Obama's Health Care - Check or Checkmate?

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The President threw down the gauntlet and now seems intent on forcing Congress into submission. It is quite a role reversal from his year of allowing Congress to decide what would be done and it is bound to upset those who still believe in the separation of government functions, the executive and legislative branches, and the legislative procedures of the House and Senate.



Obama and the White House gang are desperate and believe this is the only thing they can get done before the fall elections that might stop the Democrats self-destruction and potential loss of leadership of the House and Senate. In truth it could do a lot more harm than good.

For one, he is counting on his somewhat tarnished vision that people can be strongly influenced by the president of the USA whether they be moderate Democrats, Republicans, Iran, North Korea or the Olympic site selection committee. So far his track record of being heard is dismal at best. The long year Congress has been debating the health care bill just adds to the frustration.



Now his two week timetable to get this done before, well I guess Armageddon, seems a bit ambitious but Obama, if nothing else, has demonstrated that his inexperience in leading has been his greatest fault. Now that the Republicans are out of the picture, and in truth Obama's problem has never been the Republicans but his own party since the Democrats have decisively controlled the House and the Senate, we shall see if he can lead his own party if not the nation.

Which leads us to the second part of the puzzle, the legislative process. What Obama has done is circumvent the legislative process. He had the House pass a health care bill. Then he had the Senate pass an entirely different health care bill. Now he has presented his own bill containing some elements of the House and Senate bill and other things.



Normally a Conference between the House and Senate would be held to work out the differences between bills and present it back to the House and Senate for final approval. Obama has eliminated that step by saying, after a year of legislative hassle, he doesn't want either bill but now wants his own. To give it to him means the Democrats must do the following.



1. The House must pass the Senate bill as is.
2. The House must pass a new bill clarifying changes they want made to the Senate bill they just approved.
3. The Senate must pass the new House bill under Reconciliation which is supposed to be used for only budget and deficit issues.
4. Then the president must sign both bills setting up the health care reform and then changing the health care reform before it is even started.



Of course not all the things the Democrats will want to change can be included under Reconciliation. For example any restrictions on Abortion, and there are some in the House bill but none in the Senate bill, are a matter of policy and not budget so should be excluded from reconciliation. That means Obama will lose the support of all the House Democrats who are Right to Life, all of whom supported the House bill the first time. Not good for the President.

The House and Senate do not even agree what should be in the final bill or two as the House also wants the public option, Andy Stern and the unions want control of all health care workers in America, Goldman Sachs wants nothing that might hurt the stock value of companies they represent on Wall Street, and Obama will take anything so he can say he did accomplish one thing his first two years as president.



Then, of course, there are the deals that will have to be made to get the House to agree to the old Senate bill and the Senate to agree to the new House bill. We already saw how far both the House and Senate went to cut deals for the first bills. The second will be much harder and closer thus opening the door to pork barrel, favoritism, legal bribes and ferocious lobbying to an extent never seen before.



Don't be surprised if wheel barrows full of money are moved into the political campaign funds of those Democrats sitting on the fence. Self-survival seems to be the greatest motivator of our Washington establishment.



With all this confusion, Congress and the president will be operating in a fog, both to keep each other confused as well as the voter and taxpayer who will pay for this mess. Media analysts on both sides of every issue will no doubt expand their standard fare of hyperbole and exaggeration to outright lies and deception as no one, from the president to the Secretary of Health to the leaders of both the Democrats and Republicans and including every person hired by the media to give us the facts has ever let truth get in the way of making a point.

If Obama brings about a checkmate and no health care bill gets through, every person in America worried about the economy, out of work, or having trouble making ends meet should wonder how they can support any longer a president whose own ego and arrogance keep him demanding a win in health care while our economy keeps seeking into the abyss. His failure to address the economy, the Wall Street debacle, the foreign policy crisis and everything else he failed to do the last year will prove he is too inexperienced to be trusted as president.



When the people standing behind him are Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and they all contributed to the obsession with health care and ignorance of the economic problems we face then we should realize there is only one way out of the mess, to change the balance of power by giving the Republicans control of the House and Senate so someone can keep him from destroying the country and it certainly is not the Joe, Nancy and Harry show currently leading the Democrats.

Right now the nation stands at check with the failure of the President and Congress to complete work on a health care bill after a year of nonsense. Checkmate stands about two weeks away when Obama tries to force the House and Senate Democrats to do his will while ignoring the will of the public. Just who are the pawns in this classic chess match? Stay tuned.

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Health Care Reform - What Summit? What Bi-Partisanship?

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The president held his long and tedious health care summit yesterday but was he really a summit moderator when the only thing he endorsed was the Democrats position in the House and Senate bills? How does one negotiate when they start out saying this is what I want? The entire political sideshow was an attempt by the Obama White House to make the Republicans look bad while helping Democrats keep from getting routed in the fall elections.



A few weeks ago the White House did catch the Republicans off guard but this time it just might have backfired. For it was Republicans in the form of Lamar Alexander, Tom Coburn and Paul Ryan who provided calm, reasoned arguments on behalf of the GOP regarding fraud, waste, competition and cost reduction proposals that have not been considered by the Democrats. In fact the performance by Coburn and Ryan was so dominating they might have become new Republican stars.

By the end of the session it was clear the Republicans had many good proposals for change in health care and that they had the facts to back up their proposals. More important, they were making an effort to be bi-partisan even though the deck was stacked against them. It is not the Republicans fault there is no health care, not when the Democrats have the votes if they really wanted health care. The only current obstruction to health care is the division within the Democrats. Pelosi and Reid cannot control their own members and need a scapegoat for their incompetence as leaders of the majority party.



In their opening statements House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Reid were apparently so disgusted with the whole affair they couldn't look at the Republican speakers during the session and refused to embrace the GOP ideas, even when other Democrats were saying the ideas made sense. In fact they raised only partisan issues and were more than a little defensive. It was as if they already planned on going ahead without the Republicans and would try and ram comprehensive health care with all the secret deals and payoffs down our throats.

In fact Pelosi showed such little regard for the outcome she had Charles Rangel make the closing statement for the Democrat majority the same day a House Ethics panel said Rangel violated many House ethics rules with tax fraud and other ethics violations. Rangel, Pelosi's Chairman of our tax writing committee, seemed to have forgotten to pay taxes on apartments he owns in NYC, foreign investments, made illegal use of campaign funds and who knows what else. What a slap in the face to America when you flaunt tax cheats in a national forum.

Before the conference even closed, Harry Reid was proven wrong when he started the conference saying there was no truth to the rumor the Democrats planned to use the highly controversial Reconciliation rule to force a vote by simple majority in the Senate. His own staff and White House staff were already hard at work planning on the Reconciliation vote before the Easter break, in just four weeks. So a Summit that starts with false statements and no indication of a spirit of compromise wound up giving the public all the more reason to question the leadership, or lack thereof, of the Democratic majority.



Why is it health care reform means many different things to different people? Maybe they people in Washington should get their terminology straight before they make wild claims and declarations. The whole discussion with health care centers on why the United States has the most expensive health care in the world yet gets treatment that ranks 37th out of 191 countries. A secondary issue is what to do about health care for the uninsured. This will increase the cost to government.

Thus any discussion of reforming health care should first be based on lowering the cost or upgrading the service. If a proposal does not generate either result forget it. Federal government policy must be based on several key factors. Does the federal government have the legal and Constitutional authority to address each aspect of the policy proposed? Is there enabling legislation clarifying the role of the federal government in the specific aspect of the issue? Has the federal government appropriated the money to pay for that aspect of the issue?

Once a proposal passes these first tests then another series of requirements must be met. Is the current method of implementing the proposal the best use of government resources and funds or is there a better way to do it more cost effective and resulting in better program efficiency. One must first question whether our entire health care system is the best way to keep Americans healthy. This has not been done in any of the legislative proposals.



For example, there are alternative treatments including ancient techniques using herbs, acupuncture, acupressure, massage and numerous others that have been proven successful over the years that are used for health maintenance. These would include disciplines like Yoga, Tai Chi, and herbology, many from ancient Far Eastern cultures. Many are not allowed under health insurance plans even though they are ways to lower all health costs with preventive maintenance to the body.

