It is USA! USA! and, of well, Canada

My blogeater ate the last post before my conclusion and editing. My bottom line is that the health care bill must pass soon or we are in deep trouble as a country. The public option, which I really never cottoned to, would provide us all with an escape hatch when the medical insurance industry implodes which I am convinced now it will. And that, when there is enough political backlash, Senator Sanders will be proved correct, the United States will have to adopt the single-payer system. The CBO has costed out a bill with the public option--it saves more money on the deficit than the existing bills; and the single-payer actually saves the most.

Now, the United States won its first Winter Olympics since 1932 in Lake Placid. And Canada came roaring back to tie the record for most gold medals. And, I got to relive my youth as our skiers ,after scoring medals, did begin to fall down and wander off the course. Congratulations to Steve Colbert for the best media coverage.

Peggy Noonan says the Obama has again entered his boorish stage. I guess he's lecturing us too much.

The Coffee Party people now have 30,000 members in 24 hours, making it the most rapidly growing political movement in American history. What it believe in escapes me but anything to counter the Tea Party gang.

For all those who think China is about to take us as the superpower du jour think again. China has experienced an explosion of domestic disturbances, particularly in ethnic areas. And it still does not have a convertible currency. We just take their word on the exchange rate, which economists believe could be over-valued by fifty percent. As I've mentioned in past posts, the Chinese growth rate is not actually figured factually but astrologically. I expect we will see some implosion within the next one or two years. Not necessarily civil unrest and violence but a crashing or levelling out of the economic boom.

The ratings of talk radio shows have come out and 9 out of 10 are right-wing shows who are constantly criticising the Obama Administration. What about Radio Free America. Radio America has gone bankrupt and disappeared. What's amazing about these right-wing shows is that their hosts make a mint--not one of them earns less than $250,000 and that's for a local market. Frank Rich takes them on in the New York Times as the lock-and-load crowd, which is inciting violence in the hinderlands.

Received more anti-climate change e-mails. Wished the sender luck and said maybe some day he and Jim Inhofe will be proved right. But don't bank on it. The scientific community is shell-shocked before they had never dealt with our newsentertainment industry before. The Tsunami warnings have been called off. One wag posted a picture of Obama surfing--saying President on way to Hawaii to monitor the situation.

Any time you see a former government official or retired politician talking about health care, remember you are paying for their government plan. Newt may talk a good game but one of his perks is receiving free health care until he dies. Look at Dick Cheney--five heart attacks. For most of us that would indicate a pre-existing condition. But Dick is on the government tit or he would be dead. No comment.

And speaking of torture--the one word that comes to mind about our former Vice President--, the Obama Administration may have thought they kicked the issue under the rug but human rights advocates are saying that now that the administration has refused to sanction the torture lawyers, the ICC can now bring a case against them. While the United States is not a member to the ICC, despite America writing its statutes, a case can be brought if the crime has been committed on the territory of the signatory states. In this case, they are Poland and Afghanistan. Poland has already admitted that the CIA used old KGB prisons for the rendition program and we know the history of cases at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. I rather doubt Poland or Afghanistan would bring charges against an old ally but it's feasible. The more likely case is in Spain where the judicial system is going after the torture lawyers and Doug Feith for the torture of a Gitmo detainee who was a Spanish citizen. This has a precedent in their going after Pinochet because he disappeared Spanish nationals. Just don't expect this issue to go away anytime soon.