Sword and Sextant

Recently, Obama made no real news by extending a huge amount of money to Brazil for offshore drilling. Sarah Palin is the only person in mainstream America who has noticed, apparently. That’s right friends, the green-collar jobs hero is allowing drilling in other countries. What a rational, realistic, honest man.

But this rabbit hole goes a bit deeper. It just so happens that George Soros, of MoveOn.org fame, invested heavily in Petrobras in recent months. Petrobras is, of course, a Brazilian Oil Company. That was a really lucky move for Soros, who will waltz into a nice windfall based on pure chance and good fortune.

So, not only does Obama not seem to care about the environment once it ceases winning him votes, but he’ll use our money to help another country’s economy during our recession, AND he’ll scratch Papa Georgio on the back, so that MoveOn money can flow freely at the midterm elections.

This is insider trading at best, and criminal influence peddling at worst. Our President appears to be using taxpayer money to enrich a Democrat backer, ensuring free cashflow for this party for years to come. Obama is a Chicago politician at heart, and nothing is apparently too low for that man.

This weekend and early this week, the Obamanauts are marching on the nation, determined to seize control of their own citizens. Despite pitifully decaying support (in the red now), divisions between partisan fronts, and similar divides between Democrats themselves. Obama knows the clock is ticking loudly, and when the alarm goes off, health care won’t have the juice to pass any longer.

Unfortunately for them, the Dems aren’t the monolith all the liberals thought they were getting. Most/All politicians like being in power at least as much as helping their nation in their own way, and the Democrats that recently arose from normally red districts are already in dire straits from spending, general partisan regression to the mean, and what is so far a failed stimulus. Add in health care, probably the most despised and vilely hated reform by conservatives, and this bill looks very much like seppuku. Beyond that, some of these Dems actually ARE somewhat conservative, and they have no love for the bill’s ideas.

The fight rages on, and this nation’s soul is at stake. When every large insurance company, unions, the AARP, AMA, AHA, AHIP, etc are lined up against the populace and their interests, the battle is on. Is there any stronger indication of the government’s interest in you than their continual drive forward on health care, when approval is below water? When they enlist and buy off large entities to silence and fight against you? When they send MoveOn.org and Organizing for America goons to town halls to shout down the elderly? When they collect information on you if you dissent from their goals?

These liberals have got a hell of a battle on their hands, however. The power of focused public opinion on a nationwide scale is the scariest force in this country, and unless they can fracture us and break us down, they will have little choice but to cave. This vicious fight is getting worse, but we have the upper hand, because we grant them their jobs.

There is always a common wisdom regarding midterm elections. People continually point toward 1994 as proof of what happens when Dems seize all three houses. The cause is misdiagnosed as the country desiring more balance in government. The reality is that liberals pathologically lack self-control, and they go Teen Wolf in the candy shop the moment someone lets them in. 1994 is a particularly good example, as things like HillaryCare were elements that scared the voters into the Gingrich Revolution.

We will stop them, and use their recklessness against them in a sweeping return to power in 2010.

Fight the good fight, my friends. We’ve got them running scared.

President Obama may be pulling the public option from the table.

First off, here’s a frightening quote:

“I think there will be a competitor to private insurers,” Sebelius said. “That’s really the essential part, is you don’t turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing.”

Oh, liberals. Momma government will save you from the mean capitalists.

Anywho, this is a monster victory because it allows all the other changes Obama wants to make to happen without transforming our entire nation. The government will still be unable to make any health care decisions for its citizens, and it will prevent several taxes from hitting the books, although some yet loom.

It also reveals that Obama isn’t quite the partisan firebrand I may have thought him to be. Nay, when it became obvious that a public option would be hemlock to his lips, it was dropped. Under the bus, if you will. He wants a “win” on this, of course, and he’ll pass any piece of paper that says health care on it, regardless of whether he’s able to pull off ANY of his original intent. It is another glaring sign that he’s simply another politician. On the heels of the Gatesgate deal, Obama looks very common suddenly.

But there’s more. The hits just keep on coming! Lookie:

Congress’ proposals, however, seemed likely to strike end-of-life counseling sessions. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has called the session “death panels,” a label that has drawn rebuke from her fellow Republicans as well as Democrats. [...]

“In all honesty, I don’t want a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats setting health care for my aged citizens in Utah,” Hatch said.

Sebelius said the end-of-life proposal was likely to be dropped from the final bill.

Its a pretty surefire sign you’ve won an argument when, despite continual denials of the opposition, they remove the thing you attack within their bill. Palin again shows her powers of populism with the ‘death panels’ comment, and Democrats flinch again. She’s a very blunt instrument, lacking the polish of a refined advocate, but still quite influential, as we’re capable of seeing.

