370 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
370 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
/#######################################################################\
|
||
| |
|
||
| P o l i t i c s O n l i n e M a g a z i n e |
|
||
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
||
| Volume 1, Number 1 |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Head Editor ...................................... David Killoren |
|
||
| ...................................... Josh Renaud |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Contributing Editor/Consultant ................... Mark Waelterman |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Columnists ....................................... |
|
||
| ....................................... |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Contributing Writers ............................. Shai Sachs |
|
||
| ............................. Gary Brown |
|
||
| ............................. Shawn Hayes |
|
||
| ............................. Justin Renaud |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Publisher .............................. GrossWorld Publishing Co. |
|
||
| |
|
||
\#######################################################################/
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
/#######################################################################\
|
||
| |
|
||
| P o l i t i c s O n l i n e M a g a z i n e |
|
||
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
||
| Table of Contents |
|
||
| |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Introduction to Politics Online Magazine |
|
||
| Health Care Report ............................... Josh Renaud |
|
||
| Social Debts ..................................... David Killoren |
|
||
| Views from Across the Pond ....................... Gary Brown |
|
||
| Abenaki's Survival ............................... G. Thomas Martell|
|
||
| |
|
||
\#######################################################################/
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
| Introduction |
|
||
\==============/
|
||
|
||
|
||
Welcome to the first ever edition of Politics Online Magazine! We are the
|
||
ONLY politically oriented online magazine available (via modem) today. As of
|
||
right now, we have a somewhat small staff, but this will hopefully change as
|
||
the magazine becomes available in a wider variety of locations. We are always
|
||
looking for columnists who can write regular articles for the magazine, and
|
||
contributing writers who can write articles when it's convenient.
|
||
|
||
We're also a great place for advertising. Our policy, as of now, is
|
||
simple. An ANSI and an ASCII 78x23 advertisement is free to anyone who sends
|
||
one to us. Since POM is distributed in two forms - ANSI for ANSI-based
|
||
systems, and ASCII for non-ANSI systems - we ask that you send us both an ANSI
|
||
version of your advertisement and an ASCII version. If, for example, you only
|
||
send us an ASCII ad, that ad will only be included in the ASCII version of
|
||
POM.
|
||
|
||
We at POM plan to be around for a long time, so wherever you found *this*
|
||
copy of POM, you can be sure that another issue will be there in a month.
|
||
|
||
Thank you for your curiousity, and we hope you enjoy what you read!
|
||
|
||
... The Editors ...
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
+============+
|
||
|Rap City BBS|
|
||
+============+
|
||
|
||
Sysop: Dr. Dre
|
||
Co-Sysop: Quarth
|
||
|
||
SOLARnet @1 (NC) | WWIVlink @13495 (314)963-7960
|
||
WWIVnet @2132 | TerraNET @3450 (AC) WWIV v4.23 - Heavily Modified
|
||
IceNET @3454 | EliteNET @3451 (AC) Since April 8, 1992
|
||
=============ASSnet @1004================ 213 Megs/Over 150 Message Bases
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
| Health Care Report |
|
||
| |
|
||
| Josh Renaud |
|
||
\====================/
|
||
|
||
|
||
Health Care: Socializied Medicine, or Medicine
|
||
for the Clintons' Political Status?
|
||
|
||
|
||
Health Care. Many analysts claim if the new health care bill passes, the
|
||
Clintons status will skyrocket. Bob Dole has created a new proposal, but
|
||
President Clinton is refusing to compromise. What is going to happen, and what
|
||
is best for you?
|
||
|
||
The heart of the plan is this idea: Universal Coverage. The main reason
|
||
Clinton wants universal coverage is so he can control everyone's health care.
|
||
It's not because he 'feels' for everyone, and because he wants to make sure
|
||
everyone gets quality care, it's because with universal coverage, Bill can
|
||
completely control who gets care, and how much. Another drawback to universal
|
||
coverage is this: billions of dollars more are required. Where will Bill -GET-
|
||
those billions? From us, the taxpayers. And yet another problem arises. What
|
||
if Bill decides to merge welfare into health care? It's simple; most people on
|
||
welfare need health care __from the government__ because they can't afford
|
||
their own. And it's likely Bill will devise more bureaucracy to handle it.
