Monday, August 31, 2009

What He Said

I sat down and watched all five shows Glen Beck did last week. His presentation was spot on. He exposed issues and thoughts that had escaped me and many others. We have been over whelmed. Our government has supplied us with non stop chaos for more then a year. Our new leader has managed to accelerate the pace as a dragster comes off the line. We have seen six months of the fastest most wreckless abuse of government in the history of the United States. Our Constitution has been trampled repeatedly and no one has been punished for this gross abuse of power.
Those who have been the eyes and ears of the people have been sucked in by the current pied piper. Freedom of speech and the power of the press have almost dried up. No one has stood in the way of our government and its usurpation of power.
I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to see someone who is willing to ask the questions that we so desperately need the answers too. I have asked questions. Many I know have asked questions. Other blogs I visit ask questions. Yet, the silence is deafening. No answers are forthcoming. The press, who would carry a questions before our leaders, have only bowed and worshiped at their feet. We have been left with our questions and have only been offered ridicule.
America is rising up. Our leaders are starting to shrink in size and stature. Many of them are hiding in fear of their own employers. We cannot get answers through the traditional channels, so we are bringing our questions to them ourselves.
Let me suggest we take something along with us. Glen offered up five pledges. I suggest you go HERE and print them off. Post these for all to see because it is time that we demand answers. It is time that we demand that our representatives follow our direction and guidelines. They can choose to represent us or they can go home.

Let me list these five pledges here.
1. I believe in a balanced budget and therefore will vote for a freeze in government spending until that goal is realized.
2. I believe government should not increase the financial burden on its citizenry during difficult economic times therefore I will oppose all tax increases until our economy has rebounded.
3. I believe more then four decades of U.S. dependence on foreign oil is a travesty therefore I will support an energy plan that calls for immediately increasing usage of all domestic resources including nuclear energy, natural gas, and coal as necessary.
4. I believe in the sovereignty and security of our country and therefore will support measures to close our borders except for designated immigration points so we will know who is entering and why and I will vehemently oppose any measure giving another country, the United Nations, or any other entity, power over U.S. citizens.
5. I believe the United States of America is the greatest country on earth and therefore will not apologize for policies or actions which have served to free more and feed more people around the world then any other nation on the planet.

We need real leaders for our great nation!

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

You Got To Give Her Credit

I am not a big Ann Coulter fan. We don't need another anger driven political activist further dividing America. With that said, some times she can clearly say what needs saying.

Liberal lies about national health care, Part 1
Posted: August 19, 2009



1) National health care will punish the insurance companies.

You want to punish insurance companies? Make them compete.

As Adam Smith observed, whenever two businessmen meet, "the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." That's why we need a third, fourth and 45th competing insurance company that will undercut them by offering better service at a lower price.

Tiny little France and Germany have more competition among health insurers than the U.S. does right now. Amazingly, both of these socialist countries have less state regulation of health insurance than we do, and you can buy health insurance across regional lines – unlike in the U.S., where a federal law allows states to ban interstate commerce in health insurance.

U.S. health insurance companies are often imperious, unresponsive consumer hellholes because they're a partial monopoly, protected from competition by government regulation. In some states, one big insurer will control 80 percent of the market. (Guess which party these big insurance companies favor? Big companies love big government.)

Liberals think they can improve the problem of a partial monopoly by turning it into a total monopoly. That's what single-payer health care is: "Single payer" means "single provider."

Don't miss the most recent edition of Whistleblower magazine: "Medical Murder: Why Obamacare could result in the early deaths of millions of baby boomers"

It's the famous liberal two-step: First screw something up, then claim that it's screwed up because there's not enough government oversight (it's the free market run wild!), and then step in and really screw it up in the name of "reform."

You could fix 90 percent of the problems with health insurance by ending the federal law allowing states to ban health insurance sales across state lines. But when John McCain called for ending the ban during the 2008 presidential campaign, he was attacked by Joe Biden – another illustration of the ironclad Ann Coulter rule that the worst Republicans are still better than allegedly "conservative" Democrats.

