Another one bites the dust!

“After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned,” Bayh will say.

Bayh will announce the decision at a press conference later today.http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/evan-bayh-retire

This brought applause from the left.  And herein lies the rub.  To the leaders of this country it doesn’t matter that those who started this gigantic, destructive ball rolling did so on the basis of a bunch of lies.  It’s still “the right thing to do”.  No matter the cost to businesses and individuals.  No matter the destructive influence on our already injured economy.  It’s still the right thing to do.  But why?  Is anyone asking why?  Will Republican leaders ask why?  Why are we hurting ourselves economically when the basis for developing expensive less CO2 emitting technology is in serious question?  Even before the recent revelations of lies and cover-ups it was questionable, but now?  Now we are going to continue to wrap the noose of high cost energy around our necks because the President says it is “the right thing to do”? 

Like I’ve said before, my Dad is in the foundry business in the Midwest.  He recently shared with me his communications with the energy company that supplies the foundry.  Foundries are huge energy users.  My father sent them articles published recently related to climategate.  He wanted to know their take on it since they are in the process of building a power plant with CO2 trapping technology that has overrun cost projections twice.  The foundry business has taken a huge hit the past two years, which caused him to have to layoff one third of his workforce.  So, you see his concern as he sees no end to rate increases for electricity and then the probability of an increased tax burden after that.  So I read the back and forth exchange and sent him the following:

So, what is ‘mean’ according to Mr. Matthews?  Well, on his show last night he said that it was mean for Tea Party candidates (i.e. conservative Republicans) to run against moderate Republican incumbents in the primaries.  Thank you, Chris for revealing the new dem talking points.  I can assume that we are going to hear a lot more of this from all the other MSM.  He was discussing the announcement by J. D. Hayworth that he will run against John McCain in the primaries.  Their darling Republican is going to be challenged and to them that is just plain mean.  He called it “a battle of meanness”.  So sorry Chris.  It’s not just the Dems that are going to be challenged, but your precious moderate Republicans as well.  Get used to it.

http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/hardball-with-chris-matthews-mccain-challenged-in-arizona/1236802044

In the Presidential election I was disgusted with the Christians who let themselves be wooed by Obama’s muted stance on abortion.  ”Let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. Let’s reduce unintended pregnancies. Let’s make adoption more available,” Obama said at Notre Dame.(source)  I wondered how any Christian could find this line acceptable?  He walked a line that made him palatable to some pro-lifers, and yet his base knew that when he stepped off the line to take action, he would land firmly on the dark side.

It looks to me like Brown has successfully, brilliantly, done the same thing.  I love a bold pro-life candidate, don’t get me wrong here.  But really, could a staunch pro-lifer have won in Mass.?  Probably not.  That’s what I told myself when I sent him $100.  I had checked into his views just enough to know that I liked him on just about everything but abortion.  I knew the country needed him and I am elated that he won.  But I was curious, so I did a quick search of his voting record and statements on abortion.  You will find some links and quotes at the bottom of this entry.  What I found was a man who looks pretty darn pro-life.  I feel fairly certain that when he steps off the line and takes legislative action he will be standing shoulder to shoulder with the pro-life members of the Senate.  And this gives me great comfort.  His words didn’t brand him as pro-life, and thus scare away pro-choice voters, but you know, actions speak louder than words.  Obama had great success walking that line, and Scott Brown was very smart to mimic that.  It reminds me of a Bible verse all conservative politicians should follow:

Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

Good articles and quotes:

http://www.lifenews.com/state4745.html

http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Scott_Brown_Abortion.htm

Brown voted for a 2005 amendment to deny emergency contraception to rape victims.  Brown voted for the bill after unsuccessfully trying to carve out a religion exception.

“Martha”, Brown said, “with all due respect, you wrote an editorial that anyone can go online and find where you actually criticized partial-birth abortion, the fact that it’s in fact not allowed. And we also have have a difference in that I don’t believe that federal funding of abortion should be allowed, and I believe in a very strong parental consent notification law.”

“While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America,” he said.

Brown has angered abortion-rights groups with acts like his cosponsorship of the Women’s Right to Know Act, which would require a woman to wait 24 hours before having an abortion and to review pictures and information detailing the developmental progress of her fetus.

