My Name is Kris and I Blah-g

I looked at this picture for a while this morning. I was thinking about these men….about those important days over 200 years ago when our country was born. This picture depicts the Constitutional Convention. Three weeks ago, I got to see the weathered pages and fading text of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I walked those hallowed grounds where Washington learned he’d be America’s first president. I touched the marbled columns of the capital building and saw the desk where Jefferson penned that all men have certain unalienable rights which include the “pursuit of happiness”. There is no question, in my mind that these men were Divinely inspired.  What these men and those who personally shed their blood for the cause of freedom went through is reason enough to celebrate and shout for joy that I live in the most wonderful country in the world.Yet…this morning I mourn. I mourn the loss of ideals. I mourn the lack of civility. I mourn the loss of freedom. Some may say that I am being a little mellow dramatic but to these people, I say wake up. You have every right to be ignorant but your ignorance is infringing on the others rights to be free. There is a reason why these great men assembled a government of and by the people. There is a reason why when you visit the capital, you will find open access to them. It was important that all Americans know that they can at any time come and witness their government at work. There was a time when it was noble to seek elected office because when you did, you did so out of loyalty to your country. It used to be that you wanted to be the voice of the people. I mean, we count on you to go there and vote as if all of us are voting and you’d do it HOW we’d do it. That’s the point. But instead our politicians today are slaves to the special interests and their greed. Their lust for power means more than the common good. What happened last night was a travesty. It goes beyond just passing bad legislation. None of it was about what is good for America but what legacy a political party can leave behind. And mark my words, as time goes on and everyone starts to realize the price we are having to pay, we WILL remember who got us here. We will remember that it was a group of people who forced, bribed and cheated their way into a law that has chipped more of our free will away. They will pay with their political lives for sure but the damage has already been done.Details of the bill are starting to creep out… as alarmed as I am about the process in which this was passed, I am sickened with the knowledge that the cuts in medicare may spell certain doom for my aging parents and other elderly who will certainly feel the impact with their very lives. I am disgusted to know that when my daughter heads to college, she will have to look to the government for a school loan to help pay for it. Makes me wonder if college is worth it. By then private sector jobs may be more of a novelty and as inept as the government is now, a college education to go work for them may not be necessary. Why this little gem was hidden in a health insurance bill is beyond me. Lest we not forget, now we all MUST have health insurance. If we do not buy our own or participate in a government subsidized plan, we will be penalized 2% of our income – criminals because of our choice, yet we can murder an unborn baby with the financial aid of government tax dollars and walk free. If you’re unemployed and can’t pay for your own health insurance yet don’t fall into the poverty bracket, you won’t qualify for the government subsidized plan and that my friends is what they mean when they say “they’ve got you by the short hairs.”Does the health care industry need help? Yep. No unreasonable person would argue otherwise. There is no question that finding and receiving quality care should be available to all. But this was wrong on so many levels. To those who just don’t care about this political debate, your complacency will cost you. Yeah, this was that important. To those who blindly elected people based on what they saw on the outside instead of measuring the “content of their character” (thank you, Dr. King), you just got the change you voted for. Bet you never thought we had a bunch of proctologists run our government! And to those who championed its passage, there are so many four letter words that I’d like to call you and so many of you that I’d like to punch in the head. But instead, I’ll let my opinion be known at the polls — while I still can.

I woke up this morning to learn about the news that the Nobel committee had awarded President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. This has weighed on my mind most of the morning as I thought about how this could have come to be, who nominated him, what the people of Israel and places like Georgia (the Georgia in Europe, people) think of this and mostly, what a farce this “prize” has become. Nominations for each year’s prize are due in February. Obama took office in the last 10 days of January. His nomination came a mere two weeks after he was in office. To be considered, one would think that they would have to reflect on the previous year’s and beyond work of the individual. So to award Obama this prize is laughable. He’s done nothing to merit such an “honor”. So what can one gleam from this other than the people who gave him this thing are either (1) a bunch of kooks, (2) easily bought, (3) easily manipulated or (4) all of the above. So I reflect on the past 9 months because the president of the Nobel committee is weakly explaining their decision as one based on Obama – the president, not the man or junior senator that he was before he took office. This and of itself should nullify his consideration because he hardly garnered any world peace in 9 months let alone the measly 2 weeks he was president before nominations were due. The Nobel committee president  champions Obama’s diplomacy efforts and how he has brought hope to the world. Um, yeah.. did he base this on a CNN/MSNBC poll of 475 people,  52% of which are democrat, 19% republican and the rest independent? Spare me.In all the amazement and disgust that I have experienced in these early morning hours, I have come to the conclusion that this will do one of two things. The first is that this will be used to try to bolster Obama’s credibility. And two, if the other side is smart, it will be used to expose the insignificance the Nobel Peace Prize has become. Obama received it after having done NOTHING. I take that back. He’s vowed to shut down some of the defenses that have been put in place by other administrations that have kept our country and our allies safe. In doing so, he has pretty much bent over his desk the American people and the good people in Israel and parts of Europe who have come to rely on these defenses. He has pretty much given those who seek us harm an opportunity to strike and a message that their terroristic tactics have worked. He’s taken back his promise of bolstering up Afghanistan and is now hemming and hawing about whether or not we should send in more troops to support the ones that are already there. Yeah. Great commander in chief.Domestically he’s proven what a dictator he intends on becoming. He will pass a healthcare bill with his majority in the House and Senate despite large opposition by most of America. His bill will FORCE us to pick coverage and if we don’t, they’ll tax us…HEAVILY. His bill will strip down Medicare so drastically that the people who come to rely on it won’t have to worry about selective euthanasia that the left supports so well, they’ll die off before they can even be treated because their coverage won’t help them.  Worse yet? The health care bill? None of us will be allowed to read it before it’s voted on and passed… think about that.Other crap….His intention of cap and trade will destroy small business which employs the majority of Americans. His promise of unemployment not rising above 9% was a total lie…it’s now about 10% and getting worse. We have states like California in the midst of utter failure because liberal agendas have driven them to do unspeakable harm to their constituents. Farmers can’t grow their crops because the water has been shut off to save a small fish. Banks have been taken over by government, their accounts frozen, their customers pawned off on larger, government owned banks and forced to adhere to their new rules. Customers (me!) have had their mortgage payoffs LOST, are being intimidated by the banks for non-payment of a mortgage for a house they no longer own and live in daily fear over how it will destroy their credit for the years to come. So, don’t ask me if Obama’s policies have come to harm me because they have. And it’s just the beginning. There is nothing peaceful in his intent for the American People.

