More On Health Care (no pun intended!)

Written : Aug. 25, 2009

Proponents of HR3200 (the health care bill proposal) say that there are “myths” being propagated “out there”, implying that falsehoods are deliberately being spread by the bill’s opponents on the alternative media. They are mischaracterized as “myths”. They are in reality, concerns.

Although I haven’t read the health care bill, and probably never will read it in its entirety, I will concede “Death Panels” and illegal immigrant coverage are not included in the bill. A mandatory requirement that employers be forced into the public plan is probably not directly mentioned either, and I’m sure abortions are not stated as automatically covered in the bill’s language. However, concessions I've made in no way impede my ability to use critical thinking with regard to the bill.

Critical thinking. Something we all must have to make sure we use so we are not oppressed by our government (or others). Something the Democrats were screaming about during all of George W. Bush’s two terms in office. Something I was taught by my wonderful - and radical - parents to protect me against future tyrants who might erode my freedom later in life. So let’s get to it!

The bill begins by talking about “acceptable” requirements for health care. These are: affordable coverage, essential benefits, and consumer protection. Nice ideals. But don’t we have the obligation to ask how those ideals will be paid for? Which programs will legislators cut? We should consider it. Our officials say we will be allowed to retain our “current” health care plan. But what if our employer, looking to cut costs for its own benefit, forces us to a cheaper solution? I’ve seen it happen every single year since I’ve had coverage! And, that’s with a couple of large companies! Such a track record leads me to believe that each employer will choose the cheapest option, and we will eventually not have a choice. As a consequence, we will be left with only the public option and private insurance companies will go out of business. What about all the jobs which will be inevitably lost as a result?

If every employer chooses the cheaper option as I predict, the private companies are done for, right? I know, I know, it doesn’t specifically state such a thing in the bill, but isn’t it the logical conclusion? This is only one point and there are dozens more. We need to watch out for proponents of the bill brushing aside our concerns by stating that our sensible conclusions concerning HR3200 are “not in the bill”. We realize they probably are not in the bill. However, critical thinking tells us about the huge problems which might result from the bill’s passage.

Health care for everyone is a nice idea. But, with the same number of doctors and infrastructure, how will we cover 40+ million more people without sacrificing quality of care? Are we not supposed to ask such questions? Are we home grown terrorists (Timothy McVae types) if we come to the town halls to make our voices heard? So, ok, call me a radical.

I invite you to read the entire bill at: Read H.R.3200 . CSPAN will have a debate (happening now) hosted by Rep. James Moran (D-VA) and former DNC Chairman Howard Dean from Reston, VA shortly. Watch it here: Watch the debate

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Health Care Reform

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "Health Care Reform”

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The Least Important Affair

Written : Aug. 18, 2009

Senator John Edwards (D-NC) was caught in an illicit affair in 2007-2008 just after Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the Republicans a “culture of corruption”. The media, with the exception of the National Enquirer in July of 2008, knew that a story was brewing with Edwards, but looked the other way. For me this matters only because Edwards was a public figure. But we’re all human. Anyone, given the right circumstances can be guilty of such a transgression. Such matters belong to no political party. And, no two situations are the same, but the media has an obligation to treat each instance in a similar manner.

Early in 2009 Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) was caught in an illicit affair. No one covered it up, and the media jumped all over the story. Sanford was a public figure and therefore the story was important. It can happen to anyone, of course. In politics, the list could include Congressmen, Senators, Governors, Presidents, etc.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly within the past couple of days, Linda Stasi argued vehemently that Sanford’s affair was a more important mistake – even though Edwards’ affair occurred while he was running for the U.S. presidency. In fact, Edwards was a more prominent figure than Sanford. Stasi dismissed Edwards’ affair while correctly pointing out he was a former Senator at the time. A sitting Governor was more important to highlight, more prominent than a former Senator. I disagree, but ok. This may be a bit of a stretch, but it struck me as funny how just last year the media fell in love with a Senator (Obama), while they attacked a Governor (Palin). Whichever is more convenient if it fits your political ideology, I guess. We, the public, have an obligation to be skeptical about all the pundits we watch, to think for ourselves, and to ask pertinent questions.

