deadissue.com

I just wanted to put this up as it is a great explanantion of the problems with the US health care system:

Relentless medical inflation has been attributed to many factors — the aging population, the proliferation of new technologies, poor diet and lack of exercise, the tendency of supply (physicians, hospitals, tests, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and novel treatments) to generate its own demand, excessive litigation and defensive medicine, and tax-favored insurance coverage.

Here is a second opinion. Changing demographics and medical technology pose a cost challenge for every nation’s system, but ours is the outlier. The extreme failure of the United States to contain medical costs results primarily from our unique, pervasive commercialization. The dominance of for-profit insurance and pharmaceutical companies, a new wave of investor-owned specialty hospitals, and profit-maximizing behavior even by nonprofit players raise costs and distort resource allocation. Profits, billing, marketing, and the gratuitous costs of private bureaucracies siphon off $400 billion to $500 billion of the $2.1 trillion spent, but the more serious and less appreciated syndrome is the set of perverse incentives produced by commercial dominance of the system.

Markets are said to optimize efficiencies. But despite widespread belief that competition is the key to cost containment, medicine — with its third-party payers and its partly social mission — does not lend itself to market discipline. Why not?

The private insurance system’s main techniques for holding down costs are practicing risk selection, limiting the services covered, constraining payments to providers, and shifting costs to patients. But given the system’s fragmentation and perverse incentives, much cost-effective care is squeezed out, resources are increasingly allocated in response to profit opportunities rather than medical need, many attainable efficiencies are not achieved, unnecessary medical care is provided for profit, administrative expenses are high, and enormous sums are squandered in efforts to game the system. The result is a blend of overtreatment and undertreatment — and escalating costs. Researchers calculate that between one fifth and one third of medical outlays do nothing to improve health.

The entire article can be seen here

Seems like most of the resources at at the Hillary Clinton campaign have gone into getting David Shuster fired and while that might be an admirable goal she seems to have forgotten to campaign.  At least given todays results in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state and the US virgin Islands, where Obama won the caucuses and primary by large margins a little campaigning on the part of Hillary Clinton might have at least kept them close. 

At the same time  Obama seems to be sharpening his message, at least the speech I heard today on CNN where he explained why he does not favor mandated health care(if you are too broke to pay for insurance, passing a law that says you have to have it is not going to help) and how he intends to help students pay for their college education($4000 dollar credit for every student,  paid back with community service).  While people might disagree with the ideas coming out of the Obama camp, they are still discussing things that are much more relavent than the fate of David Shuster.    

Hillary is right, Shuster is an idiot, but getting him fired is not going to make anyones life better. On the other hand making college available to everyone and giving people access to health care, now that might improve the lives of many Americans.   The fact that the Clinton campaign doesn’t understand this, and no one in the campaign is trying to explain it to their candidate, is why the campaign seems to be going down the toilet.

Agricultural subsidies are supposed to help the “family farm” guess what that is not how it works.

Last year, The New York Times reported that more than half of the food aid purchased in recent years has gone to just four companies and their subsidiaries: Cargill, Bunge, Cal Western Packaging and Archer Daniels Midland. None of the four would comment on their relationship with Food for Peace, but to contract with a program that spent $1.87 billion last year must have its benefits

George Bush of all people is trying to make the aid program more efficient by allowing aid goups to purchaes the food closer to where the famine is occuring thus lowering transportation costs and getting the food to the effected area in a timely manner.

The article
goes on to quote a congressman from one of the welfare recipient states:

Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the highest ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, issued a statement this week questioning the logic of allowing America’s food aid to leave U.S. shores as cash.

“The purchases from U.S. farms benefit our economy,” he said, “as the expenditures circulate through the U.S. economy rather than the European economy or that of other major food exporting nations … I believe making this type of policy change carries the great risk of undercutting congressional support for food aid programs and thereby the ability to provide aid to those in need.”

In other words the only reason we care about people starving is that a few comapanies can make a buck off of it in the US. It seems that members of both parties loath welfare queens when they drive Cadillacs but when they drive tractors the same people stand in line to kiss their ass.

Bill Clinton claims he was defending his in the run-up to the South Carolina primary:

In an interview with a local news station in Maine, Bill Clinton admitted that he’d erred by over-zealously defending Hillary in the run-up to the South Carolina primary. Asked by a reporter if he regretted his perceived attacks on Obama, he replied…

Defending Hillary would have been an attempt to explain her support for the Iraq war, or explaining why she voted for Kyl-Leiberman or trying to defend any of the bad policies she has supported while in the senate. What Bill Clinton did was attack.  Now he regrets it, because it makes it harder for his wife to play the victim card which at this point is the only card she has left to play. I have always been a fan of Bill Clinton and at this point I wish he would go away, I can only imagine how his non-fans are starting to see him.

