Wow... I can tell that I was pretty preoccupied when I was reading through a bunch of this stuff. I really don't know how I managed it but I missed one of the most incredible pieces of legislation that was designed so that there was no way to be able to get rid of it...
I promise, this is copied exactly from the health care bill, page 53, lines 15 through 20.
15 SEC. 155. SEVERABILITY.
16 If any provision of this Act, or any application of such
17 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un
18 constitutional, the remainder of the provisions of this Act
19 and the application of the provision to any other person
20 or circumstance shall not be affected.
How can you beat that?? IF anyone challenges any part of this, and the court finds it to be unconstitutional, then that WILL ONLY APPLY TO THAT SPECIFIC ENTITY AND ONLY THAT INSTANCE!!! They have written into this a way to circumvent the balance of power. They have taken the Legislative branch power and have written in to their legislation an overthrow of the power of the Judicial branch, and the people. If there was ever a reason to turn against this, and ANY politician who votes for it, this is it. They have taken total power in their hands, and have tried to take away any power that the people could have.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Have you ever wondered...?
How many times have you had something happen and you had to “stop and think”? I know that is a phrase that we often use and a lot of people probably really do exactly that. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you didn’t do that? What would happen if you didn’t “stop and think” but actually never stopped thinking?
I have known some people in my life who I think were that way. They were never at a loss for anything and always seemed to be one step ahead of everything. I am sure that everyone has known one or two people like that. Did you ever wonder why? How were they able to always be right about anything that they took the time to study on and voice an opinion about? If they were to say “unless I miss my guess,” then you could be sure that they were right… Since you never knew of them to “miss their guess” about anything.
They just never stopped thinking… They were always paying attention to what was going on around them and never went on autopilot. They were thinking…
I have been paying attention to what was going on with the health care bill like that and so I have had people asking me how I managed to have the information that I do on it… I have not stopped thinking about it and what it is going to do. I seem to not be alone in that. According to the news today, most of us feel that way… The polls show (and I really do hate when the news people say “the polls show” because I think that they can show what they want to usually) that the majority of us are really worried about what this is going to do. A New York Times/CBS Poll (not the most conservative of organizations there…) showed that 69% of the people that they polled were worried that their care would suffer under a Government run health care program. A Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll shows that 42% of the people that they surveyed thought that this health care proposal was a bad idea from the start.
Those are some pretty significant figures. Also, when you stop and think (there’s that phrase again), they most likely are talking to people in major metropolitan areas. They may have called some people in California but most likely they were just talking to people in New York and maybe Boston and Philadelphia. Maybe only in New York… If the numbers are that significant in the major liberal stronghold areas, how are the majority feeling in the more conservative areas and in the REAL conservative areas? How about this for one more piece of food for thought… Why are some people campaigning so hard for this? IF this was a “good idea”, don’t you think that it would sell itself? If this was a good reform and was something that was going to be good for the American People, why are they working so hard to convince people that it is what they want and what they need? I keep hearing all sorts of things from the press and from the president about how great this is. I have not seen any ads really about why we don’t need it or why it is bad but the news keeps coming out… And if they have managed to keep the news about the bad things as quiet as they have, how much worse is it really? How much more is there?
We have (maybe) won a reprieve In the Health Care battle. The news yesterday was saying that it would not be until after the recess that the full vote would come up on the bill… and that may be. You have to remember that a politician said that and if they thought that they could get away from the heat and be able to change some people’s minds or votes with a few days of them NOT getting mail and phone calls constantly about it and then do a midnight vote, they will… However it turns out, DO NOT LET UP ON THEM… Keep the pressure on your representative…
If we do get the time that we may have from the recess, use it to contact your representatives while they are “at home” (if they actually come home) and talk to them face to face if you can. Make sure that they have a face to go with a name and know your opinion. But don’t count on that. Take the initiative and keep the emails and the phone calls and visits to their offices going until they do recess.
In case you are wondering why I feel the way that I do about this, here are a few things that are in the House version of the bill. In case you are wondering, yes, I have gone through and checked this stuff… Some of it you have to go back a little and see what they are referencing and some of what it will do. The page numbers are based on the PDF version of the bill that can be downloaded. Again, the link to the download is http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3200.IH:
Here they are:
Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!
Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get
Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Ben efits for you. You have no choice!
PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks accts for electronic funds transfer
PG 65 Sec 164 is a subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).
Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control..
PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange
Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan
PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice
pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing.
Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE
Pg 146 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.
Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll
pg 150 Lines 9-13 Businesses with payroll between 251k & 400k who don't provide pub. opiont pays 2-6% tax on all payroll
Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who does'nt have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income
Pg 170 Lines 1-3 Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes.
Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Administration will have access individuals finance, papers and records
PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that
PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, professional judgement, etc
PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries
PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs
Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions.
Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Doctors who treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission will be penalized
Pg 317 L 13-20 Govt will determine what Drs. and how much ownership/investment they can own.
Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opption to apply for exception but community input required
Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt sets and mandates establishment of outcome based measures the way they want.
Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc.
Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs patients!
PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation- Senior Citizens end of life
Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!
PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death
PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life.
Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "advance care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates
PG 429 Lines 10-12 "advance care consultation" may include an ORDER 4 end of life plans.
Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment youu will have at end of life
Pg 494-498 Govt will define covered Mental Health services
I have known some people in my life who I think were that way. They were never at a loss for anything and always seemed to be one step ahead of everything. I am sure that everyone has known one or two people like that. Did you ever wonder why? How were they able to always be right about anything that they took the time to study on and voice an opinion about? If they were to say “unless I miss my guess,” then you could be sure that they were right… Since you never knew of them to “miss their guess” about anything.
They just never stopped thinking… They were always paying attention to what was going on around them and never went on autopilot. They were thinking…
I have been paying attention to what was going on with the health care bill like that and so I have had people asking me how I managed to have the information that I do on it… I have not stopped thinking about it and what it is going to do. I seem to not be alone in that. According to the news today, most of us feel that way… The polls show (and I really do hate when the news people say “the polls show” because I think that they can show what they want to usually) that the majority of us are really worried about what this is going to do. A New York Times/CBS Poll (not the most conservative of organizations there…) showed that 69% of the people that they polled were worried that their care would suffer under a Government run health care program. A Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll shows that 42% of the people that they surveyed thought that this health care proposal was a bad idea from the start.
Those are some pretty significant figures. Also, when you stop and think (there’s that phrase again), they most likely are talking to people in major metropolitan areas. They may have called some people in California but most likely they were just talking to people in New York and maybe Boston and Philadelphia. Maybe only in New York… If the numbers are that significant in the major liberal stronghold areas, how are the majority feeling in the more conservative areas and in the REAL conservative areas? How about this for one more piece of food for thought… Why are some people campaigning so hard for this? IF this was a “good idea”, don’t you think that it would sell itself? If this was a good reform and was something that was going to be good for the American People, why are they working so hard to convince people that it is what they want and what they need? I keep hearing all sorts of things from the press and from the president about how great this is. I have not seen any ads really about why we don’t need it or why it is bad but the news keeps coming out… And if they have managed to keep the news about the bad things as quiet as they have, how much worse is it really? How much more is there?
We have (maybe) won a reprieve In the Health Care battle. The news yesterday was saying that it would not be until after the recess that the full vote would come up on the bill… and that may be. You have to remember that a politician said that and if they thought that they could get away from the heat and be able to change some people’s minds or votes with a few days of them NOT getting mail and phone calls constantly about it and then do a midnight vote, they will… However it turns out, DO NOT LET UP ON THEM… Keep the pressure on your representative…
If we do get the time that we may have from the recess, use it to contact your representatives while they are “at home” (if they actually come home) and talk to them face to face if you can. Make sure that they have a face to go with a name and know your opinion. But don’t count on that. Take the initiative and keep the emails and the phone calls and visits to their offices going until they do recess.
In case you are wondering why I feel the way that I do about this, here are a few things that are in the House version of the bill. In case you are wondering, yes, I have gone through and checked this stuff… Some of it you have to go back a little and see what they are referencing and some of what it will do. The page numbers are based on the PDF version of the bill that can be downloaded. Again, the link to the download is http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3200.IH:
Here they are:
Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!
Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get
Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Ben efits for you. You have no choice!
PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks accts for electronic funds transfer
PG 65 Sec 164 is a subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).
Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control..
PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange
Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan
PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice
pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing.
Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE
Pg 146 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.
Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll
pg 150 Lines 9-13 Businesses with payroll between 251k & 400k who don't provide pub. opiont pays 2-6% tax on all payroll
Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who does'nt have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income
Pg 170 Lines 1-3 Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes.
Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Administration will have access individuals finance, papers and records
PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that
PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, professional judgement, etc
PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries
PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs
Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions.
Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Doctors who treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission will be penalized
Pg 317 L 13-20 Govt will determine what Drs. and how much ownership/investment they can own.
Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opption to apply for exception but community input required
Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt sets and mandates establishment of outcome based measures the way they want.
Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc.
Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs patients!
PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation- Senior Citizens end of life
Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!
PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death
PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life.
Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "advance care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates
PG 429 Lines 10-12 "advance care consultation" may include an ORDER 4 end of life plans.
Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment youu will have at end of life
Pg 494-498 Govt will define covered Mental Health services
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
House Judiciary Committe Chairman John Conyers
His reasons for why he should not be reading the Health Care Bill.
Details…
Attention to detail is the key to Military Parachuting! That was what the “Black Hats” hollered at us all the time back in 1987 when I was in US Army Airborne School (Roster Number 137, Class 26-87, Alpha Company). It was/is the truth, too. Attention to detail is what keeps you alive in a VERY dangerous occupation like Airborne Infantry.
Realistically, jumping out of an airplane is NOT a safe occupation, however much fun it may be. (And I thought that it was a LOT of fun…) Just like bungee jumping and all of the other extreme sports, the danger is what gives the adrenaline rush and what the people who participate in those sports are looking for. It’s why they keep going further and further, to more and more extreme things - to keep getting that rush.
I ride motorcycles. I have been riding since I was about 9, so that is a LONG time. I also teach the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s courses. (Basic Rider and Experienced Rider Courses and soon I hope to be teaching the Sport Bike Course, as well). I think that they are good courses, very well done, and the benefits from them (reduced insurance rates, increased awareness of the risks involved and the ways to reduce and manage the risk) are well worth the time required and the effort involved.
