Media
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
by steveb
Before people, or Republicans, burn down every democratic congressman’s house in protest to the passing of the Health Care Bill, let us realize the more important aspects of the reform instead of whining over higher taxes.
After months of disagreement, confusion, protest, and more disagreement, the Health Care Reform was finally signed by President Barack Obama last Monday, promising health coverage to everyone by 2014. I personally do not like the fact it was a partisan bill because it separates our nation’s two parties even more when they should be working together. I also agree with the speculation of unemployed workers, mainly from the lower class, taking advantage of such a system by taking unnecessary visits to the hospital or trying less to actually find a job with coverage. This concept already exists today with unemployed workers relying on welfare.
However, it is time for America to finally progress with the rest of the industrialized nations of the world. The United States, up until the passing Bill, was the only industrialized country without a universal health care system. How can the most developed nation in the world not be able to protect its own? How can it not better its citizens back home to the level it strives for in foreign disputes? Often considered as the “global police,” the United States takes a sense of pride in attempting to regulate peace and maintain justice around the world, but that should come after its issues at home are taken care of. The bottom line is 30 million more Americans will now be covered, a fact hard to complain about.
Physicals, prescriptions, different types of therapy, surgery, and others are now available to anyone who was previously denied healthcare because they were considered a risk to the insurer. Pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure and AIDS are not the patients fault, and in most cases, these are the people who probably need medical insurance more than anyone, but with the free market of American businesses, chances of these people receiving coverage was rather unlikely. Also, Americans will still be covered after they retire, and since insurers can’t cap your coverage anymore, racking up debt in medical costs will no longer be an issue.
Since Health Care will be a government program, they will now be able to regulate rates similar to other insurance types such as car and home insurance. The competition between insurers will rise with such an increased market, helping keep rates down as well. Even with these changes, it will cost more for the future generations, but a healthier nation means more workers having longer careers, and more consumers buying products over a longer period of time, helping our economy grow.
The main protest of the bill is related to the cost, and the decision to take more from the upper class to pay for those who cannot afford healthcare alone. This raises a problem that has grown over time in our country. The distribution and taxation of incomes help the rich become richer and the poor to never crawl out of the darkness of poverty. We’re leaving the lower class behind as the middle and upper classes develop financially and increase their savings, when we should be helping out our fellow citizens. There are cases where lower class citizens depend on this help however, instead of earning their income on their own, but with so many citizens in our country, there are always going to be loopholes in any system of such size. Our country is weakened by such a gap in not only health status, but also economic status. Instead of dragging the poor to keep up and letting poverty hold our nation back, bumping up the national level of health and re-establishing a higher status quo will help strengthen America against up and coming power-nations like those in Asia. After all, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
Photo Credit: crafty
Popularity: 6% [?]
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
by peterod
First off let me start by saying that I do no condone the actions of Tiger Wood’s nor do I think cheating on your significant other is ever tolerable, that being said, the general public needs to let Tiger Woods sift through his problems. Woods, winner of 71 PGA Tour events, and fourteen majors, second all time behind Jack Nicklaus, was caught in early January cheating on his wife. Media outlets across the country, as well as the general public flocked to Wood’s Florida estate for answers pertaining to the rumored affair.
Here is where the story starts to go off course and get me aggravated. Tiger Woods was unseen and unheard from for the first week following the incident, and the media and public started to harass his motives and question what he had to hide. When was the last time you made a mistake, small or large scale, and the news and hundreds of people were sitting outside your house awaiting a response from you? I’m going to say probably never. This is the exact reason Tiger Wood’s was not in the wrong in his actions following the affair, and the same reason why Tiger needs to be given time to figure out his horrible situation. Sure Tiger is a multi-million dollar mogul, seen daily on the news and commercials, but that alone isn’t a cop out for the media to invade his personal space.
In a recent census taken, the United States government states that 53% of all marriages end in divorce, and 60% of those divorces stem from affairs. So of these staggering amounts of affairs, how often do you hear of them? Never. Tiger Woods is a human being just like you and me, and he should be treated as one. Tiger should be judged not for his off the field actions, but by his on the field actions. If a student gets strait A’s but goes home and beats some one up, is that person a bad student? The point I’m trying to make is Tiger is a golfer, not a role model for marriages across the country. The public and media should let Tiger and his family attempt to work out their differences, which will in turn allow Wood’s to return to the course on a speedier time table. Tiger Woods will go down as one of the, if not the best, golfers of all time. One incident should not impede the public’s image of him, rather they should support him until he is back on the course, back where we love him, on our televisions every Sunday in his vintage Tiger red shirt going for the Master’s.
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
by steveb
Some say Michael Jackson was a freak. Some even go to say he’s better off dead. Michael Joseph Jackson, as criticized and speculated as he was, is one of, if not the greatest figure in entertainment history and one of the most influential men of the 20th century.
“The King of Pop” has sold more than 300 million copies to date, is the first artist to chart seven singles in the top 10 from one album, and the only artist to have an album (Thriller) sell more copies than any other in two separate years. He has been described as “biggest-selling artist of all time,” “the single most awarded entertainer the world has ever known,” and “the most popular artist in the history of show business.”
Leading up to his death, however, his personal struggles grew to a tabloid-filled “freak” show, and began to overshadow his iconic accomplishments. Beginning with rumors of him purchasing the bones of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, and sleeping in a hyperbolic chamber to decrease aging, the “King of Pop” became better known as “Wacko Jacko.” Further accusations of child molesting and bizarre physical changes did not help his image either, but these pieces of the Jackson puzzle do not tell the whole story.
Living under the celebrity spotlight since he was five years old, he never had the traditional childhood, telling Oprah Winfrey in an interview he “had no friends as a child, [his] brothers were his only friends.” Virtually skipping the developing years of his childhood, Jackson grew up under extreme pressure from the media, his brothers, and his record company, not to mention the frequent beatings he received from his father. His troubled past became more public through interviews like Oprah’s, however sympathy for him did not. Growing up with such an external demand for maturity and music success, the physiological effects he endured are difficult to compare because of his super-stardom. In the interview, he said:
“I would do my schooling which was three hours with a tutor and right after that I would go to the recording studio and record, and I’d record for hours and hours until it’s time to go to sleep. And I remember going to the record studio and there was a park across the street and I’d see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead.”
With no childhood, a violent father, an insecure self-image, and coming out of a dysfunctional group of brothers, Jackson became addicted to painkillers and excessive plastic surgery operations to help cope with such a unique life-style. Even through all of this, the contributions he made to various foundations and charities show his strong humanitarian beliefs.
As listed in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records, Jackson held the record for “Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star”. When touring, he would take time to visit sick children in hospitals. His Neverland home has special rooms for sick and terminally-ill children, and has helped set up the Heal the World Foundation, and supported 39 charity organizations either through donations or sponsorships, and has donated an estimated $500 million to such groups. His devotion to children is said to be the most important thing in his life, which usually goes unnoticed to the “Wacko Jacko” headlines that we always hear about instead.
So who are we to judge the greatest entertainer of all time, if no one can in fact compare their lives with his? None of us went through the struggles he faced with his family, or the constant limelight he lived nearly his entire life under, or the on-going medical attention he faced by his doctors. To expect someone living under these circumstances to turn out like you and me is unreasonable and unrealistic. Perhaps his greatest skill was also his biggest enemy, and his overwhelming success was not worth the depression he lived with for much of his life. What should be taken from his life now that he has passed away is his successful music career and devotion to bettering the world, and maybe “Wacko Jacko” will once again be better known as “The King of Pop.”
Photo Credit: Mr. Fotoshop
Popularity: 2% [?]
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