Cobb

I Am Your Queen

I think the analogy is perfect. For all Republicans acting out this election day, you only need to remember one thing. Hillary is your wife's sister. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're dirty.

McCain: Health Care

from the McCain08 Site:

Reforming Health Care for All Americans. Real reform will put families in the driver's seat of our health care system. The road to reform does not lead through Washington and a hugely expensive, bureaucratic, government-controlled system. John McCain will harness competition to offer more affordable insurance options for as many Americans as possible, leveraging the innovation and cost-effectiveness of our nation's firms to put an end to existing rigid, unfriendly bureaucracies. He will build a national market where insurance is more available, portable, and accessible across state lines; in which patients' rights are respected and their information under their control; and one in which people may save more in tax-exempt Health Savings Accounts. He will assist those who need help in getting private insurance.

John McCain will provide incentives for a national market - including the reimportation of pharmaceuticals - that offer greater transparency about effective patient care, options for preventative care and therapies, and prices so that competition makes it easier for families to navigate toward quality and low cost. He will demand reform to medical malpractice laws to curb abusive lawsuits that squeeze doctors, prevent innovation, and drive up the cost of health care. We need more transparency of prices and quality measures so that patients can make informed choices.

John McCain is willing to address the fundamental problem: the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care. 

• Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees, and allow our companies to effectively compete around the world.
• Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care. We can improve health and spend less, while promoting competition on the cost and quality of care, taking better care of our citizens with chronic illness, and promoting prevention that will keep millions of others from ever developing deadly and debilitating disease.
• While we reform the system and maintain quality, we can and must provide access to health care for all our citizens - whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, whether living in rural areas with limited services, or whether residing in inner cities where access to physicians is often limited.
• America's veterans have fought for our freedom. We should give them freedom to choose to carry their VA dollars to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location.
• Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change - nothing short of a complete reform of the culture of our health system and the way we pay for it will suffice. Reforms to federal policy and programs should focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs:
• Promote competition throughout the health care system - between providers and among alternative treatments.
• Make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both prevention and care, putting more decisions and responsibility in their hands.
• Make public more information on treatment options and require transparency by providers regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices.
• Facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
• Reform the payment systems in Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination. Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
• Dedicate federal research on the basis of sound science resulting in greater focus on care and cure of chronic disease
• Give states the flexibility to, and encourage them to experiment with: alternative forms of access; risk-adjusted payments per episode covered under Medicaid; use of private insurance in Medicaid; alternative insurance policies and insurance providers; and, different licensing schemes for medical providers.
• Build genuine national markets by permitting providers to practice nationwide. 
• Promote rapid deployment of 21st century information systems.
• Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors.
• Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited.
• Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic versions of drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit re-importation to keep competition vigorous.
• Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols.
• Protect the health care consumer through vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices.

John McCain believes that insurance reforms should increase the variety and affordability of insurance coverage available to American families by fostering competition and innovation.

• Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage. Individuals owning innovative multi-year policies that cost less than the full credit can deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
• Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines, to maximize their choices, and heighten competition for their business that will eliminate excess overhead, administrative, and excessive compensation costs from the system.
• Insurance should be innovative, moving from job to home, job to job, and providing multi-year coverage.
• Require any state receiving Medicaid to develop a financial "risk adjustment" bonus to high-cost and low-income families to supplement tax credits and Medicaid funds.
• Allow individuals to get insurance through any organization or association that they choose: employers, individual purchases, churches, professional association, and so forth. These policies will be available to small businesses and the self-employed, will be portable across all jobs, and will automatically bridge the time between retirement and Medicare eligibility. These plans would have to meet rigorous standards and certification.

John McCain Believes in Personal Responsibility

• We must do more to take care of ourselves to prevent chronic diseases when possible, and do more to adhere to treatment after we are diagnosed with an illness.
• Childhood obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. We must again teach our children about health, nutrition and exercise - vital life information.
• Public health initiatives must be undertaken with all our citizens to stem the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and to deter smoking.

