Administration of 2010

Just as the cry went out to remember the Alamo and then remember 9/11 so will the cry go out to remember 2010. It is a time when a few people (compared to the population) decided to take away substantial freedom from the American people. They were not foreigners but our own leaders. Leaders are not always right. The only thing that will stop the slid toward socialism is for the people to realize that freedom is too great a price to pay for creature comforts.

I heard the story about one state where this program was already in place (Health Care 'Reform') and one person waited 44 days before they could see a doctor. Is that what we want when our child is sick and running a fever? Do we want to be under some government agency that will tell us when the fever is too high? Will they answer the phone or will we get a recorded message?

Only the people saying, it is enough, will stop these haters of liberty and freedom from wrecking our country beyond repair. We have a peaceful way to do it and it starts in November. We need to show some of that good old American backbone and stop this mess before it goes any further.

If you want a USSR type of government, just keep on believing the junk that is coming out of Washington DC these days. You did not see democracy at work in Congress, you saw a manipulation of grand proportion. A game of rules to outwit a smaller force.

Their victory in Congress with the Health Care legislation may be the biggest defeat for this country since Pearl Harbor but we will be back.

Let Freedom Ring

Little by little, Freedom disappears. The ringing is not so loud anymore.

It seems harmless sometimes, a little is taken here, a little there. Sometimes, like Sunday, a lot is taken. I found it ironic that such a major action was taken on the Lord's day, a slap in the face to our founding fathers who honored that day.

There are a number of things that were done in the past that would not be allowed now. Some were wrong, some were necessary. The point is it was citizens taking care of business without government telling them they could or could not do it.

The way it works is that they let things get in such a big mess in the first place that many will cheer when they finally step in and fix something that they generated.

Government involvement in private affairs never works.

There are times when people must be protected from themselves. We have to have law and order. If someone does something that is harmful to another, they must be held accountable. That is protecting freedom not taking it away.

An example might be in order. It use to be that if a dog kept on eating chickens, which were providing food for the household, that dog would be shot. It had learned a behavior that was harmful to the livelihood of the family which it could not unlearn. The taste of the chicken was to much for the dog to overcome, no matter how many times it was told to stop. In our society, that reasoning would not work. It would be called animal cruelty. The dog is on a higher plan socially than the chicken. The freedom lost is that the family is not allowed to decide what is best for them. The choice was a dog that would not mind and was killing valuable resources or the chickens which provided food.

Another example is that if I found gold on my property, it would not belong to me but would belong to the government. Why? Because they decided one day that it was theirs and sent out a notice. Property owners could get a lawyer and claim the minerals for themselves if they wanted to fight the government in court. Who ever wins that battle? And, who can afford it? Certainly not a normal working person.

People use to have a barrel in their back yard where they burned mail with personal information on it and other paper products. Now, it is illegal and can reap a fine if it is done. I know, we must be concerned about air pollution. Maybe, it is no longer appropriate to do that. The point is we are not allowed to decide. it is taken to the landfill where it will rot and be treated with chemicals. Some will seep into the ground but at least we can't see it.

Freedom! We enjoyed it for a time. The generation that is graduating now will never know what real freedom is. It use to be that if I got hungry for some kind of meat, I would just take my gun and go shoot one and cook it for supper. I'd be afraid to slap a bug now if anyone was looking. Cruelty! Cruelty!

Now, I go to the doctor. He ask me a few questions. Takes my blood. Then, if it is within government guidelines, he can treat me as he determines I should be treated. If it is something insurance will pay for and as I said within government guidelines. Even the doctor cannot treat patients based on his years of training and practice.

Freedom lost! It is slipping away. You have to live a while to see it.

You know I use to could wash my car when I wanted to. Better be careful these days. It might be the wrong day to do that.

Freedom going away! We can still do more than a lot of people in other nations. If it is to stay that way, governments must be forced to stay in their place of protecting the people without running their day-to-day lives.

We have the election process. People must educate themselves on the details and not just vote the way the media sways them. We need to pray that there will not be so much damage done in this four years that it cannot be fixed when some sensible people are elected in November.

Presidential Administration 2010

With Health Care Reform being virtually dead, it seems the president is trying to stir up every issue he can find. I wonder if it is a desperate effort to get something passed before this years elections. He fell into the health care trap just like the Clinton Administration did. It took up the first year with nothing accomplished. I hope they learn that it would be easier to break the process down into single issues that could be explained and passed instead of rolling everything into one big ball like a snowball rolling down a hill.

I think the big rush to get it passed before the end of the year was because of the election over Kennedy's Senate seat. But that is water over the rocks already.

We will see but I think we are in for three years of getting nothing done. It is pretty much a deadlock with Democrats not going along with the president because they want to get reelected and Republicans protecting their turf and waiting for the next presidential election.

Yak! Politics!

