Right to Opine

Over a 4 year period a hospital in the UK had around 400 unnecessary death due to horrendous emergency care. Per an inquiry into the outrage,

managers pursued targets at the detriment of patient care.

Targets, in this context, being financial targets set in order to keep costs down. This is what happens when medicine becomes more about cutting costs than treating patients. What else do you expect when the government runs the (increasingly expensive) show?

Gotta love the quotes from British politicians.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb, called for a “cultural change so that every part of this trust has open and transparent systems in place to ensure patient safety”.

and

Bill Cash, Conservative MP for Stone, said: “There have been systemic failures in the organisation and I have asked for resolute action to be taken.”

Mr. Lamb, that “cultural change” would be called the Hippocratic Oath. It makes the patient’s health a pretty darned high priority. There must be someone in the UK who’s heard of it.

Mr. Cash, how about this for “resolute action”: scrap socialized medicine. Otherwise you’ll just keep fighting this battle over and over again.

This is, of course, what you get when medical decisions are made by bureaucrats. Obama’s proposal for universal healthcare includes provisions for decisions regarding the availability and coverage for specific treatments. This will lead to denial of care and a reduction in the quality of healthcare we receive…just like we see in the UK.

Domestic, Economy, International Domestic, Economy, healthcare, International

You may recall a couple weeks ago the UK barred Dutch legislator Geert Wilders from entry because he is ostensibly a security threat, purveyor of hate, yada yada yada. Now they’re going to allow a spokesman for Hezbollah into the country to deliver a lecture. Go figure. Ban the critic of Islam, support the Islamic terrorist.

England, you’re getting the decrepit, decaying society you deserve. Sadly, I see too much of this happening here as well.

International, Terrorism culture, International, Terrorism

As in, gun control means hitting your target. There was another terrorist attack by a nutjob plowing a bulldozer through a couple police cars and into a bus full of schoolgirls. What slowed the goblin down long enough for the police to finish him off? A civilian taxi driver carrying a concealed handgun.

Self-defense works, folks, because even when the police are present, they sometimes can’t respond as quickly as an alert, armed civilian.

Gun Rights, International culture, defense, International

Great Britain provides further evidence that it has lost its collective mind, announcing that it will bestow honorary knighthood on Senator Ted Kennedy. Silly me. I thought knighthood actually meant something. Wonder if one of his ancestors drowned a peasant girl by riding a horse off a bridge?

International culture, International

Though they do enjoy playing the victim card, Palestinians aren’t at all serious about peace with Israel. Since the IDF withdrew from Gaza a month ago more than 100 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza…around 3 a day. Where’s the outcry from the world demanding that the rocket fire cease? Of course you won’t hear any. The liberal media can’t even call this what it is, naming the aggressors “militants” rather than what they are. When you target civilians, as in the latest attack which hit a school, you’re not a militant but a terrorist.

International defense, International

Claiming they would save dozens of lives each year, a doctor in the UK recommends mandatory usage of air bag jackets by motorcyclists.

There is a shocking number of deaths of motorcyclists on the roads. I think dozens of lives could be saved if these jackets were made compulsory.

Is this really the biggest health problem in a country where thousands of people die every year due to alcohol (more than 8,700 in 2007)? Suggestion for the UK: have your doctors work on a problem that affects a growing portion of your population and costs your socialized health care system far more than a few hundred motorcycle fatalities annually.

International culture, International

The US Navy has nabbed a group of pirates in the Gulf of Aden after receiving a distress call from the ship they were trying to commandeer. ‘Bout time we had some good news in that arena!

International defense, International

The Dutch MP I wrote about a couple weeks ago has been denied entrance to England because he purportedly poses a threat to public safety. Apparently taking a controversial, albeit legitimate, stand on Islamic terrorism constitutes such a threat. Per the UK’s Home Office:

“The government opposes extremism in all forms,” it said in a statement, adding that it had tightened up rules on excluding those engaging in “unacceptable behaviour” in October.

“It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred, and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.”

Left unexamined is the fact that the UK doesn’t have an official problem with the large number of extremist Muslim imams in England. Nor does it have the stones to bar entrance to more of their ilk. It increasingly appears that the US is fast becoming the last bastion of free speech.

International culture, International

In a rather surprising statement, an EU official lays the blame for the destruction in Gaza on Hamas rather than Israel. I really didn’t know they had it in them. The Europeans, I mean.

Humanitarian aid chief Louis Michel called the destruction left by Israel’s offensive “abominable”, but said Hamas bore “overwhelming responsibility”.

In a stronger and even more surprising follow-up:

He said there would be no dialogue with with the “terrorist” movement until it gave up violence and recognised Israel. [...] “I intentionally say this here – Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such.”

We can’t even get our own government to use such honest language. Kudos would be in order, but the EU still hasn’t seen the light entirely.

Mr Michel said people in the EU were sick of paying for the same infrastructure being destroyed over and over again in Israeli military action.

Yes, but you’re still sending 60 million euros in aid. The only way to keep the money from being completely wasted is, simply, not to send it. Until Hamas, and the Palestinians, stop their senseless terrorism against Israeli civilians Israel will have no choice but to keep going back in and wreaking havoc.

Still, this Belgian sees things a lot more clearly than anyone in our new government I’m afraid.

International defense, International

The Dutch lawmaker how produced the movie Fitna, which is a tough critique of Islam using graphic images of Islamic terrorism in action overlayed with quotes from the Koran, will be tried in court for hate speech. Apparently free speech isn’t treasured as highly abroad as it is here. We must remain vigilant against the political correctness that’s creeping into our national thought or we may soon face a similar fate.

International culture, International