Feb
1
Why vote for John McCain?
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We see it quite simply - basically someone who has not only been in the military, but has been in combat, and has seen, first-hand, the horrors of war, will NOT unnecessarily advocate or authorise any military action without thinking it over very very carefully. We think that if John McCain had won the last elections, the USA would not have been embroiled in costly and unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that are, even now, bleeding the blood of young Americans and bleeding dry the coffers of the US Treasury.
Vote John McCain.
Jul
21
The US Senate Finance Committee has approved, voting with an overwhelming majority of 17 to 4, in defiance of a threatened veto by President Bush, a bill to increase the tobacco tax significantly, in order to expand child healthcare. Morever, it appears that most of the Republicans on the Committee joined the Democrats, voting in favour of the bill.
The current legislation for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, expires at the end of September this year.
If passed by Congress, the new bill would entitle another 3.2 million children from low income families to receive state funded health insurance, bringing the total to 10 million children. Typically, these families can’t afford medical insurance and ironically don’t qualify for Medicaid because their earnings are just above the cut off point.
President Bush has stated that he is against the bill because it expands the government’s role in healthcare and is financed by a huge tax increase, and he instead favours a system of tax breaks to encourage uninsured people to take up private insurance.
The original proposal in the Senate Committee by the Democrats was for a 50 billion increase, the 35 billion approved by the Finance Committee was a compromise. However, some Democrats are adamant about pursuing the original 50 billion, and others realise that to do this may compromise support for the bill because many Republican Senators will find it difficult to support a bill that would spend significantly more what the Finance Committee approved.
The Senate panel voted to provide an additional 35 billion dollars to finance the expanded program, bringing the total spend to 60 billion over the next five years. President Bush’s counterproposed a 5 billion increase to continue the program without expansion, with a total spend of 30 billion over five years.
A New York Times report quoted Republican Senator Charles E Grassley of Iowa, co-author of the bill calling Bush’s plan “unrealistic” and he couldn’t see how only a 5 billion dollar increase in funding would allow SCHIP to continue doing what it has been doing.
The committee approved bill calls for a considerable rise in tobacco tax to pay for it. The tax on a standard pack of cigarettes would increase from the current 39 cents to a dollar. Cigars would face a bigger increase, with premium cigars facing an increase in tax from 5 cents being taxed at 10 dollars each.
Senators in favour of the bill said the tobacco tax would also discourage smoking, particularly among teenagers..
According to a report by Reuters, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the Senate would approve the bill later this month in defiance of Bush’s threat to veto it.
Apr
19
Associated Press today reported that government officials had said that diplomacy was working, that diplomatic discussions with Iran appeared to be paying off.
Perhaps it points out a fault of US foreign policy. Recent US foreign policy has been “shoot first, ask later”, which shows in their handling of the Afghanistan situation as well as the debacle happening in Iraq, especially Baghdad now.
The recent abduction of British marines by iran was a recent class in diplomacy by the British, to obtain the safe return of their servicemen, and then fudge the whole thing up with bureaucratic gobbledygook, so no one’s any the wiser who’s right, and who’s wrong. But everyone’s safe and no shots have been fired. Speculation has been that if it happened to US servicemen, we would have seen the start of the invasion of Iran. An possibly another debacle of huge amounts of money and lives spent to quell violence in Iran.
To solve the Iraqi situation, US must seek to get surrounding Middle East governments to the discussion table. Countries like Syria, Lebanon, as these governments will have influence and can help to stop the violence. Or prolong it, by supporting the insurgents.
And if that doens’t work, perhaps the help of another superpower with significantly more influence and goodwill in the middle east may be able to do what the US has long sought to do but failed to achieve - peace in the middle east.
Mar
1
McCain for President
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John McCain has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the USA. The USA is in a fight, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will he be able to deal with it effectively, neutralise the threats and get everyone out of the bloodshed? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, Britney looks down in the dumps, shaven head, rehab and all. K-Fedex says he still cares about her, as does ex Justin Timberlake. Here’s hoping she recovers.
James Cameron claims that he has found the bones of Jesus Christ and his family. I’m hoping he won’t regret it when he’s at the Pearly Gates.
Picasso’s grand-daughter has woken to find 2 paintings valued 30 million pounds missing from her house. And the alarm didn’t go off. How much did that alarm cost? What brand and model was it? Just so we know what to avoid.
Place to visit today - the local zoo.
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