The New Industry In America

For the past few years a new movement has come in to existence in America. Our towns at one time were filled with industrial plants that made things. People worked in them and were proud of their efforts. Today, our towns are being filled with new buildings, one larger than the other. They are all medical buildings, clinics, labs, imaging centers, and offices. This afternoon I drove north from Frankfort toward Orland park on U.S. Route 45 known as La Grange Road and counted the following new businesses: 1.) Advocate Medical, 2.) Loyola Medical, 3.) Duly Medical, 4.) Northwestern Radiation, 5.) Midwest Express Clinic, 6.) Northwestern Medical, 7. Advocate Group Medical Center, 8.) Northwestern Medical, 9). University of Chicago Hospital Medical Center. All of these establishments stretch over a short five miles of road. I could describe a similar scenario if I describe leaving town to the west. Surrounding these huge buildings are the private offices of hundreds of physicians in business to heal people.

It seems to me that America is sick, very sick, both physically and mentally. What really impresses me about all of this is that people complain about not having health care. What they really mean is that they have to pay for health care. The real problem stems from employers and health insurance companies. Employers feel that they need to offer health insurance as a perk to keep their employees. Health insurance companies dictate what they will pay for services. This only means that physicians inflate their prices to extract a maximum from the payers. Other culprits that causes major inflation of medical services are government healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. These two organizations are notorious for setting limits on what they will pay for.

Operating alongside this medical industry is a vast under ground network of doctors and labs that take cash only. Of course they charge less because they get paid on demand, and don’t need staff just to submit documentation to insurance companies. Because it is always an insurance company that pays and the insurers are paid by employers, the patient feels that he gets the service free. This irritates people who do not have insurance because they see their friends getting so called free health care.

Add to this dimension the fact that modern doctors rely heavily on using modern technology to help them diagnose sickness. One of my friends who was a surgeon told me that many of his foreign class mates came to America to become doctors so they could return to their home country’s to save lives. Most of them finished school, got their license but never returned home. Why? He gave two reasons, 1.) they could make more money working in America, 2.) Their home countries did not have the same modern diagnostic equipment they learned to use in school. In their home country they would have to relearn their medicine in old country ways. Today, doctors depend on computers to assist them with diagnostics. Artificial Intelligent diagnostic programs can listen to a patient’s symptoms, analyze his blood test results and produce a list of possible illnesses in order of probability. Who needs a doctor when the computer can do a more thorough job? In most cases the doctor has become a data entry technician who can speak the language of medicine.

What we need to do in this country is to forget about medicine, and to learn to live healthy lives by eating nourishing foods, exercising, and getting enough sleep. Instead we have learned to live precariously, and when our bodies fail we run to a doctor to fix our problem.

In the “good old days,” when industry flourished in America, workers needed only graduate from high school to get a job. They learned how to run machines and to make things. Today, it seems, that workers need a minimum of fours years of college and if you want to be a doctor you will go to school for eight years, and you will be limited to fixing people, not cars or houses, or plumbing, or electricity. We the people of America donated all of those jobs to the people of China, Mexico, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and countless other countries in the world. The result is we send our kids to college, but fail to demand that they learn usable skills with which they can earn a living. The result is we have generations of game playing, order taking kids who wind up bored with life, and take to using drugs and laying around.

Yes, we have a new industry in our world, but we fail to recognize that a large percentage of youngsters will never make it in the information society and will fail in life.

Cars, Cars, Cars, and More Cars

This has been an awful summer for me. The 2013 Monet Vision escaped being photographed, Peggy and I did not leave home for anything,, and I failed to visit a single Cruise Night in Frankfort. Maybe it was latent grief creeping out on the tenth anniversary of Barb’s death, or maybe it was a lower back pain that wouldn’t quit, or maybe learning that I suffer from Low T, or maybe it is simply because I reached middle age, whatever, the summer blues took over my mind and body.

Today, a good friend sent me a video link, that cheered me and picked me up beyond my expectations. I only wish he could have done it earlier, like in June. The video features a very large car show in Minnesota, touted as the largest in the world. The cars are amazing and beautiful. If you grew up in the fifties like I did, this video was like traveling back in time. Take a peek and enjoy these mobile works of art.

New England man refused medical treatment because he declined to answer gun ownership question

Blood circulation: Red = oxygenated Blue = deo...

This bastard government will be in our blood stream next.

What does ownership of a gun have to do with having your appendix out?

Thanks Mom!

English: Picture of a slice of homemade Pastic...

English: Picture of a slice of homemade Pastichio, a Greek dish taught to me by my mother. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .

“If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside.. I just finished cleaning.”

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.

“You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.

“If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.

“Because I said so, that’s why.”

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .

“If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.”

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.

“Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”

7. My mother taught me IRONY.

“Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.”

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .

“Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTION-ISM.

“Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!”

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA ..

“You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.

“This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.

“If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!”

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.

“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out..”

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .

“Stop acting like your father!”

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.

“There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.”

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.

“Just wait until we get home.”

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .

“You are going to get it when you get home!”

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.

“If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.”

19. My mother taught me ESP.

“Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?”

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.

“When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .

“If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.

“You’re just like your father.”

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.

“Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?”

24. My mother taught me WISDOM .

“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”

And my favorite:

25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.

“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !”

Only you folks my age understand these profound statements!!!

But, there is one missing from this list~~My personal all time favorite!!

26. My mother taught me about CHOICE.

“Do you want me to stop this car?”

The only  thing my Mom didn’t teach me is how to translate these things into English from Hungarian.

Beware Fat Man

Dr Consults with Federal Obamacare for Direction Last week, a friend of mine went to see a doctor at Saint James Hospital. Without getting into the specifics of why he was there, I will tell his story. The man is very tall, perhaps six foot four or taller. He is a big guy. He weighs in at two-ninety or more. When I look at him he doesn’t appear to be obese, but he is a big guy. 

To make this story very short, his doctor, a black lady, told him he was too fat to treat. She told him to go find another doctor. Is this a case of racial discrimination, or obesity discrimination? Clearly it is a violation of the Hippocratic oath. I thought doctors were supposed to do no harm in their treatment. This doctor clearly caused mental stress with her non-treatment.  

I know the latest rant on the news is about obesity in America, but is this the way obese people are going to be treated? If they are, I think the doctors of America will go onto the list of poverty stricken because their income comes from the obese.  Yes, there are lots of skinny people who are sick with disease, but I bet they are out numbered.

Be prepared to file discrimination suits against your family doctor if this attitude prevails.