Voice From the Past

Happy Valentine's Day

To all the people I love:

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I appreciate all you do and I am thankful to Heavenly Father for the chance I be had to be a part of your life. Of course, I loved you yesterday and I will love you tomorrow. But yesterday I was doing laundry and dishes and tomorrow I’ll be buying groceries. It’s not that I don’t want you to know that I love you every day. I am grateful to have a day set aside to remember and celebrate all the people I love.

I feel like I have been surrounded by a barrage of people telling me what a horrible, commercialized holiday Valentine’s Day is. Ironically, the most frequently cited argument for this contention is that we should show our love everyday, not just on holidays. It seems like the people who feel this way ought to love Valentine’s Day the most. After all, it’s the people who think about Jesus everyday that love to celebrate his birth at Christmas. I pray in gratitude every night for my beautiful children. That is why I am so glad they have a birthday once a year where I can set aside the everyday struggles and simply celebrate their births. I am disturbed by all the people who think being ornery and feeling pestered by a holiday meant to honor the people we love is a better expression of love then being excited at the opportunity to set aside the mundane. I was even more disturbed to open up foxnews.com this morning and find a story about why everyone hates this holiday. Valentine’s Day is not about flowers and chocolates. Think about it as an opportunity to reflect on all the people who wish they had someone to celebrate with, rather than feeling bothered that you’re expected to say “I love you.” Remember how lucky and blessed you are to have love. And remember, as always, that I love you.

Happy Ninety Ninth Birthday, President Reagan

One hundred years ago, today, Ronald Reagan was born. In honor of one of freedom's greatest advocates, I would like to share a few of his inspired words...

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

"I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves."

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."

"I know in my heart that man is good.
That what is right will always eventually triumph.
And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

"The founding fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away."

"The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

"There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder."

And my personal favorite...

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for always believing in people rather than institutions. Thank you for encouraging us to believe in ourselves.

The Death of a Tyrant

Two days ago, something big happened for anyone with kids.

A little background...In 1989 a major British medical journal published and article with linked the MMR shot with autism in children. This study involved 12 children (hardly a valid sample size). Since that time 10 of the 13 authors have admitted that there were major flaws with the science. Despite the fact that the results have not been repeated, people like Oprah and Jenny McCarthy have spread the paranoia. Several children have died in measles outbreaks after concerned parents refused immunization.

Two days ago, The Lancet (the medical journal) formally revoked the study, admitting that it was wrong. Too little, too late, perhaps, (and certainly no comfort to the parents of the victims) but truth always wins in the end.

If you would like to know more about this controversy (and see a picture of my adorable nephew), please read my original post here.

If you're interested in reading the journal's reasons for the retraction, look at this article.

The irony of the tax increase

This video goes on and on about spending, before the part I want you to see. So, sit tight and watch it anyway. I have written about this before. When taxes go up, revenue goes down. It's the great lie of the liberal. They want to take from the rich to help the poor, but the increase in taxes functionally hurts both the rich and the poor. This is historically proven, so we have to wonder, what is their goal?

I'm not wondering. While on the campaign trial, Obama was asked about this fact. He said, "I would tax the rich as a matter of fairness." Since this is not elevating the poor, he simply wants to punish the rich. It destroys wealth and hurts everyone. It's the destruction of the American economy. Poor people don't create jobs, either by consumption or industry. Still, they try to spread the poverty around.

Congress shall make no law...

I’ve been very interested in the things happening in our political world the last few weeks. I simply felt that there wasn’t much I could add to the discussion. I rejoiced in the people of Massachusetts deciding to attempt to restore the balance of power. I was pleased to see that we were provided with an opportunity to show that we would not be ignored.

Today I want to address that balance of power. There were two things in the President’s State of the Union speech that caught my attention. These two things caused me to take a few minutes to stare at my children and wonder what I could do to protect them. Here is a quote:

“Now, yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I'll issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans.”

Doesn’t it make your breath catch? It should. Scott Brown has not been seated. This means that the President’s party still has a super majority in the senate. But when they disagree with what he wants, he simply goes around them. They wouldn’t pass cap and trade, so he had the EPA declare the gas exhaled by all animals is a poison. He wanted the power to regulate. He is trying to destroy the system of checks and balances that prevents tyranny within our country.

