.
First, the promise: This blog is NOT going to turn into a political blog, and is absolutely going to remain an end-times, last-days blog for the purpose of education, instruction, preparation, and warning.
However, I posted this comment today on a friend's blog, and thought it worth repeating here. This friend is a co-laborer in both the political and spiritual arenas.
Posting this here preserves and demonstrates my commitment to "not be so heavenly-minded that I am no earthly good." I thought that this relates much to "Future History", and I welcome your comments.
Sadly, in these days of issues-oriented voting (as opposed to values-oriented voting), there is no perfect candidate. This would include Scott Brown, at first glance a nearly perfect candidate, but with a closer look a very imperfect candidate (except for his perfect jaw-line).
For that reason, due to my commitment to 'values-oriented' voting, I will almost always vote for the better of the candidates, a defensive measure that may "improve" that individual office considerably.
Explaining more fully, if the only option I have is to replace a congressman who votes 1 time out of 10 for my values with a congressman who will vote 5 out of 10 times for my values, I consider that a vote and time well-spent, and I will have improved that office five-fold. And hopefully next time I can replace that person with someone who will vote 9 (or 10!) out of 10 times for my values-oriented positions (which I continually work to align with biblical values).
Always "improve the office" if we can. Never allow a stinker to stay if we have any other option. Besides, if we demand only 'perfect' candidates, it will keep many people with good values from running for office. We need to encourage imperfect people (like ourselves) to bring their values to Washington to better the common good.
This must not be taken as an approval of moderate views, but rather an acceptance of the principle that certain tasks and goals may be handled incrementally, as God indicates in Exodus 23:29-30: "29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 But little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land."
I welcome your comments!
.
Showing posts with label political. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political. Show all posts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
88. Revisit Post # 87 - Still Relevant !!
.
Note: Scott Brown INDEED won the Massachusetts Senate seat!
The post below this one, Post #87, is dated December 7th, 2009 -- but it is not "so last decade".
Everything I said in it applies today (if not more so), and I'm going to contact the same Senators again, just to make sure they get the message. However, it is not now the Senate version of the bill we are hoping to defeat, but the combined House/Senate bill which will be voted on first by the House, and then by the Senate.
Let's not depend on the possibility (or even the actuality) of Scott Brown winning the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy. Let's not try for 41 votes against Obamacare, but 43 or 44 votes against it. Note that 41 votes against it would imply 59 for it, which would not be the supermajority the Dem's need for a filibuster-proof bill -- and therefore would open the door for endless filibustering by the Republicans (a good thing! in this case...) and would for all practical purposes, be the death of this deeply flawed healthcare bill.
Those of us not living in Massachusetts need to pray first, that Scott Brown would win; second, that if he wins, that the powers that be will seat him promptly; and third, that no nut-case person will assassinate him on the way to the Senate.
Larry
Note: Scott Brown INDEED won the Massachusetts Senate seat!
The post below this one, Post #87, is dated December 7th, 2009 -- but it is not "so last decade".
Everything I said in it applies today (if not more so), and I'm going to contact the same Senators again, just to make sure they get the message. However, it is not now the Senate version of the bill we are hoping to defeat, but the combined House/Senate bill which will be voted on first by the House, and then by the Senate.
Let's not depend on the possibility (or even the actuality) of Scott Brown winning the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy. Let's not try for 41 votes against Obamacare, but 43 or 44 votes against it. Note that 41 votes against it would imply 59 for it, which would not be the supermajority the Dem's need for a filibuster-proof bill -- and therefore would open the door for endless filibustering by the Republicans (a good thing! in this case...) and would for all practical purposes, be the death of this deeply flawed healthcare bill.
Those of us not living in Massachusetts need to pray first, that Scott Brown would win; second, that if he wins, that the powers that be will seat him promptly; and third, that no nut-case person will assassinate him on the way to the Senate.
Larry
Monday, December 7, 2009
87. About the Senate Health Care Bill
An Action Plan!
