Quote

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel ." Benjamin Netanyahu
First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Introduction

"If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.... But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his inequity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand." Ezekiel 33:2b-6 I have not been appointed, but I feel the weight of the watchman, because I see the sword coming. How can I not warn the people?

Yuri Bezmenov
Uploaded by onmyway02.

Friday, July 27, 2012

You Didn't Build That

First of all, I heard the whole quote, not just the two sentences that keep getting repeated.  There was no taking the President out of context.  He meant that any business owner did not build his business alone, without help from the government.  I'm immediately reminded of the movie Dune, you know where the elite fighting men are raised on a planet that is EXTREMELY harsh in order to make sure the men are tough?  That's the only help business men get these days...if you can make it through the red tape of Washington, you can survive anything.

Second of all, I am not a small business owner.  I tried Mary Kay, but I just don't do well as my own boss.  I need someone helping me to focus.  I did real well in the military, with a job description, couldn't get fired unless I really screwed up, and my own duties to attend to.

That said, I think it's ridiculous that the President of the United States would even SUGGEST that those men and women didn't build their business.  Do I feel, as a tax payer who paid for the roads, etc., that I should get a chunk of their wealth?  Absolutely not.  Not only did I pay taxes that went to roads and education and everything else the President said, BUT SO DID THOSE BUSINESSMEN AND WOMEN!  No one seems to be mentioning that.  These people not only paid on the houses they owned, with their property taxes, they had to pay property taxes on their businesses.  They are the ones who went to the bank and got the loan.  They are the ones that if their business failed would be put in bankruptcy court.  Not me.  Not the President.  If we all had an equal say in the matter, why don't business just fold in difficult times and spread that failure out over the entire city?  They could say, I didn't fail on my own, there was no one to help me, so they are all responsible, too.

Is that possibly the motivation behind this speech?  Next Obama might be saying, you're about to fail, here, let the government give you a hand up.  Oh, wait, he already did that with the stimulus bills.  He said, here's some free money from the tax payers to prop you up until you're on your feet again.  But wasn't he a bit conditional about those loans?  Like installing his own CEO of General Motors?  Like giving stimulus money to "green" companies who were then not really accountable to how they spent it?

Actually, I think his motivation is a bit darker than even that.  I've read his dad's paper on African Socialism.  He didn't believe in ownership of anything by the individual.  He basically said you can't own anything in society without someone else benefiting from it.  He wanted all business to be run by the government, and all land to be owned by the "collective."

Let's look at a world like that.  Actually we have one in history already, and it's the History of the United States.  The first colony here, Jamestown, was established as a community owned colony.  There were two types of people who came to that colony, the very rich "gentlemen" who didn't want to work because they had never worked in their lives, and the average Joe who had been a laborer all his life.  They split everyone into 3 categories: 1) those who raised crops to be put in the communal coffers, 2) those who defended the colony from natives and 3) those who went in search of gold.  Guess which one wasn't put in the general coffers? Yep the gold.  So instead of farming, the gentlemen slipped off in search of gold.  Instead of defending the colony, men slipped off to look for gold.  They ran out of food.

Then a captain came with reinforcements (sorry, don't have my book handy and can't remember his name).  He took one look at things and saw the problem right away.  He told everyone they had to grow their own food and had to give just a small portion (a tithe if you will) into the coffers for the general use of everyone.  If you didn't grow your own, you didn't pull from the stores when you were hungry.  He created ownership.  Now people actually owned their little plot of ground.  Things started turning around. 

I even read a story of one man who "smuggled" in tobacco seeds in order to grow his own tobacco.  England had made it illegal to possess tobacco seeds.  They knew it was fairly easy to grow, and they wanted a monopoly.  Sounds a bit familiar to me.  This guy started growing a small patch of tobacco on his plot of land.  Soon, others were asking if they could grow some.  Is this a true story?  I don't know for sure as it wasn't in the history book I have.  Is it plausible?  Most definitely.  If you don't believe that our government would squelch something because you can't patent it, look up B17.  And don't bother leaving me a comment on how you looked it up on Snopes and it wasn't true.  Snopes is the most liberal check point there is and they outright lie to make government look good.

