Media and positive role models

From: Glenn Gruenhagen, Glencoe

I empathize with families who lose a loved one, whether a celebrity or not, such as in the case of the tragic death of Michael Jackson. However, it is a sad day when the media glorifies an individual whose life promoted sexual perversions and music filled with filthy lyrics along with bizarre and erratic personal behavior such as drug abuse and accusations of pedophilia, etc. (which resulted in financial settlements to parents amounting to millions of dollars. Is this the kind of role model our children should have?

One could conclude that the majority of our left wing liberal media suffers from a serious lack of morals, ethics and character with a total disregard for the welfare of our nation’s children.

It seems that much of our once great news media has become a “shallow, tabloid entertainment media” filled with censorship, lies and deceit. The liberal news media also seems to totally ignore the actions of true American heroes.

I recently read the inspiring story of Marine Mitchell Paige, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, our nation’s most prestigious military honor. On Oct. 26, 1942 in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands after all the other Marines in his platoon were killed or wounded, Paige operated four machine guns for several hours and single-handedly stopped an entire Japanese regiment. Had that position fallen and the Japanese regained the airfields taken by the Marines, the outcome of the battle may have been significantly changed.

In the years to come, Mitchell Paige was repeatedly asked why he would be willing to put his life on the line for his country.

He said that the answers took him back to a Pennsylvania three room country school where the children were so steeped in the traditions of America that they literally felt themselves a part of a glorious heritage – where that teacher opened the school day with a Bible verse and the Pledge of Allegiance and where they memorized all the great documents that established the bedrock of America, such as the Gettysburg Address etc.

I wonder if the liberal media and our schools would promote role models such as Marine Mitchell Paige and his life experience and sacrifices, perhaps the scourge of illegal drug use, promiscuity and STDs along with a general lack of respect for US history and our military, which afflicts many of our young people, would be greatly diminished? The timeless saying “garbage in, garbage out” still seems to hold true.

As responsible citizens, let us try to encourage local businesses to eliminate some of the music, books and videos that promote immoral sewage and garbage to our young people. As a public school board member, I will continue to support the teaching of US history and patriotism, which brings peace and unity among people with diverse background in our schools.

I will continue to oppose the divisive and un-American education philosophy known as multiculturalism and diversity, which promotes racism, hatred, bigotry and violence in our schools and on college campuses. An excellent resource which documents this subject is a book titled “Illiberal Education” authored by Dinesh D’Souza, a recent immigrant and former Bush administration official.

In close, let me quickly add that many of our teachers and administrators are patriotic and try to instill the founding principles of US history and patriotism in our children.

Unfortunately the education bureaucracy such as the US Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Education, the National Education Association and the Minnesota Education Association continue to support flushing educational sewage into our schools and colleges using your tax dollars.

Almost all the Democratic politicians, and even some in the Republican Party, support this education nonsense and stupidity, including both Minnesota US senators. The most recent being Senator Al Franken.

Now is the time for good men to redouble their efforts to prevent more damage and restore positive role models to our nation’s children.

Prescription for failure

From: Brady Ernst, Dassel (formerly Lester Prairie)

The heat is being turned up for nationalized health care.

The Democrats are using it to either be the permanent stand that keeps them from dropping in the gallows, or as the noose that will break their necks. History has shown us that it will become a noose all too soon, for not only the Dems, but the nation, as well.

First issue first – government already, to a point, controls our health costs. Medicare dictates what providers will pay for certain health care.

Let us just say that your doctor, to be profitable (because that is what private business does), needs $100 to freeze off a wart. Medicare decides, through a bureaucrat, that it should only cost $88. Now the doctor has two choices, either raise the price on non-Medicare users to compensate for the short-fall, or raise the price across the board to a point that, after the adjustment, he is still profitable.

Another interesting little tidbit that the politicians manage to forget is that everybody in our country has access to “health care.” That includes children of the poor, the unemployed, and immigrants – both legal and illegal. Unfortunately, it ends up being the emergency room, but it is health care, nonetheless. The issue with this is the costs are dramatically higher than going to a local clinic.

