The New America

John Stossel: The Obama administration now proposes to spend millions more on handouts, despite ample evidence of their perverse effects.

I would argue that that is exactly WHY HE IS DOING IT and he knows exactly why he’s doing it. As usual, it’s political, not economical.

The more dependents, the more votes for more dependents, the more addicts for the never-ending hamster wheel to the promised land.

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says, “The single most important thing HUD does is provide rental assistance to America’s most vulnerable families — and the Obama administration is proposing bold steps to meet their needs.” They always propose “bold steps.”

In this case, HUD wants to spend millions more to renew Section 8 housing vouchers that help poor people pay rent.

Isn’t it curious 🙂 that Section 8 housing just happens to be named similar to : The term Section 8 refers to a category of discharge from the United States military when judged mentally unfit for duty.  (It’s what Klinger was trying for for 11 years on M*A*S*H).

Coincidence? I doubt it. 🙂

The Section 8 program ballooned during the ’90s to “solve” a previous government failure: crime-ridden public housing. Rent vouchers allow the feds to disperse tenants from failed projects into private residencies. There, poor people would learn good habits from middle-class people.

It was a reasonable idea. But, as always, there were unintended consequences.

“On paper, Section 8 seems like it should be successful,” says Donald Gobin, a Section 8 landlord in New Hampshire. “But unless tenants have some unusual fire in their belly, the program hinders upward mobility.”

Goo, because then the low-information drug addicted voter votes to keep the gravy train going. That’s good for the politician. And what’s good for the politician MUST be good for all of us because they “care” and it’s only “fair”.

Gobin complains that his tenants are allowed to use Section 8 subsides for an unlimited amount of time. There is no work requirement. Recipients can become comfortably dependent on government assistance.

Isn’t that the goal? 🙂

In Gobin’s over 30 years of renting to Section 8 tenants, he has seen only one break free of the program. Most recipients stay on Section 8 their entire lives. They use it as a permanent crutch.

Government’s rules kill the incentive to succeed.

But who cares, they vote for the politicians who best kisses their ass. Success and struggle are over-rated when you can get others to do it for you. 🙂

Section 8 handouts are meant to be generous enough that tenants may afford a home defined by HUD as decent, safe and sanitary. In its wisdom, the bureaucracy has ruled that “decent, safe and sanitary” may require subsidies as high as $2,200 per month. But because of that, Section 8 tenants often get to live in nicer places than those who pay their own way.

Well, isn’t that “fair”?

True, the worst rent I ever had was $1,200 a month in very nice neighborhood (allegedly I had 2 roommates to share the burden with at the time but I guess they thought I was the government and I had to do all on my own–that didn’t last).

They deserve it right, because it’s only “fair”. 🙂

Kevin Spaulding is an MIT graduate in Boston who works long hours as an engineer, and struggles to cover his rent and student loans. Yet all around him, he says, he sees people who don’t work but live better than he does.

“It doesn’t seem right,” he says. “I work very hard but can only afford a lower-end apartment. There are nonworking people on my street who live in better places than I do because they are on Section 8.”

But if you complain about it, you’re just a mean old capitalist who just wants them to be homeless! You cad!

It’s not “fair”! 🙂

Spaulding understands why his neighbors don’t look for jobs. The subsidies are attractive — they cover 70 to 100 percent of rent and utilities. If Section 8 recipients accumulate money or start to make more, they lose their subsidy.
 “Is there a real incentive for the tenants to go to work? No!” says Gobin. “They have a relatively nice house and do not have to pay for it.”

Then you have your Obama Phone, Your Obama Internet, Your Obama Food Stamps, Your Obama Welfare Check. Why would you ruin a good thing like that with something as hard and mean as a JOB!!  <<shudder in terror>>

That’s ridiculous. Besides, the world owes me . Why? Just Because the politicians I voted for said so! 🙂

Once people are reliant on Section 8 assistance, many do everything in their power to keep it. Some game the system by working under the table so that they do not lose the subsidy. One of Gobin’s lifetime Section 8 tenants started a cooking website. She made considerable money from it, so she went to great lengths to hide the site from her case manager, running it under a different name.

