Health care reform is important to every American. With the Democrats firmly in control of the Senate, House and White house, the future of our health and quality of life rests with them. Decisions they make may decide who lives, who dies, who gets health care and who does not. The mechanisms for rationing health are already in law, passed in the stimulus bill.
The worry is the health care bill will be rushed through, like the stimulus. Congressman Eric Massa said he had to "pull an all-nighter" to read the bill before the scheduled vote. A bill this complex and expensive shouldn't have been rushed. This was a failure of presidential and congressional leadership. The result was a spending and deficit exploding orgy. The same politically motivated hustle will not do when it comes to health care. Our lives and the lives of our loved ones are at stake.
Deliberation, care and thoughtfulness should accompany every step of the process. We must have a full and open debate. There is no need to rush such an important issue. Contact your local representatives. Tell them to exercise great care. We are all worth it.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
I'm from the government: trust me with your health care
Run! Here comes health care reform Obama-Massa style. This is not really reform, it's a take over. The statists differ on how to accomplish this. Eric Massa wants a single-payer system while Obama says he wants the government to compete with private insurance.
"Reform" is already well under way. Obama slipped government control of health care into the stimulus bill with the creation of two new bureaucracies, the Federal Coordinating Council for
Comparative Effectiveness Research and the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. He mandated the computerization of our medical records by 2014. This will enable bureaucrats to "guide" your doctors decisions about treatments that are "cost effective". Penalties may be imposed on physicians who refuse to comply. David Blumenthal, appointed by President Obama to oversee this effort said, "Government controls on health care spending are associated with longer waits for elective procedures and reduced availability of new and expensive treatments and devices". But wait, there's more "reform". Another Obama appointee, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, wants to remake the Hippocratic oath. This is the oath doctors take to,"keep the good of the patient as the highest priority". Dr. Emanuel said medical students should be trained " to move to more socially sustainable, cost effective care". According to Emanual, medical comforts drive up costs: "Hospital rooms in the United States offer more privacy, comfort and auxiliary services than do hospital rooms in most other countries".
The Federal Coordinating Council is modeled after Great Briton's National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE). They approve or reject treatments on the basis of age and cost effectiveness. NICE denied use of Temodar, an oral medication for brain tumors. They said while it will help people live longer, it wasn't cost effective. Senator Ted Kennedy, long a champion of single payer health care, takes Temodar. He would be denied Temodar in a system he would create for the rest of us.
The implementation of government health care will forever alter the relationship of doctor to patient and people to government. It will destroy our individuality, freedom and faith that our doctor works for us, and is not an agent of the state. Free people do not stand in line to wait for care, as supplicants to an all powerful government. This is an abomination of our founding principles. It is a triumph of Big Brother over Washington, Jefferson, Madison and all they stood for, and fought for.
Obama's proposal and Massa's vote will result in bureaucrats deciding the worth and value of each of us. Politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys are wholly inadequate to this task. It is a decision far above the pay grade of such men. It is cruelty to lie to citizens, telling them they will have all the health care they will need, when the mechanism for rationing is already in place. Americans will suffer at the hands of a government sworn to protect them.
"Reform" is already well under way. Obama slipped government control of health care into the stimulus bill with the creation of two new bureaucracies, the Federal Coordinating Council for
Comparative Effectiveness Research and the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. He mandated the computerization of our medical records by 2014. This will enable bureaucrats to "guide" your doctors decisions about treatments that are "cost effective". Penalties may be imposed on physicians who refuse to comply. David Blumenthal, appointed by President Obama to oversee this effort said, "Government controls on health care spending are associated with longer waits for elective procedures and reduced availability of new and expensive treatments and devices". But wait, there's more "reform". Another Obama appointee, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, wants to remake the Hippocratic oath. This is the oath doctors take to,"keep the good of the patient as the highest priority". Dr. Emanuel said medical students should be trained " to move to more socially sustainable, cost effective care". According to Emanual, medical comforts drive up costs: "Hospital rooms in the United States offer more privacy, comfort and auxiliary services than do hospital rooms in most other countries".
The Federal Coordinating Council is modeled after Great Briton's National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE). They approve or reject treatments on the basis of age and cost effectiveness. NICE denied use of Temodar, an oral medication for brain tumors. They said while it will help people live longer, it wasn't cost effective. Senator Ted Kennedy, long a champion of single payer health care, takes Temodar. He would be denied Temodar in a system he would create for the rest of us.
