Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Not Quite a Vacation
I'd like to say I'll be on vacation the next three weeks, but instead I'll be fulfilling some military commitments. The results will be about the same insofar as there probably will be very little posting on my part. This may be good news for some and to those I say "you're welcome." To the remaining minority, I'll see you in three weeks.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Meet your Czars
Congratulations to all of those that made the calls to the White House, Representatives and Senators on forcing Van Jones to resign. Only problem, Obama never explained why this self proclaimed Communist and radical was selected as his Green Czar. Obama himself said, to learn about me; look at the people I surround myself with.
Did the FBI not do their job or does the President want this type of person on his staff, neither option is good.
Here are three more of the Czar’s your tax dollars are funding.
FCC Czar Mark Lloyd:
"It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.”
At a 2008 “media reform” conference sponsored by the George Soros-funded Free Press organization, Lloyd declared that the Marxist revolution in Venezuela under Chavez was “incredible” and “dramatic” but that the “property owners and the folks who were then controlling the media in Venezuela rebelled” against the would-be dictator and supported a coup against him. However, Lloyd said that Chavez wised up and “then started to take the media seriously…”
The implication of these remarks is that Chavez dealt with his opponents in the media by trying to control or silence them, and that Lloyd supports that strategy when dealing with opponents of revolutionary Marxism here in the U.S.\
In 2006 while at the liberal Center for American Progress Lloyd wrote a book entitled, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America. In the book he presents the idea the private broadcasters (private business) should pay a licensing [fee] which equals their total operating costs so that public broadcasting [stations] can spend the same on their operations as the private companies do. By doing so he hopes to improve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting currently at $400 Million for 2009.
Not only does he want to redistribute private profits, he wants to regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focus on “diverse views” (Progressive Views) and government activities. I am all for that when I see on PBS a conservative voice next to Bill Moyers. And when I hear a conservative voice on NRP or just voice on NRP that sounds excited with some passion.
Science Czar John Holdren
· “Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;”
· “The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food…”
· “Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise…”
· People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
· “Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution”
· A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.
Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein
“We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”
"Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives…Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients' behalf."
Sunstein also argued in favor of “eliminating current practices such as greyhound racing, cosmetic testing, and meat eating, most controversially.”He concluded his Harvard speech by expressing his “more ambitious animating concern” that the current treatment of livestock and other animals should be considered “a form of unconscionable barbarity not the same as, but in many ways morally akin to, slavery and mass extermination of human beings.”
Your tax dollars hard at work.
"Nothing more advances authority than silence."
Charles de Gaulle
Did the FBI not do their job or does the President want this type of person on his staff, neither option is good.
Here are three more of the Czar’s your tax dollars are funding.
FCC Czar Mark Lloyd:
"It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.”
At a 2008 “media reform” conference sponsored by the George Soros-funded Free Press organization, Lloyd declared that the Marxist revolution in Venezuela under Chavez was “incredible” and “dramatic” but that the “property owners and the folks who were then controlling the media in Venezuela rebelled” against the would-be dictator and supported a coup against him. However, Lloyd said that Chavez wised up and “then started to take the media seriously…”
The implication of these remarks is that Chavez dealt with his opponents in the media by trying to control or silence them, and that Lloyd supports that strategy when dealing with opponents of revolutionary Marxism here in the U.S.\
In 2006 while at the liberal Center for American Progress Lloyd wrote a book entitled, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America. In the book he presents the idea the private broadcasters (private business) should pay a licensing [fee] which equals their total operating costs so that public broadcasting [stations] can spend the same on their operations as the private companies do. By doing so he hopes to improve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting currently at $400 Million for 2009.
Not only does he want to redistribute private profits, he wants to regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focus on “diverse views” (Progressive Views) and government activities. I am all for that when I see on PBS a conservative voice next to Bill Moyers. And when I hear a conservative voice on NRP or just voice on NRP that sounds excited with some passion.
Science Czar John Holdren
· “Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;”
· “The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food…”
· “Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise…”
· People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
· “Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution”
· A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.
Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein
“We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”
"Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives…Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients' behalf."
Sunstein also argued in favor of “eliminating current practices such as greyhound racing, cosmetic testing, and meat eating, most controversially.”He concluded his Harvard speech by expressing his “more ambitious animating concern” that the current treatment of livestock and other animals should be considered “a form of unconscionable barbarity not the same as, but in many ways morally akin to, slavery and mass extermination of human beings.”
Your tax dollars hard at work.
"Nothing more advances authority than silence."
Charles de Gaulle
Saturday, September 5, 2009
"one million times smaller than a grain of sand"
Simply amazing. A photograph of a molecule.
Wow.
The story can be found here
The researchers focused on a single molecule of pentacene, which is commonly used in solar cells. The rectangular-shaped organic molecule is made up of 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms.
In the image above the hexagonal shapes of the five carbon rings are clear and even the positions of the hydrogen atoms around the carbon rings can be seen.
To give some perspective, the space between the carbon rings is only 0.14 nanometers across, which is roughly one million times smaller than the diameter of a grain of sand.
"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. "
Rasmussen Polls- Bad News For Dems, Libs and the President
Rasmussen has some bad news for Congress, Health Care Reform (as currently preached) and the President:
Republicans Widen Lead Over Democrats on Generic Ballot
Voters Say Town Hall Meetings Should Be for Congressmen to Listen, Not Speak
51% Say Congress is Too Liberal, 22% Say It’s Too Conservative
57% Would Like to Replace Entire Congress
Support for Congressional Health Care Reform Falls to New Low
60% Say Tax Hikes Hurt The Economy Americans Say
Friday, September 4, 2009
We Want A Healthcare System Like The British! (sounds like a "death panel" to me)
The elephant in the room here, in addition to the obvious warning about government health care, is that hospice care can be deadly. Palliative care, such as morphine can actually hasten death. But that discussion is for another time. Time and again we are told that all the horror stories we hear about Britain's Health care system are simply part of the "myths" that those bad old, uncaring "political terrorists" people on the Right are peddling. Well, maybe not. From the Telegraph H/T Touchstone:
In 2007-08 16.5 per cent of deaths in Britain came about after continuous deep sedation, according to researchers at the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, twice as many as in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In a letter to the Telegraph, palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others warn:“Forecasting death is an inexact science,” they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.”
