The Problem with the Healthcare Bill

I have to laugh at our “fearless leader” on television telling the world how great he is for accomplishing the impossible. President Obama has just set freedom and civil rights back 300 years.

We now have the government telling us what we can and can not do with the money that we have earned.

This is presenting a potential disaster here in the State of Florida.

Here is how getting aid goes. Depart of Family and Services knows you have no healthcare or income other than $800.00 monthly. You can not qualify for Medicaid because you make too much money. You can not qualify for cash assistance because you are not illegal, do not have 8 children with different fathers and all of them are in prison. You don’t qualify for food stamps because you make too much money. Your child gets medicaid…you are out in the cold.

Now comes the clincher. The same government that steps in and forces the state’s hand with illegal immigrants and offering them $11,000 in cash assistance while those who worked in Central Florida for years are homeless, steps in and tell you $400.00 out of that $800.00 now has to be spent on healthcare.

This is what your monthly budget for a family of two now looks like:

Rent $800.00
Electric $180.00 (thanks to Energy Commission Rent Hikes)
Food $400.00
Health Care Premiums $400.00
Luxuries (Land line, television) $140.00
Clothing $300.00

Median salary in Central Florida….$8.00 hourly!

Tell me, out of concern for all of those employees working at the Theme Parks who can only get part time employment because the powers that be do not want to pay benefits, and every company who refuses to hire outright, using the services of a temporary placement agency rather than paying benefits…WILL THESE PEOPLE GET HELP FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO PAY THE PREMIUMS?

The Health Care bill is based on a fictional society. A society that is employed, that is not ridden with foreclosures, that is not looking at faces in grammar school that have spent the night in a tent in the woods because they have no home. There is no middle class anymore, no one that can afford this program.

We have already seen the disaster that is medicaid and medicare, why do we need yet a third program riddled with corruption and problems?

Sea World – The Controversy Continues

Each morning at 4:30 a.m. a handful of employees arrive at Sea World, Orlando to feed, examine and ensure the health of the permanent residents.  Honestly, having been privy to a behind the scenes look, most Americans do not have access to the level of care and state-of-the-art medical equipment available to the host of feathered and finned friends who reside in the park.

Watching the joy in a child’s eyes seems to be reward enough for these employees.  Let’s face it…looking down the throat of a polar bear is a thankless job.

The controversy this week, over the death of a beloved trainer has given way to a bottomless buffet of fruitcakes who have at worst, accused a whale of premeditated murder.    Thanks once again to the Media…who seeks them out and takes every opportunity to press for yellow journalism over real news.

The earthquake in Chile took a back seat to the six looney-tunes protesting on Central Florida Parkway. Bold signs in hand, they stood getting soaked in the rain.  One sign stuck out…”It will happen again”.  Perhaps you believe that, but we would like proof…care to try it out?  Yes, it did happen before and if the public knew the circumstances surrounding the 1999 accident, I assure you no one would do anything but understand Tilly’s point of view.

The truth though, is that this was a tragic, horrible accident.  The trainers and medical staff that work with these majestic mammals daily, the ones who have done so for the past sixteen to twenty years, are the ones in a position to know what happened.  They have the video.  How can anyone know what a whale is thinking, unless they are a whale?

Earlier this week, a mother left her two-year old in the back yard with her pet “American Bull Dogs”.  The dogs mauled the child to death.  The press did not seek out dog experts to see what they were thinking.  PETA was not asking for the release of the dogs into the wild.  There were no news vans parked on the median of a major thoroughfare for days on end.

Dawn Brancheau was a shining star in an ever-darkening world.  She freely shared her love, passion, joy, knowledge and incredible sense of humor with many, turning strangers to friends with a smile on a daily basis.   Successful, happy and loving her job every single day. How many of us will ever experience that?  That my friends is a life well lived.

Dawn will be sorely missed and we mourn the loss of her life.  Strangers across oceans, Dawn’s family, her Sea World family, those who saw her shows daily or weekly and the little girl she made smile six years ago when there was no reason to smile stand heart to heart and mourn.

That is the point.  This is not an opening for those who feel they need to find ten seconds of fame, nor to voice political opinions.  This is not a time to use violence and threatening phrases to harm something Dawn stood for and loved.

Stop Talking the Talk

I realize that there are millions of liberals that are going to scream and tear their hair out as they read this blog today.  Millions more environmentally minded citizens are going to do the same.  I, however, opt to put the words on paper, despite the screams.  Once it is posted, I shall be running out to purchase a well made set of earplugs.  That is, if I can find a set that has been made in America.

 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  Just how long are American Citizens going to continue to give Al Qaeda the power to drive us to the brink of bankruptcy? While we are on a roll we need to stop importing everything and anything from China. 

