Some thoughts from People that don’t think, but are against Healthcare Choice.

Karl Rove:
“The first is it's unnecessary. Advocates say a government-run insurance program is needed to provide competition for private health insurance. But 1,300 companies sell health insurance plans.”

There may be 1,300 companies, but the simple truth is if your employer doesn’t offer health insurance, you can’t get a real plan. I’ve tried as a self-employed person to get Health Insurance and went to several legitimate companies filled out the forms and never heard back from them.

Looking at the other Insurance Companies, I did a simple test I called around to see if doctors, dentists and optometrists took their Insurance. Turned out my only options were Insurance companies that offered policies that no one in the healthcare industry would take.

That is not competition when your choice is only companies that are offering coverage that is worthless.

“Second, a public option will undercut private insurers and pass the tab to taxpayers and health providers just as it does in existing government-run programs.”

We currently pay 6 times per capita what other industrialized countries pay for healthcare and are near the bottom of list as far as effectiveness. So what Karl is saying here is there is no way private industry can compete with the Federal Government especially if the Government has to take all the sick people that the Private Insurance Companies refuse to take. Because obviously there is no room to save money by being more efficient, like only spending 5 times per capita what other nations spend.

Oh, and my heart just goes out to all those private insurance companies that refuse to cover me.

“Third, government-run health insurance would crater the private insurance market, forcing most Americans onto the government plan.”

Yes, The Americans who are self-employed that the private insurance companies won’t cover, the Americans who work at small companies where one employee with an expensive illness makes insurance too expensive for the rest of the workers, The 1.5 million Americans a year who lose their homes because their insurance companies won’t cover their medical bills, the 20,000 people a year that die because their insurance companies deny them life saving treatments.

Yes, those people will be forced onto the government plan because Private Insurance Companies won’t cover them.

“Fourth, the public option is far too expensive”

Compared to what? Compared to the fact that Factories will not open up in America because healthcare costs make it too expensive to operate here in America.

Compared to the loss to the economy that 1.5 million foreclosed homes causes when they drag down the housing market?

Compared to the number of small businesses that are being crushed as healthcare costs overtake profits.

Compared to the loss of spending capital that someone making $30,000 a year loses when they are spending $12,000 on health insurance?

What exactly is it too expensive in comparison to, Karl never does explain.

“Fifth, the public option puts government firmly in the middle of the relationship between patients and their doctors”

Just like how the Government is firmly in the middle of my relationship with my mom, because we send letters through the mail.

Look everyone has had to deal with government red tape, and everyone has had to deal with private industry red tape. The difference is when dealing with the government the person at the bottom will try and help you the best they can then switch you up to the next rung on the ladder. It’s irritating but when dealing with the government you can at least make some headway if you have the patience.

When dealing with a large private institution (like the bank that holds my mortgage), the person on the bottom will tell you what is on their computers screen and if it doesn’t help refuse to let you speak to anyone higher up.

The Government is required to be transparent with their decisions, they aren’t always, but at least they need to go through the motions and if enough people demand that they show the reason for their decision they will eventually.

Private Companies have no such requirement when they get in the middle of your relationship with your doctor.

Karl Rove’s arguments are just stupid, but to really delve into the mouth of idioticy I must turn to someone I can always count on to be a total idiot but at least knows the basic rules of grammar (unlike Ann Coulter), Larry Elder

“What about personal behavior? Obesity leads to serious health problems, including heart disease. One-third of Americans are obese — almost 50 percent more than the British and Australians, over 100 percent more than the Canadians and Germans, about 250 percent more than the French and 1,000 percent more than the Japanese.

“So don't blame the "broken health care system" for lower life expectancies. American health care actually helps us cope with the consequences of unhealthy lifestyles, keeping our ranking from being even lower.”

So are healthcare costs are high because Americans are denied access to preventative care (like nutritionists and real weight-loss doctors) so therefore we shouldn’t blame the system that denies preventative care to Americans for high costs.

You can’t argue with that logic, you can only shake your head and back away slowly, taking care not to make any sudden moves.

The reason that opponents of giving Americans a choice in healthcare sound like idiots is that they are totally in the wrong.

The simple fact is, if an invading Army came in and killed 20,000 Americans, forced 1.5 Million people out of their homes and stole 2.5 Trillion Dollars of America’s wealth, we would demand action. Any Politician who helped them would be found guilty of treason and hanged in a public square. Yet we allow the healthcare industry to do that every year.

Rodney Dangerfield and Healthcare.

