The Obama administration has made it a top priority to rework the American healthcare system and rightfully so. The current system is broken. According to the US census more then 43 million Americans went without health insurance in 2007. However, even more appalling then this is that more then 5 million children went without health coverage. These uninsured children are the most important statistic that must be corrected.

Children, especially those under the age of 16, rely on their parents or guardians to provide them with life’s necessities. However, when parent’s cannot or do not provide proper care of their children, society should step in to ensure their well being. In this case the necessity that society needs to provide, through government intervention, is quality health insurance for all children.

Quality healthcare is a necessity for children. It helps protect them while they are young and vulnerable allowing them to become productive members of society when they are older. Untreated health problems, like asthma or diabetes, in children can lead to serious problems later in life or even death. Quality preventative healthcare, while in your youth, also allow people to live longer more fulfilling lives.

Although President Obama’s lofty goal of making quality and affordable healthcare available is admirable, it is more important that we ensure that our children are protected. We need to insure that those who can not provide for themselves are looked after. We need to insure that our youth have a chance to become our future.

Why the President Should Fear Kim Jong-Il

The current state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is frightening at best. The DMZ that separates North and South Korea is the most heavily militarized area in the world. If something or someone were to re-ignite the Korean War the consequences to that region and the world would be horrendous. So, with all the UN sanctions, missile building and general bad things happening in that part of the world I thought it would be a good time to sit back and reflect on some of the less dwelt upon reasons why President Barrack Obama should fear “The Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il.

The first thing about Kim that you should be aware of is how productive he can be when he set his mind to something. According to the BBC Kim managed to compose six operas in a two years span. This is a truly impressive feat. If you are not impressed, consider this, Mozart, one of the greatest classic composers of all time, wrote only 22 operas and that took him 24 years to complete. Imagine what Kim could do if he decided to focus that productive energy on something other then operas, say a nuclear missile that worked (instead of falling short and off course into the pacific). The United States could be in grave danger.

Next it should come of great alarm to you to learn of Jong Il’s other worldly hand eye coordination. Kim regularly displays this skill whenever he plays golf. According to official North Korean reports he shot 11 holes-in-one in his first attempt at the game and he averages 3-4 holes in one per game. Now a single hole in one is an impressive feat and it is often considered a purely lucky shot. 11 in one game obviously shows that he is one of the best golfers in the world. Barrack Obama should be terrified to learn of the North Korean Despot physical gift. If a golf game to determine the future of the free world were ever arranged the United States does not stand a chance.

Finally and probably the most scary thing about Kim Jong Il is, he is a puppet controlled by a tiny cockroach bent on world domination. How could the United States ever expect to kill Kim Jong Il if he is in fact an indestructible insect?!?!

Let us pray that the Dear Leader never has reason to utilized his amazing potential for destruction, or that this all turns out to be North Korean propaganda.

Sources: BBC, Time, Wikipedia and Team America World Police

Bible Lessons for the Coming Apocolypse

Apropos of potential worldwide influenza pandemic originating in Mexico and calling into question my potential travel plans by adding the pain of deadly mutated H1N1 flu strain to the seemingly endless ways a foreigner can imagine dying in Mexico (as of late, most involving the cartel), I refer you to the following biblical wisdom:

“And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.”

-Deuteronomy 14:8

Of course you can’t actually get swine flu from eating pork…nonetheless, I am bitter, and who better to take it out on than helpless pigs. Anyway, after you are all done stocking up on canned food and potable water, boarding up your windows, donning hazmat suits, loading your shotguns, freaking the fuck out and otherwise preparing for the coming end of days, please feel free to enjoy the following pig related media.

Wikipedia List of Notable Pigs

I Want My Cigars

The Cuban embargo is a bit outdated. Close to 20 years after the end of the cold war, Americans are still restricted from trading and visiting the island nation. These restrictions hamper the import of Cuba’s two most important resources into the USA, cigars and baseball players.