 

With the economy in shambles, terror suspects being arrested in droves in our country, and oil at $120.00 a barrel it is no longer enough to say “The buck stops here”.  We now must take action that will lend finite meaning to those words.  Every citizen needs to set aside the almighty dollar for one day.  We, as a nation, need to stage a protest that will hit where it hurts. Okay…I didn’t mean there!  I mean we need to have a serious effect on the pocketbooks of the greedy OPEC members who are catering to the Arab countries who are dead set on destroying our ideals in the name of religious perfection.

 

What is the difference between Bin Laden, Hussein and Hitler?  When Adolf Hitler killed to achieve the “Perfect Race” it was an outrage, and remains so to this day. We honor those who stopped him, and those who suffered the worst indignities.  Why is it we are wrong when a man with the same ideals under a different name kills children and teaches them hatred and disdain for anyone not of their faith?  Why are we wrong from fighting for the same principles we fought for in World War II?  It seems to me that Barbara Streisand, and others like her, need to think before they open their mouths and cause a war over a war.  Would she protest so profusely if the President sent troops in to stop an Arian uprising? 

 

The time to be politically correct is long past. If you don’t belong here, get out.  It is that simple.  Sniff every illegal out of hiding.  Shoot them if they attempt to flee.  That is the way our citizens would be treated if they entered another country illegally. 

 

Begin drilling operations in the Gulf, and anywhere we may find oil.  Put jobs back in the hands of the Americans who are suffering as the result of lay-offs due to the housing crisis. 

 

While we are at it…let’s stop worrying about how many children in other countries don’t have vaccines….ahem Proctor and Gamble…and worry about the children here who do not have health care because their parents are too destitute to provide it.  Let’s stop worrying about girls in other countries who cannot go to school because they don’t have any feminine products and concentrate on the millions of families here on welfare.  Food stamps cannot be used to purchase these items, toothpaste, toilet paper or soap.  Let’s take the power out of the hands of huge management companies who run up to 30 apartment complexes and raise rents with no limits.  That could put a damper on homelessness right here in the good old U.S. of A.

 

Let’s realize that charity begins at home.  Then let us worry about those in other nations.  

 

So far, I have been fortunate through these trying times.  As a single mom, each time I go to the grocery store I notice the price increases of one dollar per item.  There are necessities being cut out of my budget a bit at a time.  Gasoline for my car is one of them.  Fortunately, I work at home.  Had my company not been a casualty of the sub-prime implosion, I would not be able to travel to work.  I seriously mean that.  I drive a four cylinder car.    My fifteen-gallon tank now costs $45.00 to fill. 

 

So…what do we think?  Are we going to sprout feathers and become compliant and complacent or will be choose to remain residents of a country based on freedom?  Being free means cutting your dependency on others.  It will be interesting to see how many can truly walk the walk.

Sticker Shock At The Pumps

I am counting my blessings.  The last time I put gasoline in my car it was $2.87 per gallon.  No, I did not stop driving years ago.  This was just three short weeks ago.  Working from home has given me an advantage.  I am no longer driving 52 miles roundtrip daily. I do not sit in traffic on a two lane highway for one and one half hours to complete what should be a twenty minute drive. The supermarket is approximately one mile away from me, and I consolidate my trips to the store.  While I am out, I get everything I need. 

 My knock-about 2002 VW Jetta with the four cylinder engine is a goddess right now.  I am horrified as SUV addicts pull into the convenience store and rack up charges of $90.00 or better.  To make matters worse, seeing $4.00 per gallon on a gas pump is worse than the “sticker shock” of a new vehicle.  When I began driving in 1978, gasoline was 52 cents per gallon. Any sensible person would be trading in that SUV for a small, fuel efficient vehicle more quickly than they could butter a slice of bread.  A friend of mine made this sensible decision three months ago.  In addition to saving money on her fill-ups, she is saving $200.00 monthly on her car payment.  Smart cookie!

Perhaps most interesting are the reasons I’ve heard as to why normally reasonable people are fuelish and continue to drive these trucks and SUVs.

“Well everyone one else is driving them and if you drive a car you don’t stand a chance in an accident” tops the list.  If everyone got smart and traded the gargantuan gas guzzlers in for a more efficient vehicle, we could disqualify that argument in a heartbeat.  The most fascinating aspect of this group is that these are the “green” citizens that demand we only use one piece of toilet paper and blame cows for all evils of the world.

“I really need it” is second in line.  Why in heaven’s name does an n unmarried young adult with no children “need” an SUV?  Granted there are some people out there with five children who truly do need a larger vehicle but somehow, I can’t help recalling a trip we took through the New England States at the age of twelve.  There was no television or DVD player in the back of the car to keep us entertained. My two brothers and I spent 3 weeks sitting in the back of an Oldsmobile as my mother created games to entertain us and did her best to keep us from whining and fighting.  Somehow, I made it to adulthood in one piece.   I am not suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of not being able to play Nintendo in the car during the ten minute drive to the local supermarket.

As a whole, we can deal a devastating blow to those nations that believe they will be rich because Americans require bigger and better possessions to gain status in society.  We can scrap all the vehicles and go back to using horses and wagons. 

At the very least, it would take the spotlight off those evil cows for a while.