Monday in a Harlem middle school, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told a group of 120 students that administration officials are actively discussing “when and how it might be possible to join” (that is, ratify) the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). As before, she also communicated what a disgrace it is that the U.S. would stand with only Somalia against such a widely-accepted treaty.
This is the first direct public statement by the Obama administration that it will seek ratification of the UN CRC.
If things remain quiet, they will proceed with their plans to push for ratification of the CRC in the U.S. Senate.
To discourage them from doing so, we need to make sure that our voices are heard with unmistakable clarity. We must let the Obama administration know that we oppose this anti-family, anti-American treaty.
Here’s what we need you all to do:
1. Call the White House comments line at 202-456-1111. Tell them you heard the administration wants to ratify the CRC, and you strongly oppose this giving away of U.S. sovereignty to the UN. Also keep in mind that this treaty gives the government jurisdiction to override any decision made by any parent if the government thinks that a better decision can be made—even if there is no proof of any harm.
2. Call Ambassador Susan Rice’s office at the United Nations. Tell her that you want her to represent the United States to the world rather than trying to get the United States to go along with international law initiated by the UN. Her office number is 212-415-4000.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Private System vs. Government-Run System
Earlier this year, the New York Times Sunday Magazine published a lengthy interview with Obama in which the President gave the American people a small taste of what he envisions for health care reform.
Consider what Obama said:
Obama: "Part of what I think government can do effectively is to be an honest broker in assessing and evaluating treatment options."
Translation: Government bureaucrats will step in and call the shots. Both you and your doctor will be shut out from determining appropriate treatment.
If that doesn't worry you, the President elaborated further:
"The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill..."
"There is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place."
Just what do you think Obama's talking about here? Trust me, these are scary times if you're chronically ill or over the age of 55.
If you have diabetes or high blood pressure or multiple sclerosis - or are diagnosed with heart disease or cancer - your future doesn't look very bright based on the President's comments above.
If the feds determine you're costing more than you're worth, well, it's been nice knowing you.
Even Obama's top health advisers have emphasized that America should value the lives of young, healthy people more than those of old, sick individuals.
One such adviser is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Obama's pit-bull chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel.
Kevin Williamson of National Review Online describes Dr. Emanuel's views:
"He wrote in The Lancet in 2008: 'Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination.' We all were young once, the argument goes, and so denying the elderly and weak in order to care for the young and fit is just."
Does that sound "just" to you?
And, Obama claims that his health plan won't involve rationing or reduced care. But that's ridiculous, because all government-run health systems suffer from those drawbacks.
In fact, government-run health care supporters in Congress have already made a down payment on rationed care.
Specifically, 1.1 billion has already been appropriated as part of the disastrous "stimulus bill" for so-called "comparative effectiveness research."
What is "comparative effectiveness research?"
Congressman David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, explained it in his committee's report:
"...those items, procedures, and interventions... that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed."
What happened to America being a Republic that promises to safeguard the God-given rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"
We are the first to admit that America's health care system is not perfect. Costs are out of control; access to care is a real issue for some.
Yes, some reform is needed, but "reform" modeled after state-run European and Canadian models is the wrong approach.
After all, despite its flaws, the current health care system in the United States is second-to-none in the world.
Dr. David Gratzer, a Canadian-trained physician who practices in the United States, makes that very point in his book The Cure. Here are just a few examples he cites:
U.S. breast cancer patients are four times as likely to be diagnosed before the tumor has spread... and thus much more likely to survive;
U.S. cancer patients generally have much higher survival rates than their European counterparts;
American heath care dramatically outperforms the "universal care" systems with heart disease and stroke; and,
American researchers in a private enterprise system are responsible for roughly 80% of the world's major medical advances.
Here's how Dr. Gratzer describes his own revelation about Canada's state-run system:
"On [my way to medical school class]... I cut through a hospital emergency room and came upon dozens of people on stretchers - waiting, moaning, begging for treatment. Some elderly patients had waited up to five days in corridors before being admitted to beds. They smelled of urine and sweat. As I navigated past the bodies, I began to question everything I thought I knew about health care - not only in Canada, but also in the United States. ... I had begun a journey into the heart of one of the great policy disasters of modern times."
Painful and interminable waits for care are policy disasters Obama "forgot" to mention.
The time is now to tell Congress that you don't want government bureaucrats making life-and-death decisions for you and your family. The time is now to defeat government-run health care in the United States.
here
Consider what Obama said:
Obama: "Part of what I think government can do effectively is to be an honest broker in assessing and evaluating treatment options."
Translation: Government bureaucrats will step in and call the shots. Both you and your doctor will be shut out from determining appropriate treatment.
If that doesn't worry you, the President elaborated further:
"The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill..."
"There is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place."
Just what do you think Obama's talking about here? Trust me, these are scary times if you're chronically ill or over the age of 55.
If you have diabetes or high blood pressure or multiple sclerosis - or are diagnosed with heart disease or cancer - your future doesn't look very bright based on the President's comments above.
If the feds determine you're costing more than you're worth, well, it's been nice knowing you.
Even Obama's top health advisers have emphasized that America should value the lives of young, healthy people more than those of old, sick individuals.
One such adviser is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Obama's pit-bull chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel.
Kevin Williamson of National Review Online describes Dr. Emanuel's views:
"He wrote in The Lancet in 2008: 'Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination.' We all were young once, the argument goes, and so denying the elderly and weak in order to care for the young and fit is just."
Does that sound "just" to you?
And, Obama claims that his health plan won't involve rationing or reduced care. But that's ridiculous, because all government-run health systems suffer from those drawbacks.
In fact, government-run health care supporters in Congress have already made a down payment on rationed care.
Specifically, 1.1 billion has already been appropriated as part of the disastrous "stimulus bill" for so-called "comparative effectiveness research."
What is "comparative effectiveness research?"
Congressman David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, explained it in his committee's report:
"...those items, procedures, and interventions... that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed."
What happened to America being a Republic that promises to safeguard the God-given rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"
We are the first to admit that America's health care system is not perfect. Costs are out of control; access to care is a real issue for some.
Yes, some reform is needed, but "reform" modeled after state-run European and Canadian models is the wrong approach.
After all, despite its flaws, the current health care system in the United States is second-to-none in the world.
Dr. David Gratzer, a Canadian-trained physician who practices in the United States, makes that very point in his book The Cure. Here are just a few examples he cites:
U.S. breast cancer patients are four times as likely to be diagnosed before the tumor has spread... and thus much more likely to survive;
U.S. cancer patients generally have much higher survival rates than their European counterparts;
American heath care dramatically outperforms the "universal care" systems with heart disease and stroke; and,
American researchers in a private enterprise system are responsible for roughly 80% of the world's major medical advances.
Here's how Dr. Gratzer describes his own revelation about Canada's state-run system:
"On [my way to medical school class]... I cut through a hospital emergency room and came upon dozens of people on stretchers - waiting, moaning, begging for treatment. Some elderly patients had waited up to five days in corridors before being admitted to beds. They smelled of urine and sweat. As I navigated past the bodies, I began to question everything I thought I knew about health care - not only in Canada, but also in the United States. ... I had begun a journey into the heart of one of the great policy disasters of modern times."
Painful and interminable waits for care are policy disasters Obama "forgot" to mention.
The time is now to tell Congress that you don't want government bureaucrats making life-and-death decisions for you and your family. The time is now to defeat government-run health care in the United States.
here
What Obama Is Not Telling You
Right now, politicians in Washington are scheming behind closed doors to impose a massive government-run health care system on the American people.
Forget, for just a moment, the 1.6 trillion cost to taxpayers for the "downpayment" on this plan. Forget, for just a moment, that the cost of Obama-Kennedy-Pelosi-Care will bankrupt the nation.
What should really concern you is not its cost... but rather its callousness.
Probably the most horrifying aspect of Obama-Kennedy-Pelosi-Care is that it will actually limit your family's health care choices, put government bureaucrats and accountants in charge of your family's medical decisions, and enable these government bureaucrats to actually play God - deciding who gets what treatment and when.
The dirty little secret is that Barack Obama's and Teddy Kennedy's and Nancy Pelosi's idea of "reforming" American health care seems to be Less Care for All, Little or No Care for Some.
Here's what political pundit Dick Morris recently wrote on the subject:
"[T]heir secret emerges: They are going to cut medical costs by cutting medical care. ... decisions will not be medical but financial. They will not be based on a doctor's opinion of what his or her patient needs, but a bureaucrat's and an accountant's opinion of what the new health care system can afford."
"And you will not be able to bypass their rulings and pay for this care yourself. The rules laid down must be followed and private payments will not be permitted to override them. What we now call a private fee for service will metastasize into a bribe.
"But this is just the very beginning... rationing is coming, and coming soon."
Rationing of services? Denial of choice? Is that the kind of "reform" you want?
If you need a CAT Scan or an MRI, forget it. If you need antibiotics, maybe - only if they're approved by the federal government. As for potentially life-saving or life-extending treatments, take a number and stand in line.
Is this why our so-called leaders in Washington want to bankrupt the nation in the name of "reform?"
We say "no."
But simply saying no is not enough. We must, right here and right now, tell our elected officials that we want them to say "no" to government-run health care as well.
This is perhaps the biggest fight for freedom in a generation. It is about the liberty to make our own health care decisions, in consultation with the doctors of our choice, rather than the federal government doing it for us!
Despite the realities of every other government-run health care system in the world, President Obama, in typical fashion, is attempting to sell his plan to the American people with empty promises - by telling you exactly what you want to hear.
