The Lutheran Book of Prayer is published by the Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. I came across the 1951 version, owned by my grandmother and given to my mother in 1980, just before Christmas.  There are a couple of prayers therein that I’d like to share with you. If you’d like to know more about Concordia, and they are an excellent Christian publishing company, check them out here:

http://www.cph.org/cphstore/default.asp?ct=true

The prayers I’m sharing include: For Lawmaking Bodies, For the Government, and For Days of Unemployment.

For Lawmaking Bodies

Heavenly Father, as a citizen of our Commonwealth I intercede with Thee for our representatives in government. Thou hast established in our midst law-making powers dedicated to the upholding of order and liberty. I beseech Thee, bless and preserve our form of government in state and union. Grant that our legislators may ever be mindful of the welfare of all their constituents. Grant that they be guided to serve unselfishly the common good of the people. Preserve them from all double-dealing, pettiness, and self-seeking. Protect, I beseech Thee, those liberties of rule by representation which are the cornerstone of our government. Teach us Christians the grace to use our freedom to proclaim Thy Word and use each and every opportunity to serve our fellow men. May we give proof of our gratitude in seeking the welfare of our State, in using our privileges of ballot and freedom of press and speech for the improvement of our own community and our entire nation. These blessings grant us, dear Lord, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

For the Government

Lord God, as I pray for all who are in authority, I thank Thee especially for our form of government given us in our beloved country. Give me the grace with my fellow citizens to esteem the officers and magistrates of our government as sent by Thee. Instill in me that respect and honor which is due to them. I pray Thee, Lord, endow them with wisdom for their several duties, with a spirit of sacrifice for the common welfare, with mercy and justice, with uprightness and kindliness. Correct, I pray Thee, the evils of selfishness, greed, vain desire for honor, or abuse of power in the governments of the world.  Grant that the true purposes of government may prevail, safeguarding peace and prosperity, to the end that we may live soberly and uprightly in Thy sight and have opportunity to tell of Thee and Thy kingdom. These petitions I direct to Thee because in Jesus I know Thee as my Father and Lord. Amen.

In Days of Unemployment

Heavenly Father I entreat Thy aid and encouragement in these days of unemployment. I beseech Thee to give me a fuller measure of Faith in the promises of Thy Word. Grant that I may live trustingly one day at a time, knowing that Thou wilt not fail me.  Even the little I receive I accept with a grateful heart. Protect from the dangers of enforced idleness, unnecessary worry, and sleepless nights. Restore to our community and land normal conditions that we all may find necessary employment. Root out greed, selfishness, and all other social distress in human society. Grant success, earnestness, sobriety, and skill to those that are employed. Heavenly Father, Thou hast blessed man’s labors, and even Thy Son dwelled in a workman’s home and toiled in the carpenter shop and hallowed the simple duties of life. I pray Thee, satisfy the hungry with bread, and open Thy hands to give me my daily bread. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us remember these and other prayers as we enter the new year.

Pat Buchanan tell us what’s going on with the “climatnistas”  (derivative of Clintonistas) in Copenhagen: Third world shakedown of developed nations.

Look at the bottom line first, as Buchanan explains:

“In April 1992, as the alarm over the Earth’s end times began, scientists worldwide issued what was called the Heidelberg Appeal, aimed at just the kind of hysteria we are witnessing now in Copenhagen.

“We are … worried … at the emergence of an irrational ideology which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress and impedes economic and social development,” said the scientists.

“We contend that a Natural State, sometimes idealized by movements with a tendency to look towards the past, does not exist and has probably never existed since man’s first appearance in the biosphere. … (H)umanity has always progressed by increasingly harnessing Nature to its needs and not the reverse.

“We do, however, forewarn the authorities in charge of our planet’s destiny against decisions which are supported by pseudo-scientific arguments or false and non-relevant data.”

Since then, 4,000 scientists and 72 Nobel Prize winners have signed on. Again, it needs be said: Global warming is cyclical, and has been stagnant for a decade. There is no conclusive proof it is manmade, no conclusive proof it is harmful to the planet.”

Now, with that Clinton-era knowledge in place, here’s what Buchanan says:

f you would know what Copenhagen is all about, hearken to this nugget in The Washington Post’s report from the Danish capital.

“Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenari — who is representing all of Africa here — unveiled his proposal Wednesday for a system in which rich countries would provide money to poor ones to help deal with the effects of climate change. …

“Zenawi said he would accept $30 billion in the short term, rising to $100 billion by 2020. … This was seen as a key concession by developing countries, which had previously spurned that figure … as too low.”

There was a time when a U.S. diplomat would have burst out laughing after listening to a Third World con artist like this.

