Given the ruling of the US Supreme Court this week on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), otherwise referred to as “Obamacare”, it would seem US President Barack Obama got his way. However, his way as president is at variance with his way as a presidential hopeful:
Both of us want to provide health care to all Americans. There’s a slight difference, and her plan is a good one. But, she mandates that everybody buy health care. She’d have the government force every individual to buy insurance and I don’t have such a mandate because I don’t think the problem is that people don’t want health insurance, it’s that they can’t afford it. So, I focus more on lowering costs. This is a modest difference. But, it’s one that she’s tried to elevate, arguing that because I don’t force people to buy health care that I’m not insuring everybody. Well, if things were that easy, I could mandate everybody to buy a house, and that would solve the problem of homelessness. It doesn’t.”
Democratic candidate, Senator Barack Obama, comparing his health care plan to that of Hilary Clinton’s on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, February 28th 2008.
Only the most hard-hearted could fail to feel sympathy for the citizens of Colorado Springs, evacuated from their homes as forest fires engulf the area.
It’s not exactly the poorest area of America. A quick glance at local realtor sites reveals a plethora of homes with price tags in the $millions.
The problem of wildfires in America is nothing new. They’re a regular occurrence, particularly in the drier, western, states. No-one ever suggests preventative measures, other than not lighting camp fires, or dropping cigarette ends, when the undergrowth is tinder-dry.
Yet, there are very effective preventative measures practiced in other countries, perhaps more prepared to spend the money on resources than rely on that good old American attitude of, ‘hope for the best and trust in God’.
Click to enlarge
No, sorry, citizens of Colorado, it didn’t work for Governor Perry and the people of Texas, and it won’t work for you. In the unlikely event of rain falling in your area, it won’t be the hand of God but a quirk of Mother Nature. And, it’s no good praying to her. Her job is to look after the planet, not its inhabitants.
American firefighters, like others of that trade the world over, do an amazing job and cannot be praised enough. It’s just a pity the State of Colorado allows these fires to become so rampant in the first place.
There is a profession, largely unpracticed in America. It’s called Forest Management. Trees are living things. Like all life on Earth they shed their dead bits on a regular basis. Over time, those dead bits build up, stifling the new growth underneath. When this dry brush becomes too much, Mother Nature sets fire to it, burning it away and allowing the forests to rejuvenate.
Of course, if a tribe of Homo sapiens comes along and insists on building dwellings in the forest, they must take action to ensure they don’t get burnt along with the undergrowth.
Unfortunately, they do nothing. Instead, they hope for the best, trust in God, and get burned.
Other nations practice successful forest management. Trees are thinned, dead brush is removed on a regular basis and taken to a convenient, safe, site and burned. Wide fire breaks are constructed and kept in good condition by forestry workers. The UK, for example, rarely has a wildfire. The Forestry Commission (a government agency) is responsible for fire prevention in its one million hectares of forest throughout England, Wales, and Scotland. When a fire does occur, it’s easy to control because of the preventative measures in place. Private logging companies, common in America, are only concerned with profit and will usually leave a fire-hazard mess behind. UK logging is controlled by the Forestry Commission, and any private loggers have to clean up the site before they leave.[1]
No doubt, the cynics would argue that American forests are much too vast for such treatment to be viable. It’s true, but dwellings would be protected if forested areas within, say, forty or fifty miles, were properly managed.
Of course, that might mean raising state taxes to pay for it, and most Americans would rather ‘hope for the best and trust in God’ than pay higher taxes. God forbid!
Remember Hurricane Katrina? Who could forget it? Instead of taking preventative action and improving the levees pre-Katrina, they hoped for the best, trusted in God, and got wet.
Nobody listens to Benjamin Franklin anymore. He coined the adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” At the time, 1736, he was organizing the prevention of fires in Philadelphia, so the quote is highly relevant. He was right, of course, but these days no-one wants to spend money preventing something that might happen. After all, isn’t that why sensible people have insurance?
