New poll: "How many people read Est Quod Est?"

Due to this recent comment, I figured it was high time to set the record straight on how many readers I have.

And just how would I accomplish this, pray tell? Would I look at how many web visits I get per day? Or how many unique visitors I receive? No, of course not. I will take a reader poll. And this is how it will work. Suppose one hundred readers voted, and say that 10 readers voted for "20 or more", 30 readers voted for "Zero", 40 readers said "Five or six" and 20 readers said "10 or more". Then the answer would be settled: Pauli has five or six readers.

This is the best way I know to find out how many readers I truly have, but I don't claim that there might be some possible margin of error.

So as they say in Chicago, "yous guys vote early and vote often."

"The world drags me down"

Sanctuary, baby.

Obama's Disgraceful Attacks on Doctors and Policemen

From Kristol's piece:

First, Obama offered this example of how doctors make decisions under the current system instead of doing what’s in their patients’ best interests:

Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."

Does Obama really think pediatricians knowingly order unnecessary tonsillectomies in order to “make a lot more money?” Isn’t this a rather casual slander of a lot of doctors? And in any case, is this what’s driving up health-care costs? It’s probably as likely health-care costs are high because hospitals have too many vice presidents for government relations making $300,000 a year. But I wouldn’t think it appropriate for the president to single them out for attack either.

No, Mr. Obama, that's what you would do if you were a doctor.

Second, Obama answered a question about his friend Henry Louis Gates’s run-in with the Cambridge cops, after acknowledging “not having been there and not seeing all the facts,” by nonetheless asserting that “the Cambridge police acted stupidly.” Does he really know enough about what happened to say that? Maybe it was Professor Gates who behaved stupidly, or at least arrogantly. He is, after all, a Harvard professor. I was once a Harvard professor, and my instinct is to side with the Cambridge cops. But if I were president of the United States, I might pause before casually accusing other Americans of acting stupidly unless I were confident I knew what I was talking about.

What an asshole we have for a President.

New GOP ad advises saying 'no' to Obama's expensive health experiment

At least do it for the kids.

Sign the Petition: Free Our Health Care Now!

Great news! Last time I posted on this about a month ago, there were about 100,000 signatures. Now there are over 650,000! People are not taking this lying down.

If you haven't already PLEASE SIGN! I'm putting a link at the top over on the right sidebar. Ask all your friends and family members to sign this as well; send them an email.

Football and Life

This is a great article about great men and getting priorities in the proper places within the hierarchy.

Don't hate Tony Dungy because he was a Steeler, Cleveland people.

Governor Bobby Jindal's Common Sense on Health Care

Loved the conclusion Mr. Jindal makes in his exposé of the outrageous health care bill.

Imagine if the president proposed a reform package that made health insurance portable, ended frivolous lawsuits, allowed for pooling, required insurance companies to cover the sick, paid based on outcomes and not activity, used refundable tax credits to increase affordability and incentivized rather than penalized small businesses to provide coverage. Republicans would support those reforms, and the policy would benefit the entire country. True, it wouldn’t be the radical and exciting restructuring that Pelosi is pushing, but it would begin to move us toward common-sense, bottom-up solutions. Solutions! There’s an idea.

But wait, as the late Billy Mays would say, there’s more. Social Security and Medicare, our two biggest entitlement programs in this country, are perpetually underfunded and are always in danger of going bankrupt. Is it even remotely possible that we as a country are now considering adding an entire new entitlement program to our repertoire?

Would the last sane person in Washington please turn out the lights when you leave?

Yes, imagine it because it's not going to happen. He doesn't mention buying across state lines which itself would revolutionize the industry.

Obama Losing Independents

Obama's approval numbers are slipping, especially on key issues such as so-called "health-care reform". It's significant that independents are leading the way since they are really the ones who elected him. Excerpts:

The erosion in Obama's overall rating on health care is particularly notable among political independents: While positive in their assessments of his handling of health-care reform at the 100-day mark of his presidency (53 percent approved and 30 percent disapproved), independents now are divided at 44 percent positive and 49 percent negative.

and

Obama's approval rating on his handling of the deficit is down to 43 percent, as independents now tilt toward disapproval (42 percent approve; 48 percent disapprove).