Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
He is the first latino mayor of Los Angeles since the 1800s, but Antonio Villaraigosa has a wide appeal and big plans. The dynamic Green LA girl joins me to shed some light on yet another mayor in the ongoing global mayors series.
READ – The Green LA Girl, cause its good for you.
Wikipedia on Mayor Villaraigosa
Well Well.
Unexpected turn of events, I took an offer to stay over here high above Lake Como, or some Lake that might be Como. I think this town is called Lecco.
I’d like to enter into a “how fast can you learn italian” marathon, I bet it would take me 2 weeks, nonstop studying, and Id be fluent. Than my french and spanish would be ruined, and my Portuguese would be jealous. My english would just hang out with my Dutch, they need not know whats going on. In the meantime.. I do so love the language cause it is so famliar.. yet different.
The discussion on yesterdays post is still going and I like it alot. We don’t have to have the answers, we can just compare stories, experiences, facts.. if anything I get lots of help forming my own opinion… and in the end.. its a personal blog, so hahaha I win! I mean.. yay knowledge.
The vloggers are mostly at the node101 apartment in Milano. I’m here with a few other cats that are staying at the great Deirdré’s house, which overlooks alot of things from way up here on this mountain. On the floor to my right.. there’s a vlogger named Andreas… further over from him.. a vlogger named Anders. Danish I believe. Good men they are, me thinks.
My one wish… vlogger ladies. More of them. Crazy creative and perhaps single ones. That’s my wish.
Time for cliché italian words since I’m a dumb tourist: buona notte amici.
The lil suitcase is packed for the grand open ended journey through Northern Italy, Slovenia, —– (fill in your own following destination).
Prior to packing for the journey, I was watching a PBS Frontline Special entitled “The Other Drug War”. I believe it’s and old program, last updated (according to their site) in 2003, but the torrent just fell in my lap the other day. (transcript anyone?)
By the other drug war, the title is referring to perscription drugs for seniors in the United States. All those pills that control cholesteral, blood pressure, depression, asthma, etc etc… they cost senior citizens mounds and mounds of cash. And of course, the catch is, because they need many of these drugs to go on living, they are at the mercy of the drug companies.
In the program itself, we see seniors in Maine organizing bus excursions to Canada, where drug prices are fixed by the government in order to keep them affordable for seniors. (and I guess the poor too) During the bus ride, the people talk about how angry they are at companies for being so unreasonable with prices, and with the government for not intervening. Later the program explains that the state of Maine, as well as a few other states have actually passed laws that will control the price of drugs for seniors.. which of course has been met by huge resistance by the corporations, who have taken the states to court.
On the other side, you also hear from the companies themselves. Mostly from a few reps and many many lobbyists, since apparently pharmaceutical lobbies are the biggest and most powerful in Washington, DC. They explain that the government musn’t control prices or else their profits will suffer, and as a result, they won’t be able to invest in new life saving drugs. They claim that the high prices are because research is so expensive, so the pill costs nothing to make but you’re paying towards future drugs. If the prices lower, the expected response from the company will be to cut down on research. There’s even a French CEO of some big US pharma company (Eli Lilly)who explains that in France the government fixes the prices and therefore France lags behind the US and other countries in research and development. (number 5 in the world apparently, at that time)
And so I the viewer, with some help from the internet and perhaps life experiences, sit here and evaluate the situation for myself. Whats more important… research and development, or access to the existing drugs.
In the end, everyone will have mixed answers. Put yours in the comments. Here’s a brief version of mine:
With most products in this type of capitalistic system of ours, which does not necessarily believe in fostering competition in many areas thought many claim it does, i can understand setting a high price for the cost of making something or researching it. Technology for instance.. computers.. cars.. you want the cool stuff.. you pay more. But when I look at medicine, I see something more than just a product making business. While it may be a business, it effects lives… more specifically.. it can effect if someone lives or dies. While its surely important for research to be properly funded, I’m not convinced that the healthiest way for a society to do it is to run up the profits for pharmaceuticals while making the seniors pay the price. I think a drug, however great it may be, is useless if people can’t afford it anyway.
I said this earlier today and Richard, who’s just arrived here and has worked for many years in hospitals, says that it is the other way around. That controlling prices limits the work of pharmaceuticals and hurts medical advances.
Your turn.
Since I know yee good people have things to catch up on and I can’t keep writing mountains, today I’ll simply recommend three videos and be gone. Friday is the journey to Milan for vlogeurope, so video is the name of the game for the immediate future.
First: A New vlogger on the scene. You may recall I had a group of students I was tending to from Minnesota… well wouldn’t you know it.. one particular Rachel has started a vlog that has this great energy.. a certain je don’t know quoi.
Second: I’ve recently been writing for Richard’s news vlog, the Eclectic Newsbrief… news you won’t find in the mainstream and presented in a unique way. (see if you spot the societal critique)
And Lastly: A wonderful artist, my friend Hollye Davidson has a great understanding of how people relate to art. She even helps me to see my own art, which I often forget. Watch her latest vlog on dogs and art… i learned alot.
When asked where Tajikistan is located on the map, few people can identify it among the ex soviet republics. Perhaps that is one reason why the story of Tajikistan today so often goes untold. My guest, Amanda of ChistianAid, who works to improve life in Tajikistan, helps explain the little known reality on the ground.
Christian Aid Blog from Tajikistan, as well as Podcasts
NewEurasia.net
As I got on the international train from Brussels to Amsterdam, I knew it would be packed and bursting at the seams with people returning home from their weekend in Belgium. And this day was no different, with people huddling in the space between train cars, struggling to find a spot just to stand and read their magazines in peace.
I’m an international train veteran, so I used my secret methods for getting myself a seat. And as luck would have it, the person sitting next to me was a gentleman heading to the Hague on business. Not just any business… urban planning to deal with rising water levels! Who did he work for, as I surely asked, the government of London!
Amazingly before I knew any of this, we started chatting casually in between his soduku and my final chapters of 4th of July, Asbury Park. He was asking about the train, and what time it actually arrives in the Hague. It eventually evolved in how the city is layed out, and more generally, the ol’ “how the dutch have built the country in unorthodox ways.” We spoke of the taking land from the sea and building below sea level. And it was right around there where he smiled and said “Enjoy while you can, because things will certainly change.” And right there we got into the rising sea levels and the struggle to keep water out; he then explaining what he was doing for the city government of London.
Among the interesting things he pointed out to me, were the cases of London as well as New York City, both of whom are in need of plans to deal with sea levels that are definitely rising. Apparently his work was to address the problem for his city’s context. And I wondered aloud about what New York City could possibly do to protect against water rising up and swallowing its streets.
He wasn’t big in offering me solutions. It was, as he said, the purpose of his meetings in places like the Hague. I asked if he would be heading to New Orleans, he said he very much wanted to:
“That’s really what the future is about… mass movement of people, away from situations where they must leave in order to survive. Cities must all get into planning for it… how and where to move mass amounts of their populations.”
Eventually we got to the Hague and he wished me goodluck with my journalism endeavors.
When I got home I went right to my boat and started taking the water out of it.