NO to Public Health Care Option

I am opposed to a government-run Public Health Care Option as part of the current Health Care Reform bills circulating in Congress.

Health care is not a right.  You and I have no more right to force a doctor or hospital to treat us than we have a right to force a mechanic to fix our car or force a carpenter to fix our house.

The issue is nothing more, or LESS, basic than that.  We do not have a right to strip another individual of his pursuit of life, liberty, happiness, and freedom to choose, in order to serve us.  To do so is nothing more than forceful subjugation and slavery of another person.

As a recent hospital patient and successful survivor of cancer surgery, I can see plenty of room for health care reform, IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.  I am currently engaged in a letter campaign with my health insurance company as they are denying my 2nd day of hospital care (within 24 hours after my noon surgery completion the previous day), saying I was medically stable enough to go home.  Au contraire’, according to my surgeon, and my personal experience on the scene.  I’ll be seeing this one all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.  And this after paying decades of health insurance.  It’s no wonder the insurance companies are vilified.

HOWEVER, I don’t need dear old Uncle Sam interfering on my behalf.

Further, I am opposed to ANY National Health Care Reform as currently proposed.  Following are just a few reasons:

1.  85% of the population is insured.  National reform will MANDATE that the 85% readjust as necessary to accommodate the other 15%.
2.  Only half or so of the 15% uninsured will become insured under national reform anyway.
3.  The plan will take 3 or 4 years to get started due to the massive bureaucracy involved.
4.  The costs, despite “government assurances”, will likely add to an already crippling national debt.
5.  The government says money will be saved by removing “waste and inefficiencies” in existing government programs.  Who believes this?  If it can or could have been done, it should have been done already.
6.  Proposed national health reform doesn’t address many major issues, such as tort reform.  (Exorbitant non-economic lawsuit compensation is forcing equally exorbitant malpractice insurance on good doctors, thus driving up the costs to consumers, you and me.)  Why no tort reform?  Ohhhh, lawyers have a lot of influence in Congress.  So much for reason, logic, and fairness.

I strongly encourage you to write your Senators and Congressmen and express your own opinions.  Following are links to contact either:

Senators

Congressmen

FYI many of these contact websites won’t let you submit a message unless you can post an address within their district, as they only want to hear from direct constituents.  Phooey on that I say.  Bing, Google, or Mapquest is your friend for finding an address.  Yes, districts elect our representatives, but those reps are voting on NATIONAL issues that effectus all, and we all should have the right to express our opinion to any representative.

Heaven help us should we continue down the road to socialism and the suppression of individual thinking and self-responsibilty.  (To who else but Heaven can we appeal for the ethereal Hope and Change?  Umm, nevermind.)  If we don’t stop this now, I’ll be seeing you in the welfare line, just ahead of me. 

H.R. Herald newspaper Lookin' Good!

Speaking of our free local bi-weekly community newspaper, the Highlands Ranch Herald, kudos on the new look. The seperate sections and generous use of color make it much more readable.

AND, it has much more NEWS. What a novel idea! It was my opinion that previously there were too few news stories and too few facts within a story. This week's issue is quite the opposite of both. THANK YOU H.R.H.!

(Now, if you could just get the Denver Post to use your higher quality bags, my Post might stay drier in the mornings. And if your delivery guys could actually hit the driveways at least 50% of the time there might be less Heralds remaining in the streets for days and days. But I digress, and I'm a chronic complainer.)

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE NEWSPAPER UPGRADES.

HR Vet Monument reaches goal

Congratulations to the Metro District and its hard working employees.

As reported in this week's Highlands Ranch Herald, the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument reached its funding goal. Contributions from remaining tile spaces will go towards maintenance.

As you may or may not know, this is a Monument to any veteran who served (not limited to H.R. residents) and is not limited to those who died in service. There is a special memorial stone to SSGT Christopher Falkel and SGT John Stiles. Presumably other H.R. residents who died in service can be added.

My lady, for example, purchased a tile for her still-living father who served in WWII and egocentric I purchased a tile for my Vietnam service. (It may be the only place my name is set in stone, as I someday intend to be ashes blowin' in the wind, but I digress.)

There is a website devoted to the monument at www.hrvets.org/and the Metro District main website is www.highlandsranch.org/. I attended the July 1 dedication ceremony and posted pictures here: JohnRH/WindowsLive.

The monument is adjacent to the H.R. Library and Town Center Park. Have a look if you haven't already.

My personal thanks to Marsha Sliter at Metro District for her tireless work and supreme efficiency in handling tile purchases and distributions for me. Good job Metro!!

Sarah Palin as Conservative Writer?

I had been thinking about commenting on Palin’s Sept. 9 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care) shortly after it was published on the day of Obama’s evening health care address to a joint session of Congress.  Now that Palin is publishing a book perhaps a few words are still appropriate.

Who was it that said Palin should stay out of politics?  Oh, that was me.  (No… more… Palin, puh-LEEZE)  I still do not care for her as a representative in our national government.  Based on what I think was a good health care op-ed, however, she may have a future as a Conservative writer.

