The one hundred and ninetieth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

Apparently:

'Agencies should ensure people recruited as carers can speak English before placing them in vulnerable people's homes, a government adviser has said.'

"No shit, Sherlock"

More here http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27295554

Derelection of duty

The BBC's latest report on Obamacare introduces us to Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Much later in the report we learn that 'Ms Tavenner said she could not take a position on the bill because she had not read it'

So Barack Obama's head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't read The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Am I alone in thinking that she should have read it and not to do so is a dereliction of duty?

You mean Barack Obama was lying? I am shocked...

President Barack Obama publicly promised at least 36 times since 2008 that his health care reform plan, Obamacare, would not cause anyone who liked their present health insurance to lose it. Sometimes he emphasised his remarks with an emphatic “Period.”, no room for any doubt there. Barack Obama made this pledge in some of his weekly video addresses, many of his campaign rallies and in town hall meetings

However, news broke last week that his administration knew in 2010 that millions of Americans would lose their coverage. Not that you'd know from the BBC's coverage of the story which still tries to protect the great Obamamessiah.

On Monday Barack Obama “tweaked” his so many times repeated promise during a speech to the Organizing for Action group. Now his promise runs: “If you have, or had, one of these plans, before the Affordable Care Act came into law, and you really liked that plan, what we said was you could keep it, if it hasn’t changed since the law’s passed,” Obama said. No, that's not what he said, "Period".

Watch the video and see what you think, did Barack Obama lie?

A funny promo for a serious cause

ToplessFemaleTrampolingWorldChampionships.com has a lovely video showcasing the man with the best job in the world...


This matter is something that is quite close to me. I had a breast cancer scare a few years ago and have lost two female friends to it over the last few years. So whilst male breast cancer may be rare, 300 men are diagnosed with it in the UK each year. Visit the site and remember:

'Some possible early warning signs and symptoms:

A lump in the breast area – mostly painless Swelling of the breast A sore or ulcer in the skin of the breast Oozing from the nipple (Blood or otherwise) An inny nipple Lumps under the arm These symptoms may be nothing, but let your doctor decide. Don’t worry He or She has seen it all before. Chances are its nothing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.'

The ninetieth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award goes to the US Archives of General Psychiatry for reaching the conclusion as reported by the BBC that 'Heart disease patients may be at higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and death if they suffer from anxiety too'

Really? "No shit, Sherlock"

America Alone: The end of the world as we know it - Mark Steyn explains

A fascinating interview with Mark Steyn about some fascinating subjects, do try and spare less than 40 minutes to watch it.



Thanks to Theo Spark.

All in the emphasis

We are very close to Gordon Brown calling an election, assuming the great 'feartie' actually plucks up the courage to do so. So the BBC's spin on Labour's partial climbdown on Social Care provision is not that surprising. THe BBC's headline piece accentuates the positive and associates negative words with the Conservative's position. The headline 'Long-awaited plan for social care levy due' sets the scene, it would seem that we are all tired of waiting for this decision and now the wise and beneficent Labour Gordon are almost ready to satisfy us. Here's an extract from the 'news report:

'A compulsory levy would be introduced to help pay for social care for adults in England, under plans to be unveiled by ministers in a white paper later.

They will call for a new commission to look at when and how the fee should be applied, and how much it should be.

It is widely agreed the current means-tested system needs reform because of the ageing population.

A compulsory charge is opposed by the Conservatives, who called one proposal for a levy on estates a death tax.'

You have to admire the BBC's clever wording, well you would if they were not meant to be 'impartial'.

Oddly The Telegraph do manage to point out that:

'Death tax to pay for elderly care is scrapped - Plans for a new National Care Service providing free support for the elderly have been abandoned by the Government.'

Well you pays your money and you takes your choice. Except you don't, The Telegraph news website is free whereas we all pay for the BBC via the TV Licence and they are required to be impartial.


UPDATE: Take a listen to Radio 4's Today programme for the most bizarre of interviews where Andy Burnham is questioned but cannot answer even simple questions.

Will US Health Care reform really save money?

The answer "no" is no real surprise is it?

US Health care reform

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating reprint of an article from Milton Friedman from 1996. I especially enjoyed the extract from Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 'The Cancer Ward':

'In the words of Dr. Oreschenkov in conversation with Lyudmila Afanasyevna, a longtime patient and herself a physician in the cancer ward: "In general, the family doctor is the most comforting figure in our lives. But he has been cut down and foreshortened. . . . Sometimes it's easier to find a wife than to find a doctor nowadays who is prepared to give you as much time as you need and understands you completely, all of you."

Lyudmila Afanasyevna: "All right, but how many of these family doctors would be needed? They just can't be fitted into our system of universal, free, public health services."

Dr. Oreschenkov: "Universal and public—yes, they could. Free, no."

Lyudmila Afanasyevna: "But the fact that it is free is our greatest achievement."

Dr. Oreschenkov: "Is it such a great achievement? What do you mean by 'free'? The doctors don't work without pay. It's just that the patient doesn't pay them, they're paid out of the public budget. The public budget comes from these same patients. Treatment isn't free, it's just depersonalized. If the cost of it were left with the patient, he'd turn the ten rubles over and over in his hands. But when he really needed help he'd come to the doctor five times over. . . .

"Is it better the way it is now? You'd pay anything for careful and sympathetic attention from the doctor, but everywhere there's a schedule, a quota the doctors have to meet; next! . . . And what do patients come for? For a certificate to be absent from work, for sick leave, for certification for invalids' pensions: and the doctor's job is to catch the frauds. Doctor and patient as enemies—is that medicine?" '

Who said Congress Procedures are boring?

The Democrat US healthcare shenanigans explained in 90 seconds, you can spare 90 seconds can't you?