Sunday, March 30, 2014

#ImTiredOfThis

File:Elijahcummings.jpeg
Rep. Elijah Cummings
(D-Maryland)
File:Darrell Issa 113th Congress.jpg
Oversight Committee Chairman
Darrell Issa (R-CA)




   #ImTiredOfThis










One scandal after another is erupting during the Second Term of the Obama Presidency.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has rankled some of his fellow Republicans along with Democrats for refusing to back down on finding out what the IRS did to conservative groups, as well as what the White House did not do for the four diplomats in Benghazi, despite their repeated pleas for increased security.

In the wake of a Democratic state senator from San Francisco indicted for bribery, influence-peddling, and also gun-running with Asian triad gang (and Islamic militants), the prior investigations into Operation Fast and Furious deserved more attention, as they expose (along with suspended California State Senator Leland Yee) the dangerous and unseemly double-standard of Democratic politicians, who want to control the guns of law-abiding citizens, yet have no problem supplying assault weapons through the Department of Justice to Mexican drug cartels: Operation Fast and Furious.

President Obama has targeted gun ownership in general throughout the United States, as though the guns themselves are the core reason for violence in this country. Why not outlaw SUVs or buses, then? Or  more specifically, why not advance a blanket hand-gun ban?

The White House and the Democratic Party protecting this President are not interested in limiting violence as much as they want to disarm and render defenseless American citizens against an aggressive federal government.

Besides the other scandals, including allegations that the DOJ targeted members of the press, Issa is still investigating the IRS targeting conservative political groups, but ranking member Elijah Cummings has called these investigations an empty charade, that whatever misconduct may have occurred actually did not (even as True the Vote filed a ethics complaint against Cummings following on Oversight hearing).

In an early March hearing, Lois Lerner of the IRS plead the Fifth in order to avoid answering questions about what she knew regarding the IRS abuses against conservative groups.

After attempting to adjourn the meeting, Cummings demanded an opportunity to ask a procedural question, then launched into pontification against the whole investigation.

First of all, Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa offered ranking member Elijah Cummings the opportunity to ask a procedural question. When the mike was turned back on, Cummings condemned the IRS hearings instead of asking a questions.

Then he launched into this tired tirade:

"If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question," Cummings insisted. "I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America."

"I am tired of this," he continued. "You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American."



Instead of shouting at Darrell Issa and the Republican majority investigating the rampant abuses, he should listen to the American People, who are tired of the litany of lies, fraud, and deceit flooding out of the White House.

I am tired of Rep. Cummings defending this corrupt President and his corrupted, polluted, and incompetent administration.

Let us hope that voters will get tired of the tired parade of scandals, failures, corruption, lies, intimidation, elitism, waste, etc.

I wonder if Rep. Cummings' seat could be in danger this year, too? Maryland residents should start shouting #ImTiredOfThis at their own representative, who has spent  most of his time defending an indefensible President, who has been stalling and stonewalling ongoing investigations against one of the most lawless and reprehensible, unresponsive, and irresponsible administrations in modern US History.


"I am tired of this!" Cummings shouts. (Source: rawstory.com)

Americans are tired of Cummings, Obama, IRS abuses, Benghazi cover-ups,
Obamacare failures, failed foreign policy ventures. . .


#ImTiredOfThis

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Horror Stories of ObamaCare: Larry Basich

In spite of his best efforts, following all the rules and applying all necessary procedures, Nevada residents Larry Basich basically did not have a good experience with Obamacare, which cost him more than he expected.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal depicted in detail this man's ordeal purchasing insurance, and still for a very stressful period of time, he had no idea whether his medical expenses will be covered:

Thing is, he should be covered. Basich, 62, bought a plan through the state’s Nevada Health Link insurance exchange in the fall. He’s been paying monthly premiums since November.

Yet the Las Vegan is stranded in a no-man’s-land where no carrier claims him, and his tab is mounting: Basich owes $407,000 for care received in January and February, when his policy was supposed to be in effect. Instead, he’s covered only for March and beyond.

This scenario has repeated itself all too often with these state health insurance exchanges. Americans followed the advise (or rather, force) from the White House to seek out insurance.

Millions of people actually had no choice, since the Obamacare rollout pushed out many people's current insurance plans, the ones which President Obama promised that they could keep.

Basich struggled to enroll on line, and after more than a month, he found a plan and purchased it.

Then, just after the beginning of this year, the retired engineer need heart bypass surgery

By then, the insurance companies had seemingly bypassed him, as he had received no insurance card, even though money was withdrawn from his account every month to pay for his new health insurance plan.

More complications followed, as Basich's intended health insurance company initially had no record of his coverage, and then another company claimed to have him on their roster.

In this No Man's Land of "Who is covering me?" Basich was racking up medical bills, hitting over $400 thousand.

File:Brian Sandoval 2010.jpg
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval
Because of Las Vegas Review-Journal's report on Basich's controversy, the insurance company was pressured to cover all his costs retroactively. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and US Senator Harry Reid (the same Senator who called these horror stories "untrue") intervened to help the man.

Yet the stressed-out Nevada resident did not have a happy report to share about Obamacare:

“There’s been so much stress. It’s almost unbelievable that they could, through their ignorance, put me through this,” he said. “But in the end, I’ll be happy to not have to deal with this crap anymore. It will be such a great relief. It was just so much stress.”

and then

“If Xerox, if the state of Nevada, if Sandoval think this whole fight is over because they’re going to resolve my one issue, they need to rethink that, because my broker has more than 20 issues exactly like mine on her plate right now.”

Basich's outcomes were better than bad, although he termed the process of finding health insurance on line like "reaching the third level of Doom", the fact that there are at least twenty other cases similar to Basich's ordeal casts a pall rather than a light on Obamacare's legacy.

The retired engineer waited for months wondering if his health care expenses would be covered, even though he had paid the health insurance premiums for his Obamacare plan. When his circumstances grew more distressing, he had to reach out to the press, who pressured the insurance company, the Governor and Nevada, and one of Basich's US Senators to intervene. And there are least twenty other people facing similar circumstances with their health care?

That's just an estimate regarding how widespread the Obamacare heartache has hit Nevada residents, too. Would Senator Reid call them liars, too?
' I cannot imagine Nevada residents, struggling to work, raise their families, or find a job (since Nevada has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country) taking more time out of their busy lives to rile up the media to report their plight and get their government to pay attention and help them with their medical expenses.


