Happy St. Patrick's Day

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That's my gentle giant CuChulainn, an Irish Wolfhound, pictured above. I'm Irish so today is the day my dog and I celebrate. Now I'm not sure what I'm celebrating since the Irish history has been more tragedy than joy but what the heck, for one day nothing is going to bother me. Now I am really Irish, yes indeed. My grandfather came from Ireland after the Catholics in my family had been run out of Scotland back in the 1600's and 1700's.





Okay, maybe they weren't run out of Scotland because my family clan, the Campbells ran Scotland for quite some time. But when the British Empire forced Scotland to adopt the Anglican Church and banned the Catholic Church, all because King Henry VIII wanted to marry Ann Boleyn, the Campbells that remained in power in Scotland had to become Anglicans. So family members were given a choice. Move to Ireland and stay Catholic or convert and remain in Scotland. My ancestors refused to give up the Catholic faith and left their castles and hundreds of years in Scotland behind.





So I'm Irish, even my middle name is Patrick after the great Druid and Patron Saint of Ireland. The Druid part is a little known fact but St. Patrick was kidnapped and raised by Druids and trained in the Druid way before converting to Christianity later in life. One of the companions of Druids was the Irish Wolfhound and it was Queen Elizabeth, not the Irish, who personally saved the Irish Wolfhound from extinction when she banned the sale or transport of Wolfhounds from Ireland or England in the late 1500's.



Here in Southern Maryland we have the first English colony that allowed Catholics to practice their faith because Lord Calvert, who was also Lord Baltimore of Ireland, was a Catholic. You should read some of my stories on St. Clement's Island and Coltons Point for some fascinating early colonial history that proves Coltons Point is the oldest continuously lived in chartered settlement in colonial America.



But that is another story. As an authentic Irishman there was one day a year when everyone seemed to claim to be Irish and that was St. Patrick's day. So I have spent St. Patrick's Day in many places where the Irish thrive including Chicago, Boston, Omaha, Philadelphia and New York City where I attended more than a dozen St. Patrick's Day parades. Then I made a journey to Ireland to spend St. Patrick's Day in Dublin.



That was when I realized how rainy and cold it could be in Ireland. It was also the day I traveled halfway around the world only to find one of the featured bands in the Dublin parade that year was the University of Nebraska band. I lived for about 12 years in Nebraska and had seen the band routinely on weekends at Big Red Football games but finding them in Dublin on St. Pat's Day was odd.





But there is a lot about Ireland that is mysterious, mystical and fantasy driven. Speaking of driven on two trips to Ireland I just rented cars and drove through Northern and Southern Ireland visiting mystical, ancient and spiritual sites and you could sense the fairies and leprechauns even before spending the evening drinking Guinness.





So even though I'm Irish via Scotland I love being Irish and being around the Irish. One family secret I will share with you. My family elders always said to remember the difference between the Scots and Irish. The Irish always tell a great story. The Scots always tell the truth.





So in honor of my heritage, in honor of my favorite Druid Saint, in honor of my homeland and in honor of my gentle giant Irish Wolfhound CuChulainn, Happy St. Patrick's Day. And speaking of CuChulainn, did you know there are just 863 registered Irish Wolfhounds in America. There are more Irish people in NYC than in Ireland. And the first Irish pub in America was right here in Maryland, the colony of Lord Baltimore, and was located in Baltimore, Patrick’s of Pratt Street, is, believe it or not, right here in Baltimore. An affable, somewhat unconventional shrine to the Emerald Isle, Patrick’s, on West Pratt Street, has been owned and operated by the same family since 1847.



Tribute to the Irish Wolfhound

"I will give thee a dog which I got in Ireland.
He is huge of limb, and for a follower equal to an able man.
Moreover, he hath a man’s wit and will bark at thine enemies but never at thy friends.
And he will see by each man’s face whether he be ill or well disposed to thee.
And he will lay down his life for thee.”
(from "The Icelandic Saga of Nial”)





This St. Patrick's Day, as always, Irish Wolfhounds will "march" in parades across the country and around the world. Two stunning Irish Wolfhounds, always lead the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. They are the mascots of the “Fighting 69th”, an infantry regiment that's part of the New York National Guard.



Top of the morning to you.

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Does Health Insurance Really Keep Us Alive?

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It seems every Democrat, Republican and special interest let alone the media have been throwing around reasons why the American health care industry is broken. So many lies have flooded the media and airways that no one could possibly know the truth.

Yet the President wants to force all Americans to have health care. Right now about 258 million Americans are insured and 46.3 million are uninsured. That means about 15% of all Americans are not insured. Health studies indicate that 45,000 die each year because they have no health insurance thus did not receive treatment.