Sounds like a panel of experts "helping" by keeping health costs down.
The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.
The scheme, called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was designed to reduce patient suffering in their final hours.
It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004.
Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor.
They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication.However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. Patients can become semi-conscious and confused as a side effect of pain-killing drugs such as morphine if they are also dehydrated, for instance.
When a decision has been made to place a patient on the pathway doctors are then recommended to consider removing medication or invasive procedures, such as intravenous drips, which are no longer of benefit.
If a patient is judged to still be able to eat or drink food and water will still be offered to them, as this is considered nursing care rather than medical intervention.
Dr Hargreaves said that this depended, however, on constant assessment of a patient’s condition.
He added that some patients were being “wrongly” put on the pathway, which created a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that they would die.
He said: “I have been practising palliative medicine for more than 20 years and I am getting more concerned about this “death pathway” that is coming in.“Patients who are allowed to become dehydrated and then become confused can be wrongly put on this pathway.”
He said that he had personally taken patients off the pathway who went on to live for “significant” amounts of time and warned that many doctors were not checking the progress of patients enough to notice improvement in their condition.“If they are sedated it is much harder to see that a patient is getting better,” Prof Millard said.
In 2007-08 16.5 per cent of deaths in Britain came about after continuous deep sedation, according to researchers at the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, twice as many as in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In a letter to the Telegraph, palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others warn:“Forecasting death is an inexact science,” they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.”
Sounds like a panel of experts "helping" by keeping health costs down.
The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.
The scheme, called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was designed to reduce patient suffering in their final hours.
It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004.
Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor.
They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication.However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. Patients can become semi-conscious and confused as a side effect of pain-killing drugs such as morphine if they are also dehydrated, for instance.
When a decision has been made to place a patient on the pathway doctors are then recommended to consider removing medication or invasive procedures, such as intravenous drips, which are no longer of benefit.
If a patient is judged to still be able to eat or drink food and water will still be offered to them, as this is considered nursing care rather than medical intervention.
Dr Hargreaves said that this depended, however, on constant assessment of a patient’s condition.
He added that some patients were being “wrongly” put on the pathway, which created a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that they would die.
He said: “I have been practising palliative medicine for more than 20 years and I am getting more concerned about this “death pathway” that is coming in.“Patients who are allowed to become dehydrated and then become confused can be wrongly put on this pathway.”
He said that he had personally taken patients off the pathway who went on to live for “significant” amounts of time and warned that many doctors were not checking the progress of patients enough to notice improvement in their condition.“If they are sedated it is much harder to see that a patient is getting better,” Prof Millard said.
Healthcare Reform In One Page
Instead of a 1000+ page document created by 100's of lobbyists, so unwieldy that its supporters have read (like the POTUS) or understand, I offer this (simple) alternative:
Goal: Insure the uninsured.
How: Extend Medicaid
Goal: Increase competition
How: Allow insurance to be purchased beyond state lines
Goal: Decrease medical costs
How: Tort reform and make medical costs tax deductible
I think that makes a fine start. Its manageable, and lays the groundwork for additional reform down the road. Easily understood, so maybe the POTUS can quit lying about what it says (e.g. "you can keep your present plan" and "there will be no rationing") and it doesn't saddle our children with a debt they won't be able to pay off.
Raise your voice. There ARE alternatives to government takeover of health care.
Goal: Insure the uninsured.
How: Extend Medicaid
Goal: Increase competition
How: Allow insurance to be purchased beyond state lines
Goal: Decrease medical costs
How: Tort reform and make medical costs tax deductible
I think that makes a fine start. Its manageable, and lays the groundwork for additional reform down the road. Easily understood, so maybe the POTUS can quit lying about what it says (e.g. "you can keep your present plan" and "there will be no rationing") and it doesn't saddle our children with a debt they won't be able to pay off.
Raise your voice. There ARE alternatives to government takeover of health care.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Revolution
Wow! This is a most informative essay by a guy who understands the Washington scene and mind set. It’s as clear and concise an analysis as I’ve seen. It’s strong medicine, but I’m afraid that’s what is called for.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Baghdad: Cell involved in Wednesday's attacks captured
Some good news from Iraq and their security apparatus. Though a day late and a dollar short (and a few hundred lives unfortunately) it is good to see the response and its effectiveness.
H/T Iraq The Model
State owned al-Sabah reports that a special force of the ministry of interior captured 14 suspects believed to have been involved in the August 19 attacks in Baghdad that killed more than a hundred people. The confessions of the captured cell members lead to the bomb factory where the trucks used in the attacks were made. Inside the factory, which was in the Ghazaliyah district in northwestern Baghdad, another truck-bomb was found and disposed of. ...(more)
H/T Iraq The Model
State owned al-Sabah reports that a special force of the ministry of interior captured 14 suspects believed to have been involved in the August 19 attacks in Baghdad that killed more than a hundred people. The confessions of the captured cell members lead to the bomb factory where the trucks used in the attacks were made. Inside the factory, which was in the Ghazaliyah district in northwestern Baghdad, another truck-bomb was found and disposed of. ...(more)
Obamacare 2.0 or Bait and Switch
Charles Krauthammer delivers a "Plan B" for Obamacare. As I have said before, no reasonable person will deny that we need some changes, but reasonable people can and do disagree on complete overhaul, deficit spending, and putting government in control of healthcare matters. Here's one such proposal:
"...Obamacare 2.0 -- promulgating draconian health-insurance regulation that prohibits (a) denying coverage for preexisting conditions, (b) dropping coverage if the client gets sick and (c) capping insurance company reimbursement.
What's not to like? If you have insurance, you'll never lose it. Nor will your children ever be denied coverage for preexisting conditions.
The regulated insurance companies will get two things in return. Government will impose an individual mandate that will force the purchase of health insurance on the millions of healthy young people who today forgo it. And government will subsidize all the others who are too poor to buy health insurance. The result? Two enormous new revenue streams created by government for the insurance companies.
