After learning that the "scientists" who were the authorities on man made global warming were cooking the books to "prove" their agenda rather than doing anything resembling honest scientific research, we should question many of those "sure" things we are being sold by the left.
Is there any intellectual honesty, or integrity to be found on the political left in any arena, or just "doctored books" trying to trick us on climate, health care, the war on poverty, unions, ACORN, you name it? Where can we trust them? Why should we?
Let's look at one of the political left's icon's of "virtue," Planned Parenthood. Aren't we led to believe that they are doing all these wonderful things to help the poor? At least they are looking out for those less fortunate aren't they? Let's look at their beginning, and their founder's intent for starting them.
Who was Margaret Sanger, was she a friend to the poor, minorities and the helpless? Who was she really? What do know about this "champion" for women's rights? If you do a Wiki search you will see glowing reports , but a search of the Library of Congress will uncover a wealth of information in her own writings and letters to her contemporaries. Margaret Sanger's papers show a woman obsessed with restricting the birth rights of those she described as unfit. She wanted birth licenses to qualified couples and was willing to use "Negro" Doctors and Ministers to influence and control the "Negro" race.
There are also accusations that Margaret Sanger traveled to Germany and was instrumental in developing Hitler's "Final Solution." "How to get rid of the Jews was a question answered by Adolf Hitler. His answer was to murder Jews throughout Europe along with other races that were believed to be sub-humans. This answer was called the “Final Solution,” a solution that started in the summer of 1941 and was believed to answer the “Jewish Question” and create an end to the Jews."
Sanger created what she called her "Negro Project." It was a well thought out plan to use the Black communities' doctors and ministers to win over the support of the community. It reminds me of Dr. Joycelyn Elders obsession with condoms and abortions and dogmatic support of Planned Parenthood.
Margaret Sanger was a prolific writer and authored books and articles explaining her views. She also published the views of her associates and experts. Her "The Birth Control Review" stated in the July/August 1932 edition, "There are other more remote but equally important gains. One is the enhanced respect to be had from the dominant White race. That the Negro must acquire if he is to enjoy the rights and prerogatives he covets. But acquired it he cannot and will not so long as he remains the thriftless, childlike, irresponsible dependent that he is, for such behavior does not command respect." This was way over the top racism even in 1932.
Like most racists, Sanger probably convinced herself that she was helping the poor Negro. It sounds like liberals today. Treating those they look down on almost like pets or worse, believing that "they" know best for all of the rest.
From Margaret Sanger's "A Plan for Peace."
a. To raise the level and increase the general intelligence of population.
b. To increase the population slowly by keeping the birth rate at it's present level of fifteen per thousand, decreasing the death rate below it's present mark of 11 per thousand.
c. To keep the doors of immigration closed to the entrance of certain aliens whose condition is known to be detrimental to the stamina of the race, such as feeble minded, idiots, morons, insane, syphilitic, epileptic, criminal, professional prostitutes, and others in this class barred by the immigration laws of 1924.
d. To apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.
e. To insure the country against future burdens of maintenance for numerous offspring as may be born of feeble minded parents, by permitting all persons with transmissible disease who voluntarily consent to sterilization.
f. To give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.
g. To apportion farmlands and homesteads for those segregated persons where they would be taught to work under competent instructors for the period of their entire lives.
She goes on to outline the taking control over "morons, mental defectives, and epileptics." Her plan called for an inventory of "illiterate, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, dope-fiends, in order to better place them on the government run farms and homestead." These are her own words.
Her "American Weekly's" article seems to outline Planned Parenthood's plan to rid the world of inferior people.
Article 1. The purpose of the American Baby Code shall be to provide for a better distribution of babies, to assist couple who wish to prevent overpopulation of offspring and thus to reduce the burdens of charity and taxation for public relief, and to protect society against the propagation and increase of the unfit.
Article 2. Birth Control clinics shall be permitted to function as services of government health departments or under the support of charity, or as nonprofit, self-sustaining agencies, subject to inspection and control by public authorities.
Article 3. A marriage license shall in itself give the husband and wife only the right to a common household and not the right to parenthood.
Article 4. No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child, no man shall have the right to become a father without a permit for parenthood.
Article 5. Permits for parenthood shall be issued by government authorities to married couples upon application, providing the parents are financially able to support the expected child, have the qualifications needed for proper rearing of the child, have no transmissible diseases, and on the woman's part no indication that maternity is likely to result in death or permanent injury to health.
Article 6. No permit for parenthood shall be valid for more than one birth.
Article 7. Every county shall be assisted administratively by the state in the effort to maintain a direct ration between the county birth rate and its index of child welfare. When the county records show and unfavorable variation from this ration the county shall be taxed by the State... the revenues thus obtained shall be expended by the State within the given county in giving financial support to birth control clinics.
Article 8. Feeble minded person, habitual congenital criminals, those affected with inheritable diseases, and others found biologically unfit should be sterilized or in cases of doubt be isolated as to prevent the perpetuation of their afflictions by breeding.
This is just a small sample of some of Margaret Sanger's writings. It would take books to cover the topic of her and her friends published works on this subject. You can learn much more on Planned Parenthood and Sanger from L.E.A.R.N. the Life Education And Research Network. P.O. Box 1949, South Road Branch, Poughkeepsie, New York, 12601.