President's Freeze and Health Care Reform

With the election of a Republican in Mass. the Democratic Health care reform bill is pretty much done for. Suddenly the president announces a freeze on programs directly related to health care, i.e. medicare. This seems a little like vengeance to me. It is as if he is saying, 'all you conservatives want to play hardball, I can do that." I do not know if that is his thought or not but it certainly seems that way. I just don't get why he is so set against the elderly. I don't have the numbers but I expect that was a block of the population that did not sweep him into office, although AARP did support his reform bill. That was the organization AARP, not the people of AARP.

When it comes right down to it, the government had rather send billions to foreign countries to try to bribe them into not killing each other than to see that Americans are provided for. We are not looking for a hand out...we'd just like to keep the money we have paid in here where it belongs.

Health Care Bill

The Health Care Bill that is creeping through Congress like the green slime is the most dangerous thing since Japanese subs crept around the Pacific Ocean during World War II. They're good folks now but then they were up to no good.

For one thing, if passed, it will most likely include the public option which gives the government control over health insurance coverage. That is socialism. That is another freedom taken away.

Secondly, it will most likely end up making abortion a part of the legal code instead of merely a supreme court ruling.

Thirdly, it will tax the American people into bankruptcy. Every dollar the government takes from private citizens to build programs, that they obviously cannot police, will take dollars they would other wise spend in stores, malls, car lots...you name it. When the price of gas went up, because the government let speculators run free, the economy stumbled because those were dollars that would have been spent at businesses which are now closed. People not having those dollars to spend leads to closings, layoffs and the mess we have been in for sometime.

Fourthly, the system is not broke, it just needs looking after. Doctors and hospitals raise their prices to cover law suits from people who just got sick and are looking for someone to blame. The government could fix things better by eliminating fraud in such organizations as Medicare, not punishing those who are helped by Medicare.

Fifthly and in the same vein. Our biggest problem in this nation is government involvement. Almost without exception, if the government is involved, it cost too much and money is filtered off for some idiotic program or individual wealth. Even if they came up with a perfect bill, it would be polluted by little paragraphs and pork spending just to get a vote from some congressman. In the end, all the tax I pay in my life would go to some playground for polar bears that will melt when spring comes.

The communist tried this universal stuff and it was a failure. Failure was the only thing universal about it.

Our Congress needs to shred this idea and go fix something that needs fixing.

Health Care Debate

In regard to the nation wide debate on Health Care, I must be myself and be skeptical. I have to ask myself: "What's in it for the Democrats including the President?" Do they want a feather in their cap for doing what others have tried and failed to do? Is it their snuggle up relationship with big health care organizations? What exactly has them so stirred up?

I doubt that they have suddenly developed a warmhearted feeling for all the poor people in the country. If they were so caring, they would not exempt themselves from restrictions they vote into law on the rest of us.

Even I know that the reason people cannot afford good care is because the cost is too high. It is too high because people are charging too much for everything. Now that took a lot of research.

Back when I was studying criminology, there was a course on white collar crime. One category in the study was on the medical field. They discussed the way patients are billed for charges. For example, you could charge $25 for swabbing a wound. If you split that action into several different actions, you can charge for the swab, the antiseptic, nurse fees, doctor's approval and the piece of gauze used to catch the excess antiseptic and make the charge say $125. So long as there is a different code for each process, it will fly.

Well, call me crazy but I think there are things that will go into that bill (the much debated health care bill) that will shock us when it is put into play. The end result will look nothing like what is being discussed. The end result will be that we, the consumer, will pay more (one way or the other) and we will have less control over our own life than ever before. On the 'bright' side, they will dope us up so we really don't care.

Medical Bills

Most people experience the trip to the doctor, then to the hospital or specialist, sooner or later. Getting old brings on this burden along with many others. Even with insurance, the bills can eat you alive. 20% does not seem like much at the beginning but go to a few specialist in a row and pretty soon that 20% becomes a mounting debt. So after spending the next few years paying for what the insurance companies decided was not their responsibility, one could reach the decision to just let the ol' body rot away rather than give up everything just to pay medical bills. It is not that people do not want to pay their bills. It is the prices. Those gold plated cotton swabs can really set you back. I don't know what will happen with health care. In one of my courses on criminology the health care field was discussed under white collar crime because of the way their coding system worked. For example, if some service was performed, the service would be split into several codes so that they could be billed separately and cumulatively, charge more than they could as one service. I know of one time when a shot was give without insurance, when insurance was presented the cost of the shot doubled. They do that because they know insurance will not pay the full amount, so by doubling it, they get the original amount even if the patient does not pay the left over part. There is a backlash to all this. The health care industry is suppose to be in the business of making people better but with all the clutter of bills, past dues and threats from collectors, the end result is a more stressful life than if the patient had never gone in the first place. The doctors, nurses and hospitals do not see this followup harrassment. They let others do that dirty work. They really should consider it into the health care and handle it differently. After all, how can a person on retirement pay a person who makes goobs of money for their time. The math just does not work out. Well, 'cuse me, I may need to go take a pill.

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