Historic 2008 Election?

[CATLAX MAN]

As a resident of California, I can tell you that the Health Care Plan of AHNOLD is not being received very warmly at all. The big problem with these types of plans is the mandatory providing of health care by all employers. It's a good idea in concept, but in reality, it does not work. It is a burden on the small employer who can't afford the rising costs of health care.

But it's a bigger burden on small employees that can't afford the rising costs of health care. If not everyone is covered, it's not really universal. The concept is good and right - we just need to find a way to make it work. If we can find a way to come up with a trillion dollars to bring truth, justice and the American Way to Iraq, you would think we could do the same for the good of our own citizens. Heaven forbid, even a tax increase to fund it, while also using all available tools to control health care costs. Perhaps a system of public clinics as a base safety net, while allowing those that wish to, to pay more to go to their preferred provider.

I'm not an expert, but it can't just be an intractable problem with no solution.

I don't purport to know what the answer is here, but it is obvious that driving small employers out of business to fund mandatory health care is not the answer.

[Brent Burns]

Would this topic be in the running for one of the 2007 CollgeLax Water Cooler Top Stories? 91 replies with about 1217 views.

[StrykerFSU]

I too am upset about the state of health care in this country and I am very interested to see how things go in Cali and Mass. That said, we need to address the costs of healthcare along with supplying it to everyone. Let's get the cost of medmal insurance under control, require health care so that the state doesn't have to pay for the uninsured in emergency rooms but this has to be done without stressing the small business owner out of business.

Kyle, I feel ya. You call yourself a Republican and it means a whole lot more than what you signed up for. I bet some on the other side feel the same way. My advice to everyone is decide what issues are your "make or break" issues and don't let anyone else classify you or speak for you.

[laxfan25]

My advice to everyone is decide what issues are your "make or break" issues and don't let anyone else classify you or speak for you.

Amen, Cliff - as we have shown, learn to speak for yourself. The use of labels reduces everything to stereotypes, and I dare say the labels that are applied to those on the progressive side are much more widely applied - the liberal left, the Hollywood left, the brie-eating, chablis-swilling knee-jerk liberals, etc.
One of the interesting twists on established perceptions of late is that the Democrats were always labeled "tax-and-spend liberals", while conservatives were the advocates for fiscal responsibility. GWB has kind of turned that on its head - campaigning on lowering taxes (as he again did last night) while continuing the uncontrolled grwoth of the federal budget., What is worse is that much of the funding of the war in Iraq has taken place "off the books" as supplemental spending measures - a $100 billion here, a $100 billion there. I don't believe this would sit well with the conscience of a true fiscal conservative.

On another note - I'm sure it's probably because the seat will be open, but it is very depressing to be opening the campaign season for November '08 here in January '07! We were all so pleased when the season of name-calling and mud-slinging ended just two and a half months ago - now we're going to have to put up with 18+ months?? Aaarrgghh!!!

[Beta]

I liked Obama's response light about the situation in Iraq.

I don’t think we’re going to stem all the violence [in Iraq] anytime soon, but the key to dealing with the violence is making sure Sunni, Shia, and Kurd sit down and recognize they all have a stake in preventing total meltdown. What’s preventing some of that conversation from taking place is the belief that we [the United States] will be able to hold this together. … I think what’s critical is for us to change the strategy in Iraq, because the president’s right, we have important national security objectives that have to be met in the Middle East.

[Sonny]

The liberal media establishment is at it again. For years, they have been carrying water for liberal Democrats. Today�s hit piece on Insight in The Washington Post is another case in point.

Howard Kurtz�s �Media Notes� column deals with our recent story about the Hillary Clinton camp�s role in investigating Barack Obama�s education as a young boy in an Indonesian Madrassa. Kurtz claims our story is �thinly sourced� and cites �only unnamed sources.� He further quotes officials from the Obama and Clinton camps, attacking the story as false. Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said, �It�s an obvious right-wing hit job by a Moonie publication that was designed to attack Senator Clinton and Senator Obama at the same time.� Kurtz went on to say that �Insight, like The Washington Times, is owned by a company controlled by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.� Finally, Kurtz writes, �No one answered the phone at Insight�s office yesterday and its editor did not respond to an e-mail request for comment��the impression being that somehow we at Insight were reluctant to discuss and defend the story. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Insight�s story was not thinly sourced. Our reporter�s sources close to the Clinton opposition research war room confirm the truth of the story. The Clinton camp�s denial has as much credibility as the �I never had sex with that woman� statement. But Kurtz ran with their statement as if it were credible. Moreover, the accusation that the story is flawed because it is based on unnamed sources is laughable. Most major investigative stories published in this city are based wholly or in part on anonymous sources. Just ask Bob Woodward. Many of The Post�s scoops against the Bush administration rely on anonymous sources.

