The Spanish press of September 11 heaps ridicule on the attempt in the USA to erase Christopher Columbus from the history books. The press points out that many of the victims of racism are named Gómez, Pérez and Martín so getting rid of Columbus will do little to hide the fact that many of their ancestors were rapists, thieves and thugs. Rewriting history never serves to perfect it.. Get over it! Even when we disinvent our history one is still mediocre. The fact that Governor Shumlin or mayor Berry declare Columbus to have been a naughty man, only makes them look silly. Nothing important to worry about in the poorer neighborhoods, guys? Governor Walker of Alaska may be right when he insists that the Chinese got there first but they have never been models for race relations. Ask their neighbors! Governors, if you can´t prove it or make it go away with facts, shut up. The outraged mobs that were against Robert E. Lee yesterday and Columbus today will never vote for you anyway. In case you haven´t guessed, I think that much of political correctness is mental trash. History is there looking at us. Continue reading “Disinventing History, …, Again”
Author: overcoffee879
The Spanish press today makes it clear that negotiating anything with Mr. Kim is not a possible reality. Spain has basically closed down the North Korean embassy in Madrid. Like other European nations Spain states that locking them up inside that workers´paradise is the first step to freeing us all from a mad man.
Russia and China have both urged the world to negotiate a solution to North Korea´s drive to become a supper power. That is their way of saying no solution is better than any solution. China sees Pyongyang as a buffer between itself and South Korea/Japan/the USA while Russia sees the North as a constant thorn in the side of the USA. Neither will really help to solve the problem of a sociopath with atomic weapons in his pocket. For how long has the world been negotiating with them? Have they ever shown any real interest in a solution? Of course, not! They know that China and Russia will cover their back. A couple months ago the North was within a few years of having atomic weapons. Then, a little later they probably had weapons too large to mount on a missile. Now they have hydrogen bombs they can park in Alaska! Who runs our national security agencies?
A solution might be to use the defensive shield in place in Japan, Formosa and Japan to begin to shot North Korean missiles down while they are still flying upwards from their missile bases. How would the local satrap explain that on home town TV? Or, maybe convince the hangers-on around the little big man that the destruction of their paradise is not worth a Kim. Negotiate hard with those few in the hierarchy who would lose most.
The press of the last few days has touched on several issues relating to US policy.
First, people here see North Korea as a sociopathic state dangerous to all. Spaniards were pleased so see that China, and therefore Russia, allowed the UN to take a firm stand. The privileged classes in North Korea are the glorious leader´s weak point. Set them against him and he is in serious trouble. By putting trade embargos in place their interests will be hit.
Spanish public opinion is very contrary to President Maduro of Venezuela. For Spain a country like Venezuela is as known to the people as Canada is to us. The move to separate the nation from its constitutional system is condemned expect for IU and Podemos which applaud the actions of the would be dictator.
Trump´s proposed reform for immigration are seen as logical. After the fiasco of the last year of so with tens of thousands of uninvited immigrants flowing into the EU, Spaniards understand that the US favors an educated immigration that can start working and producing tomorrow. American cities can no longer be types of half way houses between somewhere and who knows where. In 2017 the unskilled have to be limited to avoid flooding the land with people who can not produce any benefits for society. In Spain where thousands of Africans force their way in each year, Spaniards and many Europeans empathize with us.
Check the on line issues of the ABC, El Mundo and El País for articles on these issues.
In Spain, the firm stand of three Republican senators against the pressures from the White House and party leaders in congress has awakened journalistic interest in understanding just what the fight to wipe out Obamacare is all about. In today´s ABC, a center-right publication, their correspondent in New York gave readers El alto gasto sanitario en EE.UU. se traduce en pobres resultados. He tells us:
Obamacare was doomed from the beginning due to its exaggerated costs He estimates that as it now stands it takes up 27% of federal income. That is about twice and a half as much as the social medical system costs in many European countries. Why?
First, Nancy Pelozi and Harry Reid were good back room fighters but they had no negotiating skills nr long ranger vision. They failed to see that the Republicans would never agree to social medicine in the United States. Compromise was and is impossible. The bill was born dysfunctional.
President Obama worked to install a system of universal coverage. For such an option in health to work there had to be a single negotiators to face down the powerful special interests in insurance companies, pharmaceutical sacred cows, and the highly paid professionals known as Dr. Manny and his colleagues on Fox. Without a single negotiator, these organizations and individuals that place their interests far ahead of Medicine as Service to the People faced down deal makers unable to regulate the market. In Europe that never happens. . Aside from the article reviewed here, we can accept the frankness of Dr. Ferid Murad who discovered the potential uses of nitric oxide. For his work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998. He publicly laments that the pharmaceutical industry used it to earn millions selling the little blue pill rather than invest in real medical research. Money, money, money!
Americans in general are guilty of much of the dire situation we are now in. For generations we sat back assuming medicine and health were free because the company paid for it! Well, now those companies can´t afford to pay it and since the yearly charge per individual with limitations is at best some $3,800, you and I can´t afford it either. With a single, strong negotiator like the federal government, guess who would be slamming their fist on the table where deals are made! Of course the insurance people and persons in the pharmaceutical industry and the Drs. Manny of the medical associations are horrified by such a future.
All patting ourselves on the back aside, Outstanding American health care is mediocre for its cost because people can´t afford it. Elisabeth Rosenthal´s book documents the sad story in detail. When we in Europe see the figures we feel so sorry for you over there. Let´s look at the reality of costs of special interests in health care.
Hospitalization costs per day in the US > $5,220. In Spain > >$424. Is the food that good?
A colonoscopy in the US > $1,300. In Spain> $589.
A magnetic resonance in the US> $1120. In Spain> $ 130.
Removal of the appendix in the US > $15,900. In Spain > 2,000.
Hip implant surgery, in the US> $29,000. In Spain > $6,700.
Delivery in the US >10,800. In Spain > 2.000.
At this time the federal government spends over ten billion dollars of $ 10,000 plus per head via Obamacare. Before throwing your health care away, reform good intentions in the public interest into a functional system that really serves the public´s health needs.. If we in Spain, France, Sweden and other countries have done it, you can too. Of course we have problems but that is natural in great undertakings. Ignore the Republicans when they cry tears for insurance companies, drug makers, hospital administrators and the Mafias that control lack of public health in the United States, home of oh, beautiful for spacious skys for amber waves of grain,…, above the fruited plane. Whatever became of those alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears? Maybe they moved them up to Canada where people who look just like we do can go to the doctor without a bank loan. The Republicans defend our right to choose what we can´t afford due to their eternal negativism.
Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens all, please stand. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John McCain have entered the room. In these three statesmen we see that the Grand Old Party is still alive and firm in its respect for the needs of the people in corners of the land. Mr. Trump, the enemies of our country shot him down and held him prisoner for five years. With one NO he and his Republican allies brought you, Mr. Paul, the southern radicals and Mitch McConnell to the ground in minutes. The Democrats as well as the Republicans are lost at sea. Living elsewhere than in Alaska, Maine or Arizona or Vermont I don´t think I would vote. It´s time to ignore tuits and nail the El Supremo with facts, facts and more facts. Facts terrify him! Where on the Democrat side of the aisle do we find people of the stature of Senators McCain, Collins and Murkowski? Let´s stand. There are still a few great Americans in the Senate.
overcoffee 