People Want To Know

It's been some time since I sat at my keyboard and posted something new on this blog. And for about the last 3 months, I strongly considered finally putting my writing on permanent hiatus. After all, when I don't post regularly, my readership drops precipitously (that does make sense). The main reason my writing has been so sporadic and inconsistent has been my health. It's tough enough not having the energy to come up with things to write about when dialysis weakens me so much. And because of my inability to take more than 3.5-4 kilos of fluid without bad cramping in my hands, I end up going in for at least one extra session a week (sometimes I'll even have 2 extra sessions just to get down to my dry (goal) weight.

But that alone has not been the main deterrence to my writing. I think that when I developed diverticulitis and then peritonitis, which eventually led to an abscess in my colon - which then was followed by a coma and 4 months in the hospital and nursing home, that changed everything. You see, when I began to write my blog, following my heart attack/stroke/transplant, something had changed in me. I had never wanted to write for anything before. Oh, I had the opportunities to do some writing for a local Jewish newspaper in Houston. But I dreaded having to come up with something new every week.

However, I had changed dramatically and suddenly, all I wanted to do was write. So I did. I found I had some very strong, intelligent opinions an also that I had a hidden talent I never knew before. Over the course of the next few years I had articles picked up by major websites and blogs, and even had my blog quoted in the New York Post. I was still very small potatoes, though. I didn't go to the journalism school of hard knocks and really did not have many connections. But the real truth was I wasn't writing for my readers, but for myself. And I think that's why it was so easy to walk away this past year.

But once again, things are changing. I finally had my colon reattached and am in full recovery mode. In addition, I just had my dialysis catheter removed this past week and I can take a full shower tomorrow (I was told I had to wait 24 hours after the catheter removal before I can remove the bandages and get the area wet). Bird baths are ok from time to time. But nothing beats a real hot, soaking shower.

So, except for my aching back, which has been diagnoses as having 2 herniations in the L2/L3 and  L1/S5 (directly below and directly above the original fusion location), I'm healing. And with that healing, many decisions begin to need to be answered, or at least the questions need to be figured out. First among then is when will I be strong enough to at least work part time? Or is Chicago the the best place to settle down is. Right now, my son and I are leaning towards returning to Dallas. But nothing is written in stone.

So, starting tomorrow (I think), I'm going to return to writing on this here blog. Between politics, the Middle East, baseball and American Idol, there really is a great deal to write about. I think if anything is going to slow my writing down it will be the hand cramps I get from dialysis. It's so bad at times I can't do anything but run hot water on my hands, hoping to relax the muscles.

For now, healing is where I'm at. Of course, this includes pain management, which isn't always successful. If the epidural injections fail to give me needed relief, I am going to talk to my pain management doctor about medicinal marijuana. Smoking pot may not be ideal, as I have my 20-year-old son living with me. But there are other options to consider. I am finding that I'm getting used to Dilauded and it doesn't give me the relief it once did. Should I take a higher dose? How dangerous would that be? I'm already on a Fentonyl patch AND 4mg of Dilauded 3 times a day. Also, I've been taking Flexiril (muscle relaxer) and an occasional Norco. With all that I'm still hurting this bad. That isn't a good sign. Am I really hurting that badly? Or am I simply just addicted to the pills? The only thing that tells me one way or another is the fact that there are times I hurt more than others. Today has been a perfect example. It could be because of the cold weather and snow. But it's been cold and snowy all winter long. Some days, I can make it up and down the stairs with little problem (as long as I have my cane). But today was very different. I had to do the stairs 3 times each way and each trip was a labor of sheer agony. One time up I had to crawl up each step. Not fun.

Ok, so no more bitching and complaining about my health or pain. For now on, starting tomorrow, it will not be about me, aside from my opinions, I suppose.

John Kerry, you were the first subject I ever wrote about on this blog. Be prepared to be written about again. And I can promise you I will not be as nice and considerate as I was that time.

But to start on a positive note, I'm adding the most fun song I can think of:

I'm not a huge fan of Neal Boortz, but there are many times he stays within his own message and makes perfect sense. Here is a great example, regarding the future of health care in this country:

Well, they did it. They rammed it through. Nancy Pelosi knew what she had to do. Keep her members in Washington ... keep them away from angry constituents until they were ready to do her will. The polls clearly showed that the people in this country didn't want it .. but the door has, as Nancy Pelosi says, been "kicked in" and we are well on our way to nationalized medicine ... socialized medicine ... call it what you will, but we're on our way to a society where each and every one of us will be dependent on the government - on politicians and unelected bureaucratic hacks - for our healthcare.

