Insurance Reform--misinformation, misdirection, logic, solutions

The polls tell us that Americans do not favor, by roughly a 50% to 35% margin, the healthcare bills passed in the House and Senate. It's ridiculous that the Miami Herald, the President and the Democrat majority Congress continue to force feed us these flawed bills.
The Herald, sheep-like, heaps blame the drug companies because doing so is a directive from the Democrat talk points. Heaven forbid the drug companies make a 9% profit. Better they should lose money and fire some employees in a cutback. The optimist in me says that the industry making money could be a sign that the economy is coming out of its doldrums. In the real capitalist world isn’t it possible that there are businesses such as prescription drugs that are “recession-proof?” So get over your ideology and stop expecting or even rooting for profitable companies to fail because you happen to be failing and want company in your misery. And, it’s time for the trinity in the first paragraph to stop with their politics that have reached the height of ridicule.
Considering the embarrassment of the Congressional healthcare debates, isn’t it time for the Herald, President and Democrats to remove their heads from up their ideologies and begin to think logically? First, the US is not having a healthcare problem; we have the best doctors and hospital care in the world. The heart of the matter is that people cannot afford health insurance. Period. If the ideologues directed their energies towards making insurance affordable to all, it's true that the process might cause some politicians to lose their jobs (who cares?) but the result would be that all Americans would have health insurance.
Where to begin? First, government must allow health insurance companies to sell policies across state lines to create real competition, which will lower policy prices, and second, enact tort reform to limit jury awards paid by insurance companies. These two issues are at the top of the food chain in lowering costs in the insurance industry and importantly, neither one is a tax or would increase taxes. Invite competition and enact tort reform and the rest of the impediments to lowering the cost of healthcare insurance would fall in succession. Special interests would be howling in the night. Tough!
It would also be helpful if the media would do some apolitical homework and provide their communities with accurate information about the costs involved in healthcare insurance.

Albiwan..

cogito, ergo sum..: Acceptable Failure?

cogito, ergo sum..: Acceptable Failure?

Acceptable Failure?

“The Buck Stops Here” are the famous words on a small plaque that sat on the desk of President Harry Truman. If there is a plaque on President Obama’s desk it probably reads “It’s Not My Fault.” He refuses to take responsibility for his job, which is to solve the enormous problems commonly thrust upon all presidents’ desks. All presidents inherit economic problems, societal issues and wars. Obama was well aware of what he was “inheriting” from Bush. It’s why Obama ran for President and why he won.

I am so sick of hearing him making excuses or blaming others for his lack of progress (healthcare), poor decisions (trying terrorist case in NYC), and potential policy failures (closing Gitmo). This morning Obama spoke about “two wars, a failing economy,...the H1N1 virus and pandemic added to eight other major issues have created an unprecedented convergence of problems....” It seems that every time he is interviewed he is building a case for an acceptable failure.

Mr. Obama, as President of the United States you need to start operating with the understanding that there are no acceptable failures!

Albiwan

How Can You Tell When A Politician Is Lying?

How can you tell when a lawyer is lying? is the opening line to a quip that denigrates Lawyers. The response is, It's easy, his lips are moving. The same quip applies to politicians.

The words in quotes that follow were in the body of President Obama's 11/16/2009 speech to college students in Shanghai, China.

"Founding Documents...enshrine core principles.... All men are created equal... government should reflect the will of the people and respond to their wishes. Government should be open and information fully accessible."

Am I missing something here? 'Reflect the will of the people.'?..are you kidding me? The latest Gallop poll on Health Care-- 49% against passage while 44% are for passage of a bill. 58% want gradual reform, 38% want comprehensive reform this year. 'Respond to their wishes'? Then, the capper for me was that the House passed a Healthcare bill that wasn't even printed for Representatives to read! Is this 'fully accessible' information? Is this what our President considers being true to the enshrined core principles from our 'founding documents?' The only thing true in the President's comments is that his adherence to the core principles is really laughable.

Doesn't President Obama think anyone outside of Shanghai would be monitoring his speech. His words couldn't have been more disingenuous! I guess he figures the press, our nation's watchdog, or should I say hound dog, won't rat him out and report his deceit, so he can feel secure in saying whatever he pleases in a foreign land.

President Obama's dishonesty was beneath the dignity of his office. Even a lawyer wouldn't stoop so low.

Albiwan

Pull the trigger. If Not Now, When?

We are still waiting... impatiently. Thirteen American soldiers were slaughtered at Fort Hood. They were memorialized yesterday by President Obama's moving tribute.

So now that we have buried our fallen soldiers, the next question on the docket is 'how long will we have to wait before the President makes a definitive statement concerning how the American government will eliminate the mounting threat from Muslim extremism?'

I have read that of the world's Muslim population of 1.5 billion, estimates of up to ten percent or 150 million are extremists who believe in jihad. That is roughly equal to fifty percent of the population of the United States! Pew Research Center in 2009 estimated there are 2.5 million Muslims in the US. If only one percent are extremists that would amount to 25,000 Muslims living in the US with bad intentions towards America. Is this threat to be ignored? We have just witnessed in Fort Hood the horror a lone terrorist can affect.

Mr President, it's time to pull the 'trigger'... before an extremist beats you to it again.

Albiwan..

News Flash! Ostriches flourish in America

Against all odds, the ostrich, the flightless bird that is indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere in Australia, New Zealand, and the deserts of Africa, now appears to be thriving by the millions in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in the United States!

The large birds are known for often "burying their heads in the sand" to avoid predators. The American "ostriches" think they are avoiding danger by "burying their heads in the sand" but, in effect, they are unwittingly placing themselves in grave peril by completely disregarding one of Senator, now President Obama's most significant of broken promises, which is most essential to ostrich well being, e.g., "The American voter (ostriches) will have the same healthcare plan as the members of the US Congress!" Did the President lie to the ostriches? Caveat ostrich.

Animal psychologists explanation for such self-destructive behavior is that the world's largest bird also has one of the world's smallest brains relative to the size of its body.

Albiwan..11/8/2009

Clooney versus Limbaugh

Many times, less is more. The White House’s David Axelrod attempted to discredit Rush Limbaugh’s most recent attack on the President’s performance by calling Rush an “entertainer.” Wooo, that Axelrod sure has a razor-sharp tongue.

Note to Mr Axelrod: George Clooney, who zombie-like reiterates party “talking points,” is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh is a savvy political commentator who creates talking points. Since there is no one in the Obama Administration capable of winning a debate with Limbaugh, Axelrod et al in the White House would do best to ignore Limbaugh’s comments. To do otherwise further legitimizes the greatest bloviator of our time.

Albiwan..