Kevin Drum writes:

The other thing inside my head that I didn’t expect was that as the results came in, I found myself sort of rooting for Hillary. Why? Buyer’s remorse? Rooting for the underdog? Guilt for having “betrayed” her by voting for Obama? A feeling that although I preferred Obama, I really didn’t want to see Hillary humiliated? I think the last one is it, though I really don’t know. The human mind is a devious little lump of protoplasm, isn’t it?

I think that might be what is keeping Hillary Clinton in the race, no Democrat wants to see her humiliated, and by rejecting her as the nominee, Democrats are in some ways agreeing with the Rush Limbaughs of the world. The best thing for Obama to do is make it clear that Hillary Clinton would have a place in his administration or hint that she would make a good vice president. This way the better candidate can win the nomination without without humiliating Hillary.

I got this from Raw story

Also, writes the LA Times: “According to a bulletin recently posted on Time magazine’s blog, The Page, some senior staff for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign have begun working without pay to save money for the New York senator’s cash-crunched political effort. Those reportedly working without salary include campaign manager and longtime Clinton confidante Patti Solis Doyle.”

the Clinton campaign seems like it is circling the drain, this was a heavily favored candidate, who at this point cannot even raise enough money to pay staffers. It is not just that Hillary Clinton lacks funds what she is really missing is a record of accomplishment, or even a record of being on the right side of an issue. She had 7 years in the senate to accomplsh something or stand up for something. Instead she spent those 7 years enabling George Bush to start unneeded wars and run up huge deficits. Even if she had been a lone voice of reason given her high profile she could have been a big voice, but instead she took what she thought was the safe path.

The only reason I can see to support Hillary Clinton is that she has been the GOP punching bag for almost 20 years, but I think a safe senate seat is enough of a payback for that and the presidency should go to someone who deserves it.

I got this Via firedoglake:

Over 150 nations have signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. It pains me that our great nation has not. But in the autumn of 2006, there was a chance to take a step in the right direction: Senate Amendment No. 4882, an amendment to a Pentagon appropriations bill that would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas.

Senator Obama of Illinois voted IN FAVOR of the ban.

Senator Clinton of New York voted AGAINST the ban.

I don’t see how anyone who claims to be a liberal or a progressive can support Hillary Clinton for president. In some ways it would be better to give Bush another four years than allow someone who while claiming to be a democrat supports and enables every mistake the Bush administration has made. Her judgement while in the senate has been abysmal, she is not ready to be president and she never will be.

Looks like McCain has sewn up the Republican nomination, it also looks like he might make Huckabee his running mate.  If conservative blogs are to be believed in most ways McCain and Huckabee are more liberal than either Obama or Clinton.  Of course if McCain wins say goodbye to Roe v. Wade and hello to a milatary draft.

On the Democratic side it seems like the winner by a slim margin was Obama.  By keeping it close in the number of delagates awarded he is creating a situation where the nominatin will be decided by super delagates, which are basically all the elected officials in the democratic party.  My sense is that most of the elected officials would rather run with Obama at the top of the ticket rather than Clinton.  Then again I also thought the Patriots would trounce the Giants so my pronostication skills are somewhat lacking.

I got this from Polipundit

So what should conservatives do, assuming that nothing changes the apparent McCain vs. Clinton match-up? I’ll vote for Ron Paul if he runs third party. Otherwise, I’ll vote for Hillary. Better to come back with a conservative candidate in 2008 than get behind another RINO. And better to let Hillary take the fall for the coming economic troubles.

I would be tempted to vote for McCain for the same reason if it comes down to a choice between McCain and Hillary, given that with either McCain or Hillary the US can look forward to more wars and a continuation of George Bush’s policies. It would be better to watch McCain go down the tubes and run Obama in 2012. 2008 has potential to be one of the wierdest elections ever where both sides hope to lose. The only people who like their candidates are going to be soccer moms, for Hillary, and cranky war veterans for McCain.

Given the economy is better in Canada anyway maybe it is time to move there.

Thought this was interesting:

A study suggests extreme happiness may be bad for you. Findings: 1) “The highest levels of income, education and political participation were reported not by the most satisfied individuals, but by moderately satisfied individuals.” 2) Extremely happy people “earned significantly less money” and earned lower school grades than moderately happy people. 3) They “may not live as long,” either. Theories: 1) Happiness makes you complacent and kills your drive. 2) It makes you slow to adapt. 3) It makes you too optimistic and insufficiently vigilant about your health. 4) It may overstimulate your cardiovascular system. Researchers’ conclusions: 1) “Happiness may need to be moderated for success.” 2) “Extremely high levels of happiness might not be a desirable goal.” Human Nature’s conclusions: 1) Success may need to be moderated for happiness. 2) Extremely high levels of success might not be a desirable goal.

