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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Health Care For Illegals - Part and Parcel of Obama and McCain Amnesty Dreams
Remember back to the big panderfests of the 2006-2007 legislative years when our elected representatives were clawing and scratching to see who could grovel the lowest before the illegals. Senate Bill 2611 was one of the results. We have the list of all those who voted for it. Obama and McCain are on the list. Both voted to give social security to illegals. The votes are part of public record. Obama and McCain are on record voting to give fake background checks to illegals, then allowing them to stay with benefits without having to wait for citizenship.
On this topic when you point a finger at one candidate, you must include the other.
http://www.newsmax.com/morris/obama_healthcare/2008/07/21/114994.html
Obama: Healthcare for Illegals
Nobody wants to die waiting in line - especially not behind someone who snuck in ahead of us.
Excerpts from the article by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
posted: Monday, July 21, 2008 9:06 PM
Democrats' single most important domestic proposal — universal health insurance — may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details.
Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?"
That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants, who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally.
Care for illegals is the biggest unmet medical need in our nation, and Obama's program targets it squarely. But do we really want to give them federally paid coverage equal to what US senators get, as Obama proposes? (...and as McCain also hopes? He is letting Obama be the lightning rod, but he too holds this as a fervent desire.)
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Edited on: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:23 PM EDT
Categories: 2008 election info, Amnesty (Bush-Kennedy-McCain and the rest), appeasers, hypocrits, and traitors, Corrupt Politicians (Bought Politicians), Cross Posts (Yahoo, VDare, etc.), Democrat Wackiness and Hypocrisy, GOP (The Neo-Democrats), Immigration and the Law, Little Johnny, McCainiacs, Medical care - current and socialized, Obama - The Obamessiah, Panderers, The RINOs
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Health Care Myths
Source: Lt. James “EMO” Tichacek, USN (Ret)
Director, Retiree Assistance Office, U.S. Embassy Warden & IRS VITA Baguio City, RP
http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/rao1.html
Health Care Myths: Fictions don't become facts through repetition. Keep that in mind next time you hear a politician breathlessly decry the horrors of the American health-care system and then explain how he/she intends to fix it. Some of the most popular talking points in the health-care debate pass as the gospel truth simply because, well, they're popular - not because they're true. Granted, statistics and surveys can substantiate most anything you want them to just by the way you ask the question or collect the information. However, the following five items you should take with a grain of salt the next time they are discussed:
Myth (1) Forty-seven million Americans do not have health insurance. This figure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. What most people don't know, however, is that the Bureau counts anyone who went without health insurance during any part of the previous year as "uninsured." So if you weren't covered for just one day in 2007, you're one of the 47 million. That also includes 10.2 million illegal immigrants, and about 14 million people who are eligible for public health-care programs like Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program but have yet to enroll. And nearly 10 million of the uninsured have household incomes of more than $75,000 - so they can probably afford to buy health insurance but choose not to.
Myth (2) Universal health-care coverage can be achieved via "individual mandate." According to the federal census, nearly two-thirds of the uninsured are aged 18 to 34. This makes sense - healthy people aren't going to pay for expensive insurance they'll never use. Those who support an "individual mandate" believe by legally requiring all Americans to buy health insurance the young and the healthy will increase the size of the risk pool and therefore lower premiums for everyone. As a way to enforce an individual mandate, some suggest garnishing wages. But many states require insurers to charge everyone the same rate. So, young people would end up paying far more in premiums than they should - or could - pay. It's patently unfair to force people to purchase insurance they can't afford. Even in Massachusetts, which offers substantial premium subsidies for low-income residents, the government had to exempt a fifth of Bay Staters from the individual mandate because insurance was still so expensive. And, the plan is already $147 million over budget. The real way to attract young adults into the insurance market is to lower premiums - not to impose draconian sanctions.
Myth (3) Expensive prescription drugs are a big reason health-care costs increase. The real price of prescription drugs is actually decreasing. In 2007, inflation rose more than 4%, while drug prices increased just 1%. So in real terms, drugs were 3% cheaper last year than in 2006, on average. What's more, drug spending is but a small slice of total health-care spending - less than 11 cents out of every health-care dollar goes to prescription meds. And drugs actually reduce health-care costs in the long-term. Medicare, for instance, saves $2.06 for every additional dollar it spends on pharmaceutical drugs, according to a paper recently published by the National Bureau for Economic Research. Prescription drugs often obviate the need for expensive surgeries and hospital stays.