This will be somewhat of a "stream of consciousness" effort ... but here's the way I see this playing out over the coming years.

Taxes, of course, go up immediately. How much in new taxes? Try one trillion dollars. A huge portion of these taxes will hit America's small businesses ... our jobs creation machine. There will be increases in Social Security Taxes and Medicare taxes. There will be new taxes for something called CLASS ... a long term in-home health care program. Then there will be a new 3.8% (What the hell ... call it 4%) tax on investment income. Just what our economy needed at a time when unemployment is rampant ... new taxes on the very sector of our economy that creates jobs.

Businesses will hunker down even more than they have been. Business planning is a long-term affair .. and businessmen will know that in a few years 50 will be the magic number when it comes to government health insurance mandates; and this includes part-time employees. So you will see businesses with just over 50 employees starting to cut back. People will lose their jobs so that the business can stay under the threshold. New business start-ups will alter business plans to make sure that they don't meet or cross that threshold when the mandates kick in.

Younger Americans with health insurance will drop their policies. Sure, they know that they will have to pay a penalty when they file their taxes, but that penalty will be much less than the cost of a health insurance policy ... costs that will be going up. Besides ... because insurance companies can no longer discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, there is absolutely no reason in the world to go out there and buy an insurance policy until you really become ill.

Since health young Americans will be dropping insurance, or staying out of the market if they never had insurance in the first place, the insurance companies will find more and more that their customers are among the unhealthiest of Americans. This means more benefits paid, of course, which will result in higher premiums. What's more, there will no longer be a lifetime cap on benefits. Even a government-educated ObamaSycophant could understand that this, too, will lead to increased premiums. But wait! There's more! Children will be able to stay on their parent's policies until age 26. What does this mean? Increased payouts on their parent's policies. How can you not see where this is all going?

Let's just take a quick look at what happened to Anthem .. a health insurance company in California. Recently Anthem hiked its insurance premiums by ... what? Something like 38 or 40%. You could hear the screaming all the way to Nancy Pelosi's office. But did anyone try to figure out just why Anthem had to increase premiums? Here's your explanation. California brought millions of citizens into its own state version of Medicaid. These millions of people started swarming into hospitals and to doctors for their "free" medical care. Trouble is, California also cut back on payments to health care providers at the same time. The health care providers then shifted their costs over to actual paying customers ... customers insured by Anthem. There go the premiums.

With so many more people added to the insurance rolls - people who are not paying for their policies out of their own pockets - there will be a huge increase in people seeking medical care they don't really need. Just check Boca Raton, Florida and the Medicare recipients down there. Do you remember the investigative report which showed the Boca Medicare crowd treated their weekly doctor's visits as a part of their social life? They didn't necessarily need care, they just wanted to see their friends and the doctor's waiting room was the meeting place. Now that each and every American will have a medical care entitlement, not just the Boca Biddies, you can look for a huge increase in the demand for medical services. And guess what? This huge demand will hit at a time when doctors are deciding to hang it up. They didn't sign on to work for the government, and the passage of ObamaCare is their signal to start making their escape plans.

As the demand for medical services increases exponentially, the money to pay for those services will dry up, even with the increased taxes. The inevitable result, then, will be the rationing of health care. There are no words to adequately describe the base ignorance and stupidity of any American who does not realize that rationing is on the way.

As health insurance premiums rise - as people start clogging doctors offices - as the quality of care gradually declines - there will be more and more cries from the dumb masses for the government to "do something." The political class will be ready to do something all right. Politicians will start telling the dumb masses that the private insurance companies have shown themselves not to be up to the task. They were given the chance, and they blew it. So now it's time for the government option ... its time for the government to offer its own health insurance product.

The new cure-all - the so-called "public option" - will not have any of the constraints placed on it that private insurance companies have to deal with. The government insurance plan will be able to draw from an inexhaustible supply of government grants and bailouts. Instead of raising premiums to cover benefits, the government plan will simply borrow more and more money. Net result: Slowly but surely government competition will force private insurance out of the marketplace. You simply cannot compete with an entity that can lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year without ever having to go into bankruptcy.

Politicians have always known that the government option would work this way. It has never been anything less than a method to be used to destroy the private health insurance marketplace. What's next? The magic Democrat wet dream ... "single payer."

Single payer simply means that one entity will write all the checks. Whether it's for a doctor's visit, a prescription, physical therapy ... whatever, the payments come from one source, and that source is the government. If the government is the only entity that is legally permitted to render payment for health care services ... then that puts the government in complete and absolute control of all healthcare. If you don't think that the person who controls your healthcare controls YOU ... then you've never been really, really sick.

I would be very interested in hearing from someone - anyone - who disagrees with Boortz' assessment, and why they feel this way. Please refrain from name-calling immaturity. I'm really very sick of it. Just because you don't agree with conservatism doesn't mean it's evil. And just because I do not believe Barack Obama is a competent President, this just make me racist.

My experience, however, teaches me that this is a favorite tactic of the Left. If you don't agree with me, then I have no right to speak my mind. That's bullshit and goes against the old tenets of America - "I may nit agree with you, but I will fight for your rights to say it." The far-Left would do well to learn that lesson - especially on college campuses.

What I learned from Obama's Kabuki theatre...

1. Obama is extraordinarily arrogant

Yeah, I know I've thought this way for some time. But there were a few examples that proved to me it was not just my imagination. For one thing, his comment to John McCain - a Congressman/Senator now for almost 30 years, who not only is 30 years older than the President, but has more life experience in his pinky than Teh Won has in his entire body - reminding him that "the campaign is over." Just who the hell does Obama think he is, talking to this American hero this way. I am not a big McCain supporter and I held my nose when I voted for him is '08. But to arrogantly dismiss what was an honest comment about why the health care bill is ill-advised was simply way out of line.

In addition, Obama made certain to call each person who spoke by their first name. That may be appropriate with House members he is friendly with. But it comes across as very demeaning to others who have served this country longer that Obama has. It's an arrogance that shows contempt for those who represent the citizens of this country.

Whenever any Republican made a point, valid or not, Obama dismissed it as either grandstanding, or simply irrelevant. It was a hypocritical display of partisanship demeaning to the office. It didn't upset me that he garnered over 33% of the allotted time, after all, he is the President. But to verbalize that being the reason was again tremendously arrogant.

2. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are bald-faced liars

Again, not a huge surprise. Pelosi's big lie was then she said that there is no abortion funding in the bill. Even Obama himself admitted there was - although, he "claims" it was put in there without his knowledge. That would be like the Trump corporation building a casino without "the Donald" knowing about it.

Of course, this pales somewhat in comparison to her remarks yesterday, that this is the "most ethical Congress ever." Charlie Rangel, William Jefferson, Chris Dodd, Alan Mollohan, John Conyers, the late John Murtha and Barney Frank were unavailable for comment.

Reid's whopper was even better. He blurted out "no one is talking about reconciliation!" Well, no one except Reid and just about every other member of the Democrat Party.

3. The Republicans are the party of "no"

Being against a takeover of 1/6 the economy is not a bad thing. Many bad policies have been shelved because members of Congress have said "no." Personally, I think saying "no" is not strong enough. "Hell no" sounds more like it.

I find it simply amazing that the Democrats (read: Obama) is blaming the failure (thus far) of passing this health care monstrosity on the GOP. Last time I checked, they only held 41 seats in the Senate and when the original bills were passed, only 40 seats. Meaning, not one single Republican could stand in the way of it's passage.

When Obama argues he will put this through with reconciliation, what he's really saying is that he will do this even though 10 Democrats are against it as well. My belief is that if the bill is so odious to half the members of the Senate, perhaps it's not the right bill to pass.

4. Obama doesn't care what his constituents want

This is an interesting issue. Obama won the election with 53% of the vote. Of course, you could say that aside from the African-American voters who turned out in record numbers, many of his votes came not for him, but for anyone but George Bush (and his party). Still, Obama won fair and square.

Unfortunately, this victory led him to believe he was elected because of his policies - when in fact, many voters admitted at the time they simply wanted a new face (who wasn't George Bush) and knew very little about Obama. Never, at any point and time (with the exception of the far Left) did the voters want a far-Left, socialist-leaning, radical agenda put in play. Polls taken at the time and in the following months indicated that while the populace liked Obama personally, they were not looking for radical changes in society.

However, due to his own arrogance, Obama believed the hype about being "the one we've been waiting for." His world apology tour embarrassed the American people and his handling of almost every situation since has caused his popularity to plummet to unprecidented depths (according to the latest Rasmussen poll, only 22% strongly approve of him, 43% somewhat approve and now 55% disapprove).

Furthermore, according to the latest AP polling, just 30% of Americans want the health care bill that Obama is selling. There are sweious doubts now that the Democrats will be able to pass this legislation even with reconcilliation. While MSNBC and the Democrat Party may believe the Tea Party movement is a joke, they are clearly making a dent in public discourse. Many Democrats are openly worried that they will be slaughtered in the election in November, if they vote for this. They are right.

