What is Politics?

Recently, I read this article, "Poll: Bush's Popularity Hits New Low."

Then I received the following in forward email and just had to post it:

FWD: What is Politics?

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"

Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way:

I am the head of the family, so call me The President.

Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.

We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People.

The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class.

And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.

Now think about that and see if it makes sense."

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."

The father says,"Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies, "The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit!"

Pollution (or Emission) Permits

An article on CNN.com caught my eye, "Scientists: Smog Contributes to Premature Death." Many know that smog and Los Angeles go hand in hand. Rather unfortunate but we all deal with it and go on about our lives. A lot of the smog comes from pollution that is released in the air from large facilities. These facilities have a pollution permit that was issued to them by the government. The government determined the level of pollution that they deemed acceptable and then a permit was issued. These permits can be bought, sold, and traded. If a company decides they don't need their permit, they can sell it off to a company that wants to pollute more than the level the government set for them.

The problem of pollution is far from being solved. These tradable permits have not eliminated the problem but have instead given these companies a way to earn more money and create a business out of it. It has slightly helped the situation as companies try to reduce their pollution level to avoid having to purchase another permit. But critics are concerned about the companies that are selling their permits. If they don't need to pollute up to the amount that the government has restricted on them, then why are they given more than needed? It causes some areas of the world to become heavily polluted while others remain somewhat clean.

Other critics believe that imposing a pollution (or emission) tax could solve the problem. A tax might help the pollution level to decrease but the government could face difficulty in setting an absolute pollution limit.

The CNN article may be controversial, but smog and pollution are still bad for the environment. It's important to not forget the health of the world we live in.

New Wave of Art

When I was growing up, I didn't really like art class being more left brained than right. Well, from the news, I guess there's a new wave of art.

CAUTION: The contents of both sites are very controversial.

Aliza Shvarts

Jonathan Yegge

McCain and Health Care

Today on my drive in to work, I was listening to NPR. Which, by the way, as a kid I couldn't understand why my parents preferred talk radio over music. I thought it was very uncool. Now that I'm all "grown up" (or trying to grow up) listening to the news radio in your car is a great way to catch up on news.

ANYWAY, today one of the topics was health care. Clinton and Obama have similar plans with only extreme details that differ whereas McCain's plan couldn't be more opposite. Did you know that there are 47 million people in the U.S. who do NOT have any type of health coverage? Well, I knew it was high but that number caught me off guard. My risk analysis side of me definitely started "freaking out" for lack of better words. Yes, there are some included in that number who opt out because they feel they don't need it or they have the money to live without insurance, but the majority are people who simply cannot afford it. To me, that's a HUGE problem. If someone wants/needs health care, they should be able to get it.

McCain doesn't think so. Again, shocked, I continued to listen. While I couldn't be more against McCain I thought, I'd really like to hear his reasoning as to why these 47 million people don't matter to him. He said that unlike Clinton and Obama, he doesn't believe in universal health care. Understandable, there are many people who don't. But then he continued, he said:

"I don’t think that there should be a mandate for every American to have health insurance. I think that one of our goals should be that every American own their own home, but I’m not going to mandate that every American own their own home. I think that every American should have, be available to, an affordable college education. But I’m not going to mandate that every American go to college. I feel the same way about health care. If it’s affordable and available, then it seems to me that again, it’s a matter of choice amongst Americans. "

I went online today and found that these comments were made sometime around October 2007. He proposes a tax credit to families to pay for their health care. But did he honestly have to compare health care to owning a home or going to college?! Where does this guy come from?? He of all people, seeing that he's 71, should understand that college is a luxury. I literally laughed out loud while driving alone in my car. And owning a home? Well Mr. McCain, we are in a housing crisis so comparing the situation to everyone owning a home is probably not the best timing.

5 Year Anniversary of September 11th

Today is the five year anniversary of that terrible day, 9/11. I hope each of us can take a moment to remember those who died in such innocence. Below are links of the media coverage:

Solemn tributes mark 9/11's fifth anniversary

In N.Y. and Around U.S., a Solemn Day to Remember 9/11

About That 'Hole In The Ground'

US remembers 9/11 five years on

Nation stops again to remember 9/11 tragedy

May the horror and emotions experienced never be forgotten. There are many people who believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy. Despite this debate, the event still occurred and lives were still lost. What an awful day.