Whenever a major piece of legislation is being rushed through a legislative body, we are reminded of the immortal words of the Great Philosopher; Deep Throat. "FOLLOW THE MONEY!"
We have already postulated that the Senate and House Healthcare Reform legislation will yield the benefits of revenue enhancement by the government skimming off the top of all the cash flow of 1/6 of our economy, reduce overall costs of Medicare and Medicaide by rationing, and reduce the costs to the Social Security system by hastening the death of unproductive citizens.
Link
The American Hospital Association announced an agreement with the Obama administration to reduce costs $155 billion over 10 years if congress will pass comprehensive healthcare reform. This begs the questions: Why $155 billion? Why not, oh I don't know, $500 billion? Nobody will audit this number anyway. Why not cut the costs now? WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM? Follow the money.
The legislation will grant them a government licensed monopoly by "restrictions on physician self-referral to hospitals in which they have an ownership interest". The two page press release is linked here.
So much for the AHA commitment to quality healthcare at lower cost for everyone.
The American Medical Association supports comprehensive healthcare reform. Of course; the AMA represents fewer than 1 in 6 doctors in this country, but don't pay any attention to that. Why would a doctor organization support legislation that will require them to work for the government following procedures dictated by faceless bureaucrats? Follow the money.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle; James Rohack, President of the AMA said the most pressing need is "Congress fix the 21 percent Medicare cut coming in January 2010" adding "people may find it difficult to find doctors to care for them because many doctors will close their practice to Medicare patients". Link
At this point we suffered an intellectual whiplash from the cognitive dissonance created by the AMA endorsement of legislation that would cut $500 billion in Medicare reimbursements. It seems the doctors have been promised that $250 billion will be added in before the $500 billion is cut. And besides; congress never cuts funding for ANYTHING. (I hate being lied to.)
The American Association of Retired Persons is endorsing comprehensive healtcare reform in spite of overwhelming evidence that this will reduce the number of physicians accepting medicare reimbursement. Why? Follow the money.
AARP sells medigap insurance. People who can afford it will be forced to purchase medigap insurance to guarantee prompt access to healthcare. Of course; medigap insurance may well be considered a cadillac plan and therefore there will be some kind of hidden tax or surcharge in addition to the premium on the insurance that AARP sells.
The Service Employee International Union, United Auto Workers, and other unions are strong proponents of universal health care with the government being the single provider. Why? Follow the money.
Most unions and many large employers are facing HUGE unfunded liabilities with their retiree healthcare plans; therefore they are anxious to dump the liability onto the Federal government. Problem solved.
Dear reader, consider this: Your retirement healthcare fund is bankrupt. I don't care if it is your union, your employer, or Medicare. It is bankrupt so deal with it.
The following two links are two opposing viewpoints of the same fact:
Feel free to read this well researched and footnoted report by the Heritage Foundation or you could join this fellow in Egypt and live along denial.
Either way, the result is the same. Your retirement healthcare is assured only to the point of your personal wealth and the generosity of congress. Good luck with that.
As for me and my house; I will trust the Lord.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Why Do You Hate Sarah Palin?
Progressives in this country have a visceral hatred for Sarah Palin that defies logic. It is remeniscint of the Bush Deragement Syndrome that still afflicts the Obama Administration. Just yesterday, November 19, the Secretary of the Treasury tried to blame the continuing decline of economic activity on President Bush. They are such children to blame all their failures on somebody else.
The hatred for Sarah Palin cannot be related to anything she has done on a national level because she has done nothing outside the state of Alaska. Do you hate her for what she accomplished for the citizens of Alaska? She tore down the good ol' boy club the Republicans were running in Juneau. She muscled more royalty payments from the oil companies and passed it on to the citizens of Alaska. She successfully negotiated a treaty to bring natural gas from Alaska to the rest of the United States through Canada.
Perhaps you hate her because she talks funny. Hope you are not one of those diversity freaks who believes that diversity is our greatest strength and ebonics should be an official language. It is interesting that even with her unfamiliar inflections she is still a very articulate person. It is impossible to missunderstand her. Best of all, she would never be so rude as to suggest that you talk funny.
Do you hate her because she is beautiful? She is an attractive middle aged mother of five who has spent a lot of time outdoors in a harsh environment; yet she remains quite attractive without resorting to exotic mud treatments, botox, or cosmetic surgery. Apparently nothing is more appealing than confidence, clean living, and an active lifestyle.