But not the Obamaites. They are already ponying up.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack just pledged $1 billion at Copenhagen to developing countries who preserve their forests. Thus, America, $12 trillion in debt and facing a second straight $1.4 trillion deficit, will borrow another $1 billion from China to send to Brazil to bribe them to stop cutting down their trees.

When you slice through the blather about marooned bears and melting ice caps, oceans rising and cities sinking, global warming is a racket and a crock. It is all about money and power.

Copenhagen has always been about an endless transfer of wealth from America, Europe and Japan and creation of a global bureaucracy to control the pace of world economic and industrial development.

End game: enrichment and empowerment of global elites at the expense of Western peoples whose leaders have been bamboozled by con artists.

When Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and Rita came ashore in Texas in 2005, we were told this was due to global warming, and hurricane seasons would now get worse and worse until the world radically reduced the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

President Bush ignored the hysteria. What happened?

As Michael Fumento reports, the 2009 hurricane season ended quietly, with the fewest hurricanes since 1997, and not one hurricane made landfall in the United States.

When the feds sought to list the polar bear as an endangered species, Gov. Sarah Palin protested this “politicized science” and sued, claiming the polar bear was a healthy species whose numbers had doubled in recent years.

Was she wrong?

Is the Arctic ice cap melting? So we are told. But what harm has befallen mankind other than to have a Northwest Passage opened up to maritime traffic in the summer?

The Antarctic ice sheet is nine times as large as the Arctic, and here is what the British Antarctic Survey wrote last April:

“(D)uring the winter freeze in Antarctica this ice cover expands to an area roughly twice the size of Europe. Ranging in thickness from less than a metre to several metres, the ice insulates the warm ocean from the frigid atmosphere above. Satellite images show that since the 1970s the extent of Antarctic sea ice has increased at a rate of 100,000 square kilometres a decade.”

One hundred thousand square kilometers a decade?

This would mean Antarctic sea ice expanded by 300,000 square kilometers since the 1970s, or 116,000 square miles, which is an area larger than all of New England.

How can the Antarctic ice cap grow for three decades as the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily increased, unless carbon dioxide has little or nothing to do with global warming?

Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica is a continent, and while chunks of ice are cracking off in Western Antarctica, in Eastern Antarctica, four times larger, the ice sheet is thickening and expanding. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research reported last April that the South Pole had shown “significant cooling in recent decades.”"

Thanks for setting the record straight, Pat.

The AP just reported:

“The agreement brokered by President Barack Obama with China and others in fast-paced hours of diplomacy on Friday sets up the first significant program of climate aid to poorer nations. But although it urges deeper cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming, it does nothing to demand them. That will now be subject to continuing talks next year.

The compromise document indicated richer and poorer nations are ready for closer cooperation on climate. Its key elements, with no legal obligation, were:

—Nations agreed to cooperate in reducing emissions, “with a view” to scientists’ warnings to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) above preindustrial levels.

—Developing nations will report every two years on their voluntary actions to reduce emissions. Those reports would be subject to “international consultations and analysis” — a concession to the U.S. by China, which had seen this as an intrusion on its sovereignty.

—Richer nations will finance a $10 billion-a-year, three-year program to fund poorer nations’ projects to deal with drought and other climate-change impacts, and to develop clean energy.

—They also set a “goal” of mobilizing $100 billion-a-year by 2020 for the same adaptation and mitigation purposes.

In a U.S. concession to China and other developing nations, text was dropped from the declaration that would have set a goal of reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Developing nations thought that would hamper efforts to raise their people from poverty.

In a news conference here Friday, Obama deflected criticism that Copenhagen had failed to achieve a strong agreement. If the world waited to reach a binding deal, “then we wouldn’t make any progress,” he said, warning that could produce “such frustration and cynicism that rather than taking one step forward, we ended up taking two steps back.”

Environmentalists and a handful of developing countries were unconvinced.”

Really? So am I. Not convinced there is a problem PLUS I believe the old communists, hippies, and socialists, having no more Red Soviet Union to run interference for, needed a new issue and found it in a fraud equal to communism itself: climate change.

PresBO is at 47% approval rating. Lowest of any president since polling began (at this point in a presidency). People are finally getting wise!

Recent blog post by Newt Gingrich hits the nail on the head. So, listen up!

“Over at Pollster.Com, President Obama’s “streams crossed” this week.  That’s part-”Ghostbusters,” part-pollster speak for saying the President’s approval rating dipped below his disapproval rating, causing the lines of the graph charting his standing with the American people to cross.

The declining popularity of one of the most popular and charismatic presidents in memory is no accident.  He and his political party, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), are committing political suicide in three stunningly inexplicable steps.

