After reading the Presidential Blog , I realized that I was being "fishy" in my last blog posting. I felt so guilty for subverting the President and not wanting to "Hope" for the great "Change" and degredation of your health care, that I turned myself in. I have attached my Email, to the White House. I thought you should know why I will soon be arrested for my subversive thoughts and postings. I suggest all of you who have thought badly or spoken out against the current bill... TURN YOURSELVES IN !

Here is my confession to the speech police at the White House:

From: VisitFHC [mailto:visitfhc@efamilyhealthcenter.com]
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 1:11 AM
To: flag@whitehouse.gov
Cc: Kent Roberson; drroberson@efamilyhealthcenter.com; Andrea Roberson
Subject: Please investigate the following fishy stuff


I am turning myself in for the following “fishy” thoughts and publication.

(I inserted my last blog here. So as not to waste the time of those who have already read the blog. I will not reprint it. Please read my last entry now.)




You also wrote that “Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” I suggest you investigate the following subversives who influenced my thoughts.



Margaret Chase Smith

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize. The right to hold unpopular beliefs. The right to protest. The right of independent thought.



Barbara Ehrenreich:

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.



Carl Schurz:

The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country -- when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."



Edward R. Murrow:

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.



H. L. Mencken:

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.



Henry Steele Commager:

Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.



Barack Obama

In a speech in June 2008, Senator Obama "...called Martin Luther King Jr. and the Abu Ghraib whistleblower patriots for pointing out injustice, and he quoted Missourian Mark Twain to applause, saying: 'Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.' "

(From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones)





Thank you, Macon Phillips, for this opportunity to be a patriot and report myself for my “Fishy” blogging. I hope reporting myself will allow us all to change our society… from the old repressive shackles of freedom of thought and speech.

I get to spend a lot of time at sports events, being the father of 5 athletes. So last year I found myself at a baseball game with my 10 year old son. His coaches have the team warm up about one hour prior to the game. So while I was detachedly watching our team warm up, I noticed the other team was warming up as well. I began to "eye the competition". They looked okay, but not nearly as good as our team. It looked like a good day for a win. I noticed the coach, Mr O'Dell. I knew him, he has been a good coach, and he is on the baseball league board. We had talked a few times about the baseball league. He was a really likable guy. He is pationate about youth baseball. Most of the parents liked him and his team seemed to respond well to his coaching. The more I watched, I noticed that he had a few good players, but a lot of rookies. I was beginning to think that we would not have much trouble winning this game. I just hoped it would not be a blow out. However, I had heard that this team had 12 wins and no losses. They sure did not look that good.

My phone rang, disturbing my musing. I was on call. As I answered my cell phone, I walked away forgetting about the teams that were warming up. The call from my answereing service was not a very intense medical need, but seemed to take forever to get sorted out. It was the kind of free care that I provided every day. By the time I finished the phone call the game had started. I wandered over the the stands. Our team was up to bat, in the first inning. I noticed that there was only one umpire. Usually there was two; one in the field and one behind the plate. Today, there was just one behind the plate. I had missed our first batter. He had struck out already. Our second batter was in trouble. The pitch was way wide, but the umpire called it a strike. Not a good call ... but as I always teach my kids, nobody is perfect. You will get a few bad calls. Some of the parents on my side started to grumble. Our next batter came up. Three pitches were thrown and three strikes were called. There was more grumbling from the stands. I could not make out who the umpire was, with his face guard on. I knew most of the umpires because I had watched what seemed like a thousand baseball games. This one seemed new to me.

During the next half of the inning we had more poor umpire calls. Consistently when it was a close call the umpires called it for the other side. The grumbling from our parents got louder each time.
"Didn't I tell you he would call it for his team.", said one father.
"Yeah, but our kids get to play the game and he doesn't cost much." said one of the mothers.
Just then I turned to look at the field. The umpire took off his mask. It was the other teams Coach, Mr O'Dell!
"What is going on?" I asked.
"Talk to O'Dell." came the chorus of replies from my stands.