The folks of Colorado, those who’ve lost loved ones, beloved pets, irreplaceable family heirlooms and treasures, childhood photographs, mementos, will now realize that even the best insurance doesn’t cover everything. In fact, it really doesn’t cover much at all.
Maybe a few more dollars in state tax, to pay for proper forestry management and fire prevention, would have proved the best insurance of all.
There’s arrogance, and then there’s the arrogance of British ex-prime minister, Tony Blair. Asked recently by a UK newspaper if he’d like to be prime minister again, Blair eagerly conceded he’d love to be back in 10, Downing Street. He even dared to suggest he might be better suited for the office now, after being away from it for so long.[1]
Since he left the UK Parliament under a cloud, after the debacle of the Iraq War, Blair has swanned around the world making a fortune from Arab leaders through his firm, Tony Blair Associates. His personal fortune, almost all amassed since leaving political office, is put at 90 million dollars. He owns nine properties in various countries. He’s yet another devout ‘Christian’ who stopped believing in camels and needle eyes.
Blair’s name has been linked to a Korean company with oil interests in Iraq. (No-one has yet suggested his fervor for the Iraq war was in any way connected).
He became ‘Middle East envoy’ for the Quartet on the day he resigned as prime minister. George W Bush was instrumental in the appointment. (No-one has yet suggested it was pay-off for Blair’s ‘poodle-like’ support of Bush during Blair’s time as prime minister).
In September 2011, the British TV channel, ‘Channel 4’, broadcast one of its ‘Dispatches’ documentaries entitled, “The Wonderful World Of Tony Blair”. It was viewed by the writer. Below, is the program summary:
Since resigning in June 2007, Tony Blair has financially enriched himself more than any previous ex-prime minister. Reporter Peter Oborne reveals some of the sources of his new-found wealth, much of which comes from the Middle East.
On the day Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official representative Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. By January 2009 he had set up Tony Blair Associates – his international consultancy – which handles multi-million-pound contracts in the Middle East. It is so secretive we don’t know all the locations in which they do business.
‘Dispatches’ shows that at the same time as Blair is visiting Middle East leaders in his Quartet role he is receiving vast sums from some of them. If Blair represented the UK government, the EU, the IMF, the UN or the World Bank, this would not be permitted.
He would also have to declare his financial interests and be absolutely transparent about his financial dealings. But no such stringent rules govern the Quartet envoy.
However, he could opt to abide by the rules and principles of public life. They were introduced by John Major, and Tony Blair endorsed and strengthened them for all holders of public office – but chooses not to himself.”[2]
Possibly as a salve to his conscience, Blair has been instrumental in launching various charities, the most auspicious of which is the ‘Tony Blair Faith Foundation’. It’s aim is, “to show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world”.
Unfortunately, the British people were shown a vivid demonstration of the value of faith, as practiced by the wealthy and powerful, throughout the devastating course of the Iraq War.
It left an indelible impression on most UK citizens. One that will, thankfully, prevent Tony Blair from ever holding elected office in the United Kingdom again.
From Al Jazeera:
In Kuala Lumpur, after two years of investigation by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC), a tribunal (the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, or KLWCT) consisting of five judges with judicial and academic backgrounds reached a unanimous verdict that found George W Bush and Tony Blair guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq War.
The proceedings took place over a four-day period from November 19-22, and included an opportunity for court-appointed defense counsel to offer the tribunal arguments and evidence on behalf of the absent defendants. They had been invited to offer their own defense or send a representative, but declined to do so. The prosecution team was headed by two prominent legal personalities with strong professional legal credentials: Gurdeal Singh Nijar and Francis Boyle…The KLWCT added two “Orders” to its verdict that had been adopted in accordance with the charter of the KLWCC that controlled the operating framework of the tribunal: 1) Report the findings of guilt of the two accused former heads of state to the International Criminal Court in The Hague; and 2) Enter the names of Bush and Blair in the Register of War Criminals maintained by the KLWCC…”[3]
Would that a few other countries had the balls to support such a verdict.
