It's Been A Wild Month

Today is the first time I have posted in about a month. I have been really busy with work, school, and the family lately. However, I have been keeping up with the fast paced changes in Congress. All I can say is wow, these are truly some whopper changes we are facing.

I want to start with health care since President Obama is pushing to get something passed before the fall. I do not like any of the proposals so far. My biggest gripe is none of them address everyone paying their own way. I do not like the idea of potentially having to pay a higher rate so someone else can have a lower rate. I do not like the idea of Congress and the President have a direct influence in my medical care.

At least with Blue Cross Blue Shield, I can bring a civil suit against them. I am forbidden to sue the Federal government. I know, we can sue a particular agency. However, do you really think Congress or the President is going to allow a lawsuit go through without their influence if it has the potential to affect their health care policies. For instance, if Medicare denies a claim for a life saving procedure. A law suit could potentially open the flood gates for everyone to get the procedure. With Blue Cross Blue Shield, I have not had any claims denied. I had to pay higher costs when my son had to be taken to the emergency room.

Second, what if Blue Cross Blue Shield came up with a plan where I had to pay a higher rate so someone else could pay a lower rate all based on income. This is exactly what Congress is proposing with their public option. Even a smoker would get the same rates as non-smokers.

We have 535 members of Congress. How come 535 lawmakers cannot come up with a proper health care solution that addresses the real issues without causing massive changes to the 85% of Americans who do have coverage? Out of all of the plans, I have not heard one person talk about consequences of their plans.

What about costs? Has anyone been shown any figures on the cost of premiums for individual or family plans? I currently pay around $350 a month for health insurance where my employer covers another $950 a month. In all of the plan, I make too much income to be granted a lower rate. What happens to me if my employer pushes its health insurance to a public option or a co-op? I do not have the money to make up $950. This does not include my dental or eye care plans. If the government enforces a mandate, I will essentially be forced into bankruptcy by the people who are supposed to represent me.

Lastly, when is Congress or President Obama going to state the facts about the costs? There is a big difference between health care and health insurance. Our health insurance is based upon the laws of averages and risks. It is a pool of money paid into an account to pay for the health care of a collective. The insurance companies average out the health care costs of the participants to determine the premiums. Rather than creating a new health insurance plan, Congress needs to focus on bringing down cost of health care. I doubt they will go after tort reform since the trial lawyers contribute a lot of campaign money. However, they can create a governing board to standardize the way charting and billing is done similar to IEEE for computing. We also need to enforce preventative health care. The majority of the costs come from people going directly to the ER rather than focusing on doing things to ward of illness such as diet and exercise.

Friday, the House passed the Cap and Trade bill by a vote of 219 to 212. The bill is 1,200 pages long with a 300 page amendment or payoff for votes that was added at 3 AM Friday morning. This bill will cripple our economy and make the Al Gore's of the world very rich since they are invested in selling carbon rights. All I hear out of Congress is the companies will be the ones paying for Cap and Trade. Are we really that naive? Do they really think a company is not going to pass the costs with an increase in the prices of their products?

We are already looking at the potential for hyper inflation and increased costs for everything because of the borrowing. Now, we are going to be faced with even higher costs to pay for carbon emissions. We will also see our manufacturing move to places like China where there are not limits on emissions.

Do not get me wrong, I am all for cleaner air. However, I do not buy into the global warming effects. The Earth goes through continuous climate cycles. Even Peta stated that we could remove the equivalent of a half million cars off the road if every American gave up chicken for one meal a week. I do think there is a link between the pollutants in the air and the allergies we all experience.

Again, how come 535 members of Congress cannot come up with a reasonable solution towards moving us to a cleaner energy source? The administration is all about solar and wind power. However, solar and wind will not sufficiently produce enough energy to power the country. Solar panels require an exorbitant amount of water to maintain. Has anyone thought about the effects of this on our drinking supply? Both require a direct element to function. It is not always sunny and windy outside. Why is the administration down playing hydrogen fuel cells? Is it because their supporters will make their money in solar and wind? President Obama cut the funding for hydrogen fuel cells when he came into office even though the technology is further along than solar and wind power.