Listening to the healthcare “debate” reminds me of the one scene in “Back to School” where the professor accused Rodney of cheating and the Dean responded “I don’t think you appreciate exactly how big the check he gave us was.”

You can easily imagine that same argument floating around the halls of the Senate.

“80% of Americans want a public choice in their healthcare.” The Progressive Senator says.

“True, but I don’t think you realize exactly how much money the Medical Industry contributes to my campaign.” The Conservative Responds.

“20,000 People are die each year because the Insurance Companies deny them treatment.” The Progressive Senator continues.

“True, but you need to understand that the health Insurance Companies donate quite a bit to my campaign.” The Conservative tries to strengthen his argument.

“In the United States we spend roughly 6 times the amount per person as other industrialized countries, yet we rank near the bottom as far as overall health.” The Progressive Senator tells him.

“Isn’t that great, It gives them plenty of money to support my campaign.” The Conservative Senator states.

“For employers Health Insurance is the fastest growing cost, it rapidly taking overtaking profits.” The Progressive Senator hammers on.

“Well, the Insurance companies have to get money to give to my campaign from somewhere.” The Conservative Senator says condescendingly.

“One and a Half Million people were forced out of their homes last year due to foreclosure because of unaffordable medical costs, greatly contributing to the housing crisis.” The Progressive Senator tells him.

“That’s OK, we can bail out the banks that lost money because of that, after all they still have plenty of money to fund my campaign.” The Conservative Senator responds.

I could go on but it is obvious that those members of the Senate that are against giving people the choice of a public option in their healthcare have just formed a wall built out of the money given to them by the Insurance Companies and will refuse to listen to the will of the people.

There is one thing that these Conservative Senators should take in mind, during the reign of George W. Bush many Progressives became Pro-Gun for some reason. So while they help their buddies divide up the spoils of their robbery of the American Citizens and call it Democracy, they might want to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin:

Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for Dinner; Freedom is an Armed Lamb contesting the Vote.

How to Save 60% on your Auto Insurance

Everyone is talking about how much single payer healthcare will cost, but very few people, at least in the mainstream media have mentioned how much it would save the average American.

Believe it or not you probably do have a form of health insurance, it just doesn’t cover you, it covers other people.

This insurance is your auto insurance.

The largest part of a typical auto liability policy is covering someone else’s healthcare costs. The reason is if you lose control of your car and hit someone, it isn’t fair that they should have to pay the medical bills for your mistake.

Naturally (if you aren’t a totally cold-hearted person) you would want to see them made whole and that’s why you have insurance in the first place, that and of course because the state forces you to.

You also have medical insurance for yourself and the passengers in your car, it is filed under PIP, Personal Injury Protection, or just Personal Medical.

PIP is necessary under our current Medical System even if you have regular health insurance because if you get into an accident and need to be taken to the emergency room and the police have to call your insurance company and find out which hospital they will pay for and the ER doctors have to find out what procedures are covered and what ones aren’t, your odds of dieing would shoot up significantly.

To cut through this red tape Auto Insurance Companies have PIP so that the Ambulance ride, the Emergency Room visit and all the things to keep you from dieing immediately are covered. The amount of minimum coverage varies by state.

If single payer healthcare became reality in the US, PIP and Personal Medical would become totally unnecessary, as the Ambulance ride and the Emergency Room visit would be free.

In my case, that would save me $77.23 every six months.

The second place it would save is in the BI, or Bodily Injury, part of my insurance. Under a single payer plan this part of my insurance would be significantly reduced but not completely eliminated.

The Bodily Injury portion of auto insurance covers the other person’s medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages.

Even under a single payer system you will have to pay the family the lost wages if you kill someone and you’ll be responsible for someone’s pain and suffering but the biggest part of Bodily Injury is the other person’s medical expenses. You can expect those costs to go down about the same amount as the PIP.

The third place on you insurance bill that you will save is on your uninsured/underinsured Motorist coverage. The uninsured motorist coverage covers your medical bills if someone with no insurance (or a hit and run) injures you. Obviously under a single payer system these bills wouldn’t exist.

After getting rid of all these medical costs from your insurance all that is left is coverage for pain and suffering, lost wages and property damage. So you could be looking at a savings of 60% on you auto insurance.

As well as lowering your Auto Insurance, your employer would save on workers comp, the vast majority of that is for medical bills. If you’re a homeowner your homeowners insurance would go down as most of your liability coverage is for medical bills as well as all of your guest medical coverage.

