Living Blossoms

I have been rather silent about politics here on LJ ever since the election. That's because there's just way too much I could talk about, and I know y'all don't want to be inundated with my political rantings. That said, there is a lot of misinformation about government-run health care and also about what conservatives actually think about health care reform. One person I know actually said that conservatives want to let the poor die and the rich get richer. So, in this post, I'm going to try to clear some things up.

Myth #1: Conservatives don't care about poor people. In fact, a lot of conservatives are or have been poor at one time. "What?" you gasp. "There are poor conservatives? Nuh-uh! I know that's not true! Everyone knows the GOP is made up rich white guys." Well, I'm a conservative and I am neither rich nor a guy, and I have never been either of those things. I am white, but I know you won't hold my ethnicity against me because that would be racist. In fact I know quite a few people who are now considered middle class but were politically conservative even when they could barely afford to pay the mortgage and buy food to eat at home (or they got WIC or food stamps from their state). Why? Because they paid their mortgage and ate food at home instead of expecting other people to do it for them. They used the little money they had to buy necessities instead of luxuries. If you are truly poor, you buy what you NEED, not what you WANT. And those I know realized this and thus didn't rely on taxpayers from other states to pay for their desires since they were already meeting their own needs. When Isaac and I worked for WOL, our salaries combined put us just above FL's poverty line for two people, and yet we still were able to afford health insurance. Obama and the media would have you believe that's impossible, but it's not. We didn't have cable TV, internet, cell phones, eat out, go to the movies, or drive new cars. We lived in a tiny apartment. But you know what? All our needs were met, we were happy, and not only could we afford to buy our own health insurance, but we also saved up a pretty decent down payment for when we bought our house. Meanwhile, the people who used to live next to Aaron & Angela got foreclosed on because they did not pay their mortgage. Never mind that they have two practically brand new, expensive pickup trucks and smoke several packs a day combined. If they sold those pickups and got used, older cars, the money saved from their car payments would likely be enough for their mortgage, and if they stopped smoking they could absolutely afford health insurance. What about those who truly cannot afford their healthcare or food? That is where charities and the state (NOT the federal government) come in. A state-run healthcare program would be far more efficient and accurate than one run by DC. If you really want to help the truly poor get health care, give money/supplies to free clinics, and shelters that teach life training, but don't lend your voice to Obamacare or anything like it. Oh - also, numerous studies have shown that, in general, conservatives give proportionately more to charity than liberals. Huh. I guess conservatives do care after all.

Myth #2: It's a bad thing when the rich get richer. Anyone who believes that has bought into propaganda and has apparently never actually studied economics. Who employs the most people? Rich people. They may not even own a business, but by putting their money into stocks for other businesses, they are allowing that company to hire people. They also give the most to charity, even when you look at it proportionately, and those charities then use that money to help people and/or to hire people. On an older episode of Bones, we learned that the character Hodgins is very, very rich, and is the biggest giver to the Jeffersonian Institution, the place most of the main characters work for. In that same episode he says that the government doesn't tax him enough. So he'd rather give his money to the government than to the Jeffersonian? If his taxes increased, would he just eat that loss? Doubtful. Rather, he would have less to give to the Jeffersonian so they would have to either decrease the work they do (no more crazy experiments for him, no more archaeological excavations across the world for Brennan, and no holographic machines for Angela) or decrease the number of people who work there (so long, lab assistants). That may be a fictional show, but the truth is all too real. It's economics 101. Also, did you know that the richest 1% of people in the USA pay 40% of all the US's income taxes? And the richest 50% pay 97%? How is that fair? When did being rich become something to be penalized? Why is it only health insurance companies that are villainized for making a profit? People need to eat, but we don't demand grocery store or restaurant reform. Publix and Stop 'n' Shop make profits too, you know. What about auto insurance? You're not allowed to drive a car without auto insurance. I'm pretty sure Allstate is making a profit. Those jerks! How could they? Time to have the government take over all the grocery stores, restaurants, and auto insurance companies!