Is your hatred based on her education from a state university? The current occupant (of the White House) has a degree from Harvard University. Surely we must elect the smartest people possible who graduated from the best universities. Of course, the current occupant has never actually gotten his hands dirty and someone else paid for his college degree. Ms. Palin not only paid for her education by working; she is not afraid to wait tables, chop wood, or work a commercial fishing boat.
Pro choice people hate her because she did not abort Trig when she could. After all, when you have the right to choose you are not allowed to choose life. Especially when you give life to a person who is differently abled. What is the point of being able to use science to identify less than perfect persons if you cannot select those persons out for the betterment of society? That is why we must have smart people control every aspect of society.
You need to do some serious soul searching. Why do you hate Sarah Palin? Her harshest critics have never answered this question; therefore one must conclude that it is a mental illness like Bush Derangement Syndrome. People who suffer from BDS are at risk of contracting Palin Derangement Syndrome.
If you are unable to answer the question, "Why do you hate Sarah Palin" rationally; then perhaps you should stop watching and reading the main stream media. Time to take a vacation and ask yourself "What are my values? What do I stand for? What are my priorities?" Once you have satisfactory answers to these questions you will be in a position to change your behavior to reflect those values and priorities.
Then you will be thinking for yourself. You will be able to discern what people say and one day discover that you have been freed from slavery to PDS.
The hatred for Sarah Palin cannot be related to anything she has done on a national level because she has done nothing outside the state of Alaska. Do you hate her for what she accomplished for the citizens of Alaska? She tore down the good ol' boy club the Republicans were running in Juneau. She muscled more royalty payments from the oil companies and passed it on to the citizens of Alaska. She successfully negotiated a treaty to bring natural gas from Alaska to the rest of the United States through Canada.
Perhaps you hate her because she talks funny. Hope you are not one of those diversity freaks who believes that diversity is our greatest strength and ebonics should be an official language. It is interesting that even with her unfamiliar inflections she is still a very articulate person. It is impossible to missunderstand her. Best of all, she would never be so rude as to suggest that you talk funny.
Do you hate her because she is beautiful? She is an attractive middle aged mother of five who has spent a lot of time outdoors in a harsh environment; yet she remains quite attractive without resorting to exotic mud treatments, botox, or cosmetic surgery. Apparently nothing is more appealing than confidence, clean living, and an active lifestyle.
Is your hatred based on her education from a state university? The current occupant (of the White House) has a degree from Harvard University. Surely we must elect the smartest people possible who graduated from the best universities. Of course, the current occupant has never actually gotten his hands dirty and someone else paid for his college degree. Ms. Palin not only paid for her education by working; she is not afraid to wait tables, chop wood, or work a commercial fishing boat.
Pro choice people hate her because she did not abort Trig when she could. After all, when you have the right to choose you are not allowed to choose life. Especially when you give life to a person who is differently abled. What is the point of being able to use science to identify less than perfect persons if you cannot select those persons out for the betterment of society? That is why we must have smart people control every aspect of society.
You need to do some serious soul searching. Why do you hate Sarah Palin? Her harshest critics have never answered this question; therefore one must conclude that it is a mental illness like Bush Derangement Syndrome. People who suffer from BDS are at risk of contracting Palin Derangement Syndrome.
If you are unable to answer the question, "Why do you hate Sarah Palin" rationally; then perhaps you should stop watching and reading the main stream media. Time to take a vacation and ask yourself "What are my values? What do I stand for? What are my priorities?" Once you have satisfactory answers to these questions you will be in a position to change your behavior to reflect those values and priorities.
Then you will be thinking for yourself. You will be able to discern what people say and one day discover that you have been freed from slavery to PDS.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Not All Faiths are the Same
On November 5, I got into my car to drive home from a meeting and heard the news that someone had opened fire at Ft. Hood TX. They reported 9 persons dead and at least 28 injured. My first thought was "The religion of peace strikes again".
I teach preventing workplace violence and marvel at the fact that these incidents have lots of warning. People don't get up in the morning and say, "Hmm.. This is a good day to kill someone." They always give plenty of warning that they are unstable, unhappy, and may eventually resort to acts of violence. We teach employees to be alert for these signs and to report them so that these events may be prevented. Maj. Hasan is no exception. Based on what has been reported it would seem that Maj. Hasan gave plenty of indication that he would resort to homicidal violence. However, in our politically correct culture, nobody did anything to intervene because they didn't want to be accused of discrimination.
