National Healthcare. A Socialist, Commie, Dream! A Free Man’s Nightmare!

National Healthcare. A Socialist, Commie, Dream! A Free Man’s Nightmare!

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Editor’s note: Back in July, of 2007, I wrote the following missive. Of course, at the time none of us knew just how deeply into our private lives ObamaCare would eventually reach. Now that we have had a glimpse of the bill, it turns out I was far too conservative in my predictions.

What follows is the article I wrote in 2007. A ways down the page you will see a list of some of the freedoms we Americans will lose if ObamaCare actually passes into law in it’s current configuration. Notice how deeply into your personal life ObamaCare will reach. Your life, and that of every member of your family, will be an open book to the government.
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We are continuing to lose our privacy, here in America, at an ever-increasing speed. There is hardly a place in America one can go, these days, without being seen by someone’s security cameras. I recently stood in a parking lot of one of the Big Box stores and counted 22 cameras zeroed in on the parking area, and entrances, and exits, to the store. And that was just on the OUTSIDE, at the front, of the store!

And those red-light cameras? Don’t get me started on that!!!

If you think Big Brother’s snooping is bad now… just wait… it will get worse, a LOT worse, if we allow it.

If you think it’s bad now, wait until we have national health insurance. Our every move will be monitored, and we will be directed, by the government, in every facet of our lives.

Weigh too much? Lose weight… or the government won’t pay for your medical bills.

Drive too fast? Slow down or the government won’t pay for your medical bills if you’re in an accident.

Smoke? The government won’t pay for your medical bills, period.

Have more than (two) kids? Your medical bills will not be paid if you exceed the allowable limit on babies.

Pregnant with a third child and the government insists that you have an abortion, but you really want this third child? Well, either have an abortion, or that third child will have no medical coverage and the cost of the pregnancy, and delivery, will not be covered, either.

Didn’t finish High School? Your medical bills will not be covered if you do not get a High School Diploma.

Take the wrong courses in college? Well, if you didn’t check before you signed up for a course, and you signed-up for a course the government thinks is uncalled for, or that you do not need for your chosen occupation… then your medical bills will not be picked up by the National Healthcare.

Own a gun? Why, everyone knows there is an epidemic of deaths due to handguns in America. So it is a health issue. National Healthcare will not pay for your medical bills until you turn in your guns to the government!

Choose the wrong career, and you are on your own! No medical help from the government.
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As promised, listed immediately below are just a few of the freedoms we now enjoy - the loss of which I did not envisage when I wrote this piece back in 2007. Alongside each one is the page number of the bill where the actual reference to each particular item can be found - if you choose to look them up. Here goes:

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages thereby reducing competition and quality of providers.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t’ have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected.”
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same.
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.

• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on “community” input.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient’s health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

(Read additional comments on this at Texas Fred's site HERE.)

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Get the picture? Almost total control. And you, and I, will have given that power to the government! (Or your employer) After a while, there won’t be much difference, anyway.

So, next time you hear someone calling for National Healthcare, remind them of all the freedom they will give up for that cradle to the grave care.

The founders of this country wanted us to live free - healthy, if we can manage it, but free, in any event. Today, it seems we are prepared to give our freedom up for a form of modern day Marxism - Socialized Medicine.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Socialized Medicine by any other name, would still stink!”

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+Abortion+ObamaCare

ObamaCare Brings “Nullification Acts” from Sovereign States in America

ObamaCare Brings “Nullification Acts” from Sovereign States in America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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If you are as old as I am you probably remember those old “Rest Homes.” For those of you who are not as old as me, basically, some of them gave the impression they were nothing more than warehouses where Americans stored old people waiting their turn to die. Some were really bad. They smelled of urine, feces, disinfectant, and death. Well, guess what? Under Obamacare something, which seems very like them, is on the way back onto the American scene… only this time they will be called “Medical Homes.” Oh, and don’t worry about the doctors in these Medical Homes. Under the current plans - there won’t be any. They will be run by nurses and nurse practitioners. You can learn more about the proposed Medical Homes HERE. Before you read it, prepare to be frightened... very frightened!

Back before the War for Southern Independence, Americans understood the power of the tenth amendment to the US Constitution. They understood the people of the states had the power to nullify actions of a US Congress which did not represent the people of the United States as they had been sworn to do… you know, sorta like the crowd we have in the US Congress today.

It was bound to happen. Americans are beginning to consider attacking the ObamaCare HealthCare Overhaul, sometimes referred to as: Nationalized Healthcare, Universal Healthcare, and Public Option Healthcare. (They’ll call it anything but what it is: Socialized Medicine!) through nullification acts of the states.