|
||
|
||
According to the experts, if the new health care plan passes, we will lose
|
||
our medication technological edge. And if the plan is passed, it will take 100
|
||
years to re-reach our present level of technology. The question we must ask
|
||
ourselves is, do we -want- to be hurtled backward 100 years? Most of us would
|
||
say no. (Although, most liberals would probably say yes)
|
||
|
||
Our current health care status is the best in the world. Bill's plan will
|
||
put us in rank with Canada and England, where there are week-long waiting
|
||
lists for care of simple colds, flus, sore throats, etc. Right now we have
|
||
access to care WHENEVER WE NEED IT. Some of us don't have coverage, that is
|
||
true. But the rhetoric the Clintons is attempting to paste on us (that health
|
||
care is a RIGHT, not a privilege) is totally flawed and designed to mislead
|
||
you. Health care is a science, something that improves constantly over the
|
||
years. The cost for the improvement and the level of consistency it has, is
|
||
this: some people won't get covered. In this day and age, that's acceptable;
|
||
even predictable. Usually (Not always) the people who don't have coverage are
|
||
people who don't TRY to go out and get a job that COVERS them. On the average,
|
||
people who don't have care are lazy. They are the type who will take free
|
||
hand-me-outs, but when they have to earn something, they just won't. (This is
|
||
not to say that there are some people who work hard, but simply CAN'T get
|
||
care. They are the minority, though)
|
||
|
||
For the sake of freedom; for the sake of keeping our level of care, make
|
||
it plain to your senator that Bill's plan MUST NOT PASS. Bob Dole has a plan,
|
||
one that improves the health care system, but doesn't centralize or
|
||
governmentize it. It doesn't limit your freedoms, and it will make sure that
|
||
we won't lose the precious coerage we have right now. I encourage you to ask
|
||
your senator to approve Dole's plan.
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
| Social Debts |
|
||
| |
|
||
| David Killoren |
|
||
\==================/
|
||
|
||
|
||
As you may know, the economy is thought to be of three "sections": land,
|
||
labor, and capital. Land is generally thought of as any natural resource;
|
||
anything man didn't create. Capital is any man-made object. Labor is any work
|
||
or force exerted by a human which improves something or increases its worth.
|
||
|
||
Of course, there is no such thing as an object that is man made. All
|
||
the matter in the universe was here before we got here- how could we have
|
||
created any of it? So there are really only two sections: labor and natural
|
||
resources. Man can create labor, but he cannot create natural resources.
|
||
|
||
People have a right to keep or be left alone with everything they own. People
|
||
own only what is given to them or what they have created. The natural
|
||
resources of the universe belong not to one person but to all people.
|
||
Those three statements, I believe, are impossible to disagree with. They are
|
||
also, of course, impossible to prove.
|
||
|
||
At this point I would like to make the distinction between mass and value.
|
||
I believe this can be illustrated best with a hypothetical situation: Two
|
||
friends, Log-Suck and Pip, decide to open a lemonade stand together. They
|
||
decide to split the profits 50-50. They earn a 5 dollar bill and a 1 dollar
|
||
bill. If they had agreed to split the profits by mass, Log-Suck would recieve
|
||
a 5 dollar bill and Pip would recieve a 1 dollar bill, or vice-versa. But if
|
||
they had agreed to split the profits by value, they would each recieve 3
|
||
dollars. Of course they would have to translate their two bills into
|
||
manageable pieces: 6 ones instead of a 5 and a 1.
|
||
|
||
I believe the fairest way to split the profits of any venture is by value.
|
||
|
||
Since all the natural resources of the world belong to ALL people and not just
|
||
to select people, they need to be split up evenly among those people. But
|
||
they need to be split up by value, not by mass.
|
||
|
||
Land is a natural resource. It would be quite an undertaking to split the
|
||
land of the world up evenly among the population. Land is a fairly
|
||
unmanageable resource. It would be much simpler and more profitable to
|
||
liquify it.
|
||
|
||
For example, let's say that the sum of the value of all the land in the world
|
||
divided by the sum of all the people in the world is $50,000. That would mean
|
||
that a person who took up NO land would be owed $50,000 by society. If a
|
||
person took up $100,000 worth of land, he would owe $50,000 to society because
|
||
he had removed more than his fair share of the value FROM society. So in this
|
||
way, those who take up more space than they deserve to take up pay for their
|
||
size accordingly, and an equilibrium is maintained. Nobody owes society
|
||
anything in this type of system.
