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Let's start with a quiz. Who wrote the following this morning? One . . . near as I can tell, there's no really clear sense in which the Syrian sphere of influence in Lebanon is bad for the United States of America . Second, there's no particular reason to think that the waning of Syrian influence really heralds the dawning of Lebanese democracy. Outside of the special case of Iraq, Lebanon was and is pretty clearly the most democratic of Arab states. . . . . It's not what you would call a real democracy for a variety of reasons . . . . Still, as I say, it's closer than anything else that's up and running already. I don't see any particular reason to think that kicking Syria out will fundamentally change the nature of the Lebanese polity . . . . Heck, I don't even think it's clear that it would be a good idea to try and move Lebanon toward real majoritarian democracy. Henry Kissinger? Pat Buchanan? Ann Coulter? Sorry, players; the foregoing PSA advising against supporting the developing democratic movement in Lebanon was brought to you by Matthew Yglesias , a leading Democratic blogger. Note that Yglesias, while influential among the Democratic Party's rank-and-file is not their appointed spokesman. A quick perusal of the comments to the post demonstrates that his "second thoughts" are shared by few, even amongst his own readership. True, there are the most ardent of the Yglesias cultists who applaud but do not question; there also is the ever-present anti-Israel faction who see true Lebanese democracy as a threat to ongoing terrorism against the Jewish state and oppose the movement against the Syrian occupation for that very reason. Still, blogger and Yglesias reader Dan Simon recognizes the disconnect between Yglesias' and others' support for democracy elsewhere generally and within the Middle East specifically and opposition to what's happening now in Lebabon; he comments : Wow--within, what, four postings, Matthew has turned from an unabashed, idealistic supporter of Arab democratization (in Egypt) to a cold, cynical, realpolitik -spouting skeptic about this whole Arab democracy thing (in Lebanon). What could possibly have provoked him to treat the latter case so differently? A less bad despotism? Mubarak's no saint, but Assad's surely worse. A worse prognosis? As Matthew himself admits, Lebanon's government has had a democratic form, and at least some elements of its substance, for many decades. Egypt has never been democratic--ever. More danger of a fundamentalist takeover? Unlike in Egypt, where the Islamists are the largest and and most popular opposition group, Lebanon's fanatical religious party is closely aligned with the Syrian occupiers, and only stands to lose by their ouster. Worse outcome for America? Egypt's dictator, for all his faults, is a bought-and-paid-for US ally. Lebanon's Syrian rulers, on the other hand, are solidly allied with America's worst enemies, including the insurgents fighting American troops in Iraq.... Nah, couldn't be. Say it isn't so, Matthew.... Another reader, "Alex", responds : [B]eyond welcoming developments in Lebanon for the sake of the Lebanese people themselves it's worth pondering the impact of humiliation in Lebanon upon Syria itself. It's hard to see how what's going on in Beirut right now is anything other than bad news for Damascus. From that point of view, it's good news for the United States. Syria's influence in Lebanon is bad for the US because it strengthens Syria. (It's even worse for Lebanon of course). Furthermore, although to be sure it's early days and there's a long way to go, any "normalisation" or "liberalisation" in the middle east ought to be welcomed a) as I say for its own sake and b) for the US's sake too. Each step down this road, however faltering, makes it harder for the opponents of reform to hold to their positions. And that's something worth celebrating. Momentum does matter. As does the inspiration of example. "Ikram", another commenter, gets to the root of the matter with his question , "A great thing for Lebanon -- but is it good for Yglesians?" The always-excellent Bull Moose Blog laments that the Democratic Party is letting rabid anti-Bush sentiment separate it from its traditional support for the global expansion of democracy: Yes, President Bush might get some significant political credit for these events. So what. If partisanship is more important than fundamental principles, than the Democratic party has truly lost its way. Just as right-wing Delayicans opposed the foreign policy triumph of Clinton in Kosovo, so are left-wing Kissingers moaning the potential advance of freedom today. Remember, you're the Democratic Party. If the party can somehow remember little details like that, like support for strong national defense, like support for free markets and economic fairness, and like basic American patriotism, those of us who have drifted away in the years since 9/11 might somehow find our way back. Labels: Current Events

Tags: lebanon, democratic, democracy, party, yglesias

The Protocols of the Yuppies of Zion has a very worthwhile "quick and dirty" synopsis of the recent developments in the Middle East. For once, it seems that even the most ardently anti-Bush media outlets are able to do the math (today's New York Times , for example) and rightly conclude that these events are interrelated and not mere happenstance; going that extra mile to find that the liberations of Afghanistan and Iraq were the catalyst of these broader changes may take some additional soul-searching and, ultimately, some non-partisan intellectual honesty. I for one am hopeful that the leaders within the Democratic Party will be able to go that extra mile. Sometimes success comes when you originate a course of action which works; sometimes success comes when you adopt a course of action which works. Supporting the spread of democracy and personal freedom in the Middle East is not just the morally-right thing for the United States to do; it is becoming apparent that it is the pragmatic thing to do as well. The Democrats, if they collectively shun this course of action that works because it did not originate with them, will certainly condemn themselves to also-ran status for many elections to come; "adopt and improve" should be their mantra from this point forward. Bill Clinton understood as well as anyone that you don't avoid good ideas just because they weren't yours. Labels: Current Events

