Barack Obama for President

Before I go into the plans of both candidates, let look at the facts of our healthcare system today.

Fact 1: There are over 40 million people in this country that are uninsured.

Fact 2: Those people allow their health problems get to a point where they need to go to the emergency room for care.

Fact 3: Hospitals cannot turn away people in an emergency.

Fact 4: It is generally cheaper to treat a condition early than late, making preventive care much cheaper than emergency care.

Fact 5: Hospitals, not wanting to take a loss, will pass on the costs of unpaid emergency care to those who can afford to pay, making the cost of healthcare rise.

And we need to go over one little fact that Republicans like to ignore. Barack Obama is not proposing one government run healthcare system!

Now, that being said, it is obvious that we currently pay for the healthcare of those who are uninsured because the costs associated with their emergency care is passed on to us in the form of higher insurance premiums. So let’s see how the candidates deal with that issue as well as their other ideas.

Barack Obama has a plan for those 40+ million uninsured people. He will create a plan that is similar to what Congressmen have and allow those uninsured people to opt in. Yes, this will cost us tax dollars, but we should see a net increase in income and here is why. The extra money we pay in tax dollars to cover that plan will be less than the money we save in reduced insurance premiums.

Obama’s plan, unlike some others that existed, allow people to purchase or keep private insurance plans if they so desire. So if I like my current plan (which I do) I get to keep it! (Read the full plan here)

Now, lets look at John McCain’s plan. First and foremost, if you read his plan you will notice that he is pushing high deductable HSA plans. HSA plans are fine for some people but not for everyone.

Now, McCain would eliminate the tax incentive that businesses get for providing healthcare to their employees and would instead give money to individuals ($2500) or families ($5000) to get their own coverage. The “remainder” of those funds would go into an HSA. The only way his HSA plan would work is if the total cost of the insurance plus the deductible equaled the tax break (and we all know that wont be happening anytime soon) .

What is even more flawed with McCain’s plan is that by eliminating the tax benefit, employers may drop insurance coverage. The insurance coverage that employers get is typically negotiated for lower price and no health screenings for coverage. Without such negotiation, people would wind up paying much more for their health insurance than the $5000 John McCain is proposing. In fact, the average healthcare cost for a family of four is over $12000 (according to the National Coalition on Health Care).  And their cost is the average employer based healthcare plan (which comes at a reduced negotiated group rate).  So basically we will wind up with more uninsured people.

So what is John McCain’s plan for the uninsured? His own website states:

As President, John McCain will work with governors to develop a best practice model that states can follow - a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP - that would reflect the best experience of the states to ensure these patients have access to health coverage.

In a nutshell, when it comes to the uninsured, John McCain has no plan. Period.

The choice is clear folks. All McCain wants to do is promote health savings accounts and has no plan for the uninsured. Barack Obama as the better, and more complete, healthcare plan.

Cross posted at Liberty and Justice for All

I absolutely understand why the Republican base (i.e. the extremist religious right wing of the part) are absolutely crazy over Sarah Palin. Not only is she attractive with a lot of charisma. Not only has she accomplished a lot in the political world for a “soccer parent”. She is one of them, an extremist conservative who would ban abortions in the case of rape (even for her own daughter), rejects science, and supports abstinence only education.

Palin is a hypocrite. She (and others) keep saying that her family should be off limits. I agree that the issues regarding her family should be left out of the election. The only relevant point that can be made about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is that obviously Sarah’s “abstinence only” approach to sex ed did not work with her own daughter. Why does she think it would work with other people? However, as she protests about the media treatment of her family, she parades them around for all to see. If you don’t want your children to be front and center in the campaign, don’t put them there! And even if she didn’t parade them around on stage at the Republican Convention, she had to have known that her family would be put under the microscope (just like Chelsea Clinton, Jenna and Barbara Bush, and all other families of politicians that get treated the same way). If she didn’t realize what would happen, she would be proven to be an idiot.

Palin and her supporters are crying sexism in the media and the blogosphere. I personally could care less what set of private parts she has. What bothers me personally is her issues and ideas for America. And while some criticisms (like how can she be VP with 5 kids) are ignorant and irrelevant, other comments made about her are not sexist at all.

 For example, some have called her a ”cheerleader” for McCain. That is not sexist. Males are cheerleaders as well. Look at our current President. He was a cheerleader as well. Since men can be cheerleaders, calling Sarah Palin one is not sexist at all.

And again, Palin and her supporters show their hypocrisy. If Palin doesn’t want people to make any judgements on her based on the fact that she is a woman, then she needs to not campaign  as if being a woman is at all relevant to her running for this position. She should be calling herself a “soccer parent” and not a “soccer mom”. She should not be saying that the only difference between her and a pit bull is lipstick. I was listening to XM on the way home from Shreveport and I heard the most absurd comment by a bunch of Republican supporters of Sarah Palin who happened to be women. They kept complaining about Democrats and how they are supposedly being sexist over Sarah Palin. They tried to say how Palin is an accomplished woman and that these sexist remarks expose some hypocrisy in the Democratic Party. The final speaker then quoted Margaret Thatcher by saying:

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

Excuse me? How can you whine and complain about people being sexist against your candidate and then make a sexist comment yourself and expect people to take you seriously? So again, Palin supporters reveal their hypocrisy.

People believe that Palin on the ticket will bring over Hillary supporters, especially women who wanted to make history with the first female President and will settle for the first female Vice President. Now this is just plain silly. As it has been said, by me and others, Sarah Palin does not support the issues that Hillary Clinton voters support. So any Hillary supporter who would vote for McCain because he picked a woman would be a prime example of someone cutting off their nose to spite their face. It would just be absolute stupidity. And if you are a supporter of womens rights and you are voting for Palin to “make history”, don’t be surprised when the rights your cherish “BECOME HISTORY” when McCain appoints anywhere from 1 to 4 activist conservative Supreme Court justices.

And then there is always her jabs at community organizers. We get it Sarah, you don’t think that being a community organizer is a worthwhile goal. We get that you don’t understand why a person would give up an opportunity to make millions on Wall St. and instead go to Chicago and try and help out poor people who are unemployed. We get that while Democrats look at people who are poor and see limitless potential who just need a hand up, that you and other Republicans look at the poor as a huge burden, a strain on your personal wealth and that the only good poor people are those who blindly follow your fear tactics and rhetoric. We get it!

The McCain/Palin ticket criticizes Obama for wanting change and then they embrace the idea of “change” themselves. However, McCain/Palin brings us no change at all, just a continuance of the failed policies of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. McCain/Palin says “country first”. Well, in order to be a true leader of our country you have to fight for each and every citizen in our country. Since McCain/Palin rejects equal rights for people who are homosexual, they prove that they would be unwilling to fight for each and every citizen and prove that they are not qualified to lead our country. I say, put every individual citizen of this country first and elect Obama/Biden in 2008!

At the Republican Convention he said that Iraq has become a place where Al Queda is rejected.

Al Queda had no presence in Iraq until after we invaded.

Although Osama bin Laden briefly explored the idea of forging ties with Iraq in the mid-1990s, the terrorist leader was hostile to Hussein’s secular government, and Iraq never responded to requests for help in providing training camps or weapons, the panel found in the first of two reports issued today.

But again, Republicans try and connect Iraq to 9-11, even though it has been conclusively shown that there was no link.

The first thing I need to say is this. To all those that interrupted Senator McCain while he spoke… you are not helping. McCain’s own words will be enough to prove why he should not be our next president. You don’t need to interrupt him, to do that is just rude, and it makes the rest of us who oppose his candidacy look bad. The political process needs more maturity, not idiots acting like children.   

McCain quoted our founding fathers by saying that all men are created equal. However, he did not say that all people deserve equal rights. Under a John McCain presidency we will see activist conservative judges who will move our country and civil rights back to the 1950s or maybe before.

McCain said that he fought for the strategy of more troops. However, Obama fought against going into Iraq in the first place. It seems that Barack Obama was correct when it counted the most. And because we followed Bush’s failed policies, we took our eye off the ball with Al Queda and it is now reached pre-9/11 strengths. And McCain wants to continue the President’s failed policy? That doesn’t make any sense.

Honoring the troops and keeping us safe from enemies requires that we train and equip Iraq to defend itself, it requires that we have a responsible withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, and it requires that we go after the enemies who actually attacked us and make them our priority. The only candidate in the election that I see proposing this is Barack Obama and not John McCain.

McCain believes in open markets, but free trade with countries that don’t share our labor laws provides unfair competition to the American worker.