On Dec. 10th, 1939 Sanger wrote a letter to Doctor Gamble. In it she reveals her plan to use ministers, but warns, "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
If you still have questions if Sanger was a devout racists who put Planned Parenthood clinics in poor neighborhoods to exterminate the African-American, and as she put it "other undesirables" just read her book "Woman and the New Race."
Once again one of those programs, or organizations that have long been embraced by the political left was founded for purely evil intent. What more can be said for ACORN, the ACLU, and the newly exposed fraud of Global Warming. Who can possibly believe that they are doing health care for "our own good" any more than the other evils of their long track record?
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation
Happy Thanksgiving to You and your Family, and Loved ones.
Today, I just want to share with you the exact words of our first President, George Washington, as he dedicated Thanksgiving Day as one of our first National Holidays.
Thanksgiving Proclamation
City of New York
October 3, 1789
by: George Washington
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
This is reprinted from George Washington: A Collection edited by W.B. Allen and published in 1988 by LibertyClassics.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Today, I just want to share with you the exact words of our first President, George Washington, as he dedicated Thanksgiving Day as one of our first National Holidays.
Thanksgiving Proclamation
City of New York
October 3, 1789
by: George Washington
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
This is reprinted from George Washington: A Collection edited by W.B. Allen and published in 1988 by LibertyClassics.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The First Thanksgiving
America has long been the target of dreamers, dreaming for freedom and opportunity. History tells of of the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims, who after suffering vicious religious persecution by King James and the Church of England. Anyone who didn't recognize The Church of England and King James as the absolute civil and religious authority, and wanted to practice religious freedom, were hunted down,imprisoned, and often martyred for those beliefs.
There were a group who wouldn't bow to a belief that they didn't hold, and fled to Holland establishing a community there. After they lived in Holland for about eleven years there were around forty of them who agreed to take their chances on moving to the New World. This journey was a terrible risk, any journey at sea was perilous, they were sure to face incredible hardships throughout the journey and knowing that they would only be beginning upon their arrival if their trip was successful. However, they would be able to worship God as their beliefs led them, and by their own consciences.
On August 1st, 1620, they set sail on the Mayflower. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. While they traveled Bradford created a contract, The Mayflower Compact, that established what he believed would be fair and equal laws for all members of the new community, regardless of that member's religious beliefs. Bradford used the Bible and it's teachings as his inspiration for this compact.
The Pilgrims were completely educated and inculcated in the teachings from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Ancient Israel was their guide. The Pilgrims never doubted that their new community would work, because it's rules for governance were so familiar from their studies of their own Bibles throughout their entire lives.
On a cold, gray November day the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island. Can you imagine just finishing a long and punishing sea voyage to land on a cold New England November day, with no shelter in sight? There were no friends or family to greet them, for that matter no strangers, no baggage clerks, no warm shelters, no shelters out of the elements at all. This had to be a very sobering reminder that the sacrifices that they had made for freedom was just beginning.
That first winter was a brutal one, fully half of all the Pilgrims, including Bradford's own wife, died. They died of either starvation, illness, or exposure, some probably succumbed to the desperateness of their situation in this harsh strange forbidding land.
The first spring, as the sun warmed them, they had a chance to begin anew. Their new indigenous neighbors taught the settlers how to plant corn, how to fish for cod, and how to trap and skin wild animals for their coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims but they still struggled.
That fall, they held the first "Thanksgiving" celebrating the goodness that God had shown them. They shared this feast of thanks to God with their Indian neighbors. Too often are children are taught that Thanksgiving was to thank the Indians, that is not true, it was their devout expression of their gratitude to God for his deliverance and blessings. Remember, these people left behind their homes and all they knew to have the freedom to worship God, Thanksgiving, was to the very core of why they traveled in the first place.
To be able to afford to come to the New World, the Pilgrims has entered into a contract with merchant sponsors in London. This was common practice and how most settlements in America were first founded. Their contract with there sponsors called for everything that was produced to go into a common hold, and each member of the community would be entitled to one common share. This common ownership extended to all the land they cleared, the houses they built, everything would be held in common, a commune if you will.
After that first year Bradford realized that this communal living was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as their first brutal winter. He decided to make a courageous change. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage as they saw fit. He released the power of the free market, where each could work harder or smarter and could be rewarded accordingly.
William Bradford's own Journal tell us this story in his own words.
"The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing...as if they were wiser than God. For this community was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's' wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice."
This experiment with allowing the Free Market to work instead of the more Socialistic approach worked brilliantly. It worked over 100 years before Adam Smith taught the world about Free Market Capitalism. Socialism didn't work when tried over 200 years before Karl Marx introduced it to the world. By following their Biblical training the Pilgrims stumbled on the magic economic elixir. From then on they had an abundance. Their success allowed them to pay off their debts to their London merchant sponsors early. Word came back of their great successes starting more Europeans who began what came to be known as the "Great Puritan Migration" each seeking their own freedoms of both religion and of opportunity.
From the beginning America has been a land of dreams, a land of freedom, and most importantly and at the beginning of it and interwoven into every fabric of our national foundation, the worship of God.
