Feb

25

If you missed it, you missed a great hockey game. Strength, grace, and incredible athleticism. Rookie goalie Shannon Szabados played flawless in the goal for the Canadians. Eighteen year old skater Marie-Philip Poulin scored the games only two goals. Canadians 2 - US 0 in an remarkable game.

Congratulations to Canada on their win. Both teams left it all on the ice.

Feb

25

Representative Pelosi at the recent healtcare summit said the “Insurance companies have acted shamelessly.”

I disagree. The insurance companies have acted like a “for profit” business needs to act. There fiduciary duty is to their shareholders and it is to making a profit. A business makes money by cutting its bottom line.

Dropping people they are covering that have a higher probability for illness and disease is a smart business decision. Not wanting to cover people with pre-existing conditions is a good business decision. Covering the elderly that have a higher need for care is a good business decision. Without medicare how may people over 65 do you think the insurance companies would be covering.

No. Health insurance companies are acting the way they are supposed to act. This is a fact. You may not like it, I may not like it, but this does not change the reality of the situation.

Feb

24

It will be more of the same.

Republicans coming with no ideas. If you read what they have proposed they have not proposed anything substantative. It will be more of the same. They are really out of touch with what the mainstream populace wants.

I suppose I have to give credit for our President for playing this out. It is sad we only have two and a half branches of our geovernment trying to govern. Our nation is being held hostage by 40 Senators (jury is still out on Scott Brown).

Get to reconciliation and lets begin round one of healthcare reform.

Jan

6

I have been thinking about the recent attempted attack on a US airliner quite a bit. I have not really been able to put the right words together to solidify my thoughts. Mr. Friedman did it for me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/opinion/06friedman.html

Here are a few excerpts that struck a chord with me.

In speaking of the terrorists father…
“He went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria and warned us that text messages from his son revealed that he was in Yemen and had become a fervent, and possibly dangerous, radical.”

Not to mention that man put his life at risk in doing so. Would he have been willing to do this if we were still torturing people?

…and… he wrote

“We can’t let our country become just The United States of Fighting Terrorism and nothing more. We are the people of July 4th — not Sept. 11th.”

Nov

27

My wife and I received a letter from Dr. James Dobson dated November 2009. It covers a number of subjects. The one I wish to cover is abortion. It is a clear distortion of the facts. I am calling for Dr. Dobson to set the record straight and fill in with facts things he alleges but DOES NOT support with facts.

He begins the letter …

“I’m sure many of you are aware of the assault on the santity of human life that is taking place in our nation’s captiol. It involves outrageous attempts by President Obama and liberals in Congress to force the American people to pay for abortions with our taxes.”

 If we examine his statement it is quite obvious most of it is an opinion. No problem. We all have opinions. We are entitled to our opinions. Further, there is no requirement that our opinions be rooted or supported by facts.

But, the line I underlined and bolded actually claims to be a fact. The question is…

Is Dr. Dobsons statement “to force the American people to pay for abortions with our taxes” actually a fact that can supported by some evidence?

He continues on the subject of abortion, writing…

“You may have heard that the president said in a speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 9 that ‘no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions’(3). We suspected at the time that Mr. Obama’s assurance to the American people was not valid and indeed, that suspicion has now been confirmed. Almost all of the health care proposals put forward so far include public funding for abortion.”

Another fact presented by Dr. Dobson underlined and bolded.

This is the last Dr. Dobson says on this matter and switched gears to other subjects, a number of which I tend to agree with. But, I digress. Dr. Dobson also cites a reference to a government site regarding President Obama’s quote on abortion with regard to healthcare.

Throughout Dr. Dobsons newsletters he cites references. I like this as I can lookup his references and do some fact checking. I checked this reference, and indeed this is what our President said.

