I have not updated this blog in a long time. Time has been short, as I am really busy at work these days. Moreover, I have not had much to write about. Lately, I have felt that my contribution to the Web 2.0 (or are we at Web 5.0?) were better suited to the 140-characters-or-fewer format of [...]
Posts under ‘News and Politics’
Obama popularity
Lately obama’s approval has been slipping. However, I’m not to worried.
* 25-30% of Americans are in the incredibly shrinking republican base. These are the people convinced bush was a resounding success, Obama wants death panels, etc. If obama walked on water, they say he was afraid to swim, that it was proof of his [...]
Talking Points on Health Care Rationing
I just watched one of the white house videos on health care rationing. I thought it was ok, but could have summed up the key points more succinctly.
Under the current system:
If you lose your job, your health care is rationed.
If you have a pre-existing condition, your health care is rationed.
If your insurance company decides your care has [...]
Obama 100 Days
The press is in a tizzy over the upcoming 100th day of Obama’s administration, so I thought I’d quickly write up my impressions.
As for substance, I’m very happy with everything so far, which isn’t surprising since most everything he has done was promised on the campaign trail — so, of course, it is nice to [...]
Bank Insurance!??! (aka FoC Populism run amok!)
So in addition to the $700 billion bailout for banks, tens of billions each for Citi, Bank of America, and AIG, and trillions of money from the Federal Reserve to god know who, now the US government is talking about giving/loaning $500 billion to the FDIC to shore up its deposit insurance fund.
So let me [...]
Flinty Chicago Toughness
After a dusting of snow canceled schools around DC, Obama mentioned that DCers need to show some flinty, Chicago toughness. Well now it looks like a real snowstorm is headed for DC!
This is his first real test. He can’t blink. He has to show the weather prognosticators and terrorists that he won’t back down; [...]
Stimulus
Here is an interesting article about economic stimulus efforts in Japan. Much of the spending has been for “bridges to nowhere” — projects which increase the national debt, but have relatively little economic value after the construction is complete.
My favorite (well…actually least favorite…) examples of wasteful construction in Japan are tetrapods, the eye sores [...]
Daschle Replacement
So now that Daschle is out…which is probably a good thing from a political/good gov’t/credibility-saver perspective for Obama; but bad for actually getting health care reform accomplished. I had high hopes that Daschle and Obama could get decent legislation moving, but now that hope is gone.
So who can Obama appoint? First, he might [...]
Obama’s Inauguration
I set my alarm to 1:30 a.m. so I could get up to see the inauguration. Although I was watching in the middle of the night from half-way around the world via a grainy internet video stream, it was nonetheless quite moving to see Obama sworn-in as president.
I thought his speech was very good [...]
Bush = Truman: Last Push for Conservo Talking Points!
Now that Bush is fading off into the sunset, his few remaining supporters and some conservatives that want to whitewash the Bush years by saying “history will judge” are putting on their final full-court press that Bush=Truman.
Of course, it may be a comforting notion, despite being rejected by your contemporaries, that history will judge you [...]
sneaky
