US Presidential Biography Bucketlist Project

Finished another US Presidential biography.  I enjoyed "Eisenhower in War and Peace" immensely....

Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I have found my second favorite biographer in Jean Smith. He does not quite have the story telling prowess of David McCullough, but he comes close. Like McCullough, he is meticulous in his sourcing and does not suppose or cast judgment that the evidence does not support.

In this book Smith tells the story of one of the most popular presidents in our history. He celebrates his successes and contributions to history, while never shying away from the mistakes. He does not "revise the historical record" for his own purposes- an accusation that he hurls at Eisenhower interestingly enough- as some biographers have in the past. And he is not opposed to taking those biographers to task when the evidence shows they were most likely wrong in their earlier depictions of Ike.

As with McCullough's "Truman," when I finished reading "Eisenhower in War and Peace," I felt that if we had more Republicans like Ike these days, our country would be in better shape today. They would work well with more Democrats like Harry.

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One Nation Under Government...Scary

These days, whenever I find myself getting caught up in the hype put forth by the media about our HOR only saying "no" and never coming up with ideas to get us out of this mess, I read a piece like Koffler's and I quickly picture our conservative representatives as a giant finger in the hole in the dike, trying to hold back a flood of government invasiveness. I'm thinking a speech similar to O's could be found in the early writings of Lenin... Read Keith Koffler Article Here

I'm going to apply for a bailout so I can get me one of these.... (Note the Iranian nuclear facility about half way through the presentation.)

psychobabble

Psychobabble (a portmanteau of psychology or psychoanalysis and babble) is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords and highly esoteric language to give an impression of plausibility through mystification, misdirection, and obfuscation. The term implies that the speaker lacks the experience and understanding necessary for proper use of a given psychological term.

One more record that must have been broken in the recent presidential election, but will never be reported by the media, is the quantity of voters that went to the poles with nothing more than “psychobabble” in mind.

“Hope, Change, and he ain’t George Bush” elected Barak Obama. Very few voters took the time to go beyond the psychobabble and investigate the “change” that Obama was promising. If history is examined, I think it will be found that Stalin and Hitler were brought to power in much the same way….

Dear Mr. Obama

I couldn't have said it better... So I won't try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

Universal Healthcare

I find it amazing that people are lining up behind Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama (apparently not necessarily in that order), in large part because of their platforms to bring "Universal Healthcare" to the United States. I have two questions for either of them:

1) What in the US federal government's vast resume makes you think it is suited to manage our nation's health care? Social Security? Medicare? Yeah, right.

2) Have you spent any time taking advantage of Canada's universal healthcare?

I can answer that last one for you Senator and Senator: No you haven't or you wouldn't be pushing socialized medicine on the unwitting US public. I personally have known two Canadians that had serious medical conditions and one almost died of a heart attack waiting on a cardiac surgeon and the other died waiting on a cardiac surgeon. I only know a total of 10 Canadians in the first place so the statistical relevance must be enormous.

Without a doubt, our medical system has flaws. Too many people can't afford coverage. And who knows what goes into determining the price of prescription drugs in the US and abroad. But the solution is not to turn the reigns over to our federal government. Under any universal healthcare plan the government will ultimately set the standard and price of care, either directly or indirectly.

The big bad doctors and the big bad pharmaceutical companies are making too much money after all. OK, so take that money away from the doctors and guess what? They go elsewhere. The smart kids don't go to medical school any longer. Start regulating the price of perscription drugs and guess what? Without that profit carrot out there, the drug companies don't like to stick their necks out and invest in R&D. Sure, the price of healthcare goes down and more people are covered, but innovation stops.

Innovation stops and we have 2nd tier doctors providing us with health care. Sounds fun. Sounds like Canada.