Facility use

I received a notice in the mail recently from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation explaining their new idea to squeeze even more money out of your insurance and or me and you. Seemingly, they have come up with the idea that when you see your physician, they want to hit you with a facility use fee. Really, do they think we are as stupid as the day is long? Greed must be the most intoxicating drug on campus at the worlds Mecca of health.

Business or Law

 

I was watching WVIZ channel 25 and they were presenting the candidates for the new position of Cuyahoga County Executive. After listening to the candidates, two of which were business people, I realized that what we don't need from now on are candidates that are either lawyers or business people. In regards to the latter, the very last thing we need is a business person in government. Why you ask wouldn't a successful business person be a good idea!? The business person will do what is best for the business and not necessarily what is best for the average citizen. Moreover, since the largest sections of society are baby boomers and those who are retiring, we need someone who is in our court and not in the board room.

Radical Islam

Radical Islam has now replaced the Nazi's and the Khmer rouge as the current lot of evil unleashed on the world. Each generation has had its scourge that has plagued the world. The Nazi's cast a dark shadow and it wasn't until after World War II ended did we find the extent of their evil. The Communists were next and they were not as evil as the Nazi's, however, they certainly caused many people in the world a lot of suffering. Many smaller groups cause pain and suffering around the globe in regional pockets of Africa and South America. However, the worst of the worst up until now has been the Khmer rouge. They have killed more people over their reign of terror that still lasts today. Courts in Cambodia are still dealing with their legacy.

Now comes the Taliban, a small but ruthless religious band that wants the rest of the world to convert to Islam or die. Does this sound familiar? The idea is not new. It has traveled through the ages. The question is how we deal with them and how we keep them from becoming a worldwide epidemic. From this chair I believe the main responsibility rests with the Afghan people and the people of that region. They must reject the ideals and the people outright and completely, they must take the fight to the Taliban and destroy the movement at the core. Will they do this? Can they do this? Time will tell.

Consequently, if Afghan people fail and fail with our help then this religious war will be what I believe may consume the world. I believe that the fight will pit Christians and Jews against Islam. There are many Islamic folk who are not radically inclined, but the poor and disenfranchised which are many and growing will find, as some do now, the Taliban attractive. Therein lays the rub, having Islamic fundamentalists in every country stirring the fires of hate and calling the rest of Western society the devil. Sound familiar? Remember, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Last Sunday NBC aired a piece on poverty in this country. One week later the American person responded in their usual fashion and sent donations and clothes and food and for two men several job offers. Now, I am sure these folks that gave came from all walks of life, liberals and conservatives. Now one wonders why the elected officials cannot do what seems to be so easy for the rest of us.

The time has come for the elected officials in Washington to have their lives taken back down to the peoples level. What I mean is they need to live like we live or maybe even a little below the level of most of us. Why not stay in dorms like soldiers or students, have meals served mess hall style, bussed to the capitol and have a nice uniform to wear? Compensation would be like the rest of us….hourly. Punch in and punch out, spend a full day at making the laws of the land. Additionally, NO lobbyists…..meeting with any lobbyist would mean immediate termination.

Once Congressmen and Senators start living like the rest of us they will start thinking like the rest of us. Laws would start to be more for the average Joe. Popularity of the Washington crowd is at its lowest level. So the time has come for them to live at that level and stay there until we tell them they can come up a step or two.