Romney on health care: Let them eat cake

I don’t want to confuse anyone into thinking that I’m a Barack Obama, fan, but the more Mitt Romney talks, the more I like Obama’s chances of being reelected.

As for me, I’ll vote third party — again. I’m leaning towards Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, but I haven’t committed to anyone yet. I just know it won’t be Mitt or Barack.

Over the weekend, Romney said on 60 Minutes that poor people who are sick can just go to the ER to get fixed up.

“Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance,” Romney said on the show, which aired Sunday night. “If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and — and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.”

Never mind the fact that ER care is the most expensive form of medical treatment there is. And never mind that just two years ago Romney said that keeping people out of the ER should be a priority because “It doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility.” Also ignore the fact that emergency room care doesn’t come without responsibility — those debts stay with people for years if they’re not paid off.

What bothers me most about Romney’s comments is that ER treatment is not health care. It’s death prevention. The jobs of nurses and doctors in emergency rooms across the country isn’t necessarily to make you well. It’s to make you well enough to get you back out on the street.

So Romney’s suggestion that the poor simply use emergency rooms as their primary care physician is both fiscally irresponsible and morally objectionable. It keeps people in a vicious health care cycle of being “not dead yet.”

Personally, I think this view is telling. I mean, I can’t help but think that it’s actually how he feels. Just like he feels that “the 47 percent” are a bunch of moochers whose discount bin clothes are ruining the view for the well-to-do.

Never before have I seen a presidential candidate who was so cold and calculating as Mitt Romney. And yet, he maintains followers, in my opinion, simply by not being Barack Obama. Just as the Republican primary lasted so long because all of the other GOP candidates were not Mitt Romney.

Maybe that’s why a Washington Post/Pew Research poll released Monday states that just over half the nation — 54 percent — say they are very or fairly satisfied with their choices come November.
I can’t say that I blame them. I continue to check out the discount bin of political candidates — third parties — looking for someone I can live with.

Scott Leffler wishes he had better options for presidential candidates and other things in life. But at least he has Twitter. @scottleffler

Zombies, zombies everywhere and not a brain to eat

It seems as though the military industrial complex has agreed with the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control that zombies are the next big thing.

This past Sunday, it was announced that security firm HALO Corp. will train members of the military, police departments, the medical community and government employees on the inner workings — and how to deal with — a zombie apocalypse, according to media reports.

The annual counter-terrorism summit will use the zombie metaphor as a humorous means of dealing with real-life problems like disease, mass hysteria, riots and panic. The location of the summit will feature zombies harassing troops and first-aid teams cleaning up.

The Military Times, which first broke the story, made sure to point out that zombies are not real. Hmm. I can’t help but wonder whether they were told to say that. Especially since the CDC made it a point to state a few months ago that zombies weren’t real — during a period of some incredibly bizarre stories that happened right here on American soil.

As I said previously, it’s somewhat refreshing to see government “get it” and attempt to use something viral (pun intended) like zombies to actually create interest in a campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security — in somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek announement — reported earlier this month that "the zombies are coming" in an effort to get citizens to prepare for a real disaster.

The CDC — prior to stating that zombies weren’t real — had a public campaign using the zombie apocalypse as a background for getting the American people prepared for actual disasters.

Yes, the counter-terrorism summit sounds intriguing. And this from a guy who is vehemently opposed to the military industrial complex. So the PR people and marketing nerds must really be doing their job well. Either that or my affinity for flesh eaters is unhealthy.

Still, I can’t help but wonder if this zombie phenomenon within the U.S. government is dumbing down the message so much that it’s getting completely lost — like a commercial that you absolutely love but have no idea what the product is that they’re pitching.

Is it really possible that the federal government is too cool for its own good? I mean, afterall, we want those eggheads to be eggheads, right? Not cool kids.

For me, the most famous government campaign ever was a 1987 Partnership for a Drug-Free America campaign that featured a father confronting his son about drug use, to which the kid retorted (everyone who’s seen it already knows), “I learned it by watching you.”

It was, by far, the corniest commercial of my generation. But it got the message across. And 25 years later, I remember it clear as day.

Will the same be true with the current trend of zombie-related government programs? Hard to tell. But at least they’re trying.

Scott Leffler would make a tasty zombie snack because he has braiiiiiiins. Follow him on Twitter @scottleffler.

Have you already forgotten what Sept. 12 felt like?

I started my “career” as a newspaper columnist 10 years ago Sept. 3.

My first column ever was about the fact that I was going to be writing a column — groundbreaking stuff, I tell you. My second column, however, which ran Sept. 10, 2002 came with the headline “Happy Patriots Day?” and bemoaned the eventual “holiday” that Sept. 11 would turn into.

See, it was only a year after the tragedy had struck New York, DC (Arlington, Va., actually), Pennsylvania and the country as a whole and already I had seen signs of fatigue by the American people. The patriotic fervor that consumed us in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, had subsided. Of course there were memorials across the country mourning the losses from that fateful day, but many people had simply gotten on with their lives.

