Cop-Out

Oh there has been so much I have had opinions on the past months. It's really a daily occurrence. But to keep my sanity, I decided to ease up on the blogging.

Today changed my mind.

With the health care debate looming, and August recess upon us, I decided I would seek out a Town Hall event here in Nevada. After all I am part of the angry mob (I'm super scary, huh?).

I searched the net last week and came up with nothing. So I wrote to Senator Ensign asking where and when out Town Hall meeting would take place.

One week later, nothing.

So I searched again today hoping to find some information.

There will be Town Hall Meetings, via telephone.

OK, I thought, where is the list for me to get in on this?

But no, it doesn't work that way.

Straight from Nevadaappeal.com

Telephone town hall meetings are conducted by having an automatic dialer call numbers at random from a list of voters, AARP members or other groups.The dialer calls and offers the individual who answers the opportunity to listen in and join the discussion with the elected official.There is no mechanism for people to call in and join the conversation.Questions are taken from the phone audience, but opportunities are limited because of the number of people on line and the often lengthy answers by the officials.Two AARP town halls are scheduled:Rep. Shelley Berkley, Aug. 26, at 1:30 p.m.Rep. Dina Titus, Aug. 28, 1 p.m.AARP officials say they are negotiating with Rep. Dean Heller to schedule a telephone town hall. Sen. John Ensign, AARP said, declined citing scheduling conflicts.

(my emphasis added)

Yes, random calls. No mechanism to join the conversation.

That's a grand way to make sure you don't hear the "angry mob". What's the chance that I will get a call? And if I do get the call, the chances that will be home?

I'm disappointed in my representatives. And I plan to let them know.

If You Have Nothing Good To Blog......

........then don't blog anything at all.


That's kind of where I've been lately. I rant and rave all day long in my mind, to my friends and in comments sections of various sites.

But I have a hard time bringing myself to write a whole post.

I'm both angry and sad about the direction the Obama administration is taking this country. Months ago, I wrote my thoughts about they direction I thought he might take us. Deep down I was hoping if he were elected, I would be proven wrong.

Unfortunately , it's worse than I imagined.

I really didn't think he would act so quickly on the nationalization of companies.

I'm in amazement that he could show such disdain for our country when meeting with foreign leaders. Apologizing for, not defending and equalizing our country to other nations will take years to recover from. Even the Castros of Cuba refuse to apologize for what they do...and they're just an inconsequential island of no real significance.

The arrogance of the spending, of certain appointments, the pushing of legislation and flat out lies from the Press Secretary is jaw dropping. He's gone from promising to go through the budget line by line to spending more than anyone else in history....and in only 3 months!

Do you see now why I have a hard time finding something positive to write about? Lots of material, but all a big downer.

I really want to feel positive; and I did for about a day. April 15th, as a matter of fact. Those Tea Parties had me reeling. Though I was unable to attend (sick kid that day), I was there in spirit.

But then the White House claimed they weren't aware of any "tea party". Yeah right. The administration who brags on being so Internet savvy hasn't been keeping up with the whole tea party deal. I suppose their denial was because they are actually threatened by these protests, but still it was a buzz kill.

But as of yesterday I am seeing an inkling of hope. It has come from an unexpected place.

Arlen Specter has jumped ship and is swimming over to the Democratic boat.

Have a good time over there, Arlen. And don't let the door hit you when you leave.

I see this as a VERY good thing. We elephants just dumped a RINO!

If we can dump a bunch of those RINOs, it will make room for more Conservatives which will give more definition to Republicans. It may take a couple of elections, but if Obama keeps on his merry socialist way, I hope the GOP will be able to regain a few seats in Congress.

So there you go....one positive out of all this negativity.

I'm seeing a ray of light!

*Achoo!*

Excuse me!

Probably just allergies..... oh, gee, I hope it's not the swine flu.

Blog Award

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and awarding my favorite political humor blog an award. Am I worthy of giving awards? Probably not. But the deal is that if I give IMAO an award, they give me one back. I'm in for any backscratching!

Drumroll please!

Charities

The past couple of weeks there has been talk about the Obama administration reducing the amount of tax deductions available for charitable contributions. Most commentators have commented that this seems unwise in our current state of the economy. True. But I think they have missed a much larger point.

Charities are the organizations that people fall back on when times are rough. Whether it be financial, spiritual, medical, psychological or just a simple hand up, charities pick up the slack where friends, family and the "system" cannot. Charities are a great thing and it is a well known fact that Republicans donate in much higher percentages than Democrats.

