Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Health Care ABC's

In a grab for even more control, or at least the appearance thereof, Usurpent has negotiated a deal with ABC to broadcast live from the White House on June 24. This, I foresee, as a permanent venture in the near future. ABC's ratings must be down, or they're going to receive a pile of that newly printed money that the Treasury has authorized.

Along with the other dictatorial actions of Usurpent, he now is commandeering a major network. Does this not strike anyone as odd? Incidentally, I called ABC this morning and spoke to a guy named Brice who works in the "Executive Offices". When I questioned him about the White House broadcast, he denied knowing anything about it. This is someone who is "very connected" with executive matters at ABC. My congressman, however, had received a memo from the RNC earlier today regarding the issue.

Usurpent has been harping on a health care crisis since 2007. Hillary, of course, had begun the process while her husband was 'in charge' years earlier. There is no health care crisis in America--not yet, anyway. The day socialized medicine is in place is the day we'll have a crisis!

The problems with today's health care are many:

1) Too much government red tape, especially with regard to HIPA, Medicare, and Medicaid
2) The entire system is abused, e.g. hospital emergency rooms used for colds and other minor conditions, illegal aliens using any part of the system, doctors' offices double billing patients and the government
3) pharmaceutical companies and hospitals charging exhorbitant prices/fees
4) insurance companies charging too much in premiums, and increasing premiums by as much as 30% annually
5) society's expectation that care is to be available for anything at any time

I would suggest that health insurance companies need to be regulated, something that they've escaped for all these years. It disgusts me that Anthem raises our premiums a minimum of 22% every year, blaming it on the American couch-potato lifestyle (my paraphrase). No one else in the private sector increases their prices by that amount, mainly because it is unreasonable.

Pharmaceuticals need to reduce their costs, lower their profit margins, or be subsidized by the government much like we do with farmers.

Hospitals, too, tend toward greed. This must stop. Personally, I spent 4-1/2 hours in the emergency room last year for kidney stones. The bill was $6,000. My wife had pneumonia earlier this year, spending 7 hours in the ER before being admitted. That bill was about the same. There isn't any justification for this kind of business.

Aside from the possible subsidies mentioned above, government needs to stay out of the process. HIPA requirements are ridiculous, and Medicare and Medicaid are causing fewer and few new doctors from entering or continuing practice. They're being paid less and less each year as determined by these agencies to the tune of 40%, 25%, and even 15% of billable services.

Finally, Americans need to realize that, certainly, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will help cut health care costs, but that not every illness requires medical attention. Colds, the flu, sprained ankles, etc. in most cases can be taken care of at home.

If you're looking for a crisis, you've found it in the new Amerika.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Citizens' Fear Caused by What?

Well, first let me ask forgiveness for addressing an article nearly a year old that was published in Science Magazine, by Oxley, et al., on September 19, 2008, vol. 321.
The title for this article is "Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits"

This article was brought to my attention by a leftist author of a letter to the editor in our local newspaper this past week, wherein he responded to the previous week's letters to the editor; some of which protested the Usurpent's actions (it doesn't matter which ones, because they all require protest). I read the study's summary along with several readers' comments thereon.

Douglas Oxley and company investigated how politically-opinionated humans react to fear as compared with average humans. The basic premise is that fear-sensitive folks tend to desire public policy that reflects and protects their societal comfort levels, and that less fear-sensitive people tend to think more globally (my summation). It is a lengthy article, and, because it was published by a major periodical, it probably carries some weight in some mad scientist circles.

Certainly, I'm no scientist, but I do know something general about polling samples and studies. Whenever you'd like to perform a study or poll, you try to use the largest number of participants practical to the job. For example, if I want to determine how many people hate what the Usurpent and Congress is doing, I don't just ask my friends or call 100 people in Texas--that would be grossly inaccurate. Instead, I would randomly call or interview 1000 to 5000 people evenly distributed across America. The broader the sample, the more accurate the response, usually with an accuracy rate of between 3-5% either way.

This great scientific research utilized 46 adults (the scientists get extra credit for using adults). It took eight people to conduct and write about their findings that, to me, are complete nonsense. Even the authors couldn't make any conclusions about their three-month effort, and not only that, they never explored the specificity of the participants' politics**. Was this done at the tax-payers' expense?

Let's take an example, my own study using one person (nearly as good as 46)). I have a low threshold for pain (oh, no--BB knows!), but I will not change my lifestyle to avoid the potential of, say, getting out of bed. I'm a carpenter, daily using such power tools as electric mitre boxes, sabre saws and table saws, not to mention driving a large truck. If my physiological sensitivity to pain was any higher, using this study's theory, I would either a) demand that laws be written to prohibit sharp blades from being made for this equipment (unsafe at any speed!), b) hire someone else to do my cutting (legal aliens, of course), or 3) become an accountant.

Rather than blame Americans' fear on a higher physiological reaction to fear-inducing stimuli, I believe it is safe to say that we just don't like Socialism, the potential for Islam to deluge our Judeao-Christian rooted nation with religious Round Up, and we don't particularly care for lies, deceit, and abuse of power (abusive power?).

**My guess is that the scientists, at least, are Democrats/Socialists because they're always looking for someone or something else to blame rather than taking on individual responsibility. Yet another reason to be moved to fear....

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Usurpent Must Be Taken Out of Office

This week Usurpent called us a Muslim Nation only months after declaring to Turkey and the rest of the world that we are not a Christian nation.

Last week, Usurpent proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Pride Month.

He and his minions have overstepped their roles, taking over a large portion of the private sector: the banks and auto-makers. What's next th--oh, that's right he already has the media.

Usurpent has irresponsibly spent trillions in non-existent money, thus placing the burden on generations of future tax-payers (assuming that the world will still exist).

He is promoting the most radical leftist people, queers, socialists, baby-killers, etc. And, because this issue still isn't resolved, where is the Usurpent's freakin' birth certificate?!

How much documentation do we need to denounce this president as traitor to our country? He doesn't represent most of us.

Treason! I say.

Who has the boldness to stand against this man and work to remove him from office by any means necessary? Is there no one out there? Hello?