The ObamaCare Disaster

Dear Editor,

 

While there is no doubt that Mr. Guzenda is prolific and passionate in his writings. he is also in prodigious error throughout his commentaries. He is predictably "long in labeling and light in logic." He would probably find himself in over his head less frequently if he didn't dive into the deep end with his obviously erroneous, hyperbolic, self serving, and patently false statements. His claim that he has "refuted" my "talking points" can only be believed by certified citizens of an alternative universe. He "refuted" ZERO of my facts or contentions. In fact, he inadvertently reinforced my objections to ObamaCare by his own behavior which will be explained later!

 

Readers who follow our somewhat sporadic and time-delayed discussions may note that he labeled my polling sources as "two right wing outlets that vociferously oppose Obamacare." My sources were CBS News and the Kaiser Family Foundation! Right wing sources? He's got to be kidding! By that standard, Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and the Communist Worker's Daily are "moderates." He offers up Factcheck.org and Mythopedia as "debunkers." Factcheck.org is financed by the Annenburg Foundation which is headed up by a woman who wrote a book castigating conservative talk radio, Fox News, and those who view or listen to them as well as all others who hold conservative viewpoints.. Mythopedia is a website launched by Media Matters, a well known liberal shill, and is solely designed to attack Republican positions. Surely he would know, as would any competent researcher, that his sites are neither objective nor neutral in their content. His contentions are pure foolishness and disinformation under the guise of research for the "low information voter." Naturally, he again fails to provide the source of his countervailing polling statistics.

 

Additionally, his sophomoric debating tactics would be worth only a C minus even at that grade level. However, even a competent C student should understand the basics of Constitution, Common sense, Capitalism, and Consumer Competence. For the moment, I'll ignore his elitist and somewhat smug assertion that I don't know how to read my policy which increased in price over 70% this year and his omniscient assertion that it is full of "worthless benefits." He professes that he was able to purchase a policy with fewer benefits for 50% less which fits his needs. A basic student in logic will understand there is absolutely no relevance in that comparison. It's apples to oranges and a rhetorical shell game. A basic student in ObamaCare would understand that his ability to purchase a policy with just the benefits he needs and none of the state mandated extra benefits is the exact opposite of the ACA he supports! There is none so blind as he who would not see!

 

Of course he also fails to address most of the alternatives to ObamaCare I presented. Apparently, they were addressed in the open debates on CSpan...or posted on line by the President...or considered as amendments....NOT! His childish "there's a monster under my bed" fears of insurance companies selling across state lines is just another example of statists thinking they know what is best for you and that you and I are not smart enough (although Mr. Guzenda apparently is!) to shop and secure exactly what you need. Once again, Democrats are the "party of no" and are just as anti-choice in health care as they are when it comes to charter schools and school choice.

 

I'm beginning to think that Mr. Guzenda has broken his own world record for most disinformation in a single letter, but there are several more glaring errors in his errant stream of consciousness. He has conveniently omitted any memory of the $500 billion taken from Medicare (now $716 billion according to the CBO) to make ACA (hahaha) "revenue neutral." He also fails to note that individual insurance premiums have increased 39% over the last year and family insurance premiums have increased 56% over the same period. This is more than the previous eight years combined. The insurance experts also warned in a Wall Street Journal article that premiums might double or possibly triple in the coming year. In a nation where only a third of the people have saved a thousand dollars toward their retirements, you expect them to be able to afford thousands of dollars in deductibles and corresponding increases in premiums. Meanwhile, some of the premier cancer treatment centers are no longer in many networks, doctors are being excluded, fewer choices are available and you want me to help you put more lipstick on the pig that I am constitutionally, philosophically, economically, and diametrically opposed to that is ruining the finest health care system in the world. No thank you...not now...not ever!  Finally, if ObamaCare is so darned fine, why weren't the legislators who passed it first in line?  Why aren't the youth and the uninsured clamoring for coverage?  You can be sure that we will see you at the polls!