Its not perfect but its another idea/option, something congress seems to be woefully short of these days.
but then Krauthammer then lets the other leather boot drop as it were:
"...Isn't there a catch? Of course, there is. Government-subsidized universal and virtually unlimited coverage will vastly compound already out-of-control government spending on health care. The financial and budgetary consequences will be catastrophic. And the only solution will be rationing. That's when the liberals will give the FCCCER regulatory power and give you end-of-life counseling. " (more here)
"...Obamacare 2.0 -- promulgating draconian health-insurance regulation that prohibits (a) denying coverage for preexisting conditions, (b) dropping coverage if the client gets sick and (c) capping insurance company reimbursement.
What's not to like? If you have insurance, you'll never lose it. Nor will your children ever be denied coverage for preexisting conditions.
The regulated insurance companies will get two things in return. Government will impose an individual mandate that will force the purchase of health insurance on the millions of healthy young people who today forgo it. And government will subsidize all the others who are too poor to buy health insurance. The result? Two enormous new revenue streams created by government for the insurance companies.
Its not perfect but its another idea/option, something congress seems to be woefully short of these days.
but then Krauthammer then lets the other leather boot drop as it were:
"...Isn't there a catch? Of course, there is. Government-subsidized universal and virtually unlimited coverage will vastly compound already out-of-control government spending on health care. The financial and budgetary consequences will be catastrophic. And the only solution will be rationing. That's when the liberals will give the FCCCER regulatory power and give you end-of-life counseling. " (more here)
Friday, August 28, 2009
Christian vs. Public Education
I cannot recommend highly enough this article from the editors of Touchstone Magazine. It pulls no punches in pointing out the glaring problems of anti-Christian public education that no amount of rationalizing can make go away, while at the same time talking about how true, robust, Classical Christian education is the only education worth having.
This is a must read.
This is a must read.
ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan
So, if there was ever any doubt in your mind which way the media leans, this should put it to rest. It's unconscionable that anyone should be allowed to present an opposable view the Obama Administration.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Frankenstein?
It is indeed a slippery slope. Of course just because we have the knowledge to clone a person that doesn’t mean that we will, right. Create a person without a soul? I think of Daemon, Boys from Brazil, or Pet Cemetery…….
God has given us free will. With our research we have created a lot of good, but much wrong has come with it.
I found this article interesting. Scientist have determined and proven that they can take fertilized egg and genetically correct any genetic defects carried by the parents. This is accomplished by adding genetic material "mitochondria" from a third person. So....now the baby has three genetic parents?
Just because we can do it should we? After all, God made a mistake, so we should correct his mistake, right? If a child has the possibility of a genetic defect they are of no use, so instead of just aborting them and flushing them down the toilet, or tossing them in the sink until they die, now we can genetically engineer them so we can have the perfect child.
God has given us free will. With our research we have created a lot of good, but much wrong has come with it.
I found this article interesting. Scientist have determined and proven that they can take fertilized egg and genetically correct any genetic defects carried by the parents. This is accomplished by adding genetic material "mitochondria" from a third person. So....now the baby has three genetic parents?
Just because we can do it should we? After all, God made a mistake, so we should correct his mistake, right? If a child has the possibility of a genetic defect they are of no use, so instead of just aborting them and flushing them down the toilet, or tossing them in the sink until they die, now we can genetically engineer them so we can have the perfect child.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Week In Review
No, there is no news here. No biting commentary. No editorial remarks, though goodness knows the world screams for them. Instead I intend to bore everyone making the unfortunate choice to read this, with a slide-show of sorts, of how I spent the last week. Same sedative qualities as the traditional slide show motif only without the chance of an occasionally interesting picture- although those may come later. Please contain your excitement.
We traveled to Missouri to visit my wife's parents who live in Independence. I have the best in-laws in the world. Good laughs, good stories, no drama, no pressure or expectations. It is ostensibly a trip for my wife but I get to reap the benefits of a relaxing vacation, sleeping in till 6:30 or so and walking about a good part of the time with no shoes. I cannot remember the last time I really "needed" a vacation but this was one of those times. I had a knot in the middle of my back all the week prior upon which another knot seemed to form as we made the flight to Kansas City. I felt it melt away every minute I was there.
Perhaps it was the rain. After a summer of which has included almost 70 days of 100+ temps I can honestly say that the sights and sounds and smells of the rains which have turned the area into a lush green place were a welcome greeting.
On these trips we always try to see some historical and educational sites for the boys and for ourselves as we all love history. This trip was particularly fun/interesting in this regard and I offer up our itinerary to you as a preview in the event you decide that a similar trip might be worth your time. (It would be)
First, we went to the Truman Presidential Library. I've only seen one other presidential library, that being good ole LBJ for whom we can thank for the day off tomorrow. (At least you can if you are a state worker here in Texas or work with one as does yours truly) I enjoyed this library more than LBJ's and regret that we did not have more time to spend there. I would easily go back.
That same day we went to the Truman Home where Harry and Bess (and her mother) and their daughter Margaret lived before during and after the White house. My wife told the boys the story of walking by the house when she was in school and waving to the Secret Service men in the house across the street. By that time Margaret had already left and rarely visited or stayed long as she was no fan of Independence. The house is in almost the exact state that it was when Bess died in 1982.
Next day we went to Pella, Iowa to take our oldest son on an official visit to my wife's Alma mater, Central College. Pella, of Pella Windows fame is a town with strong Dutch roots and influence even to this day, complete with an historical village with canal, a windmill and even a tulip festival. And best of all, Dutch bakeries to die for. Our son was treated to a reserved parking space (this made a huge impression on him) and a four hour tour of campus that included the opportunity to speak with professors in German and Drama, both current areas of interest. He also had the opportunity to learn about the school's Study Abroad Program which was responsible for bringing my wife and I together 22 years ago.
The meeting with the drama professor was a real eye-opener for him. She asked him if he like to read and how many books he had read. He said he hadn't read many and didn't like to read (which is not entirely true). The professor told him he needed to start reading - a lot. She assigns almost a thousand pages a week and encouraged him to begin reading a play a week and books from the Great Book Lists. You should have seen his face. But I think it made an impression that his parents could only hope for.
Next day we went to the National Frontier Trails Museum. While interesting this was not the best part of the day. Outside this museum is a restored, refurbished and refurnished train deopot that is completely free to visit. A tour is provided by a volunteer and was a great visit.
