ALTERNATIVE ARGUMENTA

By Richard E Walrath

There’s a lot of talk about regulation, but I don’t see a lot of evidence of it.  More of it in the food industry, especially imports, would please me.  People who buy toys think there should be more regulation, too.

Republicans want  to deregulate and Democrats want to regulate.  Airlines used to be regulated, now they’re not.  But that was Jimmy Carter’s doing. 

Are they, are we, better or worse off?

Deregulation led to Enron, at one time the largest corporation in America.  We know what happened to it.

At one time, of course, there was, basically, only one telephone company–AT&T.  There were others, but altogether they had a very small share of the total. 

Power lines and telephone lines are very expensive to install, and you want only one company in each area.  In return for having a monopoly, the utilities are supposed to hold down rates and were regulated by the government. 

That was then. 

The next idea was that utilities could offer better service and prices if there were more competition.  It’s cheaper now to have a phone than it used to be.  But that’s because we have entirely new systems. 

It’s the same old electricity, however, coming in on the same old power  lines, and the price keeps going up, up, and away.  

Electricity, which is extremely energy intensive, isn’t going to get cheaper until it’s produced in a different way–using an energy source other than coal.

By Richard E Walrath

“Why Osama Is the Best Choice for the Democrats in 2008″

By  George W. Bush

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that the above op-ed piece was submitted by gw (guess who) to the New York Times.

By Richard E Walrath

All I’m reading about is the million Armenians the Turks killed in 1915 and whether or not this was genocide. 

There’s no question that it happened–not even too much of a dispute about how many. 

Was it a million or two million?  Is that  what the debate is about?  It was genocide if it was two million killed, but not if it was “only” one million?  Is that the question?

A million or two million people are wiped out, and the debate is whether or not this meets the standard to be called genocide.  If not, then what?  If so, so what?

The dispute seems to be whether or not to label killing a million or two million people genocide.  Are the  dead better or worse off if it was genocide?

Does it make it better or worse if it was or wasn’t genocide?   

The number doesn’t matter - the international law definition of genocide as a crime has two parts; intention and action.  It’s basically a ’systematic pattern of coordinated acts’ against a group and the group may be national, ethnical, racial or religious.

More may be read at the following site:

Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (For full text click here)

Genocide is like Hitler and Nazi Germany. That’s not a label that Turkey wants even though the government today is totally different from the Ottoman Empire. 

This has come up routinely in the past, but it never got anywhere because there was a Republican Congress.  After the House Foreign Relations Committee votes on Wednesday, President Abdullah Gul warned the United States, in a statement, that a positive vote by the U.S. House of Representatives could work against the United States.

There are a number of states–Michigan for one–with a lot of Armenians.  Turkey is a vital ally in the Bush war in Iraq, so a House vote could make a lot of trouble for him.

By Richard E Walrath 

Billions of dollars for the Bush National Debt and the Bush war - but no dollars for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

This morning President Bush vetoed the State Children’s Health Insurance bill. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, the bottom line is the same - it is up to you to get this bill passed for the children of America.  If 2/3 of the members of Congress stand up to President Bush on this issue, his veto can be overturned and millions of children will be able to receive medicare care.

A simple form has been prepared to aid you in locating your members of Congress and requesting them to stand up for this issue.  It’s not a standard form, you may say whatever you want - and if you don’t know what to say, there are talking points available as an additional tool. 

http://www.democrats.org/FightForKids

Don’t let one man endanger the health and well-being of the children of our country.  Their future is in your hands.

George Bush has increased the National Debt in this country by $3.2 trillion dollars since he has been in office, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan have now been estimated, by the Department of Defense, to cost an estimated $10 billion dollars a month.

How much will SCHIP cost in comparison?  The Department of Defense appears to lose more than this program will cost U.S. taxpayers.

President Bush vetoed this bill because it’s moves health care in the wrong direction.

For Immediate Release October 3, 2007

TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

“I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 976, the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007,” because this legislation would move health care in this country in the wrong direction…”

How can providing coverage for American’s children be considered moving health care in the wrong direction?

By Richard E Walrath

Former Senator John Edwards recently announced he will accept public financing for his campaign. 

What does that mean?

Campaign contributions are private funding from individuals, groups, PAC’s, firms, unions, and so on. 

Public financing is provided by the government part of which comes from the check-off box when people file their income taxes–$3. 

I’m not sure how much is now provided a candidate under the existing campaign funding laws. But whatever the amount, that’s all a candidate can spend if he/she accepts public financing.  The FEC website provides all the answers to the campaign financing questions.

If the candidate chooses not to accept public financing, there is no limit to how much he/she can spend if it’s raised privately.