Archive for the 'Current Events' Category

Google, Greed and Good Things

I think it’s pertinent to mention that Google has now threatened to pull out of China if they are not uncensored:

In a surprise announcement, the group issued a veiled attack at Chinese censors and said it was prepared to shut down its operations there entirely if the authorities do not allow it to create an unfiltered search engine.

The company courted controversy in 2006 when it launched in China but, as a concession to the Communist government, agreed to filter the results available on its website for “inappropriate” content. It does not operate such filters in other major countries.

In a blog on the company’s website, its corporate development and chief legal officer, David Drummond, said Google did so then because of the “benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet”. However, he said a number of recent cyber attacks – apparently targeting human rights activists – and recent clampdowns on freedom of speech on the web “have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.

“We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn… and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

This is an intriguing example of a so-called “people’s state” - the democratic ideal - fighting to limit and censor information and a private company (a “greedy, monopolistic, and evil capitalistic” one) looking make progress towards enabling human rights.

And even more important is why. Google does not have a conscience. It is not doing this for ethical reasons. Google stands to profit more if they open up more results to China and if Chinese people become more educated. Google’s services are tailored to educated, modern people. They are doing this because they are greedy and self-interested - and that is a good thing.

The Chinese State, on the other hand, clouds many of their decisions with rhetoric about “the greater good” and “the will of the people” - yet their actions, even if assuming their motives are genuine, inevitably lead to restrictions and limitations on human freedom.

Google has run the numbers on censorship - and it is no longer in their long-term, profit-driven self-interest to continue abiding by China’s laws. Hence, opportunities for positive change open up.

Rant: Republicans and Democrats Both Trying to End Last Vestiges of Health Insurance

I apologise for the slow time during the holiday. I had family visiting for the holidays and was pretty busy. Hopefully you had enough going on this holiday season that you weren’t needing to peruse blogs too much - and spent time with your loved ones.

Nevertheless, I have been trying to figure out how to say a couple of things about health insurance - and then this article came out last week. It really nails a problem with the healthcare debate on the head:

While a public option would certainly hasten the death of the private-insurance market in America, it is not a necessary means to that end. By destroying the economic structure of insurance, House Resolution 3962 would convert an already-overregulated industry into a pseudo-private welfare program. Even without a public option, insurance companies would be kept from controlling costs or adjusting their prices. The inevitable result will be the complete dissolution of the private health-insurance market.

The thing is this:

  1. the United States does not have a free market or capitalist healthcare system
  2. the last vestiges of a price system in the US are about to be destroyed (irrespective of a public option)
  3. republicans may not be proposing a public option (and right-leaning democrats might not endorse one), but their proposal is still fundamentally a socialistic one.

Self-Righteous Conservatives
The 2008 presidential election will forever leave a mark on me as to how ignorant, deluded, hypocritical and unprincipled the conservative elites are, as well as some who mindlessly follow/parrot them. Now we have conservatives claiming to stand on principles against government takeover of healthcare - they are appealing to capitalism and the free market. Meanwhile, they are putting forward a bill which, despite not creating explicit government “running” of healthcare, will make it inevitable.

The US features two prominent political parties: the one which generally ends up supporting legislation increasing government control of the economy by substantial degrees and government violations of civil rights by increments, and the party which ends up supporting legislation which increases government violation of civil rights by substantial degree and control over the economy by increments. Aside from a few rouge politicians and occasional pragmatic dissenters - this seems to be the pattern in Washington.

With healthcare, we have a spectrum of politicians arguing from “government run” healthcare to some form of “mild” intervention. Then there are a few lone voices in the wilderness actually supporting movement away from government control.

But many conservatives will claim to be opposing “socialism” and “government run” healthcare - but these would be supportive of GOP efforts which are effectively the same thing - only by a lesser degree or a different route. So many conservatives are locked into a two dimensional box - politics is either democrat or republican - we can either kill ourselves quickly with anthrax or slowly with rat poison.

But big surprise - many of these same people supported healthcare socialism under George Bush or, at the very least, did not express any concern. They definitely didn’t criticise Bush based on principle.