This blogpost has around 1200 words. In comparison, the Senate version Health Care Bill has around 500,000 words, and if it passes into law, will eventually cost the American taxpayers more than $3,000,000 per word.
Now do I have your attention?
Dear Friends and Family,
This may take you some time. It took George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock some time to do their part also. This will take you less time (and blood, and sweat, and tears) than it took them.
Please consider these things about the Senate version of the Health Care Bill:
After the introduction to the bill, the index of the bill and the bill's title, finally on page 15, we find the first 63 words of the bill itself:
"Part A of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg et seq.) is amended (1) by striking the part heading and inserting the following: ‘‘PART A—INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP MARKET REFORMS’’; (2) by redesignating sections 2704 through 2707 as sections 2725 through 2728, respectively (3) by redesignating sections 2711 through 2713 as sections 2731 through 2733, respectively . . . "
The rest of the bill is not much better, although it does lapse into readable (but not understandable) English for large sections before relapsing into gobbledygook. But here's the thing: It is no more understandable to the Senators than to you, since very few (if any) of them have read all of it, and many of them have read none of it. And furthermore, it will be equally incomprehensible to the government bureaucrats who will have eventual control over our health costs and medical procedures, especially if and when you become a senior (and you all are heading in that direction!).
Link to the Bill text: The Senate version Health Care Bill
(Read a page or two at random and see if you can understand it)
You may have heard that the Senate version of the Health Care Bill is being rushed through the Senate by the Democratic Party leadership and may be voted on before Christmas. You may also wonder why no Republican Senator is planning on voting for the bill. It is not because they do not want to help the needy, it is because they do not want to harm the already-hurting American taxpayer further, and because this Health Care Bill is the largest appropriation of governmental power in the history of the United States.
Here is why the taxpayer should be concerned: The stated cost is $847,000,000,000 (in case you’ve lost track of all those zeros, that is $847 billion dollars). But the true cost over the next 10 years will actually approach $2,500,000,000,000 ($2.5 trillion dollars). The true cost is more than $1 billion dollars per PAGE (the bill contains 2074 pages of legal gobbledygook), and more than $3,000,000 per WORD! !
Many people think this will be funded with “government money”, or, sadly, as some uninformed people have seriously suggested, “with Obama money”. But I have news for you: the U.S. government and the President have no money. And I mean that two different ways:
First, if it could be shown that the U.S. government has money, it is actually our money which has been transferred to the government through a variety of taxation devices. So the government has no money that is not actually our money.
Second, the U.S. government has no money because it is basically bankrupt. If the government were a person, or a corporation, or a state like California, it would have to eventually file for bankruptcy. It owes MUCH MORE than it has the ability to pay.
So the cost of the Government Health Care Bill will be paid by … taxpayers. That is, you and me, our children, and our grandchildren.
Whether you consider yourself a conservative or not, I ask you to thoughtfully consider sending your U.S. Senators, and certain other selected U.S. Senators, an email requesting them to vote NO to this giant bloated takeover of our nation’s health care system.
Here is the email that I sent to 19 special situation U.S. Senators:
Below is a list of these 19 U.S. Senators who fall into three special target catagories:
1. Democrats who sometimes vote for conservative issues like fiscal responsibility and against overspending,
2. Democrats who seem to be in tight races and might possibly lose their current Senate seat if they vote for this bill,
and 3. A few Republicans who every once in a while vote with the liberal tax-and-spend position (we want to discourage these defectors).
The other 81 Senators to which I sent no email are either (a) Republicans who will definitely vote AGAINST the bill, or (b) Democrats who will definitely vote FOR the bill. It’s these 19 in-between Senators that we want to contact and hopefully convince to vote "NO".
All the following senators can be easily contacted via this website:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Click on [Choose a Senator] to bring up each Senator and their email address ("web form"), and then click that to bring up each Senator’s respective email form. Then fill it all out and send it to each one of these 19 Senators.
