While the accusations that were swirling around are serious, much of what is currently happening is pure political theater.

As an example take the Congressmen from Kentucky.  I don’t remember his name and it is not important, but his district is.  A district that is the North American headquarters for Toyota’s operations.  A district with thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of voters who either work directly for, or owe their job to the Toyota factory there.

While other Congressmen complained and threatened, this particular one spent his entire 5 minutes (the time alloted to each committee member) reading a lengthy document praising Toyota, their history, job creation impact and products (all more blatant than any SuperBowl ads).  It was such an obvious and ridiculous statement that all that Mr. Toyoda (I guess when they started doing business here they figured we couldn’t pronounce the name with a ‘D’) could do at then end was stare wide-eyed.

Politics.  The very word is beginning to disgust Americans.  Sure Toyota may have come culpability here but a recent study showed that the # of complaints by Toyota owners is substantially lower (per 100,000 vehicles) than for other major makers (including GM and Ford).

Nothing like a little product scare to bring out the thespians in congress.

Yet, tomorrow is an even greater stage.  Obama’s broadcast of open and honest ‘negotiations’ by democrats and republicans on the health care issue.  I suspect that this will turn into political theater too, but it would be nice if the Repubs would actually bring some legitimate ideas to the table (tort reform, true interstate competition) and then the dems would actually listen.

Don’t hold your breath . . . I think this issue is DOA.

I drive a Toyota and I am a lot more worried about what our legislators are going to do than I am about crashing into a telephone pole while behind the wheel of my wife’s Avalon.  I figure I will die a lot sooner from lack of decent and affordable health care if they don’t act.  So yeah I am worried.

You should be too.

Did I mention term limits?

Thanks to flickr’s hryck for the photo

The fact is that we need health care for every citizen in our country and we need it now.  To fail is to relinquish our position as global leader in many respects (human rights comes to mind).  We are the ONLY developed nation that fails in this respect.

We have heard that a public option could bring down costs and increase competition with insurers.  Both of these statements are true on the face of the arguments.  Competition will bring down costs,and put pressure on insurers to match pricing structure.  That is the way our capitalist system works . . . time and time again.  Let the companies that are not competitive and viable fail.  Let those that can grow.

A public option will provide insurance access to a much broader population and those that opt out should be hit with penalties so that they are no longer a drag on the health care economy (i.e yours and my tax dollars).

As an added incentive the laws should be changed so that there is true insurance competition throughout the nation.

My insurer for example can only insure people in Utah.  What if they have a good and efficient plan and could offer it nation-wide?  What if we allowed every insurer to offer plans nation wide?

Sure there would be consolidation in the industry and that would be good as long as it was controlled.  The fact of the matter is that we treat health care as if it were a regional or individual state issue, but the reality is that it should be treated as if it were a nation-wide public ‘utility.’  With proper controls and regulatory standards this would really work well.

To accomplish this we have to force our legislators to stop paying attention to the health care lobbyists who are lining their pockets with perks and outright $$.  And to accomplish that we need to have term limits that deny any elected official more than two terms.

A further option for the truly poor or economically disadvantaged would be Public Health Clinics and a real Public Health Service (maybe tied into the Veterans Administration or at least similar in structure).  These would be located throughout the nation so that anyone that needs them could have access.  The infrastructure would be paid for by the government and would probably cost less than the current cost of treating those  without insurance in emergency rooms now.

These Public Health Clinics would be staffed by medical personnel whose education is paid for by the government and in return they serve for between 5 and 10 years at reasonable wages and benefits (depending on the cost of their education and other factors).

Anyone could use the clinics but everyone would have to pay something based on their capacity to pay.  The more disposable income the more they pay.  If they are truly poor they would have to either pay a small amount over time or work their way out of the payment by doing menial (or skilled if they possess the capacity) labor in the clinic or in some related facility.

Now, I admit that I haven’t thought all of this completely through, but the principle I am trying to convey is that THERE ARE SOLUTIONS OUT THERE!  We just have to put our minds to finding them and refining them until they are effective for everyone and fair to all.

This means that President Obama should not put artificial time-lines on any bill(s) to be passed and that the Democratic majority MUST listen to ALL proposals.  Further this means that the Republican minority must stop whining and complaining and come up with some viable alternatives.

Everyone must work together to get this done.  Our future depends on it because it is obvious that we can’t continue as we are now.  In the last couple of years my insurance costs have more than doubled!  If this continues for the next decade or so then our nation and our enterprises will be able to afford ONLY health care and NOTHING else (yeah, forget national defense, forget education, forget highways and bridges etc. etc.).

Get the picture.  It is serious.

Call, email and snail-mail.  Let your congressmen know that you won’t stand for inaction.   And, while you are at it send them a copy of this so that they can start considering some serious and viable options.  Give them your thoughts too.  In fact send them to me as well.  Maybe together, we the people, can show our leaders how to do this.

God Bless America!

thanks to flickr’s brykmantra for the photo

This week I learned that two of my neighbors really believe that President Obama was not born in America and is not American.  Yikes, do I have to move?  Apparently they have not seen the numerous copies of his birth certificate that have been shown in various places on the web (see above) and on some responsible news channels (that seems NOT to include FOX, MSNBC or CNN).  I  wondered how anyone could believe that with all his history in government, education, and as a working lawyer.  Heck, his mother was American and that is not in question — so automatically he was born with citizenship.

But, The Economist (I think the best ‘news’ magazine around) wrote an article in their August 22 issue.  It was titled ‘Still crazy after all these years.‘  You owe it to yourself to read it.

As they say, there are ‘perils of losing one’s grip on reality.’

Obama’s detractors have gone overboard already.  ‘Birthers’ say he was not born in America.  The article debunks that with the best discussion so far (of course there is the birth certificate, but these nutzos counter with the fact that anything can be forged or edited to appear correct).

Whew!

Then there are those that say he is the anti-Christ.  Jeez  Louise (maybe that is not a good frustrating epithet to use here).  Apparently these folks (who have way too much time on their hands) claim that in the Bible Jesus is quoted as saying that ‘Satan will come down like lightning from heaven.’  Further they have found that the Hebrew words for lightning and heaven sound ‘a bit like’ Barack Obama.

This is crazy stuff and I wonder what good could come if the folk that cook  up with stuff dedicated their extra time to curing cancer or charting the course for the Fed to wind down the stimulus package.

Let me add some of my own thoughts on this.  I did the research in my Strong’s concordance of the Bible and Vine’s Hebrew and Greek dictionary.

First we should all remember that the New Testament (there are of course no quotes by Jesus in the Old Testament) was written in Greek not Hebrew.  But then I guess these ‘bored’ people forgot that or maybe they thought that since Jesus likely spoke in Aramaic that their conjecture is close enough.

Anyway, in the original Greek the works ‘lightning’ and ‘heaven’ sound nothing like suggested (roughly ‘as-trap-ay’ and ‘oo-ran-os’).  But if you did look to the Hebrew there is some similarity (‘baw-rauk’ and ’shaw-may-yin’).  Not very close, at least the suspect (?) Obama part.

Apparently in conspiracy circles being somewhat close on just one of two critical elements (still ignoring that Jesus did not speak in Hebrew) is close enough.

Well, enough of this craziness.  Ba-rack O-bam-a IS our President, he was born American, and he was born in America (The Economist points out that the day after his birth an announcement to the effect was in the Honolulu Advertiser) you can go to their archives and check for yourselves, but as for me I trust the nearly two-hundred year old Economist to get it right.

So, let’s put this nutty issue to bed and start working on health care, the public debt, trade deficits, term limits and looming tax increases (and that is just to start).  Anyone can be critical without being accurate, but it is better to be part of  ‘the loyal opposition’ and I stress the loyal part.  Our President deserves (and this President has certainly earned) our respect.

He’s been out traveling the world and apologizing for everything Bush ever did (can’t really blame him for that can we?).? But, dudes, it wasn’t America that went haywire, it was the last administration.? His rhetoric is making us all look guilty.? That can’t be good.? And we have real problems at home.

Frankly it seems he and his handlers are so intent on his celebrity that he is losing his mojo.? BHO please stop traveling and start going to work.? The lustre of your first 100 days in office is starting to tarnish and the? rust is spreading fast.

You got a Vice-President who doesn’t know the difference between personal opinion and policy.? You got a Treasury Secretary who is beginning to act like a secretary and not an executive (make the news Mr. Giethner and stop simply reporting it!).

The problem is that BHO has became so popular so fast that he thought he was made of Teflon.? He believed he could do anything and everything and as a consequence he hasn’t taken the time to sit down with his cabinet and set priorities.

Didn’t he promise us when he was pushing his stimulus package (almost $800 billion worth) that this stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%.? What happened Prez? You dropped the ball.

The problem has always been unemployment, unemployment and unemployment.? But you have been off collecting souvenirs from around the world when you should have been sheparding in a ton of new jobs.? Too late now.? We are going to see unemployment of 11% soon, and maybe even 12%.

It could have been different if BHO had just focused, but he took his eyes off the ball and went ‘celebrityating’ far too soon.

Now he is pushing a health care plan and no one (I mean NO ONE) has any idea how to pay for it.? Why not wait until you have the economy and unemployment under control before embarking on another trillion $$ spending spree.? And don’t forget the nightmare of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.

Gosh I had high hopes for BHO.? But I am really disappointed and getting downright discouraged.? He isn’t making the same mistakes as Bush but he is making a whole bunch of new ones that are going to turn his popularity #’s into the same range as the those of the recent hockey playoffs.

Dangit!!? Stay home and work Mr. President there is a lot you aren’t doing yet!

Hope you are reading BHO . . . time to get? down to the real work.? Maybe even skip a date night with Michelle and pull an all-nighter!

“Save the cheerleader cheerleading” for the next term.? You got a whole ton of stuff that needs doing before you get your face carved into the blackhills, brother!!

Thanks to flickr’s james & vilija for the photo