The Republican War on Democracy?

One of the tenants of American Democracy is the right to vote. Anyone - rich, poor, white, black or any race or creed can cast a vote, as an American citizen. Yet it appears that Republicans want to change this. They want to add hurdles to the voting process to disenfranchise some, while maintaining access to the ballot box for others.
In various states in this nation, Republicans are introducing or passing bills requiring photo IDs, or other impediments to voting.
The arguments in support of such measures are a joke. When you rent a video from Blockbuster, drive a car, or fly an airplane, one must present a driver's license or government issued photo ID. So why shouldn't one present a photo ID when voting, the Republicans argue?
Yes, it's true that many acts require a photo ID, but what the Republicans fail to note is that voting is not just any act but is a RIGHT. A right, just like being able to breathe the air. Renting a video, driving a car, or flying an airplane are not vested rights. Voting, on the other hand, should be an inviolate right for any US citizen, with few exceptions. Would we ever require having a driver's license for breathing the air, sleeping, or other basic rights entitled to us? Why should such requirements be imposed on a fundamental right of the democratic process?
To me, it appears that the Republicans have seen the writing on the wall. The only way they can maintain any power these days is to cull the poor and lower class from the voting process. Only then can they ensure "democratic" power through a base of the wealthy and religious radicals.
Is this the kind of democracy anyone would wish to live under?

The right way to twart terrorism

The British intelligence agencies involved in breaking up a planned terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic flights to the US should be congratulated for their efforts against terrorism.
Perhaps the United States should take a lesson from the British efforts. The fundamental lesson here is simple - the greatest weapon in twarting terrorism is intelligence. There is no substitute for good intelligence. No number of stealth bombers, flanks of soldiers, tanks, fighter aircraft could have twarted this terrorist plot. Only men and women who diligently found clues and sifted through data in an honest, rigorous fashion - these were the key "soldiers" in combating a potential terrorist attack.
America seems to have learned this lesson the hard way. George Tenent's "slam dunk" with respect to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as well as Bush and Cheney's bloodthirst for waging war against the wrong enemy, have mired the United States in a lost cause and aided Al Qaeda more than if we had directly given them money and weapons.
It is unfortunate that America does not put emphasis on intelligence in its leaders, voting for those with "personality" and chummy demeanor over those who can think through problems with a chess grandmaster's critical skills. Regardless of the intelligence of our leaders, we need bright, thoughtful people in charge and in the rank and file of homeland security and anti-terrorist efforts to continue to ensure the safety of America.

Why is Laura Bush above the law? A view of disparity in our legal system.

We all know that some people are above the law. If you have money, clout, power, you can often get away with nearly anything. Look at OJ's ability to escape any criminal justice for the murder of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Sure, one could say the LA criminal justice system bungled up a straightforward case, but ultimately, OJ's crack legal team and the money it took to hire them were key factors in his aquittal.
One other person who has gotten off despite killing another person is our very own first lady, Laura Bush. Sure, she exudes a homely demeanor. You'd never think looking at her that she was responsible for the death of anyone. Yet, as a high school student, she ran through a stop sign and plowed into another car, killing a high school classmate of hers. What happened to Laura Bush after this act? Nothing. A traffic ticket? No. Prison time or at least a trial for manslaughter? No. Nothing. Laura Bush was allowed to go on with her life, despite snuffing out the life of a young man.
If a black or hispanic person had run through that stop sign and killed Michael Dutton Douglas , would he be able to walk away without even a ticket?
We need to wake up to the disparities in our criminal justice system. Wake up to the crimes that some are allowed to walk away from, while others are unjustly or severely retributed for. The image of lady justice being blind, fair and equal is a fantasy - today's justice has her eyes open to the money and power weighing down her scales.

The insulated American?