The implementation of government health care will forever alter the relationship of doctor to patient and people to government. It will destroy our individuality, freedom and faith that our doctor works for us, and is not an agent of the state. Free people do not stand in line to wait for care, as supplicants to an all powerful government. This is an abomination of our founding principles. It is a triumph of Big Brother over Washington, Jefferson, Madison and all they stood for, and fought for.
Obama's proposal and Massa's vote will result in bureaucrats deciding the worth and value of each of us. Politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys are wholly inadequate to this task. It is a decision far above the pay grade of such men. It is cruelty to lie to citizens, telling them they will have all the health care they will need, when the mechanism for rationing is already in place. Americans will suffer at the hands of a government sworn to protect them.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
'Feel Good' foreign policy feels bad for at least one American
The good news is that our president’s new feel good foreign diplomacy appears to be working. The bad news is that the logical result of this policy shift is that Americans throughout the world are at increased risk of harm from unfriendly governments.
Speaking from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad Obama took time out from is busy schedule of handshakes and smiles with such pillars of democracy, capitalism, and individual rights as Hugo Chavez, Daniel Noriega, and Raul Castro to comment on this new direction for US foreign policy.
"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness," Obama said, recalling his race for the White House and challenging his critics today.
"The American people didn't buy it," Obama said. "And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it — because it doesn't make sense."
Unfortunately, at least one of the American people is buying it (or rather, paying for it) as this policy has lead to the silencing of her voice and the loss of her freedom. On April 18th it was reported that American journalist Roxana Saberi was convicted of espionage and spying for the United States government. Ms. Saberi was raised by her Iranian born father and Japanese born mother in North Dakota. She is dual US-Iranian citizen who has been living in Iran for the past six years while working as a freelance journalist for media outlets such as NPR and the BBC. Videos and pictures of her working in the public eye are readily available on the internet. Ms. Saberi was coerced into a confession and convicted in a mock trial behind closed doors. Both Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have stated that she is in no way connected with the US government, and no evidence other than the coerced confession, has been offered by the Iranians.
Ms. Saberi is an attractive woman and a western educated journalist. This is a heretical combination of traits in the eyes of Iran’s ruling mullahs. Therefore despite being a citizen of Iran, she is a convenient and useful tool for them to flex power on the world stage in the face of the new US President.
Let’s look at the sequence of events:
January 2009: Bush leaves office, Obama enters, Roxana Saberi is arrested in Iran for the heinous crime of buying a bottle of wine and held for working as a journalist without proper paperwork.
March 2009: Obama makes conciliatory speeches aimed at Iran
April 2009: Saberi is convicted of espionage and spying and sentenced to eight years in prison
My opinion is that Ms. Saberi very likely would not have been arrested, detained for 4 months, and farcically convicted of espionage and spying with the Bush Administration in the White House. Oppressive regimes like Iran, North Korea, and yes, Obama’s new friends in Latin America, understand primarily one kind of diplomacy. And that is power. Quite simply the potential punishment a Bush Administration was willing to deliver deters the persecution of American’s around the world by governments hostile to our way of life. They view Obama’s speeches and posturing as obvious signs of weakness, and this allow the mullahs to test how far they can go without reappraisal. It will be interesting to see what direction they go next in testing the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth who openly disparages our right to use that power for the betterment of humanity, or even for our own citizen’s protection.
I cannot help but think back and compare this situation to the days when the oppressive thugs who now rule Iran came to power in 1979 and held dozens of Americans hostage for more than a year. It was not a coincidence that the day the hostages were released was the day another weak Democratic President, Jimmy Carter, left office and was replaced by a strong Republican in Ronald Reagan. Even in their nascent days as dictators the mullahs knew the potential of US power wielded by someone willing to use it and reacted appropriately in their own self interest by releasing the hostages.
But back to Ms. Saberi. Both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have made milquetoast statements asking for good treatment and release. There is nary the trace of the threat of any negative repercussions to the abductors of one of our citizens. But perhaps our President is hoping Ms. Saberi will be saved by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (One cannot help but think Mr. Ahmadinejad is most desirable diplomatic friend for President Obama in the whole world. Imagine the joy he feels thinking of the photographs that would appear on front pages around the world as he shakes hands, smiles, and jokes with Iran’s president in the ultimate rebuke of the Bush administration’s policy of belief and support for American-style free and democratic society.)
