Socialist Healthcare Causes "Irreparable" Harm, Are We Next?

Here is an article form Nadeem Esmail in the WSJ Opinion section: 'Too Old' for Hip Surgery

The Supreme Court of Canada found that Canadians suffer physically and psychologically while waiting for treatment in the public health-care system, and that the government monopoly on essential health services imposes a risk of death and irreparable harm. The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec's prohibition on private health insurance violates citizen rights as guaranteed by that province's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, says Esmail.

The Democrats want socialized health care why? So we can wait weeks or even months before we get seen for certain procedures? How would you like to be called too old for something?

My wife and I work hard to cover the costs we incur for medical expenses, and we pay our fair share from my past physical ailments. But we are not complaining. I am responsible for not caring for my body (though I am now taking great measures to reverse my mistakes).

The problem does exist that medical costs are high and that affordable insurance is very difficult to find. I suggested MediShare in my other blog for people looking for affordable health care assistance: Healthcare

The drawback with that plan is that is doesn't help with many pre-existent conditions. But this is still not a bad option for people needing assistance with medical needs. Even though it is not an insurance program, it does help in the long run through shared resources for care.

One the greatest things we can do for ourselves and our families is to start a health savings plan. Simply setting aside ten percent of your annual income is a great start for being prepared for medical problems. Will that cover everything? No. Will it go a long way towards covering emergencies? Yes.

Having a health savings account added to MediShare and you have more than enough to pay for any co-pay. Just think, someone earning $50,000 could have $5,000 set aside for help. Put it in a money market account or savings account and it grows. Regularly pay into it, and it grows more. Start young and by the time many health problems start emerging in most lives, you have a significant emergency plan available.

What about those with "less means"?

We can agree that as a nation with "means" we need to care for those who are poor. It is the compassion of Christ. We have Medicaid (for people needing assistance under the retirement age). Why not expand health care incentives for those in the workforce by providing vouchers or tax breaks for those who invest in some form of health insurance as the AMA plan suggests? How about having them pay an extra $10 a month for basic care insurance? How about putting money into helping store-front doctors and free-clinics to open and to operate?

I am not a master of health care information. I would just like to see us think wisely before ruining our future to socialized care that puts everyone on the back burner for real care. I want to see us avoid unnecessary deaths which socialized health care as proposed by the Democrats will cause. I want to see us avoid going into more debt because our government will mismanage our health care and run up health care costs in a slipshod fashion.

Of course all of this will be a mute point once the stimulus package passes carelessly through Congress - we'll be too broke and too bankrupt to pay for anything.

Democrats Ready To Embrace Anti-Christian Stimulus Clauses

As seen in two articles online (Article 1 - Article 2), I have found that the Democrats have buried in the bogus "stimulus" plan clauses that hamper and seek to remove Christian groups from having any access to public sites that receive federal funding.

I thought this was a "spending bill", not a bill to attack the Bill of Rights!

The Democrats in Congress are betting that we will not read this legislation and that the ground swell will be too little too late. They may be right.

I have been opposed to this and the previous bill from the beginning. All we are doing is stimulating debt instead of dealing with the problems and seizing the opportunity to enact governance that will benefit the future instead of just patching the present.

Senator Kerry responded to another today that we are in a recession now and 10 years from now doesn't really matter. His response was to a comment on how a Congressional oversight committee found that this stimulus package will cause another recession ten years from now.

Plug and patch. Real leaders do not plug and patch. The Democrats are passing this off on the future when their "reigns" in office will not be affected.

All of this is like flushing money down the toilet.

They are plugging up the holes with newspaper hoping the water will stop seeping through. There are bigger needs that need to be addressed and all they are concerned with is how posterity sees them.

The Do Anything Congress

This do anything approach will harm our nation in the long run.