So, to give a modern day example of ownership vs community, take a look at any government housing project....or the 'jects.  The poor (of all colors) are given housing for a much reduced rate.  They are usually also on food stamps, welfare and all kinds of other government hand outs.  Do they care about their house?  No, not usually.  Take a family who finally made it to the middle class with hard work and are finally buying their first house.  They take good care of that house.

I can give a personal example.  When I was a teenager I had that "give me" mentality.  We lived out in the country, a 15 minute drive from town.  I thought everything should be given to me.  (Are all liberals just teenagers that didn't grow up?)  I asked my dad for a car, all my friends' dads had bought them cars.  He said get a job and get one.  I couldn't get a job without a car, I argued.  So he bought me a piece of crap Gremlin with 3 inch rear wheel wells from all the bondo repair.  It was a V-8, though, and had some power.  That thing could back out of anywhere.  I got a part time job while I was in college, just enough to pay for gas, not to save for a better car.  I finally joined the Navy.  When I came home between boot camp and A-school, I sold that Gremlin for $50 and it was running on 7 cylinders with 2 flat tires.  I then had my dad co-sign a loan on a brand new Chevette.  Was it a "bad-a$$" car?  No.  It was what the bank would go a loan on.  But it had 6 miles on the odometer when I took it for a test drive.  I washed that car every weekend.

That's the difference between ownership and having to invest YOUR money in something as opposed to "paying" for the side benefits with your tax dollars.  No one has invested in those businesses what the people who started them have.  No one has sweated, given up things now to have better things down the road but those business men.

Mr. President, just because you had an education given to you that you didn't work for, just because you got free money as a community organizer, just because you abused the privileges we all start out with doesn't mean everyone did.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Political Side of Medicine

Ah, I remember like it was yesterday. Our fearless leader was trying to sell us on the "Affordable Health Care Bill." They wouldn't actually TELL us what was in the bill. Remember Pelosi's you have to pass it to find out what's in it? But we were assured that we would get to keep our doctors if we liked them, our premiums would not go up, our care would not be determined by some bureaucrat sitting in an office and a lot of people would get insurance that couldn't afford it before. We were also told that even thinking there would be death panels was ludicrous, it would never happen in this land of lollipops and candy canes.

And then reality hit. I just got an email yesterday that my insurance premiums are going up 17%. Let's do the math here. My income didn't go up 17%. My husband makes $15 an hour. In order to get a 17% raise, he would have to start earning $2.55 more, per hour. He's never gotten a raise that big. He had to threaten to leave to get $1. And I think that's the only raise he's gotten in 7 years. For his military retirement to go up 17%, he'd have to get $241.23 more a month.

When I write my budget, I take everything that comes into the household and then what I need to pay for. I divide some by a month, because my husband's retirement is a monthly income. That would be the mortgage and truck/car payments. Then I use an average 40 hour week for the estimate of his work income. Yes, he gets a retirement check but you don't actually think we can retire on it, do you? It means I don't have to go out and get an $8 an hour job, and then pay for child care for an adult handicapped person. I can't just add another few bucks in without lowering something else. What am I going to lower? Food? Gasoline? Am I going to tell the utility company, "I'm sorry, but I'm not paying the full amount you charged me because I have to have healthcare?"

Then, as if that weren't enough, I called to find out when my next appointment was with my oncologist. I just got a new doctor. We decided that instead of the shot for suppressing my calcium (I have cancer on my spine, rib and next to my breastbone), he would start me on an infusion that would strengthen my bones. But when I stopped to make the appointment, the appointment lady was on lunch break. Usually they just make it and then call me. It's tomorrow, and they hadn't called yet, so I called them. She said I'm getting 2 shots. I explained that they changed one shot to an infusion that was supposed to take about an hour. She said they changed it back. I asked why and she said it "was the channel they chose to use." I said, "Oh, so my insurance company wouldn't approve it?" She just said that she'd let someone else tell me that. So, my insurance company has written me off and decided I'm not worth the cost of the better drug, I get the cheaper one. But there are no death panels. And our doctors will be able to treat us as they see fit.

It's a good thing I think the Big Pharma is suppressing a cure for cancer. I'll continue my B17. I raised the dose. I now take a 100mg tablet at night and another one in the morning. I started getting pain on my breast bone about 3PM. I figure this ought to stop it.

