The Industrial Medical Complex

We have all heard about the Industrial Military Complex where wars are fought simply to make some people rich. I came to the conclusion that there is also the Industrial Medical Complex. I wrote in The Costs Of Government Controlled Health Care about a doctor who bought an MRI machine so he could do scans far cheaper than medical centers. He was quickly shut down by state regulators.

I just read an article where a woman went to her family doctor for a sore throat. She was going on a trip and wanted to make sure she didn't have Strep Throat. A few swabs later she was on her way home with no antibiotics. A few days later, her throat was better and she was away on her trip. On her return home, she had a medical bill in the mail for $28,395.50. Her insurance company was going to pay $25,865.24.

The reason for this is, the doctor sent the swab to an out of network laboratory. If he had sent the samples to an in-network lab, the cost would have been only $653. Why he sent the sample to an out of network lab isn't important. The big question is, if one lab can do the test for $653, why can't all labs? We're told an in-network lab is cheaper because they negotiate prices with the insurance company. I'll bet that in-network lab is still turning a profit.

What Is A Political Conservative?

Most Republicans we see on television and talk with claim to be Conservatives. Wikipedia defines Conservatism as: Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights. This tends to be the popular definition. The word “Conservative” means to conserve, to resist change.

A conservative friend on Twitter just gave me this definition of Conservative: The overall definition is one who believes that to contain the power of government, we must preserve personal responsibility and enforce ethical standards. It's the last part “contain the power of government” that seems to be at odds with the social aspect. It seems when it comes to social issues, Conservatives seem to want more government.

Social conservatives will be the first to call for sodomy and drug laws. They will not even discuss marijuana legalization, much less some hard drugs. As I discussed in, Mistake of Government Controlled Marriage, social conservatives don't want to remove marriage from government, while fighting against same-sex marriage.

Tax Exemptions Control Schools And Churches

Cable News Network, CNN, held the LGBT Town Hall meeting for Democratic presidential candidates. The entire event was mostly pandering and showing the extremes of the LGBT community. There were a couple of things that set conservatives on fire. One, was a mother with her 9 year old trans male child, and the other was a question about tax exemptions for churches, schools, and universities if they don't support same-sex marriage.

This writing isn't about the 9 year old trans, but I would like to clarify some things. I have heard conservatives complaining about permanently mutilating children. US law doesn't allow a 9 year old to take any hormone altering drugs or have genital altering surgery. Some are given hormone blockers at puberty, but the child must be 16 before they can begin hormone replacement therapy. A person must be a legal adult before they can have genital surgery. None of this can be done without authorization from a psychologist trained in this area.

The Sin of Conversion Therapy

Over the years, and even recently, I have been mocked for saying conversion therapy is torture. In case you aren't familiar, Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions. This therapy often includes locking people alone in a room with a bible. Conversion therapy is also sometimes performed on transgenders.

I just watched the story of 15 year old Alex Cooper who made the mistake of telling her parents she liked girls. Within a short time the girl was whisked way to St George, Utah, where she was placed with a husband and wife, the Simms, in their family home, who were to provide the conversion therapy. She was forced by her parents, grandparents, and the police to live with this couple for 8 months.

At first, the Simms did the typical forced bible study and brainwash techniques, such as mild punishments and repetitive language. Once, when Alex was caught asking for help in the grocery store, she was dragged from the store, tossed into the car, and punched in the stomach by Mr. Simms. At other times, she was whipped with a belt all over her body.

What is Normal?

These days we hear a lot about the word, Normal. Over the past couple of years we have heard conservatives complain that the left is trying to normalize pedophilia because they published articles by men admitting they have sexual desires for children, but would never act on those desires. Many men like the one in this Vice article end up killing themselves because of their guilt for having these desires. I don't understand how labeling something a psychological disorder is normalizing that problem. I find it odd that so many people don't want to prevent men from acting on pedophilia desires by having them feel safe in seeking out mental counseling. I often wonder why just the mention of such topics as pedophilia and LGBT sends some into a panic. Maybe it's because of some deep seated guilt.

There is one thing of which we can be sure, sex with small children will never become accepted by modern society, or seen as normal. In most of human history, sex with post pubescent girls has been considered normal. Until about 75 years ago, it was common for older men to marry girls as young as 13. This happened because boys were seen as an asset on the farm, or they could even work in factories. Daughters were seen as a burden so they were married off as soon as they passed puberty. Normal is always set by society, which means anything that's considered acceptable.

Controlling Political Language

Democrats have this incredible power, and that's their ability to control speech and the narrative. In almost every instance, democrats will say “immigrant” in place of “undocumented” immigrant. They will sometimes use the latter when it's to position for a specific policy, but they will never use the legal term, “illegal alien.”

