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Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

This is Viewpoints for Monday, Nov. 2, 2009

Hospital should pay taxes

If the Medical Center is going to cut services to the poor, can the county get it to pay taxes on its vast holdings? If the Medical Center didn’t own so much of Bibb County perhaps the county would have more income to pay for more services for the poor. It would be interesting to see the number of properties owned by the Medical Center, MedCen Foundation and the Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authority and the total value of these properties, many of which are in prime locations. And many of these tax exempt properties and the businesses on them compete with similar businesses that have to pay taxes.

— Vivian Whelan

Macon

Health-care solution

This plan gets rid of insurance companies and takes the politics out of health care. Example: Cost of six-pack of beer — $8. Your cost for health Insurance — 8-cents.

Your cost of buying health insurance from insurance companies — $300 per month or more. That’s $3,600 a year plus deductables, co-pays and denials.

The solution:

Institute a 1 percent national sales tax earmarked for health care only.

Ÿ No more health insurance premiums for anyone, not even businesses.

Ÿ No more duplication of services, expensive company buildings etc.

Ÿ No more overly compensated insurance executives and their bonuses.

Ÿ No more confusing plans/supplements/options/exchanges/triggers/parts a, b, c, d, etc.

Everyone pays based upon their rate of consumption, from a quart of beer at a convenience store to the purchase of a BMW or yacht.

No one would have to be without health care. All the anger and discord would be unnecessary.

Ÿ Everyone would have “the same plan”

Ÿ Everyone working together supporting each other.

Ÿ No freeloaders

— Johnny Wilson

Warner Robins

Called “out”

Yawn! Here we go again. Another leftist trying to argue that the Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee an individual’s right to keep and bear arms using a tired argument. In the spirit of the World Series, I’ll point out three strikes about the logic of the letter.

Strike one: The Bill of Rights was written to guarantee individual rights. Every other amendment refers to citizens. So how can the Second Amendment not?

Strike two: When asked who the militia was, George Mason said it was the entire people save for a few public officials.

Strike three: The Supreme Court has ruled the Second Amendment does indeed guarantee an individual’s right to own a gun.

Strike one, strike two, strike three, it seems the left is “out” of fresh arguments.

— Dave Whitaker

Danville

Government efficiency?

It appears our local leftist (Frank Gadbois) has not read or does not understand the Constitution of the United States. If he did, he would know that the “public option” (along with a lot of other things Congress is trying to do) is blatantly unconstitutional. With the notable exception of the post office, the federal government is not authorized to form or run any type of business. Proponents will contend that the “Commerce Clause” gives the government the power to establish a health care or health care insurance organization. This is totally wrong. The “Commerce Clause” gives the government the power to “regulate interstate commerce.” It does not give it the authority to participate or compete in it.

By the way, our “wildly popular and efficient Medicare and Medicaid programs” are broke. Even President Obama stated, “Medicare and Medicaid are the single biggest drivers of the federal deficit and the federal debt by a huge margin.” Also, a report from the Social Security and Medicare boards of trustees states, “For the third consecutive year, a ‘Medicare funding warning’ is being triggered, signaling that non-dedicated sources of revenues — primarily general revenues — will soon account for more than 45 percent of Medicare’s outlays.” Those “general revenues are your taxes. This is efficiency?

— Geoff Engels

Warner Robins

Why the hurry?

There is something that has been bugging me for a while. Remember the huge stimulus bill (TARP) that Obama and the Democrats were in such a hurry to pass early this year that no one even had the time to read? After all, it had to be done in a hurry to save the economy of this great nation. Well it has been revealed that only 45 percent of the money has actually been spent as of the end of October.

If it had to be passed in such a hurry, why has it taken so long to spend? I think I know the answer. There is an election next year. You can bet that there will be loads of spending during the spring and summer of 2010 just prior to the election. Will this be an attempt to buy votes — especially in those areas where Democrats are thought to need “help”?

Last month, the Republicans tried to attach an amendment to one of the health-care bills going through Congress that would require a 72 hour delay prior to voting on the bill, so there would be the time to read it. It lost on a straight party line vote.

— Skip Johnson

Macon

The Troubled Asset Relief Program was proposed by the Bush administration in October 2008. The Obama administration signed into law the Stimulus package in February.

— Editors

Get in or get out

So, the commanding general in Afghanistan, the president’s appointee, wants 40,000 more troops to get that viper pit under control. And it took eight years of losing American troops to figure this out? Who was running the effort over there? Little Orphan Annie? Blondie Bumstead? Beetle Bailey?

I think most military thinkers will agree that when you choose to go to war, you go with overwhelming force. You do not give the enemy the slightest chance to win. Just ask “Stormin” Norman Schwarzkopf. However, it has been eight long years and we are no closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, destroying the Taliban or creating a stable government.

— John Watson, USAF, (Ret)

Bonaire

Prayer for today

Dear Lord, in these days of multiple distractions and voice mail, how comforting it is to know that we always have your immediate and individual attention whenever we need someone to talk to. Thank you for always listening and caring. Amen

— Kay Wangen

Mulberry United Methodist Church

Macon

Readers — ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and laypersons alike — are invited to contribute prayers for this daily feature.

Send them to “Prayer,” The Macon Telegraph, P.O. Box 4167, Macon, GA 31213; or by facsimile to 744-4663; or online to letters@macon.com.