Obamacare did not live up to the "Patient Protection" promised in its title to say the least

Horror Stories of ObamaCare: State Exchanges

Obamacare Makes States Sick, Too!
(Source: Zazzle.com)
At least three state legislatures have admitted for the record that their attempts to create statewide health care exchanges have met with widespread dissatisfaction, coupled with a desire to exchange their role and return the responsibility to the federal government.

At first, limited government advocates may fear that the states are giving up their power because they have surrendered their health insurance exchanges. On the other hand, the whole insurance exchange folly was a federal mandate which has done nothing but push the limits of the what the federal government should be doing in the first place.

Despite the most desperate pleadings of progressives, the United States Constitution exists as an instrument of law which binds the federal government to a clear set of enumerated, delineated powers. If the Constitution were a living, as in easily transformative document, then the Framers would have never framed such a document in the first place.

Nor would they have accommodated a Bill of Rights, an invention and instigation from the several states which automatically recognized that more concentrated power could cause more trouble than the states or their citizens were willing to tolerate.

The several states also act as laboratories for good or bad ideas. Not just Massachusetts, but also Tennessee experimented with statewide health insurance coverage provided by taxes and bureaucracy. The measure created cost overruns in both states.

Vermont has tried to set up their health care exchange to implement a single-payer system, and already Democrats along with Republicans are running from the scheme.

Now about those Obamacare state health insurance exchanges.

Oregon has spent $200 million on the state health care exchange Cover Oregon (with calls to stop the spending. Only so much good money can go after bad and "cover" for the failures of a failing system). The state has fired the second administrator for the site, as well. How many people have they managed to cover? Nobody! The Democratic Governor is appalled and frustrated, while Oregon GOP, along with four US Senate candidates, are rearing up to take back the Beaver State. The media frenzy has established the legacy for this state exchange: one big joke.

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D) released a blistering report about Cover Oregon's numerous failures, yet refused to cover questions relating to corruption.

Then there's Maryland, which was one-party Democratic long before California began drifting left. Let us not forget that before she was a San Francisco liberal, Nancy Pelosi was the daughter of the Congressman then the mayor who ran Baltimore, Maryland -- not that such distinctions are noteworthy. And who can forget RINO Constance Morello, who ran as a Republican only because she could not compete with an incumbent Democrat in a primary.

Now, the current (of course, Democratic) Governor, Martin O'Malley, wanted to outflank the Obama Administration for its left-wing policies, and the state jumped head-first into setting up its own state health insurance exchange in accordance with the "Affordable" Care Act.

Just one problem: the legislation has proven to be anything but affordable, and in spite of their most liberal efforts, the Maryland exchange, Maryland Health Connection, despite over $100 million, has failed, and is beyond repair, that the state's exchange commission is seeking out the computer systems in the Connecticut exchange to start over.

What a waste of money.

O'Malley still tried put lipstick on the pig, or a ruby red coat of paint on the dilapidated jalopy:

“We still have stuck applications. We still wrestle with it every day,” O'Malley said at a news conference. “The clock was ticking, and we have been changing the flat tires on this rolling car for the last five, going on six months now. And it has gotten better with every new fix applied to it, [but it is] still not working as it was supposed to work.”

It was getting better, yet the state officials cannot get the website to work - that means it was never better to begin with. Of course, O'Malley and his irrepressible liberal caucus never let something like semantics or the truth get in the way of explaining failed policies. Was it not President Obama who asserted over and over: "If you like your health care, you can keep it"?

And how about that Connecticut health care exchange, Access Health CT? Has it worked any better? Connecticut wants more money to expand.

The Massachusetts state health care exchange is also on life-support, with rising costs (now the highest in the country). I spoke with a state assemblyman, who shared not only facts and figures relating to website malfunctions, but also cost overruns, He shared individual accounts, as did one of his constituents directly.

And in Rhode Island, both Democrats and Republicans want to end throwing what little good state revenues remain after a bad health insurance exchange, Health Source RI, which has not attracted nearly enough young people. I interviewed lawmakers, a private benefits manager, and a psychiatric administrator for one of the health insurance companies in Rhode Island, and they all had one story to tell: the state health care exchange is too costly. Instead of wasting state dollars on the bloated and costly system, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to block any state funds from bolstering the failed system.

The state exchanges have gone bust in three states, with Vermont teetering on the brink because of their progressive overachieving. Not just individuals, patients, and doctors are caring less for Obamacare, but entire states are finding this law to be a lawless (not flawless) waste of time, energy, and money.

Repost the Reproach: Roger Hawkins

Sometimes, the ad hominem attacks, along with the strawmen attacks are too much not to respond, just for the sheer lack of information or justified research.

Not only that, but as one reader commented earlier this week, the fact that trolls and liberals (sometimes both are indistinguishable) are taking the time to write negative attacks, that just lends weight and authority to the arguments augmented on this blog.

The pandemic progressivism of the Obama Administration has done a far better job of exposing the very core folly of that political philosophy, far more than any conservative-libertarian-free market think-tanks every could. Not that those institutions should stop researching, publishing, training, teaching, and impacting their communities.

Still, this lengthy commented appeared on my latest Patch.com post about Lawless Democratic Lawmakers in CA. There was just too much not to respond, refute, and reject out of hand, while making the case all the more for the limited government, constitutional rule, and individual liberty principles which I support.

Roger Hawkins

Mr. Schaper, I have read several of your rambling screeds on Patch over the past few months and my observation is you basically favor an imaginary 1950s version of society.

If they were rambling screeds, that Mr. Hawkins never would have been able to read them. When he talks about an imaginary 1950s society, that is an impossible statement, for he speaks of imaginary yet at the same time mentions a specific time.

You seem quite uncomfortable with life in these United States--California, particularly--and i wonder why you haven't relocated to the South, whose religious and cultural mores mirror your own. No one likes politicians whose hands are out, but I ask you--what are your beloved Koch Brothers, other than GOP politicians' benevolent sugar daddies?

