One wouldn’t think that rainwater could be an issue of concern to the average American. . If there was concern the topic of flooding would probably be on the top of the list, or a lack of rainwater that hurts the farmer’s crops. But this is 2010 and we have seen what rain water does around here. It was only a few years ago that a consent decree was signed by the powers that be and the EPA to stop overflows in the sanitary system.
It was Hurricane Hugo that started the oversight. The EPA got involved because in old towns like ours the sewer systems were built as a co-mingled system. That means that storm water, or rainwater runoff, is directed into the sanitary system and goes through the treatment plant. In severe weather the treatment plant overflowed, causing sewage to go into the river. The original idea of co-mingled systems was to push the sanitary waste out of the pipes and down stream. That was before we had water treatment plants as far back as the 1800’s.
Our town has been upgrading our sewer system for the past 20 years but spending big money in the past 10 years. The City of Pittsburgh has finished their work that leads to the Farragut sanitary line and storm line, Bellevue and Ross Township finished years ago. The visible result is the reworked “Tiger Cage” that was installed on Farragut at the end of Jacks Run Creek back in the 1950’s. The Tiger Cage was originally installed when raw sewage was still being put into Jacks Run and needed to be directed to the treatment plant. The Tiger Cage is gone, replaced with a series of debris interrupters that stop trees and tires from entering the sewer system from Jacks Run Creek. Now, storm water from Bellevue, Ross Township and the City of Pittsburgh headed for the Farragut valley is directed to the Ohio River rather than ALCOSAN.
If you have been paying attention you know that ALCOSAN is about to raise fees that we will pay on our sewage bills to help pay for the EPA consent decree work that ALCOSAN has to do. By the time the work is completed, and who you choose to listen to or believe, the cost will be somewhere between $1 billion and $3 billion dollars.
It is nice to talk about the nostalgia of the “Tiger Cage” and pre water treatment days, but this is all old news. Yes, fellow resident, it is old news that we haven’t really started to pay for yet. However, our elected leaders are already pushing their weight around through the EPA for a new round of regulation and taxes. The EPA is looking to regulate the discharge of “rainwater runoff”.
That means a U.S. government agency wants to tax me for the water that falls on my house, driveway or sidewalk and is “runoff” or discharged somewhere. The proposed rule making says the plan is only to affect new or newly redeveloped sites. I guess I shouldn’t worry because my house would be grandfathered wouldn’t it? Well, that depends on what one means by newly redeveloped sites. Did Bellevue just newly redevelop our sewer system? Does that mean that Bellevue will be forced to figure out how much water is coming off private property and into our new storm sewer system?
Does this mean that the surcharge I pay to the Borough for the sewer system we put in, is being added to a surcharge to ALCOSAN for the sewer system they are going to upgrade, for water I use to water my lawn? In the future will I have to pay an EPA tax for the rain when I don’t have to water my lawn?
Oh, by the way, ALCOSAN existed prior to the EPA. We were cleaning our water in Allegheny County before the EPA began operation in 1970. The EPA was originally charged to protect human health and the environment and exists to develop and enforce regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
The EPA ‘s 2010 budget exceeds $10.5 billion, $1 billion of that is for clean air and global climate change investigation and close to $1billion for what they call compliance and environmental stewardship. I’ve got an idea, since the EPA has solved all of our health problems to the point that they want to figure out how much rain water runs off our property, I think they have outlived their original mandate. They aren’t protecting human health any more, if they ever did. It’s time for Congress to pass a law dissolving the EPA.
Showing posts with label National. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National. Show all posts
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Trustworthiness
What a week for trustworthiness. The U.S. intelligence community is looking to develop methods that would give clues to who can be trusted, or who is trustworthy. In the same week we have ACORN announcing they are closing down their operations we’re looking for methods to identify trustworthiness. I’m guessing they will reconstitute themselves, let’s wait and see what they call themselves next. In the same week a former representative is convicted of 14 counts of corruption, we’re still looking for clues to identify trustworthiness. In the same week our Congress buys off some, threatens others and claims they are looking out for the little guy, and we find out they violated their own rules, we are still looking for tips on trustworthiness.
It is important that our intelligence and law enforcement community be able to identify trustworthiness in the people they deal with so they can keep us safe. But, I’ll bet they can do that already, if we let them. Our problem is we will not permit them to identify those who are not trustworthy. If you wonder who is trustworthy, trust them until they show that they aren’t trustworthy and then don’t believe them at all.
We can’t use every day trustworthiness tests in our public affairs. The TSA will pull every tenth person out of the line at the airport rather than someone who looks like a mid-eastern terrorist because that would be profiling and we all know that profiling is bad. It isn’t bad if we pull out an 80 year old woman with a cane and search her for bombs because it was just her turn. We didn’t do it because she was a white woman we did it because she was tenth in line. That is where we have come in our truth meter.
If you were aware of this type of activity in the 1970’s you will remember the Baader-Meinhof Gang. They were a group of Germans who were the leftist radicals of the time. If you don’t remember them by name, or nationality, maybe you will remember them as the terrorists in the raid at Entebbe. Back then, when we were looking for them and the Red Army Faction, profiling wasn’t an issue because they were blonde haired and blue eyed criminals. Those radicals didn’t violate our new found sensitivities.
We were taught as children how to test trustworthiness why don’t we just remember what we were taught? Is a community activist group that continues to violate federal and state laws a bad organization that should not be trusted? Does it take trying to fix an election and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to make people see how bad they are? Or should we have seen it before they closed their doors? Does an elected official who is convicted of 14 felonies get to cry foul because he wasn’t convicted of another 100 crimes?.
The President said that health care reform has been 100 years in the making. Let’s see, that would mean he is speaking of the Progressive Era that brought us President Wilson and the Depression. You see, in the U.S. it was called the Progressive Era, in Russia it was the Bolshevik Revolution, in Germany it was National Socialism. Trustworthiness surely is needed at the federal level but when someone shows you or tells you what they are, and it is not flattering, believe them. We only have to look at the facts, just the facts.
It is important that our intelligence and law enforcement community be able to identify trustworthiness in the people they deal with so they can keep us safe. But, I’ll bet they can do that already, if we let them. Our problem is we will not permit them to identify those who are not trustworthy. If you wonder who is trustworthy, trust them until they show that they aren’t trustworthy and then don’t believe them at all.
We can’t use every day trustworthiness tests in our public affairs. The TSA will pull every tenth person out of the line at the airport rather than someone who looks like a mid-eastern terrorist because that would be profiling and we all know that profiling is bad. It isn’t bad if we pull out an 80 year old woman with a cane and search her for bombs because it was just her turn. We didn’t do it because she was a white woman we did it because she was tenth in line. That is where we have come in our truth meter.
If you were aware of this type of activity in the 1970’s you will remember the Baader-Meinhof Gang. They were a group of Germans who were the leftist radicals of the time. If you don’t remember them by name, or nationality, maybe you will remember them as the terrorists in the raid at Entebbe. Back then, when we were looking for them and the Red Army Faction, profiling wasn’t an issue because they were blonde haired and blue eyed criminals. Those radicals didn’t violate our new found sensitivities.
We were taught as children how to test trustworthiness why don’t we just remember what we were taught? Is a community activist group that continues to violate federal and state laws a bad organization that should not be trusted? Does it take trying to fix an election and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to make people see how bad they are? Or should we have seen it before they closed their doors? Does an elected official who is convicted of 14 felonies get to cry foul because he wasn’t convicted of another 100 crimes?.
The President said that health care reform has been 100 years in the making. Let’s see, that would mean he is speaking of the Progressive Era that brought us President Wilson and the Depression. You see, in the U.S. it was called the Progressive Era, in Russia it was the Bolshevik Revolution, in Germany it was National Socialism. Trustworthiness surely is needed at the federal level but when someone shows you or tells you what they are, and it is not flattering, believe them. We only have to look at the facts, just the facts.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Representation?
When will we all wake up and see what is going on? We acknowledge the signs of what is happening but we really don’t connect the dots very well. We don’t connect one action with another let alone link three, four or five incidents together. We don’t want to believe our elected officials are really bad people. Oh, we will say they are inept or dumb or out of touch but we will not believe they would purposely hurt us. But they will.
