image toon - 1st hcare = Oby do-right re insurance villans

Follow-Up: Virtually No U.S. Media Interest In 'Imploding' Canadian Press State-Run Health Care Story

[Last] Sunday evening, the Canadian Press (CP), which is that country's rough equivalent to the USA's Associated Press, reported that incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association said that the supposedly idyllic wonderland known as Canadian medical care is in deep trouble:

'The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.

"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,"'

Given the current debate in the U.S. over health care and private insurance, and the president's seeming determination to force a state-controlled and ultimately state-run health care regime onto the remaining portion of the system that is still privately run, you would think that the story out of Canada might have attracted the interest of U.S. establishment media outlets.

Four days later, proving that "the Obama-loving media" is more than a mere slogan, there has virtually no original source establishment media coverage of what Ms. Doig said, or of anything else relayed in the Graham's CP report.

The New York Times -- nothing.
The Washington Post -- zip.
The Los Angeles Times -- nothing relevant.
The AP, whose search scope is seven days -- nada.

Both the outgoing and incoming CMA presidents are advocates of expanding private medical services up north.

While our president and the congressional majority are attempting to move health care decisively in a statist direction, the establishment media has apparently decided that news consumers couldn't possibly benefit from learning that there is significant sentiment in Canada's medical community for going the opposite way.

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Health care reform that actually works

Rather than looking to Massachusetts or Tennessee for examples of health care reform, why not look to Texas?

The Lone Stare state has its problems, but in recent years it has made major progress in improving health care availability, especially in predominantly poor and minority regions. Being Texas, the solution wasn't budget-busting, either.

Their answer? They got rid of the lawyers... [snip]

"We ended the practice of allowing baseless but expensive lawsuits to drag on indefinitely, requiring plaintiffs to provide expert witness reports to support their claims within four months of filing suit or drop the case...

"Changes were seen immediately, and continue to be felt. All major liability insurers cut their rates upon passage of our reforms, with most of those cuts ranging in the double-digits. More than 10 new insurance carriers entered the Texas market, increasing competition and further lowering costs.

"As a result, Texas doctors have seen their insurance rates decline by an average of 27 percent.

"The number of doctors applying to practice medicine in Texas has increased by 57 percent."

Further, according to the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, tort reform has resulted in an improvement in the quality of health care in Texas, with the percentage of complaints about medical care actually going down.

Yet, despite the striking evidence of tort reform benefits in the nation's second most populous state, this simple, basic and essential component of health care reform is completely missing from all Democrat proposals...[snip]

According to opensecrets.org, Democrats received over $178,000,000 from lawyers' donations during the 2008 election cycle -- three times what they donated to Republicans. Over $43,000,000 of that went to the Obama campaign.

Forty-three million reasons why Obamacare doesn't include the one component of health care reform that has been proven to work: tort reform.

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Palin: 'No Health Care reform without legal reform'

[HT:VT].
Stopping the practice of defensive medicine by doctors will save billions.

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image toon - 1st hcare bbro legal = Tort Reform Elephant not addressed in plans

Media Bias: AP Infers Blue Cross Blue Shield monopolizing markets

People woke up this morning to read a quarter-page story published in newspapers throughout the country with the headlines "Competition lacking among private health insurers". The AP story is a prime example of a so-called unbiased major media organization that has once again failed to actually check the factual accuracy of a story.

The story, based upon a report published by the left-wing Urban Institute Public Policy Center cites that health care reform would lower individual health care costs by more than $200 billion by offering a public option that would compete in the private market.

The report and article, including a nice graphic provided to print media, cites the lack of competition among private insurers due to the dominance of Blue Cross Blue Shield throughout the United States with a nearly 47% market share throughout the country.

However, Blue Cross Blue Shield is an association, not a single company. Blue Cross Blue Shield was established to provide consumers a continuity of coverage and network of coverage nationwide. It is an association of privately held insurance companies, and is comprised of separately owned Blue Cross or Blue Shield companies...

[And on and on - i.e., another fabricated hit piece against the 'demonic' health insurance industry. - snip]

The only good thing to come out of this article is a single statement by Dr. James Rohack, the president of the American Medical Association.

"When you've got the federal government involved, it can infuse money into a plan to keep it solvent even if the premiums are lower than its actual costs."

This single statement sums up the essence of the health care debate and the reality of hopeful and misleading propaganda coming from the media and the White House. Unfortunately, most local edition newspapers conveniently cut off the end of the article.

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image toon - 1st hcare msm = MSM = nuts over Oby protesters

Petraeus: it's the human terrain that wins the war

ON A blustery August afternoon in Edinburgh last week, the most celebrated military commander of his age was quietly doing the rounds with a group of injured British soldiers in the south of the capital.

The commander of US Central Command, General David Petraeus, was talking about his legendary running exploits.