Criticism with one's government does not mean discomfort with one's country or state. If I was so resigned about affecting or influencing the current state of the this country or this state (California), I would not bother writing anything. Mr. Hawkins engages in some hollow stereotypes, painting every Californian and I suppose every Southern in one culture brush. Who is demonstrating a profoundly unreflective bias, then?

How many GOP politicos have been caught behaving badly throughout your lifetime? Many, Mr. Schaper---many---one of whom, you may recall, resigned the presidency in disgrace while many of his bagmen went to prison. What's that about glass houses, again?

I have never said that Republican politicians have never behaved badly. My article has pointed out not just the rapid spate of Democratic lawmakers exposed in connection with corruption and wrongdoing, but also an entire statewide political party which does not seem pressed to do anything about it.

And as to your charter school whining--as a retired public school administrator, I have yet to hear a cogent case made for the redirection of funds away from the public school system to a slapped-together patchwork of systemless mush called "charter". After at least a decade of significant charter school growth, research and experience from around the country show that these schools are failing to serve students with the greatest needs, are disrupting communities, increasing racial segregation of schools, and introducing new kinds of corruption into education, all while producing similar or worse educational outcomes than public schools. The evidence is mounting that placing education in the hands of unelected privately run organizations is a disaster for students, teachers, and communities.

Then Hawkins wants to change the subject and attack my support for charter schools and I suppose school choice and even vouchers. Why he decided to swerve away from the original discussion about the poor character and conduct of the California State Senate Democratic Supermajority in Sacramento makes sense: he cannot justify the outrageous conduct, and rather than join in the effort to remove those lawmakers and hold them accountable, he wants to change the subject entirely. For all of his comments about discomfort with specific cultures, I wish Hawkins demonstrated a profound discomfort with the culture of craven corruption among Democratic legislators in Sacramento.

The fact that Hawkins is a public school administrator neither diminishes nor augments for or against charter schools, although his advocacy for public schools is more suspect, since the state pays his salary and his pension (since he has apparently retired). Also, the guiding principle in education reform should be choice, and charter schools offer that option. Never have I offered that all charter schools are perfect. I have even documented that some charter schools opened up under false and corrupted pretenses. Yet unlike the traditional public schools which stay open and engage very little change (besides parent revolts through the parent-trigger law, or if the parents can afford it, move out of the school district), charter schools can be shut down, and often are when malfeasance, fraud, or misconduct is reported.

I do not waiver from the notion that parents deserve a choice, as do students, regarding where the children receive an education.

And still Hawkins cannot justify the rampant corruption emanating (or oozing) out of Sacramento, where Supermajority Democratic Dominance has stalled on really education reform, including State Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) legislation SB 451 and SB 452 which would have expanded school choice to all public schools as well as grant parents more power and authority to reform/change failing schools.

Mr. Schaper, if you dislike these United States so, move elsewhere. At the very least, stop your damn, incessant whining.

Why he goes off on whether I like or dislike the United States is the most hollow of distractions. I love this country, and I enjoy living in California. The current politics and policies in the state legislature need to be exposed and expelled, and there is nothing wrong with my doing that. It's called the First Amendment.

 To quote Frederick Douglass:

He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.

Thanks again, Mr. Hawkins!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Horror Stories of Obamacare: The Jewish Journal (Oy Vey!)

Covered California Didn't Cover Jonathan Maseng
Who Still Tries to Cover for Obamacare's Failures
If you like the plan you have, you can keep it.  If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. The only changes you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold. -- President Barack Obama,  June 6, 2009

The only problem was, the promise was a lie. Jonathan Maseng, The Jewish Journal, March 28, 2014

After the photo cover in Summer 2012, which had printed Howard Berman's picture five times, yet neglected to include Brad Sherman (the contender for the 30th Congressional District), it became painfully clear how biased, how slanted the Jewish Journal could be.

A private initiative even purchased an advertorial calling for the resignation of Jewish Journal Editor-in-Chief Rob Eshman for his demonstrably liberal, if not progressive, political views, especially regarding the fate of the Jewish State.

Norman Lear Professor of Journalism Marty Kaplan still paints a doom and gloom scenario should the Republicans take back the Senate, and in an opinion piece, Jonathan Maseng criticizes Covered California.

Wait. Maseng criticizes Obamacare? In the Jewish Journal?

Now, Jonathan is not to be confused with Chazzan Maseng, who penned one of the most offensive interpretations out of the Book of Numbers, offering the impression that the Israelites did the right thing by rejecting the LORD and disregarding the counsel of Moses and the two true spies Caleb and Joshua to enter the Promised Land at once and take it.

Yet in a surprising turn, which would discourage anyone from viewing Obamacare as any kind of Promised Land for health care coverage, Jonathan Maseng offers an opinion of Covered California affirming what conservative critics have been arguing all along. Hardly entering the Promised Land of government-subsidized health care which would expand access for all, Maseng finds himself joining the same wilderness of higher premiums because of the law, in his case twice as high as his original affordable health insurance.

Up front and honest (obeying the Ninth Commandment), Maseng admits the following about President Obama and His signature health care law:

The only problem was, the promise was a lie.

Wow!

A liberal-progressive Jewish guest columnist in the liberal-progressive Jewish Journal has called out President Obama's "Obamacare" Promises as "a lie."

What does Senate Majority Senator Harry Reid have to say to that?

And why did Maseng inadvertently start singing the tune which Republicans, conservatives, and disaffected Democrats had been singing ever since the Affordable Care Act was passed?

Former Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan outlined many times that Obamacare will (and has) raise premiums, diminish access, and impose taxes on the American People. The last outcome is all the more offensive, since the President and his Democratic Congressional colleagues affirmed over and over that Obamacare would never be a tax, but rather a fee. Even former Bill Clinton staffer turned ABC political correspondent George Stephanopoulos stepped all over Obama's two-stepping on that political spin.

After acknowledging five years later what conservatives and Republicans had anticipated, Maseng attempts to burnish his liberal, social justice, Big Government credentials:

I’m 29. I voted for Obama, twice. I believe that national health care is important, and I would have strongly supported a single-payer system in the mold of Canada or the United Kingdom.

Read my analysis and responses to single-payer health care systems in Canada and the United Kingdom here, as well as the failed attempts to implement the system in Vermont.

Maseng got what he voted for, but the hope and change proffered by the Messianic mantra of the former Junior Senator from Illinois has dusted away the bewitching allure of modern liberalism.

