Tuesday, August 11, 2009

All for One?

Not bloody likely! Ken Gordon’s ideas of One [-Payer Health Care] for All

Got an e-mail from State Senator Ken Gordon directing me to an article on his blog. There I found an article that I thought deserved some special attention.

Here it is....

RE: Democracy vs. Authoritarian Governments

Democracies can do the wrong thing, just as more authoritarian governments can. The policies of a democracy will be no smarter, no less selfish, no more fair, and no more courageous than the people of the country.—Ken Gordon

Actually. I think history, especially that of the previous century, has proven that authoritarian government usually do MORE ‘wrong things’ than democratically elected governments do. If you doubt this, consider Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc., etc.

Now, please show us where democratically elected governments committed mass murder on scales similar to those ‘authoritarians’.

But my question here is, what is the point that Ken is driving at? Ultimately with this article. I hope we’ll find out. Or is he just saying that democracy is just as bad as an “authoritarian” government?

RE: Say WHAT!!?!?!?

It is because of this exact relation between the character of the people and the actions of a democratic government that the current debate on health care is so horrifying.—Ken Gordon

This is very, VERY wrong. Democratic government is built upon discussion. As one famous Democrat said....

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.—Hubert H. Humphrey

So. I have to wonder why Ken seems so ‘upset’ about the lively discussion going on NOW?

RE: Background Information.....

I was a member of the Colorado General Assembly for sixteen years. I am an extreme supporter of respectful debate and disagreement. I had many disputes with other Democrats who objected to some of my efforts to treat the Republicans with respect.

“They didn’t do that for us when we were in the minority,” I would hear.

“And when they treated us disrespectfully, we thought it was wrong,” I would respond.—Ken Gordon

....is always useful. But I’m not sure what Ken is trying to say here.

I suspect it’s that he is respectful of the opposition. However, based on previous missives I’ve received from him, I’m not quite convinced.

RE: If ONLY....

People of good faith who treat each other with respect can solve problems. People who do not listen to each other with respect, and do not act in good faith cannot.—Ken Gordon

....we could have seen that sort of behavior from SEIU in St. Louis last week. There’d be one less young man going about in a wheel chair right now.

I agree with the principles espoused by Ken. However, I’ve yet to see Ken—or any other politically prominent Democrat repudiate what happened there. And until they come out en massé and do so. I have my doubts as to their sincerity.

RE: ‘Rush’ Hour Traffic

The other day Rush Limbaugh compared the democratic health care proposals to Hitler’s policies. Sara Palin said that the Obama proposal calls for people to be interviewed by “death panels” to decide if they should get treatment. She called the proposals for health care reform “evil.”—Ken Gordon

I have to wonder what Ken thinks of the Advanced Life Care Consultation as described in HR 3200, pages 424 through 430.

As he stated. He’s been in the legislative business for quite some time. So I suppose he can read legislatesse with the best of them.

So what DOES he think of a mandatory requirement for people over 65 to go see a government bureaucrat and that said bureaucrat can write an ‘order’ defining what sort of medical care the individual can receive?

I’ve been dealing with government in various capacities, including lobbyist and commissioner, for going on 25 years now. I’ve learned how to read proposed legislation and other such documents. I’ve learned that you have to look for what is written and what they say in it.

I’ve also learned that you have to pay SPECIAL attention to what they DON’T say.

One of my favorite axioms is....

What they are telling you may be important. What they are NOT telling you can be vital.

And that looks to me to be the case with regards to what the supporters of HR 3200 are doing to the American public today. They tell you a LOT of things. However, what they are NOT telling you can be vital to yourself, your family and your friends. Especially that aging.

RE: Heh

There have been countless stories about the Obama administration wanting the death of seniors. The stories have been debunked, by those who actually know, but people continue to circulate them because they are attracted to calumnies of this sort regardless of whether they are true.—Ken Gordon

As I said earlier, TELL US WHAT YOU MAKE OF HR 3200, pages 424-430.

