Thoughts On My Day

Opinions

The great debate is on, again, in the United States…government sponsored health care for all citizens.

Personally, I believe it is long overdue. In a nation as great and powerful as the United States, you would expect that it would guarantee it citizens basic needs such as health care. Actually, it does provide health care and has done so for many decades. It provides health care for most government workers, members of the Senate and House of Representatives and other elected/appointed government officials.  But the largest group of beneficiaries are active duty military and their families, disabled veterans and   military retirees and their families. This group alone is over 9 million persons.

The military health care system is called TRICARE. I, myself, am eligible for this health care program.

Here is an article presenting the perplexing problem of a large group of American politicians, mostly from southern states, that are strongly against a government health care program but have the highest receivers of care from the TRICARE program. It makes an interesting argument:

We Already Have a Popular Single-Payer Health Care System — It’s for Active Military and Veterans

By Chris Kromm, Facing South. Posted July 2, 2009.

Oddly the states with the most people enrolled are down South — where political leadership has been most opposed to single-payer.

In this year’s health reform debate, congressional Democrats quickly took proposals for a single-payer system off the table, claiming it was “unrealistic.”

But more than 9 million people in the U.S. have already signed on to a single-payer system that has proved both workable and popular: TRICARE, the Department of Defense’s program for active-duty military and retirees.

Even more interesting: According to a Facing South analysis, nearly half of TRICARE beneficiaries live in the South — states where congressional leadership has been most vocal in opposing public involvement in health care.

Last week, a top-rated diary at DailyKos by a person claiming to be “an active duty obstetrician/ gynecologist in a major medical facility on the East Coast” noted that:

“9.2 million active-duty and retired uniformed service member and their families receive their health care from the federal government. My family and I receive free health care from the federal government … I am struck however that nobody has brought up the simple fact that the government already provides free health care in a single-payer model to over 9 million of its population.”

I decided to look into where TRICARE beneficiaries were located. According to my analysis of TRICARE data, 47 percent of the 9.2 million using TRICARE live in 13 Southern states:

Overall, 6 of the 10 states with highest number of TRICARE beneficiaries are in the South. This makes sense given the high number of military bases in Southern states, as well as the concentration of active-duty and retired military in states like Virginia.

The high Southern enrollment in government-run TRICARE, where the military pays private doctors in a single-payer system, seems at odds with the vocal opposition of Southern lawmakers to anything smacking of public involvement in health care.

South Carolina:

The Palmetto State has the eighth-highest TRICARE enrollment in the nation, nearly a quarter-million people. But South Carolina’s overall population ranks only 24th nationally — meaning that the share of South Carolinians using TRICARE’s single-payer government option is one of the largest in the country.

Contrast TRICARE’s popularity in South Carolina with these words last week from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who has led the Republican Party’s attempts to torpedo health proposals that involve the government:

“[Democrats] think we’re stupid,” said DeMint. “They think that you don’t know that government does not work well, that the same people who cleaned up after Hurricane Katrina are the ones who can really run our health care system with that personal touch that we all want … They’re talking about a government plan that can do things that no government plan has ever done.”

The 233,725 people who chose to use TRICARE in DeMint’s home state probably disagree.

I will be honest in  my opinion of the TRICARE system. It is a highly imperfect system that is fraught with corruption. Padding of medical bills, billing non-existent  medical care – you get the picture. To be fair to the system, it is no more corrupt than Medicare. Actually Medicare fraud is hundreds of times more than TRICARE fraud. TRICARE needs to be revamped, no better yet redesigned to be more friendly and more fair to our nation’s heroes. This was a medical care system that was promised to all career military men as a life-time benefit with no cost to the military retiree. Well, it isn’t free by any means and there has been a “cancer” on the program for years – the American Congress. They want to get rid of the program and, of course, they want to extend their free medical benefits for their entire lifetime.