2) National health care will "increase competition and keep insurance companies honest" – as President Barack Obama has said.

Government-provided health care isn't a competitor; it's a monopoly product paid for by the taxpayer. Consumers may be able to "choose" whether they take the service – at least at first – but every single one of us will be forced to buy it, under penalty of prison for tax evasion. It's like a new cable plan with a "yes" box, but no "no" box.

Obama himself compared national health care to the post office – immediately conjuring images of a highly efficient and consumer-friendly work force – which, like so many consumer-friendly shops, is closed by 2 p.m. on Saturdays, all Sundays and every conceivable holiday.

But what most people don't know – including the president, apparently – with certain narrow exceptions, competing with the post office is prohibited by law.

Expect the same with national health care. Liberals won't stop until they have total control. How else will they get you to pay for their sex-change operations?

3) Insurance companies are denying legitimate claims because they are "villains."

Obama denounced the insurance companies in last Sunday's New York Times, saying: "A man lost his health coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because the insurance company discovered that he had gallstones, which he hadn't known about when he applied for his policy. Because his treatment was delayed, he died."

Well, yeah. That and the cancer.

Assuming this is true – which would distinguish it from every other story told by Democrats pushing national health care – in a free market, such an insurance company couldn't stay in business. Other insurance companies would scream from the rooftops about their competitor's shoddy business practices, and customers would leave in droves.

If only customers had a choice! But we don't because of government regulation of health insurance.

Speaking of which, maybe if Mr. Gallstone's insurance company weren't required by law to cover early childhood development programs and sex-change operations, it wouldn't be forced to cut corners in the few areas not regulated by the government, such as cancer treatments for patients with gallstones.

4) National health care will give Americans "basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable" – as Barack Obama claimed in his op/ed in the Times.

You want to protect consumers? Do it the same way we protect consumers of dry cleaning, hamburgers and electricians: Give them the power to tell their insurance companies, "I'm taking my business elsewhere."

5) Government intervention is the only way to provide coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The only reason most "pre-existing" conditions aren't already covered is because of government regulations that shrink the insurance market to a microscopic size, which leads to fewer options in health insurance and a lot more uninsured people than would exist in a free market.

The free market has produced a dizzying array of insurance products in areas other than health. (Ironically, array-associated dizziness is not covered by most health plans.) Even insurance companies have "reinsurance" policies to cover catastrophic events occurring on the properties they insure, such as nuclear accidents, earthquakes and Michael Moore dropping in for a visit and breaking the couch.

If we had a free market in health insurance, it would be inexpensive and easy to buy insurance for "pre-existing" conditions before they exist, for example, insurance on unborn – unconceived – children and health insurance even when you don't have a job. The vast majority of "pre-existing" conditions that currently exist in a cramped, limited, heavily regulated insurance market would be "covered" conditions under a free market in health insurance.

I've hit my word limit on liberal lies about national health care without breaking a sweat. See this space next week for more lies in our continuing series.

Liberal lies about national health care, Part 2
Posted: August 26, 2009


With the Democrats getting slaughtered – or should I say, "receiving mandatory end-of-life counseling" – in the debate over national health care, the Obama administration has decided to change the subject by indicting CIA interrogators for talking tough to three of the world's leading Muslim terrorists.

Had I been asked, I would have advised them against reinforcing the idea that Democrats are hysterical bed-wetters who can't be trusted with national defense while also reminding people of the one thing everyone still admires about President George W. Bush.

But I guess the Democrats really want to change the subject. Thus, here is Part 2 in our series of liberal lies about national health care.

6) There will be no rationing under national health care.

Anyone who says that is a liar. And all Democrats are saying it. (Hey, look – I have two-thirds of a syllogism!)

Don't miss the most recent edition of Whistleblower magazine: "Medical Murder: Why Obamacare could result in the early deaths of millions of baby boomers"

Apparently, promising to cut costs by having a panel of Washington bureaucrats (for short, "The Death Panel") deny medical treatment wasn't a popular idea with most Americans. So liberals started claiming that they are going to cover an additional 47 million uninsured Americans and cut costs ... without ever denying a single medical treatment!

