Kennedy Targets Health Care Reform From Home

Senator Edward Kennedy has a new plan for healthcare that hes hoping to have a break through with next year. Although many people worry that it will be more difficult to carryout because of the current economic conditions.

Kennedy himself has been fighting brain cancer from home and has had video conferences with lawmakers. Kennedy has a diferent health care plan than what the former President Bill Clinton had. Obama's intial healthcare plan was the starting point for Kennedys effort.

Senator Max Baucus, a few weeks ago spoke with Kennedy and he is confident that Kennedys and Obamas health care plan will hav e some simular components, but he feels his plan will be what is best for our contry. Durring the meeting Kennedy didn't focus on Obama's health care plan or McCains he is focusing on the current health care issues.

Any of the health care plans are going to force the country into more debt but the country is headed in that direction even if the changes dont occur. When ever some one big needs the money, they happen to be able to find it because they are viewed to be too big to fail such as AIG and Freddie and Fannie. Now the health care system is failing millions of people daily, to this could be anothing thing that is too big to fail.

I think that this health care system is a good idea by "lowering the prices so it is more affordable, will help the average family and the fact that children will be covered is a great idea because childrens health and well-being is so important to our government." as Kinzie Hauer said in her blog (http://kinziehauer.blogspot.com/) and i couldn't say it better. Children are the future and they are going ot be the ones makeing decisions in 20 years down the road, and children dont really have a say in their lives such as health care. They arent capable of having a job to get their own health care, so i think its important for the government to step in to make sure that their people are taken care of. Although it is unfortunate that Kennedy has been battling cancer he is very well aware of the expences that add up with these horrible illnesses and he may be more understanding when it comes to health care for others.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444016,00.html

Terrorist watch lists shorter than previously reported

Terrorist watch lists have become a lot shorter than they have been in the past. Micheal Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security stated that there were only 2,500 people currently on the "no fly" list. From that list of 2,500 people, 10% of those people are citizens of the United States. The People that are on this list are not allowed to board any aircraft because intelligence believe that they are a threat.

Less than 16,000 people are put on the "selectees" list. From that list, the majority of them are not americans. These people are alowed to fly but they recieve extra securty because they still pose a threat but it is isnt as big as a threat that the people on the "no fly" list pose.

Since September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that occured on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon there has been more than 1 million names added to the lists. The Screaning base the FBI uses to screen terrorsts, in Augest, the lists were said to have about 400,000 people on.

Since then the goverment has being trying to get a program to address the problem and on Wednesday the program they came up with was announced. This program's main issue was to secure the flight for travelers. In order to do so they have to provide their date of birth, gender, and full name when they make reservations for an airline. They will then transfer all this information to Transportation Security Administraion, and then be compared to the watch lists. The extra information that you will now have to provide, The Department of Homeland Security feels that they will reduce the number of people that are on the watch list for false reasons.

Individual airlines currently compare names ont he tickets with the "no fly" and "selectee" lists but if is felt by the Transportation Security Information that their perfomances havent been even. They also feel that having the goverment match the information will improve security and also increase efficiency. It also will help weed out the names that are on the list for false reasons, and the people that are on the list for false reasons maybe be denied a boarding pass for the plane or they could be searched agressively at the airports.

I feel that this new plan is a good idea. By providing extra information it would make finding and identifying "terrorists" that are on the watch list easier to identify. Many people have the same names, because expecially in the US there are some very common last names, along with first names. When your have to provide a full name, and date of birth may help correctly identify certian suspected terrorists. I think that if the goverment does this it will take a lot of weight off of the airlines, but in other aspects it may be more troublesome for the airlines because they have to wait to get the OK from the government to make sure that they can book a flight for each individual. But in the long run i think that becouase the Department of Homeland Security makes the potential terrorist lists, they have the most access to the lists and there for they may be able to be more efficent when it comes to checking the lists for booking flights, and the OK to get boarding passes.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/10/22/no.fly.lists/index.html

The End Of American Capitolism?

As our economy continues to enter a financial crisis, the economy is in the worst condition it has been since the Great Depresssion, the reasoning might be because of "American-style capitalism." The fee-market economy and financial system Americans have use to be encouraged but our nation's wealth is draining.

The Bush administration is thinking about buyuing up portions of shares to restore our economy with the $700 billion bailout plan, which has been the topic of discussions for several weeks since Bush announced his idea. If they did this it would be nationalizing some banks, and going against what many see as the "American System." But the current administration feels that there is no other option.

"'People around the world once admired us for our economy, and we told them if you wanted to be like us, here's what you have to do — hand over power to the market,' said Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University. 'The point now is that no one has respect for that kind of model anymore given this crisis. And of course it raises questions about our credibility. Everyone feels they are suffering now because of us.'"

Even other countries find themselves wondering how the United States economy could be so weak? Despite everything that is going on with our economy people do not seem to be conserned about the death of capitolism but they are encoraging free-markets because the free-market economy has helped "lift hundreds of millions out of poverty in recent decades."

The United States crisis is global, Strauss-Kahn mad a slide show shoing the global impact of a finacial crisis. Because of this i think that we as americans citizens, should be concerned about the economy of the whole world. Its not just the United States that is feeling this recession, but the whole world. Government officials everywhere should be brainstorming possible solutions to this recession. As it stated in the article we are in the worst economic situation since the great depression, and although we arent to that point, the economy isnt very well. When it comes to crisis' everyone seems to point the fingure at someone else just so you feel that you arent the one responsible. Currently that fingure is pointing at Capitolism.





http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27112481/

Obama accuses McCain of looking for distractions

Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama confronted John McCain for using "Swift boat-style attacks" instead of running a compaign that addresses the country's problems. "Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that they can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. They'd rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up," Said Obama. Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate made the comment that associated with "terrorists who targeted our own country."

As the election time nears, mudslinging will more than likely become more prominate, to tear apart their competition, and make themselves appear to look better. People should care more about the views the canidates have instead of the gossip. One thing voters should focus on is Obama's health care plan. He hope to create a nationwide healthcare plan for people who do have have insurance provided by employers, and all children.

McCain doesnt agree with the nationwide healthcare plan because he thinks that competition would improve the quality of health insurance, which is different from Obama's plan. Obama feels that a nationwide healthcare plan would be benificial for everyone.

Personally, i agree with Obama when it comes to this nationwide healthcare plan, i think if people are garentteed healthcare for children, and if they are working it will encourage people to work, and potentially help everyone in the US. But aside from that i think Obama has new views on issues, and he is different from the typical politician. He allows different views and fresh ideas to enter our government. I think that the "mud slinging" is just going to increase as we near the election, but i wish the canidates would focus on what they are planning to do for our country instead of what the others canidates have done, that they dont agree with. Digging for trash, to change others views of the other canidate, just to tear the other canidate down, is effective, but it doesn't contribute valuable information that we should consider about electing our future president in the next few months.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/05/campaign.wrap/index.html