Its for your own good! ...even though its bad for you.

Studies show that in spite of the fear-mongering from the left, the majority of Americans are
satisfied with their health care. So why do we need everyone on Government health care now, what's the big rush?

First of all, there is a major discrepancy in this debate, the synonymous use of the term health care and health insurance. We hear how millions of Americans don't have health care, and we must fix it now. Untrue, an estimated 46 million Americans don't have health insurance. But, they do have health care. Anyone in this country (citizen, illegal alien, tourist, etc) can walk into an ER for any problem, any time of day, and get medical care. If they are unable to pay for it, we taxpayers provide it free of charge. (Your welcome by the way.) Of those who don't have health insurance, for many of them its by choice.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/24/obama-pushes-national-health-care-americans-happy-coverage/

Secondly, there will be rationing. Anything that is in limited supply is rationed. All goods and services have a limited supply. We don't have unlimited amount of hospitals, doctors, and so on. Currently, we ration our health care for ourselves. That's freedom, the liberty to make our own choices about our health and the spending of our hard earned wealth. Which, if you remember from the Declaration of Independence, is God given, not from the government. If this bill passes, the government WILL decide what medical care you need and when you need to get it. Or, will determine you must have something you don't want (e.g. vaccinations).

Thirdly, we will pay for the bad lifestyle choices of others. So you work out regularly, eat healthy, have good genes, and haven't seen the doctor in years? Ok, but that guy next to you coughing up his lungs from smoking a pack a day, we'll all be covering the consequences of his bad choices out of our paychecks. Ever hear of personal responsibility? You make a bad choice, you reap the consequences. You make a good choice, you get the reward. Well, that's how we're taught, but reality will be just the opposite. You make good choices and you still have the consequences of those of us who made bad ones.

Finally, what reform does health care need? 1) We need tort reform. Willy nilly lawsuits raise the price of our health care through extraneous insurance and unnecessary procedures that doctors order to protect themselves from Johnny-lawsuit-happy. 2) We need medicare reform, and eventual phase-out. Medicare is borrowing funds against time, just as is social security. It inherently doesn't work and raises health care costs for those of us on private insurance as well. And, 3) we need to allow competition in health insurance. Currently, we create monopolies within state boundaries by restricting health carriers operations state-by-state. Allow us to shop for health insurance in the neighboring state, or a national insurer. Competition is a friend of the consumer, it forces companies to cater to their needs. Monopolies don't have to, the consumer must come to them.

So, among many other arguments against government run health care, this brings us back to our original question? Why do we need this now? The answer is, we don't, we never will. The left's objective is a utopian society, which doesn't exist. Everytime its been tried it ends in tyranny (e.g. Soviet Union, Fascist Italy & Germany, etc). Your freedom needs to be curtailed so that the government can make wise choices for you and eventually lead to a utopian society. But that is anti-thetical to the constitution and the ideals for which this country stands for. We stand for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or so we profess. If we allow this bill to pass, we will be curtailing our own rights. This is only one step in the process. I believe we've given up enough of our rights already, there's enough of my own liberties I want back, and you can forget about having anymore of them. Don't believe me now? Wait until whatever Czar in government tells you how to run your life.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." - Pastor Martin Niemöller.

Will that be said by us in a few years? Take a stand now against the erosion of our freedoms. Stand for the Constition, for your Liberty. Take responsibility for your nation, before its taken from you.

Hawaii & Michael Vick

First, Michael Vick: Note the image to the left. Some have been vilifying him and the NFL for letting him back in and allowing him to play. But, shouldn't he have a second chance?

He was convicted for a crime and did his time in prison for it. Is he reformed? Is he going to do it again? We don't know, but we won't either until we give him a chance to prove himself. We do this in our society, define a person by their mistakes. Are you perfect? Would you want to be defined for life by your biggest mistake?

I say, give the guy a second chance to prove himself, and kudos to the NFL for allowing him to try. What a great story this could be, Michael Vick arrested for dog fighting, does time, returns to the NFL, reforms himself, and becomes an excellent role model/an example of overcoming adversity instead of succumbing to it.

Our News:

We just got home from Hawaii. We were there for a month with work. Ashley has photos up on her facebook page, I've got a few from the guys' golf outing on facebook also. We almost had a hurricane while we were there, but it downgraded to a tropical depression, then slipped by Oahu to the south. So, we ended up having wonderful weather the whole time we were there. We stayed in Waikiki, right on the beach. And the highlight of the trip was swimming with some Galapagos sharks. Very cool!!!