Pajamas TV’s Stephen Crowder went to Canada to get a first hand experience of what “Canadian-style” health care is like for the average Canadian citizen.

Although not scientifically administered, Stephen does a great job with his guerilla style documentary as he follows two Canadian citizens to receive a simple blood test and also get treated for a bum wrist (obtained skateboarding).

He also interviews others who share their stories and experiences including a woman who’s mother had to wait so long for a critical operation (2 years) that her legs had to be amputated, a man who stepped on a rusty nail and was told that the hospital was all out of tetanus shots and should come back in a few days, to a baby who was extremely sick from gastro and had to wait over a week to finally be seen.

The stories, although wrapped in a comedic twist, are visceral and alarming. What’s more surprising was seeing each government worker recommend private care for better treatment. (Which wasnt cheap. The government clinic cited a $900 tab for a “basic” checkup)

Watch for yourself.

While I was watched this video

of Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke appearing before Joint Economic Committee and being questioned by Rep. Duncan (TN) on May 5th(?), for some reason Blue Oyster Cult’s song “Veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars” crossed my mind. Just look at Bernanke’s body language… crossed arms, when he’s saying “we are transparent,” he looks down and away, he also looks up and away… all classic sign of lying. Big time BS-er.

Notice that when Rep. Duncan (TN) asks him a question, Bernanke pauses much longer than necessary before answering. Trying to make up a plausible reason why “it’s not what it really looks like, honey…” Yeah, riiiight.

Also, Bernanke obviously doesn’t know that Congress is SUPPOSED to have control over the “monetary policy” of the U.S., as he puts it. This, from someone who’s supposed to be an expert in money and money management, supposedly graduated from an Ivy League School?? WTH??

Lastly, if the Federal Reserve was on the up & up, they would have been disclosing information ALL ALONG… FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!!!! They expect you, me, McDonald’s, Fed Ex and any other individual, for-profit business and non-profit businesses to show their books upon the possibility of an audit related to a Congressional investigation or a lawsuit but the private corporation the Federal Reserve, posturing as a bona fide government agency, is beyond reproach…. Me thinks they stinks….

And, here’s a wonderful rebuttal to and a few questions for Bernanke from Rep. Paul (TX). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjULF_Xg6Ps] But just listen to how Bernanke has the beans to say in regards to the GAO auditing the Federal Reserve, “I would certainly resist any attempts to dictate to the Federal Reserve to how to make federal monetary policy. It is the independence of monetary policy which is crucial to the maintenance of price stability and economic growth in this country. And that would not be acceptable.” {Notice that Dr. Paul one-ups and concludes, “of course it’s only the policy that really counts.”

Anyhow, many thanks to Barry K. for bringing the first video to my attention. I’d like to close with this quote from former President Woodrow Wilson: “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” — Woodrow Wilson 1919-The President who signed the Federal Reserve Act into law

Thanks to Guy McLendon and Jason J for passing this along. The final quote from Thomas Jefferson, from 1802, gives great insight into the current devaluation of our currency. My personal favorite is the second-from-last quote.

It’s also been said the Jefferson did his largest amount of thinking when he dined alone. Obviously, Thomas Jefferson was much wiser than our Federally-controlled public education system gave him credit for. Imagine our Congress today, if Thomas Jefferson were working hand-in-hand with the likes of Rep. Dr. Ron Paul and other true conservative libertarians… anyone for Congressional sessions only lasting a month?

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When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.

When the representative body have lost the confidence of their constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of their most valuable rights, when they have assumed to themselves powers which the people never put into their hands, then indeed their continuing in office becomes dangerous to the state, and calls for an exercise of the power of dissolution.

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Dear all:

Below is a compilation of the emails related to the Texas Liberty Campaign Convention Sub-Committees’ work to date. Their work is pretty much finalized. The lines of asterisks separate each individual email.  The files referenced below after “HOTELS” is in the “Files” section of the Meetup.com site (membership & login required).

Much of this information is also summarized on the following website, which was used during the Ron Paul ’08 Presidential campaign:https://forum.ocati.org/ .

I’ve tried to summarize the most crucial information below as:

1) general information about the San Marcos Texas Liberty Campaign Convention in July

2) Second Texas Liberty Campaign Convention Committee’s Minutes of the Meetings (teleconferences, separate files)

3) Adopted report of the agenda subcommittee (separate file)

4) Initial Report of the Bylaws Subcommittee (separate file)

Please check the above website and read the materials there, as it will answer most of your questions not answered in the information below. I’m updating this document as soon as I can after it becomes available.