• We are passing down debt to the future
• We are pushing off Social Security and Medicare reform - with the passage of this bill we will no longer have the means necessary to fix these problems because we will be spending all our money correcting this mistake
• We are sending education down the tubes because the root of this problem began when people stopped learning how to effectively manage money (instead we teach how to let money manage them - debt spending to their rescue)
• We are trying to save a broken tax system which even the highest of PHD's have a difficult time agreeing upon its interpretation
• We are pushing religion out of the picture because it holds people to account and many democrats hate accountability
• We are telling the uninsured that they don't matter because we continue to enact legislation that doesn't help them get good health care, only very marginal care
• We are still sending billions of dollars overseas to pay for oil because we are so in love with an unbelievable climate spiel that doesn't add up. Should we protect the environment? Yes - sensibly.

The love of money is the root of all evil. $1 Trillion dollars is more than enough to purchase Walmart, Microsoft, and numerous other mega-corporations. "Throw money and hope it gets to where its needed", says the President!

Oh yeah, and don't forget to continue to throw junk legislation in the stimulus bill that absolutely has nothing to do with spending or economic aid, and don't forget to rid the world of those evil accountability seeking Christians.

Do You Want To Act?

Here is what you can do: Call the Congressional phone lines and keep them tied up with your demands to stop this bill. We need good, honest legislation, not this deceptive piece of trash making it way through the Senate (see here: A Viable Alternative For Economic Stimulus). Act now and make a difference.

This site, Congress.org, will help you find a list of everyone who represents you on the federal and local levels.

Have fun, and have a great weekend!

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling On President Obama

President Obama addressed the House Democrats yesterday, and said if we don't pass the stimulus plan by mid-February, America will go down in flames. "Hurry, hurry, rush, rush! We are going to be crushed."

I can't believe that a president who is supposed to portray confidence and hope is now portraying confusion and doom!

Are we not a great country that has won its own independence, crafted a rule of law by the people, overcome a Civil War, helped defeat tyranny in two World Wars, battled through a great depression, overcome the throws of communism, and is standing strong against terrorism?

What changed? Where is the leadership that stands up in such a time and rallies the people and provides vision?

A true leader should be doing at least three things:

1. Providing Purpose - We need to understand the desired outcome. We need to know what the stimulus plan will actually do and why it should be done this way
2. Providing Direction - What are the goals? How can we accomplish those goals? How can the people get involved (it's not all about the government)? We need to take responsibility and pay off debt and begin saving and learn how to work a second job if necessary. Answer the who, what, when, where, why, how! Besides, the people paying off debt, the government needs to LEAD THE WAY AND PAY OFF ITS OWN DEBT! Be an example and lead!
   
3. Providing Motivation - Motivation is the cause of action. Where is the confidence? If our government isn't confident - why would we be? I believe we could get behind a leader who is prepared to hold "bailout" hopefuls to the fire - Get it right or strike out! Also, a leader who is prepared to set limits to spending

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "War is waged only with vigor, decision, and unshaken will: one must not grope or hesitate."

True leaders get people to go against their nature. People need to feel comfort, and a leader has to provide that comfort through sacrifice and hard work. Our leaders cannot afford to grope their way through this economic problem. They need a real plan and need to stop throwing out numbers.

So ask yourself, who is providing the purpose, direction, and motivation for our future? My help comes from the Lord, because there is only so much man can do. Take responsibility for your actions and together we each will make a difference amongst those around us.

Be a difference maker. Be a leader!

Senator Lindsey Graham on Stimulus

A Viable Alternative For Economic Stimulus

Why do anything for yourself? Why succeed? Why push yourself to make necessary changes in your life and better yourself? Your too old, who cares? Why?

The government will come to your rescue! At least that is the message being sent to everyone through this unbearable package.

Now, Senators have come together with a passable plan that could be implemented immediately called the Republican Rival Stimulus Plan.

What I like about it is and what I would like to see added:

1. That we get to keep what we earned (the government doesn't get control and then send it back to us at their leisure!).
2. They are slashing corporate taxes!
   
3. I would say that states should lose federal money if they do not use the money as designated!
   
4. I also like how the money spending ends immediately within three years! This means states will have to act immediately to put the money into the economy.
5. Oh yes, definitely balance the budget - that is a must!
6. I still would like to see them use the FairTax to force the federal government to balance the budget.
   
