Senator Kennedy, as you wend your way toward Arlington Cemetery, I bid you a respectful farewell. Though I found little common ground with you politically, and there was much in your personal life to find questionable and even objectionable, you were always an honorable proponent of your positions in your public life.
Be well.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thoughts For the President on Health Care
August 22, 2009
The President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President,
Contrary to what you, and your masters at the Baby Oak Tree Organization, would appear to believe, the problem with the health care system in this country is not that you are failing to extract enough money from the pockets of Americans. The problem is that with health care, and much else in our country today, far too much money is already being removed from those pockets. I guarantee that I care far more about my own finances than you ever well, and that the average ten year old is probably better at making responsible money decisions than you and your sub-breed of political elites in Washington.
So, what can you do to apply some meaningful change (like the way I worked that word in there for you?!) to the health care situation in America that will result in vast improvements?
To start, let’s impose a little bit of tort reform. Doctors around the nation are compelled to order many tests that in most cases are absolutely unnecessary, but need to be run just in case their patient is that one in one hundred million individual suffering from a disease that only has 93 recorded cases in the history of man. Why? Because if they don’t run that test and the patient dies from the most unlikely of afflictions, some lawyer will be hanging around ready to pounce on a huge malpractice and wrongful death verdict. It should be reasonably simple for a gathering of medical professionals, not beholden to government pressures, to identify what would constitute reasonable and prudent medical care in upwards of 95 percent of all medical encounters. Once doctors have met those standards, they should be considered to have met their legal obligations to the patient and be freed from the specter of lottery jackpot lawsuits.
A related matter is jury awards. Though only medical suits are addressed here, the concept truly has much broader applications. No doubt everyone loves Grampa Joe. Unquestionably he’s a swell old guy. However, he is not worth an $87 million jury award just because a doctor was slightly less successful than God at affecting a cure. No amount of money is going to bring old Grampa Joe back, and his family is not going to miss him any less from their vacation home in Tahiti than they would from their rent-controlled apartment in Queens. The same can be said of much younger workers as well. Sure, some people will grow up to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but the truth is that most of us spend our lives earning a lifestyle closer to that enjoyed by Ralph Kramden. Multi-million dollar paydays for events that often fall under the heading of “sometimes (all natural organic fertilizer) happens” do not ameliorate the loss of the deceased’s loved ones nor do they serve the theoretically intended purpose of making medicine (products, services, etc.) better or safer for the general public.
The next item to be addressed in improving the cost and accessibility of medical care in the United States is creating a true free market subject to competition and the pressures of consumers willing and able to take their business elsewhere. For most people, privately purchased medical insurance is prohibitively expensive. The majority either take what is offered by their employer or take nothing at all. That can easily be addressed by changing two elements of the current system: letting individual consumers make the choice about where to spend health care dollars, and give them the opportunity to shop for plans across state lines. Just because the interstate commerce clause has been violated in the case of medical insurance for decades does not mean that it ever should have been or that the practice should continue.
In order for consumers to select their own plans, employers should pay unto a fund for their employees that would be modeled on current Flexible Spending Accounts or Health Savings Accounts. The employer pays in, each employee has the right to spend up to a defined amount per year, and whatever is left unspent at the end of the year returns to the employer. In order to ensure effective shopping and sound consumerism, employees should also be offered an incentive, such as receiving up to ten percent of their portion of the pool that is not spent – providing they do in fact obtain insurance for themselves and their families. Employees who are empowered to seek the greatest value in terms of services offered for costs paid will do so. Unlike governments, individuals need to balance budgets and generally do a pretty good job at getting as much bang as they possibly can for their buck. Or at least they do when some meddling bureaucrat isn’t getting in the way.