Now, thirteen people are dead because nobody wanted to offend Maj Hassan or followers of the prophet. There are apologists worldwide who will go out of their way to argue that all faiths are equivalent and this was just a misguided person. Bullarky! All faiths are NOT equivalent and we need to learn how to discern life affirming beliefs from life destroying beliefs. We need to stand up to those who would tyrannize in the name of religion, or government, or anything else.
The first amendment to the Constitution states that 'Congress shall make no law establishing religion or the free expression thereof'. I would never suggest that any religion, however loony, should be outlawed simply because it is not life affirming. Conversely, I strenuously object when the government tells a student that they cannot pray publicly at their own graduation.
Compare how Maj Hasan's faith has shaped his worldview with the worldview of my friend, Maj. X. Maj Hassan is a middle aged Muslim and strenuously objected to being sent to Afghanistan to fulfill his contractual obligation to the US Military. Maj Hasan taught that Islam means 'submission' and demands dogmatic obedience. Islam teaches that violence is an acceptable means to get persons to confess faith in the prophet. Islam allows the faithful to tax nonbelievers into subjection. Maj Hasan has publicly stated that Muslims love death more than you love life. (Link)
Maj. X is a Christian who has also been called into active duty to be deployed to Afghanistan. He is middle aged and not excited about entering a war zone; but he recognizes his obligation to fulfill the terms of his contract with the Military. Christianity teaches that God wants all, even Maj Hasan, to come to salvation through faith. Christianity teaches that all people are created in the image of God. We are all free in Christ and the fruits of the Spirit include peace and self-control. Jesus has tasked Christians to go out and make disciples (students) of all the world, not kill them.
It is ludicrous to say that a philosophy of death is equivalent to a philsophy of life. Our nation is ill served by people who are so afraid of giving offense that they refuse to recognize evil when they see it. We must reject moral equivalency and moral relativism to return to the values and principles that made our country great. Failing that will destroy our freedom and our prosperity.
The choice is yours.
I teach preventing workplace violence and marvel at the fact that these incidents have lots of warning. People don't get up in the morning and say, "Hmm.. This is a good day to kill someone." They always give plenty of warning that they are unstable, unhappy, and may eventually resort to acts of violence. We teach employees to be alert for these signs and to report them so that these events may be prevented. Maj. Hasan is no exception. Based on what has been reported it would seem that Maj. Hasan gave plenty of indication that he would resort to homicidal violence. However, in our politically correct culture, nobody did anything to intervene because they didn't want to be accused of discrimination.
Now, thirteen people are dead because nobody wanted to offend Maj Hassan or followers of the prophet. There are apologists worldwide who will go out of their way to argue that all faiths are equivalent and this was just a misguided person. Bullarky! All faiths are NOT equivalent and we need to learn how to discern life affirming beliefs from life destroying beliefs. We need to stand up to those who would tyrannize in the name of religion, or government, or anything else.
The first amendment to the Constitution states that 'Congress shall make no law establishing religion or the free expression thereof'. I would never suggest that any religion, however loony, should be outlawed simply because it is not life affirming. Conversely, I strenuously object when the government tells a student that they cannot pray publicly at their own graduation.
Compare how Maj Hasan's faith has shaped his worldview with the worldview of my friend, Maj. X. Maj Hassan is a middle aged Muslim and strenuously objected to being sent to Afghanistan to fulfill his contractual obligation to the US Military. Maj Hasan taught that Islam means 'submission' and demands dogmatic obedience. Islam teaches that violence is an acceptable means to get persons to confess faith in the prophet. Islam allows the faithful to tax nonbelievers into subjection. Maj Hasan has publicly stated that Muslims love death more than you love life. (Link)
Maj. X is a Christian who has also been called into active duty to be deployed to Afghanistan. He is middle aged and not excited about entering a war zone; but he recognizes his obligation to fulfill the terms of his contract with the Military. Christianity teaches that God wants all, even Maj Hasan, to come to salvation through faith. Christianity teaches that all people are created in the image of God. We are all free in Christ and the fruits of the Spirit include peace and self-control. Jesus has tasked Christians to go out and make disciples (students) of all the world, not kill them.
It is ludicrous to say that a philosophy of death is equivalent to a philsophy of life. Our nation is ill served by people who are so afraid of giving offense that they refuse to recognize evil when they see it. We must reject moral equivalency and moral relativism to return to the values and principles that made our country great. Failing that will destroy our freedom and our prosperity.
The choice is yours.
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