Pre-Existing Conditions
One of the major problems with the bill that will end up passing, is that it is a foregone conclusion that it will force insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. If there is one thing that is going to drive up the cost of health insurance it is this. Insurance is a product that covers risk - not things which have already happened. It is a market articulation of the subjunctive - what “might” happen - not what “will” or “has” happened. Forcing insurance to cover conditions which already exist is not insurance - it is welfare. It redistributes wealth from the healthy to the sick.

Imagine if car insurance was such that people could make claims on accidents, injuries and wrecks which had happened before being insured! Is anyone deluded enough to think that premiums would be low in order to sustain such payouts?

Entitlements
The fact is, that despite the trappings of capitalism, America is an entitlement society. Many Americans believe that they simply have a foregone right to cheap gas, healthcare, jobs, cars, houses and leisure time. Even if they do not believe they think this way - doing without some or all of these things for some time would quickly reveal the state of things. Conservatives are protesting over healthcare, not necessarily because of the principles at stake, but because they are tied into the same entitlement mentality as many others - they want healthcare, they expect it cheap and they expect it loaded with features. Many are just too self-righteous to admit this. If this weren’t the case, they would be protesting TSA, the police and even the post office. But this isn’t about principles - it’s about blind adherence to party group-think.

People who actually believe in freedom because of principles - not because it happens to be a buzzword of party elites - would do well to remember when the GOP was actively ridiculing, ignoring and excluding them in 2007 and 2008. Right now, there is an opportunity to use the Right to help defend against more government encroachment in healthcare. But let’s not get too comfortable in this bed - they will soon show their true statist colours.

Links: Cap and Trade, National Healthcare and Hell Freezing Over

An alternative look at Cap & Trade: Fee & Dividend

There is a better alternative, one that would be more efficient and less costly than cap and trade: “fee and dividend.” Under this approach, a gradually rising carbon fee would be collected at the mine or port of entry for each fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas). The fee would be uniform, a certain number of dollars per ton of carbon dioxide in the fuel. The public would not directly pay any fee, but the price of goods would rise in proportion to how much carbon-emitting fuel is used in their production.

All of the collected fees would then be distributed to the public. Prudent people would use their dividend wisely, adjusting their lifestyle, choice of vehicle and so on. Those who do better than average in choosing less-polluting goods would receive more in the dividend than they pay in added costs.

For example, when the fee reached $115 per ton of carbon dioxide it would add $1 per gallon to the price of gasoline and 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour to the price of electricity. Given the amount of oil, gas and coal used in the United States in 2007, that carbon fee would yield about $600 billion per year. The resulting dividend for each adult American would be as much as $3,000 per year. As the fee rose, tipping points would be reached at which various carbon-free energies and carbon-saving technologies would become cheaper than fossil fuels plus their fees. As time goes on, fossil fuel use would collapse.

Action Taken Against NHS Hospital for Blood Splattered Equipment

Swiss ban mosque minarets in surprise vote

Growing backlash from conservative (theologically!) Christians regarding the Manhattan Declaration.

(In)famous right-leaning blogger at Little Green Footballs has parted ways with the Right. Has hell just frozen over?

Food Stamp use soars and stigma fades in U.S.

More than 70 MPs have handed in petitions from opponents of plans for the compulsory registration of families who educate their children at home. 

Links: Let’s Talk About Texting Whilst Driving

Finally, an article against bans on texting whilst driving:

Now think of this poll showing a widespread opposition to texting while driving. I submit that you would get similar results from a poll that asked people about the right to drive:

Do you support or oppose the right of everyone to own 4,000-pound heaps of steel and control them completely and autonomously at top speeds in the midst of thousands of other citizens whose lives could be in danger with so much as a slight flick of the wrist to the right or left?

That question could elicit nearly 100% negative results. We generally trust our capacity to manage ourselves but we do not trust the capacity of others to manage themselves. And we surely don’t believe that society can generally function well under conditions of freedom. Even though we live in the midst of spontaneous order and use its brilliance every day (grocery store, the world wide web, restaurants, housing developments), we don’t really understand it.