This Thanksgiving, we all should truly be thankful for all of God's blessings in each of our lives.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
There were a group who wouldn't bow to a belief that they didn't hold, and fled to Holland establishing a community there. After they lived in Holland for about eleven years there were around forty of them who agreed to take their chances on moving to the New World. This journey was a terrible risk, any journey at sea was perilous, they were sure to face incredible hardships throughout the journey and knowing that they would only be beginning upon their arrival if their trip was successful. However, they would be able to worship God as their beliefs led them, and by their own consciences.
On August 1st, 1620, they set sail on the Mayflower. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. While they traveled Bradford created a contract, The Mayflower Compact, that established what he believed would be fair and equal laws for all members of the new community, regardless of that member's religious beliefs. Bradford used the Bible and it's teachings as his inspiration for this compact.
The Pilgrims were completely educated and inculcated in the teachings from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Ancient Israel was their guide. The Pilgrims never doubted that their new community would work, because it's rules for governance were so familiar from their studies of their own Bibles throughout their entire lives.
On a cold, gray November day the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island. Can you imagine just finishing a long and punishing sea voyage to land on a cold New England November day, with no shelter in sight? There were no friends or family to greet them, for that matter no strangers, no baggage clerks, no warm shelters, no shelters out of the elements at all. This had to be a very sobering reminder that the sacrifices that they had made for freedom was just beginning.
That first winter was a brutal one, fully half of all the Pilgrims, including Bradford's own wife, died. They died of either starvation, illness, or exposure, some probably succumbed to the desperateness of their situation in this harsh strange forbidding land.
The first spring, as the sun warmed them, they had a chance to begin anew. Their new indigenous neighbors taught the settlers how to plant corn, how to fish for cod, and how to trap and skin wild animals for their coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims but they still struggled.
That fall, they held the first "Thanksgiving" celebrating the goodness that God had shown them. They shared this feast of thanks to God with their Indian neighbors. Too often are children are taught that Thanksgiving was to thank the Indians, that is not true, it was their devout expression of their gratitude to God for his deliverance and blessings. Remember, these people left behind their homes and all they knew to have the freedom to worship God, Thanksgiving, was to the very core of why they traveled in the first place.
To be able to afford to come to the New World, the Pilgrims has entered into a contract with merchant sponsors in London. This was common practice and how most settlements in America were first founded. Their contract with there sponsors called for everything that was produced to go into a common hold, and each member of the community would be entitled to one common share. This common ownership extended to all the land they cleared, the houses they built, everything would be held in common, a commune if you will.
After that first year Bradford realized that this communal living was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as their first brutal winter. He decided to make a courageous change. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage as they saw fit. He released the power of the free market, where each could work harder or smarter and could be rewarded accordingly.
William Bradford's own Journal tell us this story in his own words.
"The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing...as if they were wiser than God. For this community was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's' wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice."
This experiment with allowing the Free Market to work instead of the more Socialistic approach worked brilliantly. It worked over 100 years before Adam Smith taught the world about Free Market Capitalism. Socialism didn't work when tried over 200 years before Karl Marx introduced it to the world. By following their Biblical training the Pilgrims stumbled on the magic economic elixir. From then on they had an abundance. Their success allowed them to pay off their debts to their London merchant sponsors early. Word came back of their great successes starting more Europeans who began what came to be known as the "Great Puritan Migration" each seeking their own freedoms of both religion and of opportunity.
From the beginning America has been a land of dreams, a land of freedom, and most importantly and at the beginning of it and interwoven into every fabric of our national foundation, the worship of God.
This Thanksgiving, we all should truly be thankful for all of God's blessings in each of our lives.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Founders Men of Faith?
As Christians today we find that we are constantly trying to be minimized, or discredited by the political elite. We are told, and our children are taught that our founders were deists, if not atheists in their beliefs. Look what happens when a politician speaks of their faith in God, and how Jesus is their Saviour, you get total all out attacks as you have seen on George W. Bush and now Sarah Palin.
Are they right, were we founded as a godless nation, or are we truly One Nation Under God?
Let's hear what history professor and author Michael Allen, from the
University of Washington has to say on the subject of our founders and our founding.
"It goes without saying, of course, that most of these men were steeped in
the traditions and teachings of Christianity - almost half the signers of
the Declaration of Independence had some form of seminary training or
degree. John Adams, certainly and somewhat derogatory viewed by his
contemporaries as the most pious of the early Revolutionaries, claimed that
the Revolution "connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil
government with the principles of Christianity." John's cousin Sam cited
passage of the Declaration as the day that the colonists "restored the
Sovereign to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. John Witherspoon's
influence before and after the adoption of the Declaration was obvious, but
other well-known patriots such as John Hancock did not hesitate to echo the
reliance on God. In short, any reading of the American Revolution from a
purely secular viewpoint ignores a fundamentally Christian component of the
Revolutionary ideology."
"One can understand how scholars could be misled on the importance of
religion in daily life and political thought. Data on religious adherence
suggests that on the eve of the Revolution perhaps no more than 20% of the
American colonial population was "churched." That certainly did not mean
they were not God-fearing or religious. It did reflect, however, a dominance
of the three major denominations - Congregationalists, Presbyterian, and
Episcopal- that suddenly found themselves challenged by rapidly rising new
groups, the Baptists and Methodists. Competition from the new denominations
proved so intense that clergy in Connecticut appealed to the assembly for
protection against the intrusions of itinerant ministers.