Taken altogether a single payer healthcare plan will save the vast majority of Americans a great deal on the non-healthcare insurance they are already carrying.

Open letter: If You're a Conservative...Maybe You NEED to Be Offended.

You people just wouldn't fucking listen.

Like schoolyard bullies with a parent as a chaperon, you thought you would never be sent to the principal's office. Your political irrelevance would be funny, except...you dragged all of us down with you.

If we questioned YOUR president, WE were unpatriotic. If we questioned YOUR facts, we didn't know enough to follow a real news source and were 'Victims' of the liberal media. Oh, we withstood your condescension, even all the while knowing that you could barely spell; that your lack of a worldly or human perspective was the main reason you believed as you did; that your innate laziness led you to inquire no farther than the level at which your pre-supposed views were validated, and no deeper.



You watched Fox News and read Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter; you made cracks about niggers being lazy and Jews needing to be 'perfected'; you agreed when it was promulgated that 'Non-Christians' were aggressive and inferior; and you questioned not once the fuzzy math or the slanted slop that passed for journalism in the intellectual hovels you frequented.

Well, you weren't the only ones. You have had lots of company at this particular trough. Ignorance has run rampant for far too long. Now people are dying. All that hate from the 2008 presidential campaign- you know the one; the one wherein people at Republican rallies chanted 'KILL HIM' about Barack Obama and NONE of you spoke up- is coming home to roost.



I of course recognize my own culpability here. I wanted this particular Helter Skelter to occur, because it had been a long time coming, and it was needed to thin out your particular herd. I liked Barack Obama from the outset- he is smart, and funny, and articulate and that was a whole new reality after eight years of having a president who truly was dumber than a third-grader- but first and foremost, I wanted him to win, because I knew that the knuckle-dragging Right Wingers would lose their fucking minds. And they have. For all the piss and vinegar I can muster towards conservatives in general, that are mind-numbingly predictable, and they never let you down when there is a chance for them to be vocal, violent, and ignorant.

A doctor was killed- IN A CHURCH. A security guard was killed, doing his job protecting people at a HOLOCAUST museum. Had the Conservative movement looked inward? No, they can't. Deep down- on a level that can't reach and would never admit to- they know that they all had a hand in this.



Bill O'Reilly now claims- after 28 mentions of 'Tiller the Baby Killer' that he had anything to do with encouraging his listeners to violence against the doctor. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have tried to spin the the von Brunn museum shooting was an isolated LEFTIST incident. They are indignant and insulted that anyone would associate them with those bad anti-abortion zealots or white-supremacists.



Even after such a series of events, Sarah Palin is mad again, because the world knows that she is both the joke and the punchline, and she is too pig-ignorant to accept as much and kindly go away. She lives in her own little world where nothing matters but her, and she's mad because David Letterman made a few jokes at her expense, and some of that comedic jizz spilled over onto her lovely daughter. You know, the lovely daughter no one in America knew about until Palin herself shoved her down our throats. No, not that one- the OTHER daughter. You know. Whats-her-face. Trick? Trogg? Trip-Trap? Oh, it will come to me.

Sarah Palin is a media whore. She is a demonstrably ignorant bumblefuck hillbilly, and she paraded her kids on the political stage during the campaign and put her unmarried, pregnant teenage daughter out there to be gawked at and commented on.

So now what the hell is her problem when someone makes a comment? Dave has always been a smart-ass and makes fun of everything with a tongue in cheek sort of humor, so she needs to get over herself. That mama bear act ain't working! She won't go on Letterman because she couldn't handle his quick wit and snarky comments. She wouldn't be a very good guest anyway because she doesn't have a high enough IQ to give Dave any sort of snappy reparte. Palin dragged baby Trig, the one with Down's syndrome, all over the stage during the campaign, as if he were some rag doll. I have no respect at all for that woman.

If what I've said offends you...Maybe you NEED to be offended.

If You're a Conservative at all...maybe you NEED to be offended. You need to be shocked out of your complacency. You need to take a good look at the people you've chosen to believe, support, emulate and parrot. You need to look inward, and question whether or not you want o carry on in this way. The People spewing hate and nonsense- YOU gave them their voice. You made Fascistic policy acceptable. YOU did this to US.


WE are sick of YOU.
Yes, YOU- Joe Six-Pack. Yeah, the Nascar-watching brother-fucker (entranced with cars driving in a circle) who becomes a political powerhouse on a level with Benjamin Disraeli whenever he clicks onto the Fox News channel. The guy who insists upon having that dreck playing in every bar, every barbershop, every airport lounge. We're onto you. We are NOT happy, we will NOT be nice. We will NOT apologize. We will NOT stop.




