Voting Present on Libya

So let the truth be told. So far things have worked out pretty well for BO in Libya. The removal of Kadaffi seems to be at hand and this was done at a reasonable cost with regards to the financial investment and without the cost of US servicemen's lives. Most importantly, it was done by the citizens of the country who sacrificed their own lives for a future that they will orchestrate and not by a foreign entity. The people have sacrificed their own blood and appear to be winning and have too much skin in the game to let things slip away. A superior formula compared to Iraq where the US changes the regime and is stuck planning the Iraqi people's future. So kudos to BO.

But not so fast. Lets not forget that Iraq was looking real good until the destruction stopped and the construction was to begin. The real test in Libya is what happens now. I suspect it will be as much of a quagmire as Iraq and Afghanistan are presently. Whether it be Islamic fundamentalists, Kadaffi loyalists, this tribe or that tribe, violence will be a mainstay of all of these dictatorless territories. In that area of the world, in that culture, disputes are resolve by violence NOT by discussions. When will we finally learn this and stop transposing our values on other cultures. Additionally, who knows if and when Kadaffi will be caught. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a few tricks up his sleeve for just this occasion. As a result, as quick as Bo was willing to accept credit for the initial triumphs in Libya he will be just as quick to blame someone else for the inevitable future quagmire that will be Libya.

On this Libyan episode BO as usual voted present. He wanted to be in on the success but he also wanted an out if and when things turned badly. This again demonstrates his personality perfectly. He will not commit to anything without the possibility of blaming others if his plan fails. So he opts not to have plans or lead in any specific direction. He calculates his language in such a way that he can later deny having said certain things or claim he was misinterpreted or taken out of context. He plans in advance his escape plan.

I think this exemplifies why we have too many lawyer politicians. I think they learn in law school the power and calculation of language, how to pick words and formulate their semantics so that they can reverse their positions in the future. Compare the speech of lawyer politicians like BO, Clintonx2, Bachmann to nonlawyer politicians like Ran and Ron Paul ,Howard Dean, Tom Coburn (btw, all MDs). The approach to a problem is completely different and I believe stems from their training in their respective professions. The MDs assess a situation pick the best option/plan and institute that plan of action with conviction. The lawyer, on the other hand, is trained to defend whatever postion he is being paid to defend. He is not trained to pick a position and defend that side with conviction. In fact, he is trained to be able to defend both sides. The doctor puts himself in a postion where he can be wrong but uses his best judgement to present his strongest position (ie. leadership). Whereas the lawyer schemes to create a position or a lack of postition where he can never be wrong or blamed which results in lack of leadership. Perfect case in point, voting present. It is amazing how the different formative training of a physician versus a lawyer translate into distinct leadership qualities and ability, or the lack thereof.

Escape From Reality

I've been a little lazy during these dog days of summer getting the blog out and I am on vacation next week so I wanted to get a few thoughts out before I left. I think the true winner of the Iowa straw polls was BO. If you have stock in Michelle Bachmann I would sell now because this is the peak of her popularity. It is all downhill from here. By the way, which of her advisers tells her to scream a platitude very slowly in a monotone voice to finish off every paragraph of her speeches. She gets a huge applause when she shrills "BO will be a one term president". But seriously lady, you show a lot of enthusiasm but there appears to be a significant intelligence gap between you and the other candidates. Speak to us like we are intelligent and not like we're a bunch of morons. BO is the winner because Bachmann is unelectable.

I seriously fear the entrance of a third party candidate into the race which will certainly favor BO and ensure his re-election. The GOP is going to nominate a conservative right winger who will go up against the far left BO. Someone will come up with the bright idea to split these two extreme positions and go after the huge middle. Maybe it will be Bloomberg or Giulianni or Jeb Bush. But in any case BO has a solid third of the electorate who will vote for him regardless of anything he does. Of the remaining two thirds, this will be split amongst the three contenders almost ensuring BO's re-election. The third party candidate will not care that he/she is ensuring BO's victory only to have his/her ego stroked. If they truly cared about the future of the country they would put their efforts into electing the candidate nominated by the GOP.

Moving to another part of the world, Syria is a powder keg waiting to blow. Bashar Assad is all-in to use a poker terminology. He has gone down the road of no return and he will either survive as a dictator which is unlikely or die. My fear here is as he goes down which is eventual he will take as much as he can with him. This means Israel too and it wouldn't surprise me if he instigates Israel in a last attempt to divert attention away from him and rally the Arabs against Israel. He will use all his fire power in his control and all the fire power given to him by Iran. He will direct it at the protesters in his own country but also at Israel. It is very dangerous when you have a madman with nothing to lose and his finger on the button of scuds with chemical weapons aimed at Israel. It is like cornering a caged animal.

On these uplifting notes I am going to escape reality for a much needed vacation with my family. I am so excited to spend a week together until we all go our separate ways next week. Even as it appears that we are heading into frightful and terrible times all around the globe it is these times with the family that makes life so precious, enjoyable and worth living.

On the Backs of Doctors

Once again we see the deficit will be reduced on the backs of the providers of health care in this country. In the recently passed legislation there will be a super-committee of 6 congressman to agree to 1.2 trillion dollars of cuts by November 23, just three months away. If an agreement is not produced by then there will be automatic cuts to various programs, mostly to defense and medicare. As I have blogged about in other posts, medicare is a failed system of providing health care. All medicare bills that come in get paid promptly without determining the need for the service or investigation for fraud and abuse. It is easier for the feds to borrow or print or tax money than to go after fraud. The government is unable and incapable to monitor for waste and it cannot use the allotted resources effectively and this leads to an enormous amount of funds that go down the toilet. Contrarily, private health care systems are much better at detecting fraud and abuse and are careful with each dollar spent and every test or surgery performed is reviewed prior to being pre-certified. This is in complete distinction to the government who pays now and asks later or usually never.

I have heard of a urologist that used to take a few biopsies when performing prostate examinations. The urologist got smart and decided to open a pathology lab in his office, hire a pathologist to read his biopsies, pay him a salary, and bill medicare directly through his office for pathology services. In essence, he would be taking a cut (no pun intended) for each biopsy performed. Once the pathology lab was up and going the urologist increased his number of biopsies from three or four to over ten. This is so abusive, not to mention how unethical it is for this doctor to puncture and damage a person just for his own financial benefit. But where is the government? Can't they see that the number of biopsies has increased three-fold when the billing was changed to this urologist? A private insurance company would pick this up in a second and question the bill. The government DOES NOT AND CANNOT effectively monitor where it sending its funds. This is just one example of fraud that is rampant in the medicare system.

So what the government will do is to cut fees to all providers across the board. Instead of using the allotted healthcare dollars more effectively they will just lower everyone's fees including the best caregivers as well as the fraudsters and wasters. This is government at its worst and where private companies demonstrate how infinitely more economical they are. I am so pissed off that since I play by the rules I get penalized whereas the unethical fraudsters get off clean and will make up the decreased fees by just taking a few more pieces of their patients prostate.

You will say I should turn these fraudsters in but WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT? We must turn this function over to private industry to save medicare. It's the only way.