Govt Effectiveness: Health Care and Bailouts

I've had this on my computer for quite a while.  More true now than ever.

Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling booze? 

And now they expect us to trust them with Health Care.  Only certifiable idiots would promote or vote for such a concept.

Where has time gone?

I've been a bit remiss in posting to this blog.  Would it suffice to say the life got in the way?  Since my last post:

1. I've made my 3rd annual pilgramage to the Grand Canyon for some much needed R&R.  See Royal Arch and The Tonto Trail: It's done! Or is it?  for my write-up of this trip.
   
2. The 2010 mid-term elections are now history.  The Congress is now split with the Republicans having a majority in the House while the Senate still belongs to the Democrats.  It's time for some good old fashioned gridlock instead of the Freeway to Hades we've had during the past two years.  See my post Degenerative & Gridlock: Are these positive or negative words for my thoughts on gridlock in Washington.
3. I have a formal complaint against me at work.  If it wasn't so time consuming, it would actually be funny.  I'll know in a day or two how it turns out.
4. I went to my Grandson's 2nd grade class as the mystery reader.  I had a lot of fun reading to 2nd graders and having lunch in the school cafeteria with his class. 
5. Halloween is over and it's almost Thanksgiving!
6. And finally, My third daughter has announced her engagement and upcoming wedding.

In reflecting on Thanksgiving, I looked through my files and found the following proclamation.  Given the current situation in the U.S., could such a proclamation be made today?

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

Know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863

Although the current President states that he is a Christian, I don't believe it and I certainly don't think that he would have the conviction to make a similar proclamation (My rationale for thinking that Obama doesn't believe or believe in Christ, 'By their works shall ye know them').  

How Brilliant Are You?

As usual, this came from a friend of mine.  I had a tough time deciding where to post it.  Is it a current event item - not really.   Civics - perhaps.  Health - there are topics on smoking and heart problems, or is that Fitness?  Relations and Leisure - it's a stretch.  I'll post it under English.  Didn't we all have an English class where we had to do an impromptu speech on some off the wall topic?

(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"
--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.
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"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
--Mariah Carey
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"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign
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"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"
--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
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"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,"
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC .
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"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"
--A congressional candidate in Texas .
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"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
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"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
--Al Gore, Vice President
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"I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix ."
-- Dan Quayle
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"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
--Lee Iacocca
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"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.
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"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."
-- Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.
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"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."
--Department of Social Services, Greenville , South Carolina
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"Traditionally, most of Australia 's imports come from overseas."
--Keppel Enderbery
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"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record."
--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman
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CRABBY OLD MAN

This came across my desk the other from a good friend at work.  Definitely worth reading.  Apparently it it is anonymous and perhaps we'll never know this "Crabby Old Man."

"When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in  GRASS VALLEY, CA. it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.  Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to  Missouri.

The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.  And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet."


Crabby Old Man...  RIP

What do you see nurses? . . .. .. . What do you see?
What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man . . . . . not very wise,
Uncertain of habit . . . . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . . . . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . . . . the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not . . . . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . . . The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? . . . . . Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am. . . . . . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . . . . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . . . who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . . . with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . . . my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows . . . . . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . . . . . I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons . . .. . . have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me . . . . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . . My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . . . . . my wife is now dead.
I look at the future . . . . . shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing . . . . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . . and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles . . . . . grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . . . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . . . . a young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys . . . . . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . . . . . gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people . . . . . open and see.
Not a crabby old man . . . . Look closer . . . see ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within.  We will all, one day, be there, too!

The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart. 

When I read this poem, I thought of my wife's maternal grandmother.  During the few years that I knew her, she was a noble women that blessed my life.   She was a sterling example of love and kindness to my wife whom she raised as one of her own children.  Unfortunately the last few years weren't so kind to her and the last few times we visited, there was sometimes only a glimpse of recognition.  A needed reminder to myself to appreciate those that have given so much.

