Hillary Clinton Received Majority Support in a Recent Poll

A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll indicates that a majority of Americans are likely to vote for Hillary Clinton if she runs in 2008. Hillary has done a nice job of working with both sides in the Senate, no matter how much the right attempts to brand her as a extreme left liberal. Whether she can maintain this support in 2008 has a lot to do with the success of the Republican branding/marketing machine and whether this country is really ready for a female president. I'd like to think gender isn't an issue, but with the way Mrs. Kerry got scrutinized for being too bold, I'm not so sure.

Of course, this is also a likely symptom of Bush's declining popularity. Not that it matters a great deal for him right now. It could, however, harm his party in the next election. Social security continues to plague him, while the death toll is mounting abroad. The right has done a wonderful job in moving America to the right. However, if the deficit continues to climb, the death toll continues to mount, and social security continues to be dealt with in a way that most disapprove of, the move to the right will be short lived.

George W. Bush's Recent Visit

George W. Bush recently visited my old high school, Greece Athena, to promote his struggling social security plan. Needless to say, the town quickly fixed potholes in roads that were to be used, spruced up the school's grounds, and aligned its police force with the secret service. It certainly was a great victory for a high school that has always been strong in the arts but finally opened its own theatre this year. The timing could not have been better.

Then, from there, donors quickly received calls as they were offered tickets to the event that took place in the 1,600-seat theatre. After that, individuals from the public were urged to call a local representative if they were interested, and from there they were hand picked. As a teacher who attended from Athena Middle said, "I've been a good republican, Italian, Catholic my whole life." Those attributes, mixed with her age of 25, made her attractive to the White House. However, the few students who got to attend noted how old the audience was, although not the ones on stage within television's view. Of course, that likely correlates with the fact older folks donate more money on average.

Sadly, students were locked down in their classroom during the entire event. Granted, they got to watch it on closed circuit television. Still, it's too bad we are so paranoid today that they couldn’t even watch the motorcade as it arrived. I'm sure it still added excitement, but I have to believe the educational opportunity was cheapened. Propaganda sessions are commonplace, and with groups like the AARP against him, he is not getting anywhere anyways. It's just too bad most of the students got cut out of the event.

Once the event concluded, Mr. Bush's motorcade was on its way. The roads and expressway were closed, and off they went. Plenty of money was spent, little educational value was added, and the national media paid little attention to his latest stop (23^rd if memory serves me) in front of a friendly non-representative crowd where he pushed his plan. Ah, the joys of politics.

Hybrids and Foreign Oil

Despite price premiums, hybrids have been quite successful in the United States. The Toyota Prius has a significant waiting list, while the Ford Escape has enjoyed strong demand. With technology rapidly improving, the question becomes whether this will help reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil. Oil, of course, plays at least some role in policy efforts.

There is a good article on the topic. While it is certainly a niche now, there are some scenarios that will lead to hybrids helping reduce oil dependency. While this will require a high adoption rate, it is possible. However, as the article points out, people tend to drive more when gas is less expensive. So there is the threat the impact won't be as profound as possible.

Judges and the Filibuster

The filibuster has long been a technique for giving the minority some form of power. Without it, the minority party risks not being heard. When every branch of government is essentially under one party's control, the threat is significant. It stifles debate, and quiets any questioning and reason. That, of course, is dangerous.

That's why proposed steps to allow for a majority vote to prevent a filibuster by Bill Frist, M.D. (he signs his letters to colleagues that way) is concerning. First of all, changing the rules in the middle of the game doesn't seem fair. I'd love to see it happen when my favorite team is down, but sadly that never occurs. It's an issue of integrity and preserving the power of the minority.

Even beyond that, it makes the Democrats role virtually useless unless anyone steps across the line. If the filibuster is essentially eliminated, almost anything can occur without their approval. The positive for Democrats will be they can be blamed for nothing, even though they still will receive blame. The Republicans won't always control the executive and legislative branches, and that's why it isn't in their interest to set this sort of precedent.

Intelligence Fixed to Support the War

There is nothing overly shocking in the war memo revelation, but it's disappointing nonetheless. It just proves what many already believed. It's one thing to spin things in a political campaign, it's another to do so to justify a war. Spin occurs all the time, however, I wish it wasn't from the executive branch of the United States in this situation. Especially from such a supposedly moral administration. In the end, it doesn't matter. The administration continues to be remarkably invulnerable when it comes to criticism. It must be nice.

The NRA Continues to Flex its Political Muscle

It wasn't all that long ago that the NRA enjoyed a significant victory as the assault weapons ban expired. Mr. Bush took the proper political route and just let it expire, however, he justified that by saying it wouldn't pass anyways. Of course, we all know which side the NRA supports, so this comes as little surprise. So, that's fine, weapons that are specifically designed to kill people, as they would otherwise pulzerize animals during hunting, are now legal. I know, people who own square miles of land like to shoot things in their spare time.

Now, in the NRA's latest bold move, they are pushing to allow people to employ "deadly force" in public places. On the surface, it doesn't seem terrible. Self defense already seems to hold its own in certain situations. However, this could get ugly. What if a paranoid gun owner gets spooked and shoots someone in a mall? It was self defense after all! A shooting spree could be justified in a dangerous area, as someone else shot first! You see where this is going.

I know, there's a very active group of one issue voters that strongly support this "constitutional right" (you know, because all gun owners are active in our "well regulated militia"). Guns meant to hunt are one thing. Guns designed to kill people and making it more difficult to prosecute those that kill is another. I suppose the fact that most western nations have a much lower shooting rate has zilch to do with our lax gun rules. Congratulations Florida on being the launching pad, good luck with your already above average deaths via firearms rate.

Local News, National Stories

One of the more interesting trends today is for local news to be picked up at the national level. This isn't to say this is a brand new phenomenon. However, it seems to be occurring at a greater level of intensity. The Terry Schiavo case is an obvious one. While the relationship between the husband and parents may be unique, the actual occurrence is far from new. The runaway bride story is another obvious case.

The obvious question that comes from all of this is what really is newsworthy? In my opinion it's news that has a profound impact on the national or world scene. Perhaps the Schiavo case could have had such an impact with politics being forced into the issue. On my second example, I see no potential impact whatsoever. Needless to say, one can't cover every death due to a person having a feeding tube removed, every runaway bride or groom, or every murder in this country.

In the end, I'm sure ratings are the key driver, with politics coming into play for a few cases. With reality television, it doesn't surprise me that a runaway bride story would catch the nation's fancy. However, if I had my choice, we'd worry about things that really matter. Oh well, I suppose the latest American Idol story is pretty juicy. Not that our interest in stars is anything new.

The Need for Healthcare Reform

With it being Cover the Uninsured Week, this topic seems timely. It is difficult to argue that healthcare isn't one of the United States' most troubled systems. It's driven by the theory that privatized systems are always more efficient. That, of course, is true if you measure efficiency by profitability. Unfortunately, business theory also supports the idea that not all customers are profitable. So, one should only serve customers who are in fact profitable. This, of course, leaves many citizens without healthcare.

There are a number of issues that demand reform. First off, the pharmaceutical industry takes advantage of this country's system. During a three month co-op years back, I spent time working at a pharma firm. It's a European firm, with its most advanced drugs in Europe, and the majority of its profits coming from the United States. Anytime there was a revenue shortfall, they'd hike a simple extended relief drug (that couldn't be copied due to stability issues) 15%. Consequently, insurance companies were paying almost $200 for the convenience of their patients taking the cough drug twice a day. This isn't atypical.

Then, of course, you have the issue of insurance and hospitals. These are often for-profit businesses. Consequently, the markup is significant. Even worse, insurance companies get "quantity discounts" for purchasing healthcare. So, they literally pay a fraction of what an uninsured person would pay. Generally, a quantity discount assumes some sort of added convenience thanks to economies of scale coming into play. Needless to say, the same logic can't work for healthcare. Insurance companies can't preschedule people or allow for greater mass production to lower hospital costs.

So, what this means is that any citizens who happen to fall on bad times by perhaps losing a job will have to pay significantly more for already overpriced healthcare. In fact, a recent USA Today article indicates healthcare pushes around 1 million people into bankruptcy per year. The U.S. spends a greater percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare, while insuring a modest percentage of citizens. With costs spiraling, companies often reduce their plans or see lower profits. This actually makes many European nations more affordable for businesses. Not only does this hurt the nation's people, it hurts the nation's economy also.

The irony is, we have a system that discourages preventive care. If you get issues taken care of early, it prevents a major (and costly) problem down the line. However, the uninsured can't afford to resolve issues early, and later get rushed to the hospital and pinned with a $70,000 bill. Then, they get chased by collectors, although in the end, many simply can't pay. So, this just burdens the system anyways and gets subsidized by the industry. Of course, since the industry marks costs up so much for the uninsured, they do okay anyways.

The sad reality is that I don't see things changing any time soon. There has been some focus on the increasing Medicaid costs, although it doesn't seem to be focused on improving the system. Instead, they seem to be targeting abuse cases that won't have a long-term effect. With socialism being such a bad word, we'll stick with the status quo. I agree, privatized systems work best the majority of the time. Not all people need all products. So the market works its magic. However, in the case of a life and death service, we need some reform. Otherwise, the U.S. will continue to spend more, while having among the shorter average life spans in the western world.