Day: May 31, 2006

Now I know that this will come as a complete shock to you …

… shocked a la Casablanca … 

… … … I am “shocked”. (Trying to do my best Claude Rains as Captain Renault “I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” in Casablanca imitation.) 

Here are some docs that say:

"Unintended Consequences of Caps on Medicare Drug Benefits"
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/22/2349  

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Conclusions A cap on drug benefits was associated with lower drug consumption and unfavorable clinical outcomes. In patients with chronic disease, the cap was associated with poorer adherence to drug therapy and poorer control of blood pressure, lipid levels, and glucose levels. The savings in drug costs from the cap were offset by increases in the costs of hospitalization and emergency department care.
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Translation: Another gubamint program that (cribbing from the Five Iron Laws of Big Government): 1. doesn't work but never end!; 2. makes things worse for the people to be helped; 3. UIC (aka Un Intended Consequences); 4. costly and wasteful and under estimated; 5. diverts money and energy from other positive, productive uses! 

AND, it actually puts the country deeper in debt, marches us further down the road to socialism, and enshrines yet another benefit that can't never be taken back!

Guess we win the negative pick 6! 

http://tinyurl.com/rgukp

May 31, 2006
As Hurricane Season Looms, States Aim to Scare
By ABBY GOODNOUGH

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This save-yourselves approach comes after government agencies were overwhelmed by pleas for help after last year's storms and strongly criticized as not responding swiftly or thoroughly enough to the public need. Now, officials have said repeatedly, only the elderly, the poor and the disabled should count on the government to help them escape a hurricane or endure its immediate aftermath.

Mississippi, where more than 200 residents died in Hurricane Katrina, unrolled a "Stay Alert. Stay Alive" hurricane awareness campaign in April. State officials told residents what to pack in a "go-kit" for evacuating (flashlight, radio, nonelectric can opener) and, like many others, commanded them to stockpile at least three days' worth of water and food.

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And, we pay all those high taxes for the gummamint's "protection and services"? Hmm, maybe if we didn't have to pay so much for those services we don't get, didn't want, and can't get, then we have enough to take care of ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. Do you think maybe the problem is NOT with the people but with the promises that you have made for these taxes?

Sigh!

Wake up folks you are ALWAYS on your own. You may get help. But it will come from your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Any help you get from government should be regarded as just dumb luck! And, you can bet there will be strings attached.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/31/eveningnews/printable1670573.shtml

Hero Quietly Did The Right Thing
WASHINGTON, May 30, 2006(CBS)

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Hiram Bingham IV was U.S. vice consul in Marseilles, France, as Hitler began leaving his imprint across Europe. Even though he wasn't supposed to, he issued thousands of U.S. visas to Jews, allowing them to escape.

It wasn't good for his career.

But Bingham knew what he thought was right. And he did it. Quietly, but his actions nonetheless did not go unnoticed.

The visas issued without permission in 1940 got Bingham bounced from his job in 1941 and derailed what had been a promising career track in diplomacy for Bingham, who came from a prominent family: a father who was a Senator and Governor, a Tiffany heiress mother, and a grandfather and great-grandfather who were the first missionaries to Hawaii.

CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports Bingham said little about what he had done and his own family did not realize the scope of things until after his death in 1988, when they found the records he'd kept – hidden in the house.

Bingham's heroism was recognized posthumously in 2002, and Tuesday, a dream came true for his children as the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp in Bingham's honor.

Elly Sherman – who was lined up with her family and other Jews outside the U.S. consultate in Marseilles, where they were saved by Bingham – doesn't need a stamp to jog her memory.

"My mother kept this document," said Sherman, pointing to the long-ago paperwork that allowed her family to flee as the Nazis marched forward into France.

Sherman's family, at the time the visas were issued, had already received an order to report to a concentration camp within two days.

And it was those two days which were the last two days that Hiram Bingham was still the vice consul in Marseilles – handing out visas to people who were not supposed to get them.

They weren't supposed to – because in 1940, it wasn't American policy to use visas to rescue Jews in danger because of the Nazis.

In comments recorded by his granddaughter, Bingham recalled being ordered to stop.

"My boss," Bingham recalled, "said 'The Germans are going to win the war. Why should we do anything to offend them?'"

But Bingham kept writing visa after visa, saving life after life. Among the many he saved were artist Marc Chagall, philosopher Hannah Arendt – and hundreds of Elly Shermans.

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Without a doubt, this fellow was a humanitarian. This story should be on the wall at the "employee entrance" of every embassy. Further, if I was the Secretary of State, then I'd create the "Bingham Award" for the employee who best exemplifies this value.