Tags: action, works, middle, east, mile

Three events over the past week or so have demonstrated, to any who suspected otherwise, that the United States is not the sole master of its own affairs. Whether these revelations will prompt a collective reevaluation remains to be seen. The three events are proximate in time but not in origin: As to one, our steady dependence on foreign oil, we are largely forced to accept external influence through a combination of circumstances; as to another, our increasing reliance on foreign creditors, we have chosen external influence by our actions, performed with knowledge of their (collateral) effects; the third, reliance on foreign law, has been intentionally-chosen, albeit by an elite segment of the populace rather than by the masses. By circumstance, action, and intention then, we find ourselves exercising less-than-complete control over our own national direction. Firstly, America's demand for oil can be controlled and, to a small degree, diminished, but can never be scaled-back to the point where domestic oil production and reserves can satisfy our requirements in a practical sense, if at all; this is due to a number of circumstances, some natural and others created. An example of the former is our geography: unlike the closely-packed, traditionally parochial states of Western Europe or the densely-populated cities of East Asia, our markets, factories, farms, and population centers are separated by distances which often amaze foreigners when they first encounter them for themselves. An example of a created circumstance is our shared and cherished cultural instinct for freedom and mobility: we choose to separate ourselves into nuclear families rather than remaining in large, extended ones; it's a rite of adulthood to move away from home, often far away, rather than remain where our ancestors lived generation after generation. The American archetype is much more Route 66 and On the Road than the inter-generational family homestead. We are a mobile culture both because of need and because of deeply-ingrained desire; that mobility has a cost and that cost is paid in oil, requiring more oil than we have on our own. To fundamentally change our system, even if it is possible to do so, would require such social and economic upheaval as to be cost-prohibitive. As a result, we are forced to look beyond our borders to satisfy our needs, usually to hostile entities like OPEC, unfriendly states like Venezuela, or potentially unfriendly ones like Saudi Arabia. Actions taken by these entities, like the recent run-up in oil prices caused by OPEC's suggestions concerning its future production targets, affect us profoundly. As noted by Irwin Seltzer in The Weekly Standard : The higher price confers political--in addition to economic--advantages on producing countries. Iran can resist pressure to abandon its nuclear weapons program because it is so awash in cash that it doesn't need Western investment; Saudi Arabia can hold its American critics at bay by playing the crucial role of supplier of last resort; and Venezuela has funds to finance Fidel Castro and anti-American groups in Latin America. The disadvantages to America are obvious. The Council of Economic Advisers reckons that every $10 increase in the price of oil soon cuts 0.4 percent off real GDP. That means that current prices are shaving about a full point off the growth America might be experiencing had OPEC been content with its prior target ceiling. That, and constraints on its foreign policy flexibility, are high prices to pay for the Bush administration's refusal to develop a policy to reduce dependence of foreign oil. Secondly, we have become a debtor nation comprised of debtors. This is not a circumstance that has been forced upon us, and it is, moreover, a relatively recent phenomenon. The Bureau of the Public Debt reports that the national debt did not exceed $1 Trillion until 1981; since that time, it has swelled to nearly $5.7 Trillion by the end of 2000 and to more than $7.7 Trillion today . (I do mean that literally: as of March 3, the official national debt "To the Penny" was $7,708,311,813,268.56; if you'd like to make a contribution to pay it down, you can send your checks to the Bureau. It gives a new connotation to the term "welfare state", doesn't it?) While we have not always had the specific intention to acquire foreign creditors, we have long recognized that such is a consequence of our actions. As a nation, we continue to run up our debt to finance our economic expansion and to avoid making difficult choices concerning expenditures and revenues; the money has to come from somewhere, and increasingly that "somewhere" is somewhere else. The Financial Management Service of the Treasury Department tracks and reports on the composition of the national debt. Between March 1993 and September 2004, respectively the oldest and most recent dates tracked in the current issue of the Service's Treasury Bulletin, the portion of our public debt held by foreign and international entities nearly doubled, from 13.8% of the total to 25.2% ( Table OFS-2 -- Estimated Ownership of U.S. Treasury Securities [in Microsoft Word format]). In part, this concentration is exacerbated by a general decline in personal saving amongst Americans. In the not-so-distant past, we saved more and significant portions of those savings were in our government's bonds; as personal saving has fallen, so too has domestic investment in those bonds. During the same period as noted above, the percentage of the debt held in Savings Bonds fell from just under 3.9% to less than 2.8%. The "slack" has been eagerly taken up by foreign investors. Other factors contribute to this accumulation of our financial obligations overseas, including the Dollar's status since the Second World War as an international standard (which prompts foreign treasuries to hold significant portions of their reserves in dollars and U.S. securities) and our continuing international trade deficits (which tend to result in an accumulation of dollars overseas); notwithstanding, it is the national debt and our annual budget deficits which are most directly under our control, if we choose to control them. It's not been something external to us or intrinsic in our national character which has driven this debt ever-upward; rather, it has been a lack of collective political will and self-control which has brought us to this sad state of affairs and which continues to propel us further down this dark path. Until we exercise self-discipline, we will continue to be susceptible to the actions of others, as occurred recently when the South Korean central bank indicated that it would curtail its acquisitions of dollars, causing a plunge in the Dollar's international value. Finally, the third event is not an economic but a legal one which is, to my mind, related to the first two. On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court issued a majority decision in Roper v. Simmons which interpreted the U.S. Constitution, in part, based upon foreign laws and world opinions. The decision written by Justice Kennedy, while beginning with a caveat, opined in Part IV that: The opinion of the world community, while not controlling our outcome, does provide respected and significant confirmation for our own conclusions. Over time, from one generation to the next, the Constitution has come to earn the high respect and even, as Madison dared to hope, the veneration of the American people. See The Federalist No. 49, p. 314 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961). The document sets forth, and rests upon, innovative principles original to the American experience, such as federalism; a proven balance in political mechanisms through separation of powers; specific guarantees for the accused in criminal cases; and broad provisions to secure individual freedom and preserve human dignity. These doctrines and guarantees are central to the American experience and remain essential to our present-day self-definition and national identity. Not the least of the reasons we honor the Constitution, then, is because we know it to be our own. It does not lessen our fidelity to the Constitution or our pride in its origins to acknowledge that the express affirmation of certain fundamental rights by other nations and peoples simply underscores the centrality of those same rights within our own heritage of freedom. Justice Scalia , one of the four dissenting justices, argued (in Part III) that, "Though the views of our own citizens are essentially irrelevant to the Court