Next we went into Kansas City to the Crown Center to the boy's favorite place to eat, Fritz's. You can't go wrong when your food is delivered to your table by train. After lunch we went to a Narnia Exhibit and a Legos artist exhibit.
The next day we went to what I thought was the best of the week. The Steamboat Arabia Museum. The Steamboat Arabia was a side wheeler steamboat which hit a snag in the Missouri River and sank near what today is Parkville, Missouri, in 1856 with 200 tons of supplies. They found the boat in the early 90's about a half mile from the river in a farmer's field about 45 feet down. Most amazing of all they found most of the supplies in tact. Wedgwood china, hand blown Italian glass beads, bolts of cloth and silk, clothes, clothes pins, coffee grinders, basins, utensils weapons, foods, champagne, who name it. 2/3rds on display. they expect it will take another 15 years to preserve the remaining artifacts. Simply incredible and worth a trip all on its own. The website does not do it justice but its a start.
I'll be back to posting soon
We traveled to Missouri to visit my wife's parents who live in Independence. I have the best in-laws in the world. Good laughs, good stories, no drama, no pressure or expectations. It is ostensibly a trip for my wife but I get to reap the benefits of a relaxing vacation, sleeping in till 6:30 or so and walking about a good part of the time with no shoes. I cannot remember the last time I really "needed" a vacation but this was one of those times. I had a knot in the middle of my back all the week prior upon which another knot seemed to form as we made the flight to Kansas City. I felt it melt away every minute I was there.
Perhaps it was the rain. After a summer of which has included almost 70 days of 100+ temps I can honestly say that the sights and sounds and smells of the rains which have turned the area into a lush green place were a welcome greeting.
On these trips we always try to see some historical and educational sites for the boys and for ourselves as we all love history. This trip was particularly fun/interesting in this regard and I offer up our itinerary to you as a preview in the event you decide that a similar trip might be worth your time. (It would be)
First, we went to the Truman Presidential Library. I've only seen one other presidential library, that being good ole LBJ for whom we can thank for the day off tomorrow. (At least you can if you are a state worker here in Texas or work with one as does yours truly) I enjoyed this library more than LBJ's and regret that we did not have more time to spend there. I would easily go back.
That same day we went to the Truman Home where Harry and Bess (and her mother) and their daughter Margaret lived before during and after the White house. My wife told the boys the story of walking by the house when she was in school and waving to the Secret Service men in the house across the street. By that time Margaret had already left and rarely visited or stayed long as she was no fan of Independence. The house is in almost the exact state that it was when Bess died in 1982.
Next day we went to Pella, Iowa to take our oldest son on an official visit to my wife's Alma mater, Central College. Pella, of Pella Windows fame is a town with strong Dutch roots and influence even to this day, complete with an historical village with canal, a windmill and even a tulip festival. And best of all, Dutch bakeries to die for. Our son was treated to a reserved parking space (this made a huge impression on him) and a four hour tour of campus that included the opportunity to speak with professors in German and Drama, both current areas of interest. He also had the opportunity to learn about the school's Study Abroad Program which was responsible for bringing my wife and I together 22 years ago.
The meeting with the drama professor was a real eye-opener for him. She asked him if he like to read and how many books he had read. He said he hadn't read many and didn't like to read (which is not entirely true). The professor told him he needed to start reading - a lot. She assigns almost a thousand pages a week and encouraged him to begin reading a play a week and books from the Great Book Lists. You should have seen his face. But I think it made an impression that his parents could only hope for.
Next day we went to the National Frontier Trails Museum. While interesting this was not the best part of the day. Outside this museum is a restored, refurbished and refurnished train deopot that is completely free to visit. A tour is provided by a volunteer and was a great visit.
Next we went into Kansas City to the Crown Center to the boy's favorite place to eat, Fritz's. You can't go wrong when your food is delivered to your table by train. After lunch we went to a Narnia Exhibit and a Legos artist exhibit.
The next day we went to what I thought was the best of the week. The Steamboat Arabia Museum. The Steamboat Arabia was a side wheeler steamboat which hit a snag in the Missouri River and sank near what today is Parkville, Missouri, in 1856 with 200 tons of supplies. They found the boat in the early 90's about a half mile from the river in a farmer's field about 45 feet down. Most amazing of all they found most of the supplies in tact. Wedgwood china, hand blown Italian glass beads, bolts of cloth and silk, clothes, clothes pins, coffee grinders, basins, utensils weapons, foods, champagne, who name it. 2/3rds on display. they expect it will take another 15 years to preserve the remaining artifacts. Simply incredible and worth a trip all on its own. The website does not do it justice but its a start.
I'll be back to posting soon
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Lutheran Updates
In Eutychus' absence, I will say that I have posted on my blog Bedlam or Parnassus a couple of pieces on the Lutheran vote to allow "committed, monogamous, homosexuals" to serve as clergy.
Friday, August 21, 2009
"A" Train to Hell
So there is currently Government run health care, look no further than the VA for one of those options. I am a Vet, and I carry a card which allows me to use the VA hospital, trust me that’s my last option.
We’ve heard of death panels in HR 3200, while they do not exist in name in the bill, the intent is as clear as the nose on my face (see page 425 of HR3200).
They have this option for Vets, instituted during 1997, but abandon during the Bush administration. Well, our buddy Obama has reinstituted it. If this isn’t the writing on the wall, what is?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html
How does the Federal Government expect to run 1/3 of the economy when they can’t even run what they have now? They are spending like a drunken sailor the first time in Subic Bay! Look no further than the Cash for Clunkers. They can’t even run a program for a few billion dollars for cars. How do they expect to be able to run a complex health care system the CBO estimates at 1.3 TRILLION DOLLARS, and we all know how accurate the government forecast of spending is!
How about
Social Security – estimated to bankrupt in seven years http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/why_social_security_will_go_ba.html
Amtrak – Bankrupt
USPS – Bankrupt
Medicare – Loosing money out the wazooooooooooooo
Yea, let’s give them access to 1/3 of the economy!
So now they are going after the Insurance Companies to asses their pay scales…..next they will be using the IRS………hello FDR! Remember how FDR used the IRS in the 1936 election?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26251.html
If someone told you 2 years ago that the US Government would nationalize GM and fire the CEO you would have laughed them out of the room, notwithstanding the banks!