Also on the agenda is a delicious all-you-can-eat chocolate cake that will actually help you lose weight! But first, let's go over the specs for my perpetual motion machine – and it uses no energy, so it's totally green!

For you newcomers to planet Earth, everything that does not exist in infinite supply is rationed. In a free society, people are allowed to make their own rationing choices.

Some people get new computers every year; some every five years. Some White House employees get new computers and then vandalize them on the way out the door when their candidate loses. (These are the same people who will be making decisions about your health care.)

Similarly, one person might say, "I want to live it up and spend freely now! No one lives forever." (That person is a Democrat.) And another might say, "I don't go to restaurants, I don't go to the theater, and I don't buy expensive designer clothes because I've decided to pour all my money into my health."

Under national health care, you'll have no choice about how to ration your own health care. If your neighbor isn't entitled to a hip replacement, then neither are you. At least that's how the plan was explained to me by our next surgeon general, Dr. Conrad Murray.

7) National health care will reduce costs.

This claim comes from the same government that gave us the $500 hammer, the $1,200 toilet seat and postage stamps that increase in price every three weeks.

The last time liberals decided an industry was so important that the government needed to step in and contain costs was when they set their sights on the oil industry. Liberals in both the U.S. and Canada – presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter and Canadian P.M. Pierre Trudeau – imposed price controls on oil.

As night leads to day, price controls led to reduced oil production, which led to oil shortages, skyrocketing prices for gasoline, rationing schemes and long angry lines at gas stations.

You may recall this era as "the Carter years."

Then, the white knight Ronald Reagan became president and immediately deregulated oil prices. The magic of the free market – aka the "profit motive" – produced surges in oil exploration and development, causing prices to plummet. Prices collapsed and remained low for the next 20 years, helping to fuel the greatest economic expansion in our nation's history.

You may recall this era as "the Reagan years."

Freedom not only allows you to make your own rationing choices, but also produces vastly more products and services at cheap prices, so less rationing is necessary.


8) National health care won't cover abortions.

There are three certainties in life: a) death, b) taxes, and c) no health-care bill supported by Nita Lowey and Rosa DeLauro and signed by Barack Obama could possibly fail to cover abortions.

I don't think that requires elaboration, but here it is:

Despite being a thousand pages long, the health-care bills passing through Congress are strikingly nonspecific. (Also, in a thousand pages, Democrats weren't able to squeeze in one paragraph on tort reform. Perhaps they were trying to save paper.)

These are Trojan Horse bills. Of course, they don't include the words "abortion," "death panels" or "three-year waits for hip-replacement surgery."

That proves nothing – the bills set up unaccountable, unelected federal commissions to fill in the horrible details. Notably, the Democrats rejected an amendment to the bill that would specifically deny coverage for abortions.

After the bill is passed, the Federal Health Commission will find that abortion is covered, pro-lifers will sue, and a court will say it's within the regulatory authority of the health commission to require coverage for abortions.

Then we'll watch a parade of senators and congressmen indignantly announcing, "Well, I'm pro-life, and if I had had any idea this bill would cover abortions, I never would have voted for it!"

No wonder Democrats want to remind us that they can't be trusted with foreign policy. They want us to forget that they can't be trusted with domestic policy.


She contantly took swipes at Democrats but in this case they are well deserved because she is accurate on every point. In this case I am going to side with Ann and say they deserve a little mocking for this travisty.

Article Links:
Liberal lies about national health care, Part 1
Liberal lies about national health care, Part 2

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Monday, August 24, 2009

I Watched Him

I tuned into Glen Beck on Fox today. Today, he was asking questions that no one wants to answer. Here is his list:

Am I hateful if I ask:

- Our unfunded liability for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion. Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America?

- We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on cap-and-trade and healthcare programs before we stop the flow of red-ink?

- The stimulus package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?

- If it was so important for congress to pass the stimulus bill before they even had time to read it why has only a fraction of the stimulus money been spent 6 months later?

