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California just made a huge positive step in Healthcare

Governor Jerry Brown made California the fourth state in the US on Monday to allow physician assisted dying. Yes, only the fourth, and it's disappointing that the numbers (or the lack of) overshadow the real achievement. Everyone has the right to live, and everyone should have the right to die. Of course life is sacred, but the opponents of this law must not seriously think that California's true intentions are to have a genocide. They simply just want to help those people who have no hope of a cure, and are suffering. That's it, there is no story here, Everyone is allowed to make their decisions about their life and body. If you can go and get an abortion from a professional, you should also be able to go to your doctor to die. They are there to help you and to lessen your pain. In any way possible. Of course we support that background checks must take place, and several doctors (including psychologists) should sign off before you are allowed to die. You sho

Pataki makes it 12

Former New York Governor George Pataki has ended his campaign to be the Republican Presidential candidate in 2016. This comes just over a week after Senator Graham quit too, and just over a month before the first voters head to the polling stations. The moderate Republican Pataki failed to differentiate himself in the crowded 2016 field, and leaves 12 candidates in the race.

George Pataki was the Governor of New York on 9/11 and based his campaign strategy on crisis management and foreign policy experience. He was also the only Republican candidate who supported same-sex marriage and one of the first ones to continusoly attack Trump over his comments during the early summer campaign period. Yet despite all of his best effort, he has failed to gain momentum in the polls, and never really polled above 2%. Not even in New Hampshire where he focused his campaign. He also failed to raise enough money to continue, and continues the "Curse of the Governors". Pataki became the fourth current or former governor to leave the race before voting starts in Iowa, after Perry, Walker and Jindal. This surprising trend has been blamed on the "Year of the Outsiders" and the popularity of people like Trump and Carson. But Pataki's exit does signal the fact that the establishment Republicans are desperately trying to narrow their field, and to rally behind one candidate.

While his exit doesn't shock the commentators, many have noted that they are sad to see him go as he was always referred to as "a nice guy". Pataki though should still be useful for the party in winning in 2016. He is a former three-term Republican Governor from New York, a deep blue state. This alone makes him very useful. Furthermore however, both the current Democratic and Republican frontrunner is from New York, and he knows both of them very well. In fact he was the governor when Hillary Clinton was one of the senators from the state.

Pataki's exit from the race won't directly improve any other candidate's chances significantly, not even in New Hampshire. But his field operatives and volunteers are most likely to fall into the hands of John Kasich or Jeb Bush, the other establishment and governor candidates.

Jeb Bush needs every help he can get in New Hampshire. Graham and Pataki's exit will be good for him but he needs more. He has just announced that he has deployed most of his staff from Miami to the early voting states. This should help him, but at the same time he cancelled his events in New Hampshire over the last few days over the snowstorm. He can't afford to do this. Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley pushed on, he should too. He is no Donald Trump.

This is an original material of Finchley 1959.

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