Tuesday 1 September 2009

Health Care Summary

Health Care Summary

Each time I touch the issue of health care in America I get all sorts of responses from otherwise passive readers. It has been gratifying to see that this blog attracts a diverse bunch of visitors, with all sorts of opinions and positions. I must also say that some of the comments have been as educative as anything I've read in mainstream publications or ueber-blogs.

My lesson, however, has been to stop using the issue as a foil for other topics, since it's too radioactive. Foils need themselves to be mildly interesting or easily recognizable, but shouldn't be major bones of contention - because if they are, they overpower the attempt to wield them.

The folks having the discussion are free to continue at it, of course. If I don't censor our in-house agitator Fake Ibrahim, I certainly won't bother them.

Just for the record, here's my basic position on health care, unencumbered by rhetoric tricks for other purposes.

Any reasonably wealthy country ought to have a system that ensures that all citizens have access to reasonable health care. Everyone having access means the illnesses we accumulate as we age need to be covered, otherwise the system is meaningless. And, yes, the electorate needs to define how they're going to pay for the system.

Beyond that - if it's national, or private, or hodgepodge; who decides, who adapts, who tweaks; what is the level of "reasonable" and what needs to be paid for separately; and all the other fiendishly complex questions - these need to be hammered out by the particular electorate, according to their particular conditions, mores, traditions, and abilities. Nor are the decisions of the past eternally correct: what worked well before may no longer work so well after; the compromises made by a previous generation may not seem such a good idea to a latter one - unless they actually do.

Sometimes there are issues where one side is right and the other is wrong. Eastern Europe's communist regimes foiling the aspirations of their nations, for example; the present Iranian regime suppressing freedom. Rarely, you'll even find crass moral imbalance within a democratic discussion. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is a fine example. Most of the time, however, discussions in democracies tend to be more about interpretations or differing legitimate values, rather than clashes between good and evil. Hard as it may be for the Americans among you to see, this one seems to be of the latter type.

Now let me see. Where did I put that helmet? It was right over there....
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Condemning Antisemitism

Condemning Antisemitism

The only way I read this article is that Franco Frattini, Italy's Foreign Minister, essentially agrees with the Israelis on the issue of the scandalous article in Aftonbladet. He seems to be saying that while governments can't stop newspapers from saying things, they certainly can condemn the worst things that get said. The Aftonbladet blood libel needs to be condemned. Moreover, he may even be saying the Swedish government agrees, and is seeking a general EU condemnation that will give them a face-saving opportunity to condemn the libel without being specific.

Looks like a reasonable vindication of the official Israeli response to me.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with some friends. None of us had voted for Netanyahu, and all of us felt he's doing a reasonable job. This is very unusual for us, as our natural condition is to revile our government, no matter who they are. Since it looks like he's going to be in office for a while yet, here's hoping he keeps on doing a reasonable job.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Stop Raping Israel: BBC 4 Interview: Shira and Daniel Gil'ad, Ramath Migron

Stop Raping Israel: BBC 4 Interview: Shira and Daniel Gil'ad, Ramath Migron

RubinReports: Take the one-minute test proving Syria is an Ally of al-Qaida & see How This Fact is Kept Hidden

Take the one-minute test proving Syria is an Ally of al-Qaida & see How This Fact is Kept Hidden

By Barry Rubin

It is an open secret that Syria is behind most of the terrorism in Iraq. The Syrian regime let’s in would-be Sunni terrorists, arms them, trains them, serves as a supply base, and then helps them cross the border. They murder Iraqi civilians and American soldiers alike.

But here’s something else that’s an open secret: Syria is cooperating with Usama bin Ladin’s al-Qaida organization to do so. I can prove that to you within one minute. Ready? Check your watch and read on.

Terrorists get into Iraq almost exclusively through Syria. Syria provides assistance to the terrorists. The U.S. government provides statistics of how many terrorists infiltrate across the Syria-Iraq border every month.

Oh, yes, and the terrorists belong to al-Qaida, the leading organization in the anti-Shia, anti-American insurgency in Iraq.

Therefore: Syria works with the terrorists, the terrorists are al-Qaida, Syria works with al-Qaida.

Beat my deadline by 15 seconds! And no one can refute the previous paragraphs two linkages.

Here’s another logical progression that doesn’t work out so well

The United States says it is at war with al-Qaida and its partners, Syria is a partner of al-Qaida, therefore Washington perceives Syria as part of its war against al-Qaida? No, on the contrary, the United States is seeking engagement with Syria.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s government played a videotape of a captured al-Qaida terrorist, Muhammad Hassan al-Shemari, a Saudi arrested in Iraq as a leader of al-Qaida. He describes an al-Qaida training camp in Syria, headed by a well-known Syrian intelligence agent.

But there's another element to this story that tells all too much about the current sad state of academia and intellectual exchange. A student at American university who I know and is very credible, after reading the article you've just finished, wrote me as follows:

"I made the argument you presented in Middle East class; The retort by my pro-Syrian professor, `well it's much more complicated than that. This sounds a bit neo-conservative to me.'"

Note that, as so often happens nowadays, the response is not a series of well-honed arguments with proof provided but a slogan, an insult.
Reda All at :

RubinReports: Take the one-minute test proving Syria is an Ally of al-Qaida & see How This Fact is Kept Hidden

Released for Publication: Israeli-Arab Plotted to Kill IDF Chief - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Released for Publication: Israeli-Arab Plotted to Kill IDF Chief - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News
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Hamas Refuses UN Plan to Teach Holocaust - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News

Hamas Refuses UN Plan to Teach Holocaust - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News

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Rabbis Considering Ban on Selling Houses to Arabs - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Rabbis Considering Ban on Selling Houses to Arabs - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News
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Sirens Return to Sderot, 4 Shells Fired - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Sirens Return to Sderot, 4 Shells Fired - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News
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Protests Follow Arab Murder of Jew - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Protests Follow Arab Murder of Jew - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News
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Zionist Candidate for J'lem Rabbi Wants to 'Unify' - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News#replies

Zionist Candidate for J'lem Rabbi Wants to 'Unify' - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News
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RonMossad: Why We Fight: In Defense of Preemptive Offense

RonMossad: Why We Fight: In Defense of Preemptive Offense
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