Thoughts from life.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! If you don't think that the people in our local state and federal governments are putting the screws to us here is a prime example.

I just received in the mail our trim notice. According to the trim notice my property value fell $32,450 last yr. So you would think that my taxes should go down as well. You would be incorrect, our property appraiser and the people in government are proposing raising my overall taxes from last year by $43.51. When will our elected leaders realize that they need to cut spending now and not raise taxes. If they continue to tax us here in FL, the state will lose a lot more than the 58,000 people it did last year.

Oooooh I know your saying it's only $43.51 be glad it's not more. The problem is if they're raising my taxes this much during one of the worst economic periods of our lifetimes how much will they raise them when and if our economy gets going again.

We need to start electing officials that are fiscally responsible and not worried about getting relected as soon as they are elected.

It occurred to me while reading and listening to all the debate this fall about the healthcare bill that We the People would not have the right to free speech had it not been for our founding fathers writing the constitution and the First Amendment. We must also not forget the sacrifices that American soldiers have given since than in the name of freedom as well.

The first Amendment reads as follows.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Notes for this amendment:
Proposed 9/25/1789
Ratified 12/15/1791

Let's fast forward 218 years. We the people are peaceably assembling and using our first Amendment rights to free speech in town hall meetings throughout the country to show our displeasure with our elected represenatives over the healthcare bill, and other grievances.

On Tuesday, August 04, 2009 at 6:55 A.M., America changed forever.

For it was at that time a post was added to the White House Blog which asks Americans to return to the days of McCarthyism.

However; staying true to his campaign slogan to bring “Change to America”, President Obama is asking you to snitch on your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and complete strangers – not for being “Red”, but for being Blue – as in a true-blue American exercising your right to free speech and dissent.

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s an excerpt of the White House blog post…

Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions…

…There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

I would like to remind our president that our founding fathers and later generations  have fought and sacrificied lives so that you Mr. President and We the People of America may have the right to free speech.

I find it repulsive and repugnant that you would disgrace America's fallen hero's.

 

As I was reading through my political rss feeds and than perusing through friendfeed it occurred to me that politicians are supposed to be better educated, have gone too college and be likeable. But our current politicians are anything but that.

Here is a list of things that I've noticed most politicians do that contradict the theory that they are supposed to be educated.

1. They don't read anything that they or there colleagues write. If they don't read how in hell did they get through school?

2. They don't listen to anything that their constiuents have to say. Once again if they don't have the patience or the ability to listen how did they get through school.

3. They don't know the first thing about math. Politicians seem to think that money is printed over in China and is free to spend.

These are just three that I was able to come up with off the top of my head, I'm curious what you're able to come up with. Let me know.

 

Please take 5 minutes and read what is in the healthcare bill.  We are all (regardless of your age) in huge trouble if this passes.....wake up America".  Write to Your Representative now, and tell them to vote against the Health Care Bill.  And, tell them that if they don't vote against the bill you will contact all your friends in their district to tell their friends not to vote to re-elect them.  

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose YOUR HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Government will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Health card will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Government will have direct access to Your banks accts 4 elect. Funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Government is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Government control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Government mandates ALL benefit packages for priv. HC plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Government will ration Your Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Government mandates linguistic appropriate services. Example - Translation 4 illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Government will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individual. For Government HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels for Plans. #AARP members - Your Health care WILL be rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individual, will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

Pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVERNMENT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Government Monopoly.

Pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Government will tell YOU what you can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Employer with payroll 400k & above who does not provide Public option. Pays 8% tax on all payroll

Pg 150 Lines 9-13 Business with payroll between 251k & 400k who doesn't provide. Public Option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Government will be taxed 2.5% of Income

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual Taxes. (Americans will pay)

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVERNMENT) will have access to ALL Americans finances

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same

PG 253 Line 10-18 Government sets value of Dr's time, professional  judgment, etc. Literally value of humans.

