Kanook – Tlingit Nation

March – 2010

Like many nations around the world the United States, notes that there are too
many citizens who do not have adequate protection against their failing health.
When you take a look at the bill before Congress today it smacks of more “pork”
than ever witnessed across either aisle in the history of the republic. When you
watch the evening news and take stock of the lady (to use a kind word) from
California you are reminded of a mad dog defending its empty bowl of food in a
wind storm…she is more than deranged, she lives in her own world and has become
very effective in blaming others for her condition.
Over the years, being a consummate reader of everything, I have studied the
leaders on the Potomac albeit there have been a few who have caused the hair on
the back of my head to rise, none have accomplished this more than our
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a wild-eyed Botox chick from California.
Her drive to pass the “pork” stuffed bill for as she says, “Obama” is becoming
legendary as she shuttles between offices in the government threatening to move
her desk into their office, in reality just scaring the be-Jesus out of the folks on both
sides of the aisle. She is compared to a tornado screaming across the mid-west
leaving massive paths of destruction creating mountains of debt for future clean
up…a perfect description of her picture of the proposed 2,733 page healthcare bill.
Albeit true that our existing healthcare system might need some tweaking, this
proposal will do more than bring the Republic to its knees at the end of the day, as
a typical government created mandate it will do nothing more than create
thousands of jobs in government, and laws that will create thousands of oversight
positions to see that the people filling the thousands of jobs are doing their job. My
ancestors call this, “make work” positions and do nothing to advance the society,
only creating more tax paying positions in an already overloaded political system.
Take a look at a few items in the proposal which contains 159 positions that
actually do nothing for your personal health:
1. Grant program for consumer assistance offices (Section 1002, page 37)
2. Grant program for states to monitor premium increases (S. 1003, p. 42)
3. Committee to review administrative simplification standards (S. 1104, p. 71)
4. Demonstration program for state wellness programs (S. 1201, p. 93)
5. Grant program to establish state Exchanges (S. 1311(a), p. 130)
6. State American Health Benefit Exchanges (S. 1311(b), p. 131)
7. Exchange grants to establish consumer navigator programs (S. 1311(i), p. 150)
8. Grant program for state cooperatives (S. 1322, p. 169)
9. Advisory board for state cooperatives (S. 1322(b)(3), p. 173)
10. Private purchasing council for state cooperatives (S. 1322(d), p. 177)
 Your friend and mine dear Nancy said on February 26th that President Barack
Obama’s historic health care drive was closer to passage after a high-stakes summit
with the Republicans who are opposed to the overhaul – she commented that after
a long-drawn out seven-hour talk on Thursday that these discussions (with her
doing all the discussing) “made a difference, and it moved us closer to passing a
bill.” Can you imagine being in the same room with her, listening hour after hour to
her rhetoric and NOT agreeing to something just to shut her yap. Not me!
She said, to all those who will listen, “We are determined that we are going to
pass health-care reform.” She also reminded her, waiting with baited breath for her
words of wisdom, public that she is working closely with the Democratic Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, another individual that likes and enjoys throwing some
of your hard-earned-taxes around. Neither one of the bandits are shy about telling
us that they really don’t care if the other side of the aisle agrees with them or not,
but what the hey they (Nancy and Harry) throw open their arms and welcome the
other side to participate – keep in mind, they said come to the meetings but keep
your mouth shut and really learn on how to drive the Republic deeper into debt.
They did mention once or twice if the other side had a good idea “and it works for
the American people, bravo, we welcome it.”
Translation, if it works for Nancy it is welcome!
The Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) has studied the 2733 page proposal
arriving at a few bi-partisan conclusions:
1) Health Care Spending will go UP: “The changes that we have looked at so
far do NOT represent the sort of fundamental change, the order of magnitude
that would be necessary to offset the direct increase in Federal Health costs
from the Insurance coverage proposal…”
2) Long-Term Health Care Spending will go UP even more: “In sum, relative
to current law, the proposal would probably generate substantial increased in
Federal Budget Deficits during the decade far beyond the current 10-year
budget window.”