The column, available at tinyurl.com/8zstvat, suggested that by 2072, we’ll have picnics, much like we do for Memorial Day, and we’ll have as little comprehension what the reason for the day is as we do for Memorial Day.

We’re now 11 years out from the day that al Queda struck at the heart of our financial district, the heart of our political district, and — unintentionally — the heartland of America.

Surely you’ll see posts on Facebook today suggesting that you “Always remember” Sept. 11 and that we remain steadfast in our resolve to fight every enemy foreign or domestic. But you won’t see as many as you saw last year. And next year, you’ll see even less.

Sadly I fear we are bound to forget. Over time the anger softens and we go back to doing what we do best — fighting amongst ourselves.

It is my opinion that if left to our own devices, we’ll tear this country apart from the inside. In fact, any terrorist attack from the outside will actually only (temporarily) strengthen our bond and delay the inevitable self-destructive course that we’re on.

We’ve got red states and blue states. We’ve got Democrats and Republicans. Conservatives and liberals. Christians and atheists. Bloods and Crips. Omnivores and vegetarians. Gays and straights. You name it, we spend all our time dividing into “us” and “them.”

But just like any family, as much as we might fight with one another, we will always team up when attacked by someone from outside. That’s what we did on Sept. 11, 2001. And that’s what we’ll do if it should happen again.

Please don’t construe this as me suggesting that the terrorists did us any favors. They made us frightened. And angry. And xenophobic. They brought out the worst in us while bringing out the best in us.

But before you post another hateful diatribe about what a “Godless commie that Kenyan-born Barack Obama is,” or what a “baby-eating non-tax-paying jerk Mitt Romney is,” remember that they’re both American. And by the standards of Sept. 12, 2001, they’re basically family.

Maybe in 2072 we’ll ride our Fujimaki airbikes to George W. Bush Park for our picnics. Or maybe we’ll stay home and take advantage of the Patriot’s Day sale at Paintsoft (the paint division of Microsoft).

But this year, do me a favor and take a moment to remember what made you angry 11 years ago. And then try to focus our anger somewhere other than the people who are trying to make this country great.

Scott Leffler has been a member of the local media for over a decade. You can read all of his columns and more thoughts at scottleffler.blogspot.com.

The more they talk, the less I listen

Maybe I’m growing into a curmudgeon.

I’m not sure how I feel about that, really. I don’t want to be the old guy yelling at kids to stay off of his lawn. That guy’s crazy.

Yet, I have a feeling that there’s a bit of wisdom embedded in my curmudgeon-ness.

Last week the Republican National Convention was televised for the world to see. I’m not sure how much of the world watched, but I didn’t. Not one bit. I saw clips on the news and watched Clint Eastwood’s “conversation” with Invisible Barack Obama on YouTube, but I made no effort to watch any of the convention live on TV. And I don’t feel guilty about it.

This week, the Democrats have their turn and — likewise — I don’t care. I have no need to watch a bunch of rich people (yes, all Congressmen are rich in my book, not just the GOP) tell me how they’re going to fix the mess they created. Especially given the fact that I don’t even think they believe the words that are coming out of their mouths.

I suppose I could watch for entertainment value, but I get no joy out of watching my country disintegrate before my eyes in high definition. I have a feeling the Dems will have Betty White talk to a stuffed shirt or something — to combat the empty chair theatrics of Dirty Harry — but I’ll catch it on YouTube or something if I have to.

Truth of the matter is, the further along this process goes, the more powerless I feel … the more I want to tell all those clowns in DC (and Albany for that matter) to get the hell off my lawn. They are, after all, just as juvenile as the children I’ll someday be swinging a cane at as they cut through on their way to do whatever it is kids do these days.

While you wouldn’t be able to tell based on the campaign rhetoric and the hateful posts my friends and relatives are making on social media, the Republican and Democratic parties are more alike than not alike. They are two sides of the same coin. Scary to think, but Ralph Nader was right — about that at least.

Both President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney agree that the ongoing war in Afghanistan is a good thing. They both support the Patriot Act, NDAA, SOPA, the TSA, unmanned drones spying on whoever they determine to be the enemy (including us) the Dept. of Homeland Security and Guantanamo Bay. In other words, they both support the police state — against we the people.

Personally, I believe in freedom, a concept I fear that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have even the slightest understanding of. Asking me to choose between the two is akin to asking me whether I’d like to be drawn and quartered or hanged. It’s time we stopped choosing between the lesser of two evils and started choosing good.

So I make no apologies for ignoring the Hollywood productions put on by the “heads” and “tails” parties. I only wish that come November, more people would tell them to get off their lawns.

Scott Leffler is a curmudgeon. Follow him on Twitter @scottleffler. Also, stay off his lawn.