kkk123 wrote:

RM says:

Quote:

Thanks to greatest leaders among men who blessed America with their wisdom and contribution

http://www.eunicekennedyshriver.org/

If only SL had a man like this!

I listened to a documentary about this person and also heard testimonies of beneficiaries of her work.  I agree with kkk, her contributions were remarkable and literary shaped the views of Americans.  Today handicapped humans are viewed completely differently in USA.  Few Sri Lankans that I personally know have migrated to USA with their challenged children just for that reason.  

There is great contribution to US from their elite class.  You can see how Bill Gates is doing and what Rockefellers have done over the years.
One the greatest contribution from SL elite class to Sri Lanka was CBK who became a failure like everyone else.

Sri Lanka does have their own humanitarians and most of what I personally know happened to be monks who are not making headlines.

America has so many different layers and we only see newsworthy ones on TV/Papers.
One of the most inspiring layer is the church based network.  Lot of people in need are being taken care of that group.  Whenever I need to help people, that is the network I tap in to once in a while.  For example, that was the major fund raising avenue for us to collect money for Sri Lanka after Tsunami.  Recently a woman won the lottery and she dropped that ticket to her church's collection box because she got helped from it when she really needed.  Another network is the children's athletic network.  There every evening parents get together watch their children play with each other in organized sports cheering theirs as well as others.    Then there is the network of neighbors, another one with co-workers.  One has to experience America and it takes few years to understand what really it is.


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"

kkk123 wrote:

RM says:

Quote:

Thanks to greatest leaders among men who blessed America with their wisdom and contribution ......

Of course you mean men and women!

http://www.eunicekennedyshriver.org/

If only SL had a man like this!

thx for widening the scope!

Quote:

American ignorance about the world is well documented.  When American teams play baseball or football, they call that the world championship even though none of the international teams are in it. 

Yes, that is strangely 'normal' for Americans.
And their 'world news' is a big disappointment as
Negombo noted. BBC does better here. The generic
scope expands and shrinks when we talk about the U.S
and things go full circle !

Strangely, this is also the nation that is
the only one that has ever unleashed
the nuke bomb on civilian cities.

It is a bizarro world ! One law for the U.S
and one for the rest !

Hopefully Obama understands the
inherent contradictions and contrasts well enough
to be able to reach out. He has already started urging
Americans to compete and raise standards in graduate
education, and lower the number of college-dropout cases,
get back to college and so on.



Last edited by rm7000 on Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:21 am; edited 1 time in total
_________________
*I am not the only one*

rm7000 wrote:

Strangely, this is also the nation that is
the only one that has ever unleashed
the nuke bomb on civilian cities.

It is a bizarro world ! One law for the U.S
and one for the rest of us !

It is the Atomic bomb.  I don't think anyone has ever used the Nukes yet.
What is most strange is how pro-American is Japan today,  

American is running on all 6 cylinders.  On one side they conduct wars within other nations, on the other side they do big humanitarian projects.

Some can get first hand experience the domestic and foreign policy of America if you visit an American embassy abroad


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl, atomic bomb is also a kind of nuke bomb, only it does nuclear fission.
The nuke bombs that do nuclear fusion are thousands of times more powerful
than the atomic one and they need an atomic bomb
to trigger the fusion. e.g. hydrogen bomb.

>>What is most strange is how pro-American is Japan today,

Very true. Japan may have opted the most sensible and smart path.
 Talking of that, it remains to be seen how Obama is going to
handle the powers in that volatile region - korean peninsula, Japan and China.


_________________
*I am not the only one*

kkk123 wrote:

RM says:

Quote:

Thanks to greatest leaders among men who blessed America with their wisdom and contribution ......

Of course you mean men and women!

http://www.eunicekennedyshriver.org/

If only SL had a man like this!

that's one good thing about USA.
Those people had setup a good system, a good constitution that guarantees the country cannot be derailed easily from that track. It can even go auto-pilot. It is also seen the reform that Obama want to do health care cannot be implemented overnight such easily because their system is well established. It takes a very big effort to change the system. the saying goes, 'Elephants cannot dance'.

Where as in our countries it all depend on the leader who is on top. It can take a complete 180 degree uturn in anytime.

Quote:

also seen the reform that Obama want to do health care cannot be implemented overnight such easily because their system is well established. It takes a very big effort to change the system. the saying goes, 'Elephants cannot dance'

This healthcare reform may be long
overdue; but it is not easy to see what
would replace it.

Other thing about Obama's style:
his first approach to anything seems to be-
1. The darned thing is broken.
2.  It needs to be fixed by replacing it with something new.
3.  We need a new beginning.

