Who's To Blame?

I agree with all of your solutions except lowering taxes for business. How will we ever pay down the national debt by constantly lowering taxes?

@Al Troy
Al, if you have time, go research some of the facts about the massive growth of our economy under President Reagan.

Each day a business creates X amount of revenue. I know, as I'm a business. If I have MORE $$$ leftover each day because I'm paying LESS to the government ( Federal, State and Local), I can REINVEST that money back into the business to grow it. I can:

Hire More Employees
Buy More Equipment
Expand the Business

All of these activities create more growth which, by default, creates more taxes into the treasuries.

It's really simple. Remember, and this is not intended as disrespect to government employees, but they are a DRAG on the economy much like you and I trying to swim with a millstone around our necks. We who pay taxes pay their salaries, benefits, retirement AND their taxes with our taxes.

The US is currently being operated by a socialist aristocracy. It started with FDR's "New Deal".

The code word for socialist is liberals. Those who call themselves liberals, so they will "sound good" to the public. They appeal by promising to take money from the rich, and giving it to the poor. The politicians are rich. They are NOT going to take their money, and pass it out to the poor. But, the voters want to sit back, and do nothing, and have everything given to them.

In 1945 we could have done something by voting. But, we chose to be pampered. So, we voted for the socialist liberals. Now, it's too late. When we vote for something the government doesn't want, they have their "Supreme Court" illegally declare our vote unconstitutional. IOW, the socialist, liberal Democrats have seized all "legal" power. All we have left is mass, armed revolution- and they want to take our guns, so we can't arm ourselves.

Tim, someone needs to get harsh with the voting public, and convince them that, when we ask for handouts, we loose our freedom. Yes, FDR was a USSR style communist. In 1945, the head of the American Socialist Party said his party had become useless, because the Democrats were doing it all for him.

Read the 1914 Dusseldorf document, and see how many of its points are being pressed into use BY THE DEMOCRATS!! They are the socialists (codeword for communist).
- Show quoted text -

On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Tim Carter wrote:

Dear Ray,

Yesterday I had two people, one of them a very, very dear friend
tell me they thought that my email to you was a little over the top.

--
KrazyKyngeKorny
(Krazy, not stupid)

I don't think what you wrote yesterday was over the top at all and definitely no more so than either side writes/says. You just keep speaking from your heart!

In response to "Business taxes" there is the pervasive thought of "Why should businesses make all the money and not be taxed?" Taken at face value this is reasonable. But, ultimately, it is the consumer who pays the tax.

For instance, if my business makes a widget which sells for $50 and the government imposes a 10% tax, then I have to now charge $55 for the widget or I will have to cut jobs or not give pay raises. Thus the consumer ends up paying the $5 tax.

If I do not charge $55 then, as you mentioned, I can't reinvest, or hire more employees. Also, if I stay at $50, my employees will have less money to spend; if consumers buy less, then companies will slow their production, and then their profits decrease, and the economy cylces down. Which sounds like what's going on now!

Ultimately, the consumer pays all the taxes and has less money to spend.

Tim..I hear you! I voted, email my gov.,pay taxes and RESENT politicians more and more each and every day! Plus I live in New Jersey,which makes things twice as bad,if you have seen what goes on here..the new govenor is shaking things up (a good start), and I wish we could make our displeasure LOUDER in DC.
WE are all but ignored. They should be be held responsible for thier actions, at the polls and legally..thanks for writing!

Tim,good start to yor list, need to consider term limits,and expansion of impeachment proceedings and really, who gave anyone the right to create CZARS? For a "Constitutional" Lawyer I have wondered if this Ivy League Professor ever got around to reading a proponents teachings on the Constitution rather than only his contemporary's writings of constitutional opponents?