Mr. Ahmadinejad has stated that he is urging the prosecutor in the case that Ms. Saberi be given the right to defend herself in court on all appeals. Apparently rights for citizens in court in Iran are dependent on Presidential politics as opposed to written laws. But Ms. Saberi may not want to book her flight back to Fargo just yet as Mr. Ahmadinejed may not be able to follow-up very soon. This week he is giving the keynote speech at the UN conference on racism where he will expound on the evils of US and Israeli Zionism as the world’s most oppressive form of racism.
It’s too bad President Obama decided to continue a Bush administration policy and avoid attending this conference. Given his oratorical capabilities, it would have been a great opportunity for him to follow the holocaust denying Ahmadinejed by expounding on how the US moved from human slavery to a freely elected minority President over a 143 year period by respecting the dignity of the individual and upholding those rights through our laws and court systems. He could have described the courage and fortitude it took over the generations since the Civil War ended, and the many rewards we’ve reaped. But it might have lead to an unpleasant situation where handshakes and smiles were not possible. Confrontation might even have actually occurred, so perhaps it’s best he stayed away.
Speaking from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad Obama took time out from is busy schedule of handshakes and smiles with such pillars of democracy, capitalism, and individual rights as Hugo Chavez, Daniel Noriega, and Raul Castro to comment on this new direction for US foreign policy.
"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness," Obama said, recalling his race for the White House and challenging his critics today.
"The American people didn't buy it," Obama said. "And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it — because it doesn't make sense."
Unfortunately, at least one of the American people is buying it (or rather, paying for it) as this policy has lead to the silencing of her voice and the loss of her freedom. On April 18th it was reported that American journalist Roxana Saberi was convicted of espionage and spying for the United States government. Ms. Saberi was raised by her Iranian born father and Japanese born mother in North Dakota. She is dual US-Iranian citizen who has been living in Iran for the past six years while working as a freelance journalist for media outlets such as NPR and the BBC. Videos and pictures of her working in the public eye are readily available on the internet. Ms. Saberi was coerced into a confession and convicted in a mock trial behind closed doors. Both Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have stated that she is in no way connected with the US government, and no evidence other than the coerced confession, has been offered by the Iranians.
Ms. Saberi is an attractive woman and a western educated journalist. This is a heretical combination of traits in the eyes of Iran’s ruling mullahs. Therefore despite being a citizen of Iran, she is a convenient and useful tool for them to flex power on the world stage in the face of the new US President.
Let’s look at the sequence of events:
January 2009: Bush leaves office, Obama enters, Roxana Saberi is arrested in Iran for the heinous crime of buying a bottle of wine and held for working as a journalist without proper paperwork.
March 2009: Obama makes conciliatory speeches aimed at Iran
April 2009: Saberi is convicted of espionage and spying and sentenced to eight years in prison
My opinion is that Ms. Saberi very likely would not have been arrested, detained for 4 months, and farcically convicted of espionage and spying with the Bush Administration in the White House. Oppressive regimes like Iran, North Korea, and yes, Obama’s new friends in Latin America, understand primarily one kind of diplomacy. And that is power. Quite simply the potential punishment a Bush Administration was willing to deliver deters the persecution of American’s around the world by governments hostile to our way of life. They view Obama’s speeches and posturing as obvious signs of weakness, and this allow the mullahs to test how far they can go without reappraisal. It will be interesting to see what direction they go next in testing the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth who openly disparages our right to use that power for the betterment of humanity, or even for our own citizen’s protection.
I cannot help but think back and compare this situation to the days when the oppressive thugs who now rule Iran came to power in 1979 and held dozens of Americans hostage for more than a year. It was not a coincidence that the day the hostages were released was the day another weak Democratic President, Jimmy Carter, left office and was replaced by a strong Republican in Ronald Reagan. Even in their nascent days as dictators the mullahs knew the potential of US power wielded by someone willing to use it and reacted appropriately in their own self interest by releasing the hostages.
But back to Ms. Saberi. Both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have made milquetoast statements asking for good treatment and release. There is nary the trace of the threat of any negative repercussions to the abductors of one of our citizens. But perhaps our President is hoping Ms. Saberi will be saved by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (One cannot help but think Mr. Ahmadinejad is most desirable diplomatic friend for President Obama in the whole world. Imagine the joy he feels thinking of the photographs that would appear on front pages around the world as he shakes hands, smiles, and jokes with Iran’s president in the ultimate rebuke of the Bush administration’s policy of belief and support for American-style free and democratic society.)
