Ha, HA! Happy Halloween!

2.2 Million a Word

Please take a look at this article. In part, it says:

"The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word."

I thought it was very creative reporting. Note that the estimated cost is only for 10 years, not beyond. I certainly doesn't include all the "tweaking" they'll be attempting to throw in over those ten years to get the support of one special interest group or another.

Consider the words of Frederic Bastiat (1848):

"The State is the great fiction through which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else...The State cannot satisfy one party without adding to the labor of the others."

I don't know how much more I can say about health care. To me, it is so blindingly obvious that this is a tyrant lying in wait to gobble up more of what the United States stands for...freedom...that I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach thinking about it. Of course, I think the fact that the American people don't want it should stand for itself.

Me, being me, however, I think I will enjoy a little chuckle at the Politico article, call my "representatives" in Washington, and hold my little ones a bit tighter tonight. For the people in Washington, its votes that are at stake today. For me, its the future of four beautiful children. My stakes couldn't be higher. I can't help feeling like that counts for something.

Obscene Profits

First of all, let me say that I don't have a problem with profits. I enjoyed economics from the time I was in high school. I remember hearing someone at my school say something about Hollywood actors or Major League sports figures. The implication was that it was ridiculous that these people, whose talents were so unimportant, could make such enormous sums of money when teachers, and even doctors, weren't even close. Even as a child who didn't really understand the trade off between services and freedom, I thought this was silly. They make more because people demand their services more. If you disagree with what an actor makes, don't see his film. If you don't approve of what they pay sports figures, don't go to, listen to, or watch sports. When enough people devalue these abilities, they will not be able to demand high salaries.

And so, I now hear that insurance companies are making windfall profits while people are dying after being denied services. That sounds really sad. Too bad it's not true. I want to share this article with you.

FACT CHECK: Health insurer profits not so fat

Basically, based on this assumption of "evil" insurance companies, the government is suggesting that it swoop in and save us. The senate is, once again, drafting legislation that includes a public option. This means that the government will start its own insurance company to compete with the ones that now operate. Except that "compete" isn't the word. After all, they government doesn't have any accountability. They don't have to answer to shareholders. They don't have to turn a profit. Rather, they can just take the money they need from us and our children.

Would this lower health care costs? Let me ask you this...when someone holds out a basket of Halloween candy that includes both full-sized candy bars and dum-dum suckers, which do you take? The person who doesn't have to pay, takes the candy bar. The insurance company says, "Now wait a minute, let's look at the facts. There's calories and cavities to consider. Which of these option is really better?" Take accountability out of health care and you will watch costs skyrocket. And it seems to me that taking accountability away is what the government does best.

The Word of People Much Smarter than Me: Religious Freedom

I shared a few quotes from this talk last week. Today, I want to share the entire thing.

Strike for Freedom

Since I am committed to bringing you the good news in the fight for America, I have to weigh in on yesterday’s little-noticed news about the free press. It’s not a secret that the White House has started a war against Fox News. The have been sending their cronies out to other news outlets to say that Fox News is not a news organization and they will not treat them as such. Twice, that I have heard of, that statement has been followed by the assertion that other news organizations should stop treating Fox as legitimate. It’s a very devious tactic, from a very vindictive White House, who attacks any one who disagrees with them as “racists,” among other things.

Two days ago, the White House did more than just tell everyone else to stop listening to Fox. They agreed to make their “pay czar” (the man responsible for limiting the pay of business executives) available to the members of the White House pool. This is a situation where the five major networks have agreed to pool their resources so that only one has responsibility for the film crew covering the White House. It is a rotating responsibility. All of the networks share the footage. I am not very familiar with the details. But the White House agreed to let these networks interview the “pay czar” as long as Fox was excluded.

The heads of these networks met together and unanimously decided that they would not allow that precedent to be set. They demanded that Fox be included. The White House, perhaps realizing the damage that could happen if this attempt at censorship became a major news story, backed down. I watch coverage of all the networks at times. I know that Fox has been critical of others and the others have been critical of Fox. But these media giants realized that the government cannot take control of the media or limit free speech. I am proud that we live in a place where the right to speak is valued above consensus. I am proud of all the major news networks today.

Bringing the Country Together

Here's Obama on the campaign:



Here he is now:



President Obama is the most divisive president ever. Consider the words of Michael Gerson,

"According to the Pew Research Center, the gap between Republican and Democratic approval ratings for Bush a few months into his first term was about 51 percentage points. For Obama, this partisan gap stands at 61 points. Obama has been a unifier, of sorts. He has united Democrats and united Republicans -- against each other."

This research is from back in April. Do you think it has gotten better? I am proud that conservatives are finally coming together in defense of freedom. I just wish it wasn't at such a cost. Unite and stand together. We can preserve freedom for our children.

Community Teeth

It's a little off subject, but it needs saying...