Tim
Nothing that you have written is over the top in my opinion. I am retired for ten years and now am reducing my life style due to non CPI increased costs. These are not caused,only facilitated,by any recent US president. The big view is our Federal Reserve and Wall Street banks are taking control of our money. At all levels income and expenditures are a zero sum game. Our legislators both state and federal just pass more laws that require money with no accountability for where the money will come from. We all know this means higher taxes. Our country, states and cities can't continue spending and falling further in debt. Printing money just further devalues my money that will buy less in the future. Wake up everybody and fix the real problem. Elect legislators who will get our country out of debt before we all become another Greece or earlier an Argentina.
Ron

Tim you shouldn't take it so personal. We have two kinds of people in this society, ones that are givers and believe in being a self made man and the others are takers that think somebody, some government or unions owe them because they exist. This all started with the depression and the implementation of social security and so on. Nothing is free when it comes to government. If you give them the chance they will take your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in any form, in any way possible without your consent. The fact is people don't read the fine print.
Another fact is I studied history and constitutional law and disowned my parents for sleeping on the job 30 years ago. Everything was materialism, keeping up with the Joneses, all about them. As for the welfare program (Health Care) I am not too worried about it. I believe it won't pass muster in the courts. Lawsuits will fly and I will be watching Jay http://www.aclj.org/Default.aspx making Obama administration look like idiots. This is a power grab to suppress the American people. For those who don't understand the implications, read the history of the French revolution.
It’s easier to thread a camel through the head of a needle then it is for a rich man to get into heaven. With that being said look what you have in Washington DC trying to pass this hogwash that is full of lies. It’s just like when I got my first check at 14 years old and I saw what they took out for social security. I knew right there and then it was impossibility for the government to keep this promise. The #’s aren’t there. So who fouled whom?

Right on, Tim! I agree with you completely. We need to sit up straight, keep our feet anchored, remember our heritage, and stay on our conservative Republican course!

Tim,
You are spot on with your list. I am a widow living on Social Security of $750 a month. I finally became eligible for Medicare and took out a Medicare Advantage Policy. Now the government is going to take away the Medicare Advantage and if that wasn't bad enough they took away cost of living for us too. The Medicare Part B premium also took a big jump this year causing my check to go down $110 a month! I have to live within a budget and I expect the government to do the same. I vote in every election (local and Federal) and you can be sure I will make my vote count in November

Hi Tim,
I just received this email yesterday after reading the statements from Michael R. Connelly, a constitutional attorney from Louisiana. http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/entries/general/the-truth-about-the-health-care-bills

This is the email.

The author of this article lives in South Dakota and appears to be very active in attempting to maintain our freedom. I encourage everybody to read this article and pass it along. I see so many parallels in this country–are we going to sit by and watch it happen? Spread the word; also contact your congressional reps; vote them out if they don’t do what they should. If you don’t want to be bothered, then you’re part of the problem! Google Kitty Werthmann and you will see articles and videos.

http://lornakismet.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/werthmann1.jpg

This Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away

By: Kitty Werthmann

What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.

I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications.

Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed.. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.

We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.

After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:

Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.

Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

Equal Rights Hits Home:

In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.

Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:

When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:

Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

"Mercy Killing" Redefined:

In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

The Final Steps - Gun Laws:

Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to

the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism.

Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.

"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away,

"After America , There is No Place to Go"

Please forward this message to other voters who may not have it.

Both the email and article from Michael R. Connelly were eye openers. I hope you and others can glean from the email. Let's not let the government run our lives the way they see fit.

RGB

Tim,
God Bless You! I would vote for you if I lived in New Hampshire! (Even if you are a Democrat! It doesn't make any difference).
Also, thank you, JoAnn from Missouri. You have said so much in a nutshell! Today the bill is available, and then it will be TRANSPARENT what all this has been about.

My sister writes insurance policies for different insurance companies in the United States. Every State has different laws regarding how things are governed in Insurance. My sister said that her big question was: "Why did the President lie about Insurance Policy Premiums going down?" She said to fund abortions, cut pre-existing conditions, and a few other things in the bill, everyone has to know the Insurance Companies will have to rewrite the premiums to cover these expenses, and Yes, premiums will drastically go up. That is from the Insurance Industry folks.