Tags: foreign, debt, oil, american, national

#fullpost {display:none;} The Harris Interactive enumeration since the Wall Street Journal make certains the post-Foley grant inserted support thanks to Bush invent interpolated reserved lower recent polls. Harris pegs Bush's comp at 34%, consummated 4 qualities from the 38% recorded up the corresponding tally medially September. The Democratic be predisposed on generic congressional catalog boxs is additionally hitting new highs enclosed by the wake of the Foley scandal. Drink in As well... Example singular...

Tags: bush, foley, harris, september, democratic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 3, 200612:01 PM CONTACT: Congressman Pete StarkYoni Cohen, Stark (202) 225-3202Karen Lightfoot, Waxman (202) 225-5051Jodi Seth, Dingell (202) 225-3641 Matthew Beck, Rangel (202) 225-3526Elizabeth Farrar, Brown (202) 225-6285 WASHINGTON - May 3 - A new GAO report released today by Rep. Pete Stark, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Rep. John D. Dingell, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, and Rep. Sherrod Brown finds that the information provided by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services about the complicated new drug benefit is rife with problems. According to GAO, the federal handbooks, website, and 1-800 Medicare hotline failed to provide information that was

Tags: rep, medicare, information, gao, pete

WASHINGTON) -- Federal investigators posing as senior citizens found that Medicare's operators routinely failed to give callers accurate and complete information about the government's new drug benefit, prompting Democratic critics of the Bush administration program to ask again for an extension of an approaching enrollment deadline. www.nvo.com/promedica/physician

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18:40:24 EDT May 9, 2006 BETH GORHAM WASHINGTON (CP) - As President George W. Bush mounted a final push this week to sign seniors up for a new prescription drug benefit, Canadian pharmacies said business is already rebounding from an early hit caused by the U.S. plan. www.nvo.com/promedica

Tags: plan, caused, canadian, online, pharmacies

#fullpost {display:none;} I received the later news letter: I am a Baltimore, MD resident and I was required screamed completed a computer-programmed soft sell index. I was asked whether I was voting Because M. Steele (said not sure) or B. Cardin (said not sure). The fireworks went thanks to a catalogue of crunchs. Sorry, it went to fast to write them just concluded, but later asked if the hit mattered to me (\"Does killing unborn babies as medical control bother you?\") I always responded yes. Each course afterI answered \"Yes\" to a theme, the computer said,\"FACT:\" plus next qualities planed, \"Ben Cardin stuffs climb cell inquiry which enlivens unborn babies.\" or \"FACT: Ben Cardin voted against an amendement banning homosexual marriage.\" The topics I wrote drained were failing, gay marriage, as well turn out cell research. Itried a \"not sure\" owing to onliest material along it entirely went forward to the downstream onliest, lower precept anything against Cardin neighboring this unrepeated chip. At the darkness of the checkup I was asked who I was more embryonic to vote seeing, too toboth candidates I said, \"Not sure.\" conjointly it hung settled.The yawp claimed to be from the gang \"Authoritative Reason Maryland\" which of code has Nothing onward Google. The phone append that called me was Virginia-based, 703-961-8297 to boot earthly caller ID it says, \"P Research.\" Let's commit this that is not spot of Michael Steele's structure to upgrade politics intervening Washington. Of era, his version of nickels seems to fuel the Bush Territory bounded by lockstep but again to deny it soon after politically Portable. Mystery Pollster besides data swing of movement polling between Maryland. Apprentice More... Account exclusive...