Myth (4) Drug importation will save patients a fortune. At most, according to the Congressional Budget Office, foreign drug importation would save Americans 1% over the next decade. Brand-name drugs are cheaper in foreign countries because their governments impose price controls. Drug-makers can only afford to sell pills at cut-rate, controlled prices in Europe and Canada because Americans pay full price. If American politicians allow foreign drugs to enter the U.S. market, they'll in effect import price controls too. Such action will not only create practical problems, like shortages but also deny firms the return on investment necessary to plunge into the next round of research and development into new cures. It takes nearly $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. Investors are willing to make such a risky investment because the rewards of developing a cure for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, AIDS or diabetes are considerable. If the profit motive vanishes, the miracle cures for which America's drug industry is responsible would vanish.
Myth (5) The state-run health-care systems in Canada and Europe are better and cheaper than America's. Those who make this claim usually note that life expectancy is higher in Canada and Europe. But life expectancy is influenced by a number of variables aside from the quality of a country's health-care system - like diet, genetics, exercise, smoking, pollution and even marital status. A study published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet suggests America is much better at treating cancer than Europe or Canada. Researchers found Americans have a better survival rate for 13 of the 16 most prominent cancers. An American man has nearly a20 % better chance of living for five years after being diagnosed with cancer than his European counterpart. This study's findings tell us a lot more about the quality of a health-care system than life expectancy rates do, because the relationship between treatment and outcomes is tighter, clearer and more direct. [Source: Washington Times 21 Mar 08 ++]
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Thursday, October 11, 2007
Another employer fleeing the state... THANKS JENNY!
Thanks and a hat tip to Saul "That's Saul Folks!" for the heads-up on this.
I wonder if we will see accelerated loss of jobs now that the Granholm has her new taxes on income and services plus her retroactive slap at the states big auto companies.
Southfield, Mich.-based Arcadia HealthCare moving HQ to Indy
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Arcadia HealthCare, a provider of home health care and products, plans to relocate its national headquarters here from Southfield, Mich., and says it will create 400 jobs by 2010.
Gov. Mitch Daniels joined Arcadia Health Care Chief Executive Marvin Richardson on Wednesday in announcing the move from suburban Detroit to the northside of Indianapolis. The company plans to invest more than $3 million in the relocation and will begin hiring managers, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and sales staff later this year. As part of its relocation to Indiana, Arcadia is developing a relationship with the state's Family and Social Services Administration to market *DailyMed to the more than 100,000 Medicaid recipients as well as the 1.7 million Hoosiers enrolled in Medicare.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Arcadia up to $6 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $137,500 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The city of Indianapolis offered the company property tax abatement.
---
[note: *DailyMed - The move comes as the company readies the national launch of DailyMed, a drug packaging system that puts patients' multiple prescription and over-the-counter medicines and vitamins into a roll of single dose packs labeled with the dates and times the patient should take the medications.]
===
Tax increases are the universal Democrat cure-all. Here in Michigan, has there EVER been a Democrat sponsored and passed tax CUT? Any savings in spending is ALWAYS rolled back into another program. After all the tax-and-spenders think it is their money, not yours! Who are they? Take a snapshot of the Democrat House and Senate here in Michigan plus the Governor and Lt. Governor. Four turncoat Republicans joined them. That lapse in judgement on their part will be corrected soon.
Will the last one out, please turn off the lights? Thank You!
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Edited on: Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:54 AM EDT
Categories: Cross Posts (Yahoo, VDare, etc.), Democrat Wackiness and Hypocrisy, Medical care - current and socialized, Random Thoughts and Comments, TAXES
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Friday, August 31, 2007
Illegal Aliens: Public Health Risks To ALL Of US
Here is a report about an illegal alien that is a disease carrier and a public health risk. He should be IMMEDIATELY deported. This situation is illustrative of why we MUST get control of our borders and remove the panderers that would keep them open and essentially non-existant.
How do diseases that we hear about in other countries coming here? One of the routes is with illegal aliens. Most of them probably never had any childhood immunizations and innoculations. Most probably never had a shot of any kind. How many are carriers of tuberculosis and other diseases.