What about those insured? According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) patients in hospitals under health care insurance who were victims of medical malpractice has now reached 225,000 deaths per year, and that does not even count those who died before they reached a hospital.



Here are the JAMA findings.

106,000 patients die each year from the negative effects of medication
80,000 patients die each year due to complications from infections incurred in hospitals
20,000 deaths per year occur from other hospital errors
12,000 people die every year as a result of unnecessary surgery
7,000 medical malpractice deaths per year are attributed to medication errors in hospitals

This totals up to 225,000 deaths each year, due to medical negligence of some nature. And that number is ever growing.



That means at a minimum five times as many people who have insurance die from medical negligence than the total who die from lack of health insurance (225,000 versus 45,000).

But that only tells part of the story. Even if you have health insurance and are getting treatment this is the number of people who will still die every year in America from health problems.



Heart disease: 631,636
Cancer: 559,888
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
Diabetes: 72,449
Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
Septicemia: 34,234

Then there are deaths attributed to vaccinations that are required by the government. While the FDA lists about 11,000 SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) deaths annually, the FDA acknowledges the vast majority of such deaths go unreported. Studies in New York alone indicated 97% of SIDS deaths were not reported by doctors and hospitals, meaning the real SIDS death rate, attributed to adverse reaction to the vaccine, are really over 100,000 per year. Some vaccines kill up to 100 times more people than the deaths from the disease they are treating.



In spite of the fact Japan and England have both changed the vaccine programs moving the start date from 2 months, like we have in America, to 2 years, that resulted in a significant decrease in SIDS deaths, we in America have ignored the results.

I could go on and on with the deaths relating to chemo treatment from cancer to deaths from the flu vaccine. What is clear is that having health insurance is no guarantee you will survive the treatment and the staggering number of deaths from malpractice and unnecessary vaccines make we wonder if the whole nation should be on health insurance.



The Obama health reform bill may very well put 46.3 million people at risk if the health care industry that does treat the insured isn't fixed first. It seems as if our priority should be fixing the problems before we throw over 46 million more people to the mercy of a flawed health care industry.

When making all those promises people should remember that there are about 250,000 unnecessary deaths every year because people have health care insurance, not because they don't have insurance. And nearly 2 million more people being treated under health insurance die from the disease. Do you really think the health problems are being solved by Congress?

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Pelosi "Demon Pass" Strategy - Yet another Obama assault on the Constitution

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Now that it is crunch time for counting votes on health care, and after Obama has kept Ohio under siege with his flurry of recent visits to friendly audiences in order to threaten Ohio congressmen, we find out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now come up with yet another procedural manipulation called the "deem and pass" procedure to circumvent the Constitution and force legislation through the House with no vote on the Senate Health reform bill.

This procedure has never been used for major legislation nor was it ever intended to be used for that purpose. Therefore, what Pelosi proposes, that the House only vote for fixes to the Senate bill while never voting on the Senate bill itself, is comparable to going to war with no war resolution approved by the Congress. Pure and simple, it is Constitutionally illegal.



Pelosi does not have the votes for a legitimate vote even though the Democrats control Congress by a huge majority. That much is obvious or she would not be proposing a procedure that is certain to assure her a spot in the history books, as the first Speaker of the House to flaunt a disregard for the US Constitution in the interest of partisan politics and because she is incapable of leading her own majority.

If her own Democrats will not give her the votes to pass the proposed Senate Health Care Reform kickback program, approving minor amendments while declaring the Senate bill deemed and passed with no vote is sheer insanity and will be an issue before the Supreme Court long before it can ever be implemented.



Pelosi and Obama are counting on a really stupid public to not understand the shell game that was just played on them with this Pelosi demon pass procedure and expect us to rollover and accept a monstrous bill full of secret deals, campaign payoffs, White House deals with the SEIU union bosses and the dreaded pharmaceutical companies, and who knows what else, because of all the lies we have heard on health care, claims that the process was transparent when secrecy dominated the process is the most arrogant and deceitful slap in the face of the public we have heard.

Well if Pelosi resorts to the demon pass rule of stealing our Constitutional process then Pelosi is not fit to serve as Speaker of the House because her own oath of office said she was to protect the Constitution, not undermine it with procedural gimmicks. And our president, proud of his status as a Constitutional Lawyer from Harvard of the Ivy League, had better start telling us what Constitution he took an oath to defend.



He has endorsed a procedural trick to circumvent the Senate with reconciliation, he has embarrassed the Supreme Court in front of the world, and now he is backing a procedural trick to circumvent the House. Is he trying to work in a bi-partisan matter as he promised or to undermine every separate branch of government, the Legislature and Judiciary, that won't do what he wants? This is sheer insanity.

Every ounce of energy and every bit of the attention of our president and White House is focused on this garbled health care reform bill and it has been the entire last year. Forget about jobs, unemployment, wars, crumbling foreign relations, drug wars spilling over the American borders, non-prosecution of the thieves on Wall Street, cover ups for the legislative and regulatory actions that led to the collapse of our economy, forget about everything that is important to Americans.



There are far better ways to fix health care than the conglomeration of secret deals and payoffs about to be shoved down our throats. It makes one wonder, what is really in the bill that makes it more important to the president and Democratic congressional leaders than any other problems, issues or priorities including the economy. What is in the bill that has caused such panic over not having the votes that they risk rules and procedures never intended for the purpose, and in the case of the Pelosi demon pass procedure, has never even been used for that purpose.

Is it so important to pass anything no matter what the cost, ramifications or even potential for helping with health care. It leads me to think we have still not been told all the secret deals made to get this bill passed and we are yet to know the real purpose for the bill. If it was just about fixing health care and lowering costs no one would object and legislative tricks would not be necessary.



Maybe in the interests of transparency President Obama and Speaker Pelosi could tell us the truth, why is this bill so important, what is in the bill they have not disclosed, and is it worth the challenges to the Constitutional foundation of our nation. Who did you promise and what did you promise to make this bill supersede everything our government has done for the last year. Transparency also means truth. It is time to put truth in the discussion.

Enough Washington, get the dirty deed done. We the people will deal with the consequences. Fix the real problems we face with the economy, unemployment, corruption, kickbacks, foreign affairs mess, coddling of Wall Street and lack of campaign reform . Admit whatever you do on health care will not happen for several more years and get on with the business of governing.

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March Madness Dominates America - Obamacare and NCAA Championships

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This year we are treated to two types of March Madness as the NCAA Basketball championships, the annual rite of passage to spring in America, gets underway. Things are a little different this year and not just because Obama has intruded on the publicity surrounding March Madness basketball style.

That in itself is enough to upset the millions of basketball loving Americans as how many overtimes does the president get before he stops trying to dominate the headlines? He started his health reform game over a year ago and now we are to believe it will finally be over. It almost sounds too good to be true that Congress could actually get off health care and start worrying about the economy.



Of course the Obama, Pelosi and Reid team seem hell bent toward leaving the Constitution a shambles before they give up the battle with all their manipulation of Senate and House rules but then Obama, as a constitutional lawyer, knows exactly what he is doing.

Now over 2,700 pages are required to explain what the government will do for the Obama plan and that is only the beginning as there will be thousands, maybe tens of thousands of pages of federal regulations needed to make it possible. So let's say Obama will have to generate 25,000 pages of law and regulations, maybe more, to change our health care.



What is behind the health care bill that even the Congress has not seen although it will be voted on this week? We know there are union protections, Obama has already generated billions of dollars in savings for the bosses. We also know he intends to insure 30 million more people and stop insurance companies for pre-existing condition service denials.

Of course what we don't know is what Pelosi and Reid and Obama have promised those Democrats whose arms they are twisting. The dreaded Nebraska, Louisiana and Florida bribes given for the Senate and House votes may seem like child's play before this week is over. What is the value to Obama for those last few votes?



Does this bill address the primary concerns of health care? It seems Congress is not going to be too hard on those health insurance and service providers when they have poured tens of millions of dollars into the Democrats campaign funds. Do you think these companies are stupid enough to pay off the congressmen if they are going to be punished? There is no more chance of this happening than Obama will punish and prosecute the Wall Street executives who nearly brought the world economy down.

Wall Street continues with their swaps, derivatives and Repo 105 games making billions more at the expense of the consumer and even the federal regulatory controls proposed by Obama and the Democrat majority will not stop them nor the illegal actions by the rating companies who falsely valued the stocks in the first place. Money bought Wall Street protection and money will buy the health industry protection because the president and congress are addicted to the campaign slush funds from the bad guys.



Now Obama has talked about how, well with the help of a Republican proposal, he will fight fraud and corruption in health care. Doesn't it seem odd that he just decided to attack it after talking health care for a year? But what is he doing to fight artificially high prices for drugs, unnecessary treatment, or even the huge costs of malpractice insurance? Your guess is as good as mine but remember the banks, drug companies and trial lawyers who bring those malpractice suits are among his biggest contributors.

I think there are more unanswered questions than answers and if we are betting 16% of our GNP on more government control, regulation and take overs fixing things we have a very short memory about the ability of government to run businesses. Did we forget that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government run programs and both required, and still require, billions of dollars to bail them out of the mess they made of the housing and mortgage markets?