But, let’s take a look at the two facts  Dr. Dobson states.

to force the American people to pay for abortions with our taxes

and

Almost all of the health care proposals put forward so far include public funding for abortion

These are both facts that Dr. Dobson claims. Dr. Dobson presents not a single source to support either of these claims. I find that odd and troubling that he would offer bilbliography to support the presidents saying that abortion would  not be publicly funded, but does not offer a bibiliography in context to these two statements which are the crux of his message and meant to outrage his audience. I am asking Dr. Dobson to offer a source of information to support the two statements he made. I searched and I could not find anything to back up either of those two claims.

IN FACT, I am currently reading the healthcare bill that is now before the Senate for debate. This is the bill that recently passed cloture. I am about halfway through reading it. If you wish to see the bill for yourself here is the link (http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf)

I did a word search across the entire bill on the word “abortion”. Abortion is never mentioned or addressed in this bill.

Next, I searched for the word abortion in the healthcare bill passed by the House of Representatives, ”H. R. 3962″ The word abortion does appear. The following is EVERY SINGLE instance the word appears in this bill. I disclose here that I have taken the liberty of bolding any verbage that directly supports or does not support funding of abortion. I also read very carefully in sections before and after what I am quoting here to ensure that I was not taking anything out of context.  I may have missed something. If so, please call me out.

Here is a link to the 1990 page House of Representatives Bill.

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

 

reference page: 109 following

7 (e) ABORTION COVERAGE PROHIBITED AS PART OF
8 MINIMUM BENEFITS PACKAGE.—
9 (1) PROHIBITION OF REQUIRED COVERAGE.—
10 The Health Benefits Advisory Committee may not
11 recommend under section 223(b), and the Secretary
12 may not adopt in standards under section 224(b),
13 the services described in paragraph (4)(A) or (4)(B)
14 as part of the essential benefits package and the
15 Commissioner may not require such services for
16 qualified health benefits plans to participate in the
17 Health Insurance Exchange.

reference page: 110 following

8 (4) ABORTION SERVICES.—
9 (A) ABORTIONS FOR WHICH PUBLIC FUNDING
10 IS PROHIBITED.—The services described in
11 this subparagraph are abortions for which the
12 expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for
13 the Department of Health and Human Services
14 is not permitted, based on the law as in effect
15 as of the date that is 6 months before the be
16 ginning of the plan year involved.
17 (B) ABORTIONS FOR WHICH PUBLIC FUNDING
18 IS ALLOWED.—The services described in
19 this subparagraph are abortions for which the
20 expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for
21 the Department of Health and Human Services
22 is permitted, based on the law as in effect as
23 of the date that is 6 months before the begin
24 ning of the plan year involved.

reference page: 147 following

3 SEC. 258. APPLICATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS 
4 RE GARDING ABORTION.
5 (a) NO PREEMPTION OF STATE LAWS REGARDING
6 ABORTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to
7 preempt or otherwise have any effect on State laws regarding
8 the prohibition of (or requirement of) coverage, funding
9 , or procedural requirements on abortions, including
10 parental notification or consent for the performance of an
11 abortion on a minor.
12 (b) NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL LAWS REGARDING
13 ABORTION.—
14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be
15 construed to have any effect on Federal laws regard
16 ing—
17 (A) conscience protection;
18 (B) willingness or refusal to provide abortion; 
19 and
20 (C) discrimination on the basis of the willingness 
21 or refusal to provide, pay for, cover, or
22 refer for abortion or to provide or participate in
23 training to provide abortion.
24 (c) NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAW.—
25 Nothing in this section shall alter the rights and obliga- 
1 tions of employees and employers under title VII of the
2 Civil Rights Act of 1964.

reference page: 148 following 

3 SEC. 259. NONDISCRIMINATION ON ABORTION AND RE SPECT 
4 FOR RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
5 (a) NONDISCRIMINATION.—A Federal agency or pro
6 gram, and any State or local government that receives
7 Federal financial assistance under this Act (or an amend
8 ment made by this Act), may not— 
9 (1) subject any individual or institutional health
10 care entity to discrimination; or
11 (2) require any health plan created or regulated
12 under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act)
13 to subject any individual or institutional health care
14 entity to discrimination,
15 on the basis that the health care entity does not provide,
16 pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. 