On the public health issue alone we should be selective about who is allowed here. We need border ENFORCEMENT! We need to start prosecuting the gangs of illegals with all tools at our command, up to and including the National Guard when necessary.
This is cross posted from VDare.com
30 August 2007
Mexican Teenager With TB Refuses Treatment
James Fulford @ 10:30 am
Francisco Santos is a Mexican teenager living in Duluth, Georgia who has tuberculosis and won’t take his medicine. So far he’s only given it to four people that we know of, and the cruel Yankee authorities have put him in jail. Where is the ACLU when you need them? They say his status as a minor will complicate a deportation process that can take months, anyhow, but actually, by the time he gets through all the appeals, he’ll be 18 anyway. [continue reading...]
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Edited on: Monday, September 17, 2007 9:16 AM EDT
Categories: Cross Posts (Yahoo, VDare, etc.), Guest Editorial, Immigration and the Law, Local, National, World News, Medical care - current and socialized
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Friday, August 17, 2007
Socialized Medicine: Not enough hospital beds in Calgary, Alberta
Yahoo News has a story about a Calgary, Alberta couple driving to the nearest US hospital where identical quadruplets were delivered by C-Section because of lack of access to a hospital in medically socialized Canada. I will give a link but yahoo links are crap and dissapear in 24 hours, so here is the article...
[UPDATE: September 21, 2007 The Yahoo! link returns a Not Found error now. However a Yahoo! search comes up with an article in the Toronto Star Please note that this is not the same article as what was cross posted. It is a look at the media and blogosphere coverage of the event, then it attempts to talk up socialized medicine. The writer says the reason the Jepps came to Montana to have the C-section performed was not a lack of neo-natal incubators, but a lack of medical personnel. Hmmm isn't that what pundits are saying here, socialized medicine will remove incentives. I have heard Maha Rushi opine this.]
Their names are - Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia - Birthday August 12, 2007
Woman has rare identical quadruplets
Subtitle: Welcome to more new US citizens by birth
By SARAH COOKE, AP Writer Thu Aug 16, 2007
HELENA, Mont. - A 35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets, officials at a Great Falls hospital said Thursday. Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, delivered Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia by Caesarian section Sunday afternoon at Benefis Healthcare, said Amy Astin, the hospital's director of community and government relations.
[ed: Why government relations? These parents were doubly smart... the babies are US citizens and will have birth certificates from a US hospital as proof, and Canada has socialized medicine. They were probably told that the C-Section could be scheduled in a few months!]
The four girls were breathing without ventilators and listed in good condition Thursday, she said.
"These babies are doing grand," said Dr. Tom Key of Great Falls, the perinatologist who delivered the girls.
The babies were born about two months early and were conceived without fertility drugs, he said. They weighed between 2.6 pounds and 2.15 pounds.
Jepp and her husband, J.P., declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press.
"The parents have been a little bit shy about the press. ... We agreed to handle it in a way they were comfortable with," Astin said.
The couple have a 2-year-old son, Simon. J.P. Jepp works for Shell Oil Co., and both worked for nonprofit groups until recently, Astin said.
The chances of giving birth to identical quadruplets is about one in 13 million, Key said.
"This is a very big medical event," he said. "Identical quadruplets are extremely rare."
Medical literature indicates there are less than 50 sets of identical quadruplets, said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the NYU Fertility Center in New York.
The last reported set were born in April 2006 to a 26-year-old Indian woman.
The Jepps drove 325 miles to Great Falls for the births because hospitals in Calgary were at capacity, Key said.
"The difficulty is that Calgary continues to grow at such a rapid rate. ... The population has increased a lot faster than the number of hospital beds," he said.
[ed: Some Canadians act snooty until they need quality medical care. Then they know where to look... to the south, in the land of Uncle Sugar. It is simply a case of US envy. The Canadian government needs to draft some people to be doctors and nurses and build additional hospital space in their socialized medical utopia. WHAT? Communism isn't complete up in the land of hosers and the great white north, the land of snow and polar bears yet?]
Two of the girls were to be transferred to a Calgary hospital later Thursday. The other two could be moved Friday if their conditions remain favorable, Key said.
They will likely remain hospitalized for four to six weeks, he said.
