buy health insurance like cereal
Let’s see how sensible this line of thinking is: Add 15 to 40 million to health care rolls. Yet Obama promises we are going to cut health care costs. Does that add up?
And the newly minted public program will abide by the same rules as the private programs.
Do you think a publicly run health organization will be any better run than 1) the post office. That’s why we all love Fed EX and don’t care about all the junk mail we get through our mail box.
Health care should be just like buying cereal: you can choose the no sugar or additives, shredded wheat, or buy the expensive little containers with 12 varieties of sugar. You choose and you pay with your dollars.
Likewise, if you are healthy and age 25 you should be able to shop for a policy that gives you no frills and only helps if you end up in a terrible accident. Choice is a good thing for people.
This is from a blog called Heritage:
“According to the May 5th New York Times, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has proposed a health care reform “compromise†on the creation of a new public plan to compete with private health insurance. No doubt Schumer is trying to convince moderates that they should ignore Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) frank admissions that a public plan is just the first step of an unprincipled strategy to achieve government run health care.
Schumer’s compromise would require that the public plan and private plans would abide by the same rules and regulations. But even the NYT identifies some huge holes in his claim. Would the public plan be subject to state premium taxes, like private health plans, or state insurance laws, or solvency requirements with the private plans in states with which it is competing? Could the public plan be allowed to become insolvent? Or will it become another candidate for an eternal Congressional bail out? We have even more questions than the NYT does:
Will public plan officials be subject to the same state and federal tort laws?
How about the same accounting standards as private companies?
Could they be sued for breach of contracts?
Will they have to negotiate rates and benefits like private plans, set up provider networks, and set prices in the market, just like private plans do today? Market prices? (No special advantages, remember)
Will the officers of the public plan be able to reject doctors or medical professionals who do not meet quality standards like private plans can do today, or will they be forced to take any willing provider?
Will the benefit setting of the public plan be transparent and benefits packages be completely transparent, defining clearly what is and is not covered? No confusion on these points, like that which afflicts Medicare beneficiaries today.
Would the public plan officers have budgets to market their products, just like private plans? Would those marketing costs be subsidized by the taxpayer or paid out of public plan premiums? ( Otherwise, looks like those awful administrative costs would be incurred by the taxpayers).
Of course, Senator Schumer and his colleagues invite us to ponder a problem in elemental logic. If the public plan and the private plans are really going to abide by the exact same rules, what is the point of a public plan in the first place?
Of course, the public health plan would be a wholly owned subsidiary of Congress Inc. That means that it would be a political institution, just like every other government sponsored enterprise, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It will be ground zero for special interest lobbying – by doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and insurers, as well as every special interest to the left of Pearl Jam, on a scale unprecedented in health care history.
If Fannie and Freddie, and AIG and the Automakers, and the Big Banks and whatever else is in line for a big bailout at taxpayer expense is “too big to failâ€, guess what would be the congressional response to a shortfall in the income of a newly minted, congressionally created public health plan with millions of enrollees? There’s no guess work here. Unless you believe in Unicorns.”
April 09, 2009
Obama doubles down on the bow to the Saudi King
By Thomas Lifson
The White House is denying that President Obama bowed before the Saudi King, committing a major mistake. Ben Smith of Politico reports:
“It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Michael Goldfarb summed up the problem for Obama succinctly in the Weekly Standard:
So who you going to believe — Barack Obama or your lying eyes?
The story is officially “in play” now that the White House has spoken, albeit from an anonymous source. American citizens are implicitly asked to view the demi-prostration and decide for themselves. The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration.
Here is a 13 second clip of the bow:
Please note the following two freeze frames, which expose the White House spokesman as a liar:
(source)
Another freeze frame, also showing that the President was not performing a two-handed handshake
(source)
So why would the White House lie, instead of just admitting that the President made a gaffe? Well, for one thing, history teaches us that bows between official representatives of nations are a rather serious matter.