Or has it?

This is to say, I am not part of the crowd that believes the Affordable Care Act was evil, or that adopting a single-payer system would inevitably turn us into godless communists. But as the March 31 deadline for signing up for Obamacare approaches, I am, however, deeply disappointed with the gap between what was promised and what’s being delivered.

Disappointment which Maseng has defined as a lie, pure and simple (or rather impure and impious).

After reporting his responsibility in purchasing a catastrophic plan ("not perfect, but "inexpensive"), Maseng then reports the inevitable, yet unintentional consequences of government expansion:

When the Affordable Care Act’s first wave of requirements came into effect, I watched as my formerly inexpensive plan more than doubled in price.

Maseng rationalized the increase with the other Obamacare promises, such as protection from cancellation because of pre-existing conditions, as well as caps on deductibles.

The more consequences fell upon him, like the walls of Jericho:

But in the spring of 2013, Aetna sent me a letter announcing that they would be canceling my plan, as they no longer wanted to sell insurance in California. How could this be? Obama had promised that if you liked your plan, you wouldn’t lose it.  I liked my plan, and I lost it.

I have to respect Maseng's directed outrage. Rather than blaming the insurance companies, which die-hard, true-believer Obamacare supporters are attempting, Maseng returns to the Big Lie.

Undeterred by the "disappointments" of Obamacare, Maseng visited the Covered California website.

Instead of clusters of grapes and wells he did not dig, Maseng encountered one giant problem after another, including: poor Web design, confusing language, "cumbersome" half-dozen required security questions, including the means of reporting his annual income:

and that was when the site was actually working, which it often wasn’t.

Oy Vey!

He then catalogues indirectly the same economic plight of many youth suffering Obama-nomics, including an unsteady, uncertain income, which made it impossible for him to offer an accurate yearly sum required by the Covered California  website.

Maseng signed up and waited, not for forty years, but longer than expected, and his insurance card showed up the third week of January. He reported worse horror stories from friends who continued to pay for medical expenses out of pocket until March, even though they followed all instructions to purchase health insurance through the state exchange.

But Maseng's murmuring is all too accurate, although sadly predictable:

And friends told me similar stories of impossibly long wait times on the phone, the loss of primary care physicians, cards that arrived late or not at all and, most galling, the loss of access to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which can only be accessed through Covered California via one “bronze-level” plan with an extremely high deductible.

Now that must be really tragic. A private hospital, founded by Jewish philanthropists, refuses to accept most forms of Obamacare-purchased insurance. Other doctors have opted out of the exchanges too, and will not receive patients under similar plans.

Still, refusing to read the hand-writing on the wall (another Biblical allusion, G-d help me!), Maseng still believes " that the Affordable Care Act is [not] a disaster, nor do I wish for its repeal."

Yet the very law is neither Affordable nor Protecting Patients, as the name originally stated. What does he believe in, exactly?

And now comes the most incredible statement:

But I do believe I was lied to by the president and his spokespeople, who claimed on no less than 37 different occasions, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning politifact.com, that no American would lose access to their plan or to their doctor.

So, Maseng believes in a lie? Really? How is this even possible?

I lost access, my friends have lost access, and we certainly haven’t seen falling costs.

Without realizing it, or accepting it, Maseng is a walking, writing, publishing advertisement for repealing Obamacare.

Yet I still believe health care reform is worth it. The false promises, however, made even small victories seem like defeats. The ill-timed, ill-planned, and just plain ill rollout of the health exchange system has left many young Californians wondering if aggravation, confusion and delays are all we have to look forward to. The president sold us change we could believe in, but delivered us changes that have left us faithless.

Oy vey!

Maseng's lamentations about Obamacare (more laughable like Jonah's self-righteous protestations than Jeremiah's jeremiads) recall a few Scriptures:

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!" (Ecclesiastes 10: 16)

and

"He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool." (Proverbs 10: 18)

and

"The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment." (Proverbs 12: 19)

Faith requires believing in something that is true, though yet invisible. There is nothing true about Obama's lies that his legislation would provide affordable health insurance at a better price with qualified professionals. All of Maseng's murmurings about the failed rollout and outcomes of the law cannot be justified with "I still believe."

The Lord God did indeed bring the Israelites out of Egypt and offered them a Promised Land where everything was provided for them. No government, not institution of men can force everyone to have something for nothing.

Another verse, a commandment from Moses, also comes to mind:

"2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"3Thou shalt have no other gods before me."(Exodus 20: 2-3)
 
No gods, including the federal government, or President Obama, which have certainly turned out to be one disappointing set of idols, or icons for this generation, including the young and disillusioned Jonathan Maseng.

Lawless Democratic Lawmakers in CA

Charlotte NC Mayor
Patrick Cannon
Democrats are behaving badly this year, when they should be minding their manners, lest their 2014 shellacking shake them all the more.

In the supermajority Democratic states, like Illinois, Rhode Island, as well as California, politicians have been governing poorly and behaving badly, in some cases very badly. Aside from Maryland Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings' attempts to distract Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's investigations into IRS intimidation, Huffington Post has reported Rhode Island

While right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin alleges that the Obama Administration is cleaning out their own junk before attacking Republicans later this year, the wide-ranging scandals under the Obama Administration, plus the rising conservative backlash in states like Georgia and even in Rhode Island suggest that voters liberal and conservative are getting tired of the #CultureOfCorruption endemic among Democratic politicians.
And of course, California Democratic lawmakers have been behaving badly, too.
Obamacare? Don't say that!
(Obama don't care!)
Democratic Speaker Gordon Fox's sudden resignation following FBI and IRS raids on his office; on Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor's Patrick Cannon resignation following his arrest for bribery and corruption; and also the raid on New York Assemblyman William Scarborough's office in connection with corruption investigations (two other NY state senators are under investigation, too).

In Congress, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi takes reporters to task for calling “Obamacare” what it is. She then suggested that Obamacare is affordable, even though Covered California is not covering nearly as many as hoped, and in spite of the liberal LA-based magazine Jewish Journal's Jonathan Maseng lamenting the rising costs of his health insurance under Obamacare.

