Mr. President, bring the troops home
If General Stanley McChrystal's request of President Obama for 40,000 additional troops for Afghanistan is to be met, the cost would be $40 billion to $54 b. a year, according to an internal government estimate published by The New York Times on November 15. The General originally requested 80,000 additional troops. The Times reports, "The rough formula used by the White House, of about $1 million per soldier a year, appears almost constant." The same article quotes Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), chairman of a subcommittee on defense appropriations, as saying that "total spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would surge past $1 trillion next year, which could hamper the economy for years to come." It is almost a foregone conclusion that the president will not authorize the 40,000 soldiers requested, but in all probability, he will authorize a smaller number. Any increase, as opposed to embarking upon an immediate exit strategy, would be a grave error. We need to stand up and shout 'No'
We still don't have full liquidity. Even worse, many of the firms securing TARP funds did not fulfill their mission as lenders. Instead, they used TARP funds for investment purposes and became even richer than they were before the debacle they were responsible for. Graham Bowley of The New York Times summed it all up in his article of October 17, 2009. He wrote:
Financial institutions are making huge profits as a result of having been saved by the taxpayers and TARP monies, and not having used those monies for lending purposes. They also know that our government still believes in the two axioms: "too big to fail" and "too big to jail." Too big to jail
On October 12, the insurance companies released a report they had commissioned on the impact of the Baucus Senate bill expanding health coverage, which will be voted on today, October 13. According to The New York Times, the report, prepared by Price-Waterhouse Coopers, states that "premiums would climb sharply with the passage of comprehensive health legislation." The report also stated that "selected provisions of a bill from the Senate Finance Committee could increase premiums 18 percent more than they would otherwise rise in the next decade, to an average of nearly $26,000 for families and $9,700 for individuals in 2019." Under the Baucus bill, the insurance companies retain control over the premiums they charge customers, except that they may not discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions. Take the insurance companies at their word. They will raise those premiums by those amounts. They have given Congress the best reason to include in the legislation a government option to compete with them. Such an option should have to compete fairly with no additional government subsidies or funding not provided to private sector insurance companies. The government option's ability to compete and provide lower prices would be dependent on its elimination of the profit now included by the insurance companies, which would undoubtedly increase with the addition of millions of additional customers after new universal health coverage legislation takes effect. No quid pro quo for scrapping European missile defense shield?
President Barack Obama lost a golden opportunity last week and exhibited surprising naiveté in foreign affairs when he unilaterally agreed to scrap plans for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. The president decided to undo the actions of former president George W. Bush, who had continued president Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" concept by placing a radar station in the Czech Republic and an anti-ballistic missile site in Poland, all on the borders of Russia. The response of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev to Bush's strategic move was to threaten retaliation by having Russian ballistic missiles aimed at NATO countries. The US claimed that the two installations were defensive only, and were intended to shoot down nuclear missiles aimed at Western Europe, Israel and America by Iran, North Korea, or terrorists. The Russians, of course, scoffed at Bush's explanation. Remember how the US under president John Kennedy reacted when the Soviet Union, then headed by Nikita Khrushchev, placed ballistic missiles in Cuba? We threatened war if they were not removed. We also imposed a blockade preventing Soviet ships from entering Cuban waters without first being searched for nuclear missiles. A third world war involving the US and the Soviet Union was avoided when the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw all of its nuclear ballistic missiles from Cuba and the US agreed to withdraw its ballistic missiles from NATO member Turkey. President Obama should have secured a similar quid pro quo from Russia before he terminated the planned missile defense program in Eastern Europe. What do we need from Russia? We want Russia to use its influence with Iran to end Iran's research and development of nuclear weapons. If Iran declines to stop its nuclear weapons program, we want Russia's support for greater sanctions in a resolution to be voted on at the United Nations Security Council. Russia has publicly stated it will oppose such a resolution. The leverage that Obama might have had with Russia was lost when he unilaterally gave Russia what it wanted. To Obama: Don't get trapped in Afghanistan - let's get out now
President Obama did an excellent job, in both delivery and substance, when he addressed a joint session of Congress last week. As I listened to him, I was reminded of my own days in Congress. Before I left Congress in 1977 to serve as Mayor of New York City, I attended similar addresses of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. I sat in the House of Representatives Chamber thinking how lucky I was to live in such a great country and to have been given the opportunity to represent my fellow citizens in Congress. I recall when President Johnson appeared in that Chamber in January 1969 after President Nixon had been elected but before he took office. As Johnson entered the Chamber and walked down the aisle past me, I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. Although he was unaware of my touch, I said to myself, "I forgive you." I was referring to the Vietnam War, the results of which caused him not to run for reelection. President Johnson had hugely increased the number of American soldiers sent to South Vietnam. I believe he ultimately poured in more than 50,000 combat troops. His enormous good works and reputation, as a result of his civil rights legislative record and "Great Society" initiatives, were lost as he became responsible in the public's collective conscience for the war and was blamed for the casualties, deaths and billions of dollars spent to prop up a corrupt Vietnamese government in an ongoing civil war. The United States was ultimately required to pull out in a publicly humiliating way. As the North Vietnam troops were entering Saigon, later renamed Ho Chi Min City, we ferried American military and civilians, as well as Vietnamese civilians, by helicopter from the roof of our embassy in Saigon to our Navy ships offshore. Many people, myself included, do not believe we can win the war in Afghanistan. The British and the Russians gave up on Afghanistan, as probably did Alexander the Great of ancient Macedonia. Even if we were to win, what would we have won? Unconscionable greed and Obama's betrayal