Another area where democrats love to play with the language is when they talk about transgenders. They will talk about “trans” and restroom use. Absolutely no one believes cross-dressing(transvestite) men should be using ladies restrooms, but many people believe transsexual women should use the ladies restroom. Democrats love to take everything to the extreme, so they will never limit the conversation to specifics.

For those who don't know the difference, men cross-dressing is considered a fetish. There are those who see themselves as non-gender binary, or having no gender, that isn't sexual in nature. I'm quite sure that even most democrats believe that only those who have begun hormone therapy should use the restroom of their visual gender.

21st century Speech

Former Parkland student, Kyle Kashuv, had been accepted into Harvard University until someone posted a racist text he had sent at age 16 online. I would say he was just being bombastic with his group of friends, but in any case, he has apologized. After that text became public, Harvard withdrew their acceptance of his college application.

Conservatives are angry at Harvard because Kyle gained notoriety after the Parkland shooting when he became a conservative voice for the 2^nd Amendment and other conservative views. Those conservative views combined with the racist text is clearly why Harvard revoked their acceptance. I understand the anger because this was obviously based, in part, on his political views, but not the overreaction. Maybe Kyle can get the prestigious university to change its mind, but there are many other schools if they don't.

I prefer to talk about choices. We live in an age where the youth of today are putting their entire lives online. When I want to look at the photos of my life, I have to dig through a box of printed photos with writing on the back. People of today only have to log onto Facebook to see their life through photos and text. People don't think twice about posting photos of their young children online where anyone can view them, even pedophiles.

Democrat Bail Reform

Every weeks it seems democrats have some new plan to solve all our problems. This week it's bail reform. They say requiring bail is racist and bigoted. They are telling us that more blacks are in jail than whites because they can't pay the smallest bail. For this reason they want to do away with the bail system all together. So far, I have heard no clear plan for a replacement, just elimination.

Imagine this scenario. A mass murderer is arrested. Instead of placing him in a police car, he is handed something similar to a speeding ticket that tells him to call a number to find out when he can appear before a judge. He is then released back into the public while he awaits trial.

I did lay out the most extreme case, but I saw nothing on nationalbailout.org that said anything to the contrary. Even if they wanted to eliminate bail for non-violent offenders, they would still leave a lot of dangerous people walking the streets. You might say innocent until proven guilty, but police spend a lot of time and money to find alleged criminals. This is why we have bail hearings to decide who should be detained and who can be released.

Personal Debt

Americans have accumulated $4 trillion dollars of personal debt. This much debt is a dangerous trend. There is no evidence that personal debt will decrease. Student loan debt, alone, is $1.5 trillion dollars. This debt is akin to home mortgages because they often require lifetime payments. Credit card debt is more than a trillion dollars. This is maybe the worst debt of them all.

We have to look at each type of debt independently. Housing and college debt are, at least, an investment in the future. A home can often be sold for more than its purchase price. Student debt often leads to higher incomes in he future. This doesn't mean either are always good choices. If you buy a house larger than you can truly afford, odds are good that you will, someday, face foreclosure. If you borrow $100,000 for a women's study degree, chances are you will end up working in fast food. No matter the type of debt, we must make wise choices.

My mom grew up poor and she was terrified of any type of debt. She passed that fear onto me, but I still fell into the debt trap. I got into the habit of buying on credit at the local mom and pop store. This was common in the area. They didn't charge any interest. When you got paid, you go there to cash your check and they clear your your tab. Stores did this because it was a way to gain more customers.

The Digital Town Square

Is social media truly the new town square? There have been a lot of conservative and ideologically right voices being banned from Facebook and Twitter. Some on the ideological right say these are private businesses and have a right to ban whomever they please.

I've personally been torn between thoughts. My first reaction is that we don't want government interfering in private businesses. We all know that government is constantly regulating businesses, but those of us for a free market work to fight against regulations.

There is one possible way to fight against people being banned, and that's through civil suits. There was recently a mass banning of right-wing people and groups from Facebook in the name of clearing the site of hate groups. Labeling a group or person as hate can have financial and social harm. I believe we will see some lawsuits against Facebook and Twitter for this labeling. Civil suits can protect the rich, but the average person can't afford to sue a large corporation.

Democratic Party Coup

Democrats have been talking seriously about abolishing the Electoral College. They are upset that Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election, despite winning the popular vote. Her lead in the popular vote could have been attributed to the people of Los Angeles, alone. If the US was a democracy instead of a constitutional republic, a handful of cities could decide the presidency.

In America, the founders intended for each state to be a self governing country. The federal government was created to form a common defense, and so that states could trade freely across borders. States joining together under a republic had many benefits, yet still allowed each state to govern independently. A person living in New York City can't begin to understand what life is like in rural South Carolina. Each Eastern state or region has an economy that's different from one on the West coast. The Electoral College insures the people of Iowa have equal power to those in New York City.

