2009-02-28

The President discusses his budget

In hisweekly address, President Obama discusses how his budget will bring change to all of our lives

DEA will no longer arrest cancer patients

President Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, has directed the Drug Enforcement Administration to no longer conduct raids at medical marijuana clinics.  This change of policy is good news for state's rights.

New Reality Commercial

They get better and better:



2009-02-26

The Obama budget brings the change we need

Despite imposing a $1.75T deficit next year (probably the largest figure I've ever written in this blog), President Obama's budget is huge. It is comparable to FDR's New Deal. I think we should call it the Real Deal.



Only a month into the presidency, Barack Obama has signed a stimulus plan that will help us get out of our current mess, and a budget that will provide us with tools to make sure we never get into another one. Part of this gargantuan amount of spending will be focused on alternative energy and healthcare.



Alternative energy spending is helpful in that it will get us off oil, preventing a large transfer of wealth out of this country, by using our own resources like natural gas, wind, and solar power.



Getting us on a universal healthcare system is also instrumental, so people without healthcare do not face bankrupty should they lose their jobs (and currently their healthcare).

Death of DVD to begin soon

The death of the DVD will soon begin as Netflix plans to offer "streaming only" plans to its customers, allowing them to watch an unlimited number of movies and TV shows on both their televisions and computers without also getting those red envelopes in the mail. 
 
I think that within 2-3 years, sales of DVD's will trickle to near nothing.  Blu-Rays will still be sold as they promise a higher resolution - for now.  I think it is entirely likely that within 5 years, there won't be the need to rent or purchase any physical media.  Which means Blockbusters days are indeed numbered.
 

2009-02-25

The first step towards Universal Healthcare

The first step towards universal healthcare will be contained in President Obama's first budget, a $634B fund.  This money will come primary from cost savings in areas of medicare and medicaid, such as allowing the government to buy prescriptions at cheaper prices and also penalize hospitals that have high re-admittance rates for patients.

This is the first step towards portable healthcare that will bring our country into the 21st century.

Hookah's in VA

Not a good time to own a hookah bar in Virginia.

Jindal's response

Bobby Jindal, the asshole, responded to President Obama's address by making fun of the fact that it includes several million dollars towards volcano monitoring.  This is from a man who lives in Louisiana, a state that should be all too familiar with natural disasters.  As Nate Silver points out, this type of monitoring has already saved lives.

2009-02-24

Obama's speech to Congress

President Obama's first address to Congress was quite impressive.  Watching on a network that showed republican and democratic reaction in real time graphs, I've never seen such positive audience response.  Not once did either dip into negative territory.

The speech was focused more on the economy than almost any other State of the Union type speech.

But it was not just our current economy, it was a speech on how we can remain competitive, and regain the top spot.  Some highlights:
  • A goal to reform healthcare within a year, and appoint a task force to accomplish this within a week.
  • A directive to all Americans to commit to at least 1 year of post high school education.  Also, a quip that those who drop out of high school drop out on their country, and let us all down.
  • A promise for taxes to not increase on any family that makes under $250,000 (a campaign promise being kept).  
  • The budget will be completely transparent, including money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • "The United States of America does not torture."  
This was not a partisan speech.  The President was at his best in finding common ground that every American can relate to.  We are on our way forward.  Yes. We. Can.

Murdoch Apologizes

Rupert Murdoch, owner of the NY Post, Fox News, and other conservative media outlets, has apologized for the extremely offensive cartoon run in the Post.  Every American should be ashamed to see such a thing in print in a major newspaper.  

I can't say I am surprised that Murdoch has apologized, as he is known privately to be a supporter of the President.

Safari 4 problems

I recently installed Safari 4, the beta version of Apple's browser. While I was impressed with the coverflow view of history, I was very displeased with one item:

For some reason, Safari cannot login to the secure (https) version of Gmail. This is not a problem with Gmail, since I tested it with FireFox on the same computer at the same time and everything worked fine. Since I will never access my mail from a non-secure connection I cannot yet use Safari 4. I did report the bug to Apple, so hopefully it is fixed before the general release.

2009-02-23

Tolerance in Iran

Roger Cohen has written an interesting piece on Iran's tolerance for, of all people, the Jews and about the thousands who still call Iran home.

The 81st Oscars

I watched most of the Oscars last night. Was not a big fan of Hugh Jackman as the host. There have been worse, and there have been better.

I liked Sean Penn's acceptance speech. His win, for the portrayal of Harvey Milk, was a surprise. He started his speech with: "You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns.... I know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often."

I'm glad Heath Ledger won for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. He would deserve it even if he was still alive.