HOME OF THE WHOPPER

"Trust is a terrible thing to lose. Bitterness and disillusion are its inevitable progeny. In private life, the loss of trust forces a rearrangement of sympathy and affection. In public life, the loss of trust instigates a fundamental realignment of political affiliation."

And President Obama's lost it. Read the entire article.

JUST A THOUGHT

Have you noticed that the liberals, progressives, and other pseudo-intellectual elite are so nuanced, so adept at reading between the lines, that they can't actually read the lines?

JIMMY CARTER OPENS MOUTH; INSERTS FOOT

“Former President Jimmy Carter ... [said] in an interview that Rep. Joe Wilson's ‘You lie!’ outburst last week was ‘based on racism’ and that an ‘overwhelming portion’ of similar demonstrations against President Obama are rooted in bigotry.”

James Earl Carter, Jr. is himself a racist bigot.

[Update] More Mush From The Wimp: “Jimmah’s empty slander is just another sign of the unbecoming moral vanity at the heart of the modern Left, to say nothing of its overweening intolerance for any hint of dissent.”

Via Instapundit.

HOW 'BOUT THAT?

Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA) thinks I'm a racist: "The Hill reports that Waters identifies racists by their use of the term 'ObamaCare', which would apparently include me. Gee, when I called it HillaryCare in 1993, was that racist too?"

Jeez, is she ever dumb.

A DOCTOR ON OBAMACARE

Dr. Arthur M. Feldman, a cardiologist and chair of the department of medicine at Jefferson Medical College, isn’t enamored with ObamaCare as presently envisioned.

I want [my patients] to have insurance that will pay for their care, and I want to be able to offer new medications and the most sophisticated treatment. I want to be able to give preventive care as well as to monitor patients effectively if they develop diseases. I want to be able care for my patients in their homes, and I want to offer palliative care if it becomes necessary. I want them to be able to afford all this.

I want to see major reforms in health care -- I just don't want what is on the table.

Here’s Dr. Feldman’s “top ten” list. My comments are in italics.

1. Private insurance companies escape real regulation.

I respect his experience, but I suspect the problem is over-regulation rather than under-regulation. I’d like to be able to buy health insurance to my own specification, even with a pre-existing condition, outside an employer plan, as an individual or as a member of a “common-interest” coalition, out-of-state, if necessary. Over-regulation, not under-regulation, prevents me.

2. We urgently need tort reform, but it's nowhere to be seen.

Yes, but ... the neurosurgeon who operated on my mother was afraid of single-payer healthcare specifically because there would be no lawyers. His fear is that malpractice will increase rather than decrease under a single-payer healthcare system.

3. "Prevention" won't magically make costs go down.

Too true, and much under-discussed. The fact is that “prevention” has been driving costs up, not down.

4. Reform efforts don't address our critical shortage of health-care workers.
5. We need more primary-care physicians -- but we also need specialists.

Agreed, but 4 and 5 are not health insurance issues.

6. We have to streamline drug development and shake up the Food and Drug Administration.

Yes, but again it isn’t an insurance issue. The FDA is far too conservative, and its “nanny-ish” tendencies badly need curtailing.

7. We can't fund health-care reform by cutting payments to doctors.

We can if we cut their overhead at the same time. I’ve read that something on the order of 30% of a doctor’s income is spent to comply with pointless bureaucratic regulation.

8. We can't forget about research.

OK, but again, this isn’t an insurance issue.

9. Cutting reimbursements could shut some hospitals down.

Same comment as 7 above.

10. We need to improve the quality of care.

Quality? or process? In either case, it isn’t an insurance issue.

My bottom line is that we need to put the patient (me!) back in charge. To put it somewhat crudely, I own the car; I drive it; I’m responsible for it. Therefore I make the decisions.

ANOTHER DEFINITION OF INSANITY

The US won’t buy from China, but will borrow from China.

Same result in either case, but by buying, at least we get something tangible in return - and without %!$$-ing off the Chinese to boot.

DC PROTEST NOT TOO SHABBY

Click on the image and start counting.

The source is here.

[Update] The best estimate is now more than 500,000.

AMERICA’S HEALTHY FUTURE ACT OF 2009

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has released the Democrats' 10-year, $856 billion health care reform plan. The outline is here. The text of the bill is here.

USE FINE PRINT

A nonprofit group is seeking permission to write every word of the healthcare bill on the Capitol steps.

Is there such a thing as extra-fine tip chalk? And if there is, will our Congresscritters be able to read it?

The stairs along the West Front of the Capitol are impressive, but the healthcare bill now stands at over 1,000 pages.

[Update] They should use the Senate bill - it's only 223 pages.

THOUGHTS ON OBAMACARE

”What's not to like? Or to like, for that matter. Form, not content, is what matters. Design, not engineering. As in an Italian sports car on the showroom floor. Never been driven. Maybe not meant to be driven. Everything shimmers, everything is negotiable. And the salesman's style is Armani impeccable. Substance? It can come later, if at all.”