Michael Moore: Mister Invisible

Funny. I thought Michael Moore, the self-proclaimed champion of the blue-collar classes, would be all over this. I guess unemployment is only bad when there is a handy conservative to blame.

At least they'll all have the same crummy health care as their working counterparts, unless a miraculous return to common sense occurs.

Well done, Mr. Moore. Your self-righteousness has helped doom a fifth of your Michigan neighbors. Not that you care, of course. You'll remain conspicuously silent as your hero's deranged policies ensure slow (or no) recovery. Cap and trade will make the U.S. a hogtied nation, competing with India and China with both hands tied behind our backs.

Remember when you were so excited about "owning" GM and Chrysler? Remember your mocking laugh when imagining their factories being converted to make wind turbines? Didn't exactly work out that way, did it? Oh, well. I'm sure nobody will hold you accountable. Nobody ever does. So sleep well. There are still 4/5 of your fellow Michigan residents who are gainfully employed.

Letting it Go

Surrender really isn't in my DNA. My grandparents survived the Depression. My great-great grandparents settled the west, braving Indian attacks and disease. My male ancestors have served in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the War of Northern Aggression, both World Wars, and Vietnam. I served proudly as a Marine during Desert Storm. I beat the odds and made it into medical school. It wasn't easy for me, but I did it. Typically, I am able to see difficulty as a challenge to be confronted. But this time has been different.

I recently read the entire speech by Patrick Henry which ends with his famous words, "Give me Liberty, or give me death". I noticed something. A major theme of his speech was an admonition to beware of public apathy.

I haven't traditionally thought of Revolutionary-War-era Americans as apathetic. Apparently they were. So much so that it threatened the success of the effort to obtain Liberty. Not very much has changed. Just today I read that ABC Nightly News will be airing from the White House, before presenting a one-sided view of the socialist health care plan against which I've been fighting for over a year on this blog. No dissent will be allowed during this broadcast.

I'm not really surprised at ABC's actions in this matter. I am horrified and saddened that no public uproar has occurred. No pretense of objectivity or neutrality remains, and yet the public remains silent. So eroded is our expectation that we hardly notice this troubling development.

The frustration, fear, and rage that has been building over the past several years finally broke through this week. It was cathartic, but also frightening. Nobody got hurt. Nobody but me.

Medicine will be socialized in this country. It may not happen this year or the next, but it is coming. I remain convinced that this will be disastrous. Nevertheless, despite my best efforts, it will happen. People want it. They want it because they've been told that they should want it. People will get it. I used to think that they'd regret having it, but now I'm not so sure. The same apathy that has allowed the destruction of our Liberty will likely continue in the form of further apathy. This is a shame.

Regardless, I know now that I can't stop it. I wish I had the powers of a Payne or an Adams. Maybe I lack something. Or maybe I am merely an anachronism. I hope and pray that I will find a place in the brave new world that's coming. All I can do is be all I can for my family, and maintain my sanity. There was a time when I'd have sacrificed "my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor" for the cause of Liberty in this country. Now I see that this would likely be pointless.

I thank those of you who have honored me by reading these thoughts. I pray that sanity will return to this great land, but for now, I am retiring from the field of battle. I will continue to fight. I will fight by doing all in my power to raise a virtuous, respectful, and Liberty-loving son.

May God richly bless you. May He hear our earnest and fervent prayers to heal our land. May He help me to have the wisdom to know His will for my life, and the strength and faith to do my duty to Him. I thank you and wish you all well until I feel I can write again.

Callous Objectivist Thought for the Day

I don't want to have to pay for someone else's irresponsibility. I'm sick of being the financier for everybody else's stupidity.Here I am, working my butt off 60 to 70 hours a week just to pay off my school debt before I'm run out of medicine by my own government, trying to raise a respectful child, keeping my nose clean, paying my ever-increasing taxes...and some bozo wants to try and jump his skateboard off a building or something. I don't call that an accident. I call that natural selection.

Ever seen that show "America's Dumbest Criminals"? How about "Scarred"? Those are just a couple of the exhibits in my case against socialism. Under Obama's health care plan, those idiots will reap infinitely more benefit than they'll ever pay into the system. Why? Because they'll probably be "permanently disabled" by the time they're 20.

Grown-ups should pay their own way, as much as it is possible for them to do so. They shouldn't blame white people for all their problems. They shouldn't run through waist-deep water in the aftermath of a hurricane, seeking to steal televisions instead of trying to find food, water, and shelter. They shouldn't BASE jump with a parachute they rolled while they were stoned.

I'm sick to death of continuing to subsidize this sort of short-sighted self-obsessed looting. Anybody who looks at the state of affairs and says "Yeah. This seems okay. All that's missing is more money from the people who work for a living so we can give a higher quality of life to the lazy" is not simply intellectually lazy and wrong. Increasingly, I am starting to feel that they are actively engaged in trying to steal food from my own family's mouths.

I can no longer have a calm conversation with a self-professed "Liberal" or "Progressive". They are starting to look more and more like thieves to me. And I can't have an intelligent conversation with a thief about the relative merits of thievery.

Additionally, politicians who facilitate this sort of behavior merely to maintain their voter base are worse than criminal. It is a satanic sort of self-obsession.

Grow up, America. Get a job, stop whining about how somebody dun you wrong, and pay your own damn way. I'm sick to death of this crap.

Thanks. I needed to vent. I feel a little better now. Seriously, though. Get a job, jackass.