The cost of these treatments is a fraction of any Western Medical cost for examination and testing to find problems to treat. The cost of a CAT scan can run up to $6,000, an MRI can cost $3,500 and myocardial perfusion scans may cost $5,000 - 6,000. This is the cost of the machine doing it's thing. There are addition fees for the appointment, doctor's analysis, cost for the clinic or hospital and on and on. The use of such scans is exploding, perhaps as a way to protect doctors from malpractice suits. CAT scans alone have quadrupled over a ten year period, myocardial perfusion scans increased 40% the last three years..

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) did a study, which analyzed three years (2005-2007) of medical data from nearly 1 million adults aged 18 to 64, and found that such procedures are bombarding a significant number, about 4 million Americans, with potentially cancer-causing doses of radiation. Yet the tests are often used in situations where their value hasn’t been proven. The study showed there are 163 imaging procedures performed on every 1,000 people in America. This includes the CAT scan and myocardial perfusion scans (a nuclear stress test used to evaluate the heart) and MRI. The first two tests accounted for 21 percent of the total number of procedures undertaken by the one million people in the study but more than 75 percent of the total exposure to radiation. That means is has cost about $6,000 plus just to examine the patient through imaging before any diagnoses or treatment has been undertaken. No wonder health care costs so much.



Another major issue with health care cost is what is being done to bring new treatments into the health care system. Our Food and Drug Administration approves new drugs in America whether those drugs are natural or fabricated. Major pharmaceutical corporations control the approval of new drugs and have spent up to $50 million getting new drugs through the FDA process. The fees from these drug companies paid to FDA give it millions of dollars in revenues.

How can a small company possibly get approval for new drugs or treatments when the maze of tests and the requirements for data by FDA drive the cost into the millions of dollars? Better yet, how many cures for cancer and other diseases are not available in America because small businesses cannot afford the fees and the companies refuse to sell out to the major pharmaceutical companies trying to force them into selling or attempting takeovers. These predator practices are encouraged by FDA whose revenue is dependent on the large drug companies.

We have only begun to root out the corruption in health care within the government, within the health care industry, between pharmaceutical companies and doctors, hospitals and clinics (kickbacks), between investment houses and stock of the health care providers, and who knows what else. Billions of dollars in unnecessary costs and fraudulent billings may be involved and billions more in investment capital and the manipulation of stock may be underway. Don't we need to get rid of the waste, corruption and fraud before we spend another trillion dollars on a broken system?



When President Obama and the Democrats try and ram their bill down the throat of the public abusing the Reconciliation rule of Congress and formally try to protect the secret deals and payoffs they intend to make it will be the beginning of the end of the current leadership of the House and Senate. It will provide the foundation for the taxpayer revolt and it will finally demonstrate that our charismatic president may indeed have more sinister goals than knowing what is good for the public.

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Did Senator Evan Bayh Retire to Replace Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff?

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The Associated Press said in yesterday's stunning announcement that:

"Two-term Sen. Evan Bayh says ever-shriller partisanship and the frustrations of gridlock made it time for him to leave Congress. Republicans aren't buying it, saying he and fellow Democrats sense that voters will be after their heads this fall.

The Indiana Democrat, a moderate who twice came close to being added to his party's national ticket, said Monday he will not seek re-election this November. The announcement gives Republicans a strong chance of capturing his seat and makes it likelier that the 59 votes that give Democrats command of the 100-seat Senate will dwindle.

Bayh, 54, said his passion for helping people is "not highly valued in Congress." He said he did not love the institution in which his father, Birch Bayh, had also represented Indiana."



Well I for one don't really believe his explanation. Bayh was a potential powerhouse among moderate Democrats with a history of working for bi-partisan government. His credentials were everything the American people are looking for in leaders of the new America.

There are several reasons I think he retired and having watched his career, I do not doubt the veracity of what he said. His Midwest background and father's influence are indeed significant causes for him to express frustration with liberal Democrats and the inertia of Congress. His acute awareness of the unfair need for elected officials to spend much of their time raising money for the next campaign is exactly why I got out of politics so I am encouraged he pointed out the huge flaw in our political system.



Yet there is more I suspect beneath the surface because a person like Bayh is needed now more than ever. To explain let me first outline what else happened yesterday when he announced he was retiring at the end of the year. The most powerful person in the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid, did not find out about this dramatic development until after Bayh made the announcement. It is unheard of that a party boss would be left out in the cold on such an important matter impacting on the future control of the US Senate by the Democrats.

Yet immediately after he made the announcement the President and White House praised Bayh and said they were aware of his decision beforehand. Why would he consult the president and not the leader of the Senate where he is a member? Let me give you a clue.

The White House has demonstrated how to mismanage the presidency to a degree not often seen before with tactics that infuriated both the Democrats controlling the House and Senate as well as the public and the Republicans. Since before Obama took office I pointed out how they were making one of the first sins of government, expecting the hard nosed opportunists from the campaign to be able to run the nation's government.



No newly elected president has done that because they know the campaign people have neither the experience nor the ability to work with all elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, once elected. By nature the campaign people are paranoid, living in constant fear the other politicians will undermine their efforts. To compensate they use heavy handed tactics to force loyalty from their own party, Democrats, and use intimidation and threats to try and control the opposition party, the Republicans.

It never works. All new administrations make a series of staff mistakes that take one to two years to correct. Obama made these mistakes throughout his fledgling administration loading his staff with friends and associates, campaign contributors and lobbyists. Time after time his own people have been his biggest burden and their actions have upset those who know what makes the government tick.



To be successful a president must surround himself with people who are not paranoid and who know they must govern for all the people, not just those throwing money at them. Thus the White House staff is a sea of turmoil when they have no policy, executive nor practical experience in a bi-partisan world.

Such appointments are not necessarily a sign of weakness but a sign of inexperience. In time the polls and the inability of the president to govern make these mistakes obvious. Perhaps Obama has finally seen the light and realizes his strident and petty staff are his own worst enemy.



Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been the most striking example of how a staff member can get a president in trouble. Every major failure of the Obama administration can be laid at the doorstep of the Chief of Staff from secret deals with the pharmaceutical companies and unions (SEIU) to interfering in local elections (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts).

When your key aide is the cause of your failure to govern the key aide becomes an untenable liability and now many people are questioning the judgment of Obama's Little Napoleon. I suspect the reason Obama knew about the Bayh resignation in advance is that Obama may have talked to Bayh about taking over as his new Chief of Staff. It was necessary for Bayh to clear the way to move to the White House and take over.

By announcing his retirement when he did, the day before the filing deadline for someone to run for his Senate seat, it left no one time to file as the Democratic candidate for Senate from Indiana. Since no one expected Bayh to leave no one was prepared to file the next day. This means the State Democratic party in Indiana can select the next candidate for the people, giving them time to recruit the best possible candidate for the race.

It is all too convenient for Bayh to end up taking over as Chief of Staff for Obama and solving one of the biggest headaches for the president, how to get Emanuel out of there. Bayh could resign at any time and his seat would be filled by governor's appointment. The governor is a Republican in Indiana but Bayh could make a deal with him on his replacement, appointing a Democrat who will not run for office in the fall. The Indiana governor is a weak form of state organization so he may very well make a deal to get the seat open and to get a friend (Bayh) in the White House.



If Obama does not make moves to fix his White House staff there will be a series of resignations by cabinet members like Hillary Clinton who are sick and tired of the backroom politics of Emanuel and the other staff members and see their ability to represent the United States being undermined by the politics in the White House. Bayh would be in a great position to help the president and smooth over the ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill.

Remember, President Reagan was successful because he had former Congressman and moderate James Baker as his Chief of Staff. Obama could learn from Reagan's experience. It was Baker who helped make Reagan one of the most popular presidents of all time. Oh yes, as an early supporter of Hillary in her campaign for president Bayh would go a long ways toward healing the deep wounds between Obama and the Clintons.

Stay tuned...

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Obama Pelosi Reid Health Care - Reform or Intellectual Constipation?

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Give America a Christmas Present - Kill the Bill and Give Us a Reason to Live!!!