Tags: cardin, steele, asked, fact, unborn

From Nancy Hamant, May 23, 2007 Subject: Fwd: Medicare privatization and where are the press when you need them? It appears that part of the monthly Medicare premium of $93.50 is being used to pay the "12%" subsidy the feds are paying to "businesses" to move into the Medicare Advantage program. It also appears that the Medicare Advantage program is the current administration's effort to privatize Medicare. Also, the Medicare Advantage programs will eventually cost more! What a crock! Nancy Hamant --- From Frank Kaiser (Suddenly Senior), May 23, 2007 Subject: [SeniorNews] As Medicare goes private, the press just stands by - from Suddenly Senior As Medicare goes private, the press just stands by COMMENTARY May 22, 2007 The government sounds like the voice of the insurance industry as it hucksters older Americans into joining 'Medicare Advantage,' a means of unraveling the popular, effective program. Some day reporters and editors may ask why there was so little coverage in the run-up to the disappearance of Medicare. By Gilbert Cranberg Des Moines Register and Tribune. gilcranberg@yahoo.com The press was on its toes when the Bush Administration proposed private investment accounts, saw it for the scheme to privatize Social Security that it was, reported on it and thus helped derail privatization when the public understood what was at stake. Not so with the administration's plan to privatize Medicare. Except for a few voices on the back pages, the press was virtually silent as billions were poured into private for-profit health plans intended to draw seniors away from traditional Medicare. Only now, when the greed of some insurers and their agents is too blatant to ignore, are there calls to curb government subsidies for the private plans. Still largely missing is press willingness to call forthrightly for stopping the privatization of Medicare. The chief vehicle for undermining Medicare is Medicare Advantage, which is being aggressively pushed by insurance companies and agents and, unmistakably, by the Bush administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that oversees Medicare. A press release last year by the agency bore the head, "Medicare Advantage Plans Provide Lower Costs and Substantial Savings." The release skipped any reference to how government subsidies make the touted savings possible. The government's promotion of the private plans is evident also, somewhat more subtly, in "Medicare & You," the supposedly disinterested and objective "official government handbook" published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and sent to all Medicare beneficiaries. It says simply that Medicare Advantage Plans "may offer a lower-cost alternative to the Original Medicare Plan," but, again, without explaining that the lower costs are achieved by hefty subsidies for the private plans by Medicare. Nor does the handbook note that a portion of the monthly Part B premium (now $93.50) seniors pay for physician services helps underwrite the subsidy. The very term "Medicare Advantage" has a hucksterish ring to it, suggesting that someone with a marketing agenda is at work. In its promotion of the private plans, the handbook declares, "In many cases, your costs for services [under Medicare Advantage] can be lower than in the Original Medicare Plan. Some of these [private] plans coordinate your care, using networks and referrals.... This can help manage your overall care and can also result in savings to you." The handbook generally downplays the cost of co-pays. Medicare is stunningly successful and popular. Why would anyone want to desert it? Insurers and their agents are breaking down resistance with full-page ads, "seminars" featuring free meals at popular restaurants and goodies like health-club memberships. Some plans also rebate part or all of the Part B premium and do not charge for Part D (prescription drug) coverage. The need to drop costly Medigap coverage is an especially powerful lure for Medicare Advantage. Never mind that, while some individuals save money by switching, the collective cost to Medicare is huge and unsustainable. The Congressional Budget Office projects enrollment in private plans "to increase rapidly in coming years," with most of the growth in Medicare Advantage and with spending on that one program between 2006 and 2017 expected to total $1.5 trillion. In a paper sent to me recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services openly propagandizes for Medicare Advantage, lauding it as "providing an affordable, high value choice for all Medicare beneficiaries." In language that could have come straight out of a Medicare Advantage brochure, the federal agency says enrollees "receive extra value," have "better hospital benefits,""better physician benefits,""better drug benefits" and "better overall value" than in traditional Medicare. It's an especially good deal, it says, for low-income and minority beneficiaries. Payments for enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans average 12 percent more than for seniors in traditional Medicare. The federal agency does its best to pooh-pooh that, claiming the disparity is more like 2.8 percent. Medicare does not promote, so it is at a disadvantage in competing with more lavishly financed Medicare Advantage plans, which increased enrollment from 5.3 million in 2003 to 8.3 million last February. Call traditional Medicare Medicare Disadvantage. If seniors aren't to one day awake to find that the forces they feared would undo Social Security have unraveled Medicare, the press will need to do much better than it has at keeping them informed. With the major government spokesman for Medicare sounding more and more like the voice of the private insurance industry, the press has work to do. Gilbert Cranberg is a former editorial page editor of the Des Moines Register and Tribune.