Petraeus was in town on a "semi-private" visit, having flown in from Kyrgyzstan earlier in the week, at the invitation of his fellow Iraq veteran, Major General Andrew Mackay, General Officer Commanding of the British Army's 2nd Division.

Petraeus fascinates because he breaks the mould. This is the soldier who, in 2003, commanded the 101st Airborne Division through some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraqi conflict, but who has also been named as one of the world's top 100 intellectuals...

[Impressive bio...]

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Dog days of August

.
[HT:LDot]

Some dogs get to enjoy the dog days.
For the rest,
"thanks buddy, good dog!"
.

Our New Middle Eastern 'Think Tank'

A newly formed "educational think tank," the International Council for Middle East Studies (ICMES), is poised to influence U.S. policy toward the Middle East in ways that could further harm American interests in the region.

It will be led by Norton Mezvinsky, a radical anti-Zionist who recently retired after a 42-year-career teaching Middle East history at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). If Mezvinsky remains true to form, ICMES will advocate for holding U.S. policy hostage to the fallacy that Israel is always at fault for the region's troubles.

For example, in 2002 Mezvinsky told an entire class of teachers that, contrary to historical fact, "‘the well-armed and well-funded Israelis' fought the Palestinians in 1948", but did not mention that armies of five Arab countries first invaded the U.N.-sanctioned Jewish state. [snip]

Mezvinsky's career and recent appointment illustrates one of the most serious weaknesses in contemporary Middle East Studies: the politicized writing and teaching that have displaced objective scholarship, and the redefinition of academic freedom as the liberty to dispense with academic standards.

All of the above should raise serious questions about the credibility and education Mezvinsky will disseminate to a much larger audience through his International Council for Middle East Studies.

[Recommended > ]

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Gadhafi's Son Says U.K. Played Role in Libyan Agent's Release

A son of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi said Saturday that the U.K. government played a key role in the release from prison of the terminally sick Libyan agent convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi said he believed the Scottish government's decision Thursday permitting Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to return to Libya "on compassionate grounds" would further improve relations between the UK and the oil-rich North African nation.

"I would also like to personally thank our friends in the British government who played an important role in reaching this day, and I can assure them that the Libyan people will never forget the courageous stand of the British and Scottish governments,"

His latest comments raise further questions about the circumstances of Mr. al-Megrahi's release and appear to contradict the U.K. government's position that the decision to release Mr. al-Megrahi rested entirely with the Scottish government and its Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill.

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Health care and the ailing Constitution

Here's the question I didn't get a chance to ask President Obama when he stopped by Montana recently. So far as I know, no one else has asked it of him either:

"If the federal role in health care is not enumerated in the Constitution, and it isn't, then shouldn't it be reserved to the states or the people as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment?"

The 10th Amendment, for those of you who don't already know, says,

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Pretty powerful stuff, if anyone followed it -- but they don't.

Scour the Constitution as you will, you won't find anything regarding health care. And don't resort to the cheap politician's trick of finding an excuse to do whatever you want in the "general welfare" clause from Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. The "general welfare of the United States' refers to the survival and health of those very states, not the individual well-being and medical check-ups of each and every individual citizen. The specific powers of Congress are indeed quite limited, and for good reason.

If you don't believe it, then explain why the Founding Fathers went to the trouble of detailing powers of Congress such as the power to "punish piracies' and "establish post offices," but didn't put in anything about "establish rules to ensure adequate health care" for all citizens. Based on the wording of the 10th Amendment, It seems obvious that the omission was because they saw health care as a power 'reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

And if you don't believe me, then what about James Madison, himself a Founding Father, who wrote in Federalist Paper No. 41, the following:

"For what purpose could the enumeration of particular powers be inserted, if these and all others were meant to be included in the preceding general power? "

Madison, the Father of the Constitution, was trying to allay fears of those who foresaw a "power grab" by Congress under the pretense that the "general welfare" clause gave them unlimited powers. Not so, Madison said. "General welfare" only gives Congress the power to carry out the "enumerated powers' of Section 8, not to invent new ones...

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THE BIGGEST MISSING STORY IN ECONOMICS

[Heard Mr. Woods speak at the Los Vegas Freedom Fest, where he explained that until 2007, one of the most sever and rapidly recovered from recessions our country has ever had didn't even have an entry in Wikipedia - which has an entry for everything - and that the " '21 episode' continues to be ignored in our institutions of 'higher learning' to this day. Read and decide why that might be for yourselves...]

Wikipedia:

The 1921 recession was an extremely sharp deflationary recession following World War I. It lasted from January 1920 to July 1921 [18 months].[1] The extent of the deflation was not only large, but large relative to the accompanying decline in real product. [2] The 1921 episode is shocking in terms of both the severity of the downturn and for the rapid nature of the recovery.