Read the transcript at: Read Stasi on O’Reilly There’s a link there entitled “Click here to watch the debate!” or, watch it now: Watch the debate

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Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "Governor Sanford”, “Governor Palin”, “Senator Edwards”

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1984 - All Over Again

Written : Aug. 11, 2009

In 1948, George Orwell wrote his frightening novel, 1984, which suggested government would be meddling in our lives in ways we could never have imagined before. By the way, to come up with the title, Orwell simply reversed the last two digits of the then current year.

I can tell you Orwell’s book scared my politically radical parents to death. They envisioned a scenario in which right-wingers would conspire to craft sneaky ways to revise history and modify the English language for their own sinister purpose. One method for suppressing the people was to limit deep thought and personal expression by the forced substitution of certain words for others. Tight-fisted laws regarding word usage would be put in place to weaken the people and to make them more submissive. My parents hated the idea of censorship and my left-wing dad always told me I’d notice the first hint of a totalitarian regime in America when I notice people’s freedoms being reduced as we’re told what we can and cannot say or think.

Surprise! It’s the left, instead, which has implemented the policy my parents feared most. Fast forward to 2009. Textbook companies are being lobbied by left-wing groups to change the lingo in their tools of learning for the purpose of influencing social policy.

Tucker Carlson appeared on Fox & Friends (not on CNN, on Fox News Channel!) on July 29, 2009 and on August 6, 2009. In two different segments, he outlined the words and some phrases which will soon be forbidden. Big brother is coming.

The first is “Founding Fathers”. Instead we must use, “The Founders” or “The Framers”. This is because the first phrase is too male oriented! You’ll notice there’s a common theme to all of this censorship. Carlson said we wouldn’t want to suggest the men who wrote the Constitution were men! It would be historically accurate – but SCARY!

We must not use the words chairman and chairwoman. Those are sexist. Instead please say that they are pieces of furniture, or chairs. Do not say or write the word Congressman, in its place we’ll use “Member of Congress”. Examine the other words, fisherman, brotherhood, fellowship, freshman, workmanship, caveman. Notice the similarities – see how they suggest “male” and leave out “female”? - They actually don’t, those words were used without objection while I was growing up and their use was generic (the words meant male and/or female – the same words were never perceived as sexist before. Changes such as these are proposed because some people are horrified by generic words, such as “actor”! They want to sterilize our language of words they misperceive as insults. Be careful, this is censorship, or at least an attempt to change the way people express themselves in order to influence our sense of fairness and equality concerning the sexes. It strikes me as silly and petty. Why are people so sensitive these days, really?

You can watch one of Tucker Carlson’s appearances on Fox & Friends at the following link: Tucker Carlson on Fox & Friends E-mail me at mark.marj57@comcast.net to tell me what you think. If I get enough responses I’ll post them next week. If not, ok, but you know this is censorship and it shouldn’t be happening.

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, censorship, 1984, Orwell

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", " censorship”, “1984”, “Orwell”.

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Health Care vs. The Health Insurance Debate

Written : Aug. 1, 2009

The health care debate is about insurance for health care, or coverage, it's not about health care itself. We have the best health care in the world in the U.S., bar none. This is not disputed, and the evidence is apparent. For instance, if anyone goes to the emergency room they are treated right away, regardless of who they are and regardless of which insurance they do or do not have. People flock to this country to be treated but few Americans travel to countries which feature socialized medicine for care.

House of Representatives' Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has a daughter, Jackie Kucinich, who appeared on CSPAN's Washington Journal on July 29,2009. Ms. Kucinich works for Roll Call, which professes to offer unbiased online and print coverage of American national politics. The appearance by Ms. Kucinich on CSPAN on July 29 also appeared to have been unbiased, kudos to her. Libby Casey, a member of Alaska Public Radio was the guest host on July 29. While I do not yet understand the relationship between each state's public broadcasting network (ex. Colorado Public Radio) and National Public Radio, or NPR, I do know from personal experience that NPR appears to be unbiased, but it leans to the left.

