Policy - Where's The Substance?

I'd like to think, above all, in his speech last night to Congress, President Obama was throwing down the gauntlet to Nancy Pelosi as well as chastising everyone else. The house bill is the only bill actually out there and what he described as what he expected, or assured, is far from H.R. 3200. For instance he assures us illegal aliens won't be covered, yet in H.R. 3200 they are.

Part of trying to do a great deal in a compressed time frame brings problems. Nothing really gets done, or if it does, it doesn't get done well. I won't rehash all the bailout deals, cash for clunkers, nor the stimulus program. All that has been speaking quite eloquently of their shortcomings for themselves.

I still have grave concerns about foreign policy. The Financial Times points out he has yet to take strong action on many of his campaign promises. The Afghanistan war is escalating and the death toll increases on a daily basis. More troops are to be requested for the "war of necessity". Yet, as is the case in Iraq, from where will they come? At one time Obama stressed that we must prevent al-Qaeda from regaining a stronghold yet recent press has us fighting the Taliban. They are not one and the same. Al-Qaeda is seeking safe haven, the Taliban seeks to run the country.

Secretary of Defense Gates states the US goal is to train Afghan security forces to take over and for us to recede to an advisory capacity. We see how well that's working in Iraq. Not so well.

Richard Holbrook, the President's special envoy to Afghanistan, says of U.S. "success", "We'll know it when we see it." Not exactly definitive!

In direct contrast to Gate's assessment, the U.S. has also dedicated itself to such goals as advancing women's rights, improving governance and cracking down on corruption and narcotics. Should this not be the roll of the U.S. Military, but rather the Afghan people themselves?

Pair that with an election fraught with fraud, it parallels the recent elections in Iran which returned a corrupt leader, and the powers behind him, to power. As for Iran, their nuclear ambitions are near fruition. What are we going to do?

Let's not forget Israel where Netenyahu has okayed new building in the West Bank in direct opposition to Obama's demands.

It's not looking good in the Middle East any more than it is on the health care front here at home. It is not only we citizens that are awaiting well grounded leadership rather than soaring rhetoric from the President. The whole world is waiting.

Animal Cruelty Of A Different Sort

Have you ever known a kid that at one time or another during their childhood they didn't want a horse? Such is the case of a local young man who has worked and saved since he was thirteen to make that dream come true. With the help of his family he scrounged their property to find material for fencing and scoured Craig's List looking for bargains. He got a barn built, tack and enough money saved to buy his dream. All in two years. That's quite an accomplishment.

He found his horse through an ad in the local Nickel Saver, you know, those little free papers that are mostly classifieds. He no sooner saw the well muscled chestnut and he knew that was the horse for him.

The problem is, the horse has a rare and apparently incurable disease. Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis.

" Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis, better known in the horse world as HYPP, can be a devastating disease. There are horses that have it that never show a symptom a day in their life, and horses that have repeated severe episodes, to the point that their owners choose to humanely euthanize them instead of watching them suffer."

It consists of an inability to regulate electrolytes such as sodium, chloride and potassium. The electrolyte imbalance in the blood causes impaired nerve function that can lead to muscle tremors and eventually paralysis.

The young man is devastated. Just to control the disease requires untold amounts on attention, monitoring and specific feeding regimens. Difficult, to say the least, for a 15 year old, especially with the school year just beginning. Paying for treatment is nigh on to impossible. More than likely the horse will have to be euthanized. A tough choice when a pet is like family.

My heart bleeds for this young man. I know how difficult the regimen was with Bacchus and the emotional toll it took. I'm far from fifteen.

The seller would not take the horse back. He swears the horse never showed any indication of the disease. I know that's a possibility but it seems doubtful to me that a twelve year old horse just happened to start showing symptoms just after this young man shelled out his money.

One can only imagine the treatment the horse received by his previous owner! I may be making an incorrect assumption but the story is suspect.

This, too, is animal cruelty. Setting aside the life the horse may have had, the owner wanted to get rid of him rather than care for him. Rather than selling him to someone who might be willing and able to care for the horse, or have it euthanized himself, he sold it to an unsuspecting kid who just wanted a horse of his own.

A few days ago my veterinarian friend in New Zealand sent me a link to Paw Justice, a movement to make people aware of the connection between animal abuse and child abuse.

It would seem we have an example of it right here. Abuse isn't necessarily physical.

"Stimulating" Pawtucket

I was listening to Obama extolling the health care public option before a hand picked crowd of union members last evening when he came forth with a over used mantra. "If you have a better idea, where is it?" Well, there are better ideas out there. The Wyden Bennett Health Reform Plan for one. I would throw a question back at him, "Why is it being ignored?"

The push for a "public" (read government run) option confounds me. So many people are against it. The reason goes far deeper than the plan itself, but the apparent idiosyncrasies of other government plans the Obama administration has come up with. Like the "stimulus" bill.

Also on last night's news, regarding government run plans, is $550,000 in stimulus money that must be spent on a "shovel ready" project in the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is going to be used for a skateboard park! It will employ contractors and laborers, materials will be purchased and lunches eaten at local eateries. My question is then what? How long does it take to build a skateboard park in the grand scheme of creating jobs? Sustainable jobs.