But that's not the point I want to make.

I have two questions: Who will pick up the slack when charities suffer? And: What are many people exposed to when serviced by charities?

The answer to the first question is the government. When charities are hard up for cash, their services will cease to exists. This makes the environment ripe for the government to provide the same services...and for people to become more reliant on the government overall.

The second answer is religion. Many of the most successful and visible charities that service folks who are in need are run through churches. When a person is served by the charity, they are also exposed to religion. It may be in passing or it may be in a more obvious way. The more a people are helped unselfishly by those church based charities, the more likely they may take an interest in joining that organization or one like it.

Take these two ideas and link them together. You have a government providing more services to the people and less people receiving services from a church. Both aspects would serve an socialist nation well.

I tend to be suspicious of every act of our new president. Nothing seems genuine, nothing seems to be at face value. This seems to be just another brick in the new wall.

Broken Promises

If you are one of those people who is still enamoured with Obama, you may want to examine some of the promises he's managed to break in only a month.

Yeah...that looks like change.

Just Thinking

If McCain had been the man sworn in this past week, would I be happier with him than Obama?

Probably not.

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The good new is that Rush will be on fire next week! I normally listen to Rush while I clean the house on Monday mornings....keeps my mind of my task.

This week I'm excited to clean house;)

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On Inauguration Day, DH took my old stinky mini van to get a haircut. When he came out or the barber shop, someone had written in white nail polish "Yeah Obama! Go Obama! Obama!" on the window of our van.

Nice.

He thinks I should take the "Republican Chick" sticker off the back window.

I said "No way".

Why should I take an inoffensive sticker off my property for fear of an idiot defacing my car? That would be walking into the Fairness Doctrine all on my own.

No thanks.

I tolerate seeing hateful lefty bumper stickers all the time. If people like me shut up, soon the left will have the dominant opinion.

Oh, that's right, it's already happened.

Still....not taking off the sticker.

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BTW some one really needs to get Michelle a stylist. The fashionistas have been careful not to criticize her, but c'mon. The inaugural day dress was a bit too gaudy for day time (most comments I read referred to the color yellow was one of optimism and said not much else). The white chenille tufts on the ball gown were unflattering and girlish. Even though white has been traditional for many first ladies, I would have rather seen a clean winter white suit in the day time and a splashy color for evening.

I, for one, loved Aretha's hat. She's one of very few that could pull that off!

OK, there's my fashion critique.

Right To Die

I know, intense topic. It's one of the few progressive ideas that I actually understand and have thought should be legal. It was a big thing right before I left Oregon and it was the first state to legalize it.

I'm having second thoughts about my position on this topic. I sincerely think that if a person was suffering from a fatal disease they should have the choice to end their life before they became uncomfortable. Of course this is something that is a very individual decision depending on ones relationship with their family and God.

I think this position works in a free society where ones individual liberty is protected. It can only work in an environment where a person make the choice out of free will.

But once a society steps into providing social welfare in the form of health care, where does that leave us?

If a government provides health care, whether it be through an insurance program or direct provisions, the decision of when person dies is no longer a personal choice.

If we allow medical suicide to be legal, where is the line drawn when government provides the care? Is there a dollar limit on ones life? Would the elderly bee too much of a drain of the system? If medical suicide were legal, could the government decide when to end ones life?

Don't think it couldn't happen. There are already cases like this in Oregon where they have a (unsuccessful and under funded) state health care program. A cancer sufferers were denied ongoing chemo because of the expense, but were offered assisted suicide instead.

Do we really want the government having this much power over our lives? Do we want the government to decide when it's our time to go based on the potential cost of our healthcare?

How many times have you heard about the terminally ill patient who, by some miracle, makes a full recovery?

Oh, that's right, believing in miracles would be a stumbling block to having a God-free society. That doesn't work in the world of the progressives.

We are this close to a nationalize health care system. More states are considering legalizing the Right to Die. How soon will it be that the government will make decisions as to who gets which kind of health care?

The progressives never seem to think too far ahead. On the surface it sounds like a compassionate idea. Progressives like to embrace all the compassionate ideas, but they fail to see how changing the laws for a few will effect the rest of society.

Ah....the slippery slope into Socialism. Each piece seems innocent, but once you start stacking them all together, I'm afraid of what the future will bring.