Ben's Viewpoint

GPS Navigation Evolution

2009-10-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

My posts have been primarily political of late with any real innovation being regulated by the ever swelling government.

Today twitter was abuzz about the release of Google's latest navigation solution that will run on Android phones and soon be available on the iPhone as well. My opinion of Google's superior ease of use may not sway you to trash your Garmin, the fact that the software is free, updates constantly, and will be loaded with Google content will surely sway your opinion when you get to using the device. As one blog suggests, Tom Tom is Toast.

I already use my Garmin for street level directions but I use my Google Latitude app on my blackberry when I need the address in the first place. You cant ask your stand alone GPS nav to look up the new restaurant on 3rd street that opened last week, it's not loaded on your device. Sure you can buy a new Tom Tom that has the ability to download this for you but why when you can get a service free from Google that runs on the phone you already own.

What the hardware and navigation bundles fail to provide is real time access to location aware information. Unless they become advertising providers like Google they can't compete. My prediction, as I suggested in a prior post about location aware ads, is that Google will provide location aware ads on devices that will sell for a premium and consumers will find this a service not a nuisance as the currently find radio advertising or TV commercials. If your GPS NAV can deliver today's lunch special around the corner while your en-route, it will change the way your make decisions and it will drive the market for consumers, handset makers, and advertisers. It is a Win -Win- Win proposition.

Obama Care Dies

2009-09-27T17:07:00.001-07:00

Don't Let The Healthcare Debate Flatline!

2009-09-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

The current debate over health care reform has only begun, there are basically two possible outcomes, the Democratically controlled government could opt to push through Obama’s plan, OR they could come up with a revised plan.

If they choose the prior over the latter it is very likely the entire political picture will change in 2010 because only 42% of American’s support the president and the Democratic plans. The more likely path will be to modify the bill and then try to push it through as Americans grow weary of the debate and just want something done.

Conservatives agree on certain reforms, and most agree (I won’t use rhetoric like the politicians state such as ALL AGREE, or NOBODY DISAGREES) but the consensus is that tort reform, reduced fraud and abuse, and the ability for medial insurance plans to be purchased nationally like auto insurance will help increase competition and reduce costs. The fact is that most liberals oppose these ideas.

WHY?

Ask yourself some of these basic WHY questions, and also using your basic senses, consider your trust in the government’s ability to efficiently employ it’s policy and, thoughtfully apply the results of the current proposals and come to your own conclusion as to what you support. Send your conclusions to your representatives. With 1/6^th of our economy riding on this legislation nearly 1 of every 5 dollars you likely spend over the upcoming years will be touched by what is going on in Washington. Please get involved; please use your voice, and your vote. Now is not the time to trust this to your government. We the people must take part in our countries future today.

This is a complicated debate so it is difficult to make it simple to understand, what I have done, is taken statements made in Obama’s congressional address on health care and followed them facts and then questions for you to consider. Make you own conclusions. “those of us with health insurance are also paying a hidden and growing tax for those without it – about $1000 per year that pays for somebody else's emergency room and charitable care.” Obama reminds us that everyone pays for the uninsured.

The problem is everyone pays for the 47 million (1 in 7) who don’t have insurance. Obama also corrected this number to 30 million by deducting 17 million illegal immigrants during his speech. Dissecting this figure further you find many could pay but choose not to, and some are eligible for existing programs but fail to apply. The real number is estimated at 15 million, a fraction of the problem being suggested. The uninsured include a large portion of illegal immigrants that admittedly costs us all in a “hidden and growing tax” for “charitable care”

Why doesn’t the health reform bill consider any immigration reform?

According to Obama’s own words on the existing medical entitlement system “eventually be spending more on Medicare and Medicaid than every other government program combined. Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem.”

How does this administration propose creating a bigger government entity that regulates a health care system to reduce our deficit when it admittedly blames the existing entitlement for the largest contributor to deficit spending?

Do you believe the people who regulate Fannie Mae and the banking system that nearly collapsed have the ability to reform our health care system into a more efficient and effective program?

Has the government ever succeeded in reducing cost or improving service in any program it has created?

Even with the previous major flaws in the current proposals, let me quote Obamas own goals for this reform, and ask you questions of each of his goals and if his proposals in fact meet these goals.

“The plan I'm announcing tonight would meet three basic goals:”

“It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don't. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government. “

Does an adding regulation to insurance companies mandating expensive and risky insurance policy such as insuring pre-existing conditions provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance?

Will providing insurance to those who don’t slow the growth of health car costs?

Will adding mandates like “insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care” slow the growth of health care costs?

