"These maniacs in Copenhagen are voting on your future:
President Chavez brought the house down.
When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.
When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.
But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation."
Read More here...
Copenhagen is not about saving the planet.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Frank & Dodd strike again.. Watch out!
"Under the House version, large financial companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. would be hit with billions of dollars in fees and would see new restrictions on their operations.
The bill would strip nearly all of the Federal Reserve's powers to write consumer-protection laws and would allow -- for the first time -- an arm of Congress to audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions, supposedly a politics-free zone. The Fed has fiercely resisted the idea.
For consumers and individual investors, the bill gives shareholders an advisory vote on executive compensation and creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
The new federal agency would write rules and examine banks for compliance with consumer protection policies on mortgages, credit cards and other products.
The bill, written in large part by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, aims to fill gaps in the regulatory toolkit exposed by last year's crisis. It would give the government the power to break up even healthy financial companies if regulators believe they pose a threat to the financial system. It will also direct the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to collect $150 billion in fees from big financial institutions to create a fund to pay for future large failures."
Read the rest here...
The bill would strip nearly all of the Federal Reserve's powers to write consumer-protection laws and would allow -- for the first time -- an arm of Congress to audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions, supposedly a politics-free zone. The Fed has fiercely resisted the idea.
For consumers and individual investors, the bill gives shareholders an advisory vote on executive compensation and creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
The new federal agency would write rules and examine banks for compliance with consumer protection policies on mortgages, credit cards and other products.
The bill, written in large part by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, aims to fill gaps in the regulatory toolkit exposed by last year's crisis. It would give the government the power to break up even healthy financial companies if regulators believe they pose a threat to the financial system. It will also direct the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to collect $150 billion in fees from big financial institutions to create a fund to pay for future large failures."
Read the rest here...
Friday, December 4, 2009
Anthropological Warming...
Whether you believe in Anthropological Warming or not.. before we allow the government to take over our thermostats, ban two ply toilet paper, dictate the size of our televisions and cars and homes, regulate our soap.. before we give up all our money to taxes and much of our freedoms.. let's make sure there are no crooks calling the shots.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Lord Christopher Monckton explains the false science behind the global warming scare...
This is a 5 part series.. be patient with the first part .. an then watch them all. Very enlightening.
Part 1
Part 1
National Education Curriculum...
November 25, 2009
The Honorable John Cornyn
United States Senate
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Cornyn:
I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding recent efforts by the U. S. Department of Education (USDE) to adopt a national curriculum and testing system in the United States. This effort can be seen as a step toward a federal takeover of the nation’s public schools.
As you are likely aware, a number of entities that develop and market education assessments and materials and several non-profits have banded together in an effort they have named the “Common Core Standards Initiative.” I believe that the true intention of this effort is to establish one set of national education standards and national tests across the country. Originally sold to states as voluntary, states have now been told that participation in national standards and national testing would be required as a condition of receiving federal discretionary grant funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) administered by the USDE. The effort has now become a cornerstone of the Administration’s education policy through the USDE’s prioritization of adoption of national standards and aligned national tests in receiving federal funds. The Secretary of Education has already reserved $650 million of ARRA funds for the production of these national tests.
In short, because Texas has chosen to preserve its sovereign authority to determine what is appropriate for Texas children to learn in its public schools, the state is now placed at a serious disadvantage in competing for its share of ARRA discretionary funding. Billed by Secretary Duncan as the “Race to the Top,” (RTTT) it appears that the USDE is placing its desire for a federal takeover of public education above the interests of the 4.7 million schoolchildren in the state of Texas by setting two different starting lines – one for nearly every other state in the country and one for Texas.
Texas has consistently maintained that states should retain their authority to determine the curriculum and testing requirements for their students. The elected Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) sets the standards Texas students are supposed to meet for each subject taught in the public school system. Texas law requires the direct participation of educators, parents, business and industry representatives, and employers in the development of the standards. Through this process, Texas has recently adopted college-ready math, English language arts, and science standards and will soon complete work on the social studies standards. The state has purchased new textbooks, created targeted professional development for our teachers, and developed new assessments aligned with these new standards. Joining the national standards and national testing movement would require Texas taxpayers to re-spend at least $3 billion.
If the USDE has its way, Texas’ process, along with every other state that has a similar process, will be negated. With the release of the RTTT application, it is clear that the first step toward nationalization of our schools has been put into place. I do not believe that the requirements will end with the RTTT; I believe that USDE will utilize the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to further the administration’s federal takeover of public schools, including withholding billions of dollars from our disadvantaged and special education students.
Ronald Reagan once said, “I believe a case can be made that the decline in the quality of public school education began when federal aid to education became federal interference in education.” Having the federal government use Washington-based special interest groups and vendors as proxy for the USDE in setting national curriculum standards and then using ARRA federal discretionary funds to develop national tests for every child in the nation represents unprecedented intrusiveness by the federal government into the personal lives of our children and their families.
I encourage and invite you to stand with me against national curriculum standards and national tests. The authority to determine what students in our public schools should learn properly resides with states, local school boards and parents. The federal government should not be engaging in activity that seeks to undermine our ability to determine what will be taught in our schools.
Sincerely,
Robert Scott
Texas Commissioner of Education
The Honorable John Cornyn
United States Senate
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Cornyn:
I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding recent efforts by the U. S. Department of Education (USDE) to adopt a national curriculum and testing system in the United States. This effort can be seen as a step toward a federal takeover of the nation’s public schools.
As you are likely aware, a number of entities that develop and market education assessments and materials and several non-profits have banded together in an effort they have named the “Common Core Standards Initiative.” I believe that the true intention of this effort is to establish one set of national education standards and national tests across the country. Originally sold to states as voluntary, states have now been told that participation in national standards and national testing would be required as a condition of receiving federal discretionary grant funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) administered by the USDE. The effort has now become a cornerstone of the Administration’s education policy through the USDE’s prioritization of adoption of national standards and aligned national tests in receiving federal funds. The Secretary of Education has already reserved $650 million of ARRA funds for the production of these national tests.
In short, because Texas has chosen to preserve its sovereign authority to determine what is appropriate for Texas children to learn in its public schools, the state is now placed at a serious disadvantage in competing for its share of ARRA discretionary funding. Billed by Secretary Duncan as the “Race to the Top,” (RTTT) it appears that the USDE is placing its desire for a federal takeover of public education above the interests of the 4.7 million schoolchildren in the state of Texas by setting two different starting lines – one for nearly every other state in the country and one for Texas.
Texas has consistently maintained that states should retain their authority to determine the curriculum and testing requirements for their students. The elected Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) sets the standards Texas students are supposed to meet for each subject taught in the public school system. Texas law requires the direct participation of educators, parents, business and industry representatives, and employers in the development of the standards. Through this process, Texas has recently adopted college-ready math, English language arts, and science standards and will soon complete work on the social studies standards. The state has purchased new textbooks, created targeted professional development for our teachers, and developed new assessments aligned with these new standards. Joining the national standards and national testing movement would require Texas taxpayers to re-spend at least $3 billion.
