The Medical Freedom Channel

Several bits of feedback have come over the transom recently, indicating that maybe this Channel needs a little more explanation before we proceed. The most cogent of these messages notes that many stories have appeared here, both News and Commentary, regarding the latest “Massachusetts Miracle” – the just-signed Universal Healthcare Bill – without making it crystal clear that neither the “news stories” nor the actually acknowledged opinion in (most of) the commentaries were representative of this editor’s stance (or that of the International Society for Individual Liberty, which sponsors this site) on the issue.

This is regrettable. It’s at least in part due to technical glitches back in January that interrupted the flow of this Medical Freedom Channel (along with the other ISIL channels), and trashed the archives, a cursory scan of which would probably clarify the point. But it’s also due to the fact that this webpage actually contains little or nothing in the way of a “mission statement,” one that would clarify the intended functions of the venture, for both first-time browsers and longtime supporters. Herewith, an attempt to correct that.

First of all, this site began in October 2005, with its initial target being the efforts to extend the horrific international CODEX Alimentarius regulation of natural medicines and herbal supplements to the United States. Those measures, though still ongoing, are at least temporarily forestalled; moreover, they represent only one of many battlefronts in the arena of “health.” So it made perfect sense to also cover issues of health insurance, Medicare, pharmaceuticals, contraception, medical advances … in short, if it was listed under “Health” at some news site or another, it was a potential for inclusion.

The challenge has been finding relevant articles each day, since “free market healthcare” is not always that widespread a topic. So we often also post stories written from the “pro socialism” side of things, and then note the morsel of validity in the analysis. (Even when socialists proclaim the horrors of “capitalism,” they often manage to identify real problem correctly, even if they then go on to preach more statism as the solution.) Of course, sometimes the pressure to finish the work and go on to something else means the “editor’s note” doesn’t get tacked on; we need to work on that … and will!

There’s also the argument to be made that if we don’t know what our enemies are plotting, we can’t always prepare to rebut or thwart them. Perhaps this Channel should have a special section for posting such things, similar to Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” on MSNBC’s “Countdown” show. Perhaps all that needs to occur is the addition of a tag at the beginning of the headline (”OR” for “Opposition Research” might be one way) to designate the purpose of posting the blurb and link.

For this issue (Monday, April 16, 2006) we shall try this: All but one Commentary (and some of the News entries) in this batch are about the Massachusetts healthcare reform bill, just signed by Gov. Mitt Romney, with a veto of one item: the part about forcing businesses to pay a fine if they do not comply with the new rules. (Apparently, he has no problem with forcing individuals to do so, but draws the line at the fictitious “corporation” having to play along!) That veto is now expected to be overridden by the state House and Senate, thus imposing socialized medicine on all Bay State citizens, real or imaginary.

Additionally, we’re posting all the other Commentaries we dug up today on this specific topic (the Mass. health bill), so that they’ll at least pass into the Archives, for future research. And where necessary, the tag “OR” is added, to indicate our disagreement (complete, or at very least major) with the premises therein. Let’s see if that clarifies things for the moment.