Something to think about…

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The United Kingdom Health Service is the world’s 3rd largest employer. At #2, India’s National Rail System; and at #1, The Army of Communist Red China. Think about the populations of China and India. How many trains must run in India?

China’s army as a percentage of their population must make it huge. Then think about the small island nation of Great Britain. Their Health Service ranks third in employees among companies around the world. How is that for cost efficiency? Is this something America wants to emulate?

Tags: Government Healthcare Reform, Obamacare, public option, socialized medicine
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Social Security Completely Depleted By 2037

Monday, September 14th, 2009

You do not have to go to Fox News or Rush Limbaugh to find out how incompetent the Federal Government is at managing current social programs in order to make a more educated decision on a future Government- run Health Care System.  Since the middle of August, several articles have been put out by the AP and Scripps Howard warning Americans about “daunting and dangerous challenges” bearing down on federal programs.

An Associated Press story compared Social Security to a giant Ponzi scheme like that of Bernie Madoff.  Social Security takes contributions for current workers to pay benefits for retirees. The scheme worked great when the ratio of workers to retirees was 16:1.  That produced a massive surplus in funds which was wrongfully used to “finance the rest of the government.”   As Baby Boomers have started reaching retirement age, the ratio has been whittled to 6:1.  With increased life expectancy for seniors, a continuing decrease in American childbirths (not to mention 1 million annual abortions since 1973), “the day of reckoning is fast approaching.”

“We had a remarkable 25-year run in terms of the economy.  We had this wonderful demographic holiday where the baby boomers were moving through their main earning years.  Now, the economy is in tatters, the boomers are ready to retire,

the world is sick of our debt.  The problems are much bigger”, William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center says.

Trustees of the system forecast money paid out in benefits will exceed tax dollars flowing in by 2016.  “With no changes, Social Security will be completely depleted in 2037, according to trustees.”   The story goes on to say Medicare is in even worse shape.  The government health care plan designed to cover seniors and handicapped Americans has been “paying out more than it takes in since last year and is projected to go insolvent in 2017.”

Recently, the President undermined his own argument concerning greater competitive efficiency with a Government option in health care insurance coverage at a town hall meeting in Colorado.  He compared the success of UPS and Fed Ex with the problems suffered by the the US Postal Service.  John M Crisp, of the Scripps Howard News Service, reiterated this in an August 13 story.  “The handwriting is on the wall of the local post office… the US Postal Service is probably on its way out.”

The USPS had a $7 billion deficit in 2008; it faces one of the same size for 2009.  With mail volume down, due to increased internet use for communicating and paying bills, almost 700 local post offices have been selected for closure.  Increasing postage rates has failed to staunch the bleeding.  Time will tell whether the USPS survives as a federal institution.

In light of the well documented failure of current federal social programs such as Social Security and Medicare, state programs like Medicaid, and federal departments like the Postal Service and Amtrak, should the American people trust the Government to design a socialized health care system which will come to control 1/6 of the entire US economy?  With the evidence put forth by a variety of sources, the answer must be a resounding “No”.

Tags: Fox news, government-run healthcare, medicare, Obamacare, public option, Rush, social security
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Unifying The Conservative Movement

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Pat Buchanan, my favorite Catholic and a great American political philosopher, whose work will be featured on this site often, ventures to say that the Conservative Movement is finding its voice again in opposition to the centralizing activism of the Obama Administration.  Buchanan said in “Pitch Fork Time” (3/10/2009), “By misinterpreting his mandate, Obama has acomplished something John McCain could not- unite the Republican Party and instill in it a new esprit de corps.”

The tremendous deficit begun by the Bush administration, compounded by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s TARP in September, is being dwarfed by President Obama’s current budget.  It is not being paid for by tax revenue, but must be covered through foreign borrowing and new Fed printing of money.  Buchanan continues:

“[Obama] wants a cap-and-trade systemm to deal with a global-warming of climate-change crisis many scientists believe is a hoax.  He is going to provide health care for all, including immigrants… He is going to plunge scores of billions more into education, though education has eaten up the wealth of an empire, as SAT scores sink further and further below the apogee of 1964, before LBJ and the feds barged in….  He is going to ensure every kid gets a college education.  He is going to drop half of all wage-earners off the tax roll, whole the top 2 percent, who already pay 40 percent of all income taxes, are forced to cough up more….

By daring Republicans to fight on the issue of a $1.75 trillion deficit, Obama has liberated the GOP from any obligation to him.  He has come out of the closet as a radical liberal spoiling for a fight over an agenda of radical change.   Sooner than any might have thought, we ahve clarity.”