In summary, the good work of a true grassroots uprising has finally poked the beltway hard enough to make them reconsider their ruinous path. This nation is far more resilient than anyone knows, and no amount of poopooing from the MSM, the White House, Congress, or anyone else can make us go against our wishes. Just as Obama swept into office by public opinion, he was beaten down by it when he left the national consensus.

This fight isn’t over, but rest on your laurels for a moment, happy warriors. This is a monumental victory.

Sit down, little children. Listen here to this.

I’m going to borrow a bit from the master, Charles Krauthammer, and then wax poetic a bit as well.

1) The numero uno reform is tort reform. Its not because damages are so high, but because damages are so random in malpractice cases that the insurance is over $300K a year even for small practices. A botched surgery could net medical cost or $10M, which rightly ruins any rational system of charging for premiums. When this cost is levied on every doctor’s office, hospital, etc, the cost is passed on directly to the citizens.

Another issue is the multitude of tests that doctors run to prevent missing a diagnosis and getting sued. There are tons of tests each day that are frivolous, yet it makes fiscal sense to run them. Not only does the doctor make a bit more money, but he also covers his ass. If you go in for a broken leg and die of lupus two weeks later, the ortho shouldn’t be on the hook for that if he’s proven to be non-negligent by his peers. (This is a similar criticism to that of preventive care, in that one must waste alot of money on healthy patients trying to prevent harm in order to catch the few early ones. Cost savings are mitigated easily.)

The fix is twofold. First, raise the bar a bit so that physical errors made due to physical problems of honest human imperfection, fatigue, luck, etc. are not prosecutable, and make those cases of extreme negligence result in losing the medical license for a decade. If a doctor is truly careless, he doesn’t belong at the bedside, and a 5 million dollar payout won’t fix that. It simply devastates premium rates for the better practitioners, and we know that cost is hitting us, and not them. Second, make juries that hear these cases consist of at least half medical professionals. Such expert jurors could readily apply knowledge and experience to each case. In academia, professors are required to serve on peer-review grant boards as a public service. Make it akin to jury duty for doctors, and frightened, ignorant juries never award the next John Edwards an extra three million because he showed them a dead baby.

2) Sever the link between employment and insurance. Just as the federal government cannot care for an individual like a local government can, so the large corporation cannot rightly offer appropriate coverage to all its employees the way individually purchased plans can. I was recently charged $1800 for an emergency room visit deemed not covered by my plan, but it was a very recent change in the policy that doomed me to this fate. By vote, the student association had decided that they wanted to cut costs there, despite my earlier protests. Being 25, a great plan for me would be a low doctor visit co-pay and great emergency care, as my age pretty much limits me to small issues and grave accidents. Alas, I am out almost $2K because of my cookie-cutter plan. Didn’t exactly reduce costs, lol. Creating a new pathway to personal insurance for all is the easiest and best way to care for the needs of all, rather than using the blunt force of macro distributed plans from large companies.

Let’s also remember that insurance from a company limits your mobility between jobs and leaves you vulnerable should that job evaporate for any reason. Cobra plans exist for this, but Obama reminds us continually that some all fall through the cracks. Make those plans as motile as their owners, and job hopping is a freedom we can all use, should we choose.

3) On to more privately held beliefs. Health insurance should not cover yearly checkups under any pretense. Like oil changes, these are known commodities, and should not be covered. Insurance is exactly that: protection against sudden cost. Removing benefits for known commodities will create a much sleeker system where we are finally managing risk only. Healthy people’s premiums will surely dive according to this principle as their yearly cost burden to the insurance company is reduced. You budget for 4 oil changes a year, so budgeting for a yearly appointment is possible, as well.

4) Create a socialized program for the uninsurable only. The plan is simply 100% coverage, plus some small consideration (1% of cost or something, if possible) determined by a panel, as nothing should be totally free. Those who become tremendous cost burdens can shift into this national pool (only after approval by an expert body) and become covered on this plan. Doctors can once again be leaned on for pro bono work or reduced cost work as a service to their industry, or simply collect funds via taxes to cover only the cost of the program. It will remain important to keep the purse strings tight and only let those deserving of this coverage receive it. Pragmatically, cost should be relatively controlled by the fact that most entrants will expire soon after admittance. This is one way in which I have no problem letting the collective care for those in dire straits. It prevents economic ruin of a family and their friends in addition to the emotional anguish. Fund this program with a tax that floats to cover the expense, issuing refunds if it overdraws.