If the USDE has its way, Texas’ process, along with every other state that has a similar process, will be negated. With the release of the RTTT application, it is clear that the first step toward nationalization of our schools has been put into place. I do not believe that the requirements will end with the RTTT; I believe that USDE will utilize the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to further the administration’s federal takeover of public schools, including withholding billions of dollars from our disadvantaged and special education students.
Ronald Reagan once said, “I believe a case can be made that the decline in the quality of public school education began when federal aid to education became federal interference in education.” Having the federal government use Washington-based special interest groups and vendors as proxy for the USDE in setting national curriculum standards and then using ARRA federal discretionary funds to develop national tests for every child in the nation represents unprecedented intrusiveness by the federal government into the personal lives of our children and their families.
I encourage and invite you to stand with me against national curriculum standards and national tests. The authority to determine what students in our public schools should learn properly resides with states, local school boards and parents. The federal government should not be engaging in activity that seeks to undermine our ability to determine what will be taught in our schools.
Sincerely,
Robert Scott
Texas Commissioner of Education
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Cap & Trade...
See article HERE...
So declares Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, taking a few minutes away from a Thanksgiving retreat with his family. "Ninety-five percent of the nails were in the coffin prior to this week. Now they are all in."
If any politician might be qualified to offer last rites, it would be Mr. Inhofe. The top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee has spent the past decade in the thick of Washington's climate fight. He's seen the back of three cap-and-trade bills, rode herd on an overweening Environmental Protection Agency, and steadfastly insisted that global researchers were "cooking" the science behind man-made global warming.
This week he's looking prescient. The more than 3,000 emails and documents from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) that have found their way to the Internet have blown the lid off the "science" of manmade global warming. CRU is a nerve center for many of those researchers who have authored the United Nations' global warming reports and fueled the political movement to regulate carbon.
Their correspondence show a claque of scientists massaging data to make it fit their theories, squelching scientists who disagreed, punishing academic journals that didn't toe the apocalyptic line, and hiding their work from public view. "It's no use pretending that this isn't a major blow," glumly wrote George Monbiot, a U.K. writer who has been among the fiercest warming alarmists. The documents "could scarcely be more damaging." And that's from a believer.
This scandal has real implications. Mr. Inhofe notes that international and U.S. efforts to regulate carbon were already on the ropes. The growing fear of Democrats and environmentalists is that the CRU uproar will prove a tipping point, and mark a permanent end to those ambitions.
Internationally, world leaders finally acknowledged that the recession has sapped them of their political power to impose devastating new carbon-restrictions. China and India are clear they won't join the West in an economic suicide pact. Next month's summit in Copenhagen is a bust. Instead of producing legally binding agreements, it will be dogged by queries about the legitimacy of the scientists who wrote the reports that form its basis.
The next opportunity to get international agreement is in Mexico City, 2010—a U.S. election year. Democrats were already publicly acknowledging there will be no domestic climate legislation in 2009 and privately acknowledging their great unease at passing a huge energy tax on Americans headed for a midterm vote.
Add to that the CRU scandal, which pivots the focus to potential fraud. Republicans are launching investigations, and the pressure is building on Democrats to hold hearings, since climate scientists were funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars. Mr. Inhofe's office this week sent letters to federal agencies and outside scientists warning them not to delete their own CRU-related emails and documents, which may also be subject to Freedom of Information requests.
Polls show a public already losing belief in the theory of man-made global warming, and skeptics are now on the offense. The Competitive Enterprise Institute's Myron Ebell argues this scandal gives added cover to Blue Dogs and other Democrats who were already reluctant to buck the public's will and vote for climate legislation. And with Republicans set to pick up seats, Mr. Ebell adds, "By 2011 there will hopefully be even fewer members who support this. We may be close to having it permanently stymied." Continued U.S. failure to act makes an international agreement to replace Kyoto (which expires in 2012) a harder sell.
There's still the EPA, which is preparing an "endangerment finding" that would allow it to regulate carbon on the grounds it is a danger to public health. It is here the emails might have the most direct effect. The agency has said repeatedly that it based its finding on the U.N. science—which is now at issue. The scandal puts new pressure on the EPA to accede to growing demands to make public the scientific basis of its actions.
Mr. Inhofe goes so far as to suggest that the agency might not now issue the finding. "The president knows how punitive this will be; he's never wanted to do it through [the EPA] because that's all on him." The EPA was already out on a legal limb with its finding, and Mr. Inhofe argues that if it does go ahead, the CRU disclosure guarantees court limbo. "The way the far left used to stop us is to file lawsuits and stall and stall. We'll do the same thing."
Still, if this Democratic Washington has demonstrated anything, it's that ideology often trumps common sense. Egged on by the left, dug in to their position, Democrats might plow ahead. They'd be better off acknowledging that the only "consensus" right now is that the world needs to start over on climate "science."
So declares Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, taking a few minutes away from a Thanksgiving retreat with his family. "Ninety-five percent of the nails were in the coffin prior to this week. Now they are all in."
If any politician might be qualified to offer last rites, it would be Mr. Inhofe. The top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee has spent the past decade in the thick of Washington's climate fight. He's seen the back of three cap-and-trade bills, rode herd on an overweening Environmental Protection Agency, and steadfastly insisted that global researchers were "cooking" the science behind man-made global warming.
This week he's looking prescient. The more than 3,000 emails and documents from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) that have found their way to the Internet have blown the lid off the "science" of manmade global warming. CRU is a nerve center for many of those researchers who have authored the United Nations' global warming reports and fueled the political movement to regulate carbon.
Their correspondence show a claque of scientists massaging data to make it fit their theories, squelching scientists who disagreed, punishing academic journals that didn't toe the apocalyptic line, and hiding their work from public view. "It's no use pretending that this isn't a major blow," glumly wrote George Monbiot, a U.K. writer who has been among the fiercest warming alarmists. The documents "could scarcely be more damaging." And that's from a believer.
This scandal has real implications. Mr. Inhofe notes that international and U.S. efforts to regulate carbon were already on the ropes. The growing fear of Democrats and environmentalists is that the CRU uproar will prove a tipping point, and mark a permanent end to those ambitions.
Internationally, world leaders finally acknowledged that the recession has sapped them of their political power to impose devastating new carbon-restrictions. China and India are clear they won't join the West in an economic suicide pact. Next month's summit in Copenhagen is a bust. Instead of producing legally binding agreements, it will be dogged by queries about the legitimacy of the scientists who wrote the reports that form its basis.
The next opportunity to get international agreement is in Mexico City, 2010—a U.S. election year. Democrats were already publicly acknowledging there will be no domestic climate legislation in 2009 and privately acknowledging their great unease at passing a huge energy tax on Americans headed for a midterm vote.
Add to that the CRU scandal, which pivots the focus to potential fraud. Republicans are launching investigations, and the pressure is building on Democrats to hold hearings, since climate scientists were funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars. Mr. Inhofe's office this week sent letters to federal agencies and outside scientists warning them not to delete their own CRU-related emails and documents, which may also be subject to Freedom of Information requests.