Now see, that’s capitalism! Gaming the system, everyone does it. Especially “rich” people so why shouldn’t I do it. It benefits me, and that’s all that matters.

It’s a lot easier than the alternative.

“Here’s a lady that could definitely work. She actually showed me how to get benefits and play the system,” says Gobin.

Just like “rich” people, right? But with less struggle and less discrimination. 🙂

Although Section 8 adds to our debt while encouraging people to stay dependent, it isn’t going away. HUD says it will continue to “make quality housing possible for every American.”

Because that’s “fair” and you don’t wanna be mean and see all these people homeless now do you? 🙂
Despite $20 billion spent on the program last year, demand for more rental assistance remains strong. There is a long waitlist to receive Section 8 housing in every state. In New York City alone, 120,000 families wait.

Some are truly needy, but many recipients of income transfers are far from poor.

America will soon be $17 trillion in debt, and our biggest federal expense is income transfers. They are justified on the grounds that some of that helps the needy. But we don’t help the needy by encouraging dependency.

Government grows. Dependency grows.

And that’s Exactly why they do it in the first place. That’s a good thing for everyone involved in the incestuous relationship.

It’s just not good for everyone else.

Screw You!  I got mine and YOU get to pay for it! that’s the New American Motto.

In case you thought there was no risk of your taxes going up again, think again. Washington isn’t done with you yet.

Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, want lawmakers to consider a fresh set of tax increases in the next several weeks when they discuss whether to cut spending. 

Think about that for a moment. While they are discussing cutting spending (which they won’t do) they want more tax increases.

But much of what Obama is talking about is raising tax revenue without actually raising tax rates. In Washington-speak, lawmakers will try to collect more tax money by closing tax loopholes, perhaps limiting popular tax deductions and to some degree changing the way citizens pay into the popular Medicare and Social Security programs. (mcclatchydc).

The Tax that isn’t a tax so they can say it’s not a tax per se.

Sounds like Gaming the System. Just like the Section 8 housing.

Funny how that happened…

After all the “fiscal cliff” deal is expected  to raise about $600 billion over 10 years. That’s 60 Billion a year. At the current rate of over-spending that pays for 12 days!

What a Deal! Stick it to “the rich” for virtually nothing and then come back for more!

And if you’re denied just complain, again, that you’re opponent is a “rich” loving asshole!

Funny how that happened… 🙂

According to the CBO, deficits in just the first three months of this fiscal year already add up to $293 billion.

Which means that, despite Obama’s massive tax hikes, deficits will likely top $1 trillion for the fifth year in a row, and Obama will have added $7.5 trillion to the nation’s debt since taking office.

The problem isn’t just that the country is borrowing too much.

It’s that Washington is spending too much on programs that increase dependency on government. (IBD)

But that’s why they ARE doing it. The incestuous drug-addicts are killing everyone else but they don’t care because it benefits them NOW.

And after all, that’s all that matters. What benefits ME, right here, right now. Screw everyone and everything else!

A new Heritage Foundation study finds that the number of people getting federal benefit checks — through Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, subsidized housing, tuition aid or countless other entitlement programs — has shot up 62% since 1988.

That’s more than twice the rate of population growth.

As a result, more than four in 10 Americans are dependent on the federal government for financial help of one sort or another.

And they Vote!

Welcome to the Have-Not Drug Addicts and their “fair” political fellow drug addicts running the asylum.

All you suckers out there slogging along working hard trying to make something of yourself, keep doing it, because grandma needs a new flat screen, SUCKER! 🙂

 

The Future of ObamaCare?

The Nationalized Health Care of Canada has stuck again.

This is ongoing and started earlier this week but Wisconsin took up the time.

If this doesn’t outrage you, you must be dead, or a Liberal.

