Yes We Can!

They passed it! Finally, after 50 plus years of leaders trying to enact it, crowds of rabid tea-baggers trying to derail it, an obstructionist Republican party trying to "kill it", President Barack Obama has passed Health Care Reform!

Late Sunday night, the House of Representatives under the guidance of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passed the senate health bill by a vote of 219:212. This enormous victory for President Obama and the Democrats will bring reform to the insurance industries and health coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans.

While this was not a perfect bill, and no where close to the Universal Health Care we have here in Canada, it is a step in the right direction.

Included in this bill:
- Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage
- annual caps for health care are abolished
- Medicaid Donut Hole filled in (Seniors recieve an extra $250 a year to help cover costs)
- insurance industries must spend 80%-85% of the money they take in on Health Care
- Youths who are dependent on their parents can stay on their parents Health Insurance till the age of 26
- Makes all Americans buy health insurance; if you cannot afford it, the government will help by subsidizing your costs
- in 2014, no one with a pre-existing condition is to be denied
- in 2014, all caps are to abolished

The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) tags the bill at a cost of $940 billion over 10 years. They also say that the measures included will decrease the deficit by $138 billion in the first 10 years and then by $1.2 trillion in the next 10 years.

The cost of the bill is said to be paid by erasing the fraud found in medicare and medicaid and from tax increases to the wealthy.

The battle over health care put a lot of diverse groups into the ring. First, there are the republicans who actually took themselves out of the ring and have withheld all votes from this bill. No republican voted in the house and it looks like no republican will vote for it in the Senate. Then there were the conservative democrats who wanted assurances that the bill would not provide federal funding for abortions. They fought for this, even though the bill does not at all provide federal funding for abortion. Well, they stood their ground and Obama compromised, signing an executive order stating that the federal government will not fund abortions.

Then there were the Progressives. They wanted a public option, something very much like what we have here in Canada. But there was not enough support among members for the public option and it was tossed to the side. Well, progressive members of the House, specifically Dennis Kucinich, didn't like this and held out against the president. He came around a few days before the vote and helped democrats pass the bill.

The passed Health bill changes (passed by the House after they passed the Senate bill) is now being debated in the Senate and will hopefully be passed by this weekend.

While it is unfortunate that the bill does not go further in Health reforms, such as the public option, this is a good start. America needs people fighting for its future. President Obama and the Democrats, in my opinion, are the right people for the job and all democrat seats in the House and the Senate must be preserved for them to succeed in turning their country around.

Americans, vote them all in, in November. The midterm elections will be very important in securing a positive future for America.

If you would like to get involved I would seriously recommend the Coffee Party. They are a viable alternative to the disgusting Tea Party and by the time November rolls around, they may be the grass roots support Obama needs to secure his agenda.

And for your entertainment, I present "Yes We Can ft. John Boehner". It's pretty good, especially Rep. Boehner's part. I should know, I watched the voting process Sunday night and found it quite funny and disturbing.



Let's ditch the Republican "Party of No" and get the Democrat Party of Yes!

Kick Ass Maraday Park!

Hey so a group of my friends play in a band here in Thunder Bay. The name of their band is Maraday Park and they have brought pop to a city that needs it.

Their shows are highlighted by epic stage presence, stellar light shows and a sick synthesizer. The members of Maraday Park are a tight group of friends, and family members (in the case of 3 of them).

They have emerged over the past couple of years to take part in local fundraisers, band competitions and open for April Wine.

They are also taking part in a Battle of the Bands Competition for a chance to play on the Vans Warped Tour this summer. So help them out and VOTE to get them on the tour!




Sam Migliazza: Lead vocals

Kevin Enstrom: Guitar

AJ Astle: Bass
Jordan Migliazza: Synth / Keyboards
Matt Simko: Drums
Matt Migliazza: Guitar


Check out their myspace and facebook pages to get acquainted with their amazing music. And if you like what you hear, support them even more and buy their CD from ebay: CD Page 1 and CD Page 2.

Also, here for your entertainment is their recent video blog:


MP Blog 1

Maraday Park-- VOTE FOR US TO PLAY WARPED 2010! | MySpace Music Videos

If you want to see more of them (and a Lady Gaga Pokerface cover) check out their youtube page and this video:

Leading Minds and the Way They Thought

So I have noticed one point that comes up in most of my conversations with religious believers. We tend to come upon the religious beliefs of past and present leaders and scientists. The person I am talking to usually asks "well if religion was good enough for them, why not for us". There are many ways I (or anyone else) can answer this question, but it usually ends up with that "branch" of the conversation closing and moving onto something else.

So, I have decided to compile a small list of famous figures and their thoughts on life and faith. My choices are those that have just come of the top of my head and I am sure that I have missed many well deserving people when writing this. The format of the list will go as follows:

Person
DOB - DOD (BD)
Occupation/Accomplishments (O/A)
Position on Faith (F)
Life Fact (LF)
Quote (Q)

Aristotle

(BD)384 BC – 322 BC

(O/A)A Greek philosopher, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.