Since I am a motorcycle rider, I am also a member of the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) because I think that it is a good organization, too. I have gotten some interesting information from them on a few things, as well…
How many of you remember the big issues that we had with the lead paint on things, and toxic chemicals in things, coming from China? The issue with the lead paint on the toys really came to a head in August of 2007, then the tainted milk in September (only in China, none ever came here) and cribs with lead based paint in October of 2007. Subsequently, Congress passed a bill called The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Remember that? It was a VERY hastily passed bit of legislation and has had a number of ill effects because it was done so quickly… “Strike while the iron is hot” (while the voters were up in arms) before the election!! That seemed to be the deal, anyway.
If you go back and look, the ONLY injuries/deaths in this country were actually to pets, from the dog food that was being imported in 2007. I remember it because we have 3 dogs and were checking to make sure that the food, and treats, that we were feeding was OK.
Why does that matter?? What difference does it make to anything?
Well… If you look, there were some lawsuits filed against Mattel, mostly for the cost of the toys (that were voluntarily recalled and refund was offered) and for the cost of testing of blood levels in the children who played with them. No lawsuits were filed that claimed injury, death or cognitive issues. You can go to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s web site and check. It has to be publically reported. No injuries claimed or reported.
What did the new law do? First, we’ll look at what it didn’t do. Well, it didn’t make lead based paint illegal; it has been illegal since 1978 in the US. It didn’t offer any new requirements to milk or dog food where there were injuries and deaths. (None from milk in the US, but there were some in China.)
So, what did it do? What it did was to establish a new testing requirement for all products either manufactured or imported with the design or intention of the product being used by children age 12 or under to exclude the presence of lead. That is ANY product, regardless of what it is. The LOWEST figure that I have seen for the cost of the testing was about $2,500 per lot; most of the time the price has been closer to double that. Now, this is for ANY PRODUCT. Diapers, baby wipes, toys, books, stickers, Trapper Keepers, lunch boxes, wooden toys, furniture, bicycles, motorcycles, car seats, clothes, you name it… If it is manufactured or imported for the use of children, then it has to be tested… And the cost of the testing is to be borne by the manufacturer/importer. Which means that Mattel-Fisher Price and all the other huge conglomerate corporations can and will continue to have things manufactured cheaply in China (where lead paint is available) and the small manufacturing companies in the US (where lead paint it NOT available) will end up having to close down and go out of business because they can’t afford to pay for the testing.
So… What does all this have to do with anything that I was talking about earlier?? The AMA has been trying to get this law repealed, or at least amended, to get an exception to motorcycles. The cost of the testing is just about more than the cost of the little motorcycles that are designed and sold for kids and I just don’t think that any kids are going to lick or in any other way ingest a motorcycle or any motorcycle protective gear. I have been following this legal proceeding since it got started with the AMA and they have not had any success with it as yet. This is keeping a lot of people from being able to buy motorcycles and ATV’s for their kids, or, in one case, for a dealer to sell them, anyway, and try (unsuccessfully) to get arrested for it so that they could bring a legal challenge to the validity of the law. I had been thinking that surely some one of the small wooden toy manufacturers would bring a suit but they have not as yet.
And what does this have to do with anything else going on? It is just an example of what happens when Congress rushes to “throw a bunch of legislation” at something… You get garbage that doesn’t have anything to do with the perceived problem and that has a drastic impact on a lot of other things that were never a part of the problem to start with. In this case, the laws that existed at the time worked as they were supposed to and as soon as the lead paint was discovered the products were recalled, the consumers were refunded and no one was injured. However, the ripple effect from the legislation that was thrown at a non-existent problem has put small business out of business, has consolidated the toy manufacturing business into a few conglomerate corporations, and has denied the access to motorcycles and ATV’s to many kids, denying a really fun family activity.
Also, you can look at this as an example of what might come to be with the rush to get the health care bill passed. IF they can screw up something as small as this, a bill as short as this one was with dramatically fewer complications and implications as this one, how much more damage can be done by the 1,018 page monstrosity that is the health care bill? This bill will affect everyone in the United States and will affect every aspect of our daily life and our families from now on. We need to step up to the challenge and contact our Congressional delegation and tell them to SLOW DOWN. Passing this health care bill is not like passing a kidney stone, something that will be momentarily painful but will be better the quicker it is done. It is something that should be done slowly, something that we need to digest, to study, to be sure that it is done correctly, and will be a good thing if/when it is complete. Closer to a Van Gogh, a Leonardo De Vinci, a Matisse, a Monet or a Picasso than a Velvet Elvis or Poker Playing Dogs, which seems to be what we’ve been offered in this bill…
Attention to detail is the key to Military Parachuting! That was what the “Black Hats” hollered at us all the time back in 1987 when I was in US Army Airborne School (Roster Number 137, Class 26-87, Alpha Company). It was/is the truth, too. Attention to detail is what keeps you alive in a VERY dangerous occupation like Airborne Infantry.
Realistically, jumping out of an airplane is NOT a safe occupation, however much fun it may be. (And I thought that it was a LOT of fun…) Just like bungee jumping and all of the other extreme sports, the danger is what gives the adrenaline rush and what the people who participate in those sports are looking for. It’s why they keep going further and further, to more and more extreme things - to keep getting that rush.
