Concern for My Health

I haven’t been posting here lately for a reason. When I think about politics I descend into despair or rage. It ruins my whole day.

I thought Obama dropped the ball when he stepped back from the health care issue and let the corporations take control of it.

It occurred to me that it seemed like a no-brainer to him. Everyone wants affordable coverage that can’t be denied because of pre existing conditions. We obviously have to stop the practice of canceling coverage when something catastrophic happens to anyone.

The excuse that we can’t afford it is wrong. We are paying twice the amount of countries with the best coverage and everyone knows it.

Anyone who says their coverage is fine hasn’t had to use it.

Republicans are throwing red herrings like tort reform and illegal alien coverage.

When Confederate flag waving, Joe Wilson yelled, “You lie,” at Obama after he said illegals wouldn’t be covered, it was pointed out that Obama was telling the truth with the wording of every version of the bill.

The Republican response was enforcement wasn’t strong enough. In the more than 500 amendments to the health care bill Republicans wanted denial to all aliens, even legal, at least for a period of time.

Okay, the only reason illegal aliens have to be treated in emergency rooms now is the fact that hospitals can’t turn anyone away. If an illegal alien’s kid is hit by a car would you rather he was turned away because he wasn’t legal? What kind of monsters think this way?

The fact is most illegal aliens wouldn’t run the risk of being caught. They’re not going to burden our health care system.

Legal aliens are mostly young, healthy, working people that would add to the insurance pool in a positive way anyway.

As for tort reform they put a $250,000 cap on settlements in Texas. It hasn’t affected insurance rates at all.

Imagine a situation when a person needs a leg amputated and they take off the wrong one. This kind of negligence does happen and people’s lives are ruined. Believe it or not some of these cases are legitimate.

We need to spend the effort making sure these things don’t happen. Not killing the legal consequences. It’s only 2 to 3% of insurance costs anyway.

The insurance machine knows just how to stroke our fears and racism. They’ve twisted our healthy inclination to believe in conspiracies against us.

I will probably only post here every now and then because it affects my blood pressure and I’m not insured!

The bird outside the window is the Medical Industrial Complex.

We Need a Voice

My girlfriend Valerie had to represent both of us last Wednesday at the Healthcare Candlelight Vigil at Tower Grove Park. She took this photo. Note the high percentage of elderly folks.

I believe the fight for universal healthcare is the single most important civil rights issue we face. It has become the line in the sand between reason and the redneck mob.

While the mob exercises its first amendment rights by denying them to others and making a mockery of peaceful assembly, the rest of us need to be heard.

The mob practices brown shirt tactics at Town Hall meetings while ironically calling Obama the next Hitler. They need a history lesson.

These people are being played like a fine violin. They’re calling reason conspiracy.

In 1948 the American Medical Association hired an ad agency that came up with the phrase “Socialized Medicine.” This worked like a charm considering our cold war paranoia. These people don’t know what socialism is. I spoke with a Tea Party conservative who was trying to teach me the Nazis were socialist because the word socialist was in the acronym NAZI.

In 1914 they called universal healthcare a plot of the German emperor.

The news this week is Obama talking to school kids about the importance of education. Parents are outraged that Obama is trying to indoctrinate their children with his socialist views. These are the same people who want prayer in schools. Go figure!

I doubt they realize the words “Under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance in the 50s during the Red scare.

Secret Service agent Ronald Kessler’s new book “In the President’s Secret Service” details a 400 % increase of death threats to the president. He says almost all are racially motivated.

I’ve always been afraid for Obama. I relaxed a little after the election but the mob is beginning to look dangerous.

The redneck with a gun strapped to his leg at the Obama healthcare rally had just come from a church service. I heard a recording of the sermon. The preacher was praying for Obama’s death.

We need a voice of reason that’s just as passionate as the redneck mob. It looks like it’s not going to be the Democrats.