The Cuban embargo was put in place in 1961 in order to try and drive Fidel Castro from power by forcing economic hardship on the populace. The embargo has worked so poorly that Fidel Castro did not lose power until 2008 when he voluntarily stepped down from the presidency because of health issues. In fact Fidel Castro’s reign in Cuba was so unobstructed by the embargo that it lasted through the terms of 9 American presidents.

Although it has failed to cause political change, the embargo against Cuba has succeeded in placing hardship on the majority Cubans. Financially these hardships can be seen when comparing the minuscule GDP per capita in Cuba of only $9,500 (2008 est.), to the United States’ $47,000 (2008 est.). The hardships that many Cubans suffer are also apparent when the 2,656 Cubans who tried to sail into the USA from Cuba in boat, tires, and bathtubs are considered. Obviously Cuban is not a very great place if people are so desperate to get away.

Cuba still has a dismal record in the area human rights and that should not be forgotten when dictating foreign policy against them. The United States government should consider alternatives that place the burden of the sanctions or the government not the people. It is time for the ineffective US embargo against Cuba to come to an end.

Sources: CIA World Factbook, Whitehouse.gov

Goodbye PI, and Someday Possibly Journalism

On Tuesday March 17th the final print edition of the Seattle Post Intelligencer was published. This marked the end of printing for the city’s oldest newspaper, which was 146 years old. The PI is survived by a much smaller online version of itself, Seattle’s other daily newspaper, the Seattle Times, and several smaller local papers like the Stranger.

The end of the PI comes of no surprise to most people as the newspaper has been in financial trouble for months and had been put up for sale on January 9th. According to Hearst Newspapers the PI lost $14 million dollars last year. The major financial losses for the paper were driven by the continual increase of readers switching to the online format instead of paper, and the decrease of ad revenue because of free online alternatives.

The closure of the PI highlights the general path the journalism in America is heading. Like the PI other print newspaper are struggling financially from similar symptoms. According to the Department of Labor, in 2008 more than 22,000 newspaper jobs were lost. Instead of paying for print newspapers or magazines, citizens prefer to get there news from free online sources like blogs and online newspapers. Who can blame them, why pay for something when you can get it legally for free?

The problem is that along with the decline in newspapers comes a decline in the quality of journalism and reporting offered. Blogs like this one make it easier than ever to get opinions on subjects published, but without newspapers (and customers) to pay journalists it becomes harder and harder to uncover new and important story lines.

In Time Magazine, Walter Isaacson argues that to save newspaper’s and journalism new and innovative sources of revenue are needed. Isaacson suggests that a pay per view or online subscription fee by implemented. In the pay per view system a small fee, 2-10 cents, would be charged for reading an article. The online subscription fee works just like it sounds, a repeated subscription fee is charged for access to online content.

So as newspapers at home and around the country change how and if they charge for their content remember the Seattle PI and don’t immediately recoil in fear.

Sources: Seattle Times, Seattle PI, Time Magazine

New antisemitism?

Howard Jacobson of The Independent writes:

"In the early 1940s some 100,000 Jews and Romanis died of engineered starvation and disease in the Warsaw Ghetto, another quarter of a million were transported to the death camps, and when the Ghetto rose up it was liquidated, the last 50,000 residents being either shot on the spot or sent to be murdered more hygienically in Treblinka. Don’t mistake me: every Palestinian killed in Gaza is a Palestinian too many, but there is not the remotest similarity, either in intention or in deed – even in the most grossly mis-reported deed – between Gaza and Warsaw.

Given the number of besieged and battered cities there have been in however many thousands of years of pitiless warfare there is only one explanation for this invocation of Warsaw before any of those – it is to wound Jews in their recent and most anguished history and to punish them with their own grief. Its aim is a sort of retrospective retribution, cancelling out all debts of guilt and sorrow. It is as though, by a reversal of the usual laws of cause and effect, Jewish actions of today prove that Jews had it coming to them yesterday.

