Of Tangos and Toe Suckers

In the category of what was he thinking….Mark Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina, self destructed when he took off to visit his Argentine Firecracker in Buenos Aires last week. This thing is just too good to pass up, and will be fodder for the late night television talk show hosts for weeks. An example of the coming humor: the tabloid headline “Buenos Airhead”!!!

This guy was an up and comer in the Republican party, and had a shot of being the presidential nominee in 2012 as the party’s right wing candidate. But his long distance romance founded in an internet chat room and then blossoming into true love, or lust, ended up with his wife throwing him out of the house two weeks ago and telling him don’t come back. She had no idea where he was, or so she says. Given she has known about the “affair de Coeur” since December, my guess is she knew exactly where he was, but was mindful of the perks from which she benefited as South Carolina’s First Lady.

We could have done without his seven minute mea culpa as he deboarded the plane describing how he cried for five days. And for God's sake, if you are going to screw around, don't hide your car in plain sight. Dude, they were looking for you!!

Listen, nothing our politicians will try to get away with surprises me. The gold standard for tolerating elected executive peccadilloes belongs to Bill Clinton and his “not having sex” in the oval office with a 21 year old intern. Elliot Spitzer, the prostitution prosecutor, is another gem as he used public funds to frequent high end hookers while throwing others in jail for doing the same thing. One of my personal favorites is John Edwards hiding in a men's room in a Los Angeles hotel as he dodged reporters covering his cheating on his dying wife. Then there was Governor James McGreevey of New Jersey, who came out of the closet in public with his wife standing next to him as he admitted he put the guy he was schtooping on the State of New Jersey payroll. His wife was either very stupid or very brave…or shell shocked.

Given the headlines of the day, it was ironic that Fox News hosted former Clinton advisor, now Clinton hater and conservative advocate, Dick Morris as a guest on Fox and Friends this morning. His comments on the proposed health care restructuring have substantial merit and will be discussed another day.

That being said, you may remember that Dick Morris was the subject of a scandal himself while a Clinton adviser. You see, Mr. Morris liked to frequent women of questionable repute, and had a propensity to be on the phone with the President, receiving national security briefings, while in a hotel room with a babe getting his toes sucked. Not the President, Dick Morris was getting his toes sucked. The President was getting something else….well…never mind. And the rockets’ reds glare…the bombs bursting in air!! I don’t know about the flag, but something else was still there!!

So what have we learned from all of this? Nothing else may be bipartisan in politics, but sex hath no ideology. Let’s all join hands and sing Kum By Yah!! On the other hand, how about a chorus of Besame Mucho?

Health Insurance: No Laughing Matter!

The health care debate is revving up to full speed, and the government flim flam artists are stepping out in full regalia. Folks, at the end of the day, the issue is will you be able to get the health care that you need when you want it without undue bureaucracy hindering your treatment. If you think that a government run health care policy will do that…then you should be happy. If you don’t, get your pre-paid funeral contract paid for because you are going to need it.

The Democrats keep bandying about the 45 million uninsured Americans as the reason for a complete overhaul of our health care system. They ignore the 350 million Americans (85% of the population) that are insured, and for the most part, are happy with their health care. The 45 million consists of illegal and legal aliens; people less than 30 years old who simply won’t buy health insurance; the permanent “wards of the state” class who are otherwise covered by some other government program; and then there are the folks who are self employed and can’t afford health insurance or those who have lost their coverage through employment termination and can’t buy insurance either because of cost or pre-existing condition.

I am not so sure how concerned the Democrats are about the so called 45 million uninsured as much as they are concerned about controlling other people’s lives. I have come to the conclusion that there is no single way to fix what is wrong with the system without decreasing the quality of health care currently enjoyed by 85% of the population.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has put the kybosh on the Democratic plan by stating that it will cost $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, will drive 15 million people, if not more, out of the insurance plan they are currently in, and will end up only insuring 16 million people out of the 45 million uninsured. And the cost of the insurance for those 16 million people will be $65,000.00/person. In other words…it won’t work. A better approach would be to address the individual segments that make up the uninsured.

