“The Next Step in Our March To Socialism”

The current administration is moving our nation into socialism at an unbelievable speed.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
"Socialized medicine, the next group of industries on the socialistic schedule."
When Bill and Hilary Clinton first came into the power of the Presidency, one of the first items on their agenda was the socialization of our national medical industry. At that time their party did not enjoy a totally unbridled majority in both houses of congress, and after much fanfare and political dissertation….the effort failed.
Our current administration has made socialization of our national medical systems a top priority item on their agenda, and they do currently enjoy total, unbridled control over the office of the Presidency and both houses of Congress. They have the political power needed to pass the legislation required to enact this change.
It appears to me that this regime is trying to implement as much socialistic change in our culture as is possible to accomplish…. as fast as possible. It appears they fear enough of a backlash from their actions that they might lose the total control of government they now enjoy at the two year mid-term election point in their four year term. They are thus rushing their agenda forward at full speed.
Other than spending another trillion of our grandchildren’s tax dollars, what are the ramifications of this change to socialized medicine? It appears to me that this change involves enacting government’s management of our medical systems, our hospitals, our doctors, choices and availability of treatment and medication, medical research, manufacturing and purchase of medical supplies, instruments, and equipment, construction of clinics, laboratories, and hospitals, and the elimination of a major element of the nation’s insurance industry. Other than that….it won’t amount to much.
One of the primary problems with socialism is that it inter-mingles business and politics to a point where many decisions are made from a political perspective instead of a profit generating perspective. This opens the door full width for corruption, influence peddling, inept and unqualified decision making, and growing waste of resources.
Let me paint some scenarios of what this socialized medical environment might mean to you as a patient needing help.
● Assume you are a 78 year old man and you discover you need a heart valve replacement. A panel of bureaucrats might be the people who decide whether or not you will be allowed to have the operation, instead of having the decision made by you, your family, and your doctor. What if they decline to allow you to have the treatment because they feel you are too old, you are a poor risk, and the government should spend its money on someone with a longer remaining span of life? What if they decide not to allow you to have the treatment because they discovered you supported the "other" political party. What if they deny the treatment because you worked for an opposing candidate in a campaign a few years ago? What if the lead bureaucrat met with you privately and told you that he could arrange for you to be approved if you would only pay $10,000 to him in cash next week?
● I personally have heard of instances in Canada, which has socialized medicine, where a woman discovered she had a breast tumor. By the time she was able to pass all of the bureaucratic processes, submit all of the required forms and wait for the step by step approvals, another seven months had passed. By then the tumor had spread throughout her lymphatic system, and the tumor had enlarged tremendously. She died a few months later. The doctors stated that if she had been able to have immediate treatment, she would have survived.
● I just heard a caller from Canada on a talk show describe how his wife had a rare brain tumor. There were no centers in Canada that treated this type of problem, and only two in the U.S., one in Detroit and the other in New York.
● Finally she was approved for the specialized treatment, but only for the New York center which required a seven hour drive and overnight trip, instead of the Detroit Center. The skyline of Detroit was visible from their home across the river in Ontario.
● Why do you suppose the best doctors in Canada and from most of the other nations around the world want to come to America to set up practice? Where will they begin going when our system is as bad as the system in their homeland?
Free medical treatment may end up costing the life of a loved one or yourself.
I feel another point relative to this matter is the fact that in their rush to improve medical care in America, they are ignoring one of the key cost elements of the existing system, where gouging and excesses are escalating costs. There has been no mention of "tort reform" to reduce the cost of malpractice insurance and placing of caps on the court settlements made for medical errors. Could this omission be related to the fact that the lawyers share generously in these huge settlements….and most politicians are lawyers.
Rudiments- Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
● I have a word of advice for all readers who are involved with the medical community. If you are really worried about the impact socialized medicine would have on your career, you had better become very vocal and politically active at this moment. If you wait to see what will happen….you will realize the disaster is upon you after it is too late for you to have any impact. We at the Jackson County Times welcome any submitted articles on this subject. Get involved and you will be "Getting It Right".
● This week I had to travel to western Kentucky to be a pall bearer in a funeral for a family friend. Here are some details of the trip I thought you might find interesting:
♦ The lowest price for regular gasoline we saw going through Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky was $2.41 in Alabama, the highest was $2.79.
♦ We saw 57 police vehicles during our 1,275 miles, or one every 22 miles. Most were eagerly hunting and feeding on the hundreds of unsuspecting cars full of criminal law breakers traveling on the highways.
● Life isn’t tied with a bow….but it is still a gift!
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“An Inconvenient Truth”, or “A Very Convenient Lie”

Companies, Individuals, and Organizations are making millions by overstating unproven theories about the on causes of global warming. It has become one of the largest “scams” in history.