Berating Jews with their own history, disinheriting them of pity, as though pity is negotiable or has a sell-by date, is the latest species of Holocaust denial, infinitely more subtle than the David Irving version with its clunking body counts and quibbles over gas-chamber capability and chimney sizes. Instead of saying the Holocaust didn’t happen, the modern sophisticated denier accepts the event in all its terrible enormity, only to accuse the Jews of trying to profit from it, either in the form of moral blackmail or downright territorial theft. According to this thinking, the Jews have betrayed the Holocaust and become unworthy of it, the true heirs to their suffering being the Palestinians. Thus, here and there throughout the world this year, Holocaust day was temporarily annulled or boycotted on account of Gaza, dead Jews being found guilty of the sins of live ones. Anti-Semitism? Absolutely not. It is 'criticism' of Israel, pure and simple."

Need a Job? Become a Bank Robber

It seems alarming the number of bank robberies that have happened lately. As of Feb. 11th there had already been 30 bank robberies in Washington this year. That is .714 robberies per day. Last month, in a single day, three banks were robbed within four hours of each other.

The FBI claims that this spike in the number of bank robberies is not related to the economy, but you have to consider the old adage that desperate times call for desperate measures. In the Month of January 598,000 more jobs disappeared across the United States. The job losses and subsequent increase in unemployment has left many people desperately searching for a source of income. People still need to provide for themselves and their families. With limited options available for the unemployed, one “career path” has become increasingly popular, Bank Robbery.

The increase of people entering this “profession” is not alarming when the ease with which the bandits can make off with the money is considered. All that is required to rob a bank is a simple note saying that you have a gun. No weapon need to be shown. In fact the robber does not even need to have a weapon at all, just a harmless little note. Once the note is shown it is bank protocol to meet the robber’s demands, let them leave, and then contact the police if an alarm has not already been sent. This policy makes sense when the potential risk of a real gun is considered, but something just seems weird about giving a thief money that easily.

Today's Bank Robber

Sources: cnn.com, seattletimes.com

Master Chief making you feel bad about yourself?

I was catching up on a little light Penny Arcade reading the other day and came across this gem. Now for years it has been said that playing video games leads, primarily young men, to commit violent and illegal acts. This however has that beat by a Warcraft mile. Apparently after playing the part of an attractive character for as little as 15 minutes (though we all know we can't play for only 15 minutes at a time...) can have a negative effect on the players self-esteem regarding looks and physique.

Now while most of us will agree that Lara Croft was the finest arrangement that pixels have ever been in, even before Ms. Jolie's interpretation, I have never looked at Solid Snake and thought, "Man, I wish I were that ruggedly handsome". No, I've typically thought, "Holy shit! That dude just shot a rabid hamster at me! Where can I get THAT gun?!?".

Late nights on the couch playing Call of Duty with Tyler, Kevin, and the rest of the 23rd Street Crew we never commented on the players looks or build or our own for that matter except making jokes at one anothers expense. While I will give them the benefit of the doubt that we are simply a minute sample of gamers out there, I doubt that there is this following of pre-pubescents or even 40 year olds living in thier parents basement that have the obsession of an 18 year old girl looking through Cosmo. For the most part, we just aren't wired that way. But then again, I could be wrong. I mean that Prince of Persia guy is pretty ripped...