Polls show a public already losing belief in the theory of man-made global warming, and skeptics are now on the offense. The Competitive Enterprise Institute's Myron Ebell argues this scandal gives added cover to Blue Dogs and other Democrats who were already reluctant to buck the public's will and vote for climate legislation. And with Republicans set to pick up seats, Mr. Ebell adds, "By 2011 there will hopefully be even fewer members who support this. We may be close to having it permanently stymied." Continued U.S. failure to act makes an international agreement to replace Kyoto (which expires in 2012) a harder sell.
There's still the EPA, which is preparing an "endangerment finding" that would allow it to regulate carbon on the grounds it is a danger to public health. It is here the emails might have the most direct effect. The agency has said repeatedly that it based its finding on the U.N. science—which is now at issue. The scandal puts new pressure on the EPA to accede to growing demands to make public the scientific basis of its actions.
Mr. Inhofe goes so far as to suggest that the agency might not now issue the finding. "The president knows how punitive this will be; he's never wanted to do it through [the EPA] because that's all on him." The EPA was already out on a legal limb with its finding, and Mr. Inhofe argues that if it does go ahead, the CRU disclosure guarantees court limbo. "The way the far left used to stop us is to file lawsuits and stall and stall. We'll do the same thing."
Still, if this Democratic Washington has demonstrated anything, it's that ideology often trumps common sense. Egged on by the left, dug in to their position, Democrats might plow ahead. They'd be better off acknowledging that the only "consensus" right now is that the world needs to start over on climate "science."
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Vanishing Liberty...
"Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country."
~Thomas Sowell
A must read article by Thomas Sowell HERE...
~Thomas Sowell
A must read article by Thomas Sowell HERE...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Legislating Freedom...
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005
~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005
A brilliant thinker...
The government is not the source of anything.. the most it can hope to do is preserve the rights of individuals and coordinate their efforts.
~C. Hess
~C. Hess
Friday, September 11, 2009
Two Articles about Wealth & Giving...
Giving in America
"Americans give a lot. In 2006 they gave about $300 billion to charity. To put that into perspective, $300 billion is more than the entire national income of Sweden. Seventy-five percent of America’s families give every year. Fifty percent volunteer their time, and Americans give in myriad other ways that are not captured in data.
The most charitable state in the United States is Utah, where people give approximately twice as much as the second leading state. I’m tempted to say that that should make Utahns proud. But I suppose that’s not the right word. However, it should make you pleased—and determined to keep it up."
Read More HERE...
"In Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Basic Books), Arthur C. Brooks finds that religious conservatives are far more charitable than secular liberals, and that those who support the idea that government should redistribute income are among the least likely to dig into their own wallets to help others."
Read More HERE...
"Americans give a lot. In 2006 they gave about $300 billion to charity. To put that into perspective, $300 billion is more than the entire national income of Sweden. Seventy-five percent of America’s families give every year. Fifty percent volunteer their time, and Americans give in myriad other ways that are not captured in data.
The most charitable state in the United States is Utah, where people give approximately twice as much as the second leading state. I’m tempted to say that that should make Utahns proud. But I suppose that’s not the right word. However, it should make you pleased—and determined to keep it up."
Read More HERE...
"In Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Basic Books), Arthur C. Brooks finds that religious conservatives are far more charitable than secular liberals, and that those who support the idea that government should redistribute income are among the least likely to dig into their own wallets to help others."
Read More HERE...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The President's Healthcare Speech...
"Perhaps Mr. Obama's most remarkable sleight-of-hand was his claim that he "will not stand by as the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are." The reality is that nearly all of those "special interests" are standing with him. The doctors' lobby, the hospitals, Big Pharma, even the largest insurers have all invested enormously in government health care. " WSJ
The rest of the article HERE...
The rest of the article HERE...
The Collapse of the Dollar...
"The dollar's fall follows a United Nations report released Monday calling for a reduced role of the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency..." Forbes Magazine
READ THE REST OF THE FORBES ARTICLE HERE...
READ THE REST OF THE FORBES ARTICLE HERE...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Forrest Bird...
Received the Presidential Citizen on December 10, 2008.
If you don't know Forrest Bird's inspiring story.
This piece on 60 Minutes was beautifully done.
See it here.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Muilticulturalism.. Something to think about...
To many people, the word Multicultural and the idea of Multiculturalism are the anti-racism with the idea that all races and cultures should be appreciated the same. But, racism and multiculturalism really have nothing to do with each other.
Racism is the idea that someone has a license to hate, exclude or mistreat another human being because of their skin color or the shape of their eyes. Racism is wrong, stupid and immoral.
Culture is defined as: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
Multiculturalism is the idea that all cultures are equal and of equal value in the world.
NOT SO.
About a year ago, I read the book Three Cups Of Tea about the mission of the author Greg Mortensen to build schools for girls and boys in Pakistan. While the book was fascinating and the mission of Mr. Mortensen highly laudable, there was an underlying multiculturalistic attitude in the book. What a lovely slow-paced society! These people can really enjoy the simple things in life with out being materialistic. GAG!
I became angry as I read page after page of men sitting for hours drinking cup after cup of tea while their children had no schools to attend, no hospitals to be born in, and 40 percent of them were malnourished.
"In 2000, the infant mortality rate was 83 per 1,000 live births. Major causes of infant mortality are immunizable diseases, diarrhea, malnutrition, and poor environmental sanitation."
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Pakistan-HEALTH.html
But, hey.. don't get up.. continue with your little tea party.
Multiculturalism is a lie. There are cultures that are more valuable ... *better* than others. Those are the cultures that make their people smarter, healthier, stronger, safer, happier and wealthier. And, the culture that encourages those things not by force, but through greater liberty is superior to others.
I really enjoyed this little speech by the brilliant Canadian Mark Steyn...
Check it out HERE.
Racism is the idea that someone has a license to hate, exclude or mistreat another human being because of their skin color or the shape of their eyes. Racism is wrong, stupid and immoral.
Culture is defined as: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
Multiculturalism is the idea that all cultures are equal and of equal value in the world.
NOT SO.
About a year ago, I read the book Three Cups Of Tea about the mission of the author Greg Mortensen to build schools for girls and boys in Pakistan. While the book was fascinating and the mission of Mr. Mortensen highly laudable, there was an underlying multiculturalistic attitude in the book. What a lovely slow-paced society! These people can really enjoy the simple things in life with out being materialistic. GAG!
I became angry as I read page after page of men sitting for hours drinking cup after cup of tea while their children had no schools to attend, no hospitals to be born in, and 40 percent of them were malnourished.
"In 2000, the infant mortality rate was 83 per 1,000 live births. Major causes of infant mortality are immunizable diseases, diarrhea, malnutrition, and poor environmental sanitation."
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Pakistan-HEALTH.html
But, hey.. don't get up.. continue with your little tea party.
Multiculturalism is a lie. There are cultures that are more valuable ... *better* than others. Those are the cultures that make their people smarter, healthier, stronger, safer, happier and wealthier. And, the culture that encourages those things not by force, but through greater liberty is superior to others.
I really enjoyed this little speech by the brilliant Canadian Mark Steyn...
Check it out HERE.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Stanford University's Landmark Healthcare Study..
If you haven't read anything else about the flaws in the current debate.. read this summary of Stanford University's Hoover Institute Study on Healthcare.. it's very enlightening...
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Read More HERE...
1. Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the United Kingdom and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.
Read More HERE...
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Who really are the uninsured?