- Bush said he had to abandon free market principles in order to save them, how exactly does that work?

- Why won’t member of Congress read the bills before they vote on them?

- Why are citizens mocked and laughed at when they ask their congressman to read the bills before they vote on them?

- Was the cash-for-clunkers program meant to save the earth or the economy? Did it accomplish either?

- How did Van Jones, a self-proclaimed communist become a special advisor to the president?

- Did President Obama know of Van Jones’ radical political beliefs when he named him special advisor?

- The Apollo Alliance claimed credit for writing the stimulus bill—why was this group allowed to write any portion of this bill?

- If politicians aren’t writing the bills and aren’t reading the bills, do they have any idea what these 1000 page plus bills actually impose on the American people?

- If the ‘public option’ health care plan is so good why won’t politicians agree to have that as their plan?

- If town hall meetings are intended for the politicians to learn what’s on our mind—why do they spend so much time talking instead of listening?

- Politicians are refusing to attend town hall meetings complaining, without evidence, that they are scripted. Does that mean we shouldn’t come out and vote for you since every campaign stop, baby kiss and speech you give is scripted?

- Why would you want to overwhelm the system?

- Is using the economic crises to rush legislation through congress what Rahm Emanuel meant when he talked about not letting a crises go to waste?

- What are the czars paid? What is the budget for their staffs/offices?

This is a great list. If anyone spots someone who is willing to answer any of these let me know. I would love to have some of these answers myself.

US Debt Clock Check this out for a dose of reality. Site is slow.

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I Need a Good Laugh







Things are pretty crazy here. Nothing like a good laugh to improve the day.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

In God We Still Trust



H/T to Debbie at Right Truth

God Bless America

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Doctors are Reading the Bill

FYI- This may help you understand the Healthcare Bill.

Here is a letter I sent to Senator Bayh. Feel free to copy it and send it around to our other representatives. Stephen Fraser MD

July 23, 2009

Senator Bayh:

As a practicing physician, I have major concerns with the healthcare bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill, and am shocked by the brazenness of the government's proposed involvement in the patient-physician relationship.
The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous, and certainly not helpful in designing a healthcare system that works for all.
Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our healthcare system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.
I ask you, respectfully, and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interest of the country and our fellow citizens..

Page 22: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self insure!!
Page 30 Sec 123: - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.
Page 29 lines 4-16: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!
Page 42 l: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!
Page 50 Section 152: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise.
Page 58: Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Health card will be issued!
Page 59 lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for elective funds transfer.
Page 65 Sec 164: A payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations: (ACORN).
Page 84 Sec 203: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange.
Page 85 Line 7: Specifications for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!
Page 91 Lines 4-7: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services. Example - Translation: illegal aliens.
Page 95 Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & AmeriCorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.
Page 85 Line 7: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed.
Page 102 Lines 12-18: Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.
Page 124 lines 24-25: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly.
Page 127 Lines 1-16: Doctors/ American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make! (salary)
Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE!
Page 146 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.
Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.
Page 150 Lines 9-13: Business's with payroll btw 251k & 401k who doesn't provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.
Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.
Page 170 Lines 1-3: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)
Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans finances /personal records.
Page 203 Line 14-15: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that!
Page 239 Line 14-24: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors, low income and poor are affected.
Page 241 Line 6-8: Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same!
Page 253 Line 10-18: Govt sets value of Doctor's time, profession, judgment etc.
Page 265 Sec 1131: Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries.
Page 268 Sec 1141: Federal Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.
Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!
Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever Govt deems preventable re-admissions.
Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission -Govt will penalize you.
Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Doctors what/how much they can own!
Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand.
Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. Can you say ACORN?!!
Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: Govt mandates establishment of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing.
Page 341 Lines 3-9: Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing people into Govt plan.
Page 354 Sec 1177: Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people! Unbelievable!
Page 379 Sec 1191: Govt creates more bureaucracy - Tele-health Advisory Committee. Can you say HC by phone?
Page 425 Lines 4-12: Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life patients.
Page 425 Lines 17-19: Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney. Mandatory!
Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death. (assisted suicide)
Page 427 Lines 15-24: Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has say in how your life ends
Page 429 Lines 1-9: An "advanced care planning consultant" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.
Page 429 Lines 10-12: "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOVT!
Page 429 Lines 13-25: The Govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
Page 430 Lines 11-15: Govt decides what level of treatment you will have at end of life!
Page 469: Community Based Home Medical Services = Non-profit organizations. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?
Page 472 Lines 14-17: PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORIGINATION. A monthly payment to ACORN?
Page 489 Sec 1308: The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy means they will insert Govt into your marriage.
Page 494-498: Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services.
Senator, I guarantee that I personally will do everything possible to inform patients, and my fellow physicians about the dangers of the proposed bills you and your colleagues are debating.
Furthermore, if you vote for a bill that enforces socialized medicine on the country and destroys the doctor/patient relationship, I will do everything in my power to make sure you lose your job in the next election.
Respectfully,
Stephen E. Fraser, MD