If there is any sanity left in our nation's capitol, which is a lot to ask for after the last year of intellectual constipation, then the powers that be should listen to the people and simply kill the mutating health care bill. Even the former Chairman of the Democratic party Howard Dean, the person who brought us Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and the Democratic takeover of America, says stop it.

Up to 2/3 of the public does not believe the bill will help and based on the track record of our new president and his congress, the people are right and the left are wrong. This mishmash of partisan pieces and political manipulation, which the adoring national media call the most important bill of Obama's presidency, is hogwash.



Obama's legacy will not be defined by this bill any more than it will be defined by the trillion dollar pork barrel bills, bank and auto bailouts, Afghanistan war or a host of other issues. Fact is there is looming darkness on the horizon that make health care seem trivial at best.

This hodgepodge of political gobbly gook should be deep sixed and Congress should fix the health care system a piece at a time. Why there is a propensity on the part of politicians and media to demand a massive change in the name of reform without testing the various components being advanced makes no sense.

This ill-fated bill is destined to fail and take all the politicians with it that made it possible. It has been compromised and modified so much that little remains of the altruistic goals of the original proposal and any time a bill is formed out of weakness rather than compromise it has no business in national debate.



While congress twiddles with health care reform Rome burns, and congress conveniently has an excuse for inaction. Perhaps no one will notice the radical bills like cap and trade or card check sneaking through the process with all eyes focused on the prize of health care. Perhaps no one will notice that our political leaders have totally ignored the most important issues facing America, the economy, jobs and economic independence.

Perhaps the public will finally realize that politicians are politicians, no matter whether they are disguised as Democrats or Republicans. Both parties had many opportunities to stop the economic collapse but both blame each other. Both had opportunities to stop deficit spending and the radical expansion of government and both failed. Both could have stopped the bank, insurance and auto bailouts,

They didn't. They continue to shake down the lobbyists for campaign donations. The lobbyists continue to throw money at the politicians to protect their turf. Banks give record bonuses. The only stimulus we feel is the surge of money through the federal spigot paying off all those who pledged support to the president and Democrats.

As for health care, how can there be reform when we probably will ignore tort reform, interstate competition, and promoting the use of many long proven alternative health care treatments like herbal medicine, acupuncture and other forms of holistic healing?



How can we fix a broken health care system that protects the huge pharmaceutical conglomerates who own the Food & Drug Administration and who prevent, directly and indirectly, new cures and treatment developed by small businesses from getting federal approval?

Is a system worth saving that has no incentive to heal but rewards excessive treatment, encourages unnecessary diagnoses and pours millions of dollars into political campaigns? Most important, how can a health care system designed to help us die ever help us heal? I, for one, have no intention of waiting to die when I can start living.

Kill the bill and give us a reason to live!!!

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Pelosi a heartbeat from Presidency - but miles from Reality

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"We won last night," said Pelosi. Only the representative from the legendary land of Oz and home of Timothy Leary could sum up the defeat of the Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia in such a bizarre manner. It is as if she has no concern for the states or the people in them or the fact that Obama won them in an avalanche last year only to lose them less than a year later.



In the wonderful world of Pelosi just how far can the truth be stretched before the mask comes off?



If I were a Democrat and this was the Speaker of the House in my party I might be looking for a new place to live. Now we know her San Francisco Bay area is so liberal that being a socialist is never far enough to the left. Still, she is third in line for the presidency and that is a very scary thought.



Pelosi has been known to act more like a valley girl or bobble head doll on occasion so we are not too shocked by her relative ignorance of current events taking place in Virginia and New Jersey but other Democrats noticed, why not her?



“Every Dem who is up in either 2010 or 2012 knows that last night was big — if the right wing hadn’t meddled in New York’s 23rd, that would have gone GOP, too,” said former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, adding that he fears Democrats may be heading for a repeat of some 1990s history. “The electorate appears restless and angry. If they begin to ‘vote the bums out’ as they did in 1994, Democrats know that the next election is going to be extremely difficult.”