Tags: cap and trade, conservative movement, GOP, Obama, pat buchanan, Republican party
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Some Things To Think About From Civitas

Monday, September 14th, 2009

*  NC ranked 39th in business climate before new 2009-10 taxes, according to the non-partisan Tax Foundation.  Our neighbors rank: Virginia 15th, South Carolina 25th, and Georgia 27th.
*  Since 2004, NC budget spending has outpaced the rate of inflation plus population growth by $9 billion.  Since 1996, state budgeted spending per person has risen by 25% even after adjusting for inflation.
*  In the NC State Legislature, sexual orientation is protected in a so-called “Bullying” bill while the Defense of Marriage Act cannot even be debated in committee.

Tags: Bullying Bill, business climate, Civitas, Defense of Marriage Act, north carolina, Tax Foundation
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Can Morality Exist Independent of “Religion”?

Monday, September 14th, 2009

This week I want to address an opinion article in the Winston-Salem Journal from a local professor of anthropology at Wake Forest University.
Bible-believing Christians have been responsible for establishing many great hospitals, schools, and universities in our nation’s history. Wake Forest University was one of these. Liberals and humanists have torn down their foundations since the early Sixties. Dr Layng’s recent op ed was another example of that. His theme was that morality exists independent of ‘religon’, as witnessed in social interactions of primitive human cultures as well as in animals. “Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.”

Christians (and Jews) do not ‘assume’ that God ‘revealed to our ancestors just what we needed to understand to be good moral citizens.’ If it were just the Israelites receiving Jehovah’s moral code (1491BC), it would be harder to explain early humans and ‘bands of chimps’ showing moral traits in social behavior. The evolutionary humanistic view misses the point with its focus on ‘religion’.

‘Human brains are hardwired to encourage moral behavior’, but not as the result of evolution. Man and the animal kingdom, such as chimps, share the same Creator. Man is above the animals, created in the image of God and imbued with an immortal soul; and yet, does share certain divinely endowed characteristics with them. “That which may be known of God is manifest in Man; for God has shown it to them.’ The conscious and an inherent sense of morality in social culture came not from religion, but was implanted at creation by our Creator. Universal sin crept in shortly thereafter and runs continually counter to God’s plan for Man. Animistic and polytheistic religions developed over the world with various shades of moralty, until and after God established His covenant with the Israelites at Sinai. Organized religious moral codes wherever you study them stem from the original seeds of Creation however they have been perverted in the interval. Man ‘changed the truth of God into a lie, worshipping and serving the objects of creation more than the Creator.’

Christianity, the divine fulfillment of the Jewish faith, is unlike all other world religions in a profound way Dr Layng misses. While ‘religion’ relies on moral works to please god(s), Christians know it is not immorality that sends people to hell. Moral and immoral people go to hell; the world is guilty of universal sin. The sole source of salvation for Man is not acts of morality but faith in the finished work of Calvary. That is the message of the Gospel and everything from Genesis to the Gospels points to Christ’s fulfillment of God’s redemptive requirements.

Rediscovering the true root source of morality leads back to the anthropologist’s premise; can morality exist independent of religion? Animals and primitive cultures may exhibit some traits of the divine spark of Creation in social relations to the group’s greater benefit, but is that the standard for modern societies to aspire to? If the Bible is myth, then Nietzsche and HS Chamberlain’s Social Darwinist views will carry the day eventually. The Maos, Stalins, and Hitlers will continue to lead savages toward enslaving the weaker elements.

The answer is a resounding “No”. Spark or no spark, the threat of divine punishment is a prerequisite to societal commitment to a moral code. “Religion”, in defining the code and grounds for eternal rewards and chastisement, is indispensable. The closer the ‘religion’ comes to Judeo-Christianity in its tenets the better. the Bible is an inspired work provided by our Creator pointing to our Savior’s example. Christ Jesus is the standard for Man; there is no other.

The further America drifts from its Biblical foundations, the more every relationship in our society disintegrates: dating, unborn children, marriage, the family unit, the education system, the social contract with government, the workplace, the environment. “When there is no Absolute Authority, Man will devolve into an animal: no morals, no constraints, no discernment.” the country is reaping from the damage already done by liberals and humanists.

Tags: 10 commandments, Absolute Authority, Biblical Foundations, Calvary, changed the truth of God into a lie, Christ, Christianity, Covenant, Creator, Dr Layng, evolution, Genesis, Gospel, Hitler, HS Chamberlain, Judeo-Christianity, liberal humanist, liberals, Mao, morality, Nietzshe, professing themselves to be wise they became fools, religion, Stalin, universal sin, wake forest university
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