I hope I have a few readers, because I must reiterate: I am on government health care. This is what you all have to look forward to. I have to wonder what standards they'll use to determine who gets what care? Is the money that they would have spent on me (as a veteran of only 4 years, and a dependent) going to someone injured in the war? Does the fact that I'm now nearing 50, and no longer in the work force play a part in it? What standard would they use on you? Is your newborn too young, with not enough money invested in him/her from the education department, etc., thus not eligible for that life saving procedure they need? Is your mom, who just turned 70 and has had a stroke, determined to be of no value to society anymore, so they're just going to give her a pain pill and let her slip away in comfort? When this happens to you, remember my story.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

You're Doctor Will Be in Charge of Your Healthcare and Your Premiums Won't Go Up

Well, we heard our illustrious leader tell us that our premiums won't go up and we'll get to keep our doctor.  Also we were assured that our doctor would be in charge of our health care, not some bureaucrat in an office somewhere....Well, can I prove him wrong or what?

We first got an email from our Insurance company (Tricare Prime) and my insurance premium is getting ready to go up 17%.  It may not seem like much to some people, but my husband has only gotten a dollar raise in 7 years.  The money goes less and less distance every year.  I've seen milk double in price over the last couple years. 

Then, due to my husband's injury, they have sent him to the VA Hospital.  What a joke that place is.  It takes all day (can you say Parkland Hospital...indigent?)  Even when you have an appointment it doesn't mean anything.  He had an appointment for labs at 6 AM, then his primary at 8 AM.  He was sitting out in front of the office, but didn't actually get in until 8:40 or so.  She hurries in and says she only has 17 minutes to do a complete physical.  First of all, he was there, where were you?  And don't drive us through like cattle because some other case took longer than it should.  We had gotten a bill for an earlier visit of $15, when our co-pay was only $12.  Turns out any Vet who walks in has to pay $15 for a primary visit, and then $50 for any other clinic they send them to.  He's been to either 2 or 3 now, depending on if they count the CT scan.  So, not only does he miss a whole day (he didn't get back until a half hour before work was over), but he has to pay $65.

Then, I get a call from my oncologist.  I just got a new doctor (my choice because my doctor was only at my town facility 2 days a month, so I switched to one of his associates).  I was getting an infusion for my bones (a bit confused on whether it's a calcium blocker or builder) and my old doctor switched to a shot because I was experiencing bone pain.  My new doctor decided on a different infusion that was longer. I stopped to make an appointment, but the appointment lady wasn't there.  Today I called back to find out what time she put me down for.  She said I'm getting 2 shots (one I always got and the shot the first doctor changed me to).  I asked why they changed me again, and she said something to the effect that that's the channel they chose to take.  I said so in other words, my insurance company wouldn't pay for the infusion?  She said she'd let someone else tell me that, so yes.

So, our premiums are going up and now my doctor can't determine what treatment I can take, he has to prescribe the cheaper one.  That's great for a stage IV cancer patient nearing 50.  Wonder what they'll do for me if I live to be 70?

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

How do we get Patriots instead of Politicians?

I've been wondering that for a while.  How do we get Patriots into office instead of career politicians?

You have to take the situation as it was when our country was founded, as opposed to how it is now to find that answer.  When this country was founded being fortunate enough to get elected to office was a voluntary thing.  They got reimbursed a per diem for when they met, to cover food and lodging.  Sometimes they didn't take it, providing for their own lodging and meals.  I found this information on line...

1789-1815 -- $6.00 per diem
1815-1817 -- $1,500 per annum
1817-1855 -- $8.00 per diem
1855-1865 -- $3,000 per annum
1865-1871 -- $5,000 per annum
1871-1873 -- $7,500 per annum
1873-1907 -- $5,000 per annum
1907-1925 -- $7,500 per annum
1925-1932 -- $10,000 per annum
1932-1933 -- $9,000 per annum
1933-1935 -- $8,500 per annum
1935-1947 -- $10,000 per annum
1947-1955 -- $12,500 per annum
1955-1965 -- $22,500 per annum
1965-1969 -- $30,000 per annum
1969-1975 -- $42,500 per annum
1975-1977 -- $44,600 per annum
1977-1978 -- $57,500 per annum
1979-1983 -- $60,662.50 per annum
1983 -- $69,800 per annum
1984 -- $72,600 per annum
1985-1986 -- $75,100 per annum
1987 (1/1-2/3) -- $77,400 per annum
1987 (2/4) -- $89,500 per annum
1990 (2/1) -- $98,400 per annum
1991 -- $101,900 per annum
1991 (8/15) -- $125,100 per annum
1992 -- $129,500 per annum
1993 -- $133,600 per annum
1994 -- $133,600 per annum
1995 -- $133,600 per annum
1996 -- $133,600 per annum
1997 -- $133,600 per annum
1998 -- $136,700 per annum
1999 -- $136,700 per annum
2000 -- $141,300 per annum
2001 -- $145,100 per annum
2002 -- $150,000 per annum
2003 -- $154,700 per annum
2004 -- $158,100 per annum
2005 -- $162,100 per annum
2006 -- $165,200 per annum