I ride motorcycles. I have been riding since I was about 9, so that is a LONG time. I also teach the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s courses. (Basic Rider and Experienced Rider Courses and soon I hope to be teaching the Sport Bike Course, as well). I think that they are good courses, very well done, and the benefits from them (reduced insurance rates, increased awareness of the risks involved and the ways to reduce and manage the risk) are well worth the time required and the effort involved.
Since I am a motorcycle rider, I am also a member of the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) because I think that it is a good organization, too. I have gotten some interesting information from them on a few things, as well…
How many of you remember the big issues that we had with the lead paint on things, and toxic chemicals in things, coming from China? The issue with the lead paint on the toys really came to a head in August of 2007, then the tainted milk in September (only in China, none ever came here) and cribs with lead based paint in October of 2007. Subsequently, Congress passed a bill called The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Remember that? It was a VERY hastily passed bit of legislation and has had a number of ill effects because it was done so quickly… “Strike while the iron is hot” (while the voters were up in arms) before the election!! That seemed to be the deal, anyway.
If you go back and look, the ONLY injuries/deaths in this country were actually to pets, from the dog food that was being imported in 2007. I remember it because we have 3 dogs and were checking to make sure that the food, and treats, that we were feeding was OK.
Why does that matter?? What difference does it make to anything?
Well… If you look, there were some lawsuits filed against Mattel, mostly for the cost of the toys (that were voluntarily recalled and refund was offered) and for the cost of testing of blood levels in the children who played with them. No lawsuits were filed that claimed injury, death or cognitive issues. You can go to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s web site and check. It has to be publically reported. No injuries claimed or reported.
What did the new law do? First, we’ll look at what it didn’t do. Well, it didn’t make lead based paint illegal; it has been illegal since 1978 in the US. It didn’t offer any new requirements to milk or dog food where there were injuries and deaths. (None from milk in the US, but there were some in China.)
So, what did it do? What it did was to establish a new testing requirement for all products either manufactured or imported with the design or intention of the product being used by children age 12 or under to exclude the presence of lead. That is ANY product, regardless of what it is. The LOWEST figure that I have seen for the cost of the testing was about $2,500 per lot; most of the time the price has been closer to double that. Now, this is for ANY PRODUCT. Diapers, baby wipes, toys, books, stickers, Trapper Keepers, lunch boxes, wooden toys, furniture, bicycles, motorcycles, car seats, clothes, you name it… If it is manufactured or imported for the use of children, then it has to be tested… And the cost of the testing is to be borne by the manufacturer/importer. Which means that Mattel-Fisher Price and all the other huge conglomerate corporations can and will continue to have things manufactured cheaply in China (where lead paint is available) and the small manufacturing companies in the US (where lead paint it NOT available) will end up having to close down and go out of business because they can’t afford to pay for the testing.
So… What does all this have to do with anything that I was talking about earlier?? The AMA has been trying to get this law repealed, or at least amended, to get an exception to motorcycles. The cost of the testing is just about more than the cost of the little motorcycles that are designed and sold for kids and I just don’t think that any kids are going to lick or in any other way ingest a motorcycle or any motorcycle protective gear. I have been following this legal proceeding since it got started with the AMA and they have not had any success with it as yet. This is keeping a lot of people from being able to buy motorcycles and ATV’s for their kids, or, in one case, for a dealer to sell them, anyway, and try (unsuccessfully) to get arrested for it so that they could bring a legal challenge to the validity of the law. I had been thinking that surely some one of the small wooden toy manufacturers would bring a suit but they have not as yet.
And what does this have to do with anything else going on? It is just an example of what happens when Congress rushes to “throw a bunch of legislation” at something… You get garbage that doesn’t have anything to do with the perceived problem and that has a drastic impact on a lot of other things that were never a part of the problem to start with. In this case, the laws that existed at the time worked as they were supposed to and as soon as the lead paint was discovered the products were recalled, the consumers were refunded and no one was injured. However, the ripple effect from the legislation that was thrown at a non-existent problem has put small business out of business, has consolidated the toy manufacturing business into a few conglomerate corporations, and has denied the access to motorcycles and ATV’s to many kids, denying a really fun family activity.
Also, you can look at this as an example of what might come to be with the rush to get the health care bill passed. IF they can screw up something as small as this, a bill as short as this one was with dramatically fewer complications and implications as this one, how much more damage can be done by the 1,018 page monstrosity that is the health care bill? This bill will affect everyone in the United States and will affect every aspect of our daily life and our families from now on. We need to step up to the challenge and contact our Congressional delegation and tell them to SLOW DOWN. Passing this health care bill is not like passing a kidney stone, something that will be momentarily painful but will be better the quicker it is done. It is something that should be done slowly, something that we need to digest, to study, to be sure that it is done correctly, and will be a good thing if/when it is complete. Closer to a Van Gogh, a Leonardo De Vinci, a Matisse, a Monet or a Picasso than a Velvet Elvis or Poker Playing Dogs, which seems to be what we’ve been offered in this bill…
Monday, July 27, 2009
Magic!!
Magic!!
I’m a geek. I know it. My wife has said it more than once, and so have a lot of other people. I watch TV, some… I watch “educational entertainment”. Meaning, History Channel, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, History International, Military Channel, Military History Channel, Science Channel, NASA TV… All that sort of geek TV. Mindless, bubblegum for the brain I really don’t have time for. But I sort of think that if you can be entertained, and learn something at the same time, isn’t that the purpose? We learn from reading books, even for entertainment, so why not TV?
