Welcome to Arcinius.com, a website dedicated to the discussion of community service-oriented / community-interest topics.

  updated: 25 April, 2011   

                                                                                                               

initiated: 19 October 1995

This site provided by a retired physician with 54+ years of combined military and public service; a former hospital commander now serving as a public health officer and an elected hospital commissioner.

 "I am deeply concerned about the direction our society is taking...
Aren't you?"

Topic Index:

 
Community Foundation of Whidbey Island,
conceptual discussion

 
Managed Care
– a multi-part commentary on medical care in America

Hot Issues in Community Health


Responsibly Funding Public Health

 
ObamaCare
– Chicago smash mouth politics


Federal Reserve's Inspector General


Illicit Drugs
(remove the financial incentive)


Gun Control
(a brief video)

 
Then and Now

How have we let this happen in America?

 
The Islamic Perspective

What is Religion?

 
The Narcissist


Constitutional Responsibility


How do you fix Congress?

 
Our
First Amendment

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Mid-autumn 1995... I have decided to open a site of this nature in order to present to the community at large some of the issues that seldom get discussed on a local level, and to provide a forum for folks who may feel they have no way to voice their opinion in a manner that will be heard.

Most of the topics are truly of community-wide interest ...or at least should be.


A community can be only as good as its citizens make it.

Civic, city and civil all come from the same Latin root civis, meaning "member of a community; citizen." If we are to succeed as a great community and state, then we must all be members of the community. If we are to be true citizens, then we must do more than vote. We must be continuing active participants in the civic arena.


"The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens."
     - Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America
- (1835)


The Community Foundation of Whidbey Island has not been formed. Whidbey has no local community-wide philanthropic foundation for the island as a whole, and many find that the closest "community foundation" is the Seattle Foundation. We should have a Whidbey Island Community Foundation (CFWI). This is a proposal.

The topic of Managed Care is an issue with which I have years of experience, both in practice and in administration. This issue is really about Access to Care — an issue that will be of growing importance impacting all of us in the coming years. (Commentary series begun in 1997)

Hot Issues in Community Health are just that. The issues may change over time, but some of the issues are ever-present, and merit more attention/awareness by our residents.

Responsibly Funding Public Health is a topic that State Legislatures should take very seriously. The State has a responsibility to protect the public from hazards to the health of its citizenry, i.e. RCW 70.05.060, and has seen fit to charge Local Boards of Health with the responsibility for supervision over all matters pertaining to the preservation of the life and health of the people within its jurisdiction. Each county is charged with funding this responsibility (RCW 70.05.140 and RCW 70.46.085) Prior to 1979 the Washington State Legislature had levied  21.5¢ per $1,000 to provide Public Health with the necessary funding. That Legislature's having rescinded the proscribed programmed millage was not in the public's best interests, from a health-wise aspect, and led some counties to incorporate some or all such millage into the county's general expense fund. This has led to what has become an uneven funding of public health services across the state, disruptive of effective planning and service to the public. Emphasizing that this millage is to remain entirely dedicated to providing Public Health services is a  long overdue responsibility of our legislature!

ObamaCare  This is my understanding of what the original 1,017 page bill truly projected for the future of the deliverance and funding of health care in America, should it have been passed. Of course this bill has now been superseded by a 2,700+ page bill with even more ominous features (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), signed into law on March 23, 2010.

There is no argument that reform is indeed necessary, but the reformation should be in the funding and accessibility to health care, tort reform, and the leveling of the insurance playing field to remove the excesses now rampant in the siphoning away of the insurance premium dollar. ObamaCare does not bode well for America... his administration knows little, if anything, about “the real world” provision of healthcare. A fundamental transformation is indeed afoot, change you will have to believe in – like it or not. (Since this was first written, ObamaCare has become law . . .get ready for the consequences, only a few of which are presently obvious!)