Now to Sacramento, where Democrats in 2012 grabbed supermajority status for the first time in decades, with a slightly more conservative Democratic governor Jerry Brown at the table. Like a doting mother keeping spoiled children in line, Brown has said yes to more spending, but also balanced budgets and vetoed some bad legislation. Still, the tale that California is in the black instead of the red is a blue myth, wounded purple by the struggling school districts still seeking funds lost from the Great Recession, plus a large case load of welfare recipients, prison overcrowding (and realignment), dry spells in the Central Valley. However, this left-leaning state may be seeing the light to the right and give the GOP a fighting chance at ending the Democratic supermajority.
From governing to behaving badly, four Democratic state senators have been implicated in public corruption, too, within a matter of months.

Wright is Wrong
In January, State Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) was found guilty of eight felony counts of perjury and voter fraud: not living in the district which he claimed to represent. Despite the convinced conviction of the jury, Wright has wrongly remained in office, and State Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said nothing, and did even less to have Wright removed.

Ron Calderon
Cauldron of Corruption
Steinberg’s hypocrisy knows no bounds, however, as another state senator, Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), part of a connected East Los Angeles political family, has been indicted on numerous counts of pay-for-play corruption, passing tax credits for hospitals and the movie industry for cash. Though indicted yet not convicted (despite the  evidence against him, though technically innocent until proven guilty), Steinberg has pressured Calderon to step down.

Leland Yee: Indicted
This week, the cauldron of corruption is heating up in Sacramento, as another state senator, Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) was hauled away in handcuffs, arrested for more of the pay-for-play, but also gun-running with organized crime (and possible connections with Islamic militants) A state senator who hated guns and preached transparency, Yee has exposed the exact opposite. Steinberg urged Yee to resign of face suspension (not expulsion, though), and now Senate President is prepping to follow through (Yee will still get paid, though).

And now incoming State Senate President Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) may be connected to according to American Thinker, State Senate President Darrell Steinberg, who may be the core of the rotten core that is the Democratic dominance in California politics today.
Kevin de Leon (Smiling, for now)
Calderon’s corruption, too. When will this not-so-merry-go-round of corruption end? Better yet, how many state senators does it take to root out the corruption in Sacramento? Only one,

While Democratic lawmakers in deep blue states have been up to no good this year, and all before April Fool’s Day, sunny California has had a dark forecast of corruption cast over the statehouse, but GOP hopes are breaking forth, from a central valley state senate upset, to a restored GOP mayor in San Diego, and another GOP win in the Inland Empire.

With an extensive record of Democrats behaving badly, and Republicans winning again, let’s hope that California voters stop the foolishness in Sacramento and vote the lawless Democratic lawmakers out of office in November.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Democrats Behaving Badly (IL, RI, CA)



Democrats are behaving badly this year, when they should be minding their manners, lest their 2014 shellacking shake them all the more.

Elijah Cummings -- Behaving Badly
First, there was Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), who tried to intimidate True the Vote North Carolina with the race card, that the agency was poll-watching in majority-minority districts. Then there was Cummings' outburst earlier this month against Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, who had abruptly adjourned a hearing into the IRS abuses of conservative groups. Because Lois Lerner, the head of the division responsible for tax status of non-profits, insisted on pleading the Fifth Amendment,

While Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi takes reporters to task for calling "Obamacare" what it is, while Debbie Wasserman-Shultz tries to "True the Vote" for Democratic House members, her liberal ilk in state houses are also behaving badly, and give a worse name to an already bad political party.

In the supermajority Democratic states, like Illinois, Rhode Island, and then California, politicians have been governing poorly and behaving badly, in some cases very badly.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn -- Not Looking too Good

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich went to federal prison following his attempt to sell Senator-turned-President Barack Obama's Senate seat (Blago on tape: "I'm not givin' it for f--king nothing!"). The next governor, Pat Quinn, has waffled on pension reforms and gun rights, approved gay marriage in spite of conservative resistance throughout the state, and now he wants to make temporary tax hikes permanent. In Quinn and Illinois' Democrats' case, governing badly is behaving badly, enough that centrist Democrats are supporting the Republican challenger for Governor this year.
 
Speaker Gordon Fox
Outfoxed by the FBI
On to Rhode Island, the bluest state in the union, with only eleven Republicans in the one hundred
plus member legislative body. Speaker Gordon Fox, openly progressive and openly gay, engineered comprehensive pension reforms with Democratic Treasurer Gina Raimondo, yet also commandeered a government loan to a private video game company, 38 Studios, which went bust and left $75 million in debt (and rising) for Rhode Island taxpayers to defray: an immoral "moral obligation debt." Fox had ties to the deal, yet on live television refused to recuse himself from the investigation.

Joshua Miller
Behaving Very Badly
This past week, FBI officials raided Speaker Fox's office, seizing boxes and reams of documents. Despite prior admissions of election-
campaigning malfeasance, Fox has said nothing about the current investigations, aside from suddenly resigning his Speakership. The reaction of one Democratic state senator to the mess? "Go F--- yourself!" state senator Joshua Miller shouted, but not at Fox, mind you -- at a pro-Second Amendment supporter, since the lawmakers will not mind their manners, but want to make law-abiding citizens helpless. Miller later apologized (but not really), inadvertently exposing to what depths state senators have descended in Rhode Island, where one-party rule has made the ruling Democratic Party unruly. Pension crises, structural debts, and a failing state health care exchange have turned little Rhode Island into one big mess.

Now to California, where Democrats in 2012 grabbed supermajority status for the first time in decades, with a slightly more conservative Democratic governor Jerry Brown at the table. Like a doting mother keeping spoiled children in line, Brown has said yes to more spending, but also balanced budgets and vetoed some bad legislation. Still, the tale that California is in the black instead of the red is a blue myth, wounded purple by the struggling school districts still seeking funds lost from the Great Recession, plus the largest case load of welfare recipients, prison overcrowding (and realignment), dry spells in the Central Valley, and a left-leaning state seeing the light in the right and giving the GOP a chance at ending the Democratic supermajority

Wright Doing Wrong
From governing to behaving badly, four Democratic state senators have been implicated in public corruption.

In January, State Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) was found guilty of eight felony counts of perjury and voter fraud: not living in the district which he claimed to represent. Despite the convinced conviction of the jury, Wright has wrongly remained in office, and State Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said nothing, and did even less to have Wright removed.

