Health Care Passes and is Signed

Well, I saw Obama sign the Health Care bill on CNN…sort-of. CNN was carrying the story live, when they had breaking news of how some lawmaker in the UK proposed that Israeli Ambassador get out of the UK because of the assassination in Dubai. (Interesting as there is no evidence Israel had anything to do with it besides Dubai Police saying so. An amateurish assassination with what now …20 plus agents involved to kill one guy? Gun-running is deadly business and it is more likely the guy tried to short change his suppliers or had in the past)

Anyhow – back to the signing of the bill. Before CNN cut away – Joe Biden was doing his marathon how much can he kiss Obama’s a$$ speech before he drops the f-bomb. After CNN flashes back to the signing – Obama had already signed the bill and he was grinning ear to ear.

I do not know if the Health Care Reform Bill is more good than bad. It does appear to be constitutionally questionable, but likely cannot be challenged in the courts for some time to come as there has to be some sort of “damages” before the case can be handled in court.

I hope it ends up being a good thing – but all I can say is only time will tell. What I do know is that it for sure welfare for insurance companies. Right now, health insurance is the only legalized pyramid scheme in the US. I know, I am a licensed Insurance Agent. Chances are if you pay $500 for insurance, only about $150-200 of it is actually for health insurance. It seems AIG is Obama’s favorite recipient of our tax dollars - first, with bailouts and now with this. Maybe deeper looking finds a different financial institution as all insurance companies are pretty much run by banks.

Whatever happens – Stay Safe!

Time is Running Out on Liberia

I will be leaving Liberia less than a month from now. I guess over-all more good than bad. Some of my friends know of the hell I went through with a superior - which will likely not be resolved.

What I have learned is that the reporting of misconduct of superiors in the UN system seems to be little more than smoke and mirrors. The Ethics division which is supposed to protect whistle blowers say they do not want any misconduct reported to them. Other units seem to just drop the ball whenever Superiors are reported.

I find it interesting that the United Nations has the weakest of all protections for people who work there.

The plight of the whistle-blowers in North Korea is well known that nothing was there to protect them from their superiors and their own firings.

This is how the UN supports whistle-blowers in Somalia.

The only way UN employees can get justice is to go to court:

To report cases of corruption, malfeasance, waste, harassment and/or retaliation
please contact United States Mission at the UN (USUN)at their whistleblower hotline: USUN-UNTAI@state.gov. USUN assists UN whistleblowers and will protect your identity. If you are aware of problems at the UN, including crime, corruption, fraud, or retaliation against whistleblowers, please contact USUN-UNTAI@state.gov. Your confidentiality will be ensured.

Anyways – be safe!

Ronald Reagan and the Nobel Peace Prize

I don't know why I was thinking this - but it popped into my head. Why didn't Reagan win the Nobel Peace Prize?

He was President from 1981-1989. Here are the winners during that period with my comments in italics:

1989 THE 14TH DALAI LAMA (TENZIN GYATSO) , Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people. O,k probably well deserved
1988 THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A. This one is a cop-out when you do not want to choose.
1987 OSCAR ARIAS SANCHEZ , Costa Rica, President of Costa Rica, initiator of peace negotiations in Central America. Well deserving of such an award with his peace efforts in Central America.
1986 ELIE WIESEL , U.S.A., Chairman of 'The President's Commission on the Holocaust'. Author, humanitarian. Guess who was President while he was on the commission.
1985 INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR Boston, MA, U.S.A. These guys possibly deserved it. – However, I believe Reagan actually did more to prevent nuclear war than these guys did.
1984 DESMOND MPILO TUTU , South Africa, Bishop of Johannesburg, former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). for his work against apartheid. He was a deserved recipient.
1983 LECH WALESA , Poland. Founder of Solidarity, campaigner for human rights. He probably could not have even held the marches and protests without the support of the US externally and the build up of American military power under Reagan.
1982 The prize was awarded jointly to: ALVA MYRDAL , former Cabinet Minister, diplomat, delegate to United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, writer.
ALFONSO GARCÍA ROBLES , diplomat, delegate to the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, former Secretary for Foreign Affairs . I believe once again a cop-out when Un gets any of the prizes
1981 OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES Geneva, Switzerland see abaove – same stuff

Another interesting point is that Gorbechev gets the Nobel Peace prize in 1990 for “helping end the cold war.” Now that is a real hoot, since there is no way it would have happened without Reagan. Carter, his predecessor, won the prize mostly for his mid-east peace initiatives (he won it in 2002). As Reagan was giving his inaugural address, 52 U.S. hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free. There were no Major conflicts during Reagan’s term that the US was involved in. The most major conflict in the world was the Iran/Iraq war.

Ronald Reagan encouraged Gorbachev to pursue major arms agreements. Gorbachev and Reagan held four meetings between 1985 and 1988: Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, it would lead to reform and the end of Communism. Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev: saying, "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (Note: The Berlin Wall was torn down beginning in 1989 and then two years later the Soviet Union collapsed.)





Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House in 1987 which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. Gorbachev was offering major concessions to the U.S. on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.

Compare that with Barack Obama...

Stay Safe!