Monday, December 7, 2009

Saturday December 5th 2009


Saturday, December 5th, 2009 is a date that will live in my memory for as long as my mind continues to function.  On that date, we traveled up to Hot Springs, Arkansas to attend the Arkansas Republican Committee Straw Poll.  The straw poll was an opportunity for the seven candidates that are vying for the GOP nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Blanche Lincoln.  Each of the seven candidates spoke for seven and one half minutes before the vote was taken.  It was my first opportunity to see and hear several of the candidates.  What I heard was very heartening.  It seems that, for the most part, the Republican Party is trying to move back toward our conservative roots.  It is my opinion that this is what, not only the Republican Party needs, but it’s what our country needs.  One of the men that I was privileged to hear on Saturday will be running against Lincoln in the 2010 election.  We really do believe that we have enough people in various groups across the state to vote Senator Lincoln out of office.  So, some time during the day, Saturday I heard the next U.S. Senator from the Great State of Arkansas.  And there is a pretty good chance that I spoke with him.  I did manage to get some face-to-face time with a couple of the front runners.  I never dreamed that I’d do that.

As most of you know, up until this year I was never politically active.  I have always been concerned about politics but I just never felt motivated enough to get out and do something.  The current administration changed that.  We are rushing headlong into the complete destruction of all that I have believed in and fought for all of my life.  While there are some things that need work in this country, changing the fundamentals of who we are is not the answer.  I have begun reading a book by Leon Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap the 28 Great Ideas that Changed the World.  It is also called “Principles of Freedom 101.”  The book is about the writing of the U.S. Constitution and what the founding fathers were faced with.  The book tells how the founding fathers knew that there must be two parties of government to keep the country balanced at the center where there is freedom, not too far to the left where there is tyranny nor too far to the right where lies anarchy.  Our country has moved too far to the left and if we do not act now to stop this trend the eventual end will be total loss of freedom and tyranny.

I think that by standing up and being counted on Saturday, December 5th 2009 I helped to bring my country back from that precipice.  I hope that you too are doing something to help us.  God Bless America.

John A. Wilson
President
Conservative Action Project

Thursday, December 3, 2009

$500 Million Cut in Medicare


There is no longer any plausible deniability.  The new healthcare bill is going to cut $500 Billion from Medicare.  John McCain proposed an amendment to the healthcare bill that would remove the portion of the bill that does so.  Today the Senate voted on that amendment and defeated it along party lines.  So no one can now say that the healthcare bill isn’t going to hurt senior citizens.  The money will be mostly taken from Medicare Advantage.  The percent of the doctor and hospital bills that Medicare Advantage pays for will be reduced.  This means that senior citizens with Medicare Advantage will have to pay more out of their pockets for lifesaving medical care.  The better heeled seniors won’t have a problem with this, but those who depend on Medicare and Social Security will be devastated.  Why? Very simple actually. Doctors will get less for seeing Medicare patients.  To maintain their incomes, doctors will either have to stop seeing Medicare patients or spend less time diagnosing and treating their illnesses.  Therefore, senior citizens will see the quality and quantity of their medical care begin to wane.  Many doctors will stop seeing Medicare patients entirely.  Seniors will find it difficult to even see a physician.  The inevitable result will be that senior citizens will die sooner.  It’s as simple as that.

The most disturbing thing about this is that the largest senior citizen advocate group in the country is supporting this bill.  A bill that will adversely affect their own members is being supported by AARP.  What?  Is it just possible that AARP have gotten a lot like the labor unions.  I have seen a great deal of evidence in my life that labor unions don’t really care about their members as they swear they do.  No, labor unions care about the labor unions.  Now the same thing can be said about AARP, they care about AARP, not the members.  Why would AARP abandon their membership to back this bill?  Again, it’s quite simple.

Since Medicare won’t pay as much of the healthcare bills as it did before, the seniors will end up owing more and more to the doctor or hospital.  There is, however a way around it if the senior citizen can afford it.  Seniors can buy a Medicare Supplement insurance policy.  Consider it gap insurance because it covers the gap between the doctor bills and what is covered by Medicare.  Getting a good gap insurance policy is not difficult, it is even fully endorsed by AARP……..hmmmm……..I’m sure that AARP’s endorsement does not come free.  And the more gap insurance that the elderly must buy, the more AARP gets.  So, AARP turns its back on its own members and endorses a bill that will severely affect senior citizens.  Well, not really turn their back, it’s more like they sold their members out.  It makes you wonder just how much the membership was worth?