Start with the under 30 crowd that is working but simply doesn’t want to buy it. This is an easy one. I picked up a Health Savings Account qualified policy for my 23 year old son with a $1500.00/year deductible for $79.00/month. If I went with a $3,000.00/year deductible, the cost would be $58.00/month. Here’s a thought…tell these 20 something dudes to buy a cheaper cell phone and get a health insurance policy. No policy…no driver’s license. These policies are not expensive.

Next, let’s move to those who can’t buy insurance because of a pre-existing condition, a category that includes a lot of folks who are in their mid 50’s and have lost their factory jobs and their coverage. The government should require all health insurance companies to form a cooperative to which all the insurance companies must pay a premium, the purpose of the cooperative being to sell insurance to the currently uninsurable. That is not as dreadful as it sounds. Sure, there are horror cases of folks with very serious and expensive illnesses. But for the most part, an insurance company will define you as uninsurable if you are 20 pounds overweight, or have taken an anti-depressant. This will shape the companies up a bit, and with the increase in insured 20 somethings now purchasing coverage, help them cover the cost of the so called uninsurable.

Now comes the place for the government alternative policy. The government should offer an alternative policy to the following: 1) If you are a legal alien, you must prove you have insurance to enter the country, or purchase a government insurance policy if you want to maintain your legal status while here in the United States. 2) If you are among the working poor and you meet certain financial criteria, you may have access to the government insurance policy at a reduced rate commensurate with your income. 3) If you are unemployed and have no access to either Medicare or Medicaid, the government will provide you with insurance. 4) If you are an illegal alien, you are on your own. If you present yourself to a hospital for treatment, the government will pay for such treatment as is necessary to sustain life and get you sufficiently healthy to send you back to your country of origin. Why should we pay for you??

The government does not have to self fund the payment for services. Those deemed qualified for the alternative government insurance make up a risk pool including healthy and non-healthy individuals. The government should put this policy out for bids among those insurance companies who know what they are doing, and pay the insurance companies a premium for those folks who qualify for the program just like they are buying regular insurance.

Of course, if the government is more interested in control rather than providing insurance, nothing anyone can say will sway the socialists to any other direction.Which brings up the most important thing for all of us. The cost of a government run system will require "cost effectiveness" testing for all medical treatment. That means rationing, and our freedom to choose the procedures we want, for ourselves and our loved ones, will be diminished. If you don't believe they would deny a bypass operation to an 85 year old manbecause it would not be cost effective, read the ruling of the Canadian Supreme Court about the state of health care in Canada, and look at how Medicaid for the poor operates in America today. There is nothing more or less at stake than that...and that is no laughing matter.

Letterman and Rape

The bias in the media is no more apparent than on David Letterman’s show each night at 11:35. It was pretty clear during the campaign that Mr. Letterman’s sympathies were with the Obama campaign. I used to be a Letterman fan until this past fall when the audience was barraged with nightly digs at John McCain and Sarah Palin. These were mean spirited jokes way beyond the boundaries of political humor and satire. McCain’s jokes centered on age as Mr. Letterman dissed seniors night after night after night. Governor Palin’s jokes were rooted her in not being the politically correct type of woman that should be running for office. Mr. Letterman insulted her intelligence night after night after night after night.

This past week, Mr. Letterman took his arrows out again, commenting on Governor Palin’s trip to watch a Yankees baseball game with her 14 year old daughter, Willow. Mr. Letterman said: “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” This brilliant statement about raping a 14 year old girl followed his references to Sarah Palin as a slutty stewardess.

By way of explanation, Mr. Letterman in his pseudo-apology the next day said he thought Gov. Palin was attending the game with her 18 year old daughter, Bristol, and he would never intentionally make comments about raping a 14 year old girl. So it's OK for an older man to "knock up" and 18 year old girl? He should be ashamed.

The bashing the wrong kind of woman theme was echoed this week by Katie Couric, whose nightly news show on CBS is watched by approximately 5.5 million people, making the CBS Evening News a mere shadow of its former self and the lowest rated network nightly news show on television. In a speech at Princeton University, Couric did a take up on Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live by commenting: “Coming here was a real no brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!” And it went downhill from there. The comment was ironic as the topic of the speech was civility in public discourse.