5. The Republicans won the day

The American people aren't as stupid and Bill Maher and the rest of the unhinged Left think they are. Obama had hoped not to influence the GOP, but to make them look weak in the face of Obama's superior rhetorical skills. Instead, even though they only got 33% of the allotted time to present their side, they came across far more interested in working for their constituents then the Dems did. It was ammusing to hear Chris Matthews complain the other day that the GOP "came prepared", as if it were a bad thing. Personally, I would never go into a meeting like this unprepared!

Much to the chagrin of the President, the GOP does have a plan for health care. For the past year, all we heard from the Democrats was how the Republicans have no plan except to stall. Reid even compared that (untrue) tactic to slavery. But the GOP proved that while they are firmly against the monolithic bill, they are clearly for reforming the health care industry.

in conclusion, this summit was simply an exercise not in Democracy, but in bloviation and failed strategy. Obama hoped for the GOP to be taken to the woodshed, and instead, he was the one who looked smaller for it. Following the meeting, polling showed that the popularity of this bill shrank even further.

Obama likes to say the reason the bill isn't more acceptable is because he hasn't explained it well enough. Considering that he has spoken of little else for the past four months, it is highly unlikely that's the case. But his arrogance dictates that he is too smart and too big to fail. Therefore, it must be the American people who are at fault for this bill being so unpopular.

But polling shows that the more he speaks of it, the less attractive it is.

So why does he and the Democrats insist on shoving it down our throats? It could be because Obama has invested so much capital that he fears failure will destroy his Presidency. However, Clinton faced the same struggle. The difference being in 1994, the GOP conquered the House and Senate. This allowed Clinton to move more to the Center, which in turn raised his popularity and gave him a landslide victory over Bob Dole in '96.

Or, it could be that the Left simply believes that the American people are stupid and they know what's best for them. Never underestimate the arrogance of modern liberalism. But this also is a clear indication that the Dems misread their mandate in '08, much like Bush did in '04.

The amazing thing about all of this is that it is so unnecessary. Yes, there are problems with health care - no one is questioning that. But American care is by far the best in the world. No one is refused emergency care and while the costs are astronomical, it is the price we pay for it. In countries where health care is supposedly free, income taxes, which pay for it, are crippling. Currently, 14% of the population is on Medicare. 14% is on Medicaid. 9% receive government benefits. 4% are on military health plans. 43% receive coverage from their private employment. Only 6% of the population actually purchases their own insurance. Yet the Democrats want to destroy the insurance companies over this (h/t EIB, via Doug Ross).

Another amazing this is that while the White House screams about the absurd profits made by the insurance companies, you could take the annual profits of the private health insurance companies and buy health insurance for people for two days.

Consider that the next time President Obama vilifies the 'obscene' profits of the insurance companies.

As many of you know, I am strongly against this health care monstrosity that is being forced upon us by our elected officials. Thankfully, enough Democrats care enough about their constituents to actually represent their wishes and will most probably, reject this horrible seizure of 1/6 of our economy.

I am simply astounded at the utter arrogance of Pelosi, Obama, and anyone else who is foisting this behemoth entitlement against our freedom. These communist/socialist/Marxist (or maybe they are simply stupid) will probably never understand why they are eventually voted out of office (assuming they aren't tarred and feathered first). I guess stupidity and arrogance does go hand in hand.

As always, Doug Ross has the goods:

The Health Care Bill in Ninety Seconds

The key 'features' of of H.R. 3962:

Cost

The CBO now estimates health bill spending at $3 trillion over 10 years. Since the CBO historically underestimates expenses, assume massive new deficits for a country that can ill afford them.

Personal Requirements

You'll be required to buy a 'qualified' health plan. A family earning $102K a year will pay $1,700 a month in premium and out-of-pocket expenses. 'Willful' failure to buy a plan will result in a fine of up to $250,000 and 'imprisonment of up to five years'. Illegal immigrants are exempt from fines and imprisonment.

Business Requirements

Every business in America must provide a 'qualified plan' for employees and pay 72.5% of the cost. Failure to do so results in an 8% payroll tax.

Impact to Seniors

Medicare reimbursements will be slashed by $500 billion. Medicare Advantage plans will be slashed by 20%. In many cases, seniors will be forced to see nurse practitioners rather than doctors.