Thank Goodness for Bad Habits

The U.S. Senate has cleared the way for the FDA to regulate the hell out of cigarettes. The logic? Cigarettes make people sick, sick people go to doctors, and since nobody wants to pay for their own doctor bills, we all get to pay for their health care. Yeah. I get it. Makes perfect sense.

That's certainly one way to go about it. It's like motorcycle helmets. Riders hate them. But when they splatter their heads on the pavement, they have to go to the hospital, where (once again) we all have to pick up the tab. So the government makes them wear helmets. You know. For the public good.

But according to that logic, if motorcycle-related accidents are expensive, and if mandating the wearing of helmets is good, then why not just outlaw motorcycles altogether? I mean, since we're all about the greater good, then one person's individual liberty and exercise of their right to splatter their head on the ground shouldn't trump our right to not have to pay their bills. Or am I missing something?

Therefore, I am proposing the super-duper ultimate mega-solution to smoking-related deaths. Let's outlaw cigarettes completely. Let's make the sale, purchase, possession, distribution, or use of cigarettes punishable by...oh, let's see...oh yeah. Beheading. Yeah. We should behead all the smokers.

What's that? What do you mean they already tried that with booze? Prohibition? Well, there's no need to get all historical on me. Besides, it was a dumb idea anyway. We could never pay for SCHIP without smokers. So light up, brothers and sisters! It's your patriotic duty!

Unions Battle to the Death

Well, I guess we know who wields the power in our government.

The Indiana State Pensions Fund filed a case to be heard before the SCOTUS to stop the sale of Chrysler Motors LLC to Fiat SpA of Italy and the U.S. and Canadian governments. Why?

Well, it seems that the Indiana teachers' union, as well as the state and local governments of Indiana were heavily invested in Chrysler. When Chrysler declared bankruptcy, its assets were supposed to be divided among the creditors (as is usually the case with bankruptcies). Interestingly, though, they were not. Through some sort of political hocus-pocus, the assets were disproportionally given to...wait for it...the United Auto Workers union.

The SCOTUS, prompted by Justice Ginsberg, delayed the sale in order to consider the merits of the case. For almost 24 hours.

Tonight, the Court dropped the matter with a perfunctory ruling that failed to address any of the merits of the case. The result?

I think the take-home message is that the UAW can pretty much have its way with our government. Have a home? It's only yours until the UAW decides it wants it. Have a job? You'll spend the first several months working to support the lazy, shiftless, unskilled bullies at the UAW.

They are pigs, feeding at the troughs of money provided by you and me. We had our best chance to purge this cancerous growth from our country when GM and Chrysler announced their impending bankruptcies, but government made sure they coerced the companies into allowing their continued existence.

Just like a fatal parasite, UAW will continue to suck the life-blood of the country until the country itself dies and ceases to be of any use to them. Only then will they die a long-overdue death themselves. Want proof? Just look at what they've done to GM and Chrysler.

Yay, unions. You should be so proud.

Ode: To A Czar Unknown

First, he came for the bank executives.
But I wasn't a bank executive, so I kept silent.
Then he came for the auto executives.
But I wasn't an auto executive, so I kept silent.
Then he came for the doctors.
But I wasn't a doctor, so I kept silent.
Then he came for all the other executives,
But I wasn't one of those other executives, so I kept silent...

Who's next?

If there's a single person in the country deemed poorer than you, then eventually, you will be.

It's Officially Over. My Goodbye to Medicine is Imminent.

This is what I've been talking about. Forced physician participation, in a program with draconian cuts in our reimbursement, by a committee that is shielded from our ability to petition it for a redress of grievances.

Who the hell do they think they are? Seriously. How unbelievably and excruciatingly arrogant of them to tell doctors whom they have to enter into doctor-patient relationships with, and to limit reimbursement by fiat without any chance of negotiation. By what right?

The text below. Even though I've expected it, the blow isn't softened. To paraphrase Kipling, I "see the things I gave my life to, broken". I will have to go Galt now. I haven't any choice.

June 5, 2009

Concerns Grow as HSR Details Emerge

The latest information from Washington indicates that the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will introduce their proposal for health system reform (HSR) by the middle of this month. A separate bill from the Senate Finance Committee is also in the works.

Indications are the two separate aforementioned Senate bills will differ a great deal on a number of HSR issues, including the public plan element insisted upon by President Obama. The two bills will probably be combined into one piece of legislation and ready for Senate consideration in July. In addition, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has committed to passing the House HSR bill by July 31.

Clearly, Congress and President Obama have an ambitious timetable for passing sweeping reforms this year. MASA leadership and lobbyists are continually working with Alabama’s Congressional Delegation on behalf of physicians as more HSR details emerge. From the currently available HSR information, MASA has a number of concerns with certain health reform proposals.

Despite President Obama’s insistence on a new public health insurance plan, developing a new plan for Americans who aren’t disabled and aren’t more than 65 isn’t the best solution for expanding coverage to the uninsured. The public plan option is also opposed by private insurers.

One of the most egregious proposals being discussed in Washington right now would mandate physician participation in the public plan if adopted. Physicians already face a 21 percent cut in Medicare payment rates on January 1, 2010, with steeper cuts coming over the next decade. To help pay for HSR, President Obama wants to cut an additional $200-$300 billion from both Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years, on top of the $300 billion cuts already in his proposed budget. Given Medicare’s history and its uncertain future, a similarly-styled public plan, particularly with mandated physician participation, would be devastating.