This followed last week’s Brian Williams’ multi-night special on the Obama presidency after being granted “special access” to the White House, the staff, and President Obama himself. He bowed to Obama as if the President was a king. He claimed he didn’t. He did. I saw the video on You Tube. Those claiming it wasn’t a bow must be the same folks who said Obama didn’t bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Obama was merely trying to reach for his hand. I saw that video also. It was a bow.

In a period of time when power is being sucked into the executive branch of our political system like no other time in our history outside of the Civil War, one would think the press would take a critical view of what is going on. Instead, they don’t even try to hide the bias. In fact, they flaunt the bias. That means, folks, nobody is watching the store. Wolfe Blitzer was quoting Obama’s words yesterday like the Chinese quoted Chairman Mao. You should be afraid. While the press is shouting hosanna and waving the palms as Obama goes down the street, he will be quietly reaching into your back pants pocket stealing your wallet, and your freedoms.

As for Letterman…I think I will stick with Law and Order SVU at 11:35 at night. At least in those shows, those who think that raping teenagers and young women is funny go to jail.

Obama's Egyptian Speech: Ya! But....

I love a good speech. And President Obama’s Egyptian speech was a good speech. It was carefully crafted. It was obviously directed towards the intended audience. It used phrasing and nuances to appeal to Muslim sensibilities. I enjoyed listening to the historical references containing things every American should know, but doesn’t. It was boffo across the board. It gets 10 very well earned style points. Unfortunately, when it was over, the first thing that came to my head was “Ya! But…”

Republicans will make much of Obama saying the following:

“I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.”

I opposed George Bush’s democracy push. His theory was that sooner or later public opinion would steer a particular country into the right direction. Maybe. The problem is what happens while waiting for the sooner or later. Trying to blanket a country in democracy whose tradition is steeped in authoritarianism makes election outcomes resemble Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get. A case in point is Venezuela whose population voted Hugo Chavez President for life. Of course, they have another way of changing governments which is a bit more hands on, for lack of a better expression. Russian democracy is also interesting. I am not sure what has emerged there, but it apparently works for them.

Obama’s approach is to encourage justice. He said: “That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people.” I agree.

Ya! But…what’s the point? The guys with the guns and the bombs have a different view. Obama’s approach to evil in the world is a study in naiveté. His words won’t change the mind of one Al Qaeda terrorist, or close one madrasah in Saudi Arabia, or inhibit the development of nuclear weapons in Iran, or soften the heart of one member of Hamas. There are plenty of good, moderate Muslims in countries like Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Turkey...and they have had no effect at all on Islamic extremists.

All people yearn for peace and freedom, or at least a peaceful and prosperous existence. But it just takes a few whackos to screw up the works. The family of nations has been able to do nothing to stop North Korea in its development of nuclear bombs and the missiles to deliver them, nor will they. It takes guts, courage, and strength to swat the hornet. If you don’t kill it early, pretty soon you will have a hive which is much more difficult and dangerous to eradicate. Nothing will happen with rogue nations and nuclear weapons until millions of people are dead under a mushroom cloud, whether in the United States, or Asia, or Europe, or Israel, or the Mideast.

The bad guys know this. Unfortunately, for all of the platitudes and idealic concepts in Obama’s very wonderful speech, all the bad guys will see is weakness. The speech was a home run for academics and for most decent and caring people around the world like you and me, but the President dude was preaching to the choir. At the end of the day, it may hasten the violence that is coming from the extremists of the world. They would like nothing better than to stop Obama’s train its tracks. In fact, Obama's hyping our so called torture and Gitmo in the speech may actually fuel, at least in their minds, justification for their actions.

For me, I would be just as happy if President Obama, at some time in his presidency, would finally realize not all of the rest of the world thinks like us, or has our values. They don't. Great speech. Ya! But...

So much to write about! So little space!