By the way, you may have noticed the socialists in the federal government have insisted on changing all reference to "Goverment-Run Healthcare" to "Public Option Healthcare." The idea is straight out of "Propaganda 101." Remove any and all reference to GOVERNMENT-RUN Healthcare and replace it with the words: "PUBLIC OPTION HEALTHCARE." It is supposed to help you forget that ObamaCare is, in fact, Government-Run Healthcare and make you believe that it is YOUR CHOICE. It takes the onus (Onus: meaning the burden, or burden of proof) OFF the government and places it solely on YOU! As I said, it is physcological warfare, of a sort. They are playing with your mind. They are treating you and I as the fools they believe us to be!

Yeah, you heard correctly… nullification. Now, that’s a word we haven’t heard tossed around much since the days just prior to the “Late Unpleasantness.”

See, this is what happens when the American people feel they have a government that is NOT REPRESENTING THEM! And frankly, not since the early to mid 1800’s have I read of a US government less inclined to listen to the people it purportedly represents than the current crowd we have taking up space in Washington DC.

Back to Nullification:

Nullification is an American tradition. It dates from as far back as the late 1700’s. Some of the states are looking at it for protection from the US Congress and the current presidential administration. What has them fired up? Plainly put - it is ObamaCare, or “socialized medicine.” They don’t want it in their states. And, they do not want the federal government forcing it on them.

In Florida, State Senator Carey Baker and State Representative Scott Plakon, recently , filed a proposed State Constitutional Amendment (HJR37) as a means to prevent Floridians from being affected by any Federal Health Care Legislation. If approved by the legislature, Florida residents could be voting on it as early as 2010.

The bill includes the following:

(1) A law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system.

(2) A person or employer may pay directly for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for paying directly for lawful health care services. A health care provider may accept direct payment for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for accepting direct payment from a person or employer for lawful health care services.

Out in Arizona they have ALREADY passed a piece of legislation titled "The Healthcare Freedom Act" and there are reports that at least ten other states are expecting to have similar legislation introduced in their coming legislatures.

What is happening here is… the American people are questioning the legality of the federal government to force this socialized medicine on the people of this country. They say the tenth amendment denies the federal government that power. They may well be correct. Here’s the text of the tenth amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So, when a state nullifies a law passed by the federal government that state is saying that that particular law has no effect within the boundaries of that state. They nullify that law.

These nullification acts date all the way back to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. These two National Forefathers drew-up the first nullification acts both in Virginia and in Kentucky. It was thought then, and is still thought by many today, that states are sovereign entities and that the states have the constitutional power to make a decision for themselves as to whether the federal government has exceeded it’s authority under the terms of the US Constitution. If the states decided that the federal government has, in fact, overstepped, then the states had/have the power two simply refuse to obey those laws passed by the federal government that were/are outside the constitutional boundaries set by our forefathers in the US Constitution.

We warned over and over again that socialism would tear this country apart. Now that our federal government has decided that socialism is the way to take the country, even though socialism has a proven record of failure time, and time, and time again, the US has begun to disassemble itself. State legislatures have already begun to reassert themselves as sovereign states and have now begun to nullify federal laws within their states. It is going to get a lot uglier, dear reader, when the federal government decides it must use force to motivate the states to obey those laws the states say are unconstitutional. But, just as we warned in 2007 and 2008, THIS is what a nation gets when it opts for socialism and elects a socialist as President and hands over the reins of the Congress to socialists as well.

Welcome to the Socialist States of America.

J. D. Longstreet

Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+Abortion+ObamaCare

Americans getting the “Bum’s Rush” On ObamaCare

Americans getting the “Bum’s Rush” On ObamaCare

A Commentary from J. D. Longstreet

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So Many Questions. So FEW Answers!

The Urban Dictionary defines “Bum’s Rush” as: “To be jostled or hustled to move you, or get rid of you, or get you to do something that someone wants you to do - that you don't necessarily want to do.”

Now that we have everyone up to date on that portion of the lexicon most nearly associated with what the Congress is doing to Americans these days, let us now speak of ObamaCare the socialized medicine legislation the democrat/socialists are ramming through Congress and down the throats of the American people.

First I want to urge you to write, e-mail, fax, phone, or even send a telegram to your congressperson and senators demanding that they fight ObamaCare and vote no on any portion of the legislation that may come before them. Believe me, the dems are going to throw this legislation at the congresspersons and senators as fast as they can, in the dead of night if they can. In other words - they intend to do whatever it takes to get this ObamaCare legislation passed through the Congress, if it is humanly possible, by the end of July.