But it’s coming to an ObamaCare near you…

London, Ontario Free Press: Jane Sims The London Free Press Moe Maraachli keeps the snapshots of his dying baby boy in an envelope in his jacket pocket.

He pulls out the photos of the son he’s about to lose, trying to  understand how a hospital, an Ontario health-related board assigned to  judge consent issues, and a London court could say he and his wife can’t  take Baby Joseph home to Windsor to die.

“I do my best for my baby. I do my best,” he said Thursday outside the London courthouse, tears in his eyes.

“This is killing, this is criminal . . . I’m sure this is murder.”

This Monday, on Family Day in Ontario, Joseph Maraachli, who’s in a  vegetative state from a neurodegenerative disease, will die after his  breathing tube is removed from his tiny body at a London hospital,  ending an ethical and legal dilemma that tried to balance unwanted  suffering with the needs of a child and his family.

“I lose my baby,” his father, 37, who came to Canada from Lebanon 11 years ago, said. “They take him from me.”

“I don’t lose my baby like God take him. They take him. They want to take him.”

“It was basically our family’s word versus the medical system’s  world,” said his aunt, Samar Nader, who’s sure she saw Joseph respond to  her this week when she touched his head.

“I think in medicine, they’re just looking at the world from a black and white point of view.”

“The family understands the child and for us to witness his death on Monday . . . I don’t know,” she said.

An emotional Superior Court Justice Helen Rady, who called it  “heartbreaking” and “such a sad and difficult case”, decided Thursday  not to allow the family’s appeal of a decision last month by Ontario’s  Consent and Capacity Board to have the child’s breathing tube removed  and put in place a do-not-resuscitate order and palliative care.

The baby’s father and mother, Sana Nader, 35, wanted the same  treatment for Joseph as was given to their daughter before she died,  eight years ago at 18 months – give Joseph a tracheotomy and  ventilation, and allow them to take him home to die what they would be a  peaceful death.

But Joseph’s doctors say while a tracheotomy – an incision is made in  a patient’s airway, to help breathing – may prolong the baby’s life,  it’s futile in this case and would likely cause much discomfort. It  would certainly also increase the risk of infection and pneumonia, they  argue.

“The medical officials would not want this little boy to suffer,” Rady said.

When born in January 2010, Joseph, now 13 months, was a beautiful, normal baby.

But five months later he started having seizures like his sister. By June, he couldn’t swallow.

In October, he stopped breathing while travelling with his parents.  He was taken to an Ingersoll hospital, then rushed to the London Health  Sciences Centre’s pediatric critical care unit where he’s been ever  since.

His father has stayed in London to be with his son.

His mother is in London every weekend and returns to Windsor to look after the couple’s other son, Ali.

Joseph’s on a ventilator and fed through a tube. He’s in what the  doctors call “a persistent vegetative state.” The doctors say he’s blind  and deaf.

He’s missing all five brain stem reflexes considered necessary for  life – gag, cough, eye movement, pupil and cornea responses. His brain  deterioration is irreversible.

A team of doctors, including a world-renowned pediatric expert from  Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, has examined Joseph and agrees  he’s dying of the same progressive neurodegenerative disease that  claimed his sister.

Joseph’s doctor told the adjudication board that doctors  “reluctantly” gave the couple’s daughter a tracheotomy. Since then,  doctors have learned “substantially” more about the procedure and  determined it isn’t right for Joseph.

The board agreed with Joseph’s attending doctor that the baby has “no hope or chance of ever recovering.”

“While we feel a great deal of empathy for the parents, we held that  their view was not in any way realistic,” the board said, adding  Joseph’s parents “were blinded by their obvious love” for their child.

The State Board knows better!!!  Sound ObamaCare-ish? Yes!

Obamacare establishes the Independent Payment Advisory Board, whose stated responsibility is to develop proposals to reduce the growth of Medicare spending.
His parents fear Joseph will choke to death once the tube is removed.  They say he responds to their touch and wanted the board to see him in  hospital before deciding.