ITEM 1. Oil Prices and Currency: In case you didn’t notice, gasoline prices have been inching upward as oil prices approach $70.00/barrel. No, folks, it’s not the greedy speculators or the greedy oil companies, or even greedy OPEC. It is the hidden tax in Obama’s massive spending spree. Anyone who has studied Economics 101 knows that the amount of debt we are currently incurring is unsustainable. The result will be inflation and its companion, a devalued dollar. This is what the Chinese are worried about. As the dollar devalues, the price of imported goods goes up. Oil is an imported good. Back in the oil spike of last summer, it took $1.57 to buy 1 Euro. The price of oil skyrocketed. When the economy turned south last fall, the dollar strengthened as Europe’s economy was worse than ours. It took $1.27 to buy 1 Euro. Then Obama started borrowing money. Now the Euro didn’t look so bad to investors. As of yesterday, it took $1.38 to buy 1 Euro, and the price of oil is starting to go back up, economy be damned. THAT’S WHY THINGS ARE GOING TO GET EXPENSIVE.

ITEM 2. Empathy: Obama’s test for the Supreme Court is empathy. He wants the Justice to have empathy for those in front of the court. Who’s empathy? The empathy for one party over another in a court means injustice…one man’s empathy is another man’s pain. What Obama wants is bias for the his liberal causes. I can assure you, there will be no empathy for the small businessman who is attempting to generate jobs. There will be no empathy for Christians. There will be no empathy for white males. There will be no empathy for families. There will be empathy only for those who Obama deems worthy. Take my word for it, that won’t be middle aged white people.

ITEM 3. Arbitron: This is the rating service for radio stations, like the Neilson ratings is for television. It used to be done by people filling in a daily diary as to what they listened to. You would send it in at the end of the week and Arbitron would you send you $25.00, more if you were a minority. The problem was people got lazy. Rather than doing it as they listened to the radio, or at the end of the day, the attempted to fill in the diary from memory at the end of the week just before sending it in to the company. To get around that problem, Arbitron developed a new system involving wearing something akin to a cell phone on around your waist. It listens to what you listen to, and registers it automatically. At the end of the week, the device is sent to the company. To its surprise, Arbitron discovered that minority and urban radio stations were listened to much less than the written diaries indicated, and conservative talk radio was listened to much more. The result, several states and the Federal government are now investigating Arbitron for racial discrimination attempting to show the sample used by Arbitron was slanted against minorities. Hey, when these folks don't like the message, they try to kill the messenger.

Had enough for today? Me, too. Go and have a Martini!

For Barack Obama, A Crack in the Veneer

For Barack Obama, the rubber of reality may finally be hitting the road. While his popularity is still high, his policies are not. No matter how you slice it, America is a center right country, and Americans aren’t liking what they are seeing.

The clearest evidence is being seen in California. The eighth largest economy in the world is in trouble with people and businesses deserting the state daily. It is $23 Billion, with a “B”, in debt. The public employees unions are running the state, and are strangling it. Some municipal firefighters make a wage and benefit package of up to $175,000.00/year, with many being able to reach full salary retirement after 20 years. One municipality recently filed for bankruptcy. The mayor said they were paying for 2 full time fire departments at the same time…one working…one retired. This mentality permeates the entire state. When the governor and legislature recently tried to cut wages to state funded home health care workers, President Obama threatened to cut off federal funds to the state.

In a stunning defeat for tax and spend liberal politics, California defeated five of six state sponsored revenue propositions. The measures were defeated in every county, including San Francisco. The only measure to pass was the one stating the obvious: lawmakers are now forbidden to give themselves raises when the state is in deficit.

California has no choice now but to go hat in hand to the Federal government for bailout money. That is lose/lose for an Obama administration whose natural tendencies would be to go along with it. Do you want your tax money bailing out state paid for studies observing the mating life otters? Sooner or later, the gravy train runs out of gravy.

Obama’s promise to tax only the wealthy rings hollow when the burden is shifted to the states, and the states have to raise taxes on everything and everybody. There is no free lunch.