Step 1: Raising Taxes the Day of the Day of “Jobs Summit”

As I wrote last week, the White House had its political dog and pony show otherwise known as its “Jobs Summit” last Thursday.

While entrepreneurs and authentic job creators met elsewhere to discuss a real plan to create jobs, the White House convened big business cronies, labor bosses and liberal academics to do…nothing.

And as if that weren’t bad enough, House Speaker Pelosi decided to hold a vote to raise taxes on the struggling American economy the same day.

The House voted to keep the death tax, which was scheduled to expire in 2010.  The bill the Democratic House majority approved sets a top rate – in perpetuity – of 45 percent for any American who has worked hard to create wealth and is unfortunate enough to die after doing so.

Step 2: Forcing through Democrat Health Reform by Christmas

“Another day, another study confirming that ObamaCare will increase the price of health insurance.”

So began a report on the latest study – this one by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association – finding that Democratic health care reform will raise the cost of health insurance.

The study found that individual market premiums will rise under Democratic “reform” an average of 54 percent, a cost increase of $3,341 for families and $1,576 for individuals.

Check out this chart from The Center for Health Transformation, which lays out what many different analyses have concluded about the effect the different health care bills would have on premiums.

Note that each of the proposed and/or passed Democratic bills would increase individual and family premiums according to the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation.

53% – And Climbing – Of Nevadans Don’t Like Harry Reid’s Health Care Bill

The Democratic leadership’s rush to pass health care reform before Christmas is made even more inexplicable by the fact that the more Americans learn about the bills being pushed, the less they like them and the politicians who support them.

In Nevada, home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a new poll shows that a majority – 53 percent – disapprove of Democratic health reform.  And that number is up four points since October.

Democrats may think they are playing to their liberal base when they push liberal health care reform, but for Senator Reid at least, this strategy seems dubious.  Only 39 percent of Nevadans approve of the job he’s doing.  Fifty three percent of independents don’t support his effort.

Step 3: Off to Copenhagen while “Climategate” raises temps at home

Next week President Obama will attend yet another summit, this one in Copenhagen, Denmark under the auspices of the United Nations.  The point of the summit is to develop policies in response to the “consensus” around scientific evidence that man’s activities are causing global temperatures to rise.

The problem is, there is no such consensus.  And President Obama’s trip to Copenhagen – not to mention his administration’s attempt to curry favor with the international climate change crowd by announcing Monday that it will regulate carbon as a pollutant – is a dangerous travesty in light of this fact.

The emails uncovered from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit show a cynical attempt by leading climate scientists to manipulate data and suppress any dissent by scientists to the manmade climate change orthodoxy.

What’s worse, the emails reveal that the Climate Research Unit inexplicably lost or destroyed much of its original data – the very data that the United Nations relied heavily on to form the conclusions about climate change being acted on this week in Copenhagen. Both Copenhagen and EPA rely on lost or destroyed climate data.

And it gets even worse.

In making its announcement this week that greenhouse gases will be regulated by the government under the Clean Air Act – raising the costs of virtually every aspect of life in the United States – the Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also relied on the mysteriously-gone-missing data of the Climate Research Unit.

It’s little wonder then, that Americans are increasingly not buying the alarmism.  Polls show a dramatic decline in public belief that global warming is a serious problem.

If President Obama and the Democratic Congress are sincere in their belief that human activity is changing our environment, they will work to restore the public trust in the science they claim underlies this belief.

Before anyone goes to Copenhagan, before any EPA ruling is implemented, and before cap and trade is voted on in the Senate, the Democrats who control Washington must open a full scale investigation into bias and politicization in the climate change community.

The old saying goes, “never murder your opponent when he’s busy committing suicide.”  And that may be good for politics, but this is much more than politics.

Democrats are in charge in Washington.  Their fatal missteps are America’s fatal missteps.

For every American who believes in building a better future for our children and grandchildren, now is not the time for complacency.

Now is the time for action.

For more information, go to www.AmericanSolutions.com.”

Thanks, again, Newt!

Would you like to do a little line-by-line on the health care plan Congress and PresBO believe is good enough for you and me but not them? I wouldn’t bother but  Dr. Stephen E. Frazer, MD, who practices as an anesthesiologist in Indianapolis, IN, did. I think you will be interested in it. Better than a Stephen King novel since it’s FOR REAL!

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Here is a letter I sent to Senator Bayh. Feel free to copy it and send it around to all other representatives. — Stephen Fraser
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July 23, 2009
Senator Bayh,
As a practicing physician I have major concerns with the health care bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill and am shocked by the brazenness of the government’s proposed involvement in the patient-physician relationship. The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous and certainly not helpful in designing a health care system that works for all. Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our health care system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.