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Battery Power Is the Problem

There is a constant push to develop various electric products. Many ideas have come and gone due to the fault of batteries. Generally, batteries are highly dangerous and corrosive concoctions of acids and volatile metals. They are very heavy but needed power sources. Most of the advances in electronics have come on the hardware side not the power side. We have continued to shrink and combine components saving power and reducing the size of the battery.
What is needed is a different kind of battery that frees us of weight and the many dangers that are trapped in this not so scary case. If we could cut the weight of batteries in half the electric car could actually be achieved. I know there are all these hybrids out there, but I am talking about pure electric. Our current technology is hamstrung by the weight of modern lead acid, deep cycle batteries.
There is a break through that is worth mentioning. It really isn't for cars but freeing our home from the grid would also be a welcomed change.

New battery could change world, one house at a time

The prize is the culmination of 10 years of research and testing -- a new generation of deep-storage battery that's small enough, and safe enough, to sit in your basement and power your home.
It promises to nudge the world to a paradigm shift as big as the switch from centralized mainframe computers in the 1980s to personal laptops. But this time the mainframe is America's antiquated electrical grid; and the switch is to personal power stations in millions of individual homes.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson once disparaged the U.S. electrical grid as "third world," and he was painfully close to the mark. It's an inefficient, aging relic of a century-old approach to energy and a weak link in national security in an age of terrorism.
Taking a load off the grid through electricity production and storage at home would extend the life of the system and avoid the expenditure of tens, or even hundreds, of billions to make it "smart."
The battery breakthrough comes from a Salt Lake company called Ceramatec, the R&D arm of CoorsTek, a world leader in advanced materials and electrochemical devices. It promises to reduce dependence on the dinosaur by hooking up with the latest generation of personalized power plants that draw from the sun.
Solar energy has been around, of course, but it's been prohibitively expensive. Now the cost is tumbling, driven by new thin-film chemistry and manufacturing techniques. Leaders in the field include companies like Arizona-based First Solar, which can paint solar cells onto glass; and Konarka, an upstart that purchased a defunct Polaroid film factory in New Bedford, Mass., and now plans to print cells onto rolls of flexible plastic.
The convergence of these two key technologies -- solar power and deep-storage batteries -- has profound implications for oil-strapped America.

Read the rest of the story: Batteries of the Future

I had to take a break from the healthcare chaos in DC. We don't want to miss energy discoveries that may change our future. I have always had a deep love and apprieciation for photovoltaic solar energy. It has come a long ways in the 30 years I have been watching it. There is a place for this technology. It will be a little longer before it pencils out as a winner.

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What Can I Tell You About Canadian Healthcare

Make Yourself Heard

A recent survey puts conservatives ahead of liberals in all 50 states.



The sleeping giant is slowly awakening and we are letting them know we are here. If you get a call and they want to take a poll, give it to them. Our congress critters are starting to get a little scared. Conservatives are rising up and taking interest unlike the last forty years. It is high time we swung this ship around before we start heading the wrong way. We have vered way off course and it will take some time to get us back on.
Standing up now will save our nation. We can not fall back to sleep and allow them to rob us of our freedoms. Be on alert our children and grand children are counting on each and every one of us.