A few months ago my husband came home from work and told me a story. One of his coworkers had been on this blog. I guess he must have found it very interesting because, rather than any thoughts on the content, he said to Nate, “Did you know that you’re not mentioned anywhere on there?” The answer is, of course, he didn’t. Neither did he care. Nate never reads my writing. I think he’s afraid he won’t like it and have to answer when I ask him his thoughts.

Still, I found it curious that other people would notice how conspicuously absent Nate is from the things that I write. I decided it’s time to change this trend. I don’t want there to be any ambiguity about how much I appreciate and adore my husband.

This month has been rather trying. I have lost my last two grandparents, everyone in my family has been sick, and I noticed a rather unpleasant lump on my gums above a tooth which has already had a root canal, a crown and dental surgery. Through it all, there has been my wonderful husband.

The internet said the gum lump was an abscess and my husband insisted that I go to the dentist immediately. The dentist confirmed the e-diagnosis and explained that I would either have to have the tooth extracted and a bridge put in, or the dental surgery would need to be repeated. He referred me to an endodontist. What does this mean to me? A lot of money.

What was Nate’s reaction? He smiled pityingly and nodded. He had been expecting it, but he was not upset. Our financial situation is not currently ideal. I admit that a part of me wanted to feel less than blessed at this expense showing up right now. It feels like we've had one unexpected expense after another. I also admit that I was concerned about my husband’s feelings on the matter. If you know Nate, you know that he wouldn’t get angry; it’s not his style. But I was worried he would see my teeth as a source of stress, as I did. He would never say that I was causing him stress. But I knew that I would be hurt when I saw that he was upset by a problem that was uniquely mine. Only, he didn’t get upset. He took the news like he would have if I had announced that we were having chicken for dinner. I felt profoundly grateful.

I tried to explain to Nate why his casualness meant so much to me. I wasn’t any better at explaining it to him than I have been at explaining it to you. I told him, “thanks for not making me feel like a liability.” He looked confused and responded, “You’re not a liability.” It was clear that he didn’t see what I was thanking him for. I didn’t know how to better explain it.

Today, Nate came home from work wearing an almost giddy smile. He declared that he was going to be able to work a few of his days off next month. In a very excited tone, he said, “It’ll be an extra thousand dollars. That will pay for your tooth.” I can’t describe what I felt when I saw my husband obviously thrilled about the opportunity to work even more hours for the privilege of, again, flushing a lot of money into my mouth.

It was finally clear to me why he hadn’t understood my concerns. He had never seen my bad teeth as a failing from me, the way I did. Instead, he saw his lack of being able to pay for something I needed as a failing on his part. I had expected him to wonder why I was asking so much of him. Instead, he took great pleasure in finding a way to support me. He didn’t see all the things he could have bought with the money that would now be wasted-at all. Strange.

I don’t know why the world has become such a selfish place. I suspect that the attitude of “her problems” and “his problems” is the primary reason behind the skyrocketing divorce rate. I have just realized that I am in a relationship where my teeth aren’t even mine. They are ours. Perhaps community teeth are the secret to a forever marriage. One thing is for certain, most of society's ills wouldn't even exist if there were more men of integrity around- more men like Nate.

So, today I am addressing the fact that I have not previously talked about my husband. I am posting here, for anyone in the world with internet access to read, that I am madly in love with the man I married 10 years ago. I will be forever grateful that he is mine.

Brilliant and Powerful

I know this blog is becoming a little video-centric, but this may be the most amazing one yet. I couldn't resist. I know none of you has time to sit and watch this. Here's the deal. Wait until it's time to fold laundry. Turn it on. You'll be amazed by this man.

The Word of People Much Smarter than Me: Freedom and Christianity

From a talk by Dallin H. Oaks:

It was the Christian principles of human worth and dignity that made possible the formation of the United States Constitution over 200 years ago, and only those principles in the hearts of a majority of our diverse population can sustain that constitution today. Our constitution’s revolutionary concepts of sovereignty in the people and significant guarantees of personal rights were, as John A. Howard has written,

"generated by a people for whom Christianity had been for a century and a half the compelling feature of their lives. It was Jesus who first stated that all men are created equal [and] that every person . . . is valued and loved by God."

Professor Dinesh D’Souza reminds us:

"The attempt to ground respect for equality on a purely secular basis ignores the vital contribution by Christianity to its spread. It is folly to believe that it could survive without the continuing aid of religious belief."

Religious values and political realities are so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of Christianity in the public square without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms. I maintain that this is a political fact, well qualified for argument in the public square by religious people whose freedom to believe and act must always be protected by what is properly called our “First Freedom,” the free exercise of religion.

80 Years Later

This is a long video, but very interesting. As a disclaimer, I should note that I have found economics interesting since high school. If you have the time, check it out.