I will be at the polls on voting day, to try and make a difference. I also want to thank the Democrats I saw today who had the courage to go on National News today and say why they voted against the healthcare bill. If they were in my state, I would be voting for them.

Tim, maybe a quote from James Madison is appropriate for your readers. Please read it and think about it... “Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation”
Though this borders on the violent and sudden, James Madison had a true understanding of where we need to have our heads as Americans. Read some of his other quotes at http://thinkexist.com/quotes/james_madison/
Maybe it is time for another revolution - this one based on the mis-representation of the American people by its politicians. Our founding Fathers NEVER intended "lifetime" politicians but a continual revolving door to keep the dirt out...
Christians - are you praying for those in office as you have been instructed to do or just criticizing? If you haven't hit your knees yet boys and girls you better do it now. You know what's coming!

Tim, keep the faith brother. To paraphrase the the civil rights anthem of the 60's, "With God's help, We Shall Overcome!" Rember to vote this year, and keep voting at every election until we have cleaned house and retaken our Government. As a Vietnam vet, I too am apalled by the apathy and entitlement sickness that runs rampant.

Tim -

I saw nothing about your Saturday, March 20, blog post that was "over the top." I just returned on Sunday, March 21, from a Spring Break week with my family in Washington, DC, and saw the president make two trips to the Capitol to twist reluctant Democrats' arms. I returned from Washington with a profound sense of sadness. The juxtaposition of Washington & Jefferson's freedom-creating genius and Obama & Pelosi's freedom-destroying evil were too much to take, and I was moved to tears at what has happened to our liberty.

I am a 24-year expert in health insurance financing, an insurance agent who has arranged health plans for scores of employers. I have fought insurers for decades as an advocate of my clients. Yet I give health insurers a solid A+ in their current handling of fully- and self-insured health plans alike. Insurers are our allies when we or our loved ones spend one night in a hospital and receive an absurd $42,000 bill. Insurers negotiate fees with providers so that we don't have to discuss sensitive financial issues with our doctors. Insurers pay the claims and eliminate most of the paperwork and hassle during a time of great stress for our families.

As I write this comment, the Obama health bill is an hour away from passing and becoming law. I have e-mailed and faxed letters to all the Democratic leadership, all the Democratic members of the House and Senate Labor committees, and President Obama himself about some serious flaws in the health bill that are sure to drive up premiums dramatically. I have received zero responses. The Democrats are not interested in visiting with an expert insurance agent from Texas who would sincerely like to improve their legislation so it might have a snowball's chance at doing some good for America.

The Democrats are interested in denigrating insurers, who do a far better job of health care management than any government agency ever has or could. We used to insult and slander blacks and Jews; now the President of the United States insults and slanders health insurers as part of his daily diatribe.

The Democrats are interested in promoting the illusory benefits of their bill such as the elimination of pre-existing conditions clauses (which are absolutely essential in a voluntary insurance system to prevent people from buying insurance only after they get sick), the prohibition of insurers' right to rescind health insurance policies if you get sick (rescission except for fraud is already illegal in all 50 states), and the elimination of lifetime limits on health insurance benefits (which will drive up the cost of insurance in both fully- and self-insured plans alike). All three of these so-called "benefits" are either of no value, because state law already bans the targeted actions, or are detrimental and will drive up insurance rates.

Little known -- even to lawmakers -- is that the bill's requirement that insurers spend at least 85% of your premium dollars on providers' fees will eliminate many insurance agents' services. Insurance agents are the key ingredient in insurance market efficiency, because we shop around our clients' health insurance in a very complicated market. (Most of its complications are government-imposed regulations, such as COBRA and HIPAA.) Eliminate the insurance agent, and you are guaranteed a less efficient, more expensive health insurance market.