Am Trak has not been such a sterling example of government success nor has the Postal Service. Even Obama himself says Medicare is a disaster. Social Security is on the brink of bankruptcy. The CDC and health department have generated massive losses with stupid vaccination scares and hysteria. Fact is it is hard to find anything the government has done that worked like expected and nothing the government has done cost what was expected.

I may have a simple view of things but as least I'm not trying to hide my motives and actions in a fog and hope the voters forget it in time. I don't see how 30 million more people can be insured at no cost. I don't see where the doctors and nurses are going to come from to treat 30 million more people when there is already a shortage of hospitals, doctors and nurses. I don't see how drug costs are going to go down.



I don't understand why we have to have health insurance that doesn't work. Why do we have to pay for what we don't need in the first place? Government has no more business requiring health insurance than it has spending billions of dollars in foreign aid to countries and organizations that are not our friends. Stop throwing away international aid and use that money to fund health care.



As for the other March Madness, the one we expected, let us hope it provides a great diversion from the ongoing efforts in our nation's capitol to steal America for the special interests. I think it is time Obama foul out of his game and go to the bench. As for Congress, they should be thrown off the court for throwing the game they were sent to play.



Go Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse, beat those scoundrels like Obama, Pelosi and Reid off the television airways so we can finally get a breath of fresh air. By the way, wouldn't a ban of congress result in a great reduction of hot gas emission from our country? Maybe Gore should work on that if he really wants to clean up the environment.

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Cyber Day against Cyber Censorship - Why not Cyber Day for True Computer Security?

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Today is Cyber Day against Cyber censorship. What in the world does that mean? Did the New World Order take control of the Internet and decide on behalf of all nations there will be no censorship of all the stuff on the Internet?

I don't remember anything in our Constitution that says you can promote triple X rated pornography, or prostitution rings, child porn, brutal video games or pedophiles on the Internet. In fact the Internet users are being ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars by all the things being stolen from them on the Internet from identity theft to credit card theft to cell phone theft to bank and medical records.



Today should be the day of Cyber Truth on the Internet because no one seems interested in the truth and no one seems capable to telling it to us. The truth is this, you are not really protected on the Internet by any security system, antivirus, antiphishing, malware of any other type of digital crime whose purpose is to steal your records.

Not a day goes by that some company does not admit records were stolen, the banks don't report the theft of millions of credit card numbers, or that your personal records are so secure that you don't need to check your phone or credit card statements for false billings. Yet if you listen to the many computer security pitches you would think the protection you are paying for will be there.



So far a security system that really does protect your records does not exist, even though billions of dollars are being spent on computer security. Even the most protected sites in the world, those of the governments, defense and intelligence agencies are routinely hacked and disabled.

Digital crime is a multi-billion dollar business and those stakes have attracted the best, brightest and most devious in the world to figure out every possible way to steal you blind and right now you can count on being a victim because there is nothing to stop you from being a victim.



As you and your life become more and more dependent on the Internet you become more and more vulnerable to attack. We are headed for a paperless economy and that means even money in your pocket will become a thing of the past. Every transaction you make will be over the Internet and the truth is if there was a way to protect those transactions it would be a great benefit to mankind. See if you can get an ironclad guarantee for protection from any digital attack.

I challenge you to find any computer security firm in the world that offers a way to detect digital attacks and destroy the attack before it gets in your machine. It would take a revolutionary new approach to computers with futuristic design concepts to truly outwit the hackers of the world and keep your computer truly protected.



Let me know if you hear of such a solution because right now our future is bleak.

ABBA Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Oh my goodness, ABBA will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame this year. Is it possible the pop icons have been around that long. I mean, they retired 28 long years ago and still I know the words to practically every famous ABBA song.



They are on Broadway, in movies and commercials all over the world and they haven't even been together for over a quarter century. John Lennon was killed and Ronald Reagan was elected before they retired in 1982 yet still ABBA songs keep pounding through my memory banks.





I think it was the feel good music and the crisp harmonies that made he music of ABBA so enduring. They made us feel good at a time we needed it most, the post Watergate and post Viet Nam eras. Our embassy staff in Iran were being held hostage and the economy was a disaster but there was ABBA, making you smile, laugh and dance through the chaos and confusion.





We need another ABBA right now because it has always been music that helped pull us out of the spiraling blues like ABBA in the 1980's or the musical Annie during the Great Depression. Music is a vital part of our culture and consciousness, it always has been, yet there is no Beatles, ABBA or anything comparable in this day and age. I say the economy will get fixed and the wars will end when the music is heard again in America.



For now I will be content playing old ABBA songs. For a real treat check out this video of the Eurovision Competition in 1974 when ABBA first performed on international television, an unknown group from Sweden.



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