So, how about socialized health care? Canada is rationing health care and they realize it is imploding and something must be done like privatization.
"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,"
Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jbjzPEY0Y3bvRD335rGu_Z3KXoQw
What about France? They are looking to the US for a solution because their Government run health care isn’t working!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124958049241511735.html
So why are we going backwards? Why are Obama and his zipper heads enslaving this country to socialist tenants? Granted, it didn’t start with Obama, but he has us on a bullet train to hell!
When it is blatantly obvious to a liberal like John Mackey (Whole Food CEO), why isn't it with the politicians? Easy, they never had to meet a payroll or hold a job.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Wake up! Get involved! This is a marathon not a sprint.
"A people afraid of it's Government is called Tyranny. A Government afraid of it's people is called Liberty."
Thomas Jefferson
We’ve heard of death panels in HR 3200, while they do not exist in name in the bill, the intent is as clear as the nose on my face (see page 425 of HR3200).
They have this option for Vets, instituted during 1997, but abandon during the Bush administration. Well, our buddy Obama has reinstituted it. If this isn’t the writing on the wall, what is?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html
How does the Federal Government expect to run 1/3 of the economy when they can’t even run what they have now? They are spending like a drunken sailor the first time in Subic Bay! Look no further than the Cash for Clunkers. They can’t even run a program for a few billion dollars for cars. How do they expect to be able to run a complex health care system the CBO estimates at 1.3 TRILLION DOLLARS, and we all know how accurate the government forecast of spending is!
How about
Social Security – estimated to bankrupt in seven years http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/why_social_security_will_go_ba.html
Amtrak – Bankrupt
USPS – Bankrupt
Medicare – Loosing money out the wazooooooooooooo
Yea, let’s give them access to 1/3 of the economy!
So now they are going after the Insurance Companies to asses their pay scales…..next they will be using the IRS………hello FDR! Remember how FDR used the IRS in the 1936 election?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26251.html
If someone told you 2 years ago that the US Government would nationalize GM and fire the CEO you would have laughed them out of the room, notwithstanding the banks!
So, how about socialized health care? Canada is rationing health care and they realize it is imploding and something must be done like privatization.
"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,"
Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jbjzPEY0Y3bvRD335rGu_Z3KXoQw
What about France? They are looking to the US for a solution because their Government run health care isn’t working!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124958049241511735.html
So why are we going backwards? Why are Obama and his zipper heads enslaving this country to socialist tenants? Granted, it didn’t start with Obama, but he has us on a bullet train to hell!
When it is blatantly obvious to a liberal like John Mackey (Whole Food CEO), why isn't it with the politicians? Easy, they never had to meet a payroll or hold a job.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
Wake up! Get involved! This is a marathon not a sprint.
"A people afraid of it's Government is called Tyranny. A Government afraid of it's people is called Liberty."
Thomas Jefferson
Saturday, August 15, 2009
State of the Union's Finances
Do yourself a favor and read this synopsis of our debt. Then watch I.O.U.S.A.
Our current national debt of $11 trillion is cause enough for concern, but that figure does not account for the gap between future promised and funded Social Securityand Medicare benefits, as well as a range of other commitments and contingencies the federal government has pledged to support. A full accounting of those exposuresshows that the federal government is in a $56 trillion-plus hole!
During the past 50 years, we’ve balanced the federal budget only six times. When you exclude the Social Security surplus, we’ve only balanced the budget once (in 2000) over the same period.
Why is this a problem? Given our AAA credit rating and the fact that the dollar is a global reserve currency, lenders, both domestic and foreign, have thus far been willing to finance our national debt. However, in light of projected deficit and debt burdens,this may change.
For example, in March 2009, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao publically expressed his concern regarding the credit worthiness of the U.S. government. For example, in 2008, the federal government ran a budget deficit of $459 billion. For 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects a deficit of $1.7 trillion—the largest as a percentage of GDP since WWII.
Our national debt has doubled in the past decade, rising from about $5.5 trillion in 1998 to over $11 trillion as of March 2009.
By 2008, only 38 percent of the budget (including defense) was considered “discretionary” and funded through annual appropriation decisions, while 62 percent consisted of entitlement programs and other mandatory spending (including net interest).
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Cash For Codgers -- The President Lays Out New Universal Healthcare Program
So succesful was the "Cash For Clunkers" Program that the administration decided to use the concept to save healthcare dollars. Now when a young couple want to have a baby they can get the whole thing paid for by just bringing in an old person. I hear they pay extra for republicans...
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"Cash For Codgers" -- The President Lays Out New Universal Healthcare Program from The Minority Report
Posted using ShareThis
Statement from the American College of Surgeons Regarding
CHICAGO—The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American people at a time when they want clear, understandable facts about health care reform. We want to set the record straight.
Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.
Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon’s decision to remove a child’s tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do. Surgeons make decisions about recommending operations based on what’s right for the patient.
We agree with the President that the best thing for patients with diabetes is to manage the disease proactively to avoid the bad consequences that can occur, including blindness, stroke, and amputation. But as is the case for a person who has been treated for cancer and still needs to have a tumor removed, or a person who is in a terrible car crash and needs access to a trauma surgeon, there are times when even a perfectly managed diabetic patient needs a surgeon. The President’s remarks are truly alarming and run the risk of damaging the all-important trust between surgeons and their patients.
We assume that the President made these mistakes unintentionally, but we would urge him to have his facts correct before making another inflammatory and incorrect statement about surgeons and surgical care.
About the American College of SurgeonsThe American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 74,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
Web site: www.facs.org
Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.
Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon’s decision to remove a child’s tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do. Surgeons make decisions about recommending operations based on what’s right for the patient.
We agree with the President that the best thing for patients with diabetes is to manage the disease proactively to avoid the bad consequences that can occur, including blindness, stroke, and amputation. But as is the case for a person who has been treated for cancer and still needs to have a tumor removed, or a person who is in a terrible car crash and needs access to a trauma surgeon, there are times when even a perfectly managed diabetic patient needs a surgeon. The President’s remarks are truly alarming and run the risk of damaging the all-important trust between surgeons and their patients.