Will this work always ? Will his approach change in future ?
We have to find out as time goes by.


_________________
*I am not the only one*

I don't have a strong  opinion on the healthcare issue.  It is good to get a control on it. If the healthcare is free, I wouldn't be working this hard.  Will be less serious about my job and travel around the world having more fun.  That could be a good thing as far as national health is concerned.

I got a letter from the local senator asking my participation in a town hall meeting to discuss healthcare.  How wonderful!  Democracy actually go after people to find solutions.  In Sri Lanka, MP's relative will get that task on making decisions.

It looks like Obama is on a loosing path as far as Healthcare is concerned.

Most US people don't want to see government getting involved and US becoming more of a welfare nation like EU.


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl wrote:

Most US people don't want to see government getting involved and US becoming more of a welfare nation like EU.

Theres thousands of people attending the free clinics  I think this gives lie to that. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/08/14/cbs-free-clinic-shows-heath-care-reform-desperately-needed
 SL has both public and private healthcare. I dont see that it has done harm to anyone - quite the opposite. And the private one is not even insurance-covered.
Americans have been fed a good one, just like Iraq and have (predictably) swallowed it.
As usual, only the noisy minority is getting all the cameera time.. if you do attend the town hall, I wonder whether it will be like the other shouting matches where they regurgitate the offal they have been fed by the Republicans

rm7000 wrote:

Other thing about Obama's style:
his first approach to anything seems to be-
1. The darned thing is broken.
2.  It needs to be fixed by replacing it with something new.
3.  We need a new beginning.

quite accurate observation.
I have seen this attitiude on new managers and at those who are at lower part of leadership ladder.
When they become top leaders then they realise it is easy to say than getting it done.

but let's give Obama some time to prove himself.
may be Obama can make Elephants to dance. like Lou Gerstner did for IBM.
(if possible read this Gerstner book, an interesting read)

proximus wrote:

Most US people don't want to see government getting involved and US becoming more of a welfare nation like EU.

Theres thousands of people attending the free clinics  I think this gives lie to that. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/08/14/cbs-free-clinic-shows-heath-care-reform-desperately-needed[/quote]

I saw this in TV news and I heard one lady saying she cannot afford to pay $200 monthly insurance to get health care covered.
My opinion is the American healthcare system takes care of the insurance system rather the health care.

Barnie Franks responds beautifully to one obviously clueless individual asking her on what planet she spends most of her time on.
Check out The Daily Show for August 19th

Negombo wrote:

proximus wrote:

Most US people don't want to see government getting involved and US becoming more of a welfare nation like EU.

Theres thousands of people attending the free clinics  I think this gives lie to that. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/08/14/cbs-free-clinic-shows-heath-care-reform-desperately-needed

I saw this in TV news and I heard one lady saying she cannot afford to pay $200 monthly insurance to get health care covered.
My opinion is the American healthcare system takes care of the insurance system rather the health care.[/quote]

I am not sure how accurate your opinion is.
There is this fact:  If you are uninsured and willing to pay for your expenses, you pay much more than the insurance company pays for the same treatment.
This is so outrageous.  I wish the government can intervene and force health care industries to charge the same amount from everyone.

If you don't have insurance, you have so called a double whammy.

I meet everyday lot of Americans who can't afford anything.  For America people without health insurance is kind of like Tamils restricted to IDP camps in Sri Lanka.

America has so many bubbles, this is one of them.  Another one is millions of undocumented immigrants.  The housing bubble is somewhat disappeared.  
Thankfully American middle class is so broad and therefore most people can operate under these conditions unaffected.


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"

proximus wrote:

Barnie Franks responds beautifully to one obviously clueless individual asking her on what planet she spends most of her time on.
Check out The Daily Show for August 19th

The video footage of it is here - very good response.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/news-flash-barney-frank-gets-testy/


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl wrote:

I am not sure how accurate your opinion is.
There is this fact:  If you are uninsured and willing to pay for your expenses, you pay much more than the insurance company pays for the same treatment.

To me, it comes down to a simple fact. If you are too poor to pay for Health Insurance, should you be condemned to No Treatment just because of that ?
If you answer "Yes", then let's hope Obama's plan fails
If the answer is "No", then there is a resounding case for a universal government-sponsored healthcare
The UK's NHS is probably the best example of what a good and decent public healthcare system should be.

I lean toward some sort of universal govt sponsored HC too.

An older co-worker with heart condition got laid off recently and he says his insurance premium is going to be about $1000 per month.  It is very typical to hear $300-400 monthly payment by families if you don't have employer sponsored HC.  Providing HC is the right thing to do since it is more of humanitarian than government owning everything.


_________________
"What is left when honor is lost?"