reference page: 182

18 (d) NO DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF PROVISION
19 OF ABORTION.—No Exchange participating health
20 benefits plan may discriminate against any individual
21 health care provider or health care facility because of its
22 willingness or unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide
23 coverage of, or refer for abortions.

reference page: 246

11 (3) PROHIBITION OF USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS
12 FOR ABORTION COVERAGE.—An affordability credit
13 may not be used for payment for services described
14 in section 222(d)(4)(A).

reference page: 1354 
18 ‘‘(C) the payment of salaries for health
19 professionals and other appropriate SBHC per
20 sonnel; and 
21 ‘‘(2) may not be used to provide abortions. 

reference page: 1359
16 ‘‘(E) does not perform abortion services.

reference page: 1420 following
20 (1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of
21 the Congress that the Director of the National Insti
22 tute of Mental Health may conduct a nationally rep
23 resentative longitudinal study (during the period of
24 fiscal years 2011 through 2020) on the relative men
25 tal health consequences for women of resolving a
1 pregnancy (intended and unintended) in various
2 ways, including carrying the pregnancy to term and
3 parenting the child, carrying the pregnancy to term
4 and placing the child for adoption, miscarriage, and
5 having an abortion. This study may assess the inci
6 dence, timing, magnitude, and duration of the imme
7 diate and long-term mental health consequences
8 (positive or negative) of these pregnancy outcomes.

reference page: 1942 following 

1 ‘‘SEC. 804. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED
2 TO INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE.
3 ‘‘Any limitation on the use of funds contained in an
4 Act providing appropriations for the Department for a pe
5 riod with respect to the performance of abortions shall
6 apply for that period with respect to the performance of
7 abortions using funds contained in an Act providing ap
8 propriations for the Service.

The facts are as follows:

From the two Bills before us, one passed by the  House, one currently in debate by the Senate:

What was unclear to me was the section on page 110 of the House Bill. It did not offer any specific language as to what is allowed and not allowed for services funding abortion. Having read that section numerous times I still am confused as to intent.

BUT, Back to Dr. Dobson. As you are the voice to many conservative Christians who are not going to take the time to do the degree of research I have done, they are just going to take you at your word, I must conclude the following. This is my opinion, not fact…

Dr. Dobson,

I believe you are knowingly being dishonest in your discourse. I beleive this as you a) site references, have access to the same information I have, yet did not site any references supporting your two statements:

to force the American people to pay for abortions with our taxes

and

Almost all of the health care proposals put forward so far include public funding for abortion

If you have evidence to support these claims please present it. I can find nothing to support your claims. At this point, what is IN WRITING before the American people is to the contrary.

With Matthew 7:5 heavy on my heart right now, I believe you have broken the commandment ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.‘

Many of my friends and family are against abortion and believe that Roe v Wade should be repealed. I have just as many friends and family members that are pro-choice.

I do not want to minimize this issue in the least. But, I do not want to digress from the subject at hand. Dr. Dobson, and many on the right are being dishonset and disengenous. In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, I would contend that they are either a) ignorant of the facts; b) know the facts and are outright being dishonest.

Change my mind and gain my trust and backing by presenting some credible evidence to support what you are saying. What you have done is totally the opposite. If a Christian is truly driven to seek the truth, at some point those that dig deep enough will see that you are not being truthful. Fortunately, there are many of us who know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that have the sense to see that you are really no different than the Sadducees and the Pharisees during the time of Christ.

God was bigger than man back then, and he still is today. :-)

As a ps footnote there was an AP Story November 13th. Headline read “GOP chairman ends abortion insurance for employees.”

I am having a hard time understanding all the discourse and activism from the right attacking the current healthcare bill before congress when there are many healthcare plans underwritten by private insurance that cover abortion. I am unable to find any activism at all by these same people towards these companies.

 

Oct

8

For the past twenty three years I have worked in healthcare. I want to tell you two first hand stories that speak to our healthcare problems. Back during the Clinton administration I was working with a hospitals data and saw a charge for $12 for one aspirin. I learned that this was the standard price. We are talking mid-nineties here.

