Newly re-elected President Bush enunciates his administration’s first major second term policy statement regarding Israel / Palestine situation
Those US Jews that voted for Bush did so at least in part because it was perceived that his Presidency would be “better for Israel.” It’s good to see the payoff come so soon!
Publisher at Jewlicious
Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.
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Those poor pharmas spend more on marketing the drugs than on the research and approval process. When they bitch and moan about costs, they are including those marketing dollars – $500 million for a major drug is not unusual.
Not to deep on a tangent, but I forgot the most important point. One of the reasons why socialized health care works at all in other countries is because the “profit-hungry companies” in the United States bear the vast majority of the R&D burden in the world. Without drugs and procedures developed by these profits in the United States, the world would be much worse off.
ck: Of couse, but I need to bring a little right wing propaganda into this place. I’ve experienced quite a few different insurance companies here in the USA and have been very pleased in all cases. I’ve billed quite a large chunk of change to them all too. In addition, I’ve worked with a number of homeless people who’ve received top-notch care from local hospitals here free of charge.
I’d much prefer that my insurance company calls the shots over the government. I can simply change companies if I am not pleased with their service. Somewhat harder to change governments.
Agreed it was a topic Bush mentioned during his first post-election discussion on the Israeli/Arab conflict, but he also mentoined it in nearly all of his pre-election conferences on the topic as well. I think it was more of an attemp to prop up Blair than anything else.
If a palestinian state is created in the next four years I will be one shocked neoconservative.
As somebody who just needed treatment while away on vacation in Canada, I can attest that while things are not perfect, I received far superior care than I would have in the US – and I am insured in the US. In fact, my cheapskate HMO would have ended up paying about the same for the far inferior care I would have received in the US than what I ended up getting in Canada.
As I said, both systems have significant flaws. Like everything else, the best of both worlds…is somewhere in The Middle.
PS Bush is just paying lip service to the Palestinian state thing. He is concerned about Iraq, cutting taxes for the ultra-wealthy, appointing conservative judges, destroying any hope for the common person to sue companies no matter how egregious their behavior, etc., etc., etc. He does not have time or energy to squander on Israel while Sharon is doing a fine job controlling terrorists.
Neocon – I may be completely wrong. My experience may be totally atypical, but I have loads of friends in the US, both insured and uninsured, and they are not happy with the quality of care they are getting. Those that are insured freak out when it turns out that their insurance company is actually directing the level of care they are to receive, rather than their doctor. The uninsured ones often forego necessary healthcare altogether. Have you seen the quality of care one gets at free clinics? And these are not “poor” people either… we’re talking middle class, educated people who are uninsured for any number of reasons. But like I said – maybe I’m wrong. Maybe for the most part, health care in America is awesome. Maybe companies like Oxford are in fact, caring and benevolent institutions despite their underlying profit motive. Maybe the vast majority of uninsured are the teaming hordes of illegal immigrants working at places as diverse as Walmart or your local bodega or pizza delivery joint, doing jobs most Americans don’t want to do. Maybe all those poor white folks working for below subsistence wages choose not to be insured. What do I know?
I do know that if you can afford those Doctors on Park Avenue that do not accept any insurance at all, the quality of care you get is awesome. I mean really remarkable. Lavishly appointed waiting rooms, up to date magazines, every amenity you can think of and many you never imagined. That kind of health care rocks – at $350 a visit minimum mind you, but still… wow. There’s no denying that if you’re rich, America totally rocks!
Oh and the whole Palestinian Homeland thing was in fact Bush’s first major post-election pronouncement on the Arab / Israeli conflict. So maybe Bush and not Arafat will be the father of Palestinian Nationalism? Will they call him Abu Bush or Abu Kus?
Heh. I really need to tone myself down a bit.
But not now. You know everyone at Jewlicious totally digs you, right neocon?
😉
Remind me again where it says it was his first priority?
I think socialized healthcare lowers quality for everyone. I think it is neither ethical nor financially sound.
Contrary to popular belief, every American can be treated for free. Also, the oft-quoted uninsured numbers count illegal immigrants, which is simply ludicrous.
Meanwhile, I sit here in Canada, the beneficiary of a top notch education that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US. Our health care system isn’t perfect but it is universal, which is more than I can say for the millions of Americans who do not have the benefit of being held hostage by Health Insurance companies. Our streets are clean and there is far less poverty. People can walk around major cities at night with little or no fear of getting attacked.
I vote for socialized health care because I believe that some things need to be available to all people. I do it out of compassion and I do it gladly. Paying 20% less taxes does not compensate me for all that I get in return. I believe that socialized health care is Jewlicious. A Palestinian state as one’s first order of priorities, exculpatory clauses aside, is decidedly NOT Jewlicious. But whatever, I’ll give the dude every chance necessary. I am prepared to be pleasantly surprised.
4 More Beers!
Neocon,
The American system is broken and the Canadian system is broken. Both have serious flaws.
Stenis, people like me vote against socialized healthcare because we believe that we end up paying for it anyway (via taxes) and as a result the money is used less efficiently. In addition, we believe it will produce lower quality healthcare.
What’s bizzare to me is, people who honestly believe the government “can do it better” for everything under the sun. Including things in direct violation of the US Constitution. (Article I, Section 8 & 10th Amendement)
Bush has been calling for a palestinian state since he was elected. He also makes it a pre-requisite that terrorism will cease. It was step one of the “road map” – nothing moves forward until terror is stopped.
I much prefer “peace for land” instead of “land for peace”
I wanted to comment about the post but, once the thread goes toward human anatomy, you can’t talk about Bush anymore.
when the hell was that??
I already miss the good old days at Jewlicious when we used to discuss and post women’s breasts.
It’s real shock. One thing I have noticed is that Americans frequently vote against their better (economic) interests, especially the poor and the lower middle class. If you ever listen to right wing radio, you’ll hear callers announce (a) how poor they are and (b) how terrible it would be for public dollars to pay for things like medicare. It’s really quite bizzare.
I thought they voted for him because they are completely off the wall WHACKY.
😉