I ask you respectfully and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interests of the country and our fellow citizens.

Page 22 of the HC Bill:  Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self-insure!!

Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill:   THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!

Page 42 of HC Bill:  The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!

Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Page 58 HC Bill:  Govt will have real-time access to individuals’ finances & a ‘National ID Health card’ will be issued!

Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24:  Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for elective funds transfer.

Page 65 Sec 164: Is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community organizations: (ACORN).

Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the ‘Exchange.’

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill:  Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans – The Govt will ration your health care!

Page 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services.  (Translation: illegal aliens.)

Page 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups (i.e. ACORN & Americorps) to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. (AARP members – your health care WILL be rationed!)
Page 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill:  Medicaid eligible individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. (No choice.)

Page 12 4 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Govt monopoly.

Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association – The Govt will tell YOU what salary you can make.

Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan. (NO choice!)

Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part-time employees AND their families.  (Employees shouldn’t get excited about this as employers will be forced to reduce its work force, benefits, and wages/salaries to cover such a huge expense.)

Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option will pay 8% tax on all payroll!  (See the last comment in parenthesis.)
Page 150 Lines 9-13: A business with payroll between $251K & $401K who doesn’t provide public option will pay 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay.)

Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of the GOVT HC Admin..  will have access to ALL Americans’ finances and personal records.

Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.”  (Yes, it really says that!)
Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors.  (Low-income and the poor are affected.)

Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors: It doesn’t matter what specialty you have trained yourself in — you will all be paid the same! (Just TRY to tell me that’s not Socialism!)

Page 253 Line 10-18: The Govt sets the value of a doctor’s time, profession, judgment, etc.  (Literally– the value of humans.)

Page 265 Sec 1131: The Govt mandates and controls productivity for “private” HC industries.

Page 268 Sec 1141: The federal Govt regulates the rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs.   BUT community input is required.  (Can you say ACORN?)

Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer patients – welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever the Govt deems preventable (i.e…re-admissions).

Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors: If you treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission — the Govt will penalize you.

Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. (The Govt tells doctors what and how much they can own!)

Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION on expansion.  (The Govt is mandating that hospitals cannot expand.)
Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have the opportunity to apply for exception

Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: The Govt mandates establishment of=2 outcome-based measures. (HC the way they want — rationing.)
Page 341 Lines 3-9: The Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc.  (Forcing people into the Govt plan)

Page 354 Sec 1177: The Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of ’special needs people!’   Unbelievable!

Page 379 Sec 1191: The Govt creates more bureaucracy via a “Tele-Health Advisory Committee.”  (Can you say HC by phone?)

Page 425 Lines 4-12: The Govt mandates “Advance-Care Planning Consult.”  (Think senior citizens end-of-life patients.)

Page 425 Lines 17-19: The Govt will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc.  (And it’s mandatory!)
Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: The Govt provides an “approved” list of end-of-life resources; & nbsp; guiding you in death. (Also called ‘assisted suicide.’)

Page 427 Lines 15-24: The Govt mandates a program for orders on “end-of-life.”  (The Govt has a say in how your life ends!)

Page 429 Lines 1-9: An “advanced-care planning consultant” will be used frequently as a patient’s health deteriorates.

Page 429 Lines 10-12: An “advanced care consultation” may include an ORDER for end-of-life plans.  (AN ORDER TO DIE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?!?)

Page 429 Lines 13-25: The GOVT will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order.  (I wouldn’t want to stand before God after getting paid for THAT job!)

Page 430 Lines 11-15: The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end-of-life!  (Again — no choice!)

Page 469: Community-Based Home Medical Services = Non-Profit Organizations.  (Hello?  ACORN Medical Services here!?!)

Page 489 Sec 1308: The Govt will cover marriage and family therapy.  (Which means Govt will insert itself into your marriage even.)

Page 494-498: Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, and rationing those services.

Senator, I guarantee that I personally will do everything possible to inform patients and my fellow physicians about the dangers of the proposed bills you and your colleagues are debating.

Furthermore, if you vote for a bill that enforces socialized medicine on the country and destroys the doctor-patient relationship, I will do everything in my power to make sure you lose your job in the next election.

Respectfully,
Stephen E. Fraser, MD

Newt Gingrich doesn’t need my help to get the message out about health care, but here it is, an excerpt  from his recent email:

A Stunning 22 Point Shift Away From Government Responsibility for Health Care

Polling data released last week by Gallup show a startling shift in public opinion: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are actually convincing the country to rethink their attitudes and move toward the right and away from government solutions in health care (the same seems to be happening on spending, taxes, and how to create jobs, but that will be a future newsletter). Gallup’s annual poll on health issues (taken every November) shows public opinion shifting against the values of the Left and in favor of the personal responsibility, limited government model which has defined America for 240 years (since the founding decade of the 1770s). Gallup reports a stunning shift of 22% of all Americans who have moved from believing government is responsible for health care to believing health care is a personal responsibility.

One Out of Every Four Americans Have Changed Their Minds on Health Care

That means nearly one out of every four Americans have changed their minds on a fundamental question of who is responsible for health care. This is one of the largest shifts of its kind in such a short period in modern history. The survey shows that even after the 2008 presidential campaign and the Obama Administration’s concerted effort to sell government health care, support for non-government responsibility is at an all time high. In fact, for the first time in the decade that Gallup has asked the question, the survey found that more Americans (50%) favor non-government responsibility than believe it is a government responsibility (47%). The high watermark for the Left’s belief in collective responsibility through government was in November 2006 when by a 69-to-28 margin Americans said health care was a government responsibility (the choice is actually worded government versus nongovernment responsibility). Thus in November 2006, partially in reaction to Republican failures and the absence of a coherent conservative message, nearly 7 out of every 10 Americans had chosen government responsibility for health care.

The Shift Away from Government Health Care was Actually Fueled By the Campaign

But November 2006 was when support for government health care peaked. The shift away from government and towards non-government responsibility was actually fueled by the presidential campaign. In the November 2008 survey Gallup found support for government responsibility had already dropped to 54% and support for non-government responsibility had risen to 41%. That meant there had been a 7% drop in support for government and a 9% increase in support for non-government responsibility in health care even during the presidential campaign – a campaign in which we were told candidate Obama was very articulate and charismatic and candidate McCain was not very effective. Yet the power of the culture seemed to be outweighing the articulateness of the candidate who was advocating the wrong position. As President, Barack Obama’s effort to articulate the case for government responsibility has seen support for government erode another 7% and support for a nongovernmental responsibility rise another 9%. At this rate, after another year of the health debate, the American people will have decisively rejected government as a system for solutions.

Why Democrats Don’t Understand the Shift

Within the Gallup data there are very important clues as to why President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid do not understand what is happening. Whereas 22% of the country has shifted from government to non-government responsibility in health care, among Democrats support for government remains strong. Democrats’ belief in government responsibility peaked at 87% in 2007. That meant there was virtually no opposition among Democrats to government-run health care. Even today, when 22% of the American people have shifted away from government, Democrats remain firmly in favor with 74% favoring government responsibility and only 23% favoring non-government responsibility (among Republicans the numbers are now reversed at 21% government and 77% non-government). So even today three out of four Democrats would reinforce what is now a declining position among the American people.

Keep the Current System or Replace It

A similar shift in public opinion is underway on the question of whether to keep the current health system or replace it. Today a vast majority (61 to 32) favor keeping the current system rather than replacing it. The margin among the two parties again reflects this schizophrenia about policies and values.While 86% of Republicans favor maintaining the current system and only 11% favor replacing it, among Democrats the results are very different. Democrats favor replacing the current system by 56 to 35.

Losing Independents, Losing the Country, Losing the Next Election

What these data show is that the Obama Administration and the congressional Democrats are losing the argument with independents, eroding support among their own party and consolidating Republicans into a firmly anti-government position. This trend suggests that another year of debate over the Left’s values, plans and policies will consolidate the center-right majority and lead to a crushing defeat for the Democratic Congress. Two more years of debate on this pattern would make President Obama a one-term President. It will be interesting to see if anyone in the White House reads Gallup data. It will be interesting to see if anyone in the White House listens to the American people.

Americans are probably going to become even more critical of government and supportive of nongovernmental solutions

As the country learns more about government incompetence as a delivery system (read Jim Frogue’s Stop Paying the Crooks) , the H1N1 flu vaccine fiasco and other failures, people will continue to move away from reliance on government.

As Americans think through the economic crisis (10.2% unemployment and growing), the Chinese ownership of $2 trillion in United States debt, the rising state government deficit (going up from $112 billion in 2009 to $134 billion in 2010), and the reactionary unwillingness to reform many of the public employee unions, they will become even more skeptical of turning problems over to government.

The final result of the debates President Obama is sparking may be a nation which polarizes 75 to 25 in favor of nongovernmental responsibility, turning to personal, corporate, nonprofit or faith-based institutions instead of government for solutions.

This would be a grand irony. But the Gallup data show an underlying pattern that should hearten conservatives and demoralize liberals.

Couldn’t say it better myself. Thanks Newt!