The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the 1921 recession from a general business peak in January 1920 to a trough in July 1921. The recession in the United States was brief relative to the Great Depression later that decade, but it included a very sharp price deflation. The decline in the GNP price deflator from 1920 to 1921 is the largest one-year percentage decline in the series in the more than 120 years covered.[2]

Various estimates show that one-year deflation figures were 18 percent, 13.0 percent, and 14.8 percent, respectively. The closest comparator is the 11.5 percent deflation recorded for 1931-32, the third year of the Great Depression. All other years of the Great Depression in which real GNP declined were all well below the 1920-21 figures.[2]

[I.e., it started out considerably worse than the great depression...]

Austrian school economists and historians argue that the 1921 recession was a necessary market correction, required to engineer the massive realignments required of private business and industry following the end of the War (which had marked a period of mass government distortions to free markets).

President Harding's laissez faire economic policies during the 1920/21 recession, combined with a coordinated aggressive policy of rapid government downsizing, had a direct influence (mostly through intentional non-influence) on the rapid and widespread private-sector recovery.[3]

A buoyant expansion followed the severe contraction of 1920-1921. In the 22 months after the depression bottom, industrial production rose 63%, the money stock expanded by 14%, and wholesale prices rose by 9%. Net national product rose 23% in the corresponding two calendar years.

Woods argues that the massive 1921 recession and subsequent rapid recovery is an episode in the history of capitalism and economics that is woefully understudied. He believes it to be a watershed case proving that free markets adjust prices and supplies much more efficiently than any government coordinated action, and that Keynesian philosophy ignores the '21 episode because it suggests government intervention prolongs such "crises."

[And our 'professional educators' today? Most are still teaching Keynesian economics as valid, despite all contrary negative (our 1930's, Japan's 1990's) or positive (Kenedy, Reagan, Bush tax cuts) evidence to the contrary. Why? Because such artificial influence on economies is code for government intervention - with which come social power.

You connect the dots. Lessons will be repeated until learned.]

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image toon - mny - Economy improving - still has 3 jobs...

The Branch Carbonian Cult

The Global Warming Movement (AGW) has taken on the worrisome attributes of a pseudo-religious cult, which operates far more on the basis of an apocalyptic "belief" system than on objective climate science.

Since this worldwide Movement and its strident policies of Less Energy at Higher Prices (in order to achieve reductions in everyone's "carbon footprint") are at the heart of America's enormous energy shortfall, it poses a national security threat of major proportions.

And in this context, the AGW Crusade should be understood in a "Know Thy Enemy" frame of reference -- perhaps not in terms of a fully conscious or intentional enemy of the American people at a time of war and economic crisis but as a deadly threat to our economic stability and national security, nonetheless... [snip]

Truths to be Ignored or Denied

On the more climatically correct side, all that is needed to begin the collapse of this house-of-cards scam is yet another list of certifiable facts and truths -- one which will disprove much of the Cult's mission, tactics and alleged "solutions" -- namely,

• (a) the fact that while Arctic ice may (or may not, of late) be receding, Antarctic ice has been increasing for about 40 years,
• (b) the fact that global temperatures have been on a slightly decreasing trend since 1998,
• (c) the fact that Mars (which features no man-made factor at all) is experiencing "global warming," as well,
• (d) the fact that Antarctic "ice shelves" which occasionally break off, float away and melt at sea, do not raise ocean levels at all,
• (e) the fact that several of the "hottest years" on record were in the 1930s and 1940s, when CO2 levels were much lower than today's,
• (f) the fact that ever more scientists assert convincingly that atmospheric CO2 is a lagging consequence, rather than a triggering cause, of alleged global warming,
• (g) the fact that all earlier glacial and inter-glacial periods were clearly caused not by man but by solar, ocean and volcanic cycles and "natural" fluctuations,
• (h) the fact that di-hydrogen oxide (H2O) molecules -- water vapor -- and methane molecules are 20-30 times more heat-retentive than CO2 molecules are,
• (i) the fact that termites worldwide expel about as much "greenhouse gasses" into the atmosphere as does all the burning of fossil fuels by human beings,
• (j) the fact that even if all Kyoto-type limits on CO2 were obeyed by all nations, the claimed net impact by 2050 would be less than half a degree F -- with a ruinous cost-to-benefit ratio of thousands to one, when the standard requirement is no more than one to one.

Conclusion: Since every such Prophet-led, scare-mongering, pseudo-religious conspiracy needs a properly descriptive name, and since this one's primary concerns over alleged depletion of the so-called "ozone layer" over Antarctica have shifted to a panic over CO2, instead, a fitting name for this cultic gaggle might be the "Branch Carbonian Cult" --

[+ the 10 Commandments of the Cult - please consider passing this brief or source piece on to a friend you know needs it - Highly Recommended > ]

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image toon - grn = Alarmists finding it harder to frighten citizens

Hispanic groups call for Census boycott

Some Hispanic advocacy groups are calling for illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 Census unless immigration laws are changed.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, a group that says it represents 20,000 evangelical churches in 34 states, issued a statement this week urging undocumented immigrants not to fill out Census forms unless Congress passes "genuine immigration reform."