"These quads are special," Astin said. "The fact that she carried them 31 weeks and three days is excellent."
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Saturday, August 04, 2007
Doctors are acting strange lately...
FIRED by our doctor...
Back at the end of June or first week of July, my wife received a registered letter from the doctor listed with our HMO as our family practitioner.
Addressed to my wife: "This is to inform you that since you refuse to follow my medical recommendations, YOU and YOUR FAMILY will no longer be seen at my practice." Since the kids are all grown and have their own coverages we didn't give it much thought. Oh boo-hoo...waaaaaah.... sniffle! NOT!
My wife never gets sick and had not been in to see Doc in some time, a couple of years at least. The last time was when she started have low back pain near where she had back surgery years ago, and Doc prescribed narcotic patches as the cure. She requested to see a specialist for the back pain. Maybe Doc hated being out of the loop?
My wife had refused to have an xray mamogram that Doc tried to schedule via US mail. My wife did NOT schedule or request that test.
I was going to be scheduling my annual physical with him when the letter arrived.
That same day as we received the letter, we fired him and changed physicians through our HMO using the internet. My wife decided that she wanted a seperate doctor from mine anyway. I have scheduled my physical with my new doctor. We didn't give the old doc a second thought after that... until...
The saga continues...
Last night we found out that our EX-family doctor extended the refusal of service to my adult son who does not live at home and has not for several years. He has his own medical insurance coverage through his work place and his own house in the city, but being related has its ups and downs.
How did my son find out that he no longer had a personal physician? The doctor did not notify him by registered letter.
My son called the after hours number to get an OK from the doctor for the ER visit for insurance puposes. He was informed that his doctor (used to be ours too before we received his refusal of service letter) had dropped everyone with our last name. I guess it was Doc's time of the month or something, practice too big and time to shed patients, narrowing his practice, etc. He belongs to a big doctors co-op called MMPC. Guess what? The hospital is also MMPC affiliated. I wonder if there is any correlation? Read on...
Anyway... I took my son into the emergency room (nearest medical facility, no med station closer) to have a lump examined (and treated maybe?) on the back left side of his head where the skull and the spine meet because he says it has been getting larger and causing him sharp pain. He said he has not fallen or been struck there, and no bruising was evident. They took him immediately into a examination/treatment area but there was no attending physician visible, only a nurse with a PA certificate (and this is a major metropoiltan hospital ER, not a satellite med-station). She looked the lump over and looked in his ears. His right ear had a little infection but my son said it was causing him no pain. She was going to give him a prescription for the right ear infection and do NOTHING about the lump on the left side of his neck/skull. Her reply when asked why: "Oh you have to go see your personal physician about that." It made no difference when she was informed that he didn't have one. Her attitude was that he will have to go find one. "If he had a doctor, that doctor could have prescribed him medication for the ear, Ms Allison NotADoctor, PA! He told you the RIGHT ear was not causing him any pain. You refused to treat the reason he came to the ER and tried substituting in essence a placebo treatment to bill for." The non treatment he got was like going in for a heart attack, getting a shoulder shrug as treatment for the ailment, and being treated for an ingrown toenail.
My son decided he was being jerked around (He was!) and we left (without being seen by a REAL doctor and without the prescription). The male nurse seemed shocked and the female PA started spinning her web to him. He was not present when she was pulling her shenanigans but was conveniently sitting back at the nurses station. We did not stick around long enough to defend our position.
I was there for the whole sorry ordeal as eyewitness! My son is laying low, taking motrin for the pain, and will be looking for a new personal doctor on Monday.
Monday morning, my son went back to work, untreated. He says he has to work, regardless, to pay his mortgage and other bills. When the pain spikes, he says he just stops what he is doing until it passes. If he is driving, he tries to pull over....
Edited on: Friday, August 10, 2007 11:38 AM EDT
Categories: Medical care - current and socialized
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Sunday, April 22, 2007
Planned Parenthood Abortionists recruiting gradeschool kids
My wife and I are legal guardians of our oldest grand daughter who is eleven years old.
Saturday's mail delivery contained a newletter addressed to my grand daughter from Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan.
We are greatly disturbed that this band of baby killers would try to recruit grade school girls.
[psssst! Italicized comments below are mine, but are true nonetheless!]