Holly Bailey, Newsweek, put it in perspective today:

“Throwaway details aside, there is one major optical difference between the Pelosi and Reid events: when the senator spoke, he did it alone. At Pelosi’s event, almost every member of the House Democratic caucus stood behind her. Who do you think has more sway on Capitol Hill?”

Indeed. And make no mistake, this is about clout…power over YOUR ability to choose from health care options. Another mistake not to make: Madame Pelosi will not be sharing the pain of the health care bill she claims to have “crafted” for your benefit. Weighing in at more than 1000 pages, it gives a whole new meaning to heavy legislation. More like heavy-handed.

Huffington Post reports:

“The speaker hopes to avoid divisive amendments on abortion, immigration or other wedge issues that could split her caucus. In denying her conservative wing, however, she may also deny progressives the amendments they’ve been pushing for on a more robust public option and on single-payer health care”

Free speech doesn’t get in the way of Pelosi. She knows best, you unwashed heathen, so just stand down. She won, you lost. Now is her opportunity to plunder the treasury, whatever is left after PresBO has finished.

More from Huffington Post:

“[Dennis] Kucinich fumed that the House bill doesn’t go far enough. “They took single-payer off the table right at the beginning, because the table was set by insurance companies,” he said.”

Birthdays and anniversaries force you to notice the turning of the years. You may not “feel  different” from when you were in the prime of your college days or in the dawn of your career, but you are different.

You are “a lot different”.

If you started college in 1971 or your career in 1975, you didn’t have this venue, the internet, for communication. At that point in time you were 10-15 years from the first cellular phones coming into general use. You were begrudgingly setting aside your LPs for the convenience of cassettes and you didn’t have the intrusion of cable TV, not to mention a VHS player.

“DVD” would likely have been considered, at the time,  a worse form of VD. Nevertheless, somehow we made it beyond disco and leisure suits.

Working in the newspaper industry from 1972-2002, I saw some mighty changes. Hot metal to cold type, letterpress to offset, dedicated equipment with closed platforms to open platforms that, today,  make anyone a publisher. The upside is there is a lot more information. The downside is that there are alot of knuckleheads who publish nothing worth the virtual fonts they are printed with. I don’t mind that the “grey ladies” of newspapers have past or may pass. Just as there was a time when Chicago was served by a dozen or so daily newspapers, you knew there would be a time when it would be served by none, or one. With as much certainty we know it will cycle around again. What’s a Kindle (and it ilk) other than a more “portable” book or newspaper?

Form changes with the fleeting whims of the consumer. Function remains. Since that is true, we don’t have to worry about the knuckleheads ruining for legit news gatherers and opinion purveyors. But I digress.

This is about the landmark or watermark of birthdays and anniversaries. As I listen to Dave Grusin play “Cast Your Fate To The Wind”, it seems many in my generation have done this to horrendous result. I have found that as I get older I do get wiser but there’s not much of an audience for it. Young and brash trumps old and reserved in the rolling world. The “here and now” displaces the enduring. It would seem evolution has overcome creation in the hearts of God’s own. In 1971 I would have said, “This will not be.” And, yet, in 2009, there it be.

The first four years of marriage are the toughest until you endure the next six. But, after 28 years, you realize you have simply fulfilled the dream you had on your wedding day: enduring love.  A thing, however inexplicable, that endures in spite of itself and what we do to destroy it day-in and day-out. You didn’t set out to fail. You set out to succeed with all the baggage you carried into the relationship and some you picked up along the way. To be fair, you let some go, too, and you are the lighter for it.

This is not some kind of cosmic accident as some would have you believe. This is the fulfillment of divine design. If God seeks perfect communion with you, as he had with Adam and Eve before the fall, one way He shows it to you is in your marriage. On this earth there may not be a better example of it, even when it isn’t perfect. Christ can and should be transfigured in this marriage relationship. He offers it to us if we will simply accept it. But, therein lies the rub.

Selfishness, misunderstanding and caprice can be the destroyers of covenant. I have learned not to drink from their cups as often as I used to. This has been to my benefit and that of my long-suffering spouse, who is too forgiving to acknowledge my faults in a public forum. For that I am grateful. Equally, I’m grateful that she stuck with me when she was unevenly yoked with me for a number of years — carrying more than her share of the spiritual and emotional load. Those days are gone, chapters turned, never to be re-read except when urgently needed at a particular moment in time.

So, as you consider your own birthdays and anniversaries, cherish them. They are a gift of God. They are your gift to us. they are a gift to your children…and their children, should you be so blessed.