We live in an age of a Clash of Civilizations (in Samuel Huntington’s words), with many in the Islamic world convinced that Western Civilization, ascendant for the last few centuries, is about to be humbled by Islam, the once and future dominant force in the world. No Caliph exists today as head of the entire Islamic world, but the number two slot is amply occupied by King Abdullah, as guardian of Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities.
Over three hundred years ago, another world civilization accustomed to being the largest and richest on earth, faced a challenge which turned into a clash, which turned into a fall. China, the Middle Kingdom, unquestioned as the dominant nation of East Asia, came into regular contact with the Western nations. At the time, the only pattern of diplomatic relations recognized by the Son of Heaven (China’s emperor) and his court was that of tributary emissaries to the Middle Kingdom. Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the other nations of East Asia understood and accepted that China was dominant, and when their representatives came to Beijing, they performed the required prostration acknowledging their (and their rulers’) subordinate place in the pecking order. They also brought “gifts” to the Son of Heaven, and were sent home with “gifts” from the Imperial Court, amounting to trade, disguised as nothing so crass as commerce, but rather as a sign of supplication from them and benevolence from the Emperor.
This was not an idle matter of protocol, and everyone knew it, especially the emissaries of European rulers who made their way to Beijing, in search of trade relations: tea, silk, porcelain, and other products of China that were of finer quality than anything available elsewhere.
One of the most famous incidents in China’s history of contact with the West occurred in 1793, when the Earl of Macartney came to Beijing as an emissary of the King of England, carried to Tientsin (the port city for Beijing) on a warship. The Chinese officials deemed the presents he brought to the Emperor from King George III as “tribute”, putting the Macartney mission in the context of traditional tribute relatons.
But when it came to the kow tow, Macartney refused. In the words of the acknowledged dean of American China historians, the late John K. Fairbank of Harvard,
[Court officials] urged Macartney to practice the performance of the kowtow. This he stoutly refused to do, and he only went down on one knee before the Chien-lung [the Emperor], as he would have done to his own sovereign. The emperor issued an edict commending King George III for his “respectful spirit of submission” but pointing out that “our celestial empire possesses all things in prolific abundance”…
Ben Smith noted a somewhat analogous response from Saudi Arabia, following the fateful bow:
Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move.
“Obama wished to demonstrate his respect and appreciation of the personality of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who has made one of the most important calls in the modern era, namely the call for inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue to defuse the hatred, conflict and wars,” wrote the columnist, Muhammah Diyab.
Alas for the Son of Heaven and his nation, the Opium War followed a few years after the demi-prostration of the British envoy, and it was established that China was subordinate to the cannons, guns, and warships of the Western powers, who proceeded to help themselves to China’s wealth, sending opium [over China’s feeble objections] in return for what they desired.
President Obama voluntarily bent his knee and bowed his head before the most important ruler in the Islamic world. Let us hope that it does not require a war to right this insult to American sovereignty.
Thomas Lifson is editor and publisher of American Thinker. He has taught courses on East Asia at Harvard and Columbia Universities.
Water from Aptos Creek cannot get out to the ocean. So it stagnates. It is dirty water that children play in.
Were this done by private persons they could be arrested for creating a public nuisance. How do you “arrest” the government!
In years past, California Parks and Recreation used to punch a hole through so the water could go to the sea. Now they have to get permission from Fish and Game. Preserving the salmon figures into the equation.
How about giving about 20 strong persons a shovel and FREE the water. Make the beach safe for small children. Allow everyone to use the beach without having to navigate a polluted lagoon?
Pray for Monica or you are part of the problem..Fine! Monica Conyers, council woman from Detroit, asks us to pray for her. She says that if we do not pray for her then WE are part of the problem. Oh? Ok, Monica. Let’s pray that you go to jail for the crimes you committed. Something wrong with praying that justice rolls down from the hills? When government officials do dasterdly, illegal acts – let them pay with time in jail. And yes, let’s visit you in prison. And pray with you there. That you learn to change your ways when you get out.
Monica Conyers, the wife of the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in a federal court in Detroit, this morning.