I tried to find out how much a dollar was really worth during those times, and this is what I came up with....If you bought a dollar's worth of goods in 1800, today it would take $12.45 to buy the exact same thing.  So, when a Senator got paid a per diem (that's reimbursement for one day) of $8, it was like getting $99.60 today.  That per diem covered all their expenses for the day, lodging, food, transportation, everything.  So, let's go back to that.  Let's give them $500 for a 5 day work week. If they don't meet, they don't get paid.  And I don't mean just walk in and state present and go home.  If you don't do a day's worth of work for the People of the United States, you don't get paid.  That will have to pay your staff, your lodging, your food that you eat, any transportation bill incured, everything.  Even if they worked 52 weeks, 5 days a week, it would only come up to $26,000 a year.  I say they should be like Texas.  They meet every other year for 140 days.  That's even better.  They'd get paid $13,944 every other year.

I would even be willing to be generous and set it up like the military.  You get elected for the first time, you get what an O-1 with less than 2 years gets....about $35,000 a year.  If you're in the House and you get re-elected (that assumes the people liked the job you did), you can get what an O-2 gets with 4 years experience, about $45,000 a year.  and on up.  I found the table here:  http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers.html 

If you're a Senator, elected for 6 years, your second term would be about $54,000 a year.  That's where it would be beneficial (though just a bit) to be a Senator instead of just a Representative.  I think their pension should also be prorated.  If the people decide you did a terrible job, didn't live up to your promises, and vote you out, you should not be set up for life with a cushy pension.  I put 4 years in and I don't get a pension.  I just looked it up, and found this link.  Basically, if you put in 20 years, you get 75% of what your base pay was...and we can take the highest.  That means as a Representative, about $61,000 a year.  The Senator would actually get less, but again I could be generous and make it about the same.  In retired military, if you put in 30 years, you get 80% of your base pay.  If you manage to put in 42 years or more, you get 105% of base pay. 

Our founding fathers had real jobs.  They just took a short vacation and had someone else tend their affairs so they could meet and do any business that needed doing for our country.  Our military gets a salary, but they're on duty 24/7/365.  They do get one month paid vacation, but it's only that they get their base pay while they're on vacation.  They don't get travel expenses.  I say if you're in government, and your family goes with you on a "business" trip, you don't get reimbursed.  You're not a doctor who worked for the money you have so that you can spend a "working vacation" in Cankun or Benos Aires or Hawaii.  You want to take a business trip you'd better get the business done and come home.  I'm tired of paying for vacations for you that I can't afford to take, Mr. Senator.  And that goes for the President and First Lady, too.  I got friends in Hawaii I'd love to see again, but I can't afford it.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Why Am I not as Excited about the 4th as I used to be?

I had a rather somber day yesterday.  I used to get so excited as a kid on the 4th.  Of course, then I lived in the country and could set off fireworks, and now I live in a city where it's banned, except for sparklers and the little snakes.  It's just not exciting anymore.

I've always pretty much been patriotic, even before I joined the Navy.  I've always been proud of my country.  I've always assumed that anyone who lived in the United States of America, would feel blessed and honored to do so.  If they didn't, I wondered why they didn't just move.

I see all the people complaining about what I grew up thinking were great virtues of this nation, and it makes me sad.  Yes, we have freedom of speech, so you can say and feel anything you want to.  But why would a nation let a small minority of people control the majority?  Why do atheists get to tell us we CAN'T believe in God, or tell us we have to keep it a private thing?  There are statistically about 10% atheists, how do they get off telling us what to do?  Why is it we're labeled bigots when they hate everything not atheist?  Our tolerance will be our downfall.