Politicians and the media often state that 47 million are uninsured, roughly 15 percent of people living in the U.S., but what are the numbers behind that statistic? Who are these people?
The Census Bureau points out that almost 10 million of those are illegal aliens. According to the same report there are 8.3 million uninsured who make between $50,000 and $75,000 per year. Many of these are the young and healthy who would rather spend $200 some odd dollars a month playing than paying for health coverage. Almost 9 million more make more than $75,000 per year.
If we count those that are transitioning between jobs, but that will have coverage in less than 4 months.. we may be able to discount a full 45 percent of the almost 20 million left.
Studies done by The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit founded to inform media and government on health issues... "puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. That is a much smaller figure than the media reports. Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more."8.2 million represents about 2 percent of Americans. That said, I agree with President Obama that we are our brothers keeper.
It must be understood that Health Insurance is not the same as Health Care. Even illegals in this country have access to health care. There are free clinics where the poor and illegals can receive pre-natal care and have their cuts sewn up. Their babies are delivered in hospitals.. no questions asked. No one can be turned away from an Emergency Room.. it is against the law.
Crack babies born premature and in disastrous health will have a million dollars spent on their care before they even leave the hospital. Who pays for all of this?? We do. Americans are very generous. What do you think hospital and doctor bills would be like if the hospitals didn't pass these costs on to every patient who is able to pay? Some of this type of health care is tax payer funded and much is passed along to the insured who are able to pay.. in other words us.
Much of that is OK with me because I want to be compassionate and good. But don't wreck the best, by far the best, health care system in the world over faulty statistics and political power grabs.
That said, there are many things that we could do to improve our current system. I like the ideas John Mackey wrote in a recent article for the WSJ.
Socialized medicine is a Trillion dollar gamble with poor odds since it has compromised the economies of almost every European nation and Canada. Let's take some time and think it out very carefully and then when our representatives come up with something, let's do our own thinking on it. Let's ask that actual reform not be buried in pork spending so we can barely find the bill.If Americans tune into the fall television line up and stop watching their government, they may wake up in the spring to a lesser America.. one they don't even recognize.
Read more here.
The Census Bureau points out that almost 10 million of those are illegal aliens. According to the same report there are 8.3 million uninsured who make between $50,000 and $75,000 per year. Many of these are the young and healthy who would rather spend $200 some odd dollars a month playing than paying for health coverage. Almost 9 million more make more than $75,000 per year.
If we count those that are transitioning between jobs, but that will have coverage in less than 4 months.. we may be able to discount a full 45 percent of the almost 20 million left.
Studies done by The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit founded to inform media and government on health issues... "puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. That is a much smaller figure than the media reports. Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more."8.2 million represents about 2 percent of Americans. That said, I agree with President Obama that we are our brothers keeper.
It must be understood that Health Insurance is not the same as Health Care. Even illegals in this country have access to health care. There are free clinics where the poor and illegals can receive pre-natal care and have their cuts sewn up. Their babies are delivered in hospitals.. no questions asked. No one can be turned away from an Emergency Room.. it is against the law.
Crack babies born premature and in disastrous health will have a million dollars spent on their care before they even leave the hospital. Who pays for all of this?? We do. Americans are very generous. What do you think hospital and doctor bills would be like if the hospitals didn't pass these costs on to every patient who is able to pay? Some of this type of health care is tax payer funded and much is passed along to the insured who are able to pay.. in other words us.
Much of that is OK with me because I want to be compassionate and good. But don't wreck the best, by far the best, health care system in the world over faulty statistics and political power grabs.
That said, there are many things that we could do to improve our current system. I like the ideas John Mackey wrote in a recent article for the WSJ.
Socialized medicine is a Trillion dollar gamble with poor odds since it has compromised the economies of almost every European nation and Canada. Let's take some time and think it out very carefully and then when our representatives come up with something, let's do our own thinking on it. Let's ask that actual reform not be buried in pork spending so we can barely find the bill.If Americans tune into the fall television line up and stop watching their government, they may wake up in the spring to a lesser America.. one they don't even recognize.
Read more here.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Does single payer really help the poor?
This story is anecdotal and I try to stay away from that kind of thing, but this piece points out at the core something real and true. Entitlement is an ugly word. It is beneath the dignity of liberty which requires self-discipline, hard work and integrity. When we give up our liberty for something "free" we are sold what we deserve.. something that is less.
This is a story from Canada...
"Everything I want to say about this is summed up in a story that happened to my partner Shelley. Shelley and I are partners in a restaurant, and she actually runs it. She was given an appointment at the hospital for a procedure, and she duly showed up at the appointed time. Two hours later she was still sitting there waiting to be called. Now she was only able to get a two-hour parking meter, and so she approached the desk and asked if she could go and put money in the meter. She was curtly told that she was free to go and put the money in, but that if her name were called while she was away, that her name would fall back to the bottom of the queue. So she just decided that she would take the parking ticket as part of the price of getting the medical service she needed. Another two hours passed, and still she was not called, so she again approached the counter, and very patiently and politely explained (as only Shelley can, because she is the soul of graciousness) that she actually had a small business to run; that she was there at the appointed time for her appointment; that she had waited four hours, which is far longer than she had been led to expect the whole thing would take; that she had other commitments because of the business; and could they possibly at least give her some idea of how much longer she might have to wait?
Well, the woman behind the counter got on her dignity, drew herself up to her full height, glared at Shelley and said, "You're talking as if you're some kind of customer!"
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the essence of the problem: When the government supplies you with "free" health care, you are not a powerful customer who must be satisfied. They are doing you a favor and you owe the state gratitude and servility in return for this awesome generosity. They can give you the worst service in the world, but because it is free, you are totally disempowered. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my contact with the Canadian Medicare system is that payment makes you powerful. And its absence makes you risible if not invisible.
Now the articulate and the middle class do not let little things like that get them down. Even though they do not pay, they still get in the faces of the people providing service and make their wishes known. But often the vulnerable, the poor, the ill-educated, and the inarticulate are the ones who suffer the most because no one's well-being within the health care system depends on patients/consumers being well looked after. And by depriving them of the power of payment within the health care system, Medicare disempowers them. And the poor see this, because while they may be poor, they are not stupid."
Read more here.
This is a story from Canada...
"Everything I want to say about this is summed up in a story that happened to my partner Shelley. Shelley and I are partners in a restaurant, and she actually runs it. She was given an appointment at the hospital for a procedure, and she duly showed up at the appointed time. Two hours later she was still sitting there waiting to be called. Now she was only able to get a two-hour parking meter, and so she approached the desk and asked if she could go and put money in the meter. She was curtly told that she was free to go and put the money in, but that if her name were called while she was away, that her name would fall back to the bottom of the queue. So she just decided that she would take the parking ticket as part of the price of getting the medical service she needed. Another two hours passed, and still she was not called, so she again approached the counter, and very patiently and politely explained (as only Shelley can, because she is the soul of graciousness) that she actually had a small business to run; that she was there at the appointed time for her appointment; that she had waited four hours, which is far longer than she had been led to expect the whole thing would take; that she had other commitments because of the business; and could they possibly at least give her some idea of how much longer she might have to wait?