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|Views from Across the Pond|
|
||
| |
|
||
| Gary Brown |
|
||
\==========================/
|
||
|
||
|
||
Issues facing Health Care in the US
|
||
|
||
Much has been made in recent months of the need for health care reform in
|
||
America, with the central goals of such reform being coverage for all
|
||
individuals who are unable to cover themselves, and the improvement of the
|
||
service to the end consumer at a lower cost. To this end several proposals
|
||
have been tabled, including the establishment of a National Healthcare
|
||
system, or an ever-more encompassing Medicaid alternative.
|
||
|
||
The National Heathcare system alternative has been compared to those
|
||
existing in the United Kingdom, Canada and the state system in Oregon. Such
|
||
comparisons draw on the central themes of universal coverage on the positive
|
||
side to long waiting lists for surgery and an increasingly bureaucratic
|
||
system as a negative component. So what are the realities of a National
|
||
Healthcare system? The strength of such a system lies in the universal
|
||
coverage it confers to all citizens within its scope. No individual needs
|
||
to feel threatened by the dollar cost of his or her anticipated treatment,
|
||
and thus will go to their respective physician more readily than those for
|
||
whom the cost of treatment might be discouraging. On a broad social level,
|
||
this is precisely the behavior a responsible and responsive government
|
||
should foster, as medical problems encountered by the population will be
|
||
treated on average much earlier. This skew towards a more preventative
|
||
medicine should decrease the total dollar cost of healthcare for the nation,
|
||
heading off more costly procedures. However, a drawback of such a system
|
||
is that healthcare resources tend to be centralized, and frequently to use
|
||
these most efficiently certain procedures are prone to waiting lists. It
|
||
would seem, then, such a system places the most efficient use of high dollar
|
||
cost resources, such as CAT scan machines and positron emmision tomography
|
||
over the less quantifiable cost of human suffering.
|
||
|
||
And what of increasing the scope of Medicaid? Certainly Mediacaid is not
|
||
without its own problems, the least of which is an ever-increasing
|
||
bureaucracy and reliance on Emergency Room care treatment of minor ailments
|
||
by those on or below the poverty line. The soaring cost of Medicaid is
|
||
projected by some sources to cripple the entire system inside the next ten
|
||
years. The bureaucracy associated with the Medicaid system has prompted some
|
||
private practices and clinics to refuse treatment for patients within its
|
||
scope, and limiting their involvement to paying consumers or those enrolled
|
||
in private or group health plans. For those individuals relying on Medicaid,
|
||
there are less choices available to them for their healthcare.
|
||
|
||
Of course, the dollar is the biggest obstacle to a successful social health
|
||
program. The cost within the healthcare community of insurance both for
|
||
institutions and healthcare professionals against malpractice and other legal
|
||
matters forms a significant portion of the tax dollars spent. In order to
|
||
begin to address the issues of healthcare reform, this area requires the
|
||
most immediate attention. This could be in the form of an independent revue
|
||
body being set up to determine the extent of damages allowable for all
|
||
conceivable areas of malpractice, in order to cap the exorbitant damages
|
||
sought by some individuals. Such caps should take into consideration the
|
||
projected cost of healthcare for the patient for the forseeable duration of
|
||
the particular malady suffered, with a consideration for psychiatric well-
|
||
being. The well being of relatives of the patient should not be an
|
||
influencing factor, unless they have been reliant upon the patient's ability
|
||
to provide for them. Such a provision would substantially reduce the legal
|
||
costs incurred within any healthcare system, enabling the salaries of
|
||
affected healthcare professionals to be adjusted accordingly.