Wife of Judiciary Chairman Conyers Pleads Guilty to Bribery
In this Sept. 5, 2005 file photo Monica Conyers sits with her husband, Democratic U.S. Rep. John…
In this Sept. 5, 2005 file photo Monica Conyers sits with her husband, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Conyers at a Labor Day rally in Detroit.
Prosecutors on Friday, June 26, 2009 charged Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers with accepting cash bribes in exchange for supporting a sludge contract with a Houston company. Collapse
(AP Photo)
According to court documents, in late 2007, Mrs. Conyers, president pro tem of the Detroit City Council, twice accepted envelopes filled with cash, once in the parking lot of a Detroit McDonalds.
Below is another article on this issue:
Monica Conyers and a call to prayer
In the absence of other connectors, Monica Conyers is the glue that holds us together in these down times.
“She’s the Detroit city councilwoman who inspires 10,000 eye-rolls. The one whose every public comment gets 100,000 heads turning side to side.
Whether in Hart Plaza or the center court at Somerset North, her name evokes an instant mix of wonder, horror and plain fascination. Comic andtragic, professional and astonishingly not, she is riveting to watch in a way that her more upright and buttoned-down colleagues are not.
Even while the feds circle, and Synagro associates pleaded guilty to bribing an unnamed Council Member A, Conyers took to the airwaves to deliver the latest in a series of instantly famous, mercurial moments: And she delivered, using a formula that was two parts calm professional, one part kook.
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“If you’re not praying for me, you’re just adding to the problem,” she said cryptically on WHPR-TV (Channel 33), which might want to change its name to The Monica Network.
What problem? Why should we be praying?
Nobody has yet leveled charges against Monica Conyers, but — give her credit for staying in character here — instead of ducking the issue entirely, she called in her public and God.
Wouldn’t any other — make that any ordinary — official issue a terse statement, or say absolutely nothing, then get out of the way?
Instead she’s blaming the non-prayers for “adding to the problem” — undefined but lurking. Is she playing narcissist Monica here, saying if you’re not with me, you’re contributing to societal collapse? Or is she feeling humble, suggesting that mass prayer can resolve the crisis swirling around her? We will likely never know.
But I do know that Councilwoman Conyers sees normalcy and reason where most of us see contradiction, irrationality and chaos.
“I have a marriage that’s different from everyone else’s,” she once said of her marriage, and that explains something about the way she perceives herself — different, and comfortable with being so.
Different is interesting, even when daffy. It applies to Conyers’ City Council tenure, which has helped tip the city into crisis.
It applies to her praising the excellence of Detroit schools while sending her son to a private school in a police-driven car.
Good, bad, never indifferent. It is the way she copes with a figurative noose that seems to be tightening around her neck.
Hope and Change?Interesting viewpoint by a first generation African American woman whose cultural roots are Igbo from Nigeria. The following article is from The American Thinker. She comments on President Obama’s post- colonial cultural (socialist/ Marxist) roots. The apple, Obama, did not fall far from the tree, i.e., his father’s values, she says.
My view: Given the 15 + Czars that President Obama has created so far (more coming) to run the government the way Obama wants it run – not what We the People want – Obama’s despotic, undemocratic values are readily apparent. Given that we really have a One Party government – the Democratic Party — currently Obama can push through his despotic appointments – his multitude of Czars. These people, his minions, answer only to Obama. They should answer to Congress and to We the People. Congress holds the power of the purse. But it is a Democratic Party controlled purse.
When will Our Representatives wake up? Well, since Our Representatives are mostly concerned with their own re-election, only when MORE people COMPLAIN vociferously …. then and only then will things change. So even if you live in a overwhelmingly Democratic district – make your voice known regularly.
Rationing of everything by the government is President Obama’s goal. Control of the private sector is President Obama’s goal. Reducing America to a third world power is President Obama’s goal. How? Destroy the power of the private sector. And that is what his policies seek to do.
What has Obama done in 6 months? He took over a couple of car companies. He seeks control of the financial institutions. Bank of America was forced by his administration to take over Merill Lynch. We are trillions of dollars in debt – which will be passed on for generations. Obama seeks Cap and Trade so that private companies have to pay to use energy. That will drive the cost of energy up. Look at Spain with 18 percent unemployment. Spain is the most visible example of a failed “green” economy.