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General information about the Second Texas Liberty Campaign Convention

WHO: Anyone who cares about their liberties and is willing to come, per below. It’s not a prerequisite that you attended the Feb 28-March 1 Austin convention to be able to attend this convention, as a guest. If you were a delegate to the first convention, you are a delegate to the San Marcos convention. If you were an alternate, you’re an alternate again, same seating order as before. However, if you joined HALC after 2/27/09, you can only attend as a guest. You can likely run for a delegate or alternate seat in your respective SD, assuming you are qualified to run there.

WHAT: The Second Texas Liberty Campaign Convention, which arose out of the first convention, held in Austin TX on Feb. 28-March 1, 2009.

WHEN: Sat., July 25 & Sun., July 26, 2009. Starts @ 9:00 am both days. Ends @ appx. 5:00 pm Sat 7/25/09 and NO LATER THAN 5:00 pm Sun 7/26.

WHERE: Texas State University, 601 University Dr., San Marcos, TX 78666. Phone: (512) 245-2111. Website: www.txstate.edu. A Powerpoint presentation of the TSU campus is on the HALC Meetup.com site as Texas Liberty Campaign Host Report.ppt. Here’s a general Mapquest map of the location: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=San+Marcos&state=TX&address=601+University+Dr.&zipcode=78666 .

HOW MUCH: Cost is $20.00 per person, for both days of attendance. They had anticipated having “remote locations” where pre-registered delegates & alternates could have participated. However, that did not become a primary option. They decided to hold the convention in person; and they authorized remote voting. Delegates who wish to participate remotely will be allowed to do so, to the extent allowed in the rules adopted at the convention. The details of the remote voting method we are proposing and preparing for is described in the proposed rules.

PREREGISTRATION: Following is the link to register. Make sure to fill in all fields; otherwise, it won’t let you go to the payment page, and you will have to start over:  http://convention.ocati.org/RSVP/.

MEALS: Lunch will only be available for those who prepay (see under “Preregistration”) & we need a head count on those interested in purchasing breakfast items on site.

HOTELS:: If you are going to get a hotel room, you need to book it sooner rather than later–as in today. All prices are quoted for both July 24 & 25 for double rooms. All currently have rooms for the weekend of the 25th. All are within 5 minutes of the University. Without any guarantee’s we cannot get “block rates” because of tourism.

These are off Hwy 123 (Guadalupe Street) and IH35 (frontage road east side of I-35):
Holiday Inn Express & Suites–108 IH 35 North, (800) 465-4329, (512) 754-6621 or (512) 754-7707
Suites only available $149

These are on the west side of I-35 on the frontage road at Aquarena Springs:
La Quinta Inn–1618 IH 35 North, (800) 531-5900 or (512) 392-8800
$129

Quality Inn–1433 IH 35 North, (800) 228-5151 or (512) 353-7770
$100

Ramada Limited & Suites–1701 IH 35 North, (800) 2-RAMADA or (512) 395-8000
$129

Super 8–1429 IH 35 North, (800) 800-8000 or (512) 396-0400
$129

Other alternates in town:
AmeriHost Inn & Suites–4210 IH 35 South, (800) 434-5800 or (512) 392-6800, $149

Best Budget Inn–903 IH 35 North, (512) 392-3990, $79

Best Value Inn–1507 IH 35 North, (888) 315-2378 or (512) 396-6060, $75

Best Western San Marcos–917 IH 35 North, (800) 780-7235 or (512) 754-7557, available July 25th only, $100

Comfort Inn of San Marcos–1611 IH 35 North, (800) 228-5150 or (512) 396-5665, $120

Crystal River Inn–326 W. Hopkins, (888) 396-3739 or (512) 396-3739, $130-$150 (a Medina room)

Days Inn–1005 IH 35 North, (800) DAYSINN or (512) 353-5050, $110

EconoLodge–811 S. Guadalupe St., (800) 55-ECONO or (512) 353-5300, $80

Motel 6–1321 IH 35 North, (800) 4MOTEL6 or (512) 396-8705, $76

Microtel Inn & Suites–902 IH 35 North, (888) 771-7171 or (512) 754-7766, $75

Parkside Inn & Suites801 IH 35 North, (800) 228-2000 or (512) 353-1303, $100

Red Roof Inn–817 IH 35 North, (800) REDROOF or (512) 754-8899, $100

Stratford Inn–1601 IH 35 North, (512) 396-3700, $120

Welcome Home Inn–1635 Aquarena Springs Dr., (512) 353-8011, no pricing info given