And THEN explain how those words are ‘debunked’.

[Note: For those who would like to read the proposed legislation for themselves, you can get a copy in PDF form THIS SITE.]

RE: What IS Obama, Anyway

It is routine for people who disagree with Obama to call him a socialist or a fascist.—Ken Gordon

As someone once said....

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it IS a duck.

He hasn’t acted like a total ‘authoritarian’....yet. But given time, I see a potential. After all. Look at his ‘friends’: Ayers, Wright, the Saudi King, who he bowed to, etc.

RE: Life Can Be That Way

In my email from last week I criticized both Rush Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes. I assert that it is wrong for either a Democrat or a Republican to make these arguments personal. The country cannot be governed by either side if the opponents abandon truth and respect.—Ken Gordon

Speaking ‘personally’, is nothing wrong.

I appreciate your reference about people who “abandon truth and respect”. And I’ve yet to see the Democrats demonstrate either of them. So this looks to me to be just so much projection on Ken’s part.

RE: Indeed

The United States will fail if the people in power do not listen to each other and think that the other side is “evil.” And the people in power mirror the people in the streets.—Ken Gordon

And it will fail if people in power do not listen to the people who put them in power. Which seems to be what’s happening now.

Hey! Maybe this will give Obama the opportunity to prove what sort of man he is: democratic or authoritarian.

RE: As a Matter of Fact....

Do any of you feel that it is ever justified to shout down others in a town meeting?—Ken Gordon

Yes.

When? When they tried to shout me down in the first place. I will NOT be steam-rolled by some overbearing loud mouth. And I WILL have my piece heard.

RE: Ack!!!!

Most Americans are Christians. What would Christ have done?—Ken Gordon

Don’t let Obama hear you say that.

And what would Christ do?

Hmmmmm....

I seem to recall a scene where He drove scoundrels from the Temple, flailing them with a whip made of knotted cords.

And His voice was heard rebuking the hypocrites of the Temple, too.

Then again, on a number of times, those who hated what He had to say tried to stone Him.

Ultimately, because He wouldn’t just ‘shut up’, these people in power had to kill Him.

What’s your point here, anyway?

RE: How Indeed

How did we get to this point? Someone answer this for me. Democrats and Republicans have worked together countless times in our history for the benefit of the country. Yet it isn’t happening now.—Ken Gordon

Probably because a lot of people lied to the American people about what they’d do if we were stupid enough to put them in power.

And the reason the two parties are not cooperating NOW is because one party is trying to destroy the country and the other party is trying to resist that effort.

Hope that helps....

RE: Hey!

The zealots on either side think that their goal is to beat the other party.—Ken Gordon

I’m a zealot. I gave 27 years of my life being a zealot in mottled green attire.

I’m not trying to beat the other party. I’m trying to uphold my oath. An oath to “....uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign AND domestic.....”

Does Ken have a problem with that?

RE: It IS ‘To Laugh’

The goal is to govern the country and participate in the world community in a way that maximizes education, prosperity, health, justice and freedom. In that project the zealots are failing and helping to cause our country to fail.—Ken Gordon

If the Democrats were REALLY serious about ‘education’, the vaunted America public education system wouldn’t be the joke that it is today.

Then again we have the concept of ‘justice’....where the Democrats in Congress are showing the rest of US just what a Culture of Corruption SHOULD look like: Rangel, Jefferson, Dodd, etc., etc., etc.

RE: Ken Gordon: Movie Critic

I saw a fragment of a movie on television today. It was “The Man in the Iron Mask.” It was a movie with the same characters as “The Three Musketeers.” At the end when Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan were about to fight against overwhelming odds they put their swords together and said, “All for one and one for all.”

It made me sad because I have been listening to discussions of public policy in the United States and I don’t hear people expressing any sentiment that isn’t selfish, close-minded, cynical or hateful.—Ken Gordon

This is a LOT of hooey.

