The Inside Straight » Max Venom

TIS: Calling Out Sam Stein of The Huffington Post / Palins Health Care in Canada

Max Venom — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:09:31 +0000

Sam Stein (Huffington Post) is a far-left radical liberal who practices sloppy tabloid journalism. And here is the proof.

Stein wrote an article titled ‘Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care‘. In it, Stein asserts the following as fact,

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — who has gone to great lengths to hype the supposed dangers of a big government takeover of American health care — admitted over the weekend that she used to get her treatment in Canada’s single-payer system.
… she and her family once found it more alluring than, at the very least, the coverage available in rural Alaska. Up to the age of six, Palin lived in a remote town near the closest Canadian city, Whitehorse.

The first misstatement of fact is that Canada wasn’t under a single payer system when Palin was six years old. The Canada Health Act wasn’t passed until 1984. Prior to that, Canadian Medicare only covered 50% of medical costs which wasn’t passed into law until 1966.

Stein hasn’t the courage to explain why the Palin family crossed over into Canada. The Palin family lived in the rural southeast Alaska town of Skagway. Their town had no Doctor and the closest medical facilities were located in neighboring Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The time period was in the 60’s, and according to Palin’s father they had little choice, given their location in Skagway. “There was no road out of there at that time,” said retired teacher Chuck Heath, reached by phone in Wasilla. “The ferry schedule was very erratic. We had no doctor in Skagway. The plane schedule was very erratic. The winds dictated whether the planes could come in or not.”

And they only went twice for emergency treatment. According to Palin’s father, his family probably boarded the train for the Whitehorse hospital only twice – once when a daughter had rheumatic fever, and once when his son, also named Chuck, severely burned his leg and an infection set in.

So Stein is a liar, the Palin family did not find Canada ‘more alluring’. They found it necessary in times of emergency.

Stein illustrates the problem with amateur journalism on the far left. They do absolutely no reporting of their own, instead they troll the internet for articles, steal the information and regurgitate the parts they like in a pathetic attempt to twist the story in order to dumb down their readers.

And here I sit, a novice journalist with an English 1A class under my belt, who with five minutes to spare on conducting my own credible research (Courtesy AP), has called out a cheap shot rookie who is a total discredit to the values that journalism requires. Because anything else is just sloppy tabloid journalism.

TIS: My Email From President Obama on Health Care

Max Venom — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:51:04 +0000

Yesterday I emailed the White House on the subject of heath care. It started out, “Dear Mr. President”, and went on to discuss the issue of Presidential legacies, specifically that great leaders write their own legacies, and that if the President is insistent upon ramming obamacare down our throats ‘at all costs’, to include imploding the democratic party, well that isn’t a very good legacy at all.

This isn’t the first time I have emailed the White House, perhaps over the past year this would be my 10th piece of correspondence asking them what the heck is happening to our country, with strong conservative overtones. I have always checked the block ‘Do you want a response?’, but this is the first response I have ever received. These days with health care hanging by a thread, I guess any email the White House gets on health care merits a response to ALL Americans, not just liberal messages of support. Granted, the President didn’t read my email. In fact, no one did. I know this because the response didn’t address any of my concerns (especially the one recommending Obama fire Rahm Emanuel on behalf of all decent Americans who are disgusted by Chicago Mob-style politics in the White House). Despite not reading it, Barack Obama replied. Well, his name is on it anyway…. cranked out by some lowly staff member with the painful job of sending out White House spam.

And this is President Barack Obamas response to my email;

——————————————————–

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing. I have heard from countless Americans struggling to afford health insurance, as well as health professionals striving to provide care, and I appreciate your perspective.

I recently released my proposal to reform our health insurance system. To learn more about this plan, please visit:

www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting and www.healthreform.gov

Reform must provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance; give those without insurance affordable options; and lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government.