Sure it can be argued that preventive care increases early detection and lowers long term costs, but why does this preventive care mandate be forced upon insurance companies? Many Americans choose high deductible auto insurance to save on premiums. This is considered good financial sense, under the current proposals; this type of low cost insurance will be made illegal in the medical insurance business.

Obama spoke of a way to provide affordable coverage for those who currently don’t have coverage “We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange – a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices.” This is a complicated way of creating a government run and regulated national insurance program, conservatives have pushed and been denied a simple private sector solution, allow insurance to be nationally sold, and not restricted to state regulation. Why is it OK for the government to control this plan and not the private sector?

Another point made it the debate has been made that conservatives have not offered any solutions to the rising costs and the plight of the uninsured. While these claims can be countered with many bills and amendments that have been struck down by the liberal majority, some facts remain. Medical costs have increased primarily because we have technology and medicines that we never had 20 years ago. Unless we try to treat illness with fewer tools and without the benefit of our advanced medical system and the latest drugs costs will continue to climb. You could argue that the price of new cars have exceeded the increase of our wages, yet would you want a new care without all the latest comfort and safety innovations? Sure there is waste and abuse in the system but this has not been the focus of the debate. To frame that subject it would call attention to the fact that Medicare has many times more the rate of fraud than private insurance.

American’s need to decide, do they really want to choose the type of insurance or do they want to increase the governments regulation and restriction on our health care choices. That is the root of this debate, now you decide.

Sincerely,

Ben Roche
http://Bensviewpoint.blogspot.com
Send comments to themud@gmail.com

9/12 Tea Party March on Washington

2009-09-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

An Honest Debate?!

2009-08-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

Empathy Kills

2009-07-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Empathy, the understanding and entering into another's feelings, according to Webster, is being used today to peddle everything from judicial activism to nationalized universal health care. The problem is empathy sounds great, but in the wrong hands can kill you.

The health care debate is heating up and the opponents are accused of greed and lack of empathy, while the backers believe the only way to care for those who don't have insurance is to give it to them freely. As if all of those without health insurance just can't afford it. That last part is the biggest of the lies, but without it, you the people will lack the empathy to support his radical and final turn to communism.

Yes, I used the word communism, because that is exactly what is being proposed. Government ownership and control of our economy. Don't take my word for it, that is not the subject of this post, but it is real and it is here.

Back to empathy, you will notice that Obama picked Sotomeyer because of her empathy. He uses empathy to stir up emotional accounts of folks without health coverage going bankrupt and not able to care for their kids illness, ignoring facts that most states already have provisions for these people. The illusion that government will fix the problem is fueled by your fear of being labeled greedy and lacking empathy.

Empathy by definition is understanding someone else feelings but the rising costs of health care is partially the result of jury's empathy towards patients in malpractice suits that result in obscene judgements against doctors and hospitals. The cost of malpractice insurance had annual increases at times as much as 25%, and the trial lawers who profit as much as 50% on these large settlements then blame this on greedy insurance providers. Let's be clear, insurance companies compete for business to keep costs down. Lawyers don't have to compete for plaintiffs, they pick and choose the most profitable cases and then use the system to win big. John Edwards made his fortune and fooled the whole nation that he was driven by empathy not greed, while he cheated on his cancer ridden wife during his presidential campaign, but enough about trial lawyers.

Let's get back to more lies about empathy, health care, and insurance. Congress has empathy, but they won't sign on to the same health care they propose to give the people. Several years ago the talking points of the DNC was that every American should be able to have the same coverage that they have, but they then wrote into the law the exclusive exclusion of congress from conforming to the plan. While law will dictate what health coverage you must have, they get to keep theirs as is and paid for by you and me.

Now for my final point, and this is where the words matter. We don't' need everyone to have the benefit of health care coverage. We need to create incentive to purchase insurance not hand out free benefits. Benefits are services you get for free, a 20 something healthy student needs insurance in the event of an injury or catastrophic event, not regular Dr. visits, and coverage for everything from mental health to chiropractic care. There is no way congress can draft legislation to both cover those who need it without paying for those who don't. In the end we will be paying for 'benefits' to those who will suck off the system, while then having to ration needed care for those who may require immediate and live saving treatments. Cancer mortality rates are much higher in nations with socialized medicine precisely because free health care is not sustainable. The private sector and a safty net approach is a rational answer but while congress has full power to create more government programs, and control another 20% of our GDP. That's what this is about, CONTROL, not empathy.

Most younger American's pay more per month to have internet access and a cell phone than what a catastrophic health insurance premium would cost. What is the incentive to be responsible when you can use the system that exists, and get that care for free or worst case file bankruptcy.

If we open the door to government provided care it is a door we cannot close, just like Canada, and the UK, the care will be rationed, waiting lists and reviews will slow the system down, and when we are talking about medical issues, it is LITERALLY a life and death decision.

Federal Medical Malpractice

2009-06-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

National universal health care sounds so appealing. My employer provides coverage but I pay a big portion of the cost, and the cost keeps increasing. Why wouldn't I want the government to bail me out of this expense too?!

What the media and your power hungry representatives fail to show is how this model has failed in nearly every place it was attempted, and on top of that, the current plan is designed to force out all all other forms of health insurance and medical coverage.

To sum up what is going on, imagine if you were offered a free car insurance program that covered all your liability and comprehensive needs regardless of your driving record. You would jump all over that, cancel your current plan and be driving all over the road with no concern about your rates because, your not paying for it! Now imagine that to get this program affordable, the insurance program only paid a fraction of the actual cost of the body work or claims made on your insurance. Who would accept this insurance policy as payement? Nobody right? Well not if your the government was to force everyone to accept your coverage, and mandate all claims be covered at the terms the governments program dolls out as payment in full. Government run car insurance may be a fantasy but government run health insurance already exists and Obama plans to make it universal.

This is the latest wealth redistribution plan being pushed and everyone has a hand out ready for it. Insurance companies are eager to get the subsidy to look the other way. Hospitals are eager for a solution to pay for losses they get for caring for the uninsured so they have a hand out the the government. Dr's are stuck ither not practicing or accepting insurance terms. It's already the model used in Medicare & Medicaid, Dr's, hospitals and clinics just pass the losses they suffer off on other patient care costs pushing up eveyone elses costs and premiums. It is unsustainable, and once the private insurance plans are bankrupt, then the government steps in to take them over next.

While with one hand the Obama administration pushes "Green" and "Sustainable" living, the other blowing through the green on unstustainable policy and programs that will destroy our country, our world class medical system, while bankrupting our nation. Did we not learn a thing from the fall of the soviet union?

If you really want to understand this issue talk to your Dr. chances are he knows what would happen if we nationalized our health care system. Or read this blog, it has solutions not just rants. (Unlike Here!)

Getting UN-Wired

2009-06-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wires and more wires, cables, jacks, dongles, adapters, splitters, and routers. I thought the wireless revolution was here?

This rant is about the gadget makers constant addiction to wires while they continually roll out new wireless technology. Why don't these wireless widgets free us from all the cables my new digital toys require? There is WiFi, Bluetooth, WiMax, 3G, CDMA, and new wireless video technolgy that has been around since 2008 and earlier. See Panasonic HD wireless solution.

Recently I finally dove in and purchased a TV with HD capability, guess what, more wires.. A HDMI cable is required to get the full effect of the HDTV, and low and behold, my digital camera can too connect to my TV, but alas, I need to buy another wire, a MINI HDMI cable!

I thought I had rid myself of so many wires, I got a dock for my blackberry so I just drop the phone in the nifty cradle and it charges. Yes it does have a wire that plugs into the wall, but the dock is just like a little stand, you just drop the phone in, and it charges reliably. Not little plugs to get aligned up and break off ruining the phone at the same time. The blackberry also syncs with my contacts wirelessly, using Google Sync, my email address book & calendars both online and in my pocket keep neatly synced up with out wires. Previously I have posted about my Eye-Fi card that wirelessly transmits my digtial photos to my online web-album and downloads them to my PC all without wires.

Ok, before you send me emails about the bandwidth required to stream HD video wirelessly and the neat wire organzation method you use, let me be clear, I know how and why there are limitations, what I am frustrated by, is why don't they come up with more creative solutions and why do I ither have to remove my camera battery to charge it, or plug in another wire. I want a charging dock for ALL my gadgets, not just my phone.

Eye-Fi Reunited

2009-05-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today it arrived, my shiny new replacement Eye-Fi card. Ask and you shall receive, as long as you are buying from a company that cares about customer satisfaction. As previously reported, my Eye-Fi card was acting up, and when I called to see what the warranty was I was asked where I purchased it and what was wrong, then they authorized it's immediate return and replacement. Less than 2 weeks have passed since I called Eye-Fi service number and I am whole again. Now I need to login and re-activate the card so I can get back to taking pictures and once again give up the card reader and the wires.

Thanks Eye-Fi, Top notch customer service!

Buy yours today at www.eye.fi you won't be dissapointed, but I suggest you read my review here so you know what to expect.

Words Matter Don't Change the Subject

2009-05-14T15:28:00.001-07:00

Words matter, they can change the meaning of a sentence, they can change our recorded history. If a historian writes about our war against terror, while our politicians try and change the words and their meanings, our history becomes meaningless. When they try to harden or soften a story by redefining the words that are used they not only bend the truth, they bend it into a lie.

The United States does not torture, however our enemy does. That's a fact, not an opinion. If we want to talk about waterboarding, instead of the quadrupled budget deficit and socialized economy then lets stick to facts not fiction. If waterboarding is torture, then we have tortured our own men and women in uniform. Special ops soldiers must endure enhanced interrogation techniques, exactly the ones we used to extract information from terroists that have saved lives. If Nancy Pelosi is so eager to attack Bush administration officials and CIA operatives who have given us seven years of terror free soil then why doesn't she call expert witnesses such as Navy Seals and Green Berit soldiers to testify about this so called torture method? Because it's political bull. Period. And when political bull bleeds into national security secrets it becomes treason.

The Obama spin machine has called war on terror a conflict with extremists, renaming terrorism as "man caused disasters", redefining everything from the word jihad to the word investment. If the American people and the complacent media don't begin to defend our words, our language, and our country's long history as the greatest nation, the nation itself will need a new definition. No longer will we be home of the free and the brave, but we will be the oppressed and the afraid.

Eye-Fi Review Customer Service

2009-05-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

One of the top Google search keywords that drives traffic to this blog is my past review on the Eye-Fi wireless SD card, because it comes up in the first page of results. Since my purchase a year and a half ago it served me well and worked as advertised. Recently it suffered some trouble and stopped working or responding at all, and I could not even get it to function as a regular SD card. I called for customer service just to see what the warranty was, as I never read that stuff unless it's a high dollar purchase. Although my hold time was a few minutes, a live person, Joey, answered, heard my complaint, and without delay took my information and sent me instructions to send the card in for replacement. Within minutes I had a email with simple instructions on where to send it and what to expect in return. While I don't yet have my replacement, I am looking forward to posting about it when it arrives.

Get your ISM

2009-05-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

An offer you can't refuse...

2009-05-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

The BO Administration will use any means necessary to achieve it's goal of nationalization all while catering to the unions who backed the campaign.

Where's My Tea?

2009-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Taxed Enough Already!

Locate a Tax Day Teaparty near you and get involved.

View 2009 Tea Parties in a larger map

I'ts all about location, location, location.

2009-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Reading Mike Elgan's November 19th post regarding the death of Sirius radio, and a recent tweet this week regarding the Sirius iPhone app I recalled a thought I had when I discovered Google Latitude. Sirius needs to capture your location and create new revenue not from subscribers but advertisers through location targeted ads.

Satellite radios biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. Location. While listening to AM talk radio I frequently drive out of range just as the programing was getting good, or have been out of range on any radio station. While Sirius XM is one possible solution, my hang up is the dreaded subscription fees. Already I pay for internet, cell phone, TV, gas, water, garbage, electricity, when does it end? I just can't stomach adding paid radio. I still remember when paying for cable meant you had channels without ads. Now we pay for Cable or Sat TV laden with more commercials than free broadcast stations.

Where cable has gotten smart is in location based advertising, and this is where Sirius could thrive. If sat radio could partner with a cell phone application feeding instant geo-location sensitive advertising within the programming stream seamlessly they would create an entirely new advertising market that would be affordable for advertisers as well as relevant to listeners. Today's connected devices could blend cell phone triangulation, blue-tooth, and a car receiver into a truely integerated audio entertainment and news service.

Restaurants could advertise lunch specials to subscribers down to the city block's location, stores could advertise sales to drivers in the vicinity, and gas stations could advertise the lowest price right to the driver around the corner. The service would also not need to be limited to advertising, real time news, traffic, and weather could be location based, further enhancing the experience. Information could even flow both directions, location, direction, and speed could also help predictivly supply ads based on your destination, or help predict traffic congestion. Additonial information could be on demand as well, just like interactive TV, you could hit your radio dial to get more information and directions regarding the advertisement you just heard.

Sirius shouldn't' be talking to Apple, they should be talking to Google. If Sirius cold roll out a free service paid by location aware advertising Adsense & Sirius could kill the radio star, it's all about location, location, location.

Obama's Earmarks

2009-03-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

They Got Our Money!

2009-03-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

WE GOT YOUR MONEY

WE GOT YOUR MONEY

GONNA SPEND YOUR MONEY

GONNA PRINT SOME MORE MONEY

Today's Tea Party Image

2009-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

More Sauce For Your Macho!

2009-02-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

My Son Produced this PSA on Abstinence

2009-02-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Oscar Predictions

2009-02-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

HERE!

How The Stimulus Will Fail

2009-02-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

Harlem Tax Revolt

2009-02-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

Total "Universal" Enslavement

2009-02-14T18:26:00.001-08:00

How Congress Fails

2009-02-13T15:18:00.000-08:00