(D): Democrat (R): Republican (I): Independent
Michael Bennet – D – Colorado
Evan Bayh – D – Indiana
Blanche Lincoln – D – Arkansas
Tim Johnson – D – South Dakota
Diane Feinstein – D – California
Joseph Lieberman – I – Connecticut
Ben Nelson – D – Nebraska
Mary Landrieu – D – Louisiana
Bill Nelson – D – Florida
Olympia Snowe – R – Maine
Susan Collins – R – Maine
Arlen Specter – D – Pennsylvania
Mark Begich – D – Alaska
Lisa Murkowski – R – Alaska
The above 14 are “MUST” contacts.
The following 5 are less likely to vote against the bill,
but yours might be the email that turns the tide!
(currently incoming emails are running 60 to 80% against the bill)
Mark Pryor – D – Arkansas
Kent Conrad – D – North Dakota
Claire McCaskill – D – Missouri
Thomas Carper – D – Delaware
Byron Dorgan – D – North Dakota
Most people do not act because they don't know how to act. Now you have no excuse.
Should you just copy and send my email? Probably not, although you have my okay to reword it. Better that you should touch on the same issues in your own words. Notice I have not explicitly threatened the senators, but have tried to show tough love, because these are senators that sometimes vote conservatively (or else, are dangerously close to losing their seats in 2010). And, note that I have indicated my willingness to be reasonable in insuring certain citizens who at present have no health insurance (note the word "citizens").
Also notice that my Senator email is less than 140 words. Most of the Senator’s email sites allow about 1000 words. But I’m hoping to get mine read. Even mine looks pretty long. If you can reduce the issues down to 75-100 words, GO FOR IT!
Feel free to contact me via our email, or my blog, or by phone 214-823-5688.
May God bless you, and may God bless America!
Larry
This blogpost has around 1200 words. In comparison, the Senate version Health Care Bill has around 500,000 words, and if it passes into law, will eventually cost the American taxpayers more than $3,000,000 per word.
Now do I have your attention?
Dear Friends and Family,
This may take you some time. It took George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock some time to do their part also. This will take you less time (and blood, and sweat, and tears) than it took them.
Please consider these things about the Senate version of the Health Care Bill:
After the introduction to the bill, the index of the bill and the bill's title, finally on page 15, we find the first 63 words of the bill itself:
"Part A of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg et seq.) is amended (1) by striking the part heading and inserting the following: ‘‘PART A—INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP MARKET REFORMS’’; (2) by redesignating sections 2704 through 2707 as sections 2725 through 2728, respectively (3) by redesignating sections 2711 through 2713 as sections 2731 through 2733, respectively . . . "
The rest of the bill is not much better, although it does lapse into readable (but not understandable) English for large sections before relapsing into gobbledygook. But here's the thing: It is no more understandable to the Senators than to you, since very few (if any) of them have read all of it, and many of them have read none of it. And furthermore, it will be equally incomprehensible to the government bureaucrats who will have eventual control over our health costs and medical procedures, especially if and when you become a senior (and you all are heading in that direction!).
Link to the Bill text: The Senate version Health Care Bill
(Read a page or two at random and see if you can understand it)
You may have heard that the Senate version of the Health Care Bill is being rushed through the Senate by the Democratic Party leadership and may be voted on before Christmas. You may also wonder why no Republican Senator is planning on voting for the bill. It is not because they do not want to help the needy, it is because they do not want to harm the already-hurting American taxpayer further, and because this Health Care Bill is the largest appropriation of governmental power in the history of the United States.
Here is why the taxpayer should be concerned: The stated cost is $847,000,000,000 (in case you’ve lost track of all those zeros, that is $847 billion dollars). But the true cost over the next 10 years will actually approach $2,500,000,000,000 ($2.5 trillion dollars). The true cost is more than $1 billion dollars per PAGE (the bill contains 2074 pages of legal gobbledygook), and more than $3,000,000 per WORD! !
Many people think this will be funded with “government money”, or, sadly, as some uninformed people have seriously suggested, “with Obama money”. But I have news for you: the U.S. government and the President have no money. And I mean that two different ways:
First, if it could be shown that the U.S. government has money, it is actually our money which has been transferred to the government through a variety of taxation devices. So the government has no money that is not actually our money.
