In a recent upset for Utah Representative Craig Frank of Legislative District 57, He found that he was not longer elegible to serve as a state rep for his district. This was not because of some nefarious activity, but simply because of a clerical error that occurred a decade ago. This error wouldn’t have impacted his continued service had a recently proposed Constitutional Amendment not been passed in the recent election. But to aid pain to injury, guess who was the head of the Committee that reviewed the legislation and recommended it be reviewed by the house of representatives? Listen in to Find out…

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I saw this today and thought that our readers might find this entertaining.

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat.

She called her neighbors and said, “If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?”

“Not I,” said the cow.
“Not I,” said the duck.
“Not I,” said the pig.
“Not I,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.

The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. “Who will help me reap my wheat?” asked the little red hen.

“Not I,” said the duck.
“Out of my classification,” said the pig.
“I’d lose my seniority,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my unemployment compensation,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread. “Who will help me bake the bread?” asked the little red hen.

“That would be overtime for me,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my welfare benefits,” said the duck.
“I’m a dropout and never learned how,” said the pig.
“If I’m to be the only helper, that’s discrimination,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share.

But the little red hen said, “No, I can eat the five loaves.”

“Excess profits!” cried the cow.
“Capitalist leech!” screamed the duck.
“I demand equal rights!” yelled the goose.
And the pig just grunted.

And they painted “unfair” picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

When the government agent came, he said to the little red hen, “You must not be greedy.”

“But I earned the bread,” said the little red hen.

“Exactly,” said the agent. “That is the wonderful free enterprise system. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide their product with the idle.”

And they lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, “I am grateful. I am grateful.”

But her neighbors wondered why she never again baked any more bread.

By Zane F Pollard, MD

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table by explaining many of the problems from the perspective of a doctor.

First off, the government has involved very few of us physicians in the  healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list.

Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was sent in immediately via fax, and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye.

Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for  each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved  list. Get the point — rationing of care.

Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post  cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time.

Again, extreme rationing. Solution: I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported  100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for  my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again, waiting for the government would be disastrous.

Last week I  had a lady bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden, as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden. Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that  the child had  accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that  correct for farsightedness) and  responded to glasses within  4 days, so no surgery was needed. Again, rationing of care.

Last month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3  years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old  judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark.  I have  been told — but of course  there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet — that these  2 people because of their age would have  been denied  surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

I spent  two year  in the  US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous  rationing of care and we were told specifically what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While I was in Viet Nam, my wife Nancy got sick  and got essentially no care at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. She went home and went to her family’s  private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.

For those of you who are  over 65, this  bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stints for their coronary arteries. The government wants to mimic the British  plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.
While 99% of physicians went into  medicine because of the love of  medicine and the  challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees go up 2% each year. Twenty years ago, ophthalmologists were  paid $1800 for a cataract  surgery and today $500. This is a 73%  decrease in our  fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this sort of lowering of fees.

But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta, there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2500 for a cataract surgery as he felt the was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact  I had my mother’s bilateral cataracts  operated on by him with a wonderful  result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his  $2500 fee.

However, then the government came in and said that any doctor that  does  Medicare work cannot accept  more than the going rate ( now $500) or  he or she would be  severely fined. This put an end to his charging  $2500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government-allowed  rate. What  I am driving at is that those of you well off  will not  be able to go to the head of the line under this new  healthcare plan, just because you have money, as no physician will be  willing to go against the law to treat you.

I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for  10 years post-college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add  two years  of my service in the Navy and that comes  to 12 years).A neurosurgeon spends 14  years post -college, and if  he or she has to do the military that would be 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes, but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons.

Already, the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can’t stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent  of children under the age  of 16 in the state of Georgia are on Medicaid, so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.
We are being lied to about the  uninsured. They are getting care. I operate  at least 2  illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing, and the children’s hospital at which I operate charges them nothing also.This is true not only on Atlanta, but of every community in America.