Mr. Ahmadinejad has stated that he is urging the prosecutor in the case that Ms. Saberi be given the right to defend herself in court on all appeals. Apparently rights for citizens in court in Iran are dependent on Presidential politics as opposed to written laws. But Ms. Saberi may not want to book her flight back to Fargo just yet as Mr. Ahmadinejed may not be able to follow-up very soon. This week he is giving the keynote speech at the UN conference on racism where he will expound on the evils of US and Israeli Zionism as the world’s most oppressive form of racism.
It’s too bad President Obama decided to continue a Bush administration policy and avoid attending this conference. Given his oratorical capabilities, it would have been a great opportunity for him to follow the holocaust denying Ahmadinejed by expounding on how the US moved from human slavery to a freely elected minority President over a 143 year period by respecting the dignity of the individual and upholding those rights through our laws and court systems. He could have described the courage and fortitude it took over the generations since the Civil War ended, and the many rewards we’ve reaped. But it might have lead to an unpleasant situation where handshakes and smiles were not possible. Confrontation might even have actually occurred, so perhaps it’s best he stayed away.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tax Day Tea Party Video (Part 2)
The second part of the Tax Day Teaparty. This shows the last two speakers we had. Frank Acomb has a radio show on WENY radio called Frankly Speaking that you can hear locally from 6-9am. Bill Nojay is a business attorney and a radio talk show host. Bill's radio show the Bill Nojay show is broadcast throughout the area.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Video from Corning Teaparty (Part 1)
Robert Lindquist from http://www.blubari.com from Canandaigua area volunteered to drive down and shoot video for our event. We thank him and his wife for making the trip all the way to Corning for our event. This video was definitely impossible without his help.
We has at least 1000 people there. We circulated a petition to help bring change to the United States and to New York. The business climate is in need of action. The changes are possible, but it will take us making our views known. We will continue a discussion on this blog helping to explain what these are and how they will help. If you want to help this petition we are going to keep the petition going until May 15th. Download the petition detail as well as a blank sheet. And go to your friends and neighbors. Let's show them how we feel about the spending and the taxes and let's bring change. The address to mail it in is on the documents.
We has at least 1000 people there. We circulated a petition to help bring change to the United States and to New York. The business climate is in need of action. The changes are possible, but it will take us making our views known. We will continue a discussion on this blog helping to explain what these are and how they will help. If you want to help this petition we are going to keep the petition going until May 15th. Download the petition detail as well as a blank sheet. And go to your friends and neighbors. Let's show them how we feel about the spending and the taxes and let's bring change. The address to mail it in is on the documents.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Massa Meddling with the Free Market
My fellow capitalists. I am seeking your opinion about Time Warner's plan to re-organize the business model for the delivery and sale of high speed Internet offered as roadrunner. I am also seeking your input on Eric Massa's response.
I believe it is a core principle of capitalism that a business has the right to evaluate and modify their business model how they see fit. Time Warner has identified a need to change based on their understanding of the their industry. I'm sure some people will end up paying more and others less. I think moving to a tiered consumption based system makes sense.
As for Massa there are few if any examples that I recall of a time government involvement has been a positive influence when regulating an industries pricing. This quote is a great example of how government is disconnected from industry “They have yet to explain how increased Internet usage increases their costs.” Mr. Massa also said "Time Warner has announced an ill-conceived plan" what gives him the expertise to evaluate their plan? Why do they need to explain how increased usage increases costs? Isn't that the concern of the share holders and customers more than the government. Besides, it is typically the case that the more you consume the more it will cost with almost anything. I guess we should add high speed Internet to the bill of rights just under health care...
It is not acceptable for government to interfere with industry at this level. I believe these are the types of things that the majority of people will read and agree that Massa is doing the right thing. Unfortunately, government meddling like this is what leads to economic and industry issues long term. If capitalism is left alone, the natural order of free markets will decide what is acceptable.
http://www.the-leader.com/news/x1098997265/Massa-to-fight-Net-data-caps
I believe it is a core principle of capitalism that a business has the right to evaluate and modify their business model how they see fit. Time Warner has identified a need to change based on their understanding of the their industry. I'm sure some people will end up paying more and others less. I think moving to a tiered consumption based system makes sense.
As for Massa there are few if any examples that I recall of a time government involvement has been a positive influence when regulating an industries pricing. This quote is a great example of how government is disconnected from industry “They have yet to explain how increased Internet usage increases their costs.” Mr. Massa also said "Time Warner has announced an ill-conceived plan" what gives him the expertise to evaluate their plan? Why do they need to explain how increased usage increases costs? Isn't that the concern of the share holders and customers more than the government. Besides, it is typically the case that the more you consume the more it will cost with almost anything. I guess we should add high speed Internet to the bill of rights just under health care...
