This brouhaha about the President speaking to classrooms across the country tomorrow would be absurd if there weren't such scary undertones. I mean, really...what harm can the President do with a short speech to the children of our country?
Think about it. All he's going to do is to tell the students to work hard, stay in school and strive to be a success in life. What's more telling is the fact that he is black. He is an inspiration to minorities everywhere in this country. After Obama's election, I heard a black commentator emotionally express the fact that now that a black man has become President, he can truly say to his children that one can achieve anything in this country if one perseveres.
What do these parents/citizens think will happen to the children after a five to ten minute speech by the President of the United States? Are they somehow going to be irrevocably “tainted” by his message? They will instantly become dreaded “liburals” upon the completion of the speech? Good grief...they might even become “pod people” (“You're next!”)? This is not the equivalent of a re-education camp brainwashing.
Does anyone really think that after a five to ten minute speech, a child's current mindset on life is irrevocably changed from the input they've been receiving from family and friends through their entire lives? President Obama's short message will not “curve your spine...or keep the country from winning the war“(apologies to George Carlin).
Presidents in the past have spoken to the children of our nation (Reagan, Bush I to start) and not a squawk was heard. This is the ugly undercurrent. Is it that the President is black that foments the outrage making this particular presentation different from past presidential school speeches? Is it that he's a democrat? Is it the desire by the (maybe not so) extreme right to foil the President on every single gesture he makes no matter how benign?
Are we really at that point in time that we will not work together to make this a better country and only our self-interests must be addressed? A “We need to utterly destroy those who do not agree with us at every turn” mentality?
I remember as a young student that any break in the normal school routine was welcome relief. Having the President break up the routine and let the children be aware that they can realize great accomplishments through perseverance is nothing but a positive gain for the children.
It astounds me that this subject matter even needs to be addressed. It's a five to ten minute, inspirational speech, people. Get over it!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Private Health Insurance Has GOT to Go!
I have been in favor of single payer health care for decades. It appalls me that this great country of ours is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some kind of single payer avenue for “we, the people.”
The latest polls show that the majority of Americans want some kind of single payer system. Yet, here we are at the threshold of health care “reform,” and the greatly watered-down version of single payer, the “public option,” is in danger of being flung off the table! Our government representatives are NOT speaking for the people. They’re speaking for the moneyed interests who are massively profiting from those who are sick and dying and diverting those profits into the pockets of our representatives.
I am so sick of hearing about “death panels” (whoever first coined that phrase should be hung by the yardarm), or worse yet, the absolutely stupid question of us wanting some “government bureaucrat” deciding on our health. Hello? Who is now currently deciding on our health care? Some “insurance bureaucrat” whose sole interest is generating profits for the insurance conglomerates, which leads him or her to deny benefits for the flimsiest of reasons.
The horror stories of citizens who for years dutifully paid their “premiums” suddenly needing health care are denied for “pre-existing conditions” or “incorrect filling out of the health form,” thus invalidating the claim are rampant in this country. This is ridiculous!
The best idea I’ve heard came first came from Dr. Marcia Angell, currently a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. She was on “Bill Moyers Journal” July 24, 2009 (The emphasis is mine):
Love it! I’ve heard the idea of gradually lowering the age for Medicare a few times since then, but Dr. Angell is right on with this comment. Let’s incrementally lower Medicare until all are covered, and let the private insurance companies go play with “hurricanes, earthquakes or something.”
Better yet, have them go away and come up with something better. If they crassly deny those needing health care, letting them die or remain infirm, all in the name of the almighty dollar, they most likely will do a variation of the theme with disaster victims…and who needs that?
The latest polls show that the majority of Americans want some kind of single payer system. Yet, here we are at the threshold of health care “reform,” and the greatly watered-down version of single payer, the “public option,” is in danger of being flung off the table! Our government representatives are NOT speaking for the people. They’re speaking for the moneyed interests who are massively profiting from those who are sick and dying and diverting those profits into the pockets of our representatives.
I am so sick of hearing about “death panels” (whoever first coined that phrase should be hung by the yardarm), or worse yet, the absolutely stupid question of us wanting some “government bureaucrat” deciding on our health. Hello? Who is now currently deciding on our health care? Some “insurance bureaucrat” whose sole interest is generating profits for the insurance conglomerates, which leads him or her to deny benefits for the flimsiest of reasons.
The horror stories of citizens who for years dutifully paid their “premiums” suddenly needing health care are denied for “pre-existing conditions” or “incorrect filling out of the health form,” thus invalidating the claim are rampant in this country. This is ridiculous!
The best idea I’ve heard came first came from Dr. Marcia Angell, currently a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. She was on “Bill Moyers Journal” July 24, 2009 (The emphasis is mine):
“I think we have to start all over on this. I really do. I think we have to go for a single payer system. You could institute that gradually. You could do it state by state. You could do it decade by decade. You could improve Medicare. That is, make it nonprofit. But extend it down to age 55 and age 45 and age 35. It would give the private insurance industry a chance to go into hurricanes, earthquakes or something. To get out of the health business. It could be done gradually. I think that has to be done. And it's the only thing that can be done.”
Love it! I’ve heard the idea of gradually lowering the age for Medicare a few times since then, but Dr. Angell is right on with this comment. Let’s incrementally lower Medicare until all are covered, and let the private insurance companies go play with “hurricanes, earthquakes or something.”
Better yet, have them go away and come up with something better. If they crassly deny those needing health care, letting them die or remain infirm, all in the name of the almighty dollar, they most likely will do a variation of the theme with disaster victims…and who needs that?
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