"If you want to keep your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor," Obama says. "If you want to keep your present health plan, you'll be able to keep your present health plan," he tells us.
But if his government-run health care plan passes, Obama will never be able to keep those promises and he knows it.
Jim Lindgren, writing for the popular Internet blog Volokh Conspiracy, spelled out the reality of Obama's plan:
"[I]f the Obama plan is enacted, a substantial portion of employers will cut their health subsidies -- raising their employees' share of contributions to the company plan -- in order to drive some of the employees into the government exchange and the public option. Other employers may drop their plans altogether -- after all, workers could buy their own coverage in the government exchange -- or simply fund part of their workers' participation in the exchange. These changes, which would be the direct results of the implementation of the Obama plan, would make it virtually impossible for Obama to keep these promises..."
And, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported that the plan currently under consideration in Congress would cause about 23 million Americans to lose their private insurance.
Another thing Obama failed tell you is that even if he could keep those promises - and he can't - keeping your doctor or your present health plan won't matter when government bureaucrats start calling the shots and telling your doctor and provider exactly what they can and cannot do... when and how they are allowed to treat patients and how much they can charge for that treatment.
.
Forget, for just a moment, the 1.6 trillion cost to taxpayers for the "downpayment" on this plan. Forget, for just a moment, that the cost of Obama-Kennedy-Pelosi-Care will bankrupt the nation.
What should really concern you is not its cost... but rather its callousness.
Probably the most horrifying aspect of Obama-Kennedy-Pelosi-Care is that it will actually limit your family's health care choices, put government bureaucrats and accountants in charge of your family's medical decisions, and enable these government bureaucrats to actually play God - deciding who gets what treatment and when.
The dirty little secret is that Barack Obama's and Teddy Kennedy's and Nancy Pelosi's idea of "reforming" American health care seems to be Less Care for All, Little or No Care for Some.
Here's what political pundit Dick Morris recently wrote on the subject:
"[T]heir secret emerges: They are going to cut medical costs by cutting medical care. ... decisions will not be medical but financial. They will not be based on a doctor's opinion of what his or her patient needs, but a bureaucrat's and an accountant's opinion of what the new health care system can afford."
"And you will not be able to bypass their rulings and pay for this care yourself. The rules laid down must be followed and private payments will not be permitted to override them. What we now call a private fee for service will metastasize into a bribe.
"But this is just the very beginning... rationing is coming, and coming soon."
Rationing of services? Denial of choice? Is that the kind of "reform" you want?
If you need a CAT Scan or an MRI, forget it. If you need antibiotics, maybe - only if they're approved by the federal government. As for potentially life-saving or life-extending treatments, take a number and stand in line.
Is this why our so-called leaders in Washington want to bankrupt the nation in the name of "reform?"
We say "no."
But simply saying no is not enough. We must, right here and right now, tell our elected officials that we want them to say "no" to government-run health care as well.
This is perhaps the biggest fight for freedom in a generation. It is about the liberty to make our own health care decisions, in consultation with the doctors of our choice, rather than the federal government doing it for us!
Despite the realities of every other government-run health care system in the world, President Obama, in typical fashion, is attempting to sell his plan to the American people with empty promises - by telling you exactly what you want to hear.
"If you want to keep your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor," Obama says. "If you want to keep your present health plan, you'll be able to keep your present health plan," he tells us.
But if his government-run health care plan passes, Obama will never be able to keep those promises and he knows it.
Jim Lindgren, writing for the popular Internet blog Volokh Conspiracy, spelled out the reality of Obama's plan:
"[I]f the Obama plan is enacted, a substantial portion of employers will cut their health subsidies -- raising their employees' share of contributions to the company plan -- in order to drive some of the employees into the government exchange and the public option. Other employers may drop their plans altogether -- after all, workers could buy their own coverage in the government exchange -- or simply fund part of their workers' participation in the exchange. These changes, which would be the direct results of the implementation of the Obama plan, would make it virtually impossible for Obama to keep these promises..."
And, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported that the plan currently under consideration in Congress would cause about 23 million Americans to lose their private insurance.
Another thing Obama failed tell you is that even if he could keep those promises - and he can't - keeping your doctor or your present health plan won't matter when government bureaucrats start calling the shots and telling your doctor and provider exactly what they can and cannot do... when and how they are allowed to treat patients and how much they can charge for that treatment.
.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Daily Survival Kit
1. Toothpick - to remind you to pick the good qualities in others.
2. Rubber band - to remind you to be flexible: things might not always work out the way you want, but it will work out.
3. Band aid - to remind you to heal hurtfeelings, yours and someone else's.
4. Pencil - to remind you to list your blessings everyday.
5. Eraser - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's ok.
6. Chewing gum - to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything.
7. Mint - to remind you that you are worth a mint!
8. Candy kiss - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug every day.
9. Tea bag - to remind you to relax daily and go over your list of blessings..
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