Pop Sensation Justin Bieber’s recent interview with the Rolling Stone has been getting a lot of attention.

He said about abortion, “I really don’t believe in abortion. It’s like killing a baby?” He also shared his view regarding abortion for victims of rape and said, “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

He said about sex, “I don’t think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them. I think you should just wait for the person you’re … in love with.”

The star also talked about the U.S. health care system, “You guys are evil. Canada’s the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”

Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse announced Tuesday that Rhode Island would receive a $150,000 federal grant to establish a phone number to help residents get “clear and accurate information” about health care.

The grant comes from the health insurance reform law recently passed by congress.

The grant also helps the state establish a new website and print educational[ materials. Two jobs are also created under the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation for staffers to help educate patients on health insurance options, how to enroll in health insurance, and how to appeal insurer denials.

The employees will be Spanish/English speakers and will hold seminars to raise awareness of health care options.

“This initiative will help Rhode Islanders get the information they need to make well-informed decisions about their health insurance,” Reed said. “It will help consumers understand their options and provide assistance if they run into trouble. ”

“Health insurance reform will benefit hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders in the years to come, but it remains a complex piece of legislation,” Whitehouse added. “By helping our state implement reform and answer questions about the law, and helping dispel the falsehoods that have been propagated, this funding will help Rhode Islanders get the most out of this landmark bill.”

The grant is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Six months of rent money will be sucked out of your bank account if your dog develops a very common knee injury. If you’re looking to use new stem-cell therapy to aid your ailing kitten, that will cost you a couple of years of car payments. The surprising part? Pet owners are more than willing.

While people are still facing financial losses, being laid off and limiting expenses, the pet population is faring rather well.

As a country, we spend $45 billion a year on our animals and that number is expected to rise by 5 percent this year, according to Fast Company magazine.

The reason? One explanation may be the new and expensive medical treatments available at animal hospitals:

• Interventional Radiology circumvents the need for surgery by using catheters and stents in a minimally invasive procedure. “You’re closing something that ought to be open or you’re opening something that ought to be closed,” said Dr. John Berg, a small animal surgeon at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, a Tufts veterinary school teaching hospital in North Grafton. But it’s not necessarily cheaper than surgery. You can pay up to $2,500 for the implant, anesthesia, the procedure itself and lab work.
• Dialysis, which can cost up to $20,000, is another popular new treatment. When an animal’s kidneys aren’t working, a machine does the job for them. Armelle De Laforcade, part of the Emergency and Critical Care Team at Fosters said the hospital dialyzes about 25 pets a year, often because the animal has ingested a toxin.
• Mood-altering drugs are now available for dogs with conditions such as separation anxiety. Berg said they are certainly helpful in certain situations, but that “the danger is that the drugs could get overused.”
• Stem-cell therapy, not yet approved for human use, is now available for small animals. Vet-stem, the company that pioneered the procedure, has had over 1,000 vets take their online certification course since January, according an article in Time, which places the total cost between $2,000 and $4,000. Cells taken from the pet’s fat are injected into the site of an injury, repairing it much faster than surgery would.

But these new procedures aren’t the only expensive treatments on the market. Knee injuries in dogs are very common and cost $3,000 to fix with surgery.

Orthopedic surgery for horses can run over $100,000 while cancer in dogs and cats can cost up to $10,000 to treat.

Paying for pets is undoubtedly a burden, but it’s one many are happy to carry for the animals they love. So, how can PEOPLE deal with these often unforeseen expenses?

“They’re not just going to die of old age. Your pet will get sick,” said Berg. He recommends saving about $5,000 for when that time comes. He said that pet insurance will only pay off in the event of catastrophic illness and that saving is the better choice.

De Laforcade disagrees. “In general pet insurance seems like a good idea,” she said, “as it will offset some of the cost for something like a broken leg.”

According to Berg, only about three to five percent of his patients have pet insurance.

But they also see owners who can afford to treat a pet, but don’t. Said De Laforcade, “Occasionally we see people who can afford the care but choose not to pursue it, and if the pet has a bad disease that is very much understandable. If the pet is very fixable it is harder for us to deal with. In these cases sometimes we have no choice, and sometimes someone will adopt the pet and give it the care it needs.”

Said Berg, “Sometimes people shouldn’t get animals. They should have expectation that at some point they’re going to pay veterinary bills.” He added that for most people, veterinary care is very affordable.