Well, the woman behind the counter got on her dignity, drew herself up to her full height, glared at Shelley and said, "You're talking as if you're some kind of customer!"
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the essence of the problem: When the government supplies you with "free" health care, you are not a powerful customer who must be satisfied. They are doing you a favor and you owe the state gratitude and servility in return for this awesome generosity. They can give you the worst service in the world, but because it is free, you are totally disempowered. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my contact with the Canadian Medicare system is that payment makes you powerful. And its absence makes you risible if not invisible.
Now the articulate and the middle class do not let little things like that get them down. Even though they do not pay, they still get in the faces of the people providing service and make their wishes known. But often the vulnerable, the poor, the ill-educated, and the inarticulate are the ones who suffer the most because no one's well-being within the health care system depends on patients/consumers being well looked after. And by depriving them of the power of payment within the health care system, Medicare disempowers them. And the poor see this, because while they may be poor, they are not stupid."
Read more here.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wealth...
Our current representatives do not understand the principle of wealth, they believe it is only money, but money is easily spent and gone. The wealth of our nation is not money, or resources although this land is blessed with both. Our true wealth is in the creativity and ingenuity and especially the industry of our people.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Hi, I'm from the Government & I'm here to help...
I am sorry to admit that I was initially in favor.. strongly in favor of TARP. It seemed like a good idea to get money to the banks so that they could begin lending again, so that small businesses could make payroll and so that folks could finance homes etc... That was all when the program was about 4 pages long.
In a moment of crisis and panic, I trusted government. By the time the congress got a hold of the 4 page document, it was a mess. Henry Paulson met with Harry Reid and Harry explained to Henry the needs and expectation of his constituency... in other words.. the congress had to add thousands of pages of pork until now we are bailing out folks that made the horrid mistake of purchasing a Suburban rather than a Prius.
President Bush said that Wall Street got drunk.. maybe so.. but it is the constant and consistent bingeing of the congress (left and right) that has me worried.
And, so many Americans don't understand money. They don't get that we've spent it. It's gone. The Chinese who have been saving while we've been spending are not as comfortable with our treasury bonds as they once were. When they stop buying, we will have no choice but to print money causing inflation that is not so easy to predict or control.
So when the government now wants to be in the health care business I think of these words of President Reagan... "The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
In a moment of crisis and panic, I trusted government. By the time the congress got a hold of the 4 page document, it was a mess. Henry Paulson met with Harry Reid and Harry explained to Henry the needs and expectation of his constituency... in other words.. the congress had to add thousands of pages of pork until now we are bailing out folks that made the horrid mistake of purchasing a Suburban rather than a Prius.
President Bush said that Wall Street got drunk.. maybe so.. but it is the constant and consistent bingeing of the congress (left and right) that has me worried.
And, so many Americans don't understand money. They don't get that we've spent it. It's gone. The Chinese who have been saving while we've been spending are not as comfortable with our treasury bonds as they once were. When they stop buying, we will have no choice but to print money causing inflation that is not so easy to predict or control.
So when the government now wants to be in the health care business I think of these words of President Reagan... "The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The troubles of Industry...
Federal regulation chokes industry while dishonesty starves it to death.
My husband, one of the smartest men I've ever met, said that last night.. Brilliant.
My husband, one of the smartest men I've ever met, said that last night.. Brilliant.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
An Important Issue in the Healthcare Debate...
One of the more insidious arguments from the left in favor of government involvement in health care is the infant mortality rate in the United States.
"The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. It is the number of deaths that occur in the first year of life for 1000 live births." This is the definition used by the World Health Organization. However, it like so many statistics is flawed because when life begins is often fudged.
"Count again. We report mortality rates based on World Health Organization guidelines for a live birth. A baby fully separated from the mother and showing any sign of life, even a single breath, counts as a newborn, regardless of other factors. Many developed countries with better infant mortality rates don't follow that to the letter. They purposely exclude deaths according to weight, degree of prematurity, or how long the baby lives.
Be serious—if you try to save sicker babies, you will have higher mortality. Some are catching on. In a recent study, researchers found that by correcting for weight, the mortality risk was the same in the United States as in Canada—and maybe even a bit better—despite our northern neighbor's welfare entitlements and universal healthcare system."
Please read the full article in U.S. News
Other countries’ lower infant-mortality rates in the World Health Organization’s tables are often used to shame the U.S.’s health-care system. But those numbers hide the greater effort the U.S. takes to save the life of preterm babies, those born 6 to 20 weeks before they are due.
Please read the full article in WSJ
and
THIS ONE
It is a non-statistic and a non-issue. Please educate yourself on this issue. Again, please read the articles referred to.
"The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. It is the number of deaths that occur in the first year of life for 1000 live births." This is the definition used by the World Health Organization. However, it like so many statistics is flawed because when life begins is often fudged.
"Count again. We report mortality rates based on World Health Organization guidelines for a live birth. A baby fully separated from the mother and showing any sign of life, even a single breath, counts as a newborn, regardless of other factors. Many developed countries with better infant mortality rates don't follow that to the letter. They purposely exclude deaths according to weight, degree of prematurity, or how long the baby lives.
Be serious—if you try to save sicker babies, you will have higher mortality. Some are catching on. In a recent study, researchers found that by correcting for weight, the mortality risk was the same in the United States as in Canada—and maybe even a bit better—despite our northern neighbor's welfare entitlements and universal healthcare system."
Please read the full article in U.S. News
Other countries’ lower infant-mortality rates in the World Health Organization’s tables are often used to shame the U.S.’s health-care system. But those numbers hide the greater effort the U.S. takes to save the life of preterm babies, those born 6 to 20 weeks before they are due.
Please read the full article in WSJ
and
THIS ONE
It is a non-statistic and a non-issue. Please educate yourself on this issue. Again, please read the articles referred to.
Tax & Spend...
During the past election, I used to see tickers everywhere. They were ticking the cost of the national debt as it rose. Bloggers had tickers counting up the mounting cost of the war in Iraq.
Well, Obama won the election. No one is watching ticking tickers now because when the dems took over they spent us into oblivion. They spent in several months the cost of the war in Iraq. And, they continue to spend.
During the election Obama promised that he would not raise taxes for folks who make less than $250,000 per year. A promise that he now is not and I think never intended to keep.
Cap and Trade will tax every person in the United States who owns a light bulb, who operates a vehicle or purchases anything made or grown in the United States. By 2035 it will cost every family of 4 nearly $7,000 extra per year in today's dollars. It will ding the rich. It will kill the middle class. It will devastate the poor.
But, that's not all. Heath Savings Accounts, which I think could be the answer to rising health care costs, will be taxed to the tune of 8.2 Billion dollars. Enough to kill one of the programs that really works. I know. I have an HSA.
I am against the Democratic platform in a big way. It seems like such a nice idea to tax money away from the rich and give it to the poor. But, instead it kills the producers, the employment creators, the generous supporters of every good cause are forced to give less.
It makes the government more powerful and the people less. It puts Americans on the dole and keeps them there for generations where they live in publicly paid for squalor and remain, uneducated and unable to live with the dignity that comes from being a contributor rather than simply a consumer, from helping others rather than mooching off society.