Addendum: Far more ominous are a couple of never mentioned provisions found deep in the "Stimulus Bill" establishing a 15-member board, the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research" for medical care. Functionally, this is a rationing board. (Three days after passage of the Stimulus Bill, President Obama named all 15 members to this board.) Also in this same bill, the "National Coordinator for Health Information Technology" was charged to establish the means to "determine treatment at the time and place of care". How scary is that!!! And there are serious consequences for physicians not complying with the care determined by this activity – seriously heavy fines and even imprisonment!!  This ‘meaningful use’ compliance standard is to begin being enforced in 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HnkxIh62dQ   More >

4 Nov. 2010 – And so it begins: Determination of Essential Health Benefits The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law on March 23, 2010, will allow individuals and businesses to purchase health insurance directly in a health insurance exchange. The law stipulates that certain general categories of care be covered; however, the specific package of "essential health benefits" is to be defined by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. At the request of the Secretary, the IOM will make recommendations on the criteria and methods for determining and updating the “essential benefit package”.    More >

Federal Reserve's Inspector General: This is a live questioning of the current Inspector General of our Federal Reserve by Congressional member and former prosecutor Democrat Alan Grayson ...a perfect example of the incompetency rampant in our nation's "leadership". We, the people, need to literally clean the D.C. beltway of this ilk. Wake up, America!

 — But far more disquieting ... read The Creature from Jekyll Island and you'll truly grasp what money is — and what it isn't — and you'll know once and for all the true cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression and prosperity. You'll see how wealth has been stolen from the middle class and you'll understand why the Federal Reserve is neither Federal (it is not a government entity) nor does it hold reserves. You will learn how 'money' is made out of thin air, loaned to the Treasury for 'disbursement programs', and that our income tax (a follow-on to the the Federal Reserve Act of 1913) is used to pay the interest on such loans ...funds paid to this private banking group that collects interest on this fabricated money!

Illicit Drugs are so easily obtained that any junior high or high school student can tell you where you can get them. It has always been thus. Illicit drugs are a leading cause of crime in our land, almost entirely because they are illegal. There is always an element of any society that is drug-seeking.  Consequently a "War on Drugs" is destined to fail. There is, however, a way to at least defuse the sustaining factor — remove the profit potential.

Gun Control is an issue wherein there is no middle ground. Criminals obey no laws imposed by our citizens, and those who think gun control is the answer should watch this video. What America really needs is Criminal Control... mandatory 20 year prison sentences strictly imposed and added to whatever other sentence is rendered when firearms are used in the commission of any crime.
     A question for gun control advocates    BTAF-Attorney General cover-up!

Then and Now What happened in America to have caused this tidal wave of change in our views regarding what is acceptable and what is not? "Political Correctness", a perverse concept of the appropriate by the progressive coalition (i.e. the "post-modern"), has altered how we conduct almost every aspect of our daily lives ...and it is getting more perverse by the day. Wake up America!!

The Islamic Perspective   Is Islam a religion, a social system, or simply a militant activist movement religiously followed? For moderate Muslims it is the former. The imams would have you believe it is the former. But for the fundamentalist Muslim — the Jihadist — it is the latter two. Islam is really a societal system, a fusion of 'religion' and government with an activist militant component, the fundamentalist Wahabi sect (read your history). Wahhabists eschew tolerance or mercy, two prime principles for the modern Muslim. What you have not learned about Wahabism, the true jihadists, will shock you when you fully understand the guidance driving fundamentalist Islamists toward the goal they believe Mohammed has charged them to accomplish — world dominion. Are you familiar with the Qur'an (Koran) and the term Sunnah? The latter is Arabic for  “habitual practice” of the Prophet Muhammad as preserved in eyewitness records of his words, actions and approbations, and are known as the Hadiths. Hadiths have normative and legal status second only to that of the Qur'an. These two are directives for all Muslims. You can learn by reading them . . .or eventually learn the hard way by doing nothing. Either way you will experience what all activist Muslims believe to be the inevitable – Muslim world domination. Be advised... should you do nothing,  you would do well to familiarize yourself with shari'a law. Shari'a is totally non-simpatico with constitutional law as we know it, and has absolutely nothing to do with religion per se, though the imams will loudly and passionately proclaim otherwise. Shari'a is purely a societal practice, totally unacceptable to the American way of life, but is insistently advocated by activist Islamists throughout the world today – even in America! Secular democracy and Islam are unalterably incompatible... so saith the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious, political, and social movement with the credo, "God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations."

Addendum -- 27 Feb 2011:  British extremist cleric Anjem Choudary, founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under anti-terror legislation, is planning a Washington D.C. protest later this week in which he says he will call on American Muslims to revolt against the country and implement Shariah law, stating:

“At the end of the day, innocent people — when we say innocent people  we mean Muslims...if you are non-muslim then you are guilty — innocent people and I must have hatred toward everything not-Islam.”