Frontlines: Fuel of War

It's really funny to play the game that Nulan sees in our future, an international conflict over the last oil on earth. The peak oil crisis is the premise for the new large scale multiplayer battle sim on XBox 360. It's an excellent game. It just came out last week, but the weekend before I had been playing the free demo. It took about 30 minutes to get it, which was a bit long for me in a first person shooter. But as soon as I did, the veils were lifted from my eyes which allowed me to see that this is a landmark game for the 360.

First of all, it's got more weapons and more vehicles than Halo3. You start with one of six basic loadouts (Sniper, Rockets, Assault, Heavy Gun, Silenced Sub, Shotty) and you carry a pistol and grenades or mines or C4. Then there are four addional weapon sets you can get as you score kills or objectives in the game. They are {Ground Support, EMP Tech, Air Strikes, Drone Tech). Each of the weapon sets has three levels and you can switch your loadout and/or weapon sets during the game. You have to die or respawn yourself, but the option is always there. So that's 24 sets of stuff to begin with. But wait, there are two versions of each of those, you can use NATO style or Sino-Russian tech. After all you're either with us or with them.

I have to say that the greatest part of this game are the vehicles, and most especially the attack helo. But even the six man helo is extra cool. You can pickup five teammates and parachute them behind enemy lines to mount a surprise attack, but watch out for anit-aircraft flack and rockets that lock on. Still you have flare countermeasures and you can always bail if you're taking too much damage. The first time I realized that I could jump out of a helicopter and then pull the ripcord, I freaked out. Ultra cool. There are tanks with three kinds of guns, Stryker-like APCs, 8 wheeled AA + SAM vehicles and super quick Humvees with the 50 cal. All can be used to move your team around.

But there are also drones. You can hide behind a rock and send a UAV up and over into enemy territory. Some fire rockets, some you just get close to the bad guy and explode. There are six different types and they really add a new dimension in battle.

Airstrikes in COD4 are just weak compared to the way they are handled in Frontlines. Frontlines is, by the way, nothing but team warfare online. No capture the flag, no oddball or any of that. This is really the most realistic war gaming for multiplayer, period. Battlefield 2 comes close when it comes to big team battles, but Frontlines is far superior. You can call in three types of airstrikes. A precision JDAM, a cluster bomb attack, or an awesome 105mm gunship barrage.

The EMP weapons are also formidable. You can setup a pulse beacon that renders all vehicles and drones ineffective for a good radius, or you can launch an EMP rocket that will drop a helo or stop a tank in its tracks.

Online play with 32+ players on a battlefield is really awesome. It brings back memories of COD3, which was previously the best big team battles. COD4 is very good, but it doesn't have the frenzied action - something about the new maps just doesn't quite do it for me. I can't explain why. Still, you can get up to 50 people playing. The rounds are timed for one hour, and you just rip through it.

Maps on Frontlines are huge, and you always need to be on the lookout for UAVs. You can shoot choppers out of the sky, but you cannot survive helo attacks. You had better see him first and hope he doesn't evade your missile.

There are certain things about Frontlines that I find more realistic. Close explosions don't always kill you. I think the idea that you're going to throw a grenade back to the enemy preposterous. There's none of that in Frontlines. Airstrikes are time delayed and targeting is non-trivial. So you can effect some friendly fire, or just miss the enemy altogether. Sniper fire does not work well unless you pop the head. It feels like a more realistic version of sniper fire. Tanks feel very safe. All that small arms fire that's deadly becomes a mere annoyance when you've got armor.

The single player game in FFOW is unremarkable save two or three unique elements. I find the tank battles to be fairly tedious and just a real pain. The AI for driving is very weak, unlike in Halo where you can just jump in the backseat and let your driver take you to the right place. However, there are multiple nukes and one or two defending battles that are well worth it. Controls are very good although close combat is klugey. The long distance combat is unbeatable.