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Second Texas Liberty Campaign Convention Committee’s Minutes of the Meetings (teleconferences)–

For the minutes of the 4/26/09 TX Liberty Convention Committee meeting:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “CommConvention-20090426.pdf”

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For the minutes of the 5/19/09 TX Liberty Convention Committee meeting:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “CommConvention-20090519.pdf”

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For the minutes of the 6/13/09 TX Liberty Convention Committee meeting:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “20090613-ConventionMeeting.pdf”

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For the minutes of the 6/27/09 TX Liberty Convention Committee meeting:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “20090627-ConventionMeeting.pdf”

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=======================

For the adopted report of the agenda Subcommittee:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “Tx Liberty Campaign Convention Agenda 7-25&26-09.doc”

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For the Initial Report of the Byloaws Subcommittee:

See separate file on HALC Meetup site: “Bylaws initial-report 20090708.pdf”

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END OF REPORT
Thanks.

Story source: http://www.latimes.co…

Opinion

Obama doesn’t have the only prescription for healthcare reform
A free-market approach would move away from employer-provided insurance and increase competition among both insurers and health providers.

By Michael Tanner

July 5, 2009

President Obama is right when he says that the U.S. healthcare system needs reform. Although this country provides the finest care in the world, our healthcare system has serious problems. It costs too much. Too many people lack health insurance. And quality can be uneven.

The president and his supporters in Congress would have you believe that the only choice is between their plan — which amounts to a government takeover of the healthcare system — and the broken status quo. That is a falsehood.
But supporters of the free market, frankly, have been remiss in positing viable alternatives. So what exactly would a free-market approach to reform look like? Quite simply, it relies on those time-tested building blocks of marketplace efficiency: competition and choice.
There are two key components to any free-market healthcare reform. First, we need to move away from a system dominated by employer-provided health insurance and instead make health insurance personal and portable, controlled by the individual rather than government or an employer.

Employment-based insurance hides much of the true cost of healthcare to consumers, thereby encouraging overconsumption. It also limits consumer choice, because employers get the final say in what type of insurance a worker will receive. It means that people who don’t receive insurance through work are put at a significant and costly disadvantage. And, of course, it means that if you lose your job, you are likely to end up uninsured.

Changing from employer-provided to individually purchased insurance requires changing the tax treatment of health insurance. The current system excludes the value of employer-provided insurance from a worker’s taxable income. However, a worker purchasing health insurance on his own must do so with after-tax dollars. This provides a significant financial reward for those who have employer-provided insurance. That should be reversed.

For tax purposes, employer-provided insurance should be treated as taxable income. To offset the increased tax, workers should receive a standard deduction (or in some plans, a tax credit) for the purchase of health insurance, regardless of whether they receive it through their job or purchase it on their own.

The other part of effective healthcare reform involves increasing competition among both insurers and health providers. Current regulations establish monopolies and cartels in both industries. Today, for example, people can’t purchase health insurance across state lines. And because different states have very different regulations and mandates, costs can vary widely depending on where you live.

New Jersey, for example, requires insurers to cover a wide range of procedures and types of care, including in-vitro fertilization, contraceptives, chiropodists and coverage of children until they reach age 25. Those mandated benefits aren’t cheap. According to a 2007 analysis by the National Center for Policy Analysis, the cost of a standard health insurance policy for a healthy 25-year-old man averaged $5,580 in the state. A standard policy in Kentucky, which has far fewer mandates, would cost the same man only $960 per year.

Unfortunately, consumers are more or less held prisoner by their state’s regulatory regime. It is illegal for that hypothetical New Jersey resident to buy the cheaper health insurance in Kentucky. On the other hand, if consumers were free to purchase insurance in other states, they could in effect “purchase” the regulations of that other state. A consumer in New Jersey could avoid the state’s regulatory costs and choose, say, Kentucky, if that state’s regulations aligned more closely with his or her preferences.

With millions of American consumers balancing costs and risks, states would be forced to evaluate whether their regulations offered true value or simply reflected the influence of special interests. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) has a bill in Congress that would allow consumers to purchase their insurance in other states.

We also need to rethink medical licensing laws to encourage greater competition among providers. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, midwives and other non-physician practitioners should have far greater ability to treat patients. We also should be encouraging such innovations in delivery as medical clinics in retail outlets.