Since when is looking after ones parents or children or friends “selfish”?

I’ll tell you how to recognize ‘selfish’. It’s when people send other folks off to die because they don’t have the time to care about them. That includes the unborn.

THAT’S ‘selfish’.

And as for ‘close-minded’, that appears to me to be projection on Ken’s part.

‘Cynical’? Well. After dealing with Ken and his sort for the last 30 years. I can understand why people can be ‘cynical’.

As for the ‘hateful’ part. I’d like to see Ken explain away what happened to Kenneth Gladney.

And, I recall a comment from Obama during the run-up to the election.....

Barack Obama told a crowd of supporters in Philadelphia back in 2008, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” He added, “That’s the Chicago way.”—The Hill’s Blog

Now if THAT isn’t ‘hateful’, I’d like to see what Ken thinks IS.

RE: The Motto

“All for one, and one for all,” may have been a more or less accurate description of the United States when we confronted real fascists during World War II. It may have approximately described the United States during the Cold War.—Ken Gordon

We’ll confront ‘fascists’ and other authoritarians again. Indeed. We may be confronting them now. After all, I recall how, recently, Obama started saying he didn’t want to hear people complaining about what he is doing. He just want them “out of the way”. Specially, he said, “I don’t want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.”

Here’s a link to the ARTICLE where the quote comes from.

The point here is that I didn’t make this mess. But he seems to be lumping me in with those people, because he and Pelosi and Reid are trying to tell the rest of US to “Just shut up!”.

But I’ll tell you something. I and a LOT of others will NOT ‘shut up’. Much to their and, likely, Ken’s chagrin.

RE: Well....

It does not describe us now.—Ken Gordon

...maybe, if Ken and the Democrats came up with a plan that didn’t look like the prelude to a death camp. They wouldn’t be facing all these obstreperous people.

Then again, telling people they’re wrong or dissing their honestly held understandings without assuaging their concerns is probably not going to help matters. On the third hand, turning loose SEIU thugs loose on them probably doesn’t help either.

RE: Heh

The people of the United States need to appreciate the necessity of respectful debate and they need to withhold their support and votes from leaders who do not engage in good faith.—Ken Gordon

Tell that to whomever is calling in the SEIU thugs.

Also, engage in debate instead of talking points.

RE: Whose Playing Small Games?

We have to stop playing the small game of partisan politics, because the big game will determine our health, our prosperity, the condition of the planet and whether our children die in wars. We are neglecting the big game because we our stuck in the small game.—Ken Gordon

Since when is healthcare ‘small game’? If it WERE small game, it wouldn’t be an issue. Let alone an issue that is causing all this ‘discussion’.

RE: Heh

I don’t care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, or something else, if your elected officials spend their time bashing members of the other party do not cheer them on.—Ken Gordon

A reason why I don’t care much for Ken Gordon. And I don’t support him. Let alone any other mindless, feckless politician who is a lock-step automaton of his political party.

RE: The Bottom Line

Ken’s article is nothing more than mere blowing of the same sort of smoke most other Democrats are blowing over the issue of health care reform.

And in truth, it is disingenuous of he and every other one who calls for ‘debate’ and then refuses to honestly engage in it. It is prevarication. All it does is distract people from the real issue(s). And what are those issues?

I’d say there are two. 

The first issue is that of whether or not there needs to be a change in the way the United States deals with healthcare. In my opinion, that’s a slam-dunk win for the Affirmative team.

I doubt if there is one in ten who would say “No”, unless they were in the medical-drug-insurance-attorney Congress-Industrial complex.

There is a second issue. That is the one over HR 3200 and whether or not IT is the proper solution to the first discussion. And THAT is what people are ‘discussing’ here.

I believe that Ken and a LOT of other people are confusingly mixing the two issues. Hence their confusion about those of US who can recognize the difference between the two and speak out against the second.

Personally? What I’ve read of HR 3200 tells me that it is NOT the solution to the problem.