We will ask you why your political views are more suited to the backwaters of Alabama in the 1950's as opposed to the fluoridated present day. When you get your facts wrong, we will NOT allow you to continue on blithely spilling your ignorance. We will call you out for your stupidity, and we will not longer pretend- for your benefit alone- that you're alternative world-view is relevant. It's not.
It never fucking was.

A Brighter Tomorrow

Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in front of the TV at my Grandparents house watching the Moon Landings. Even as a five year old seeing those 12 astronauts walking on an alien world filled my young brain with hope for the future.

I thought I would get a chance to walk on the Moon as well, because just like when my mom was growing up Jets were a new technology that only a few people could travel in, but by the time I was growing up they were commonplace. Taking it back further when my Grandmother was growing up Lindbergh’s non-stop solo flight to Europe was a technological feat.

Now my wife and I are thinking of having a kid, I call this Project Scion, and even though I look forward to watching Moon Landings with the kid, this was not supposed to be a generational event.

Looking at the world today with the total economic collapse, the fact that last year demand for oil (the life blood of our industrial civilization) outpaced oil production, the fact that the largest climate shift in human history is looming, and thousands of other signs of doom and despair you might wonder why we have chosen this time to raise a child. The answer is simple for the first time since I was a kid growing up I feel optimistic about the future.

Over the course of my life I have watched science, research and development budgets being slashed. I was a kid when Nixon cut the last three Moon Missions, but the Skylab missions still had me hopeful of the future.

I was old enough to know that the Apollo-Soyuz was the last mission for the indefinite future I lowered my expectations. Even with NASA boasting of how the Shuttle would be all things to all people and would cost only pennies a day to operate it was obvious that it wouldn’t be the spacecraft to return us to the Moon and I’d have to wait for space technology to advance.

While that was happening I did have a glimmer of hope, Jimmy Carter announced that freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil would be the moral equivalent of war. I imagined a brave new world, where we could use our brains to advance as a people and put the vast scientific know how that allowed men to walk on the Moon to solve the problems that plagued mankind and in the pursuit of those goals we would make discoveries that would let us once more go into that final frontier.

Then he was laughed out of office.

I watched as Reagan and Bush slashed not only NASA’s budget but all funding towards Science and Technology even as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were putting some of the space technology (microchips) to use in the hands of the public.

If it wasn’t bad enough that they slashed Science budgets, the whole tone of the nation started vilifying science and by extension intelligence. Being intelligent in America became a curse.

When Bill was elected I thought things would change, clearly an intelligent person would recognize the importance of inspiring other intelligent people to succeed instead of having to hide, but instead he put on an “aw shucks” routine and played dumb while slashing scientific research in this country to the bare bones.

By the time Bush came through and declared war on science and the “Intellectual elite” it didn’t mean much as even when discoveries were made they wouldn’t be developed. Bucky Tubes and nano-technology have been around for a couple of decades now. If they had been funded so they could develop into mature technologies we could have cars that weighed hundreds of pounds instead of thousands, as well as planes and of course spacecraft.

Seeing policy makers turn public opinion into down right hostility against anyone who could think for themselves made me decide against having a child that, if genetics is any indication, should be a super-genius.

But now it seems that people are looking around and noticing what 30 years of embracing stupid and rejecting science has led to.

No new innovations in science has led to innovations in money making like Default Credit Swaps, and Mortgage Backed Derivatives.

Not inspiring our children to wonder “What if” has meant all our industrial products come from overseas as Japanese and Korean’s wondered “What if we did this to improve a car?”

In times of great crisis there is great opportunity. To overcome the challenges that are in front of us we will need to once again foster an environment where an interest in science is considered something to be praised not scorned. Where critical thinking is seen as the solution to a problem and not “the problem”.

After watching a country’s Science policy go from science and research being a source of strength for our nation to something that should be despised, I wouldn’t have a genius kid while our leaders considered logic a menace and truth the enemy.

We’ve seen what happens when we embrace the stupid; Peak Oil, Financial Ruin, Death and Destruction on a massive scale.

It’s time to put intelligence back to work, and that is why I am hopeful for the future.

It will be a long time before we can forget what embracing stupid does. 60 years if history is any guide. So that gives my kid plenty of time to grow up in a world that values intelligence, honesty and a strong work ethic.