Self-preservation also induced church authorities to lie about the presence
of other denominations, claiming that "places abounding in Baptists and
Methodists were unchurched." In short, while church membership rolls may
have indicated low levels of religiosity, a thriving competition for the
"religious market" had appeared, and contrary to the claims of many that the
late 1700s constituted an ebb in American Christianity, God was alive and
well, and fairly popular!"
Are they right, were we founded as a godless nation, or are we truly One Nation Under God?
Let's hear what history professor and author Michael Allen, from the
University of Washington has to say on the subject of our founders and our founding.
"It goes without saying, of course, that most of these men were steeped in
the traditions and teachings of Christianity - almost half the signers of
the Declaration of Independence had some form of seminary training or
degree. John Adams, certainly and somewhat derogatory viewed by his
contemporaries as the most pious of the early Revolutionaries, claimed that
the Revolution "connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil
government with the principles of Christianity." John's cousin Sam cited
passage of the Declaration as the day that the colonists "restored the
Sovereign to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. John Witherspoon's
influence before and after the adoption of the Declaration was obvious, but
other well-known patriots such as John Hancock did not hesitate to echo the
reliance on God. In short, any reading of the American Revolution from a
purely secular viewpoint ignores a fundamentally Christian component of the
Revolutionary ideology."
"One can understand how scholars could be misled on the importance of
religion in daily life and political thought. Data on religious adherence
suggests that on the eve of the Revolution perhaps no more than 20% of the
American colonial population was "churched." That certainly did not mean
they were not God-fearing or religious. It did reflect, however, a dominance
of the three major denominations - Congregationalists, Presbyterian, and
Episcopal- that suddenly found themselves challenged by rapidly rising new
groups, the Baptists and Methodists. Competition from the new denominations
proved so intense that clergy in Connecticut appealed to the assembly for
protection against the intrusions of itinerant ministers.
Self-preservation also induced church authorities to lie about the presence
of other denominations, claiming that "places abounding in Baptists and
Methodists were unchurched." In short, while church membership rolls may
have indicated low levels of religiosity, a thriving competition for the
"religious market" had appeared, and contrary to the claims of many that the
late 1700s constituted an ebb in American Christianity, God was alive and
well, and fairly popular!"
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wisdom from John Adams
There is so little wisdom coming from today's political class, I thought we could all use a dose of wisdom from one of my favorite founders.
Here are a few quotes of Great Wisdom from one of the men who was most responsible for creating this Nation, and one of my favorite Presidents, John Adams.
“License of the press is no proof of liberty. When a people are corrupted, the press may be made an engine to complete their ruin; and it is now notorious, that the ministry are daily employing it, to increase and establish corruption, and to pluck up virtue by the roots. Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence, than the body can live and move without a soul.”
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which the beautiful assembly of young men could unite, and these principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity, in which all those sects were united, and the general principles of English and American liberty, in which all those young men united, and which had united all parties in America, in majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her independence. Now I will avow, that then I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature and our terrestrial, mundane system. I could, therefore, safely say, consistently with all my then and present information, that I believed they would never make discoveries in contradiction to these general principles. In favor of these general principles, in philosophy, religion, and government, I could fill sheets of quotations from Frederic of Prussia, from Hume, Gibbon, Bolingbroke, Rousseau, and Voltaire, as well as Newton and Locke; not to mention thousands of divines and philosophers of inferior fame.”
“Upon the whole, if we allow that two-thirds of the people to have been with us in the revolution, is not the allowance ample? Are not two-thirds of the nation now with the administration? Divided we ever have been, and ever must be. Two thirds always had and will have more difficulty to struggle with the one-third than with all our foreign enemies.”
“If I were to calculate the divisions among the people of America… I should say that full one-third were averse to the revolution. These, retaining that overweening fondness, in which they had been educated, for the English, could not cordially like the French; indeed, they most heartily detested them. An opposite third conceived a hatred for the English, and gave themselves up to an enthusiastic gratitude to France. The middle third, composed principally of the yeomanry, the soundest part of the nation, and always adverse to war, were rather lukewarm both to England and France; and sometimes stragglers from them, and sometimes the whole body, united with the first of the last third, according to circumstances.”
“As rest is rapture to the weary man, those who labor little will always be envied by those who labor much, though the latter in reality be probably the most enviable.”
“There are no people on earth so ambitious as the people of America. The reason is, because the lowest can aspire as freely as the highest.”
“That all men are born to equal rights is true. Every being has a right to his own, as clear, as moral, as sacred, as any other being has. This is indubitable as a moral government in the universe. But to teach that all men are born with equal powers and faculties, to equal influence in society, to equal prosperity and advantages through life, is a gross fraud, as glaring an imposition on the credulity of the people, as ever was practiced by the monks, by Druids, by Brahmins, by priests of the immortal Lama, or by self-styled philosophers of the French Revolution.”
“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent it in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
“A popular government is the worst curse to which human nature can be devoted, when it is thoroughly corrupted. Despotism is better. A sober, conscientious habit of electing for the public good alone must be introduced, and every appearance of interest, favor, and partiality reprobated, or you will very soon make wise and honest men wish for monarchy again; nay, you will make them introduce it into America.”