And the best part...

Prior to our story being published, we contacted the Obama camp for comment. They had none�and were petrified about the story. Only when FOX and several national radio talk show hosts jumped on the story, did they issue their denials. We stung the Obama people by doing what journalists should do: follow the truth, no matter where it leads. Insight reports on political intelligence without partisanship. We have run countless stories embarrassing and damaging to President Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. We have few friends in the White House�and that�s exactly the way we like it.

LINK:
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/kurtz.htm

[Sonny]

Hats off to CNN, but . . .

We seem to have touched a raw nerve with the liberal media establishment. First, The Washington Post�s Howard Kurtz and now CNN are doing everything possible to assault and undermine Insight�s credibility. CNN ran a news segment last night on Paula Zahn�s show, �CNN debunks false report about Obama.� In the wake of our story, CNN sent their correspondent to check out the Muslim religious school attended by Barack Obama as a young boy. CNN concluded that allegations �that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a �madrassa� are not accurate.� The school�s deputy headmaster told CNN: �"This is a public school. We don't focus on religion.� CNN�s correspondent then told the �Situation Room� on Monday: "I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta looking for what some are calling an Islamic madrassa ... like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. � I've been to those madrassas in Pakistan ... this school is nothing like that."

We at Insight commend CNN for at least showing the initiative to follow-up on the story and send a correspondent to check it out. But, contrary to their claims, CNN didn�t debunk anything about our story. For the record, Insight never�not once�in its article claims that Obama went to a Madrassa. We didn�t claim it; Hillary�s people did. We reported�and we fully stand by our story�that the Hillary Clinton camp had conducted their own opposition research on Obama�s Muslim past, and that the Clinton investigators had concluded Obama had attended a Madrassa. This is what Hillary�s camp was saying and desperately trying to prove�not Insight. Our sources also confirmed to us that the Clinton camp had come to the conclusion that not only had Obama been raised and educated as a Muslim, but that he had been deliberately concealing it. Moreover, our sources also said that Clinton�s people were seeking to find out about the possible radical Wahhabi angle, and then peddle their information to their media allies later this year�prior to the January 2008 primaries.

LINK:
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaMa ... ponse2.htm

[Beta]

Here's a good question though, how will nations respect differ (if at all) to Hilary Clinton if she were elected President? Esp to those nations that do not hold women in equal standing (-ish) as most nations do?

[StrykerFSU]

I don't think it will matter. There are plenty of female premiers around the world and I offer Margaret Thatcher as an example. She seemed to do okay for herself. There have also been two female Sec. of State.

[Rob Graff]

Cliff's right.

India and ( I think) Indonesia are other examples.

Rob

[Beta]

I don't think it will matter. There are plenty of female premiers around the world and I offer Margaret Thatcher as an example. She seemed to do okay for herself. There have also been two female Sec. of State.

True. But with that...a lot of these countries burn our flag and pictures of Bush constantly...what will that do to Americans as a whole if they were to see a picture of a woman getting burned? That's a whooole new ballgame of thinking since historically our female involvement in the military has been limited due in part to the morale issues of seeing a woman harmed. Just a thought.

[Brent Burns]

Cliff's right.

India and ( I think) Indonesia are other examples.

Rob

India: Indira Gandhi (daughter of India's first Prime Minister- Jawaharal Nehru) Wikipedia stated that she was assassinated.

Pakistan: yes, it was Benzair Bhutto

[Dulax31]

Would this topic be in the running for one of the 2007 CollgeLax Water Cooler Top Stories? 91 replies with about 1217 views.

cant touch "snakes on a plane" with 4148 views!

[Beta]

If we could combine the "Snakes on a Plane" post with the "Oh that silly Ron Mexico" post...we would have quite possibly the greatest post of all time...hmm...

[cjwilhelmi]

If we could combine the "Snakes on a Plane" post with the "Oh that silly Ron Mexico" post...we would have quite possibly the greatest post of all time...hmm...

Now can we add the "Historic 2008" thread and add the head shots of all the early runners in the background we could have the ultimate thread. I'm not creative enough for a new slogan, I'll leave that for someone else. MandibleS4L if your out there in collegelax land please help!