Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Here's an idea to reduce healthcare costs....

......let's drive up the cost of medical devices with a new tax.
Condoms, contact lenses shielded from tax

The Innovation Tax
Supposedly the Senate’s version of ObamaCare was written by Finance Chairman Max Baucus, but we’re beginning to wonder if the true authors were Abbott and Costello. The vaudeville logic of the plan is that Congress will tax health care to subsidize people to buy health care that new taxes and regulation make more expensive.
Even tax-happy John Kerry opposes this ridiculous proposal. Democrats are so desperate to fund this outrageous plan, that it could still pass. They live in a dreamworld where taxes only affect those that they tax.

(disclosure: I work in the medical devices industry, and would be severely affected by any such legislation)
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Obama administration gets serious about implementing "Nanny State"

This is not a joke. Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu made the following statement...
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.”
TRANSLATION: the American public is stupid, and need to get in line with our environmental agenda. They won't change their ways without passage of laws and regulations to force compliance, which we will gladly deliver.

They are actually sending the EPA on a nationwide tour to "educate" schoolkids about "stopping global warming".
The Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on real children. Partnering with the Parent Teacher Organization, the agency earlier this month launched a cross-country tour of 6,000 schools to teach students about climate change and energy efficiency.

“We’re showing people across the country how energy efficiency can be part of what they do every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “Confronting climate change, saving money on our utility bills, and reducing our use of heavily-polluting energy can be as easy as making a few small changes.”

The Obama speech to schoolkids was not a big deal. This, on the other hand, is intended through the schools to indoctrinate children to "Global Warming" theories, as if they are scientific fact, in order to sell their long-term agenda.

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

quit comparing mandated health insurance to mandated auto insurance!

Today Obama again compared mandated health insurance to mandated auto insurance, in defense of his health proposals. I am so tired of politicians and pundits trying to use this false analogy to sell their proposals.

Auto insurance mandates are state mandates for LIABILITY insurance, not collision coverage. The mandate is that you have insurance coverage for damage you may cause to SOMEONE ELSE'S PROPERTY in an auto accident. States require this coverage for you to have the priviledge of driving your vehicle on roads.

There is absolutely no parallel that can be drawn to a federal mandate for a private citizen to buy health insurance. The federal government requiring a citizen to buy low deductible collision coverage would be a more accurate analogy, but I am not aware of any state that has that requirement.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Obama's solution to "reform" analyzed

This article in Investors Business Daily gives the best analysis I have seen for "Obama-care", including the excerpt below, which does a great job of explaining the numbers on the "46 million uninsured" in America.

Actually, of the 46 million people the census estimates don't have insurance, some 20 million have incomes above average and could afford to buy it, according to a study by former Congressional Budget Office Director June O'Neill.

Of the remaining 26 million uninsured, an estimated 13.7 million are poor. They are eligible for Medicaid — the state health care programs for the poor. But many, too, are illegals — about 8 million.

Though they're eligible, research from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association suggests as many as 14 million uninsured Americans qualify for public coverage, but don't enroll. And as many as 6 million are enrolled, but don't report it to the government, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis.

That leaves about 5 million people with no care.

By the way, according to the Census Bureau, America now has 37 million people in poverty. But Medicaid enrollment covers 55 million people — at a cost of $350 billion a year.

Based on this, no one should be without care. Which leads us to wonder: Is nationalizing our health care system really necessary to take care of people who already have care available to them?

I attempted HERE to give an analysis of the "uninsured", but the above text does a much better job.

The entire article is a great read and provides some much needed clarity.

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I have renewed hope

Friday, September 11, 2009

Liberal Hypocrisy

Liberals are outraged at the disrespect to the office of the President shown when Joe Wilson shouted "you lie" at Wednesday night's Obama speech to a joint session of congress.

It was inappropriate and disrespectful, but hardly unique to republicans or to treatment of Obama, as suggested by Whoopi Goldberg on the View:
He was, you know, I was appalled, really, because what I've been feeling the last couple of months is that this disrespect, which started with I'm not going to have my kid listen to your State of the Child address has now evolved into this free -- incredibly disrespectful -- Now as much as I didn’t like Mr. Bush and as many jokes as I made, I cannot remember anyone, any congressman, senator, anywhere, sitting in that chamber while the president was speaking behaving like those gentlemen and folks behaved.



Democrats made disrespecting the office of the President an art form during the Bush administration.

The ladies on the view also made reference to the disrespect shown by Eric Cantor by using his Blackberry during the speech. I am only guessing, but it's quite likely that Eric Cantor was "tweeting" during the speech, as has become common from the House floor by congressman from both parties. Get with the times ladies..
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Representative Mike Rogers (R) Michigan

Profound and wise words from this Michigan Republican addressing the U.S. House of Representatives in July...



brilliant

Cash for Clunkers.....what a bargain

Got this from a friend at work. Thought it was insightful and worth posting.....

Clunkers...

I guess I must be on the wrong page…


• A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.
• A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.
• So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
• They claim 700,000 vehicles – so that’s 224 million gallons / year.
• That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
• 5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day’s US consumption.
• And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75/bbl.
So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million. How good a deal was that???

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