I have written my Congressman and Senators and I’ve heard back from them. The bottom line is they don’t care about what we, the citizens want. I asked Senator Specter, last December, not to support the health care reform bill in front of him. He sent me a canned message three months later, just like Senator Casey and Congressman Doyle. His support for the current health care legislation is even more encompassing that what is already on the table. He looks at this legislation as only the beginning of health care reform. He believes that it may take a few more bills over the next few years to expand government health care and elevate it to a right of all citizens. That’s code for socialized medicine.
Senator Specter wants health care to become a right and he wants that health care to include abortion. That’s not all, by supporting the current legislation he supports reducing Medicare costs, that’s code for reducing benefits. That means take health care away from senior citizens. Senator Casey, in his response said the bill slashes hundreds of billions from Medicare to fund a new government program, cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices that care for senior citizens. That is code for euthanasia. He went on to say the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that health care reform will cost $871 billion over the next ten years and is projected to reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion during the same period. None of them mention the additional taxes we are going to pay to fund the trillion dollar cost.
I do not believe that abortion is health care and I do not believe euthanasia is health care. My representatives do not support my beliefs. My President wants a health care bill on his desk by the end of the week and insists he will get it.
I’ve got a suggestion for all those elected officials who say this health care bill will work as good as they say it will. If you are so sure that you can make our health care system better, start by; funding the already existing veterans hospitals so they can take care of all of our veterans, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of Gulf War Syndrome, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of our Atomic Vets, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of our Agent Orange Vets, totally fund Tri-Care (military health insurance) for active duty and retired veterans that can be used in any health care facility in the United States, and while you’re at it reduce the wait time for the 90,000 veterans still waiting for their cases to be rated.
It is time we all say no to socialism and let freedom ring. We need to take our country back from this type of politician. They are a cancer to our liberty and freedom. The door bell is ringing gentlemen, it’s time you get out of our house.
I have written my Congressman and Senators and I’ve heard back from them. The bottom line is they don’t care about what we, the citizens want. I asked Senator Specter, last December, not to support the health care reform bill in front of him. He sent me a canned message three months later, just like Senator Casey and Congressman Doyle. His support for the current health care legislation is even more encompassing that what is already on the table. He looks at this legislation as only the beginning of health care reform. He believes that it may take a few more bills over the next few years to expand government health care and elevate it to a right of all citizens. That’s code for socialized medicine.
Senator Specter wants health care to become a right and he wants that health care to include abortion. That’s not all, by supporting the current legislation he supports reducing Medicare costs, that’s code for reducing benefits. That means take health care away from senior citizens. Senator Casey, in his response said the bill slashes hundreds of billions from Medicare to fund a new government program, cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices that care for senior citizens. That is code for euthanasia. He went on to say the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that health care reform will cost $871 billion over the next ten years and is projected to reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion during the same period. None of them mention the additional taxes we are going to pay to fund the trillion dollar cost.
I do not believe that abortion is health care and I do not believe euthanasia is health care. My representatives do not support my beliefs. My President wants a health care bill on his desk by the end of the week and insists he will get it.
I’ve got a suggestion for all those elected officials who say this health care bill will work as good as they say it will. If you are so sure that you can make our health care system better, start by; funding the already existing veterans hospitals so they can take care of all of our veterans, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of Gulf War Syndrome, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of our Atomic Vets, totally fund the Veterans Administration to take care of our Agent Orange Vets, totally fund Tri-Care (military health insurance) for active duty and retired veterans that can be used in any health care facility in the United States, and while you’re at it reduce the wait time for the 90,000 veterans still waiting for their cases to be rated.
It is time we all say no to socialism and let freedom ring. We need to take our country back from this type of politician. They are a cancer to our liberty and freedom. The door bell is ringing gentlemen, it’s time you get out of our house.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Mandated Health Care
It seems like this issue is talked about too much but we are on the verge of institutionalizing another benefit as an entitlement for some of our citizens. Since the Great Depression we have been instituting one entitlement after another. I don’t want to be misunderstood, I’m not opposed to helping others in a lot of ways including health care. I think churches and private social service agencies such as Lutheran Service Society, Catholic Charities, Brothers Brother, the V.F.W., American Legion and the Salvation Army do a good job already. And we can’t forget our hospitals and the Hill-Burton Act services they give to the poor. What I am not in favor of is the government getting involved by taxing one group of people so others don’t have to purchase health care, get a job, or pay their mortgage.
I know I’m not alone because the national polls say a majority of people are not in favor of the current health care reform being tossed around by Congress. If that is what the public believes why is Congress continuing to support and push through such legislation. I attended a Senator Spector town hall meeting, where Congressman Murphy was present but he was not given the opportunity to speak even though he tried to speak several times. I have called my congressman, written to my congressman and senators and they have not had the decency to respond and tell me “thanks but I don’t’ agree with you.” Well, I guess they have because they continue to drive on with their agenda.
Congressman Doyles recent newsletter says he is working hard to pass a bill that would “provide affordable, high quality health insurance coverage to millions of Americans who are currently uninsured.” Who says millions of uninsured Americans want health insurance? The Amish people are being excluded from the legislation on religious objection grounds because they take care of each other and they don’t want the government stepping into their affairs.
Young people don’t purchase insurance either, for a variety of reasons, but now they, or their parents, will have to spend money on health care. Even though they will want to spend their money on education bills, a new car, auto insurance, etc.. they will be forced to purchase health care or pay a fine.
Congressman Doyle also wants to “slow the growth of health care costs”. That’s nice but one of the big issues with rising health care costs is legal settlement costs. That’s what lawyers get for handling cases against doctors and hospitals. Most people call that tort reform but there is none of it in the health care reform bill.
He also wants to “increase competition in the health insurance market” and “get health care costs under control”, “to end the near-monopolies” in health care to “help consumers, businesses, and the federal government save money.” However the legislation doesn’t address the lack of portability of our Southwestern Pennsylvania health insurance to other parts of the country or vice-versa.
The problem then rests with the solution. Congressman Doyle wants to make sure that we “pay for these reforms in a fair and equitable fashion.” I say that “fair and equitable” is that I get to choose when I buy insurance and when I don’t. We already know that their fair and equitable fashion is to: force everyone to purchase insurance, fine anyone $750 if they don’t purchase health care insurance, tax existing health insurance plans, tax anyone who makes over $500,000 a year, and reduce or eliminate some already existing health care services from Medicare and Medicaid, unless you live in Nebraska. Oh, and grow the size of the government. Everything we don’t need. It’s time for change.
I know I’m not alone because the national polls say a majority of people are not in favor of the current health care reform being tossed around by Congress. If that is what the public believes why is Congress continuing to support and push through such legislation. I attended a Senator Spector town hall meeting, where Congressman Murphy was present but he was not given the opportunity to speak even though he tried to speak several times. I have called my congressman, written to my congressman and senators and they have not had the decency to respond and tell me “thanks but I don’t’ agree with you.” Well, I guess they have because they continue to drive on with their agenda.
Congressman Doyles recent newsletter says he is working hard to pass a bill that would “provide affordable, high quality health insurance coverage to millions of Americans who are currently uninsured.” Who says millions of uninsured Americans want health insurance? The Amish people are being excluded from the legislation on religious objection grounds because they take care of each other and they don’t want the government stepping into their affairs.
Young people don’t purchase insurance either, for a variety of reasons, but now they, or their parents, will have to spend money on health care. Even though they will want to spend their money on education bills, a new car, auto insurance, etc.. they will be forced to purchase health care or pay a fine.
Congressman Doyle also wants to “slow the growth of health care costs”. That’s nice but one of the big issues with rising health care costs is legal settlement costs. That’s what lawyers get for handling cases against doctors and hospitals. Most people call that tort reform but there is none of it in the health care reform bill.
He also wants to “increase competition in the health insurance market” and “get health care costs under control”, “to end the near-monopolies” in health care to “help consumers, businesses, and the federal government save money.” However the legislation doesn’t address the lack of portability of our Southwestern Pennsylvania health insurance to other parts of the country or vice-versa.
