Planting Questions for Hillary.......

We have just learned that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is having questions planted at her campaign events. I guess this practice explains her talented spontaneity in answering these questions. Since candidate Clinton is open to the practice of planting questions, I'd like to plant the following questions....

1) Do you think it was ethically appropriate for you to sit on the board of directors of the Arkansas domiciled company Walmart when your husband was the governor or Arkansas? How do you reconcile Walmart's policy of not offering many of its employees health care insurance with your participation on the Walmart Board? If we were privy to the minutes of the Walmart board meetings, would we read of your strident advocacy to offer expanded health benefits to all employees?

2) How come so many individuals associated with you and your husband(Susan McDougal, James McDougal, Jim Guy-Tucker, Webster Hubbell, Vince Foster) have ended up either incarcerated or dead? James McDougal seemed kind of old to be married to Susan McDougal. Do you think he was able to keep her satisfied? What exactly was the nature of the relationship between your husband, Bill Clinton, and Susan McDougal, that she would rather go to jail than testify about him? Doesn't your husband typically advise female acquaintances who are under criminal investigation to swallow the evidence? Do you think she knew that if she refused to testify, your husband would pardon her before leaving office? Do you have any second thoughts about appointing your former partner and now convicted lawyer Webster Hubbell to be the asssociate attorney general? Do you ever lose sleep wondering if Vincent Foster would be alive today if he had not been your legal counsel?

3) Was Attorney General Janet Reno just having a bad hair day when she ordered the attack on the Branch Dividiens at Waco? Did you ever consider sending Janet Reno to your hair stylist to cut down on the casualties? Does your hair stylist charge more than John Edwards'? Do you think it's fair that only president's get to close down the LA Airport, so they can get a hair cut on Air Force One?

4) When are you going to publish your "How to Make a Killing in Cattle Futures" book?

5) Given that you feel upper income Americans are under-taxed, do you still advocate taking itemized deductions when you donate your husband's used underwear to Goodwill? Do you regret not having shared with Monica your secret process for getting out the stains?

6) If you know beforehand that taxes are going up under a new Presidential administration, as happened under President Clinton in 1993, what approach do you suggest taking to persuade your employer to pay out your bonus before the new President takes office, so that you pay taxes at a lower rate than everyone else in the firm?

7) Have you ever apologized to former White House travel office manager Billy Dale for accusing him of embezzlement? Did you ever consider it a conflict of interest to replace Mr. Dale with a relative? Have you ever considered compensating Mr. Dale for the hundreds of thousands of dollars he spent defending his innocence?

8) What juicy tidbits about your political enemies did you get from their purloined FBI files provided to you by Craig Livingstone?

9) Given your altruism, how come you did not inspire your daughter to work for the Peace Corps, Americorps, or Teach for America, rather than take high paying jobs at McKinsey and then a hedge fund?

10) When your daughter Chelsea left home for Stanford, you told a television interviewer that you were thinking of adopting a child because the nest was empty. Whatever happened? Given your affinity for children, why haven't you followed in the footsteps of Madonna and Angelina Jolie? Do you and your husband share the same philosophy when it comes to breast feeding?

11) Since you've "always been a Yankees fan"......

a) How many home games did you attend this past season?

b) Do you ever sit with ordinary fans, or are you always in a luxury box with other political elites?

c) Do you ever pay for tickets to a game?

d) Do you think that Scott Boras would be better in centerfield or leftfield?

e) Which of these former/current Red Sox did not play for the Yankees? Babe Ruth, Roger Clemens, Luis Tiant, Mo Vaughn, Doug Mientniewicz, Mike Lowell, Johnny Wyatt, Fred Lynn?

f) Who is Bucky Dent? How is he related to Aaron Boone?

g) Why is Rom Blomberg's bat in the Hall of Fame?

h) Besides his baseball glove, what device did Joe Pepitone keep in his locker?

i) What was Phil Rizzuto's favorite berry?

j) Phil Rizzuto was Italian-Catholic, but what beliefs did he share in common with Hindus?

k) Who was "the Stick," and who was "the Chicken?"

l) Who did the Yankees get for Jay Buhner? Willie McGee?

m) Who was the "Samoan Strongboy?"

n) Who was the "Staten Island Strongboy?"

o) Which Doc would you see if you weren't feeling well - Ellis or Medich?

p) What was Bobby Murcer's original position?

q) Who was the "luckiest man of the face of the earth?"

r) What do Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier have in common? What don't they have in common?

s) Which Giambi participated in "The Flip?"

t) Who was the Yankees captain prior to Derek Jeter?

