object width="425" height="344">

Last night Sarah Palin did an admirable job refusing to answer the questions she was asked and instead sticking to the repitition of scripted, high level responses. Interestingly for healthcare wonks like me, healthcare was one of the few areas where she actually engaged on a policy question with any sort of specificity - and the response served to reinforce the misguided nature of the McCain / Palin policy. The following clip is pretty enlightening...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1832907349

A recent study by Families USA shows that healthcare premiums for working families in Pennsylvania have increased by almost 90% since 2000. The average cost for family health coverage is now $12,513. At the same time wages are stagnating and companies are shifting an ever greater portion of insurance costs onto their employees. McCain's plan would significantly exacerbate this problem by eviscerating the employer sponsored model of health insurance and forcing people into the more expensive individual insurance market. Here is an article that does a good job describing what McCain's plan would do http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/29/125427/457?new=true

By contrast, Obama has set forth a proposal that would help alleviate this burden on working families while also expanding coverage for children and the uninsured. The following blog does a good job of contrasting this plan to McCain's http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/guts-brains-and-health-ca_....

Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund, recently described in an interview the catestrophic impact McCain's healthcare policies would have on healthcare coverage for children. Scary!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/childrens-defense-fund-fo_b_1...

It must be wonderful for us to be young, worry free, and, of course, healthy, but our nation is not healthy. Believe it or not, 2008 is a momentous time for us. Aside from the trivialities, there are serious issues involved in this presidential campaign. For the insured/uninsured, employee/employer, and for that matter, each and everyone, healthcare policies proposed by the two presidential campaigns could be the make or break experience when adopted in the near future. Obama proposes affordable coverage for all citizens; McCain's policy can worsen the status quo, letting individuals sink or swim in the crooked market place.

Yes we can do better, much better! For your own health, for your family's health, and the health of the nation, cherish your vote!

A Time brief by Joe Klein contrasting the Healthcare policies by Obama and McCain:
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/mccains_health_care_tax_incre...

Some examples of where America is today:

John McCain is coming to town tomorrow. Supporters of peace, womens rights and a fair economy must raise our voices against his retrograde politics and the Third-Bush-Presidency

For more info contact Fabricio at fabriciomrodriguez@yahoo.com or 215-732-8318

When: 9:15-9:30 AM on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Where: National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch St , Philadelphia , PA 19106
Location: Arch Street Sidewalk (between 5th or 6th)
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=National+Constitution+Center,+525+Ar...

So President Bush, after 7.5 years in office, has recently decided that he's interested in Israel and serious about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - enough to actually visit Israel personally for the second time in his presidency, the second time in a period of a few short months. Better late than never as they say.

Anyway, as part of a speech commemorating Israel's 60th anniversary, Bush decided to take a swing at Barrack Obama over his suggestion of direct diplomacy with Iran.

President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

Hillary Clinton says her economic policies will restore the economic policies of her husband's administration. However both Hillary and her husband failed to demonstrate any economic wisdom or foresight as Alan Greenspan warned of irrational exuberance while the sub prime housing loans and dot com investment bubbles were created and pandered during her husband's administration and both supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization without any conditions such as protecting the environment or labor and property rights to levels that are comparable to western standards.

The U.S. government surplus (generated by taxes raised from the housing and investment bubbles) evaporated once the housing and investment bubbles burst.