Issue #1 - Comprehensive vs. Incremental Health Care Reform

Health care is a very big topic of debate in the United States, especially since the new health care bill was passed. Since 2007, there have arisen two main types of health care--comprehensive and incremental. The first focuses on universal health care, while the other simply deals with expanding the existing health care plans and coverage in the country. Those who support the universal health care plan believe that it would greatly help reduce the rising costs of health insurance and other medical costs. Opponents of universal health care are of the opinion that it would add to bureaucracy and rising costs. It is important, though, that despite their opposition to universal health care, not all of these individuals believe that American citizens should not all have the right to health care.

I believe that universal health care would be a good thing for the United States, and for the many citizens who depend on good health care. One positive aspect of this health care program is that people will still be allowed to choose the physicians and institutions that they want. That way, nobody will be forced to lose the doctors, clinics, hospitals, etc. that they like. To fund such programs, there would be some increased taxation of U.S. citizens that belong in the top 5%, but health care amounts are already deducted from many people's pay, it would just be a deduction in a different form. I won't pretend to understand every single aspect of the health care bill, but from what I do understand, I believe that it would be very beneficial for citizens of the United States.

Source: Govtrack.us

Issue #2

Issue #3

Eliminating Coconuts for Obama

In anticipation of President Barack Obama's visit to Mumbai, India, all of the coconuts on trees surrounding the Ghandi museum have been removed. This is a tactic used by security to ensure the safety of Obama from falling coconuts that injure and/or kill many people every year in India. This security precaution comes with other maximum security steps leading up to the visit that will fall at the same time as a religious festival, Diwali. The museum has recently had many upgrades made to it in anticipation of the visit and will be closed on November 5 and 6 while the president is visiting.

This is one security precaution we don't hear about too often! While somewhat silly, the precaution is understandable due to the history of coconut related injuries, and I actually commend the Indian government for paying attention to such little details such as this. I also appreciate that Obama cares so much about this part of Indian history. He himself said that he would like to have dinner with Ghandi. Sometimes people don't look far outside of their own nation to find individuals they look up to.

Source: BBC News - "Coconuts removed in India ahead of Obama visit"

Haitian Cholera Outbreak

After fifty years of not having a cholera outbreak, Haiti is now experiencing a fairly severe outbreak of the disease. Since Saturday, 2,000 people have been brought to hospitals and an additional 105 people have died, which brings the total number of deaths from the outbreak to 442. The strain of cholera that has been found in Haiti is the same throughout the country and is the same strain often found in South Asia. Despite opinions that the cause of the outbreak will likely never be known for sure, the United Nations is investigating into Nepalese peace keepers who may have spread the disease.

This whole situation is just horrible. Haiti is still struggling to recover from the earthquake that struck at the beginning of the year, and more death and destruction is not what they need. The only upside is that this strain of cholera is easy to treat, but that doesn't eliminate the fact that so many people have died already.

Source: BBC News - "Haiti cholera deaths rise sharply"

Obama Takes the Blame

In a statement following the November 2 mid-term elections, President Barack Obama said that he takes responsibility for the country not making as much progress as the people thought it needed to make. He went on to say that there has, indeed, been progress made, but most of the country does not see these changes. After the Republicans succeeded in taking the majority of seats in the House of Representatives, as well as gaining seats in the Senate, they made it known that they planned on changing some of the reforms and actions that Obama has taken so far in his presidency, such as the healthcare reform. President Obama did say that he would listen to ideas about the healthcare bill and other reforms, and stands by his opinion that there are still many changes that need to be made in the United States.

I like to hear that Obama is not trying to make himself seem perfect - he can stand up and admit that he is to blame for change not happening as quickly as the general public would like. There is another side to this, however. For one, it takes time to make changes that will benefit the country, and sometimes two years is not enough time to accomplish that. Also, the healthcare bill has not even gotten a chance to succeed, so I don't think that Republicans have any right to eliminate it at this point. Some members of the Republican Party are not acting like they have any interest in working with the Democrats to benefit the country. That is not okay. We need them to cooperate so that the people of the United States can benefit, not just deal with the two parties not being able to accomplish anything.

Source: BBC News - "Obama says US voters 'frustrated'"

Video Game Restrictions

After a ban in California that prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from buying or renting overly violent video games, the case has been brought to the Supreme Court. Some of the justices do believe that such video games are not the best influence for younger teens and children, but at the same time do not believe that this ban can exist due to First Amendment rights. Other justices, such as Chief Justice John Roberts, believe that it is not acceptable for such violent images to be experienced by children. He was quoted saying, "We do not have a tradition in this country of telling children they should watch people actively hitting schoolgirls over the head with a shovel so they'll beg with mercy - being merciless and decapitating them - shooting people in the leg so they fall down." Another side of the debate is that the violence in video games is no more than what is seen on television or in movies, so if the video games have an age restriction put on them, it would only be logical for the other genres of entertainment to have them as well.

It is true that some video games are ridiculously violent, for some because the violence makes the games easy to market and appealing to the consumer, while others the violence is merely a significant part of the video games' story lines. I don't necessarily believe that there should be a legal ban put on minors buying or renting the games. When buying games, I think that 17 is old enough to purchase them without an adult, while anyone younger should have parent or guardian approval. In the case of renting, rental stores should have a system where parents can approve and allow their teens to rent games without their presence, and they could also deny the rentals.

Source: BBC News - "Supreme Court considers violent games rules case"

2010 Mid-term Elections

During the 2010 mid-term elections on November 2, the Republican Party was able to gain control of the House of Representatives, while the Democrats were successful in keeping control of the Senate. Across the country there were many Republicans that won elections for governor as well as state positions. Many of these Republicans were elected in states and regions that were typically known to vote for Democrats. These patterns successfully show Americans' reactions to Obama's administration thus far. Many political analysts think of the outcomes of the mid-term election as a response to what many consider to be a low success rate on President Obama's part.

I think that this will be an interesting change in politics in the United States. What I am most interested to see is whether or not Republicans and Democrats in Congress will be able to work together seeing as how they have not been able to do so very well in the past few years. One aspect of the election that I do not understand fully is why people would choose to retaliate through their votes. Sure, Obama has had his flaws in the past two years, but voting for the opposite party just because of him doesn't seem like very logical reasoning to me.

Source: BBC News - "As it happened: US Mid-term elections 2010"