“After a generous contest for liberty, of twenty years’ continuance, Americans forgot wherein liberty consisted. After a bloody war in defense of property, they forgot that property was sacred. After an arduous struggle for the freedom of commerce, they voluntarily shackled it with arbitrary trammels. After fighting for justice as the end of government, they seemed determined to banish that virtue from the earth.”
“The numbers of men in all ages have preferred ease, slumber, and good cheer to liberty, when they have been in competition. We must not then depend alone upon the love of liberty in the soul of man for its preservation. Some political institutions must be prepared, to assist this love against its enemies. Without these, the struggle will ever end only in a change of impostors.”
“Such is the nature of the people, and such the construction of our government, that about once in a dozen years there will be an entire change in the administration. I lived twelve years as President and Vice-President; Jefferson may possibly last sixteen; but New York and Pennsylvania cannot remain longer than that period in their present unnatural attachment to the Southern States, nor will the natural inconstancy of the people allow them to persevere longer in their present career. Our government will be a game of leap frog, of factions leaping over one another’s backs about once in twelve years, according to my calculations.”
“I hope it will be no offense to say, that public opinion is often formed upon imperfect, partial, and false information from the press.”
“We shall very soon have parties formed; a court and country party, and these parties will have names given them. One party in the House of Representatives will support the President and his measures and ministers; the other will oppose them. A similar party will be in the Senate; these parties will study with all their arts, perhaps with intrigue, perhaps with corruption, at every election to increase their own friends and diminish their opposers. Suppose such parties formed in the Senate, and then consider what factious divisions we shall have there upon every nomination.” July 1789
“Borrowed eloquence, if it contains as good stuff, is as good as own eloquence.”
“Can you account for the apathy, the antipathy of this nation to their own history? While thousands of frivolous novels are read with eagerness and got by heart, the history of our own native country is not only neglected, but despised and abhorred.”
Wasn't that refreshing for a change? Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it together.
Here are a few quotes of Great Wisdom from one of the men who was most responsible for creating this Nation, and one of my favorite Presidents, John Adams.
“License of the press is no proof of liberty. When a people are corrupted, the press may be made an engine to complete their ruin; and it is now notorious, that the ministry are daily employing it, to increase and establish corruption, and to pluck up virtue by the roots. Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence, than the body can live and move without a soul.”
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which the beautiful assembly of young men could unite, and these principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity, in which all those sects were united, and the general principles of English and American liberty, in which all those young men united, and which had united all parties in America, in majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her independence. Now I will avow, that then I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature and our terrestrial, mundane system. I could, therefore, safely say, consistently with all my then and present information, that I believed they would never make discoveries in contradiction to these general principles. In favor of these general principles, in philosophy, religion, and government, I could fill sheets of quotations from Frederic of Prussia, from Hume, Gibbon, Bolingbroke, Rousseau, and Voltaire, as well as Newton and Locke; not to mention thousands of divines and philosophers of inferior fame.”
“Upon the whole, if we allow that two-thirds of the people to have been with us in the revolution, is not the allowance ample? Are not two-thirds of the nation now with the administration? Divided we ever have been, and ever must be. Two thirds always had and will have more difficulty to struggle with the one-third than with all our foreign enemies.”
“If I were to calculate the divisions among the people of America… I should say that full one-third were averse to the revolution. These, retaining that overweening fondness, in which they had been educated, for the English, could not cordially like the French; indeed, they most heartily detested them. An opposite third conceived a hatred for the English, and gave themselves up to an enthusiastic gratitude to France. The middle third, composed principally of the yeomanry, the soundest part of the nation, and always adverse to war, were rather lukewarm both to England and France; and sometimes stragglers from them, and sometimes the whole body, united with the first of the last third, according to circumstances.”
“As rest is rapture to the weary man, those who labor little will always be envied by those who labor much, though the latter in reality be probably the most enviable.”
“There are no people on earth so ambitious as the people of America. The reason is, because the lowest can aspire as freely as the highest.”
“That all men are born to equal rights is true. Every being has a right to his own, as clear, as moral, as sacred, as any other being has. This is indubitable as a moral government in the universe. But to teach that all men are born with equal powers and faculties, to equal influence in society, to equal prosperity and advantages through life, is a gross fraud, as glaring an imposition on the credulity of the people, as ever was practiced by the monks, by Druids, by Brahmins, by priests of the immortal Lama, or by self-styled philosophers of the French Revolution.”
“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent it in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
“A popular government is the worst curse to which human nature can be devoted, when it is thoroughly corrupted. Despotism is better. A sober, conscientious habit of electing for the public good alone must be introduced, and every appearance of interest, favor, and partiality reprobated, or you will very soon make wise and honest men wish for monarchy again; nay, you will make them introduce it into America.”
“After a generous contest for liberty, of twenty years’ continuance, Americans forgot wherein liberty consisted. After a bloody war in defense of property, they forgot that property was sacred. After an arduous struggle for the freedom of commerce, they voluntarily shackled it with arbitrary trammels. After fighting for justice as the end of government, they seemed determined to banish that virtue from the earth.”
“The numbers of men in all ages have preferred ease, slumber, and good cheer to liberty, when they have been in competition. We must not then depend alone upon the love of liberty in the soul of man for its preservation. Some political institutions must be prepared, to assist this love against its enemies. Without these, the struggle will ever end only in a change of impostors.”