While we were promised that they would eventually be repaid possibly at a profit, CIT has now declared bankruptcy with the intent of transferring asset ownership to debt holders. Atanamis‘ commentary: This means that the $2.33 billion in preferred stock that the US government purchased are now most likely worthless. Government funds were wasted because those spending the money are not held accountable for the results of their actions.

N.F.L. Seeks Congressional Help on Drug Policy:

Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the N.F.L., took the unusual step Tuesday of asking Congress to change federal labor laws to prevent states from interfering with the league’s efforts to enforce its banned substances policy.

A step forward for the peoples of the world - domain names beyond Latin script 

Links: Why Desiring God Makes Everything Free

Make everything free - one Christian website which does it.

Need some help choosing a religion?

Politics
Uncut transcript of a recent interview of Zizek is available on New Statesman

As I like to emphasise here in the States, there are freedoms of choice which I am glad to renounce. I like to do a parallel between healthcare and water and electricity. Yes, you can say I don’t have a choice in choosing my water provider. It’s imposed by where I live. But, my god, I gladly renounce this choice. I prefer to have some basic choices made by society – water, electricity, and some elementary healthcare. This precisely opens up the choice, opens up the freedom for other choices.

5 Years After: Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results

Time Magazine Reports on The State of The American Woman

The Fatal Conceit:

Again, the issue is not whether government acts, but whether it acts with an awareness of the limits of its knowledge. Sometimes we seem to have a government with no sense of those limits, no sense that perhaps government officials don’t know how to restructure General Motors, pick the most promising battery technology, re-engineer the health care system from the top, or fine-tune the complex system of executive pay.

More Schools, Not Troops:

In particular, one of the most compelling arguments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off: For the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there….

Since 9/11, the United States has spent $15 billion in Pakistan, mostly on military support, and today Pakistan is more unstable than ever. In contrast, Bangladesh, which until 1971 was a part of Pakistan, has focused on education in a way that Pakistan never did… Those educated Bangladeshi women joined the labor force, laying the foundation for a garment industry and working in civil society groups like BRAC and Grameen Bank. That led to a virtuous spiral of development, jobs, lower birth rates, education and stability. That’s one reason Al Qaeda is holed up in Pakistan, not in Bangladesh, and it’s a reminder that education can transform societies.

Media “Whoring” over Alan Grayson Reveals Hypocrisy

A lot of people in the United States are up in arms over the fact that someone said this of someone else:

“This lobbyist, this K Street whore, is trying to teach me about economics.”

You would think in a country where people swear, cuss, deride others, gossip, slander, lie, cheat and steal on a daily basis - that someone referring to another person in a “derogatory” way would not make national news. You especially wouldn’t think it would lead to requests to the President of the United States to condemn the statement, would you?

By the way, it was a US congressman that said it.

Oh, now I’m MAD!

And he was a Democrat!

Not surprising - Democrats are GODLESS, IMMORAL SOCIALISTS.

Nevermind that “K Street” is well known as the street where numerous think tanks, lobbyists and the rest of Washington DC’s political whoring takes place. Nevermind that “whore” is an accepted term that describes, not merely a seller of sex, but a person who is known to be of sketchy moral character, relaxed ethics and a propensity to deal in a manner of illicit activities. “To whore” is a verb describing , not merely the act of selling one’s body for sex, but to “to compromise one’s principles for personal gain.”

This is an entirely accurate and acceptable term for the Federal Reserve’s new lobbyist based on her job description. To my knowledge she is not a generic whore - but she is most definitely a “K street whore.” (Please don’t call the president on me for saying that!)

But the outcry against Grayson not only exposes the ignorance of so many people with a laptop or a media outlet. It also exposes the self-righteous, hypocritical nature of mankind. I can’t count the number of times I have driven down the street with my wife, and one of us has commented on a woman’s revealing clothing - never using the word “whore,” but meaning that with the way we judged her, if only in our thoughts. How many of us haven’t whored ourselves in our thoughts, committing adultery (by the biblical definition) on our spouses by gazing lustfully at the opposite sex?

But Grayson didn’t even go that far - he never referred to this woman in a sexually degrading way - rather, he articulated in one word, the foul, unethical nature of her profession - and he made it clear that he was doing so by his context of “K Street.”

