MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2003

SORRY ABOUT OUR E-MAIL FOLKS

A short time ago the corporate email account that we use to receive email for the Boortz show was "enhanced."  Now people who send email to the Boortz show get a message telling them that the mail is undeliverable because the address doesn't exist.  Hopefully we will un-enhance our email system in the near future and you can once again send us your comments. UPDATE: It's not the web form that's the problem. Our exchange server is down. It should work again once that's fixed.

SADDAM AND AL QAEDA

Odd.  Late last week there were stories on the Internet about revelations in a leaked Senate Intelligence Committee memo about links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.  The article appeared in The Weekly Standard and was referenced in World Net Daily.  Today ... not much.

As The Weekly Standard says, the evidence is detailed, conclusive and corroborated by multiple sources.  There's new information in the report, and some information that has been around for a while.  The picture is clear though.  There was an ongoing connection between Hussein and bin Laden, the two were cooperating in their mutual goal of bringing devastation to the United States.  

Maybe I can understand why much of the media is giving this story scant attention.  If you've poured so much energy into saying that Bush lied when he said that Iraq was a hotbed of terrorist activity, how, then, can you promote the news stories which show that Bush wasn't lying?  If you have been making the false charge that Bush said that Saddam was a part of the 9/11 attack, how can you then present evidence that this statement might have been true if, in fact, Bush had ever uttered it?

Americans are settling into the comfort of complacency yet again.  It's been over two years since those 3,000 people died in New York.  The average American is more concerned about who's going to get kicked off the island next, or the record of his favorite football team, than he is about a continued threat of terrorist activity against his country.  Bush has gathered many of the world's terrorists in the Middle East for a battle.  Perhaps Americans aren't able to put their hearts into this fight unless it takes place on our soil.  Their complacency could lead to just such a result.

PAY MORE WHILE YOU'RE WORKING, PAY MORE WHEN YOU RETIRE

The compromise plan for the largest expansion of Medicare since it's inception would require wealthier seniors to pay more for visits to the doctor.  If you are a senior citizen designated as "wealthy," it is probably safe to assume that you were earning higher incomes while you were working.  Since you pay Medicare taxes on every single dollar you earn, it's safe to assume that these wealthier seniors paid much more in Medicare taxes during their working years.  Now they'll have to pay more to visit doctors during their retirement.  In the private sector the more you pay, the greater the benefits you receive.  In the government sector the more you pay, the lower the benefits.  In the private sector the less you pay in insurance premiums the lower the benefits.  In the government sector the less you pay, the better the benefits.  It really makes you wish for more government doesn't it?

WHY DEMOCRATS MAY TRY TO BLOCK THE MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION BENEFIT

Two reasons ... first, to deny any sort of a victory on this issue to President Bush. Second, because this plan has a role for private insurance companies; it's not a total government solution.

Under the plan currently on the front burner the actual drug benefit for seniors would be provided by private insurance companies.  There is also a provision to allow seniors to choose an option that would allow private insurers to provide both the health coverage and prescription coverage.  Add another provision that sets up a Medicare pilot program wherein Medicare would compete directly with private health plans in six American cities by 2010, and you have all the reasons you need for Demcorats to oppose the program.   

The ultimate Democratic goal is socialized medicine.  Democrats think that America is great because of government, and that government is the only way to provide essential medical care to Americans.  These leftists know full well that an unfettered and competitive free market would do a perfectly adequate job of delivering affordable medical care to all American citizens.  For decades Democratic-socialists have pursued a game plan that promotes government solutions to health care needs while blocking every initiative that could possibly make it easier for the individual to meet their own health care needs through the private sector.  Just ask yourself why the tax breaks are so much more generous for an employer who provides you with health care benefits than they are for the individual who goes into the private market to obtain those benefits for himself.  Individual initiative is to be discouraged and punished, reliance on others, either your employer or the government, is to be encouraged and rewarded.

The prescription drug benefit plan currently under consideration, as flawed and as unnecessary as it is, contains private sector options.  Reason enough for Democrats to kick it to the curb.

Remember, though ... all of this is merely academic.  Socialized medicine is an absolute inevitability in the United States.  It is inevitable because the average American does not believe it is his responsibility to provide for his own health care.  It's either his employer's job, or it's the government's responsibility.  Every time you see some article in the press about long waits to see experts or for surgery in places like Britain or Canada, study hard.  That's the certain future of health care in America.  

IF THE ROLES WERE REVERSED

The Democratic obstruction of Bush's appeals court nominees continues.  Last week I was wondering what the Democrats would be saying if the rolls were reversed ... what the Democrats would be saying if it was a Senate Republican minority that was preventing a floor vote on a judicial nomination that had already passed through the Judiciary Committee and for whom a majority of votes awaited.  I suggested that Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy would be going before the media to announce that Republicans were misusing Senate rules in an attempt to force their right-wing extremist view on the nation's courts in defiance of the will of the majority of Americans.

Today someone pretty much got it right in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Vent.  They wrote that if the roles were reversed we would be reading headlines about "Crisis in the Senate" and ''Democracy in the Balance."

That pretty much covers it.

fark.com has its way with with Neal and his shirt

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Why is Bush's visit to England so controversial?  Because he's a leader, that's why.  Because he's actually having an impact.  He's making a difference.

Saddam's supporters step up their attacks on American soldiers, and suddenly we're speeding up our timetable to bail out of Iraq.  This smells just a little bit like a victory for the other side, doesn't it? 

Now that the flawed Reagan miniseries has been pulled from CBS, is it time to declare victory for the right over the leftist media culture?  John Leo says no.  The liberal worldview still dominates the news business and the entertainment world. but the monopoly is over.

Mona Charen wonders "whether a nation that sends girls like Jessica Lynch into battle and punishes soldiers like Lt. Col. Allen West is quite in its right mind."

Cynthia Tucker doesn't like George Bush, no surprise there.  She also doesn't fully comprehend the reasons for removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.  Again .. no surprise.  But give the lady credit; she does realize that that if we pull out of Iraq before the job is done it will be tragic mistake.

It seems like the people at Fark.com decided to have some fun with the way I dressed last week.

I didn't realize the folks at the Christian Science Monitor were listening!

Now researchers have developed some sort of a brain scan that can detect racism in white folks.  Evidently the scan can show whitey's brain just exhausting itself with thoughts of animosity when the owner of that particular brain is shown a picture of a black person.  Mandatory testing anyone?

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