Right now an underused option is the squad based system. You can command a squad and set objectives and communicate, but everybody is a noob now and few people are using that option, even helo pilots don't communicate with the people in their aircraft. I suspect that's different in the ranked games and will become more prevalent as time goes on, but for now most people are just mostly mewling that they've been jacked.

I suspect that this is the big competition to Endwar. For massive online battles, it is the new benchmark. The only reason Halo is better is because more people play it and are used to it, but these maps, weapons, vehicles and tech give new dimensions to battle that every new game is going to have to try to match.

Obama Girl

It's interesting that if Obama gets the nomination, there's going to be a market for such actors as can carry it off. This guy has got the voice almost. Cartoonists have got the caricatures down. So somebody's got to get to be the double too. Hmm. Do I have any relatives who look like Barry?

Heads

My good friend of at least 12 years, Dr Lester Kenyatta Spence and I hung out in LA this weekend. He's one of the most good natured and thoughtful people I know and his knowledge of Spongebob Squarepants is categorical. I don't know how he stays so damned thin but the Spousal Unit tried to remedy that Saturday evening with some bomb Chicken Parmesan (with organic breadcrumbs). We had a fine time. He's a serious photographer too. Time was too short for us to get deeply into any particular subject but we did talk about genetic roots, bocce ball, Whole Foods, Desert Storm, black alternative media & blogs, Buckley, Obama, house music, fat people, homeschooling, Richard Pryor, videogame violence, Detroit, homelessness in West LA and a host of other subjects so deep that eavesdropping people were actually stopping us to thank us for having the conversation.

Points of Light

As regular readers of Cobb know, it is my great desire someday to become the KFSC. That would be the Kung Fu Santa Claus who travels the world alternately giving gifts and kicking ass. And so it turns out that last evening was something of an introduction to the world of philanthropy.

My good friends, the Jonses, were feted last evening for their many years of contribution to an organization here in Southern California. So down in Long Beach we had the awards dinner and auction. It was interesting to be among the youngest of the penguins there. There were various old heads bobbing around the joint. Everything got off to a slow start but by 6:30 when they finally closed the silent auction, the place was jumping - that is as jumping as 300 folks with a median age of 55 can jump.

I'm really actually rather upset that my budget is tight right now, because of the two or three silent auctions I've been to, this one actually had some really great stuff. There was a great photograph of Sandy Koufax pitching a shutout that I could have had for less than 200 bucks. But the real prize of all the stuff there, in my opinion, was a signed jersey for number 44 of the Atlanta Braves - Hank Aaron. The silent auction had, as one would expect, the usual number of gift baskets, some jewelry, art for the home and tour, spa, restaurant and vacation packages. But the real excitement was at the live auction.

The celebrity of note at the evening's event was Bill Sharman, who is basketball royalty. He's done well for himself, and he and his wife actually auctioned off dinner for eight at their award-winning home. Nicely done. A Kobe Bryant signed basketball went for 2100 bucks, as did a nice vacation cruise.  Dinner was actually pretty damned good. Generally for 125 a plate you get Chicken Kiev, but we had steak and salmon with the longest stringbeans I've ever eaten. They literally tied it into loops.

Of course this was all about contributions to a Settlement House in LA County for which there was remarkable testimony. I know something about settlement houses, having interviewed extensively to put together a technical program for one in NYC under Maxine Rockoff back in the 90s.  This particular one, Toberman Settlement House , is a mission of the United Methodist Church serving thousands of individuals and hundreds of families and due to the contributions of many has a legacy of success. Here are some of the entries from the program.

