Affirmative Action and Health Care!

Taking a day off put me way behind, so here's today's thoughts....

This week, Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor is going to face some tough questioning about her decisions. Just to catch you up Sonya Sotomayor is the first Latino woman nominated to the Supreme Court. One decision of hers in particular bothered me. The case of the fire fighters from Connecticut who were denied promotion for fear of discrimination bias. A clear case of affirmative action gone wrong. As a self proclaimed affirmative action success story, Sotomayor ruled against the firefighters who were claiming reverse discrimination. They had passed the exam for promotion but were refused the earned promotion because of the color of their skin. One of the firefighters is a Latino. Now I've been told justice is supposed to be blind, not stupid. So if she applied justice as she was sworn in to do, Sotomayor should have ruled with the firefighters. Her decision was overturned by the court she's nominated for.

Now I'm all about affirmative action, right after you clear some hurdles. First and in the firefighters case, it should not apply when lives are at risk. I don't know about you but if I need a fireman, or a police officer for an emergency, I want the best qualified individual. Not one who was given the job because of the color of their skin or their gender with an inferior test score. Same deal when I need a surgeon or a lawyer. Now, if the post office needs to use affirmative action principles for promotions, so be it. Truth be told, affirmative action doesn't clear my second hurdle. Equality for all parties involved. Now if affirmative action really worked, would Sotomayor have made a fair decision, or the bias one she handed down? Maybe the applicant for college she bumped because she was a minority would have made the right call. Slippery slope, no?

Washington attempts another assault on the Constitution this week as the Democrats in House of Representatives bring their plan to the table for universal health care. They plan to pay for this debacle consists of lowering the benefits for Medicare, and a tax hike for anyone earning over $280,000/year. Sounds innocent enough! Pfffffffttttttttt.

Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. Medicare operates as a single-payer health care system.[1] The Social Security Act of 1965 was passed by Congress in late-spring of 1965 and signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to Social Security legislation. So to pay for the uninsured of this nation our Democrats in the House feel it's necessary to pick the pockets of the elderly, and deny them benefits they've paid for since 1965.

Let me remind you the uninsured consist of 46.5 million Americans, about 16% of the population, (According to 2006 census bureau figures). 9.5 Million are illegal aliens, and 17 million can afford health insurance and live in a home where the median income exceeds 50k/year. So better than 1/2 of the uninsured aren't deserving of an insurance handout.

Since I see figures are turning you on 70% of the insured workers in the United States receive benefits courtesy of their employers, or close to 200 million citizens. This is important because the rest of the Democrat's plan is paid for by taxpayers who earn over $280k/year., to the tune of a $550,000,000.00 tax hike (That's 550 billion with a "B," or 1/2 a trillion dollars). These taxpayers consist of mainly small business owners who supply said insurance to those 70% who are currently covered. The obvious conclusion of this burden on the already struggling small business owner is sending more workers to the unemployment line or dropping benefits to their employees. The result is the same, more people on the government health care plan, needing more tax dollars.

Now as I've said before Government doesn't produce anything but debt. They are already the largest employer in the USA and don't produce a profit. This proposal creates more dependents on the "system." History has shown us that Washington cannot manage social programs. I submit to you Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, all running seriously in the red and threatening our nations economy. Picking the pockets of the elderly and overtaxing the small business owners who already carry most of the burden insuring the work force of our nation, is simply absurd. All in the name of insuring less than 5% of the population.

Call you Rep. and voice your opinion!

God Bless
Capt. Bill