We assume that the President made these mistakes unintentionally, but we would urge him to have his facts correct before making another inflammatory and incorrect statement about surgeons and surgical care.
About the American College of SurgeonsThe American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 74,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
Web site: www.facs.org
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The president's "most colossal, brazen bait-and-switch operation"
Camille Paglia, my favorite feminist, lesbian, liberal weighs in on "the administration's grotesque mishandling of healthcare reform." Out of the mouths of liberals....
From Salon:
Obama's aggressive endorsement of a healthcare plan that does not even exist yet, except in five competing, fluctuating drafts, makes Washington seem like Cloud Cuckoo Land. The president is promoting the most colossal, brazen bait-and-switch operation since the Bush administration snookered the country into invading Iraq with apocalyptic visions of mushroom clouds over American cities.
You can keep your doctor; you can keep your insurance, if you're happy with it, Obama keeps assuring us in soothing, lullaby tones. Oh, really? And what if my doctor is not the one appointed by the new government medical boards for ruling on my access to tests and specialists? And what if my insurance company goes belly up because of undercutting by its government-bankrolled competitor? Face it: Virtually all nationalized health systems, neither nourished nor updated by profit-driven private investment, eventually lead to rationing.
I just don't get it. Why the insane rush to pass a bill, any bill, in three weeks?...
The U.S. is gigantic; many of our states are bigger than whole European nations. The bureaucracy required to institute and manage a nationalized health system here would be Byzantine beyond belief and would vampirically absorb whatever savings Obama thinks could be made. And the transition period would be a nightmare of red tape and mammoth screw-ups, which we can ill afford with a faltering economy.
How is it possible that Democrats, through their own clumsiness and arrogance, have sabotaged healthcare reform yet again? Blaming obstructionist Republicans is nonsensical because Democrats control all three branches of government. It isn't conservative rumors or lies that are stopping healthcare legislation; it's the justifiable alarm of an electorate that has been cut out of the loop and is watching its representatives construct a tangled labyrinth for others but not for themselves. No, the airheads of Congress will keep their own plush healthcare plan -- it's the rest of us guinea pigs who will be thrown to the wolves.
But somehow liberals have drifted into a strange servility toward big government, which they revere as a godlike foster father-mother who can dispense all bounty and magically heal all ills. The ethical collapse of the left was nowhere more evident than in the near total silence of liberal media and Web sites at the Obama administration's outrageous solicitation to private citizens to report unacceptable "casual conversations" to the White House. If Republicans had done this, there would have been an angry explosion by Democrats from coast to coast. I was stunned at the failure of liberals to see the blatant totalitarianism in this incident, which the president should have immediately denounced. His failure to do so implicates him in it.
...
From Salon:
Obama's aggressive endorsement of a healthcare plan that does not even exist yet, except in five competing, fluctuating drafts, makes Washington seem like Cloud Cuckoo Land. The president is promoting the most colossal, brazen bait-and-switch operation since the Bush administration snookered the country into invading Iraq with apocalyptic visions of mushroom clouds over American cities.
You can keep your doctor; you can keep your insurance, if you're happy with it, Obama keeps assuring us in soothing, lullaby tones. Oh, really? And what if my doctor is not the one appointed by the new government medical boards for ruling on my access to tests and specialists? And what if my insurance company goes belly up because of undercutting by its government-bankrolled competitor? Face it: Virtually all nationalized health systems, neither nourished nor updated by profit-driven private investment, eventually lead to rationing.
I just don't get it. Why the insane rush to pass a bill, any bill, in three weeks?...
The U.S. is gigantic; many of our states are bigger than whole European nations. The bureaucracy required to institute and manage a nationalized health system here would be Byzantine beyond belief and would vampirically absorb whatever savings Obama thinks could be made. And the transition period would be a nightmare of red tape and mammoth screw-ups, which we can ill afford with a faltering economy.
How is it possible that Democrats, through their own clumsiness and arrogance, have sabotaged healthcare reform yet again? Blaming obstructionist Republicans is nonsensical because Democrats control all three branches of government. It isn't conservative rumors or lies that are stopping healthcare legislation; it's the justifiable alarm of an electorate that has been cut out of the loop and is watching its representatives construct a tangled labyrinth for others but not for themselves. No, the airheads of Congress will keep their own plush healthcare plan -- it's the rest of us guinea pigs who will be thrown to the wolves.
But somehow liberals have drifted into a strange servility toward big government, which they revere as a godlike foster father-mother who can dispense all bounty and magically heal all ills. The ethical collapse of the left was nowhere more evident than in the near total silence of liberal media and Web sites at the Obama administration's outrageous solicitation to private citizens to report unacceptable "casual conversations" to the White House. If Republicans had done this, there would have been an angry explosion by Democrats from coast to coast. I was stunned at the failure of liberals to see the blatant totalitarianism in this incident, which the president should have immediately denounced. His failure to do so implicates him in it.
...
From one “radical, extremist, un-American, mobster” to another:
Washington D.C.’s response to the voice of the people: Name calling! How childish! How rude. How intimidating…. But that's not getting the job done...Obama sends out the SEIU thugs. How effective will it be? For how many years has the voice of the people been silent? Will our politicians’ tactic work at again silencing the voice of the “silent majority?”
One crisis after another has been created by Washington politicians to secure our consent and deflect attention from their unconstitutional actions. Now, finally…after a long slumber…at last the sleeping giant has been awakened by the audacity, the unbelievable presumptions of this congress and president.
What the politicians are seeing and what they fear is the formation of a 3rd political party in America. They are frightened not by what we are saying. They are afraid of what we are doing. Obama, a community organizer by experience who cut his teeth in Chicago, the heartland of political corruption...is most aware of what is happening.
We, the People are organizing against this administration's big government, "Big Brother" socialistic ideology! And we are at last on the road to creating a viable alternative to “business as usual” in Washington D.C.
It should be no surprise Washington D.C. fears that which they have been able to prevent since the founding of our nation: a viable new political party that will enforce constitutional constraints on Washington.
Have no doubt. Do not be dissuaded by the political rhetoric of those whose primary interest is sustaining their political power over us. If we fail in this attempt to stop progressive socialism…we may in the very near future wake up to a nation no longer a Republic, but rather a Totalitarian Democracy ruled by a new elite and all-powerful politician class.
