AMERICA's MISSING INGREDIENT...

I came to a realization this past weekend, and then this morning I extrapolated my epiphany to encompass the sad majority of our tired country. My epiphany was this: I lack the will power, the driving spirit that our country was built upon. I say this because I need to lose weight, and have for quite some time. I realized it again this past weekend as I was kicked back in my oversized recliner, popping Milk Duds and sipping diet Coke. I'm moving to Florida in my near future and a fear I have is accidental drowning. Not because I'm not a good swimmer, for I swim like a fish, but that I fall asleep on the beach and unknowing children don't recognize me for who I am and try to drag me back in the water to save me... But I stray from my topic...
All too often we know what is good or bad for ourselves but we don't have the willpower to make the right choice, often the difficult choice. I realized it was far easier to lay back and pop candy than to choose to snack on good food choices. It is easier to sit and watch a movie or ball game than to exercise myself. Bad choice, good choice. But choosing candy was not solving my problem- rather it was directly adding to it. So why do I do it?
The answer is simple: Living in America, the land of plenty, has conditioned me to accept the easy way, the convenient way, rather than the way I ought to do things, the way that might prosper me. And sadly, the majority of our population lives this way. Our politicians, our government, have done all they can do to create a state of dependency, for the more people who are dependent on them the more people they can control. We still see that drive, that willpower around us, but all too often it's being displayed by immigrants, or those new to our society, our culture, who know how rough it is in other places. They work hard, long hours, and get ahead. They display that spirit that our forefathers showed when they opened up new frontiers in this great country of ours, for this is their frontier, and they are pioneers in their own right. We need to regain that spirit, that drive, that willpower, and reclaim our birthright, our country, and our dignity. We need to take back our government from those who have abused it for far too long, and return to our country the pride we've stripped it of. But it starts with an individual choice. It starts with you. It starts with me.
I realized that just as I can make bad choices I have the power to make good choices too. I just need to step up. So I dragged myself out of my recliner, put the Milk Duds away, and got out some blackberries and baby carrots to munch on. Healthier, yes. And surprisingly good. And I felt full and content, better than all candied up. And this morning I was rewarded by being two pounds lighter than yesterday...
I thought, "I hope I can continue this", then realized that it doesn't have to be a "hope", rather it is a choice to continue, it is a choice I have the power to make. I just need to exercise self-control, or more basically, willpower. I can choose to do it, rather than hope it will happen. I can choose to change and change will occur. It has to. It has no other option. And I will be better for it. One man, one choice, one day at a time. Perhaps tomorrow it will be two people who decide to exercise their choice, then four, then eight, and on and on... What will Washington do if it finds itself with no one depending on them? They might just get tossed out on their ear. Lookout then, for we might just end up with a government by the people, for the people... Now why does that sound familiar?...
Food for thought...

I had a Drug Problem as a Child...

Just a thank you to my parents, Becky and Dale, for caring enough about me to see that I was drugged appropriately, as a child... Enjoy below, and if you were drugged be sure and thank the responsible party... Food for thought...

 

OBAMA: It's Time to Face Reality...

I'm not writing today as a Republican, or a Democrat, or an Independent (politically I'm a fiscally conservative Independent). I'm just writing as a concerned citizen of a fast-shrinking middle class.