Update - 4 March 2011:  A team of radical Muslims, under the banner of Shariah4America, today abruptly canceled their plan for a pro-Shariah rally at the White House, instead announced on their website plans to cover the Statue of Liberty with a burkha.  ( Will Statue of Liberty be fitted with Muslim burkha?)

"We’ve got another big rally coming up, the Million Muslim March”, and it’s being planned for one of the most important patriotic holidays on the American calendar, the 4th of July. When Americans across the country are pledging their allegiance to the stars and stripes, Muslim extremists under this group’s banner will be converging on Washington.


What is Religion?  While the essence of religion may be beyond words, the religious experience expresses itself in human life in three basic ways. These forms of religious expression are theoretical, practical and sociological.

  • . . .Theoretical in that they teach something. They teach how the world was made, how humans came to be, what will happen in the future, how to live in the present. They pass on values and ethics by teaching children the social standards of their religious community.

  • . . .Practical in that religions also have developed ways of worshiping. "Practical" refers to what people in various religions actually do. Jews go to synagogues or observe family religious celebrations at home. Catholics go to Mass. Protestants attend church services. Muslims fulfill the Five Pillars.

  • . . .Sociological: Religions attract a community. They have a sociological component. In New England, every town has a little white community church on the town common. In European cities, it's the cathedral that dominates the skyline. In Midwestern America, the "little brown church in the vale" is being replaced by the ultra-modern educational complex with an extensive bus ministry. California has its Crystal Cathedra, Jerusalem its Dome of the Rock, Mecca its Kaaba.

A theme common to most major Religions of the world, however, is a professed adherence to peaceful coexistence. This is not borne out in the Jihadist movement within Islam as practiced today, and begs the question “is Islam a religion within the context of peaceful coexistence, or is it merely a "religiously practiced" societal culture not condoning of other religions?

Mawlana Sayid Abul Ala Mawdudi, an Islamic scholar whose writings are world-renowned, and who is viewed throughout the Islamic world as one of Islam‟s greatest scholars has this to say about Islam and global domination…

“Islam is not a normal religion like the other religions in the world, and Muslim nations are not like normal nations. Muslim nations are very special because they have a command from Allah to rule the entire world and to be over every nation in the world.”

Food for thought . . . read the Qur'an and the Hadiths if you would understand Islam. Forewarned is forearmed.


The Narcissist   Humankind has ever been captivated (and often subjugated) by those among us who are driven by self-centered, self-effusive ego. The pages of history are replete with their feats, derring-do and struggles for recognition and/or power. Narcissism is quite often the personality trait that is at the center of this perpetrator's 'successes'. Could "the one" be one?

Constitutional Responsibility  The President has a constitutional obligation to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration laws are no exception. I think the issue of the drug cartel and all those unlawfully entering our country is being avoided (ergo the sign at the right). The deliberate failure of our president to uphold his sworn support for the Constitution is a dereliction of duty, endangering the public — ipso facto, impeachable conduct!! 
What do you think??

 Sign at entrance to Borrego National Park, AZ

How do you fix Congress?  Aren't you tired of all the self-serving going on in Congress? While you were with family and friends enjoying the holiday festivities, Congress and the president passed a $1 trillion omnibus bill with more than 5,000 earmarks... among other things that Congress "accomplished" for our own good over the holidays. "NO MORE EARMARKS". I recall someone promising this a couple of years ago. Who was that? And why has Congress determined it no longer necessary to respond to the will of the people? And do you know that after serving only 5 years, each congressman upon 'retirement' is qualified for a stipend of up to 80% of their last salary? It's long past time to reign in their out-of-control self-serving conduct and reestablish accountability to the electorate.

Our First Amendment   How long has it been since you've read the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? Have you really read closely and understood the first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution? It has to do with the ever-popular "separation of church and state" phraseology that everyone is so quick to recite. Such an interpretation is not a valid conclusion of this clause. I entreat you to read this brief discussion. By the way, can you name the five (5) rights enumerated in the first amendment?

Stay informed, alert ...and active.

A retired Family Practitioner, FAAFP and life member AMA                                                             e-mail contact


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reviewed 25 Apr 2011