The hypocritical morality police need to quit trying to pull out non-existent specs from the eyes of others. For Christians especially, the scriptures show us what sin is and help us to identify it so that we can recognise our individual need of a saviour, not so that we can use it as a means to attack US Congressman (many who don’t even believe in Christ) and make ourselves feel righteous by comparison.

That is the essence of hypocricy.

Links: Catholics and Anglicans Re-Unifying?

Vatican Bidding to Get Anglicans to Join Its Fold

VATICAN CITY — In an extraordinary bid to lure traditionalist Anglicans en masse, the Vatican said Tuesday that it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with their church’s acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining many of their traditions. Anglicans would be able “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here.

Here’s a tour of Billy Corgan’s new blog which seems to be more about spirituality than music.

Beware Your Seminary Professors

Health Care Bill Gets Green Light in Cost Analysis

Links: This Will Take All Weekend to Get Through…

The Economy
BofA, execs owe “billions” in lawsuit, Ohio says:

“NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in a class-action lawsuit against Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC - News) over the Merrill Lynch & Co takeover are trying to collect “billions of dollars” in damages, Ohio’s attorney general said on Monday.
….
Investors also want to recover from Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, Chief Financial Officer Joe Price, Chief Accounting Officer Neil Cotty, the bank’s board of directors, and former Merrill chief executive John Thain.”

Judge rejects SEC settlement allowing Bank of America executives to pay a $33 million while admitting no fault for having misled their stockholders. To summarize: Corporate executives lied to their employer (stockholders). The SEC indicated that lying to an employer is illegal. The executives offered to pay $33 million of their employers money for a no fault settlement. The SEC thought this made sense, and had to be shot down by a judge.  
Healthcare
Healthcare reform finds a new twist as States contemplate forcing a showdown between State and federal law.

While the Senate is hiding behind closed doors ‘wheeling and dealing’ (read ‘blackmailing and paying off’) what their version of healthcare reform should look like, here’s a short chart highlighting some of the key differences between the two proposals.

A public option, in which the government would basically offer an insurance plan to compete with private insurers, would likely reimburse doctors at the same rate as Medicaid and Medicare. In many cases, both government policies pay rates well below a doctor’s cost of doing business.

Other Politics
Fear of Fascism, ‘Gay Agenda’ Dominates Conservative Kickoff for Midterm Elections

The Real Cost of Agricultural Subsidies

Who is the American Police Force

Secrecy causes panic and rumors in small MT town

Senate candidate Rand Paul raises $1 million

Obama Supports Extending Patriot Act Provisions

Dogs sniff out wrong suspect

Conservative Bible

Krugman: The Politics of Spite

Misc.
Group Plans Bible-burning for Halloween

The porn industry has more in common with the church than some might realize.

Raising Dorks: You can fast forward childhood, but you can’t rewind it.

Medicare in HR3200

 This is part 2 of the series investigating the proposed healthcare reforms. Part 1 is here.

I will quickly review the improvements to Medicare in HR 3200. For those unfamiliar with the various parts of Medicare, I will section the improvements according to each part and provide a very short summary of that part. Medicare applies to individuals to are over 65, those under 65 with certain disabilities, and individuals with end-stage renal disease (kidney failure that requires transplant or dialysis).

‘Original’ Medicare (§1101-§1112)
Medicare Part A is basic hospital coverage. No premium is paid for this part of Medicare as it is geared towards inpatient care, emergency care, and hospice. People under Part A may optionally enroll in Part B and Part D Medicare. The primary change here is to increase payments to medical facilities that operate with Part A by increasing the annual adjustment percentage retroactively from 2004 to 2009.