7. Also, use the Picken's Plan to get us off foreign oil supplies and into renewable energy.
   
8. Finally, I think we need to add tax incentives for individuals who are paying a bazillion dollars for family health care coverage.

Here is the alternative as reported by Reuters:

A group of Senate Republicans unveiled a $445 billion alternative economic stimulus plan on Tuesday, about half the cost of the $885 billion Democratic plan the U.S. Senate is considering.

Following are details of the proposal by John McCain of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakota, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Mel Martinez of Florida.

Tax Provisions:

* For one year, cut in half to 3.1 percent the payroll tax for all U.S. employees. Cost: $165 billion.

* Lower the 10 percent income tax bracket to 5 percent and the 15 percent bracket to 10 percent for one year. Cost: $60 billion.

* Slash the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent for a year. For small businesses filing as individuals, their tax bracket would also go down to 25 percent from 35 percent. Cost: $50 billion.

* Offer in 2009 to homebuyers a tax credit of $15,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. Cost: $20.4 billion.

Spending Provisions:

* Extend unemployment insurance benefits and food stamps through 2009 and eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits for the same time period. Cost: $48.15 billion.

* Use federal money to discourage mortgage servicers and lenders from executing home foreclosures. Cost: $11 billion.

* Grants to states to build and repair roads and bridges. $65 billion.

* Improve, repair and modernize Defense Department facilities. Order and/or repair equipment, vehicles, material and ammunition for combat troops. $17 billion.

* Grants to states to make investments in public transportation systems. $3 billion.

* Grants for airports to build new runways, install runway safety equipment and other infrastructure projects. Cost: $1.1 billion.

Other provisions:

* All spending programs would end three years after the legislation became law.

* To move toward reducing the budget deficit, after two consecutive quarters of more than 2 percent of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product growth, spending provisions from the stimulus package that has not been spent or obligated would be canceled. Additionally, there would be a 2 percent across-the-board spending reduction to help balance the budget by 2015.

* Establish commissions to review Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

(Reuters)

$445 Billion is still hard to swallow but not as hard as $900 Billion. At least these ideas have validity.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

President Obama is proving that the campaign trail is not the same as the office. On the trail, he promised that none of his staff or cabinet would work in areas that they had lobbied. He now has at least two who have. He has also nominated at least two who thought that they were exempt from taxes while we had to pay. Then they come back and said, oops!

Do as I say, not as I do. Here is what I read in the Bible today:

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:1-12 (NKJV)

I find it eerie how much that sounds like some elected officials. I just wish that they would pay attention to the last sentence, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

I do not see any humility among those who decide to pay their taxes only after they exalt themselves by accepting a very important position in our government. This goes to character (regardless of how smart they are). Their character has been exposed and the Senate happily accepted one of them into the fold. Now, all of the sudden they want to demonize Daschle (only to save face).

The only way to humble a politician is to send them home. In other words, stop electing them!

Another thought about the stimulus package:

There are some aspects to the stimulus package that would be very beneficial to our country. For example, our infrastructure needs to be repaired and updated. Another example deals with getting away from our oil dependency. So yes, there are some positive aspects to this package.

The unfortunate problem emerges from the pork spending that benefits a politicians' vote rather than our need for economic stimulus. Of course this goes back to the above verses. The true colors of the spend-sters in office are revealing their character. They adore being enamored and being called "Senator" or "Representative". They like the pats on the back and the best seats on committees. They could care less about the burdens placed on their fellow man because they make up differing rules for themselves. Do I say, not as I do rings true only for them.

I know the day of humility will come, and it saddens me that so many are caught up in these spotlights. At least their are still many in the Congress who maintain integrity. Those are the ones who will be remembered and honored.

Edited (Feb 5, 2009):
Here is a list of the "non-lobby" lobbyist on the White House staff that were appointed and approved by President Obama (12 and counting): Politico or Hot Air