“Such is the nature of the people, and such the construction of our government, that about once in a dozen years there will be an entire change in the administration. I lived twelve years as President and Vice-President; Jefferson may possibly last sixteen; but New York and Pennsylvania cannot remain longer than that period in their present unnatural attachment to the Southern States, nor will the natural inconstancy of the people allow them to persevere longer in their present career. Our government will be a game of leap frog, of factions leaping over one another’s backs about once in twelve years, according to my calculations.”
“I hope it will be no offense to say, that public opinion is often formed upon imperfect, partial, and false information from the press.”
“We shall very soon have parties formed; a court and country party, and these parties will have names given them. One party in the House of Representatives will support the President and his measures and ministers; the other will oppose them. A similar party will be in the Senate; these parties will study with all their arts, perhaps with intrigue, perhaps with corruption, at every election to increase their own friends and diminish their opposers. Suppose such parties formed in the Senate, and then consider what factious divisions we shall have there upon every nomination.” July 1789
“Borrowed eloquence, if it contains as good stuff, is as good as own eloquence.”
“Can you account for the apathy, the antipathy of this nation to their own history? While thousands of frivolous novels are read with eagerness and got by heart, the history of our own native country is not only neglected, but despised and abhorred.”
Wasn't that refreshing for a change? Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it together.
Friday, November 20, 2009
"Test Vote" What Does That Really Mean?
This Saturday Harry Reid has called a "Test" vote on the Health Care Bill. What does this mean? What is the true purpose? If the test vote passes is that it?
This is all about trickery, this is all about doing a sleight of hand or shell game with the American people. The overwhelming poll results show that the American people do not want this bill, yet Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the 100 most leftist of those in Congress and the Senate are going to try to ram it down our throats.
What they are trying to do is to allow those Senators who are either by conviction or for political considerations worrying about re-election, to get them to vote to send the bill to the floor for debate. Who can be against just debating this bill? Why would it be a problem? Because once it is on the floor being debated they can use the so called "Nuclear Option" and get it voted in with a simple 51-49 majority. This would let the so called blue dogs vote against it in the floor vote to tell their constituents that they voted against it. Even though they all know that in this case voting for the debate will be voting for the bill. They are just trying to hide if from you, they believe you are too ignorant to catch them.
The next step is a vote for Cloture or to move it to the final vote, with a maximum of 30 more hours of debate. Any bill in the Senate must pass these 60 vote tests and Clotures, as well as final votes, unless they invoke the "nuclear option" and cut off all by going to the chair or Vice President to call an immediate vote where a simple majority can preside. This has never been used but for emergency budget bills. It would be in effect changing the Constitutional rules of the Senate and totally unprecedented, but has already been promised by Reid and others in the Senate. They don't care about the rules, the Constitution, or The People's will, only about their power grab.
This is not about making health care, it is not about improving costs, or availability, it is about a government power grab and taking your tax dollars. There are 17 new taxes in this bill, and over 100 new government agencies.
On Saturday they are doing a "test" vote to allow the bill to go to the floor for debate. They need 60 votes to advance the bill. The Democrats hold a 60-40 seat advantage in the Senate so they can do this and the Republicans can not stop them unless someone of the Democrats defects and votes no.
Reid to try to keep that from happening is giving away your tax dollars to special interests of Senators who are concerned about voting for this. In other words he is offering them bribes and offerings of political capital to try to help these Senators shore up support at home.
Jonathon Karl of ABC gives us this case study:
"On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”
The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.
In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)
Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.
How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million."
So 100 million of our tax dollars are given to JUST ONE Senator to buy that one vote on something that you don't want.
Saturday will be a day of sleight of hand, trickery, and deceit against the American people. Our only chance is to call them out on it, call your Senators that you not only know about these tricks, but will hold them accountable if they use them.
It is more than time that those elected representatives in D.C. once again realize that they work for us, not the other way around.
This is all about trickery, this is all about doing a sleight of hand or shell game with the American people. The overwhelming poll results show that the American people do not want this bill, yet Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the 100 most leftist of those in Congress and the Senate are going to try to ram it down our throats.
What they are trying to do is to allow those Senators who are either by conviction or for political considerations worrying about re-election, to get them to vote to send the bill to the floor for debate. Who can be against just debating this bill? Why would it be a problem? Because once it is on the floor being debated they can use the so called "Nuclear Option" and get it voted in with a simple 51-49 majority. This would let the so called blue dogs vote against it in the floor vote to tell their constituents that they voted against it. Even though they all know that in this case voting for the debate will be voting for the bill. They are just trying to hide if from you, they believe you are too ignorant to catch them.
The next step is a vote for Cloture or to move it to the final vote, with a maximum of 30 more hours of debate. Any bill in the Senate must pass these 60 vote tests and Clotures, as well as final votes, unless they invoke the "nuclear option" and cut off all by going to the chair or Vice President to call an immediate vote where a simple majority can preside. This has never been used but for emergency budget bills. It would be in effect changing the Constitutional rules of the Senate and totally unprecedented, but has already been promised by Reid and others in the Senate. They don't care about the rules, the Constitution, or The People's will, only about their power grab.
This is not about making health care, it is not about improving costs, or availability, it is about a government power grab and taking your tax dollars. There are 17 new taxes in this bill, and over 100 new government agencies.
