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written by Norm:

Side effects may include...

Your comments about this column are welcome ~ e-mail Norm at

           We have all seen the television commercials for new drugs and medical products that include a long list of side effects. Apparently there is some federal agency that demands you know that a new sleeping pill may make you have a bloody nose or paralysis or even death. It all started with the little blue pill that warns that if you have an, err, ah, you know, for more than four hours you should call your doctor right away. This spawned numerous jokes, mostly heard on golf courses. They ranged from calling The Guinness Book of Records to the local fire department.
            Restaurants have signs that their food might be dangerous to pregnant women. Cigarette packs and wine bottles have warnings. Even my new electric toothbrush has safety warnings in five languages.
            It occurs to me that it would only be fair if the federal government would also apply this disclosure rule to new laws and budgets that are being proposed. For example, the huge amount of bailout money that has been spread like fertilizer in a cornfield has hidden dangers.
            Lets demand the Administration add disclaimers to every bailout.
            "This money the government is thrusting on you may cause your company to eliminate all conferences at golf resorts and the grounding of all corporate jets."
            "If you take this money you will have to have a bureaucrat on your board and maybe even a union vice president as your new CEO."
            "Warning! Your government really doesn't have the money now to cover this handout so your grandchildren will have to pay it back, plus interest."
            What would happen if such disclosures were prominently announced before every vote is taken? Would we ignore them as we do the medical warnings on TV or would we question more vocally the wisdom of spending money we don't have?
            In these first months of the Obama administration the modis operendi has been "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead". We are told the situation is so dire that if we don't spend trillions and trillions right away we will fall over the abyss into ruin.
            The latest is the health care issue. On top of all the trillions President Obama has thrown at the recovery effort, he now wants to spend more trillions we don't have to reinvent the medical care delivery system we now have. The refrain is that this is the right time and the money will be paid back by some sort of fiscal voodoo.
            "Warning! This medical insurance plan has the possibility of costing so much that it may bankrupt the economy and have the government ruin the best health system in the world."
            “Attention: If you are 16 or younger your future standard of living may be compromised as you will have to pay back the debt we are passing on to you, plus interest.”
            Maybe it is time we tell our state and Washington legislators and President Obama that all this spending has consequences and they should label all the legislation accordingly.

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