PG 265 Sec 1131Government mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries

PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Government regulates rental & Your  purchase of power driven wheelchairs

PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151 The Government will penalize hospitals for what Government deems preventable readmissions.

Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission-Government will penalize you.

Pg 317 L 13-20 PROHIBITION on ownership / investment. Government tells Drs. What/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Government is mandating hospitals cannot expand

Pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can u say ACORN?!!

Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Government mandates established outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing

Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing peeps into Government plan

Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!

Pg 379 Sec 1191 Government creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Committe. Can you say HC by phone?

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Government will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Government mandates program for orders for end of life. The Government has a say in how Your life ends

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates

PG 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may incl an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The Government will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Government will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life

Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment to a community-based org. Like ACORN?

PG 489 Sec 1308 The Government will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Government in to Your marriage

Pg 494-498 Government will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services

Here's the full Health Care bill that sits in the House. < http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf > 

Additionally, as it has been reported in the smaller news media outlets, the Senate version (not described above) will exempt members of Congress from having to join the Health Care Program.   It must not be good enough and too restrictive for them.

After watching some TV tonight and after scrolling through and reading feedback on Friendfeed. It's truly amazing how you can start to get a pulse and begin to understand the feelings about how the country is feeling in these difficult days.

I am struck by one theme  / tone that is resident throughout all the conversations on TV and online. We are a nation that is DEEPLY DIVIDED. I find it amazing that in this day and age with all we have to deal with, we are so polarized on what direction and what needs to be done for the good of the country.

We are one nation. We are Americans. We come from all walks of life. We come from countries all around the globe. (Some illegally another subject for another day). It is WE THE PEOPLE that make up this great land we call America.

On this tax day, I am reminded by the protests and the coverage that it is about WE THE PEOPLE. It's not about whether we are Republicans, Democrats or Libertarians, or liberal or conservative, it is about being Americans!

WE THE PEOPLE need to come together and reset Washington D.C. It is time that if the politicians won't listen to us that we elect those that will listen to us and stop listening to the lobbyists. If WE THE PEOPLE need to create a third political party to start correcting things than that's what we should do.

We as Americans need to start doing what is right for AMERICA and not what is right for ourselves. There is a reason we won World War II, we had grandparents and parents who were willing to make sacrifices for future generations of AMERICANS. If WE THE PEOPLE don't start listening to one another and begin making the difficult decisions as our forefathers past have done for us we will not leave a better America for our children and their children. I for one want to leave a better America for all our children and for generations to come. Don't you America?

Once upon a time, a young lad was born without a belly button. In its place was a silver screw. All the doctors told his mother that there was nothing they could do.

Like it or not, he was stuck with it . . . He was screwed.

All the years of growing up were real tough on him, as all who saw the screw made fun of him. He avoided leaving his house . . . and thus, never made any friends.

One day, a mysterious stranger saw his belly and told him of a swami in Tibet who could get rid of the screw for him. He was thrilled. The next day, he took all of his life's savings and bought a ticket to Nepal.
After several days of climbing up steep cliffs, he came upon a giant monastery. The swami knew exactly why he had come. The screwy guy was told to sleep in the highest tower of the monastery and the following day when he awoke, the screw would have been removed. The man immediately went to the room and fell asleep.

During the night while he slept, a purple fog floated in an open window. In the mist floated a solid silver screwdriver. In just moments, the screwdriver removed the screw and disappeared out the window.

The next morning when the man awoke, he saw the silver screw laying on the pillow next to him. Reaching down, he felt his navel, and there was no screw there! Jubilant, he leaped out of bed . . . . and his butt fell off.

The moral to this is:

'Don't screw around with things you don't understand -- You could lose your ass.'

---- Congress is noted for screwing around with things they don't understand - like the economy. That's why we are all losing our asses!