The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.

Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these conditions knowing that he is controlled by the state. I certainly could not trust any doctor that  would work under these  draconian conditions.

One last thing: with this new health care plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that  approximately 5% of the current physician work force  will quit under this new  system. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of the decreased number of men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has  mandated gender equity in  admissions to medical schools .That means that  for the past  15 years  that  somewhere  between 49 and 51% of  each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also, because all private schools receive federal funding.
The average  career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35  fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the  best was  a female that I trained  4 years  ago — she  was head and  heels above all  others I have trained. She now  practices  only 3 days a week.

Originally published on www.americanthinker.com

Dr. Pollard was on the “Best Doctors in Atlanta” list in Atlanta Magazine from 1998 to 2001. In 2001 he was also on the “Best Doctors in the U.S.A.” list. He is an author of more than 90 scientific papers and a recipient of many awards and honors.

Fellowship: Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, PA Pediatric ophthalmology, 1974
Residency: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1967
Medical School: Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, La., M.D., 1968
Honors: Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society
Undergraduate: Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.

Amidst all of the news about the economic crisis, the bail-outs, the nationalization of our key industries, it is great to finally see some comments in the news that get to the real heart of the situation. What is the root of the problem, and who is really to blame? Barrett Sheridan wrote an article over at Newsweek that I feel adequately covers the crisis and unveils the truth about our economic crisis. So go and see who is really to blame.

Which ever way the Federal Government ultimately chooses to deal with the problem of the Wall Street Bail-Out, there are potentially painful days ahead for you and your family.

Washington could decide to let the market work things out naturally, letting banks and other businesses declare bankruptcy and then allowing a short time for the market to adjust and return to a more nominal level. There will still certainly be a term of economic and emotional pain from a few months to a year, possibly longer.

Or the government could decide to arbitrarily bail out the markets and by so doing begin the process of propping up the prices and wages of the nation.  If so, we may find ourselves in for a long ride on the pain train. It may take a little longer but the pain will eventually reach us tax payers. We could experience the same level of hardship (if not greater) than what was experienced during the Great Depression.

In either case it is fundamentally important that you are adequately prepared to deal with either painful situation. We advise that in whatever circumstances you find yourself, that you do whatever it takes to buy your family at minimum a 6 month supply of food.

You may ask, “Why should I get a 6 month supply of food? I can run to the store.  Even if there was a run on the store, I could just run down myself and get enough to last until the store re-opened.”

Let’s talk for a moment about food and the system of credit that it revolves around. We will simplify this a little bit. The Farmer sells his produce to a distributor, but the distributor rather than paying cash for the product, will most likely negotiate terms with the farmer, say 30 day terms (NET30), which gives him 30 days to pay for the produce. Meanwhile, the distributor takes the product and sells it to a retail store, and they likewise desire terms with credit, so they purchase the food on NET15 terms from the distributor. Then the Store sells the produce to the end consumer, they pay off their net15 terms with the Distributor and then the distributor pays off his debt to the farmer. Everyone has profited through the use and extension of private credit.

But what happens if the market is volatile, specifically, that the value of the dollar is inflating at an extremely rapid rate? So quickly in fact that it causes the Farmer to wonder if the dollars he sells his produce for on credit will be worth that much at the end of the 30 days. What then? The same thoughts go through the Distributor’s head; that it makes potentially more economical sense for the farmer to keep his crop rather than sell it. And they all watch as the value of the dollar plummets.

This is a very plausible scenario given the time and circumstances that we live in today. If the Farmer looses faith in the dollar/economy of the US, there is the very real potential of having little to no food on the shelves of our great supermarkets. If such a problem arises (taking months or years to correct), you could be left with nothing to eat simply because you didn’t take the time to adequately prepare.

