Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Award Winner Dies Of Swine Flu

Liza Northrop Beale, the general manager of The Almanac, a weekly newspaper in Washington, Pa. died Saturday of complications related to the H1N1 virus. She was 49 and lived in Peters Township which is suburban Pittsburgh.

Mrs. Beale won a first-place 2009 Keystone Press Award from the Pennsylvania NewspaperAssociation for niche publication production, along with top honors for weekly editorial writing.

She was also the editor of Southpointe Today and Suburban Living.

She is survived by her husband, William.

Dem Health Bill Is Inefficient Answer To Inefficiency

The Senate Democrats, last night, voted to open debate on a health care bill that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $979 billion over the next 10 years.

The vote came without any Republican support with 39 opposing and George Voinovich of Ohio not voting. The Republicans do not have enough votes by themselves to filibuster the bill to stop it.

Pennsylvania’s senators, Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, are Democrats.

The Democrats note that the CBO says the act will reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion.

Those who are not Democrat senators don’t seem to be buying it. Not even David Broder of the Washington Post who cites groups such as the Concord Coalition and The Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget as among the skeptics.

And after 10 years? Well, the conservative Heritage Foundation estimates the cost over 20 years to be $4.9 trillion.

But despite what Democrats believe, government is not yet the entire economy, and most frighteningly the CBO estimates

that the total cost of intergovernmental mandates would greatly exceed the annual threshold established in the (Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.) See page 18.

The Senate bill, after all, would be funded by increasing fees on insurance companies, drugmakers, medical device manufacturers, hiking the Medicare payroll tax to 1.95 percent on income over $200,000 for indviduals ($250,000 for couples), a 5 percent tax on elective surgery, an excise tax on insurance companies, fees on employers whose workers receive government subsidies to buy insurance, “fines” on those who fail to buy coverage, and cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Insurance companies, drugmakers etc. are going to pass on the cost and the rich are going to have less to spend and invest albeit many Americans don’t seem to be able to understand that.

Don’t forget what the point of this bill is supposed to be: paying for the uninsured who are now getting medical care via emergency rooms. Granted that’s not the most efficient way of doing it, but greatly hiking cost to cut services doesn’t seem to be a very efficient answer.

The bill still must be passed by the Senate, reconciled with the House and signed by President Obama.

Stealth Health Means More Power, More Money And Less Service

The Heritage Foundation is reporting that the true cost of the Reid Health Bill  to be submitted for debate tomorrow is going to be $4.9 trillion over 20 years. The bill will cut Medicare and fund abortionists.

If the Senate gets the 60 votes needed for debate the bill almost certainly passes. Both of Pennsylvania’s senators Democrats Arlen Specter and Bob Casey are expected to vote yes.

Sarah Palin Responds to Obama

Something the Philadelphia Inquirer didn’t report with regard to President Obama’s health-care speech last night was Sarah Palin’s quite effective rebuttal. She placed it on   Facebook last night  at 9:26.

 Here it is:

After all the rhetoric is put aside, one principle ran through
President Obama’s speech tonight: that increased government involvement
in health care can solve its problems.

Many Americans fundamentally disagree with this idea. We know from long
experience that the creation of a massive new bureaucracy will not
provide us with “more stability and security,” but just the opposite.
It’s hard to believe the President when he says that this time he and
his team of bureaucrats have finally figured out how to do things right
if only we’ll take them at their word.

Our objections to the Democrats’ health care proposals are not mere
“bickering” or “games.” They are not an attempt to “score short term
political points.” And it’s hard to listen to the President lecture us
not to use “scare tactics” when in the next breath he says that “more
will die” if his proposals do not pass.

In his speech the President directly responded to concerns I’ve raised
about unelected bureaucrats being given power to make decisions
affecting life or death health care matters. He called these concerns
“bogus,” “irresponsible,” and “a lie” — so much for civility. After
all the name-calling, though, what he did not do is respond to the
arguments we’ve made, arguments even some of his own supporters have
agreed have merit.

In fact, after promising to “make sure that no government bureaucrat
…. gets between you and the health care you need,” the President
repeated his call for an Independent Medicare Advisory Council — an
unelected, largely unaccountable group of bureaucrats charged with
containing Medicare costs. He did not disavow his own statement that
such a group, working outside of “normal political channels,” should
guide decisions regarding that “huge driver of cost … the chronically
ill and those toward the end of their lives….” He did not disavow the
statements of his health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, and
continuing to pay his salary with taxpayer dollars proves a commitment
to his beliefs. The President can keep making unsupported assertions,
but until he directly responds to the arguments I’ve made, I’m going to
call him out too.

