Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Multi cultural and tolerant Singapore
Why is it important for people to ask what race I belong to before they decide to send their children for GP tuition? How is that a crucial factor for some? Your President is Indian. Do you have a problem with that? The former and current Law Minister is Indian, and so are countless lawyers, doctors, professors and teachers. It really irks me to think that people in our modern forward looking country still use race as a means to decide if I am a suitable tutor. My experience and qualifications are not even close contenders to my copper toned hunkability. Sad.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Victims of Socialism
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the government agency that decides which treatments the National Health Service will pay for, has effectively banned Lapatinib, a drug that was shown to slow the progression of breast cancer, and Sutent, which is the only medicine that can prolong the lives of some stomach cancer patients.
Banning beneficial drugs due to cost is nothing new in Britain; NICE forbade the use of Tarceva, a lung cancer drug proven to extend patients' lives, and Abatacept, even though it's one of the only drugs that has been shown in clinical testing to improve severe rheumatoid arthritis.
Once again, we have to ask: Do we really want to use the British system as the model for a U.S. health care regime?
Promises of an effective, cost-effective health care system operated by the federal government are cruel fabrications, says IBD. The British system shows that the state makes a mess of health care. So does the Canadian plan, which is plagued with unhealthy and often deadly waiting times for treatment.
The Swedish government system is no better, says IBD. It also refuses to provide some expensive medication and, inhumanely, refuses to let patients buy the drugs themselves. Why? According to a Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons article, bureaucrats believe doing so "would set a bad precedent and lead to unequal access to medicine."
Like Canadians, Swedes are subjected to long waits. They also have denial-of-care problems that sometimes lead to death.
A reasonable person would see the record of repeated failures in government-run medicine as evidence that such a system is not sustainable. Yet every central planner thinks he or she -- or his or her immediate group -- is smart enough to correct the flaws of socialist programs and therefore has the moral authority to force others to participate in his experiments.
Source: Editorial, "Victims Of Socialism," Investor's Business Daily, March 9, 2009.
For text:
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=321237613527130
Banning beneficial drugs due to cost is nothing new in Britain; NICE forbade the use of Tarceva, a lung cancer drug proven to extend patients' lives, and Abatacept, even though it's one of the only drugs that has been shown in clinical testing to improve severe rheumatoid arthritis.
Once again, we have to ask: Do we really want to use the British system as the model for a U.S. health care regime?
Promises of an effective, cost-effective health care system operated by the federal government are cruel fabrications, says IBD. The British system shows that the state makes a mess of health care. So does the Canadian plan, which is plagued with unhealthy and often deadly waiting times for treatment.
The Swedish government system is no better, says IBD. It also refuses to provide some expensive medication and, inhumanely, refuses to let patients buy the drugs themselves. Why? According to a Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons article, bureaucrats believe doing so "would set a bad precedent and lead to unequal access to medicine."
Like Canadians, Swedes are subjected to long waits. They also have denial-of-care problems that sometimes lead to death.
A reasonable person would see the record of repeated failures in government-run medicine as evidence that such a system is not sustainable. Yet every central planner thinks he or she -- or his or her immediate group -- is smart enough to correct the flaws of socialist programs and therefore has the moral authority to force others to participate in his experiments.
Source: Editorial, "Victims Of Socialism," Investor's Business Daily, March 9, 2009.
For text:
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=321237613527130
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
RETURN OF JOBLESS MIGRANTS STRAINS CHINA
SO, what's new? Nationwide, the Chinese government estimates that the number of jobless migrants looking for work may reach 26 million. Some of them have returned home to places that largely missed out on China's economic boom of the past two decades, forcing officials in Beijing to find a way to reincorporate them into the labor force -- or face possibly dramatic consequences.
So concern has shifted to China's countryside, where 56 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people reside:
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But China's growing unemployment could strain U.S. relations over trade matters as the United States seeks China's help to deal with North Korea's nuclear program. If unrest grows, China could become more belligerent internationally.
Source: Calum MacLeod, "Return of jobless migrants strains China," USA Today, February 17, 2009.