America seems to be turning more and more insular. The glory days of the American "melting pot" seem to be over.
Nowadays, any group in America can connect with other, like minded individuals without having to mingle or assimilate into the greater American experience.
If you're an evangelical Christian, you can raise your family in such an insular Christian environment, home school your kids or send them to Christian schools, and even Christian colleges, so that such people grow up never learning about evolution and believing myths like the universe and Earth are only 10,000 years old.
If you're a Spanish speaker, you can watch Spanish only TV or listen to Spanish only radio, vote in Spanish, hang out with Spanish speaking friends, and never have to really having any necessity to learn English.
If you're Muslim in an American city with a large enough Muslim population, you can send your kids to Muslim schools and opt out of an assimilated experience.
From my perspective, as a 1st generation immigrant and naturalized US citizen, I can appreciate the need for anyone who wants to hang on to elements of his or her own native culture. I can also appreciate the benefits of assimilating and gaining from experience of other cultures, ideas, and people.
Unfortunately, I see too much entrenchment in America today with many immigrant, cultural, and religious groups "rounding the wagons" within rather than looking outward. It's time we value assimilation rather than insularization in modern day America - from all groups, even white evangelical Christians, Muslims, monolingual Hispanics, and monolingual English speakers
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Mantra for the tax cutting crowd

Those few remaining staunch Bush supporters and others from the tax cutting crowd like to tout the supposed benefits of cutting taxes - more money in people's pockets (the richer you are, the more money that seems to appear in Republican tax cuts), and supposed economic stimulus that might ensue.
I have a mantra I would like everyone with such beliefs to repeat - there is no such thing as a tax cut in a time of record deficit spending. Whatever tax cuts Bush has enacted are not real. They are only an avoidance of the inevitable. We are passing on to our kids and future generations a massive debt burden. The tax cuts Bush has implemented only put off the day of reckoning for such massive debts further in the future. It is like a bank giving you a minimum payment break on your credit card bill, while your balance keeps growing with interest.
I suppose I should not be complaining. My spouse and I have a combined income of around $250,000 per year. The Bush tax cuts have meant more money in my pocket, so why should I care what happens to our future? I have a child, for one. As I watch him growing and understanding more, should I explain to him that my selfish desire to minimize my taxes today and indifference towards a fiscally responsible government will mean massive tax increases in the future for him?
I hope the so-called conservatives who back Bush will wake up to the nightmare they are creating. Cutting taxes and increasing spending is the worst form of Cut and Run politics. Eventually, someone will have to pay the piper.

American Medicine - addicted to technology?

As a physician practicing in America, I am moved to comment on a troubling trend in modern day medicine. The medical community in America is addicted to technology. American doctors seem to be unable to diagnose anything without ordering tests.
While we should, on balance, be quite greatful to the technologies of MRIs, CT scans, and sophisticated laboratory tests that allow precise and rapid diagnosis today, we should stop to cast a critical eye on whether such techology has produced atrophy in our clinical skills. Like an evolving creature that is now able to fly and develops atrophic legs, American doctors know how to order the right test based on any symptom, but need quite a bit of hand holding to diagnose anything without such tests.
In the field of rheumatology, in particular, I see younger trainees and even established physicians who are not comfortable diagnosing a patient with rheumatoid arthritis without ordering lots of serologies, xrays, and sometimes even MRIs. Certainly, in circumstances such as early disease, the diagnosis of conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis can be tricky, and lab studies such as the anti-CCP antibody may be helpful. But do we really need to order a slew of tests on everyone?
Another aspect of medicine in which the impact of technology is stark is cardiology. The average doctor today can't figure out a heart murmur if his life depended on it. Echocardiograms have replaced the need to listen to anyone's heart.
We as a society and the profession of medicine needs to look closely at the ills as well as the benefits that technologic developments have produced. By training physicians to actually think and diagnose without complete reliance on technologic studies, one might find an impact on the growing bottom line of medical costs today.

More Fat than starving?

In this age of excess, we should not be too surprised to hear the statistic that there are now more obese people than hungry, starving people on this planet.
Nowhere is this more stark than in the United States, where obesity is a runaway phenomenon. Kids today are so at risk of obesity that people are projecting that children of this era are facing the dim prospect of living shorter lives than their parents.
Who's to blame?
Despite the inordinate amount of study on the topic, the root cause of obesity boils down to two things - increased calories in, and fewer calories burned off in activity/exercise.
Americans eat too much, and we work out or move our growing bodies too little. It is a recipe for disaster that is unfolding before us like an unwanted pannus of fat.
The horrible prospect of our pannus laden future should be grounds to get us off the couches, trying to live closer to our jobs to avoid excess time in our cars, and looking at the quality and amount of food we stuff down our gullets. America doesn't seem to be taking a good look in the mirror lately, or perhaps we've grown so large, the mirror can't show us our huge selves anymore.