He sponsored and passed Cord Blood legislation to provide an alternative to embryonic stem cell research.(from here)

In the name of women’s rights the basic right to life of unborn women (and men) is denied.

Shouldn’t humans have more rights than sea turtles? Sea turtle eggs are protected by Federal law while a developing human is not. Sea turtle eggs are protected because hatched sea turtles are an endangered species. The eggs are given the same protection as the fully formed sea turtle. Human embryos are not given the same protection as fully formed humans.

The ‘make love not war’ crowd has fought for the right to abort the result of that love while claiming to be against violence.

The assertion is made that abortion is the best thing, because the baby is not wanted. Just talk to any couple waiting to adopt. These babies are desperately wanted. There are even couples waiting to adopt children with special needs.

A fetus is a baby and a baby is a fetus. When a woman is pregnant we say she is “having a baby”.

Those in favor of “reproductive rights” assert that a woman should have control of her own body, but (in most cases) she got pregnant in the first place because she did not control her body.

If the question was simply a matter of a woman making decisions about her own body then there would be no grounds for objecting to abortion. The problem is that a baby is a new body being formed inside the woman’s body. The thing that is being aborted is not the woman’s body. It is dependant on the woman’s body, but it is a separate body. The child’s body forming within her is precisely the reason for the abortion.

The sin of slavery was treating human beings as property, to be bought and sold. The sin of reproductive rights is treating developing humans as property to be torn from the natural safety of the womb, or thawed from the safety of the cryogenic deep freeze to be allowed to develop for the purpose of scientific experimentation.

I challenge all those who believe in the sanctity of life to refuse any medical treatment that results from the experimentation on and destruction of human embryos.

I believe that unborn babies are the most precious and innocent of all human life. I believe that girls who become pregnant but see the pregnancy through, and give their babies up for adoption are, in this day and age, heroes. I also believe that young women who choose to keep their babies are to be helped with love and compassion. Young men who marry the mother of their ‘accidental’ child and become a loving and responsible father are to be commended. I deeply feel that women who have abortions are also victims of the violence of the abortion and should be treated with compassion. And last but not least I believe that counselors who advise abortion as an easy answer are severely misguided at best and liars at worst, and those who actually perform abortions are a kin to the slave traders of the 18^th and 19^th centuries and the SS of Nazi Germany. What they are doing is legal, but shouldn’t be.

There is a new site where conservative Christian mom’s can connect.  http://asamom.ning.com/  This is an outgrowth of Glenn Beck’s program where he brought in moms from across that country who had attended a Tea Party. 

 http://www.glennbeck.com/content/videos/?uri=channels/338018/574031

This was posted today at the site:

One week ago today we had 12 members. Today we have over 40,000.

40,000 in one week!!!  The foundational princibles of this group:

The Nine Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

http://asamom.ning.com/

Something good has to come of this!

My dad is in the foundry business and just sent me this note:

You aren’t the only one to visit the center of power [I went to the DC Tea Party].  Flew out and back the same day.  One very discouraging thing, confirmed by the American Foundry Association’s lobbyist, most people in DC think that if you don’t believe in global warming and that man causes it and man can correct it, then you are like the flat earth believers. It is considered settled science by a vast majority of the political class.

This of course is the foundation of Cap and Trade which will further burden the already burdened and struggling foundry industry.

Do you know any conservatives who believe in man made global warming?  I don’t.  My friends and acquaintanences consider it a joke and politicized science.  I would love to see our next Republican Presidential Candidate stand and boldly declare that man made global warming is a hoax and junk science.  Even if she/he gets skewered by the libs, the common sense crowd would LOVE it!  What are the chances of that happening?

Last week I emailed a friend from high school who one year ago had a mastectomy after a breast cancer diagnosis.  I said – “We need to plan our spa trip celebration of your recovery and ‘all clear’.”  She called me right away.  “Actually, I know this is last minute, but I want to go to the DC Tea Party.”  My husband gave me the thumbs up.  She couldn’t believe it!  She lives in Spokane, WA.  On my flight a woman (mid 5o’s) with an American flag sat down next to me.  A last minute trip planned from Florida to meet friends – five to a room in the hotel!  I had the urge to stand up and ask just how many people on the flight were going to the Tea Party, but I didn’t.  There was lots of red, white, and blue on the flight and on the way out many talked.  One woman had us all laughing and agreeing and said – oh don’t get me started, I can’t be quiet!  I knew it was going to be a great few days.  