The entire article can be seen here

Obama won big in South Carolina, tonight.  Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part but the primaries are starting to remind me of a best of 7 NBA series, where one team barely wins their home games and then gets blown out on the road.  Eventually the team that is winning big usaully wins the series. Hillary has eked out a couple of victories but when she has lost she has lost badly.  In Iowa she was third and tonight she was over 20 percentage points behind.

Also, if the Hillary campaign was confident I doubt they would be trying to change the rules to count Florida and Michigan, after agreeing that the results from these states would not count towards the nomination.  Most of the polls have Hillary looking good for super tuesday but given some of her campaign behaviors maybe  her people know something the rest of us don’t.

As it is now it barely rates a blip:

A teenage passenger was detained after a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles landed in Nashville, an airline spokeswoman said Thursday.

Nashville television stations, citing unnamed sources, said the teen unsuccessfully tried to hijack the plane to Lafayette, La., and crash it into a building where a “Hannah Montana” concert was to be performed.

The entire article can be seen here

Starbucks is lowering prices in an effort to get people to drink their swill. 

NEW YORK (dpa) – The U.S. coffee-shop chain Starbucks is experimenting with cheap coffee, in an effort to fend off competition from rivals like McDonald’s.

In some shops around Seattle, where the world’s largest coffee-shop chain got its start, Starbucks was offering coffee for $1, a company spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.

The shops were also offering free refills for a series of expensive drinks.

One of the things I miss about traveling in the east, our Dunkin Donuts and real Dunkin Donuts coffee. Starbucks coffee tastes like it was left over from the previous day. I wonder if everyone will run to Starbucks with their tax rebate checks to buy expensive burnt coffee? I guess that will be the true test of the economic stimulus plan.

According to Hillary she has no flaws, at least no real flaws, as Dan Abrams recently noticed:

When the Democratic candidates were asked at Tuesday’s debate, “What is your biggest weakness?” Obama answered, “I ask my staff never to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it, because I will lose it. … I need to have good people in place who can make sure that systems run.”

In Hillary Clinton’s hands, this self-description has been twisted into an acknowledgment of Bush-like incompetence. “Senator Obama said yesterday that he didn’t intend to try to manage or run the government, that he was going to have advisers to do that,” Clinton charged. “That is very reminiscent of what we’ve had for the last seven years. I intend to run the government.”

“Come on,” Abrams chortled. “Contrast that with the self-promotional so-called ‘weaknesses’ that Clinton and John Edwards offered up smothered in spin.” He then played video of Clinton saying “I get impatient” in response to the same question and Edwards offering, “I sometimes have a very powerful emotional response to pain that I see around me.”

“Gosh! That must have been so hard for him to admit that,” commented Abrams.

Hasn’t this been part of the problem with George Bush? He is unable to admit a mistake and certainly unable to learn from one, the country does not need another “perfect president”. By the way I am giving Edwards a pass as he does not seem to be a viable candidate so it is a waste of time to talk about why he might have the same problem as Hillary.

The whole article can be seen here

In Las Vegas Hillary Clinton is talking about how good she has been to the gambling industry, while at the same time bringing up that Obama has in fact tried to limit gambling in some states.

Barack Obama has warned about the dangers of gambling — that it carries a “moral and social cost” that could “devastate” poor communities. As a state senator in Illinois, he at times opposed plans to expand gambling, worrying that it could be especially harmful to low-income people.
Today, those views are posing a problem for Obama in the gambling mecca of Nevada, which holds its presidential nominating caucuses Saturday. While his top rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also talks often about aiding low-income Americans, she has embraced the gambling industry and its executives, and her campaign has used Obama’s past statements in an effort to turn casino workers and other Nevada voters against him.

From the LA times via talking points memo
In an effort to get votes and donations from industry leaders Hillary ignores the fact that gambling does cause problems for some people. That doesn’t mean gambling should be illegal in all states but it does mean that the gambling industry should be reighned in occassionally, just like alcohol and other products that have the potential for abuse. Hillary, by trying to make Obama’s comments about gambling an issue will have a hard time later, if she does get elected, controlling the industry. Anyone who wants to put up a casino will accuse Hillary of “flip-flopping” if she in any way tries to stand in the way of the casino. Given the way she is pandering to the gambling industry I doubt she would try to stop any casinos anyway. The point being that Hillary seems to think that industry is always right even in cases where their are genuine social costs to that industry and if that is what you want from your party the Republicans are very good at letting industries regulate themselves. Maybe Hillary should switch parties as I hear the Republicans are having a hard time choosing a candidate.