You may seem outraged by this. But, consider this. If you show up in an ER they are required to see you and to treat you (ata minimum to stablize you before sending you on your not so merry way). What other business do you know of that this is the case? Show up at the grocery store and they are required to give you a bag of groceries?

Goods and services cost money. One can only write-off so much before needing a means for some form of compensation. Most of our ER’s today are not really ER’s, but have become the portal for healthcare for folks that do not have some form of insurance coverage.

Back during the elder Bush administration I was in a hospital taking a tour. At the time I was teaching biomedical engineers how to design and install medical telemetry systems. One was kind enough to give me a tour of his hospital. At the time I was new and under the impression telemetry was only used by patients so they could ambulate (move about). As he took me through one of the telemetry wards I was dumbfounded. I passed patient room after patient room. Patients with chest tubes. Patients that were so incapacitated they could not possibly get out of bed. I asked him why these patients were not on hardwired EKG monitors. His reply as he looked me as if I was a naive rube (I was)…

“Eric, the insurance companies only pay for so many days post surgery for a hard wired monitor. We still need to treat these patients. What are we supposed to do, treat them for free?”

The government and the insurance companies can dictate to healthcare providers all they want. At the end of the day the healthcare providers are going to do what they need to treat the patient as best as they can. Medical institutions are going to do what they need to do to stay viable and solvent.

Healthcare has been in crisis for quite some time. As boomers continue to age we will soon hit the tipping point. Fact is, you and I have been paying for everyones not so quality healthcare for quite a while now. It is time to stand up to the insurance companies and make changes that are needed so we can also participate in the constitutional goal of “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

How exactly does 125+ people that die each day because they do not have access to appropriate healthcare fit into the “life” part of that equation?

Healthcare should be a fundamental right for ALL Americans. This is a moral and ethical issue.

Sep

30

The Olbermann Factor?

September 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

There was a time, not long ago, that I would agree with about 50% of what he said. Still, I found him provocative, and his staff does a good job of fact checking, and putting together substantative arguments.

These days it is hard not to disagree with the man. His whole show is devoted to exposing the madness of the right.

I do not believe I am unique in this position. But, if the right is intending on swinging the independents to their side they need to have a side! Bashing the left is not a side.

Get a side or get lost.

The vitriolic positions of the right-wing media only serve to push independents farther away. In fact, until the right has a major house cleaning you will likely not get many of our votes. Flat out, you have lost our trust and become scary.

 

Jan

13

Next time you screw up really big with your money or your job wouldn’t it be great if the U.S .Government cut and sent you a check for you to right-your-wrong and cover your losses. 80 billion to AIG, billions into our banking system.  800 billion allocated to bail out the the mortgage meltdown and not a dime spent on that problem. The crap that is happening now beyond stupidity.

Obama has yet to take office and his plan is to cut taxes and increase spending. This would be different from the Bush agenda how?

Huge job cuts are on the horizon, we are not close to a bottom in the market, the economy has pretty much ground to a halt, social security is a ponzi scheme that will shortly not work, and medicare/medicaid is being payed for with IOUs that that areed not even account for as part of our growing national debt. Hmmmm, have I missed anything.

Let us all make sure we try to fix all these problems that took years and decades to create in a few weeks or months. This makes sense and is reasonable.

Business as usual. Welcome to the looney bin.

Dec

30

The latest 72 month auto loan instruments are a bad idea!

Why? One very important reason…

Given current interest rates at 6.5% for this loan…

You will be upside down in the loan for about three years. 

What happens if you get in an accident in the next three years and the vehicle is totaled? The insurance payout on the car will not be enough and you will owe money!

AGAIN… We are entering an era of “live within your means.” This plan does not play into this new lifestyle. Stay away from 72-month loans.

 

 

Dec

25

If you need some guidance on various programs to help secure your computer and personal data check out one of my other sites at this link.

http://www.anglesanddangles.com/security_software.php

— keep looking »

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