My Name is Kris and I Blah-g

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.