The Democrats have not responded to my repeated correspondence that started in December and continued throughout last week, because they are not interested in facts and logic, nor are they concerned that they are expanding government unconstitutionally and against the clear intent of our founding fathers. They are only interested in winning this vote so that they can say that they voted for "health care."

Obama and Pelosi compare the vote on health insurance reform with the courageous votes that created Social Security and Medicare, how the hard-hearted Republicans opposed those programs, and how popular they are today.

Of course they're popular. If I gave my children $1,000 in cash per day for spending money, their new allowance program would be very popular from the first day to its last. My children would have no clue or concern that the allowances are forcing me into bankruptcy. The popularity of Social Security and Medicare does not diminish their great failure on any actuarial or financial basis. They are ponzi schemes, and the base has become so wide that these two pyramids are very close to collapsing.

So give 'em hell, Tim. The days for compromise are over. We have compromised with the liberals since FDR, and look what it has gotten us: A pathetic dependent populace that values benefits over freedom and a national debt that exceeds $50 trillion on an accrual basis.

Give 'em a LOT of HELL Tim! In the end, as we said in the fighting holes, "God Will Know His Own!"

Keep the fire stoked, Tim! I'm putting some hot links on my stick for cooking in your fire pit! Throw some mesquite charcoal on it for us!

Al Troy responded against the lowering taxes part. Here's some tax history that I think is interesting.

Socialism started at least as far back as 1913. In 1895, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the income tax was unconstitutional because it was not apportioned among the states in conformity with the Constitution.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system. The amendment gave Congress legal authority to tax income and resulted in a revenue law that taxed incomes of both individuals and corporations.(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005921.html)

Then there was Colonel Edward Mandell House. He some of his schoolmates were also members of Cecil Rhodes Round Table group. The Round Table Group, the back bone of the Secret Society, had four pet projects, a graduated income tax, a central bank, creation of a Central Intelligence Agency, and the League of Nations. (http://www.gemworld.com/EdMandellHouse.htm)

It's called Fabian Socialism. The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means.

I start looking up more during these times!
The blessed Hope coming from that direction.

Bob Dylan sings about His return:

"Of every earthly plan
that be known to man,
He is unconcerned,
He’s got plans of His own
to set up His throne
When He returns."

See Psalm 2:2-4

Mmmm my links are ready!

John

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. I FEEL MANY AMERICANS WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA ARE REGRETTING HAVING DONE SO. LET'S ALL WORK TO GET OUR FORMER AMERICA BACK FROM THE PEOPLE WE ELECTED TO REPRESENT US IN DC. WE NEED SOME LEADERS WHO LOVE THEIR COUNTRY MORE THAN WHAT CAN BE GAINED BY BECOMING AN ELECTED OFFICIAL.

It is a sad day. These control freaks in Congress will be dealt at election time. I just saw on CNBC business a proponent of this bill who called the protesters on Saturday a "mob". Well, I am one of the mob, retired and very peaceful but I believe we have only begun the fight to get our country back.

Forgive me if I am emotional today, because it is my 26th wedding anniversary. I just wanted all of you to understand where I am coming from.

My husband's family are Irish immigrants, who were railroad workers and steel workers in Buffalo.The whole family has always been hard working, middle class folks.

My family comes from Ireland and Poland. My Mother's folks were from Ireland, and my Father's folks were from Poland. They were all hardworking industrious folk.My Dad got his education from being in the military for 29 years, and he loved his country. My father-in-law also got his education from his military service during WW2.

When my husband's grandmother got sick, his aunt and family members dedicated their money, and one aunt cared for her until she died at home,after many years bedridden.