With Obama's Chicago political machine past, and his former and current supporters from that mindset...there is little that we should not expect to be possible in what they will do to implement his vision of "change" for America.
There are without question actions being taken in this country that are unworthy of our American traditions…that are “un-American,” but these actions are not the voices, the courage of the protestors who are standing up for what once was common place in America…blind justice and fair and equal treatment for all regardless of gender, race, religious or political beliefs.
What amazes me is that in a time where we have chosen to assure equal rights for people based upon “sexual preferences” which many of us are morally opposed to, and many in congress are doing everything in their power to grant near full citizenship benefits to illegal aliens... we are now being told that it is right and just to take equal rights and benefits from a much larger group of people…from those who have grown up being called “baby boomers,” men and women who have honorably served in our military and paid Social Security taxes throughout their lives. As fate would have it... it is our generation that has the opportunity and power to decide whether or not we judge age to be a disqualification for equal and fair treatment in America.
The communist ideals of “social equality” through redistribution of wealth away from those who have earned it may not have bothered some of us, but the retroactive decision to disenfranchise seniors from the readily available best heath care services in the world on the bases that they are no longer a good investment by the government is unconscionable. If this does not make you MAD AS HELL, then what will?
If we allow our government to reapportion "entitlement" to medical care …the benefits that we have all paid for over a lifetime…then we are liable for the foreshortening of our own lives and dramatically undermining the quality of life for our remaining years . We, the people, the rightful sovereigns of this nation…we now are forced to decide if...through our own irresponsible, apathetic, failures to rule ourselves honorably if we are now also determined to destroy that which we spent a lifetime building… the greatest nation on earth.
Yes, there are without question a lot of people today who are guilty of “un-American” activities…but one group that is definitely NOT being un-American. And that group is the patriots, the moms and pops, the grandfathers and grandmothers who are only guilty of attempting to have their voices heard by politicians who refuse to remove the wax from their ears…politicians who would demonize their own constituents for the lawful demands for redress of grievances. God Bless America with courage to overthrow tyrants and those who would “transform” America into a second-rate world power and a third-world economy. May God bless and give strength to all the true patriots in America today.
One crisis after another has been created by Washington politicians to secure our consent and deflect attention from their unconstitutional actions. Now, finally…after a long slumber…at last the sleeping giant has been awakened by the audacity, the unbelievable presumptions of this congress and president.
What the politicians are seeing and what they fear is the formation of a 3rd political party in America. They are frightened not by what we are saying. They are afraid of what we are doing. Obama, a community organizer by experience who cut his teeth in Chicago, the heartland of political corruption...is most aware of what is happening.
We, the People are organizing against this administration's big government, "Big Brother" socialistic ideology! And we are at last on the road to creating a viable alternative to “business as usual” in Washington D.C.
It should be no surprise Washington D.C. fears that which they have been able to prevent since the founding of our nation: a viable new political party that will enforce constitutional constraints on Washington.
Have no doubt. Do not be dissuaded by the political rhetoric of those whose primary interest is sustaining their political power over us. If we fail in this attempt to stop progressive socialism…we may in the very near future wake up to a nation no longer a Republic, but rather a Totalitarian Democracy ruled by a new elite and all-powerful politician class.
With Obama's Chicago political machine past, and his former and current supporters from that mindset...there is little that we should not expect to be possible in what they will do to implement his vision of "change" for America.
There are without question actions being taken in this country that are unworthy of our American traditions…that are “un-American,” but these actions are not the voices, the courage of the protestors who are standing up for what once was common place in America…blind justice and fair and equal treatment for all regardless of gender, race, religious or political beliefs.
What amazes me is that in a time where we have chosen to assure equal rights for people based upon “sexual preferences” which many of us are morally opposed to, and many in congress are doing everything in their power to grant near full citizenship benefits to illegal aliens... we are now being told that it is right and just to take equal rights and benefits from a much larger group of people…from those who have grown up being called “baby boomers,” men and women who have honorably served in our military and paid Social Security taxes throughout their lives. As fate would have it... it is our generation that has the opportunity and power to decide whether or not we judge age to be a disqualification for equal and fair treatment in America.
The communist ideals of “social equality” through redistribution of wealth away from those who have earned it may not have bothered some of us, but the retroactive decision to disenfranchise seniors from the readily available best heath care services in the world on the bases that they are no longer a good investment by the government is unconscionable. If this does not make you MAD AS HELL, then what will?
If we allow our government to reapportion "entitlement" to medical care …the benefits that we have all paid for over a lifetime…then we are liable for the foreshortening of our own lives and dramatically undermining the quality of life for our remaining years . We, the people, the rightful sovereigns of this nation…we now are forced to decide if...through our own irresponsible, apathetic, failures to rule ourselves honorably if we are now also determined to destroy that which we spent a lifetime building… the greatest nation on earth.
Yes, there are without question a lot of people today who are guilty of “un-American” activities…but one group that is definitely NOT being un-American. And that group is the patriots, the moms and pops, the grandfathers and grandmothers who are only guilty of attempting to have their voices heard by politicians who refuse to remove the wax from their ears…politicians who would demonize their own constituents for the lawful demands for redress of grievances. God Bless America with courage to overthrow tyrants and those who would “transform” America into a second-rate world power and a third-world economy. May God bless and give strength to all the true patriots in America today.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Euthanasia Mandate
Far from being an unfounded scare tactic the current healthcare bill has some troublesome language that may lead down some very dark roads. Think it couldn't happen? Well, it already has:
In an April 28 New York Times interview, the president spoke of having government guide a "very difficult democratic conversation" about "those toward the end of their lives [who] are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here." Those statements sounded a little creepy to us. Deciding who gets denied care at the end of life should not be dependent on government cost controls.
Presidential health care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health, has argued that independent government boards should decide policy on end-of-life care. He also has defended rationing care more strictly for older people because "allocation [of medical care] by age is not invidious discrimination."
...the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals this spring ruled that Georgia can override a doctor's decision about how much care is warranted for a handicapped child because the state is "the final arbiter" of medical decisions. ...