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Monday, August 17, 2009

Who Should Decide

Let's be brutally honest, people die. It doesn't matter how much you spend, sooner or later it is going to happen.
So the question is who gets to decide enough is enough. Is it a question of when, how, but the who is the argument. Do we want individuals themselves, private business, or government making the decisions. We would like it to be decided by the individual and his/her family but current reality dictates that more often then not the other two are going to be the party crashers.
Throughout history we have seen the results of government making decisions of who lives and who dies. It is probably the reason Hitler jumps to the forefront of our minds so fast, yet there were many others. The government by its very existence knows way to much about us, and in turn could make decisions based on political expediency and persuasion of power. This is not expectable by those who truly wish to be free as our constitution would allow. We are not like other nations who have gone before us, and perhaps it is unfit to use them as a comparison.

The question of private business has yet an answer. The key is money. It is always the key and no matter the group this will always be the dominant question. The decision of the individual often comes down to money. The decision of the government often comes down to money. The decision by business will of course be based on money.
To this conjures up another question, How Much is Enough? Is there a limit? Should there be?
Star Trek is best quoted here, "The good of the many out way the good of the few, or the one." Is this an expectable reality? If so then someone must draw the line. I would prefer private business. There are far to many other things on the mind of government for me to grant them this.

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Can We Do It The Right Way?



The atomic bomb approach of government is the wrong way to fix what is wrong with healthcare. We don't need an out of control government program making decisions about individual health needs.
In many of my past posts I have laid out the problems with healthcare. They are real problems that need addressing. The new plan proposed by BO creates a whole new set of problems that have far worse and often catastrophic results.

A couple of days ago I got in a discussion about the "end of life counseling" rules, also called the "Death Panel", placed in the healthcare bill. Many on the left are trying to brush this off as prudent and responsible acts for each individual. The real issue with the "Death Panel" is that it is designed to attack at the most vulnerable moment.
I don't have a problem with someone helping people plan for the future. We all are going to have to face death in some fashion. The problem is how the bill is set to trigger over and over again at every vulnerable moment looking to snatch life out of depression. Looking to claim death as a viable and perhaps selfish alternative. No where in the bill does it allow this process to stop when a person has put something in writing or has created an end plan.
The goal appears to be "life ending" not end of life planning.

As you read through the bill you find more and more issues like the above. The bill directs payments to medical providers to come in line with the Medicare Guidelines. We currently have medical facilities across the country closing its doors to Medicare patients because of the below cost payment schedule. The government is not only a slow payer but they fail to actually cover the cost of the medical event. I don't know too many people in business to make a living who are willing to go in the hole every time someone walks in the door.
I have written many articles on cutting the cost of business and where the true costs of business lie. No matter who dictates the pay structure a business will only last if it can break even or better. What will keep our nations healthcare running if they can't pay their bills?
The answer will probably come in another mega bailout wiping out all government suggested gains and doing unrepairable harm to our medical delivery system. We can't afford for this scenario to play out across America.

Suggested Reading:
How To Make Healthcare Cheaper
Talking About Healthcare
Understanding the Healthcare Debate
Go Die Now
What Do Doctors Think About the Healthcare Bill
If You Don't Know The Facts, You Best Stay Quiet.

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Here They Come Again

I found this over at Bluepitbull. This needs to be shared and aired until every American has once again heard these words and recognized the dangers that are before us.



The hounds of socialism keep coming back again and again. Will you take a minute and follow Ronald Reagan's advice? There is a button on my side panel to help you find your congress critters. Make your voices heard!

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

If You Don't Know The Facts, You Best Stay Quiet.

I recently had an anonymous libber come by from California to extol the virtues of government healthcare in Canada and the UK. I doubt they have came by to read my rebuttal because the drive by shoot off your mouth type never stick around long enough to get handed there butts when they are shown to not know anything but partisan BS.

To be fair, I will offer up evidence to the points I sited. To my amazement Deroy Murdock over at RealClearPolitics.com must have had the same need. So instead of writing my sister in London, my friend in Scotland, or my friend in Montreal, I decided to use this great article as evidence.

