10 replies »

1. Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site. I have learned a lot from your site. Thanks!!n

2. Breaking news today is that Medicaid is paying for Viagra for sex offenders in New York. The government health care programs are a real piece of work.
   Todays Medicaid news can be found here http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/11716404.htm

3. John P.,
   No, I’m not too offended.
   The problem I have with Medicare is that it will pay more for seniors here in Tampa so the elderly can get Medicare HMO’s with no monthly payments. Back in Iowa the Government’s Medicare payments are so low that my Mom only has one choice, traditional Medicare with Medigap premiums of $171 a month and no Rx.
   Iowans pay the exact same Medicare tax but is singled out for lower reimbursements because Iowa doesn’t has many votes in Congress as New York or Florida.
   I can assure you that all seniors who get next years Rx coverage will find their premiums higher also because of the impotence medications. I can just here my Mom now, “I have to pay for that, no way.”
   But if you are going to use Viagra you might as well get the Rx coverage in Medicare because you will save money. I can hear the drug companies commercials now.

4. Oops Ron:
   I do believe you’ve been falsely accused in this case. I was thinking of a certain pro-business health care writer we all know. So I apologize. I hope you weren’t too offended.
   Actually, I agree with you on the impotence drug question. Given the other problems facing the health care industry, this is a stupid way of spending taxypayer dollars.
   But the reconstruction point is I think still a good one when it comes to our understandings of “limited” and “interventionist” government.
   Outsourcing is an economic boon under most conditions. Situations exist, however, in which government must assert its authority in order to serve the greater common good. Is the current healthcare crisis one of those situations as well? You tell me.
   To respond to your other point, everybody in Iraq should be allowed to vote. The question at this point seems to be if people will live long enough to exercise that right…

5. John P.,
   You say //I’ve been impressed by your dogged support of the administration on Iraq//
   John P. I suggest you give me an example of me saying anything about Irag.
   I did say oil-for-food scandal but only on this one thread. I don’t call that “dogged support” but you call it what you want.
   I’m glad John P. you don’t support the Medicare “Impotence Drug” problem here in America.

6. You are so correct Matthew. I do think tax payers are being taken for a ride paying $10 Billion for “Impotence Treatments” in Medicare.
   Millions of young families can’t afford health insurance on their own children yet are paying high taxes for rich golfing Medicare seniors’ so-called medication.
   I am taking care of retired neighbor’s plants because they are in Cancun, Mexico, as if our palm trees are not good enough here in Tampa Bay. Trust me, young Iowa families who can’t afford health insurance on their own babies don’t need to skip buying food just to pay for rich senior’s recreational sex. Matthew I’m sure you agree with me.
   Where we might disagree is I also think that women in Iraq need to be able to vote. My wife is DAR and a Reagan Republican and has assured me women need to be able to vote. I think she get’s that from Laura Bush or our former Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE) who wrote the book on “Regime Change In Iraq” in 1998. Senator Kerrey said, “In Nebraska I’m a Liberal and in New York I’m a right-wing-nut case.”
   I would prefer to discuss Medicare’s redistribution of wealth than the war however. I hope that clears up any confusion.

7. Oi Ron,
   Its good to see you’re alive, even if you’re as wrong as ever about your politial stands.
   I’ve been impressed by your dogged support of the administration on Iraq. Although knowning a little bit about the details, I’m stumped as to how you reach your conclusions.
   Go read this article from the UCSD alumni magazine, which has a lengthy interview with the Army Corps of Engineers officer responsible for overseeing reconstruction in the Northern Zone.
   http://alumni.ucsd.edu/magazine/vol2no2/features/soldier.htm
   I’ll think you’ll be shocked to discover that the Army Corps of Engineers, the military unit which essentially won the Second World by building roads, setting up power grids and accomplishing various other construction miracles does not actually do anything in Iraq.
   Instead they hand out contracts to local vendors and certain shameless us corportations.
   Do you suppose this has anything to do with the problems we’ve been having in getting things up and running?
   If you support the “administration 100%” as you’ve said before, can you explain the logic of not allowing the army to do its job?
   Its not a minor detail, bro. Its a pretty huge one.
   And while you’re at it, please do explain why its “a far left” philosophy to ask questions. Or to want an efficient military capable of defending us and able to get the job done?

8. So Ron thinks that the taxpayer paying for senior’s Viagra is bad for txpayers, but the taxpayer paying for outright bribery and corruption in the Iraq “reconstruction” is good, not to mention paying $100 billion a year in the forseeable future to maintain our new empire in the middle east. And so what if Galloway is not credible. Independent of whether or not he was involved in corruption, which so far despite the best efforts of the Bush/Blair governments and intelligence agencies has yet to be proved in 2 courts, everything he said in his statement was right.

9. Republican Steve King’s comments
   http://www.nbc17.com/health/4503976/detail.html

10. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan gets to decide. As the ranking Democrat on the “Oil for Food” scandal subcommittee he said, about Galloway, “not credible,” and Levin himself is against the war.
    The Washington Times reports Sen Levin’s (D-MI) commitee has, “documents, mounds of documents, linking European officials to profits from the oil-for-food scam that now appears to be the largest case of politiical graft in history.”
    In other UN News: A U.S. congressional committee has drafted a bill, “United Nations Reform Act of 2005,” which will withhold US dues to the United Nations. Maybe Mr. Galloway will come back and defend the United Nations actions too. He seems to be a spirited witness.
    In health care news yesterday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) discusses the $10 Billion price tag to tax payers for “Viagra and similiar Rx” in Medicare (over the next 10 years). Millions of Americans don’t have health insurance yet young Iowa families pay high taxes so golfers, over 65 years of age in Sarasota, can have sex. I’m polite, Rep. King is a bit more direct.