The American Spectator

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Health Careless

6.18.09 @ 6:01AM

NOT THE TRACK RECORD OF A BRAIN SURGEON
Re: Robert M. Goldberg's A Trillion Dollars in Incompetence:

One wonders if those touting a "universal" government "health care" plan have considered if GM's and Chrysler's union health care plans bankrupted and destroyed those companies, what will a larger and more cumbersome government "health care plan" do to the country?

With the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats creating a $2+ trillion dollar deficit in a month and the corresponding collapse of the job market, how will things be "better" if the same dolts who created our current financial mess run a costly and gigantic health care system? I know that for the effete oligarchy now running our government magical thinking trumps simple facts and reality, but surely some of them have watched "Sesame Street" and learned some simple math and know from history that when Democrats create a bureaucracy it means adding billions of dollars to the actual cost of the program while subtracting from the quality of the care or service rendered to the overburden taxpayers.
-- Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

So let's see if I understand: the Obama automobile bail-outs stole the supposedly 100 percent secured investment of the bondholders and gave the money to the auto workers. The Kennedy health care plan will cost over a trillion dollars and use tax money to pay for the current style of auto workers health care. It will provide Cadillac Health Care to the UAW while they make tiny cars resemble garbage carts with electric motors and windshields, that none will want to buy. Meanwhile, the rest of us will get rationed care, except the old who will be set adrift on an ice flow, unless of course they melt from global warming. Is that about it? Gee, what a shock for the auto workers when they get older.
-- Phillip Thompson

CULTURE WARRIOR
Re: Jay D. Homnick's Petal to the Meddle:

Jay Homnick has done it again. His piece on the 60's brats gives me a warm feeling! Interesting that my first exposure to him was a piece making fun of us poor souls living south of the Mason-Dixon Line (at the time I lived in Alabama). The occasion was a recognition of Robert E. Lee's birthday. My letter was a cut he felt needed a direct reply. He did so to my e-mail. Since, I have enjoyed and have been appreciative of his many columns. Keep up keeping up Jay!
-- M.J. Turkelson
Lebanon, Ohio

BUT CAN HE FIELD?
Re: Lisa Fabrizio's Two Hands, Luis!

Lisa Fabrizio will understand my wish. She is always a must read on Wednesday. In honor of her I am clicking on the donate button. All the best to you, Lisa. One lucky dude up in Nutmegia. 
-- Robert Yatto
Crossville, Tennessee

THE WORST GENERATION
Re: Andrew B. Wilson's D-Day and the Aging Frenchman:

When the day finally comes, and all those who lived through World War II are dead and gone, I wonder what those who came long after will say about what was done. Given some of the things that have already been said about it, I'm none too happy about what will come...
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WELL-READ
Re: Bill Croke's Hitting the Books:

I remember the Scholastic Book Club with fondness. But I generally picked through the lists and picked out what looked like science fiction -- my main reading habit in those days. I think the only one Mr. Croke mentions that I got through was "Captains Courageous."

I have a certain amount of regret now for not reading some of these then and there. Certainly over the next few years, when I encountered and read some of those mentioned, I enjoyed them. I might have enriched myself and my worldview much earlier in life if I had.

Ah, well, there's no undoing what's been done here. As for what the junior-high student renewing his books, at least he's reading...
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS, AND TWEETS
Re: Ilan Berman's Interesting Times in Tehran:

A major difference in the worldview between the Western mind and the Middle Eastern mind is the approach towards authority. The Western mindset is well represented by René Descartes, a devout Catholic, who advised men to "Question everything." This everything includes questioning the authority of the pope and the very existence of God. From the Middle Eastern mind arose Islam, which does not allow, let alone encourage, questioning of Imams, ayatollahs, or the existence of Allah. Submit or die is an oversimplification of their creed, but not brutally so. But with the internet and other global communications, a pure mind set is difficult to keep. The very Western idea of rebellion has blown on the wind and the seeds are finding root in Iran.