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“The “Real Green Movement” is the movement of green public money into the pocketbooks of those exploiting public fears about global warming.”

When Vice President Al Gore lost his attempt to become President of the United States his net worth was around $4 million dollars, less his campaign losses. Today, just a few short years later his net worth has soared to over $100 million. He has reaped great personal gains from creating an international panic among the over zealous environmental fanatics which then spread throughout the political spectrum and spawned an entire new industry. In many instances these participants who spurred the “global warming” fanaticism did so, not out of a real concern for mankind or our planet…but instead they participated out of a real concern for their personal bank accounts.
This entire movement, and the billions of dollars it has cost the American public and American industry, is founded on unproven, disputed scientific theories. I find this remarkable. By creating images of the melting polar ice cap, and polluted skies over cities, the perpetrators of this scam, led by Al Gore, instilled a fear among the general population which then enabled them to proceed with their reaping of huge financial gains from “corrective” actions.

Environmental Engineering Firms, Environmental Consultants, Environmental Lobbyists, Manufacturers of Environment Saving products, Environmental Activists Organizations, Environmental Publications, have resulted in a full range of new products which promise to “save the environment” for mankind. These “green” products range from diapers and tampons to tea bags and golf tees.

The government has been quick to jump aboard this “environmental gravy train” of potential new sources of revenue. Every politician feels it a political necessity to have a “green card” in his credentials by demonstrating a voting record which was favorable to all of the ridiculous legislation which has been brought forth by the loonies promoting this agenda. As with most things which are government related, the movement is about 40% based on a realistic need and agenda, and the other 60% is based on political over reaction and greedy exploitation at the taxpayer’s expense.

It seems ridiculous to cause industry and the public to spend billions and billions of dollars on a theory which the scientific community is still debating. The fact that a warming trend is occurring has been verified and has earned general scientific agreement. However, the dispute still rages among scientist over the root causes of these warming trends. Those who are anti-industry zealots were quick to blame industrial development, and mankind for the problem. Politicians soon followed with legislation which created powerful, expensive, uncontrolled new bureaucracies charged with absolute authority over protecting our planet from evil mankind. These bureaucracies include the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, and at our State level, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, The North Florida Water Management District, County Environmental Codes, County Comprehensive Plan, and Municipal Environmental Codes.

The resulting quagmire of required permits and related delays while paperwork is shuffled between bureaucrats before their departments brand of “bureaucratic holy water” is sprinkled on the project plans, has turned the entire pre construction permitting phase of any project into a nightmare. Many potential job producing projects are never initiated because of this anti-business, bureaucracy dominated, environment…especially in Florida.

Many in the scientific community feel that man and our industrialized society is a relatively small element of the real causes of global warming. Some theories note the fact that global warming has occurred several times in the past. They feel that this is a natural phenomenon which evolves over millions of years. Since oil reserves exist in Alaska, it is evident that at one time that area contained jungle foliage, mastodons, and dinosaurs. Also, it has been noted that several of the polar ice caps on other heavenly bodies (including Mars) are also apparently melting. This gives credence to the theory that solar activity cycles can create global warming. Other scientists have developed a correlation between global volcanic activity and global warming. The eruption of one volcano can deliver more pollutants into the atmosphere in a few hours than man has since his creation. Volcanic activity on Earth has been at a high level for several decades.

So, the debate rages among scientists over whether man is the root cause of global warming…or whether Mother Nature is still in charge. Another area of scientific debate lies in the question of whether the carbon dioxide our industries and power plants release into the atmosphere is harmful or not. Plants can not live without carbon dioxide. They intake this mixture and create the oxygen all man and animals need for survival. Many within the scientific community feel the presence of the carbon dioxide man is releasing is insignificant and in some instances is beneficial.

Historical data demonstrates that during the medieval era another defined global warming period occurred….Before Mankind Had Industrialized! During this period wine vineyards abounded throughout England, and studies of Himalayan mountain ice reveals periods of high carbon dioxide content in the air of that day. A Chinese study recently demonstrated that periods of high carbon dioxide in the air enhance plant growth and speed natural cleansing of organic pollutants, such as copper, from the soil. (See CO2Science.Org)

Meanwhile, our environmental loonies here at home are so hyper over fighting carbon dioxide emissions they want to tax farmers because their cows pass gas in the pasture, and they want to stop all power plants from using fossil fuels for power generation through imposing lucrative, new, prohibitive taxes. I just hope they don’t decide to tax beans and rice because of the after-effect that dish has on those of us who enjoy it for dinner.

