Bi-County Health Bureau

Alright, I have had enough.  This Bi-County Health Bureau needs to go away.  There is no practical purpose for it to exist anymore.  With all the charting that takes place in the medical field, everything that is being stated as being in favor of the bureau is so off base.  Medical records are all electronic anymore.  The DOH has a process that they utilize at a state level to determine these things.  If an outbreak did occur, the bi-county health bureau will not have any direct involvement.  It is not the same as the Allentown or Bethlehem Health Bureau. 

By the time that a bureau would even be aware of the problem, there would already be a response.  There are so many processes in place that creates such an overlap, that would is being proposed would have no business being funded or advocated for.  With regards to an emergency of sorts that would take place in Northampton County, such as a plane accident, they would not even be there.

If people want to focus on this kind of concept, then they need to focus on the emergency services as a whole.  Since 9/11, there has been funding for them, but not in the ways that you think.  Many of the funding that is available only covers specific training that has no bearing on our geographic location.  New York City has had millions of dollars spent on this training, and they have nothing to show for it.  They still are ill equipped to handle a tragic incident.  It is by no fault on them, but rather the fact that the emergency services have been neglected for far too long. 

People take for granted that their house doesn't catch on fire, or that their loved one doesn't have a heart attack or simply put, that they have an officer that is responding to them for a burglar that is only five minutes away.  Let's use Upper Mt. Bethel or Lower Mt. Bethel for example, they are utilizing the Pennsylvania State Police.  How long does it take for them to respond to these areas in the event of an emergency.  Tom Nervine is right on when he advocates for the betterment of these responses.  We need to focus on what does have an impact on a daily basis, and stop dealing with the what ifs that don't really matter anyway. 

People who advocate for the Bi-County Health Bureau are simply off base.  Take a look into the facts.  It costs money and does nothing to justify it.  I am willing to debate on this matter.  I believe that education will allow for people to be informed on this matter and agree with this at the end of the day.

Hypocrisy and Leverage: What?

When our country was founded, it was founded on the belief that people had representation on the matters that they would become concerned over.  Matters in which they had then entrusted the people they voted into office to handle. 

Does a public opinion poll have the right to dictate policy?  I will preface this writing with the fact that we must trust those who we vote for, only as far as the trust that they have earned allows us to do so.  I am not one for popularity polls because of how distorted a person’s impression becomes.  If I watched Fox News all day, I will have a conservative belief in a poll.  If I watched MSNBC all day, then I would have a more liberal leaning point of view.  People need to understand matters from a neutral and non-agenda related perspective. 

Do politicians have an agenda that benefits them?  I believe they do from the federal level all the way to the local level.  We shall talk about leverage in this section related to both the politician and those who are trying to exploit the politician themselves.  Right now there is a controversial tax package on the floor of the senate, and what makes it so controversial.  Let us leave out the part with the riders and pork spending projects.  That would be too numerous to cover in this blog.  Republicans want taxes to stay the same for all people in American, and not just the poor and middle class people.  Democrats want the rich to be taxed more, so that they can claim an extra forty-two billion dollars to not add to the deficit. 

Watch how leverage works.  Republicans insist that they will not vote for anything less than a total tax package, but will make some concessions in other areas.  Democrats insist that they will not vote for the tax package as it stands now, but will if concessions are made in certain areas.  Here is how this package will get put to the American people from both sides of the aisle.  Democrats get the extension on unemployment and an increase in social security benefit, while the Republicans get the tax package to all Americans as they initially wanted.  Sounds great right. 

What the hell is wrong with us?  Why are we not outraged by this situation?  This is where I will talk about hypocrisy.  All people that are voted into office are there to represent the people.  In this last great stroke of genius by the members of Congress, they utilized all people as the leverage to get what they wanted.  Since when did the people of this great country become leverage?  Politicians shake our hands and kiss our babies only when they run for office.  When do you see them during their term in office?  They can’t be too busy; because they have more vacation in one year than you or I will have in five years.  Why do politicians state that they will be here to defend our liberties in the name of justice, and the pursuit of that unobtainable happiness?  Too many bills, with too many deals, that is where the problem truly exists. 

Did I miss something in history class?  I thought that this great country was founded on the ideals and beliefs of righteousness.  I thought it was a for the people, by the people process in which we held many of the truths to be so self evident.  Apparently we do not see as clearly as we did once before.  We do not appreciate what power we the people have.  How many people have actually read the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence?  I will put them on this blog if people need to read them.  To see the words that were chosen, to feel the passion that was utilized, to be in awe of the greatness that was, how do we get there again. 

We need to start electing people that are truly for us the people.  Only age requirements bar people from ascending to great positions of leadership (exception being the President).  There are no other restrictions barring an individual from aspirations of greatness.  With all this being said, why do we elect career politicians.  Our forefathers did not set this country up in this kind of system.  If they did, why then did George Washington not go past two terms.  Remove FDR from the equation and you have this over the course of all our presidents.  But wait; look at the likes of Strom, Ted and Specter to name a few career politicians.  The positions were never meant to be lifetime jobs, but rather an experience so that the people of this great country could appreciate the process that was, not the one that currently is.  We need to take back our country as our forefathers thought it to be, and it starts with local politics.  You must create a base to operate off of, and then expand upon it.  There is too much corruption in our local politics. 

I will talk about issues in Northampton County, but I want the readers of this blog to understand the impact that they can have as well.  I want you to understand the place that I come from when I write these postings.  My email is posted, so I want you the people to pick the topics that we will have on this blog.  Understand that both sides of the fence will be analyzed so that the reader may make an informed decision. 

Sincerely,

Silence Dogood