President Obama has been presented an opportunity to influence Middle East policy much in the same way President H.W. Bush was presented an opportunity by China's Tiananmen Square uprising. For many reasons, President Bush did not capitalize on the opportunity to use soft diplomacy to show support for the Chinese youth. Understandably, he did not wish to be entangled in unnecessary hostilities, but subtle and consistent encouragement could have been provided without a direct confrontation. Our fearless leader is facing a similar situation. Bush, a man who depended heavily upon prudence and deliberation, was too lost in thought to take action. The One has already proven himself to be a backwards-looking president, continually sniping at his predecessor, so he maybe he has learned from Paré Bush's mistake. That still leaves the question if Our Dear Leader has the courage to show support for the rebellion in Iran and exploit it.

Wisdom dictates that one calculates risks, but the same wisdom dictates that wasted opportunities are seldom repeated.
-- I.M. Kessel

SOJOURN YOUR WAY ON BACK OUT OF THE USA
Re: Garry Greenwood's letter (under "A Chance to Evangelize") in Reader Mail's The Right Stuff:

I assure Mr. Greenwood and the readers of TAS that the Catholic Church is hardly alone in its support for open borders and subverting the immigration laws. The most often stated justification is the Old Testament injunction to greet and welcome the stranger in our midst. In more modern language, that means showing "solidarity" with the poor and the marginalized and honoring the essential humanity of illegal aliens.

One can't help but notice that it is strange that, for so many of those in the ministry who regard many of the central claims of Scripture as "problematic," the specific verses regarding the "stranger in our midst" are carved in marble and an unambiguous in their meaning. One can't help but suspect they simply looked for Biblical support for what they wanted in the first place -- something they claim religious conservatives do. Our religious display an earnestness in these commands that give the most rock-hard fundamentalists a run for the money. Bad or inconsistent theology also calls their moral authority into question.

One should also note that, in regard to the alien, most of the Old Testament injunctions involve the requirement that he and his house is to keep the Sabbath. If an alien wishes to celebrate the Passover, he and all the males in his household were to be circumcised. Actual religious submissions to the God of Israel were not required of the alien; but the behavior required of the faithful also is required of the alien. And the law was to be impartial to both the alien as well as the native born Israelite.  

"Alien" in these cases involved those living in Israel who were not children of the promise.  

On the opposite side, the faithful are not to oppress the alien and, in fact, love him -- extending food and clothing in his need. The sojourner passing through the country was to be treated in charity as well. But these leave the essential questions unanswered.

While we are to love the stranger among us, what has this to do with open borders? Where is the warrant to allow mass migration into the country? Where is it commanded that after they subvert the law to get here, we are required to allow them to remain here? Is the alien living among the Israelites or the sojourner passing through Israel to his destination really comparable to a person who sneaks into the country against its statutes?

I don't blame those who are trying to come to America legitimately or unlawfully. I probably would do the very same thing. It is for this reason I believe in immigrant-friendly laws -- laws which would apply to the Asian, Irish, African, Indian, etc. No quotas. Yet, I recognize that the government has a superior interest in knowing who and what is trying to come here. Along with immigration's blessings, we also have received criminals and threatening, organized gangs. It is in the national interest that these should be resisted at our borders.
-- Mike Dooley

EAGLES RISING

I'm trying to sidle across the aisle
But my sneakers are stuck to the floor.
The Left is out of my reach, I find.
My Conservative leanings are more

Compelling than any half-hearted grovel.
I can't bow forward and bend the knee.
I've an old-fashioned reverence for freedom.
I'm trapped in Liberty.

My allegiance is unsophisticatedly simple
Nuance is beyond my pay grade.
I am not defined by how others see me.
My dues have been uncompromisingly paid.

Pundits would have it that I stand alone.
They are wrong, but they flap on at length.
Out of the corners of their eyes they see
The frightening vision of traditional strength.

Millions of us have been called on to choose
And find we can't compromise.
The values that most of us understand
Are unstoppably on the rise.
-- Mimi Evans Winship

Letter to the Editor