To me, the most stupid part of this entire situation is that our society will work itself into an environmental frenzy and allow the environmental movement and it’s enforcing agencies to stop all energy development in the petroleum and nuclear arenas, to install regulations and procedures which cause industry to spend millions on compliance with inane environmental requirements (such as mosquito ponds), cause billions of dollars of valuable real estate across the nation to be unsalable because it once housed a filling station, ….all because of unproven, un-validated, scientific theories. I don’t believe they are “Getting it Right”. How can this occur in an educated society? It can occur because of the presence of two prime human traits…. Politics and Greed! Meanwhile, we must pay for it all in our taxes and the prices we pay for every product.

As for myself, if a company touts that it is a “green company” I avoid doing business with it…If a politician brags about his/her environmental record, I avoid voting for them, If a bureaucracy uses its unbridled power to force expensive, unnecessary, environmental stupidity on a business….I am torn between the emotions of intense anger and vomiting.

Being of Irish descent, I have always favored the color “Green” as symbolic of that heritage. However, since Al Gore has started this rush of insanity, I am switching to the color ‘purple’.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● This week the North Florida Water Management bureaucracy forced our new Waffle House in Marianna to take up the fence around their new mosquito pond, bring the backhoe back in, and dig it a little larger. I am sure this reworking of the pond was very critical to our safety. If they have to dig it any deeper, maybe this pond will eventually rival Lake Kindelspire at the local bowling - recreation complex as dramatic examples of bureaucratic “green stupidity”.

● I have determined that the reason the Ten Commandments has been banned from court houses across the nation. With the commandments in the display, “Thou Shalt not Steal”, and “Thou Shalt not Lie”,….. the Lawyers, Politicians, and Bureaucrats can’t tolerate it.

● It appears that the Kelson Avenue project in Marianna is finished!! It only took two short years. This is rather remarkable when one realizes the Empire State Building was built in one year and 45 days.

● I see where a child in Florida recently died of West Nile virus. If that mosquito was hatched in a retaining pond near his house...I blame the FDEP!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

My Standard Of Living Is Declining ...Is Yours?

Rising Costs and Rising Uncertainties are causing me to alter my lifestyle

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

Many Americans are experiencing a belt tightening for the first time in their lives.

The delicate budgets of most American families are being bombarded with a perpetual onslaught of costs increases in the face of static or declining revenue flows. The constant escalations in the cost of utilities, gasoline, property taxes, groceries, entertainment, restaurants, travel, education, licenses, fees, permits, building materials, services, and almost everything else we use and enjoy are beginning to take their toll on the lifestyle of the average citizen.

Add to this costing problem, the tremendous losses many families have experienced in the financial markets as their lifelong savings for retirement has been eroded by 40% or more. Then add the constant gnawing in the psyche from the realization that things might soon worsen…..and you have the situation, or dilemma, which we all are in. The presence of these constant and real dangers is naturally impacting many of our daily choices of behavior. I call our existing, uneasy, uncertain environment Phase I of what may be the three phase downfall of our American Way of Life.

Do you catch yourself being sure all unnecessary lights are turned off more frequently?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself setting the thermostat to a little more uncomfortable setting?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself driving with the window down instead of turning on the AC?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself monitoring the gasoline prices at each station more often?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself grilling pork chops and hamburgers more often and steaks less?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself consolidating trips to town and not going as many times per day?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself not even considering a major vacation, such as a cruise?...I Do!
Do you catch yourself eating leftovers more frequently and throwing out less food?... I Do!
Do you catch yourself monitoring the stock market more frequently?...I Do!

In this phase the unemployment levels will climb toward 15%, more and more industries and major companies will declare bankruptcy, more and more banks will fail, putting great strain on the FDIC, the stock market will fall below 7,000 as more companies lose profitability and fewer people have investment capital.