Myth #3: Health care is a right. Well, actually, no, it's not. Show me where it says that in the Constitution. Show me where it says that food, shelter, health care, anything like that should be "free" from the government. It's not there. Should we allow people to die because they truly can't afford that? No. As Christians or just good people, we should give money to organizations that help the poor and we should even consider volunteering our time to help the poor. But it is NOT the federal government's job to provide those things. Most conservatives are FOR state-run programs to help the poor in their own state. The federal government cannot oversee a program well enough to know who actually needs help, but a state-run program very well could. They would certainly do a better job than the federal government has done with Medicare and Medicaid. (Which, BTW, are just miniature versions of Obamacare. Why does anyone think the government could do better on a much larger scale?!) Plus, it's not fair to make the health-conscious people of the pacific northwest pay for the fried-food-loving obesity of a southern state. Nor is it fair to take any fiscally responsible state's money to pay for anything in a financial wasteland caused by liberal policies like Michigan or California.

Myth #4: Government-run health care is free. It boggles my mind that people actually believe this. The government would pay for Obamacare by raising taxes, and not just on the rich, though the rich certainly would continue to pay the most. (Considering Obama's definition of rich used to be $250,000/year and is now at, what, $100,000/year, pretty soon we'll all be "rich" anyway.) And if they can't get enough money from raising taxes, they will be forced to ration treatments. That's just the logical conclusion. If you have only 1,000 rounds of chemo in your budget for the year, who is going to get them? Probably not the woman in her 70s or the 35-year-old who smokes three packs a day. (That is just an example. Please don't get on me about how the government of Canada does 1,000,000 rounds of chemo each year or whatever.) Not to mention that we will lose a lot of doctors because they won't be making enough to pay off their school loans. Oh - and when the federal government takes from the rich and gives to the poor, they have to pay every government employee who processes that money. Compare how much of each dollar goes to the poor from your tax money to how much of each dollar given to charity makes its way to the poor.

Myth #5: Those who oppose Obamacare are racist/fear-mongerers/an angry mob paid by health insurance companies/fill-in-other-insult-here. There probably are some people like that who oppose Obamacare (well, except the paid by health insurance companies thing). There probably are some people like that who support Obamacare too. There are loonies on every side of every fence. The vast majority of people (on both sides of the aisle, I might add) who do not want Obamacare just realize that this is not a good option and that there are far better ways to care for the poor of our country. As for the angry mob thing, the only yelling during Town Hall meetings has been when the congressperson would not answer the question, and the only violence has been when LIBERAL union thugs beat up a conservative man who was handing out "Don't Tread on Me" flags. Where was Jesse Jackson decrying this? (Oh yes - the man who was beat up is black.) Where was Obama having him to the White House for a beer? Why didn't the specifics of this make any news network? And the picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache that made the news as evidence of conservative nut jobs? That was made and held by a DEMOCRAT who wanted to make conservatives look bad. Once that was proven, the news stopped mentioning it. As to being paid by health insurance companies to take down Obamacare, I would love to get a piece of that action! Too bad there isn't any action to be had there. However, if you want to work for the government and try to convince people FOR Obamacare, check your local Craig's List. That's yet another case of liberal hypocrisy.

So what do conservatives propose to reform health care? Isaac has some good ideas. I wonder if anyone in Washington would listen to him?

If we weren't both already married, I would so marry this guy.

Oh, there's some crude humor in this one... which, I will admit, had me laughing and then feeling bad about it. Hehe.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Went to Oregon, went sightseeing in Seattle, got put in charge of a business's financial stuff, got a modeling contract, voted in a presidential primary, met a presidential candidate, was in a nationally-released TV movie (sure, I filmed it in '07, but it aired this year), bought a new roof, started CVSing, Project 365, and more that I can't remember at the moment.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I always make the same one (though it's not really a resolution), and always fail. PLEASE pray that this year I will actually do devotions consistently!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth or get pregnant?
Carol. =o) And I'm not really close to Melanie or Amy, but they are definitely my friends and I'm very happy for them about Amelia (already born) and Barrett (soon to be born). E.T.A.: Holy cow, I forgot my SIL Joy! Well. She's pregnant, and I'm happy to have another niece or nephew!