Ron Calderon, Feeling the Heat
However, Steinberg's hypocrisy knows no bounds. Another state senator, Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), part of a connected East Los Angeles political family, has been indicted on numerous counts of pay-for-play corruption, passing tax credits for hospitals and the movie industry for cash. Though indicted yet not convicted, despite the reams of evidence against him, thus technically innocent until proven guilty, Steinberg has pressured Calderon to step down.
 
 

Leland, We Hardly Knew Yee!
The cauldron of corruption is heating up in Sacramento, as another state senator, Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) was hauled away in handcuffs, arrested for more of the pay-for-play, but also gun-running with organized crime (and possible connections with Islamic militants) A state senator who hated guns and preached transparency, Yee has exposed the exact opposite. . . and now incoming State Senate President Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) may be connected to Calderon's corruption, too.

Democratic lawmakers in deep blue states have been up to no good this year, and all before April Fool's Day. Let's hope that voters stop being fooled and vote the fools out.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

A Review of the Obama Administration: "If You Like. . ."

President Obama likes to make promises. He wants to assure people that they will be able to keep whatever they already have, yet at the same time expand the power of the state, contrary to the Constitution and at the expense of the individual.

Consider the centerpiece promise of his Presidency, which has been exposed as an all-out lie:

Obamacare: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it." Result -- millions lose their health insurance, pay higher premiums, lose doctors, etc. Obamacare has been anything but affordable, and no one, not even the growing number of Democrats fearful about keeping their seats in Congress, are campaigning on the perceived strengths of the disastrous legislation.

Now, let's apply this metric about promises, keeping, and the rest:

2009 Stimulus: "If you like your tax dollars, you can keep them." Ha! The nearly one trillions wasted on non-existent Congressional districts or diverted to raising bureaucrats' salaries may have stimulated the arrogance of the Washington Beltway elite, yet did very little in terms of reviving economic growth in the United States.

Dodd-Frank: "If you like your bank, you can keep your bank." Result - Big banks get bigger, with bigger fees, and the smaller banks facing bigger regulations, reducing their power and efficacy.

Common Core: "If you like your education, you can keep it." The result: a convoluted take-over of public education, with data-mining and rushed curricular standards which teachers are having a hard time keeping up with. Add to this convoluted rollout the data-mining controversy, the over-difficult mathematical manuevers, and we have "ObamaCore".

Internet Dominion: "If you like your Internet Security, you can keep it." The Fairness Doctrine has risen up as an important line of argument in free speech, when in truth such an idea is based on the sad notion that liberal-leftist radio should have equal resources to compete with right-thinking, conservative, and individual liberty based radio. The free market of radio and Internet choice could not be clearer: people do not like liberal radio. They do not want to hear leftist talk on the squawk box.

Second Amendment: "If you like your guns, you can keep them." President Obama has issued several executive orders, bypassing Congress, to implement more regulations and strictures on the right to keep and bear arms. These outrageous forced measures have raised the alarm and ire of New England gun owners, particularly in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, who are refusing to register their guns with the state government, where local law enforcement are sending the message that they have no intention of confiscating guns, although that seemed to be the original intent of Connecticut's law.

First Amendment: "If you like your Freedom of Speech and the Press, you can keep them." Press freedom has declined in the United States, often a result of leftist interest group intimidation. The President has his own enemies list, and allegations against the DOJ have revealed that officials seized the phone records of AP reports. Now First Lady Michelle Obama has banned the press from accompanying her to China, where the locals are getting fed up with her demanding ways. President Obama's administration has frequently Freedom of Information Act requests, and so has Attorney General Eric Holder.

Foreign Policy: "If you like your country's standing in the world, you can keep it." President Obama's apology tour to the Arab world, his silence following the Green Revolution in Iran, his reticence following the broadening Syrian Civil War (including the red line which Bassar al-Hassad crossed, danced, and erased). Now, Vladimir Putin has taken advantage of the perennially passive foreign policy of this Presidency, annexing Crimea following by a military venture and a forced plebescite in the region, taking advantage of the political upheaval in Kiev, Ukraine between pro-West and pro-Russia factions in the former Soviet Satellite.

Israel: "If you like the Jewish State, the Jews can keep the Jewish State." From the arrogant argument for land-swaps to his passive in-assistance to Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, to Secretary of State John's Kerry's about the viability of a central Israeli identity, Obama has sent a not-so-subtle message about his disregard for the integrity of Israel in the Middle East. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was so disgusted with President Obama's sorry treatment of Benjamin Netanyahu and the American-Israeli friendship, that Koch endorsed a Republican to replace the disgraced Anthony Weiner in a 2011 special election race for a three-to-one Democratic seat in the NYC burroughs (the Republican won by ten points).

Whatever President Obama has promised, the results have been anything but worth keeping. This President has been anything but professional, whether respecting the United States Constitution or faithfully executing the laws of the land, including his own.

I have a new phrase, one which will likely resonate with voters in 2014:

"If you like your President, you can keep your president." Result? Impeachment on January 3, 2015.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Longest-Serving Congressman John Dingell Retires - At Last

Congressman John Dingell (D-Michigan) is retiring at last.

File:John Dingell, official photo portrait, 111th Congress.jpgThe longest (self-)serving Congressman in Washington, Dingell joined the lower house in 1955, and never looked back.

A potential Chairman for the House Energy Committee, Congressman Henry Waxman whipped votes to edge out the senior chairman for the seat, with Cap and Trade and Obamacare as the disastrous results.

Dingell's take on Cap and Trade? Republican:

Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax - and it's a great big one.

It was a big tax, and one that died in the US Senate, thank goodness!

Despite his support for the auto industry, Dingell still cared about the animals:

Living wild species are like a library of books still unread. Our heedless destruction of them is akin to burning the library without ever having read its books.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_dingell.html#hgzaTLB1Q1hq0dmH.99

Some other interesting quotes from Rep. Dingell:

If we're going to change the laws, let's change them in ways which makes it easier to catch criminals, and yet at the same time protect the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens.

One has to wonder what the Congressman would think of President Obama, who does not even bother changing the laws, yet wants to make those who practice the Second Amendment criminals, while refusing to prosecute those who abuse the Second Amendment.