On Saturday they are doing a "test" vote to allow the bill to go to the floor for debate. They need 60 votes to advance the bill. The Democrats hold a 60-40 seat advantage in the Senate so they can do this and the Republicans can not stop them unless someone of the Democrats defects and votes no.
Reid to try to keep that from happening is giving away your tax dollars to special interests of Senators who are concerned about voting for this. In other words he is offering them bribes and offerings of political capital to try to help these Senators shore up support at home.
Jonathon Karl of ABC gives us this case study:
"On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”
The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.
In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)
Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.
How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million."
So 100 million of our tax dollars are given to JUST ONE Senator to buy that one vote on something that you don't want.
Saturday will be a day of sleight of hand, trickery, and deceit against the American people. Our only chance is to call them out on it, call your Senators that you not only know about these tricks, but will hold them accountable if they use them.
It is more than time that those elected representatives in D.C. once again realize that they work for us, not the other way around.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Health Care Bill is Too Important to Not Read
This week Harry Reid is promising to force a vote on the new 2070 page Health Care Bill. No one has seen it, no one has read it, including those Senators on both sides of the aisle who will be voting on it. Why the rush? Don't we have other issues that are maybe more important to focus on today?
In 1776 The Declaration of Independence was written was debated by committees and was presented to all the members on June 28th, it was left on the table for all to read until July 1st when it was debated by the full body, and with compromise was passed on July 2nd. This was the defining document of our nation, it was one page long.
In 1787 The United States Constitution was written, the Constitutional Convention began May 25th, the Constitution was written and approved to move forward September 17th. It wasn't fully ratified and put into action until September 13th 1788. This was a four page document, and it spelled out how we would run an entire country.
Why the rush to pass a 2,070 page bill that no one has seen? Why is this the single most important thing that we as a nation must focus upon. Are we not fighting two wars, and are teetering ever closer to a possible full blown World War with Iran moving into the mix? Do we not have, depending on whose numbers you study, between 10.2 and 22.6% unemployment with no relief in sight? Wouldn't it be better to focus on those issues rather than trying to completely dismantle and rebuild our health care system overnight when no one knows what the unintended consequences, no less the unintended consequences, will be?
These things we do know:
We learned yesterday what a government run health care will look like when we hear that women shouldn't get mammograms, or even do self-exams any more because the false results are "too costly" on our health care system and aren't worth the lives that those tests save. We will soon hear the same for prostate exams, and others.
We know that this bill will cost somewhere, depending upon whose math you see, between 900 billion and 3 trillion dollars.
We know that if you don't buy government "approved" health insurance that they project to cost a family around 15,000.00/year you will be fined, if you don't pay the fine, you will go to jail for up to five years.
Those things alone should give us pause and should make us demand that our legislators slow down, take their time, read it, digest it. Shouldn't they act like legislators are supposed to and fight it over line by line finding compromises, catching mistakes, coming up with something that will work, while cutting all the payoffs to special interests out?
I don't care if you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Green, or whatever, you need to contact your Senator and ask them to please slow down. Take their time, this is far too important for our own health and lives, for that of our parents, and our children to rush through.
This is a list of some of the things that have been found in it so far:
What the government will require you to do:
• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.
• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later.
On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.
• Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the "qualified plan" is not yet designed, it will be of the "one size fits all" variety. The bill claims to offer choice—basic, enhanced and premium levels—but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.
• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.
• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.
Eviscerating Medicare:
In addition to reducing future Medicare funding by an estimated $500 billion, the bill fundamentally changes how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, permitting the government to dictate treatment decisions.
• Sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692) moves Medicare from a fee-for-service payment system, in which patients choose which doctors to see and doctors are paid for each service they provide, toward what's called a "medical home."
The medical home is this decade's version of HMO-restrictions on care. A primary-care provider manages access to costly specialists and diagnostic tests for a flat monthly fee. The bill specifies that patients may have to settle for a nurse practitioner rather than a physician as the primary-care provider. Medical homes begin with demonstration projects, but the HHS secretary is authorized to "disseminate this approach rapidly on a national basis."
A December 2008 Congressional Budget Office report noted that "medical homes" were likely to resemble the unpopular gatekeepers of 20 years ago if cost control was a priority.
• Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients.
• Secs. 1158-1160 (pp. 499-520) initiates programs to reduce payments for patient care to what it costs in the lowest cost regions of the country. This will reduce payments for care (and by implication the standard of care) for hospital patients in higher cost areas such as New York and Florida.
• Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). Advantage plans have warned this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care.
• Sec. 1402 (p. 756) says that the results of comparative effectiveness research conducted by the government will be delivered to doctors electronically to guide their use of "medical items and services."
Questionable Priorities:
While the bill will slash Medicare funding, it will also direct billions of dollars to numerous inner-city social work and diversity programs with vague standards of accountability.
• Sec. 399V (p. 1422) provides for grants to community "entities" with no required qualifications except having "documented community activity and experience with community health care workers" to "educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities" aimed at drug abuse, poor nutrition, smoking and obesity. "Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program."
These programs will "enhance the capacity of individuals to utilize health services and health related social services under Federal, State and local programs by assisting individuals in establishing eligibility . . . and in receiving services and other benefits" including transportation and translation services.