We warned you this was coming. Well, it is here. ObamaCare and Cap and Trade - both are coming up at Americans fast and furious - along with the full Senate’s consideration of the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. ALL of this is coming at the American electorate like the Bum’s Rush we spoke of above. Rest assured… more is on the way.

For now, though, lets focus on this “Healthcare Overhaul,” as the President likes to call what you and I refer to as… ObamaCare.

Have you considered just how complicated a bill like the ObamaCare proposal would, of necessity, have to be? I mean, just think about it. Think of all the things a bill similar to ObamaCare would have to be. The intricacies of such an all-encompassing bill are staggering. It boggles the mind. Yet, the democrats want the Congress to vote on it, without ever having read it. Now, you and I both know that reading something, anything, and considering that same thing are two entirely different things. Why, reading one of your old healthcare insurance policies is so complicated you need an attorney by your side to interpret much, if not most, of it and the layman, unskilled in the law, is lost within a few paragraphs. And THAT, dear reader, is only a single Insurance policy for a single person, or, at most, a single family. There is just SO much to be considered!

I happen to be one of the millions of Americans cursed with a chronic disease, which rendered me “uninsurable.” Believe me, when I tell you, I know the value of having insurance. I also happen to be a former insurance salesman back in my misspent youth. So, my concern over the intricacies of ObamaCare is very real. For instance: I wonder if Obama Care cover diseases like Crohn’s Disease? Oh sure heart disease, diabetes, and such will be covered, but how about the little known, less “sexy” diseases such as the one I mentioned a sentence or two before this one. Will they be covered? And, who will make the decision(s) about what is covered and what is not?

If your Chronic Disease is not covered by ObamaCare… What Then? That is just ONE of the questions nobody has answered, at least to my knowledge, YET, about the President’s new Healthcare Overhaul proposal… and there are so many more! What size bureaucracy are we talking about here - huge, maybe? How about humongous!?

What about medical research and medical innovations? Up to now, the government has participated in medical research and development with taxpayer money as grants, etc, to development labs all over the country. But, one must ask, what happens when the government is insuring everyone and their primary concern has turned to holding the costs of that treatment down? All that R&D money will have dried up as it is sucked from the treasury by the costs of treatment.

Of course, the really BIG fight is just now beginning to elbow its way to the forefront. That’s the fight over whether, or not, ObamaCare will cover the costs of abortion. This fight is bound to get down and dirty, and do so quickly, once the bell rings and the bout begins. Of course, they could always decide NOT TO DECIDE, at least for now, and revisit the issue at a more favorable time in the future, for one side or the other.

By now, you should be getting a glimpse of just how incredibly intricate devising a socialized medicine scheme is for America - a country which has not, until now, actually considered socialism as a form of government for ourselves. It is here that we must bring ourselves to understand that we will be replacing our “republican”(The US is a Representative Republic.) form of government with a “socialist” form of government.

In the meantime, Americans are being herded toward acceptance of this HUGE piece of a Socialistic boondoggle at near record-breaking speed. But, thank goodness for small favors. The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday (07-23-09) that there will be no vote on “ObamaCare”, in the US Senate, until AFTER the August recess.

The more Americans learn of ObamaCare the more they become convinced thy do not want it! That explains the “Bum’s Rush” we mentioned at the beginning of this commentary. The democrat/socialists (in charge of the US government these days) KNOW if they have a chance of winning this fight, they MUST get ObamaCare passed through the Congress and signed by the President BEFORE American citizens wake-up to what they (The Congress and the President) are about and what is in the bill and what is NOT in the bill – and - just what it means for our form of government.

I cannot stress this enough: It is extremely important that Americans become involved in this fight! If you who wish to maintain the democratic Representative Republic the US has enjoyed since it’s founding, and you want to guard against a socialist take-over of our government – then you MUST become involved.

The country asked very little of its citizens. Mostly, it asks that you obey the laws and defend it. We have arrived at one of those occasions when you, as an American citizen, are accorded the privilege, yes, I DID say privilege, of standing up to be counted among the hosts of those Americans who value their country which was placed in their care by a group of men and women, the likes of which the world has never seen the match.

We have reached a point in this struggle, which suggests the need for supernatural interference. I am suggesting, here, that prayer be employed as a weapon in this conflict. As I said above, it is impossible to stress enough how much power this bill will place in the hands of our government. This is power that could be used against all Americans, even those Americans yet unborn, on the whim of a Congress or a President at sometime in the future. Already you are beginning to realize the financial strain it will place on the country and on its citizens.

ObamaCare must go down to defeat. In my humble opinion, that defeat can be made a reality ONLY by Americans working together to, once again, defend this great land from a threat that is decidedly domestic.

In the words of that American hero, Todd Beamer: “Let’s roll!”

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+Abortion+ObamaCare