The Near Tragedy on Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, al-Qaida attempted to make a terrorist attack on the U.S. once again. The Nigerian man hid the explosives and attempted to ignite them. Our homeland security needs to really improve on their security tactics and fast before another potential terrorist attack.

One reason why this happened was that when flying in from other countries, they do not take the same security precautions that we do. They don't make you take off your shoes or randomly select people to get a metal detector waved over them. If other countries would follow our same requirements this could have never happened.

Another thing, he should have never been flying in the first place. His family had reported that his son was acting strangely, telling them that he never wanted to see them again. He should have immediately been placed on a do not fly list, considering homeland security knew about him. He was able to go onto the plane completely unnoticed and that is something that needs to be fixed.

The New Health Care Reform

As most of you have already heard, our country's new health care reform was passed by the House last Sunday. The Affordable Health Care for America Act actually restricts insurance companies from raising your rates or denying you coverage just because you have a preexisting condition or medical history. The new reform is also promising that 96% of Americans that currently can't afford insurance will be able to afford it.
To me, it sounds to good to be true. And, how is the government going to make sure that every insurance company in America is following this Act? My guess is setting up a new agency to make sure everyone is adhering to the law. But, where is all the money to support this agency going to come from? Hmm.... tax dollars? Just printing more money? Either of the two doesn't sound good, and it's really not. So, yet again the wealthy are back to paying for everyone else's insurance. And if it's not coming from taxes, then the value of the American dollar is going to come down even more and our National Debt is going to sky rocket.
Despite everything negative about our new health care, at least the House did get a bill passed. Now it's all up to Congress to approve it. However, most Republicans are opposed to the reform, so who knows if this bill is going to get passed or not. But, at least the House tried.

Miracles Only Happen In Fairy Tales

Before Obama took office in January, he was one of the most popular presidents we have ever had because he seemed more "human" the ones in the past. Most people were expecting so many great things from him and an answer to every one of our problems. But, our country is still in a recession, the housing market is expected to go down even more, and unemployment rates are reaching record highs. What people don't understand is that to solve these issues it will take more than one president to fix this country and it's not going to be instantaneous. It will probably take more than one term in office to make things better, let alone have a solution to all our troubles.
I believe Obama decided to become president at the wrong time. There are so many issues in our country and people expect so much from him. He is tackling each problem one at a time, trying very hard to get a bill for a health care reform passed and to make everyone as satisfied as possible. Considering the shape our country is in, I wouldn't say he hasn't done anything because he really is trying to fix everything and is really pushing reform. But, it's taking longer then most people believed it would and as a result people are becoming upset and losing faith in our nation's government.

Greener Cars for a Greener America

Yesterday, I was watching Top Gear with my dad on BBC. They had just reviewed a car (specifically a Ford F-150 V6, for all the car lovers out there like me) with a diesel engine! Most people have no idea how amazing a diesel motor is. It basically gives any car ten more miles to the gallon and is much cleaner to drive then the standard gas motors. That doesn't seem like much, but if you compare a normal pick-up with about 17 miles to the gallon to one that has a diesel and receives 27 miles to the gallon, that is a significant savings. Currently, the only "clean" diesel car that is imported into the U.S. is the Audi Q7 TDI. My father plans on buying one in the future, considering he would save about $3,000 a year in gas. These types of cars are all over Europe, so why aren't they imported?
Supposedly, Obama is for a greener America. We would be so much better off if we cut down on how much oil we consume (considering we use the most out of any other country). So why not bring them here? If these cars were sold in the US, people would get rid of their pick-ups and large trucks and get the exact same car they had, just a greener version. Maybe not right away because we are still in a recession, but over time people will realize that these types of cars will save them so much money. And, we would cut down our overall use of oil. I believe we sometimes forget that oil is becoming more and more scarce and that we depend on it way too much. So if Obama would pass some legislation or something to get these types of cars into the US, over the long run it would make a huge difference.

Grab your scalpels and pitchforks....

One epidemic that is sweeping the nation by storm is the argument over the health care reform. As a future physician, I have to say, I am not pleased with the bill Congress is trying to get passed. If I wanted to work for the government, I would work in a CSI unit or be a politician. But, the whole point of owning your own practice is working for yourself on your terms, not the government's.

I do agree that our health care system needs to be changed, but I don't think socialized medicine is our answer. The real problems are the insurance companies. So many people don't have insurance, which increases our insurance premiums and makes health care virtually impossible to afford. If health care costs were lower, more people would have insurance, and I believe that would bring down the overall cost of health care.

Senators would tax high-value health insurance plans to pay for covering the uninsured, an approach supporters say would curb health costs because it would lead to employers offering less generous benefits. The more populist House would tax the highest-income people, placing the burden of caring for the neediest Americans on the backs of millionaires.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/17/toughest-battle-health-care-reform-democrats/

I found this article on Fox News and if this is true, this is completely wrong. Why does someone who has worked hard all their life have to pay for someone who can't even afford health care in the first place? This just proves that we are headed towards socialism. Taxing the wealthy more closes the gap between higher and middle class, giving everyone the exact same kind of health care, which will probably be limited to certain benefits. Socialism is definitely not the solution to our problems. And we certainly can't keep running from this any longer.