I Understand Elections Have Consequences...

I understand that the President has the right to bypass Senate confirmation hearings by making recess appointments (they all do it), but is the appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to be the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS is the agency that runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs) what we all signed up for? Those of you who were pushing for the passage of Obamacare, is this what you wanted? The President promised 1) if you like your health care, you can keep it and 2) if you like your primary care provider, you can keep him or her. Dr. Berwick has expressed his admiration for the British Health Care system. In fact he has said he is "romantic about the National Health Service, I love it." For more in depth information of Dr. Berwick's position on rationing health care, this post from The Morning Bell, "Rationer-In-Chief" of The Heritage Foundation cites several comments by Dr. Berwick that should have each and every one of us extremely concerned.

This man is now in charge of cutting $500 Billion Dollars from Medicare and Medicaid! Do you remember how vilified Sarah Palin was when she spoke about the heath care reform bill having "death panels" in it? I am afraid she was quite correct in her analysis of the bill. But the press discounted her comments and ridiculed her for making such an outrageous statement. That would never, could never, happen in America. Right?

More "light" is being shone on Dr. Berwick's beliefs about rationing of health care and redistribution of wealth as it pertains to health care. From Human Events, Michelle Oddis has outlined the Top Ten Things Obama Doesn't Want You To Know About Donald Berwick.

This man is dangerous. There is nothing we can do to oppose his appointment.  It is a done deal. Our only hope of changing the direction of health care in this country as we know it, and with which the majority of Americans are happy, is to work tirelessly for the complete repeal of Obamacare. At the very least, we must get conservative majorities in the House and Senate this year, so that the programs mandated by the bill will never be funded.

True Law Is Nature's Law

"True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions...It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely." Marcus Tullius Cicero

Health Alert: "Green" Shopping Bags Can Make You Sick

In an article in the U. K. Telegraph, if you are using those "green" shopping bags for your groceries, be careful. They can harbor such nasty food poison bugs like e. coli and salmonella.  You have to wash them and disinfect them to get rid of any potentially life threatening bacteria.

Tea Party Anger Dissected

Yes, the Tea Partiers are angry. We have every right to be. You see, we grew up in a country where we were told that each and every one of us was free to pursue our personal interpretation of happiness. We are moral people. We played by the rules. But the rules have changed, and that has left us feeling used and demoralized. We are incensed by the very notion that, having lived our lives within the moral and social guidelines that we trusted would not fail us, we find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of uncertainty for our future and the future of our beloved country.

We are the ones who studied hard, worked hard, and were able to enjoy our lives and had the ability to do whatever we desired, whether it was to travel, buy the newest gadget or the nicest automobile, give to our children, save for our retirement, as a result of that effort. That is what America is all about, what capitalism is all about.

We bought houses with substantial down payments (either from saving or “trading up”) and fully documented mortgages where we knew we could afford the payments. We did not take the easy way out. We dutifully saved money, taking advantage of IRAs and 401Ks, wanting to secure a comfortable retirement.

There were rumblings of a “housing bubble”, and bad mortgages, but our illustrious leaders assured us that everything was stable, everything was safe...until it wasn’t.

Many of us held good positions with good companies, but this recession has left us unemployed or underemployed. And we are looking around, wondering what happened. Our government has borrowed from our future and our children’s future to bail out banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies, automobile companies, all considered too big to fail. Our neighbors who took advantage of cheap and easy mortgage financing to buy a bigger house, knowing full well that they could never afford the payment, have been portrayed as the “victims” in this financial disaster. That was not supposed to happen. We were under the impression, apparently a false impression, that if a company or individual did not “live within its’ means” and refused to take corrective action, they would file bankruptcy and/or go out of business, much like what would surely happen to us if we did the same.

The government caused this collapse by deregulating mortgage finance requirements and convincing just about everyone that they deserved a home, that it was their right to own a home. To make the situation worse, banks and lenders that were hesitant to make these risky mortgages were threatened with charges of discrimination if they did not comply. Since these mortgages were FNMA and FHLMC compliant they were able to originate and sell them. It became easy money, and when the government sanctioned, even forced, their will on these businesses, they got greedy. I do not blame them totally. This was a combined effort of the federal government, banks and lenders, and borrowers. They are all culpable.

But somehow, it is we the Tea Partiers who are left holding an empty bag. You know, we who played by the rules, who did what was right, who did not “game” the system.

That is why we are angry!