No Congressman should serve so many years, and have little to show for it. Just before his 2012 election, the Detroit News acknowledged that he was not a good Congressman, and the endorsement offered was one of the weakest on record.

And now his wife wants to run for the seat? Congress is not an inheritance, and any lineage, especially a liberal one, has no place in the House of Representatives.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Tony Benn in the Wisconsin Cap Times

Socialist Tony Benn
John Nichols reviewed the life and work of British parliamentarian Tony Benn, an unapologetic socialist in a world which had moved past his political views. From Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's implementation of free-market reforms, which enabled working-class Britons for the first time in decades to own their own home, while breaking the power of insufferable, abusive trade unions, Great Britain embraced a renaissance of industry privatization, along with economic prosperity and renewed international preeminence in the world.
Despite his wrong standing on economics (and for a time, history), Tony Benn's five questions are a remarkable introduction in the power and necessity of citizen participation in democracy:

'What power have you got?'

'Where did you get it from?'

'In whose interests do you use it?'

'To whom are you accountable?'

'How do we get rid of you?'

If one applied these questions to President Barack Obama, the following answers might come forth:

'What power have you got?' -- A pen and a phone (although President's power derives from the Constitution, and the consent of the governed.)

Where did you get it from?' - My pride and self-regard in the intellectual superiority of progressive principles and change of the sake of change.

'In whose interests do you use it?' - My own, and those of Wall Street and academic elites.

'To whom are you accountable?' - no one, unless Congress finally decides to impeach me then remove me from office.

'How do we get rid of you?' - see above, America!
 
For the record, President Obama's socialist policies have helped create a President who thinks that he is acountable to no one. Such is the face of all starry-eyed, true-believing socialists.

Walker Walking Over Attacks

Governor WalkerVerified account@GovWalkerMar 16
Philippians 4:13



Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been targeted by Democrats wanting to outs him for reelection in 2014, and liberals who want to prevent him from running for President in 2016, should he choose to do so.

First, a vain attempt to expose an off-the-record email account within the governor's inner circle was deleted. Even when Fox News anchor Chris Wallace repeatedly attempted to corner Walker on the account, the governor pointed out that a Democratic attorney general closed the case, finding no wrongdoing.

Then Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke argued that unemployment has actually grown during Walker's tenure. Politifact slammed the accusation with a "Pants on Fire!" rating (the same rating earned President Barack Obama's Lie of the Year: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.")

Still, Democratic activists and liberal opponents chrage that Wisconsin unemployment is still rising, despite acknowledging that Burke's assertion is patently false. For the record, even if unemployment was topping off at 6%, that rate is far better than many states in the country, including Rhode Island, California, and Illinois.

In the realm of free speech, Walker is under attack for tweeting "Phil. 4: 13" on his government account. The Constitution bars the state establishment of religion, not the free exercise thereof. Even governors have faith. Walker's economic policies have created a near one-billion dollar surplus, the overbearing dominance of the public sector unions have been curbed, granting more freedom to schools, and his stance on life and liberty remain unchecked.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What Hinders the New Covenant: The Old Covenant

More preachers are sharing the wonders of the New Covenant, in which we say "Yes!" and believe Him for all things.

They still linger in the Word of Faith aspect of all things, convinced that if they say certain words enough times, or declare the blood over all things.

The truth is that while we can say all the right things that we want to, if our heart is not established in righteousness, then whatever we say or think will not last long.

What we say, what we think, all manifest what we believe.

If we think that we still owe God something for all that we have done in our lives, then we cannot receive. We cannot have our hands open to God to receive all things if we still believe that there is part which we must play, that we can achieve, or work with God to achieve something.

The Bible is very clear about the promises in the New Covenant:

"
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
 
Now, this New Covenant is based on the sure and unshakable truth that all  my sins are forgiven, put away, paid for, and sent away.
 
There is another element which cannot be ignored:
 
"13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8: 13)
 
We have to get rid of the Old, we have to not put ourselves under an old system which will leave nothing but a "fearful looking after of judgment" (Hebrews 10: 26)
 
As long as we think that we still owe God something, or that we can and  must contribute something more to what Jesus has done and is doing for us, then we end up frustrating the grace of God in our lives (Galatians 5: 4)
 
We have to get rid of all pretentions of self-righteous, which will come out of us as long as we see the law, the Ten Commandments or any other rudiments, or weak and beggarly elements as necessary for us to live the life which only Christ Himself lives in us.
 
Consider the parables outlined in Mark 11:
 
"20And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away." (Mark 11: 20-21)
 
The fig tree is a picture of man's righteousness, of self-righteousness, of works-righteousness, since the first man and woman dressed themselves in fig leaves to cover up their shame and nakedness after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
 
When the tree of self-righteousness is completely removed in our lives, then watch what happens:
 
"22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11: 22-24)
 
While Kenneth Hagin and other preachers focus on what we say, the focus needs to be on Jesus and the new heart, the new spirit which we receive from Him, and with it the assurance of His faith, not ours, working in us:
 
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2; 20)
 
We live by His faith, not ours!
 
Then Paul writes:
 
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 21)
 
Righteousness cannot come from the law, from the "thou shalt nots" which no one can keep. When we accept the truth that the law is not the grace/truth which sets us free, when we see ourselves dead and hopeless in our trespasses, and that we need the Savior to save and redeem us, that we receive His life, passing from death to life, and His new power carries us through every day.
 
Then, we can have what we say, because what we say is a reflection of what is in our hearts, and we have a new heart, one with desires which He has set within us by His Holy Spirit!
 
What hinders the New Covenant in our lives is not that we do not speak forth what we want, or that we are not repeating our needs enough at length. Oftentimes men and women still themselves having to achieve something for God rather than receive all things from God.
 
When we understand the fullness of the Old Covenant, then receive the fullness of the New, we can walk in His grace and reign in this life because of His eternal life within us.

About Single-Payer in the USA. . .Flat-Lined in VT

Still, despite all the rage in the cage against single--payer, there is one state which has stepped in and wants to steep its residents in the program: Vermont.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence against single-payer, or socialized medicine, or universal health care, there is one state, so far, which has pushed the single-payer system: Vermont.

But wait, even the Democrats in the Green Mountain state are sounding the alarm against single payer.