Her piece was so well written and referenced, IMO, that I wonder if she has a ghost writer, as she has had assistance in writing her new book.  If so, she should grab onto that ghost and keep it close.  Her book assistance (ghost, collaborative, whatever) is coming from Lynn Vincent:
http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/15432,
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/05/22/congratulations-sarah-palin/print,
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/29/sd-ghostwriter-mum-sarah-palin-memoir/?uniontrib,
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/29/lynn-vincent-the-other-voice-behind-the-sarah-palin-book/

What did I like about the health care op-ed?

1.  It referenced facts, for which there is far too little in political rhetoric these days.
  a.  She cites Congressional Budget Office estimates current at the time of the op-ed: “The CBO estimates that the current House proposal not only won't reduce the deficit but will actually increase it by $239 billion over 10 years.”
  b.  Also “A new study for Watson Wyatt Worldwide by Steven Nyce and Syl Schieber concludes that if the government expands health-care coverage while health-care inflation continues to rise "the higher costs would drive disposable wages downward across most of the earnings spectrum, although the declines would be steepest for lower-earning workers."”
  c.  And “let's talk about real health-care reform: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven. As the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon and others have argued, such policies include giving all individuals the same tax benefits received by those who get coverage through their employers; providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage; reforming tort laws to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending; and changing costly state regulations to allow people to buy insurance across state lines. Rather than another top-down government plan, let's give Americans control over their own health care.”

2.  It spoke to reason and logic (in my humble opinion):
  a.  She writes “Let's talk about specifics. In his Times op-ed, the president argues that the Democrats' proposals "will finally bring skyrocketing health-care costs under control" by "cutting . . . waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies . . . ."

First, ask yourself whether the government that brought us such "waste and inefficiency" and "unwarranted subsidies" in the first place can be believed when it says that this time it will get things right.”

  b.  “Now look at one way Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs. In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives . . . ."

Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels?

Love it, love it, love it.  She slips in that phrase again, like a twisting rhetorical dagger to the ribs, that just drives liberals crazy.  Talk about pushing someone’s buttons.

To sum up, I say the piece is well-written, factual, and logical.  There is always room for such conservative voices in our increasingly emotional and illogical liberal political landscape.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33237202/ns/politics-white_house/

The jokes of life and fate just never stop. Nominated just 2 weeks after taking office. What a travesty. I guess the Nobel committee Hoped there would be Change.

Of course now the great peacemaker has every reason to protect his Peace reputation and not authorize more troops for Afghanistan. That is yet another travesty as our fellow Americans are getting slaughtered over there.

Obama has been considering working with or negotiating with the Taliban. Now he has the perfect excuse to do so. "They are not a threat to America" they have said. These are the people that blowup centuries old Buddhist mountainside statues, force women to wear head-to-toe coverings (burkas), force men to wear beards, and shoot women in the head in the Kabul soccer stadium for violations, to name just a few of their indiscretions. Let me guess what Obama will say next. "We shouldn't interfere in their affairs." These aren't affairs, they are violations against basic humanity.

The daily global disconnect between thought and reality keeps marching on.

A few more points:

1. Obama getting the Nobel Prize does NOT make America look better globally. It is an embarassment to receive something that is not earned and the global community will not respect the U.S. more as a result.

2. Awarding a prize that has not been earned greatly diminishes the stature and respect of the Nobel Committee itself. The award becomes more of a political statement on the part of the Committee and less of a coveted prize for superior merit. Alfred Nobel must be rolling in his grave, crying out from the void, "Somebody get me some TNT!".

3. The award may dangerously influence U.S. foreign policy in a manner not in the best U.S. interest. Obama has already been an overt apologist for every perceptible injustice (from his point of view) that the U.S. has committed at home and abroad. Attempts to acquiesce to Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, to name a few, and distance ourselves from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel, can create an ultimately dangerous unbalance of power in the world.

I (DO NOT) have prostate cancer (ANYMORE)

Ref my previous posts, I have prostate cancer, post #1 and I have prostate cancer, post # 2, I no longer have prostate cancer.

I had a DaVinci Robotic Radical Prostatectomy (removal of the cancerous prostate gland) last Tuesday 29 Sep. The pathology report (which I haven't seen the details of yet) came back after surgery saying the cancer appears to be fully contained within the removed prostate. Although there are no ultimate guarantees, and I will have a lifetime of monitoring, it is hugely better than "you have 3 to 6 months".

I am recovering now from a very complex and invasive snip and tuck surgery. They were able to spare both nerve bundles that effect male functionality and I fully expect to get through any incontinence issues too.

I already have my ski pass for this coming winter, so LOOK OUT you mountain people! As life doesn't get any longer, no matter what, I am also still browsing for a mountain property. Simple ol' me. I still like looking at trees and rocks. We shall see.

Thanks for all the support and good wishes, past and future. I feel like this home run was for all those dear family and friends of mine and everyone's who we have lost to the many deadly cancers out there. We can win and beat this thing. I'm incredibly fortunate to be one who has done so.

My good fortune was due in large part to early detection, an extremely high level of medical and technical expertise on the part of my surgeon and his staff, advanced technology medical equipment, and high quality hospital care before, during, and after the surgery.

Don't even get me started on "national health care". Well, ok, for one thing I confirmed the cancer and was rid of it in just over 60 days. Try doing that in Canada, the U.K., or anywhere else.

But I digress. It's just great to be alive.