Death of a Nation
A commentary By J.D. Longstreet
Americans are about to learn why the 11 states of the Old Confederacy decided to leave the Union back in the 1860′s. State legislatures all across America, not just in the southern states, are about to feel the clinching mailed fist of the federal government. Some are bound to balk and get their hackles up and, eventually, want out.
In 1860 and early 1861 no fewer than eleven states felt that way and their people held conventions and decided to leave the Union in a “Hail Mary” maneuver to save the original constitution — at least for themselves. The people of two other states were split on secession but huge portions of both states sided with the Confederacy — therefore, the thirteen stars on the national flags of the Confederacy.
So — why am I even THINKING about secession today? Well, as an American who was born free and just days ago was enslaved by — and to — the federal government, secession is beginning to appear as a viable alternative to slavery. You can bet, if this lowly commentator is thinking it, a whole lot of Americans are beginning to consider whether it is worth a shot — to preserve, at least, SOME freedom from the state.
But then, there will be a delayed reaction by the American public to their loss of freedom on Thursday June 28th, 2012. I mark this date as a red letter day — a day which will go down in history as the day freedom died in America. It was the day when America chucked freedom in favor of socialism and slavery to the state.
Already, some of us mourn the loss of Freedom, Capitalism, Democracy, and yes, even America’s position in the world as its leader. In place of all these, America has chosen SOCIALISM the “Destroyer of Nations”. continue reading . . . .
Delivery Of US Medical Care A Nightmare
Doctor’s Offices/Hospitals Are Bureaucratic Swamps
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
Have you been to see a medical doctor lately? If you have not had medical attention in a good while allow me to warn you. The manner in which medical care is delivered has changed significantly and NOT necessarily for the better. In fact, in this “semi-professional patient’s” opinion it has changed for the worst, much worse.
Before I prattle on about the medical community from this patient’s point of view, allow me to present my “bona fides.”
I am a Crohns Disease patient. I have been all my life. At the tender age of twelve years I was present when a doctor told my parents that I would not live to see my 21st birthday. I must tell you — that is a difficult thing for a child to hear, to digest, and carry around forever in the back of his/her mind.
I recall standing there — and doing the math — and realizing that I had nine years left of my short life. That conversation between the doctor, my parents, AND ME, lasted only seconds — but the SCAR has endured my entire life.
Now in my seventies, my eighth decade on this earth, my body has been rather badly battered. At times, when I look at the scars and feel the internal stainless, it is difficult, even for me, to believe that, somehow, I have survived this long. Continue reading . . .
Forget about getting to age 75, this exact thing happened to me this morning at Danbury hospital here in Ct. I was scheduled for a cardio-lite stress test. This is a tread mill stress test where during the process they inject nuclear dye into your blood stream and then put you in a CAT scan or something similar and take a picture of your heart. If all is good the heart shows up red, if there are blocked arteries anywhere that portion of the heart shows up pink. I have had three of these tests in the past twelve years due to blocked arteries discovered in 2000. They use the test to determine if I need a roto router or a bypass operation.
So I arrive at the hospital at 8 am this morning and I am in the process of checking in at Cardiology and the lady says that my appointment has been canceled. She makes a call and speaks with someone and hands me the phone. It is a nurse in cardiology who says that my medical coverage denied the procedure. I said it was routine, part of my heart maintenance process and ordered by my PCP and with approval from my Cardiologist who is the head of Danbury Cardiology which is right where I was standing. She goes, “yes but we were denied our request”. So I say, I have Medicare so what is my backup insurance doing denying anything. Then the bombshell, she says it was the Medicare board that denied the procedure. Continue reading . . .
Obamacare had a bad couple of days before the Supreme Court — so bad that President Obama made some ill-considered comments about the Court from which he still hasn’t totally backpedaled. Though the oral arguments over the individual mandate and severability were encouraging, we cannot count on the Supremes to kill Obamacare. Opponents must keep fighting it on all fronts.
The most important front right now is to ensure that states do not create the health-insurance exchanges Obamacare needs in order to operate. Refusing to create exchanges is the most powerful thing states can do to take Obamacare down. Think of it as an insurance policy in case the Supreme Court whiffs.
Exchanges are the new government bureaucracies through which millions of Americans will be compelled to purchase Obamacare’s overpriced and overregulated health insurance. Through these bureaucracies, insurance companies will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Without these bureaucracies, Obamacare cannot work.
Here are just a few reasons why states should refuse to create them.
