where are AMERICAN ideas?

yet another entry on the topic of healthcare in this country. i watched the healthcare summit that was conducted between the dems/president and the repubs about two weeks ago. we heard a lot of talk that day and the days after about all the "ideas" in the legislation: obama's, democratic, republican. but i've yet to hear one word about any AMERICAN ideas in the legislation. yes, the republicans showed up with the ever-present line that "the american people want us to scrap this bill and start over," but that wasn't an idea. and quite frankly, starting over doesn't seem very likely to produce real results in this decade if it is what's done.

also, rep. alexander recommended we do it in small steps because "the federal government just doesn't do big well." that may be true, but if we do it in small steps and still end up with the same end result, we only succeeded in spreading out a process that could've been done at once. beyond that, healthcare reform is kind of like a three-legged stool in that it needs to be done at once to stand or else it'll fall over.

this is it

and i'm not talking about the movie about michael jackson. no, i'm talking about the apparent utter incompetence and disconnect of the california government with the california people. in the midst of massive state worker furloughs, millions of dollars slashed from even vital services in the budget, elements of the legislature are trying to block an 18% cut to their salary set to take effect next month. this is beyond comprehension, and only goes to prove once again the saying that "absolute power corrupts absolutely." considering that many in sacramento have or have had a successful professional career or are married to someone of that caliber, not quite sure what the crying is about. no one seemed to bat an eye when balancing the budget required making virtually every service bleed red ink and furloughs were instated on the state employees, cutting their pay by 10%. that is a very real amount of money being lost from the california, especially since some of the services that received cuts are money makers for the state (e.g. dmv, csu, etc...). my advice to the legislator who had the audacity to even bring up the issue of legality would be to shut up and start shopping at wal-mart, especially since part of the way the legislature "balanced" the budget this year was by cutting money from programs that they had to have known they were not legally able to touch. but anyway, make sure you guys read the article and then contact your legislator to make sure they know how you feel. www.ca.gov will help you get in touch with them.

random thought

so, was sitting here thinking about giving blood (since i did today...you should too if you can) and came upon a roadblock. and it goes something like this: if you were dying (as in within hours) and needed a blood transfusion to live and only matching blood available in time was from someone with hiv, would you take it?

healthcare. again.

so a lot of people seem to be under the impression that if there is a government option for healthcare in the reform, that it would push private insurers out of business with competition. but i find that claim quite dubious, almost actually a downright lie. history has taught us that generally speaking, private business is usually much more efficient than government ever is. so then, need i even ask? oh fine, i will. if a government option pushes private insurance companies out of business, then were they really operating efficiently to begin with? my prediction is that a government option would do two things:
- first of all, it would result in lower premiums as well as more efficient service on the part of private insurance firms so as not to lose customers to the government.
- second, it would always run over it's budget. that's just what tends to happen at the government level.
with that in mind, bring the government healthcare. we'll find out who is there for their members and who is there for wall street.

and side note to congress: trim the bill down a bit. it should be quite simple, really, and definitely needn't be a 1000+ page behemoth. and none of those last-minute trickeries where you have five minutes to read it before the vote either.