12) If you are elected President, and therefore vacate the office of junior senator from the great state of New York, will you recommend that New York Democrats appoint a home grown replacement or recruit another carpetbagger?

13) Given that your husband earns over ten million dollars a year in speaking fees, have you ever considered recommending to him that he waive his rights to the reimbursement to which he is entitled under the Former President's Act? Since he can easily afford to pay for his own office, wouldn't it be better to spend these tax dollars on children's healthcare and education?

14) Under a second Clinton administration, will you accept dollars for a night in the Lincoln bedroom, or will guests have to pay in euros?

15) If your idealogical soulmate Hugo Chavez were invited to a White House coffee, would you waive the requirement to make a contribution to your re-election campaign?

16) Do you think that Vice President Al Gore drank all those ice teas during the White House coffee fundraisers to counter the effects of global warming?

17) If you become President, are you planning to continue the Clinton tradition of selling pardons?

18) Given the political flak that President Bush has received for firing eight US attorneys who served "at will," if elected, will you keep all the current US attorneys, or, like your husband, will you fire all the current US attorneys and replace them with political loyalists?

19) Given your affinity for minorities, if elected, will you follow in the footsteps of President Bush and appoint an hispanic attorney general, an african-american secretary of state, an asian secretary of labor, and a female national security advisor? Will you let former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger enter the White House wearing shoes and socks, or will you insist that he wear flip flops?

20) You once kissed Yassir Arafat's wife on both cheeks after she had given a speech in Arabic in which she accused Jews of killing Palestinians by poisoning the waters of the Jordan river. Do you make it a habit of kissing and hugging when you have no idea what the speaker has just said? If you ever have the opportunity to kiss Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the cheeks, would you ask him to shave beforehand?

21) Is your definition of the word "is" the same as your husband's definition of the word "is?" Just what is the definition of the word "is?"

22) Does your advisor Harold Ickes have any relatives with the last name Slimeys?

23) Presumably you have returned the contributions bundled by Norman Hsu. When are you going to return the contributions from jail-bound attorneys Melvyn Weiss and Bill Lerach? I know you are buddies with Peter Paul. What happened to Mary?

24) Given that during your husband's presidential campaign, in your own words, you said that in voting for him, voters would be "getting a two-for-one special," would you agree that your candidacy, while not technically violating the presidential term limits law, de facto violates the spirit of the law?

SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION

In contrast to the first Clinton administration, under a Hillary Clinton administration, would it be safe to say that that Sox (or is it Socks) will be the only pussy allowed in the White House?

Senator Clinton's Baby Fund

Senator Clinton has it all wrong with her proposal that the government should give every newborn child 5,000 dollars. I realize that her campaign strategy is that if she behaves as the panderer in chief she will become the commander in chief, but I think she'd be better off proposing the exact opposite. Instead of setting up a baby fund, the government should pay 5,000 dollars to every woman of child bearing age who agrees not to have a baby. This proposal would help control population growth, which would reduce global warming, and it would also result in fewer abortions and unwanted births. In addition, it would select for good parents, since any woman willing to forego the money would likely be committed to parenthood. Finally, it would select against bad parents, since anyone who would sacrifice the joy of raising a child just to get the money probably should not be a parent. We pay farmers not to grow crops, so maybe she could just add my proposal as an amendment to the next farm bill.

Senator Clinton's Healthcare Proposal

One of Senator Clinton’s Proposals is to set up an institute similar to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom Below you can read the specific language in her proposal:

• Fund and Distribute Independent Research to Compare Effectiveness of Treatments:


In the past decade, there has been an 80 percent growth in the numberof drugs prescribed, 100 percent growth in new medical device patents, 300 percentgrowth in teaching hospital procedures, and 1,500 percent growth in diseases withgene tests.iv Patients, providers and payers need information on how treatmentscompare to one another. The American Health Choices Plan funds a Best PracticesInstitute that would work as a partnership between the existing Agency for HealthcareResearch and Quality and the private sector to fund research on what treatments workbest and to help disseminate this information to patients and doctors to increasequality and reduce costs.