I share the sense of urgency that many Americans have voiced to improve health care in our country. Together, we will fix it.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

———————————————————–

Does the spin ever stop? ’Together we will fix it’…. without any Republicans or the majority of Americans who disapprove of this partisan Bill? My only response to this is Washington is broken, starting with the President. He possess the power to bring both sides together to initiate bipartisan reform that uses the best ideas from both parties. If he truly loved capitalism, he would allow private insurance companies to compete across state lines, he would reduce government red tape instead of adding to it, he would allow our health care system to breathe freely under a free market system, he would insist on it being a voluntary program encouraged with tax credits. He would understand the necessity of keeping government out of the health care business in order to preserve it as the best (albeit not perfect) system the world has ever produced. The USA leads the world in medical technology for a very good reason, and none of it due to government.

Mr. President, tear up the partisan bill that is headed to your desk and start over with bi-partisan reform. That is what most Americans want. If it means showcasing your leadership by eating a slice of Humble pie, well sir, thats what leaders do sometimes, and that would be 100% better than serving most Americans a plate of crap.

TIS: President Obama Breaks Haiti Pledge After 49 Days

Max Venom — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:39:46 +0000

Only 49 days after making a pledge that could only rival God of the Old Testament, “You will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten,” President Barack Obama told the people of Haiti. “In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you” (said on January 15th), the President is now withdrawing a large majority of U.S. troops from Haiti. A move that has some Haitians fearing the departure of American troops as a sign of dwindling international interest in the plight of the Haitian people following the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake.

According to Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of U.S. Southern Command, which runs the Haiti operation, “Our mission is largely accomplished”

Now that is impressive, in a record 49 days the U.S. has largely accomplished its mission in Haiti, after an earthquake leveled the capital city killing 230,000, injuring another 300,000, and leaving an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. Good Job Mr. President.

Now we can refocus our energy and hope and pray that the Lord God hasn’t accomplished His mission here on planet Earth…

Joshua 1:5 “… (God) I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You.”

TIS: A Closer Look at Obama’s Doctors in White Coats

Max Venom — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:08:06 +0000

Zoom in on the doctors standing behind President Obama (White House briefing on Obamacare; 3 March 2010) and you will see three letters embroidered on the white coat right breast pocket: GHC. On the Seattle based GHC website, Group Health Cooperative describes itself as follows; ”Founded in 1947, Group Health Cooperative is a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system that coordinates care and coverage. Based in Seattle, Wash., Group Health and its subsidiary health carriers, Group Health Options, Inc. and KPS Health Plans, serve more than half a million residents of Washington state and Idaho.” In addition to Seattle, other GHC’s operate throughout the country as non-profit managed health care providers, e.g. (GHC-SCW) (GHC-Eau Claire).

It comes as no surprise that non-profit health care providers would support Obamacare since a sizable share of their funding is paid by MEDICARE, MEDICAID, and government grants. However, what is somewhat surprising is how a healthcare provider can qualify as a non-profit organization under IRS Section 501(a), operating as a TAX-EXEMPT charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3), and be allowed to invest government dollars in Marketable Securities.

According to GHC-Seattle consolidated financial statements for 2008, this “Charity” collected over 2.5 million in annual premiums, $680,000 of which came from MEDICARE and MEDICAID. They received $32,000 in Government Grants. GHC-Seattle also deals in Marketable Securities totaling $757,569 representing investments in Government Securities, Mortgage Backed Securities, Mutual Funds, Commercial Paper, Equity, and Corporate Debt Securities.

How is it legal for a non-profit, operating as a charity, to collect MEDICARE and MEDICAID premiums, government grants, and then use that money to invest in Mutual Funds, Mortgage Backed Securities and Government Securities? Is this some type of government bonus for not paying any Federal Tax?

No wonder why GHC is lining up behind the President rooting for Obamacare. Under Obamacare, multiply the size of GHC by a factor of 10 (10 X the investments… 10 X the tax exempt status…. 10 X the government grants… 10 X the MEDICARE, MEDICAID and OBAMACARE premiums… 10 X the bureaucracy) and this is the transformation that will improve everyone’s Health Care in America?

This is a socialized health care scam, that by all appearances, funnels government money through healthcare providers and out the other end to buy government securities. The implications are huge, representing hundreds of billions under a single-payer, public option system.

Exactly how big is this government shell game? I don’t think we’ll ever truly know the answer to that question. All we can be sure of is information is being withheld from the public through layers and layers of intelligible legislation. And the deeper we dig, the uglier it gets.

