America is Broke…

Though I’m not a fan of Boehner, his statement here is worth listening to.

Senate Passes Trillion Dollar Spending Bill…

Obama has already stated that he’ll sign the bill.

“The bill puts the government on track to create a $1.5 trillion deficit in annual spending projected by the Office of Management and Budget this past summer.” – Foxnews.com

Fiscal responsibility?  The old ways of Washington are over?  Obama was to usher in a new era in transparency and government responsibility, right?

Does 1.5 trillion dollars in OVER-SPENDING (beyond intake) sound like responsible management?  Try running your business that way.  Try running your family budget that way.  See what happens.

Transparency?  Have you read the 1,000 plus pages of legislation?  Don’t worry, they didn’t either (and that includes Obama).

Just as many have been saying since the inception of Obama’s campaign for President.  He’s just a politician.  Moreover, he’s entrenching the old-ways of Washington even deeper.

Do Republicans have an answer?  Do Republicans have any room to speak?  No.  They don’t.  Republicans were up to the same deficit spending under Bush as well.  Sadly, it has become the modus operandi in Washington.  No, we simply get to sit back and hope the whole thing doesn’t just come tumbling down under it’s own massive weight.

Look out.  This recession will linger around a lot longer due to this sort of spending.

Sickened.

Scattered Thoughts, on a Chilly Night

Loch Lomond, CA.  Population: 418 (counting me).

Outside, amongst the tall pine trees, the temperature continues to drop—currently, a crisp 26 degrees Fahrenheit, likely to get down to the high teens by the early morning hours.

Inside, with both heaters running, I’m able to comfortably sit before this computer without even wearing any socks.  It’s a good feeling.

I like my little apartment.  I like my little life.

I like the pictures framed, all the smiling faces looking back at me.

I like my Ipod acting as an obsequious DJ on random, sometimes playing exactly the song that I didn’t even know I wanted to hear.  I like hitting the forward button when it doesn’t.

I like having my website back up and running.  I like that you’re reading this.

I like my country.

I like being free of outrage.

Living in America and living free of outrage has become impossible.  “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” I pay attention. I like to pay attention.  Thus, I’m outraged.

I like the conservative leadership this country has. 200 years ago.

I like what Dylan wrote:

“Come senators, congressmen… please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall… The battle outside raging will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls… for the times, they are a changin’.”

I like to think that these words are still applicable.  I’m not so sure they are.

I like to think that public opinion still rattles windows and shakes walls.  I’m not so sure it does.  It’s as if the congressmen and senators have so insulated the walls of government and reinforced the windows of bureaucracy as to be all but in a different dimension from the concerns of the general public.  Another way to say it might be that rather that the ‘battle outside’ is simply a scuffle that wisps as a light breeze against the windows, and taps with acrylic nails on the walls.

The more government taxes and takes, the more average citizens like you and I have to work to make ends meet.  More work for less and less take-home pay.  More work for the same pay as before, this time with just a bit more taxes taken out.  More work.  Less time.  Less time to petition the government for grievances.  Less time for vigilance.

It’s exactly what government wants isn’t it? … a distracted and exhausted people (an opiate for the masses) leaving them, the gov, free to rule unencumbered by such banal irritations as the will of the citizens rearing its head.

While the people sleep, while the people work, the government grows.

Simple Pleasures

scrumptious pineapple upsidedown cake, thanks to Mrs. Geck.

I’ve been blessed to be living with my cousin for the past month.  Not the least of her (and her husband’s) generosity to me is the fact that she’s an exceptional cook who truly enjoys the art.  (I think I’ve gained 10 pounds in the first month alone).

Just two nights ago she baked up this little number while we were enjoying dinner.  Needless to say it was exquisite.  We ate our first pieces while the cake was still warm from the oven!  (Nice touch).

I post not to gloat, but to express my gratitude.  My gratitude for family, for friends, for life, for love, and for health.  It can be a bleak world; occasionally, I don’t take the blessings of God for granted.

The End of Education

“Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the general structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”

George Washington

Farewell Address
Edited by
Fred Newton Scott

Obama’s Gamble: Our Healthcare

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance…

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience
to remain silent.”

– Thomas Jefferson

Exactly, Obama. It’s the Post Office Having Problems…

That’s why we don’t want the government running healthcare.  Then it’d be “it’s the medical system that’s always having problems” instead of what we have now, which is the imperfect but highest quality health care system in the world.

Don’t allow the government to turn the world’s greatest healthcare system into another government program failure…  don’t allow our healthcare system become another Social Security, DMV, Medicare, Welfare, Freddie and Fannie,  or Post Office…

Contact your state senators and tell them you oppose any and all government encroachment upon our healthcare system.

The government already does too much.  Let’s not give it more to do.

Healthcare: “Death Panels” Fact and Fiction.

There has been a lot of confusion about what Sarah Palin meant when she referred to “death panels” being a part of Obama’s healthcare plan.

There are misleading fictions:

There’s this view:  The author of this blog who goes by the pen-name “Sweet Machine” writes in short that there’s really no such thing as death panels in Obama’s healthcare plan.  Rather,  Sweet Machine claims that death panels are really just:

“Voluntary counseling sessions helping seniors to plan for end-of-life medical care. Voluntary counseling sessions. There’s your death panel! Heaven forfend!”

Sweet Machine is simply mistaken.  What she’s written here is misleading.  When those who oppose Obama’s healthcare plan talk about ‘death panels’ they are not talking about voluntary counseling sessions.  Read on.

And there’s this view which also takes Sweet Machine’s position:

“Recently, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speculated that Obama and other Democrats wanted to set up “death panels” to decide who gets medical services and who does not.

In reality, the provision was designed to allow Medicare to pay doctors who counsel patients about planning for end-of-life decisions. The consultations would be voluntary and would provide information about living wills, healthcare proxies, pain medication and hospice.”

Then there’s the truth.

The “Death Panels” that Palin and others have referred to have nothing to do with these ‘end of life, counseling sessions’ mentioned above, but have everything to do with government- by way of policy choices- deciding which patients will be granted which treatments and which patients will not.  In other words, the government panel will decide who lives and who dies.  Read on.

What anyone who understands economics and government oversight knows is that the allocation of scarce resources will require some persons (government officials) to decide how much the rest (average citizens) will get. In this system it is mere matter of fact that some citizens will be given less than they need.  And why is this?  Because in a system where government can’t pay for everyone to have top-grade, gold-standard health coverage (like what Congress has) government will have to give to the rest (average citizens) nickel-standard coverage.

In short, in a government run system it would be a panel (a group of government officials) who would have to decide (make policy choices) about the allocation of scarce moneys across a national healthcare system.  This panel would decide which portions of the healthcare sector are to get cuts, just like this panel would decide what sector of healthcare would get increases in spending and so forth.  This government panel would choose, in the sensitive, deliberate, careful and caring manner of government panels, what cancer treatments A, B and C, for example, would be too expensive (and therefore disallowed) for patients falling into category X,Y or Z.  Since humans are not machines (no matter what Sweet Machine would have you believe) there will be some patients (average citizens) with cancer who just so happen to fall into this new government category X, Y or Z.  Those patients will be denied treatments A,B, and C. Some people who are denied treatments A, B and C will die on account of not receiving such treatments (or maybe die sooner, or in more pain, etc. than if they had received the treatments).  This government panel in so doing their function—just by doing their job, making the hard choices for fund allocation– will indirectly make decisions that will result in the loss of life that could have otherwise been saved, or improved, etc.

In other words: Just as Palin correctly stated, this government panel would be deciding indirectly who gets to live and who gets to die.  It would be a ‘death panel’.  This is a fact of the Obama healthcare plan.  This is the truth.  This is the insidious and callous reality of the way government works.

Palin is not saying these panels will decide directly “Joe will be given death, and Suzie given life.”  No.  But she is saying correctly that in a situation where Joe has been given 6 months to live if he doesn’t receive treatment A, B or C, and it turns out that Joe just so happens to fall into patient category X, Y or Z, then guess what?  Joe isn’t going to be given treatments A, B or C.  Why?  Because the government panel decided those treatments were too expensive to be given to patients falling into certain categories.

Too harsh?  Fine.  Maybe the government panel decides that patients in category X, Y or Z can only get treatments A, B or C after patients in category E, F and G get those treatments.  Joe then isn’t told that he can’t get the treatment at all, just that he has to wait a while for the E, F and G patients to get the treatments first.  But Joe only has 6 months to live.  What if the waiting period is a year long?  Two years?  (Not uncommon waiting periods for citizens under government run healthcare plans in countries like Canada and the U.K.)  Don’t trust me?  Fine.  What if the waiting period is only 5 months?  8 months?  Does it really matter?  Of course it does.  Joe wants the treatments now.  Joe deserves the treatments now.  Yet, on account of the decision of the government panel, Joe is going to have to wait.  In other words: Joe is going to die (or at least be much worse off before he finally gets the treatments).

If this government panel isn’t deciding the life and death of citizens then I don’t know what is.

The Sensitive and Caring DMV:

If you don’t like the name “death panel” because it seems too callous or too insensitive, stop by your local DMV and try to get them to issue you a renewed registration without showing proof of smog-check.  How about trying to get them to renew your license when you only have enough money to pay half the fee?  Then tell them that you only have half the fee because you have a son in the hospital.  See how caring they are.  See how sympathetic they are.  See how the DMV treats you and think to yourself: would I want my healthcare provider run in this same manner?

Government panel decides automobile regulations and fees, etc.  Government panel decides healthcare regulations and fees, etc.

You decide.

United States Only Industrialized Nation… Healthcare Debate

I was discussing the Obama Administration’s Government Health Care Plan with a c0-worker just the other day.  He is strongly in favor of government run healthcare.  He said two things by way of argument for why we ought to have government run healthcare.

His main argument: “The United States is the only industrialized nation on Earth that does not have universal healthcare.”  (He seemed to be implying that the United States needs to get with it; to catch up with the rest of the world.)

My response at the moment had been, “I think the United States ought to be the leader when it comes to policy, not a follower.”

Not bad.  But in retrospect I wish I had said more.  I wish I had said:

1. “Yes, we are the only nation on earth that doesn’t have universal health care.  That’s the reason people from around the world come here to get high quality healthcare.”
2. “Since when is ‘everybody else is doing it, so why don’t we?‘ a good argument for anything, let alone government policy?
3. “Aren’t those examples enough to convince you how bad the idea is, or do you need to see it dibilitate us here at home before you’ll realize it was a bad idea for them and us?”

*     *     *

(Add healthcare to this one)