Planned Parenthood was originally formed as a racist pro-genocide, anti-black organization by Margaret Sanger.
The Truth About Margaret Sanger
Planned Parenthood has morphed into being an equal opportunity pro-genocide organization. They do not care what race, creed or color, as long as they can continue to abort babies.
Who are the PPAM Board of Directors? As of the Spring 2007, Volume 20 - Issue 1 Michigan's VOICE
President = Mary Brown, 1st Vice Pres.= Rev. Mark Pawloski, 2nd Vice Pres.= Paul Pratt, Treasurer = James Richardson, Secretary = Jan Dolan, and Board Members = Mary Currie, Tom Greene, Barbara Hill, Katherine Humphrey, Katie Jacob, Judy Karendjeff, Lori Lamerand, Bob Lohrmann, Mike Nichols, Lisa Oliver-King [dontcha just love those hoity- toity feminist hyphenated names? I wonder if "King" is her domestic partner? ...just idle curiousity.], Sally Shaheen Joseph, and Karen Walker.
One of the articles has the header:
Faith, Choice & Action
On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, join Planned Parenthood Affiliates...
Rev. Dr. Ignacio Castuera (High Priest of the Church of Jesus the Homosexual Abortionist), Chaplain for the Plannned Parenthood Abortion on Demand Federation of America, along with other liberal pro-abortion clergy from a variety of traditions (wicca, satan worship, etc.) will give testimony that a majority of Americans are pro-choice and that a majority of the world's most beloved religions have authentic pro-choice (pro-abortion) positions.
From the Michigan PPAM web page, Prevention First = Healthy Families. Since we know that Prevention = Abortion we can translate that to say Abortion First = Healthy Families by their way of thinking.
In all truth, they never mention Jesus Christ or print the word Christian anywhere in their article. They use heavy implication that they worship something and that a lot of other people do also but they never really come out and say it... maybe because their high sacrament is abortion.
Prevention First = Healthy Families
[translation - Abortion First = Healthy Families]
http://www.ppaction.org/mppan/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=7033190
As the nation’s leading advocate and provider of reproductive health services (abortions), Planned Parenthood...
Nationally, the Prevention [Abortion] First Act, introduced in Congress by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) and Representative Louise Slaughter (D–NY) and cosponsored by Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) and Representatives John Dingell (D–District 15) and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D–District 13), will expand access [to abortion]...
Get fired up for Roe in Lansing
http://www.ppaction.org/mppan/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=5858557
January 21, 2007
4:00-6:00 p.m.
34th Anniversary Celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v Wade Decision...
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/roe.wade/stories/roe.profile/
...even though Jane Roe (pseudonym) has had a change of heart and now says that abortion is WRONG!
Who is 'Jane Roe'?
Anonymous no more, Norma McCorvey no longer supports abortion rights. From CNN Interactive Writer Douglas S. Wood
(CNN) -- Norma McCorvey won't be celebrating the anniversary of the historic Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
McCorvey is "Jane Roe," the pseudonym she assumed to remain anonymous as the lead plaintiff in the case that legalized abortion in the United States.
"I'm very sad (about the anniversary)," she told CNN Interactive in a telephone interview. "But this year, I've got so much to do, I don't have time to sit down and be sad."
Once an abortion-rights supporter, the 50-year-old McCorvey has switched sides: She's now a vocal anti-abortion activist. She has started a ministry called Roe No More to fight against abortion rights with the aim of creating a mobile counseling center for pregnant women in Dallas.
McCorvey, who was 21 when the case was filed and was on her third pregnancy, never had an abortion and gave birth to a girl, who was given up for adoption.
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Thursday, November 30, 2006
Latest News on Charlton Heston
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There is no latest news. This is really an update. Until a cure is found for alzheimers the only result is a continuing decline of the sufferer. My father also has the disease and it is painfull to watch the decline. Medical science is extending life in other ways so this insidious disease crops up to trim back the life expectations. Read on...
By the NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006 4:28 p.m. EST
For those of us who have watched Charlton Heston in "Will Penny” a dozen times, the recent occasion of the Hollywood icon’s 83rd birthday on Oct. 4 brought back those sharp memories of the laconic aging cowboy soon headed to his last round-up.
