No One Asked Me But…

by Dr. Larry Moses
Published Nov. 4, 2009

No one asked me but…I went to the Homecoming Parade last week. Once again the students did a great job putting floats together. The local police were there to help direct traffic and the students actual used the road around the school this year.

The lead float was empty as a tribute to fallen classmates. As I watched the Parade and fought little kids for the candy being thrown from the various floats, I waited for the Moapa Valley Football Team to come by.

The only team I saw was dressed in black and gold. I thought the Hawthorne football team had joined the parade. The kid who I had just beat out for a tootsie pop explained to me that was the Moapa Team and then kicked me in the shin. I beat him to that tootsie pop fair and square, what a poor loser. These parades would be much better if they didn’t let kids come to them.

I must admit, I as an old purist, would like to see our team in Blue and Gold. But before I got adjusted to the black uniforms, the band came by in no uniforms whatsoever. What happened to those uniforms we taxpayers bought? I realize it was all of fifty degrees out and there was the danger of heat prostration. But if you can’t wear uniforms for the Homecoming Parade, when can you?

However, all in all the parade was great. The queen candidates were beautiful as usual and picking one must have been difficult.

Thursday night we went to the Homecoming football game. Our cheerleaders were in what looked like black but were really dark blue uniforms. The band uniforms were predominately black and then the football team hit the field in black uniforms with yellow numbers. The coaches were wearing black sweater vests.

All kinds of comments were made about the colors the team should play under and I must admit, I was as vocal as any.

We opened the game with a minute of silence for the fallen classmates. In our black uniforms, we proceeded to win the game.

It was not until the next morning that I had one of those “Oh!” moments when you realize what a jerk you had been. One might think that the empty float, the moment of silence and the black displayed would have keyed understanding of the event. But I have never been accused of being the sharpest knife in the drawer. Homecoming had been dedicated to the two young ladies. It was a fitting and wonderful tribute. The student body, the football team, coaches and school administration are to be commended for the fitting and heartfelt remembrance. While only the “Bold Wear The Blue And Gold”, “Only The Mellow Wear The Black and Yellow.”

No one asked me but…The health care issue is driving me nuts. Why do you need a bill that is over two thousand pages long to say we are going to insure every uninsured person in America? For $1.2 trillion over the next ten years the government could go to a private insurance company and get a policy for everyone of the 47 million uninsured Americans. You could do that with one page of documentation and be on your way.

The real problem is going to be when companies realize that it is going to be cheaper to not offer insurance to their employees and more and more people fall under Government Insurance. I realize that the House bill provides for an eight percent payroll tax on companies not offering health insurance, but that may be cheaper than the insurance. Besides that cost can be passed on to the consumer. Eventually what you will have is not government insurance but government run health care.

The provision that most mystifies me is the one that deals with pre-existing conditions. No company will be allowed to deny insurance to anyone because of pre-existing conditions.

I wish the auto insurance industry was that way. I could save a bundle on insurance. I would wait until the accident, then call up the insurance company and purchase a policy. That makes no sense at all.

The bill prohibits insurance companies from charging higher risk persons higher rates. Maybe they will attack the life insurance industry and when I am ninety-eight, I will take out a million dollar life insurance policy for the same rate the twenty year old pays.

The House Bill provides for a tax on anyone making over $500,000 of 5.4 per cent. “Wahoo!” It won’t hit me.

But you do realize when the income tax was instituted only the very rich were taxed until WWII and the government got in a bind and had to expand the tax to take in all but about 51 million American today.

Do you really believe the federal government won’t expand this tax program? There is a 2.5 percent tax on wholesale sales of medical devices, but not on retail. Excuse me, do you really believe any company actually pays a tax it doesn’t pass on to you and me. While you may not pay the tax directly, it will be passed on to you in your medical bills.

There is a 2.5 percent penalty placed on those people who are past the poverty threshold and chose not to have insurance. That, my friend, is a tax and it is a tax on the middle class, which the President said he would veto.

I was watching TV the other day and heard a young college girl say how wonderful government insurance would be. Free medical was important to her so she could spend her money on food and rent as she puffed her cigarette.

The issue is the term FREE. Nothing is free, someone pays for it. Maybe this is one area where passing the cost on to our children makes sense. If they think it is free, they may not notice themselves paying for it down the road.

Do you ever find yourself shouting STOP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Let me take care of myself.

Thought of the week….Self reliance is the only road to true freedom, and beings one’s own person is the ultimate reward.

– Patricia Sampson.