If this was happening in a third world country you would just shake your head and say no wonder they are the third world. 

This is certainly the nastiest line we’ve heard in the push polls going out to about a million South Carolinians. Respondents who say that they’re supporting John McCain are told “Fact: McCain voted to allow scientific experiments to be done on unborn children.”

unfortunately it is South Carolina, the thiird world of the US
See the entire article here

My picks are:

Indy beats the San Diego easily, it will be nice to see the smirk wiped off the face of Rivers.

New England wins.

Green Bay wins.

The only chance I see for an upset is the Giants over Dallas.  TO seems overdue for a meltdown and maybe today is the day.

By playing the victim card Hillary Clinton has made it very difficult to talk about her record in the senate,where she has been on the wrong side of every major issue since 2000.  In fact some people might argue that all she has done while in the senate is prepare for a presidential run. If anyone points that out they are obviously just a Clinton Hater, the real issue in 2008 is not Iraq or healthcare it is how do right a past wrong; and who has been more wronged in the past than Hillary?
If Democrats are not careful the Democratic primary iwill degenerate into a contest of who has been treated worse, women or African americans and whoever wins this victim olympics will be completely tarnished for the general election. The real victims are the American people.

(by Dorothy Thompson for Harper’s in August of 1941) – – – It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times–in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.

It is preposterous to think that they are divided by any racial characteristics. Germans may be more susceptible to Nazism than most people, but I doubt it. Jews are barred out, but it is an arbitrary ruling. I know lots of Jews who are born Nazis and many others who would heil Hitler tomorrow morning if given a chance. There are Jews who have repudiated their own ancestors in order to become “Honorary Aryans and Nazis”; there are full-blooded Jews who have enthusiastically entered Hitler’s secret service. Nazism has nothing to do with race and nationality. It appeals to a certain type of mind.

It is also, to an immense extent, the disease of a generation–the
generation which was either young or unborn at the end of the last war. This is as true of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Americans as of Germans. It is the disease of the so-called “lost generation.”

Sometimes I think there are direct biological factors at work–a type of education, feeding, and physical training which has produced a new kind of human being with an imbalance in his nature. He has been fed vitamins and filled with energies that are beyond the capacity of his intellect to discipline. He has been treated to forms of education which have released him from inhibitions. His body is vigorous. His mind is childish. His soul has been almost completely neglected.

At any rate, let us look round the room. Continue reading →

Jay-Z on Letterman – SICK

The people of Iowa have spoken and they like Huckabee and Obama.  Aside from being the most likeable people in the race they are also two of the more dovish candidates. 

 Obama has made it pretty clear that he thinks the Iraq war was a mistake and it is hard to see him getting the US into another ill-advised war.  Hilary on the other hand supported the Kyle-Lieberman amendment which defined Irans revolutionary guard as a terrorist orginization and would have given cover to Bush had he decided to “liberate” Iran.  I know for me that was the deal breaker with Hillary Clinton, I can undrstand why she voted for the Iraq war, it would have been political suicide to have voted against it.  The Kyle-Lieberman amendmant was different she could have apposed it and the fact that she didn’t makes me think she agrees with Lieberman and all the rest of the neo-cons that the only way for the US to survive is through converting the world to democracy at gunpint.

With all that said Obama was also the best candidate he seems to bring optimism and hope where his rivals seemed to bring a lot of weary cynism.

On the Republican side Huckabee is a complete nut job, but he does seem like the most sincere of the republican candidates.  It is also worth mentioning that aside from McCaine(or Liebercaine as some might call him or maybe it) he is the most supportive of immigration, which makes me think immigration is a losing issue even among Republicans.

Prescriptions for pain killers are on the rise, especially if you happen to be white.

The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.

The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.

Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors’ suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.

The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.
The study’s authors said doctors may be less likely to see signs of painkiller abuse in white patients, or they may be undertreating pain in minority patients.

Awhile back I had surgery for a torn Miniscus, I didn’t have any pain but I was given a painkiller, I am sure my insurance company was charged for the pills and in fact I was directed to take them as a preventative measure.  Pain management seems to be another one of those places where doctors could perhaps listen to their patients and perhaps avoid unneeded prescriptions and perhaps prevent drug addiction.

The entire article can be found here