It was such a weird week.
Sarah Palin quit her post as governor of Alaska for reasons yet to be revealed to us—and maybe to herself, and instantly became the top-read, top-searched story again on most news sites. Man, the media loves to hate her.
Michael Jackson’s memorial was attended to with interest and care deserving of a head of state, broadcast live on CNN, and then over and over again.
California began issuing IOUs to “pay” its bills because it’s almost entirely out of cash, and Al Franken, otherwise known as the Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley, was sworn in as a Senator.
Google announced that it’s launching an operating system just weeks after Microsoft unveiled a new search engine (who does what again?). Media moguls met in Sun Valley and talked about how Twitter might make money (do we care?).
Obama traveled to Russia, Italy and Ghana. In Russia the two countries agreed (again) to scale back on nuclear arms. In Italy the G8—the eight most powerful nations—met and agreed that it would be a really bad thing if the world’s climate rises by more than a couple degrees Celsius. China’s president left early to address uprisings in the Uighur region of China where the ethnic minority people are demanding better treatment.
Congress came back from vacation and began tackling health care reform and how to pay for the estimated $1 trillion program. The latest news says perhaps a 2% tax on the wealthiest Americans would pay for it while other proposals have suggested taxing corporate-provided health care benefits.
The administration seemingly wants a public option that you and I could opt into without fear of being turned away for pre-existing conditions and for less money than we might pay for private insurance.
But enough about this week
Next week the Senate takes up the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court. You can expect that the death penalty, abortion, guns, and affirmative action will all be topics under consideration, giving us all plenty to talk and think about.
I personally think it's wrong to punish someone for doing well for themselves by making them pay for the nation's health care.
I was raise in a middle class home with not a lot of extras. I paid for my two degress on my own. I paid back loans on my own.
I also have busted my rear getting to where I have gotten and don't understand why I should have to pay for those that didn't do the same as me.
How is that fair?
Posted by: Cathlynn Carman | July 10, 2009 at 05:59 PM