Another oddity is how small GHC really is. Yet they are big enough to stand behind the President in order to make the photo-op appear much bigger than it really is. Small potato’s on a big stage. Now that would be really funny if it weren’t so pathetic and troubling for this great nation that we still call home.

RIA Novosti: Russia Edges Closer to Full-Scale 5th Generation Fighter Production (T-50)

Max Venom — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:20:40 +0000

Russia’s fifth-generation jet fighter, the T-50, is to undergo more than 2,000 flight tests before full-scale production starts, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday. “Before the jet’s serial production is launched, it should complete over 2,000 test flights,” Putin said. Russia has been developing its newest fighter since the 1990s. The current prototype was designed by the Sukhoi design bureau and built at a plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East.

Side-by-side comparison of Russian T-50 and U.S. F-22

A word from Max: This development in Russian Fighter technology places Russia on an equal footing with U.S. Fighter capability. What makes this truly ALARMING is President Obama’s decision to halt F-22 production, cease all funding, and cap the USAF inventory at 187 aircraft. A decision that was soundly criticized by Retired Gen. Merrill McPeak. There is a real danger here, and that is we are surrendering air superiority to those who would challenge it. Bad idea? You can count on it.

TIS: To Liberals Everywhere, ‘Government Won’t Save You’

Max Venom — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:21:57 +0000

It often strikes me how Government failure attracts liberals. It’s like watching flies circling fly-paper. That no matter how big the disaster, the solution is always bigger government. And isn’t that the problem of big government, that when government becomes so big it becomes highly bureaucratic and insanely ineffective?

We should learn a few lessons from Katrina, whose aftermath was largely created by big government. The above Katrina poster hangs on my office wall as a constant reminder to me of government inefficiency, that metaphorically, government created the conditions that stranded those people, and the people willingly placed themselves on that bridge. Big government didn’t save them, and it won’t save you. Our government has already failed Social Security, Medicare, and VA health care. Politicians have spent your unborn children’s tax revenue, and have created the worst economic disaster since the great depression (while pointing fingers at everyone else). They have mortgaged your future to the Chinese, and they have bestowed Constitutional rights upon foreign terrorist. And now liberals are claiming government run health care is the best solution to health care reform?

To liberals everywhere: Government won’t save you.

TIS: Obama Reaffirms with Russia – U.S. Missile Shield Will Be Linked to Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty

Max Venom — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:59:08 +0000

In a TIS followup (to this article), President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev reaffirmed by telephone Wednesday that U.S. Missile Shield Plans will be directly linked to the Russian – U.S. Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty scheduled to be finalized this April.

This comes after President Obama scrapped the Bush Missile Defense Shield in Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic) because the plans had infuriated the Russians. Prior to its scrapping, the Pentagon was working up a deal with Turkey as a potential site for Advanced SM-3 U.S. Missiles to target potential Iranian missile threats. However, in an embarrassing repudiation to White House foreign policy, Turkey rejected the offer leaving the U.S. with no place to base its missiles. Subsequent talks with Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic to accept a scaled down version of the Bush Missile Defense Shield by basing ship-based SM-3 Interceptors are ongoing. Poland and Romania have accepted the new plan amidst stiffened Russian opposition who believe that any system threatens their security.

Russia Blocks U.S. Missile Defense: Does Obama Get It?

Max Venom — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:16:57 +0000

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech Monday that Russia had nothing to worry about from NATO. “While Russia faces challenges to its security, NATO is not among them,” she said, disagreeing with Russia’s new military doctrine that lists NATO’s eastward expansion as a threat to the country’s security. This is an all too familiar scene, the Obama Administration is no better at convincing the Russians NATO is nice, than they are at convincing Americans that Universal Health Care won’t bite. Failed domestic policies are one thing, but can the U.S. really afford to fail at foreign relations and missile defense?

In an attempt to appease Russian fears over NATO, Clinton also said the U.S. wants “a cooperative NATO-Russia relationship that produces concrete results and draws NATO and Russia closer together.”