(F)Surrounded by the Greek mythology of Gods and Goddesses, Aristotle saw the existence of one God who acted as the “mover” with humans as his pawns.

(LF)Aristotle believed that women are colder than men and thus a lower form of life (not completely human). Although, he gave equal weight to women's happiness as he did to men's, stating that a society cannot be happy unless women are happy too.

(Q)“All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.”

Nicolaus Copernicus

(BD)1473 - 1543

(O/A)Was a Polish mathematician, astronomer, physician, scholar, translator, cleric, military leader and economist.

He was the first astronomer to develop a thorough heliocentric cosmology, displacing the Earth from the center of the universe.

Copernicus' book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium(On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), is often viewed as the starting point of modern astronomy and the beginning of the scientific revolution.

(F)A catholic who did not view his heliocentric model as a threat to his faith.

(LF)Copernicus spoke Latin, Polish, and German with great fluency. He also spoke Greek and Italian.

(Q)“The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens.”

Galileo Galilei

(BD)1564-1642

(O/A)An Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. His achievements include improvements to the telescope, the confirmation of the phases of Venus and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo has been called "the Father of Modern Science."

Galileo's support of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, as the majority of philosophers and astronomers dealt in the geocentric view (Earth at the center of the universe). He met with bitter opposition when promoting the heliocentric view (Sun at the center of the universe).

He was denounced to the Roman Inquisition in 1615, but was cleared of any offence at that time. However, the Catholic Church proclaimed heliocentrism to be "false and contrary to Scripture" and Galileo was instructed to abandon his support for it. When he later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, he was tried by the Inquisition, found guilty of heresy and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

(F)Galileo was a devoted Roman Catholic, and it seemed that he remained this way until his death. Before being convicted of heresy, he was in the favour of Pope Urban VIII. Pope Urban commissioned Galileo to write a book discussing heliocentrism, but told him not to advocate it. Unfortunately, this relationship disintegrated leaving Galileo vulnerable.

(LF)He discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour).

(Q)"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use"

John Locke

(BD)1632 – 1704

(O/A) An English philosopher and physician

(F)Raised as a Puritan (an Anglican), but later was a liberal Protestant Christian

Formed the Theories of Religious Tolerance

1. Earthly judges, the state in particular, and human beings generally, cannot dependably evaluate the truth-claims of competing religious standpoints

2. Even if they could, enforcing a single "true religion" would not have the desired effect, because belief cannot be compelled by violence

3. Coercing religious uniformity would lead to more social disorder than allowing diversity.

(LF)Widely known as the Father of Liberalism

(Q)“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

Issac Newton
(BD)1643 – 1727

(O/A)English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, alchemist and theologian

In 1687, published the Principia, which includes Newton’s Laws of motion, his law of universal gravitation, and a derivation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

(F)Newton viewed God as the master creator whose existence could not be denied due to the majesty of all creation and insisted that divine intervention is necessary to improve the world. Never made a public declaration of his private faith (which would have been deemed extremely radical by orthodox believers) except when he refused to take holy orders and refused, on his death bed, to take the sacrament.

(LF)In a manuscript he wrote in 1704 in which he shares his attempts to find scientific information from the Bible, he estimated that the world would end no earlier than 2060.

(Q)“Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done”

Albert Einstein

(BD)1879–1955

(O/A)Was a German theoretical physicist, philosopher and author.

(F)His family were non-observant Jews, who sent Albert to a Catholic elementary school

In 1929, Einstein told Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind."

In a 1954 letter, he wrote, "I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly.”

In a letter to philosopher Erik Gutkind, Einstein remarked, "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.”

(LF)In the period before World War II, Albert Einstein was so well-known in America that he would be stopped on the street by people wanting him to explain "that theory." He finally figured out a way to handle the incessant inquiries. He told his inquirers "Pardon me, sorry! Always I am mistaken for Professor Einstein."

(Q)After World War II, as enmity between former allies became a serious issue, Einstein wrote, “I do not know how the third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth – rocks!”

Stephen Hawking

(BD)1942-present

(O/A) A British theoretical physicist

(F)Takes an agnostic or deist approach. Believes the universe is governed by the laws of science.

(LF)Stephen Hawking is severely disabled by motor neuron disease also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS)

(Q)“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

Mahatma Gandhi
(BD)1869 – 1948

(O/A)The pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement.

(F)Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised Hinduism all his life, deriving most of his principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to a different faith.

“Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being...When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.”

(LF)On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was fatally shot while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan (Birla House) in New Delhi. The assassin was a Hindu nationalist with links to an extremist who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.

(Q)"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty"

A BIG thank you to wikipedia for making this article easy for me to write.