Back to the debate. The political left tells us there are 50 million uninsured in the U.S. It's their right to have insurance, so how will we cover them? It's a matter of fairness at any cost for the left. The issue as seen from the right questions why we need to spend $1-2 trillion or more in future taxes or "stimulus" to clean up health care insurance issues since there are many other ways to do it. The right also questions the 50 million number (it's usually stated as 47 million) and brings to a part of the debate the question of whether or not the millions of people here illegally in the country (estimated from 7-20 million) should be counted as uninsured. The right wonders if the millions of people who do not pay for insurance should be covered, or paid for, by the tax payers?

Libby Casey, the host, referred to the issue several times as "health care". When it's framed that way, conservatives can appear to be the 'bad guys', especially when they are accused of being against "health care". The issue should be referred to by any of its' rightful names instead, such as "health care reform", "health care debate", or "the health care insurance bill". As Ms. Kucinich pointed out in a fair and unbiased manner, Republicans DO NOT want to kill "health care", since we all have great health care already. The Republicans, or conservatives, just take a different approach to reform. Their version is based on tax cuts - the opposite of taxes imposed - and making the industry healthier via cleaning up waste in the system. Conservatives in general look at the public insurance option and think it will undercut private health care insurance, thereby eliminating it in the long run. They also look at the long wait for service in other countries and are put off by the idea that a calculation is usually made as to whether or not it's cost effective to treat patients based upon the estimated survivability of a patient.

Please be careful how you refer to the debate. It's not about health care. It's about insurance.

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, health care

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "health care”.

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Tidbits II

Written : July 21, 2009

This evening I searched for some liberal blogs in order to understand what they’re thinking these days. I stumbled onto a site called, “Liberal Values” at liberalvaluesblog. The sub-title is, “Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought”. The reader is to glean from the sub-title: Only liberal thought is enlightened! And, at leftcoaster, a lefty blogger implies it was wrong for the mainstream media (MSM) to ‘allow’ former Vice President Cheney to express himself on Meet The Press. Funny, I was taught by liberals that tolerance and open-mindedness was paramount.

Michele Norris of NPR – said this past Sunday on “Meet the Press”, on 7/19/09, “Much was made of community service – and not in a good way – during the [last presidential] campaign.” Michele, people were taking issue with some community organizers and their impact on society during the ’08 campaign, not with community service. There’s a difference. Every person, liberal or conservative, with a grain of sense knows that community service is a good and a noble thing.

Sean Hannity reported this week that actress Jeanine Garafalo recently stated that the mainstream media is tilted to the right! I can understand why liberals complain about Fox News, but how can the media be seen as entirely far-right with no outlet whatsoever for liberal expression?

I thought the cursing and personal attacks were abrasive enough, but it’s a shame that some people go further than that. Early this month a story was published on Playboy's website (Playboy is the magazine I loved in my youth - for the articles, of course!). It was about ten conservative women the author would like to rape! Amazing and outrageous! You can read about it at: chickensontheright in an article published there on June 6. The article was eventually pulled from the Playboy web site.

A liberal’s view of another tasteless joke (as Playboy excused it) on conservatives perpetrated by the media, is at: blogacause

You can see an interesting take on this at : politicalvindication

This YouTube Video describes the hateful list on “Red Eye”:

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Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "rape list", "Playboy.”

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Talk Radio

Written : July 14-15, 2009

Do you listen to talk radio in your car or elsewhere? If you're a regular reader, you'll know I do. I listen to both sides and enjoy the debate.

On progressive talk on July 10, 2009, I heard a tirade by Ed Schultz which was more intolerant than most I'd heard before. He said he hated bipartisanship! Basically he claimed the Democrats won the last presidential election, and therefore they deserve to get everything they want, without opposition! Republicans should just get out of their way, because as he put it, he "don't trust 'em". Interesting what happens to some opinions when the shoe is on the other foot! For example, when the Republicans were in power Schultz among others were loud in their opposition! - Hey, Ed, there's nothing wrong with that! - Even now!