Freedom FROM Religion?

Those of the religious persuasion like to tout the religious freedoms America espouses. While one cannot deny the reason many early European settlers to America came over was to avoid religious persecution, as the example of the Quakers.
Now, we face a greater threat from religion in America - indoctrination from religious zealots.
Living in the Bible belt, I am accosted in the most public places by Christian zealots trying to evangalize people to their brand of Jesus worship. Such incidents have happened in the mall, outdoor squares, parks - anyplace one would expect lots of people congregating.
What I propose to counteract this is a concept of freedom FROM religion in America.
The unfortunate millions of children born in our country who are inculcated with the fantasies and mythology of various religions today is a sad testament to how superstitions are perpetuated in this modern era.
What if we declared a moratorium on all religious indoctrination of children until they are 18 years old? Additionally, what if we declared that all people should be free of religious proselytizing the same way we can be free of telemarketer calls?
By allowing millions of kids to be indoctrinated with the myth of religion, we get grownups who believe crazy things like the earth and universe are only 5,000 years old, and that Adam and Eve were the first humans, making all human beings children of incest. Once such beliefs are indoctrinated in us, no amount of reason or fact can shatter them.
It's time America moves away from superstition and becomes a country of science and reason, a country beyond superstition, a country free from religion.

Stock options - the divide between haves and nots?

A topic that is rearing its ugly head again in the business world is the abuse of stock options, especially among CEOs and executives at many companies.
For those not familiar, stock options give an individual the option of buying a stock at a set price. In corporate America, options given to employees and executives have a date of issue and a strike price, typically set below the current trading price of the company stock. The higher a company's stock price goes, the greater difference between the option price and more worth the option holder has tied in these options.
Corporate America, not satisfied with the ability to essentially print money by issuing stock options, has played further games by back dating the issue of options to allow greater generation of wealth at the expense of "outsider" common shareholders.
It is time we as a nation needs to address the ills of stock options as a vehicle for obsene wealth and corruption in this era. Look at some of the wealthiest Americans - Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Larry Ellison, and one sees wealth created primarily by stock options. These vehicles to obsene wealth have divided the country into those with options and those without. Take a look at regions of the country with business that dole out options lavishly on their employees - Silicon Valley in particular, and one sees the extreme descrepancies in wealth and an arms race in real estate prices.
The greatest problem with stock options is that they induce a short sided view of company. An insider's wealth is tied to small short-term rises in a stock's price. A massive fall in a stock price leads to these options "going under" and becoming worthless, thus creating an incentive to quickly cash out of these options exists as well. Executives at companies these days have so much potential wealth tied into stock options that the long term growth and success of a company becomes secondary to keeping a stock price elevated long enough to cash out options and diversify one's money.
Also, in an effort to game the system, many companies adjust the date of issue of options to allow even greater wealth from the stock options game. Huge companies like Apple face de-listing from NASDAQ as a consequence of joining in this options back-dating game.
What I propose is to do away with the nefrarious game of stock options together. Stop this corporate minting press and start compensating people in salary and bonuses tied to corporate revenues. Sure, we won't see new Gates or Ellisons created with such a system, but we would see more focus by executives on a company's long term growth rather than short term stock price flucuations.

Why I never go to the movie theater to watch movies.

I don't understand why anyone in America would want to go to the movie theater anymore. With the proliferation of DVDs, and the added features and convenience of watching a DVD at home, it seems a no brainer for me to stay at home to watch movies.
Sure, there's something to be said for sitting in a theater, watching a movie on a huge screen with state-of-the art sound system. But nowadays, one can replicate a good part of the theater experience at home - spend a few dollars on a plasma/LCD hi-def display, a good receiver with surround sound speakers, and you're almost there.
The last movie I saw in a theater was over 2 years ago. I do not miss the cell phones going off, hunting for a good seat, listening to crying babies, scheduling around theater show times, or the high prices of a movie ticket. With home DVD viewing, I can watch my movie of interest any time of day or night, pause, rewind, or fast forward when I need to, and get access to extras like director's commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes, and other bonus features.
Sure, I have to wait a few months to see newer movies before they're released on DVD, but now, there's more than enough movies to watch on DVD while one waits for new releases to come out in the future.
Hollywood needs to get the message that many have given up on the silver screen in exchange for the home screen.

