Obama Contradiction

Today Obama had a town hall meeting. The last question asked why he villified insurance companies. His response was:

First of all, you are absolutely right that the insurance companies in some cases have been constructive. So I'll give you a particular example. Aetna has been trying to work with us on some of this pre-existing condition stuff and thats absolutely true and there are other companies who have done the same. I just want to be honest with you, and I think Max will testify, that in some cases what we've seen is also funding in opposition by other insurance companies to any kind of reform proposals. So my intent is not to villify insurance companies. If I was villifying them what we would be doing would be to say that private insurance doesn't have a place in the the health care market and some people believe that. I don't believe that. What I believe is lets work with the existing system and have some private insurance out there.

Excerpt over. So, not villifying the companies and working with them on the solution. First, what would he call his previous statements on insurance companies?
Statements like these (which I gained from his town hall transcript at whitehouse.gov) :

Right now, insurance companies are rationing care.

We are held hostage at any given moment by health insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can't afford. It's wrong. It's bankrupting families. It's bankrupting businesses. And we are going to fix it when we pass health insurance reform this year.

Right now we have a health care system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. And we've got to change that.

In the past three years, over 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a preexisting condition. Either the insurance company refused to cover the person, or they dropped their coverage when they got sick and they needed it most, or they refused to cover a specific illness or condition, or they charged higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs. No one holds these companies accountable for these practices.

One woman testified that an insurance company would not cover her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was five years old.
Despite all the hand-wringing pundits and the best efforts of those who are profiting from the status quo, we are closer to achieving health insurance reform than we have ever been.

But let's face it, now is the hard part -- because the history is clear -- every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got.

And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people for the simple crime of being sick.

All we want to do is just make sure that private insurers are treating you fairly.

Obama quotes over. He isn't villifying them? How do you feel about those companies when you read or hear those statements? Think about it before you go on with this blog.

See, for me, they bring out a sense of wrong being done to someone. The statements hold the insurance companies as responsible for the wrong doing and thus are the bad guy, I.E. villan. However these statements definately blame insurance companies for causing the problems in health care. Now they are working together to solve the problem which I think is good. However, why is he working with them if he thinks they caused the mess considering this statement:

“But I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking”.

Quote over. I don't have the answers, it is up to you to ask him for the answers.

One final note on a health care related item, Obama mentioned his grandmother once saying the following:

I will never forget my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final months, having to worry about whether her insurance would refuse to pay for her treatment.

Quote over. Yes, this last statement I included because of the fact that his grandmother died two days before he was elected. If he cared so very much for her, why didn't he, a millionaire, step in and pay for it himself? Use common sense and realize who is lying to you.

Bangor, Trees, and Responsibility

By code and policy, all trees in the city of Bangor, unless otherwise determined, are the ownership of the city. If the tree is not damaged or dying from whatever reason (in which case it is covered by the city forester), any removal or altering of the trees must be covered by a council vote. The trees are the City's property.

So when those tree's roots damage pipelines which flood basements, or breaks through the walls of someone's basement, it should be the city's responsibility to pay for the repairs. Similar to how a parent is responsible for their child's actions legally, the city should be responsible for our trees.

I've heard several complaints about how the city denied responsibility and place the cost of repairs to several homes where a tree's roots damaged the water line to the house and broke through the basement walls thus flooding the basement. The tree caused the damage, but the city did not do the responsible thing. From what I know of the situation the homeowners were at no fault.

I will make certain the council takes responsibility for damages caused by our trees, and anything else we "parent" in the city.

We Are Doomed 5

A book which covers the controversy of the cartoons over Islam's Prophet Mohammed will not include, by decision of the publishers to avoiding controversy themselves, will not include the cartoons. A book about a picture which will not include the picture. We are doomed.