Sept. 20, 2009
COLUMBUS: This morning President Obama booked himself on five TV news shows, and Monday night he’s on Letterman. Don’t be surprised if next weekend he preempts the half time show of every football game.
He says that if he can’t persuade us on television, he’ll start calling on the telephone. Can you imagine him calling 300 million of us? Naturally he’ll commence with the Democrats. He’ll hope to convince enough Democrats that he don’t have to worry with the Republicans at all.
His problem is that the majority like their health care the way it is. Don’t change a thing, they say. Well, the reason they like it is because they aren’t the ones paying for it. If everyone knew the cost, and had to pay it themselves, they might be willing to shop for a cheaper option.
The President says medical costs are too high and they have increased way too fast over the past ten or twenty years. He may be right, but half the increase is because of new medicines and technology. Do you want to give that up? What’s that leave to cut, other than trial lawyers and insurance profits? I rather doubt you want to cut your doctor’s salary, at least not until after your surgery.
It kinda looks like he’s gonna keep hounding us till we give up and accept it. Only then can we ever hope to find out exactly what it was we accepted.
Some of our big economists announced the “Recession is over.” Well, that’s just an economist’s way of saying it probably won’t get any worse unless you lose your job. It’s like a weatherman reporting that the river has stopped rising; it don’t mean the flood is over if you have five feet of water in your living room.
Historic quotes from Will Rogers:
“I’m not a member of any organized political party... I’m a Democrat.” (no specific date)
“The trouble with the Democrats has been up to now that they have been giving the people ‘what they thought they ought to have,’ instead of ‘what they wanted’.” Saturday Evening Post, March 30, 1929
“Democrats never agree on anything... That’s why they’re Democrats; if they could agree with each other, they would be Republicans.” Saturday Evening Post, May 1, 1926
“Perhaps in a few months our Politicians will change... You know, Politicians, after all, are not over a year behind public opinion.” WA #25, June 3, 1923
Randall Reeder is Will Rogers Today
http://willrogerstoday.com willrogers@aol.com
614-477-0439
Need a Speaker? Hurry up and hire me before I die... again.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Weekly Comments: Tips for writing health care bill #568
Sept. 13, 2009
COLUMBUS: This was a big weekend for football. And it seemed that anybody not watching football was in Washington Saturday for the 9-12 gathering. In some of the football stadiums where the home team got beat, the chant at the end of the game was the same as it was in Washington: Throw the Bums Out!
The main problem with this health care reform bill is that there are a half dozen versions and they’re all written by lawyers. (See Historic quotes.) Each one is a thousand pages, so naturally you can find something on page 523, say, of one bill that contradicts page 879 of another one.
Only way to clear this thing up is to condense it down to about 20 pages that spells it out straight. Does this new government insurance cover American citizens? (Yes or no). Does it cover people who are here illegally? Does it cover the birth of a baby? Abortions?
If insurance is offered to everyone, will they charge the same for a healthy 30-year old as for an overweight 60-year old smoker? (Before answering, think of charges for auto insurance based on driver age and vehicle value.)
Once they get it down in simple English you won’t need any politician to stand up and explain it and risk being called a liar. He can just hand it to you and say read it yourself.
Now when it comes to cost, if they claim it won’t cost you anything, why that’s like your dentist saying, “This won’t hurt much.” And if they say it will be paid for by eliminating waste and fraud, just ask how much waste and fraud they eliminated last year. No matter how many scoundrels they eliminate, there’s always another batch ready to pounce on easy money.
Historic quotes from Will Rogers:
“The minute you read something and you can't understand it you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer. Then if you give it to another lawyer to read and he don't know just what it means, why then you can be sure it was drawn up by a lawyer. If it's in a few words and is plain and understandable only one way, it was written by a non-lawyer.
Every time a lawyer writes something, he is not writing for posterity, he is writing so that endless others of his craft can make a living out of trying to figure out what he said, course perhaps he hadent really said anything, that's what makes it hard to explain.” WA #657, July 28, 1935
“Today, Saturday, minds are not on politics, they are not on national affairs, they are on football. Did you know that football is becoming about as big a nuisance as politics? Millions of football fans are going to football games this afternoon. Mind you, I think it's a great thing.” DT #726, Nov. 23, 1928
Randall Reeder is Will Rogers Today
http://willrogerstoday.com willrogers@aol.com
614-477-0439
Need a Speaker? Hurry up and hire me before I die... again.
COLUMBUS: This was a big weekend for football. And it seemed that anybody not watching football was in Washington Saturday for the 9-12 gathering. In some of the football stadiums where the home team got beat, the chant at the end of the game was the same as it was in Washington: Throw the Bums Out!
The main problem with this health care reform bill is that there are a half dozen versions and they’re all written by lawyers. (See Historic quotes.) Each one is a thousand pages, so naturally you can find something on page 523, say, of one bill that contradicts page 879 of another one.
Only way to clear this thing up is to condense it down to about 20 pages that spells it out straight. Does this new government insurance cover American citizens? (Yes or no). Does it cover people who are here illegally? Does it cover the birth of a baby? Abortions?
If insurance is offered to everyone, will they charge the same for a healthy 30-year old as for an overweight 60-year old smoker? (Before answering, think of charges for auto insurance based on driver age and vehicle value.)
Once they get it down in simple English you won’t need any politician to stand up and explain it and risk being called a liar. He can just hand it to you and say read it yourself.
Now when it comes to cost, if they claim it won’t cost you anything, why that’s like your dentist saying, “This won’t hurt much.” And if they say it will be paid for by eliminating waste and fraud, just ask how much waste and fraud they eliminated last year. No matter how many scoundrels they eliminate, there’s always another batch ready to pounce on easy money.
Historic quotes from Will Rogers:
“The minute you read something and you can't understand it you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer. Then if you give it to another lawyer to read and he don't know just what it means, why then you can be sure it was drawn up by a lawyer. If it's in a few words and is plain and understandable only one way, it was written by a non-lawyer.
Every time a lawyer writes something, he is not writing for posterity, he is writing so that endless others of his craft can make a living out of trying to figure out what he said, course perhaps he hadent really said anything, that's what makes it hard to explain.” WA #657, July 28, 1935
“Today, Saturday, minds are not on politics, they are not on national affairs, they are on football. Did you know that football is becoming about as big a nuisance as politics? Millions of football fans are going to football games this afternoon. Mind you, I think it's a great thing.” DT #726, Nov. 23, 1928
Randall Reeder is Will Rogers Today
http://willrogerstoday.com willrogers@aol.com
614-477-0439
Need a Speaker? Hurry up and hire me before I die... again.
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