3) The Cost Curve will bend UP, not Down: Senator Kent Conrad – Dem North
Dakota, asked CBO Director Doug Elmendorf whether the cost-curve is bent
under the health care reform legislation currently being considered “No..the
way I would put it is that the curve is being raised.”
4) Both the House and Senate Bills will ADD to the Federal Deficit: The
House Bill would ADD $239 billion over 10-years to the Federal Deficit – The
Senate Bill would ADD $597 billion to the deficit over 10-years.
5) Millions of Americans will LOSE their Private Coverage: “All told, we
estimate that, in 2016 about 9 million people (2.93% of population) who would
otherwise have had employer coverage would NOT be enrolled in an
employment-base plan under the proposal.”
6) Millions more Americans will be FORCED onto a Government-Run plan:
CBO estimated that 6 million (1.95% of US Population) people will get coverage
 under a Government Plan, a number that would “undoubtedly be greater” if
more people were eligible.”
7) Employers and SMALL Business will face HIGHER TAXES: Under the
House Bill, employers will pay $163 billion in PAY-or-PLAY penalties and the
Democrats proposed another $432 billion in other taxes that will largely hit
SMALL BUSINESS.
8) Employees, NOT Employers, will PAY the Cost of the PAY-or-PLAY job
TAX: “If employers who did not offer insurance were required to pay a fee,
employees’ wages and other forms of compensation would generally decline
by the amount of that fee from what they would otherwise have been—just as
wags are generally lower (all else being equal) to offset employers’
contributions toward health insurance.
9) The PAY-or-PLAY Job TAX could REDUCE jobs for low-income,
Minimum-Wage Workers: “In particular, a PAY-or-PLAY provision could
reduce the hiring of low-wage workers, whose wages could NOT fall by the full
cost of health insurance or a substantial PAY-or-PLAY fee if they were close to
the minimum wage.”

Today, fortunately there are NO indications that Republicans will rally behind the
President’s top domestic priority, especially amidst rampant public skepticism of
this plan chucker block full of Pork, and just nine months or so before the mid-term
elections. Despite this, headstrong bound and determined Democrats are rushing
headlong into the biggest deficit ever experienced by the Republic, and are dancing
in the streets telling the wide-eyed US population how wonderful they are – as usual
here we see a group of politicians who haven’t got a clue. If they do, their own
agendas’ has blinded them to the world around them, and/or they really don’t give
a rip.
As any other entity spinning through the Universe, you must understand when it
comes to POWER people are generally in disagreement about the nature and
composition of it, but that is just the way it goes. Consider that the more intelligent
and informed that people “imagine” themselves to be, the more likely they are to
want to supplant this power with their own “insignificant” posturing. It doesn’t
matter what anyone’s arguments are and it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks – in
fact, what is, is, a simple reason this is why no one has ever taken over the world
and no one ever will not even Nancy Pelosi.
Albeit, she has made it clear that her and her gang along the banks of the
Potomac will stuff this Bill down our empty pocketbooks whether or not the
Republicans come aboard or not, and according to her and her behind the scenes
cohorts they have at least 4 weeks to make it happen, on the outside 6-weeks.
Universal Health-Care used to sound like a pretty good idea, that is until some of
us really understood what these magicians in our Nations’ Capital were pushing –
things like this can only happen or exist depending on the system, in other words
what the system will allow to happen can happen. Consider, most social; economic
and legal systems begin with an “intent” and “presumption” toward fairness across
the board. Pretty much unavoidable because the majority of the population are fed
up with the imbalance and want change, unfortunately these same people are the
same who in the beginning are “hoodwinked” at the gitgo not realizing the
corruption moving its way in and around the people leading the scheme professing
help to the injured masses who wanted the change…in order for this to happen we
need shysters that can compose articles of action that favor the upper echelon, in
other words lawyers or as I call them trained monkey in the art of spin. In simpler
terms, trained monkeys versed in manipulation, professionals with un-measureable
experience in manipulating the system…in addition a corrupt “judiciary” and a
corrupt body of “lawmakers”…all this is place you get what we have today.
Today, absent the chains, we have a sophisticated form of slavery, it is called
debt. Our way of life is debt-based, consider when you put someone in debt you
require them to make accommodations, more often than not accommodations they
would not normally make if you didn’t put them in debt.