An argument to eschew the materialism of modern America

We love to own things - homes, cars, boats, clothes, fancy gadgets, computers. There is an underlying premise that such ownership adds value to our lives. I would argue that everything we own is a complication - a responsibility that has a chance to further complicate our lives.
I'm not arguing to embrace the ascetic life of a monk - we clearly need things to live. What I would argue against is unbridled desire to simply own things to make ourselves feel better.

Let me relate 2 examples of items that were introduced into my life that have added more headaches than any particular pleasure.
My wife ordered a patio set from JC Penny recently. After taking delivery of the patio set, I went about assembling this set. It turns out the design/build of this set was horrible. The screws for the chairs in this set would not thread properly. Now, I'm stuck with a bulky patio set that I had spent hours trying to assemble. I now have to spend several more hours re-packing it and returning it to the store. I would have done just as well to sit outside in the grass than bother wasting hours with a defective patio set. By shunning such complications in my life, I release myself from the hair pulling headaches of problem merchandise.
Another example - I drive a 2007 Toyota Camry, XLE version. I've had 2 major quality issues with this car. The Bluetooth function on this car doesn't work, and an underbody bolt on this car fell off, loosening a body panel that scraped against a tire. I haven't had time to get either of these issues fixed or looked into. A trip to the dealership translates into waiting and hours of wasted time. While I'm not about to give up my car over these relatively minor problems, they are still problems and complications in my life.
I would wonder how much more efficient our country could be if we gave up some of the items we really don't need and as a result had fewer headaches over the care or problems that arise from owning things.

War? What is it good for? A Message for Israel

Amidst the cotinuing conflict between Israel and Lebanon/Hezbollah, one should consider how did this situation arise, and what can be done now that it has escalated.
Yes, Israel is defending herself against the Hezbollah, a group that refuses to acknowledge the existance of Israel. Yes, Hezbollah is blindly firing rockets into Israel, with the intent of harming civilians, and producing a handful of casualties and modest property damage.
Does this justify the degree of response by Israel - I would argue no.
Let's face it, Israel, you can never wipe out every single individual who refuses to recognize your right to exist. Hezbollah, or individuals with Hezbollah like hatred of Israel will always exist. The way out for Israel is to try to prevent such ideology from spreading or gaining support.
Right now, Israel's actions are only producing more and more supporters for Hezbollah - more targets to try to snuff out.
Israel has shown its force and capabilities in the rubble accumulating in Lebanon. Now it is time to let the dust settle and work out a solution. A better chance at a reasonable solution could have happened before this conflict escalated with greater bombing and military force by Israel and greater rocket attacks by Hezbollah, but we cannot change what is in the past.
By continuing reliance on force over diplomacy, Israel may face a long-term insurgency not unlike what this US is stuck fighting in Iraq.
The lesson Israel needs to learn and implement soon is that there is a time for force, and a time for diplomacy. Continued use of excessive force will produce weeds of conflict and exterminate the growth of any fruits of peace.

No take-backs, DeLay!

Poor Tom DeLay - can't seem to make up his mind. First, he's running for re-election, leading the Republican primary elections in his Sugarland district. He says he's done nothing wrong, nothing unprecedented - full speed ahead.
Then, he's resigning from office and moving to Virginia. Now, he's trying to take back his primary victory so someone else can try to maintain Republican control of the district.
Well, the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals says no way - no take backs. DeLay wanted to run, and emerged victorious in his Republican primary - the voters have spoken. Now, in the words of the radical right, DeLay needs to face his opponent in an up or down vote.
If you were a play by the rules guy, Mr. DeLay, you wouldn't have run for re-election in the first place, let alone make outrageous statements that you didn't do anything wrong.