Part B (§1121-§1158)
This is a basic medical insurance that includes a premium for coverage. This is aimed at outpatient care, physician services, and physical or occupational therapy.
Changes here include modifications to the growth rate formula and consolidation of medical service codes (e.g. services often billed many times for a single treatment, multiple services grouped together for a single treatment). Funding for this is $20M from otherwise available funds in the Treasury. During the years 2011-2012, physicians performing Medicare services in efficient areas (top 20% based on ZIP code) get an additional 5% on all payments for services performed from section 1848 of the physician fee schedule. The Medicare Improvement Fund for years between 2011 and 2019 is increased to $8 billion annually.
Hospitals will received reduced payments for patients who are readmitted excessively, with the intent on full recovery before discharge. The aim of this is to eliminate unnecessary readmissions.

Medicare Advantage (§1161-§1177)
Part C Medicare combines Part A and Part B Medicare into a single package with the exception that the care and coverage is provided through approved private insurance companies. Medicare Advantage payments will begin to be based on the fee for actual services. MA plans which are rated as high-quality and those which improve their quality rankings will receive additional money (percentages that increase annually from 2011 to 2013). Cost-sharing techniques for MA plans will be limited to the cost-sharing amount for non-MA plans. MA plans which do not have a medical-loss ratio of at least 0.85 must give rebates of premiums to enrollees until the medical-loss ration is at that level. If a plan does not meet this minimum for 3 consecutive years, it will suspend enrollment for new enrollees to that plan. If a plan does not meet the minimum for 5 consecutive years, that plan’s contract with Medicare will be terminated. In effect, this is limiting a company’s profit from Medicare Advantage plans to 15% of annual premium totals.

Prescriptions (§1181-§1185)
Part D is the stand-alone prescription plan. This has a few plans, each with varying premiums and coverage. The first item on the agenda is phasing out of the gap between the annual out-of-pocket threshold and the initial coverage limit. Secondly, drugs prescribed to ‘dual-eligible’ individuals (i.e. those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid) are required to offset the cost of such drugs by a regular rebate (paid to the government) that will be used to fund the gradual elimination of the above coverage gap. A discount of 50% is to be applied to qualifying drugs dispensed to individuals who are in the above coverage gap.

Beneficiary Improvements (§1201-§1236)
The low-income level for Medicare benefits is raised in 2012 to $17,000 per individual, to be adjusted each year according to the consumer price index average. Beginning 1/1/2011, co-insurance (and other cost-sharing methods) are eliminated for institutionalised individuals as well as dual-eligible individuals who receive full-benefits. Additionally, beginning 1/1/2010, Medicare enrollment is modified so that individuals can self-certify income and resources without the need of additional documentation except in ‘extraordinary situations as determined by the HIE Commissioner’. Individuals who become eligible for the low-income subsidy (above) are also eligible for retroactive reimbursement of prescription expenses. The relevant insurance plans have 45 days to reimburse individuals after receiving notification from the government that an individual is eligible for the reimbursement or after receiving a valid claim from an individual. It is unclear how far back this retroactive period runs as the threshold level is not increased retroactively.
There is also to be a study to discover language barriers and difficulties for Medicare recipients, which will ultimate provide guidelines and suggestions for providing necessary language services (e.g. on-site interpreter, off-site interpreter, bi-lingual staff, etc). These will be tested in a trial run in different regions and Medicare service type providers, funded by federal grants (not to exceed more than $500,000 per grantee over the three year trial period). The bill requires at least 24 grantees for the trial in varying socio-geographic locations (e.g. urban/rural, Southeast/Northwest, large metropolitan area, etc).
Finally, this section also provides for advanced care planning by a consultant once every 5 years. This is to explain living wills, power of attorney, the role and responsibility of a healthcare proxy, etc. Furthermore, this section (§1233) requires states to standardise these requirements and forms to reduce confusion by health care staff. States must provide information about these updates to health practitioners who are able to sign orders for life sustaining treatment (e.g. physicians, their assistants, and nurses, depending on state law).

Links: The ‘Religious Right’ and Their Left Counterparts (’Religious Left’?)

A research study on religious political activists shows many key differences between the ‘religious right’ and their left counterparts (’religious left’?): link.

Top Ten Ways to Convince the Muslims We’re On a Crusade

Politics
First They Came for the Marlboros

Senators are voting on what?

The Partisan Industrial Complex

Misc.
OpenOffice accepts Graphite software for version 3.2

Cursive writing may be fading skill, but so what?


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