The Ant & the Grasshopper

I usually post to this blog on weekends, but this just came in from a co-worker and its too important not to post as soon as reasonably possible.  I'm using my lunch break to make this post.  The title should be familiar, we've heard the story since we were children.  They even made a movie about it (A Bugs Life), but as a society, have we learned the lesson?  More importantly, do the politicians understand the difference.  Read on...

This one is a little different ... Two Different Versions ... Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold. 

MORAL OF THE OLD STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
 
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.  The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.  Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.”

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake.
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity, Stimulus #12, & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2010. 
I've sent this to you because I believe that you are an ant – not a grasshopper!
Make sure that you pass this on to other ants.
Don't bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn't understand it, anyway




p.s.  My 7 year old grandson understands the principle and the solution real well.  He was helping me do yard work yesterday and caught several grasshoppers.  Without any prompting from me, he killed the freeloading grasshoppers and then looked for some hardworking ants.

Never Again - Or so I thought

The following is from  R.C. "Doc" Weaver.  I received it a number of years ago, just after Bill Clinton left the White House.  I never thought that I would see that day that I thought things could go worse than the Billy & Hilly show.  Boy was I wrong.  The Obama abomination makes the Billy & Hilly show appear very mellow.

Never again will I have to watch Bill Clinton walk down the steps of Air Force One while a proud Marine in full dress uniform crisply salutes him. A Marine who fully comprehends duty, honor and country in a way that the man he is saluting never will.

Never again will I have to watch Bill Clinton on Veterans' Day place a wreath on the hallowed Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while he dramatically bites his lower lip in an effort to appear that he cares or even appreciates what this place is all about. A place where truly brave men and women who personally paid the ultimate price for freedom are forever remembered.

Never again will I have to watch Bill Clinton on national television wag his finger at each and every American and unconscionably lie to us. Never again will I have to witness Bill Clinton sending young men and women of the military into frivolous but life-threatening action to deflect attention from the personal scandals that confront him at home. Never again will I see Bill Clinton's name on a ballot. Never again will I be embarrassed by Bill Clinton's disgusting and abhorrent behavior with a twenty-four year old woman in the Oval Office.

Never again will Bill Clinton have the power to conduct an eight year" social experiment" with the United States Armed Forces,driving the best out while systematically crippling the overall capability, effectiveness and morale of the remaining troops. Never again will I have to be embarrassed to say Bill Clinton represents me, a proud citizen of the United States of America.

Never again will Bill Clinton be able to sell the historic Lincoln Bedroom to the highest bidder, the Chinese, felons, and other disreputable characters. Never again will I have to watch Bill Clinton departing church with equally pitiful wife clutching an oversized Bible in his hand as if to make us believe that he has repented for any of his misdeeds.  Never again will I have to see a joint session of Congress rise to their feet in the Capital building when the deceitful and shameless Bill Clinton enters the chamber.

And finally, Never again will I have to refer to Bill Clinton as "President of the United States."

By  R.C. "Doc" Weaver

Winter is coming - again

This is posted under current events because winter is coming.  I don't remember where I got this, but it is certainly sage advice for younger drivers. 

It was snowing heavily and blowing to the point that visibility was almost zero when the young blonde got off work. She made her way to her car and wondered how she was going to make it home.  She sat in her car while it warmed up and thought about her situation. She finally remembered her daddy's advice that if she got caught in a blizzard she should wait for a snow plow to come by and follow it.  That way she would not get stuck in a snow drift.

This made her feel much better and sure enough in a little while a snow plow went by and she started to follow it.  As she followed the snow plow she was feeling very smug as they continued and she was not having any problem with the blizzard conditions.

After an hour had passed, she was somewhat surprised when the snowplow stopped and the driver got out and came back to her car and signaled for her to roll down her window. The snow plow driver wanted to know if she was all right as she had been following him for a long time. She said that she was fine and told him of her daddy's advice to follow a snow plow when caught in a blizzard. The driver replied that it was ok with him and she could continue if she wanted, but he was done with the Wal-Mart parking lot and was going over to Sears next....

....go figure!