Category Archives: National

A Very Predictable Result Of Obamacare

Posted on February 18, 2014 | 2 comments

Doctor

Economic Law Of Gravity

The allocation of scare resources.

That’s economics as defined by Thomas Sowell.

And doctors are scare resources – people that have skills that are in demand.  And the demand results in a cost.  And if that fact is ignored – as is often the case in DC – trouble will ensue.

In this case, the trouble will be that people who have purchased an insurance plan are going too find out that their choice of doctors is limited, sometimes severely:

Some 70% of new plans under the health law offer relatively narrow networks compared with many current plans, according to a recent report by McKinsey & Co. The consulting firm found that plans with smaller choices of hospitals had significantly lower premiums than similar plans offering a broader choice.

And why are we facing this problem?

Because the new law is forcing insurance companies to insure everyone, independent of pre-existing conditions on top of prohibiting them from charging more for demographics that then to have higher medical bills.

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Private Savings Accounts: Great Idea

Posted on February 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

Great Idea

Private Retirement Accounts

As recently as 2005-2006 the subject of private savings or retirement accounts was discussed:

WASHINGTON, March 3 – President Bush dismissed the notion Thursday that his campaign to create private accounts in Social Security was in serious trouble, asserting he was still “at the early stages of the process.”

Vowing to push ahead and acknowledging that “I’ve got a lot more work to do,” Mr. Bush said he was open to ideas from both parties and tried again to allay the fears widespread in his own party that Social Security was “the third rail of politics.”

And just as then president Bush was pushing for the creation of these private funds – democrats were voicing their objection:

They said they would work with Mr. Bush on Social Security only if he would “publicly and unambiguously announce” that he rejected his proposal for private investment accounts financed by payroll tax revenues.

“Such a statement would eliminate a serious obstacle to the kind of bipartisan process that Democrats are seeking to deal with Social Security’s long-term challenges,” Democrats said in a letter that was circulated for senators’ signatures Thursday night and quickly acquired 42.

So – might we have a way forward?

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There Is Hope

Posted on February 12, 2014 | 2 comments

Hope

America’s View On Government

Sometimes I feel that we’re losing the battle.  That nanny state champions who wanna reward mediocrity, punish success and suspend natural realities are winning.

Then I see this:

Some 60 percent of voters think that over the last five years the federal government’s policies have increased the income gap between the rich and everyone else.  That includes — to varying degrees — majorities of Democrats (52 percent), Republicans (64 percent), independents (67 percent) and those in the tea party movement (74 percent).

Important points:

– Democrats are in majority agreement.

– Independents poll higher than republicans

– The Tea Party leads the way!

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Posted in Liberty, National

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Democrats Support Freedom

Posted on February 10, 2014 | Leave a comment

Statue of Liberty

What Is Freedom – What Is Liberty

According to democrats, freedom is being able to live off the labor of others:

Democrats aren’t buying a Congressional Budget Office report finding that President Obama’s healthcare overhaul could cost the economy millions of jobs over seven years.

The nonpartisan office said the loss of the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time jobs could result from Americans adjusting their hours and employment in response to new healthcare options.

While Republicans said the findings show Obamacare is damaging the economy, Democrats argue any reduction in jobs would reflect the greater freedom the bill gives Americans.

“What we see is that people are leaving their jobs because they are no longer job-locked,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters after House votes Tuesday afternoon. “They are following their aspirations to be a writer; to be self-employed; to start a business. This is the entrepreneurial piece. So it’s not going to cost jobs. It’s going to shift how people make a living and reach their aspirations.”

Pelosi said she hadn’t “fully” seen the report, but, “this was one of the goals. To give people life, a healthy life, liberty to pursue their happiness. And that liberty is to not be job-locked, but to follow their passion.”

Democrats have jumped the shark.

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Gender Gap Narrows

Posted on December 10, 2013 | 11 comments

GM

Hopefully this will make our friends on the left a little happier:

(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Tuesday Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson will step down next month and be replaced by global product development chief Mary Barra, who will become the first woman to lead a global automaker.

This makes 23 women CEOs in the Fortune 500 and 9 in the top 100.

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North Dakota – Defining Life

Posted on March 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Life

For me, the issue of abortion comes down to two things; life and liberty.

There is a clear difference between a collection of cells and of life.  No reasonable person has any moral compunction about cutting a finger nail, removing hair or even taking a kidney; cells, even human cells, do not constitute life.

However, living human beings have a right to expect to liberty that  is called out in the Declaration; The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I have long suspected that 80-85% of Americans agree on this issue; we’re divided because of the extremists on either side.  For example, when asked if abortion should be legal is the woman’s life is in danger 88% of people responded that it should be – 82% agreed that it should be if the health of the mother be in danger.  And on the issue of victim of crime, 83% responded that it should be legal.