• Sec. 222 (p. 617) provides reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This program will train health-care workers to inform Medicare beneficiaries of their "right" to have an interpreter at all times and with no co-pays for language services.
• Secs. 2521 and 2533 (pp. 1379 and 1437) establishes racial and ethnic preferences in awarding grants for training nurses and creating secondary-school health science programs. For example, grants for nursing schools should "give preference to programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population." And secondary-school grants should go to schools "graduating students from disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities."
• Sec. 305 (p. 189) Provides for automatic Medicaid enrollment of newborns who do not otherwise have insurance.
For the text of the bill with page numbers, see www.defendyourhealthcare.us.
In 1776 The Declaration of Independence was written was debated by committees and was presented to all the members on June 28th, it was left on the table for all to read until July 1st when it was debated by the full body, and with compromise was passed on July 2nd. This was the defining document of our nation, it was one page long.
In 1787 The United States Constitution was written, the Constitutional Convention began May 25th, the Constitution was written and approved to move forward September 17th. It wasn't fully ratified and put into action until September 13th 1788. This was a four page document, and it spelled out how we would run an entire country.
Why the rush to pass a 2,070 page bill that no one has seen? Why is this the single most important thing that we as a nation must focus upon. Are we not fighting two wars, and are teetering ever closer to a possible full blown World War with Iran moving into the mix? Do we not have, depending on whose numbers you study, between 10.2 and 22.6% unemployment with no relief in sight? Wouldn't it be better to focus on those issues rather than trying to completely dismantle and rebuild our health care system overnight when no one knows what the unintended consequences, no less the unintended consequences, will be?
These things we do know:
We learned yesterday what a government run health care will look like when we hear that women shouldn't get mammograms, or even do self-exams any more because the false results are "too costly" on our health care system and aren't worth the lives that those tests save. We will soon hear the same for prostate exams, and others.
We know that this bill will cost somewhere, depending upon whose math you see, between 900 billion and 3 trillion dollars.
We know that if you don't buy government "approved" health insurance that they project to cost a family around 15,000.00/year you will be fined, if you don't pay the fine, you will go to jail for up to five years.
Those things alone should give us pause and should make us demand that our legislators slow down, take their time, read it, digest it. Shouldn't they act like legislators are supposed to and fight it over line by line finding compromises, catching mistakes, coming up with something that will work, while cutting all the payoffs to special interests out?
I don't care if you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Green, or whatever, you need to contact your Senator and ask them to please slow down. Take their time, this is far too important for our own health and lives, for that of our parents, and our children to rush through.
This is a list of some of the things that have been found in it so far:
What the government will require you to do:
• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.
• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later.
On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.
• Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the "qualified plan" is not yet designed, it will be of the "one size fits all" variety. The bill claims to offer choice—basic, enhanced and premium levels—but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.
• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.
• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.
Eviscerating Medicare:
In addition to reducing future Medicare funding by an estimated $500 billion, the bill fundamentally changes how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, permitting the government to dictate treatment decisions.
• Sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692) moves Medicare from a fee-for-service payment system, in which patients choose which doctors to see and doctors are paid for each service they provide, toward what's called a "medical home."
The medical home is this decade's version of HMO-restrictions on care. A primary-care provider manages access to costly specialists and diagnostic tests for a flat monthly fee. The bill specifies that patients may have to settle for a nurse practitioner rather than a physician as the primary-care provider. Medical homes begin with demonstration projects, but the HHS secretary is authorized to "disseminate this approach rapidly on a national basis."
A December 2008 Congressional Budget Office report noted that "medical homes" were likely to resemble the unpopular gatekeepers of 20 years ago if cost control was a priority.
• Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients.
• Secs. 1158-1160 (pp. 499-520) initiates programs to reduce payments for patient care to what it costs in the lowest cost regions of the country. This will reduce payments for care (and by implication the standard of care) for hospital patients in higher cost areas such as New York and Florida.
• Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). Advantage plans have warned this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care.
• Sec. 1402 (p. 756) says that the results of comparative effectiveness research conducted by the government will be delivered to doctors electronically to guide their use of "medical items and services."
Questionable Priorities:
While the bill will slash Medicare funding, it will also direct billions of dollars to numerous inner-city social work and diversity programs with vague standards of accountability.
• Sec. 399V (p. 1422) provides for grants to community "entities" with no required qualifications except having "documented community activity and experience with community health care workers" to "educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities" aimed at drug abuse, poor nutrition, smoking and obesity. "Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program."
These programs will "enhance the capacity of individuals to utilize health services and health related social services under Federal, State and local programs by assisting individuals in establishing eligibility . . . and in receiving services and other benefits" including transportation and translation services.
• Sec. 222 (p. 617) provides reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This program will train health-care workers to inform Medicare beneficiaries of their "right" to have an interpreter at all times and with no co-pays for language services.
• Secs. 2521 and 2533 (pp. 1379 and 1437) establishes racial and ethnic preferences in awarding grants for training nurses and creating secondary-school health science programs. For example, grants for nursing schools should "give preference to programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population." And secondary-school grants should go to schools "graduating students from disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities."
• Sec. 305 (p. 189) Provides for automatic Medicaid enrollment of newborns who do not otherwise have insurance.
For the text of the bill with page numbers, see www.defendyourhealthcare.us.
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