Edwards Wants Mandatory State-Managed Health Care
Socialized medicine means big business and big brother
           
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Monday, September 3, 2007

In true 'cradle to grave' big government intrusion style, Democratic hopeful John Edwards has stated that under his presidency every citizen in the U.S. would be forced by law to enroll in a state- managed socialized health care system where regular check ups, including mental screenings, would be mandatory.

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK." Edwards is reported to have said.

The report continues:

    He noted, for example, that women would be required to have regular mammograms in an effort to find and treat "the first trace of problem." Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced earlier this year that her breast cancer had returned and spread.

    Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.
    "The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death," he said.
    The former North Carolina senator said all presidential candidates talking about health care "ought to be asked one question: Does your plan cover every single American?"
    "Because if it doesn't they should be made to explain what child, what woman, what man in America is not worthy of health care," he said. "Because in my view, everybody is worth health care."

The vision of an America where every citizen is forced by law to participate in health screenings overseen by the government should set stark warning bells ringing.

The level of micromanagement and the expansion of government into everyday life this would entail represents the antithesis of the founding principles of a constitutional Republic and the free market.

Edwards has also admitted that the plan would cost up to $120 billion a year, which he proposes covering by ending tax cuts to people who make more than $200,000 per year.

The assertion that every American should also undergo mandatory psychological evaluation by the government will be seen by many as a step too far.

While champions of Edwards have lauded his proposal as a shot at the big pharmaceuticals' monopoly on healthcare, the suggestion echoes the now infamous and much maligned Bush "New Freedom Initiative", a commission for which was established in April 2002, whereupon it recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.

In addition to the big brother implications of the government having access to personal medical records, concerns were also raised over the fact that members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for several drug companies, while others have direct ties to the Texas Medication Algorithm Project which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs and has notorious ties to the major pharmaceuticals.

In 2004 The British medical journal reported on these ties:

    Olanzapine (trade name Zyprexa), one of the atypical antipsychotic drugs recommended as a first line drug in the Texas algorithm, grossed $4.28bn (£2.35bn; 3.56bn) worldwide in 2003 and is Eli Lilly's top selling drug. A 2003 New York Times article by Gardiner Harris reported that 70% of olanzapine sales are paid for by government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
    Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000—82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.

The New Freedom Initiative has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with big business, big government and indentured slavery.

John Edwards' scheme is a re-packaged version of the same thing.

Alarm bells should also be ringing given the fact that Edwards has long been obsessed with overhauling healthcare and making a fortune out of doing so. When he was a practicing lawyer, Edwards capitalized on faux scientific lawsuits that helped drive up insurance rates, and contributed to driving up medical costs, thereby helping drive millions of people right out of the medical system altogether. Edwards made tens of millions of dollars in contingency fees.

In addition Edwards' current campaign has so far has accepted about $24,000 from officials in the health care industry, including executives from the drug maker Pfizer and the insurance firm Blue Cross Blue Shield. And when he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, individuals employed by Novartis, Purdue Pharma and other health care and drug firms donated $25,700 to his campaign.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006240126,00.html

Star Trek blade seized


By MIKE SULLIVAN
Crime Editor

THIS five-foot martial arts sword capable of beheading a man was recovered by shocked cops in a house raid.

The terrifying Batleth weapon is identical to one wielded by Klingon aliens in the Star Trek sci-fi films.

Officers seized the three-handled sword — which has huge pointed blades at either end — at a home in Gloucester.

It was shown yesterday at the start of a five-week national knife amnesty. Cops hope 30,000 blades will be handed in, with owners free from prosecution.

Local Insp Mac McGarry wielded the sword, which he said had been sharpened to kill.

He said: “It is a particularly nasty weapon which could easily take someone’s head off.”

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker launched the amnesty in St John’s Wood, North West London. He said: “We are determined to get the scourge of knife crime off our streets.”

But Victims of Crime campaigner Norman Brennan, a serving cop, branded the initiative a “futile PR stunt”.

He said: “It is likely to be supported by the law-abiding public and not those who carry knives for criminal activity.

“Knife crime will only get worse if we don’t introduce a five-year mandatory sentence for anyone carrying a knife.”

THE Queen’s grocer Fortnum & Mason was fined £2,000 by Horseferry Road Magistrates in London for selling a knife to a child under 16.

SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American flag.

Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States.

The new rule stems from a controversy over students wearing shirts bearing flags of other countries.

Gayle Langston said her daughter, Jessica, was told to remove her Stars and Stripes t-shirt.

“Today she wanted to wear her shirt, and I had to tell her no,” said Langston. “She didn't like it at all because I knew it would get her in trouble. Of all days, 9/11, she could not wear her American Flag shirt.”

The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.