The Industrial Medical Complex

We have all heard about the Industrial Military Complex where wars are fought simply to make some people rich. I came to the conclusion that there is also the Industrial Medical Complex. I wrote in The Costs Of Government Controlled Health Care about a doctor who bought an MRI machine so he could do scans far cheaper than medical centers. He was quickly shut down by state regulators.

I just read an article where a woman went to her family doctor for a sore throat. She was going on a trip and wanted to make sure she didn't have Strep Throat. A few swabs later she was on her way home with no antibiotics. A few days later, her throat was better and she was away on her trip. On her return home, she had a medical bill in the mail for $28,395.50. Her insurance company was going to pay $25,865.24.

The reason for this is, the doctor sent the swab to an out of network laboratory. If he had sent the samples to an in-network lab, the cost would have been only $653. Why he sent the sample to an out of network lab isn't important. The big question is, if one lab can do the test for $653, why can't all labs? We're told an in-network lab is cheaper because they negotiate prices with the insurance company. I'll bet that in-network lab is still turning a profit.

What Is A Political Conservative?

Most Republicans we see on television and talk with claim to be Conservatives. Wikipedia defines Conservatism as: Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights. This tends to be the popular definition. The word “Conservative” means to conserve, to resist change.

A conservative friend on Twitter just gave me this definition of Conservative: The overall definition is one who believes that to contain the power of government, we must preserve personal responsibility and enforce ethical standards. It's the last part “contain the power of government” that seems to be at odds with the social aspect. It seems when it comes to social issues, Conservatives seem to want more government.

Social conservatives will be the first to call for sodomy and drug laws. They will not even discuss marijuana legalization, much less some hard drugs. As I discussed in, Mistake of Government Controlled Marriage, social conservatives don't want to remove marriage from government, while fighting against same-sex marriage.

Tax Exemptions Control Schools And Churches

Cable News Network, CNN, held the LGBT Town Hall meeting for Democratic presidential candidates. The entire event was mostly pandering and showing the extremes of the LGBT community. There were a couple of things that set conservatives on fire. One, was a mother with her 9 year old trans male child, and the other was a question about tax exemptions for churches, schools, and universities if they don't support same-sex marriage.

This writing isn't about the 9 year old trans, but I would like to clarify some things. I have heard conservatives complaining about permanently mutilating children. US law doesn't allow a 9 year old to take any hormone altering drugs or have genital altering surgery. Some are given hormone blockers at puberty, but the child must be 16 before they can begin hormone replacement therapy. A person must be a legal adult before they can have genital surgery. None of this can be done without authorization from a psychologist trained in this area.

The Sin of Conversion Therapy

Over the years, and even recently, I have been mocked for saying conversion therapy is torture. In case you aren't familiar, Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions. This therapy often includes locking people alone in a room with a bible. Conversion therapy is also sometimes performed on transgenders.

I just watched the story of 15 year old Alex Cooper who made the mistake of telling her parents she liked girls. Within a short time the girl was whisked way to St George, Utah, where she was placed with a husband and wife, the Simms, in their family home, who were to provide the conversion therapy. She was forced by her parents, grandparents, and the police to live with this couple for 8 months.

At first, the Simms did the typical forced bible study and brainwash techniques, such as mild punishments and repetitive language. Once, when Alex was caught asking for help in the grocery store, she was dragged from the store, tossed into the car, and punched in the stomach by Mr. Simms. At other times, she was whipped with a belt all over her body.

What is Normal?

These days we hear a lot about the word, Normal. Over the past couple of years we have heard conservatives complain that the left is trying to normalize pedophilia because they published articles by men admitting they have sexual desires for children, but would never act on those desires. Many men like the one in this Vice article end up killing themselves because of their guilt for having these desires. I don't understand how labeling something a psychological disorder is normalizing that problem. I find it odd that so many people don't want to prevent men from acting on pedophilia desires by having them feel safe in seeking out mental counseling. I often wonder why just the mention of such topics as pedophilia and LGBT sends some into a panic. Maybe it's because of some deep seated guilt.

There is one thing of which we can be sure, sex with small children will never become accepted by modern society, or seen as normal. In most of human history, sex with post pubescent girls has been considered normal. Until about 75 years ago, it was common for older men to marry girls as young as 13. This happened because boys were seen as an asset on the farm, or they could even work in factories. Daughters were seen as a burden so they were married off as soon as they passed puberty. Normal is always set by society, which means anything that's considered acceptable.

Controlling Political Language

Democrats have this incredible power, and that's their ability to control speech and the narrative. In almost every instance, democrats will say “immigrant” in place of “undocumented” immigrant. They will sometimes use the latter when it's to position for a specific policy, but they will never use the legal term, “illegal alien.”

Another area where democrats love to play with the language is when they talk about transgenders. They will talk about “trans” and restroom use. Absolutely no one believes cross-dressing(transvestite) men should be using ladies restrooms, but many people believe transsexual women should use the ladies restroom. Democrats love to take everything to the extreme, so they will never limit the conversation to specifics.

For those who don't know the difference, men cross-dressing is considered a fetish. There are those who see themselves as non-gender binary, or having no gender, that isn't sexual in nature. I'm quite sure that even most democrats believe that only those who have begun hormone therapy should use the restroom of their visual gender.

21st century Speech

Former Parkland student, Kyle Kashuv, had been accepted into Harvard University until someone posted a racist text he had sent at age 16 online. I would say he was just being bombastic with his group of friends, but in any case, he has apologized. After that text became public, Harvard withdrew their acceptance of his college application.

Conservatives are angry at Harvard because Kyle gained notoriety after the Parkland shooting when he became a conservative voice for the 2^nd Amendment and other conservative views. Those conservative views combined with the racist text is clearly why Harvard revoked their acceptance. I understand the anger because this was obviously based, in part, on his political views, but not the overreaction. Maybe Kyle can get the prestigious university to change its mind, but there are many other schools if they don't.

I prefer to talk about choices. We live in an age where the youth of today are putting their entire lives online. When I want to look at the photos of my life, I have to dig through a box of printed photos with writing on the back. People of today only have to log onto Facebook to see their life through photos and text. People don't think twice about posting photos of their young children online where anyone can view them, even pedophiles.