dean

Its a tradition in Texas to name some or all of your sons George. Just ask George Foreman.

He must be one of the few Mexican Americans in Texas with health insurance.

Anyone else receive this email? Who knows whether this came from Warren Buffet...but it makes sense: Winds of Change.... Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have this message. This is one idea that really should be passed around *Congressional Reform Act of 2013 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective12/31/13. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time? THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS! If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20+ - Please keep it going, and thanks.

I think that I'll pass on living my last chapter in a nursing home: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/04/california-woman-dies-after-nurse-refuses-to-perform-cpr/

Thanks, I'll check it out. This coming October 18, my 5 year sponsorship ends for my wife and her 3 children that are in the U.S. At that point, they are entitled to the same benefits that U.S. citizens receive, including medicaid Then, next January 1, I imagine that I will apply for healthcare through Obamacare, which will probably include a subsidy for the monthly premiums for a family of six. Hopefully, I won't have to hear from my wife how great the Thai health care system is ever again. Like I said before, I'm counting down the days until my wife's youngest goes on to college (hopefully with a scholarship, as she is as dedicated and focused as her brother is lazy and unfocused)..

I emailed the author of the Time article and told him that I agreed with most of his points for reforming healthcare. As he said nothing about ex pats, I suggested Medicare be available to use overseas, where health costs are lower and many times, much lower. I also suggested that hospitals outside of the U.S. be accredited by the U.S. government and Americans be allowed to use their private or government health insurance to seek treatment overseas and increase competition, which may help drive down hospital costs in the U.S. Surprisingly, I emailed him last night and he responded today. I ended the email saying if there was a lobbying group created that represented Americans who want affordable healthcare, sign me up.

The main point that I got out of the article is that healthcare pricing is a game. The initial price that the hospitals, doctors and labs come up is called the chargemaster. Its a ridiculously high, absurd amount. Anything that is used in a hospital is marked up 5-10 times, or more. The author frequently referred to items that you can buy on Amazon or Ebay for a fraction of what the hospital charges. Doctors go around the hospitals, particularly on Mondays, to look at the charts of medicare patients, just so that they can bill medicare. Labs and medical equipment are frequently owned by doctors, or groups of doctors, who will order unnecessary tests and procedures, so that these labs and medical devise companies make obscene profits (it also covers the Doctor's ass in case of a malpractice lawsuit, even if its an extremely expensive test and there little chance of the test turning up anything). Medicare has the power to regulate what it pays hospitals and doctors but not the drug company. The U.S. subsidizes the drug costs of the rest of the world. If you are lucky enough to have medicare and the supplemental insurance, out of pocket expenses is little. The same applies to cadillac insurance policies that many labor unions and government employees have. For the rest that have insurance through their employer, you have an increasing co-pay at best. You may have limits set on the amount that your insurance will pay out (this ends in Jan. 2014). Then, you have the people that have pre-existing conditions that cannot change jobs or can't get affordable insurance (at least until Jan. 2014). Finally, you have the people without health insurance. Those are the people that pay the full amount of the chargemaster bill, or go bankrupt (or pay a monthly amount for the rest of their life). Medicare gets most hospitals bill down 80%. Even insurance companies get the bill reduced 50-60%. For me, the idea of allowing hospitals and doctors, once I'm a patient, to do almost whatever they medically want to me and not be constrained by costs is not acceptable. For as long as I can, I will not use the U.S. health system and will go out of the country for my medical needs. You are right, Steve, that the U.S. health care system is not sustainable. With no changes, eventually the last person to leave the U.S. can turn the lights off.

Interesting (and very long) article on the cost of health care in the U.S. Definitely worth reading; http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

All they asked me was my address. As I had registered to vote, my name and address and party affiliation was in the books. I just signed on the line next to that information. They could check the signature against previous signatures but I assume that they only do that in case of dispute. I assume that we are moving towards a biometric match at the voting polls. I don't think that there is much one can do to prevent voter fraud in ballots that are mailed in. One can always give their ballot to someone else.

My house in Chiang Mai was built with no closets. I had to buy 6 teak wardrobe closets. I had a kitchen (no oven) built on the inside. Once I got married, my wife insisted on the same kitchen on the outside, covered. I should have had one built on the outside at our house in Kansas City. Two or three times a week, I have to leave the house because my eyes are burning.

If he had checked fare compare, he could have bought a round trip ticket on U.S. Airways for $276.00, with a Saturday night stay over. By the way, has his secret service agents been in Vegas for the past couple of days, checking out hookers, I mean possible threats to the President?

