Richard R. Gray...'s profileDissenters' CornerBlogListsSkyDrive Tools Help

Blog


    November 09

    Daily Private Enterprise Solution to the Health Care Crisis #1

    The doctor who orders a test  never sees the bill and never knows what the hospital charges. 
    The reason a $4.43 test costs $107 is that no one has power to challenge it. This is outrageous.

    Our President has demanded greater transparency in medicine, and there is a way to make that happen.

    Enact a law requiring ALL fees by hospitals and other health-care providers to be published and available to
    the public online.  

    I estimate it will take a one-page bill and one day in Congress to do it.
    November 02

    Term limits; throw the rascals out.

    Of the 15 states with legislative term limits, California is one with a 6-year limit.  I guess it hasn't helped California yet. The President has a two term limit. Representative democracy  has several other problems. One is corporatism, another is the revolving door to the military. industrial, and health complexes. Another is multiple failures by the US Congress to abide by the US Constitution. How about the 10th amendment? Signing statements? Mandating insurance? Un-elected Czars?  And who said we have a free market? Try buying health insurance out of state.  Vote for Liberty; vote for the US Constitution.
    October 14

    Some Good Books

    1. Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin

    2. Men in Black by Mark Levin

    3. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

    4. End The Fed  by Ron Paul

    5. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
    October 01

    Stop the Flu

    99% of flu at this time is Swine Flu (H1N1)

    1. Avoid shaking hands
    2. Avoid touching eyes or nose
    3. Wash hands often. 
    4. Use alcohol based wipes on hands
    5. Avoid crowds
    September 26

    Happy New Year..today's sermon

    You missed Rosh Ha Shana, the Head (Rosh) of the Year
    (Shana): the New Year, the celebration of the beginning of the world, the
    world's birthday. when you say Shana Tova to everybody, like happy new year,
    ...it means have a good (tova..like in mazel TOV...good luck) year ...began
    Friday Sep 18th at sundown. Then God lets you have 10 Days of Awe (it's ends
    this coming Monday) to make up for any bad deals you did or people you
    insulted. And then he decides which book to write you in, the book of life
    or the book of death. It's like waiting for Santa. What a present! That's
    Yom Kippur coming next. Yom means Day..... Kippur means atonement. The Day
    of Atonement.  Then you pray, I'll be good, I asked people to forgive me,
    please give me another year. (OK, ditto) And you try again.  It's a fine
    tradition, just like Santa Claus is a fine tradition. Only one trick you
    didn't know about. You can get forgiveness only directly from the ones you
    sinned against. That's the fine print. If you kill somebody I don't know how
    you get out of it since the victim can't forgive you. Maybe God could forgive, but
    he might have left. Judaism is about this life, not some life we don't
    know about. But anyway, the Good Book says the righteous of all the earth will
    have a share in the world to come.  Amen.

    September 23

    Health Solutions

    All emergency rooms are mandated to care for all who enter so long as they are of own species. It is our form of national health care. Our hospital collects 35 cents on every dollar charged.  I asked our CFO why he didn't charge only the 35 cents, then he'd be even. He couldn't figure out the math.   
    September 20

    Don't shake hands with germs

    The one you shook hands with just blew his/her nose. The reason for influenza and colds in the winter is schools and parties and church gatherings. And then we have this silly idea of shaking hands with the germs. Who started that anyway? It was a lot safer when knights saluted by raising helmet visors. Or how about when I was in the Navy, I would have been demoted if I didn't salute. Imagine an apprentice seaman shaking hands with the admiral! Saluting in church would be safer! (ha). Come to think of it, the minister is the terrorist: He/she stands in line after the service  and gets the germs by shaking hands with everybody in the church and passes the germs on to everybody in line.
    September 12

    Can they hear us now?

    TWO MILLION marched in Washington DC today with signs saying stop the stupid spending.  Can they hear us now?  It's the SPENDING, stupid! We're out of money!


    September 09

    Proof of what?