This creates another problem, though. Many times, people going to the emergency room will never have the funds to pay the debt they incurred, so the hospital will end up writing off most, if not all, of the charges.

Again, this brings us to the issue of turning a profit. So, the hospital is forced to raise prices across the board, which in turn will mean even more people will default on payment, hence raising health care costs even further.

Lastly is the issue of us as individuals and our inability to understand the insurance business. Yes, it is a business, so again, it is there to make a profit. Is the profit too much? Maybe, but we, as consumers, should control what that profit is.

The options for insurance are regulated by the government already. Certain insurance companies have access to certain customers or areas. So, if insurance companies are not allowed to vie for a bigger market share, how exactly is that a free market?

The coverages that are offered are regulated by the states, so people’s choice is taken away again, for government’s ability to choose what is best for us.

The other aspect to that is the more we use our insurance the higher the insurance companies’ costs will go, so in turn, their charges will have to rise to continue profitability.

What all this shows is there is no question the system is broken, but the question is how we fix it.

Whenever issues like this arise, our political elite and media mouthpieces never take into account that every decision has a benefit and a cost. Wiser leaders would make their decision based off of which route has the biggest payoff for the largest number of people and the lowest cost for the largest number of people.

Unfortunately, our leaders are not driven by what is good for the country, they are guided by the lobbyist or special interest hand in their pocket.

The popular consensus in the swamp, DC, is that the only way to fix it is for the government to step in.

My question for anyone that subscribes to that lobotomized solution is to give me one thing that the government has ever done, even just “not bad?”

The second point is that Medicare was put in place to “fix” health care and in fact it has made it worse. Studies have shown care facilities with more Medicare patients also have higher costs.

Other government attempts at helping us include Social Security – bankrupt in 20 years, tops; US Postal Service – looking at ending a day of delivery to cut costs and be competitive against profit-generating competitors; US Department of Agriculture – now employs more people than agriculture; US Department of Education – go ask your high school graduate to explain Manifest Destiny; and let us not forget all the endless inefficiencies – the $600 hammers and $400 toilet seats.

To compare the health care systems, in Canada and Europe, there are people dying of diseases or ailments that could be remedied with simple surgery. Do we really want grandma dying of a broken, infected hip?

Typically the Republicans would be offering a viable alternative to big government intervention, but I think Republicans may very well be embracing the “can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” slogan.

The Democrats have it right in criticizing the GOP for arguing about the reform bill, but not offering anything other than the word,” no.”

There are workable solutions that would cure this dilemma in a short period of time, without the trillion dollar price tag, and that, if like Medicare, will grow by seven times of what the projected cost is.

First of all, end Medicare immediately and allow the tax savings to be injected back into our economy.

Allow doctors to set their prices, and allow patients to ask pricing before accepting service. Allow patients to shop prices the same way they do with auto work. Put the control back in the hands of the patients, and take it away from the bottom-feeding bureaucrats in the swamp.

Next, end regulations on insurance companies and allow them to openly compete for consumers the same way car insurers do. People shop around for car insurance almost yearly, and car insurance companies are constantly advertising and attempting to draw a larger market share. How often do you see health insurance companies advertise? Exactly, they do not need to, because our government tells us which health insurance companies we can use.

The use of the emergency room as a primary care center has got to be curtailed. First and foremost, illegal immigrants should be denied any service outside of emergency care. Citizens without proof of insurance should be denied non-emergency care and directed to local clinics.

Illegal immigrants that do require emergency care – after procedures are completed – should be turned over to I.N.S and immediately deported. The hospital should have the option of billing the US government for services, and being paid from the home country’s foreign aid.

US citizens that require emergency care and cannot afford it goes into a totally different topic. That being the loss of our well-paying jobs to Third World countries. Addressing this issue will eliminate the majority of the working poor and put them back into the middle class.

Other nations have tried nationalizing health care and they have a worse system than we do. Clearly, we have to do something, but the government doing anything always results in failure.

Keep in mind, the folks that are attempting to “fix” this issue will not be covered under the plans they intend to put us under. Wonder why that is?