Category: Politics

Society by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20127:03 pm

Free Pussy Riot!

Punk rock roared across the globe as I started college in the late 1970s. Punkers protested their disco-loving, Baby Boomer siblings as much as “The Man”. UK punkers tapped into deep frustration among a younger population struggling for identity and future in face of global economic uncertainty.

Punk music then is much different than now. Then it was a lifestyle choice rooted in rebellion. Today, for bands like Green Day, punk, and all its garnishments, is fashionable. Mascara, colored hair, and tattoos are about fitting in to a larger, accepted social group. The real energy behind bands like the Sex Pistols is gone.

Society by Joe WilcoxOct 30, 20106:35 pm

Foreclosure Fallout will Last 9 Years

The Wall Street Journal‘s number of the week is startling. “107: How many months it would take to sell banks’ current and shadow inventory of foreclosed homes.” If Journal reporter Mark Whitehouse is right, banks will need 9 years to clear their foreclosure inventory. But I wonder. Could it be longer?

Living by Joe WilcoxOct 17, 20107:49 pm

Should Barack Obama Bail Out Americans?

My answer is yes. Artificially created debt is cholesterol clogging the arteries of consumer spending. The economy that created the debt is gone. Only by surgically removing debt can Americans freely spend, thus pumping fresh blood to the heart of the U.S. economy. But, hey, I’m no economist, although in 2005 I rightly predicted the housing bubble’s collapse and much of the aftermath. Surely such insight is worth something.

Web by Joe WilcoxApr 17, 20101:21 pm

Next Task for Health-Care Reform: Abolish Gene Patents

As a science geek, college biology major (decades ago) and pragmatist, I am appalled that any person or company is granted patents over genes. It’s simply unconscionable to grant ownership over laws of nature, which allowance defies centuries of sound legal prudence. If the Obama Administration and 111th Congress want to do some more meaningful health-care reform, abolishing gene patents would be the right place to start.

There is something so oddly together about where genes started and where they are today. In February 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson uncovered “the secret of life” when identifying the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, more widely known as DNA. Their pioneering work later led to the Human Genome Project, which when completed in 2003 identified “the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,” according to official information.

News Media by Joe WilcoxApr 13, 20107:34 pm

Obama's Nuclear Summit Secrets

World leaders arriving in Washington for President Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit must have felt for a moment that they had instead been transported to Soviet-era Moscow…Reporters for foreign outlets, admitted for the first time to the White House press pool, got the impression that the vaunted American freedoms are not all they’re cracked up to be…even the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, was more talkative with the press than Obama…The restrictions have become a common practice for the Obama White House.
Dan Milbank

Money by Joe WilcoxApr 11, 20108:41 pm

Barack Obama’s Three Mistakes

I voted for Barack Obama and still have much hope for his presidency. But from my humble perspective, his priorities were out of order coming into office. Healthcare should have been second to financial reform. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearings now underway started more than a year too late.

Society by Joe WilcoxApr 6, 20108:02 pm

Did ’24’ Help Elect a President?

It’s a question I’ve pondered for some time, and I’m inclined to answer affirmative. The subliminal cultural impact of television is too easily overlooked, although the New York Times took a politically charged look in March 26 story “For ‘24,’ Terror Fight (and Series) Nears End“. The Times’ perspective is different than one I present here, but worth noting for what’s there and what is not.

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 24, 201011:59 am

Repeal McCarran-Ferguson Act

Today U Cal prof Robert Reich asserted: “Bust up the Health Insurance Trusts.” I made a similar call to action in August 2009 post: “America’s Health Insurance Cartels are the Problem.”

Politics by Joe WilcoxNov 6, 200912:24 pm

Shouldn't Healthcare Reform Reward Accountability?

Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan is a series of compromises that don’t go far enough, but certainly promise improvements. As I write, a vote in the US House of Representatives looms close, and there is much uncertainty that a healthcare reform bill can pass—or should.

A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece called so-called Obamacare “The worst bill ever.”

Society by Joe WilcoxAug 22, 200912:57 pm

America's Health Insurance Cartels are the Problem

Two things that go oddly together: $20 and a quick physical. That’s what my daughter got yesterday so she could try out for the local high school volleyball team. The school recommended the doctor, who was fast, friendly, thorough and cheap. From watching the patients going in and out of the physician’s office, I observed that he provides a valuable service to San Diego’s uninsured.

The doctor’s visit got me to thinking, again, about what’s fundamentally wrong with America’s health-care system and why the Obama Administrations’ reform proposal can’t fix it. The problem and solution go oddly—and quite badly—together. Litigation, not legislation, is the solution.

Responsibility by Joe WilcoxNov 16, 20081:35 am

Change Dot Gov

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd8f9Zqap6U] Over at change.gov, President-elect Obama gave his first weekly video address today (via YouTube). What could go more oddly together than the first African American president and YouTube?

Politics by Joe WilcoxNov 6, 20081:59 pm

President-Elect Obama’s Acceptance Speech

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU] Historic election!