Drive by New York City sometime. The projects go on to the skyline, a great and monstrously hideous monument to Johnson's Great Society where we would simply give the poor enough and they would soon be able to care for themselves. Instead, people who are only people have preferred the little they get on the dole to what they must have the courage and industry to reach on their own. The great grandchildren of the Great Society live in conditions that I can only shudder at.
You want to help the poor. Throw out the spenders Democrat and Republican. Throw them out. Write them letters. Call them on the phone. Get them out. Get them out of the way of American industry, innovation and compassion. Help the producers produce more. Help them in producing more. Stop spending on social programs that have proven to keep people down rather than raise them up. Understand that dignity comes from putting your own bread on the table. Make that possible for more Americans rather than less.
Well, Obama won the election. No one is watching ticking tickers now because when the dems took over they spent us into oblivion. They spent in several months the cost of the war in Iraq. And, they continue to spend.
During the election Obama promised that he would not raise taxes for folks who make less than $250,000 per year. A promise that he now is not and I think never intended to keep.
Cap and Trade will tax every person in the United States who owns a light bulb, who operates a vehicle or purchases anything made or grown in the United States. By 2035 it will cost every family of 4 nearly $7,000 extra per year in today's dollars. It will ding the rich. It will kill the middle class. It will devastate the poor.
But, that's not all. Heath Savings Accounts, which I think could be the answer to rising health care costs, will be taxed to the tune of 8.2 Billion dollars. Enough to kill one of the programs that really works. I know. I have an HSA.
I am against the Democratic platform in a big way. It seems like such a nice idea to tax money away from the rich and give it to the poor. But, instead it kills the producers, the employment creators, the generous supporters of every good cause are forced to give less.
It makes the government more powerful and the people less. It puts Americans on the dole and keeps them there for generations where they live in publicly paid for squalor and remain, uneducated and unable to live with the dignity that comes from being a contributor rather than simply a consumer, from helping others rather than mooching off society.
Drive by New York City sometime. The projects go on to the skyline, a great and monstrously hideous monument to Johnson's Great Society where we would simply give the poor enough and they would soon be able to care for themselves. Instead, people who are only people have preferred the little they get on the dole to what they must have the courage and industry to reach on their own. The great grandchildren of the Great Society live in conditions that I can only shudder at.
You want to help the poor. Throw out the spenders Democrat and Republican. Throw them out. Write them letters. Call them on the phone. Get them out. Get them out of the way of American industry, innovation and compassion. Help the producers produce more. Help them in producing more. Stop spending on social programs that have proven to keep people down rather than raise them up. Understand that dignity comes from putting your own bread on the table. Make that possible for more Americans rather than less.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Important Articles about Climate Change...
"The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon."
Kimberley A. Strassel WSJ 6.26.2009
" it isn’t just greater wealth that leads to a better environment, but greater freedom, too.."
Bret Stephens WSJ 8.4.2009
Kimberley A. Strassel WSJ 6.26.2009
" it isn’t just greater wealth that leads to a better environment, but greater freedom, too.."
Bret Stephens WSJ 8.4.2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Brilliant Opinion Piece...
HERE...
"The reason is that too many of our intellectuals are themselves ensnared in a bad idea. That idea is multiculturalism -- the notion that no system or government is inherently better than any other, that the rules of morality are just a doctrine written by history's winners. Thus there are no enduring human truths, only "narratives" by which almost any beastliness can be explained away if committed by a people with a claim to having been victimized by a dominant culture.
This bad idea has all but silenced our nation at a moment when the world most needs our voice. Thousands of people in Iran are marching in the streets, protesting a sham election, heroically risking life and limb to try to tear some little breathing space in the smothering shroud of theocracy. Yet President Barack Obama, the leader of the most powerful free nation on earth, responds with mealy-mouthed strategic dithering. The man who in his recent speech in Cairo drew an absurd moral equivalence between Western errors and Islam's unstinting history of oppression has condemned the Iranian government's violent reaction to the demonstrations but remains canny and vague in his support of the protestors.
This is too shrewd by half. There comes a time in the affairs of men when bad ideas can be -- and therefore must be -- powerfully opposed by good ones.
Compare, if you can bear it, President Ronald Reagan's response to the 1982 crackdown on the Polish union Solidarity by the Soviet Union: "The struggle in the world today for the hearts and minds of mankind is based on one simple question: Is man born to be free, or slave? In country after country, people have long known the answer to that question. We are free by divine right." In less than a decade, in startlingly large measure because this one idea found so mighty a voice, the Soviet Union was gone."
By Andrew Klavan
"The reason is that too many of our intellectuals are themselves ensnared in a bad idea. That idea is multiculturalism -- the notion that no system or government is inherently better than any other, that the rules of morality are just a doctrine written by history's winners. Thus there are no enduring human truths, only "narratives" by which almost any beastliness can be explained away if committed by a people with a claim to having been victimized by a dominant culture.
This bad idea has all but silenced our nation at a moment when the world most needs our voice. Thousands of people in Iran are marching in the streets, protesting a sham election, heroically risking life and limb to try to tear some little breathing space in the smothering shroud of theocracy. Yet President Barack Obama, the leader of the most powerful free nation on earth, responds with mealy-mouthed strategic dithering. The man who in his recent speech in Cairo drew an absurd moral equivalence between Western errors and Islam's unstinting history of oppression has condemned the Iranian government's violent reaction to the demonstrations but remains canny and vague in his support of the protestors.
This is too shrewd by half. There comes a time in the affairs of men when bad ideas can be -- and therefore must be -- powerfully opposed by good ones.
Compare, if you can bear it, President Ronald Reagan's response to the 1982 crackdown on the Polish union Solidarity by the Soviet Union: "The struggle in the world today for the hearts and minds of mankind is based on one simple question: Is man born to be free, or slave? In country after country, people have long known the answer to that question. We are free by divine right." In less than a decade, in startlingly large measure because this one idea found so mighty a voice, the Soviet Union was gone."
By Andrew Klavan
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell...
Read this book. It's very enlightening...
"Most statistics on income inequality are very misleading in yet another way. These statistics almost invariably leave out money received as transfers from the government in various programs for low-income people which provide benefits of substantial value for which the recipients pay nothing."
According to Sowell the bottom 20 percent of income recipients receive more than two thirds of their income from such transfer payments... such as subsidized housing etc..
"In 2001, for example, cash and in-kind transfers together accounted for 77.8 percent of the economic resources of people in the bottom 20 percent. In other words, the alarming statistics on their incomes so often cited in the media and by politicians count only 22 percent of the actual economic resources at their disposal."
Why does government so encourage the increase in transfer payments to the bottom 20 percent? One reason I can see is that government workers rarely create any real value in the the economy and so many are paid in a portion of these transfer payments to the poor. If there is a new government program to provide say car seats to the poor by income, there must be scads of people employed to manage this program. Incomes must be checked and car seats must be purchased and distributed.
A second reason is that more and more the electorate will vote for the person or persons who can promise the most in programs and fixes that take from the "rich" and redistribute to the "poor". This has become the easy way to power for politicians in both major parties.
Anyway, this book is very enlightening.. I hope you'll get it and read on...
Visit Thomas Sowell's site here... and you really ought to read this blurb about him here..