I hope that President Obama will be able to fight the opposition and put in place a real medical care program that will truly extend and better the lives of all Americans. If the program is 80% of what the government officials have right now; it will be a true success.

Technorati Tags: Chris Kromm, Facing South, Free Health Care, Military Health Care, President Obama, TRICARE, United States Health Care, US Government Health CAre, US House of Representatives, US Senate

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Thoughts & Opinions

It is great to be up and around again. The last month was a little rough with my back problems.

During the time that I was sidelined, I watch with great interest the entire Bernard Madoff situation.I researched everything I could find on the Internet about him and how he operated his scam. I, also, researched as many of the investors as I could find.

Receiving a jail sentence of 150 years was a little over the top but I understand the message the judge was sending out to the investment community. I believe as most people do that Madoff didn’t operate the scheme on his own. I believe that the government’s job is not over and there are many more people who need to be prosecuted. The one person who really makes me sick is his wife. Now, who believes that she had no knowledge of what her husband was doing all those years?

The  knowledge I gained from my research strengthen my belief that the investors are also to blame for the success of Madoff’s scam. The common thread through all of this is: greed.

Anyone who was able to acquire the amounts of money that they invested with Madoff knew that there was no legal way to earn the returns that they received over the years from Madoff. It was no different then taking a million dollars to Las Vegas and sitting down at the Black Jack table. You bet the entire million over and over again and each time you win. Then after hours of winning you finally lose. Now the reality of the situation sets in and right behind it the anger and sadness. But who do you have to blame? Get my point?

These investors are trying every which way to get their money back but could you get your money back from the casino? They knew what they were doing from day one. Okay, you say, “But people even committed suicide” Yes, and many people committed suicide each year after losing their entire wealth gambling. Really, where is there any real difference.

Here is a section of a news article from the Jackson Sun newspaper that echoes some of my feelings on this tragic situation:

Madoff gets justice, investors a lesson

June 30, 2009

Wall Street swindler Bernie Madoff got the jail sentence he deserved. Federal Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to 150 years in prison calling his crime an “extraordinarily evil” one that devastated the financial lives of thousands of people.

Since the early 1990s, Madoff ran an investment pyramid scheme that bilked individual investors, charities and even sophisticated institutional investors. The fraud is estimated to be between $13 billion and $65 billion. Madoff told his sons, who are said to be innocent partners in his investment business, he estimated the fraud to be at least $50 billion.

Since parole is not allowed in federal prison, Madoff will have to serve the entire sentence, effectively sending the 71-year-old swindler to die in prison.

Madoff attracted investors by consistently giving them above average returns, even when markets were down. He appeared to have a Midas touch system of picking investments, which he kept a closely guarded secret. Now we know why. It is unlikely that bilked investors will receive compensation, even after Madoff’s confiscated assets are sold.

There is an age-old lesson in the Madoff scandal. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Investors shoulder some of the burden for the loss. Most were attracted by profits that could not be obtained elsewhere. Many chose to believe Madoff’s bogus account statements rather than question returns too good to be true.

Nevertheless, thousands lost substantial amounts of money, many their entire life savings and financial security. Madoff did face devastated investors who testified at his sentencing hearing, and he did apologize to them. But that cannot replace lives spent working, saving and building for a secure financial future that have been stolen because of one man’s greed.

It is easy to rail against government regulation of private business transactions such as investment companies. They are a burden. But when fraud and deception drive thousands of investors and hard-working people to financial despair, you have to ask which burden is the greatest.

What is the old saying, “If it looks too good to be true  then it probably isn’t.”

Technorati Tags: Bernard Madoff, Federal Judge Denny Chin, Investment Pyramind Scheme, Las Vegas, Ponzi Scheme

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Thoughts

I haven’t posted the last few days due to a pulled muscle in my back that has put me in a total  bed rest situation. On top of that, I got a “bug” last Saturday and have a terrible case of stomach flu. Who said life gets easier as you get older?

Yesterday was a very big day for me. My youngest child started kindergarten. It was a day that I had looked forward to and, at the same time, a day I had dreaded.

I have had, and still have, such wonderful experiences with my five children. I have been blessed to be a day-to-day witness to each and everyone of their different stages of growth. They have all exceeded my greatest expectations. There is not a day where they don’t amaze me and make me proud. They are my greatest treasure.

So it was just a matter of time that my youngest, just five years old, would start school. He had been preparing for this event for the past year. He has learned to read and write and he has learned a lot of math. Both my wife and I have worked with him on this starting journey of learning.

Yesterday morning, he was up early. He couldn’t wait to put on his school uniform. When I saw him with his uniform on I wanted to cry. I realized that I was losing him to the next level of his life. He would no longer be my “baby” anymore. His life will expand and his interests will broaden. New friends and events will change his focus on “Mommy and Daddy” as his only world. But, at the same time, I was extremely proud of this wonderful child who seemed born just a heartbeat ago.

I have enjoyed the last five years with this wonderful human being and I look forward to this next stage of his life as an exciting period of my blessed life.

I, like so many people, have many problems in life. My wife and I struggle with day-to-day financial decisions and I have my share of medical problems but we have been blessed with wonderful children and a deep love and faith that is the glue that holds our family so very close.

I have traveled a long and hard road through life to get to the point where I am now. When I reflect back on that journey, I realize that I would not change anything as it would have caused a different outcome and  I love the outcome far too much.

To my children: I am truly honored to be your father and I hope that I will be around a long time to see your continued successes on your journey towards adulthood.

To my wife: Thank you for accepting me as your husband and I hope that I can work hard everyday to deserve you. You are the greatest gift I have ever received in life. I love you.

Technorati Tags: A True Family, First Day of School, Kindergarten, Raising Children

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Opinions

I knew for a long time that things were “wacky” within the  George W. Bush Administration  but today I learned about a level of lunacy on the President’s part.

It seems that Bush was pressuring  world leaders to follow  U.S. foreign policy based on biblical prophecies. If there wasn’t first person evidence to back up this story, I would say that it was just “political trash.” Here is the story:

Bush’s Shocking Biblical Prophecy Emerges: God Wants to “Erase” Mid-East Enemies “Before a New Age Begins”

By Clive Hamilton, CounterPunch
Posted on May 25, 2009

The revelation this month in GQ Magazine that Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary embellished top-secret wartime memos with quotations from the Bible prompts a question. Why did he believe he could influence President Bush by that means?

The answer may lie in an alarming story about George Bush’s Christian millenarian beliefs that has yet to come to light.

In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France’s President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated.

In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy:

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:

“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”.

The story of the conversation emerged only because the Elyse Palace, baffled by Bush’s words, sought advice from Thomas Romer, a professor of theology at the University of Lausanne. Four years later, Romer gave an account in the September 2007 issue of the university’s review, Allez savoir. The article apparently went unnoticed, although it was referred to in a French newspaper.

The story has now been confirmed by Chirac himself in a new book, published in France in March, by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush’s invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs”.

In the same year he spoke to Chirac, Bush had reportedly said to the Palestinian foreign minister that he was on “a mission from God” in launching the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and was receiving commands from the Lord.

There can be little doubt now that President Bush’s reason for launching the war in Iraq was, for him, fundamentally religious. He was driven by his belief that the attack on Saddam’s Iraq was the fulfillment of a Biblical prophesy in which he had been chosen to serve as the instrument of the Lord.

Many thousands of Americans and Iraqis have died in the campaign to defeat Gog and Magog. That the US President saw himself as the vehicle of God whose duty was to prevent the Apocalypse can only inflame suspicions across the Middle East that the United States is on a crusade against Islam.

There is a curious coda to this story. While a senior at Yale University George W. Bush was a member of the exclusive and secretive Skull & Bones society. His father, George H.W. Bush had also been a “Bonesman”, as indeed had his father. Skull & Bones’ initiates are assigned or take on nicknames. And what was George Bush Senior’s nickname? “Magog”.

Clive Hamilton is a Visiting Professor at Yale University He can be reached at: mail@clivehamilton.net.au.
© 2009 CounterPunch All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org

Is there any wonder that world leaders lost all respect for the United States during the past eight years? Did anyone tell Bush about the separation of church and state and his responsibility as President  in honoring that commitment?

Technorati Tags: Alernet.Org, Book of revelation, Clive Hamilton, CounterPunch, Donald Rumsfeld, Ezekiel Gog, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac, Jean Claude Maurice, Magog, Skull & Bones Society, Thomas Romer, University of Romer, Yale University

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Thoughts

In a previous post, I called Susan Boyle the “angel with a voice.” Yesterday, I was thinking about her loss in the British talent show Britain’s Got Talent and why a dance group was able to beat her. I still stand by my original post about the qualities of this woman and believe that she should have won but then I thought why did I use the term “angel” in my first post. So, I started to look around the Internet to see how most people define an angel.

I found that most writings define angels as messengers. They are messengers from spirits allowing us a greater understanding and connection to the Spirit. The word angel comes from angelos which is the Greek word for messenger.

Throughout history angels have inspired poets, artists, writers, prophets and religious leaders as well as everyday men and women. Angels are associated with higher nature, joy, beauty, fulfillment, laughter and peace. Angels are here to heal us, to redeem lost faith, broken trust and innocence. They help us lay down the burden of fear, guilt, uncertainty and pain. They help replace feelings of unworthiness with joy as they help us gently enter the world of love.

Messenger angels are angels that sometimes take on human form for short periods to give you a message, offer help in times of danger or teach you an important lesson.

Angels appear in different forms. Most common however, are angels appearing in human form. These angels appear when needed and then sometimes mysteriously disappear. They take a form which is comforting and pleasing to the individual to whom they appear. They appear as both male and female, young and old, all different races, well dressed and shabbily dressed – no matter what form – they offer guidance and help in a non-intrusive way.

Susan Boyle came out of no where and when the public first gazed upon her it was with disdain and ridicule. When the first words flowed from her mouth there was a moment of complete and utter amazement. The music that flowed from this plain looking and ill dressed woman’s voice was indeed magic.

What came after was the classical case of amazement and then exploitation by the media and newly interested commercial exploiters. The chase was on to, at first, explore this curious specimen of a woman and then the push to change her to the “will of the people.” To make her like the rest of us.

When she, finally, rebelled, the media described her as a “problem” and gave her the title of “Hairy Angel” and started to tear down what they had built up just a few weeks before.

Lets admit the truth here and now. If Susan Boyle had been a 20s thin, good looking woman with the same voice, no one in the world would have cared. But, as we all know, that was not the case.

When Susan won her first round, she reacted  like a child. I was not shocked as her situation reminded me of a quiet, reserved child who had lived a sheltered life and, now, for the first time  the attention was on her. Her reactions of happiness and child-like “play’ were normal reactions. She was basking in the light of her new-found glory. Also, she did not have any  “handlers” so whatever reactions she showed was “real time” and for that I have a high regard for her. She is a real person like the rest of us.

I believe that once people tried to “handle” her the pressure mounted on her. She started becoming a different person – a person who she didn’t recognize or even  like.This caused the emotional roller coaster ride that ended in her current stay at a rest facility.

Time will tell where this story ends. I hope that Susan will go back home for a long rest and start gathering a group of loyal, long-time friends that can advise her on her  future  career decisions – people that truly care about her and not the money and fame.

My advice to Susan: “Take it slow and easy Susan as there is plenty of time to make money…you set your own pace.”

Lastly, is the subject of angels and are they a reality of our lives.

Does Susan Boyle meet the definition of  an angel? That is for you to decide. I already know my answer.

Technorati Tags: Angels, Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle

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