So America I am putting you on notice, I will watch the Moon Landings with my kid but I will not sit by and let the world make it an event to have me watch the Moon Landing with my Grandchild.

You’ve got 60 to 80 years to make sure that a Moon Landing is no more eventful than a plane crossing the Atlantic.

A response to Michael Moore from a former Oilman

In his recent post “Goodbye GM” Michael Moore compared the current financial meltdown (the Great Recession, The Great Depression 2.0, or whatever you what to call it) to a war, and he pointed his finger at the bad guys.

“The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.”

As the former Vice-President of an oil company, I can say with authority that the characterization he paints of the oil barons deceiving the public about the amount of oil left on the planet is totally false.

As the oil prices started going through the roof, I responded to critics who were saying that it was all a ploy by oil companies with my article “Why are gas prices so high?” Where I outlined the fact that we as a society have known for over 30 years that we were living on borrowed time as far as having an energy policy that was dependent on oil but instead of addressing the problem we just elected leader like Clinton and Bush who would rather squander away the nations wealth on the useless “War on Drugs” than address the looming crisis of peak oil.

Now Michael, you might say that I am the exception to the rule, the lone whistle-blower in the crowd but I am not.

Matt Simmons of Simmons & Company has been saying for decades that not only are we running out of oil but we have much less than is being reported.

T. Boone Pickens has been running countless ads pushing to reduce oil dependence.

Dave O’Reilly CEO of Chevron said in 2005 “It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We’ll use the next trillion in 30.“

The heads of oil companies both big and small have been warning the public that demand will outstrip supply but the public has just been putting their fingers in their ears and saying “Na – Na – Na – Na, I can’t hear you.”

So why have oil companies been letting the delusional masses lead them into a policy that we knew was destructive? It was our legal duty.

In order to raise money for an oil project an oilman has to pass the same tests a stockbroker does. You can’t pass those tests without some knowledge of economics, so when you see the investment banks playing games with peoples retirement funds so that long-term growth is sacrificed for short-term gain. It is our fiduciary duty to try to do the best thing we can with our investors money.

If Wall Street is turning its back on long-term growth, we have to offer a course that will maximize short-term gain and that course is to drill like crazy so that we can sell oil when supply out-strips demand like it did last summer our investors can get some quick cash in their pockets to help them survive when Wall Street inevitably crashes.

Michael, it wasn’t that the oil companies were withholding information on peak oil, it was that the message wasn’t getting out to the public. So I ask you: Where were you during this run up to disaster?

Peak oil and the Financial markets sacrificing Long-Term Growth for Short-Term Gain are tough topics for the Mainstream Media to deal with it would need an independent documentary maker with some clout to raise public awareness, but instead of examining the start of the biggest crisis in our lifetimes you were busy examining the role of guns in our society and how roughly 900 people die a year from guns, when I can guarantee you more people will die from having the Investment Banks piss away their life savings than that.

So Michael you can point your finger at me and other oilmen all you want, but remember when you point your finger, your other three fingers are pointing back at you.

Darrell Nelson, former Vice-President of Mountainview Petroleum.

Beavis and Butt-Head, the Model for Bush’s DHS.

Last night I watched Beavis and Butt-Head do America. Back in 1996 when it was made the Portrayal of the total incompetence of the ATF was laughable. The idea of the ATF and FBI doing an all out manhunt for Beavis and Butt-Head with the result being little more than giving all of Beavis and Butt-Head’s neighbors “full cavity searches” was so unrealistic it was funny.

Now, 13 years later the actions of the AFT in the film seem like a plausible scenario for the Department of Homeland Security.

Having Robert Stack being the lead agent who thought the only way to get information from people: suspects, witnesses, associates, etc. was to use full cavity searches doesn’t seem so out of place now that we have Cheney making the rounds on the news saying how having CIA agents have sex with teenage boys was the only way to keep the country safe.

Labeling two teenage boys as the most dangerous men in America seems a little less absurd after Homeland Security spent millions to round up a home grown terrorist cell, were during an interview the leader of the cell pointed to head and said, “We aren’t just acting Physically…”. Or how the CIA uncovered a plot to fly an airplane into the Sands Resort in Las Vegas only to find out it was a clip from “Con Air”.

When the Department of Homeland Security is restructured, and it needs to be I hope it uses Tommy Lee Jones’s portrayal of the US Marshals in Fugitive, who used all the powers within the law to find their man as a model rather than Robert Stack’s portrayal of the ATF.