For text:
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=dailytribune&sParam=34167386.story
So concern has shifted to China's countryside, where 56 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people reside:
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- The average income for Chinese farmers is about $690 a year -- less than a third of what is paid in urban areas.
- The shortage of well-paying jobs explains why as many as half of the laborers in Bamboo Pole, population 50,000, decided to seek factory jobs -- and why their return is so problematic now.
Many of the jobless migrant workers will stay in cities to try their luck, possibly at smaller salaries. - But for those who go home and stay, rural life will come as a shock. Now that they have lived in the big city, their expectations are a lot higher. Sichuan province started offering $11 million in training vouchers, at $73 a person, to teach workers new skills.
- An estimated 15 job training centers for returning migrants have been set-up in Jintang, and there are already over 2,000 workers receiving the courses.
But China's growing unemployment could strain U.S. relations over trade matters as the United States seeks China's help to deal with North Korea's nuclear program. If unrest grows, China could become more belligerent internationally.
Source: Calum MacLeod, "Return of jobless migrants strains China," USA Today, February 17, 2009.
For text:
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=dailytribune&sParam=34167386.story
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Terrorism vs Treason
Terrorism and treason are two different sides of the same coin. One an external threat to the safety and security of a country, and the other an internal threat, although often motivated by money and other higher order (Maslow) needs.
More on this later...
More on this later...
STOP PICKING ON CHAVEZ & CASTRO!
CHÁVEZ GRABS AGAIN FOR LIFE TENURE
As treasury reserves in Venezuela dwindle, electricity blackouts become commonplace, public security deteriorates and the finances of the state-owned oil monopoly, PdVSA, fall further into disarray, there is little reason to think the decline will be reversed any time soon. If President Hugo Chávez hopes to continue governing under the guise of democracy after 2013 (when his term expires) he must get the constitution changed now.
So when Venezuelans cast their votes in February, they will be answering just one question: Do you approve of changing five articles in the constitution so as to allow for the indefinite reelection of the president, legislators, governors and mayors?
The problem for Chávez may be that a majority of voters have already had enough of him, and this ballot gives them a chance to say so. Current economic and financial conditions do not favor the incumbent:
This could negatively affect voter turnout by raising doubts about whether enough opposition observers can be mobilized to guard the vote on election night. If not, and Chávez "wins," things are likely to get a whole lot scarier.
How is this different from any of the dictators that rule the middle-east? Several Asian, African and Latin America countries are not far behind with incumbents using threat of death or intimidation to ensure their continued rule. Under the guise of democracy everything is fair in love, war and politics.
Source: Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "Chávez Grabs Again for Life Tenure," Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2009.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123353560131437763.html
As treasury reserves in Venezuela dwindle, electricity blackouts become commonplace, public security deteriorates and the finances of the state-owned oil monopoly, PdVSA, fall further into disarray, there is little reason to think the decline will be reversed any time soon. If President Hugo Chávez hopes to continue governing under the guise of democracy after 2013 (when his term expires) he must get the constitution changed now.
So when Venezuelans cast their votes in February, they will be answering just one question: Do you approve of changing five articles in the constitution so as to allow for the indefinite reelection of the president, legislators, governors and mayors?
The problem for Chávez may be that a majority of voters have already had enough of him, and this ballot gives them a chance to say so. Current economic and financial conditions do not favor the incumbent:
- Prices for Venezuelan crude are now below $40 per barrel, and the central bank has recently been asked to hand over $12 billion to a government development fund.
- The bank's international reserve position is now just below $30 billion, and if reserves keep shrinking, Venezuela could have trouble paying for its food.
- Currently, PdVSA owes its suppliers some $7.86 billion.
- If the problem is not resolved, it could affect 25,000-30,000 jobs.
This could negatively affect voter turnout by raising doubts about whether enough opposition observers can be mobilized to guard the vote on election night. If not, and Chávez "wins," things are likely to get a whole lot scarier.
How is this different from any of the dictators that rule the middle-east? Several Asian, African and Latin America countries are not far behind with incumbents using threat of death or intimidation to ensure their continued rule. Under the guise of democracy everything is fair in love, war and politics.
Source: Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "Chávez Grabs Again for Life Tenure," Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2009.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123353560131437763.html
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