Russia has long opposed NATO expansion of former Soviet States. Russia’s new military doctrine approved by President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in February also includes the possibility of using of nuclear weapons by Russia and lists U.S. anti-missile shield plans as a national threat. This change to Russian doctrine comes five months after Obama scrapped the European Missile Shield without a single Russian concession. In a high stakes game of international chess, Obama sacrificed his Queen for nothing in return, and angered U.S. allies in the process.

Why abandon the Bush Missile Shield? Obama was betting on Turkey. Within hours after abandoning the Bush Missile Shield, diplomats asserted Missiles would be placed in Turkey. Indeed, weeks before the Shield was scrapped, the Pentagon offered advanced missiles to Turkey indicative of a deal in the works. However, that plan fell apart when Turkey rejected installation of a US missile defense system in its territory. How did the Administration blunder this?

In an attempt to find European real estate, Romania agreed to U.S. missile placement. However this plan was soundly rejected by Russia, who demanded an exhaustive explanation from Washington concerning the Montreux Convention dealing with missile batteries along the Black Sea. While Romania favors such deployment plans, it is unclear if the Obama Administration will move forward in the face of stiff Russian opposition.

To make matters worse, Vladimir Putin demanded that Washington disclose more details of its planned missile defense deployments and technology in order for Russia to build offensive weapons that could penetrate U.S. missile defenses. Unbelievable… but true.

Both countries failed to reach an agreement in December before the START I treaty expired. START I has been extended until an arms reduction treaty can be reached. While both countries are working toward signing a new treaty this April, Russia is still insisting that the U.S. turn over telemetry data on the Missile Defense Shield, and will raise this issue as treaty talks resume. The new arms deal is 97% complete, with only technical issues remaining to be agreed, but Russia is saying that U.S. plans for missile defense systems in Eastern Europe were affecting the negotiations.

As the Obama administration plays a dangerous game of Wag-the-Dog with the American public, our missile defenses are being heavily manipulated by Russia. And while Obama considers Russia a military partner and potential ally, Russia considers the U.S. a threat. This one-sided mistrust has created a situation of U.S. appeasement, without Russian concessions, leaving our allies out in the cold and placing the world at greater risk.

Does Obama even get it? Russia is not a military ally. They signed a new military doctrine that is postured to strike the U.S. and NATO. They are pursuing a path of modernizing nuclear forces. They are engaged in the largest Military Build up since the cold war. The game has changed. And Russia controls the board.

TIS will monitor and report on further appeasements to U.S. Missile Defenses in the weeks leading up to the Arms Reduction Treaty.

Max Venom is a freelance writer for The Inside Straight

Published 23 February 2010, 01:16 A.M.

Lead source:
RiaNovosti

President Lies before a Cheering Crowd

Max Venom — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:08:23 +0000

Yesterday, while campaigning for troubled Senate majority leader Harry Reid in Henderson NV, President Obama said he was designating $1.5 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. “This fund’s going to help out-of-work homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures,” he told a cheering crowd.

I am always struck over the reaction of Obamamania. Where do they find these people who will cheer for utter nonsense? Doesn’t anyone listen to what this man is saying?

Look at what he said once again, “This fund’s going to help out-of-work homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures”. Thats an impossible claim. How can anyone be out-of-work and still keep their home — mortgage free? Now if he said this fund would be used to help people find jobs so they could pay their mortgages to prevent foreclosure, that would be much closer to truthful reality.

He followed that statement with this, “It will help homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth find a way to pay their mortgages that works for both the borrowers and the lenders alike.”

Without jobs, Mr. President? How are people without jobs going to find a way to pay their mortgage…. with unemployment checks from the U.S. Government? Lets be real here.

The Q&A session revealed a very troubling agenda. The first question came from the founder of Volunteers in Medicine. The President gave a long winded answer on the importance of Health Care.

The second question came from a vacationing Dentist. The President gave an answer on Health Care.

The third question came from a retired airline worker who is on Social Security disability. The President gave an answer on Health Care.

Finally he spoke about jobs. He admitted, what every conservative already knew, that many jobs that were lost are not coming back. Astoundingly this is how he phrased it, “Harry and I are working now on a jobs package for this year that’s designed not – it’s no longer designed to grow the economy.” What? The Jobs Bill is not being designed to grow the Economy? Then what is the purpose if not to put people back to work so they can pay their bills, buy consumer goods, and grow the economy? (Can anyone explain this?)