The consumer should also be able to compare and choose from plans offered in Detroit, and Des Moines, and Denver, and San Diego. In a world where the overwhelming majority of transactions are converted to an electronic event rather than being processed manually, and where a person calling for help is far more likely to attempt to communicate with someone in Bangalore than they are to converse with a native English speaker in Boston, there is no justification for suggesting that the insurance company writing the check to a doctor should be relatively local to the consumer.
Making the entire nation a single insurance pool spreads the risk evenly across the population, just as your plans purport to do. Making every insurance company compete with every other insurance company will offer increased services at decreased cost to the consumer. Those with good business practices will gain customers and flourish. Those who feel they should be able to continually inflate premiums and reduce services will lose customers and go out of business. Further, by switching from one job to another an employee would not lose health insurance coverage since the plan they have is a plan they shopped and paid for themselves. Thus, the problem of portability is also solved.
Does this address every issue that could be improved upon in our current health care system? Of course not. It is certainly a far superior framework than the current proposal which seeks to spend even more money that we don’t have in order to provide fewer and lower quality services to all.
I don’t think Grampa Joe is worth $87 million, but I also don’t think he should die because some government panel thinks he should toss back a few Vicodin and go gentle into that good night rather than receive a new heart, liver, or kidney.
This country is about hard work, innovation and moving forward. We are not about proving that we can screw up the great socialist experiment even better than was done by Europe and the Soviet Union. The kind of change I could believe in is where you showed leadership in solving the problems that face us rather than going out of your way to prove you can be the fountainhead for the destruction of the United States of America.
Sincerely,
Jacob D. Vreeland, Jr
Bunker Hill, WV
The President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President,
Contrary to what you, and your masters at the Baby Oak Tree Organization, would appear to believe, the problem with the health care system in this country is not that you are failing to extract enough money from the pockets of Americans. The problem is that with health care, and much else in our country today, far too much money is already being removed from those pockets. I guarantee that I care far more about my own finances than you ever well, and that the average ten year old is probably better at making responsible money decisions than you and your sub-breed of political elites in Washington.
So, what can you do to apply some meaningful change (like the way I worked that word in there for you?!) to the health care situation in America that will result in vast improvements?
To start, let’s impose a little bit of tort reform. Doctors around the nation are compelled to order many tests that in most cases are absolutely unnecessary, but need to be run just in case their patient is that one in one hundred million individual suffering from a disease that only has 93 recorded cases in the history of man. Why? Because if they don’t run that test and the patient dies from the most unlikely of afflictions, some lawyer will be hanging around ready to pounce on a huge malpractice and wrongful death verdict. It should be reasonably simple for a gathering of medical professionals, not beholden to government pressures, to identify what would constitute reasonable and prudent medical care in upwards of 95 percent of all medical encounters. Once doctors have met those standards, they should be considered to have met their legal obligations to the patient and be freed from the specter of lottery jackpot lawsuits.
A related matter is jury awards. Though only medical suits are addressed here, the concept truly has much broader applications. No doubt everyone loves Grampa Joe. Unquestionably he’s a swell old guy. However, he is not worth an $87 million jury award just because a doctor was slightly less successful than God at affecting a cure. No amount of money is going to bring old Grampa Joe back, and his family is not going to miss him any less from their vacation home in Tahiti than they would from their rent-controlled apartment in Queens. The same can be said of much younger workers as well. Sure, some people will grow up to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but the truth is that most of us spend our lives earning a lifestyle closer to that enjoyed by Ralph Kramden. Multi-million dollar paydays for events that often fall under the heading of “sometimes (all natural organic fertilizer) happens” do not ameliorate the loss of the deceased’s loved ones nor do they serve the theoretically intended purpose of making medicine (products, services, etc.) better or safer for the general public.
The next item to be addressed in improving the cost and accessibility of medical care in the United States is creating a true free market subject to competition and the pressures of consumers willing and able to take their business elsewhere. For most people, privately purchased medical insurance is prohibitively expensive. The majority either take what is offered by their employer or take nothing at all. That can easily be addressed by changing two elements of the current system: letting individual consumers make the choice about where to spend health care dollars, and give them the opportunity to shop for plans across state lines. Just because the interstate commerce clause has been violated in the case of medical insurance for decades does not mean that it ever should have been or that the practice should continue.