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A Porn-Pop Summer

[HT:LP]
The baby boomers are trotting out the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love," complete with all that soggy and groggy Woodstock nostalgia. Perhaps the singular statement of that summer was the music and the open celebration of "free love."

All of which, believe it or not, is preferable to what is on the air this summer.

Start with the big hit "Birthday Sex," which brought quick 'fame' to a singer named Jeremih. His basic lyric is "Don’t need candles and cake / Just need your body to make / Birthday sex." But Jeremih also elaborates about how he wants sex in the kitchen, on a waterbed, and so on. It’s an audio porn movie.

Sadly, few can be found to disapprove of foisting these "adult situations" lyrics on children. Radio station managers are, as a group, completely apathetic. But school administrators? The Chicago Public Schools enlisted their newly famous alumnus Jeremih in an online Twitter campaign to 'urge' Chicago teens to go back to school this fall.

[We must have universal school vouchers to drive the privatization of education over time. Nothing with change without them.]

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NBC Online Store Offers 29 Pro-Obama Items

NBC Universal isn't just showing its love for Obama on the news airwaves:

If you're a fan of all things Obama, NBC Universal's online store has no fewer than 29 options for your buying pleasure -- from a shirt with the president's picture proclaiming "YES WE DID"...to both of his books...to a special inauguration DVD...to a refrigerator magnet of the first couple.

The items are promoted with pro-Obama lingo.

Lott reported what might seem obvious: there’s no Bush merchandise, and "NBC did not say whether it ever sold Bush items after his victory in 2000." Lott noted NBC is unique, that the CBS and ABC online stores sell books about the president, but no merchandise. Fox and CNN do not sell books or merchandise.

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Nets Fail to ID Party of Pols Arrested in NJ; CNN Misleads Its Viewers

Continuing a well-established pattern, the broadcast network evening newscasts all failed to point out the party affiliation of the major New Jersey office-holders amongst the 44 people the FBI arrested Thursday for corruption.

As the AP pointed out, all but one are Democrats:

“Among the 44 people arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, Jersey City's deputy mayor, and two state assemblymen. A member of the governor's cabinet resigned after agents searched his home, though he was not arrested.”

Nonetheless, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Deborah Feyerick saw a bi-partisan scandal...

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Too Big To Vote?

CALIFORNIA

How do you run for California's top political offices when you often have failed to vote yourself and have no political experience? Some big names in the GOP have rallied behind former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as she eyes a run against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as she prepares to run for governor. (Snip) But both former CEOs have a boardroom-sized problem: They have shoddy voting records.

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You're A Racist! The Ultimate Emotional Intimidation

I am on the email list of a dear black friend of 20 years. He is a minister, writer and professor. He has mentored and advised me with great wisdom on numerous occasions. With me being a black conservative Republican and he a Democrat, we avoid talking politics. Since the election of Obama, my friend will talk about nothing else... [snip]

Behind all of my friend's intellectual yada, yada, festers a deep hatred for the rich and white people. In a conversation, he said with great glee that Obama was going to "reign in Wall Street" and CEO's salaries should be limited to $500,000 per year. I thought, "Who the heck are you to dictate how much someone should be permitted to earn. This is America. The sky's the limit." [snip]

Many sincere white Americans thought by electing a black president America could never again be characterized as a "racist country." Shamefully, this characterless administration betrayed Obama voters by exploiting race, using it as a tool to implement their far left agenda. If you don't agree with everything Obama wants, you must be a racist. Rather than the election of America's first black president bringing the races together, Obama's administration is tearing us apart. They will continue to play the tired, old and tattered geriatric "race card" as long as it is effective.

Ironically, "Black Racism" has blinded my long time friend as well as many other black Americans from seeing beyond Obama's skin color. MLK would not be proud... [snip]

Obama wants to redistribute wealth, punish achievers, decide who lives or dies and control as much of our lives as possible. It is just that simple. His must be stopped. Do not allow yourselves to be manipulated and intimidated for fear of being called "racist."

Folks, please, please, please do not fall for it. The stakes are far too high. Boldly speak the truth and stand up for what you know in your hearts to be right for America...

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LA Times Accidentally Lists 'Jackass' in Olbermann's Time Slot

The Los Angeles Times Calendar section on Thursday accidentally listed MTV's hit series "Jackass" as airing on MSNBC at 7 and 10PM.

7 and 10PM just so happen to be when "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" replays on the West Coast.

Innocent mistake or Freudian slip?

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image photo fnn - HT:GC = CAT truck parks on pickup