 

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin 

Troubled By Comparisons

By William L. Garvin

 

It would be much easier to be an anti-theist in this day and age if one suffered from a bipolar affliction.  On one hand, anti-theists represented by American Atheists are a seething cauldron of hyper sensitivities and on the other hand, they are totally insensitive to the needs of others.  A good example of the former pole is their lawsuit against the World Trade Center and an equally appalling example of the latter is the American Humanist Association lawsuit against a grieving mother in Lake Elsinore, California.

 

In the first instance, many will remember the cross-shaped I-beam that was found in the wreckage after 9/11.  It served as a rallying point and symbol of inspiration for many in the chaotic aftermath of 3,000 murdered Americans.  It is to be included in the WTC memorial museum.  The very thought of that iconic symbol being displayed caused anti-theists “physical and emotional pain…dyspepsia, depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.”   Surprisingly, these sensitive souls (oops…do anti-theists have souls?) failed to also list “loss of conjugal relations” amongst their many maladies.

 

On the other end of their bipolar scale is the AHA lawsuit in Lake Elsinore.  A mother’s nineteen year old son was killed by a vehicle and she put up a cross and flowers at the roadside of the scene.  The militant anti-theists decided that her show of grief had gone on long enough and because it was on public property, the cross constituted the state establishment of religion.  Remember, these are the folks who don’t want “In God We Trust” on our currency, prayer in school, Jesus Christ in our military, or any religious symbol in any public setting.  Curiously, their anti-religion, anti-God legal jihad never extends to the Muslim front.

 

Comparison Number Two:  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the front runner for the “Boldest Liar in Congress” award.  It seems that the little leader is not only content with telling the biggest whoppers but also has no misgivings about using the senate floor to attack private individuals.  His latest target has been the Koch brothers, the evil villain du jour for the Democrat Party.  Naturally he ignored the $139 million the Kochs donated to MIT; $100 million to Lincoln Center; $41 Million to Prostate Cancer Foundation; $30 million to Sloan-Kettering; and $15 million to NY Presbyterian Hospital.  In total, they have donated more than $600 million to arts, education and medical research.  Their sin of course is the $18 million they donated to Republican political causes.

 

Harry also ignored the fact that OpenSecrets.org lists them as 59^th on the donation list.  He ignored Numero Uno on the list which is AFSCME at $60.6 million.  Harry, six of the top ten donors are unions.  Yes, it’s estimated the Koch brothers do contribute tens of millions of “dark money” to independent committees but it’s also estimated that the unions contribute half a billion in this fashion.  Tell me again, Harry, who’s spending the most to buy elections?  Why are you so hung up on the Koch brothers?

 

Another unfortunate comparison occurred in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  The representatives of the State Department, the Defense Department, and USAID were asked two simple questions.  One, how much is the U.S. spending in Afghanistan; two, how many American troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2013?  None of the three was able to answer either of the questions.  Apparently our free press, which virtually ran daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and total body counts and war costs during the Bush era, is now so lax that these folks have never had to prepare a boiler plate answer let alone an honest answer.  Unfortunately, this lack of accountability has become the rule rather than the exception during the current administration.

 

Finally, the Obama administration jumped for joy when the Gallup poll showed that the uninsured rate had dropped from 17.1% the last quarter of 2013 to 15.9% the first quarter of 2014.  In comparison, Gallup also showed that way back in 2008, before all this chaos, before all this expense, before all this chicanery, before this manufactured debacle, the uninsured rate was 14.8%!  And that my friends is what liberals call progress!    

Who, exactly, is living "high off the hog"?

Dear Editor,

 

I found Ms. Pilling's letter to the editor to be highly offensive and incredibly misleading. She says she "appreciates" the military, but with friends like that, who needs enemies. She slams military retirees for living "high off the hog." For the record, after twenty years of serving in harm's way, a Sergeant First Class (E-7) can retire at 50% salary or approximately $20,000 per year. A Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) with the same service would be able to retire at approximately $4,200/month.

 

In comparison, the average salary of a member of Congress is $174,000 and they are eligible for a pension at age 62 after only FIVE years service. They can retire at age 50 after 20 years on the job and receive approximately $60,000 in pensions for their bullet-free,bomb-free, pencil pushing service. Furthermore, half of them are already millionaires or became millionaires along the way!  If there is any inequity in pay and benefits, it is those who sit in their safe and secure, air conditioned offices in Washington, D.C., and make the decisions to send other people to war. Less than 20% of them have served in the military and most do not have children in the armed services.

 

She also institutes typical class warfare strategies by questioning whether money goes to "the hard fighting military that put their lives on the line, or to the high ranking officers who stood behind the lines while enlisted soldiers put themselves in harm's way." That is an insult beyond comprehension. Nearly all "high ranking officers" start out as "low ranking officers" and many were previously enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers. She obviously also knows nothing of military conflicts. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial alone lists 7,878 officers who were military casualties in Southeast Asia. This includes 12 generals and one admiral. An ignorant, divisive citizenry should be ashamed. May all our warriors live and rest in peace!

 

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin

Of War and Remembrance

By William L. Garvin

What a week to remember!  In the latest skirmish in the border wars, el Presidente de Mexico is “indignant” about the U.S. deportation of illegal aliens.  Apparently, he thinks Congress has a “lack of conscience” because they have not granted amnesty to 11 million lawbreakers.  Maybe we should adopt the draconian Mexican immigration policy and put the shoe on the other foot.  This is another case of the pot calling the kettle black.

The culture wars heated up with the spotlight being placed on whether “gay rights” under the equal rights or commerce clauses will trump freedom of religion under the First Amendment.  One would think that if a photographer didn’t want to take pictures at your wedding, you would hire another photographer who would.  That’s not the preferred avenue for some people.  They would rather go to court and force the photographer to participate in a ceremony that he or she finds contrary to their religious principles.  Simultaneously and curiously, the government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing the Star Trucking Company in Illinois because they fired two Muslim drivers who refused to carry loads of alcohol because of their religious principles.  It seems as if Christians and Jews are bearing the negative brunt of these contradictory positions.

Then there’s the Obama Administration’s war against the Constitution and its “outdated” system of checks and balances.  Attorney General Eric Holder told state Attorneys General that they don’t have to enforce laws that they disagree with which is contrary to their oaths of office.  Why wait for the courts to determine constitutionality when you can do it for yourself!  But then he has a well established track record of selective enforcement and selective prosecution of selected laws based on his personal and political predilections.  He also works for a boss who unilaterally changes the law to suit his political needs without waiting for Congress to make legal and constitutionally required amendments.  Maybe that’s why the CBS poll showed that only 6% of the population view Obamacare favorably and 59% are disappointed in the Obama presidency!  The Kaiser Family Foundation amazingly shows that only 22% of the uninsured view Obamacare favorably!

The President Himself appears to be doubling down on his “Lie of the Year” award.  After his “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan, period” winner, he has just received 4 Pinocchio’s for “Seven million Americans have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.” Normally one would not even utter such a bold and bald-faced lie but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was quick to kill all conscientious objectors.  For the millions who had their policies canceled, for all those who had their premiums increased, for all those who now have unaffordable deductibles, and for all those whose doctors are no longer in the network, YOU ARE ALL LIARS!  “There’s plenty of horror stories being told (about Obamacare)…all of them are untrue,” proclaimed Harry.  If there was ever a question as to the disdain in which the “ruling class” holds the “country class,” Reid removed all doubt.  Keep in mind there’s not a “smidgeon of corruption” in the IRS targeting of conservatives either!  Also keep in mind that Harry is the one who claimed that Mitt Romney never paid taxes!  This is just one more lie in the tapestry of lies in a typical day of the Obama regime.

As for literal battles in lieu of the figurative, watch the recent predictable machination of the Russian Bear.  In 2008, Sarah Palin said that “After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.”  In 2012, Romney stated that Russia “is without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.  They fight for every cause for the world’s worst actors.  The idea that he has more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling indeed.”  Of course, Palin was inaccurately but incessantly mocked for her naiveté and Romney was inaccurately and incessantly mocked for his “cold war mentality.”

Now we have a Secretary of State who is “stunned” by the Russians “willful choice” to invade the Ukraine.  In a masterful act of self-delusion, he thinks Putin is acting out of “weakness” and “desperation.”  Meanwhile, our Secretary of Defense is proposing additional massive cuts in the military because he predicts they won’t be needed in future conflicts.  What a woeful, war-full week to remember.