Despite the fact that the exact same machines and treatments are used on humans, medical care for animals is much cheaper. “If you want to know how much medical care costs,” said Berg, “look at veterinary medicine.”

According to Berg, medicine for humans is jacked up because of forces not present in animal medicine. These include malpractice lawsuits, bureaucracy and insurance.

But expensive or not, most owners are willing to pay to keep their pets healthy. “I think if there’s an ‘oh wow’ factor to that, it’s how much people care for their animals,” Berg said. “If people didn’t care so much, this hospital simply wouldn’t exist.”

On Tuesday, Barack Obama passed the Totalitarian health care bill into law. It was a shining moment for the Democratic Party and the first major legislation passed by the Obama administration. With approval ratings in the low 40 percent range, the President is bound to see momentum shift back in his direction and confidence to regain focus on those campaign promises of just a couple years ago.

Many Americans believe that their problems are now over! Sure unemployment is around 10 percent, even though Obama said the last stimulus bill was necessary to keep the rate from peaking around 8 percent. Now, with many economists stating that the "recession" is finally over, they almost all admit that it will be several years before the unemployment rate starts going down.

But is that even true? Sure, the stock market is up 64 percent from its 2009 lows. How can these gains be sustainable? Layoffs and company consolidation are still reported each month. Those coincide with very profitable quarters by major US Corporations and CEOs raking in millions of dollars in bonuses. The rich keep getting richer and the middle class disappears.

Many people were also swayed to believe that Obama would be our peace President, even fawning over the man when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. However, he never campaigned on ending the unconstitutional wars in the Middle East. He vowed to increase the combat troops in Afghanistan and that he did. One third of all American casualties in Afghanistan have occurred under the President’s watch, and that does not include the countless Afghan civilians caught in harm’s way with nowhere to run. Don’t forget, there is no sign of us leaving Iraq anytime soon and the detention center at Guantanamo Bay is still open. War with Iran is another option and we’ve been bombing Yemen since the Underwear Bomber attack.

To make matters worse, the Administration has said that it will continue a Bush era policy which allows the assassination of American citizens by the US government. Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence stated, "Being a US citizen will not spare an American from getting assassinated by military or intelligence operatives overseas if the individual is working with terrorists and planning to attack fellow Americans." You see the President is virtually a carbon copy of George W. Bush. Did I mention he also renewed the PATRIOT Act on a Saturday night! Surely the American people had better things to do on their weekend than watch the President put the Bill of Rights through the paper shredder once again. The government can, will and is spying on us. The last two administrations can do whatever they want all under the guise of "National Security," Fourth Amendment be damned!

So should we really believe everything the Messiah says about the Health Care Bill? We shouldn’t believe that it’s a healthcare bill in the first place. If it really was about health care the government wouldn’t need to hire 16,500 IRS agents to enforce it. What does the IRS have to do with the doctor-patient relationship?

Much of the political outcry from both parties was not against the socializing of health care in the country, but about the role of the government providing Federal funds for abortion. First, do we really believe that the government today is not paying for abortions in America? Is the Hyde Amendment really enforced, or do they just move the money around to ultimately pay for an abortion?

The sheer number of abortions in the country in the first place is staggering. Since Roe, 50 million abortions have been performed. The Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr. says that 52 percent of all black pregnancies end in abortion and that 60 percent of all African American women will obtain an abortion in their lifetime. For many population control Eugenicists out there, that number is probably too low.

No, the healthcare plan will not help the American people. It will raise taxes, increase costs, diminish the quality of care, and kill people. Remember this is not the government in control of our money. This is the government in control of our medical system.

How can anyone look at our track record and think anything different. John Potter, the Postmaster General informed us earlier this month that the Post Office faces $238 billion in combined deficits over the next decade. That is chump change when you consider that the national debt increases by over $4 billion a day!

All your freedoms are disappearing right before your eyes and you don’t even care. Nobel Prize winning Austrian Economist F.A. Hayek opened his powerful Road to Serfdom with the David Hume quote, "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." Unless the American people really cherish their liberty we are bound to be slaves of the State.

Health care reform supporters gather in Phoenix./Courtesy of ellene000 on Flickr

If you followed the non-stop health care coverage leading up to last night’s vote, you may be surprised to learn that Obama isn’t sitting atop the White House with a sniper rifle picking off old people one by one.