A $2.3 billion fine was recently levied against the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for a health care fraud. The settlement with Pfizer, the largest ever imposed, was announced at a press conference by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. The New York Times reported that Pfizer "had illegally marketed its now-withdrawn painkiller, Bextra," and that the company was turned in by "six whistle-blowers [who] will collect $102 million from the federal share of the settlement, and more from states' shares." The Times also reported that "the government charged that executives and sales representatives throughout Pfizer's ranks planned and executed schemes to illegally market not only Bextra but also Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, which treats nerve pain. While the government said the fine was a record sum, the $2.3b. fine amounts to less than three weeks of Pfizer's sales." By way of background, the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) approved the sale of Bextra in 2001 to treat arthritis and menstrual cramps. The Times in its article pointed out that "the drug was not approved for the treatment of acute pain, nor was it shown to be any more powerful than ibuprofen. But Pfizer instructed its sale representatives to tell doctors that the drug could be used to treat acute and surgical pain and at doses well above those approved, even though the drug's dangers - which included kidney, skin and heart risks - increased with the dose, the government charged. The drug was withdrawn in 2005 because of its risks to the heart and skin." While doctors can legally prescribe any F.D.A.-approved drug for any purpose, notwithstanding the drug's F.D.A. approval was for a specific treatment, drug companies are not allowed to urge its use for any purpose other than prescribed by the F.D.A. While the Times does not mention it, I believe I heard a television commentator state that Pfizer specifically asked the F.D.A. for permission to advocate the use of Bextra for other purposes. The F.D.A. rejected that request, which makes the alleged actions even more horrible. The Times quotes one of the whistle-blowers as saying, "The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales, and if you didn't sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player." The insurance and drug industries must be defeated
Carthago delenda est are words I recall from my days as a student at South Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, now called Malcolm X Shabazz High. I attended South Side High from 1937 to 1941, and in those days its core curriculum required the study of Latin. We learned that every day in the Roman Senate, Cato the Elder rose from his seat to say to his colleagues, Carthago delenda est - Carthage must be destroyed. In fact, it ultimately was destroyed by the Romans and its very earth salted so that nothing would ever live there. I believe that to this day, Carthage is a ruin. We Americans are facing in the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries a threat at least as powerful and destructive to our medical safety and security as Rome faced with regard to its territorial security in those ancient days. We need a Cato the Elder in each House of Congress to stand up every day and sound the alarm and to challenge his and her colleagues with the battle cry, "Citizens, gird your loins and prepare for battle; the insurance and drug industries must be defeated." The next uprising will be over immigration reform in 2010
On August 16, The New York Times ran an angry editorial entitled, "Water In The Desert." It referred to a man named Walt Staton, who placed water jugs in the New Mexico desert along the Mexican border for those seeking to cross the border illegally, some of whom die in the desert from lack of water. Staton was convicted of littering and "sentenced last week to probation and 300 hours of picking up trash after he refused to pay a fine." I agree with and share the outrage of the Times editorial. To try to save human lives by leaving water along the route of illegal entry should be applauded, not condemned. However, I disagree with the Times solution and its reference to those illegal aliens whom they refer to as "migrants." They can't even bring themselves to call them by their rightful name: illegal aliens. The Times apparently believes in open borders for the United States. Anyone, they apparently maintain, can enter the US without authorization. As far as I know, no country in the world has "open borders," nor should they. The Times believes the next major issue - immigration reform - will be addressed by President Obama in 2010, and "that the only real solution to the border problem [is] immigration reform that gives people an alternative." The alternative they espouse is granting amnesty to the estimated 12 to 20 million people in this country illegally and allowing them to apply for American citizenship, instead of being required to return to their home countries. Universal medical insurance is absolutely essential
Well, I'm back. I was admitted to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center on June 14 and discharged on July 26. I spent most of that time in the ICU recovering from valve replacement and quadruple bypass surgery. Because my heart cavity filled with blood, a second surgery was performed to clean the area. Other complications included a pancreas that acted up and a gallbladder that had to be removed. I expect to return to the office sometime next week. That I am alive today is due to the extraordinary medical care I received in the hospital from brilliant doctors, marvelous nurses and dozens of technicians. I shall be forever grateful to each and every one of them. For those who will say that I, as a former mayor of New York City, received special treatment, they should know that those same physicians, nurses and technicians were simultaneously treating other patients recovering from similar surgery in the same ICU. I don't know what the total expense will be for my hospitalization, but most of it will be covered by Medicare and my private health insurance policy. Others are not so fortunate. Forty-seven million Americans, some holding jobs and others unemployed, are without medical insurance, and twenty-five million more are underinsured. I don't believe people without insurance who are treated in emergency rooms can receive the same adequate, ongoing care that insured individuals receive. Israel must fulfill its obligations even if Palestinians fail to honor theirs
A secure Israel is a priority for Jews around the world, even for those who have no desire to ever permanently live there. That is why Jews are so concerned about the United States government 's attitude toward the State of Israel and the pressures it appears to be bringing to bear upon Israel's government. |
 |
 
Combined feed for all JPost.com blogs
Top Rated Posts
Tags:Blogroll |
Comments (22)
