Obama's State Dinner

Obama will be hosting a state dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderon, his wife and a couple hundred invited guests. The Presidents will be discussing pressing issues between the United States and Mexico (perhaps even the new Arizona law).

They will be checking IDs at the door.

Consumer Protections

It's no secret that liberals love to regulate business. Federal agencies such as the FTC and the FDA serve to protect consumers from purchasing products that the federal government deems unacceptable. I recently asked a group of liberals if they thought these agencies were beneficial to society, and the answer was an emphatic and unanimous, "YES." Basically, they said we can't possibly be required/allowed to figure out what's safe for ourselves.

So why did this same group of liberals tell me that we need to legalize drugs? If it's, "My body, my choice," regarding illegal substances, why shouldn't the same be true for corporate regulations? Both serve to protect the citizens of America so why is one set of rules 'good for us' while the other is just a silly, out-dated law?

Seems a little hypocritical to me, but liberals aren't really known for their critical thinking skills. Keith Olberman or Jon Stewart told them that corporations are evil so they'll probably stick with that.

Massachusetts and Health Care Reform

We all know that Obama passed his health care reform (though I’m sure very few people actually understand what was just passed), but I want to discuss the similarities between what Obama signed and what Massachusetts has already implemented.

Both plans include a mandate for individuals to purchase insurance. Both levy fines on businesses if they don’t offer coverage. Both will be heavily regulated by the government. Both offer large tax-payer subsidies and Medicaid expansion. Both remove insurance companies’ rights to deny people with pre-existing conditions.

Shouldn’t we be able to look at MA to get an idea of what will happen when this plan is implemented nationally?

MA was spending 33% more than the national average before RomneyCare (the highest of any state), and in 2 years, it increased an additional 23% under RomneyCare (the national average being approximately 6.5% per year).

Very recently, insurers proposed 274 premium increases to help cover costs – 235 of which were rejected by MA regulators. Many private insurance companies have had to close shop, leaving big non-profit companies like Blue Cross and Harvard Pilgrim. The rates have gone up dramatically and without the ability to raise premiums, the non-profit companies will either have to close down or ration care.

Can anyone explain to me how Obama’s national plan won’t end up the same?

Michael Moore & Capitalism

"Documentary" filmmaker Michael Moore has a new movie coming out: "Capitalism: A Love Story". I can only guess that it's 90 minutes of MM complaining about how terrible capitalism is, and I won't be wasting my $10 to go see it.

He's free to say whatever he wants (however libelous it may be), but what really made me laugh is when he recently said:

"Capitalism did nothing for me."

Surely he had to be joking, right? He went on to say, "You know, I had to pretty much beg, borrow and steal. The system is not set up to help somebody from the working class make a movie like this and get the truth out there."

Let me see if I have the story straight - this poor little boy, who came from nothing, had to work hard to amass his $50 million fortune?

Sounds like a page straight out of the capitalism success book.

Pathetic.

Moral Obligations

"We have a moral obligation to give health care to everyone."

I've been getting this line (or similar ones) a lot lately. Liberals like to use it to secure a little moral superiority and attempt to make conservatives look like selfish animals.

Since when does the left support making laws that force people to do what one group thinks is morally right?

Seems to me that the crux of many liberal arguments (abortion, gay marriage, etc) is that one group shouldn't have the ability to force their system of morals on the entire population - especially through laws.

Please tell me - how is this any different?

The WHO health care rankings

With the whole health care debate going on right now, I frequently hear liberals cite the World Health Organization’s rankings for which country has the “best” health care (the US is ranked 37th, by the way).

I've never met a person who decided to travel to Oman for their cancer treatment. I've never read a story about a person flying to Saudi Arabia for their eye surgery, just like I've never heard of anybody going to Colombia for their fertility treatments. Yet I have heard hundreds of accounts of people coming to the US for procedures. Strange that so many people around the world would pay out of their own pocket to receive the 37th best health care.

Of course the liberals don’t understand that the WHO isn't measuring quality of care.

One of their problems is measuring the life expectancy, but there are lots of things that cause premature death that have nothing to do with the quality of health care a person receives. If you remove the deaths from murder and car accidents, the US life expectancy is one of the highest.

Another flaw in the WHO rankings it that they reward countries based on how "fairly" they distribute their health care. That has little to do with the quality of health care they are receiving. As long as everybody in the country receives a fair amount of crappy health care - they will rank higher on the list than the US (not to mention this way of judging a system is completely subjective).

The US also falls short because of the number of uninsured we have. Of the 45 million uninsured, 17 million make more than $50,000 per year, 9 million make more than $75,000 per year, 10 million are here illegally and 15 million are eligible for existing government programs but have chosen not to enroll.

Basically, the WHO rewards socialized systems so it's no wonder we rank so low, but it's a poor indicator of the quality of health care we are receiving. But seriously, please let me know if you’re planning on traveling to Morocco for your medical treatments.

Your Future Health Care

Here are a few highlights from the bill that is being pushed through congress. Obama better act quick before more people (maybe even a few of the congressmen) actually read it.

Page 16: You can keep your current insurance (Obama keeps repeating this half-truth), but the catch is - after this bill passes, insurance companies will no longer be able to create new plans or sign up new people. If you ever decide you want to switch insurance companies (or change jobs or whatever), then congratulations - you are now enrolled in Obamacare!

Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments/benefits a person will receive (Wait, I thought we were trying to avoid rationing treatments)

Page 42: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your health care benefits for you. You will have no choice.

Page 50: Health care will be provided to illegals.

Page 58 and 59: Government will have access to your bank accounts and finances (Yay! More government involvement in my personal life)

Page 124: No company can sue government on price fixing and there can be no judicial review against government monopoly (yikes, I thought this was going to increase competition, Mr. President).

Page 149: Any employer with payroll above $400,000 who does not provide health care will be fined 8% (Goodbye personal freedoms. Sorry small business owners).

Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable health insurance by government standards will be taxed 2.5% (That's right, if you choose not to be on any plan, you're going to be punished).

Page 170: To add to the above, if you are an illegal, you won't be subject to that fine (Make sure the illegals know they are more important than citizens).

Page 272: Rationing of treatments to cancer patients (Oops, I thought Obama said there would be no rationing).

Page 317-318: Government will mandate that hospitals cannot expand (Gotta love government telling us what private businesses can do).

Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of special needs people (Sorry guys, apparently you aren't important enough for adequate health care coverage).

Page 429: Advanced care consultation. May include an order for ending someone's life (That's right - the government will be able to order to end your life if your treatments are too expensive - sorry granny).



And I know I posted this on my other blog, but I can't resist the urge to post it again: