Hide the Decline: Climategate

Oh, it's just SOOOOOOOOO much fun!!

Turn it up & dance a little:



(Just feelin' kinda silly...)

~~~

In which salient HealthCare talk ensues...

Cruising around the blogs, I landed at an interesting discussion @ Left Coast Rebel. His brief post is a solid effort to tell Conservatives to buck up, put on our thinking caps & keep fighting against ObamaCare. Good thoughts & good timing. Nice appetizer. The main course came in the comment section (as it so often does @ Get the Big Idea).

After much volley, one commenter says:

"You have already determined, since no one here ever says otherwise, that universal health care is an obligation of society for those who are young, poor, disabled, seniors, or veterans..."

...um, excuse me. But I couldn't let that stand. My response:

"I'll beg to differ with ya. Disabled, Seniors, Veterans absolutely!!

But the young? That's a PARENT's/FAMILY's responsibility. Do I sound crass? Perhaps. Would I allow an indigent child to go untreated? No, but there MUST be some consequence for PARENTS FAILING their RESPONSIBILITIES!! Trust me. I've worked with the indigent population [in several places] & here's what I heard, "I'll have as many kids as I want to. The gov'ment will take care of me. They can't tell me to stop!" Ver batim from a former client.

...I AM that parent who chooses NOT to purchase, go, play, do things in order that we fulfill OUR OBLIGATION to our own children & provide for them...We buy independent insurance, paying dearly for it (it's like a second house payment). Got that? It's MY OBLIGATION!!!! [Not society's.]

Nanny state mentality is partly what has gotten us into this mess - & this [HealthCare] bill wants to give us more of it...Give me a break, & pass the buck."

Then, the salient voice of a new friend elucidates the issue for all:

"There is no social contract to pay other people's bills. Obamacare is a government mandated system that is supposed to help less than 10% of our population by pushing us down the road to not only socialized medicine, but socialism in general. Unwanted obligations amount to indentured servitude. That is what you condemn us to, all for a small percentage of the population.

This is the same religious fervor that espouses the end of the world due to anthropogenic climate change [Global Warming]. We now know that is a hoax.

As usual, socialists pitch to the lowest common denominator with emotion rather than rationale. Most people in this country oppose this plan...Under the current legislation proposed, this would change just about everything in an effort to get people on the government dole. It's ludicrous...

...Traditionally people got medical insurance to protect against bankruptcy and destitution from a catastrophic illness or injury. It wasn't meant to pay for every little hang nail and stubbed toe. Medical insurance has in fact impeded the free market that we used have and has driven costs up.

Lastly, you cannot insure health. All of us will die eventually, no matter what care one has. The insurance only mitigates financial risk...at the expense of others. Spreading the risks out further, through one plan, will only serve to cause even more restrictions on service and quality in an effort to contain costs.

That is why you see in countries with a single payer system, after a certain age, the wait for services grows arithmetically and in some cases is infinite. The end result of Obamacare, if it passes, is that the fabian socialists finally push the cart of capitalism over the edge of the cliff, and they know it, too.

The end game is to reduce humans to the same level as farm animals."

The end.

How could I presume to say more?

~~~

Best laid plans of mortals & Kings.

I like order. I like to have a plan & know what to expect. I’m not great at flying by the seat of my pants. It’s one of those weaknesses I have to work on every so often…like today.

See, I was asked to deliver the “Congregational Prayer” during our Praise & Worship service this morning. Today was “Christ the King” Sunday, the close of the Christian calendar: a day set aside for proclaiming the Kingship of Christ. Established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, it was designed to counter the rise of atheism & secularism that was absorbing early 20th century Europe. (Sounds like our current culture, no?) So our Pastor focused on ‘Christ the King,’ blending in touches of the Thanksgiving holiday, & needed a prayer to mesh, at least loosely, with his outline.

Back to my penchant for order…As is my nature, I had pre-written a prayer, weaving in elements of the chosen scripture (John 18:33-37) & Thanksgiving. In my haste to get out of the house though (failing at promptness - another weakness), I left my scripted prayer at the laptop, waiting to be printed.

My first thought when I realized what I had done? ‘No time to turn back now! I’ll have to wing it.’

Then came the corollary, “Maybe you’ll just have to trust my Holy Spirit for the words, Sus. Hmmm?”

So, we struck a deal, God & me. I would improvise, uncomfortable as that is, & He would supply the Prayer. (Didn’t have a choice really, late as I was.) But also, I’m learning some very important things about my God: my weakness is immaterial to Him, in fact it's when I am weak that He is strong. And, when He says He’ll be there, I can count on it.

So the time for our prayer came, & so did the words. It opened quietly with ½ of a verse of “Come Ye Thankful People Come,” a capella, then flowed into words coming from nowhere. I don’t remember exactly what they were (not that it was enraptured spiritual amnesia or anything). But the words I do remember were exactly what my heart needed (& perhaps the hearts of others?) on this day; at this time when so much is uncertain, & the powers-that-be seem out of hand.

The words were something like this: Christ Jesus is the King of kings, & He is my King. No person, no group & no Government can supercede His authority in my life…Christ Jesus is my only King &, Glory Hallelujah, that’s all that really matters.

Amen?

Amen.

So, I just have to ask. Who is your King?



Do you know Him?

~~~

Being Paul Revere: Defeat ObamaCare II

Remember what I said in the Defeat ObamaCare piece?

We can still win this fight!
Friends, we are part of the American internet/information Revolution!Use your voice to “reduce public support for the bill” by outing the Devil in the details. It’s a Trojan Horse they don’t want us to see. The good news is that we do. There's still time to sound the alarm!
Been to a Tea Party this year?

Okay. Now: Be Paul Revere.

Look what I found in my email just now...

A message to all members of Team Sarah

Our Team Sarah Health Care Review Board is busy reading Reid's 2074 pg bill. We need all hands on deck to help tweet findings. Please go to 'Twitter Fans For Sarah' for list of findings to tweet.

Come on Twitter Storm Group, Let's Storm Twitter With Findings!!

http://www.teamsarah.org/group/twitterfansforsarah/forum

Visit Twitter Fans For Sarah at:

http://www.teamsarah.org/groups/group/show?id=2330231%3AGroup%3A1277019&xg_source=msg_mes_group

Visit Team Sarah at: http://www.teamsarah.org

Cool, Huh?

Looks like others are moving from Teaparty to Paul Revere too...

If you use Twitter, join us. Be sure to tweet to hashtag groups (#gop #tcot #tlot #politics #liberals #hannity #maddow #rnc #dnc, etc., etc. ) to be sure your tweets are reaching the most people.

Go get em!

~~~

Of Bailouts, HealthCare & Prostitution

BAIL'EM OUT!!! ????

Hell, back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it.

They failed and it closed.

Now, we are trusting the economy of our country, our banking system, our auto industry and possibly our health plans to the same nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling whiskey?!

What are we thinking?

~~~

Sticky web: Copenhagen, Cap&Trade & Globalization

" 'Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,' President-elect Obama said of global warming last November. 'Delay is no longer an option.' It turns out that delay really is an option—the only one that has world-wide support."

Or so says the Wall Street Journal -- Copenhagen’s Collapse: the climate change sequel is a bust . This is welcome news to those of us who wish to remain a sovereign, self-directed nation.

(Pause for editorial gasp: I cannot believe I just typed those words… )

A few weeks ago, I anxiously posted a piece about the dangers of that Copenhagen summit, & followed it with a Part II . Apparently, you & I were not the only ones anxious about the potential for extortion that Copenhagen threatens. The WSJ says, "Mr. Obama bowed to reality and admitted that little of substance will come of the climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month."

That's good news! But don’t close your eyes just yet. One battle down, a philosophical war yet to wage.

Read on: "The environmental lobby is blaming Copenhagen's pre-emptive collapse on the Senate's failure to ram through a cap-and-trade scheme like the House did in June, arguing that 'the world' won't make commitments until the U.S. does... [though] China and India will never be masochistic enough to subject their economies to the West's climate neuroses…The pointlessness of Copenhagen will now become part of Mr. Obama's argument that the Senate must inflict cap and tax on the U.S., as well as a justification for the EPA's nondemocratic carbon crackdown via clean-air regulation. If he and we are lucky, however, the Senate will fail to act too...and the economy will recover faster without the looming burden of higher energy taxes."

Bear with me: Cap & Trade hasn’t gotten much press lately, for all the HealthCare talk. But just wait, friends, it’s coming. One only has to read pieces like Black Star News’ to realize that all these issues are woven together: national sovereignty, climate change, carbon emissions, 'going green,' to effect one overarching outcome: Globalization.

Sound benign enough?

Please. Read the Black Star article. The disdain, envy & utter disgust that the author holds for developed countries is striking. Friends, ‘Globalization’ means binding the West's hands (esp. the U.S.) & siphoning wealth to the Third World. All done through an entity out of our sight & beyond our control -- New World Order orWorld Government. 'Globalization' is code for massive Wealth Redistribution.

Sound familiar?

Climate change, 'going green,' & wealth redistribution are woven together, alright. It’s no accident our political culture has been softening our ear to these phrases for some time. (Makes me think there’s a larger spider weaving the web than we realize…)

No matter. We’re waking up, & I think, hope, pray it’s just in the nick of time. As I said in the close of Part II:

"We have not been 'standing watch.'

And now we know better. It's time to live better.

For it's not only our own pulse at risk,

but the heartbeat of our very Nation that depends on it."

~~~

Defeat ObamaCare: Devil's in the Details

Do you wonder how ObamaCare can be defeated before it kills our country? Me too.

Do you feel powerless to stop it, save badgering your Congressional leaders? Me too.



An excellent article by Fox News analyst Dick Morris gives us hope, friends, AND INSTRUCTIONS!

If you’re reading this, you’re part of the blogging world. If you’re a blogger, you have a certain amount of power in this fight, believe it or not. We each have a sphere of influence to affect the outcome of this process, & insure the defeat of the monstrosity that is Government overhaul & Socializing our Healthcare system.

Dick Morris tells us the Devil’s in the details, & tells us how to use them:

Our task is to reduce public support for the bill by publicizing its provisions, notably:

1. The $400 billion cut in Medicare.

2. The inevitable scarcity that will result from the addition of 35 million new patients with no new doctors or nurses.

3. The fine on the uninsured of 2.5 percent of their income if they don't buy insurance.

4. The high cost of these mandatory insurance policies ($15,000 per family).

5. The low level of subsidy available for the uninsured (only after they pay 8-12% of their incomes).

6. The likelihood of a $1,700 increase in the average family's premiums.

7. The possibility of up to five years in prison for failing to buy insurance or pay the fine.

8. The taxation of medical devices like pacemakers, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, etc.

9. The tax on sick people (increasing the threshold for deducting medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of income.

10. The additional fiscal burden on the states of the increase in Medicaid eligibility.

11. The 40 percent tax on health insurance premiums that will effect households earning more than $75,000 by the fifth year of the plan.

We can still win this fight!

Friends, we are part of the American internet/information Revolution!

Use your voice to “reduce public support for the bill” by outing the Devil in the details. It’s a Trojan Horse they don’t want us to see. The good news is that we do. There's still time to sound the alarm!

Been to a Tea Party this year? Okay. Now: Be Paul Revere.

~~~

Of Fort Hood Speeches & Gestalt Moments

My friend James, @ Musical Musings posted Mr. Obama's speech from the Fort Hood Memorial Service.

Lovely speech. Nice touches referencing each person individually. Well done, Mr. President. You've proven to be an impressive speaker - again...

The speech was well deserved by those in attendance & those who, sadly, are no longer with us. But I submit the following: anybody w/ charisma & camera-friendly face can schmooze out somebody else's words. Anybody can be coached on how to feign 'appropriate' affect & somber tenor when delivering a rehearsed eulogy. My concern is not what this man did on a stage at a solemn event, where every move was prescribed. My concern is what he did/didn't do in response to a live-action terrorist attack.

A commenter to James tried to make this point, albeit with great gusto, & was dismissed as immature & a disgrace. The following was, & still is, my contention with that dismissal:

In the moment of discovery of the Fort Hood massacre (it was NOT a "tragedy," it was a TERRORIST act perpetrated by a self-proclaimed SOA - soldier of Allah), Mr. Obama took the stage at a Native American Conference. It took him 60 full seconds to even mention the massacre.

A full 60 seconds: wherein he casually thanked his staff, conference organizers, gave congratulations to attendees for their 'extremely productive conference' and also gave a "shout out" to a medal winner!! ---- NONE as critical as 12 DEAD soldiers, massacred in cold blood, perp'd by one of our own personnel, who, btw just happened to be muslim & happened to have SCREAMED 'Allahu Akbar' seconds before he blew his fellow soldiers away. (But never mind that.)

And though my friends @ the other blog were involved in congratulating BHO (& each other) on his eloquent speech, I emphasized that I frankly don't give a flip what Mr. O said at the Memorial Service. He could have sung "The Rainbow Connection" while doin' the Charleston, for all I care about his performance.

See, what the Left misses is that leadership, strength & compassion are defined by what a person does/says when they're operating out of their own spontaneous, raw character. That's what matters, not some eloquence dribbled into a microphone, read off a teleprompter.

Last Thursday we were scared, & were all replaying tapes of 9-11. We needed immediate, heartfelt Leadership. We needed what Martin Buber calls "the I/Thou" relationship moment; the basis for Fritz Perls' Gestalt Therapy . "The experience involves an appreciation of & a respect for the reality of the Other." It's based on being 'in the moment,' where one intimately identifies with another's circumstances to effect a reciprocal bond of trust, & to foster transformative healing.

And this guy, this guy showed himself in that moment to be a detached, cool, emotionless (even cavalier), unsympathetic (except to muslims), calculating Disconnect. Who but the same can trust or bond with THAT?

Mr. O gave a lovely speech 5 days later. All the families deserved it - as did the departed. But in his Gestalt, in his defining moment, Mr. O showed he cannot produce I/Thou. And when you're incapable of that, all you've got left is I/Me.

Who, again, is the disgrace?

~~~

Fear, Freedom & the 'Wonderful Listener'

Before the Presidential election, the pro-Obama Left lauded him as the ‘wonderful listener!’ (Correction: he touted himself as the wonderful listener, & they fell in line like the brace of waddling ducks that they remain...)

Back then, I suffered through a conversation with one who lapped up his autobiographies (who but a narcissist writes more than one??) like a hungry kitten, & dewy-eyed & earnest said, “He’s someone who will really listen!” Not wanting to spew my coffee across Panera’s finely appointed decor, I breathed deeply, closed my eyes, & rolled them fiercely under my lids.

How excruciatingly naïve, I thought. When the campaign was over, & owning that perhaps my cynicism had over-reached, I haltingly decided to sweat through the next 4 years, wishing my country well. And sweat, I have. Not only is this President’s agenda as damaging as I feared, it’s worse; and gets more treacherous by the day.

We told him we didn’t want a ‘stimulus’ bill, & he didn’t listen. We told him we didn’t want Government taking over private industry, banks, unions, health care & he didn’t listen. Not only did he not listen, but told us that we aren’t angry about it, that actually only a small faction was 'faking it' (astro-turf, anyone?). Further, those who are ‘faking it’ should be ashamed of themselves for obscuring the true progress (government ownership of all things) that real (obedient, submissive) patriots want.