Government Medicine Should Horrify Americans
By Deroy Murdock
Imagine that your two best friends are British and Canadian tobacco addicts. The Brit battles lung cancer. The Canadian endures emphysema and wheezes as he walks around with clanging oxygen canisters. You probably would not think: "Maybe I should pick up smoking."

The fact that America is even considering government medicine is equally wacky. The state guides health care for our two closest allies: Great Britain and Canada. Like us, these are prosperous, industrial, Anglophone democracies. Nevertheless, compared to America, they suffer higher death rates for diseases, their patients experience severe pain, and they ration medical services.


Look what you're missing in the U.K.:

* Breast cancer kills 25 percent of its American victims. In Great Britain, the Vatican of single-payer medicine, breast cancer extinguishes 46 percent of its targets.

* Prostate cancer is fatal to 19 percent of its American patients. The National Center for Policy Analysis reports that it kills 57 percent of Britons it strikes.

* Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data show that the U.K.'s 2005 heart-attack fatality rate was 19.5 percent higher than America's. This may correspond to angioplasties, which were only 21.3 percent as common there as here.

* The U.K.'s National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) just announced plans to cut its 60,000 annual steroid injections for severe back-pain sufferers to just 3,000. This should save the government 33 million pounds (about $55 million). "The consequences of the NICE decision will be devastating for thousands of patients," Dr. Jonathan Richardson of Bradford Hospitals Trust told London's Daily Telegraph. "It will mean more people on opiates, which are addictive, and kill 2,000 a year. It will mean more people having spinal surgery, which is incredibly risky, and has a 50 per cent failure rate."

* "Seriously ill patients are being kept in ambulances outside hospitals for hours so NHS trusts do not miss Government targets," Daniel Martin wrote last year in London's Daily Mail. "Thousands of people a year are having to wait outside accident and emergency departments because trusts will not let them in until they can treat them within four hours, in line with a Labour [party] pledge. The hold-ups mean ambulances are not available to answer fresh 911 calls. Doctors warned last night that the practice of ‘patient-stacking' was putting patients' health at risk."

Go Read the statistics on Canada.

I know the religious zealot of BO believers will never change their ways, but it only takes the other 80% of Americans to turn this nation around and right the wrongs being pursued by congress. No we aren't backed by the likes of George Soros but real Americans have always stepped up when Freedom was in danger.

H/T to Mike's America

Please view my post below to better understand the strength we have as the American People.

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

We Have Been Underestimated












Barry, Nancy, Harry, Chris and all the rest, are you watching. We won't let you take it. The American Spirit has been rekindled a new. Change your ways.

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What Do Doctors Think About the Healthcare Bill

I have been pounding my head against this one for a while now. Maybe everyone thinks I am nuts. Maybe everyone thinks I don't have a clue on this issue. Let me set aside my obvious bias against this bill and simply quote Doctors who will be directly effected by this.

You can go and Read these quotes here, or you can just read them unchanged by me as I post them.

These come from a summation article on the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons website.

Mark A. Hurt, MD--
I am not impressed. This S.391 bill is another attempt for the government to take health care over completely; it is not hidden at all. The provisions are examples of explicit government coercion.

-New bureaucracies – paid for by? coercion of private citizens
-Individual mandate – coercion of private citizens
-Penalties – government coercion of private citizens
-Insurance mandates – more government of private businessmen
-Progressive taxation equivalent – more taxation (coercion)
-School-based clinics – more coercion
-Job killer – government coercion of employers
-Savings – translated: rationing

Yes, this is a lovely plan: government thugs stealing your money, forcing your will, limiting your choices. Americans must say NO to this!

If we do not fight for political freedom in medicine — Capitalism — we have nothing to fight for, no cause, no real goal, no purpose. The fight for Capitalism in politics is the fight for freedom of choice in medicine.



Steve Horvitz, D.O.
Agree with Dr. Hurt.

This is another govt takeover with loss of individual freedoms and a job killer all in the name of budgetary constraints.