A story in the Providence Journal, by Michael McKinney, points out Pawtucket has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in Rhode Island not to mention a $10 million budget deficit.

They've wanted a skateboard park for the kids for years. One has to wonder how many of them still have homes. The stimulus money can only be used for Community Development grant projects. While both the police and fire departments have needs, they cannot get a piece of the pie.

Were cities given the flexibility to spend dollars on their most pressing needs, I'm sure there would be abuses, but still...

The city is facing a $5.2 million school budget deficit and with a $4.8 million shortfall on the municipal side, 40 city jobs have been lost.

$550,000 may not sound like a lot, but I can't help wonder if it could be better used to maintain those 40 city jobs that are probably full time and long term, not to mention the needs of the fire and police departments. Are they not worth saving compared to the 30 to 40 jobs estimated to build the skateboard park that are project specific?

I understand trying to create jobs for those who sorely need them; I'm just not convinced make work on a temporary basis is the way to do it.

The inflexibility is what concerns me. Will it be the same in government run health care? I would guess so. Patient needs will be at the mercy of those setting the rules. Congress no doubt. If that doesn't frighten you nothing will. Should it become reality we won't be skatingboarding in a park built with stimulus dollars, we'll be skating on thin ice!

Animal Abuse Getting A Pass In Spokane?

If you walked past a parked car and saw a little fellow like the one pictured, could you break into that car, pull the dog out and throw him against a wall just for sport?

Well, that's what happened in Spokane this past June 22. A Shih Tzu, Cocoa Butter, was watching the world go by from the comfort of her car while her people were in a downtown mall watching a movie. A couple of people approached the car, broke into it, pulled the dog out and threw her, by her leash, against the wall of City Hall and left her for dead. She nearly was.

Fortunately the incident was caught on surveillance cameras and the hunt began for an itinerant young man. Weeks passed without a trace even though substantial reward money was being offered. Meanwhile the owners of Cocoa Butter waited with baited breath to see if their pet would pull through. Money poured in for the expenses and slowly she inched back to life. She sustained severe nerve damage which remains. The degree of normality to be achieved as of now has yet to be determined.

The public outrage was palpable. Hub and I had our opinions as to what should be done when the man was caught and it wouldn't have been pleasant. Many felt the same. Animal lovers all! But it shouldn't be a requirement for such mindless violence.

Finally, the man turned up. He turned himself into the police and unbelievably he was let go because the prosecutor had not filed charges! Even worse the police hadn't asked for any to be filed! Why? Had it been one of their own dogs would they have been so complacent?

The alleged abuser, his attorney reminds us, is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Well, it was caught on surveillance tape. You'd think that would be all the proof needed, but then it is Spokane and it is government.

The Government Doesn't Need "Death Panels"

I'm beginning to think we elderly are going to be unwittingly endangering our own longevity without being pushed by the government. Though inadvertently they will be responsible with Medicare functioning ( I use that term reluctantly) the way it is.

There is a guest opinion in this morning's Spokesman Review by Dr. Donald F. Condon telling why has is opting out of Medicare. It's nothing we don't already know. The reimbursement schedule is forcing Doctor's out of the program.

That isn't the only problem Doctors face, either. Among those Dr. Condon innumerated are the professional disagreements Doctors have with what some obscure committee deems appropriate as far as what's to be covered. The patient loses because Medicare wins.

Late payment of claims is another problem that parallels the problems car dealers are currently having with the Cash for Clunkers program. This puts the car dealers in the same boat as Doctors. This puts everyone in the Doctor's chain in peril from office staff, mortgage on his practice, even into his personal financial well being. Who can blame them for wanting to opt out? Who can blame the car dealers for hanging on to the Clunkers until they get paid? They at least can sell off the Clunkers; Doctors have no such option. Government efficiency is an oxymoron.

Here's the way the old Dogwalker sees it. Right now it's difficult to find a Doctor that will accept a new patient who is on Medicare. When you do find one, you're treated in assembly line fashion. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've tried to discuss more than one issue and have been told there is no time. It matters not that no one was in the waiting room when I arrived nor when I left. Fifteen minutes. That's it. There is no thorough discussion of a condition what-so-ever.

It's usually pop a pill and see you in a week or ten days. If you're persistent enough they may refer you to a specialist who really doesn't want to see you either. I've run the course with the back Doctor. I've had two shots, neither of which did anything, and now we're experimenting with medications that are to change how the brain perceives pain. To no avail. Up the dose. To no avail. Instead of seeing him in ten days now it's call him. I'm sure I've run through the allowable office visits for which Medicare will pay.

I have no idea what all this experimentation is doing to my liver and kidneys. Actually I don't want to know. But here's the point.

Doctors who are now merely reluctant to accept you will begin to opt out. What then? Where do you go for your prescriptions? The emergency room? We'll begin not to take them because we won't put up with the waits. Our cholesterol will soar along with our blood pressure not only from not taking our meds but also because of the added stress. Don't even think of the things that will go undiagnosed thus untreated.

The "death panels" will have no one to counsel because we'll not be patients. What's more, we'll all be dead! Well, that's one way to bring the costs down. All we have to do is go belly up! I wonder if it's what they've had in mind all along!