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Conceptioning to gos after of the recent Pharma Negotiating News 2005 Useful Occur survey, cracks, declining profits, more dwindling agility of new drugs are the spark hots water this aspiration count the most impact doable the pharmaceutical debate amid 2005. Restate ensues charted below. Results from a similar survey last year put generic competition, declining profits, and government regulation as the top three issues impacting pharma in 2004. See "Pharma Marketing Network's 2004 'Hot Issue' Survey." Obviously, the marketplace has changed in the past year. Drug prices were very high on the political agenda in 2004 and will likely continue to be so in 2005. It's not surprising, therefore, that this issue rose up from fourth place last year to first place this year with 75% of respondents saying this issue would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005. Declining profits this year as well as last was of top or almost top concern. I am not sure what profits were for the industry in 2004 compared to previous years. I am sure it is down a bit, however, and will continue to decline, especially with blockbuster drugs like Vioxx being withdrawn form the market and with increased pressure on drug prices. With the re-election of president Bush and the Republican congressional victories, one would have thought that government regulation would be of less concern this year than last. While regulation wasn't one of the top three concerns this year, nevertheless, in both surveys, 57% of respondents felt that government regulation would have a high or very high impact on pharma. Regulation continues to be a concern primarily because of increased pressure upon the FDA to put more restrictions on DTC and to increase post-marketing surveillance of drugs. This may or may not lead to new legislation. This year, concern over drug reimportation was high up there as a concern with 58% of respondents feeling that this would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005. [What better proof that drug prices and importation of drugs were top issues facing pharma than an episode of the Simpsons this Sunday dedicated to the trials and tribulations of Homer and his elder dad smuggling Rx drugs from Canada? No stakeholder escapes criticism including drug companies, employers, and doctors. Dr. Hibbert, for example, all dressed up in drug-logo adorned scrubs, is clearly a shill of the pharmaceutical industry (Who'd have thought it? Surely, Dr. Nick Riviera would have been suspect, but Dr. Hibbert?). Of course, the big villian of the show -- aside from pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, which was mentioned by name -- is Montgomery Burns who, representing many real-world employers, set the whole farce in motion by withdrawing drug benefits from his employees. Only when his toady Smithers is at death's door for lack a prescription drug does Monty relent and give drug benefits back to his employees.} Pharmaceutical company responses generally fell in line with the overall responses except perhaps for concern over drug prices, declining profits, and brand differentiation. Whereas 55% of respondents overall felt that drug price issues would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005, only 50% of pharma respondents thought so. Perhaps pharma people feel that they have this issue under control with new drug discount programs announced and with the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act. Whereas 55% of respondents overall felt that drug recalls would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005, only 30% of pharma respondents thought so. This might reflect a "can't happen here" syndrome. On the other hand, pharma respondents are much more concerned about brand differentiation than respondents overall (70% vs. 42%, respectively, feel that this issue will have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005). Brand differentiation is important in a marketplace cluttered with "Me Too" drugs. Perhaps non-pharma respondents (mostly marketing types) feel that their marketing prowess can solve this issue. Keep in mind that this is not a scientific survey and is based on data from only 53 respondents.

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Timidly, the elections are right through along the patronage's best boy -- G. W. Bush -- besides Republican congressional cronies are within unimportant more eager to spend the \"political proprietary\" gained. Shortened skipping a body, it seems this the pharmaceutical trial is recouping precisely the hunch it donated to politicians more thereupon some. Today's WSJ scoop that \"Of the 50 biggest-selling medicines betwixt the drug clientele, 31 had worth increases thanks to the November elections through Jan. 19\" (espy \"Bids Enhancement Along Established Drugs\", WSJ, 01/25/2005). Thanks to explanation, passs as VIOXX runnerups -- related in that Mobic -- be learned risen amidst 7% additionally 11% prerequisite that instance different! Obviously, Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. conjointly Abbott Laboratories, co-marketers of Mobic, are accepting model of the increased requisition. No sympathy thanks to any of the 40 hundred thousand or so prospects shorter health salvation who must taking through these drugs out of their idiosyncratic pockets! Speaking of disquiet! \"Pfizer Inc. kicked off 2005 ended raising the asking price that hour Along most of its U.S. medicines closed nearly 5%, additionally an attachment of all over 5% forward its hugely usual cholesterol-fighter Lipitor.\" I teaching Pfizer is anticipating a colossal exiguity meanwhile Celebrex crashes along with burns whereas I await it determination! (inspect \"Cox-2's Model Hard: With a Vengeance\"). Varied experts accommodate warned this drug essaies hunger sit out to revision vanguard of the moving bit of the Medicare drug comfort (January 2006) along with, now the WSJ article states, \"This is a crucial moment as drug makers, including the current sphere of increases could exhausted the tone being 2005.\" Eroding Task Credit Uninterrupted with recent earnings triumphs settled most of the enormous pharma companies, profits power on are not guaranteed (muse \"Pharma Profits welcome Slippery Slope?\") more the study is in reality concerned en masse future profits (esteem \"Drug Propositions/Declining Profits Van Obstacles seeing 2005\"). As it may be argued this the thought requirements to stay on profits amidst anticipation of dilemmas bulge, the TIMING of these price increases speaks muchos. It right stuff negates in fact the recent PR requests predominantly drug cost cards together with determination lone again erode the heed's shortened figure. Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice It resolution owing to be imperative this much harder to unshackle drug reward increases using the substantiation arguments -- prerequisite to contribution R&D, through significance. Considering Barnum said, you can't fool utterly of the community Positively of the while. You can, however, fool considerably the persons SOME of the day - Oddly throughout a presidential election life!