Call me a partisan if you like. But know that even those with hard-line Washingtonian sensibilities have called him out:

Here’s what Peggy Noonan says about the recent elections:

“There's a new detachment between the president and the electorate he won a year ago by 9.5 million votes…The White House and Congress chose to go down one path at the exact moment voters went down a different one…Mr. Obama carried Democratic Jersey by more than 15 points exactly one year ago. The Democratic governor lost by nearly five points this week. That is a 20-point swing. Mr. Obama won Virginia a year ago by six points. The Democratic candidate for governor lost by more than 18 points. That is a 24-point plummet.

“Mr. Obama…should start paying attention to what the people are saying…Something's wrong, fix it, change course. Show humility. Bow to the public. ‘Public opinion is everything,’ Lincoln is said to have said. It is. It can be changed and it can be shaped, but it always has to be listened to. This White House has gotten bad at listening. It paid the price for that on Tuesday.”

So much for the ‘Wonderful Listener’…

Rush Limbaugh caught a lot of flack for speaking without fear, hoping Barack Obama fails. He was referencing BHO’s radical agenda which had been clear to those of us who WERE LISTENING to the erstwhile candidate!

So, am I gratified by the voices from New Jersey & Virginia?

Yes, the way one is who has every right to say, “I told you so!” And no, because ‘gratified’ means it really is worse than I feared. I realize that fear is a distraction to be faced & defeated in order to reclaim our nation, but that’s no small task.

Those like my coffee shop friend must grow up & learn how to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. The ‘Wonderful Listener’ has proven himself a fraud, & the fight ahead will be much more difficult. I’m willing to share ‘gratified,’ as a bolster to our courage, because we'll need ample supply, & we need to draw others to our flank.

As I type, I’m hearing a phrase once spoken to a courageous & determined people who, after being beaten down by uncertainty & immobilized by fear, reclaimed themselves & snatched long victory from the jaws of despair. It was spoken at a time of desperation, & those who were listening, heard & were gratified. We are now the ‘wonderful listeners,’ friends. We are also those same courageous & determined people.

Listen, and join me in the hearing, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

~~~

Which One? (reprise)

I've only done a do-over one time @ Get the Big Idea. It's not something I do routinely, as I figure my friends are savvy enough to find 'like' posts using the handy labels list. Right? But sometimes, the mood strikes, & I want a do-over (don't we all?).

Lucky for me, this is my blog, & I get to choose. And no arguments from the rif-raf, either!

At any rate, I was walking the pooch today, with M.W.Smith on my IPOD. The sky was pristinely blue, as only a Carolina sky can be. Autumn leaves were warming themselves in the golden rays of sweet sunshine (after weeks of rain), & I was of-a-mind to count favorites. This original piece from 9-08 came to mind, & it just makes me feel good. Maybe you'll enjoy it too:

Books are essential. Reading is one of the best expanders of the mind, of the soul.

But what if some catastrophe occurs, and only one book could be saved? Faced with that notion, which book would you be sure to rescue? Which one would you save?

It's legal and it's literary. It’s historical and poetic. It's sophisticated

narrative and children’s delight. It's sexy and smoldering; compellingly real

and enigmatic. Come to it as a scholar, or scientist, an objective observer

or a hostile assailant. It's confounding, perplexing, nearly implausible. It

yields to antagonism, ignites debate and inspires awe. By it, through it,

one can be moved to a depth of intimacy that defies understanding. When

a catastrophe strikes, when all books will vanish and I can save just one,

this one will be clutched under my arm, shielded from the mayhem of

falling, crashing, burning. When I rush out of the flaming building and my

family is safe, I’ll have pressed against me this one, my Bible.
I’ll save it, because it first saved me.

~~~