In order for consumers to select their own plans, employers should pay unto a fund for their employees that would be modeled on current Flexible Spending Accounts or Health Savings Accounts. The employer pays in, each employee has the right to spend up to a defined amount per year, and whatever is left unspent at the end of the year returns to the employer. In order to ensure effective shopping and sound consumerism, employees should also be offered an incentive, such as receiving up to ten percent of their portion of the pool that is not spent – providing they do in fact obtain insurance for themselves and their families. Employees who are empowered to seek the greatest value in terms of services offered for costs paid will do so. Unlike governments, individuals need to balance budgets and generally do a pretty good job at getting as much bang as they possibly can for their buck. Or at least they do when some meddling bureaucrat isn’t getting in the way.
The consumer should also be able to compare and choose from plans offered in Detroit, and Des Moines, and Denver, and San Diego. In a world where the overwhelming majority of transactions are converted to an electronic event rather than being processed manually, and where a person calling for help is far more likely to attempt to communicate with someone in Bangalore than they are to converse with a native English speaker in Boston, there is no justification for suggesting that the insurance company writing the check to a doctor should be relatively local to the consumer.
Making the entire nation a single insurance pool spreads the risk evenly across the population, just as your plans purport to do. Making every insurance company compete with every other insurance company will offer increased services at decreased cost to the consumer. Those with good business practices will gain customers and flourish. Those who feel they should be able to continually inflate premiums and reduce services will lose customers and go out of business. Further, by switching from one job to another an employee would not lose health insurance coverage since the plan they have is a plan they shopped and paid for themselves. Thus, the problem of portability is also solved.
Does this address every issue that could be improved upon in our current health care system? Of course not. It is certainly a far superior framework than the current proposal which seeks to spend even more money that we don’t have in order to provide fewer and lower quality services to all.
I don’t think Grampa Joe is worth $87 million, but I also don’t think he should die because some government panel thinks he should toss back a few Vicodin and go gentle into that good night rather than receive a new heart, liver, or kidney.
This country is about hard work, innovation and moving forward. We are not about proving that we can screw up the great socialist experiment even better than was done by Europe and the Soviet Union. The kind of change I could believe in is where you showed leadership in solving the problems that face us rather than going out of your way to prove you can be the fountainhead for the destruction of the United States of America.
Sincerely,
Jacob D. Vreeland, Jr
Bunker Hill, WV
Friday, August 21, 2009
From the Declaration of Independence
(Note: Itallics, emphasis, and [bracketed] comments added by the blogger.)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies [United States]; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former [present] systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [political princes of both parties] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies [United States]; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former [present] systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [political princes of both parties] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Display Your Tea Bagger Pride!
Have you been to a Tea Party - not the kind with doilies but rather the kind with patriotic Americans?
Do you consider yourself a "9-12"er?
Does the thought cross your mind every now and then that the clowns in charge in Washington these days couldn't find their collective rectal orifice even with the aid of the entire Capitol Page corps and a bank of klieg lights, mainly because their heads are stuck too far up the problem?
Are you convinced that everything you thought your country was all about is being stripped away and perverted into a sad parody of the Soviet Union - or worse, France?
If you can answer yes, or at least find common ground with any of these, then you are a Tea Bagger - just ask CNN's Anderson Cooper, who held forth as an authority on tea-bagging during a live CNN broadcast April 15. Ah, the wise and sober voice of experience.
Be proud, and in a very non-confrontational way let the world know who you are. Tie a couple of tea bags together and hang them over the rear view mirror in your car. That way, anyone who sees you will know.
They'll know you're just a man who wants to love his woman. Or a woman her man. Or any other combination that works for you - the plumbing isn't the point here.