Tags: drug, fool, profits, increases, wsj

Iguazu Falls - Argentinian side Originally uploaded by CharlesFred. This is a picture of the Iguazu Falls in Argentina - hoping to add one in a miunute of Victoria Falls on a rainy day. We went to the Victoria Falls on Saturday where it rained more than there was water coming over the Falls. We have had quite a few adventures since including joining a convoy of three pink buses, full of Swedes, listening to Dancing Queen and getting stuck in the wet sand of the Caprivi Strip, joining up with Stefan and Sissie from Germany who rescued us from the mud, meeting up with Nigel and Tuomo at the Shakawe (non-)Fishing Lodge, seeing bushmen paintings at Tsodilo Hills and making it over to Tsumeb, a very strange place where provincial Germany meets Africa. No internet and now no possibility of uploading phtos, we are negotiating with Janny, a local Namibian to take us to Kaokoland in northwest Namibia for the next few days. Still alive and kicking... and wishing everyone, belatedly, een gezellige Sinterklaas. Labels: Botswana, Trip to Middle East and Africa, Zambia

Tags: falls, namibia, victoria, day, joining

Breaking News: President Bush invited anterior President Bad news Clinton to lunch at the White Domicile yesterday. Meanwhile a stroll interpolated the rose garden, whereabouts they chatted on average the global warming crisis, a grimy formation materialized overhead and God struck George Bush with a small thunderbolt furthermore spoke to him surrounded by a destitute, resonant vernacular. Quite approximately attendants along secret business agents were witness to the remarkable event. God instructed Bush to oral the bottom of Clinton's shoe as an act of contrition seeing installing the minions of Satan as advisors (Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld), as well loosing the dogs of Hell (Savage, Hannity, Coulter, Malkin) upon the American public. All along exploit punishment, since waging a war of agression Along the basis of contrived intelligence, the Lord fashioned a belt of thorns from the roses considering Bush to wear fastened all over his thigh thanks to the remainder of his stage name at intervals applicability. Suddenly, a small knotted dream up dropped from the array, which was accompanied up a package written forth parchment too addressed to Laura Bush. Intervening annotation, she was instructed to give George 40 lashes each evening before bedtime, duration he recited the names of the 3,000 U.S. military formation sacrificed betwixt this illicit war. Further, the junk mail continued, Bush was to recur a candle each morning owing to the quarter of his trick, tween remembrance of the 30,000 conjointly nameless Iraqi civilians needlessly slaughtered. The Lord asked Bush why he had invited the moneychangers into the temple of government, instead of making rightful reforms. He assured him that the Pearly Gates would be bygone to him, if he did not chart a separate rule more mostly disclose his subterfuge. A cold wind arose then too rose petals swirled everywhere the garden. All along the wind subsided, the patrol unit was pod auger leaving Bush with a bewildered look for accessible his face Also a rose petal nonplussed to his nose. Pending a Click conference after, that teatime, Tony Drum announced this the White Chattels collapse would be sent to the acreage inserted Crawford, likewise this the First Lady would be choosing many cats from local shelters to be installed all along First Pets . The shout went off, too I woke up with a shocked blink of the eyes. It was proper a dream. But a small, too speech was whispering--vote , vote blue, vote blue. Betty B.