• United Way: We were awarded a three year grand, Pathways Out of Poverty, to give middle school youth the necessary tools to stay in school and to prepare for college or trade school.
• Capital Campaign: We have raised $7.3 million , held our grand opening for the new campus, and we will soon occupy the structure once our final permit is granted.
• The Martin Family Learning Center: 100% of the students ah perfect homework records; 95% increased their grade point average and 20 students experienced camping, exposing them to a greater appreciation fro other environments beyond their neighborhoods.
• Licensed Child Care Center: Children ages 5-10 years old, continued to develop academic skills and learn at an early age, multi-ethnic acceptance and understanding.
• Family Resource Center. 80% of the clients completed domestic violence abandoning violent and often lethal behavior , which resulted in safer communities for all.
• A. 80% of the anger management clients transitions from abusive behavior to adapting techniques to manage anger.
• B. Weekly Classes: We are seeing an increase in the attendance of classes like Back in Control for parents, youth at risk project, drug counseling and Money Smart.
• LA Bridges I Gang Prevention: 100% of the youth, ages 10-14 years old, remained uninvolved with gangs and street life by active participation in the homework club, group sessionas and recreational activities. LA Bridges II Gang Intervention: Gang Intervention counselors have been working closely with various sects to re-establish the peace agreement made in 199.; efforts include mediation, mentoring, group work and case management for yout, ages 15-24 years old.
• Family Welfare.: Over 15000 requests came for individuals and families for emergency food assistance and information and referrals to help stabilize lives.
• Barton Hill Neighborhood Organization: The focus this year was on mobilizing the community around eviction issues, job training, and conducting workshops on Community Emergency Preparedness
• Volunteerism: We now have a very strong volunteer program with people serving in various areas, including the daily hot meal program, math and reading labs food pantry and special events.

The most riveting moment of the evening was the testimony of the Toberman kids themselves. Three generations were represented. One, in his sixties wound up being an officer of Coast Federal Savings, another was just a tagger headed towards trouble, but he has been rescued from the ravages of Sherwood Forest by the knights of Toberman and their noble humanitarian crusade. The standout was Major Johnny Torres.

Major Torres made the connection in a way so simple and profound, one wonders why there aren't more stories like his making news. His own words were the words of rescue. He testified as to how Toberman provides more than just support, but sanctuary from gang life. He took sanctuary there as a youth and it enabled him to escape gang life and have his own. His decision was to join the armed services and climb the ranks. He completed five tours of duty and found himself doing the exact same work of rescue in Iraq. Working with children and protecting them from gang violence of the worst kind. He returned to the States and found all other endeavors lacking and so now he aims to be a doctor so that he can continue a life of service.

It comes as no surprise that the Joneses were involved in such an endeavor as this, but it was my pleasant surprise to find the business of private philanthropy so much to my liking so early in my life. As it stands, my fortune is yet to be made, and so I'm hardly prepared to engage as I would like. But it is this very kind of work that I think actually can be flexible and responsive and do what government bureaucracies cannot do and settlement houses are, in my opinion, the finest model.

It continues to be my hope and expectation that Old School values provide the context for noblesse. With those & Christian values we are bound to establish and maintain the environment which insures the continued strength of our nation leaving no one in doubt about the path towards righteousness. There is no way to guarantee that what is compelled from us through the politics of taxation can and will be properly used and effectively distributed. That is why noblesse is often the singular and critical path. It has not been my good fortune to get such grants, but through private education I certainly recognize how such values and disciplines can be shared amongst all who can see and are willing to sacrifice for upward mobility. As awkward as it seems, the teenage ruffian gets his moment to speak to the gray benefactor and the common bond and mutual edification is made. This is what makes Americans extraordinary because we still believe in making that extra effort, and we are the most generous nation. It's a good thing.

Two Tidbits About Health Care

Buckley says that it's rather foolish to suffer the delusion that health is free. Health is not free. But the very idea that it is permeates American society. And I think it is because of this illusion that health can be free, that Americans believe that good health and consequently good health care can be gotten cheap.

Secondly, with respect to the health care industry itself, I cannot think of one great leader. Not in the history of America have we had anyone who stood as a captain of that industry to which we all looked upon with admiration.

It is with these two notions that I will pursue the question of health care in the upcoming week.