    Gold bullion this morning:  On 09/09/2009 at 9:09 a.m. gold was priced at $999.00 an ounce. That proves that the sun will come up tomorrow morning again.
    September 04

    Socialism for the Masses

    They say you should think out of the box,  OK, here are two ideas out of the box:

    1. Since lawyers want socialized medicine, lawyers should be socialized also. Isn't a fair trial one of the rights of man? How can you have a fair legal system if you can't afford a lawyer?

    2. Drivers by law are required to have automobile insurance in case they have an accident.  Likewise, patients should be required to have medical malpractice insurance in case they accidentally have the wrong doctor. Why should the doctor be the only one who has the insurance?

    There you are for the new health and law socialism for our socialized government.  Really out of the box, right?

    September 03

    No You Can't

    I'm going to write a book in opposition to Obama: NO YOU CAN'T.

    Want to help? Here's a beginning. Add a few more.
    1. No you can't get that job.
    2. No you can't get a lower mortgage.
    3. No you can't get a loan.
    4. No you can't avoid your income tax.
    5. No you can't save any money.
    6. No you can't sell your house.

    August 27

    New Rules

    I know how to solve almost everything that's bedeviling our country:

    1. Limit all bills brought for a vote in the US Congress to two pages.  Nobody can understand a 1,000 page bill that contains fine print written by lawyers. If they can't explain a proposal in two pages, let them make two proposals. One at a time so you can think about it. Maybe even they would think about it. The clauses and hidden agendas in the Health Care bill are dishonest and dangerous. 

    2. Limit all representatives and senators in the US Congress to two terms.  If we can't do that by law, do it by your votes.  It's OUR country, not theirs. After all, these are the same people that got us into this mess. Fire them every two terms. Throw the rascals out.

    3. Stop saying "1 trillion"  The temptation is to say well, one is a small number, we can afford that. No, one trillion is 1,000,000,000,000. We CAN"T afford that.
    July 18

    The world according to me

    Television is not a vast wasteland. It's a vast freak show.
     
    The worst thing about electricity are the commercials.
     
    5 to 4 decisions should be unconstitutional. If a decision were just, it would be 9 to 0.
     
    At my age it looks dangerous that we have turned the world over to a bunch of kids.
     
    It was not bad that a 50-year old child molester died.
     
    Polygyny would solve the problems of infidelity and divorce.
     
    Some wives want a wife to do the housework.
     
    The automobile industry problem is that cars don't rust out anymore.
     
    The new health system will save us from bankruptcy by letting you die like we used to. 
     
    When I consulted at the reform school I learned a definition of perfection is when you shoot someone right between the eyes.
     
    Most of the people I know well are dead.
     
    There used to be immortals. They were Jack Benny, Graucho Marx, Clark Gable, and Bing Crosby.  They weren't.
     

    June 23

    The Cure for Health Care

    I want everybody to comment on this.  The cure for the health care Crisis has started. It's called free enterprise. 1.) You can go to Walmart and buy a month's supply of your prescription for $4.00. 2). You can go to a drugstore clinic and get medical care. 3.) You can barter with your doctor if you try. How about some comments from readers on what they have discovered in the free enterprise system of health care?


    June 15

    Do your genealogy?

    I hope you realize that you will mired in interminable genealogical and historical research that no one else will care about but is highly important for a reason that only Einstein could appreciate. You will notice that people tend to go to sleep when you tell your latest ancestral tale. I was lucky, I transmitted the sickness to my son, who as a tenured mathematician actually emulated  and invented original techniques, one of which was to interview everyone on his mother's side and write a huge professional genealogical narrative for posterity. Actually, for me, the value of genealogy is encapsulated by the notion of identity.  Just as when we identify with fictional literary or media characters, I identify with each ancestor and then study the historical context of the person. Unfortunately, when I discover their deaths it makes me sad. I persuaded a history teacher that he should have his students do their genealogy, for example, and relate to the times. I muse that I am my great  grandfather Lt. Andrew Jackson Grayson marching up the banks of the Tennessee River at the Battle of Shiloh or my great grandfather Ephraim Hambujer who I boast had 5 wives and 11 children. I tell this to guys asking for GU/sterilization referrals to try to talk them out of it. And I ponder whether I am burdened or blessed with myths and traditions or cerebral disturbances that I don't recognize.  Is there a universal unconscious? Are there archetypal universal myths? What  about instincts? The neurologists say that all is in the neurons and neurotransmitters.  Really? Oh well, I will lean back and be Fiddler on the Roof for a while, I think

