Poor Wally's Almanac

The answer is simple! GOVERNMENT MANDATES WHAT MUST BE COVERED…

True! Right now it is the government of each state which creates these mandates, but Obama and the Democrats want to have the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MANDATE WHAT INSURANCE COMPANIES MUST PROVIDE!

In California, for instance, no Health Insurance can be sold in that state which doesn’t include coverage for things like acupunture and prenatal care (even for individuals who may not intend to have children). I wouldn’t be surprized that medical and psychological costs associated with an individual’s choice to change his or her gender, is also mandated in a state like California! If so, just like expensive things like cancer treatment, such costs are asorbed by the entire group of everyone who buys a policy!

TORT REFORM is a necessary part of any Healthcare reform, since lawsuits often result in settelements which require Health Insurance Companies to provide certain coverage for such things as I mentioned above!

PURCHASING ACCROSS STATE LINES would require that states (like New York and California) recognize an individual’s right to buy a policy which provides only the coverage for the Health Risks he/she is not willing to assume as their own!

What do you think? Are the State Governments correct in continuing to raise the bar for the mandatory coverage for consumers, which must be absorbed by all? OR DOES THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF OUT OF CONTROL PREMIUMS OFFSET THE BENEFIT???

I just watched an interesting Senate Hearing on CSPAN regarding the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber.  The Senators did a pretty good job of grilling Janet Nepalatano and the others on the panel.
 
During the testimony it was revealed that although their are 400,000 names of people identified as “terrorists or suspected terrrorists” on the “Terrorist Watch List”, only 4000 of these individuals have been placed on the no fly list!  The obvious question was asked and answered; why not simply place all of these names on the Terrrorist Watch List on the No Fly list!
 
The Answer was stunning!  The Bureaucrats said they look to Congress to help them decide what is the appropriate level of risk and where to draw the line!  They said that they have not merged this list because of the civil rights concerns of  these “terrorists and suspected terrorists” on this list!

 This sparked a rather reveling debate!
 
Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) gave a rather lengthy, drawn out position regarding the civil rights of individuals and how important it was that every person’s civil rights be preserved.  He then asked Sec. Napalatano and the the other  witnesses about the involvement of Civil Rights Specialists within their own departments, in  determining both who was placed on a no fly list and whether their privacy rights were taken into consideration regarding the types of screening the individual was subjected to!

Mr. Akaka was assured that their are civil rights advocates within every department ensuring the civil rights of such people are preserved!
 
There was a pretty spirited debate over those (Democrats) who want to preserve the civil rights of every individual,  versus those (Republicans) who want to preserve the right to life of other Americans!
 
They drifted into the topic of why the Underwear Bomber was arrested and read his “rights” and immediately provided a lawyer, rather than turned over to the military and the CIA for interrogation and intelligence.  
 
The witnesses revealed that the Obama Administration has authorized only those interrogation techniques authorized in the US Army Field Manual!  This sparked questions about whether Alqaeda this manual was public, which they were told that it is!

 Then came the following questions;
 
1) Isn’t it reasonable to assume that Alqaeda trains it’s agents as to what to expect and how to resist these techniques, if they know what they are.

2) Doesn’t it make sense to not have they enemy know what to expect if they are captured and interrogated!
 
2) Weren’t there many “classified techiques” (code for enhansed interrogation) not in the Army Field Manual, that the CIA was using up until the Obama Administration.  The answer was  ”  yes, but  we feel we can get just as good results, without them!  ”
 
 
Some of the Senator’s questions went unanswered with the response that the panel would rather address the question in closed session.  I couldn’t help but think that one of the reasons the watch list and the no fly list isn’t being merged (and the watch list isn’t widely distributed) is so known and suspected terrorists are able to enter the country, without knowing they are being watched!  
 
Without the types of   ”classified interrogation techniques”  (formerly called enhansed interrogation techniques) used by the Bush Administration, our FBI, which seems to be our lead agency now, is using tried and true criminal investigation techniques, such as surveillance of suspects!  
 
The difference between surveillance of an Alqaeda suspect and surveillance of an organized crime suspect is that, while both may lead you to more individuals within their organization, the mafia doesn’t present the same level of threat to the public.  They don’t do things like blow themselves up with an airplane full of men, women and children!

When I was a young man I worked in an industry that was grossly understaffed to perform it’s mission.  It was a seven day a week, 24 hour a day operation.  The employer had determined that it was far less expensive than hiring sufficient full time personnel,  to simply pay the overtime.  As a result there was an overtime glut for all of the staff.  In fact there was so much overtime that many didn’t want to work it and the management was always on their case to shoulder their share of what had become our responsibility.

I was part of a  ’greedy little group’ who grabbed as much overtime as we could.  What the hell!  If the others didn’t want it, I’d take it.  I can use the money!  We worked back to back double shifts, swing shifts and split shifts and switched shifts with each other , occassionally when we had to get a little sleep or spend a little time in the real world. 

Yep, back in the day, we didn’t even compare pay checks anymore.  We asked each other how many hours you got (hours of overtime , cummulatively, for  the year)  as our small work group competed for a fictitous “overtime belt”.  Our time sheets showed both our leave accruals and our overtime hours worked, for the year.  By each December, the scramble to win the Overtime Belt was on!  

Other staff were  ’greedy’  for as much time off as they could get and  looked to try to squeak a few additional shifts off, thrugh the Holidays.  That meant that there  was  just more overtime for  those of us who wanted the work.  Through December there were always  several of us were within a few shifts of each other.   By the end of the year, I always won the belt!

Coincidentially, it was myself and my greedy little competitors for the overtime belt who later came to become the management of this organization. Go Figure!

Today,  we hear our politicians and political pundits blame “the Greed of Wall Street”  and “the Greed of Big Business”  for all our economic and social ills.  I notice they never speak of the “Greed of Individual Politicians” or  the “Greed of our President” and certainly they never address their own “Greed” and what motivates them!

The American public is being played for fools, as powerful forces foster class envy and even hatred towards thse who have become successful.   We are also be manupulated through the use of artful propaganda into bellieving  a  BIG  LIE!  Many would have us believe that Capitalism has failed and that the United States of America is not and never was the greatest nation on the face of this earth! 

If  they are sucessful in undermining what was once known as the American Dream,  they will fulfill their personal aspirations, which is motivated by their own selfish Greed for power and control!

I highly recommend going to youtube.com and viewing a short video clip of Milton Friedman and Phil Donohue disscussing the issue of GREED!  It’s very illuminating!

On this same page, at youtube, Mr. Friedman expresses his views on socialized medicine (now known as the Public Option, leading to a Single Payer Healthcare System)

You see, none f this is new.  Milton Friedman is no longer with us. Yet, the same old worn out socialist agenda, has a stranglehold on our nation becasuse of the GREED and ENVY being fostered against the haves by the have nots. 

 Our government, which has failed us so miserably and created this economic crisis are now using this crisis to push their own political agenda.  After all, as Rham Emmanual said, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”!

Proving the old adage that three’s a crowd, three people showed up at a Washington Borders Book Store to stand in line to meet and greet Mika Brzezinski and receive a signed copy of her new blockbuster book.  
 
The customers, who describedl themselves as liberal thinking fans of Ms. Brzezinski, included Chiris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Zbigniew Brzezinski!
 
Chris Matthews commented “It was great seeing my old friend and collegue from our days working in the Carter Administration and as we stood in line Zbigniew, Ziggie, as we called him, discussed how Carter would have achieved the same agenda Obama has, if it weren’t for the great  malaise of the American people at that time!” Chrissy added that “I’m so excited in receving my copy of Mika’s book and the awesome atmosphere of this great assembly of fans and customers, I have to admit that I loss contol of my blatter, again, and pissed my pants”
 
Keith Olbermann commented. “I have not read Ms. Brzezinski’s book, but I’m sure it’s going to be an excitingand awe inspiring best seller, because unlike SARAH PALIN, Mika can read and write” (chuckle, wink)
 
Chris Matthews added another comment, saying “this incredible book signing party, I think you can call it, is going to only get better and better.  As soon as Joe, Willie and Barnacle get off the air, they all have said they are coming straight over to this mall and there will be another crowd standing in line to buy a copy of this incredible, sure to be best seller!”
 
Zbigniew Brzezinski, said “As far to your point about my daughter’s book becoming a best seller, I can tell you, I am currently involved in high level negotiations with the Obama Administration and they seem quite in agreement with the concept of using unspent stimulous funds to purchase copies of this book en masse and making them mandatory readiing for all school children!”