5) Exempt health benefits from taxes. This would be an external cost reduction, but not a trivial one. What I mean by this is that your income that goes to health insurance is not taxable even by the federal government. Such a provision would reduce costs across all citizens, and it would be difficult to abuse because you retain no benefit from pouring money into your plan to prevent its taxing.

6) Start a treasury bill investment program for EVERY American. Take 1-3% of earnings from year 15 to retirement and place them in a personal account for that person. Each year, the money is poured into T-bills or bonds or whatever steady investment. Split accrued interest between the catastrophic insurance plan and return for a tax rebate or reinvestment in the account, according to the taxpayer’s wishes. Not only do we place our money where our mouth is on our own currency again, but each American is cushioned with a pool of money should something go wrong with their health. Richer citizens may never have to pay directly for their care, and the poor will even be relieved by their growing pool. The money, upon death, will return to the families tax-free, ensuring that their wealth is returned to them. This can be phased in as we phase out social security, which is becoming necessary.

7) Form free clinics powered by final-year medical students and burgeoning residents. These clinics could become necessary as community service is for college entrance is, and they would do very cheap or pro bono work for basic care, such as yearly checkups, cold medications, and basic injuries that require limited attention. These do exist already in some number, but institutionalizing them as a stepping stone to a medicine career would make them higher quality and more plentiful. This would also allow those in the medical profession to give back to the community, as is were, as they pursue their financial futures.

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As you can probably tell, I am not in the business of extending coverage to the poor from the federal government, but I am in the business of reducing cost to make such coverage affordable. Every American should have a stake in the game, in taxes, health care, war, etc. It includes the richest and the poorest, and forming a “common destiny link” between socioeconomic classes is a great way to foster national unity, as well. Handing out free coverage is the road to entitlement and ruin in my view of things, and should be avoided at all costs. If you’re willing to work, and able, the benefits of the greatest nation in history are open to you. If not, there should be very little consideration given to your lot.

One of the huge problems with the logic of the bill as it stands is that we need a $1.5T loan to “reduce cost” somehow. It defies logic how the greatest spending burst in American history will reduce any costs, as opposed to borrowing against the future to mitigate short-term problems, while having to pay the bill at some point in the future. I have outlined some much less expensive alternatives above, and even suggested ways to fund them, usually by replacing taxes, or eliminating the terrible specter of malpractice russian roulette.

Of all people, Chuck Norris has outed a particularly woeful clause in the Obamnibus Health Care Bill (which he didn’t write). I’ll spare you some of the Norrisisms if you’re lucky.

Let’s check the tape:

It’s outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading “home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children.” The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills.

The bill says that the government agents, “well-trained and competent staff,” would “provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains … modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices,” and “skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development.”

Wait, what? The government, with their phenomenal record of caring for the poor and downtrodden in this nation, are now going to enter our homes and instruct us on the “best” way to raise a child? That’s beyond reckless, diving headfirst into full dystopian horror movie scary. The party of free and available abortion is finally pulling the drawstrings on their plan to control human life in this nation. They choose if you can live, how you are raised, what education you receive in early life, and when you become too expensive to care for and need to die. The liberal circle of life!

Let’s out another foolish point of this bill that Mr. Norris did not highlight. Yea, it is par for the course in an Obama document, sadly. Care of the Library of Congress, here we go:

`(e) Payment of Grant-
`(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall make a grant to each State that meets the requirements of subsections (b) and (d), if applicable, for a fiscal year for which funds are appropriated under subsection (m), in an amount equal to the reimbursable percentage of the eligible expenditures of the State for the fiscal year, but not more than the amount allotted to the State under subsection (c) for the fiscal year.
`(2) REIMBURSABLE PERCENTAGE DEFINED- In paragraph (1), the term `reimbursable percentage’ means, with respect to a fiscal year–
`(A) 85 percent, in the case of fiscal year 2010;
`(B) 80 percent, in the case of fiscal year 2011; or
`(C) 75 percent, in the case of fiscal year 2012 and any succeeding fiscal year.

Bold text my addition, of course. Did you see it, though? Declining payment for the plan! Just like any great liberal scheme, it must offer grants going out into forever, but then rescind funding over time to force more taxes upon the states and their people. Thus, the fist of governmental monetary control tightens. Its difficult to believe that some Democrats have anyone’s best interests at heart when shit like this is written into a bill.

As always, this bill is never going to be allowed to pass. Now the Dems are only doing teleconference town halls because their constituents are screaming at them quite literally when they spew their foolishness on the bill. If only they’d read the damn thing like their voters did…