Obama is also being hit with his ideological position on Gitmo. WE DON’T WANT THE TERRORISTS HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. Not even the Democratic legislators who whined and sobbed about Gitmo abuse want these dudes in their states. Start with the practical. Anyone at all familiar with the American prison system knows these guys are getting much better treatment where they are now than in any American prison within a state system. Would they get better treatment in Leavenworth of Sing-Sing?

But more importantly, it will give these guys more legitimate access to our court system, with the nation running the risk of the courts actually releasing these bad people onto our streets while costing the country millions upon millions of dollars in legal fees. That doesn’t even begin to the address the issue of whose minds these nut cases would affect within the prison population. Do you want an American prisoner released into our cities with criminal tendencies juiced up by these Muslim whackos? Not me!!

Finally, Americans will soon tire of government run anything. The specter of Washington deciding everything from what kind of car we should drive, to the temperature we keep our thermostats, to what we eat, to the type of house we should live in, to whether or not we should be entitled to an MRI, will grow old, and is growing old, real fast. Americans don’t like paying more for less, and that is true across every socio-economic class. And when the government gets involved, that is the usual result. Government only knows how to take.

So President Obama, go ahead and bail out California, take over General Motors and Chrysler; try telling a mourning family they can’t get certain medical procedures for mom or dad or grandma and grandpa or a child; increase the rate of late term abortions; force minority families out of private schools that your own children attend in the District by cutting vouchers; and let some terrorists out onto the streets of our great country…and let me know how that works out for you!

HEALTH CARE REFORM: A WORKABLE SOLUTION

So what we have to do is figure out a way to maintain the integrity and quality of our health care system while making sure affordable insurance is available to everyone. Since what I am going to propose is based partially on private insurance, insurance providers must base rates on a national pool rather than state pools, and the rates offered must be standard to all persons regardless of age or pre-existing condition. In addition, rates paid by companies who offer health care benefits cannot be less than those rates paid by individuals purchasing health care in the open market. This will eventually move insurance coverage costs from companies to individuals.

1) Everyone is responsible for the first $5,000.00 of medical expenses each year. This can be funded several ways: a) Insurance companies can offer policies to individuals to cover portions of the first $5,000.00 with premiums being tax deductible; b) People can take advantage of Health Savings Accounts contributions which are tax deductible; c) or folks can just wing it, and be subject to regular collections procedures for nonpayment.

2) Private insurance companies will then offer policies to all US citizens, and all US citizens over the age of 18 will be required to purchase health insurance. No health insurance, no driver’s license or income tax refund. These policies will be designed to cover health care costs between $5,000.00 and $500,000.00. Deductibles may vary, and citizens can use unused portion of the Health Savings Accounts to pay for the deductibles. Insurance companies must sell to all takers with only some variation in rates. Item 3 will relieve them of unlimited costs for those with pre-existing, serious conditions.

3) The Federal Government will offer a Medicare type program for all health care costs over the $500,000.00 with premiums paid as Medicare premiums are currently being paid. Deductibles should be imposed, and private insurance companies may offer supplemental policies just as they do in Medicare now for seniors. In addition, the government can incentivize private re-insurance companies from whom the government can buy re-insurance to spread the risk and get the liability off of the government balance sheet.

4) For the working poor and welfare classes, the government can expand its Medicaid programs to benefit these folks.

5) The Federal Government could work with private companies such as Walmart, Walgreens, and other such national entities for the establishment of clinics to handle routine type matters such as colds, flu, flu shots, and other routine wellness matters. Walmart is already doing this.

The above does a number of things. It makes individuals aware of the cost of health care which will help to drive the cost down for most services as people shop for the best deals. It gets the burden off corporations to supply health care benefits. It allows the professionals to handle the bulk of medical insurance in care as it currently does. It relieves the insurance companies of extraordinary medical expenses making it easier to insure everyone who needs the insurance. It spreads the risk among the entire population. And finally, it allows the government to provide a mechanism for catastrophic care with companies who specialize in re-insurance issues while getting the obligation off of the government books.

Think it will work? I do. If only I could get this to the people who make the decisions.