Remember back 5 plus years ago when we had such a divisive election for president? On one hand we had the "wealthy" candidate, Mitch Romney, running on the "conservative" ticket, and on the other our "liberal" candidate, who represented himself as the champion of the middle class. Well, he was elected, and promised to spread the wealth, bring more equality to the disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us. He promised change, he promised transparency, and he promised to bridge the gap between the parties. So what is the reality, now some 5 years later?
First, we have more divided government than ever. it seems the only lower favorability ratings than the president belongs to Congress. The president repeatedly denigrates and demonizes his political opponents, referring to "them" and "us" as if there's two different war camps (which in essence there now are). What happened to "we" need to do this? "We" need to work together? After all, it is one government...
Second, we were promised transparency. Today there is a far greater lack of transparency than ever. Recently Obama was interviewed (on Superbowl Sunday) and he stated emphatically that "there is no corruption in the IRS. Not even a smidgen". Perhaps he needs to talk to the man he appointed to run the IRS on an interim basis,( because the last head resigned amid controversy over their gestapo tactics in investigating the tea party), who testified on Capitol Hill that he was doing his best to clean up the agency from the top down. How can it be both ways? And this is only one example. We could rehash the Benghazi catastrophe and subsequent cover-up and reach the same conclusion that there is no transparency. Or the millions spent on "green" research and hand picked companies, that took our tax-payer money (millions!) and folded... Or any number of other scandals plaguing this administration.
And what about bringing equality to the classes? Great campaign promise, hooked many people, especially those who are lower or middle class. But what's the reality? The reality is the middle class is shrinking, and has each year under this president. Today the wealthiest take home far more of America's wealth than ever before. ConvergEx market strategist Nick Colas recently told CBS news that inflation, especially food inflation is far greater than the government is representing. As a result the middle class is quietly suffering under the policies of this administration. So why is this?
Let me remind everyone of something. Obama is not "middle class". He never has been, never will be. Obama is part of that "richest of the rich". And he and his wife live like it, even in the White House. While we all struggle in a depressed economy he takes a vacation, at tax-payer expense, to South Africa. Cost to tax-payers? $100 million dollars. That's right- ONE HUNDRED MILLION. Think of all the good we could do with a hundred million dollars. Previous First Ladies have had personal attendants to help with their schedule. Up until D.D. Eisenhower that cost came out of the president's pocket. The most attendants prior to Michelle Obama was three- Michelle has a staff of 22 full-time employees to do her beck and call. At a cost of over a million tax-payer dollars a year. These are just two examples of the many, many examples we could list here. The Obamas are spending out of control- not just government spending, which is bad enough, but personal spending of tax-payer money at the tax-payers' expense. What happened to leading by example? What happened to showing some self-sacrifice to the nation? I don't  care how many people Michelle Obama wants on her "personal staff", but let her pay for them after the first three... I'd wager her staff would shrink in a major hurry!
I just think, with another election around the corner, with candidates beginning to run their ads, their attacks, their mud-slinging, their campaigns, as a country we need to delve deeper, to investigate these people, to look at past performance (for their is no greater indicator of future performance than past performance), and see who keeps their word, who honors their campaign promises, who is worthy of our vote. For our future lies in our hands. We listened to promises, with no past performance to back them up, and we've paid a heavy price. It is time to return our Government to We the People, to those who can deliver fiscal conservation, who are willing to be part of "we", not "them or us". It is time to elect people willing to work together to bring our country back to solvency, back to respectability, back to a place of honor and respect in the eyes of the world. It is time for true change, not lip service...
Food for thought.

THE REALITY OF OBAMACARE

I'm not going to go all political about the good or ills of Obamacare from a personal perspective, even though it's worth noting that, after paying for medical insurance all my adult life and being in fairly good healthy shape, my health insurance was canceled by the new law and I was not "qualified" for comparable or cheaper insurance on either Illinois or the government website. I am now uninsured, one of those 500,000 plus people the government said, "Oops- fell through the cracks! Sorry!" Instead, I'd like to look at the reality of the Affordable Care Act and what it will translate to, to us the consumers...

We were promised choice with Obamacare, a group of plans that we can select from to meet our specific needs. The reality is that the government website offers exactly one plan, and from that one plan you can pick your deductible, co-pay, etc. But the essence of the "plans" are all the same. Rates only vary by how much you are willing to pay in co-pays and deductibles. From a medical side, the government is dictating to hospitals and doctors what is acceptable rates and charges, and those that don't go along are excluded from participation, and, in many cases, severely reducing choice. Doctors are choosing to retire early rather than have the government dictate to them what their services are worth. the reality: Less choice for consumers.

We were told that to be viable, to offer "affordable" rates, some 7 million people have to sign up by March 1st (now March 31st). Of those 7 million half or better need to be young people who are healthy, for they bring the cost of the entire pool down. If this doesn't happen, if we don't get the young people signed up, then the only recourse is to raise premiums on everyone in the pool. That is a fact, a given that the government is not touting, for it will result in exactly the opposite promised. The end result is less choice for more money.