When my Grandmother got sick, my Mother and I cared for her for four years until her death at home. I was young, and had a job at the hospital on call, that I only had to take 30% of my call time, so on Grandmother's bad days, I stayed home and cared for her. I remember nights of nothing but changing sheets all night long, and wondering if we would ever make it through. We were so tired and haggard at the end, but somehow, we had the strength day by day. It was worth it all, because my Grandmother was my best friend. I remember her waking up one day, from her confusion and weeping. She said,"I was looking around my room today, and at my beautiful clean sheets, and I knew I was loved." She died in my and my Mother's arms not long after that.

I went back into a full time nursing career in the hospital after that, and married my husband. Right after we got married, he got the government loan statement for his medical school loans. The interest rates had gone up to 8% and 10% from 1% and 2%, in what we thought were fixed rate loans.My husband was starting his residency, and was notified that instead of beng due after residency, the loans were now due to start within just a few weeks. So, I started looking for a fulltime job where we had moved, to pay the loans, as we were living at poverty level to get my husband through training. The loans came to $2600.00 a month, and it took my whole paycheck to pay for the loans. We had to put off having children. In all those years of training, it took a toll.My husband's salary all those years was less than mine as a nurse, until his last year of training, when he made $1,000.00 more than I did.I can remember how my husband was so excited after six years, that he finally made more than I did! In those days, we paid $750.00/month child care, for me to work full time and help pay the bills.

There was one time we went to a movie in six years, we had worn clothes, and my husband actually had shoes with holes in the soles. We knew it would take a lot of hard work to get through it. When we got money for presents at Christmas, and birthdays, we used it to pay bills.
We watched our friends prosper, and buy homes and new cars, and kept working hard to get through all the training.

Finally, one day, after we had our son, the doctor told me I would have to stop working full time, because my body could no longer take the stress with a heart condition that was becoming worse.

We were getting up at 4:45 a.m. in the morning, and I was lucky if I got home from the hospital at 6:00-7:00 pm at night. My husband got home hours later.

For my husband, the days were long, and he worked hard. That has never stopped. He has remained committed to his patients. We have always lived very modestly, and have never seen the wealth, people talk about doctors for, since he is a country doctor.

We shop at Big Lots, and IGA, which is a cheaper grocery store, and I shop at The Dollar Store. We are working hard trying to help our kids through college. One son is thinking about going back into the Army again, since jobs are hard to find in Ohio right now. The other son is in the Army ROTC, taking flight to be an ARMY pilot. The flight training is not covered in scholarships, so we are having to scrape for funds, and live very lean.

We do not live in ritzey circles, and we are eating less and doing less, to help our sons have a future.Our circle is the grocery store, and church, for the most half.

When we checked on retirement, which most of it has been lost in the stock crash, we will be living at poverty level when retirement time comes.

What we have decided is that if we can help our boys, and give them faith, and morals to live by, and help them to be able to make it and support their families, that will be their heritage.

We never thought we would be less successful financially than our parents after all the hard work, but it has been that way.Right now there is $18,000.00 left owing on the medical school loans, near retirement. Can you imagine 26 years of paying on these loans?

We have always tried to help all the folks we could along the way in life. The other day at the grocery store I saw a mother who had gotten up to the cash register, and her check bounced.

I got into the car with my older son, and started weeping, because I did not have money to give her for gorceries. My son was crying, too, and upset. I keep seeing the vision of those children looking at the floor as their mother had to leave the groceries, and it haunts me. The unemployment is staggering here where I am.

I am not trying to whine. Life has been an interesting journey all the way through. When you are in the autumn, what is left is the love you gave, and your freedom. When I feel sorry sometimes for myself, I listen to others' stories, and they all have hard tough times. In this site, whether I agree with you or not, we are all in this together. I will fight for our rights and yours, and I ask you as brothers and sisters to do the same. Remember, it is not about blame now, it is about seeing what we can do to fight for freedom.

