More On Health Care

July 23, 2009 — Okay now I am getting a bit confused. If you read this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32088107/ns/politics-white_house/, the President is leading us to believe that it is the health care crisis that is causing all the problems in our economy. While it is certainly a part of the problem, his play to the public that it is the single biggest cause is terribly misleading and clearly a ploy by him and his administration to push through a health care bill he approves and do so right now. Another problem he has is he is siding with Pelosi about who gets taxed and how to pay for any legislation that might become law. In my opinion, Pelosi does not have a clue either. No I am not confused at all, this President is using his media skills to misguide the American public about the urgency of health care legislation. I really resent this tactic.

When asked by a reporter about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., his comment was "...police acted stupidly." He should have left it at that because that is what the police did. But no, he had to add "...Now I don't know, not having been there, what role race played in that, the president said..." And then the writer reporting this added...But he added that blacks and Latinos often are stopped by authorities in disproportionate numbers. Police have dropped charges initially lodged against Gates. This seems to me that the President thinks this was a racially motivated incident. He is entitled to his opinion, but as the President I don't think this was the stage to proclaim his belief. Oh well...ride on cowboy!

On another matter, I visited a vascular surgeon yesterday about my infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm known as an AAA. His immediate comment to me was that it was not of a size that we needed to be concerned about. Hmmm... I'm not so sure about that. He said that any surgical intervention now could induce more problems and I agree with that given my history of smoking (and no I still have not quit). There are three major factors that affect an aneurysm: (1) history of aneurysm in immediate family, (2) high blood pressure, and (3) smoking. Numbers 1 and 2 are not an issue with me, but number 3 is. So it's back to the basic issue of changing my life style by giving up smoking. It's a real battle! But it's a battle that I will win and it's what really matters!