Schultz called Bill Frist, who was the Republican majority leader until he left office in 2007, "a dork". Referring to conservatives, Schultz said, "I hate them." While laying down his reasons he angrily postulated that "they" gutted the middle class. There's the popular "class warfare" argument again. Why does the left like to pit people against each other? Republicans want all people to get along. "They" listen in to our conversations. Who wants to listen into Schultz' conversations? BORING! And, the government doesn't have the resources to listen into all of our conversations! However, we do want to know if terrorists are conversing with their counterparts in hostile countries, right? Then he screamed that the Republican party should be wiped out, replaced with nothing - just wiped out. And Rush Limbaugh gets the bad press! This shows the mainstream media has got its collective hands over its collective ears.

I think Schultz is living under a blanket of anger and operates out of a set of inaccurate assumptions. Republicans are not evil. They want everyone to succeed (not just Republicans, but everyone). They think people make better decisions with their own money than government. In addition, government is full of waste - among other things. It's not true that half of us want to be taxed at a higher rate, but it is true that half of us want someone else to be taxed at a higher rate! - Ask yourself if that's fair. You're right, it's not! Who'll want to succeed if success means one's money will someday go to support some Joe who won't match your level of effort? More working people will get ahead if we allow them to keep more of their own money. It's such a simple idea: I don't understand why more people don't see it that way.

On The Ed Schultz Show on the same day, a caller from Manhattan stated, "People have been making money on the internet since… Clinton [so] they have to be taxed!" What a silly idea! Why tax use of the Internet to simply increase the size of the bureaucracy of our government? Why be jealous of others who succeed? Be happy for them! Let business people on the Internet keep their income. It's common sense that those who make larger profits and want to increase their business will hire more help. Job growth equals a bigger economy. Hmmm…

We need more open-mindedness and tolerance in this world, not less. Schultz is giving us less. What a pity.

Take a gander at this YouTube Video:

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Ed Schultz, Air America, bureaucracy.

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "Ed Schultz", "Air America", "bureaucracy"

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Sarah!

Written : July 7, 2009

Driving to work one day this week I was listening to The Mike Gallagher Show, but he went into commercial. I switched to our local “Air America” affiliate. The folks there did a ten-minute, non-stop barrage of attacks against “America’s Governor”, Sarah Palin. I wasn’t shocked because I’d heard it all before, but the meanness and constant negativity was striking. It makes one wonder why these radio “professionals” were so angered, so upset, and so unprofessional.

I heard a caller cursing out the Governor’s daughter and I can understand his anger. He’s another one who is ticked off by those who engage in bad behavior, but only if they are conservative. I don’t force my beliefs on anyone else, but I certainly wish people would use less foul language. My personal belief is that everyone (and not just liberals) should curse less often. This statement alone will offend some people, as they will think I'm judging them, but I'm not. Cursing doesn't bother me, I'd just rather hear less of it.

Does reaching for a higher moral plane (by Palin) make it right to hold the governor accountable for her daughter’s behavior? If one aspires to be a person who upholds his values does it become more proper to insult him/her for a single mistake? If the left is so sensitive about being judged, should they be so judgmental of others? Call me a hick from NYC, but this is something I just don’t understand.

Sarah strikes me as a wonderful person who has great leadership ability and plenty of experience. She had guts to run for governor, run for VP after only a couple of months’ notice, and to stick with her daughter and support her through a surprise teen pregnancy. I’m disappointed that the left goes out of its way to paint her as an idiot because she’s far from it. Her chances to become president may have been damaged by the mainstream media, but she’d make a terrific Secretary of Anything.

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Governor Palin, Sarah Palin.

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", “From The Left to the Right “, "conservative blog", "conservative blogs”, “Governor Palin”, “Sarah Palin”, “foreign policy”

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