McCain believes in people keeping the fruits of their labor? I bet you he won’t be pushing for the American worker to get increased pay that is a fair compensation for that labor.

McCain brought up the old line that judges should not legislate from the bench. Every single one of those people applauding tonight would love the court to legislate from the bench on the issues of gay marriage and abortion.

Mccain says government doesn’t work for you but makes sure that you have more choices to make for yourself. B.S. McCain is leading the morality police that wants to legislate against choice, be it on abortion, or gay marriage, or activities that hurt nobody yet for some reason Republicans insist on legislating against them.

McCain says that Obama would raise taxes. Yet a recent study showed that the income of the average American will increase more because of Obama’s plan than it would with McCain’s plan.

McCain rejects Obama’s plan for a government run healthcare system. That is a lie, Obama doesn’t want government run healthcare. He wants people to keep their own healthcare plans and make health plans easier to purchase for those 40+ million who cannot afford it for themselves.

McCain says that Education is THE civil rights issue of the century. Education is A civil rights issue, but there are many more. However, on education, McCain wants to add competition to fix failed schools. Why not just fix the schools! We should yearn to make all public schools top notch! We should not “cut and run” on our youth.

McCain wants to stop sending money to oil producing countries who don’t like us. Well guess what, Obama wants to do that as well. Obama just sells his plan with his long term goals, while McCain sells his plan with his short term goals. I like the long term approach personally.

John McCain is a patriot. John McCain is a hero. John McCain deserves all the respect that we can give him for his service to our country. This is something that is said a lot, but it is something that cannot be said enough.

But let me get back to where John McCain started. John McCain and the Republican Party rejects the idea of equal rights for all (be it equal pay for equal work, gay marriage rights, or any other civil rights issue the Democrats support but Republicans oppose). How can a person expect to lead a nation if he doesn’t support equal rights for every person in that nation? As long as John McCain refuses to fight for every single American as president, John McCain proves that he is not qualified to BE our next president. Period.

Sarah Palin thinks McCain will help defend America as President. Well, how do we do that when McCain wants to continue Bush’s flawed policies? You know the ones where we took our eye off the ball with Al Queda and allowed them to get back to pre-911 levels?

Sarah Palin worries about her son having a good President. Don’t worry about that, under Barack Obama, your son will have a chief executive who will make sure to lead with diplomacy and use your son as a last resort. Unlike Bush, he wont be looking to start a fight with countries that didn’t even attack us. President Obama wont take his eye of the ball when it comes to Al Queda and has committed to going after Al Queda and the Taliban when elected President.

Palin says that every woman can walk through every door in America. Well, only recently did this new conservative court slam the door in the faces of women seeking to fight discrimination charges by ruling that the 180 days that you have to file a discrimination lawsuit is not based on the date the person finds out they are discriminated against, but the date that the discrimination started. So if a person has been discriminated against for 181 days, the company can keep discriminating and the person has no more legal recourse. This is the kind of rulings we will continue to have if John McCain is elected and nominates more activist right wing Supreme Court justices. With these right winged justices, doors will keep getting slammed right back in the faces of hard working women who only want equal pay for equal work. I guess Palin would just consider this “whining”.

Sarah Palin spoke of spending 40 billion dollars to build a pipeline. Wait a second, a Republican is supporting the Government spending money to do something? Shouldn’t that sort of thing be left to the private sector? Where is the outrage of the fiscal conservatives earlier in the convention who said that government is not the answer? Yes, the Republican audience applauded both in a supreme display of hypocrisy.

Sarah Palin thinks we need to produce more oil and gas. She claims that Alaska has a lot of energy. Of course, she failed to mention that the energy currently drilled for in Alaska is shipped to Asia. So if more energy is drilled, and that energy is sent to Asia as well, how does that reduce our reliance on foreign oil exactly? That’s right! IT DOESN’T!

Sarah Palin lied when she claimed that Obama would reduce our security, but he will go after Al Queda.

Sarah Palin lied when she claimed that Obama doesn’t want us to produce energy. Obama just wants to produce alternate energy.

Sarah Palin lied when she claimed Obama wants to raise taxes. He would reduce taxes for 95% of the people. Perhaps he would increase the tax burden on the top 5% (who are currently benefiting from the irresponsible Bush tax cuts).

Sarah Palin claims that McCain doesn’t run with the Washington Herd. How can that be true with the line of bull he keeps giving us?

And one thing Sarah Palin didn’t do… she didn’t explain why we should be secure with the idea that she will be one heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Mitt Romney shows exactly why he couldn’t win the Presidential nomination in his speech today. He doesn’t even know the Constitution (or the realities of his own Government)! He claimed that the ruling that allowed Guantanamo prisoners to question their imprisonment as both “liberal” and “granting them rights”.

A) A Conservative court made that ruling.

B) The Constitution states:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

It doesn’t say citizen, it says person. All people get the right to due process under the law. This is not something belonging to only citizens. The ignorance of Romney (and all those who cheered in the croud at his statement to that effect) shines through with their lack of knowledge of our Constitution. These people are supposed to be their party leaders and they don’t even know the Constitution? How pathetic!

Meg Whitman, the former CEO of Ebay, spoke at the Republican convention tonight. Before reading this, I suggest you read about all the fraud at Ebay during her watch. I would also urge you to remember the words of Rob Chestnut who tells us that fraud on ebay is “under-counted” and “over-counted”.

Meg Whitman said she is a Republican because of “character”? Well, it does take a character to seriously believe the b.s. she gave out on fighting fraud as CEO of ebay. Read the story in the Mike Brunker Ebay section that discusses the shill bidder who got away with fraud and was only given a verbal warning.

Meg Whitman says that Republicans are proud to be the party of Lincoln. Well sorry Meg, but if Lincoln was alive today I doubt he would be a Republican (considering Democrats are the party that now fights for civil rights).

I am glad Meg spoke tonight. She did contradict Fred Thompson when he said the economy was great. She said the economy was bad. For a convention so scripted, I would think they would get their message straight. What is it Republicans? Do we have a good economy or a bad one?

Meg says that Republicans  will lower taxes. Yes, I am sure that under a Republican administration that Meg Whitman would see many tax breaks. But the other 95% of us will be getting tax breaks under Barack Obama.

Meg speaks of individual freedoms. Yeah, as long as you are rich, white, and heterosexual you have all the freedom you want in America.

Meg says that McCain supports more self government. But the morality police that is the Republican Party is the one who needs to “protect marriage” from homosexuals. I would suggest they seek to protect marriage from David Vitter and Larry Craig before worrying about what homosexuals will do to their marriages. Guess what Republicans, my marriage to my wife is special to me no matter how many prostitutes David Vitter “sins” with. Your marriage will be just as special as it is today if gay people are allowed to marry the people they love.

But let’s go back to the statement of Rob Chestnut (the one about fraud and how it is over-counted and under-counted). Rob was brought in by Meg to Ebay. Rob and Meg embraced that kind of double speak while defending their inaction when it came to fraud in ebay. How can you take people who believe that double speak seriously?

McCain does though. At the Saddleback forums McCain said he would seek the council of Meg Whitman because of her wisdom. So much for the “straight talk express”.

Fred Thompson

He seems to think our economy is great. He criticized Democrats for thinking the Economy is not good. Well, is it? I guess it is for people who don’t know how many houses they own. Get back to us when you have a candidate who understands what life is like for the rest of us.

He says Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air? No, she is just your regular run of the mill extremist conservative who would ban abortions for rape victims and hates gay people. But hey, that should work to get the other extremists out for McCain.  

Thompson refers to Palin’s executive experience, limited as it is, as a plus. What executive experience does McCain have exactly?

Thompson criticized Obama indirectly for giving teleprompter speeches to appeal to our critics abroad. He is flat out wrong. Obama gives speeches that appeal to those in America that the Republicans in charge have ignored for far too long.  

Thompson falsely criticizes the Democrats for having the least popular Congress. Did it ever occur to him that the reason Democrats were elected in 2006 was because voters wanted us to change our course and that the reason that Congress is not popular is not because of the Democratic majority, but because of the Republican obstructionists.

Thompson claims that Obama would support protectionism. Well I want someone to protect American labor against unfair trade agreements.

Thompson claims that Obama is going to raise taxes on businesses, when in fact Obama is going to give tax cuts to businesses that keep jobs here and raise taxes on businesses that ship American jobs overseas.

Joe Lieberman

I thought I would have more to say about Joe Lieberman. However, what I saw was just simple and vague rhetoric with no substance. At least Thompson listed the problems he saw. Thompson lied, but at least he was specific.

Lieberman tried to say that McCain has been the same man he always has been. Well, the John McCain of 2000 is far from the John McCain of 2008.

Lieberman did speak of the dangerous enemies abroad. Obama wants to go after those who attacked us. McCain wants to continue the failed Iraq policies.

Lieberman also has drunk the Kool Aid by calling bills like H.R. 1591 “retreat”. He claimed that Obama supporting cutting off funds for the troops. Obama, and other Democrats, supported bills like HR 1591 that fully funded and equipped our troops. It would have fully funded and equipped the training of the Iraqi military. But no, Republicans reject such notions as retreat. Well, I’m sorry but setting up Iraq to defend itself is reaching for victory. And McCain, Lieberman, and others are just flat out wrong on this issue.

And Senator, I have voted for Republicans in the past. I will not be voting for this Republican. Nor will I follow your misguided support.

The person I believe that is the best for our country is Barack Obama.

* Ok, so I found some more things to say about Lieberman and his vague rhetoric.

I don’t want to get into all the tabloid type speculation about whether Sarah Palin or Bristol Palin is the mother of Trig Palin. Nor do I want to go into the just announced fact that Bristol Palin is currently pregnant. I will leave that to the others and I will take the stance that unless a blood test is given that we will just go with the name that is on the birth certificate (which I assume is Sarah Palin).

What I do want to go into is the decisions that Sarah Palin made as a pregnant woman. See, my wife is pregnant at the moment as well (it’s a boy) so I have become familiar with what you can or cant do in pregnancy.

Here is the initial article that describes what went on with that trip.

So lets go through the time line (and opinion of a doctor) of what Sarah Palin did while pregnant.

She claims she flew from Texas to Anchorage after she was having contractions and leaking amniotic fluid.  This simply doesn’t make sense.

I am a physician and I deliver babies (my last delivery was about 36 hours ago).

…

There is very little chance that a 44 year old woman who was pregnant with her fifth child would last 8 hours with ruptured membranes and contractions.  Especially when the baby was approximately 4 weeks early; She would have delivered this baby on the plane.

…

Playing the back seat doctor here, my advice would have been get in the car and go to the nearest hospital with a maternity ward.  This is called Premature Preterm Rupture of Membranes (PPROM) and it is dangerous.

…

10:30pm - Palin arrives in Anchorage (approximately 22 hours after membranes ruptured, you start to get worried at 12 hours).

11:30pm - Palin checks into Mat-Su regional in Wasilla, Alaska.  (It seems kind of strange that she wouldn’t have gone to Providence in Anchorage which has the highest level maternity care in the state.  You would want a child with genetic defects to be delivered in a bigger place with more services available.)

…

If she knew her child had this disorder and got on a plane with leaking amniotic fluid, then she shows incredibly poor judgment.

First and foremost, my wife was told to not travel in the 3rd trimester. No air travel. What was Palin doing traveling to Texas on a plane in the first place?

Next, if my wife was having issues with her pregnancy, we would have never gotten on a plane. We would have went directly to the nearest hospital to make sure that she was OK. Ambulance to the nearest hospital: Good Decision. Airplane to hospital in Alaska: Bad Decision.

And that is the the bottom line here. We have a woman with several children already who, if we assume that her explanation of the facts is true, she made extremely bad (and risky) decisions about her pregnancy. These correct decisions would have been common sense but apparently she lacks the common sense to go to a hospital if something strange is happening with her pregnancy. Apparently she lacks the common sense to get a second opinion of another doctor if questionable advice is given. Apparently she lacks the common sense that would keep her from traveling long distances while pregnant.

So why should we believe that she has the common sense required to be our Vice President and be one heartbeat away from the Presidency?

And if McCain lacks the judgment to pick someone with common sense as VP, then why should we assume that he has the common sense required to be President?

Just sayin…

John McCain has picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate. This is good news for the Obama campain. Why? As V-P, the experienced Palin would be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. McCain will no longer be able to attack Obama for “lack of experience” because look at who he picked!

I have a feeling that while McCain is looking to Palin to solidify the conservative vote, he may also be trying to get the disgruntled Hillary voters who wanted a woman President. I doubt it will work. Palin is far too conservative (being pro-life and anti-gay) to attract Hillary supporters.