I’ve just returned from three weeks away from the USA. I was visiting Switzerland as I do frequently. Though still wading through the fog of jet lag, I see that Switzerland and its excellent and accessible health care system is being bandied about as a role model for what universal, comprehensive, private, health insurance coverage could look like here in America. Guess what? The Swiss health care system would never fly here.
There are a couple of reasons. The first reason Swiss health care couldn’t work here? It’s because we don’t …

Far be it from me to oppose a good passionate grassroots movement. Maybe I’m dating myself here, but I still remember big, huge marches and demonstrations that energized the heart and focused our nation’s gaze on high ideas – at least for the day. I support the scattered message tea partiers who have every right to take to the streets, distort history, wave their offensive signs and spout misinformation about the “inevitable” consequences of the proposed Federal tax increases.

And believe it or not, I don’t think the anti-spending battle …

Poor Gordon Brown, he’s having a helluva week. First he’s taken on by the Governor of the Bank of England for overspending, and then he gets to sit uncomfortably as his guest, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, goes off on a racially charged, wince inducing tirade about the reason for the global financial mess:
‘This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.
‘Now they have demonstrated that …

On Friday, in Los Angeles, the NAACP will file suit against two major banks alleging that they intentionally assigned black customers subprime mortgages while giving whites better rates. According to the Associated Press:
The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.
Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, tells The Associated Press that class-action lawsuits will be filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.
Tighe says black homebuyers have been 3 …

During the Presidential campaign, I hammered away at our individual responsibility to engage in critical analysis and offer constructive criticism if Barack Obama should become President. Well, here we are. And I am concerned that in many circles, even questioning Obama’s strategies is seen as some kind of “betrayal.” On a news show this morning, Jack Welch spoke of how his “trust fund” daughters refused to hear even the slightest concern or critique of Obama. Welch said that he was treated like a “pariah” if he even raised a question.
I …

I applaud Alexandra Penney. It was smart and savvy to get her post onto Tina Brown’s blogsite, where a significant number of media types regularly check in. Of course Penney’s a shoo-in for a book deal. But there’s an arc to most bestselling stories in this genre and I don’t think we’ve seen enough (any??) self reflection to inspire anyone to buy the hardcover.
Right now, my little family is doing okay. But I have lived through bruising financial reversals. If I had had no core set of values or beliefs …

Those elusive ‘Undecided Voters’
My hunch is that most of you reading this blog know who you will vote for on November 4th. I would be curious to speak to anyone truly undecided to find out what their core unresolved issue is. To the credit of both candidates, both of whom spout enough bluster to cloud the Los Angeles skies, each campaign’s website is replete with comprehensive information.
Taxes
The most important issue that came up for me during last night’s Presidential debate and on the high spirited Kevin Ross Show that followed …

If you think all you should know about the pending conversion to digital television is the need for a converter box coupon, you may have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by the jumbo media companies. In fact the most important aspect of this transition may be that hundreds of new television channels to be made available by the conversion to digital have already been doled out to existing media companies with little public discussion and no public service obligations.

The pro-Migrant bloggers over at the The Sanctuary website are making national news by trying to do a very difficult thing: keep Obama and McCain honest about their immigration agenda. It seems that in an effort to catch the majority of the ever growing “Latino vote,” Obama and McCain are flip flopping all over themselves, changing what they say depending on what audience they are speaking to.
So in June, the folks at The Sanctuary made a basic request; they asked each candidate to respond to a 38 Question Candidate Survey. …