The citizen debate was passionate, at times ugly. Racial epithets and spit were hurled at black congressmen. Barney Frank, the openly gay representative from Massachusetts, was called a "faggot". I’ll leave it up to you to guess which side was responsible for this.

President Obama, a man who campiagned on the promise of uniting the country, ripped it apart in the most unlikely of ways. He created a divide by demanding more Americans be given access to health care. He’s been attacked by every side, by countless Americans and government officials, for his policy and, in some cases, his race. You have to wonder how much of the hate is directed toward the bill, and how much of it is an explosion of pent up anger from those who still can’t beleive that a young, African American with little political experience defeated a decorated war veteran from Arizona in 2008.

Anyway, back to the bill. Ezra Klein, a blogger for the Washington Post, defined the arguments against the bill quite well yesterday on Twitter: ezraklein The GOP’s argument on the bill is 1) it’s socialism and 2) it cuts Medicare too much? So, too socialist and not socialist enough?

Too true. You know how you separate the historically educated from the historically ignorant? Those who call Obama a socialist, or who beleive the U.S. is inching toward socialism, are the latter. For example, Glen Enloe, from the Kansas City Star, who says "change is just another a code word for socialism". You sir, are historically ignorant. Or maybe these people, Enloe included, aren’t historically ignorant. Maybe they know history. Maybe they’ve studied history and know what socialism is and what socialist leaders really act like. But that means they’re inciting fear and hate for the purpose of political gain. You tell me which is worse.

I’ve strayed again. Apologies. Back to the bill. Of course it isn’t perfect. It’s the first major reform in almost a century. Obviously, not everyone can be pleased. Obama’s last minute deal with Bart Stupak guaranteed the bill would pass, and that deal, which ensured no federal money would go toward abortions, angered the National Organization for Women (NOW). They say Obama’s decision to issue the Executive Order shows his commitment to health care is "shaky at best". Obviously, that isn’t true, he’s put his presidency on the line to ensure more Americans have access to health care.

NOW is angry because they didn’t get what they wanted. I never thought the abortion clause would go through unnoticed or unchallenged, or, in fact, that it would go through at all. It’s just not a conversation the country is willing to have right now, and in the midst of sweeping health care reform, to get caught up on one issue, however important, is not in the best interest of the country. Obama recognized that, that’s why he took it out. But we all know where the president stands on abortion, so I really, really doubt he’ll toss it aside for too long.

Like I said before, the health care bill is not perfect. It can’t be. It never will be. But no matter who you are, or what side you’re on, you cannot possibly think the health care system in the United States is the “best in the world.” The World Health Organization ranks it at 37, just behind Slovenia. Infant mortality is higher than the European Union, largely because of lack of access to health care caused by racial and ethnic disparity, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Life expectancy in the U.S. is last among the G7 and 38th in the world, behind Cuba. In a country obsessed with being first, that’s not good enough.

This is not the “best health care system in the world.” It wasn’t before the bill, and it won’t be after the bill. But making great physicians available to a larger percentage of the population is a mark of an improving health care system. That’s what the U.S. needs to focus on right now. It’s people.

A billboard just outside Wyoming, Minn. has sparked a national conversation regarding our current president’s relative effectiveness as compared to former President George W. Bush.

The billboard shows a picture of a smiling President Bush with the words “Miss Me Yet?” printed beside the photo. The billboard’s creators want to stay anonymous, though an employee from Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising says the creators are a ” group of small businessmen and individuals who just felt like Washington was against them,” the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The billboard has drawn strong opinions from both the right and the left. It comes at a time when Republicans and Democrats are pulling further away from each other on key issues like health care, and as Obama’s approval rating drops to record lows.

What do you think? Do you miss him yet?

Do you?

With only a lone Republican crossing the line and nearly 40 Democrats going turncoat, the House of Representatives still voted, 220-215, tonight to pass a historic health care reform.

Locally, Representative Edward J. Markey (D), issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed a historic bill to reform the health care system Saturday night:

"This historic vote for comprehensive health care reform is exactly what I came here to Congress do," said Markey. "Thirty three years ago, I called for comprehensive health care reform in my first congressional campaign. And today, I am proud to say we are closer than ever to fulfilling that dream."