Despite intense interest in the star’s condition — he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2002 — his publicist and family are not responding to requests about his health.
Indeed, the last reliable update on Charlton Heston’s battle with the illness came in April of 2006 when his son Fraser Heston told Entertainment Tonight, "He’s doing as well as can be expected. It’s an insidious disease.”
At that time, Fraser added that his then-82-year-old father was under excellent care and would remain at home most likely for the rest of his life. He also revealed that his father was in relatively good health, good spirits, and exhibiting a kind of courage Fraser had never seen before.
Charlton and Lydia had recently celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary. Fraser said, "He’s with his first and only love — my mother. She’s doing really well — very brave. She will endure.”
Heston’s son not only discussed his famous father’s health but talked about the animated full-length version of "The Ten Commandments" for television he was producing — one of the final projects the senior Heston helped develop. "It marks the end of an era,” Fraser noted.
The welcome update on Charlton came, perhaps intentionally, on the heels of various uncorroborated and apparently sensationalized tabloid reports that family and friends of Heston were shocked by the rapid progression of his illness, that Heston had been hospitalized with pneumonia at a Los Angeles hospital, and that Heston’s illness was at an advanced stage and his family are worried he may not live out the year.
Since the ET comments by Fraser, the family has not volunteered any more information or answered any questions about the state of health of the actor.
Tony Makris of Alexandria, Va.’s Mercury Group public relations firm, a longtime friend and handler of the NRA public relations account, told NewsMax that only a very small group interacted with Heston these days.
Heston served as president of the National Rifle Association from 1998-2003.
"The family basically at this point has no comment on his condition. And there are plenty of requests,” Makris said.
Charton Heston announced he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002. It was a dramatic moment when he disclosed, "For an actor there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can’t part with you . . .”
Although best known for his roles as Ben-Hur and Moses, Heston toured for the State Department’s Cultural Presentation Program and had been a delegate to the Berlin Film Festival.
A World War II Army veteran, he visited troops fighting during the Vietnam War and was a strong supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1981, Heston was named co-chairman of then-President Ronald Reagan’s Task Force on the Arts and Humanities. Charlton has served on the National Council on the Arts and was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild a record six times.
Furthermore, he has held the office of chairman and president of the American Film Institute and served four terms as president of the National Rifle Association of America. He has authored five books.
In 2003, Heston received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush.
Last year, MGM released a four-disc collector’s edition of "Ben-Hur,” the film that won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards — including best actor for Heston.
The lavish four-hour epic shows off the 100,000 costumes, 8,000 extras, 300 sets, and a staggering budget, which in its day was the largest in movie history.
Meanwhile, Heston’s home and ultimate sanctuary is brimming with memorabilia of his remarkable Hollywood years. He and his wife have lived in the same house near Los Angeles’s Mulholland Drive for more than 40 years.
Built by the actor’s father after Heston won the Academy Award for best actor in 1959’s Ben-Hur, the postmodern style home — inside and out — is filled with the memorabilia of one of Hollywood’s most fabulous runs.
Sitting on a table in the back yard is the figure of a Roman, whip in hand, lashing vigorously at four straining horses harnessed to a chariot. Mounted on the entrance of his study are the two great brass ring knockers from the movie set’s House of Hur.
Hung above the fireplace is a painting of a lumbering Conestoga wagon and, nearby, a pencil sketch of friend Laurence Olivier portraying King Lear. From most windows sparkle views of canyons.
In the home’s central hallway hang 20 paintings of Heston in signature roles: Ben-Hur, Moses, Richelieu, Michelangelo, the "Planet of the Apes" marooned astronaut George Taylor, the steel-willed Major Dundee, "Soylent Green’s" detective Thorn, Andrew Jackson in "The President’s Lady,” tough ranch foreman Steve Leech riding through "The Big Country” — and, of course, cattle poke Will Penny.
"I’m confident about the future of America,” Heston said in the videotaped announcement of his illness in August of 2002. "I believe in you; I know that the future of our country, our culture, and our children is in good hands. I know you will continue to meet adversity with strength and resilience, as our ancestors did . . .”
Moses has spoken.
Edited on: Sunday, September 16, 2007 7:26 PM EDT
Categories: Local, National, World News, Medical care - current and socialized, Random Thoughts and Comments
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