You want to raise your kids right, go to work every day, and on weekends enjoy a cold beverage of your choice around the backyard grill with your friends.
You want to do your part to make this country work, and enjoy your life in the process. You don't want to be bothered with the nuts and bolts mechanics of keeping this magnificent machine that is the United States of America running.
But you are an American. And you will be damned if you'll sit idly by while a group of power hungry socialist thugs try to make this country over into something you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Something that your parents, never mind the founding fathers, wouldn't even recognize. If they insist, then by God you'll stand up and do something about it.
So hang those tea bags and let them know you're coming.
Let them know exactly who you are and what you stand for.
Let them know you're mad as hell, they've gone more than far enough, and you're not going to take it any more.
Make sure they know you are an American, and that some fights are just too important to back down from no matter what threats may be leveled against you or your family.
Then have your family, friends, and neighbors hang their tea bags too.
E pluribus unum.
Do you consider yourself a "9-12"er?
Does the thought cross your mind every now and then that the clowns in charge in Washington these days couldn't find their collective rectal orifice even with the aid of the entire Capitol Page corps and a bank of klieg lights, mainly because their heads are stuck too far up the problem?
Are you convinced that everything you thought your country was all about is being stripped away and perverted into a sad parody of the Soviet Union - or worse, France?
If you can answer yes, or at least find common ground with any of these, then you are a Tea Bagger - just ask CNN's Anderson Cooper, who held forth as an authority on tea-bagging during a live CNN broadcast April 15. Ah, the wise and sober voice of experience.
Be proud, and in a very non-confrontational way let the world know who you are. Tie a couple of tea bags together and hang them over the rear view mirror in your car. That way, anyone who sees you will know.
They'll know you're just a man who wants to love his woman. Or a woman her man. Or any other combination that works for you - the plumbing isn't the point here.
You want to raise your kids right, go to work every day, and on weekends enjoy a cold beverage of your choice around the backyard grill with your friends.
You want to do your part to make this country work, and enjoy your life in the process. You don't want to be bothered with the nuts and bolts mechanics of keeping this magnificent machine that is the United States of America running.
But you are an American. And you will be damned if you'll sit idly by while a group of power hungry socialist thugs try to make this country over into something you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Something that your parents, never mind the founding fathers, wouldn't even recognize. If they insist, then by God you'll stand up and do something about it.
So hang those tea bags and let them know you're coming.
Let them know exactly who you are and what you stand for.
Let them know you're mad as hell, they've gone more than far enough, and you're not going to take it any more.
Make sure they know you are an American, and that some fights are just too important to back down from no matter what threats may be leveled against you or your family.
Then have your family, friends, and neighbors hang their tea bags too.
E pluribus unum.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Because Disagreeing With Big Brother is a Thought Crime - And I am Proud to Be Guilty!
For those who are interested in keeping a tally of the emails actually sent to flag@whitehouse.gov courtesy of this particular blogger, they will be entered as comments to the August 9, 2009 post, "Be Careful What You Ask For, Mr. President". That way they are tracked, but don't create a long list of otherwise irrelevant posts.
(08-12-09, 21:45 - Updated title of this post from "Hate Crime" to "Thought Crime", which is what was originally intended. Far be it from me to be full of hate! :-) )
(08-12-09, 21:45 - Updated title of this post from "Hate Crime" to "Thought Crime", which is what was originally intended. Far be it from me to be full of hate! :-) )
Monday, August 10, 2009
Paulette
Even though you're the baby sister, it's Happy Somewhat More Than 27th for you!
(Then again, birthdays start adding up long before anniversaries do. :-) )
(Then again, birthdays start adding up long before anniversaries do. :-) )
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Be Careful What You Ask For, Mr. President
In a much talked about blog post on August 4, 2009, Macon Phillips posted that "Facts Are Stubborn Things". They are indeed, Mr. Phillips. And the fact is that despite the extraordinary lengths you went to in an effort to prove how audio and video can be manipulated to make someone (such as President Obama?) seem to be saying something they actually did not, BHO is in fact caught on numerous unedited audio and video recordings over the years saying exactly what you don't wish the American public to hear from his lips.