Quickly responding to the bill’s passage, Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO) released his own statement tonight:

"Do not be mistaken, the only thing this health care bill will do is make our nation sicker. It will cut care for our seniors, it will kill millions of jobs, it will raise taxes, and it will strangle our economy,” Coffman said,
"Also, be clear — a vote against this bill is not a vote against reform. It is a vote against reckless spending that jeopardizes our children’s future, and their children’s future. It is a vote against a trillion dollar government takeover of health care, and it is a vote against the radical liberal agenda that threatens our freedom. I cannot in good conscience support a bill our nation cannot afford and does not need — this 1,990 page monstrosity is just that."

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America expressed their own disappointment with the bill:

"Just last week, the House Democratic Leadership unveiled a 1,990 page bill that was touted as the byproduct of months of negotiations between House Democratic Leadership and members of the moderate and more liberal factions of their caucus yet the ‘revised’ bill closely resembles the original bill," says Robert Rusbuldt, IIABA president & CEO. "The Big ‘I’ is greatly disappointed that after months of negotiations, hearings, votes and debate in three House committees we seem to be back on square one: a bad bill that includes a ‘public option’ and deprives the American people of true choices in their health care."

The major labor union, AFL-CIO, struck back, supporting the decision to pass the bill:

“By voting for the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the U.S. House of Representatives took a momentous step toward realizing fair, quality, affordable health care for America,” the union said. “We heard a lot of rhetoric today, but in the end it boils down to this: It is time to say “yes” to a more secure future for Americans — and that is how the majority in the House of Representatives answered. … We applaud Speaker Pelosi, the other members of the leadership and the majority in the House of Representatives for bringing us closer than ever to our long-held goal.”

Just as President Obama, during a speech about health care reform at a joint session of Congress Wednesday night, stated his new health care plan would not cover illegal immigrants, Joe Wilson did the unthinkable. “You lie!” he shouted at the President, anger spewing from his mouth and his gaze.

Honestly, it sounds fictional. It sounds like a bad political novel. Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina’s 2^nd district has managed to catapult himself into the international spotlight by, as VP Joe Biden put it so eloquently, “demeaning the institution.” And that he did.

It takes guts to call out the President, especially when you are watching him give a speech firsthand. But being courageous, at the wrong time, has its consequences. Loudmouth Joe was immediately booed by hundreds of Democrats. Republicans lambasted the 5^th term representative for being disrespectful and breaking Congress rules.

Wilson had to apologize immediately after, and though he didn’t get to say sorry face-to-face with the President, Obama accepted the apology. To me, these apologies mean little anyway. Anyone can say “sorry” after the fact, but it take someone of real integrity not to make the mistake in the first place. Or, in this case, someone with with half a brain.

Many of the more vocal republicans have been quite outspoken when it comes to the issue of the new health care plan giving benefits to illegal immigrants. Obama has said time and time again that it won’t, but, apparently for Loudmouth Joe and many others, that hasn’t been enough.

Sadly, because the health care document is more then 1,000 boring, boring pages, no one will ever read through it to find the truth. Or, we could just listen to the President.

Even if you choose not to, just don’t take a page out of Joe’s book. We don’t need another Joe in the spotlight. That plumber was enough.

Governor Deval Patrick’s response to President Barack Obama’s speech to the joint Congress:

I commend the president for strong leadership on health care. This President is clearly prepared to seize the best chance we have had in generations to deliver security and stability for those Americans who have health insurance and affordable choices for those Americans who don’t.

Massachusetts has the most successful experiment in health care reform in the country right now, with nearly 98 percent of our residents with the peace of mind of adequate, reliable coverage. We accomplished this because people reached across all kinds of differences and recognized that our choices were not limited to the usual two: a perfect solution or no solution at all. The President has challenged the Congress to do the same, and to do so quickly. The best health and economic interests of the American people are at stake.

It is more than a little disappointing to see the House minority leader announce that Republicans will not vote for health care reform whatever the final bill contains — even though many of the ideas incorporated in the President’s plan come from Republican leaders. Tonight some Republicans even showed by their lack of decorum that they are more committed to a campaign of distortion than to facing up to one of the greatest challenges before the American people.

The people of America are ready for change. The president is leading the way. It’s time for the Congress to close the deal.

Joe Wilson (R-SC) may have saved his political career by issuing a public apology for his outburst at President Obama last night, but I’m not holding my breath.