Second, the U.S. government has no money because it is basically bankrupt. If the government were a person, or a corporation, or a state like California, it would have to eventually file for bankruptcy. It owes MUCH MORE than it has the ability to pay.
So the cost of the Government Health Care Bill will be paid by … taxpayers. That is, you and me, our children, and our grandchildren.
Whether you consider yourself a conservative or not, I ask you to thoughtfully consider sending your U.S. Senators, and certain other selected U.S. Senators, an email requesting them to vote NO to this giant bloated takeover of our nation’s health care system.
NOTE: The news on Weds 12/09 is saying:
"Senate Democrats reach agreement on health plan." This is not so! The vote has not yet happened, and many Senators are still undecided. Please proceed on and act, but the time is getting short!
Here is the email that I sent to 19 special situation U.S. Senators:
Dear Senator (fill in last name)
Please vote NO for the Senate Health Care Bill. This is not the change that 70% of American taxpayers want. It's way too expensive, and causes too much harm to Seniors.
Try again for 250 pages, and $250 billion dollars. This will keep about 90% of things the same (the way we like it now) and will permit health care for the 15-20 million uninsured citizens who both need it and want it.
Millions of us are waiting to see who will stand with us and VOTE NO to this bill, bloated both with words and dollars. You have often voted with those of us who want less spending and less government intervention. Thank you, and we ask that you vote with us again!
Below is a list of these 19 U.S. Senators who fall into three special target catagories:
1. Democrats who sometimes vote for conservative issues like fiscal responsibility and against overspending,
2. Democrats who seem to be in tight races and might possibly lose their current Senate seat if they vote for this bill,
and 3. A few Republicans who every once in a while vote with the liberal tax-and-spend position (we want to discourage these defectors).
The other 81 Senators to which I sent no email are either (a) Republicans who will definitely vote AGAINST the bill, or (b) Democrats who will definitely vote FOR the bill. It’s these 19 in-between Senators that we want to contact and hopefully convince to vote "NO".
All the following senators can be easily contacted via this website:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Click on [Choose a Senator] to bring up each Senator and their email address ("web form"), and then click that to bring up each Senator’s respective email form. Then fill it all out and send it to each one of these 19 Senators.
(D): Democrat (R): Republican (I): Independent
Michael Bennet – D – Colorado
Evan Bayh – D – Indiana
Blanche Lincoln – D – Arkansas
Tim Johnson – D – South Dakota
Diane Feinstein – D – California
Joseph Lieberman – I – Connecticut
Ben Nelson – D – Nebraska
Mary Landrieu – D – Louisiana
Bill Nelson – D – Florida
Olympia Snowe – R – Maine
Susan Collins – R – Maine
Arlen Specter – D – Pennsylvania
Mark Begich – D – Alaska
Lisa Murkowski – R – Alaska
The above 14 are “MUST” contacts.
The following 5 are less likely to vote against the bill,
but yours might be the email that turns the tide!
(currently incoming emails are running 60 to 80% against the bill)
Mark Pryor – D – Arkansas
Kent Conrad – D – North Dakota
Claire McCaskill – D – Missouri
Thomas Carper – D – Delaware
Byron Dorgan – D – North Dakota
Most people do not act because they don't know how to act. Now you have no excuse.
Should you just copy and send my email? Probably not, although you have my okay to reword it. Better that you should touch on the same issues in your own words. Notice I have not explicitly threatened the senators, but have tried to show tough love, because these are senators that sometimes vote conservatively (or else, are dangerously close to losing their seats in 2010). And, note that I have indicated my willingness to be reasonable in insuring certain citizens who at present have no health insurance (note the word "citizens").
Also notice that my Senator email is less than 140 words. Most of the Senator’s email sites allow about 1000 words. But I’m hoping to get mine read. Even mine looks pretty long. If you can reduce the issues down to 75-100 words, GO FOR IT!
Feel free to contact me via our email, or my blog, or by phone 214-823-5688.
May God bless you, and may God bless America!
Larry
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