Same old same old

Haven't written for the last couple of days because there's not much more to say that I haven't said already. Feel free to click on past blogs to re-live the thrill of discovery. (I am kidding.)

Comrade Osama on TV again today, promoting socialized medicine. Looking for the data from the Lewin Group, which ran the numbers and determined that about 160 million of the currently-insured would be dumped into a socialized medicine program, I came across a video from ABC-TV's "We love socialism!" special dedicated to giving Mr. Comrade maximum free air time.

(You know, I was a magazine editor for a while. We used to get "PSAs," public service announcments, from charities and similar organizations. We'd run them sometimes if we had an empty space on a page that we couldn't fill with paid advertising. Perhaps this principle explains the ABC-TV thing.)

Mr. Shiels, an executve from the Lewin Group, told the Comrade what Lewin's findings were, that employers would stop offering benefits and dump employees into the socialized medicine option. Comrade Osama responded by promising to penalize -- oops! I mean, "dis-incentivize" -- any company that terminated its health care benefits and tossed their employees upon the stormy seas of public sentiment and misdirected good intentions.

OK. So what the hell is the point of offering socialized medicine in the first place? I mean, who is it supposed to serve? Most people in the USA get health care insurance from their employers, but employers will be banned from considering it? And will be "dis-incentivized" from using it. (Like, nationalize them? In this administration, it could happen.)

Does this sound like a load of b.s. to you? It does to me. Like, for one thing, exactly how would that be enforced? It's like the crap-and-trade provision for using energy-saving light bulbs. Think of how many jobs will be created in the Light Bulb Enforcement Tactical Squad (LBETS), ski-masked individuals armed with M-16s who will invade your home without warning, rip the shades off your table lamps and wall sconces, and check that you're using politically correct light bulbs. OMG! A 125-watt incandescent. Hey, mister, come with me.....

No doubt it's this kind of thing Pazzo Pelosi had in mind when she was howling "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" like a demented lottery winner in the House of Reps when the bill passed.

Then Comrade Osama keeps insisting that the socialized medicine program will pay doctors at acceptable rates, reduce fraud, and cut administrative costs. But this is purely PROVEN b.s. Look at Medicare and Medicaid. Many doctors refuse Medicare/Medicaid patients because those programs DO NOT pay the doctor's costs, require massive amounts of paperwork, and are subject to other types of non-medical regulation and bureaucratic interference. And I've said it before, but it's worth repeating -- The New York Times and Washington Post, both fond of enormous government -- set the Medicare/Medicaid fraud rate at about 15% of all their costs. They estimate that at about $60 BILLION per year.

But Comrade Osama's "public option" will not suffer from the same problems of the existing socialized medicine programs. No, his program will be much better. How's he going to do that? Well, we are talking about the Golden Boy here, the Messiah. Perhaps he's going to transport Santa's Little Helpers from the North Pole to implement and manage the program, or resurrect all the dead Catholic saints.

And there are how many insurance companies, insurance plans, health care providers in the market today? And Comrade Osama insists there is not enough competition? We need the federal government to get involved to provide competition? So the new buzzword for "socialism" is "competition"? He does do this kind of thing often -- rename things to make them appear more acceptable.

Sometimes I suspect that Comrade Osama arrived on earth about three days ago in a space capsule from zeta reticuli. He demonstrates daily that he has no awareness of what's actually occuring on earth. Perhaps his latest information comes from episodes of "I Love Lucy" broadcast into space 50 years ago.

The most amazing thing is the numbers of people who are willing to believe him. Or maybe are just hoping for a seat on the gravy train. Although, according to Rasmussen Reports, those numbers are diminishing. The last couple of days, the number of people polled who "strongly disapprove" of Comrade Osama has been higher than the numbers of people who "strongly approve" of him. So maybe Americans have finally recovered from their election hangover and are beginning to look at the facts.

And, on other issues.... Wanna run for congress? Here's a simple formula:

Get up every morning and stand in front of the mirror. Then repeat, "Gosh darn it, people like me!" You too might succeed in achieving your American Dream.

And I must say, when the new, psychotically-liberal senator from Minnesota did this bit on Saturday Night Live with Michael Jordan, that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV. I do hope we can look forward to a steady stream of this kind of entertainment from the US Senate. It may distract them from legislating.