A few weeks ago, on Discovery Channel, I was watching Time Warp. ( If you have not seen it, it is a really cool show where they have “guests” who do different things. They have had skate boarders, bike riders, stunt men, acrobats from Circe du Soli, and lots of other people. They film them doing their thing with High Definition superslow motion cameras. After the people have done their activity, they play it back at normal speed, then at about 500 frames a second, which is the really slow motion replay.) This particular night that I was watching Penn and Teller were on. They do an awesome close up magic act. They did the “ball and cup” trick, where they put a ball under a cup and it keeps moving around and eventually changes from a ball of aluminum foil to a baseball. Except this time, they did it with clear cups, and with the cameras rolling. It was so interesting to watch with the slow motion replay and Penn Jillette doing a “Play by Play” of the action. Also, after watching it going on and listening to the banter that Penn had going on while it was happening, and watching it in slow motion, you really see how a major portion of what is happening is covered by misdirection. While Teller was doing some of the bigger movements, Penn was attracting everyone’s attention by being loud and boisterous. Even knowing what is happening, it is very hard to not be attracted to where they were trying to make you look.
That is a lot of what is happening to us in politics now, particularly with the health care bill. IF they can keep you from looking at what is going on, and can keep you from noticing what they are NOT doing, then they hope that they can slide it by… They are doing that by “making you look” at things that are not important and are not part of the issue. When they start talking about the salary of the executives from the pharmaceutical companies, so what? How is that an issue? It doesn’t relate to the issue at hand, which is how is the GOVERNMENT going to afford the program that they are trying to rapidly shove down our throats. If it costs a billion dollars to develop a new drug (from thought to having it manufactured and available at the local pharmacy), if the head of a mega-pharmaceutical company makes a million or three a year it is not going to change the cost we pay for a prescription by a dollar. But if it can be used to distract us from looking at what is the issue, like how is this HUGE bureaucratic nightmare going to be paid for, then it is a great bit of close up magic… If they can get us to look at insurance companies… If they can make us “mad at them” because they don’t cover any preexisting conditions, and can make them into a scapegoat, then, it is a good bit of misdirection.
Since I brought it up, let’s talk about the preexisting condition a minute. Insurance companies exist to make money, right? Just like any other private company. They are in business to make a profit. An insurance company bets that you will pay a LOT of money in, and not take much back out, in the form of a claim. That is a gross simplification of what they do, I know, but it is the basis of it, right? Anyway… If you don’t pay money in, then you don’t get anything back out. If you pay a lot of money in, and just get a little bit back out, then they make money. Now… If you could manage to NOT have to pay anything in, but could get money out, that would be a deal for you, but the company would not exist for very long… (The US Government is the only thing that seems to be able to keep operating with a negative cash flow… If my bank account gets overdrawn, I get in trouble… but that’s another blog for another day…) So, if you could say not have any insurance on your car, and then call and get insurance on it AFTER you have a wreck or it gets damaged, and the insurance company would fix it, then that would be a really good deal for you, right? But not so good for the insurance company… So, why do you expect a health insurance company to do that? Again, this is all a gross oversimplification of the situation, but it is the very basic roots of the issue.
So if the PR war for Obamacare can make you turn your attention to that, or to how much the executives of a private company make, or to some other thing, anything other than asking how we are going to pay for it, or how EXACTLY they intend to lower the costs, then they have won a very elaborate shell game.
The other questions to be asking, and questions that you should be asking your representatives, are things like who is going to be covered, who is going to have what sort of coverage, who is going to be paying for it and the most important thing is who is going to make the decisions about who will get what sort of care, and what is the criteria that will be used to make those decisions.
If you look at some of the comments that have been made by Obama’s “Science Czar” John Holdren, things like forced abortion, mandatory sterilizations, and zero population growth, I think that you can start to have a very frightening idea of the road that we may be heading down. (see the book he coauthored in 1977 “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment”) You can read some of his writings and comments that he has made and see that he is in favor of a global government, and a VERY controlling one at that. If you look at some of the comments that have been made by Obama’s “Health Czar” Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, you will see that he has made the comment it January 2009 medical journal The Lancet (http://www.ncpa.ort/pdfs/PIISO140673609601379.pdf) that if healthcare has to be rationed, he prefers the “complete lives system” which “discriminates against older people”. He also wrote in an article for the Hastings Center Report (http://www.ncpa.ort/pdfs/Where_Civic_Republicanism_and_Deliberative_Democracy_Meet.pdf) that health services should not be guaranteed to “individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens” he said “an obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia”.
Obama recently told PBS’ Jim Lehrer that he wanted to “stop providing $177 billion worth of subsidies to the insurance companies for a Medicare Advantage program that offers no additional benefits to seniors compared to regular old Medicare”. (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec09/obama_07-20.html) There is more information available about what this will do from the Wall Street Journal, here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574303903498159292.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
Slight of hand? Card tricks? Close up magic? You expect to see misdirection used, and people who are masters of it. However, when it comes to the Government, and a president who said “We will have the most transparent Administration ever” I don’t appreciate being subjected to what amounts to Three Card Monty.