I see one possible solution in terms of the following:

[1] All insurance companies will offer health insurance.
[2] No citizen of the United States or a legal alien will be denied health insurance by any insurance company.
[3] There will be no exclusions of any medical condition on any insurance policy.
[4] All procedures and drugs approved of by the FDA and/or HHS will be allowed for any individual on a health insurance policy.

This is all rather simple, compared to the thousand page monstrosity of HR 3200.

Sure. There are other details that would need to be worked out. As always, the devil is in the details.

One of these devils is for the medical industry is to look upon every patient as if they were a ‘blue-sky’ project.

In my opinion, something needs to be done about the hammer-lock, monopoly the AMA has on the practice of medicine in this country. But that’s another topic of discussion.

Next entry: Tamiflu a No-No for Kidos? Previous entry: The Pueblo Chieftain's Juan Espinosa on Health Care Reform 'Debate'

1. I will recommend not to hold back until you get enough amount of money to order all you need! You should just take the mortgage loans or commercial loan and feel yourself fine

   KerrKari33  on  04/07  at  03:33 PM

2. Clients’ fulfillment is the main goal of the custom example of essay writing provider. However, consequently high school students don’t guess about outcomes and start to finish their research papers by their own. Thus, they take a risk spoiling their degree programs. Think well what you are going to do to do it properly.

   LeilaHANSON  on  04/14  at  02:34 AM

3. Not all university students gain the academic hight because less of them understand that it’s a chance to get custom essays to buy. Thence, don’t blunder your opportunity and be successful!

   buy essays papers  on  04/15  at  11:56 AM

4. Some guys try to cope with their academic papers composing being not professionals. Nevertheless, you risk creating academic papers by your own. Thence, why gamble? Just purchase customized essay and celebrate your victory!

   quality custom essays  on  04/15  at  11:59 AM

5. A lot students pass the duty to qualified resume writers because they don’t have the skill to compose a respectable resume so the reason why you need to resume, but such people like creator don’t do that. Thanks for the article. A kind of perfect article about this post.

   SondraCopeland29  on  04/22  at  01:23 AM

6. To reach success, different people must state if they are willing to compose the do my paper essays or order essays of superior upper-class.

   Reba25Henderson  on  04/29  at  12:26 PM

7. to recognize ‘selfish’. It’s when people send other folks off to die because they don’t have the time to care about them. That includes the unborn.

   THAT’S ‘selfish’. travesti
   travestiler
   travesti siteleri
   antalya travestileri
   istanbul travestileri
   ankara travestileri
   izmir travestileri
   bursa travestileri

   istanbul travestileri

   And as for ‘close-minded’, that appears to me to be projection on Ken’s part.

   ‘Cynical’? Well. After dealing with Ken and his sort for the last 30 years. I can understand why people can be ‘cynical’.

   As for the ‘hateful’

    on  09/17  at  11:15 AM

8. This is very difficult situation. But people should solve it.

   professional writer  on  09/27  at  07:37 AM

9. We thought having the same birthday would be great, but it turns out that it is not all we thought it would be. Neither of us have one day out of the year in which we get special attention all for ourselves.

   iPhone 5  on  10/10  at  10:39 PM

10. hello

     on  10/15  at  07:41 AM

11. flippantly warehouse inventory, broken objects is for half the price.You can also find cheap black dresswedding dress market and other retailers selling goods, we can be more earlier several projects to
    black dresseschange them and the new shares.Frugal retailers can be a very good on the site where you will find
    celebrity dresscheap wedding because these different warehouse and store the stock in the box find cheap dress,
    red dressyou may have to be the end of the season in different bride retailers sales because you may find a

    red dresses  on  10/26  at  12:22 AM

12. Cheap UGGS

     on  11/06  at  08:33 PM

13. Set your own life easier get the loan and everything you require.

    Genevieve27Farley  on  01/01  at  11:25 AM

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Smileys

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: