too expensive, these western firms just need to lower their prices." or in the us: "public education has become too expensive and ineffecient, lets just get rid of it and send everyone (who can afford it) to private schools." stuff it. then, stuff it again. the money is there. prioritize. if the education of your kids are important, u do like many africans do, like my parents did, like my parents' parents did, and you sacrifice other things because it is a priority to ejumacate your kids. if keeping you peeps from dying from HIV, depleting the workforce, or providing affordable healthcare, or improving security, etc are priorities you make it happen. in the words of napoleon dynamite, gosh!
leads me to 3rd...interesting article in the nyt (promise, its not the only newspaper i read) about the difference between b-obama's and mccain's healthcare proposals. my good friend will probably disagree with me on this, cuz he worked for a company that's trying to get people and employers hooked on buying your own healthcare type thing. this is basically mccain's proposal: to allow companies to not provide healthcare for their employees and have people buy healthcare directly from the insurer. hmm, sounds good and will be cheaper for people like me, who so far (knock on wood) rarely go to the doctor and are not a health care "risk". however, those who are sick often or older or have multiple condictions will find that buying healthcare themselves will be very expensive. market-related bullshit. so, to address this, mccain will give individuals a 2500dollar credit and families 5000 to use to buy (subsidize) healthcare; never mind that the avg health care costs are around $12000 for the avg family. so mccain solves the problem of govt/employer provided and subsidised healthcare and cuts costs, but its dangerous in my view to leave sick people without the healthcare they need. what the hell is the role of government if its not to protect citizens, keep them alive, and keep them healthy. this nyt article concludes:
"I agree: the McCain plan would do for health care what deregulation has done for banking. And I’m terrified."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/opinion/06krugman.html?ref=opinion
btw, i have these same issues with the sa govt. they are just now getting serious about combating HIV and now there is a new Health minister that seems to have real plans other than eating herbs and taking showers to cure HIV. there is still no evidence that crime is seen as a real problem and is attacked head on on multiple fronts (this includes police salaries, the judicial system and process, and possibly the adoption of the death penalty). education still ranks ridiculously low in terms of priorities in my view. it also doesnt help that the govt heaps out money (not enough but ok) for education and for the past few years, the dept ends the year with millions left over. what do you they think think theyre running? an exxonmobil? a govt dept's responsibility is not to produce a profit at the end of the yr, its to spend all you have and even what you dont have and request more. but spend it wisely. currently the sa govt in terms of education is not spending nor is it spending wisely.
so far, i've ranted on and on for a while. i am, in spite of all, still an optimist and i am waiting to see president b-obama, for example, live up to his promise to "tell americans what they need to hear and not what they want to hear". so get rid of your gas guzzlers, petrol price will now be $10/gallon, because without that there will never be an incentive to invest in renewable energy- type thing. i'm looking forward to continued progress in sa as far as infrastructure, job creation, and investment in education (from early childhood on). and of course, i'm looking forward to the first world cup on african soil. people, esp white south africans, are too quick to lament to plight of sa and then pack up as quick as humanly possible to head to their paradise, aka australia. me thinks thats just silly. understandable in some cases, but silly. the glass is still half-full for sa. they just need more kicks in the rear (a strong opposition party, maybe...). as a SA newspaper put it this weekend, in 20 years, ill be proud to tell my kids that, yes, i was there.
random post #2345609: in case anyone was wondering, i had another terrific weekend (hopefully thats the case for a loong while) and for all those that often describe me as a perfect specimen (which is pretty much everyone), i would like to let you know that you were/ are...absolutely correct. i got confirmation by a very reliable and credible source this weekend that theres hardly anything wrong with me (except for one minor "thing" which of course will be dealt with in time). i would simply like to affirm all of you who believed in my perfection even when i didnt. watd'yaknow, u were right all this time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)