This proposal sounds like the creation of a new bureaucracy similar to the UK’s NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence). This government entity serves as a gatekeeper, and has ruled against reimbursement for many drugs and devices. For example, neither the beta interferons nor Copaxone, which are used to treat multiple sclerosis, have been approved for reimbursement in the United Kingdom. I excerpt in bolded italic NICE press releases referring to other examples of drugs that are used in the U.S. but whose reimbursement has been denied or greatly restricted in the UK:

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today published final guidance on the use of pemetrexed (Alimta) for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. The guidance does not recommend the use of this drug and means that the appeal by Eli Lilly and Co. against the recommendations contained in the Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) has not been successful.

Draft guidance from NICE on the use of ranibizumab (Lucentis) and pegaptanib (Macugen) has been issued for public consultation today (14 June 2007). The guidance recommends the use of Lucentis for about 20% of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, a condition which causes sight loss and blindness. The draft guidance recommends Lucentis for people with predominantly classic subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) wet age-related macular degeneration. It recommends Lucentis should be used when both eyes are affected, and that it should be used in the better-seeing eye. The guidance does not recommend the use of Macugen.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today published final guidance on the use of bevacizumab and cetuximab for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. The guidance does not recommend the use of these drugs for first line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer (bevacizumab) and therapy following the failure of an irinotecan containing chemotherapy regimen (cetuximab). In this case, our advisory committee was certainly aware thatcolorectal cancer is an aggressive disease and that the treatment options availableare limited. However, the assessment of the evidence shows that neither of these drugs represents a good use of NHS resources.”

I’ve been thinking about her proposal, and I’ve come up with the perfect name for the institute:

Biomedical Institute To Control Healthcare

If the Hsu Fits....................

It now appears that we know the source of Norman Hsu's money. He swindled $40 million from a group of investors whose money is managed by NYC investor Joel Rosenman (see the Wall Street Journal, 9/12/07, page A1). Mr. Rosenman and his investors were under the impression they were providing financing for the importation of high fashion apparel from China, but when he attempted to cash checks from Mr. Hsu, they bounced. According to Mr. Rosenman's attorney "Norman Hsu has an extraordinary ability to deceive." Well, this description explains why Mr. Hsu and Hillary Clinton had a natural affinity for one another. I hesitate to refer to a former First Lady and a Junior Senator from the great state of New York as a master of deception.....but if the hsu fits.........I just pray that the average American voter wakes up to the reality that Hillary Clinton is a disingenuous, Machiavellian, ethically defunct, power hungry politician. She is not above selling a night in the Lincoln bedroom, hawking Presidential pardons , or overlooking her husband's sexual wanderings, if it will further her objective to obtain power. I understand that people identify with the Democratic party platform, but if one believes in the ideals of the Democratic party, there are other candidates, such as Barack Obama, who espouse the Democratic platform with honesty and legitimate idealism. I do not believe in socialism or class warfare, so I would find it hard to support any Democratic candidate, but at least Mr. Obama strikes me as being truthful and sincere. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said that "you can fool some of the people some of the time." Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton has an uncanny ability (shared with her husband and with Norman Hsu) to fool the American people, but hopefully the upcoming election will not fall into the category of "some of the time." Honest Abe, where are you when we need you?

In The Beginning

This blog is my first entry, so I will explain what "FelTempReparatio" means. It is a Latin phrase that appeared on the reverse of Roman coins minted by the emperors Constans and Constantius II in 347 A.D. to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the founding of Rome. These two emperors were the sons of Constantine the Great. This phrase translates into English as the phrase "happy times are here again." The irony of this phrase appearing on these coins is that the Roman Empire was under assault from the outside and engaged in infighting among internal rivals when these coins were being minted - a set of circumstances not unlike the United States of America in 2007 A.D. The western Roman Empire eventually fell to the barbarians in 476 A.D. I hope the United States will still be a strong and independent nation in 2136 A.D.