The politically anticipated Iowa caucuses offer a strong foreshadow on who will take lead towards being the next United States president. The two current party front-runners in this race were decided tonight, giving Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee a head start. Without doubt- health care reform is a hot topic for presidential candidates. This is the look on what Barack Obama and, type-2 diabetic, Mike Huckabee promise in their health care platforms. (READ MORE)

There are a lot of things in this world that I don't understand and don't choose to understand. Politics is one of them. I despise politics. I don't do office politics, I don't play games with people, I feel like I'm a straight-shoting tell-it-like-it-is kind of person. So, I really don't like politics. Which means I don't pay attention to bills and votes and all that nonsense. I should, I've tried, but I don't.

I do know enough to know that the passage of the health-care reform bill today and the fact that it's being sent to President Obama's desk to be signed in to law (which it will) is a big deal.

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With all the talk and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Distrust) flying around about health care costs, health care reform, and health service rationing, one issue we've all been dancing around is the value of life -- specifically, the value of a particular human life.

I'm not going to apologize for ruffling feathers here -- there is no single answer or set of "right" answers, and all values are influenced by community, religion, financial affluence, and direct relationship to the individual being evaluated.

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Earlier this week, it was announced that the focus of national anger for most of this century had met his Maker, courtesy of the United States military. The TV news showed people reacting by dancing in the streets.

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One of the odd observances of the Christmas Skeptic is the effect of today's gift-giving Santa Claus on the development of greed amongst children. The observation is somewhat paradoxical considering greed is considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

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I've been somewhat ambivalent about today's rally surrounding the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases. The libertarian "party line" is that the United Nations does little more than abrogate nation-states' sovereignty and forcibly redistribute income from the wealthier nations to the less-wealthy, dampening incentives for innovation and destroying private charity efforts which would otherwise improve the lives of those in need. On the other hand, the prospect of spending time with friends I seldom see in-person is an opportunity not to be missed.

It's a dilemma I'd been wrestling with for a couple of months, and friendship was winning over politics. However, neither friendship nor politics had the choice to decide.

The deciding factor was money.

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