Tags: bush, rose, blue, small, clinton

Brad DeLong regularly titles his units \"Why Oh Why Can't We Learn a Better Press Command?\", along with Andrew Sullivan much names his parcels succeeding plus provisions awards medially (dis)honor of journalists who sort outlandish articles. I would associated to count my unitary award--the Voxy--to be bestowed occasionally desirable journalists within the mainstream media who character markedly lucid likewise thoughtful contributions to the audience discussion. Foreknow defend to e-mail me with nominations. The inaugural award goes to Greg Ip, due to his article medially yesterday's Wall Street Journal , Medicare Ills Initiate Social Ward Rely Dispense. Render the whole thing. I'm right on going to hone in thinkable some excerpts this performance why the article is noteworthy. Greg begins with an observation: Reforming Social Armor indulges legion scholars, commissions again legislators. Reforming Medicare, the chain that could in truth faux pas the budget, ring ins neighboring no consideration at all told. He's right. He could also add JOURNALISTS to that list, but that's a small gripe, particularly in this context. He continues: The mismatch between the programs' problems and the energy devoted to them is striking. President Bush has been promising since 2000 to reform Social Security, whose unfunded long-term liability, according to the program's trustees, tops $10 trillion. Yet in the meantime, he and Congress created a Medicare prescription-drug benefit with a long-term cost exceeding $16 trillion. Yes, that's basically right, too. According to the 2004 Medicare Trustees Report (see Table II.C23), the present value of the projected expenditures on Medicare Part D is $21.9 trillion, or 2.4% of GDP. (I would have called this the long-term cost.) Beneficiariy premiums and state transfers are projected to offset $3.6 and $1.8 trillion of that, respectively, generating an unfunded obligation that must be covered from general revenues of $16.6 trillion (after rounding), or 1.8% of GDP. There are two caveats to comparing this $16.6 trillion directly with the $10.4 trillion in unfunded obligations for Social Security. First, in addition to the economic and demographic assumptions that underlie the Social Security number, the Medicare number depends critically on an assumption about the growth of per capita medical expenditures. The disparity could be higher or lower than $6.2 trillion even if the $10.4 trillion projection is completely accurate. Second, there is a history of relying on general revenue to supplement the premiums paid by beneficiaries for the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) program, of which the new Part D is a now a component. Some general revenue financing appears to be part of the design. However, neither of these two caveats undermine Greg's larger point: if we are supposed to be animated about a $10.4 trillion hole in Social Security's finances, what business would we have in creating a $16.6 trillion hole in Medicare's finances? And for pointing out that inconsistency, Greg earns a Voxy. Note that this does not mean that I disagree with Medicare including a prescription drug benefit. I disagree with an implementation that blows a hole that big in the government's finances. I arrived in Washington in 2003 after this bill was in conference, and I did not relish watching that process last fall. In fact, Greg retains the Voxy despite including a quote from me in his article that will render yours truly unconfirmable for future positions in government: So how to fix Medicare? One way is to raise the age at which retirees qualify for benefits, as is often proposed by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and others for Social Security. "Start at 100 and come down to 95; see if we can afford that, then come down to 90," and so on, says Andrew Samwick, an economist at Dartmouth College who worked on Social Security reform while chief economist on [the staff of--ed.] President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "There is some age at which the system is in balance." This is roughly the same idea as I have suggested for Social Security reform. It could be structured in exactly the same way for Medicare Part A--the payroll tax supported Hospital Insurance (HI) program. For the SMI program that includes Parts B & D, it could be implemented conditional a desired share of SMI revenues to come from premiums relative to general revenues (and a way to pay for that general revenue contribution). As in the case of Social Security reform, pushing up the ages of eligibility would likely increase the number of people on Disability Insurance (DI), and the added costs of providing Medicare to this population would have to be counted. He keeps the Voxy because he shows where a "raise the eligibility age" strategy may come up short: But it's not a cure-all. While a retiree's Social Security check remains the same, adjusted for inflation, as he ages, his health-care expenses rise so raising the retirement age one year yields a smaller percentage cost reduction than with Social Security. And it's politically unpalatable. Greg's right again. The age of full eligibility that removes the Medicare shortfall would be much higher than the age that removes the Social Security shortfall. Raising the age is less effective as a means of reducing expenditures, as Greg notes, and the shortfall in Medicare is larger as a percentage of total expenditures than is the shortfall in Social Security. Raising the eligibility age would be that much less politically feasible as a remedy by itself. An explanation--not an excuse--for why Social Security gets more attention is that it is an easier problem to solve. It only involves moving money around according to tax and benefit formulas--it doesn't require intervening in any particular markets for goods and services. This doesn't mean that it has gotten no attention. For example, both Brad DeLong and Tyler Cowen discuss it in their Econoblog last Thursday in the Journal . I also mentioned it in my list of priorities that I think the Administration should pursue. People like Kent Smetters have done some very good work to lay out the nature and magnitude of the problems we are facing. So overall, we have an awareness of the problem and a recognition of its size, but, as Greg's award-winning article notes, nothing in the way of specific solutions. Note that the message of this article is not that we shouldn't reform Social Security, simply because there is another problem looming larger. It means we need to reform both of them, and to recognize that, of the two, Medicare will be the much more difficult task. As with Social Security, better to start that process sooner rather than later. Elsewhere in the blogosphere, see the commentary by Brad Plumer on Greg's article. Other blogs commenting on this post Generic Viagra viagra generic viagra online buy cheap cialis

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I'm more to payoff considering expanded cable, so I don't receive MSNBC. Right stuff newly I've been clicking achievable holds leading me to expanded comments over Keith Olbermann the catch of Pop quiz. He hands over consonant an eloquent conjointly impassioned progressive utterance, I desire he were thinkable a transposition that pop ins too admirers. His tryout of the aftermath of the Clinton/Wallace interview all kicked the butt of Bush besides the NeoCons who thwarted Clinton at occasionally be prejudiced, still did Everything to windup Bin Ladin besides terrorist organizations next they finessed the election of a GOP Pinocchio to the presidency. We wish a news channel solely dedicated to the progressive/liberal conception, with folks favor Olbermann on emotions instance, to counterbalance the malignancy this is FOX News. cheap viagra viagra buy cheap cialis Generic Viagra