More and more people will remove funds from markets and banks and will buy non perishable commodities and precious metals as they desperately seek safe haven for their accumulated wealth. Oil will soar due to speculation and restraint of availability by Mid East oil cartels, further negatively impacting the American economy and the struggling American household……..and ……downfall ….worsens…

I have had conversations with other people who have taken things a step further, changed their lifestyles even more, all out of a realization of a tightening of funds and/or a growing fear for the future. These additional measures some citizens have taken, which I have named the PHASE II lifestyle include:

● Buying a mini farm with a small pond. Beginning to raise chickens, catfish, a few cattle, and a garden in order to assure a food supply in a drastic economic failure.
● Stocking attics and pantries with canned food and non-perishables for the same reason.
● Buying gold.
● Installing solar power panels.
● Walking to work instead of driving.
● Hiding cash and valuable minerals.
● Separating two ply toilet paper into two rolls.
● Turning off all power to their house when they leave each day.
● Discontinuing cable TV and internet.
● Eating more hotdogs.
● Only eating one meal per day.
● Cutting your hair at home instead of at a shop.
● Going to a movie much less often.
● Eating in a restaurant less often.
● Buying a gun and/or stockpiling ammunition.
● Discontinuing home telephone service, using only cell phones.
● Selling large home and buying much smaller because of reduced living cost.

In Phase II of our national downward plunge, unemployment will climb to over 15%. More and more hard working citizens will lose their jobs which will result in more foreclosures from banks and from tax delinquencies, more and more people will qualify for government entitlement programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, housing, retraining, extended unemployment benefits, and many other programs. This added burden will create greater budget shortfalls for state and federal operations. States and cities will begin to go bankrupt, further endangering the national financial structure.

In Phase II the impact of all of these negatives finally reaches the hallowed halls of government. Bureaucrats experience lay-offs in a manner usually preserved for employees of industry. Wasteful, unessential, unneeded, overstaffed, politically sponsored, government positions, government programs, and government regulations will finally be cut down to minimum necessities. This will move toward a 25% reduction in state budgets, and 15% cuts in county budgets. The federal bureaucracy will be the last to yield to these revenue pressures, resorting instead to increased printing and artificial input of funds into the economy. This action will further heighten spiraling inflation…And…things...…worsen...

I have not yet encountered anyone who has moved into the next phase of altered lifestyle, which can be termed as PHASE III reactions. I pray to God we do not reach this level of despair. Life in Phase III will include:

● Federal funding of social security, unemployment, welfare entitlements, Medicare, Medicaid, disability payments and other social programs will cease. This will plunge millions into a desperate living situation.

● Unemployment exceeds 25%
● Converting as much money as possible into commodities, food, and other necessities.
● Hoarding these items in secret storage areas.
● Using bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, or motorcycles instead of a car.
● Establishing communal living with friends or family members.
● Living from self subsistence- hunting, fishing, gardening, raising stock for slaughter.
● Living without electricity.
● Using bartering as the primary means of purchasing.
● Families and individuals who have lost their homes, their jobs, and are struggling for survival will become nomadic, moving to areas where work and better conditions are rumored to exist.
● The National Guard and U.S. Army will replace local and state police as gangs begin to dominate and control areas of the country. A warlord-cartel culture will begin to form much as what exists in places such as Afghanistan and Columbia, South America.

Bull Hockey! Things could never get that bad in the U.S. of A! You might be saying this to yourself. Well, it can! Just throw in a corrupt, inept government and give it total power for a decade or so, and good can become bad…heaven can become hell.

I have worked in places not very far away from our shores where similar lifestyles exist….AT THIS MOMENT. Just go spend a few days on the streets of Port Au Prince, Haiti, or go to Somalia, Cuba, Zimbabwe, or Nicaragua. Corrupt governments, bad management, and self serving leadership can destroy a nation in a remarkably short period of time.

I am very uncomfortable with the direction of our nation at this moment in time. If we merely sit quietly and watch while our nation self destructs, we will be among the guilty. Now is the time to become active, to support causes and directions you believe in, and to participate at a personal level. Do these things and perhaps we can “Get it Right” again.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● Lee Miller, our Superintendent of Schools went up several notches in my rating of him this week. By appointing his previous political opponent, Danny Sims, to be the Principal at Cottondale, he demonstrated the fact that he is placing the best interest of the school system ahead of protecting his political turf. One of the worse aspects of having elected School Superintendents is that the school system usually loses some of its most talented personnel after they run for office and fail. Ensuing politics usually gets them dismissed. Lee Miller has risen above that level of thinking.

● Everything can change in the “Blink of an Eye”…but don’t worry, God Never Blinks!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

"The Ultimate Bureaucracy"

Some of the Inherent Dangers of Socialism
There have been many examples of the failures of socialism through the history of governments around the world.