There have been months of partisan bickering that is really not solving anything. If it’s doing something, it’s further allowing my faith in the people working in our government (on our behalf, I might add) to dwindle. I’m not sure there’s anything left to believe in when it comes to our rights as citizens of this great country. There is just too much divisiveness. I think it’s almost impossible to get anything done without compromise and both sides are unwilling to budge.  The President has spoken twice this week to large national audiences and what he has said has been both good and bad. However, I don’t trust the man. I don’t like him and had it not been for the furor and the negative public opinion about what he had to say to our children, we would have gotten a different speech than what he gave. And what gets me about the left and those who vigorously defend the President is that they are missing the point. Although there are some who adamantly opposed letting their children hear the President talk, there were many of us who objected more to what came after the speech. I would have been willing to let my daughter hear what the President had to say (which was mostly all good, btw) had it not been for the lesson plan that they were requiring teachers to follow and the activities that they were forcing our kids to partake in. Call me crazy but I don’t want my kid being used as a tool to help shape public opinion of ANY President. Finally, amongst all this hoopla, it was reported (although not covered by admittedly pro-Obama media) that President George H.W. Bush spoke with students too and his speech not only was heavily scrutinized by the Democrats, they opened up an investigation and hearings to find out if Bush had broken any constitutional law. Hypocrisy, anyone?Last night the President spoke to a joint session of Congress about his plans for healthcare. Despite the majority of Americans not supporting his ideas for healthcare reform, the President pretty much said that your either with us or against us and no matter what side you’re on, we’re going to do what we’re going to do. Part of me would like to see this come to pass just so we can see the colossal failure that it will be and how we can trace it right back to this yahoo and his minions who currently hold the majority (not for long, folks). But the main part of me is freaking out that this could actually happen. He’s talking about FORCING all people to buy a health plan and if you don’t, you’ll be taxed. The latest number being reported is that a person who opts out of health care insurance would be taxed about $3500/year. So take me for example… I am a widowed mother to a 7 year old child. I was laid off from my job a year ago and currently remain unemployed and uninsured. I live on a meager social security benefit that provides the main staples of my life to my daughter and myself. It works out to about $10,000/year. I will be penalized because I am exercising my FREE WILL to not participate. Obama says that for those who cannot afford the public option, there will be assistance for you but then in the same breath says that this will not add ONE DIME to the DEFICIT. How???President Obama invoked Edward Kennedy’s name last night as some sort of inspirational “Let’s win one for Teddy” moment. But he failed to acknowledge that Teddy’s own state of Massachusetts already has a law that requires people to get health insurance. You have to have it there. Employers who want to offer employees a discounted plan because their employees either work part time or don’t make enough to justify the large cost of a full plan cannot offer them the discounted plan because it doesn’t meet the requirements set by law. Therefore, employees who are struggling as it is, are forced to go out and buy their own insurance. This surely doesn’t add any incentive to move to Massachusetts. And the program there is failing.They call it a public option but there is nothing optional about it. We’ll have to do it. One way or the other. Obama said it himself. It would be just like how states require us to have car insurance. But there is a reason for the car insurance requirement, Mr. President. It’s to protect us from other people who hurt us – those noninsured who drive the wrong way on the freeway or those fender benders we have in the intersection. What or who is this forced insurance protecting us from? I would think that the most important issue is the fact that the cost of being seen by a doctor and getting care is so expensive. Anyone who has stayed in a hospital and has seen their itemized bill will tell you that $50 for a pair of those ugly blue socks they make you wear and $20 for a Tylenol is excessive. Why don’t we try fixing that first?The bottom line is that I am against – as we all should be – anything that will hurt us rather than help us and anything that will control us and keep us from being FREE.