"Most statistics on income inequality are very misleading in yet another way. These statistics almost invariably leave out money received as transfers from the government in various programs for low-income people which provide benefits of substantial value for which the recipients pay nothing."
According to Sowell the bottom 20 percent of income recipients receive more than two thirds of their income from such transfer payments... such as subsidized housing etc..
"In 2001, for example, cash and in-kind transfers together accounted for 77.8 percent of the economic resources of people in the bottom 20 percent. In other words, the alarming statistics on their incomes so often cited in the media and by politicians count only 22 percent of the actual economic resources at their disposal."
Why does government so encourage the increase in transfer payments to the bottom 20 percent? One reason I can see is that government workers rarely create any real value in the the economy and so many are paid in a portion of these transfer payments to the poor. If there is a new government program to provide say car seats to the poor by income, there must be scads of people employed to manage this program. Incomes must be checked and car seats must be purchased and distributed.
A second reason is that more and more the electorate will vote for the person or persons who can promise the most in programs and fixes that take from the "rich" and redistribute to the "poor". This has become the easy way to power for politicians in both major parties.
Anyway, this book is very enlightening.. I hope you'll get it and read on...
Visit Thomas Sowell's site here... and you really ought to read this blurb about him here..
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Management 101...
This is something my Dad wrote and sent me this morning. I thought it was funny, but then kind of too true to be really hilarious.
"Since they appear determined to dictate how all businesses should conduct themselves, and to run everything, perhaps the government should merge all mass transit systems in the country, and Amtrak, and Chrysler Corporation, into one single firm. If they did this, then the cars no one wants, the buses no one gets in, and the rails no one rides, could all be mismanaged by a bunch of megalomaniacs no one trusts."
"Since they appear determined to dictate how all businesses should conduct themselves, and to run everything, perhaps the government should merge all mass transit systems in the country, and Amtrak, and Chrysler Corporation, into one single firm. If they did this, then the cars no one wants, the buses no one gets in, and the rails no one rides, could all be mismanaged by a bunch of megalomaniacs no one trusts."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
No He Can't...
I like this article. This women can say some things that I can't. I like the line she uses here, "the politics of victimization." We can victimize ourselves and say the the government should provide this and that for us, although those of us who are young enough to remember the lines at the DMV don't really think the government is an organization that does almost anything really well and keeping it out of the business of most things is the way to preserve both liberty and efficiency. It's going to be a long 4 years I'm afraid. I hope I recognize my beloved country when it's over.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Liberty...
My brother sent me this and it was so wonderful.. I thought I would share with you...
In the critical year of 1944 a vast “I Am an American Day” ceremony was held in Central Park, New York City, on May 21. Many thousands of people were present, including a large number of new citizens. Learned Hand’s brief address was so eloquent and so moving that the text immediately became the object of wide demand. It was quickly printed and reprinted and also put into anthologies. The impact was so great that the speaker was invited to address a similar gathering the next year. (Judge Learned Hand [this was his real, albeit unfortunate, name] was a judge of the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, and together with Judge Posner on the 7th Circuit and a few others, is among the most influential jurists in American history, despite having never served on the United States Supreme Court.)
“We have gathered here to affirm a faith, a faith in a common purpose, a common conviction, a common devotion. Some of us have chosen America as the land of our adoption; the rest have come from those who did the same. For this reason we have some right to consider ourselves a picked group, a group of those who had the courage to break from the past and brave the dangers and the loneliness of a strange land. What was the object that nerved us, or those who went before us, to this choice? We sought liberty; freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be ourselves. This we then sought; this we now believe . . . . What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.
“What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest. And now in that spirit, that spirit of an America which has never been, and which may never be; nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americans create it; yet in the spirit of that America which lies hidden in some form in the aspirations of us all; in the spirit of that America for which our young men are at this moment fighting and dying; in that spirit of liberty and of America I ask you to rise and with me pledge our faith in the glorious destiny of our beloved country.”
In the critical year of 1944 a vast “I Am an American Day” ceremony was held in Central Park, New York City, on May 21. Many thousands of people were present, including a large number of new citizens. Learned Hand’s brief address was so eloquent and so moving that the text immediately became the object of wide demand. It was quickly printed and reprinted and also put into anthologies. The impact was so great that the speaker was invited to address a similar gathering the next year. (Judge Learned Hand [this was his real, albeit unfortunate, name] was a judge of the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, and together with Judge Posner on the 7th Circuit and a few others, is among the most influential jurists in American history, despite having never served on the United States Supreme Court.)
“We have gathered here to affirm a faith, a faith in a common purpose, a common conviction, a common devotion. Some of us have chosen America as the land of our adoption; the rest have come from those who did the same. For this reason we have some right to consider ourselves a picked group, a group of those who had the courage to break from the past and brave the dangers and the loneliness of a strange land. What was the object that nerved us, or those who went before us, to this choice? We sought liberty; freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be ourselves. This we then sought; this we now believe . . . . What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.
“What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest. And now in that spirit, that spirit of an America which has never been, and which may never be; nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americans create it; yet in the spirit of that America which lies hidden in some form in the aspirations of us all; in the spirit of that America for which our young men are at this moment fighting and dying; in that spirit of liberty and of America I ask you to rise and with me pledge our faith in the glorious destiny of our beloved country.”
Monday, March 2, 2009
Taxing the Rich???
"The composition of the tax hikes in the 2010 budget is frighteningly similar to the Revenue Act of 1932, the much-maligned Hoover tax hikes that put the “Great” in Great Depression by putting an enormous tax burden on millions of Americans, largely through excise taxes. These taxes, raised even further by FDR, were justified by the promise that the funds would be returned in the form of relief programs, which is to say that some portion of the tax revenue, after administrative costs in Washington, would go back to the states with strings attached, often to further political rather than economic objectives."
This is happening my fair folksies.
"Despite President Obama’s promise that “If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increase a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime,” his new budget raises 45 percent of its revenue from energy taxes that will be paid by everyone who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys anything that was grown, shipped, or manufactured."
See the rest of the article Obama’s Scary Hoover-Style Tax Hikes
By Phil Kerpen Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity HERE...
This is happening my fair folksies.
"Despite President Obama’s promise that “If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increase a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime,” his new budget raises 45 percent of its revenue from energy taxes that will be paid by everyone who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys anything that was grown, shipped, or manufactured."
See the rest of the article Obama’s Scary Hoover-Style Tax Hikes
By Phil Kerpen Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity HERE...
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tony Snow...
I was trying to find a quote... a sign off really that came from one of Tony Snow's broadcasts during the Christmas season of 2001. He gave a sweet little message to his daughter. I couldn't find it, but ran across this quote...
“Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out. But despite this — because of it — God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.”
How the conservative movement needs a thoughtful, graceful man or woman with the intelligence and kindness of Tony Snow! Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity are almost always right except in their delivery because they lack grace and forget that you catch more flies with honey. Tony Snow never forgot to be graceful, but he was so smart and so prepared that he was hard to argue with. Until the Republicans come up with a group of folks with Snow's many qualities including his integrity... they won't regain power.
“Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out. But despite this — because of it — God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.”