Tim, this is indeed a Black Monday. I watched the proceedings on CSPAN yesterday and became more depressed by the minute, especially at the sight of my representative-Louise Slaughter-stand up there selling America down the road. I railed against the Chesire grinning cat Nancy Pelosi, giggling at times as she urged passage of this bill. As voters we share some of the blame for sending these turncoats to Congress year after year for the promise of a few pieces of silver. I am angry at the Republicans for pushing John McCain as the only person capable of running against Obama. You know what I don't understand? How people say they like Obama but don't like his policies. He has finally accomplished what other Progressives before him could not do. Eventually we will be nothing but wards of the government. I have watched Glenn Beck enough who has detailed enough where this government is going. Unlike years ago when people came to the shores of America to escape oppressive rulers, we have nowhere to go. This is all too unreal.

Tim,
All this talk about Healthcare is mute as it addresses reform because Insurance isn't the root of the problem. My wife is in healthcare and the problem at the root isn't the hospitals or insurance, but the suppliers. They charge outrageous amounts for supplies which translate to hospitals having to charge more which translates to insurance having to raise their premiums. They need to open up health insurance to across state lines and let other companies offer health insurance rather than just health insurance companies and open up the market which will drive down premiums.

Unfortunately, those in Washington does not rule by logic but by prue ideology.

Tim, Your comments are not over the top. A little metaphor can be useful in times such as these! There is much truth to go along with the passion in these postings. We must pay heed to the historical information provided in the previous post by RGB about "creeping gradualism" under Hitler in Austria. It's happening here, folks! Don't give up essential liberties to "feel" safe. As you read that post, remember this quote from Ben Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer 1706 - 1790.

I just read this group of articles and was appalled by the lack of realistic evaluation of what was said in the Nazi story. George Bush was a Hitler clone and no one said anything about his "don't call me sir! I am the President! You will address me as Mr President!" or that if you disagreed with him you were censured by the party, outed as an American spy, or disallowed in Presidential news briefings. If you want to point a finger at anyone, then point it at the republican party and voters who rubber stamped that kind of behavior for the most powerful man in the world (people were appalled by the fact that Hitler replaced the religious training with a national program to "worship" Hitler,". No one is saying anything about Bush's behavior or self importance.
The fact that the republican party presented tax breaks for the Wealthy and Corporations and allowed the CEO'S of companies (Enron, and others) that helped put us in this financial hole walk away unpunished with huge incomes in the hundreds of millions and then have the unmitigated gall to call Barrack Obama the problem. If we, as a country, are to accept the Republican take on national Health Care and the cost of getting jobs for the lower class people that work for a living not make their living off the work of others they do not wish to acknowledge as people, then we deserve everything that happens to us. Stand up and be counted as an American and don't pussyfoot around the issue that there is nothing historically available to support the premise that wealthy people will spend their money to bring fair wages for fair work. Yes! They will hire you to work but at less than minimum wage, if they can. If I, with a high school education, can see the fallacy of the position presented, where are the educated people who see the "big picture" hiding when misrepresentation of the facts is presented as the truth. We killed thousands of American Soldiers for an assault on a nation that had "Weapons of mass destruction" that were weeks from being deployable, only to find out that (a) this was a deliberate and calculated misrepresentation of the truth (b) not actually the case. (c) The President was told this in advance by advisors that he ignored and then later blamed them for the debacle that ensued (d)He was not called to task for killing hundreds of thousands of people for a vendetta that cost the USA world credibility and a trillion dollar deficit by a Republican congress.
Yes, this posting is a little scatter shot and disjointed but seeing what was said to justify being angry with the Democratic party for trying to represent the lower class saddens and angers me. Don't impeach the President impeach the self serving Republicans and the cowardly Democrats that will not represent the average man as they should be doing. Let us get some semblance of accountability in government.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA, and may The Almighty God who guided the Founding Fathers be merciful to this nation.

We need to repent, as a nation, otherwise there is no hope to right this sinking ship with our own strength.

Virtue, Valor and Duty are missing from the citizens of this country.