Democratic Socialism Failures

What's the difference between regular socialism and Democratic Socialism? There is none, because socialism usually ends in a tyranny, American socialists believe they can bring in more people if they say their form will be better because people will be allowed to vote for their leaders. Simply put, it's just an illusion because Democratic Socialists want to have total control.

Socialism seems to be the topic of interest for democrats. I doubt most of the people bashing capitalism and praising socialism even know what it is. What most socialists talk about is free college and medical care. Those are social programs, but not socialism. Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization, which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

The important part of this is their use of “community.” Leftists make it sound as if community is you and your neighbors making decisions. Technically, that is correct, but in truth, you would elect people to make those decisions. We call those people government. If you listen to Democratic Socialists, they are always talking about expanding federal power. Many might find socialism acceptable if it was done on a local level, but people in Washington, DC know absolutely nothing about your community.

Gentrification And Economic Change

We have heard a lot about how a few New York residents fought off Amazon from building a new headquarters in the city. There were a lot of arguments as to why they thought the new headquarters was a bad deal for the city. There was one aspect I thought was bad—The city was going to give Amazon $300 million in grants. No city should give away money and assets to lure corporations to the area, even if it would mean huge economical gains for the area. The only exception might be if citizens voted for the assistance, such as when they have referendum votes to build sports stadiums.

Amazon was promised $3 billion in tax breaks. It seems impossible to explain to leftists that a tax break is letting someone keep their money, not giving them money. I wrote in Reasoning Behind Eliminating Business Taxes how a business doesn't pay any taxes, because they pass those costs on to the consumer. For this reason a tax break shouldn't matter. For some reason, democrats seem to believe the city will lose $3 billion if Amazon comes.

Disastrous Green New Deal

Democrats, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have presented the Green New Deal that is a combination of climate and social justice legislation. We are being told this new legislation (H.Res.109 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal), which gives no specifics, is necessary if we are to save the world from global warming. Democrats are telling us that if we don't take drastic measures, the world as we know it will come to an end in 12 years.

No matter your stand on climate change, you have to see this as a fear tactic. I've written about Climate Hypocrisy, but his is more about the social justice aspect and how this plan is economically impossible. I've seen estimates that the Green New Deal could cost anywhere between $84-$100 trillion dollars. There is only an estimated $77 trillion in the entire world. This means, if you confiscated all the money in the world, you would come up short. You might ask what their alternative payment method might be—printing money has been proposed. Any economist will tell you that printing this much money would destroy the US economy,

Fake Hate Crimes List

Before I list the many fake hate crimes, let's talk about some recent events. We are just a few weeks into 2019, and we’ve already seen two high-profile instances of the left deliberately lying about Trump supporters to push their narrative that the right is dangerous. Democrats keep telling us how most hate crimes are committed by the right, but the Jussie Smollett case reminded us of how many fake hate crimes there have been. There are hate crimes committed by the left and right, but I'm not sure I ever heard of someone on the right committing a fake hate crime. (I should note that white supremacists aren't the ideological right, they span many ideologies.)

Many fake hate crimes are done to make the other side look bad, but some are done simply for attention, Smollett thought he could get enough attention to make him more famous and get a raise from his meager income of $100,000 per episode salary. Smollett also hated Trump, so it's no surprise he chose to portray his attackers as MAGA, white males.

Angry Mobs Rule

This week there was outrage when a photo of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam came out that showed him in blackface or a KKK costume. He has gone back and forth on if he is either person in the photo. For me it doesn't matter if he is in the photo, what concerns me are the calls for him to resign. The photo was taken 35 years ago while he was in college. I've been told it was a party and the theme was to come as something offensive.

I've spent a lot of time on twitter speaking out in his defense, not because I believe he is a good man, but because I've seen no evidence that he is currently a racist. The fact democrats elected him to office would suggest they didn't believe him to be a racist. I have no idea if he is or isn't so I must assume he isn't based on his record.

Stolen Land

For years we have seen people posting memes about how the white, mainly British, people stole land from native Americans(indians). There is no doubt some things that happen in the past wouldn't be acceptable today. Almost every country in the world has had its borders changed because of war and colonization. The world of 300 years ago was a lot different from the one in which we live today—or is it?

President Obama made it clear he was against African colonists. Not all aspects of British colonization were bad, but I want to speak more to the colonization of North and South America. I've watched over the years as a friend and others posted memes about how white people stole native lands. This is something that happened 300 years ago, but we're reminded of it daily.

You might be asking why we're reminded of something that happened 300 years ago, and why are white people of today being blamed? No one alive in America today stole anyone's land. This is simply a political tool devised by the Democratic Party to divide the nation in order to gain power. I've written before how Civil War history has been revised by both parties for political gain.