The choice facing us now is not between Obama’s plan for healthcare micromanaged by the government or doing nothing. Rather, it is a choice between government control, regulation and rationing on one hand, and free markets, choice and competition on the other.

That is the real healthcare debate.

Michael Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and coauthor of “Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.”

As the idea of auditing the Federal Reserve picks up momentum, more and more politicians are getting on board. As one article stated so well, Ron Paul’s bill (HR 1207) to audit the Federal Reserve has struck a goldmine of support. The updated list of co-sponsors is below. If your senator or congressman is not on this list, use the link provided to find their contact information and call or write.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/hr1207action.php

And the Co-sponsors are…

Read the rest of this entry »

It has been confirmed that today’s hearings on Federal Reserve policy will also be used to introduce HR1207 for debate by the members of the House Financial Services Committee. This will be a landmark day for the movement to open the books on the untouchable Central Bank.

Below is info on the event that will be streamed live at 1:30PM EST via the House Financial Services Committee Website.

Update: This will be carried on C-SPAN at 1:30 pm ET

On the web, tune in here:

http://www.house.gov/apps…

Thursday, July 9, 2009, 1:30 p.m., 2128 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology will hold a hearing on: “Regulatory Restructuring: Balancing the Independence of the Federal Reserve in Monetary Policy with Systemic Risk Regulation”

Witness List & Prepared Testimony:

Panel One

• Mr. Donald L. Kohn, Vice Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

Panel Two

• Dr. Frederic Mishkin, Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University

• Dr. Laurence Meyer, Vice Chairman, Macroeconomic Advisers

• Dr. James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/ Business Relations and Professor of Government, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas

• Dr. Richard Berner, Chief Economist, Morgan Stanley
• Dr. John B. Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics, Stanford University
• Dr. Allan Meltzer, The Allan H. Meltzer University Professor of Political Economy, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University

(Via the Daily Paul)

The Campaign for Liberty released a statement today calling for increased pressure on Senate representatives to allow for a full audit of America’s central bank, The Federal Reserve. This is opportune considering Senator Jim DeMint’s recent attempt to fast track the senate version of the Audit the Fed bill S. 604. whose efforts were blocked by Senate leadership using a parliamentary tactic.

If you missed it, check out Jim DeMint discuss the senate bill.

Now, the easy part.

The Campaign for Liberty has put together a great tool to easily determine if your congressman and senators have co-sponsored either House bill HR 1207 or Senate bill S. 604. Click the link below and type in your zip code. Then  follow the instructions. They’ve even pre-written a letter to help add some factual substance to your outreach.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/hr1207action.php

Reuters
Monday, July 6, 2009; 5:59 PM

On procedural grounds, the Senate blocked a bid to permit the U.S. comptroller general, who heads the investigative arm of Congress known as the Government Accountability Office, to audit the Federal Reserve system and issue a report.

Republican Senator  Jim DeMint, who has been pushing for greater transparency at the Fed, failed to get the provision attached to the must-pass annual spending bill that includes funding for the GAO for the upcoming 2010 fiscal year.

The audit would have included details about the Fed’s discount window operations, funding facilities, open market operations and agreements with foreign central banks and governments, DeMint said on the Senate floor.

“The Federal Reserve will create and disburse trillions of dollars in response to our current financial crisis,” DeMint said. “Americans across the nation, regardless of their opinion on the bailout, want to know where the money has gone.

“Allowing the Fed to operate our nation’s monetary system in almost complete secrecy leads to abuse, inflation and a lower quality of life,” he said.

Democrats who control the Senate blocked the South Carolina Republican’s amendment on the grounds that it violated rules prohibiting legislation attached to spending bills.

Fed officials were not immediately available to comment.

The move comes as some lawmakers have increasingly become wary of the Fed’s actions, particularly for its handling of the real estate market and the meltdown of major financial institutions like investment bank Bear Stearns and insurance giant American International Group.

A non-binding provision in the fiscal 2010 budget blueprint Congress approved in April called on the Fed to provide more information about collateral posted against Bear Stearns and AIG loans.

That measure also sought a study evaluating the appropriate number and costs of the regional Fed banks.

The U.S. central bank has a seven-member board in Washington whose members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. It also has 12 regional banks whose presidents are appointed by banks and other businesses in their local districts, with the consent of the Washington board.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Alister Bull, editing by Dan Grebler)