Why is it that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered) community can tell us we have to accept their lifestyle as normal, when it's less than 10% of our population?  Why is it they get to determine that my child loses his innocence in the 5th grade when they start teaching how to fist?  I'm 48 now, and I didn't see two men kiss until I was in the middle of high school.  And that was only because my high school was on the campus of a very liberal college.  I also had the experience of meeting an actual African-American (meaning from Africa) who was the most polite black man I had ever met.

Why is it that there are people who actually hate our founding documents, and yet will use them to further their own agenda?  Yes, I firmly believe that you have the right to say anything you want to, but so do I.  It doesn't make your point of view any more valuable than mine.  I don't believe the government knows better than me how to raise my child.  If I'm not breaking his bones or beating him, or starving him, you have no right to be in my business.  You certainly don't have the right to teach him things I don't feel he's ready for.  The public school system has an obligation to teach him reading, writing and arithmetic.  I'll teach him my morals, thank you very much. 

I believe the government has absolutely no say in what I believe spiritually.  I can be Hindu, Muslim, Native American Spirituality, Christian or Atheist.  Our country was founded on Christian-Judeo principles.  If you don't want to participate in a prayer at a sporting event, graduation, or whatever, then don't, but don't make the rest of us only have a "moment of silence," because you're offended.  If a Muslim wanted to stand up and pray to Allah, I would bow my head in respect of his beliefs.  As long as he doesn't want to break my bones or pick my pocket, he's entitled to believe what he wants to.

I started watching the show about America yesterday.  I figured it would be really slanted left, but it wasn't.  It got me to thinking.  I sort of feel like they must have felt back in 1776.  When they got together in the first Continental Congress, it wasn't to declare independence.  They wanted to address their grievances.  They wanted to remain British citizens.

The hardest thing I had to fight when Barack Obama started running for President was that my Commander in Chief hated America.  I thought, how could anyone run for the office of President of the United States, and not be a patriot?  How could anyone run for the highest office in a nation known for capitalism, and hate capitalism?  I also had to fight the realization that the Democrat Party of my father had run to the left so far that they no longer liked America.  We, as Patriotic Americans, are once again fighting a tyrannical government.  Only this time it is our own.

The problem is that as Americans we all used to have a common bond.  Yes, we are a country made of immigrants, but they all came together to form something unique and different.  We are the UNITED States of America.  When the 13 colonies finally accepted that the British only wanted them to obey, and weren't going to allow any freedoms, they decided that an attack on one colony was an attack on them all.  We as Americans need to realize that again.  An attack on Catholics is an attack on us all.  An attack on white men who are perceived as being too rich, is an attack on us all.  An attack on women who have the audacity to be conservative, is an attack on us all.

Our President missed growing up with these ideals.  He spent his formative years in either a foreign country (Indonesia) or a state that half wants it's independence.  I know, I spent 4 years in Hawaii.  They HATE the military, they HATE America, or most of them.  Of all the states I've lived in, it's the MOST liberal.  I've lived in Missouri, Florida, California (though only for 5 months), Connecticut, Rhode Island, Illinois, Hawaii and Texas, and the foreign country of Bermuda.  Bermuda doesn't hate Americans as much as Hawaii does.  You do realize that he's trying to transform our government into a guided democracy, just like Indonesia, don't you?  Look up guided democracy sometime when you have a little extra time on your hands.  It basically means that it doesn't matter who is in office, nothing ever changes.  Ever wonder why all the good candidates dropped out of the Republican primaries?  I have nothing against Mitt Romney.  He's a perfectly good moderate, and it seems to me that he's patriotic, so I'll vote for him.  At least he loves America.  But, he's a moderate.  They drove out all the conservatives.  I wanted Herman Cain.  I originally thought that it was the Romney campaign that drove out Cain, so they could claim to be the only businessman on the ticket.  But now I think it was the Obama camp, so they could use health care against him.

I guess the biggest reason yesterday made me so sad is because I finally came to the realization that we are about to fight our own government for freedom.  As patriotic Americans, the first battle ground is the ballot box.  I some how get the feeling it will go beyond that.  And that saddens me so much.  But, I am prepared to defend my family and mine.