A Few Thoughts About Health Care

The beauty of the Autumn foliage contrasts starkly with the ugliness going on in the halls of our Congress in recent weeks. I don't think that I have ever seen the levels of hatred and ill will displayed by so many as I have in the past several months. It seems that our freedom to express our concerns about the actions, decisions, and appointments of our President and other leaders is under assault. I regularly read several political blogs, and while there is anger on both sides, it seems that some do not want to hear the concerns of citizens who happen to be of a different party from their own. This is serious, because the loss of our ability to reasonably discuss issues is key to our finding common ground and at least some agreement.

The health care issue is so critical, and the fact that it is being written by a handful of members of the Democrat party behind closed doors without input from those who have differing opinions should send out alarm bells to both liberals and conservatives. President Obama promised transparency and bi-partisan input for all legislation considered, but there is absolutely no transparency and no bi-partisan discussion. The bills are being written by a few who don't seem to be interested in concerns that very nervous citizens are raising. This is no way to arrive at a solution to the problems of health care. The rush to write and pass legislation before the end of this year is a grave disservice to the citizens of America who will be expected to pay for and to subject themselves to its limitations and restrictions. This is especially difficult to accept knowing that none of those who are involved in the writing nor their families will be required to accept this end product as their own health care plan.

The backroom deals and arm twisting going on to try to ram this down the throats of Americans is truly revolting. Harry Reid has even written into the bill an exemption for his home state to be excluded for 10 years from having to pay the higher taxes to cover its residents' under the new plan. This was included, of course, because Mr. Reid is facing a tough uphill battle to be re-elected and doesn't want to anger his voting constituents. Who will have to pick up the tab? You know the answer...we taxpayers in other states!

This President has brought with his promise for change much division, turmoil, anger, and broken promises. I hope that it will not always be so, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to be a major concern. It seems to me that the important thing to his administration is that his plans for the remaking of America be instituted and instituted immediately! The take-over of 20 percent of our federal budget by way of socialized health care will not be easily sold to Americans, nor should it be. This needs to be closely examined from every possible angle and viewpoint. Half of America (or more) should not be expected to swallow their opposing opinion and to follow along blindly into a MAJOR change to our way of life just because the other viewpoint demands that it should happen. This is much too important for it to be reduced to angry accusations of racism, and selfish uncaring. There are very legitimate questions that need to be answered before any legislation is enacted. One of which is how in the world will we be able to pay for the trillions of dollars that this plan will cost? We are already in danger of losing our country's AAA status with the global financial world. When that happens, our health care costs will be one of the least of our worries.

Rug Progress

It has been a long time since I've posted - seems like months!! We have been passing colds around between grandchildren and children and ourselves, so that just makes everything seem slower. My energy level has taken a dive with this cold I have, so I haven't done much of anything except babysit. ;0) This is as far as I have gotten with my rug. As has been the case with my rug hooking lately, I have been having fits with colors, esp. the cat. I think I need to have a whole day of "cat colors" dying sessions. I'm going to change the color of the facial features of the moon, also. I wanted something more subtle, and this will be too much contrast, I think. I've been getting more enthused about making some progress on this rug, so I've been trying to spend more time on it. I will post more pictures soon...I hope!

Yoda took an interest in a dangerous insect today. Fortunately, it ended well with no injuries to anyone!

Jess LOVES being outdoors, and she has been running through all the leaves and chasing the cats and having a great time. She weighs 20 lbs. now and we hope she stays pretty much the size she is. She is still very energetic and cute and STILL "chews" as her main pastime! Despite an ample supply of chew bones, rawhide chews, rubber squeaky toys, etc, she has managed to chew up and destroy 2 puppy beds, 7 stuffed toys, 2 Nylabones, 1 blanket edge, and she has started on her fleece sleeping crate bed!! Since she has all her permanent teeth, she is a chewing machine. We hope she doesn't ever develop an interest in chewing furniture!! Jess has also taken an interest in watching television. Whenever there is any kind of animal or bird on the screen, she runs up and jumps up by the screen and whines. Sometimes she will sit on the arm of the love seat right in front of the television and just sit and watch it!

My husband tied a rubber ring chew toy to a branch in one of the backyard trees, and Jess has great fun jumping up to catch it and pulling on it.

We think we have finally figured out her mixed breed. We think she is rat terrier and pom. Her facial features and ears really do look like rat terrier, and a rat terrier color called blue fawn looks just like her fur color and markings. She really is a good dog with lots of personality, and she is a lot of fun!

I wish I had more rug hooking to share, but my hooking group has taken a few weeks off and I haven't gotten as much completed as I had hoped. I've enjoyed seeing the progress on several of your blogs and have really enjoyed the rug pictures you have shared. Have a great rest of the week!

Random Pix

This is one of my favorite primitive antiques! Decorating this for Autumn and Christmas is great fun, since the very weathered primitive wood lends itself to greenery and Fall primitive pumpkins, gourds and vines, etc. The English garden trug is a treasure found at a local antique shop. On the floor beside the cupboard is an old milking stool which I love. It is small and the perfect spot to set seasonal decor. I think I need to hook a small round mat to lay on top of the stool! The 5"x7" crow mat is one of my own designs from about 5 or 6 years ago. The crow has a small black shiny bead eye.

This wall cupboard hangs in my bathroom and is the perfect display spot for part of my yellow ware collection. I LOVE the tiny little bowls. Sorry my picture is a little dark.

This is a small wreath I decorated with a tiny gourd birdhouse and silk flowers. Wreaths are always an enjoyable project.

Well, it is October, so I put out some of my Halloween stuff! This is from a Soft in the Head pattern and was great fun to make. The tie is made of black and taupe striped silk. I just love the little spider dangling from his hat!

I'm still working on my newest rug and slowly making progress. It's hard to accomplish much when you fall asleep every time you sit down in a chair!!! The rug so far is looking good, and I hope to make major progress this week.

My grandchildren came over (with their parents, of course!) for dinner today after church, so we had a lot of fun this afternoon. Jess got a workout playing with Olivia and I read quite a few books to Allison. Kale has four little teeth, so he is enjoying some real food. He weighs 22 lbs now!

It sounds as if there may be a push this week to get some sort of health care legislation passed, so please make some time to call or email your congressmen to let them know how you feel about the proposed changes. The problem is that Mrs. Pelosi does not plan to post the finished bill on the Internet (as promised last spring), so knowing what they are foisting upon the public may be out of the question. I just hope THEY read the bill and really consider the consequences to our economy and all of the taxpayers. I guess this would be a very good time to pray for wisdom for all the legislators!

Have a great week!