As a Republican working and living among the bluest of blues in Boston, I understand how frustrating it can be to listen to bleeding-heart liberals talk about their plans to save the world. But I also understand the importance of political give-and-take, and the first “give” has got to be respect. Publicly, in front of a joint session of Congress and a national television audience, calling anyone a liar, never mind the President of the United States, knocks Wilson, as well as the GOP as a whole, down a few notches in the give-and-take game.

It is not like Wilson does not have enough outlets to voice his disagreement with the president’s health care plan “" his Congressional website, Fox News, Facebook, a Twitter account he last updated on Labor Day, with no mention of the President’s health care plan. I support public disagreement with the President in the appropriate forums, but as a conservative (and also a political science major with a keen interest in the American Presidency), I believe the Presidential office should be sacred “" a symbol of America, like the flag. If you disagree with a national policy, you would not turn your flag upside down. Likewise, I don’t believe you should mock the president. Belittling him belittles everything we stand for as Americans, as he was freely elected by our fellow citizens.

Wilson’s childish outburst also undermined his party’s cause. The media is not asking Republican politicians what they think of the President’s health care plan; they are asking what they thought of Representative Wilson’s outburst. Was it justified? The potential for a deep and insightful national conversation about healthcare has been lost to some political name-calling. Media outlets like CNN are also noting the number of conservatives who are defending Wilson on Twitter. Health care was not the number one trending Twitter topic last night, Joe Wilson was.

Wilson’s public disagreement may be protected by the First Amendment, but is a diluted representation of the kind of disagreement that should be protected. Wilson should back up his position that he made so public with an intelligent op-ed in a major newspaper, citing reasons for his outburst. Maybe then he can protect the GOP from being mislabeled as a party of immature extremism, but rather as one of true ideas that are simply different from those being place on the table by the President.

Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia is calling for his colleagues in the Senate to honor his “best friend in the Senate” by naming the seemingly-impending health care reform legislation after the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who died after a year-long battle with brain cancer yesterday.

Health care reform was one of Kennedy’s flagship issues and a cornerstone of his policy throughout his decades in the Senate. By naming the bill after him, many hope that he will accomplish in death what he was not able to in life, another in a long line of personal and publicized tragedies in his expansive career.

Byrd’s full statement:

I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come. My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy and I both witnessed too many wars in our lives, and believed too strongly in the Constitution of the United States to allow us to go blindly into war. That is why we stood side by side in the Senate against the war in Iraq.

Neither years of age nor years of political combat, nor his illness, diminished the idealism and energy of this talented, imaginative, and intelligent man. And that is the kind of Senator Ted Kennedy was. Throughout his career, Senator Kennedy believed in a simple premise: that our society’s greatness lies in its ability and willingness to provide for its less fortunate members. Whether striving to increase the minimum wage, ensuring that all children have medical insurance, or securing better access to higher education, Senator Kennedy always showed that he cares deeply for those whose needs exceed their political clout. Unbowed by personal setbacks or by the terrible sorrows that have fallen upon his family, his spirit continued to soar, and he continued to work as hard as ever to make his dreams a reality.

In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.

God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason. And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly.

In my autobiography I wrote that during a visit to West Virginia in 1968 to help dedicate the “Robert F. Kennedy Youth Center” in Morgantown, “Senator Kennedy’s voice quivered with emotion as he talked of his late brothers and their love for West Virginia. ‘These hills, these people, and this state have had a very special meaning for my family. Our lives have been tightly intertwined with yours.’

I am sure the people of the great state of West Virginia join me in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy family at this moment of deep sorrow.

So much for the “me” generation. A study by the American Heart Association reveals that Generation Y patients, specifically those 18-22, who have diagnosed heart defects, are not seeking medical care or checking in with a cardiologist.

The AHA found that more than a fifth of us with “severe congenital heart disease don’t see a cardiologist,” citing a Canadian study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A congenital heart defect can exist for your entire life and kill you without warning.

The risk of having a heart defect is 3-times more likely in families with a genetic history — parents pass it on to children.

The AHA specifically points out that while most Americans know about acquired heart disease — the kind you get from lifestyle, diet, etc. — most don’t know about congenital heart disease. That’s the kind you’re born with and can kill you even if you have the healthiest diet and exercise plan there is.

For more on this topic, check out the website of the American Heart Association.

• Obama unveils his new budget. It includes billions for health care, an additional $750 billion for banks, as well as a tax increase for the wealthy.