It was heartening to hear the President finally recognize that tort
reform is an important part of any solution. But this concession
shouldn’t lead us to take our eye off the ball: the Democrats’
proposals will not reduce costs, and they will not deliver better
health care. It’s this kind of “healthy skepticism of government” that
truly reflects a “concern and regard for the plight of others.” We
can’t wait to hear the details on that; we look forward to working with
you on tort reform.

Finally, President Obama delivered an offhand applause line tonight
about the cost of the War on Terror. As we approach the anniversary of
the September 11th attacks and honor those who died that day and those
who have died since in the War on Terror, in order to secure our
freedoms, we need to remember their sacrifices and not demonize them as
having had too high a price tag.

Remember, Mr. President, elected officials work for the people. Forcing
a conclusion in order to claim a “victory” is not healthy for our
country. We hear you say government isn’t always the answer; now hear
us — that’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Republican Have A Health Plan

The Republicans have a health plan of their own on the table. The “Empowering Patients First Act,” or H.R. 3400, was introduced by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., and 27 co-sponsors on July 30. It was referred to eight House committees.

It’s only 63 pages long and will allow health insurance to be sold across state lines, provides insurance for low-income and high-risk people, allows insurance to be deducted regardless of who pays and provides for tort reform.

For information visit: HR 3400

The rules in the House assert thatbills will remain in committees “for a period to be subsequentlydetermined by the speaker.”

Obama Seeks To Cut Health Care To Poor

You see where Obama is seeking to cut Medicare payments to heart and cancer doctors by $1.4 billion
next year? I didn’t think so.

It was reported by Bloomberg.com, Aug. 28, but you wouldn’t really expect the Obama-cultists in the local media to mention it, would you?

Doctor Shortage Is Concern

Today’s headline in USA Today concerned a doctor shortage as, for some reason, fewer people are becoming doctors. I didn’t see anything in the story which addressed either the aggravation caused by frivolous lawsuits or the crushing expense of liability insurance.

Nor did the publication remark on any concern potential doctors might have about surrendering professional freedom to political science majors who went into government.

The story can be found at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-17-doctor-gp-shortage_N.htm

Doctor Shortage

Doctor Shortage

Sestak To Have Town Hall Outside Of District

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa7) is having a town hall, 6:30 p.m., today,  at Broad Street Ministries, 315 S. Broad St., Philadelphia regarding President Obama’s proposed national mandated-medical rationing plan.

You expect a lot of constituents Joe?

Having it outside the district is really slick but why not really throw the protesters a curve? Reschedule it for 1 a.m., Saturday at 18th & Diamond.

Another Protestor Threatened

Another Protestor Threatened — Mike Sola lodged a protest against President Obama’s proposed health care plan at an Aug. 6 town hall sponsored by Congressman John Dingell, D-Mich. He had brought his wheelchair-bound 36-year-old son who has cerebral palsy to the meeting and demanded a direct answer as to what kind of treatment his son could expect.

When an answer was not forthcoming, things became heated and Sola and his son were escorted out.

Well, Sola now says “thugs” have located his home and delivered a threat which he has reported to police.

Sola told Fox News, Aug. 10, that “I will use every means available to me, lethal force if necessary, to protect [my son] and my wife. My wife is terrified,”

Mike Sola lodged a protest against President Obama’s proposed health care plan

ObamaCare: Check The Premise

Obama seems to think that by putting ink on paper and giving a command all will have health care, and this perfectly illustrates that Obama, his advisers and pretty much everyone in the Democratic Party are clueless as to what health care is and how we get it.

Health care does not come from shuffling papers and empowering bureaucrats. It comes from people with the right aptitude who have acquired knowledge and developed skills — a taxing and time consuming process — to cure the ills of the body. They are doctors and nurses and paramedics and pharmacists and chemists in drug companies. They are engineers who improve wheelchairs, and walkers and diagnostic machines. They are hands-on people who are the farthest thing one can get from a 10-4 suit who takes two-hours for lunch.

To better our health care system the thing to do would be to increase the number of the doctors/nurses/druggists etc. and increase their efficiency so they could serve more people. Obama’s plan does not do this, however.  It will actually likely decrease the number of competent professionals, who will then be motivated to serve the bare minimum they could get away with.

You think maybe this would be pointed out in the various reporting on the matter. Why isn’t it? It not so much a conspiracy but an incompetency. The dumbest have risen to the top of the pyramid at most old media outlets.

And so idiocracy has arrived.