I met my friend on the 11th at the Capitol South metro station.  She had just finished a Capitol tour and had a picture taken with a Congressman from her hometown (Indiana, where our parents live).   We ate a snack at Bullfeathers and after a few minutes three tables were pushed together and we had four new friends.  We bought T-Shirts from someone who came in with an armful.  We visited the House office building and left a few pointed notes.  We wished we had started earlier and visited more offices.  Especially Joe Wilson!  We didn’t think of that until later.   We followed another less lost soul and finally found the hotel where we could make signs.  There was a room with about ten round tables, posterboard, markers, and lots of smiling faces.  People were looking over each other’s shoulders and laughing and agreeing.  We each made a poster.  Mine was especially home-made looking.  My friend’s turned out better.  We ate at the hotel, seated with strangers who welcomed us to their table.  More new friends, one couple was from California, two sisters were from Wisconsin.    We also met people from Michigan, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, Indiana, and those are just the ones I remember.  We headed for the Tea Party busses – to welcome them.  We couldn’t hear a thing, but it was fun to just be there.  Everyone was smiling and enjoying being among kindred spirits.  We hopped the metro and immediately another 9/12er began a conversation.  We talked all the way to the Hotel.  We always said “See you tomorrow!” to our new friends with a laugh. 

The next morning my friend, who doesn’t like crowds, was in no hurry to get going.  We arrived at 10:30, after a quick metro ride full of Tea Partiers, and the march was already in full swing.  We joined the flow.  It was unbelievable!!  We proudly held up our signs and were almost giddy as we realized how BIG the crowd was!  My sign said “We want Common Cent$ not NonCent$”.  My friend’s said “Congress get down on your knees and out of my wallet!”.  I got some good pics and I will hopefully have a slideshow ready soon.  The closest we could get was the back side of the reflecting pool.  There were trees between us and the Capitol steps, so we couldn’t see a thing, but we could hear a little bit.  My friend needed to sit, so I was glad I had brought folding chairs from home.  Most people were standing.   Singing the Star Spangled Banner together was worth the whole trip!  I loved seeing the little old ladies in the Angry Mob T-shirts!  The signs were so creative and pointed.  No fear here.  We were able to find our friend from Indiana.  She was packed in like sardines at the front for 1 1/2 hrs. and couldn’t take it anymore.  We walked back to 10th and Penn and enjoyed lunch at a little fast food spot.  We then headed back to try to get closer.  A very strong guy lifted my friend and I over a wall and up onto the Capitol lawn.  That was too funny!  His back was probably sore that night since he had obviously been doing that for some time.  Anyway, we were on the lawn and we still couldn’t see the stage!  We stayed until the end, gave our folding chairs to some volunteers (I was not about to lug them all the way home!) put our signs in a trash can and headed for the Metro.  The park police were smiling when we passed them by.  Apparently there were no arrests and people either found a trash can or took their trash home with them.  Just a bunch of nice people!  If you can swing it next year, you should try to go.  I know I will.

It seems to me that the Democrats have been able to define themselves as the compassionate party because we have let them re-define compassion.  What do I mean?  They have convinced the American people (Democrats and Republicans) that voting for the government to take money from the many (or the rich) and giving it to the few (or the poor) is really what compassion is all about.  Republicans have largely been ineffective at revealing the flaws in this logic.  In fact from where I sit not many have tried.  Rush, I think, has been the best at it because he has lots of time to explain things thoroughly.  He has really gotten me to think and it has made me angry at Christians in particular for closing their eyes to abortion and walking hand in hand with the Democrats because Christians see compassion as their Christian duty.  But is compassion as defined by the Dems true compassion?