It is not acceptable for government to interfere with industry at this level. I believe these are the types of things that the majority of people will read and agree that Massa is doing the right thing. Unfortunately, government meddling like this is what leads to economic and industry issues long term. If capitalism is left alone, the natural order of free markets will decide what is acceptable.
http://www.the-leader.com/news/x1098997265/Massa-to-fight-Net-data-caps
Thursday, April 2, 2009
We're Having A Party, A Tea Party
The Obama administration is only 2 months old and has already caused more damage than the semi-competent George W. Bush and the incompetent Jimmy Carter. Obama promised fiscal restraint. We got record spending. He promised transparency. Instead, Obama rushed the stimulus bill through so fast no one could read it.
The stimulus bill turns the relationship of the people to their government on its head. The bill puts Obama in the role of king and congress as his vassals. We are their surfs. We are commanded to labor, not for ourselves and our families, but to pay for Obama's reckless spending. Congress and the President remorselessly trample the founding principles of this country. We must affirm and reassert the noble ideals that gave rise to the greatest nation yet created.
The Declaration of Independence is the most revolutionary document ever written. It sets forth the relationship of government to a free people. It puts the individual above and before the state. Our founders declared we are, each of us, born free. Our freedom comes from God or by nature, whichever you prefer. Government cannot give freedom to us, but it can take it from us. Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural said," Sometimes it is said that Man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern us? Let history answer this question." history answeres Jefferson's question, and it is a tragic tale of oppression by government, of freedom lost and lives destroyed. The American experiment is unique in all the history of our strife-torn world. Never had there been a country whose people are so free, and where freedom is held so dear. Liberty is our most precious gift and our most valuable asset. it is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Freedom is what enables us to create and innovate.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't wait for government to tell them what to do: they got busy. They founded Microsoft and Apple Computers, created wealth where there was none, and improved the lives more than any politician or government program ever has.
We Americans are free people. We think for ourselves, and we act. In the aftermath of 9/11, we didn't have to be told to donate blood, food and money, we did it. Free people are active participants. Big government make people passive recipients.
The current government seeks to make recipients of us all. They do this by taking our money, and spending it in unprecedented amounts. They are not smart or honorable enough to do this wisely. This is why we're having a Tea Party, on April 15Th in Centerway Square in Corning. Bring canned food to donate to the Salvation Army. Meet fellow citizens who are concerned about the direction of our government. help send a message even Obama and the rest of the power-hungry horde in Washington can understand. No more bail-outs. no more spending. Enough!
The stimulus bill turns the relationship of the people to their government on its head. The bill puts Obama in the role of king and congress as his vassals. We are their surfs. We are commanded to labor, not for ourselves and our families, but to pay for Obama's reckless spending. Congress and the President remorselessly trample the founding principles of this country. We must affirm and reassert the noble ideals that gave rise to the greatest nation yet created.
The Declaration of Independence is the most revolutionary document ever written. It sets forth the relationship of government to a free people. It puts the individual above and before the state. Our founders declared we are, each of us, born free. Our freedom comes from God or by nature, whichever you prefer. Government cannot give freedom to us, but it can take it from us. Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural said," Sometimes it is said that Man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern us? Let history answer this question." history answeres Jefferson's question, and it is a tragic tale of oppression by government, of freedom lost and lives destroyed. The American experiment is unique in all the history of our strife-torn world. Never had there been a country whose people are so free, and where freedom is held so dear. Liberty is our most precious gift and our most valuable asset. it is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Freedom is what enables us to create and innovate.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't wait for government to tell them what to do: they got busy. They founded Microsoft and Apple Computers, created wealth where there was none, and improved the lives more than any politician or government program ever has.
We Americans are free people. We think for ourselves, and we act. In the aftermath of 9/11, we didn't have to be told to donate blood, food and money, we did it. Free people are active participants. Big government make people passive recipients.
The current government seeks to make recipients of us all. They do this by taking our money, and spending it in unprecedented amounts. They are not smart or honorable enough to do this wisely. This is why we're having a Tea Party, on April 15Th in Centerway Square in Corning. Bring canned food to donate to the Salvation Army. Meet fellow citizens who are concerned about the direction of our government. help send a message even Obama and the rest of the power-hungry horde in Washington can understand. No more bail-outs. no more spending. Enough!
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