Thursday, August 13, 2009
Health Care - The Arlen Spector Files
The other day at a town hall Senator Specter encounter an amazing cross section of, in my opinion, dishonest stupidity.
Case 1: I don't know the woman's name so I will just refer to her as Mrs. Sleeping Giant.
She was interviewed on Hardball last night. Despite being nervous, she actually was quite communicative, up to a point.
She was asked about her political background and said she didn't really follow politics. Despite this a few minutes later, she mentioned that she was at a friends residence the night before and was involved in one of an on-going, and many over many years, discussion of political issues. While she said it was a civil debate. I felt that it clearly shows that she has been following politics for some time. She also asked the question she asked from a piece of paper. I am guessing the question was not her own.
When asked why she objected to the health care plan her reasons were that it wasn't Constitutional and she didn't want to pay more in taxes. She was then asked if she and her husband (who own a small business) made more than $250,000.00. After hesitating for a moment, she explained that she was not comfortable discussing that on TV, and that her husband handled all the bills so she really didn't know. (My reading of this, no they didn't and she didn't know of that being a cut-off.
The interviewer then asked if her parents were on Medicare and Social Security. She said not yet but that they would be soon. The host then asked if she felt that Medicare was a good program. After hesitating again, her response was that she felt the government had a number of programs that were not really covered in the Constitution.
Case 2:
Craig Anthony Miller, 59. Or as many people will recognize him, Angry Yelling guy.
The above link is to an article about Mr Miller. I am going to report a few items on him.
1. He is on Disability.
2. His medical coverage is provided through his wife's job.
3. He had a number of jobs before his disability.
4. He only became politically active in the last few months.
5. Miller likes to watch Fox News and enjoys commentators Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
6. He said he thinks Obama wants to set himself up as a dictator for life,
7. "I'm not against all government programs," he said, "just those where they are stepping in where they don't have to step in. Their main job is to take care of those citizens who don't have a voice."
Let's just look that list over for a few moments. I have a feeling that items 4,5, and 6 are completely related. I also like that he thinks some government programs are good. Apparently as long as they benefit him. He is upset with the government because he feels, essentially, that the FDA is preventing doctors from being able to prescribe medications that would limit his pain from Fribromyalgia, and allow him to go back to work.
I would like to now discuss this point for a moment. I understand his problem there, he wants to go back to work but can't because of pain. I have joint pain as a result of my Crohn's. If I was working in a job or industry that required me to do physical labor on a regular basis, I would likely not be able to. Up until about a year ago I was on a medication that would have made it possible, but I started to break through and went off. I am not having 'main line' symptoms of the Crohn's so I am not taking anything on the strong side. I am taking medications that help limit the pain and discomfort, but there are times I am in pain. The FDA had approved the medication I was on for long-term treatment for my condition at about the time I went on it.
All that being said, and my understanding of his situation, he is still an idiot. He thinks a President who has been in office for less than a year is trying to set himself up as dictator for life, I am sure if I found out more about this man I would not be surprised to find additional idiocy in his ideas.
To wrap this segment up I am going to repost something that was posted in a discussion thread on Fark.com
by a poster named Ozone at this link http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=4572890:
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
// posted by Little Wolf @ Thursday, August 13, 2009 