The problem then rests with the solution. Congressman Doyle wants to make sure that we “pay for these reforms in a fair and equitable fashion.” I say that “fair and equitable” is that I get to choose when I buy insurance and when I don’t. We already know that their fair and equitable fashion is to: force everyone to purchase insurance, fine anyone $750 if they don’t purchase health care insurance, tax existing health insurance plans, tax anyone who makes over $500,000 a year, and reduce or eliminate some already existing health care services from Medicare and Medicaid, unless you live in Nebraska. Oh, and grow the size of the government. Everything we don’t need. It’s time for change.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Yes Virginia
In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, whether Santa Claus really existed. Virginia O'Hanlon had begun to doubt there was a Santa Claus, because her friends had told her that he did not exist.
Her father suggested she write to the New York Sun assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Francis Church was the editor of the paper who wrote the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language. “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” first appeared in The New York Sun in 1897, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Her father suggested she write to the New York Sun assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Francis Church was the editor of the paper who wrote the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language. “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” first appeared in The New York Sun in 1897, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tire Tax
Depending on whom you believe, the excise tax on tires is protecting American jobs or running up the cost of tires. President Obama imposed a 35 percent excise tax on foreign made tires, that took effect, in September to counteract the claim that about 5,000 U.S. workers have lost their jobs in the past five years due to imports.
The tax adds about $35 to the price of two $50 snow tires or $70 for a set of four tires. We are expecting to replace 210 million tires in the next year. Assuming that the price for a tire is $50, the price of two would be $100 with an add on that would be $135. The cost of domestic tires is going to increase also because of the shortage caused by the tax. With 105 million sets sold that would mean that we will pay 3.675 billion dollars in tax. That’s 735 thousand dollars annual tax per job lost in the domestic tire industry. I didn’t know tire workers made that much. How does that make any sense unless the government having a windfall in tax collection is the only goal?
I was talking to a friend who was upset that his medi-care premium was going up from 98 dollars a month to 150 dollars a month next year. That is a hefty increase. Are all senior citizens getting the same increase? I wonder if that increase was calculated by the same people who figured out that a 35 percent excise tax on tires would save jobs or that carbon emissions are causing global warming?
Cap and Trade is on the way to our neighborhood. That’s another word for a tax on any business or person who uses energy to live or work. You see, energy use causes carbon emission that is causing global warming, and the tax will save the world while destroying jobs in the United States. Don’t worry, that hoax you are hearing about being perpetrated on the world will be put to rest when the Copenhagen agreement is endorsed by the President next week. Ironically, on December 7th.
While this is going on the City of Pittsburgh is in a debate concerning taxing student tuition as a privilege. Mr. Motznik told the students that he hoped they were upset with the universities because they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The audacity of elected officials, who forget what schools and non-profits do for our cities and the region, just so they can tax the public in a new way.
Wait until you see the VAT tax that comes with the health care legislation we are bound to get. Ah yes, a tax that is hidden and the people don’t realize they are paying, what a windfall for tax and spend officials. Another means, like those listed above to tax the public in a new way! I think it is time we all wake up and smell the coffee.
The tax adds about $35 to the price of two $50 snow tires or $70 for a set of four tires. We are expecting to replace 210 million tires in the next year. Assuming that the price for a tire is $50, the price of two would be $100 with an add on that would be $135. The cost of domestic tires is going to increase also because of the shortage caused by the tax. With 105 million sets sold that would mean that we will pay 3.675 billion dollars in tax. That’s 735 thousand dollars annual tax per job lost in the domestic tire industry. I didn’t know tire workers made that much. How does that make any sense unless the government having a windfall in tax collection is the only goal?
I was talking to a friend who was upset that his medi-care premium was going up from 98 dollars a month to 150 dollars a month next year. That is a hefty increase. Are all senior citizens getting the same increase? I wonder if that increase was calculated by the same people who figured out that a 35 percent excise tax on tires would save jobs or that carbon emissions are causing global warming?
Cap and Trade is on the way to our neighborhood. That’s another word for a tax on any business or person who uses energy to live or work. You see, energy use causes carbon emission that is causing global warming, and the tax will save the world while destroying jobs in the United States. Don’t worry, that hoax you are hearing about being perpetrated on the world will be put to rest when the Copenhagen agreement is endorsed by the President next week. Ironically, on December 7th.
While this is going on the City of Pittsburgh is in a debate concerning taxing student tuition as a privilege. Mr. Motznik told the students that he hoped they were upset with the universities because they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The audacity of elected officials, who forget what schools and non-profits do for our cities and the region, just so they can tax the public in a new way.
Wait until you see the VAT tax that comes with the health care legislation we are bound to get. Ah yes, a tax that is hidden and the people don’t realize they are paying, what a windfall for tax and spend officials. Another means, like those listed above to tax the public in a new way! I think it is time we all wake up and smell the coffee.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Veterans Day
Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, the day World War I ended. Today we should remember those veterans who served so we can be free. Bellevue has provided its share of citizens as soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to the defense of the United States of America. From the Revolutionary War, we had four Bellevue soldiers fighting back then, Bellevue residents have displayed their valor for two hundred and thirty three years. Forty Bellevue residents have given their lives for freedom around the world. Our military history records currently have 711 men and women from Bellevue listed as having served our country in time of war and during times of peace. You probably have a family member or neighbor you know who served in the military. Meet some neighbors you may not know.
James Robinson was given the part of Bellevue called Sandy Bottom, from Fremont Avenue to the City line for his service in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Chaplain Hugh Brackinridge was given Sidney for service in the Army, that’s Bellevue from Fremont to the Avalon line. He left Bellevue in 1799 when he was appointed Judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. John Wilkins Jr. was then assigned Sidney, for his service in the Continental Army. Bellevue was a part of what was called the Depreciation Lands, or land given to soldiers because our country didn’t have enough money to pay the army at the time. J.C. Schaffnit and 10 others served during the Spanish American War. He was later elected to Council and served as President of Council.
You may have known Charles Delcroix, he lived on North Balph Avenue. He was a bombardier, with 35 combat missions between August and December 1944. He participated in the first daylight raid on Berlin Germany. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal w/ 5 oak leaf clusters. He graduated Bellevue High School in 1942, two years before his valorous service. I’ll bet you didn’t know Joe Giovengo. He was gassed with Mustard Gas during World War I. He came home but died in 1920 after being discharged. His son John fought in World War II in the same unit, the 80th Infantry Division.
We had four McCarthy brothers serve in World War II and Korea, Charles, William, Robert, and Theodore. Robert was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Theodore was an aerial gunner. His plane was lost on September 15, 1943. He was discovered 55 years later in the jungle of New Guinea. His remains along with another of his crew were buried in Arlington National Cemetery December 11, 1998. John McCloskey Jr. was a B-25 bomber pilot. He was shot down over Burma on his 53rd mission on May 20, 1944. He spent 11 months and 10 days in a bamboo cell in Rangoon, Burma.
John Bragdon served in Co. K 123rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers also known as Watt & Butchers Infantry during the Civil War. He was later elected Burgess, we call them Mayor’s now. We have a shelter in Memorial Park named after him. Col Thomas Bayne started Co. H 136th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, the Keystone Infantry. He fought in the battles of Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. He was elected as a Bellevue Councilman in 1870, and then District Attorney for Allegheny County, he was then elected to the 45th Congress and succeeding six Congresses.
During World War II Melvin Stock was in the Army Office of Strategic Services (OSS), we call it the CIA today. He was in Paris 3 days before liberation and was responsible for taking hundreds of German prisoners prior to the allied forces entering the city. He didn’t do it by himself; he was working with the French resistance. He was elected Mayor of Bellevue in 1975.
Ronald Young was at the Chosen Reservoir in Korea, he later served as a Bellevue Police officer for a couple of decades. Murl Thompson was on ship during the Bay of Pigs before joining the Department of Public Works, the Fire Department and becoming the Commander of the Robert D. Fleming Post 2454 Veterans of Foreign Wars. Robert David Fleming was a member of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. He was Killed in Action in France with 14 other Bellevue Residents.
Elmer Hohn was a Navy flight radar operator aboard the Valley Forge between 1949 and 1953. He had 60 flights off that aircraft carrier and his units exploits were made famous by the book and movie titled “The Bridges at Toko-Ri”. Elmer remembers when the author James Michener was on board where he collected his stories for the book
Captain Levi Bird Duff served in the Army in France during World War I. He became the first Commander of the North Boro’s Post 116 American Legion. The bridge over I-279 on Center Avenue is named after this Bellevue solider.