WASHINGTON “" President Obama will propose further tax increases on the affluent to help pay for his promise to make health care more accessible and affordable, calling for stricter limits on the benefits of itemized deductions taken by the wealthiest households, administration officials said Wednesday.

The tax proposal, coming after recent years in which wealth has become more concentrated at the top of the income scale, introduces a politically volatile edge to the Congressional debate over Mr. Obama’s domestic priorities.

The president will also propose, in the 10-year budget he is to release Thursday, to use revenues from the centerpiece of his environmental policy “" a plan under which companies must buy permits to exceed pollution emission caps “" to pay for an extension of a two-year tax credit that benefits low-wage and middle-income people.

• Obama plans to reinstitute the assault weapons ban. Recently, Mexico has complained that our assault weapons are contributing to their drug war.

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

“As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,” Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

• The Attorney General also said they would stop raiding medical marijuana clubs.

Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference Wednesday that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that are established legally under state law. His declaration is a fulfillment of a campaign promise by President Barack Obama, and marks a major shift from the previous administration.

After the inauguration, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continued to carry out such raids, despite Obama’s promise. Holder was asked if those raids represented American policy going forward.

“No,” he said. “What the president said during the campaign, you’ll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we’ll be doing in law enforcement. He was my boss during the campaign. He is formally and technically and by law my boss now. What he said during the campaign is now American policy.”

They debated, for the second time, their positions on the economy, health care and energy independence, as well as a host of other issues affecting Americans all over the country.

Obama won this one.‚  He was articulate in his speech, meticulous in most of his policy and overall very calm.‚  He knocked the economy debate out of the park and effectively linked McCain to Bush on that issue, as well as on the debt and deficit.

McCain again proposed a spending freeze.‚  He proposed that the government buy and renegotiate bad loans to stabalize the economy.‚  I’m sorry, but how will you do that with no money?

McCain spoke well, but on the major issues like the economy and foreign policy, he was pretty weak.‚  It was surprising that he didn’t give better insight into his policy on foreign affairs, Obama came out on top on that topic which was surprising.

In the end both candidates were still quite unspecific, which was expected.‚  A lot of it was broad, especially their plans for health care.‚  You could hear a lot of their stump speeches incorporated into the answers.

What I found odd was McCain reluctance to priortize and order the issues he will tackle if elected.‚  He basically said he’ll work on everything at the same time. Sure.

Obama said he’d kill Bin Laden and crush Al Qaeda.‚  That’s a pretty bold promise.‚  He said he’d act if Pakistan refuses to aid or gets in the way of their hunt.

McCain, at one point, referred to Obama as “that one.”‚  It’s pretty clear these guys aren’t exactly amiable.‚  McCain initiated post-debate contact, but when Obama stretched out his hand to shake McCain’s he seemed to ignore it, and Obama settled on shaking Cindy McCain’s hand.

The candidates, for the most part, only attacked each other on policy; I was happy with that.

The bottom line is, right now people don’t care about Ayers or the Keating 5, they care about keeping their heads above stormy economic waters.‚  Having a large portion of this debate centered around the economy showed how unprepared McCain is to tackle the current crisis.‚  Neither is prepared, Obama just has a better outlook and implementation plan.

Obama did however dodge some questions, most obviously the last one.‚  The candidates were asked to specify something they do not know, and how they would go about learning it.‚  Obama told the audience what he DOES know; that America is in crisis blah, blah, blah.‚  His answer was an indirect one.

McCain answered the question directly and said what he does not know is “what is going to happen.”‚  He then told the audience exactly what shape the country is in and again, blah, blah, blah.‚  His answer was better organized.

It was a good debate, the idea for the format was great, I just rather the candidates got a chance to talk to each other directly.‚  Everyone wants to see that exchange.‚  The town hall setting made it seem very personal, but it was a safe setting for each candidate. It didn’t allow for any major slip-ups.

A CNN poll reports that 54% of viewers thought Obama won the debate, as opposed to 30% for McCain.‚  On CNN.com however, an overwhelming 83% of over 40,000 quick poll voters tagged Obama as the victor.

It’s starting to get pretty dangerous for McCain.‚  He’s loosing ground in key states like Florida and Ohio and to top it all off, he’s not performing well in the debates.‚  With only one debate left, republicans hope he steps it up.