We all have a time frame where we “emerge”. That is, when we are old enough to remember. For some, it’s very early, maybe 2 years old. Others, like me, it was 5 years old. So, I remember first seeing and riding in my grandfather’s 1953 Chevrolet Bel-Air, turquoise with white accent paint, wide whitewall tires, fender skirts and curb feelers. It was my grandfather’s first new car ans it would last until he bought his next new one, which was his last, a 1963 Ford Galaxie. He passed away from the effects of smoking in 1966. But, that’s not what this is all about. It’s about the ‘53 Chevy, the curb feelers and fender skirts. And, maybe, the Dagmars on the front.

It makes me wonder if Dagmar Midcap took her name from this kind of bullet-shape bumper, popularized in the 1950s. But, I digress.

If you forgot how this model looked or didn’t know it existed, you can check one out here: http://www.scottymoore.net/53chevy.html. Scroll down until you see the restored blue 4-door and you’ll even see the fender skirts, but, sadly, not the curb feelers. Just under 250,000 were built at a list price of $1,874.00.

If you can’t imagine curb feelers, our friends at Wikipedia have a couple of photos and a solid definition to offer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_feeler.

My Dad did not get his license until 1961, at the age of 39. While it’s not unusual, even today, for urban dwellers in New York and Chicago to go long stretches of their lives without cars, it was somewhat unusual for a stevedore living across the river from St. Louis to accomplish the feat. It is a tribute to the Terminal Railroad Association, which ran the street car lines, and Bi-State Transit, which ran the buses that ultimately doomed the street cars. These modes of transit, along with cabs, were our family’s mode of transportation before July 1961.

That bit of history is important when you realize it took a 6-block walk, a street car ride, another 3-block walk, then a bus ride, then a final 4-block walk, to arrive at my grandparent’s home. In the winter, that was really unpleasant. In the summer, it was worse since on top of the unusual fatigue involved, we were all sweaty! St. Louis in the summer is not for the faint of heart or those who can’t stand perspiration, especially that of others.

What I remember, through 5-year-old eyes, is this Bel-Air had to be the biggest, shiniest car I had ever seen. My grandfather, a larger than life figure to the adults he knew, was even larger to me. Gruff, broken English mingled with what I much later discovered were Sicilian profanities, and the smell of his Old Spice, which I can still conjure from time to time, make him a strong memory to me. This man, who drove a produce truck 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, was now in possession of his first new car. Pride was too weak a word to describe his feeling about it.

If the car didn’t happen to be there when we arrived for a visit, I would either occupy myself in the vacant lot across the street, hitting bottle caps with an old broom handle or simply sit on the steps and wait for it to arrive. I wish I could say I was waiting to see Grandpa, but, hey, I was afraid of him! I was waiting to hear the curb feelers scratch the concrete curb and see that beautiful blue ship pull into port. What a sight! It must have been how sailors felt about seeing a destroyer or aircraft carrier come into Newport News: majestic, awe-inspiring! Other cars on the street might have been new or old, I didn’t notice. This! This 1953 Chevy Bel-Air 4-door, I noticed!

On the unusual occasion I got to ride in the car (either to wakes or funerals), its seats were the most comfortable thing I ever sat on. Of course, when you compare most basic furniture with street car and bus seats, anything else by comparison is lush. And “luxury” was the word that came to mind (or something like that, whatever a 5-year-old’s version of that word would be). Four could fit comfortably in the back with the driver and two others in the front. Mostly, my Mom, Dad and two sisters sat in the back and I got to ride between my Grandpa and Grandma in the front. Whether the front or back, I was too small to see outside so I focused on the interior. when I was in the front, that was the radio since it was right in front of me.

There was really one choice for my Grandpa at the time: KMOX 1120AM. Oh, not that KSD or WIL were bad, but we all have our habits and, at the time, Cardinals baseball was on that station and we were still a couple of years away from the football Cardinals relocating from Chicago and the Blues wouldn’t come into play until 1967. The Hawks were always competitive but Grandpa wasn’t much of a basketball fan. Even then, I remember it being either Big Band music or talk radio, mostly sports call-in. It was easy to be dazzled by the chrome on the dashboard. In retrospect, it was amazing we were not injured in any way seeing as we had no seat belts, padded dash or airbags. Somehow we survived.

Over the years it didn’t handle age very well. By the time Grandpa let it go for his new Ford, it was rusting and the paint fading. The fender skirts were gone as well as the curb feelers. The curb feelers weren’t needed once my grandparents moved to the suburbs and bought a house with a driveway and garage. Plus, the curbs where low and rounded, not high and square like in the city. It seemed style had overtaken fender skirts and function had forsaken curb feelers. Sad, really, when you consider that the modern adaptations of fender skirts and curb feelers are relegated to the “pimped out” genre. But that’s not how it was meant to be. Infrequently, you may find a 1953 Bel-Air 4-door appropriately decked out. Cherish the moment.