The games continued, dismally, we lost 10 to nothing. The calls always going against our boys. Throughout the game, Mr O'Dell always remaind kind and cheerful. Each time a harsh comment came from the crowd he woud respond with a genuine smile and never fired back. You just felt like liking this guy. He was personable and ...well ... just likable. A guy you wanted to be around. I cornered him after the game and gently ask why he was both a league board member, a coach and an umpire. He explained that there had been a few complaints about a few of the hired umpires. The board, at his suggestion, had decided that it cost too much to pay the umpires. This way the board members could coach for less cost to everyone and provide a higher quality of umpiring. In fact, the board was considering lowering the enrollment fees.

"Don't you think its unfair for the game and the boys,that the people who make the rules also call the game?" , I asked.
"In fact," he replied, "we think it makes the game better. It adds competition for the umpires. It keeps them honest. It improves the competition and makes the boys work harder to win. We believe in our decision, whole heartedly. Its what this league has needed for a long time. And we had the votes to make it happen."

His response caught me off guard. He was so nice and seemed to know what he was talking about. I did not even know how to respond. I just walked away, shaking my head. It made no sense to me. How do you improve competition by rigging the system. If you are the one who makes the rules and enforces the rules, what makes that good.

The next day I called another board member, Mrs Pellagrino. I told her about my conversation with Mr O'Dell and asked her opinion.
"I am excited about this new system!", she replied, "In fact I just got off the phone with a baseball league organizer in Nevada. They are hoping to change their system to be like ours! It provides great quality control when you can make good rules, have coaches you trust teaching the rules and be sure the game gets umpired by those who care about the rules."
"How do you think it will affect the boys?" I asked.
Mrs Pelligrino went on, "They will love it once the novelty wears off. We just need to give them some time to get used to it. We have worked hard on this change. We studied it and talked it to death. I hope you can see that this change is for everyone's best."

She was not as kind and likeable as Mr O'Dell, but seemed like a reasonable lady. I wondered if maybe I had gotten it wrong. What was I missing? Was this really a good thing? It did not make sense, but the board was convinced. I decided to let it drop. Maybe it was not worth the effort to argue against this. I had other things to do. Other more pressing responsibilities.

A year passed and last month we were deciding whether or not to sign our now 11 year old son up for this year's baseball. When we called around to the various leagues we discovered that all the leagues were now using the same system. All the leagues board members were coaching teams and they were using only board members for umpires. We also discovered, without surprise, that no parents were willing to coach the teams. The only teams that had formed were coached by board members. We decided that our son would not play baseball this year. We will find another game to play.

Many of you reading this have already guessed that it is a fictional story. It would be absurd for a league to take over baseball like I described. No one would play the game. The parents would not allow it. The board members would be thrown out or the parents would start new leagues.

Yet, this is what our current federal government and its willing accomplices in the legislature wants to do to our economy. With the bailout of our economy, they now make the rules (via legislation), coach the team (by owning car companies) and umpire (by enforcing their regulations via "Czars"). The game is rigged and our freedom to compete is being stripped from us. They want to take over the game. Yet this game is not baseball, its our financial well being.

The President and the Legislature now wants to do the same with your healthcare. Our President wants to "improve" the system by adding "competition" for the insurance companies. But how can an industry compete with a government system that is regulated by the same people who make the rules. I am not a fan of the Health Insurance industry, and it is a big part of the problem. However, just look at Medicare, Medicaid, The VA, and Tricare. These are Government run systems and they are very badly run. These programs are a large part of the poor quality that we are getting in our current system. Why do you want to give more power to the same people who have messed up Medicare. The proposals that are currently before congress are a death to our health in this country. Please contact your federal representatives and ask them to vote "NO" to the current proposals. I will write more in my blog, in the future, about what kinds of fixes might be better for our healthcare.

Sometimes you scratch your head and do not know what to say. The thinking of the federal agency that administers Medicare is profoundly perplexing. During a meeting today, I found out that Medicare will not pay for the cost of an injection performed in my office. In other words I can give an injection of antibiotic, but medicare considers my cost of ordering, buying and dispensing the injection a normal part of an office visit. So when a patient comes with a skin infection, requiring an antibiotic injection. I can give an antibiotic injection ( but will not be paid for the cost of that injection) or I can send them on to the emergency room where they can get an injection. In their infinate wisdom, Medicare will pay the hospital for the cost of the antibiotic injection (when given in the Emergency Room). The cost of an Emergency Room visit to Medicare is around $300 and my visit costs Medicare around $50. Why spend $50 when you can spend $300. The fortunate Medicare patient can spend less than an hour in my office and spend half a day in the Emergency Room. Lets see, what would I chose. You might begin to understand my concern about a federally mandated health insurance system. Our president and congress was elected to bring Change. It is change, but does it make sense?

We have known for a long time that Vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone mineral loss. Profound and prolonged Vitamin D deficiency was the cause of Rickets (Discovered a milenia ago). More recently we have been discovering Vitamin D is associated with health in other areas. Across the United States there is at least 25% of us that are vitamin D deficient. In Nursing homes or others that do not get outside much there are as high as 75% of persons with a deficiency. There is a higher rate of Vitamin D deficiency in Colorado then was previously recognized. Some researchers think that this is a result of our carefulness in protecting against skin cancer. Even low levels of sunscreen block our ability to make vitamin D. We are out in the bright sun less often and using more sun screen. We therefore produce less vitamin D. It is still improtant to avoid skin cancer, so I do continue to recommend sunscreen.

Vitamin D deficieny is now linked with:
- Increased Pain in patients with Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes.
- Increased risk of death from heart disease.
- Double the risk of death from any cause.
- Increased fatigue and perhaps a higher risk of depression
- Thin bones and pathologic bone fractures.
- worse asthma symptoms.
- increased frequency of colds in the winter time.

Foods that are rich in Vitamin D include dark fish, Vitamin D fortified milk, egg yolk and Vitamin D fortiefied cereals.
If you are taking calcium with Vitamin D supplement, you still may not be getting enough vitamin D. The way to know is to get a simple blood test for your vitamin D Level. This tst is called 25-OH-vitamin D level. If you are low, then you need to take 12 weeks of higher dose Vitamin D. You should have your level tested, after the 12 weeks to see if you have corrected, and to decide how much vitamin D you should take regularly.

There are problems with taking too much Vitamin D. However, you would need to take excessive amounts for a very long time to get into problems. As long as you are testing at appropriate intervals, you will not become overdosed.

If you wish to have your vitamin D levels check, please contact us at Family Health Center. You can do an online office visit at CallFHC .com or call us to make an appointment.

In the era of discussing Healthcare Reform, we should consider patient rights and responsibilities in an attempt to define the problems and suggest fixes. I found a pretty good list at About.com (The Wise Patient's Guide to Rights and Responsibilities
By Trisha Torrey, About.com Updated: February 19, 2009. ) Trisha's lists are, I think, a good starting point for most discussions. Hre is the basic list:

" Consider these Patients' Rights
•The Right to Be Treated with Respect
•The Right to Make a Treatment Choice
•The Right to Refuse Treatment
•The Right to Obtain Your Medical Records
•The Right to Privacy of Your Medical Records
•The Right to Informed Consent
•The Right to Make Decisions About End-of-Life Care

The entitlement of patients' rights for Americans is accompanied by patients' responsibilities, too. In order to get the best care, and find our most successful medical outcomes, we must adhere to these responsibilities.

Consider these Patients' Responsibilities
•Maintaining Healthy Habits
•Being Respectful to Providers
•Being Honest With Providers
•Complying with Treatment Plans
•Preparing for Emergencies
•Reading Behind the Headlines
•Making Decisions Responsibly
•Understanding Prescription Drugs and Their Possible Effects
•Meeting Financial Obligations
•Reporting Fraud and Wrongdoing
•Avoiding Putting Others at Risk"

I recommend thinking about each of these points. Discuss them with the people around you. Both lists are critical in order to consider various fixes to hour system.