The “baby boomers” are about to be reaching 65, and will be increasing the rolls of Medicare. If you have a family member that is in their older years, start looking for information on the British Health System. You will find that they do not provide care for their elderly, and that is one of the systems that is being studied for the coming Obamacare system.
Think about it… Call, email, write to your representatives, visit their local offices, let them know that you WILL hold them responsible, personally, for the ill effects of this bill as it currently stands, if it is passed.
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something -
Plato
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Bread and Circuses
Hello Again…
It’s Friday and most people are not thinking about work they are thinking about the weekend. So I thought that we could talk about work, or the lack thereof, for some people.
How many people recognize the phrase “Bread and Circuses”? I said that to my wife a couple of days ago, and she didn’t recognize it. She is a very smart, well educated and well read lady, so I would be willing to bet that most people don’t recognize it. The phrase comes to us from Rome, the original Latin was Panem et Circenses. It was a metaphor for the Roman policy of providing bread to the populace to make sure that everyone had food to eat. This policy was called Anonna (grain dole), and was started by Gaius Sempronius Gracchus in 123BC as a grain subsidy in Rome. In 58BC it was made into a free distribution by Claudius (Julius Caesar was actually the person behind that, but used Claudius as the front) and after that it was taken over by the Emperor.
It was also a method that was used for pacification of the newly conquered lands. If you provided food for them, they became dependant on you, and right after a conquest they didn’t usually have the men to work in the fields, and would have had a few very lean years until they had gotten the population built back up and the stores rebuilt. The Romans came in and provided grain/bread for all. This was a populist movement by various politicians to get the people to like them, and to vote for them… They didn’t have the FEC to supposedly look over things and prevent people from buying votes.
This method of getting the people to like then worked pretty well for the politicians, but then after a while, they needed something else and along came the entertainment industry… In Rome, this was in the form of the Gladiatorial Games initially, and later became the bigger and bigger things that eventually gave rise to the building of the Colosseum. The people kept demanding more, and the politicians gave it to them… More and more. It got to the point that the people, the Roman Citizens, were not doing anything but living a life of leisure, getting the bread on the dole, and going to the shows. That was it.
Then, in the late first century and early second century AD along came a satirist named Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (Juvenal is the English) who wrote some WONDERFUL satires, 16 of them actually. They are written about the excesses of Rome, the vice, and he is the one who coined the phrase “Bread and Circuses”. It’s in Satire X –
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses
I started thinking about all of this a few days ago, when I was talking to a friend, who has been out of work for over a year now (part of the massive corporate fall apart). This friend has been working part time, when work was available, and trying to start a business as well, and is a single parent. Working hard and trying to make ends meet. When the benefits ran out this friend received a letter from the Employment Security Division so went in to the office and found out that they were filing a new claim and the payments were being raised. During this conversation I found out that people on unemployment don’t receive a check any more, they have a debit card. So… Since they have a debit card that means that they have a bank account. That bank account shows regular deposits coming in, which means that they can get credit cards, and loans and all sorts of other financial things, which a lot of them do. Then when the bill comes due, they just file bankruptcy. Now… Before many of you turn off on me, I am not talking about EVERYONE who is on unemployment or on some other sort of government giveaway program… But there are a lot of people who do these things.
While we were talking I was told about another friend that had been at the unemployment office recently. When leaving, this friend was stopped by the person who had been in the next cubicle over, and was told, "I have information that you can use, I can tell you what to say so that you will never have to work again. You can keep getting the unemployment benefits for the rest of your life, until you get Social Security."
Bread and Circuses…
The titles, and descriptions, from Juvenal’s Satires are:
Book 1
– Satire 1 - Programmatic satire in which Juvenal states that his purpose is to write satire in a world where sinners are men of power.
- Satire 2 - Satire on homosexuality and the betrayal of traditional Roman values.
- Satire 3 - Contrasts corruption of modern Rome with the older simple way of life still found in the country.
- Satire 4 - Farcical political satire about the meeting of an imperial council to determine how to cook an outlandish fish.
- Satire 5 - Dinner party at which the patron continually humiliates his guest client.
Book 2
– Satire 6 - A wonder of misogyny, a catalogue of evil, eccentric, and depraved women.
Book 3
– Satire 7 - Without patronage in high places, intellectual pursuits suffer privations.
- Satire 8 - Aristocratic birth should be accompanied by noble behavior.
- Satire 9 - A dialogue in which the author assures Naevolus, a male prostitute, there will always be work for him in Rome.
Book 4
- Satire 10 - What should be prayed for is a healthy mind and body (mens sana in corpore sano)
- Satire 11 - Epistolary invitation to a simple dinner.
- Satire 12 - Description of sacrifice to be made for the safe escape of a man named Catullus from a storm at sea because he jettisoned his treasures.
Book 5
- Satire 13 - Consoles Calvinus on his loss -- of money.
- Satire 14 - Parents teach their children the vice of greed by their example.
- Satire 15 - Mankind has a tendency towards cannibalism and should follow Pythagoras' dietary recommendations.
- Satire 16 - Civilians have no redress against military assaults.
Is it just me, or does that read like the headlines from the paper, or the lead from the nightly news, or maybe the descriptions of a number of the shows on TV these days? I don’t know, but I do know, as Friedrich Hegel said “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history”. Or as George Santayana put it “Those who cannot learn from History are doomed to repeat it”. I don’t think that very many people have learned that much from history, ‘cause we sure do seem to be repeating it these days.