If republicans vote for this, they will go down in elections along with the democrats.


Gary Gillespie, M.D.--

Appears that private healthcare is being co-opted, and the most vulnerable in our society, our seniors, will be very low on this doctor’s ‘hierarchy of needs’. The plan seems to include much control by the government, with little mention of any freedom to pursue options for treatment. In sum: a sly, bait-and-switch version of the House plan; presented for public consumtion by someone with medical credentials. It simply doesn’t pass the ’sniff test’.


Brad Vilims, M.D., D.A.B.P.M.--
We need to emphasize that this is not an argument of cost/profit, access, or even of quality of care but one of Liberty and Freedom.

We have a situation where Congress and the President believe that one man has a “Right” to another man’s labor, made even worse by the fact that the laborer has little or no say in how they provide the labor or the fees they can charge.

It is quite ironic that the first “Person of color” to be elected President is attempting to reinstate slavery.


David C. Johnson, MD --
I did not see mention made of tort reform in this proposal. Did I miss something important?


Howard Long MD MPH --
Oust any Rep. who votes for these dictates!

The Health-Care ‘Wedge’ Fix (Laffer,WSJ Opinion 8/5/09)
of patient power does work well. Not only the > 8 M Americans
with Health Savings Accounts (dumped in present plan of Congress)
but my patients, many uninsured, are happy with the availability,
thrift and quality of paying (much less) at the time of care.

Weekly, I see many patients who regret care like Congress plans.
Examples: HMO, ER or Medicaid clinic treated negative X-rays with
just cough syrup, but careful exam finds rales, indicating antibiotic
for early pneumonia. Patients with back pain get pain pills
and a work excuse when my careful deep palpation often reveals
tender spots, curable like shoulder bursitis.

I confirm Laffer’s “Fix” many times daily: patient power, not regulation,
reduces costs while improving quality. It is a worthy corollary
to the famous Laffer documentation that lower taxes bring more revenue.


Daniel T Sullivan, DDS --
This is another example of the mentality of today’s politicians. All of us — doctors, patients, young, old — should tell all these big government twerps: No – No – NO!!! None of your plans are acceptable. Just back off. Give us back our freedom! We want the government OUT of medicine — and pretty much everything else. The answer to what ails medicine, the economy, our country is: Capitalism — period.


Lester Karotkin, M.D. --
The use of “Health Insurance” as a mechanism for paying for medical services adds tremendously to the cost, whether the insurer is a private or a government entity. Furthermore, the use of “insurance” as a payment mechanism impairs the patient-doctor relationship. The angrily disruptive controversy now so prevalent stems from the widespread delusion that “insurance” is the only proper way to provide medical services. I hold my concept fundamental and irrefutable. I may be the only human left on earth who believes and understands this, but I challenge anyone to prove me wrong!




I think that sums it up nicely.

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Monday, August 10, 2009

Fishy



H/T Jo-Joe-Politico for Pointing This out. I downloaded this video to my computer in case BO has this site shut down.

Looks like BO is attacking the constitution again. Perhaps someone needs to remind him about our freedoms. If we don't start talking now we might not be able to tomorrow. I am so glad to see real Americans standing up and telling their congressional employees what we think of the job they have been doing. If one of you are reading this My Hat is off to You. Thank You!

Update: Take the Yahoo Poll

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

America Needs Jobs

I have talked about business and the various factors that keep it going. Today I want to point you to a petition that demands real change to put America back to work. Americans are suffering today and by all signs it will be quite a while before the job market can restore the losses. There is a solution. So far our fearless leader hasn't stumbled across it, so I would like your help pointing it out to him and the congress critters who can do something about it.

American Solutions has proposed a four step plan that could turn our unemployment numbers around. It could turn our business activity around. It could put America back to work and Americans back on the road to recovery.
1. Cut the Payroll Tax in Half for 2 Years.
2. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains.
3. Reduce the Corporate Tax Rate.
4. Abolish the Death Tax.
Go read the details and sign the petition. Let's put America back to work.

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