4. Did anyone close to you get married?
No one I'm really close to, but a lot of good friends did. Mandy, Amy, Erica, Laura, and probably more I'm forgetting (sorry!), as well as several friends from WOL. E.T.A.: As if forgetting Joy above wasn't enough, I forgot my brother Nathan's wedding. Heh.

5. Did anyone close to you die?
No - for which I am grateful. My mom's dad died in April, but we were never close.

6. Did you travel?
To Washington state, Oregon, Connecticut, northern NY, Washington D.C. (for all of an hour, hehe), Indiana (returning from there is how I started the year), El Salvador, Atlanta, and Charleston.

7. Did you move anywhere?
Nope!

8. What was the best month?
Oh, that's hard. Hmm. It was either May, June, July or November. May because we got to surprise Isaac's grandpa who had previously pretty much disowned us and have him greet us with open arms, as well as meet lots of his extended family who I had never met, including his awesome cousins, and we got to hang out with the regular CT family too. June because of my brother Nathan's wedding, which meant we got to spend more time with him, my new SIL Nicole, and my nephew James than ever before. Plus, I got to be their main photographer. July because of El Salvador. I absolutely love going there. November because that's when the whole modeling process started. I'm still so thrilled about it all. I can't choose. =o)

9. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
The usual - a consistent quiet time. Also? A child. Wow, that feels weird to say.

10. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 7 - Nathan's wedding. November 4 - when Obama got elected; otherwise known as the Day of Suck. Heh. November 20 - when I heard from the modeling agency. December 29 - our 5-year wedding anniversary.

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"'Worst Economic Crisis Since The Great Depression'

How many times are they going to tell us this? Over and over and over. It is like a mantra from the “Office of the President-Elect”. Since the economy is a beast that is easily frightened, Obama isn’t helping by repeating this over and over. He is creating a self-fulfilling economic outlook.

Beyond that, I don’t even believe it is true. I am old enough to remember the 70s. I remember double-digit inflation, interest rates at almost 20%, unemployment at 10% and gasoline sales on odd and even days based on your license plate number. It was far more ugly than anything we are seeing today.

In fact, were it not for two things - the stock market and the MSM (mainstream media) - I wouldn’t even know there was a crisis. I see no evidence of it in my daily life. Nevertheless, Obama and the media keep hammering home that this is the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” which leads consumers to put off spending, business owners to put off hiring and investors to put off investing. The more Obama and media tell us that we are doomed, the more likely it becomes that we are.

I don’t know what the future will bring and neither does anybody else. This thing may yet get much worse and then again it might not. I suspect that Team Obama is keeping expectations low so, that if things do get worse, they can say, “See, I told you how bad it was before I even took office.” If, on the other hand, things improve, Obama can take credit for his Messianic ability to heal the world economy.

Either way it is crap and he is just fanning the flames of fear and economic panic."

Seriously. I can't even put into words the absolute disgust I feel right now at the stupidity of the majority of Americans. I cannot believe they (absolutely not we, as I had nothing at all to do with this idiocy) elected a first-term, most-liberal, Marxist, baby-murdering senator to be the president of America, especially while we have a liberal majority in the other gov't branches.

I'm either in the grief stage of denial or the stage of anger. Maybe depression. Possibly all three, with an emphasis on anger.

Is God still good? Yes. But I wish we didn't have to go through tough times to re-learn that. I guess we will be re-learning it a lot in the coming years.

Comments are disabled because this is harsh and I know some of you voted for Obama and you're wonderful people and I love you, but I can't take your defending him/the country right now. I haven't been this disgusted in I don't know how long, and I don't want anyone trying to convince me to get over it.