Their words, reported by Vermont Watchdog.com:

VT Rep.Jim Condon
(D-Colchester)
"The deadlines for proposing financing have been missed two years in a row now, so to me that’s very disappointing. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that there is no financing plan.” -- Jim Condon

Whether liberals want to admit it or not, their plans fall apart not because of moral or social, or even cultural concerns, but the financial issues. As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it: "The problem with socialism is that you end up running out of other people's money!"
Bobby Starr
(D-Burlington)

Prior to this report, Senator Bobby Starr shared his concerns about the single-payer system "Green Mountain Care":

“There’s no way we can do it without new taxes … There’s no way possible of generating that kind of money from the existing money as far as I’m concerned."

Then he added:

“My fear is, in many regards, is if we have something that’s so unique that it puts us at a disadvantage from the states around us from a business standpoint.  I want to be sure that we don’t suffer.”

The tax dollars have to come from somewhere. If not from the individual citizens, then the wealth creators, including the private businesses, who end up carrying the bulk of the costs. Even Democrats realize that there is a limit to what they can get away with when it comes to raising taxes for government programs.

Starr ultimately voted against the plan, along with Condon.

Cynthia Browning (D-Arlington)
A third Democrat, Cynthia Browning (D-Arlington) is demanding that the Governor, fellow Democrat Peter Shumlin show the legislature the money.

Once again, even in the bluest of states like Vermont, it's all about the green which makes lawmakers and taxpayers red.

Browning commented:

“I think if the governor is going to continue to say, ‘I’m going to do single-payer,’ he has to show us how. And he has to show us how he’s going to build a sustainable, political base to support it. And the longer he doesn’t do that, the more it leads you to think he can’t do it or that he’s actually going to drop the thing later but he’ll wait until after the election."

Since Democrats are not looking good across the country, maybe the GOP can crack through the blue haze and take back seats in the Green Mountain state, too.

Obamacare was supposed to be a transformative reform which expanded access, lowered costs, and provided quality health care. Vermont wanted to go further and enact single-payer, only to find that it's all about the money.

As one headline put it, single-player has "flat-lined" in Vermont. Will it flat-line Democratic dominance in Vermont, and through  New England, too?



About Single-Payer. . .

"So Art--thanks!!! You made the argument for a single-payer system for me!!! Appreciate it!!! --Jim (or Sara, or Lee)

So what about single-payer. . .

There were rumblings from Reid and company that Obamacare was merely a stop toward single-payer, to begin with. Reid acknowledged that many of his supporters wanted single-payer, which at the time was masqueraded as "Public Option".

For horror stories about single-payer, check them out here:

Stephen Crowder went undercover into the socialized health care system. Clinics were closed on weekends. The waiting time for seeing a doctor or a nurse was at least a day, and even then, after waiting, they had to wait again to get an appointment. One lady shared how a friend of hers lost both legs because of medical incompetence.

Then there's John Stossel, who attacked the health insurance system in its entirety, pointing out that someone else ends up paying for it, which drives up costs, forcing doctors to hire more people to handle the outrageous paperwork. The third-party arrangements have created outrageous demand, rationing, and more paperwork.

And fraud.

John Stossel visited the Canadian Health Care system, and even spoke with doctors in the system (unlike Michael Moore, who tried to play up Canadian health care as if it's really something). Doctors expose the amount of waiting, and some die, or the pain gets worse. Hospitals throughout Canada are packed, as well, and there is no room for them in other hospitals. Some cities even have to throw a lottery just to give one person at a time a chance to see a family doctor. Black market health clinics have opened up all over Canada, as well. Black market for health care? Really?!

Here's another horror story from Canada stories about the Canadian health care system:

But that's Canada! What about Cuba?

John Stossel confronted crock-umentarian Michael Moore about the Cuban health care system, where in spite of the nice video ops. Refugees from Cuba, doctors as well as human rights activists expose that government officials will provide propaganda to the United Nations as well as feature hospitals with the best health care, which is reserved for political elites, while everyone else must succumb to sub-standard health care, often facing terrible, officious conditions, rationing, and a greater spread of disease.

But what about Great Britain?

The NHS neglected this woman's mother, dropped her. 400 hundred people have died at the hospital, as well. The government demanded a quota every month, and the hospital would rush through patients. These individuals call out a system which is terminally it.

Another UK report blasted the system, pointing out that many died needlessly. Poor care in fourteen hospitals, at least! And since everyone is forced to pay and forced to attend, such is the result of government force in health care. Another lady called the care that her deceased grandfather received "Appalling!"

Check out these links just on "NHS Failures" -- are you kidding me!

The NHS is better known for its massive failure than delivering great care. UK Prime Minister was hard pressed to defend such terrible news. In Britain, however, the citizens have no choice but to pay for bad health care.

But what about France?

I have heard the best reports about France, so far.

CBS Sunday Morning investigated the French system, which spotlighted that the French make less, the prices which are set by the government. The doctors are willing to accept it. Doctors respond to all emergency calls first, which shield many of the cases which do not need an emergency team.

If a team is required, a doctor and a nurse with other staff come

The French pay $3,400 per year on health care, and the French do complain. Yet the system is running a massive deficit -- $12 billion a year -- and many come to the country just for the free health care.  A Huffington Post article also points out the cost issue in the French system, which cannot be ignored.

The Cato Institute ended up shedding some light on the upside of the French system, as well, which included more use of private insurance, which is less regulated in France than in the United  States. French citizens are expected to pick up more of the costs, too. More importantly, though, Cato points out that market forces play a greater role in the health care cost control (not government intervention) and -- the French government and legal system are "tort-averse", meaning that doctors and hospitals do not contend with lawsuits, or the growing fear of lawsuits, nearly as much as occurs in the United States.

The report further reminds readers that despite the costs of health care in the United States, many come here to get the care that they need, and most of the technical innovations used in medicine originate in the United States, too.

Still, if there are any lessons one can take about health care reform, then, the answers lie not in granting more power to the state, but expanding options, instituting reforms within the system, employing market forces for insurance,  engaging individual responsibility, and encoding tort reform.

Not single-payer per se, but free market reforms make the difference. I would further submit that with less regulation and increasing the role of market forces within the health care system, France would better control health care costs, and end the "moocher problem" of people coming to the country for free health care.