The other thing that froze me to the core in his speech was a complaint about the recent Supreme Court decision that struck down laws preventing companies from contributing to political campaigns. President Obama said, "With all due deference to the separation of powers the court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections."

President Obama, what does “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech” mean to you? Who, you may ask, would determine whether a book should be banned in the name of silencing those companies before an election? THE GOVERNMENT. So, basically, the Supreme Court decided to take the power to silence corporations away from a sitting government during an election.

My gosh. What are they trying to do? Does anyone read the constitution any more?

The Supreme Court does.

Pray for Haiti

The quandary of health care costs

A lot of people fundamentally misunderstand the health care debate. Last month, my husband overheard a nurse bemoaning the horrible fact that Texas has a high rate of uninsured. It’s so sad that we have been so overwhelmed by the “common sense” argument that this is somehow an atrocious thing that we didn’t stop to consider the reality.

In fact, if we are truly regretting the high price of medical care, the answer is to get rid of insurance altogether. I am not suggesting that we do this. I believe in the free market and if people find it worthwhile to purchase health care for their families, they should be allowed to. But the fact remains that the idea of more coverage lowering costs is ludicrous.

Consider this: A woman walked into my husband’s ER last month. She claimed to be having abdominal pain. He examined her, did the necessary tests and discovered that she was in good health. So, he asked her if there was anything else he needed to know. She responded, “I had unprotected sex last weekend and I want you to test me for STD’s.”

Nate answered, “I can do that, but it’s very expensive in the emergency room. If you go to a clinic, it will save you a lot of money.”

She replied, “I don’t care about that. I’m on Medicaid. Do the tests here.”

We have, in essence, a woman who came to the emergency room to get tested for STD’s. Why? Because of insurance.

I get so angry when I hear people saying, “We need universal coverage because people neglect to get primary care and then they end up in the ER and it costs a lot more.” My local congressman had the gall to send this ludicrous argument in a tax-payer funded news letter.

Listen very carefully…When the state of Massachusetts implemented mandatory medical insurance, emergency room visits went UP. This is because people with insurance become more demanding, wanting tests they don’t need. They also don’t care what you’re charging them. They take less responsibility for their own health because the healthcare coverage means they don’t have to. They are fine with name brand drugs. They refuse to see nurse practitioners. They don’t care what it costs. Would you bother shopping for discounts at the grocery store if you had food insurance that only required a co pay on your part? You would probably fill the cart as full as it could go, whether you needed it or not.

If you want health care costs to go down, more insurance is the opposite of what we need. If you want the cost of ANYTHING to go down, more government is, likewise, the opposite of what we need.

When are we going to figure out the simplest fact of all (the one our grandparents knew all too well): The solution to almost every problem is personal responsibility.

Bad Choices=Good Outcome

Anyone who knows me at all has heard me say that the real problem with the society we’re creating is that it destroys the God-created system of choice and accountability. The natural law is very simple: “If you do something dumb, bad things happen. If you do something good, good things happen.” All of a sudden, however, we are rewarding people for bad choices. Our version of morality isn’t something we made up. It was as simple as your decisions determining the outcome. We were able to see clearly that the good things we did lead to positive outcomes. That is now being destroyed.

This concept is also being played out in the heath care debacle. I read an article today that showed how, in both the Senate and House bills, the cost of insurance will increase the moment a couple gets married. Nice. Our government is giving yet another incentive for people to destroy the sacred family.

Please read this article. Every American needs to understand that by giving our liberty to the government, we are not only destroying accountability, but we are depleting morality.

Dumb things people say to amuse me: Margaret Sanger

This special, historical edition is dedicated to the largest abortion center in the United States being opened in Houston on January 18th. This quote is from Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood (who sponsored the new center).

"As an advocate of Birth Control, I wish to take advantage of the present opportunity to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the "unfit" and the "fit", admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation to the mentally and physically fit though less fertile parents of the educated and well-to-do classes. On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective."

What a mission statement! Ms. Sanger, of course, saw herself as fit to procreate.