Shaming Hippocrates

My first opinion -- and anyone who knows me knows this is NOT my first opinion, just the first one I offer here (after all, my statement on politicians is more like a fact) -- involves the health care debate.

It seems to me that as long as Americans are willing to accept the idea that health care is a profit industry, then health care companies will continue to pull down annual profits that will exceed $300 billion a year; they can deny a child coverage because he is too tall or she is too thin; and then abandon those who need coverage the most. After 65, for most Americans, the Public Option is the ONLY option -- Medicare. Our reward for having produced as workers for decades is to be ignored and abandoned by all except the government plan, just when our health issues will begin to mount. Even supplimental plans to cover the 20 percent Medicare does not are prohibitive to someone on a fixed retirement; one serious illness can bankrupt a once productive family and push them out of their home until they are qualified by their low income for Medicaid.

So who are the hypocrites here? And where is the Hippocratic oath?

Welcoming Me and You

Welcome. This is my first forage into the world of blogging and I have no idea if anyone will ever find me or read me. But for my pleasure, joy and ego I begin.

In the future I hope to share my opinions, my humor, a few of my poems and my stories with you. I am a published author but relatively unknown. Maybe this will change now, with your help, if I am worthy.

At the outset let me tell you I am -- my own coined word -- an audiovideobibliophile. That is, I love music, movies, and books and will gladly discuss them anytime. I also love history and politics although I do not love politicians. Politicians seem to have lost sight of their moral compass, and debate and weigh issues based on personal agenda instead of, in that great Star Trek phrase, "the needs of the many."

So, again, welcome. Sometimes I expect I will be angry, sometimes playful. I only hope that we all have fun or open our minds -- or both. Oh, and my motto is: DO NO HARM.

Thanks for listening. Roy