Further, I think that most people agree that there is a place and a time; support for abortion in the 2nd trimester falls by more than half when compared to abortion in the first trimester and by 75% when the pregnancy is in the 3rd trimester.

Polls here.

All this adds up to the fact that Americans are very aware of the issue and that two things matter:

  1. Why
  2. When

The why, except for discretionary reasons, is straight forward.  I suspect the when speaks to the beginning of life.

Personally, I do not believe that life, scientifically, begins at literal conception.  I do not believe that a human being is present at the time the sperms fertilizes the egg.  However, there is a time when that collection of cells becomes a human being.  And at that time, that human being is entitled to natural rights.

All this is a lead up to the state of North Dakota defining life at that moment of conception; that time when an egg is fertilized by the sperm:

North Dakota lawmakers Friday completed action to outlaw almost all abortions, voting to define life as beginning at conception.

The Republican-dominated House also approved a so-called personhood amendment that asks voters to change the state’s constitution to recognize and protect “the inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development.”

Pretty far out there if ya ask me.

 

 

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Posted in Life, National

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R v. Wade – 40 Years On

Posted on January 31, 2013 | 4 comments

I’m a little late on this.  I meant to post on this last week, closer to the anniversary of the monumental decision, but alas, the technical wizardry required to bring you the clips below were beyond my meager ability.  It took a bit of time to accomplish.

Anyway, I still feel the same about this debate as I did 6 months ago, 6 years ago and as a Sr. in college.  I really, honestly feel that America is much more in agreement than disagreement on the topic of abortion. For example, Gallup had a poll in 2011:

I’m afraid the debate has been taken over and dominated by the extremes.  The extremes of both sides.

Heh.  Sound familiar?

As a conservative and a Christian, I can understand where “my guys” are coming from and it’s easy to identify the crazy and disregard them.  But for the life of me, I just don’t get the far left and their position on the defense of every single aspect of the abortion debate.

Anyway, when it comes up, I always think of these two scenes in an episode from “Boston Legal”.

The context, of course, is a liberal law firm in Boston.  One of the named partners however, Denny Crane, is a staunch republican and often caricatured as such.  The show is a sounding board for liberal issues, when the show is about issues.  However, it’s more often than not funny and entertaining.

Anyway, in this episode, the two main liberal attorneys are faced with a dilemma; a 15 year old girl is seeking a court override of the parental consent required for an abortion.  The attorneys, normally in favor of such laws, take the case.  However, the scene turns complicated when the intent of the girl is not so much that she doesn’t wanna have a child, it’s that she doesn’t wanna have a daughter.

This creates a moral dilemma played out here:

In my experience, it’s spot on.  To the extreme supporter of Roe, it’s not so much the support of what’s going on, as it is the absolute critical nature of the ruling itself.

Finally, the bourbon scene:

Notice the hint at the “beginning of life” thing.

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Of Things Legitimate and Illegitimate

Posted on August 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

How to begin to discuss this guy Todd Akin?

So, I’ve spent about 90 120 minutes trying to find the words for this post.  I can’t.  I can’t find anything that’s been unsaid.

Take these words:

First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

I don’t get it.  I don’t understand how an individual can be so insensitive as to try and suggest that there are cases of “illegitimate rape”, whatever that is, in order to defend his position on abortion.

I suspect that the extreme nature of his position on abortion is indicative of a mindset that explains his totally irresponsible position on defining rape.

Such a mindset might also explain a lack of understanding things like biology too I guess?

I dunno.

Jeepers!

 

 

 

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Snips And Snails And Puppy Dog Tails

Posted on May 31, 2012 | 4 comments

The word out of Texas is that we have a Planned Parenthood employee assisting a mother in mapping out a plan on what she should do if her child is a girl instead of a boy.

Now, to be clear, I don’t care if the employee knew or didn’t know she was being filmed or set up.  The reaction is what I’m interested in.

If you support abortion, that is the ability of a mother to choose to have or not have the “thing” that grows in her, can you reasonably support a law that bans that mother’s choice based on the future sex of that “thing?”

I don’t think you can.

An that begs the question.

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Posted in Liberty, National

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Liberals Love Abortion More Than They Love Women

Posted on March 10, 2012 | 27 comments

The constant screech from the left is that the conservative doesn’t care about the woman.  The day doesn’t go by that you don’t hear the familiar refrain:

Republicans don’t care about women’s reproductive health.

It’s a veritable war on women.

But is it?  Or is it really just the left’s unholy preoccupation with abortion that’s at the root of all of this?

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