We had two soldiers Killed in Action in Vietnam. Charles Downey was killed in action by small arms fire on May 17, 1967 while serving with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Quang Tin South Vietnam. John Brooks served with the 1st Aviation Brigade he was killed on April 19, 1968 when his helicopter was involved in a battle and crashed in Phu Bon South Vietnam.
The War on Terror has also claimed two soldiers from Bellevue. Robert Hall Jr. served with the 467th Engineer Battalion when he was killed in a car bombing in Ad Dujayl, Iraq while guarding the gate at his military base. Thomas Vandling was in the Army also and was killed when his vehicle ran over a mine in Iraq.
From the American Revolution to the War on Terror residents of Bellevue have given their time, talents, treasures and lives for freedom around the world. As we remember those who served our country in uniform let us remember that freedom is not free.
Make sure those you know are remembered.
James Robinson was given the part of Bellevue called Sandy Bottom, from Fremont Avenue to the City line for his service in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Chaplain Hugh Brackinridge was given Sidney for service in the Army, that’s Bellevue from Fremont to the Avalon line. He left Bellevue in 1799 when he was appointed Judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. John Wilkins Jr. was then assigned Sidney, for his service in the Continental Army. Bellevue was a part of what was called the Depreciation Lands, or land given to soldiers because our country didn’t have enough money to pay the army at the time. J.C. Schaffnit and 10 others served during the Spanish American War. He was later elected to Council and served as President of Council.
You may have known Charles Delcroix, he lived on North Balph Avenue. He was a bombardier, with 35 combat missions between August and December 1944. He participated in the first daylight raid on Berlin Germany. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal w/ 5 oak leaf clusters. He graduated Bellevue High School in 1942, two years before his valorous service. I’ll bet you didn’t know Joe Giovengo. He was gassed with Mustard Gas during World War I. He came home but died in 1920 after being discharged. His son John fought in World War II in the same unit, the 80th Infantry Division.
We had four McCarthy brothers serve in World War II and Korea, Charles, William, Robert, and Theodore. Robert was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Theodore was an aerial gunner. His plane was lost on September 15, 1943. He was discovered 55 years later in the jungle of New Guinea. His remains along with another of his crew were buried in Arlington National Cemetery December 11, 1998. John McCloskey Jr. was a B-25 bomber pilot. He was shot down over Burma on his 53rd mission on May 20, 1944. He spent 11 months and 10 days in a bamboo cell in Rangoon, Burma.
John Bragdon served in Co. K 123rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers also known as Watt & Butchers Infantry during the Civil War. He was later elected Burgess, we call them Mayor’s now. We have a shelter in Memorial Park named after him. Col Thomas Bayne started Co. H 136th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, the Keystone Infantry. He fought in the battles of Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. He was elected as a Bellevue Councilman in 1870, and then District Attorney for Allegheny County, he was then elected to the 45th Congress and succeeding six Congresses.
During World War II Melvin Stock was in the Army Office of Strategic Services (OSS), we call it the CIA today. He was in Paris 3 days before liberation and was responsible for taking hundreds of German prisoners prior to the allied forces entering the city. He didn’t do it by himself; he was working with the French resistance. He was elected Mayor of Bellevue in 1975.
Ronald Young was at the Chosen Reservoir in Korea, he later served as a Bellevue Police officer for a couple of decades. Murl Thompson was on ship during the Bay of Pigs before joining the Department of Public Works, the Fire Department and becoming the Commander of the Robert D. Fleming Post 2454 Veterans of Foreign Wars. Robert David Fleming was a member of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. He was Killed in Action in France with 14 other Bellevue Residents.
Elmer Hohn was a Navy flight radar operator aboard the Valley Forge between 1949 and 1953. He had 60 flights off that aircraft carrier and his units exploits were made famous by the book and movie titled “The Bridges at Toko-Ri”. Elmer remembers when the author James Michener was on board where he collected his stories for the book
Captain Levi Bird Duff served in the Army in France during World War I. He became the first Commander of the North Boro’s Post 116 American Legion. The bridge over I-279 on Center Avenue is named after this Bellevue solider.
We had two soldiers Killed in Action in Vietnam. Charles Downey was killed in action by small arms fire on May 17, 1967 while serving with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Quang Tin South Vietnam. John Brooks served with the 1st Aviation Brigade he was killed on April 19, 1968 when his helicopter was involved in a battle and crashed in Phu Bon South Vietnam.
The War on Terror has also claimed two soldiers from Bellevue. Robert Hall Jr. served with the 467th Engineer Battalion when he was killed in a car bombing in Ad Dujayl, Iraq while guarding the gate at his military base. Thomas Vandling was in the Army also and was killed when his vehicle ran over a mine in Iraq.
From the American Revolution to the War on Terror residents of Bellevue have given their time, talents, treasures and lives for freedom around the world. As we remember those who served our country in uniform let us remember that freedom is not free.
Make sure those you know are remembered.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Legalization of Drugs
I started writing this article on February 5, 2009, five days after Barack Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I don’t know that he was put in for the Nobel on February 1st, I just figured he needed the entire 10 days of being president to get it. I knew this issue was going to be a story but I didn’t think it was going to come this quickly.
The legalization of drugs or at least the decriminalization of drug use has been an issue for a long time. It has not been a topic on the front page of newspapers because it is a controversial topic. I’ll bet you haven’t heard about this issue or if you have you wonder why there wasn’t more news coverage. But, as the world turns so do the stars, and the stars are coming into alignment for drug use.
New guidelines were issued by the Obama administration that just about insures that federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. This is the beginning of decriminalization of marijuana.
I would like to be direct with the drug use issue but I have a jaundiced eye. Rather than seeing this as just a decriminalization of marijuana issue I see a wonderful tax opportunity. I think this is even bigger than taxes on gambling licenses and gambling revenues, maybe even bigger than taxing churches, fire department and veteran bingos. Remember, you heard it here first, taxes on illegal drugs will be the driving force to decriminalize or legalize drug use. Now back to drugs.
Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, and a state near you in the future.
California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries, businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.
One must understand that we have been in the War On Drugs for over 40 years. That’s because prior to the 60’s marijuana was not illegal. The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs tried to make marijuana illegal from the 1930’s up to the 60’s when those hippies insured the legislation to make the plant illegal. It’s good we don’t need all that hemp rope like we did in the old days, because the hemp plant couldn’t legally be grown for the past 40 years.
If you didn’t know, our oppressive drug laws go back to the beginning of the 20th Century when two thirds of middle class women were addicted to cocaine. Remember, that’s when Coca Cola had real coke in it, heroine was sold in drug stores and various elixirs were sold off the back of buckboards across the United States.
First we had to clean all our products of that bad cocaine, then we worked on the heroine, then we tackled alcohol. We were doing pretty good until FDR came along and noticed the Roaring 20’s were particularly roaring because of the illegal alcohol being sold in Speakeasies. When the Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs came to its senses about 1936 they started calling for legislation to make marijuana illegal.
That didn’t work too well in the middle of the Depression, and then World War II came along and nobody was paying attention. After the war everyone was going to school, having children and starting back to work. Nobody was interested in drugs. Then came the Korean War and people still weren’t listening. But after the war a group of people started drawing attention, Beatnik’s. Did you know that jazz clubs and Beatnik’s were consumers of marijuana? Well, then the 60’s came and the baby boomers started to drop out. The rest is history. Except now we are starting a new page, are you ready for it?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Health Care Reform
It appears that we are on the short side of getting the federal government involved in all of our health care plans. The debate over the last few months has the government health care supporters saying “the plan”, one of three now being talked about, will not involve all of us. It is only going to work to reduce the cost of health care insurance for all of us. Believe this because the President once told us that 47,000,000 people in the U.S. don’t have health insurance but in the last month he reduced that to 30,000,000. In a matter of two months his figures changed by 26 percent. Watch how long it takes to change the idea that “the plan” will reduce health care costs for all of us.
I’m sure you have heard that the national health care system in Canada and England is better than ours. Well trash that idea. Last week it was announced that UPMC entered in a three-year partnership with Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, part of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. Get this, UMPC is going to develop and expand cancer services offered by the Trust in Reading England. Yes, the UK came to Pittsburgh to improve their health care system. I guess that trashes the argument that socialized medicine is better than ours.
This weekend the America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health insurance companies' lobbying group, released a study it commissioned. The point of the AHIP study was that the health care reforms being considered would increase the cost of health care insurance. The White House naturally disagreed. The White House said that the AHIP released the report in an attempt to confuse the debate around health reform.
AHIP said that the added taxes and fees to support the plan that would be put on insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and device makers would be passed on to the consumer. The White House disagreed believing the added costs would be absorbed by the various companies. The White House said the costs for health care insurance would not go up because we are all paying about $1,000 a year in our health care insurance to pay for uncompensated care. That means services are being provided now to people who don’t have insurance and those who do pay have a little extra added to their bill to pay for the uninsured. I wonder if that covers the bill for 30 million uninsured.
Remember, this group is the same that doesn’t want to get flu shots. We also have the young parents who don’t get their children the required vaccinations shots. It was only a couple of weeks ago when 25 percent of the children in our area were being told not to come to school because their parents didn’t take them to get “free” mandatory inoculations. The way “the plan” is going to reduce the cost of health care insurance is by requiring all people to purchase health insurance. That means that all those young people who choose not to buy health care insurance will be forced to buy it. If you don’t buy insurance you will end up paying a fine or something similar.
That sounds good, except. We have a requirement now that everyone who owns a vehicle must purchase automobile insurance. If one doesn’t purchase auto insurance they can be charged with an offense, fined and maybe go to jail for a while. If we have mandatory auto insurance why do I have to purchase “uninsured motorist” insurance? Mandatory auto insurance has been around for a long time, and it still doesn’t work, ask any police officer.
The current health legislation has over 1,300 pages and it doesn’t include any health care, doesn’t include tort reform, doesn’t eliminate taxes on health care, doesn’t reduce the high cost of medical education, but it does increase costly government mandates on the health care industry. If Congress passes a health care bill what do you think we will have in a few years?
OUTRAGEOUS NEWS
"It could be that the 2016 Games are the last Olympics in the history of mankind. Global warming is getting worse. We have to come up with measures without which Olympic Games could not last long." --Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara 10/1/2009
I’m sure you have heard that the national health care system in Canada and England is better than ours. Well trash that idea. Last week it was announced that UPMC entered in a three-year partnership with Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, part of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. Get this, UMPC is going to develop and expand cancer services offered by the Trust in Reading England. Yes, the UK came to Pittsburgh to improve their health care system. I guess that trashes the argument that socialized medicine is better than ours.
This weekend the America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health insurance companies' lobbying group, released a study it commissioned. The point of the AHIP study was that the health care reforms being considered would increase the cost of health care insurance. The White House naturally disagreed. The White House said that the AHIP released the report in an attempt to confuse the debate around health reform.
AHIP said that the added taxes and fees to support the plan that would be put on insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and device makers would be passed on to the consumer. The White House disagreed believing the added costs would be absorbed by the various companies. The White House said the costs for health care insurance would not go up because we are all paying about $1,000 a year in our health care insurance to pay for uncompensated care. That means services are being provided now to people who don’t have insurance and those who do pay have a little extra added to their bill to pay for the uninsured. I wonder if that covers the bill for 30 million uninsured.
Remember, this group is the same that doesn’t want to get flu shots. We also have the young parents who don’t get their children the required vaccinations shots. It was only a couple of weeks ago when 25 percent of the children in our area were being told not to come to school because their parents didn’t take them to get “free” mandatory inoculations. The way “the plan” is going to reduce the cost of health care insurance is by requiring all people to purchase health insurance. That means that all those young people who choose not to buy health care insurance will be forced to buy it. If you don’t buy insurance you will end up paying a fine or something similar.
That sounds good, except. We have a requirement now that everyone who owns a vehicle must purchase automobile insurance. If one doesn’t purchase auto insurance they can be charged with an offense, fined and maybe go to jail for a while. If we have mandatory auto insurance why do I have to purchase “uninsured motorist” insurance? Mandatory auto insurance has been around for a long time, and it still doesn’t work, ask any police officer.
The current health legislation has over 1,300 pages and it doesn’t include any health care, doesn’t include tort reform, doesn’t eliminate taxes on health care, doesn’t reduce the high cost of medical education, but it does increase costly government mandates on the health care industry. If Congress passes a health care bill what do you think we will have in a few years?
OUTRAGEOUS NEWS
"It could be that the 2016 Games are the last Olympics in the history of mankind. Global warming is getting worse. We have to come up with measures without which Olympic Games could not last long." --Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara 10/1/2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Pittsburgh Proud
The G-20 is over and Pittsburgh can be proud. The anticipated destruction of the city did not occur. The inability of the police to maintain order did not occur. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. Where London and Seattle failed, Pittsburgh excelled. With the exception of a few young misguided and one left over 1960’s career “activist” the people of the area showed who we are.
Oh sure, some protested for the various issues that are important to them but overwhelmingly they did it peacefully. You might have missed the issues of Aids, Free Tibet, Stop the War, end poverty, even Stand Against Police Brutality. We didn’t see people chained to plastic pipes, we didn’t see downtown Pittsburgh turned into a wasteland with broken windows and burned overturned cars. We didn’t see the world media capturing police unmercifully beating demonstrators. Any of the traditional “protester” destruction was seen in Lawrenceville and Oakland, far away from the event. The police did an outstanding job of keeping the peace against all odds.
Police reported 190 people were arrested as a result of the demonstrations during the G-20. The people arrested were from 20 different states and the District of Columbia, not including about 90 from Pennsylvania. There are 19 people who have not had their addresses identified so that might change. I would imagine that most people believe the police did a good job.
Although the police certainly had the front line in maintaining order there were many others who were responsible for the success of the event. The fire department staged their manpower and equipment for quick response around the city. The public works department sanitized the streets, so to speak, of protester weapons. Those are the newspaper boxes, litter containers and other things we are used to seeing on the streets that are easily picked up and thrown by rioters, excuse me, protesters.
I think the answer to the success is not only the preparation of the various agencies but also Pittsburgh showing the stuff we are made of. One of the secrets of southwestern Pennsylvania isthat we really are different than other metropolitan areas. Regardless of what we think the news looks like locally we don’t have a lot of crime. The majority of people in this area live within 9 miles of where they grew up. That means we know each other, we know each others’ parents, children and grand children. That makes us different than other major metropolitan areas around the United States. It might seem trite to say: “We are family!”
Oh sure, some protested for the various issues that are important to them but overwhelmingly they did it peacefully. You might have missed the issues of Aids, Free Tibet, Stop the War, end poverty, even Stand Against Police Brutality. We didn’t see people chained to plastic pipes, we didn’t see downtown Pittsburgh turned into a wasteland with broken windows and burned overturned cars. We didn’t see the world media capturing police unmercifully beating demonstrators. Any of the traditional “protester” destruction was seen in Lawrenceville and Oakland, far away from the event. The police did an outstanding job of keeping the peace against all odds.
Police reported 190 people were arrested as a result of the demonstrations during the G-20. The people arrested were from 20 different states and the District of Columbia, not including about 90 from Pennsylvania. There are 19 people who have not had their addresses identified so that might change. I would imagine that most people believe the police did a good job.
Although the police certainly had the front line in maintaining order there were many others who were responsible for the success of the event. The fire department staged their manpower and equipment for quick response around the city. The public works department sanitized the streets, so to speak, of protester weapons. Those are the newspaper boxes, litter containers and other things we are used to seeing on the streets that are easily picked up and thrown by rioters, excuse me, protesters.
I think the answer to the success is not only the preparation of the various agencies but also Pittsburgh showing the stuff we are made of. One of the secrets of southwestern Pennsylvania isthat we really are different than other metropolitan areas. Regardless of what we think the news looks like locally we don’t have a lot of crime. The majority of people in this area live within 9 miles of where they grew up. That means we know each other, we know each others’ parents, children and grand children. That makes us different than other major metropolitan areas around the United States. It might seem trite to say: “We are family!”
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tax ‘em
We have just about taxed ourselves to such a degree on some fronts that we can’t tax anymore so we have to open a new frontier, soda. We spent 50 years demonizing tobacco, excuse me, cigarettes, adding taxes on the product to such a point that the tax is greater than the cost of the product. Now some have set their eye on soft drinks, watch, we are going to tax pop.
This reminds me of the play Music Man. “Oh we got trouble, right here in river city, trouble with a T that rhymes with P that stands for pool.” Yes, we will focus our attention on an innocuous product, demonize it, tax it, destroy the market for it, lose the jobs to produce it and move on to another taxable commodity. If you work for Pepsi or Coke look out
We got rid of DDT a long time ago because a group of people demonized the chemical. Not based on fact, as we find out today, but based on a story of how the birds will disappear some spring. Now that millions of people in Africa are dying from malaria the world is thinking of bringing DDT back.
But don’t let the soda tax get to you, Mayor Ravenstall wants to tax hospital rooms after all aren’t they just hotel rooms with extra services? What about the mayor’s tax on water? I guess the cost of EPA compliance isn’t enough to drive the price of water and sewage up, let’s put another tax on one of the necessities of life.
Don’t forget all those college students, tax ‘em. Come to the city and work all day, pay your all day parking tax in addition to the 50 percent parking tax, in addition to the right to work in the city tax. Go ahead, chase a few more businesses out of town or out of the county, Butler can use the business. Who needs those universities and hospitals?
The reason for all the additional taxes is to pay for the pension funding they should have been paying into for the past 30 years. I wonder what they have funded that was more important than employee pensions. That might be an interesting study.
Oh we got trouble, right here in river city, trouble with a T that rhymes with P and that stands for……POP!
This reminds me of the play Music Man. “Oh we got trouble, right here in river city, trouble with a T that rhymes with P that stands for pool.” Yes, we will focus our attention on an innocuous product, demonize it, tax it, destroy the market for it, lose the jobs to produce it and move on to another taxable commodity. If you work for Pepsi or Coke look out
We got rid of DDT a long time ago because a group of people demonized the chemical. Not based on fact, as we find out today, but based on a story of how the birds will disappear some spring. Now that millions of people in Africa are dying from malaria the world is thinking of bringing DDT back.
But don’t let the soda tax get to you, Mayor Ravenstall wants to tax hospital rooms after all aren’t they just hotel rooms with extra services? What about the mayor’s tax on water? I guess the cost of EPA compliance isn’t enough to drive the price of water and sewage up, let’s put another tax on one of the necessities of life.
Don’t forget all those college students, tax ‘em. Come to the city and work all day, pay your all day parking tax in addition to the 50 percent parking tax, in addition to the right to work in the city tax. Go ahead, chase a few more businesses out of town or out of the county, Butler can use the business. Who needs those universities and hospitals?
The reason for all the additional taxes is to pay for the pension funding they should have been paying into for the past 30 years. I wonder what they have funded that was more important than employee pensions. That might be an interesting study.
Oh we got trouble, right here in river city, trouble with a T that rhymes with P and that stands for……POP!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Facts-Truth-News
I was in Shanksville this weekend. Although there is no “official” memorial, visiting the temporary memorial is moving. There were at least a thousand people at the site when I was there. The crowd was so large I stopped on my way out to take a picture of the valley with all the people at the memorial. Except for the History Channel I didn’t see much national news that spent much time on Flight 93.
I asked several times over the weekend if anybody had seen news of what was going on in Washington D.C. with the March on Washington. I didn’t see much coverage on the various network news shows. I thought I was always just missing the news on Washington but by Sunday I was asking everyone what they knew. No one had a clue. How could this be? Surely something was happening.
As it turns out there is a question of how many people showed up in Washington. The major networks claim tens of thousands of people showed up. A British newspaper claimed two to three million people were in the mall. Some blogs had the number between 300,000 and a million. Now even I know there is a difference between tens of thousands and millions. Why the difference in opinion?
I couldn’t find a decent news video on-line but I did find this blog reporter who taped three hours of marchers. Take a look at the number of people in one place during the march.
I’m guessing we are seeing the media playing politics rather than giving us facts. The reason I say this is that the President went to Minneapolis for a health care speech where he addressed thousands. Can you believe that, thousands! In the same article it mentions that he is coming to Pittsburgh to talk to the AFL-CIO convention to push health care reform. I guess there wasn’t enough to talk about in Minneapolis.
How can the employees at the hard news agencies look themselves in the mirror? How can the journalism schools that pump out these “reporters” sleep at night? When I was younger I wondered how the reporters at TASS and Pravda looked at themselves. I think I have my answer.
OUTRAGEOUS NEWS
"I don't even know about it," Gibson (ABC news anchor) said when asked about his thoughts on the ACORN hidden video tapes.
I asked several times over the weekend if anybody had seen news of what was going on in Washington D.C. with the March on Washington. I didn’t see much coverage on the various network news shows. I thought I was always just missing the news on Washington but by Sunday I was asking everyone what they knew. No one had a clue. How could this be? Surely something was happening.
As it turns out there is a question of how many people showed up in Washington. The major networks claim tens of thousands of people showed up. A British newspaper claimed two to three million people were in the mall. Some blogs had the number between 300,000 and a million. Now even I know there is a difference between tens of thousands and millions. Why the difference in opinion?
I couldn’t find a decent news video on-line but I did find this blog reporter who taped three hours of marchers. Take a look at the number of people in one place during the march.
I’m guessing we are seeing the media playing politics rather than giving us facts. The reason I say this is that the President went to Minneapolis for a health care speech where he addressed thousands. Can you believe that, thousands! In the same article it mentions that he is coming to Pittsburgh to talk to the AFL-CIO convention to push health care reform. I guess there wasn’t enough to talk about in Minneapolis.
How can the employees at the hard news agencies look themselves in the mirror? How can the journalism schools that pump out these “reporters” sleep at night? When I was younger I wondered how the reporters at TASS and Pravda looked at themselves. I think I have my answer.
OUTRAGEOUS NEWS
"I don't even know about it," Gibson (ABC news anchor) said when asked about his thoughts on the ACORN hidden video tapes.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Remember
On September 11th I will remember the attacks on U.S. citizens by radical Islamists. I will remember more than just the September 11, 2001 attacks that brought down the World Trade Center. I will remember the attack on the Pentagon and, I will remember the real American Hero’s who caused the aborted attack that ended in Shanksville Pennsylvania. If Islamists would like to atone for their violence through community service or participating in a World Day of Service they are welcome, but I will remember.
Approximately 3,000 lives were lost in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. The number of dead at the Pentagon and on the hijacked airliners numbered approximately 385. Since Yasser Arafat "renounced" violence in the Oslo Peace Accords on September 13, 1993, at least 53 Americans have been murdered and at least another 83 Americans have been injured by Palestinian terrorists. Excluding the September 11 attacks, approximately 700 Americans have been killed and 1,600 wounded in terrorist attacks since 1970.
Because September 11th is such a tragic day I will use it to remember a lot of other days that need remembering. For instance, I will remember June 5, 1968 and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator, by a Palestinian immigrant.
I will remember March 28 and 29, 1970 when seven rockets were fired at U.S. interests in Beirut Lebanon by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
I will remember September 5, 1972 and the attack at the Olympic Games in Munich Germany when a front group for Fatah killed a weightlifter from Cleveland Ohio.
I will remember November 4, 1979 when the Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 53 hostages for 444 days.
I will remember October 23, 1983 when a Hizballah drove a vehicle borne improvised explosive device into U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut Lebanon killing 241 marines.
I will remember April 5, 1986 when a nightclub in Berlin that was frequented by American soldiers was the target of a bombing where an American soldier was killed and 41 soldiers wounded, carried out by Libyans.
I will remember January 25, 1993 when a Pakistani gunman opened fire on CIA employees standing outside of a building killing two agents and wounding three others.
I will remember February 26, 1993 when a bomb exploded in the parking garage below the World Trade Center killing six and wounding 1,042. Four Islamist activists were responsible for the attack.
I will remember October 12, 2000 when the U.S.S. Cole was hit with an explosives laden boat in an al-Qaida operation killing 13 American sailors and injuring 33.
I will remember because some would have us forget. Some would rather we not remember that all of these attacks were operations of Islamist extremists carrying out their plan over a 40 year period. I will remember September 11th like I remember December 7th as a sneak attack by enemies of the United States, but I will remember far more than the day.
Approximately 3,000 lives were lost in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. The number of dead at the Pentagon and on the hijacked airliners numbered approximately 385. Since Yasser Arafat "renounced" violence in the Oslo Peace Accords on September 13, 1993, at least 53 Americans have been murdered and at least another 83 Americans have been injured by Palestinian terrorists. Excluding the September 11 attacks, approximately 700 Americans have been killed and 1,600 wounded in terrorist attacks since 1970.
Because September 11th is such a tragic day I will use it to remember a lot of other days that need remembering. For instance, I will remember June 5, 1968 and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator, by a Palestinian immigrant.
I will remember March 28 and 29, 1970 when seven rockets were fired at U.S. interests in Beirut Lebanon by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
I will remember September 5, 1972 and the attack at the Olympic Games in Munich Germany when a front group for Fatah killed a weightlifter from Cleveland Ohio.
I will remember November 4, 1979 when the Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 53 hostages for 444 days.
I will remember October 23, 1983 when a Hizballah drove a vehicle borne improvised explosive device into U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut Lebanon killing 241 marines.
I will remember April 5, 1986 when a nightclub in Berlin that was frequented by American soldiers was the target of a bombing where an American soldier was killed and 41 soldiers wounded, carried out by Libyans.
I will remember January 25, 1993 when a Pakistani gunman opened fire on CIA employees standing outside of a building killing two agents and wounding three others.
I will remember February 26, 1993 when a bomb exploded in the parking garage below the World Trade Center killing six and wounding 1,042. Four Islamist activists were responsible for the attack.
I will remember October 12, 2000 when the U.S.S. Cole was hit with an explosives laden boat in an al-Qaida operation killing 13 American sailors and injuring 33.
I will remember because some would have us forget. Some would rather we not remember that all of these attacks were operations of Islamist extremists carrying out their plan over a 40 year period. I will remember September 11th like I remember December 7th as a sneak attack by enemies of the United States, but I will remember far more than the day.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Earmarks
It doesn’t seem to make any sense. We have used billions of dollars to have people buy new vehicles that will give them a few more miles per gallon of gas and we reduce the money available for the poor and senior citizens to pay winter heating bills. Last year the federal government gave Pennsylvania $308 million for LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program; but this year, the state may get less than half of that money – just $143 million. Last year, a family of four with a maximum household income of $44,443 qualified for help; but this year, the income cutoff will be $33,075. I guess we are fixing those rich people.
One of the reasons this doesn’t make any sense is we have spent billions of dollars on nonsensical stimulus projects while cutting worthwhile programs such as LIHEAP. Cash for Clunkers isn’t the only “Makes ya wanna go huh?” moment. A small border checkpoint located in the town of Whitetail Montana serves about 3 people a day, they will receive $15 million for repairs through the stimulus plan. I see crossing guard shelters in West View that serve more people than that a day. Another checkpoint in Westhope North Dakota serves about 73 people a day and is also set to get $15 million for renovations. That’s 20% of the cut in Pennsylvania’s energy assistance program for two road check points. I would feel better if I thought the expenditures were to improve Homeland Security, but they weren’t, they were earmarks, political favors for elected officials.
In the past, Representative John Murtha obtained earmarks in excess of $200 million dollars for the construction of the Johnstown airport named after him. This year alone Murtha got an $800,000 dollar stimulus fund earmark to repave a runway at the airport because it was a shovel ready project, not because the airport project was worthy of stimulus spending. CNN reported there is an $8 million dollar air traffic radar system installed at the Murtha Airport in 2004 that is not being used or staffed.
Bloomberg recently sued the Federal Reserve to release information on where they sent TARP money. The reason Bloomberg sued was because the Federal Reserve didn’t want to make the information public. The courts have ordered the Federal Reserve to release the information on $700 billion plus in bailout loans by tomorrow, August 31st. Imagine, the FED doesn’t want to tell us where our money was sent because it may hurt businesses. $700 billion would go a long way to fund LIHEAP.
Earmarks do nothing to strengthen the United States or the Commonwealth, they only strengthen politicians. As citizens we have to stand up and take responsibility for these practices. We continue to vote for politicians like this because we believe we benefit in some manner, we don’t. The old adage “we don’t care what he does as long as he is our crook” has got to stop, with us. When it comes to public trust we should care.
One of the reasons this doesn’t make any sense is we have spent billions of dollars on nonsensical stimulus projects while cutting worthwhile programs such as LIHEAP. Cash for Clunkers isn’t the only “Makes ya wanna go huh?” moment. A small border checkpoint located in the town of Whitetail Montana serves about 3 people a day, they will receive $15 million for repairs through the stimulus plan. I see crossing guard shelters in West View that serve more people than that a day. Another checkpoint in Westhope North Dakota serves about 73 people a day and is also set to get $15 million for renovations. That’s 20% of the cut in Pennsylvania’s energy assistance program for two road check points. I would feel better if I thought the expenditures were to improve Homeland Security, but they weren’t, they were earmarks, political favors for elected officials.
In the past, Representative John Murtha obtained earmarks in excess of $200 million dollars for the construction of the Johnstown airport named after him. This year alone Murtha got an $800,000 dollar stimulus fund earmark to repave a runway at the airport because it was a shovel ready project, not because the airport project was worthy of stimulus spending. CNN reported there is an $8 million dollar air traffic radar system installed at the Murtha Airport in 2004 that is not being used or staffed.
Bloomberg recently sued the Federal Reserve to release information on where they sent TARP money. The reason Bloomberg sued was because the Federal Reserve didn’t want to make the information public. The courts have ordered the Federal Reserve to release the information on $700 billion plus in bailout loans by tomorrow, August 31st. Imagine, the FED doesn’t want to tell us where our money was sent because it may hurt businesses. $700 billion would go a long way to fund LIHEAP.
Earmarks do nothing to strengthen the United States or the Commonwealth, they only strengthen politicians. As citizens we have to stand up and take responsibility for these practices. We continue to vote for politicians like this because we believe we benefit in some manner, we don’t. The old adage “we don’t care what he does as long as he is our crook” has got to stop, with us. When it comes to public trust we should care.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
G20
As we get closer to the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, we should be prepared for a few things to happen. When they do happen, we should try to understand what and why it is occurring and try not to get too upset.
One of the things that is sure to happen is demonstrations. Signs will claim that the G20 is responsible for everything from the economy to global warming. Certainly the G20 is responsible for some of the ills of our society but look for the fevered pitch to touch us more directly.
Groups of all kinds are planning and cooperating in their effort to bring their message to the front during the time that the G20 is in town. Some of those planning demonstrations are anarchists. They are people who generally don’t believe in organized anything. However, they are organizing a protest against the G20, go figure! Anarchists are not new, they have been around for a couple of hundred years. We in Pittsburgh should understand anarchists more so than others, but I’m sure we don’t.
Our history has been linked to anarchists for more than 100 years. Back in the 1800’s, after the Civil War, our state and specifically our region, was involved in the labor movement because of the steel mills and coal mines. In 1892 during a steel strike at Carnegie Steel in Homestead the plant manager Henry Clay Frick was shot in an assassination attempt.
If we remember this bit of history from our region we probably think that the shooting was a part of the labor unrest, but it wasn’t. The attempted assassination of Frick was an act of an anarchist taking advantage of the strike and lockout with the company and union members. The anarchist, Alexander Berkman, was carrying out a “propaganda of deed” or inspiring workers into action by his act.
The union did not benefit from the assassination attempt as support for the strike waned and eventually the strike ended. The union became less powerful and eventually was taken over by the United Steel Workers about 30 years later. What is important is the idea of the “propaganda of deed.” The idea of carrying out an act of violence to inspire others is dangerous and we have to be looking at that possibility in the next month.
When you are watching the news and you see demonstrators acting in a violent manner think about the anarchists’goal to cause someone else to act because of their action or “propaganda of deed.” Watch the names of organizations that present themselves for demonstrations. Pay attention to what the groups are doing and see if you can figure out who is practicing “propaganda of deed.”
One of the things that is sure to happen is demonstrations. Signs will claim that the G20 is responsible for everything from the economy to global warming. Certainly the G20 is responsible for some of the ills of our society but look for the fevered pitch to touch us more directly.
Groups of all kinds are planning and cooperating in their effort to bring their message to the front during the time that the G20 is in town. Some of those planning demonstrations are anarchists. They are people who generally don’t believe in organized anything. However, they are organizing a protest against the G20, go figure! Anarchists are not new, they have been around for a couple of hundred years. We in Pittsburgh should understand anarchists more so than others, but I’m sure we don’t.
Our history has been linked to anarchists for more than 100 years. Back in the 1800’s, after the Civil War, our state and specifically our region, was involved in the labor movement because of the steel mills and coal mines. In 1892 during a steel strike at Carnegie Steel in Homestead the plant manager Henry Clay Frick was shot in an assassination attempt.
If we remember this bit of history from our region we probably think that the shooting was a part of the labor unrest, but it wasn’t. The attempted assassination of Frick was an act of an anarchist taking advantage of the strike and lockout with the company and union members. The anarchist, Alexander Berkman, was carrying out a “propaganda of deed” or inspiring workers into action by his act.
The union did not benefit from the assassination attempt as support for the strike waned and eventually the strike ended. The union became less powerful and eventually was taken over by the United Steel Workers about 30 years later. What is important is the idea of the “propaganda of deed.” The idea of carrying out an act of violence to inspire others is dangerous and we have to be looking at that possibility in the next month.
When you are watching the news and you see demonstrators acting in a violent manner think about the anarchists’goal to cause someone else to act because of their action or “propaganda of deed.” Watch the names of organizations that present themselves for demonstrations. Pay attention to what the groups are doing and see if you can figure out who is practicing “propaganda of deed.”
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Life
Our health care debate has a few problems with consistency, abortion and end of life care. This past week the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted on the Stupak-Pitts amendment and passed it. Well, it passed for a short time until Chairman Henry Waxman brought the amendment back to the floor again for a re-vote and Tennessee Representative Bart Gordon changed his mind and voted the amendment down by a vote of 30 to 29.
The Stupak-Pitts amendment was designed to make sure private insurance plans were not mandated to provide abortion coverage. With the amendment being voted down after Waxman’s arm twisting it appears that our Health Care Reform will require private insurance to provide abortions. We should be expecting that position by this time but our health care endeavor also requires end of life counseling for everyone over 65 every five years.
Supposedly the end of life counseling is to give us the opportunity to understand Living Wills and the options we have if things become too burdensome on our lives. I think it is to convince us that spending money on our health care is a waste of resources. After all didn’t our President say we spend too much money on health care in the last two years of life?
National health care is sounding a lot like pre-World War II Germany. First they allowed abortion, then they permitted post birth abortion for all those children who had health concerns. Then they permitted withholding nutrition from toddlers who had mental dysfunctions. Then it was people over 65 who were not permitted to take jobs from the younger people, then it was withholding their health care. Then they came up with the final solution to their socialist problems, and they lived happily ever after.
Prior to being elected, the President was asked about abortion and his answer was that the answer was above his pay grade. Today there is no higher pay grade than his, and he chooses private abortions, publicly funded abortions and now plans to compel private insurance to provide abortions, but don’t stop there, health care should provide mandatory end of life counseling, too. I think it is time we all start taking responsibility.
This has been tried in other countries. Take a look at an article that tells one person’s experience with the Swiss end of life business. Daily Mail
The Stupak-Pitts amendment was designed to make sure private insurance plans were not mandated to provide abortion coverage. With the amendment being voted down after Waxman’s arm twisting it appears that our Health Care Reform will require private insurance to provide abortions. We should be expecting that position by this time but our health care endeavor also requires end of life counseling for everyone over 65 every five years.
Supposedly the end of life counseling is to give us the opportunity to understand Living Wills and the options we have if things become too burdensome on our lives. I think it is to convince us that spending money on our health care is a waste of resources. After all didn’t our President say we spend too much money on health care in the last two years of life?
National health care is sounding a lot like pre-World War II Germany. First they allowed abortion, then they permitted post birth abortion for all those children who had health concerns. Then they permitted withholding nutrition from toddlers who had mental dysfunctions. Then it was people over 65 who were not permitted to take jobs from the younger people, then it was withholding their health care. Then they came up with the final solution to their socialist problems, and they lived happily ever after.
Prior to being elected, the President was asked about abortion and his answer was that the answer was above his pay grade. Today there is no higher pay grade than his, and he chooses private abortions, publicly funded abortions and now plans to compel private insurance to provide abortions, but don’t stop there, health care should provide mandatory end of life counseling, too. I think it is time we all start taking responsibility.
This has been tried in other countries. Take a look at an article that tells one person’s experience with the Swiss end of life business. Daily Mail
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Health Care
I am surprised by some people who support a National Health Care system who I believe should see it for what it is, the socialization of our health care industry. The health care system in the United States may need some tweaking but not a government take-over. As a matter of fact, the tweaking we need may be to get the government regulation and control out of the system we have now.
There aren’t many out there who believe the already existing national health care system we have is the best in the world. Think about it, is the Veteran’s Administration hospital system the best health care in the world? We formed that system to take care of those of us who were wounded in battle defending our country. And then we have the Medicare system that we designed to take care of our old people, after they have worked their whole life. How’s that working?
It’s not like we don’t have health care, we have the best private health care in the world, and we want to change that? Are we nuts or what? People from around the world come to the United States for the best health care in the world. The people in the U.S. don’t go to other countries and check in to the hospital because they can get better care. I’m guessing that since a national health care plan is better than what we have now our congressmen and senators will get the same health care they are planning for us. Don’t be silly they already have the best health care in the world and they know it. We’ll be allowed to keep ours also but we will have to pay our share of the health care tax to make Medicare solvent, after all we shouldn’t expect a national health care system for nothing.
But maybe we will lose our employer provided health care. A July 17 study by the Lewin Group that was commissioned by the Heritage Foundation projects that if the House bill becomes law, 83.4 million people—nearly half of those with private coverage—will lose private insurance as employers drop their plans. That means we will have the 47 million who supposedly don’t have health care now plus the 83 million who will have their employer bail on private insurance for a total of 130 million on the national health care rolls. That’s almost half of us folks.
Watching the President’s address on Wednesday night I was shocked when he said “end of life care” would be reduced in his plan. He said that we have to reduce the amount of money we spend at the end of one’s life. Will National Health Care encourage our parents to take their own lives? Do we get rid of nursing homes? Does it withhold medical care from the elderly based on a bureaucrat’s decision regarding “quality of life” issues? Does it encourage the rationing of medical services? The bottom line, is Euthanasia included in National Health Care Reform? Dr. Kevorkian, call your office.
While you are thinking about supporting national health care think about these facts from Scott W. Atlas, M.D., he is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at the Stanford University Medical Center:
Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.
Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:
• Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).
Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor."
Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."
Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the "health care system," more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).
Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.
Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country. Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.
And we want to change this system, why?
There aren’t many out there who believe the already existing national health care system we have is the best in the world. Think about it, is the Veteran’s Administration hospital system the best health care in the world? We formed that system to take care of those of us who were wounded in battle defending our country. And then we have the Medicare system that we designed to take care of our old people, after they have worked their whole life. How’s that working?
It’s not like we don’t have health care, we have the best private health care in the world, and we want to change that? Are we nuts or what? People from around the world come to the United States for the best health care in the world. The people in the U.S. don’t go to other countries and check in to the hospital because they can get better care. I’m guessing that since a national health care plan is better than what we have now our congressmen and senators will get the same health care they are planning for us. Don’t be silly they already have the best health care in the world and they know it. We’ll be allowed to keep ours also but we will have to pay our share of the health care tax to make Medicare solvent, after all we shouldn’t expect a national health care system for nothing.
But maybe we will lose our employer provided health care. A July 17 study by the Lewin Group that was commissioned by the Heritage Foundation projects that if the House bill becomes law, 83.4 million people—nearly half of those with private coverage—will lose private insurance as employers drop their plans. That means we will have the 47 million who supposedly don’t have health care now plus the 83 million who will have their employer bail on private insurance for a total of 130 million on the national health care rolls. That’s almost half of us folks.
Watching the President’s address on Wednesday night I was shocked when he said “end of life care” would be reduced in his plan. He said that we have to reduce the amount of money we spend at the end of one’s life. Will National Health Care encourage our parents to take their own lives? Do we get rid of nursing homes? Does it withhold medical care from the elderly based on a bureaucrat’s decision regarding “quality of life” issues? Does it encourage the rationing of medical services? The bottom line, is Euthanasia included in National Health Care Reform? Dr. Kevorkian, call your office.
While you are thinking about supporting national health care think about these facts from Scott W. Atlas, M.D., he is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at the Stanford University Medical Center:
Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.
Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.
Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:
• Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).
Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor."
Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.
Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."
Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the "health care system," more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).
Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.
Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country. Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.
And we want to change this system, why?
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