The last election was decided, basically, by the swing states of Ohio, Florida and Virginia. The last 3 weeks before the election, it was rare to see Romney or Obama not in one of those states. In an election based on popular vote, you would see the candidates in California, New York and Texas a lot more than you see them under the current system. Even with my living in a small state like Kansas, that wouldn't bother me at all, as they don't come here much at all anyway. I also think that the primary season needs to be re-done to take away from the clout that states like New Hampshire and Iowa have now. With 50 states, you could have them grouped into 5 voting blocks and have a primary every two weeks for 10 weeks. Every 4 years, the order would be changed,so that every 20 years, one voting block went first during the primary season. I don't think that the primary season in 2012 was helpful to Romney, with him getting bloodied about every week by one of his Republican opponents. By the time he got the nomination, he didn't have enough time to re-invent himself and move to the center.

The flip side to this is that the parties like the system that way it is. For Presidential elections, they don't want to have to contest every state for votes. They certainly don't want to allow third party candidates a majority system, under which they would have a better chance of having their voice heard and take votes away from the two major parties.

What's unfair about the Electoral College is that it divides the U.S. into Red and Blue states. The only states that matter anymore are the swing states and those are the ones that get the most attention from the candidates, both in money and time spent in those states. It tells the electorate in the other states that their vote doesn't matter, particularly if you are voting blue in a red state or the reverse. Not a good way to demonstrate how each citizen's vote is important, which is what we are told time and time again.

I really doubt if the Republicans would have worked with the President to tackle the breakdown of the economy. Obama had his one shot in getting the TARP money passed and spent and on one was willing to try to get more trillions spent. Without the super majority that the Democrats had in Congress, no health care comprehensive package would have passed, so time was of the essence. The health care act won't be judged for another 2-4 years on its effectiveness. I'm willing to bet most of those of a skeptical nature (not the closed minded persons) might change their mind about it in the next 2-4 years.

There were 2 All Star games per year for several years in the 1940's.

Two notable personalities in baseball died this past week. Earl Weaver, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, died while attending one of the Orioles theme cruises. I still remember the way he argued with umpires, turning his cap around so he wouldn't accidentally strike the Ump with it and then kicking dirt on the ump's shoes. I think that he might be the only manager who got kicked out of both games of a double header. One of the greats in baseball history, Stan "the Man"Musial, died at age 92. He played 22 years and made 24 All Star teams and was the mainstay of the great Cardinal teams of the 40's and 50's (the Gashouse Gang). I don't think that he ever got his due, playing in the mid west and, overal, was a better player than Ted Williams. I hope that his relatives decide to freeze and keep his head, like poor Ted.l

Medical errors is #2. Between that and being exposed to deadly, catch able diseases while in a hospital, I'll take my chances not seeing a doctor/hospital unless its a life and death situation. By the way, I doubt if tobacco use was a contributing factor at Sandy Hook.

General Norman Schwarzkopf died.

Charles Durning died at age 89. A character actor for 50 years, in films like "The Sting," "Tootsie," "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" and "To Have and to Have Not," he served in World War II, among the first to land at D-Day and was captured at the Battle of the Bulge. A great actor and a better patriot. RIP http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2012/12/25/charles-durning-dies-actor/1790203/

Jack Klugman, star of the TV shows "The Odd Couple" and "Quincy,ME" died at age 90. He lived for quite a few years after being diagnosed with throat cancer. He was in quite a few movies, also, like "twelve angry men."

If you are on an island I think I would rather have the island surrounded by water mines and a few bazookas to shoot down helicopters. I'm sure that this has been made into a TV show. If not, hire an agent and start pitching it to the networks. Its a better idea than half of the crap on TV now.

I'd imagine that, like Romney, most wealthy Americans take 9-10 months (by taking at least one extension) to have their accountants do their taxes, so they can go over every loophole deduction that they can get. From what I understand, Romney had his accountant not declare every charitable deduction that he was entitled to, so he could claim paying at least 15% of his income in federal taxes. What are the chances that he now has his accountant file an amended tax return, now claiming all of those "lost" deductions?

For the second time in my lifetime, I'll vote outside of the 2 party system. In 1980, I voted for John Anderson and this year, I'll vote for Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party. I've heard him before and heard him and Julie Stein, the Green Party candidate, today in a mock debate on NPR. Both correctly said the current health care system bares little resemblance to a free market system, and Johnson actually dared to say he would increase greatly the number of Doctors in the U.S., if President. I don't like the way the 2 parties squeeze out the 3rd party candidates by requiring that they have at least 15% in polling. However, living in Kansas, my vote for Obama means nothing and the State will go for Romney decidedly.