In my opinion, if we could get around 300 Congressmen, 60 Senators, and 1 President to learn from this Brit in the European Parliament, we'd be in good shape as a nation. Pay special attention at 2:20. Learn it, love it, live it.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
New Executive Order: No More Vacations for TOTUS
The Teleprompter of the United States, or TOTUS, would never have let this happen. After all, Mr. Teleprompter knows better than to ever let him say something like this.
Although I disagree with virtually all of President Obama's policies, it looked like he might make it through The Tonight Show, his first public appearance as president minus the TOTUS, without stepping in a potentially huge pile of political excrement. Then, of course, he decided to use the Special Olympics as a punchline to describe his bowling style. Ouch! I can just see the TOTUS cringing now.
At least we know that even with the economy in shambles, Mr. Teleprompter has complete job security and is under contract for at least the next 4 years.
*Picture from http://mikemoody.wordpress.com
President Ron Burgundy?
This is just too hilarious. Evidently the president during the White House St. Patrick's Day party started reading the wrong speech off the teleprompter, but didn't realize it until he thanked himself for inviting everyone over. It's really too bad no one has released this video. Classic example of the media covering for him. Can you only imagine if Bush had done this? It would be everywhere! (Think: "The locked door in China")
Oh, and here's the funniest thing I've seen in months. It looks like Obama's teleprompter has started it's own blog! This will of course be added to my list of favorites immediately.
Oh, and here's the funniest thing I've seen in months. It looks like Obama's teleprompter has started it's own blog! This will of course be added to my list of favorites immediately.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Again...Still Campaigning?
As you may or may not have heard, Barack Obama, President of the United States and leader of the free world, is going to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday. Does anyone else have a problem with this? I have three thoughts:
- It's my opinion that it is beneath the Office of the Presidency for a sitting president to appear on a late-night comedy talk show.
- Does Obama really have this kind of free time? I mean, I know there's not much going on in the country right now, but I thought presidents usually kept pretty busy schedules.
- I wonder if he'll be bringing the teleprompter...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Why Healthcare Should Remain Private
I have long been of the mindset that private health care is far superior to universal (or government-run or socialized) health care. This was confirmed last week as we took my newborn daughter Addisen to her first pediatrician appointment. We got there early for our appointment, right as the office opened at 9:00, and heard the reception ladies talking behind the desk. It was a Friday and they were mentioning how our pediatrician had around 63 appointments that day. Needless to say, after hearing that we expected the waiting room to get very busy, which it did in fairly short order. However, we were delighted that we were called right on time for our 9:45 appointment.
The doctor was magnificent, and we were told that per standard newborn procedure, we needed to go back to the hospital lab and have Addisen's blood drawn to test her bilirubin levels. When levels are high, a condition called jaundice occurs. Before leaving, our doctor told us that her nurse would be giving us a call once they received the results and we would determine our further course of action at that time. Her blood was taken around 11:30 am.
I got a call around 1:30 pm, not from the nurse, but from the doctor herself. The same doctor, mind you, that had 63 appointments that day. She let us know that Addisen's levels were high and that we had a couple of options. The first was for home treatment, which involves holding a special fluorescent light against her skin 24/7 with the exception of diaper-changing, as well as upping her feedings and supplementing with formula every 2 hours. The light "loosens" the bilirubin and the increased feedings help flush it out of her system. The second option is to admit her to the hospital where she will lie under much stronger lights in a special crib. This would work more quickly, but involved readmitting her to the hospital which we obviously wanted to avoid. I told the doctor that we would prefer the home treatment.
She told me that she would call to make arrangements and have her nurse call me back. Less than an hour later, I received a call from a medical equipment company. I can't remember the name. Evidently, after receiving the order, they called me before the nurse even had a chance to. This company was based out of CO and called to verify my insurance info and to let me know they would be sending out someone that afternoon to deliver the lighting device. About five minutes later, our doctor called us again. Yes, not the nurse, the doctor. She said that she had just confirmed that the order had been placed through Cooks Children's Hospital here locally and they would be calling me shortly to schedule a time to come out.
I informed her that another company had just called to confirm my insurance info. She said that they were originally going to use that company, but had already called to cancel and were going with Cooks instead as it was discovered that they offer better service. After inquiring what that meant, I was informed that Cooks would come out that evening, show us how to use the lighting device, then send a nurse out to our house every morning to draw blood on-site and get Addisen's other vitals.
With the other company, we would have had to take her in to the lab every day to draw blood, which is necessary to be sure the treatment is working and her bilirubin levels were dropping. Cooks would take care of relaying the results to our doctor, then call us to let us know her levels. The doctor would also let us know when to take her off the light.
Cooks called around 5:00 pm to let us know they were headed out. The gentleman who called gave me his cell so we could call back if we felt he was taking too long and wanted to know where he was. While he was at our house showing us how to use the device, our phone rang. It was the Cooks nurse already calling to schedule the next morning's appointment.
Later that evening around 8:00, my parents came over to spend some time with their new granddaughter, already on her treatment light, and brought us dinner. We were in the process of telling them about our experience that day and how blown away we were by the quality of care we had received, when the phone rang. It was our pediatrician calling again just to make sure that Cooks had stepped up to the plate and taken care of everything. She also was informing us, as this was Friday, that it was not her weekend to be on-call, but gave me the name and direct phone number of her colleague that would be on-call and would be taking care of monitoring Addisen's results.
I'd like to go through this timeline one more time:
Over the last few years, I've read many articles about the horrors of government run health care systems in Canada, Great Britain, etc., but never seen them all in one place. From his website this past week, Mark Levin linked to a site that has compiled stories from countries that have health care run by the government. It's quite astounding and you can read through all the headlines here as well as the stories if you've got the time. As you read through these, keep in mind my story about Addisen's experience. Fair warning, there are about 200 articles listed, my favorite from Canada entitled Will Socialized Health Care in the US Kill Canadians? There's another from Great Britain entitled NHS chiefs tell grandmother, 61, she's 'too old' for £5,000 life-saving heart surgery.
As you read through some of these, you realize that universal health care isn't compassionate or humane. It's just the opposite. It's taking life or death medical decisions out of the hands of doctors & patients and placing them in the hands of government bureaucrats hundreds if not thousands of miles away.
As you can see, I take a pretty hard line on this. A little background, my wife and I got married when we were still in college after our junior year. Due to our course loads, we were both working 35+ hours a week, but were still considered part time and didn't have access to employer provided health care. Even given that we didn't make a ton of money, we still managed to purchase health insurance for ourselves. Sure it wasn't a "Cadillac" plan. It was a catastrophic plan with a high deductible, but it would have saved our butts if something serious ever happened. Sure, it would have been more fun to use that money to go to the bar, buy a newer cell phone, or go out to eat. Maybe even buy a nicer car. However, we both considered having health insurance a priority and were able to afford it.
While I know there are exceptions to every rule, it's my belief that the vast majority of uninsured people in America are there by choice of priorities. There are people in this country that truly cannot help themselves and I'm not referring to them. I'm borrowing this quote and can't remember where I heard it. I do believe we should help the helpless. But the clueless? They're on their own.
The health care which is available in the US is second to none. That's the reason people from across the globe who live in countries with socialized health care come here in droves when they really need a procedure done. I reject the notion that the incredible health care system that is available in this country should be thrown by the wayside because a group of people, most of whom don't have insurance by their own choice, want someone else to foot the bill.
OK, I'm tired of typing now.
The doctor was magnificent, and we were told that per standard newborn procedure, we needed to go back to the hospital lab and have Addisen's blood drawn to test her bilirubin levels. When levels are high, a condition called jaundice occurs. Before leaving, our doctor told us that her nurse would be giving us a call once they received the results and we would determine our further course of action at that time. Her blood was taken around 11:30 am.
I got a call around 1:30 pm, not from the nurse, but from the doctor herself. The same doctor, mind you, that had 63 appointments that day. She let us know that Addisen's levels were high and that we had a couple of options. The first was for home treatment, which involves holding a special fluorescent light against her skin 24/7 with the exception of diaper-changing, as well as upping her feedings and supplementing with formula every 2 hours. The light "loosens" the bilirubin and the increased feedings help flush it out of her system. The second option is to admit her to the hospital where she will lie under much stronger lights in a special crib. This would work more quickly, but involved readmitting her to the hospital which we obviously wanted to avoid. I told the doctor that we would prefer the home treatment.
She told me that she would call to make arrangements and have her nurse call me back. Less than an hour later, I received a call from a medical equipment company. I can't remember the name. Evidently, after receiving the order, they called me before the nurse even had a chance to. This company was based out of CO and called to verify my insurance info and to let me know they would be sending out someone that afternoon to deliver the lighting device. About five minutes later, our doctor called us again. Yes, not the nurse, the doctor. She said that she had just confirmed that the order had been placed through Cooks Children's Hospital here locally and they would be calling me shortly to schedule a time to come out.
I informed her that another company had just called to confirm my insurance info. She said that they were originally going to use that company, but had already called to cancel and were going with Cooks instead as it was discovered that they offer better service. After inquiring what that meant, I was informed that Cooks would come out that evening, show us how to use the lighting device, then send a nurse out to our house every morning to draw blood on-site and get Addisen's other vitals.
With the other company, we would have had to take her in to the lab every day to draw blood, which is necessary to be sure the treatment is working and her bilirubin levels were dropping. Cooks would take care of relaying the results to our doctor, then call us to let us know her levels. The doctor would also let us know when to take her off the light.
Cooks called around 5:00 pm to let us know they were headed out. The gentleman who called gave me his cell so we could call back if we felt he was taking too long and wanted to know where he was. While he was at our house showing us how to use the device, our phone rang. It was the Cooks nurse already calling to schedule the next morning's appointment.
Later that evening around 8:00, my parents came over to spend some time with their new granddaughter, already on her treatment light, and brought us dinner. We were in the process of telling them about our experience that day and how blown away we were by the quality of care we had received, when the phone rang. It was our pediatrician calling again just to make sure that Cooks had stepped up to the plate and taken care of everything. She also was informing us, as this was Friday, that it was not her weekend to be on-call, but gave me the name and direct phone number of her colleague that would be on-call and would be taking care of monitoring Addisen's results.
I'd like to go through this timeline one more time:
- 11:30 AM: Addisen's blood drawn at lab
- 1:30 PM: Doctor calls us 1st time to let us know her levels are high and discuss treatment options
- 2:00 PM: Received call from 1st company to verify insurance info and set appointment
- 2:30 PM: Received 2nd call from doctor to let us know Cooks would be calling to set appointment and that order from original company had been cancelled
- 5:00 PM: Received call from Cooks that they would be there before 6:00 pm to deliver device and show us how to use it
- 5:50 PM: Cooks medical equipment guy shows up to deliver device
- 6:00 PM: Cooks nurse calls to set appointment for next morning for her to come out
- 8:00 PM: Doctor calls for 3rd time to make sure everything had gone smoothly and been taken care of
Over the last few years, I've read many articles about the horrors of government run health care systems in Canada, Great Britain, etc., but never seen them all in one place. From his website this past week, Mark Levin linked to a site that has compiled stories from countries that have health care run by the government. It's quite astounding and you can read through all the headlines here as well as the stories if you've got the time. As you read through these, keep in mind my story about Addisen's experience. Fair warning, there are about 200 articles listed, my favorite from Canada entitled Will Socialized Health Care in the US Kill Canadians? There's another from Great Britain entitled NHS chiefs tell grandmother, 61, she's 'too old' for £5,000 life-saving heart surgery.
As you read through some of these, you realize that universal health care isn't compassionate or humane. It's just the opposite. It's taking life or death medical decisions out of the hands of doctors & patients and placing them in the hands of government bureaucrats hundreds if not thousands of miles away.
As you can see, I take a pretty hard line on this. A little background, my wife and I got married when we were still in college after our junior year. Due to our course loads, we were both working 35+ hours a week, but were still considered part time and didn't have access to employer provided health care. Even given that we didn't make a ton of money, we still managed to purchase health insurance for ourselves. Sure it wasn't a "Cadillac" plan. It was a catastrophic plan with a high deductible, but it would have saved our butts if something serious ever happened. Sure, it would have been more fun to use that money to go to the bar, buy a newer cell phone, or go out to eat. Maybe even buy a nicer car. However, we both considered having health insurance a priority and were able to afford it.
While I know there are exceptions to every rule, it's my belief that the vast majority of uninsured people in America are there by choice of priorities. There are people in this country that truly cannot help themselves and I'm not referring to them. I'm borrowing this quote and can't remember where I heard it. I do believe we should help the helpless. But the clueless? They're on their own.
The health care which is available in the US is second to none. That's the reason people from across the globe who live in countries with socialized health care come here in droves when they really need a procedure done. I reject the notion that the incredible health care system that is available in this country should be thrown by the wayside because a group of people, most of whom don't have insurance by their own choice, want someone else to foot the bill.
OK, I'm tired of typing now.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Obama-conomics: French for "Money Down the Crapper"
Here's a couple of good articles on President Obama's economic vision and it's consequences. The first is by Charles Krauthammer posted on Real Clear Politics called Deception at Core of Obama Plans. The second is by Michael Boskin at the Wall Street Journal entitled Obama's Radicalism is Killing the Dow.
What the markets are doing to our investments and retirement funds is no accident or coincidence. This is a flat-out market rejection of the man's policies. Since his inauguration a month and a half ago, the Dow has lost 20% of it's value. Since his election four months ago, the Dow has lost nearly 32% of it's value. Regardless of your ideaology, what works works, and what doesn't doesn't. The payroll report released this morning reported 650,000 jobs lost last month even though we were about to pass a grand "stimulus bill". Less than 3 hours later, Obama's on TV in Ohio bragging about how his stimulus saved 25 jobs. This is just pathetic.
I'll have another post later, hopefully tonight, about what the president is wanting to do to our healthcare system. Due to the birth of my daughter, I just got a wide-eyed look at what a marvelous thing he's trying to demonize and destroy.
What the markets are doing to our investments and retirement funds is no accident or coincidence. This is a flat-out market rejection of the man's policies. Since his inauguration a month and a half ago, the Dow has lost 20% of it's value. Since his election four months ago, the Dow has lost nearly 32% of it's value. Regardless of your ideaology, what works works, and what doesn't doesn't. The payroll report released this morning reported 650,000 jobs lost last month even though we were about to pass a grand "stimulus bill". Less than 3 hours later, Obama's on TV in Ohio bragging about how his stimulus saved 25 jobs. This is just pathetic.
I'll have another post later, hopefully tonight, about what the president is wanting to do to our healthcare system. Due to the birth of my daughter, I just got a wide-eyed look at what a marvelous thing he's trying to demonize and destroy.
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