|
||
|
||
Increasingly, in the United Kingdom, more workplaces are realizing the
|
||
public's desire for improved healthcare. To this end, more individuals are
|
||
moving towards a private healthcare system in order to circumvent the
|
||
possibility of being placed on a waiting list for a particular surgical
|
||
procedure. Such health insurance is specifically designed to protect against
|
||
the discomfort of awaiting such a procedure. There is a reliance upon the
|
||
National Healthcare system to provide Emergency treatment and to provide
|
||
basic preventative healthcare and treatment for minor maladies at the offices
|
||
of a General Practitioner. The administration of funds to GPs is on a per
|
||
head basis, thus the more patients a GP practice has the more he or she will
|
||
earn as income. This system encourages MDs to perform better and provide
|
||
better services - those that do not tend not stay in business for long.
|
||
However, those practices in outlying areas cannot survive in this system due
|
||
to a smaller patient base, these are encouraged to stay active in their
|
||
respective communities by special governmental grants or awards sanctioned
|
||
by medical revue boards.
|
||
|
||
Throughout Europe, those countries with National healthcare are experimenting
|
||
with alternatives to reduce the dollar cost while maintaining or increasing
|
||
the level of services they offer. Healthcare should be seen as a right and
|
||
not a privilige of just those who can afford it. It is incumbent upon the
|
||
federal government to examine them all in order to do the American people
|
||
justice in this regard, and to exercise the appropriate amount of caution
|
||
before committing public funds to this project.
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|Abenaki's Survival|
|
||
| |
|
||
|G. Thomas Martell |
|
||
\==================/
|
||
|
||
I would like to open up my first article with a little background on the
|
||
Abenaki peoples. The Abenaki homelands are in the northeastern United States,
|
||
Primarily upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Southern Maine, and
|
||
Northern Massachusettes.
|
||
|
||
The Chief of our nation is Homer St. Francis, a sometimes boisterous and
|
||
always outspoken man. Through his current and past leadership, we have made
|
||
some steps forward in our attempts to right injustices perpetrated upon our
|
||
sovereign peoples. The seat of the Abenaki Nation is the small town of
|
||
Swanton Vermont. From here the fight has begun an will continue, until the
|
||
sovereignty of our Nation and the rights our people are returned. Currently
|
||
the only aboriginal right given to the tribe is the allowance of fishing
|
||
rights in one county.
|
||
|
||
In 1989 a ruling by Judge Joseph Wolchik in Vermont district court, the
|
||
Abenaki Nation was granted the right, in Northwestern Vermont, to
|
||
unextinguished rights to fish on tribal lands, as well as sovereign
|
||
self-governance. Yet the state government has since, in flagrant violation
|
||
of Federal law, revoked these rights. These matters are still being reviewed
|
||
by the Vermont Supreme Court. Even though Judge Wolchik affirmed that no
|
||
treaty had ever been signed with the Abenaki's and there tribal lands were
|
||
taken illegally.
|
||
|
||
Time and again the State of Vermont has put to issue that the Abenaki's were
|
||
not indigenous people of the region, but merely, a wandering nomadic tribe
|
||
that was "passing through". Yet during excavation for a basement near the
|
||
Missisquoi river human bones were unearthed, archaeologists from the
|
||
University of Vermont recovered the bone of more than 100 humans, artifacts,
|
||
and wizened ears of corn.
|
||
|
||
These were all dated back several thousand years, proof that Vermonts natives
|
||
were not tourists and that permanent settlements existed long before the
|
||
European invasion.
|
||
|
||
Among the people still holding fast in this dispute are Chief Homer St.
|
||
Francis, Tribal Judge Mike Delaney, Medicine Man Richard "BlackHorse"
|
||
Phillips, along with thousands of Abenaki natives working in the background.
|
||
These men all hold fast to the beliefs handed down by the original Chief Grey
|
||
Locks, that they are a free people with universal human rights under God,
|
||
that should not be trampled by a state looking only to protect and justify
|
||
having stolen their land and their homes.
|
||
|
||
Anyone wishing more information or to show there support is urged to contact
|
||
the Abenaki Self-Help Association, inc. at P.O. Box 276, Swanton, Vermont
|
||
05488.
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
| Distribution Sites |
|
||
\====================/
|
||
|
||
In Area Code 314
|
||
|
||
Rap City BBS ........ (314)963-7960
|
||
House of Texaco ..... (314)963-9374
|
||
Den of Happiness .... (314)432-4411
|
||
|
||
%************************************************************************%
|
||
|