For me, it’s a brief respite. A way to get in touch with the ast without re-living the usual horrors of family life and focusing on that benign family member, the 1953 Bel-Air, that just asked to be admired. Dressed to the nines in curb feelers and fender skirts.

Two things: Let’s look at shrinking support for any health care reform plan and how local unions in Milwaukee are recoiling against it.

From Kent Hoover at Buffalo Business First, published September 25 (bold is mine):

“The patient is still in the operating room, and the prognosis is not good.

That’s where health care reform lies today, according to many business groups that hoped for a better outcome. Their view is shared by most Americans: 54 percent of U.S. adults don’t think Congress will pass health care reform this year, according to a survey conducted this month by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

This is a dramatic turnaround from earlier this year, when most experts inside the Beltway thought health care reform was inevitable, and the concept had overwhelming support among the general public.

Many lobbyists for small businesses and other employers blame Congress for overreaching. It should have focused on insurance market reforms aimed at lowering premiums and ending the ability of insurers to deny or price coverage because of health status.

Instead, Congress embarked on a complete overhaul of the health care system that would give the federal government too much power and cost hundreds of billions dollars more than was necessary, they contend.

“That’s why this whole thing is blowing up,” said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “They have to start over.”

“We’re kind of disappointed that Congress has wasted so much time with overblown bills that had no hope of enactment,” said Neil Trautwein, senior vice president and employee benefits counsel for the National Retail Federation.

“I think Congress blew it, basically,” said Karen Kerrigan, president/CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.

Political pressures may drive Congress to pass some modest reforms just to get something to President Barack Obama’s desk, but it’s not clear whether those reforms actually would reduce the cost of health insurance for employers, Kerrigan said.”

Then there’s this from Corinne Hess at the Business Journal of Milwaukee demonstrating how “health care reform” gets down to the local level and unions don’t like it:

“When the U.S. Senate Finance Committee gave the nation a glimpse at what health care reform could look like with the release of a proposed $856 billion, 10-year bill, it alienated a key segment of reform supporters: labor unions.

The bill would call for paying for reform in part by a tax on so-called “luxury” health insurance plans exceeding $21,000 for a family and $8,000 for individuals.

The average cost of a family health insurance plan in Wisconsin is $13,800. Unions, however, typically have richer benefits exceeding the cap set in the Finance Committee bill.

“Unions have been the backbone of the health reform movement,” said Robert Kraig, program director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, an 89,000-member coalition from across the state. “They have said all along that everyone should have access to the quality, affordable care that they are fortunate to have. To turn around and tax them is a disservice.”

The Senate Finance Committee began debating the draft health care bill Sept. 22. Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, released the bill Sept. 16, and almost immediately amended portions of it after criticism from his fellow Democrats that the measure didn’t do enough to assist moderate-income Americans.

Baucus still wants to impose a tax on high-cost health plans starting in 2013, but has increased the thresholds for plans covering retirees over the age of 55 and those covering people in certain high-risk occupations like law enforcement and construction.

The increase for such plans would be raised by $750 for individual coverage and $2,000 for family coverage.

The amendment does little to help other unions, such as the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA).

The 5,600 members of the union are offered health insurance worth $24,000 per year for family coverage and $10,800 for individual coverage. About 60 percent of members have family plans.

If those plans were taxed, younger, healthier teachers would likely not accept the district insurance and seek less expensive coverage, driving up rates even faster for the people remaining in the plan, said Joan Heithoff, assistant executive director of MTEA.

Teachers have long accepted pay raises well below the consumer price index in exchange for good benefits and should not be penalized now because of it, Heithoff said.

“Our benefits are pretty much in line with surrounding school districts,” she said. “We have to offer this in order to attract quality teachers and remain competitive.”

The luxury health plans targeted in the Senate Finance bill are the type of health insurance plans people in every other industrialized country have and what most Americans enjoyed before health care costs skyrocketed, said David Newby, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 1,000 local unions.

“The whole notion of taxing health insurance points out once again the problem of thinking in terms of reforming health insurance rather than the entire health care system,” Newby said.”

Continue to fight against anything other than health insurance reform focused on reducing premiums and keeping insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Dr. Charles Krauthammer is a Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist. He is an M.D. and a lawyer. He is paralyzed from the neck down.

A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He said:

“Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk.

I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Democrats at my table agreed with everything he said!

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton . He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!

5. He (Obama) has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

7. He (Obama) is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state’s rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package.These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it’s under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it’s between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy.

I hope this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it’s far too late.”