    May 10

    Corporatism

    I forgot to mention a few other 
    pejoratives: how about plutocracy or congressional-industrial complex?  How
    about government of by and for crooked corporate managers? I was thinking a
    counterfactual thought; suppose the Fortune 500  managers were all jailed
    and water-boarded. Picture that in your mind's eye. What would happen to
    Western civilization, I wonder. I suppose we would all die of famine and
    pestilence. It is entirely possible that the planetary overpopulation of 6.5
    billion is corporate-dependent. It's as if there is a secret written
    corporate mission statement somewhere that for the sake of profit the planet
    must have ever-increasing population growth.  For example, where would the
    Mafia be without victims? They would be destitute. Likewise, corporations
    need more and more business. I wonder if they have corporate-free countries
    anywhere. Cuba? Antarctica? 
    Just musing  ------

    May 08

    A Pearl of Wisdom

    The Hamas 'Peace' Gambit
    By Charles Krauthammer
    Friday, May 8, 2009

    "Apart from the time restriction (a truce that lapses after 10 years)
    and the refusal to accept Israel's existence, Mr. Meshal's terms
    approximate the Arab League peace plan . . ."

    -- Hamas peace plan, as explained by the New York Times
    "Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
    -- Tom Lehrer, satirist
    May 06

    Nations and Collectivism

    You rail against collectivism and statism as if nations by nature could ever be free of collective action. Nationhood and statism are tautologies. They are one and the same. Some nations are more collectivist than others, but the difference between a strike by assembled textile workers against their employers is of no essential difference than a war against an enemy by a larger collective of people, better organized as a nation.
     
    The better question is to inquire as to the etiology of nationhood. The cause of nations is Darwinian. He who gathers the most power survives. It is a law of population growth and in particular, industrialization. Collective action is like oxygen to fire. You cannot extinguish fire by eliminating oxygen without eliminating life. The Edomites and Moabites and Hittites are not with us due to evolution. And the Jews might be next, along with the Babylonians.  
     
    The Declaration says it well: " That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men." We have rights all right, but it  takes collectivism to secure them.  I saw a nice young fellow interviewed on TV the other night. Turns out he was a convicted serial killer who was obsessed with eating his victims'  hearts raw. He had no idea what caused his strange compulsion. My point is, sometimes we need to join together to secure our rights against the Devil incarnate himself. If men were angels, we would need no laws and no nations. Amen.
    March 25

    Utopia is here

    Viewpoint: Real Preventive Medicine is Around the Corner
     
    DALLAS--(Business Wire)--
    U.S. Preventive Medicine®, the leader in disease prevention services, today
    applauded U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for modernizing the health care
    system by investing in prevention initiatives aimed at controlling costs and
    improving the health of Americans.” (24 March 2009)
     
    What a marvelous idea! All we have to do is to prevent sickness, injury, and death, 
    and the cost of medical care will go down. The economy will be saved. I don’t know
    why I didn’t think of this sometime during the last 61 years of my medical practice
    since I escaped from the
    University of Illinois Medical School.
     
    I must admit, I have been a spectacular failure at curing chronic alcoholism, binge 
    drinking, illegal drug usage, bungee jumping, cigarette smoking, chronic obesity,
    gang banging, motorcycle riding without helmets, and promoting the use of automobile
    seat belts, the use of heavy, safe cars with multiple air bags, and the prevention of all
     types of metastatic cancer.
     
    If the President would instruct us old-timers on these matters, maybe the overcharging by 
    the medical profession would stop and the national debt would be cured.
    Now that would be what I call preventive medicine.