I know you guys are probably sick of my political posts talking about Obama's Marxist/Socialist tendencies, but as you know, this is a huge issue for me. Socialism is SCARY. (To the socialist(s) on my friends list: I love you as people, but socialism does scare me. I can't help that, and I won't hide it. I don't expect you to hide your opinions either. I'm just sharing mine.)

What the founding fathers said about socialism:

“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

“A wise and frugal government… shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787

“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” — James Madison in a letter to James Robertson

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying:

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison, 4 Annals of Congress 179, 1794

“[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” — James Madison

Two more good quotes:

“The inherent virtue of Capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of misery.” - Winston S. Churchill

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” - Ben Franklin

(Quotes compiled by http://sweetness-light.com/archive/the-founding-fathers-on-redistribution.)

+ Isaac and I have been emailing each other in haiku all morning. No particular reason.

+ Speaking of Isaac (or should I say Isaaic?), he is an extremely intelligent person. I've always known this, but I'm reminded of it a lot when he is explaining things to people. He will be such a good Bible teacher.

+ Bill O'Reilly was on The View today. Oh, that was entertaining. It is so obvious that Joy and Barbara can't stand the sight of him. I don't think Joy has ever fidgeted with her hair that much during one segment before. Yesterday Elizabeth wore an awesome McCain shirt, which got her booed by the audience. (Dude, someday I will be a part of that audience and I will give that girl a standing ovation and boo Joy.) Y'all know McCain was like my 5th favorite of the Republican candidates, but that shirt rocks. If the election wasn't 2 weeks away, I'd buy it.

+ I finished watching The Lake House again this morning. I was right - I cried a lot. Such a great movie though. And at least I didn't cry as much as I did when we went to see it in the theater. Not like that's an attainable goal.

+ It's been about a year since Sarah and Andrew moved to Washington. It seems absolutely insane that it's been that long (where has this year gone?), and even more insane that I've been Sarah-less that long. =o/

+ We need to go buy our pumpkins tonight for the carving party tomorrow. I'm so excited!

+ I had more to say, but Mom just called about going to lunch with her and Grams, so I need to get ready. Adios!

Apologies to my liberal friends. To the rest, you will probably find this funny.

Today at the gym I was watching TV, and listening, too, since my phone has an FM tuner. The Obama smear ad on McCain that I've seen about 3 million times in the past month came on. (I've heard McCain has some negative ads too, but they aren't running in Florida.) It starts by stating that John McCain opposed finding alternative energy, blah, blah, blah. Then it goes on about Obama's brilliant plan to... well, no one really knows, because, as always, he just says what he's going to do, and not how he's going to do it.

Anyway. The 30 seconds of smearing + Obama's plan ended - or, really, 28 or 29 seconds, because the next commercial cut off Obama's. Interestingly, because of that, I heard the first thing I agreed with:

"I'm Barack Obama, and I approved this mess."

I have enjoyed and benefited from Christian music for as long as I've been alive. It started with my parents' cassettes by Larnelle Harris and A Capella. An obsession with Michael W. Smith, dc Talk, and Carman followed for many years, thanks to our local CCM station. Now I listen to a lot of secular music, but my CD collection is still overwhelmingly full of Christian artists. Most of those artists I discovered by listening to Christian radio.

Taken from SaveChristianRadio.com:
The FCC is considering rule changes that could force Christian radio stations to either modify their messages or be forced from the air.

Although not directed specifically at those using the airwaves to disseminate the Good News of the Gospel, potential rule changes could put Christian Broadcasters in an untenable position. If enacted, the proposals could force Christian radio programmers to either compromise their messages by including input from those who don’t share the same values, or to run the risk of costly, long and potentially ruinous government inquiries.

If you would like to read more about the proposed changes or tell the FCC that you think free speech should keep applying to Christian radio, please visit SaveChristianRadio.com.