Is this what Americans sought when they embraced HOPE and CHANGE?
Per the Wall Street Journal editorial page today, Obama wants rules so that a 100 year old mother will “learn” from her family and doctor that she should accept pain meds instead of cost ting society for the surgery of a pacemaker. That statement tells it all. This is a real story and the woman now age 105 is has spirit and doing OK with her pacemaker. Let “society”and “government” decide what is best for the elderly according to Obama. Obama waffled and did not answer when asked whether he would seek the best (i.e. most expensive) care for his own family…
President Obama is one cold, arrogant man who dislikes American democratic values. He wants the power to re-make America in his image of how society should run. That’s my view. cameronjacks@gmail.com
contact leikenga@gmail who writes the following article:
“Had Americans been able to stop obsessing over the color of Barack Obama’s skin and instead paid more attention to his cultural identity, maybe he would not be in the White House today. The key to understanding him lies with his identification with his father, and his adoption of a cultural and political mindset rooted in post colonial Africa.
“Like many educated intellectuals in post colonial Africa, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was enraged at the transformation of his native land by its colonial conqueror. But instead of embracing the traditional values of his own tribal cultural past, he embraced an imported Western ideology, Marxism. I call such frustrated and angry modern Africans who embrace various foreign “isms”, instead of looking homeward for repair of societies that are broken, African Colonials. They are Africans who serve foreign ideas.
“The tropes of America’s racial history as a way of understanding all things black are useless in understanding the man who got his dreams from his father, a Kenyan exemplar of the African Colonial.
Before I continue, I need to say this: I am a first generation born West African-American woman whose parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970’s from the country now called Nigeria. I travel to Nigeria frequently. I see myself as both a proud American and as a proud Igbo (the tribe that we come from — also sometimes spelled Ibo). Politically, I have always been conservative (though it took this past election for me to commit to this once and for all!); my conservative values come from my Igbo heritage and my place of birth. Of course, none of this qualifies me to say what I am about to — but at the same time it does.
“My friends, despite what CNN and the rest are telling you, Barack Obama is nothing more than an old school African Colonial who is on his way to turning this country into one of the developing nations that you learn about on the National Geographic Channel. Many conservative (East, West, South, North) African-Americans like myself — those of us who know our history — have seen this movie before. Here are two main reasons why many Americans allowed Obama to slip through the cracks despite all of his glaring inconsistencies:
“First, Obama has been living on American soil for most of his adult life. Therefore, he has been able to masquerade as one who understands and believes in American democratic ideals. But he does not. Barack Obama is intrinsically undemocratic and as his presidency plays out, this will become more obvious.
Second, and most importantly, too many Americans know very little about Africa. The one-size-fits-all understanding that many Americans (both black and white) continue to have of Africa might end up bringing dire consequences for this country.
Contrary to the way it continues to be portrayed in mainstream Western culture, Africa is not a continent that can be solely defined by AIDS, ethnic rivalries, poverty and safaris. Africa, like any other continent, has an immense history defined by much diversity and complexity. Africa’s long-standing relationship with Europe speaks especially to some of these complexities — particularly the relationship that has existed between the two continents over the past two centuries. Europe’s complete colonization of Africa during the nineteenth century, also known as the Scramble for Africa, produced many unfortunate consequences, the African colonial being one of them.
The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC’s have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories. AC’s use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama’s Muslim heritage).
On the other hand, AC’s strive to be the best at the culture that they inherited from Europe. Throughout the West, they are tops in their professions as lawyers, doctors, engineers, Ivy League professors and business moguls; this is all well and good. It’s when they decide to engage us as politicians that things become messy and convoluted.
The African colonial politician (ACP) feigns repulsion towards the hegemonic paradigms of Western civilization. But at the same time, he is completely enamored of the trappings of its aristocracy or elite culture. The ACP blames and caricatures whitey to no end for all that has gone wrong in the world. He convinces the masses that various forms of African socialism are the best way for redressing the problems that European colonialism motivated in Africa. However, as opposed to really being a hard-core African Leftist who actually believes in something, the ACP uses socialist themes as a way to disguise his true ambitions: a complete power grab whereby the “will of the people” becomes completely irrelevant.
