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I remembered the time when we had Christmas in school. They were fun times. Never pressured into a religon or forced to believe in Jesus Christ. Didn't hear once how Jesus was born on that day. My memories were that of Christmas cookies, present, and trying how Santa Clause would visit my home that didn't have a chimney. Have we stolen the holiday spirit? Well I have to agree with my colleague on this and say yes we have. Do we even know what religion Santa Clause is? It is a season to be jolly, spending time with the family, and spreading holiday cheer. Don't remember old saint Nick saying go worship GOD or hearing any religious statement in jingle bells. There are lots of Christmas songs without spreading the word of God. So I say bring back Christmas.

http://ourpriceforfreedom.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-happened-to-christmas.html

stage 4

The intersection of politics and celebrity began the moment that Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, declared, “It is my honor to introduce to you the first lady of television, Oprah Winfrey.” A wave of camera flashes illuminated a downtown convention center here as Ms. Winfrey entered to a thunderous roar. For 17 minutes, Ms. Winfrey delivered a testimonial for Mr. Obama arguing the nation was at a critical moment in its history that required a candidate who could heal divisions and chart a new direction. She did not mention Mrs. Clinton or any of their rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, but dismissed suggestions that voters should choose a candidate with the most Washington experience.

Is politics a Circus show? This article mention that Oprah Winfrey was supporting Obama. Winning politics is by who gives the best performance. I wish there was a better way to get the message out to the people with less noise. Yes I think Oprah is noise. The people were there to see Oprah and the news covered it more because it was Oprah. But what message did we received from president candidate? I don't think we really heard about Obama. For the people who don't follow politics I think this kind of coverage will help Obama campaign, but I'm not a fan of this promotion. Then again its "do whatever necessary to win". Whatever the case this kind of campaigning has been happening far before I was born.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/us/politics/09oprah.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

FDA is Considering Bending the Rules

The FDA is considering on bending their rules just a bit allowing non official use of drugs. What that means is that some drugs that are use for specific things like regulating blood pressure could also be use to help other things i.e. lowering cholesterol. FDA is considering allowing pharmaceutical makers to provide doctors with medical journal studies of unapproved uses for drugs, a move critics say would undermine long-standing restrictions on marketing medicines for "off-label" purposes.

Opposing this is Rep Henry A. Waxman. He wrote “"would open the door to abusive marketing practices that will jeopardize safety, undermine public health, and lead to an increase in unapproved uses of powerful drugs," which means that Drug companies wouldn’t research the drugs side affect as much and wouldn’t need the formal FDA approval for that specific study. Example, if a drug helps with depression and FDA approved for that, but also could help with cancer but not FDA approved to help cancer. Doctors could prescribe that medication for cancer but the medication could be flawed since not enough research went into the drug for helping cancer. He believes Drug companies would push Doctors on sales of the product for money.

“To be, or Not to be,” If we go with the Drug companies many known rare diseases could help those that are sick at a much lower cost. But then again how much are we willing to risk on getting better? Either way it’s a fight between money and health. But who’s the real bad guy I wonder? Who’s really trying to help America’s Health? Is it the politician’s who care, or is it the powerful drug companies? Does it even matter as long as we get better? There are many options you can go with, but it all comes down to what you decide.

Comment’s on a Colleague’s work.

This article that my colleague has presented us shows that in the near future social security will become a big problem. In recent news the first baby boomer will be getting their social security check in the mail. What might seem like a small problem now will have major affect on us in the future. For every one person back in the day who retired there were forty tax payers who funded his or her retirement. But with the up coming baby boomers it is going to be like three tax payers to every one retiree.

I agree with my colleague in saying “Where is our money going to be when we get old?” I am not looking forward to working hard and have nothing to show for it. My colleague brought up a great point saying that the government was obligated to come up with the money and I concur.

With the war going on today and the rises in gas price it looks like the US economy is going down. There is a great saying I once heard, “You can judge how far advanced a civilization is by how they treat their poor.” Well our poor aren’t looking so good. So the government really need to do something about this shortage of money issue.

http://timesofpolitics.blogspot.com/

Blackwater Bodyguards Given Immunity for Shooting 17 Civilians

Blackwater bodyguards were given immunity for the recent killings of 17 Iraqi civilians. The FBI has been trying to gather information for this investigation. The FBI took over the case early this month, officials said, after prosecutors in the Justice Department's criminal division realized it could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators. Prosecutors will have to prove that any evidence they use in bringing charges against Blackwater employees was uncovered without using the guards' statements to State Department investigators. It is still unclear why and how these Blackwater guards got there immunity

Since this case cannot be tried under the military court, the US must put this case under criminal law, but it’s not clear how the law is going to cover criminal act under war zone conditions. Americans are immune from Iraqi law under a directive signed by the U.S. occupation authority in 2003 that has not been repealed by the Iraqi Parliament.

When was killing people so easy to get away with? The higher you go in the chain of politics the easier it is to get away with criminal acts. If someone were to kill innocent civilians in the US the trial would barely last a week. Are war zones and riots within US cities any different? I don’t believe so. It was a judgment call and the Blackwater guards made a bad judgment. Killing the innocent should be tried exactly the same as killing people in the US. Just because they are Iraqi’s doesn’t mean there any less human. Shooting 17 innocent people to me doesn’t seem like it is just something you can call an accident.

In Latest Poll, Good News for Both Clintons

Whom do you know in this upcoming election? The presidential election of 2008 is narrowing down and if you were to vote, who would you vote for? The name Clinton, is a very popular name in this coming election, but do you know why? I have nothing against Hillary Clinton, but I am not a huge fan of here campaign for presidency. In recent polls, it shows that Clinton has and advantage.

I think each of the candidates’ has had decent proposal in the issues we have in the U.S. and during election time I hope voters won’t just go with a name they heard of. Clinton advantage in the polls, I believe, is something that has nothing to do with the election and that she only winning because her husband was an ex-president, she is a female, and she has been in the public media eye for many non-related political issues.

I am not a huge fan of poll taking considering they are bias on so many different levels. It seems that popularity wins over issues. Hillary has not shown any real plans on fixing the issues in the US, but has left it open. Yet how is she winning? There seems to be more “noise” with her campaign, that we are missing what is important.

News and media sometimes cover what sells and this election shows that in the polls. If they took a poll and ask people whom are the candidates’ running for president, I bet most people can name three Clinton, Giuliani, and Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100302036.html

"The Presidential Candidates on Health Care"

This article is concerning Americans Health Care. One thing is for certain is that we need a new health care system. For being one of the top governments in the world we are not in the best of conditions when it comes to our country's health.

In this 2008 election we have both the Democrats and the Republicans parties plans on how there going to change and fix our health system. This article shows the ideas of all these candidates on how to get everyone medical coverage. Democrats are in a race on seeing who has the best idea, as for the Republicans are making promises of coverage on a budget. Most of the 2008 candidates can talk the talk, but we'll see who can walk the walk when after the election. Each of the candidates has a very well written plan, but it doesn't show in detail how there going to make this happen.

For those who are planning to vote this coming up election just remember that words looks great when written on paper, but like with any document we must read between the lines. We know we need a new health care system, but what price are we willing to pay? Vote for the candidate whom you trust, not who says it best.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/issues/healthcare/index.html