This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
"I do not want to live in a Socialistic society!......Do You?"
If you answered NO! to that question, then you had better start taking heed of what is taking place in Washington, emanating from the White House in the form of executive orders, or coming from the Senate and the House of Representatives as new legislation. You should immediately begin taking part in local, state, and national efforts to alter their intended course. If you choose to sit back and ignore the situation while you watch TV and play, you will suddenly realize in the not too distant future that you have waited too long and they have completed converting our nation from a Democratic Free Enterprise Capitalistic System into a Democratic Socialistic System.
That conversion is underway at a fast pace, using the fear of an impending financial collapse as the justification for government ownership of a major portion of our economic strengths. Banking, Insurance, Automotive, Medical Services, Housing, and transportation are immediate targets. Food production, utilities, oil production and sale, charities, the media, education and many other elements of our society are on the "To Do" list. Oh yes, while they are at changing things, why not give the Federal Government power over virtually all state and local governments?
It appears the ultimate goal is a huge Federal Government establishment which controls virtually all elements of American life. The ultimate bureaucracy!
Socialism and Communism Do Not Work!! They are economic and social systems which have great appeal to the poor, repressed, under achieving, non-productive, underclass within a society….but they are systems which are doomed for ultimate failure.
During the "era of revolutions" of the 1800’s in Europe the poor elements of the population began to rise up against the repressive ruling classes which were comprised of the ruling group and the dominant bureaucracy which surrounded these rulers. Revolutions developed within most of the nations of Europe and Russia.
In the 1840s’ Marx and Engels wrote extensively about social and economic systems. They defined a "socialist" as being "for the eradication of class inequities through gradual reforms to the capitalistic order." A "communist" was defined as being "for achieving social equality through the process of social revolution." By the 1880’s a socialist was one who "stood for combating social evils created by capitalism through abolition of private ownership of the means of production and replacement of private ownership with social ownership." Eventually, "Communism" and "Socialism" were recognized as being interchangeable terms.
The primary cause of the failure of these noble social concepts is the presence of innate failures and weaknesses in the nature of mankind. Socialism removes the concepts of competition, individual success, and personal reward for achievement. Instead, it naively expects everyone to do their best to contribute to the "social good" at all times, regardless of reward.
These noble ideals are soon replaced with the more human concepts of "getting the most you can from the system while contributing the least amount possible." This manner of living within such a system is what destroyed the economic system and the society of Russian Communism. We see this same philosophy prevailing here in the United States among our large "welfare society" element which has become masterfully adept at milking as much as possible from the myriad of social programs our vote seeking politicians have generously created during the past fifty years. They have found that instead of working hard, they can benefit more if they work hard at "beating the system". In some instances we are entering our fourth generation of graduates of this social umbrella, "entitlements" lifestyle.
Another failure of socialism as a viable economic system is the fact that it quickly becomes "politicized." Government owned banks begin to make loans to individuals, corporations, and organizations which generously support and donate to the correct political parties and politicians. Those who fail to be supporters go unfinanced. For example, at the present time our state owned and managed automobile company, General Motors, is about to close sixteen plants around the country. Could it be possible that plants located in Republican districts might have a better chance of being closed than plants located in the districts of powerful Democratic leaders?
Inject this element of political influence into every aspect of our economy, every decision which is made, every dollar of every transaction….and you have the socialistic formula for failure.
The system soon degenerates into a system replete with favoritism, inequality, corruption, bribery, payola, insider trading, extortion, mafia influences, and unprosecuted criminal behavior. I do not want my children and grandchildren to be forced to live in this type of society because I failed to prevent it from sweeping our nation at this moment. I plan to speak out and to resist these changes with all of my energies. I hope you will do the same. If you do….I think we will both be "Getting It Right".
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
· I congratulate all graduates in the class of 2009. I hope you will continue your personal development while you are young and still have the opportunity. Our nation desperately needs educated, productive citizens….try to become one.
· At Tuesday’s meeting of the Marianna City Commission a contract was awarded to North Florida Construction for work funded by grants to fill the needs of the new industry locating at the industrial park, Ice Springs. This work was bid at $876,000, while the grant funding was for $1,335,000. This leaves over $450,000 of unused funds on this project. Of course the city will never return these funds to be used elsewhere where a real need might be present….instead, they will fabricate some need locally so that the money will be spent here. This is a form of greedy waste in my opinion. It may be the system…but it is a bad system. Who knows, they may even decide to build another city park with these funds. (P.S.- It appears that Ice Springs now has 16 full time employees, and 5 part time. )
· All that truly matters in the end…is that you loved and were loved.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.