Barack Obama is all of the above. The only difference is that he is here playing (colonial) African politics as usual.
In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father — an eloquent piece of political propaganda — Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father’s legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.
Barack Obama Sr. was an African colonial to the core; in his case, the apple did not fall far from the tree. All of the telltale signs of Obama’s African colonialist attitudes are on full display in the book — from his feigned antipathy towards Europeans to his view of African tribal associations as distracting elements that get in the way of “progress”. (On p. 308 of Dreams From My Father, Obama says that African tribes should be viewed as an “ancient loyalties”.)
Like imperialists of Old World Europe, the ACP sees their constituents not as free thinking individuals who best know how to go about achieving and creating their own means for success. Instead, the ACP sees his constituents as a flock of ignorant sheep that need to be led — oftentimes to their own slaughter.
Like the European imperialist who spawned him, the ACP is a destroyer of all forms of democracy.
Here are a few examples of what the British did in order to create (in 1914) what is now called Nigeria and what Obama is doing to you:
Convince the people that “clinging” to any aspect of their cultural (tribal) identity or history is bad and regresses the process of “unity”. British Imperialists deeply feared people who were loyal to anything other than the state. “Tribalism” made the imperialists have to work harder to get people to just fall in line. Imperialists pitted tribes against each other in order to create chaos that they then blamed on ethnic rivalry. Today many “educated” Nigerians, having believed that their traditions were irrelevant, remain completely ignorant of their ancestry and the history of their own tribes.
Confiscate the wealth and resources of the area that you govern by any means necessary in order to redistribute wealth. The British used this tactic to present themselves as empathetic and benevolent leaders who wanted everyone to have a “fair shake”. Imperialists are not interested in equality for all. They are interested in controlling all.
Convince the masses that your upper-crust university education naturally puts you on an intellectual plane from which to understand everything even when you understand nothing. Imperialists were able to convince the people that their elite university educations allowed them to understand what Africa needed. Many of today’s Nigerians-having followed that lead-hold all sorts of degrees and certificates-but what good are they if you can’t find a job?
“Lie to the people and tell them that progress is being made even though things are clearly becoming worse. One thing that the British forgot to mention to their Nigerian constituents was that one day, the resources that were being used to engineer “progress” (which the British had confiscated from the Africans to begin with!) would eventually run out. After WWII, Western Europe could no longer afford to hold on to their African colonies. So all of the counterfeit countries that the Europeans created were then left high-and-dry to fend for themselves. This was the main reason behind the African independence movements of the1950 and 60’s. What will a post-Obama America look like?
Use every available media outlet to perpetuate the belief that you and your followers are the enlightened ones-and that those who refuse to support you are just barbaric, uncivilized, ignorant curmudgeons. This speaks for itself.
“America, don’t be fooled. The Igbos were once made up of a confederacy of clans that ascribed to various forms of democratic government. They took their eyes off the ball and before they knew it, the British were upon them. Also, understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.
L.E. Ikenga can be reached at leikenga@gmail.com.
pacemaker for a 100 year old mother?
The essence of Obama’s response 6-24-09 to rationing of health care:
Maybe that 100 year old mother should take a pain pill and not get pacemaker surgery said Obama 6-24-09 when two doctors questioned his plans for rationing health care. This remark was made in response to a question by one of the doctors concerning a a real 100 old mother who is now 105 and living with vitality of spirit says her daughter. The daughter helped her get a pacemaker when first denied. Take a pain pill old woman!! No pacemaker for you!!
That strikes me as a cold, calculating remark. Obama will cut health care costs on the bodies of the old. Once a person is no longer making money in Obama terms that person has lost value. By the time a person is a 100 the value of that person has shrunk to barely above zero. I guess that is why Obama when a Senator could support third trimester abortions. He probably thinks that the fewer the people there are in the world the fewer people the government has to feed, cloth and provide health care for.
Obama sidestepped and did not answer when asked whether he would opt out of the health care program he and Congress get if he had a loved one that needed a procedure not covered by the NEW plan Obama wants.
The following is from:
Views on Government-Funded Health Insurance
According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 62 percent of Americans support creating a government-funded entity to offer health insurance to those who don’t get it elsewhere. But if that caused many private insurers to go out of business because they couldn’t compete, support plummets to 37 percent.
The White House has shown some flexibility about a government-run plan. In a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors today, the possibility was raised of states offering public plans of their own instead of just one federally administered plan, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. And White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told Democratic senators Tuesday night that the president was open to “alternatives” to the public plan.
Sawyer asked Ron Williams, the CEO of Aetna Insurance, “Is the president right that you need to be kept honest?”
Williams said he disagreed with the notion of a public plan.
“It’s difficult to compete against a player who’s also the person refereeing the game,” Williams said. He proposed working to “solve the problem as opposed to introduce a new competitor who has rule-making ability.”
Gibson pointed out that the president constantly makes the argument that if you like your insurance you won’t have to change it. And yet from the audience, John Sheils, senior vice president of The Lewin Group, a health care policy research and management consulting firm, estimated that up to 70 percent of those with private insurance would end up on the public plan.
“There are a whole series of ways that we could design this,” the president said, arguing that employers would be given a “disincentive” to shift their employees to the public plan.
Another neurologist, Dr. John Corboy of the University of Colorado Health Science Center, asked the president, “What can you do to convince the American public that there actually are limits to what we can pay for with our American health care system and if there are going to be limits, who’s going to design the system and who’s going to enforce the rules for a system like that?”
Obama, however, didn’t directly answer the question.
Related
WATCH: Obama’s ‘Uniquely American’ Health Care PlanWATCH: Watch Full ‘Prescription for America’ ProgramTRANSCRIPT: ‘Prescription for America'”If we are smart, we should be able to design a system in which people still have choices of doctors and choices of plans that make sure that necessary treatment is provided but we don’t have a huge amount of waste in the system,” he said.
He said he had “great confidence” that physicians “are going to always want to do right thing” if they have the right information and a payment structure that focuses on evidence and results and not tests and referrals.
“We should change those incentive structures,” the president said. “Our job this summer and this fall,” he said, is to “identify the best ways to achieve the best possible care.”
The president cited the Mayo Clinic as an example of a medical center where experts had figured out the most effective treatments and eliminated waste and unnecessary procedures.
Sawyer said that e-mails ABC News had received argued that “the Mayo Clinic is exactly the point,” indicating that private companies are solving this problem, and raising the question as to why the government needs to get involved.
“And, unfortunately, government, whether you like it or not, is going to already be involved,” Obama said, citing Medicare and Medicaid.
One questioner — Marisa Milton, vice president of health care policy for the HR Policy Association, a public policy advocate for human resource executives — said that “other industrialized nations provide coverage for all their residents” with “high quality care” without spending more money.
“A lot of those countries employ a different system than we do,” the president said. “Almost all of them have what would be considered a single-payer system in which the government operates what is essentially a Medicare for all.”
The president said he didn’t think it wise to attempt to “completely change our system root and branch” since health care is one-sixth of the U.S. economy. It “would be hugely disruptive,” he said, arguing that citizens would be forced to change their doctors and insurance plans “in a way I’m not prepared to go.”
End-of-life issues were raised as well; right now it is estimated that nearly 30 percent of Medicare’s annual $327 billion budget is spent on patients in their final year of life.
Jane Sturm told the story of her nearly 100-year-old mother, who was originally denied a pacemaker because of her age. She eventually got one, but only after seeking out another doctor.
“Outside the medical criteria,” Sturm asked, “is there a consideration that can be given for a certain spirit … and quality of life?”
“I don’t think that we can make judgments based on peoples’ spirit,” Obama said. “That would be a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules that say that we are going to provide good, quality care for all people.
“We’re not going to solve every single one of these very difficult decisions at end of life,” he said. “Ultimately that’s going to be between physicians and patients.”
“End-of-life issues were raised as well; right now it is estimated that nearly 30 percent of Medicare’s annual $327 billion budget is spent on patients in their final year of life.
Jane Sturm told the story of her nearly 100-year-old mother, who was originally denied a pacemaker because of her age. She eventually got one, but only after seeking out another doctor.
“Outside the medical criteria,” Sturm asked, “is there a consideration that can be given for a certain spirit … and quality of life?”
“I don’t think that we can make judgments based on peoples’ spirit,” Obama said. “That would be a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules that say that we are going to provide good, quality care for all people.
“We’re not going to solve every single one of these very difficult decisions at end of life,” he said. “Ultimately that’s going to be between physicians and patients.”
Step up to the plate Muslims worldwide! There must be some Muslim communities who can take in a handful of Chinese origin Gitmo detainees.
What does a released convict do when life in prison looks better than life outside? He/she commits another crime and goes back to prison. Simple. But what kind of criminal act? The usual one that got them to prison. It is easy to do familiar acts. For Gitmo detainees, terrorism is a familiar act.
That’s why these detainees no longer enemy combatants will need a very short leash. The best Big Brother is their own Muslim religious community. They need a loving Muslim religious community where justice rolls down from the hills. Where Muslims are required to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with their God.
One hundred nations have refused to take any Gitmo detainee.
These 22 Ughurs refuse repatriation back to China. They refuse the few offers made: to Algeria, Tunisia, Syria and Uzbekistan.
Twenty-two Chinese Ulghurs detainees have been de-classified as enemy combatants, some as early as 2003. These are Chinese Muslims combatants picked up in Afghanistan.
Where have they gone? Four went to Bermuda which sits in the Atlantic east of North Carolina. Bermuda, a territory of England. Now Palau, a tiny South Pacific country, has offered.
The ones assigned to go to Palau refuse to go. Palau has no Muslim community. As they have to Palauan blood they cannot be a citizen. As Palau has not ratified the international refugee conventions they cannot get travel documents.
So where are some loving, structured Muslim communities that will step up to the plate? Who will take in these Men without a Country?
And if not Muslim, then any religion that teaches love, not war, peace not enmity, justice not injustice, rights for all persons,not just a few. But them those Muslims would have to convert from their radical brand of Muslim faith. Would they do that? Not likely.
Until some Muslim or other religious community offers refuge or some country is willing to take our dime to support them – they stay in Gitmo. Gitmo is a country club. A rather nice one.
On April 2, our neighbors gave the go ahead for a refinance. Twenty-six days later they got the paperwork and signed immediately. Their interest rate was locked in at the rate as of April 2 – which was 4.25% for a 30 year fixed. Interest rates started to climb. As of June 11, 2009 a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is 5.79% up from 5.0% two weeks ago.
More than 9 weeks have passed. The re-finance has been extended. Everything is fine they say. Then why so slow?
Rising interest rates threaten to dim prospects for a housing recovery and choke off a refinance wave that was a major plank of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus efforts.
Besides locking a lower rate, our neighbors hope to pass along some money to younger relatives. So that family members could buy homes for the first time. Those dreams may sputter. Higher interest rates mean less affordable mortgages for everyone.
From Santa Cruz Sentinel Opinion page, June 10, 2009:
David Sweet has constructed an alternate history for us. Evil Jarvis and Gann “rammed through” Prop. 13. Rammed through with more than two-thirds of the vote? Prop. 13 resulted, per him, in a lasting decline in revenues. In the past 10 years, the budget increased $70 billion — a 93 percent increase. This is a decline?
Are you 93 percent better off now than 10 years ago? Alas, the Sweet progeny are paying more than Mr. Sweet in property taxes. So lower theirs, don’t raise mine. And while the incarnation of those good representatives Sweet seeks are still shrouded in mist, perhaps we can just limit the wastrels we have to one term so they have to go back to spending their own money. The beginning of the answer to the budget question is to answer the question, “Why does Tiger Woods live in Florida?”
From Santa Cruz Sentinel Opinion page, June 10, 2009: