Americans Don't Feel Health Care Reform Goes Far Enough

Listen up Congress and Senate!

In a new CBS poll , most Americans believe that the Health Care Reform doesn't go far enough, with the next highest marks going to those who believe it goes too far and the least number believing that it is about right. When asked about how it does in controlling costs, the greatest number believe it does not go far enough with the second highest number believing it goes too far and the least again believing that it is about right. The numbers break out the same way when asked whether the current legislation is regulating health insurance costs as it should.

When asked about their support of Democrats or Republican handling of health care reform, the Democrats come out a little better with 57% disapproving of their handling while 61% disapprove of how the Republicans are handling it.

This Industry Does NOT Honor It's Contracts

Some Americans have been caught up in the "anti-government" modality and I honor their commitment, but the health insurance industry testified before Congress that they had the right, and would not give up the right, to cancel the contracts of those who got sick. This they call Rescission of Coverage. Fancy name or not, it means they won't pay your bills if they don't want to.

This industry does not deserve to be supported by government, but yet, there are many Republican and Democratic Blue Dog politicians, and one Independent (Lieberman) who have supported them. Americans are sick and tired of taking second place to Corporations. The poll above shows that although some are cautious of Government regulations, more are fed up with the health insurance industry in the US. The question about regulating this industry had the highest "not far enough" ranking of all the questions above.

The Fillibuster is to Fight Corruption, not to Foster it.

Senate Republicans and Senator Joe Lieberman have forgotten that they are in Washington to serve America. They voted against:

1. Guaranteed affordable health care ( such as the public option or lowering the Medicare age limit that would offer price protection through competition)
2. Legislation protecting the insurance customer from being dropped from their insurance
3. Legislation protecting the insurance customer from arbitrary financial lifetime limits
4. Legislation protecting the insurance customer from Government interference in their insurance plan (limiting what the private insurance companies cover, such as abortion)

Let's look at it another way. The Republican Senators, and Joe Lieberman voted for:

1. Forcing 30 million more Americans onto the private health insurance plans without any price protections
2. Allowing insurance companies to continue to defraud customers into paying premiums when there is no intention to actually pay for their health care
3. Allowing insurance companies to declare any financial limits as to coverage that they choose
4. Limiting the type of coverage that private insurance companies can offer (preventing them from paying for legal procedures such as abortion).

Every single Republican Senator voted for the above abuses of the American people. Luckily for us, they lost the vote!

Truth from a Fellow American

Yesterday, I was at the IGA grocery store, and got to talking to the grocery manager who was stocking the shelves behind me. I was looking at the tea, which wasn't on my list. We like an assortment of black and green teas, as well as flavored teas for after dinner, and I was trying to remember which ones we had recently finished. I must have been there long enough that he thought I might be interested in a conversation.

"My wife just called from Walmart" he said, "and whatever they might say about the recession, she says the store is empty."

This triggered my thoughts about Walmart, and as I was shopping at my local store, and he was employed by my local store, I thought it was worth a mention. He seemed to read my mind, because he continued.

"I know what they say about Walmart," he responded, "but they have the lowest prices, and several of he (Mr. Walmart) loses money on several of his products just because he promises to have to lowest prices."

I admitted that they had the lowest prices, and reminded him that I usually shopped locally so that local merchants would stay near where I lived. (The Walmart was 30 miles away.) I then explained the movie about Walmart which he hadn't seen. A couple had an invention and they wanted Walmart to pick it up because that would insure their financial success. Walmart told them the price they wanted to pay for it. This price was much lower than the couple's original plan, and they eventually found that they could only produce it at that price if they had it manufactured in China. They did, and Walmart agreed to sell it for them.

Overseas Manufacturing is Hurting Us

He agreed that it was a shame that US goods were being manufactured overseas, but that if they were the least expensive....

I suggested that the big corporations would do well to remember that if they didn't hire US workers, that there would be an ever shrinking market. If there is no one to buy, there won't be those great big profits for them.

He then told me a story that you would only hear from someone who had been in the grocery business for years and years.

Corporate Greed has Increased Since Owners Have Sold to CEO-run Corporations

He used to work at Waldbaum, when it was owned by Mr. Waldbaum. They marked up their goods about 15%. There were 75,000 full time employees. Mr. Waldbaum paid good wages and took care of his employees as well as his customers. He was a millionaire and his stores did a large business.

A&P then bought the chain. They fired 65,000 full time employees. They increased the markup to 30%. This increased profits greatly, but the chain's revenue dropped to half of what it had been. My grocery manager, Larry, explained that this kind of greed was happening everywhere. We didn't have business owners anymore, but CEO's. And, he added, CEO's don't care about anything but profit and they don't care about anyone but themselves.

He said that when he was young, people were paid well for what they did. He bought his home when he was still in his 20's as many of his friends did. It was a shame that wages were so low for most people these days that they couldn't afford to pay rent, energy, phone and insurance and feed a family and that the CEO's were earning billions. "They will never understand what it's like for most people who have to worry about how to pay their heating bill" he added.

Before Ronald Reagan, corporate CEO's earned no more than 25 times the salary of their lowest paid employee. If the receptionist earned $7/hour, the CEO would earn no more than $175/hour. William McGuire of United Health Group is paid $234 a minute or $14040/hour. There are people in America earning less in a year than he earns in an hour.

Those who are paid these exorbitant salaries are people who can fire 65,000 Americans in a minute and people who can cut off a woman just diagnosed with breast cancer from health insurance for mistating her weight 5 years ago.... These are rare people. These are psychopaths who have no feelings for other people.

There are Solutions:

Larry had some solutions:

1. Restore the Tariff, so that it will NOT save money to manufacture overseas
2. Return Taxes on those earning more than $500,000 per year to 90% as it was during Eisenhower's presidency.

Christmas, HR3962 and Stupak

Those who want the Stupak Amendment added to HR3962 are against the "killing of innocent children" no matter whether they are already dead or would be born without a heart or a brain.

We all agree that the killing of healthy innocents is wrong, although some of us think it matters how many cells a zygote has and whether or not that zygote would be able to live after birth. Yet, these same anti-abortion Christians/Jews don't support the public option. I have tried to point out that once those children are born, their families might need support. They then tell me that it is the woman's "personal responsibility".

I have pointed out that the woman was accepting her responsibility when she made the difficult choice to have an abortion, and it was the Christian/Jew who took away her ability to make that decision. Therefore, it becomes the Christian/Jew's responsibility, at least in part I think, to insure that she has the means to properly care for that child.

"No" says the Christian/Jew. She should have kept her pants zipped. (Let's not get into the dress code here....) I pointed out that the man could have kept his pants zipped.... The Christian/Jew answers, that it is their personal responsibility also.


Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

A person can only be responsible if s/he has life and liberty, and authority over his/her own life.

When the founders wrote the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, they lived in a land that had water with abundant fish, and in a land with abundant game and timber. Any healthy person with some skills could live abundantly. If a family was large, you simply chopped down a few trees and built an addition to your home. It was more hands for fishing, farming or for cooking. This gave people authority over their own lives.

This is not so true today. For a person living in poverty, it's very difficult to provide for a family. The larger a family becomes, the more stress is put on the family economy. This stress forces a family to make decisions between buying health insurance, or paying the mortgage, or between after school activities and private school, or even Mom's medication and food for dinner. Many upper and middle class men are choosing to have vasectomies to limit family growth.

But, what about the woman whose boyfriend or husband doesn't have a vasectomy? Should she allow all her children to suffer if she becomes pregnant? We certainly can't answer this here, but it is not such a simple problem once a pregnancy has started.


Let's talk a little more about authority over one's life

In urban areas, there is a strong correlation between living or working near a power plant, and respiratory disease. As you probably know, power plants are not generally put in the wealthy areas where people have health insurance. They are built in the poorer areas where people have low paying jobs that don't come with health insurance.

These families without private health insurance take their asthmatic children or elders to the nearest hospital ER or free health clinic. These are costly visits for the US government and are partly responsible for the rapidly increasing costs of Medicare/aid.

Those Christians/Jews who speak so easily of preventing abortions are not accounting for the environmental illnesses that are part of living in a poor area. The poor have less access to clean air, a stress-free environment and fresh vegetables. This contributes to an increased incidence of asthma and other illnesses.

These families do not have the freedom to move to a better location, far from power plants. However, Medicare for all would give these families greater authority over their lives. They would have access to a family physician who could help with preventive care and family planning as well as consistent palliative care.


Community Responsibility

One might expect that the Christian/Jew who insists on preserving life would also seek to protect those lives. This is not the case. Those who speak against abortions do not generally accept the principle of community responsibility. They call this "communism" or "socialism". They speak against community responsibility as an affront to their "freedom".

It is alright for a private health insurance executive to earn a salary of millions of dollars, yet, they are blind to any connection between this salary and the high cost of health insurance. This is "free enterprise". They blame increasing health costs on the government.

In every other country that has government health care, costs are lower and outcomes are better. Their argument is easily refuted, but the anti-abortionists are arguing from principle rather than from fact or history.

So, the anti-abortionist insists that they have the right to prevent a woman from exercising free choice over her family size but that the woman does not have the right to expect any responsible assistance from them.


Right to Life

This is the most absurd phrase in the American political lexicon. Those who identify with this term generally:

• Believe in preventing abortions (thus forcing more births) but not in taking care of those children
• Believe that most Moslems are political extremists and terrorists and should be killed
• Believe that the US has the right to kill and that the soldier can do no wrong until s/he comes home and needs health care and benefits because s/he can't work to support him or herself
• Believe that Capital Punishment is a deterrent to murder, and that state sanctioned murder is fine
• Believe that doctors who care for women seeking abortions can (or should) be murdered because they murder fetus'
• Believe that wealthy CEO's who cause the deaths or illness of other Americans through extreme pollution or rescission of health insurance are not murderers but "free market capitalists" which is somehow close to godliness or sainthood.
• Believe that government officials who seek to provide christian charity to those who can't provide for themselves, are anti-American

I have to admit that I can't see the logic in this position. This is a lot of killing for someone who claims to believe in the "right to life." Can anyone explain this to me? Please comment and I promise I will write you back.

Motorola Droid Review

The Newest, thinnest, sliding phone for $199, and with a two year contract you get a $100 rebate! Whoo, hoo.

Great Features:

The Screen is beautiful! It has a very clear display, more clear than the IPhone. A simple tap zooms in or out of an app. And, you can scroll through your contacts on the screen.

The keys on the keyboard are close together and this takes a little practice if you have heavy thumbs.... The virtual keyboard is easier to use and has a nice little vibration when you strike a key.

The Google Maps application is fabulous. You can easily scroll across the map directly on the screen With this phone, you won't need another nav system. It gives perfect directions, quite loudly, and quickly recalculates if you take a different turn.

It allows on screen widgets for easy access. This will please busy Twitter or Facebook users. When the Droid is "on" you are notified immediately of any new Twitter updates. If the Droid is "off" with a dark screen, there's an LED light in the upper right hand corner that flashes different colors for different applications, such as email, or Twitter.

Not So Great...

The Facebook sync is a little tedious as it has no way of separating the "bob"s or the "Trish"s, but you can do this ahead of time by renaming your contacts to match their facebook id's which will be unique.

If you like downloading music, you can copy from your computer by mounting the SD card into your USB and copy the files manually. Or, you can get Sailing Media (WIndows/Mac) to copy ITunes playlists.

As with any Bluetooth phone with a WIFI radio, or any phone that keeps apps up and running, this uses power. Some owners have complained about a short runtime battery. This can be fixed by turning off apps that you aren't using. One user who bought it on Friday, has found that without special treatment, his charge lasts from 8am to 7pm, which is before he generally gets home. One other site set the screen lightness to max, set the media app to "repeat all songs" and the screen to "never sleep". They used 1 hour of Google navigation. They got 7 hours of battery life.

The camera is not the strength of the Droid as many users have complained, but at this time there are only 2 camera apps in the Android marketplace so this will likely get better when there has been more innovation in this area.


General Review by Mobile Tech

Peace is Coming! It's Election Day in the USA

And, health care is coming too, because those of us who want what's good are now focusing on what we want rather than what we don't want. This was a big mistake we made in 2004. I pray that we continue today with the insights that we had in 2008. The article here is one that I just wrote for Ezine Articles. It seemed appropriate for today as well.

Now, take notice of the beautiful blue artwork to the left. This Blog Blast for Peace is the work of Please join if you have a blog. The idea is to flood the blog-world with Dona Nobis Pacem.... But, let Mimi tell you. Click on her artwork to the left.

__________________________________________

According to Universal Law and Ho'oponopono, I'm 100% Responsible For Everything in My Life, and so Are You for Your Life

I'm Sorry. Please forgive me.

This is Ho'oponopono. I am responsible for everything in my life. I can clear, clear, clear by saying, "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." This simple prayer has cured physical illnesses and mental illnesses. Dr. Hew Len, PhD. learned about it from Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona who healed his child from a life long skin disorder. He studied and became a master of the method and used this cleansing prayer to cure an entire hospital for the criminally insane in Hawaii. Dr. Hew Len explains that it works because once you cure/clean the error in yourself, then those around you who are expressing your error are cured. As he says, "You never saw a psychologist with healthy clients, did you?"

I have been practicing Ho'oponopono since August, 2007 when Joe Vitale's book, Zero Limits came out. I have seen it create change in the lives around me as I take more and more responsibility. The Buddhists, I believe, were the first to notice that we are all One. We are all connected to the One. To give you an example, if I am sorry for my frustrated feelings, ask that they be removed and replace them with love, the crying, screaming child in front of me calms and laughs. If I am feeling frustration at the traffic, and ask to be forgiven, and then replace those feelings with compassion for my fellow drivers and faith that Divinity will get me to wherever I'm going when I need to be there, the traffic almost always improves -- but I do always get to my appointment on time whether or not it does.

How Does this Fit with the Law of Attraction?

What we think about comes about is one of the principles of the Law of Attraction. It's a matter of putting your energy and your attention on to some wanted or unwanted result. It doesn't matter which. If you are attending enthusiastically to your business, and expect to see customers finding you, they will come. If you are worried about your business, and keep looking to see whether or not customers are coming, they will not come.

When Mother Teresa was asked to join an "Anti-War March, she refused. She asked to be invited when they had a "Peace March." This is a story told by Jack Canfield who explains that she understood the Law of Attraction. Of course she did. Look at what she did with nothing! She knew that being positive was the only way to achieve your goals.

This also works with politics:

We watched in 2004 when an unpopular war and an unpopular presidency was elected for two reasons:

1. What we think about comes about and those who wanted President Bush and Vice President Cheney defeated, could hardly think about anything else.
2. John Kerry, who was running against them, was not clear about his goals, except to overturn what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had done. He was doing just what his supporters were doing and was thinking about the other guy!

Thus, what we were all thinking about in 2004, the election of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, came about. This is also a principle of advertising. "Say whatever you want about me, but spell my name correctly."

Our reality begins with our thought. Thought moves into vision which might inspire action and vision makes us feel. Feelings change our vibration. This is the Law of Attraction. This is cause and effect.

Ho'oponopono and Cleansing Correction
In 2008, I remembered to think about what I want, rather than what I don't want. In 2000, 2004, and 2008, I didn't want Dick Cheney or torture or Gitmo or Abu Grabbe. I was so passionate about not wanting any of this, that they were re-elected in 2004. By 2008, I had remembered to focus on what I did want, and so did almost 70% of other voters. I did Ho'oponopono and took responsibility.