Republicans know that it is not, but they are afraid to hit this point head on.  They don’t want to be seen as attacking compassion.  They need to show that it is really a false compassion.  True compassion is when I see a need and fill it.  It is not when I vote for someone who will pass a law that will empower the government to take money from someone (not me, assuming I’m not rich) and give it to someone else (not me, assuming I’m not poor).  This might make a voter feel good, but is it really what Christian compassion is all about?  No, of course not.  Especially when we judge the good done by the real result. 

For instance, welfare and public housing.  Welfare has ruined the black family.  Can anyone really dispute this?  Before welfare the black family was intact, now it is not.  Of course I’m speaking of the black family within the welfare community.  Out of wedlock births and crime are systemic problems largely created by welfare.  Is that true compassion?

And we can apply this to the healthcare debate as well.  Is true compassion a government program like Medicaid and Medicare or a private enterprise like the Shriner’s Hospitals?  Medical care given for free by medical professionals and medicines given for free by drug companies is what true compassion is all about.  We do this well in America.  Medicaid and Medicare do pay for the care of lots of people who need it, but now money is tight and getting tighter and Obama’s main focus in this talk of healthcare reform is cost control – not quality care.  With the Shriners the main focus is quality care and it is financed by generous donors individual and corporate and rightly encouraged by our government with the charitable tax deduction.  With the government health plan we hear talk of reigning in those doctors who order unnecessary tests and procedures.  Yes, they say, this is how we are going to pay for our program – by cutting waste.  Somehow a government that cannot manage to cut its own waste is going to make sure those doctors and hospitals cut their waste and they will do it by cutting fees as they have already done with Medicare.  Because they are so compassionate.

So, Republican leaders, please, please, take the bull by the horns here and define true compassion!  Stand up for what you know is right!  Don’t be content to just vote ‘no’ and lay your head on your pillow thinking you have done all you can do as we usher in a new era of government control over health care.  Please get out there are work with those who are standing up against this to change public opinion.  Get to the root of the issue and take back the moral high ground!  It may not be too late.

I’ve been pondering this number.  Yes, it sounds bad, very bad, and we Republicans know that it is not an accurate count of the truly no-fault-of-their-own uninsured.  I have read here on Redstate estimates of 8 to 12 million that fall into this category.  But how many of those are really sick?  How many have accidents?  How many need medical care?  From http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/chronic/stats-country.htm

Prevalance Rate for Chronic Illness:

 

approx 1 in 3 or 33.09% or 90 million people in USA

I can’t find a good number on the total injury rate in the US, but the above knocks down our number to 2.4 to 3.6 million.

So, we are going to remake our healthcare system for 2.4 – 3.6 million people?  Who is providing for their care now?  Because these people are getting care.  The good people of the United States do care for their sick!  So, who is doing it?

According to Wiki (Is citing Wiki good enough for Redstate?):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States

A 2003 study in Health Affairs estimated that uninsured people in the U.S. received approximately $35 billion in uncompensated care in 2001.^[68] The study noted that this amount per capita was half what the average insured person received. The study found that various levels of government finance most uncompensated care, spending about $30.6 billion on payments and programs to serve the uninsured and covering as much as 80–85 percent of uncompensated care costs through grants and other direct payments, tax appropriations, and Medicare and Medicaid payment add-ons. Most of this money comes from the federal government, followed by state and local tax appropriations for hospitals.

These numbers obviously include all the uninsured, for whatever reason.  But what about charity care?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5296515

There’s a long tradition in the U.S. healthcare system of physicians providing charity care, either to uninsured persons or other medically indigent individuals. They’ve either done it in their own practice or as volunteers at free clinics. This has, in a way, provided a sort of cushion for those who are uninsured.

And I have had trouble finding a good list of all medical charities but I imagine most of us have a free clinic in our towns and we all know about the large charity hospitals like St. Jude.

http://www.stjude.org/about

All patients accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard to the family’s ability to pay.

So, are Obama and the Democrats in Congress at war with charities?  Are they counting on putting something in place that is really less expensive than the 1 trillion they are projecting because of the inflated uninsured number?  And then declaring it a big success?  Are they counting on the reduction in charitable deductions, because these medical charities won’t be needed, to cover part of the cost?  Our system as we have it now does cover the uninsured.  So why the big overhaul?  Unless it’s all about control.