A Dilemma

The Liberian Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, presumably came to the United States in order to get medical treatment that might save his life … just like the three Ebola-stricken Americans who have recovered or are recovering in this country. He first went from guarded to critical condition in the Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas … and now he may be getting better as he is on that new experimental drug … see: AZ Central Story. 

This is very good for him, but might be very bad for the health-care system of the United States … for now anyone who has contracted Ebola anywhere in the world will, by hook or crook, try to come to America to get cured  This sounds like a very callous calculation … and it is. I, myself, were I confronted with this death sentence, would probably make the same choice.

However, can we endure the thousands, if not tens of thousands of such patients that might flood our health-care system in such an instance? And I’m certain that curing such cases is dangerous and prohibitively expensive. This country would then be confronted with a gigantic dilemma. What is the balance between compassion and practicality? 

This is a very painful question that I can’t honestly answer ...

Afterward: This dilemma has just been replaced by another ... since Thomas Duncan has just passed away. How are his Dallas doctors going to respond to charges of racism surly to be leveled by the likes of Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton?

IRS

Our tax collection agency, the IRS, has been turned into a slimy political tool, the Indefensible Repressive Scumbags, by the Obama administration.  I clearly am risking a tax audit by this pond-scum of a government agency for calling it out … but I feel that it is way out of control and I, nay we all, need to speak up. Yes, its repressive actions toward the Tea Party and other patriotic organizations surrounding their applications for 501-c-4 status before the last presidential election was outrageous and blatantly illegal. The probable instigator of these actions, Lois Lerner, needs to be severely punished by Congress and the Justice Department (ha ha!). And we clearly should find out who gave her her marching orders.

Additional IRS’s scumbag actions center on its treatment of Ben Carson, a black doctor and former Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Last year at the National Prayer Breakfast, with President Obama in attendance, he gave his recommendations for how to fix out nation’s health-care system. Please take the few moments to view Dr. Carson's studied, stand-up and sage recommendations here: YouTube Video.

This truth-telling apparently embarrassed our fearless leader and, as a result, Dr. Carson was called by the White House demanding he apologize … which he rightfully didn’t do. Therefore, this administration’s jack-booted mob siced the IRS dogs on him, his family and his friends. Read the details here: Washington Examiner Story. This is not only indefensible behavior; it is the worst kind of government heavy-handed repression. I never would have believed that a federal institution could be so corrupted as to stoop to such scandalous criminal behavior as have been exhibited by the IRS over the last three years. Using the IRS for political retribution is all very frightening.

I shudder to think of what this crooked agency and the Obama administration are capable of if they feel push-back for the types of actions that we have seen. But, you know what? … if we all don’t push-back, things are guaranteed to get even worse!

I’ll let you kind readers all know when my tax audit notice arrives.

Angst Redux

Change produces anxiety.  Radical change produces angst.  Not that change necessarily is bad.  It’s just that its results are not necessarily predictable.  Take Obamacare for instance.  This is a radical remake of the United States’s health-care system … not just the way the insurance process works within it.  Therefore the American people (at least those who are paying attention) are suffering a bout of dyspepsia over this transformation … particularly since much of its consequences clearly have not been well thought through.  

It’s always been a puzzle to me that the Obama-ites are so good at the political processes … planning, polling, message construction, computer systems building, funding, communications, etc. … yet so inept at the policy processes.

Our current administration is fumbling so many fundamental policy issues that those who are watching things justifiably have great concerns.  Viz:

-        Our current handling of the nuclear threat from Iran is gone squishy.  Six months ago we seem to be putting the squeeze on Iran.  Now we are pulling a u-turn much to Israel’s consternation … see: Weekly Standard Story.

-        The United States military is undergoing a radical transmogrification under Obama.  In the last five years 197 top military officers have been summarily removed from their posts … including General Petraeus and General Ham.  For the disturbing details see:  Investors Business Daily Item.

-        President Obama has dramatically expanded the U.S. welfare state … despite his timid talk of entitlement reform.  Obamaphones, EBT cards, Medicaid expansion, etc. are costing tens of billions of dollars more than when he took office … see: National Review Article.

-        The many scandals that the Obama administration is playing Whack-a-Mole to keep off the front pages – Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS suppression of the Tea Party, NSA snooping, his extra-Constitutional executive orders involving immigration, global warming, gun control, etc.

-        [Add three or four more here of your own choosing.]

Barack Obama promised “hope and change” in his first Presidential campaign.  In fact he often added the word “fundamental” before the word “change” ... read this rather as "radical"… and he is surely living up to this pledge … a simple recipe for our current national angst.