How the conservative movement needs a thoughtful, graceful man or woman with the intelligence and kindness of Tony Snow! Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity are almost always right except in their delivery because they lack grace and forget that you catch more flies with honey. Tony Snow never forgot to be graceful, but he was so smart and so prepared that he was hard to argue with. Until the Republicans come up with a group of folks with Snow's many qualities including his integrity... they won't regain power.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Our Damaged Relationship w/ the World???
President Obama seems to think that he needs to "restore" America's reputation in the world. This statement is some of the most supreme arrogance of the Democratic party. America is and always has been the most generous and self sacrificing of nations. Our people, including our military have served to bring humanitarian relief all over the world. Yes, there are crowds of extremists who protest American policies all over the world. But for every protestor, there are thousands at home who have benefited from American generosity, humanitarian aid or are atleast educated enough to see what American has really stood for in the world... This down on ourselves mentality is a false and damaging creation of liberals in Hollywood and the media who have not bothered with their history...
Charles Krauthammer has the real story here...
This is an excerpt.. but read the whole article..
WASHINGTON -- Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew. Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims with "to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," his formulation was needlessly defensive and apologetic. Is it "new" to acknowledge Muslim interests and show respect to the Muslim world? Obama doesn't just think so, he said so again to millions in his al-Arabiya interview, insisting on the need to "restore" the "same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."
Astonishing. In these most recent 20 years -- the alleged winter of our disrespect of the Islamic world -- America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for them. It engaged in five military campaigns, every one of which involved -- and resulted in -- the liberation of a Muslim people: Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Charles Krauthammer has the real story here...
This is an excerpt.. but read the whole article..
WASHINGTON -- Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew. Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims with "to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," his formulation was needlessly defensive and apologetic. Is it "new" to acknowledge Muslim interests and show respect to the Muslim world? Obama doesn't just think so, he said so again to millions in his al-Arabiya interview, insisting on the need to "restore" the "same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."
Astonishing. In these most recent 20 years -- the alleged winter of our disrespect of the Islamic world -- America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for them. It engaged in five military campaigns, every one of which involved -- and resulted in -- the liberation of a Muslim people: Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thank You Mr. President...
I will forever be grateful for your wisdom, courage and compassion. Best Wishes to you and to Laura in all the days to come.
Text of Bush's farewell address Thursday
By The Associated Press – Jan 15, 2009
Text of President George W. Bush's farewell address Thursday, as transcribed by the White House:
___
Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence — a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey that we have traveled together, and the future of our nation.
Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.
Tonight I am filled with gratitude — to Vice President Cheney and members of my administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.
This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house — September the 11th, 2001. That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock. I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon, and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son's police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge.
As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.
Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. The military, the intelligence community and the FBI have been transformed. Our nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists' movements, freeze their finances and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al-Qaida and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.
There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe — law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.
Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. And America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your commander in chief.
The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God, and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.
This is the belief that gave birth to our nation. And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism. So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights and human dignity. We're standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to dying patients — to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations.
For eight years, we've also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes. The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programs. Vulnerable human life is better protected. Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. America's air and water and lands are measurably cleaner. And the federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system.
Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.
The decades ahead will bring more hard choices for our country, and there are some guiding principles that should shape our course.
While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient, and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard.
At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose. In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.
As we address these challenges — and others we cannot foresee tonight — America must maintain our moral clarity. I've often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense — and to advance the cause of peace.
President Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." As I leave the house he occupied two centuries ago, I share that optimism. America is a young country, full of vitality, constantly growing and renewing itself. And even in the toughest times, we lift our eyes to the broad horizon ahead.
I have confidence in the promise of America because I know the character of our people. This is a nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom. This is a nation where citizens show calm in times of danger and compassion in the face of suffering. We see examples of America's character all around us. And Laura and I have invited some of them to join us in the White House this evening.
We see America's character in Dr. Tony Rehcasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We've seen it in Staff Sgt. Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines.
We see America's character in Bill Krissoff — a surgeon from California. His son, Nathan — a Marine — gave his life in Iraq. When I met Dr. Krissoff and his family, he delivered some surprising news: He told me he wanted to join the Navy Medical Corps in honor of his son. This good man was 60 years old — 18 years above the age limit. But his petition for a waiver was granted, and for the past year he has trained in battlefield medicine. Lieutenant Commander Krissoff could not be here tonight, because he will soon deploy to Iraq, where he will help save America's wounded warriors — and uphold the legacy of his fallen son.
In citizens like these, we see the best of our country — resilient and hopeful, caring and strong. These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America. We have faced danger and trial, and there's more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter, and never fail.
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your president. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country, and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other — citizen of the United States of America.
And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next president. And may God bless you and our wonderful country. Thank you.
Text of Bush's farewell address Thursday
By The Associated Press – Jan 15, 2009
Text of President George W. Bush's farewell address Thursday, as transcribed by the White House:
___
Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence — a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey that we have traveled together, and the future of our nation.
Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.
Tonight I am filled with gratitude — to Vice President Cheney and members of my administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.
This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house — September the 11th, 2001. That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock. I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon, and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son's police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge.
As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.
Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. The military, the intelligence community and the FBI have been transformed. Our nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists' movements, freeze their finances and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al-Qaida and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.
There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe — law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.
Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. And America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your commander in chief.
The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God, and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.
This is the belief that gave birth to our nation. And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism. So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights and human dignity. We're standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to dying patients — to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations.
For eight years, we've also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes. The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programs. Vulnerable human life is better protected. Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. America's air and water and lands are measurably cleaner. And the federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system.
Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.
The decades ahead will bring more hard choices for our country, and there are some guiding principles that should shape our course.
While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient, and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard.
At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose. In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.
As we address these challenges — and others we cannot foresee tonight — America must maintain our moral clarity. I've often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense — and to advance the cause of peace.
President Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." As I leave the house he occupied two centuries ago, I share that optimism. America is a young country, full of vitality, constantly growing and renewing itself. And even in the toughest times, we lift our eyes to the broad horizon ahead.
I have confidence in the promise of America because I know the character of our people. This is a nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom. This is a nation where citizens show calm in times of danger and compassion in the face of suffering. We see examples of America's character all around us. And Laura and I have invited some of them to join us in the White House this evening.
We see America's character in Dr. Tony Rehcasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We've seen it in Staff Sgt. Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines.
We see America's character in Bill Krissoff — a surgeon from California. His son, Nathan — a Marine — gave his life in Iraq. When I met Dr. Krissoff and his family, he delivered some surprising news: He told me he wanted to join the Navy Medical Corps in honor of his son. This good man was 60 years old — 18 years above the age limit. But his petition for a waiver was granted, and for the past year he has trained in battlefield medicine. Lieutenant Commander Krissoff could not be here tonight, because he will soon deploy to Iraq, where he will help save America's wounded warriors — and uphold the legacy of his fallen son.
In citizens like these, we see the best of our country — resilient and hopeful, caring and strong. These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America. We have faced danger and trial, and there's more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter, and never fail.
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your president. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country, and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other — citizen of the United States of America.
And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next president. And may God bless you and our wonderful country. Thank you.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Our New President...
THIS ARTICLE by Juan Williams shares a few of my views about the election of our new president. I really related to his comment about SNL.
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