What happened to nuclear power? It emits steam. Yes, the spent fuel rods are not exactly play toys. However, the technology exists to recycle and safely store them. One nuclear power plant can power the homes of 650,000 Americans. Our politicians are pushing us back to the dark ages as long as Congress and the administration stifles innovative ideas so they can push for solutions that will only affect the wealth of their contributors.

So much for having a short post. I will need two or three more to really get into the specifics of health care, health insurance, and clean energy such as insurance company profits and plug-in cars. Hope you enjoy the light reading.

Politics And Michael Jackson

My drive home turned into a "where were you when" moment last Thursday. I was listening to Mark Levin when he broke into a story coming over the AP wire about the passing of Michael Jackson. It had only been a few hours earlier when I saw were Farrah Fawcet had passed. I could only think of how June 25th was truly a tragic day. We lost two great icons. Then I started thinking how Michael Jackson affected the world.

I remember when I got my first Jackson 5 album. I remember buying the Thriller album from Columbia House Music Club. While I was not a maniac Michael Jackson fan, I enjoyed his music. Michael Jackson was one of the great talents. He transcended all of the political boundaries and created his own world. He was a kid who never knew how to grow up. He looked at the world through the eyes of a child.

Michael Jackson met with countless politicians from all countries including the famous trip to the White House with President Reagan. He was honored by President George H. W. Bush as the artist of the decade in 1989.

If only the politicians could have seen the world the way Michael Jackson saw it. Would we have the suffering that exist today? Would they continue to be fueled by their egos and power rather than helping a child make it to adulthood? As adults, we understand why there is suffering. Children just wonder why there is pain.

Michael Jackson felt that pain because he never quite grew up. Maybe we all need to take a step back and reflect on our own childhood days. The children of the world will grow up one day to become the next generation of leaders. I think we can change their attitudes by creating a sense of self worth rather than allowing them to see all of the war and devastation. A child who is shown the generosity of others will hopefully grow up to return the generosity to the next generation.

By changing our culture, we can make the world a better place for our children. Michael Jackson influenced many. He helped countless children and was even listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for supporting more charities than any other pop star. Children are the future of our world. Giving them hope for a better life is our only chance for true change.

The Sunday Circuit June 7th,2009

I like reading the political blogs. I highly suggest the weak of heart refrain from this. The CNN Political Ticker has a very rabid group. The one thing I notice is most bloggers seem to post out of anger towards a party rather than talking about the issues at hand. This is really starting to concern me. With the advancement of the technology and the web, the outside fringe elements of society have managed to bring their polarization of society into the main stream. This got me wondering. Has society become so disenfranchised with small issues that we will never be the nation that stood as one during World War II? Have the political parties gone too far with allowing the fringe elements to control their philosophies?

I do not see the United States standing united again. During World War II, our citizens lined up to serve this great nation. If they could not fight in the war, they worked in the factories making equipment. Everyone worked together to make our nation superior through hard labor and advanced innovations. We stood up as one nation united under the Stars and Stripes and said we would go down as one if needed.

Now, fast forward to today. In an attempt to micro manage all of the smaller issues, society has forgotten about the big picture. We have forgotten that our country is in a crisis. Rather than working together and rebuilding what is broken, we have decided to focus on taking political sides. We have let our political parties decide the best options rather than working together to come up with solutions that not only fix the big picture but also serve the best economical interest of society. We have forgotten how to work.

Society would prefer take sides on not being paid enough rather than taking competitive wage.
We label anyone who opposes our opinion as a hater or un-American rather than understanding the issues. We choose to demean the corporations and businesses who provide us jobs rather than support their goal of making a profit.

Society has become a bunch of hypocrites. We are hypocrites when we buy a foreign product over a US product because of cost. We are hypocrites when we refuse to acknowledge that the other party might have a better idea that benefits all Americans and our country. We hypocrites when we complain about the job losses even though we do not support the US businesses.

It is time to take a look at the big picture again and strive towards achieving the goals that will get us there. We need to realize that all of the smaller issues will not get solved. We need to learn from history and take notes on the industrial revolution play book. The backbone of our country was once the American worker until they got polarized by the fringe elements of society. Unless we can regain our attitude as a best in class producer of manufacturing jobs, we will remain a society broken into segments focused on small issues.