Denial does not make the truth go away, and obfuscation does not make it impossible for the mark to occasionally win at three-card Monte. The American People are not marks, and when you rouse us sufficiently we will eventually prevail.
Mr. Phillips, as a mouthpiece for the President you have asked that "If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. To use an old proverb attributed to the Chinese, be careful what you ask for - you may get it.
Despite the fact that your request for "fishy" information to be forwarded is a blatant violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, I and no doubt millions of other Americans have no fear of the present administration when it comes to a possible chilling effect on our free speech rights. You want to try and chill us? Bring it on!
You want fishy, which by your definition would appear to be anything that contradicts or even so much as questions the party line, failing to fall into complete and lemming-like lockstep with Our Glorious Leader?
You got it.
I will send you fishy. Once an hour. Every hour. At the top of the hour. Starting with this blog and continuing with links to every article and opinion piece I can find that demonstrates the absolute rejection the American People have for an overwhelming majority of the policies, objectives, and actions of this administration. I would strongly urge anyone who is exposed to these words to do the same, to give you what you so desperately wish to have, and to share these words with others who feel likewise.
Chill out the free citizens of the United States of America? I think not. Rather, we will turn up the heat on you and yours until you get out of the kitchen and stop ruining everything you attempt to bake. Try as you might, you will never successfully enslave a fundamentally free people so long as they possess the will to thwart the aims of tyranny.
(For those who prefer links instead of typing to do their emailing, that White House email address again is flag@whitehouse.gov. Heck, you can call the White House Switchboard at (202)456-1414, or you may call their Comment Line at (202)456-1111. Your comment is very important to Barack Obama - the nice recorded lady said so at 5:00 PM on a Sunday. So important that they are available to let you make your voice heard between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. Oh, and I probably wouldn't expect much in the way of someone answering on holidays, either.)
Denial does not make the truth go away, and obfuscation does not make it impossible for the mark to occasionally win at three-card Monte. The American People are not marks, and when you rouse us sufficiently we will eventually prevail.
Mr. Phillips, as a mouthpiece for the President you have asked that "If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. To use an old proverb attributed to the Chinese, be careful what you ask for - you may get it.
Despite the fact that your request for "fishy" information to be forwarded is a blatant violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, I and no doubt millions of other Americans have no fear of the present administration when it comes to a possible chilling effect on our free speech rights. You want to try and chill us? Bring it on!
You want fishy, which by your definition would appear to be anything that contradicts or even so much as questions the party line, failing to fall into complete and lemming-like lockstep with Our Glorious Leader?
You got it.
I will send you fishy. Once an hour. Every hour. At the top of the hour. Starting with this blog and continuing with links to every article and opinion piece I can find that demonstrates the absolute rejection the American People have for an overwhelming majority of the policies, objectives, and actions of this administration. I would strongly urge anyone who is exposed to these words to do the same, to give you what you so desperately wish to have, and to share these words with others who feel likewise.
Chill out the free citizens of the United States of America? I think not. Rather, we will turn up the heat on you and yours until you get out of the kitchen and stop ruining everything you attempt to bake. Try as you might, you will never successfully enslave a fundamentally free people so long as they possess the will to thwart the aims of tyranny.
(For those who prefer links instead of typing to do their emailing, that White House email address again is flag@whitehouse.gov. Heck, you can call the White House Switchboard at (202)456-1414, or you may call their Comment Line at (202)456-1111. Your comment is very important to Barack Obama - the nice recorded lady said so at 5:00 PM on a Sunday. So important that they are available to let you make your voice heard between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. Oh, and I probably wouldn't expect much in the way of someone answering on holidays, either.)
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