Payments for Community Organizers, Translators and Racial/Ethnic 'Balance'

The bill provides grants to community "entities" with no required qualifications. The bill also provides translators for patients who do not speak English and offers grants to schools serving students with "disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities."

Illegal Immigrants Covered, Abortion Funding Still Possible

Proof of citizenship requirements were gutted, so illegal aliens will be subsidized. The legislation also "doesn't close the door to using taxpayer funds" for abortions.

This bill truly is, as Michele Bachmann describes it, the "crown jewel of socialism". Its implementation will result in an economic catastrophe of the first order as certainly as the sun rises in the morning.

How can anyone with half a brain want this??? For those of you who do, do you not realize the ramifications of your desires?

I would love to hear from someone, anyone, who supports this plan and please explain to me why you think this is a good idea. I'm not saying that American health care is perfect. But if you must do something, and there are very valid arguments for doing something, why do something as horrible and dangerous as this?

Busy watching Game 5 of the World Series and occasionally changing over the the Falcons-Saints (Damn, Drew Brees is GOOD!). But I did want to share this article by one of the best, Jeff Jacoby. If you are still unsure of Obama's following of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals", this should convince you:

Hyperbole and the health-care debate

Two things supporters of a government-run "public option" for health insurance know for sure. One is that private health insurers are raking in obscenely high profits. The other is that only a government rival can force them to compete on price.

In a clever new commercial featuring Heather Graham as an agile sprinter named "Public Option," the left-wing pressure group MoveOn combines both themes, describing insurance companies as "lazy" and "bloated from the profits of raising our health care costs sky-high." Why, it asks, should anyone resist the competition a public option would generate? After all, "competition is as American as apple pie." In a less amusing print ad a few weeks ago, MoveOn charged that "insurance companies are willing to let the bodies pile up, as long as their profits are safe."

President Obama also attacks health insurers as avaricious profiteers.

"The insurance industry is making this last-ditch effort to stop reform," he declared on Oct. 16, "even as costs continue to rise and our health-care dollars continue to be poured into their profits (and) bonuses." When he addressed Congress in September, Obama insisted that only a public option will "keep insurance companies honest." On the White House Blog, ObamaCare opponents are accused of "fighting to protect insurance industry profits."

Indeed, there is no shortage of voices characterizing health insurers as greedy villains. Earlier this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised her party for highlighting "the immoral profits being made by the insurance industry." On CNN last week, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown demanded a public option "so the insurance industry can't continue to game the system and discriminate" against women and the disabled -- tactics insurers have used to "quadruple their profits in the last five years." If quadrupled profits don't seem rapacious enough, the union-backed Health Care for American Now! ups the ante, claiming, according to the AFL-CIO's news blog, that "during the past five years, health insurance company profits have soared by 1,000 percent."

Outbidding them all is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Health insurance companies "are so anti-competitive," he said last month, "because they make more money than any other business in America today."

To such overheated agitprop, the only useful response is a cold shower of facts, and the Associated Press supplied a timely one last week. For all the impassioned talk about obscene profits and bodies piling up, AP's Calvin Woodward reported, "health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent" of revenues, a return "that's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries."

On the Fortune 500 list of top industries, health insurance companies ranked 35^th in profitability in 2008; their overall profit margin was a mere 2.2 percent. They lagged far behind such industries as pharmaceuticals (which showed a profit margin of 19.3 percent), railroads (12.6 percent), and mining (11.5 percent). Among health insurers, the best performer last year was HealthSpring, which had a profit of 5.4 percent. "That's a less profitable margin," AP noted, "that was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach, and Molson and Coors beers."

For the most recent quarter of 2009, health-insurance plans earned profits of only 3.3 percent, ranking them 86^th on the expanded Yahoo! Finance list of US industries. The application-software industry, by contrast, is pulling in profits of nearly 22 percent. Why aren't MoveOn and the Democrats demanding a "public option" to compete with Microsoft and Adobe and drive down their "immoral" profits?

There are certainly industries doing worse than health insurance -- airlines and newspapers, for example -- but the notion that health insurers "make more money than any other business in America today" is preposterous. Advocates of a public option may find it tactically expedient to paint insurers as insatiable predators, swollen with ill-gotten profits. The reality is otherwise.

Still, the critics do have one thing right: More competition would bring down health-care premiums. But the way to increase competition is not by adding a government-run health plan to the 1,300 private firms already providing Americans with health insurance. After all, there's no public option for auto insurance and life insurance, yet they're sold in a highly competitive national market. There is no reason health insurance can't be sold the same way.