Rady said it’s unclear what the board would have seen had its members  agreed. And she noted that while Joseph’s head and body have grown, it  doesn’t mean the medical assessments are wrong.

The case digs deeply into the delicate balance of life versus. suffering.

Ethicist Margaret Somerville, of McGill University’s Centre for  Medicine, Ethics and Law, said the case is “a judgment where the parents  are giving priority to the prolongation of life and the doctor is  giving priority to the quality of that life.”

“I’m sure there’s no doubt in this case that this child has a very  poor quality of life, but we do know that health care professionals  judge quality of life much lower than people themselves do.”

Somerville said such quality-of-life decisions are delicate and often  at odds. What needs to be examined is why the family doesn’t agree with  the decision and if their reasons are acceptable, she said.

The board had ordered Joseph’s breathing tube be removed Friday, but Rady said that wasn’t sensitive to the family’s need.

Instead, she ordered they comply by Monday – a statutory holiday in  Ontario, to celebrate family – “to afford the whole family adequate time  to say their good-byes.”

Rady’s voice broke when she addressed the family. “I hope that in time you’ll find peace,” she said.

Joseph’s father wasn’t satisfied. “It’s not help,” he said later.

His lawyer, Geoff Snow, said he understands Rady’s decision but  added, “the loss of a child in any circumstances is tragic and it’s  unfortunate that there’s not more than could have been done.”

Lawyer Julie Zamprogna Balles, who acted for the doctor, said Rady’s decision was “well-reasoned and compassionate.”

While the case had “very sad and unfortunate circumstances,” everyone  involved, she said, have “focused on Little Joseph’s best interests.”

But a grieving Moe Maraachli said there’s “no humanity” in Canada. He expressed a desire to die himself.

“I stay with him until the last moments and hopefully I go with him,” he said.

THE ETHICAL ISSUE

Whether to provide medical intervention to prolong the life of a dying child who’s in a persistent vegetative state.

THE LEGAL ISSUE

Whether to allow an appeal of a decision by an Ontario health-based  board that adjudicates consent issues, to take the child off life  support.

****

LONDON, Ont. – A father who has been battling to stop a London, Ont.,  hospital from removing his terminally ill son from a ventilator stood  his ground Monday and defied a court order requiring him to give  consent.

Moe Maraachli says he and his wife Sana Nader are happy  the breathing tube keeping their 13-month old son Joseph alive has not  yet been removed.

But their fight to get the boy a tracheotomy so they can take him home to die isn’t over.

“I’m  very excited because my son doesn’t remove his tube today,” said  Maraachli, who has been sleeping at the hospital since Friday.

“All my family is happy. We are happy. We feel it’s really Family Day today.”

The Windsor, Ont., couple has been fighting for months against doctors at Victoria Hospital in London  who say their son should be removed from life support because he will  not recover from the rare neurological condition that has left him in a  vegetative state.

The family fears Joseph will suffer a painful  death if the ventilator is removed, and prefers that a tracheotomy be  performed so they can take him home to live his remaining days  surrounded by people who love him.

The couple’s 18-month-old  daughter died almost nine years ago from a similar medical condition.  She had a tracheotomy and lived at home for six months before she died,  said Maraachli.

But, last Thursday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady ordered the couple to agree to take Joseph off the ventilator by 10 a.m. Monday.

The judge was upholding a decision already made by Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board.

Because  the London hospital could not get consent to remove the breathing tube  from Joseph’s parents or other family members, it has the right to seek  consent from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, said Mark  Handelman, Maraachli’s lawyer.

But Maraachli is hoping his son Joseph will be transferred to Michigan’s Children’s Hospital in Detroit.

Joseph  has been treated there before under the Ontario Provincial Health  Insurance Plan and the family feels they would have another chance at  persuading doctors to perform a tracheotomy if he returns there.

The couple’s friends recently contacted the U.S. hospital about a transfer and the London Health Sciences Centre, which Victoria Hospital falls under, was asked to send Joseph’s medical records there on Sunday.