While surfing the internet I came across an article by Chuck Lasker entitled "Time for a New Third Party Republican Party Offshoot". The article goes into great lengths explaining his reasons why he believes that the Republican party needs to branch into a third new political party. While I agree that we need a new third political party in this country to represent the American people I disagree that it needs to be the Republican party that needs to split into a new party. The center of both political parties need to leave and form a new party. Both parties have been influenced by lobbying groups, coerced and in some cases bribed or implicated in bribery ( case in point Blagojevich in Illinois). Both parties have become nothing more than walking talking points of principles and beliefs that change with every poll that comes out.

If you visit the Republican website they list the Republican Principles here. Unfortunately they have allowed themselves to be influenced and have forgotten what their principles are for governing.  If you were to visit the Democratic website you would not be able to find a similar list of core principles. What I was able to find was a page that briefly touches upon What they stand for. "  The Democratic Party is committed to keeping our nation safe and expanding opportunity for every American. That commitment is reflected in an agenda that emphasizes the strong economic growth, affordable health care for all Americans, retirement security, open, honest and accountable government, and securing our nation while protecting our civil rights and liberties.

The key phrase is " That commitment is reflected in an agenda". So the Democratic party has no principles guiding them but an agenda. The definition of agenda according to Websters is "a program of things to be done, as at a meeting." So the democrats are guided not by core principles but by things to be done. The problem with being guided by an agenda is that the agenda can be easily influenced and corrupted by money.

This new political party needs to practice Republicanism and to have clear and concise principles spelled out. Most of you are probably saying wait you just changed the name of Republican to Republicanism. There is a difference Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, with an emphasis on liberty, rule of law, popular sovereignty and the civic virtue practiced by citizens. Republicanism always stands in opposition to any form of dictatorship or tyranny in the political realm. More broadly, it refers to a political system that protects liberty, especially by incorporating a rule of law that cannot be arbitrarily ignored by the government. As John Adams put it, “They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men.”

Here are the principles that Chuck Lasker proposed and that I believe a new third party need to be founded upon.
The essence of Republicanism, the foundation of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, is that all people have inalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters, which is the essential difference between a Republic and a Democracy;

It is the duty of government to be fiscally responsible with the people's money via balanced budgets, efficient administration of duties and programs, and minimal debt;
Government should defer functions to the private sector and community organizations whenever it better serves citizens as long as functions are monitored and regulated to prevent corruption and waste;

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are to be defended in full, regardless of short term popular fears or desires, with special attention to the intent of the original authors and signers;

The government shall respect individual liberty and personal privacy, regulating personal behavior only when directly required for the safety and liberty of others;

No person is above the Rule of Law, especially our elected representatives and their appointments;

Taxes are at best a necessary evil and shall be kept as low as possible for all citizens, based on conservative stewardship and minimal spending;

A strong national defense shall be maintained, with a reluctance to enter into foreign entanglements and a permanent ban on all military activities against American citizens or on American soil;

As an active participant on the world stage, we shall have a planned, consistent, proactive foreign policy that promotes friendship and cooperation, plus full engagement with our enemies;

Government shall work towards total independence from foreign countries in all essential areas, including energy, food, defense, and intelligence;

We shall be responsible stewards of our national natural resources through environmental awareness, including an understanding of our effect on the planet and the planet's effect on our nation;

Free enterprise and innovation shall be promoted, with a focus on protecting individuals and small businesses from monopolies, oligopolies, and unfair competition from large corporations;

It is the obligation of our elected officials and their appointees to reject campaign or other contributions that are meant to influence agendas in any way, and to make all decisions based solely on what is best for their constituents;

Recognizing that we are a union of states, no federal power shall be granted that can better be served closer to the people via state's rights;

The balance of power for all three branches of government shall be maintained, with recognition of the intent in forming our Republic to have representation closest to the people;

The Executive Branch shall execute laws as written by the Congress and will decline to use Executive Orders, Presidential Signing Statements or other tools to thwart the will of the people as indicated by their state's representatives;

The most essential principle is equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all.

It's time that supporters of both parties that are tired of the system being influenced and corrupted by special interest groups and money, leave and create a new political party that represent the values our founding fathers believed in.

Let's start the discussion and see where it goes.