...the Oregon health plan last year refused to pay for a recognized drug to prolong the life of lung cancer patient Barbara Wagner even after her oncologist prescribed it. Yet the same bureaucrats told Ms. Wagner that the plan would indeed cover doctor-assisted suicide if she chose that option. ... (more)
In an April 28 New York Times interview, the president spoke of having government guide a "very difficult democratic conversation" about "those toward the end of their lives [who] are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here." Those statements sounded a little creepy to us. Deciding who gets denied care at the end of life should not be dependent on government cost controls.
Presidential health care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health, has argued that independent government boards should decide policy on end-of-life care. He also has defended rationing care more strictly for older people because "allocation [of medical care] by age is not invidious discrimination."
...the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals this spring ruled that Georgia can override a doctor's decision about how much care is warranted for a handicapped child because the state is "the final arbiter" of medical decisions. ...
...the Oregon health plan last year refused to pay for a recognized drug to prolong the life of lung cancer patient Barbara Wagner even after her oncologist prescribed it. Yet the same bureaucrats told Ms. Wagner that the plan would indeed cover doctor-assisted suicide if she chose that option. ... (more)
Dingell compares town hall mobs to the KKK
You have just entered the Dingell Twilight Zone. Clearly, the American People do not want this bill, see Rasmussen Poll.
I am lost....they are going to commit political suicide by passing this thing, if they keep the party in line, yet they don't care. It goes against everything they stand for, you know, elitism, power, greed, aristocracy, royalty, etc. It doesn’t make sense.
WE ARE making a difference! The silent majority is being heard!
I am lost....they are going to commit political suicide by passing this thing, if they keep the party in line, yet they don't care. It goes against everything they stand for, you know, elitism, power, greed, aristocracy, royalty, etc. It doesn’t make sense.
WE ARE making a difference! The silent majority is being heard!
Washington Post: Obama's Plan Just Expands The Status Quo
From the WaPo:
One of the bewildering ironies of the health-care debate is that President Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it. Ever since Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, health politics has followed a simple logic: Expand benefits and talk about controlling costs. That's the status quo, and Obama faithfully adheres to it. (more)
One of the bewildering ironies of the health-care debate is that President Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it. Ever since Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, health politics has followed a simple logic: Expand benefits and talk about controlling costs. That's the status quo, and Obama faithfully adheres to it. (more)
Monday, August 10, 2009
If Its Such a Good Deal Why Won't Congress Take It?
Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) manages to answer the question that Keith Ellison (D-MN) and the rest of her Obama-care supporting colleagues in both the House and Senate have avoided.
I won’t take ObamaCare because I have better options. (HotAir)
Everyone wants reform, we're just asking for better options (and for Congress to read the bills and give us a chance to do the same.
I won’t take ObamaCare because I have better options. (HotAir)
Everyone wants reform, we're just asking for better options (and for Congress to read the bills and give us a chance to do the same.
On Health Care, 51% Fear Government More Than Insurance Companies
A new Rasmussen Poll cuts to the heart of the matter. You can reform an insurance company but Big Brother is untouchable...
Sunday, August 9, 2009
They'll Pay You To Support Their Plan
From Newsbusters:
Take for example the following advertisement placed at the online website Craiglist for New York City Monday (h/t Patrick Ruffini):
**TALENTED LEADERS needed to work for health care reform $11-16/hour**
Now is the time to work for change
We need people like you—lots of people like you—to go out in communities around the country this summer and help make change happen. And you can earn money doing it. Earn $4,000-$6,000 this summer. (More)
Take for example the following advertisement placed at the online website Craiglist for New York City Monday (h/t Patrick Ruffini):
**TALENTED LEADERS needed to work for health care reform $11-16/hour**
Now is the time to work for change
We need people like you—lots of people like you—to go out in communities around the country this summer and help make change happen. And you can earn money doing it. Earn $4,000-$6,000 this summer. (More)
What the protests are all about
Hot Air reminds us what the protests are really all about:
The anger comes from the blatant disregard of even the pretense of legitimate governance. Elected representatives from Congress openly admit they’re not reading the bills, while leadership in both chambers try to ram through complicated bills without giving anyone a real chance to learn what they say and what they do. It doesn’t help that the bills in question — health care reform and cap-and-trade — are both elitist policies that essentially puts Washington in charge of decisions that people should make on their own. Put all that together, and the only surprise should be that the anger took this long to develop.
Poor Harry Reid doesn't even have the guts to face his constituents. He'll be holding Town Hall meetings by phone from now on...
Instead, he will only do what's called "telephone town halls" where he and his staff have complete control over the questions being asked and who's asking them.
Should have been big news, right?
Well, according to LexisNexis and Google news searches, not one major media outlet felt it was important enough to share with the citizenry.
Not one. (Newsbusters)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Obamacare and Deadly Docs
Two of the President's top health care advisors...in their own words:
First, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research.
"Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Feb. 27, 2008).
Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others" (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008).
Emanuel sees even basic amenities as luxuries and says Americans expect too much: "Hospital rooms in the United States offer more privacy . . . physicians' offices are typically more conveniently located and have parking nearby and more attractive waiting rooms" (JAMA, June 18, 2008).
"communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96).
"Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet, Jan. 31).
Dr. David Blumenthal, another key Obama adviser, recommends slowing medical innovation to control health spending.
Blumenthal has long advocated government health-spending controls, though he concedes they're "associated with longer waits" and "reduced availability of new and expensive treatments and devices" (New England Journal of Medicine, March 8, 2001). But he calls it "debatable" whether the timely care Americans get is worth the cost. (more)
First, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research.
"Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Feb. 27, 2008).
Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others" (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008).
Emanuel sees even basic amenities as luxuries and says Americans expect too much: "Hospital rooms in the United States offer more privacy . . . physicians' offices are typically more conveniently located and have parking nearby and more attractive waiting rooms" (JAMA, June 18, 2008).
"communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96).
"Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet, Jan. 31).
Dr. David Blumenthal, another key Obama adviser, recommends slowing medical innovation to control health spending.
Blumenthal has long advocated government health-spending controls, though he concedes they're "associated with longer waits" and "reduced availability of new and expensive treatments and devices" (New England Journal of Medicine, March 8, 2001). But he calls it "debatable" whether the timely care Americans get is worth the cost. (more)
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