The London hospital sent Joseph’s medical chart by courier to Detroit on Monday, said spokeswoman Laurie Gould.

“At this point in time we have not received any request for transfer,” said Gould.

If a transfer request is made, Gould said her hospital would contact the public guardian and “wait for their direction.”

The London hospital would not need permission from the public guardian to transfer Joseph to Michigan, said Handelman.

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, called the baby Joseph case sad and tragic.

Schadenberg questioned why doctors, not parents, should have the final say over their baby’s care.

“Is it right that the doctor has now so much power?” asked Schadenberg.

“I think the balance of power has shifted in Ontario too far, and I’m getting very concerned about who has the right to decide.”

Gould said the case is certainly “emotionally charged.”

The  hospital has received calls and emails from the public, some offering  prayers for the baby, who’s been at the hospital since October, she  said.

As cars honked their horns, a couple of dozen people holding  signs and photos of the baby held a vigil outside the hospital Monday  morning, an hour before the baby was to be removed from the ventilator.

Maraachli’s  sister-in-law Samar Nader said the family is “relieved and thankful”  for all the support they’ve received from the public.

“It’s true  that miracles do happen and I would never have expected for my nephew to  live past 10 o’clock without the people’s help,” she said.

****

(CNN) — A Canadian family fighting to keep their 13-month-old son on a breathing tube says they have been denied a request to have him transferred to a hospital in Michigan.

Moe and Sana Maraachli refused to sign consent when Canadian health officials determined their son Joseph, who suffers from a progressive degenerative neurological disease and was in a persistent vegetative state, should be removed from life support. Joseph is being treated at the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario.

The Maraachlis reached out to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit in hopes of having their son transferred there for continued care.

Family spokesperson Sam Sansalone said the hospital initially agreed to accept the transfer. He said he has since received an email indicating the request has been denied.

Sansalone forwarded an email from the Detroit hospital that he said explains that after a review of Joseph’s records by neurological and intensive care physicians, “we cannot offer Joseph anything that he has not been provided already during his current admission by his current clinical care team … transfer to our facility will not provide him or the family any benefit.”

Vickie Winn, a spokesperson from the Children’s Hospital, confirmed Joseph is not a patient at the hospital but could not offer further comment, citing patient privacy laws.

Sansalone said the family is pursuing at least three other hospitals in other states.

The family says the hospital has it wrong and that their son is not in a persistent vegetative state. Sansalone said they have noted experiences where the baby has responded to being tickled and has jolted when he felt discomfort with examinations or the feeding tubes. They say these are signs he might still have brain function.

However, Canadian health officials disagree. On February 17, they decided Joseph should be removed from life support. The family was given until February 21 to say their goodbyes and sign the consent, but they have yet to do so.

The Maraachlis are seeking a second opinion from what they consider to be an objective source that can review the more than 1,000 pages of Joseph’s medical records and provide a better assessment of their son’s treatment options.

If he is beyond hope, they want him to be able to receive a tracheotomy, where he can be transferred home and die in the care of family instead of in a hospital.

Experts say even if the family is granted this request, caring for a child in this condition is an arduous task.

Dr. David Casarett, director of research and evaluation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wissahickon Hospice, says patients at home with tracheotomies need monitoring to make sure the airway is clear of secretions, the skin is clean and dry and someone can make sure the incision at the tracheotomy site does not get infected.

“A child’s care would be much more complex if a home ventilator is required, since the parents would need to manage the ventilator with the help of a nurse and respiratory therapist,” he said.

Suzanne Vitadamo, spokesperson for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and Terri’s sister, issued the following statement:

“It is unacceptable for Canadian Health Allocation Officials and/or the Canadian Government to make decisions for Joseph that will end his life and deny the wishes of his loving parents.

“Every patient, regardless of age, has a right to proper and dignified health care. It is frightening to once again see government usurp the God-given rights of parents to love and care for their child at home, especially when the child is dying.”

We are from the Government and we are here to help you, control you, and make decisions for you.

Rejoice!