Missouri's Proposition C Vote: 'Health Care Freedom Act' Set to Test Obamacare
For those of you who have still been watching the debate over the health care reform law: something's happening next month that could take it to a whole new level. On August 3, the voters of the state of Missouri will go to the polls to cast a ballot on Proposition C, also known as the "Health Care Freedom Act." The measure has passed in the Missouri House and Senate, and it is now going straight to the people. If approved by the voters, the act would amend state statutes to effectively shield Missourians from complying with the federal health reform law, protecting them from fines and ...
Autonomous China and the Fight Over Heritage
Contributor Andrew Clark studied in Shanghai during the spring of 2010. This is the first in a series of stories that touches on his political and cultural awakenings in-and-around China. When Americans look at the world map, China seems to be a unified block of land. In reality, China is made up of several unique ethnic groups that are having trouble assimilating to unified rule. During my last week in China, a friend and I took one final trip to one of the most exotic, off-the-map places in China -- Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia. Hohhot is situated in northern China, near the border of ...
The Shanghai 2010 World Expo: Too Much Tourism, Not Enough Internet?
You wouldn't know it living in the West, but the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition is garnering attention throughout China that isn't far from the excitement level of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Statues of the mascot for the Expo, "Haibo," can be found in most large cities in China, and stuffed versions of the little blue man are available in virtually every store. As the event loomed closer, television and radio ads flooded the Chinese broadcasting markets. The event even has its own jingle, titled "City" after the 2010 Expo's theme: Better City, Better Life. I attended the event this past ...
California Governor Race: Whitman Campaign Email Pressures Poizner to Quit
The Republican primary battle between eBay millionaire Meg Whitman and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner for California's governorship has taken a sharp, dramatic turn -- Poizner claims that Whitman's campaign has improperly pressured him to get out of the race. On Monday, Poizner's campaign distributed to reporters an email (download it here) that Poizner pollster Jan van Lohuizen received from Whitman adviser Mike Murphy. In the email, which was reportedly part of an ongoing series, Murphy urges Lohuizen to get Poizner to drop out: Is there anything we can do to get SP to ...
Hillary Clinton Not Seeking Second Secretary of State Term: Is Private Life Next?
People don't often make headlines for things they aren't doing. Yet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made news Thursday after telling PBS's Tavis Smiley in an interview that she did not see herself serving as head of the State Department should Barack Obama be elected to a second term. "No, I really can't," she said. "The whole eight (years), I mean that would be very challenging. But I... don't want to make any predictions sitting here." Last October, Clinton found herself in the headlines when she ruled out the New York races for governor and senator. She has also dismissed another run for ...
Obama's Risky Plan: Government Takeover of the Student Loan Business
All of the noise-making caused by the health-care-reform effort and the political uncertainty now surrounding Obama's liberal agenda has allowed one item on that agenda to pass swiftly and smoothly under the radar -- his plan to nationalize the entire student loan process. Unfortunately, the plan is too risky for the economy. The White House initially thought the plan would face stiff resistance and launch a contentious and hard-fought ideological battle in Congress. "After all," wrote Time Magazine in September, "the Administration's proposal to restructure the student-loan industry is, in ...
Internet Freedom Battle: Hillary Clinton's Policy Speech, Google's Stand in China
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered Thursday what has been described as a first-of-its-kind, historic speech detailing U.S. policy toward Internet freedom around the world. This was in response to Google's recent announcement that it has plans to end all censorship filters on its search engines in China -- and may even consider withdrawing from the country's market altogether -- in response to a cyber-attack on the Gmail (Google's e-mail service) accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Clinton spelled out American policy in plain terms: "We stand for a single Internet where all ...
Massachusetts Special Election: A Mandate on Health Care Reform?
It's fitting that the Massachusetts special election to replace late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy on Jan. 19 (read Jill Lawrence's coverage of the race here) will intersect almost perfectly with the next Senate vote on the revised health care reform bill. If any state knows health care, it's the Bay State, which passed its own landmark health care reform bill in 2006. Indeed, the two events are so close together that Republican candidate Scott Brown has built his campaign around the premise that he will be the "41st senator" to stop health care reform in its tracks and "force the Democrats to ...
Enough With Lament: Why This Decade Should Be Celebrated
Now that the eve of a new decade is upon us, the pundits are looking back at the 2000s, and they're judging it a train wreck. Time Magazine heralded the goodbye to the Decade From Hell, calling it the "most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post-World War II era," going so far as to create a slide show titled "The 10 Worst Things About the Worst Decade Ever." In a clever wordplay, the Washington Post lamented that the decade should not be called the Aughts, but the "Oughts," in memoriam of all the achievements that "ought" to have happened in the 2000s, ...
To California Student Protesters: Why Target the Regents?
I have to ask: what, exactly, is the goal of the various University of California student protest movements and their vocal campaigns criticizing the regents' decision to hike tuition? It's true the UC system has been one of the biggest victims in California's budget nightmare. As a result of a $26-billion budget shortfall, the Democrats in the state legislature and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted what the University of California has called "unprecedented state budget cuts of $814 million in 2008-09 and $637 million in 2009-10." It's also true that students have been ...
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