Bread and Circuses, think about it…
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something -
Plato
We the People are coming !!
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Health Care
Hello again...
Since there has been a lot of talk about the Universal Health Care program, I thought that I should throw a little bit of information out there for everyone to think about.
First off... If you don't know who your Congressional Delegation members are, try going to this site and see. http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ I am sure that at this point, the office staffers at both my Congressional members offices who download the email daily cringe when they see my email address. Here's how I look at it... How are they going to do "The business and the will of the people" if they don't know what it is? So... I tell them what I think... Maybe not daily, but surely weekly.
Anyway... Back to Health Care...
I received an email a few days ago that said that Congress had excluded themselves from the requirement for coverage under the Universal Health Care bill that they were working in the House. So... I went looking to try and verify that. Here's the information so that you can check it yourself, should you so desire. First, go to the Library of Congress' web site, which is http://www.thomas.gov/. Then you can search by either the title of the bill, key words in it, or the number. (NOT very user friendly, I assure you. Health Care is NOT the same as Healthcare.) Anyway, the bill that you are looking for is H.R. 3200IH, and the title is America's Affordable Health Choices of 2009. Now, who would think that this title would go with Health Care Reform? Sounds a little fishy to me, for sure...
Next on the list with this stuff... If you click on the link on the top left, it is GPO's PDF Display. That's the Government Printing Office's official certified copy of the bill. This thing is 1,018 pages, so unless you are having trouble sleeping, I don't recommend that you try to read it all... Which brings up another point, do you think that your Representatives have read it? ALL of it?
Now, when you start hunting for exceptions/exclusions from the health care program, go to Section 100 (Purpose; Table of Contents of Division; and General Definitions) Subsection (c) - General Definitions, Paragraph (6) - Employment-Based Health Plan, Sub paragraph (B), it says "such a plan that is the following: (i) A Government Plan... including a health benefits plan offered under Chapter 89 of Title 5 United State Code". Now, if you look up Chapter 89 of Title 5 USC, you will find that is the Heath Care Plan for Congress, the President, Vice President, former holders of those offices, and certain employees/staff members of those office holders...
So... Yes, they did exclude themselves from it... Now, that ain't universal health care, in my opinion... Sounds like another Social Security deal to me... We have to live with it, and they excluded themselves from it, and gave themselves a REALLY nice program of their own. The variation of the Golden Rule - He who has the Gold Makes the Rules - and makes the for his own benefit.
The other people who are excluded from the health care coverage are members of the US Armed Forces and their family members - who are already covered under TriCare, Veterans who are covered by the VA (both of these are already government health care systems, so if you want to know what it could be like, check with a member of the military or a vet who goes to the VA) and a few specific others.
While I was digging through this, I found another interesting bit of information. If you go to page 16, you will find under the heading of "Protecting The Choice to Keep Currant Coverage" a heading that is "Limitation on New Enrollment". It says "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law. Now, I am not a lawyer, but as I read that it means that if you have private health insurance if this becomes law, you can keep it, but if anything ever happens and you loose it, you are done. There will be NO private health insurance. The only provision that I could find for a new enrollment was a new family member (dependent) for an insured person. Now, how many people work for private health insurance companies? What are they going to do? They will be out of jobs. How many companies are there out there who provide private health insurance? They will all fold... How many people own stock in those companies? What sort of impact will that make on the stock market?
Food for thought...
Since there has been a lot of talk about the Universal Health Care program, I thought that I should throw a little bit of information out there for everyone to think about.
First off... If you don't know who your Congressional Delegation members are, try going to this site and see. http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ I am sure that at this point, the office staffers at both my Congressional members offices who download the email daily cringe when they see my email address. Here's how I look at it... How are they going to do "The business and the will of the people" if they don't know what it is? So... I tell them what I think... Maybe not daily, but surely weekly.
Anyway... Back to Health Care...
I received an email a few days ago that said that Congress had excluded themselves from the requirement for coverage under the Universal Health Care bill that they were working in the House. So... I went looking to try and verify that. Here's the information so that you can check it yourself, should you so desire. First, go to the Library of Congress' web site, which is http://www.thomas.gov/. Then you can search by either the title of the bill, key words in it, or the number. (NOT very user friendly, I assure you. Health Care is NOT the same as Healthcare.) Anyway, the bill that you are looking for is H.R. 3200IH, and the title is America's Affordable Health Choices of 2009. Now, who would think that this title would go with Health Care Reform? Sounds a little fishy to me, for sure...
Next on the list with this stuff... If you click on the link on the top left, it is GPO's PDF Display. That's the Government Printing Office's official certified copy of the bill. This thing is 1,018 pages, so unless you are having trouble sleeping, I don't recommend that you try to read it all... Which brings up another point, do you think that your Representatives have read it? ALL of it?
Now, when you start hunting for exceptions/exclusions from the health care program, go to Section 100 (Purpose; Table of Contents of Division; and General Definitions) Subsection (c) - General Definitions, Paragraph (6) - Employment-Based Health Plan, Sub paragraph (B), it says "such a plan that is the following: (i) A Government Plan... including a health benefits plan offered under Chapter 89 of Title 5 United State Code". Now, if you look up Chapter 89 of Title 5 USC, you will find that is the Heath Care Plan for Congress, the President, Vice President, former holders of those offices, and certain employees/staff members of those office holders...
So... Yes, they did exclude themselves from it... Now, that ain't universal health care, in my opinion... Sounds like another Social Security deal to me... We have to live with it, and they excluded themselves from it, and gave themselves a REALLY nice program of their own. The variation of the Golden Rule - He who has the Gold Makes the Rules - and makes the for his own benefit.
The other people who are excluded from the health care coverage are members of the US Armed Forces and their family members - who are already covered under TriCare, Veterans who are covered by the VA (both of these are already government health care systems, so if you want to know what it could be like, check with a member of the military or a vet who goes to the VA) and a few specific others.
While I was digging through this, I found another interesting bit of information. If you go to page 16, you will find under the heading of "Protecting The Choice to Keep Currant Coverage" a heading that is "Limitation on New Enrollment". It says "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law. Now, I am not a lawyer, but as I read that it means that if you have private health insurance if this becomes law, you can keep it, but if anything ever happens and you loose it, you are done. There will be NO private health insurance. The only provision that I could find for a new enrollment was a new family member (dependent) for an insured person. Now, how many people work for private health insurance companies? What are they going to do? They will be out of jobs. How many companies are there out there who provide private health insurance? They will all fold... How many people own stock in those companies? What sort of impact will that make on the stock market?
Food for thought...
Starting out...
Writers talk about the blank page... I guess that this is the same thing. I have all these thoughts in my head about what to say, what I was going to say about starting this blog and why I was doing it, and I just sat, and looked at the blank, white screen. Well, I gotta start somewhere, with something, so here goes.
I am doing this, at the suggestion of my wife, because I have an opinion, just like everyone else does. My opinion is not any more important, nor should it be of greater interest to many people than any other opinion should be. However, I do think that I am a bit better informed than a LOT of people seem to be. I have time, and interest, and so I read and research.
I spent 22 years of my life in the Army. A lot of that time was spent in Intelligence and Operations. As a side effect of that, if you will, I have gotten very good at research. I have learned how to find information and how to verify information. SO, when I get the emails about all the political statements that have been made or things that have happened, I try to go out and verify them from several different sources. As a result of that, I have found a lot of things that are true, a number that were false, and some that were... Well... sort of true, but taken out of context to make them seem to be something that they were not. Also, in the process of verification of some of those things, I have found a lot of other, very interesting information.
These are the sort of things that I will be sharing here. Yes, this will be a Political Commentary blog. Yes, I will be ranting about various political things, actions taken by the people in office, inaction by the people in office, ineptitude on a minor and on a grand scale by office holders and their minions. I will praise them when praise is due, and will scold them when they are deserving of that as well. I will be taking on the main stream press on a lot of points because they seem to have totally sold out their right to be called a public news source and have become instead a political action organization promoting what they want and ignoring anything that does not agree. You might notice that I have not mentioned any party affiliation, that is because I don't have one, really... I tend to feel that all of the current office holders are about the same. There are some of them that I like (very few), and some that I don't (most of them) and what side of the aisle they are on doesn't matter to me in the least. What does matter is if they are fiscally conservative, fiscally responsible, and if they truly support their constituents.
Well, enough for the moment, and I will start with the "real meat and potatoes" of the blog world tomorrow. Please, everyone, if you have any points to offer, questions to ask, or just comments in general, I am interested in what you have to say.
Wingman
I am doing this, at the suggestion of my wife, because I have an opinion, just like everyone else does. My opinion is not any more important, nor should it be of greater interest to many people than any other opinion should be. However, I do think that I am a bit better informed than a LOT of people seem to be. I have time, and interest, and so I read and research.
I spent 22 years of my life in the Army. A lot of that time was spent in Intelligence and Operations. As a side effect of that, if you will, I have gotten very good at research. I have learned how to find information and how to verify information. SO, when I get the emails about all the political statements that have been made or things that have happened, I try to go out and verify them from several different sources. As a result of that, I have found a lot of things that are true, a number that were false, and some that were... Well... sort of true, but taken out of context to make them seem to be something that they were not. Also, in the process of verification of some of those things, I have found a lot of other, very interesting information.
These are the sort of things that I will be sharing here. Yes, this will be a Political Commentary blog. Yes, I will be ranting about various political things, actions taken by the people in office, inaction by the people in office, ineptitude on a minor and on a grand scale by office holders and their minions. I will praise them when praise is due, and will scold them when they are deserving of that as well. I will be taking on the main stream press on a lot of points because they seem to have totally sold out their right to be called a public news source and have become instead a political action organization promoting what they want and ignoring anything that does not agree. You might notice that I have not mentioned any party affiliation, that is because I don't have one, really... I tend to feel that all of the current office holders are about the same. There are some of them that I like (very few), and some that I don't (most of them) and what side of the aisle they are on doesn't matter to me in the least. What does matter is if they are fiscally conservative, fiscally responsible, and if they truly support their constituents.
Well, enough for the moment, and I will start with the "real meat and potatoes" of the blog world tomorrow. Please, everyone, if you have any points to offer, questions to ask, or just comments in general, I am interested in what you have to say.
Wingman
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