Health Care Reform

I just wonder how Congress
thinks they are going to pay for universal health care without bankrupting the the American economy...

First off, there is no simple solution to the problem with health care. There are many facets to the problem such as: the uninsured, medical liability, prescription drug costs, the need for proactive in addition to reactive medicine and the cost to educate those in the medical field.

I think another problem is that we as a society need to change our mindset about health insurance. I think if we took an approach similiar to car insurance, that would bring costs down. Does anybody file an insurance claim for an oil change on their car? No! You file a claim when something major happens.

Health care could be like that. I think using the current Healthcare Savings Account with a High Deducible PPO plan would be a good model for most Americans. You pay a lower premium and you take the cost difference and place that money into an HSA that you use to pay for your day to day health care and the HDPPO plan kicks in when you have something major.

There is a slight risk in this but I think it's negligible while the person is building up the balance in their HSA.

Just my thoughts on this...



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Its springtime in Arkansas

First Step in the Right Direction...

Ok…one small step towards making Little Rock better.

Tonight the voters of Little Rock decided to move the city forward by making the Mayor a full time job with veto power over bills voted on by the board of directors.

The thing I have trouble understanding is why the left was so divided over this? ACORN was in favor of the change but the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP was not. I know the NAACP is claiming (via their federal lawsuit) that the change would disenfranchise the voting power of the minority population in Little Rock. I don’t see how given they are the majority of the population and they can take control if they so with if you use the Little Rock School Board as an example…

Hopefully this will be the first step towards making the city more accountable to the citizens and this city becoming better.

I sincerely hope that Mike Daugherty loses his re-election bid next month for the Little Rock School Board because he and Katherine Mitchell seem to be doing everything they can to keep the district under court supervision and thus more $$ going to attorney Bill Walker.

Its going to be really funny when the legislature (led by the representatives from Central Arkansas) vote overwhelmingly to take away the additional funding given to the LRSD because of all that has been happening this year....

Enough Already!!!

Ok….I give up! My stomach is starting to turn over all this Imus stuff. Yes, what Imus said on the air was totally wrong and could be seen as racist racist. He should not have said it but it was in jest. He has apologized and that should be the end of it but its not.

Since MSNBC cancelled his simulcast, for the past hour they have a parade of African Americans on the air who are criticizing both Imus for what he said and MSNBC for not canceling the show earlier. MSNBC should be ashamed for doing this. All they are doing is stirring the controversy further to keep the story going. In my opnion, its human nature for folks to be tuning into MSNBC this morning to see what is on instead of Imus and when they do that is what they are seeing. I think this is disgusting and journalism at its worst.

MSNBC is being very hypocritical here in my opinion. On several occasions in the last few years when Imus is on vacation, MSNBC airs “Best of Imus” programs in which they show some of the more controversial moments of the show along with interviews with the people who portray the characters. I really think the segments with “Cardinal Egan” are more offensive than Imus’ comment. I really think when the “Cardinal” does the Prayers of the People segment in which he prays something like: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Imus pushing up daisies is what we want the most…Lord Hear our prayer.” Which doesn’t belong and why can also be very vile and disgusting as well. Where was Al Sharpton in the years in which these segments were being aired?

As far as Imus goes, I have been a fan of his since I first saw him on MSNBC back in ’94. For the last 7 years, I have been listening to him online after the local talk radio station dropped his show back in ’99. What Imus said was wrong… But, I have heard him say worse things in the past.

Anybody who listens to the show on a regular basis knows that if doesn’t like what a person does he calls them on it. He has no problem on calling someone a terrible person or calling them names on an individual basis. He has been critical of both whites and African Americans. I would not consider him to be a racist.

He has been critical of New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin but at the same time was also as critical of Louisiana Governor Mary Blanco. He is very critical of anybody he sees as being wrong. For along time he was very critical of country singer Vince Gill and Christian music artist Amy Grant after they left their respective spouses and to get married. He pointed out that both of them were hypocrites for publicly stating their faith but then committing adultery and then leaving their spouses to get married. He also has been critical of former Secretary of State Colin Powell and has called New York Senator Hillary Clinton “Satan.”

I guess in this day and age, all of the good things that Imus has done are for nothing as well. Even though his MSNBC show was cancelled, he is on the air today doing the scheduled radiothon for the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Tomorrows Children’s Fund. He also formed the Imus Ranch for kids with cancer and all of the profits from his line of Imus Ranch foods and green cleaning products go to the ranch. He doesn’t see one dime from the sales of these products. He has no problem on opening up his checkbook to help out as well.

Being a long time listener to the program, I would say this was not even come close to being one of the more offensive things I have heard on his program. The characters that appear on his show are the controversial parts of the program.

In my opinion, Imus should not be fired. He was expressing his right to free speech. If somebody was offended, they have many choices who what to listen to on the radio so they do not have to listen to him. Imus is one of the best interviewers on radio but is also able to do it in an entertaining fashion. I truly think the only reason this is a controversy is because Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson latched onto and stirred the pot. I say let the market decide if he should stay on the air.

If enough listeners stop tuning in and advertisers they will not be able to justify paying Imus his multi million yearly salary.

Even though he said it, I do no think he is a racist.

Larry Jegley should be ashamed of himself

I am so mad about this one I can hardly see straight…

The late, great Ray Lincoln was totally right about stuff being buried in Saturday’s paper that they don’t want you to see.

Two days before he was supposed to go on trial for killing a bicyclist, John Patrick Moody pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide before Pulaski County Circuit Judge John Langston.

If you don’t remember the story, the dirt-bag Moody, ran over Jason Pratt one Saturday morning on the 6900 block of West Markham in West Little Rock and left the scene of the accident leaving Pratt for dead. Moody was seen later at a Bank of the Ozarks branch on Cantrell load unloading a cooler from his Daddy’s SUV into another car driven by his brother and returning 2 days later to retrieve the SUV because of a flat tire.

The LRPD did a fantastic job investigating the case and caught the SOB but somehow he was allowed to plea bargain it down.

I think Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley should be ashamed of himself for making this plea. I would love to see the type of deal the Moody family made with Jegley for this one to happen.

By allowing Moody to plea to a misdemeanor, he will be able to finish his studies at the South Texas College of Law in Houston and become a licensed attorney in either Texas or Arkansas. I guess he’s starting early at being a dirt-bag like most attorneys then….

I hope that John has some "fun" during his time in the Pulaski County Jail...hehehehehe