The next two questions were about Health Care (see a trend?)

Another question came as a real shocker. A lady who lost her job in the tourism industry asked what was being done to get tourism back to Nevada. Are you ready for this? Again, it wasn’t about creating jobs (because people with extra income no longer qualify as tourist)…. instead this is what he said, “And Harry, before we came out, was talking about a bipartisan tourism promotion/travel promotion act.” …. and Reid chimed in pointing out that, “… You’ll save a half a billion dollars over 10 years and create tens of thousands of jobs”…. (through advertising to foreign countries). Now lets all be honest with ourselves, is it really possible to save half a billion dollars AND create tens of thousands of jobs at the same time? Isn’t that like spending a trillion to save a billion? And who is saving half a billion anyway… the lady who asked the question, and those like her, who lost their jobs? The whole idea is insane… Harry Reid plans to spend tax dollars promoting the United States overseas to people from really broke countries like Greece, who love the United States so much they are willing to humiliate themselves at airport security screenings and spend money they don’t have in places like Vegas. (I wonder, is Reid going to subsidize foreign tourist too?)

If that weren’t enough, our President jokingly slammed our airline infrastructure, “The second thing that we need to do is we’ve got to upgrade our air traffic control system, which is a little creaky. And one of – don’t worry, I mean, it’s safe to travel. I’m not – (laughter) – I don’t want anybody to think, man, creaky, that doesn’t sound good. (Laughter.)” Again the drones laughed. I mean, isn’t it funny when airplanes collide under a creaky system?

Next, a man from France stood up professing carbon regulation in France is growing his business 30% every year. This sounds fishy to me. Unless he is in the Nuclear Plant construction business, I don’t see how this is possible. But it’s a moot point anyway... the French unemployment rate is increasing and could approach 11% by the end of 2010. Regulation in France has steadily increased their Unemployment Rate..

Summarizing the Presidents comments in Henderson is easy. It was 90% health care and 10% everything else. We need health care now, we aren’t planning on creating any jobs to grow our economy, foreign tourist will put tens of thousands of Americans back to work, France is leading the way in Science and Technology, and if you drive an SUV we will regulate it out of existence so everyone can drive around in fuel efficient four-bangers.

Now listen very carefully…. out in the distance…. somewhere Obama drones are cheering and giving thunderous applause for the jobs they have lost, the homes they are losing, and the utter nonsense of no-help coming out of Washington. Classic Droneism.

Read the full text of Obama’s Henderson Q & A

Max Venom is a freelance writer for The Inside Straight

Published 20 February 2010, 12:08 P.M.

Iran Unveils New Satellite: Possible Weapon?

Max Venom — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:43:00 +0000

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a domestically-built satellite booster rocket Wednesday, part of an ambitious space programme that has worried Western powers because they fear the same technology used to launch satellites could also deliver warheads. Officials say the light booster rocket, named Simorgh (phoenix), can carry a satellite weighing 220 pounds (100 kilogrammes) up to 310 miles (500 kilometres) above the Earth.

Meanwhile, the county’s state television broadcast images it said were of the launch of the Kavoshgar-3, or Explorer-3, rocket on Wednesday. Iran’s defence minister said his country’s successful launch was for research purposes. General Ahmad Vahidi did not elaborate on the rocket or its research purposes. Over the past two years Iran has put two rockets into space carrying equipment that collected information on determining the path, pressure, wind and temperature and sent them back to earth. The country sent its first domestically made telecommunications satellite into orbit last year.

Tehran has said it needs satellites to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation and improve its telecommunications. On Tuesday Iran said it was ready to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment as requested by the U.N, a decision which could signal a major shift in the Iranian position on the issue.

Ahmadinejad said Iran will have “no problem” giving the West its low-enriched uranium and taking it back several months later when it is enriched by 20 percent. The enriched fuel can be turned into fuel rods for use in a nuclear reactor which the West believes could be used in making nuclear weapons.

Courtesy RIANOVOSTI