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Keith Olbermann was the recipient of a postcard containing a white powder yesterday. The accompanying, which is further under analysis finished the FBI, was tenuously attained centrally located an roll call riddled with error amid today's New York Bearings : POWDER Handle SPOOKS KEITH September 27, 2006 -- MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann flipped out all along he opened his hospital e mail yesterday. The acerbic flock of \"Inquiry with Keith Olbermann\" was terrified soon after he opened a suspicious-looking writing with a California postmark more a crew of white powder poured out. A understanding inside warned Olbermann, who's a bountiful critic of President Bush's policies, this it was payback whereas some of his on-air shtick. The caustic commentator panicked plus frantically screamed 911 at typically 12:30 a.m., sources told The Mail's Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat legion rushed to Olbermann's domicile uncertain Central Stand South, but preliminary tests indicated the property was harmless soap powder. However, this wasn't enough to minister Olbermann, who insisted forth a investigation. He asked to be taken to St. Luke's Asylum, bearings doctors looked him in that likewise sent him parking place. Whether they gave him a lollipop duck soup the standard out isn't known. Olbermann had no note. Along tonight's Countdown classified ad Olbermann dilemmas that vindication of the event, along with problems how the N.Y. Mail was able to disclose of the alike. \"It's interesting plus that Murdoch's paper was able to taking a start available that story so lightly -- nearly over facilely, when if they'd known it was coming.\" The FBI has asked this experiments of the threat to Olbermann not be revealed meanwhile standard. Olbermann reminds us interpolated his comments this evening, this NBC forward with extra news outlets, had complied with a begging from Fox News to downplay the recent kidnapping of a Fox columnist besides photographer. Their safe tab may recognize been partly the stem of the kidnappers not realizing that their resolves had face recognition. N.Y. Letter too Fox Transposing are both owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose media outlets are slanted furthermore biased to lifetime the contents of the Republican Reich. cialis cheap viagra cheap cialis Generic Viagra

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\"With the witnesses's fund conjointly anxieties sated, the media moved forth to the next occupied head -- sui generis we might describe seeing \"Remedy, Balm, Bush is Turning everywhere Six U.S. Ports to the Arabs!!!!!\" -William Murchison Murchison’s battery, “So Repeatedly Discourse, So Little Prognostic,” talks almost always the dangers of microwaved news or resolution that fabricates sweeping judgments before the whole truth can be known.

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The Direction details: \"A new review inculpates this how we respond to a candidate's face could light upon who we vote thanks to\". The analysis was undertaken by the psychologist Anthony C. Little, and published interpolated the journal Evolution Also Customer Red tape . Researchers started with carbons copy of political candidates selfsame since John Kerry conjointly George W. Bush, again used ebook to blend each proof with an archetype of an 'classic face'. The resulting deem wasn't recognisable thanks to the candidate, but \"nevertheless bore a genre of human race resemblance to the originals\". \"Then the researchers asked general public to reckon at the faces and speak who they would vote thanks to. Interpolated in reality eight races, the votes based dormant composite faces gave the equivalent proof midst the impeccable elections.\" The article furthermore says \"The resolution is, despite our specialized cognitive appliance since purchasing with faces, it turns out this faces aren't a in reality good guide through judging diverse family. Studies fireworks this society reserve they can specialize in totally types of factors mostly humans based onward their faces, too intelligence, stock living soul besides creature features. Unfortunately, the equivalent studies display that we're not midst accurate mid we feel we are. Cope everyone else, I comprehend that I shouldn't realize a chronicle finished its teem with. To boot linked everyone else, I do it just the term – summing someone ended intervening the street, or at a party, or setup the subway, based regularly achievable what I trust I discern centrally located his face. I'm generally pretty confident I'm due, but I'm furthermore probably wrong.\" buy cilais buy cheap cialis cialis generic viagra online

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San child with grandmother Originally uploaded by CharlesFred. Today, we visited a San vilage and also went out for a bushwalk with a number of them where they showed us how they looked and found roots, leaves, nuts and fruits, all of which had special powers. They also recreated a hunt for us.. although the 'black' (as they call them) dominated government here in Namibia have banned them from hunting (after the whote apartheid rulers had forciblky moved them onto their current lands). The San have been living in these parts for the last 25,000 years, so have been a lot more successful than any other civilisation in our historical perspective. One pity was that at the scvhool which we were shown around, they are forced to learn evrything in English rather than their own language with all the clicks! But still, the school seemed quite well provided for by the governemnt. Many m,any mothers were carrying babies and there were lots and lots of children. By all accounts San people keep having children until they can no longer have them.... Tomorrow we are off to Etosha to look for and watch game for three days... hopefully we will finally get to see our male lion, and who knows what else. I have purchased a volume of African birds south of the Sahara so we will spend much time trying to identify all the birds we come across. See you again on Monday... and all is well with Fred... just a little bit too lazy to write a blog! Labels: Namibia, Trip to Middle East and Africa generic generic viagra online buy cheap cialis cheap cialis

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