Israel: The Middle East Beast

Time to Bail:

Some things just never go out of style. High heels, for instance. In the Middle East and the majority of the international community at large, it's hate for Israel. One can expect this trend to increase as some estimates conclude that more than half of the 1200+ Palestinians killed in the current Gaza conflict have been civilians. Despite the fact that human lives are not items on a grocery list which can be easily counted without any proper context, any mindful individual with a functioning left side of the brain should conjure feelings of rage and sorrow from the vast amount of images portraying dead Palestinian civilians.
Israel's offensive has already cost itself and its moderate Arab allies dearly in terms of political capital, and imposed staggering losses on the civilian populace whose acceptance it will eventually need to capture. Unless the IDF can engineer a complete collapse of Hamas as a governing entity, which could remove a significant obstacle to future peace in the region and signal a reversal of the Iranian proxy, there is little more to be gained by continuing its campaign. Even if it were the unlikely case, would Mahmoud Abbas and the secularist Fatah party be expected to simply stroll back into the Gaza Strip courtesy of the IDF? Think again. Conversely, if the intent of the operation was simply to establish deterrence, it was surely achieved it in its beginning, and while I'm hesitant in applying deterrence theory to irrational Islamists, perhaps Hamas will think harder after indiscriminately launching rockets into populated Israeli areas as Hezbollah did. Israel should cease its operation and use its leverage to negotiate a more favorable cease-fire which (hopefully) diminishes Hamas' capacity to provoke wars.


Disproportionate Use of Criticism:

A host of Israel's critics have even more self-reflection to do as the hypocrisy in their scathing rhetoric is appalling. For instance, Syria has been adamant in labeling the Israeli operation as "genocide," yet quick to forget about the 1982 Hama massacre in which they literally shelled the entire rebel town killing between 20,000-30,000 people. If the Arab world put half of the energy they spend in tearing down Israel (which only gives them very short-run support amongst their populace) into developing their own societies and combating the pervasive Jihadist ideology, the forces of peace would certainly solidify. Even Russia, a subtler faultfinder, has more than it’s share of blood on its hands. Yet naturally, one should be entitled to expect a legitimately westernized democracy to conduct itself better than such regimes. Nonetheless, hyperbolic accusations of genocide and war crimes not only do an obvious disservice in undermining the true meanings of the words, but also serve to discourage the Israelis from proactively engaging the global community with its problems. If the already peace-oriented majority of the Israeli public perceives that its sensitive geopolitical setting is being objectively analyzed, if even slightly empathized with, they will have a much higher propensity towards utilizing international institutions instead of feeling the conviction that they have no choice but to exclusively rely on the sword.


Collective Palestinian Accountability, Not Suffering:

Whereas the military might of the IDF is capable of debilitating Hamas' infrastructure and sapping their capacity to govern, in the end Hamas as a political ideology can only be defeated by the Palestinians themselves. A fundamental objective for the international community, especially the willing moderate Arab states, should be in encouraging Palestinian electoral accountability. They democratically elected a terrorist entity --"militancy" as the more squeamish and delusional may prefer-- which they need to hold responsible just as much as Israel. There needs to be the final climax of realization that by futilely spewing rockets at Israeli towns, Hamas is not the glorious iconic liberator of Palestinian oppression they have portrayed themselves as, and if anything have set back the ultimate goal of nationhood. Disenchanted with the destruction of Gaza, emotionally fervent Palestinians will, of course, have an irrational inclination to rally towards Hamas. This is why governments worldwide and international non-state actors should limit this effect by providing mass amounts of humanitarian with objectives analogous to the Marshall Plan.

$50 Billion Just Ain’t What It Used To Be

The African nation of Zimbabwe introduced a $50 billion note into circulation on Monday the 13th of January. According to CNN a holder of just one of these notes will have enough money to buy two whole loafs of bread. Personally I applaud the Zimbabwean central bank for addressing an issue that has been ignored for far too long, not enough super billionaires.

The country’s struggling (maybe to nice of a word) economy has an inflation rate estimated at 231 million percent. That figure is not a typo; Zimbabwe’s inflation is at 231,000,000%. To make matters worse most businesses are only accepting foreign currency. The most commonly used are the American dollar and South African rand.

Now if only the $1trillion note would hurry up and come out people could afford a full dinner.

Sources: CNN, AP

UPDATE: The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has heard and granted Kswiss' wish!