19 April 2007

Why Mitt Romney Will Win the Republican Primary?

Jacksonville.com: Opinion: Watch out for Mitt Romney

You heard it right. Watch out for Mitt Romney. I won't be so bold as to say he will win the primary BUT I will be so bold as to say Rudy Giuliani has NO chance of winning the Republican Primary.

I'm frustrated that Romney has flip flopped to now being pro-life, pro-NRA, and anti-gay marriage. Not so much because I think their are invalid arguments to have such opinions but it's a shame that the Republican ticket is based on such trivial matters and that Romney has given into it.

However, if that's what it takes then so be it. I can only see great things happening in domestic affairs if he became president. Romney has a great track record in turning things to gold. Check out his biography.

Here's the summary of the article that started this rant:

"Yes, McCain has name identification. And unannounced candidates Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich could capture Republican voters desperate to re-establish the party's pre-George W. Bush philosophical ground.

You can take this to the bank: Romney will end up being the man they all have to beat. He will spend his mountain of money on television, and that will allow him to hide his ultra-sophisticated personality from those wary of having an urbane president.

Once he's known, he'll have the might of the GOP's old guard behind him."

Scottish elections | Upheaval in the north

Scottish elections | Upheaval in the north | Economist.com

Some of you know that I interned in Scottish parliament last year. Well just to let you know a bit more, I worked for the party that wants to separate from Scotland, the Scottish National Party. Elections are coming up soon and it looks as though the SNP will be able to form a coalition government. I think if they get in power, it will either be the best thing ever for them or the worse thing because I think people will really base any future voting decisions on how they perform in parliament this time around.

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“THERE are just 30 days to save devolution,” proclaimed Jack McConnell this week. Scotland's first minister was firing Labour's opening shots in the campaign leading up to elections for the Scottish Parliament on May 3rd. By awkward coincidence, these fall two days after the 300th anniversary of the formal union between Scotland and England. Mr McConnell has every right to sound alarmed.

Most recent opinion polls have given the Scottish National Party (SNP), which seeks independence from Britain, a hefty lead over Labour. Those who were squelched years ago for giving wa

rning that devolution was less a solution to separatist sentiment than a fast track to secession are laughing up their sleeves. Is the union, in fact, in peril, with Scotland the first of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom to walk free?

That risk is not, for all the sound and fury, imminent independence for Scotland, however. Relatively few Scots actually want it, for one thing. No more than 30% support independence, says John Curtice of Strathclyde University—roughly the same as at devolution in 1998 and notably less than the 36-39% who back the SNP.

And even that sturdy backing is unlikely to translate into enough votes to let the SNP run Scotland on its own. Mr Curtice reckons the roughly five-point lead over Labour that opinion polls give the Nationalists might yield them 45 regional and constituency seats (up from 27 now) to Labour's 40 (down from 50)—well short of the 65 seats needed for an outright majority. As the Liberal Democrats, the SNP's only possible coalition partners, are opposed even to holding a referendum on independence, the chances that the SNP will achieve its dearest wish remain remote.

18 April 2007

Canadian Health Care

Well, as many around me know I'm majoring in Political Science, Canadian, and want to be a doctor. One of the topics that comes up a lot is Canadian health care. I just want to provide an interesting article about Canadian health care and jsut say this. The Canadian health care system has been great for my family and I've never heard any horror stories unlike ones that you sometimes hear in America. At the same time however, I want to acknowledge how fantastic the health care in America is also.

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Canadian survival advantage

Devereaux said the Canadian public is barraged by people who argue that the solution to problems in the health-care system is to move toward two-tiered medicine and for-profit health-care delivery.

He said the researchers in the meta-study wanted to provide facts that can be used to make decisions about the system, instead of the debate being steered by beliefs and ideologies.

Researchers began by asking the question: Are there differences in death and disease rates in patients suffering from similar medical conditions treated in Canada versus those treated in the United States?

Overall, 14 of the 38 studies showed better outcomes in Canada, while five favoured the United States. The other 19 studies showed equivalent or mixed results in the two countries.

"What it [the study] shows is that despite an enormous investment in money, we do not see better health outcomes [in the U.S.]," Devereaux said.

"And importantly, where our two systems do diverge is that America has a mixture of private insurance in terms of the funding for health care whereas in Canada we have medicare system for hospital and physician services.

"The medicare system allows us enormous efficiencies in terms of cost-saving relative to private insurance."

Some explanations for the results include the fact that U.S. health care has administrative inefficiencies that public funding — without multiple competing insurance companies — eliminates. Canadians also save on prescription drug costs because drug prices are controlled.

Few uninsured patients in the United States, who probably suffer the worst quality care, were included in the studies examined.

Devereaux said the Canadian health-care system has problems and needs improvement, "but certainly using medicare funding and not-for-profit delivery is the best way to actually maximize health outcomes and in a cost-effective manner."