The Federal Reserve, owned and operated by International banking firms is a good
example where this entity that controls our debt has loaned us money based on
thin-air, now we have a debt that has been converted into Political Power and
Political Power translates into Control, and in this case an on-going profit you and I
in this country will never realize how much of our GNP is going into the International
owners pockets…hint, it’s a lot. Translation, albeit there are no visible chains
and/or whips they are there only just in another form…and Nancy Pelosi the 10-watt
bulb from California is so full of Botox her wide-open eyes used to peering into the
bright California sun can’t see the debt piling up giving the control of her country
away. Maybe she does, and hopes you and I won’t.
A summit was held the other day in D.C. and we soon learned that it was rare that
so many members of Congress babbled on for so-long, some with restraint, and said
nothing. The rarity was some speaking their mind with restraint, talking for hours,
and saying nothing is not so rare in Washington D.C. After seven-hours of nothing,
each side of the aisle went home patting themselves on the back secure in the
feelings they were both right. Actually the American public expected as much,
whereas the TV networks providing the coverage switched to an old episode of the
Simpsons about ¼ of the way through the speech making.
President Obama, bless his lawyers heart, had hoped that Congress would endorse
his heath care reform last summer – but issues between the two parties slammed
the door on his plans, whereas politicians on the left want MORE government
involvement to ensure healthcare is available to all, and those on the right want the
government and their lawyers to stay home and to let the market self-regulate.
The public, well let’s just say they’re pretty happy with their existing healthcare
but then again most would be un-happy if some kind of reform was passed, but NOT
the heavy-duty 2733 page document that is being tossed about in Congress today.
According to the latest statistics there are some 102.6 million males and 103.1
million females in America that could be working, and one would suppose have had
or planned to have some sort of healthcare insurance now or in the future…these
figures represent 67% of the American population and if registered a sizable voting
block. As for their political affiliation, who knows? To hear Ms Nancy speak they all
belong to her – but as mentioned previously her vision and perception is a bit
clouded.
Recent public opinion polls show that this sizeable portion of the American public
are not to enamored with the bill the Democrats are pushing, whereas it’s too
expensive and too complicated, but surprisingly most like its component parts and
the “trust” the man they elected and his party more than they “trust” the party that
dragged them into Iraq and Afghanistan.
This ambivalence about healthcare reform is giving plenty of room for the
politicians of every stripe to try and control the debate, and whatever the outcome
it will fuel the mid-term elections in November where the Republicans will scream
about the Tax and Spent Democrats pushing us further towards an un-payable debt,
while failing to provide patients better coverage. And the Democrats will label the
Republicans as the “party of NO” unwilling to make tough choices to provide a
safety net to millions of un-insured Americans and to tackle a looming budget crisis,
which by the way their proposed healthcare bill will do nothing to reduce in helping
solve the budget crisis.
Some say the President needs this reform to re-vitalize the economy –which is a
mystery to most because all they see in the big insurance companies shoring up
their premiums that if the bill passes would be supported by government funding
giving them a guaranteed revenue stream while others only see an expanded
government employment base – drawing down on their hard-earned salaries to
support more taxes.
The public, you know the guy in the trenches who will have to pay the bill is rightly
so, skeptical, whereas the motto “Spending trillions to limit Unemployment” is NOT
going over to well will hopefully voice their opinion on this out-of-control and out-of-
touch government with the people who placed their confidence in them during the
last series of elections.
I would hate to be the stage manager of the upcoming play – whereas the scenes
change so rapidly even an experienced manager would find it impossible to
manage, and we all know that politics requires just a bit of theatre just to keep us
all engaged, but I am just a bit tired of too much stage manipulation and not being
able to understand what the play is about – sure the song and dance is interesting
and makes good stuff for Rush Limbaugh…but the substance is lacking and in all
accounts the play will go on forever with no end in sight!
One thing is certain – the healthcare issue promises to be an ugly brawl which will
further divide the politicians in Congress and the American public, as much so as
the “Global Warming” debate pushed by another Democrat…I shut my mouth!