It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.  It may not be raining now but it certainly is sprinkling! As I said earlier, if you can afford it I highly recommend having at least a 6 month supply of food. Maybe I am totally wrong and the markets will correct themselves, operate optimally, and government will keep its hands off.  But what if that doesn’t happen?  Even if supermarket shelves stay stocked, what if you lost your job because of the economy? At least you would have enough food to sustain your family while you searched for new employment.

THE TIME TO ACT IS YESTERDAY. Avoid as much pain as possible by preparing today for the challenges that tomorrow could bring.  Self-reliance is ALWAYS timely.

If you are interested in growing or acquiring some food storage, I encourage you to contact Joseph’s Storehouse for a professional consultation and advice on what foods are best for you to store.

P.S. Having a little food storage in their homes could have saved lives of many during/after hurricane Katrina who starved to death while they were waiting for someone to rescue themselves from the flood. Don’t become a statistic!

“Long term, this is disastrous.”

Don’t make the problem worse by encouraging the continued creation of credit. Don’t blame the free markets for this problem. The markets have been regulated throughout the whole creation of the problem.

We must move forward with common sense. Watch the Video.

A modern day Statesman, Ron Paul has shared principles of good sound government far and wide. Early in the 2008 Presidential campaign, he was a very popular candidate and put up quite a fight against the average establishment foes.

Although his presidential race is over, he continues to share principles of liberty and good government as a congressman and through inspiring others to grab hold of the title of liberty and learn the truth.

He has started the Campaign for Liberty movement and has released many books including his latest “The Revolution, A Manifesto“, Three Cheers for Dr. Paul.

We along with many of you are, I am sure, ecstatic about the US Congress voting down the market Bail-Out bill. This action could have produced many far reaching negative effects that we have not seen the likes of since the great depression.

Proponents of this bail-out bill imply that not passing the bill will provide for a greater banking crisis and a frozen credit market, making it impossible for small businesses to function.

Does the very logic not make your stomach nauseous? The thought that the majority of small businesses are only running on credit to fuel their success seems like a very frightening predicament indeed. We have drifted so far from the place that we started over 200 years ago, Hard Work, Saving, Wise and Prudent investment, making the most of what you had in the world and finding ways to create the most value with what you had at your disposal. This process created some of the greatest minds and influence that the world has ever seen.

Now it seems that a great majority of business owners are plagued by that very disease that created this great mess in the first place. The excessive use and abuse of credit and manipulation of the market to keep the rate artificially low, making it cheap and readily available. This situation unfortunately will always lead to malinvestment, and degradation of the market. As we clearly see evidenced.

So while Washington seems more than ready to point the finger at the market, or those predatory lenders, etc… Let us remember that the ones that they seem not able to point a finger at, themselves and the Federal Reserve, are those that are at the core of this problem, and without making changes specifically to the regulation or elimination of the Fed. This problem will just continue to rear its ugly head again and again until we learn our lesson and cut off it’s head.

Join with the Pyros Wednesday, October 8th at 10:00AM at the State Capitol.

The Pyros from Pyrolitical at the State Capitol October 8th

Show your disdain for the recent legislation to Washington, and show your power and passion to stop the spread of this legislative disease. Washington is not listening to the American People, but it’s about time that they woke up. Imagine the impact of rallies in all 50 states and Washington DC by thousands of concerned citizens. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. But we cannot do it alone, We the People allowed this mess to get out of control, it’s up to us to clean it up. Bring a blanket and come express your love for liberty, freedom and the Republic. Listen to dynamic speakers that are passionate about solving this problem. Get your personal torch of liberty ignited. WE MUST ACT NOW. If you care about our country and economy please join us.

Members of Pyrolitical (“Pyros”) will be on the steps of the State Capitol Building to demonstrate our concern over governmental intervention in this matter. We encourage all of you to attend and to invite your networks and organizations to do the same at your respective state capitols.

We expect hundreds of citizens to attend. Pyrolitical has also invited the media and politicians from all sides.

Let’s remind Washington who really runs our country. Our voice is our most effective check against runaway government and spending. Let’s unite and use it!  We look forward to seeing you there!