John F. Kennedy
Forty years ago JFK was tragically assassinated in Dallas. The few things I write will be lost amid the tons of things said and viewed this weekend.

He is loved today, probably more because he was assassinated. If he had lived, who knows how he would be remembered? It would most likely depend on our ideological viewpoint. He made some foreign policy mistakes, but he did some things right, too. He boldly set a goal for the space program which became cemented when he died.

We will probably never know exactly how he died or why, which frustrates many. Future generations may find out as the government declassifies documents. Why they are classified mystifies us as we seek answers, turning to multiple investigations and theories.

I was in sixth grade at the time and remember vividly hearing about his death, watching Oswald cut down, the funeral. John Jr's salute. I've seen the Zapruder film umpteen times on TV. I'm none the wiser. It's probably too much to hope for that we will just let him rest in peace. But that is my prayer.

Health Care Revisited
Jenny (jenelou(at)hotmail(dot)com also commented on health care as follows:

"The biggest problem with health care in our country, as I see it, is the fact that too many people are working the middle ground and getting rich. I would rather pay more in taxes and guarantee a solid patient to doctor relationship, than pay higher health care costs to pay lobbyists, HMO bureaucrats and ad agencies. I resent the fact that the cost of veterans' prescriptions have gone up, while our TV's are flooded with commercials touting every drug known. It's a sad state when patients tell their physicians what drugs they want to use, based on slick media campaigns. The only purpose served is increased profit for drug company shareholders. We need to de-politicize and de-commercialize health care. Health care should be a fundamental right, not an option. If it takes an increase in taxes, so be it. Most of the democratic hopefuls have the right idea."

How much in new taxes would we be talking about? Most of the Democratic candidates don't explicitly advocate new taxes in any of their health care plans. Most of the electorate thinks they are taxed enough. Many say that the costs would go down as health care is depoliticized, but no one really knows. One place where I differ with the Democrats is how much their plans are ultimately going to cost. Most want to repeal the Bush tax plan and "give" it back to us in other ways.

Canada is most often named when folks talk about a single-payer system. Common Dreams touts the advantages of Canadian health care, but quotes from The New York Times, "few Canadians would recommend their system as a model for export." There are problems with containing costs, wait times for appointments and test results as well as others.

I do agree however that since a profit can not be made without a patent, beneficial medicines may fall through the cracks. This is one place where the government can give grants as they do for other explorations.

Comments received on Health Care
I've received two comments concerning the entry of Nov 5th on Health care. Since comments tend to be buried here, I thought I'd make an entry so their comments could be on the main page.

First is from Axinar (axinar(at)yahoo(dot)com). He wrote:

"It is a bit of an ethical problem ... and one of the nasty side effects of an open market economy.

"So long as people can get just about as much health care as they need without having to write the checks directly, this will mean a disproportiate number of dollars will be chasing health care vs. say, soybeans.

"It almost seems that health care should be an area taken out of the free market because way too much unethical stuff happens so long as it is part of the free market. For instance plain injected HDL might be quite effective in treating heart disease but no one will ever launch the studies because plain HDL cannot be patented."

Annie (surfgal_annie(at)yahoo(dot)com) also responded to that entry and wrote:

"Raising taxes always seem to be the answer for every new idea the US wants to implement; however, I'm sure this program could have been rolled out successfully with the 87.5 billion loan-free buckaroos we handed over to Iraq and eliminating all the perks our wonderful elected officials receive (i.e. cars)... "

Politics and laughter
A famous saying goes "You can talk about anything but politics and religion." That's because of the strong emotions both seem to bring out of people and because most people think both are private subject matter. But I like to talk about both and I believe we can as long as we agree to disagree agreeably.

I love to laugh and so I like political satire and political cartoons. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Jay Leno's monologue are my favorite places. Saturday Night Live's pieces dealing with politics always cracks me up. "Tough Crowd" is another show that looks at the humorous side of issues. Make no mistake, I seldom agree with their politics, but I'm a great believer in showing human foibles so we can learn and grow.

Having said that, here is a political cartoon site that has a good variety. Whether you're liberal, conservative or anything else, you'll find something here.

Daily Updating Political Cartoons

Fascist/Nazi vs. communist (The Political Spectrum)
Wow! Political spectrum classification is not what it once was. It used to be left center and right with various shades, communism on one extreme, fascism/Naziism on the other. Now several people have come up with double and even triple axis classifications or more! Now i've never been comfortable with the old left/right thing because I didn't think it fit with the facts. But reading about this has really been fascinating. So fascinating that I'm posting some links. For some reason libertarians are doing the most here. Hmmm. Maybe they're uncomfortable with the left/right classification because of where they are perceived to fit?

David Nolan Chart (Libertarian Party)

Jerry Pournelle (chart's near the bottom)

A test by PoliticalCompass - choose "Analysis" to see where the candidates fall according to them

World's Smallest Political Quiz Libertarian party

Federalist Journal Chart (the one I felt was right when I started looking into this

Dean and southerners who fly the confederate flag
First of all, thanks to axinar@yahoo.com for commenting on my last post regarding health care. He makes a good point and it is worth reading.

Now to the topic at hand. Isn't everyone making a little too much out of this? Here is what Governor Dean said:

"I intend to talk about race during this election in the South. The Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us, and I'm going to bring us together. Because you know what? White folks in the South who drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools too." Howard Dean web site

I think the meaning is very straightforward. Unfortunately what was an economic remark turned into a "racial attack" like Dean was supporting racist attitudes. Now I'm not a supporter of Dean, nor do I intend to vote for him, but fair is fair. He was not supporting flying the Confederate flag. He was reaching out to southern whites who have it on their truck.

But, as is too often typical in the American political scene, comments are taken out of context and instead of calm discussion, candidates go for sound bites that can be seen on the evening news and used in commercials. But that is a topic for another day.

Health care (cont.)
To continue with yesterday's thoughts, i researched the Democratic candidates positions on health care. Basically it falls into two groups. Most say they would repeal the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and insure every child in America has health insurance. Two (Moseley-Braun and Kucinich) would go to a single payer system similar to Canada where the Federal government pays for the health care.

While there are some good ideas (or at least seem good to me at the moment) floated, the bill for paying for all of this is what bothers me. A federal program never stays as small as it is when it is begun. Members of Congress have to admend acts with their pet ideas.

The bottom line is all of the ideas would mean higher taxes. Period. If you want health service, you gotta pay for it, one way or the other. The problem is not health care service, among the best in the world, if not the best. The problem is the underlying causes of what drives the price of health care up.

Health care
Is this a no brainer, or what? Everyone wants affordable health care but how do we do it? The Democratic candidates all promise something but i haven't heard too much about how they will pay for it. How do we? Increase taxes? No way. No one is going to advocate that. But that's the only way other than gutting the military. There's no other money available.

11 Nov. 2003
I have no idea where this will go. I consider myself a conservative, but some conservative positions trouble me. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and not quite as fanatic as I once was.

Anyway, I'm gonna use this space to ruminate about things that happen on the world scene. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. If you would like to comment, feel free. They will be posted directly to this site.