There is another element that affects the viability also, and was revealed in a government report this past Tuesday. I'm flabbergasted that we haven't heard more about it from our media, as this impacts potential premiums so adversely... The report stated that, overall across the nation, about 3 million people had signed up for Obamacare so far, and that as of December 31st roughly half of those signed up have not paid their premiums to keep their policies in force. The report further broke down state by state the number of unpaid policies for each. So what is the reality of this news? Those people who didn't have insurance rushed out and signed up for insurance- and got it- but their reality set in,and for whatever reason, be it economic or what, they chose to not be able to afford it. So what does this mean? To be "viable" we needed about 4 million people to sign up in six weeks- or 133% more than have signed up since the rollout. Now, with this news, we need 5.5 million to sign up and stay on their plans in the next six weeks- or almost 4 times the number of people currently taking advantage of Obamacare- and the bulk need to be healthy young people, who have so far chosen to distain it...

The bottom line is that this plan cannot sustain itself. There is no way that it will do what it was promised to do. I suggest that we take those elements that are good about- and there are some- and draft a regulation for the insurance industry to include them. Allow kids in school to stay on their parents' plan until age 26. Make pre-existing conditions a non-factor in getting insurance. Remove limits to coverage. But put the onus on the private sector to solve it, for that is where it belongs. The government can help the insurance field standardize rates, so insurance can be sold by anyone to anyone- that creates competition, which in turn usually lowers rates, but government has no business trying to "socialize" healthcare. If there was ever a model of why government should stay out of the private sector Obamacare is it!
Food for thought...

(PS. Obamacare was never really about affordable healthcare- it was about growing the size of government, making more people dependent on it, then ultimately stepping in when it fails so critically and dramatically and creating a welfare state out of our healthcare. But I won't climb that soapbox now!)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Hey Washington! A Lay-person'a view...

Hey Washington, are you interested in an opinion from Middle-America? I've discussed this with my contemporaries and we all seem to agree to one extent or another, to varying degrees, to the following:

Illegal immigration is an issue that plagues our nation and needs to be addressed. We've listened to talk of amnesty, of deportation, of securing our borders, and all the "compromises" being floated in and out of Washington. We've heard that criminal checks should be run and those with criminal pasts deported, while those without offered some sort of amnesty. We've seen nothing getting done. Here's a viewpoint from the heartland...

First of all, I sympathize with those here illegally who were brought here as children, and who are now adults, and have really only known this country as their home. They should be allowed a path toward citizenship, for they were not offered a choice to come here, legally or not. But those who entered our country illegally as an adult, who made that choice, that is a different story. I say run your background checks for illegal activity. You will find every single illegal alien has criminal activity in their background, for the very act of illegally entering our country is a crime- that's why they're called illegals! And they should be treated as criminals. After all, as citizens, if we break the law we are arrested and prosecuted, then serve time for our crimes. We pay a penalty, we bear the stigma and social repercussions from being a lawbreaker. What happens to these illegals though, is almost incomprehensible to good, law-abiding citizens.
We take our illegals and offer them free or reduced housing, free medical, schooling for their children, hot lunch programs, food stamps- all kinds of government handouts. We have citizens homeless and starving that our government ignores while handing out billions in aid to illegals. Meanwhile, the illegals are allowed to set up businesses, pay no taxes, send money "home" to their families in other countries, all at tax-payer expense. Here's a solution: Seize the property and assets of illegal aliens, deport those who entered our country willfully as adults, and offer them a window of opportunity (a specific time frame) to apply to enter our country legally and apply for any seized assets and property. But before any property and assets are returned the "now legal" alien should have to pay their fair taxes and penalties, just like a citizen would.
Also, our government should immediately stop all the subsidies, the handouts, the freebies to illegals. We keep hearing all this talk of needing to raise the debt ceiling because we can't afford our "obligations" . It is not our obligation to house and feed  and medically care for people who willfully and specifically choose to break the law, and, under the law, should not even be here. Nor should our obligation be to offer foreign aid to other countries if we can't meet the obligations we have at home. Washington need to get their priorities right, get our own house in order. We need politicians with enough backbone to balance a budget, to trim the pork, to set our course straight again. The answer isn't to throw more money at our problems, it's to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to you. From the White House to the Congress, you all are failing America.
Food for thought...