I focused on my vision of the United States. I chose another dream. I'm sorry. I love you. Many of us did this. We reminded ourselves of what we love about our country. I took responsibility for violence and torture. Ho'oponopono. I'm sorry. I love you. Please forgive me. Thank you.

The new dream was of a fair man who had been raised (because I was getting tired of the fear) in Hawaii, the only state in the union where they still pass a stress test as unstressed. (This is well documented in the book, The Heart's Code.) I remembered that in the United States we dream and work together and don't let our neighbors suffer.

The Acts after the Great Depression:

1. The Wagner Act of 1935, mandated unions when 51% of the workers voted for them,
2. The Social Security Act (Act of August 14, 1935) [H. R. 7260] An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes and
3. Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 2009 set a minimum wage and standards regarding overtime and child labor and record keeping.

I remembered that in the United States, there is not a huge difference between the rich and poor. (Prior to President Reagan in 1980, corporations voluntarily held the top salaries of their executives to no more than 25 times the salary of the lowest paid employee.) I remembered that in the United States, a poor boy who has a great dream can become a great man (President Lincoln being a notable example). I remembered that in the United States we appreciate people with different ideas (such as Steve Jobs, adopted as a child, and subsequent travel to India and study of Buddhism and Calligraphy which lead to his development of Apple Computer) because those ideas add to the creativity of our solutions. I remembered that in North America, we have honored Mother Earth (so that in the 1700's, the trees were 200 feet high at the end of Long Island, and the top soil in the Great Plains was 40 inches deep) and learned to live within her tolerances and can do so again.

My new thoughts created a new reality. I had not remembered this in 2004 when I was filled with sadness and distress. My strong feelings for the changes in the land I loved overwhelmed my support of John Kerry, and I caused George Bush and Dick Cheney to be re-elected. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. But, in 2008, I remembered in the nick of time.

Our Ideal, and Our Heartfelt Desires will Always Manifest


This is the Law of Attraction. Take 100% responsibility for this. Ho'oponopono. I love you. Thank you.

I desired a man who was intelligent, calm, kind, articulate and would have the courage to speak to foreign leaders as equals without bullying them.

Our ideas, if connected to strong feelings and strong belief, will always manifest. And, it seems, many people had the same idea. Enough was enough with the torture and disregard of Habeus Corpus. Perhaps we could elect a man who seemed to respect others.

And, like Dwight Eisenhower, President Obama is not afraid to put the corporations in their place (in his proposition to having a Public Option in the health reform bill and laws to ensure that the insurance companies keep to their contracts). Like John F. Kennedy, he has a vision of an innovative America that is not afraid to take risks in order to lead the world to a bright new future (in his support of clean energy).

Let's focus on peace, good health and abundance for all. Let's stop focusing on war. Ho'oponopono. Take 100% responsibility. When you heal the war inside you, and I heal the war inside me, we will have peace.

_______________________________________________________________

Nancy J. Stremmel is the co-owner and developer of: http://www.Mindbridge-LOA.com the compendium of information on the Law of Attraction. She is a writer, licensed Social Worker, educator, artist and therapist. She believes that everyone can make the Law of Attraction work for them.

This was a show of the practical effects of taking 100% responsibility. For more serious studies of the Law of Attraction, I have given access to core historical teachings here. http://www.mindbridge-loa.com/law-of-attraction-theory.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Stremmel

Medical Bankruptcies

This is great. Al Franken schools Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth about medical bankruptcies.Our bankruptcies in the US are caused about 62% of the time (according to the American Journal of Medicine) by medical costs. And, of those, nearly 78% of the people had medical insurance.

Whoo. How could that happen? I always thought that if you had medical insurance you had access to the greatest medical system in the world! Well, it happens because there is such a thing as "lifetime limit" and if the insurance company can find one mistake in your application (which could be as small as your weight or treatment for acne or asthma when you were ten years old) then they can rescind your application and cancel previous as well as current liabilities.

This was a hearing held the other day in the Senate Judiciary Committee on medical bankruptcies. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth watching.