1) Anyone who is now receiving Social Security and Medicare -- and who rails against a public option for health insurance for those under 65 -- should stop receiving such benefits. They should call the proper government office and cancel their benefits. For Social Security and Medicare Part B, it was necessary for those receiving them to apply for such benefits. No one forced them to take either. They're receiving money from a government-run system, health
insurance from a government-run system, both based on a Socialist system.
Social Security, in particular, was based on a similar program in Socialist Germany. Of course, I have no problem receiving either because I believe in such a system. But when you don't, then stop taking the money. Leave more for me. I trust government workers more than I trust insurance company CEOs to do what's best for Americans. Oh, and don't forget that veterans' health care is also based on a Socialist program.
2) The nutty people out there bitching and moaning about death panels and the like that are purportedly contained in current health insurance proposals haven't seen any of the proposals, any of the five that are still in committees in Congress. Neither have I, but at least I'm willing to wait to see what the final one says. Besides, do any of us really think our democratically elected officials would write a bill that would kill off the old people? Old people constitute the biggest voting bloc, all that really matters to politicians. By the way, kudos to Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts for taking on the loonies at his townhall meeting.
3) Then there's this lie that was printed in Investor's Business Daily: "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless." Only problem is that Stephen Hawking is British, has been under the British health plan his entire lifetime, and he has credited that Socialist system with helping him get to this point. Maybe the conservative editors at the publication didn't know Hawking was born in England and has always lived there. Whether they did or not is not the point. What is the point is the lie that they wrote because of ideological reasons and the laziness they displayed by not checking even the most basic facts. I'm not fond of crazy right-wing ideology, but more importantly, I hate laziness and lying, particularly in people who profess to report the news.
4) Why do so many people who complain about wanting to help to cover everyone with insurance, especially having a public option in the process, throw the Second Amendment rights into the equation? Some of them even wear their guns to political events, going armed to public meetings about health insurance reform. I don't believe they're wearing loaded assault-style rifles and handguns because they care about health insurance reform. The only reason to carry a gun is to kill someone or defend themselves. Defend themselves from whom? I don't know about you but I don't want to go to a meeting where idiots getting riled up about this issue or that are standing around armed with guns. Besides, having a right to carry a gun in certain states does not mean it's wise to have a gun in proximity to the president or other elected officials.
5) What's the co-op that's being talked about now, something that seems to have cropped up as a replacement for public option? If I understand it right, it will be information to compare insurance rates, giving us a chance to choose the insurance plan we want. I could put together a web site with that information for no cost at all. Looks like bait and switch to me.
6) One of the southern Republican wing nuts in the House said everyone in America has medical insurance, adding that emergency rooms are there for everyone. I won't even address how crazy she is and how much of a liar she is. What I will say is that by federal law everyone must be accepted for treatment at an ER.
What some may not know is that everyone who goes into an ER receives a bill for services provided. Insurance pays when the patient has it. When the patient does not, he can request a reduction in cost to be able to pay the bill with personal funds. Beyond that, who do you think pays the bill?The hospital absorbs those costs, including those from illegal aliens, and then passes on those costs to those of us who do have insurance or who pay our hospital bills through other means. Nothing is really free. And once again, the liars are at work doing what they can to keep their insurance and pharmaceutical buddies retain their jobs.
Away from health insurance reform, I want to yell STOP THE BAILOUTS! If Obama and his bunch had given each man, woman and child in America the same amount from the bailouts that started with Bush last fall, each would have received several thousand dollars. How far do you think that would have gone to stimulate the economy? Very far, I think. How far have the bank, insurance and Detroit bailouts gone to stimulate the economy? Not far at all. Don't expect an insurance bailout to do any better.
Next, about all of those southerners who fight everything but corporate welfare (they call it the free market). How did you think the folks of the Confederacy would react to having a black president in D.C.? Did you think Johnny Reb would stand back and say nothing? If you did, it means you've never lived in the south or haven't read about the south. I grew up where drinking fountains and restrooms at the county fair said Whites and Colored. Blacks couldn't eat in restaurants, didn't go to school with us, didn't live in our neighborhoods, couldn't vote, and had to sit in the back of the bus. There were even towns where they had to be out by sunset. In towns and cities where they were allowed after dark, they lived in their part of town, we lived in ours, and rarely did the two meet.
Eventually, federal civil rights laws forced school districts to allow blacks into white schools, businesses started allowing black customers to buy their products, the Voting Rights Act became law, and Whites and Colored signs disappeared. But the thinking never changed. The Civil War rolls on. Those who oppose Obama based on race (and if you think there are millions who don't you're living in la-la land) are looking for anything they can to discredit him. Not to say he hasn't and isn't making mistakes. But these southerners and their sympathizers don't care what he does. To them, it's just not right that a black guy is in their White House.
Finally -- at least for my ranting today -- I want President Obama to get some cajones, at least some bigger ones. He's acting like he's afraid of somebody or some thing. It also sounds like he's too busy entertaining his Chicago friends and traveling the globe to put the efforts necessary for bringing about major change in this country. He ran on change and hope and HE WON. The Republicans were fired. If Obama wasn't going to work hard and try to take us 180 degrees away from the Bush policies, which were so destructive, then I wish he had stayed in Chicago. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. And listen, President Obama -- I'm not alone. We liberals aren't sheep who will follow the leader no matter what he does, much like was done the past eight years. We can think.
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