Even the darling of the new Democrats Senator Mark Warner from Virginia could see the national implications of the wipeout and the need for honesty by the leadership when he said: "We got walloped!" What a shame the real leaders can't lead as well.



When it comes to the health care or energy bailout and bribery bills considered by the unholy alliance, Pelosi, Reid and Obama, both Pelosi and Senate counterpart Harry Reid, leader of the Senate Democrats, have personally let it be known they will decide what bill the Congress will vote on, what amendments will be offered, how debate will be eliminated, how to get by with no Republican input or involvement 1n the legislative process, and how to justify ignoring the increasing virulent cries of the disenfranchised American voter.



What kind of constitutional process is that? Since our president, trained in constitutional law by the revered institution Harvard Law School, has already been brainwashed in the international code of conduct and usurpation of the rights of nations and people's, I guess the three make a good match. They seem to be genuinely enjoying their private jets (the little one is the government plane for Pelosi) and VIP treatment.



Obama ivy league aloofness, detachment and arrogance will serve him well as he ignores the many campaign promises he made and continue on his doomed path toward a socialist trainwreck in America, thus justifying the long sought elitist goal of the New World Order. Sound fictional? We shall see.



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Why are People Shouting To Be Heard at Health Care Forums?

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The Democrats and the Obama gang are going to great pains to paint a picture of organized disruption of the Congressional Health Care forums around the nation during the current Congressional recess. Is it any surprise this could happen?

These are the same Democrats and Obama gang that slammed a sham of a trillion dollar stimulus bill down our throats with no effort to get Republican or public input. The same gang that slammed bank, insurance and auto bailouts for another trillion dollars down our throats with no Republican or public input.

They are now trying to slam a health care reform that no one has read and can't be understood down our throats with a hidden cost of a trillion more with no Republican input and they even tried to force it through Congress again with no public influence.





However Congress, even though under the ironclad control of the Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Democratic triumvirate for the first time dared to buck the leadership strong arm tactics and refused to pass a bill without public influence and now the public is finally being heard.

People are mad, damn mad about the bankruptcy of America underway and about the misrepresentation of the intent of Obama initiatives like the stimulus and bailouts along with the billion dollar bonuses also approved by the Obama administration.

Health care legislation does not address one of the most ridiculous runaway costs, the cost of lawyers in pursuing claims against doctors and hospitals which has driven required insurance costs through the ceiling. Obama says leave the lawyers and their million dollar fees alone even while attacking other costs in the industry.





No surprise here as he previously substantially increased the cost of the stimulus public works projects by requiring union wages be paid and has done everything to extend the influence of unions throughout our economy, even where states have flatly rejected the union influence with right-to-work laws. It will prove to be one of the most expensive pork barrel expenditures of the Obama liberal agenda.

There is no conspiracy to disrupt Congressional town halls. Democrats in Congress have ignored the public and have no intention of pursuing bi-partisan work on the legislative agenda and people are letting them know that maybe our Congressmen and women are the problem, not the solution.

Many Obama supporters have realized the Obama promise and the Obama reality are two different things and the thugs in his Administration using White House power to threaten any politicians that do not support them are nothing more than bullies using the White House for a pulpit.





The first chance the public has had to be heard on the liberal, some say socialist agenda of Obama and the first chance they have had to demand explanations and answers from their own elected Congressmen has stunned the Democrats but how stupid is that? All they had to do is watch the collapse of the Obama and Congress poll ratings over the past few months and listen to the thundering herd of dissent over broken promises and failed trillion dollar solutions.

People want them to slow down and get it right this time but slowing down and getting it right will mean the liberal agenda and public takeover of health care will be fully exposed and that is something Obama and Pelosi cannot allow to happen.

If the Democrats and the Republicans would both shut up and let the public be heard for the first time. If our elected representatives would ask the people they were elected to represent what they want before they slam something down our throats. And if the people in Washington would figure out they are our employees, that is our White House and Capitol, those are our laws not theirs being debated and that is our money not theirs being squandered, then maybe some sense would return to Washington.





If not then throw the whole damn bunch out because they were not sent to our nation's capitol to tell us what to do but to do what we want. Instead of complaining that the public is mad just shut up and listen for a change.
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