KNOCKOUT

This morning Drudge has a headline "Senate Knockout Game".  That's because yesterday the Senate changed their rules and chucked 225 years of procedure.

Nah.  We don't need those pesky filibusters anymore that give the minority a voice against the majority.  It's just too important to break the log jam and get something done.

Besides, didn't BOTH parties talk of doing away with the nuclear option? Yes.  Republicans threatened, but Dems did it.

Now it's full steam ahead.

Surely we remember the promises and positions that really appealed to our right/center country during the election of 2008...

We heard candidate Obama call for more transparency in government, less division, racial healing, pie-in-the-sky healthcare where bureaucrats weren't between us and our healthcare, the closing of Gitmo, enhancing our status in the world...and ending the war in Afghanistan.  He said all the right things and they were appealing and we voted on the basis of them.  Did we get any of those promises?

It seems we've gotten nothing but  smoke and mirrors in the place of transparency...major division of rich/poor and black/white...deception about healthcare...warrantless monitoring....persecution of enemies waaaaay beyond what Nixon could envision...worldwide derision...an explosion  of Al Qaeda...and lies.  We still have the twins (Gitmo and Afghanistan).

Someone wrote..."Mr. President, tear down that website".

Where shall we rest?  On which promise should we stand that is not based on sand?  Which conviction has not swiveled 180 degrees from all the campaign bravado?

In the last five years, if our Constitutional professor didn't favor a law, it just wasn't enforced.  Think of DOMA, immigration, Clinton's welfare legislation, and now his magnanimous offer to not enforce the law when we were "allowed" to keep our insurance policies for another year.  The courts have called him on his power grabs (such as when they struck down his appointee to the Labor Relations Board).  Now after the Senate rules-change yesterday, the courts can be "fixed" by a simple majority rule.

Here is a LINK that calls Obamacare to accountability.  But who will call the courts to accountability?  The Supreme Court?  Yesterday's action did not include authority over Supreme Court judges, but how long will it be until the Senate passes something including them?  We are talking about major changes for years.

Sometimes progress isn't really progress.

GRACE SPACE

Max Lucado says we are to enjoy THE SPACE OF GRACE.

Have you ever experienced that?  Have you felt the relief pour over you when someone forgives you?  Has anyone cut you slack when you didn't deserve it?

Mike and I are so grateful for each other.  Our anniversary is this week and we are privileged to have the blessing of going through life together.

But it wasn't always this way.

Back when the kids were little, we had lost our feeling for one another.  Differing expectations were a huge thud of a speedbump that  seemed impassable.  We were eating one another alive with arguments that repeated like Groundhog Day...before retreating to our corners.

I remember what true despair felt like.  We neither wanted a divorce, but both felt hopeless and clueless about how to fix things.  We were very new in our faith, and someone recommended a Christian counselor.  There were two times during those sessions that I will never forget because it felt like the clock just froze.

In one of the frozen moments, I was prattling on about how I was not being listened to and how right I was.  The counselor asked "Susan, do you want to be right or get better?"  Yes, that went straight to its target.  Still does.

Another time paralysis had to do with my bossiness and Mike's time away from our family.  The counselor told Mike I had become his "holy spirit".  It was true that my specialty was guilt ladling.  Mike was sent home with the assignment of listening to what the Lord would have him do about his time-consuming hobby.

At the next session, when Mike was asked "What did the Lord say?  Did He ask you to give up hunting?"...it was an E.F. Hutton moment.  The counselor and I swiveled in our chairs for his answer.  Slowly, Mike responded that he was willing to give it all up, but he didn't think he was being asked to quit.

At that point, I could either trust God was speaking to my husband and my husband has hearing correctly...or I could bow up.  That was the first time I can REALLY remember leaning back into God's control and letting go of my grip.  Immediately, the little voice chided "Sure he would say that!  What a fool you would be to believe it!"  What an irritating little accuser-voice.

That decision to choose to believe God was at work on behalf of the both of us was essential.  My steerage of the family was not honoring to God's design any more than Mike's abdication of his headship.  We both saw that clearly and our forgiveness of one another came quickly.

Even though forgiveness was quick, it still took time to plow through old habits.  But now we could be  THANKFUL that there was a plan for relationships that WORKED and a power source to work the plan.  Who knew the Bible had marriage principles?  In Jeremiah it says that the Author of that plan works it for our good to give us a hope.  We say YES to that.

Here we are with forty-three years under our belt.  At night when we hold hands and talk to the One who saved us (both spiritually and relationally) the past has no hold over us.  Mike hunts (abeit less) and I'm glad to be his earthly first place...so I gladly pack his lunch and enjoy my time.

We've found our retirement years to be full of the space of grace.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Ever tried to unscramble eggs?

A former president who keeps promises that suit him has urged the current president to keep his promise to the American people and let them keep their healthcare.

With no other options, the current president agreed.

This morning, the insurance companies are meeting with the president.  That meeting might have been helpful BEFORE the presser yesterday.

Think the insurance industry doesn't need to chew a Rolaids?  They spent three years trying to come up with something to fit the command from on high.  Now it's "Oh, NEVERMIND".  Now all they need to do is just give people back their substandard, illegal, nonexistent plan.  Right.

Imagine how this is disrupting the market.  And imagine the pall the insurance companies must sense, knowing the next step is to blame THEM for the chaos that will ensue when they have to charge for what the boss ordered. 

The president's party may find it prudent to jump ship now, but they will need to own up to their dirty deed in 2010.

That's when Republicans brought a resolution to the floor to block the regulation that would narrow the grandfather clause.  Republicans warned the regulation would result in cancelled policies.  EVERY DEMOCRAT VOTED TO BLOCK THIS RESOLUTION.  

In fact, there were many earlier voices (called "extremists") who called for caution or a delay of the Affordable Care Act until the act could get its act together.  That wasn't possible.  It was the law of the land.

So we went full throttle into the land of Oz, only to call caution back from the dead.  The president gave us this wonderful "fix" coupon yesterday, but it is really only a pause button, good for one year.  Meanwhile, Americans want to know where the president got the power to do all this law changing?

The power comes from a lonely man.  THIS POLITICO ARTICLE says he doesn't consult his cabinet.  We know he doesn't consult Congress.  He plays a LOT of golf with junior aides.  An article out yesterday said some time back he told his staff to quit bringing him so many decisions to make.  That may explain why he doesn't know anything about any of the scandals in his administration, but it sure doesn't reflect well on his leadership.

The curtain has been pulled back and we are seeing the truth..but THE BIG LOSER IS THE FABRIC OF OUR REPUBLIC. 

THE PROBLEM

What has the nation stepped in with the Affordable Care Act?  What is the problem with it?

The problem is not that the website is glitchy.  Surely that can get fixed.

The problem is not that we paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the website and have nothing to show for it.

Rep. Trey Gowdy says for all that money, we got a sundial and abacus.  Charles Krauthammer partially disagreed with that analogy because he said an abacus works.

The problem is not that it has unintended consequences such as it soon will EXCLUDE more folks out of their policies than the original 30 million we were looking to INCLUDE.

Bureaucracy always ends up with unintended consequences.

The problem is not only that the ACA is based on a pile of purposeful prevarications (try saying that three times) such as keeping a doc/keeping a plan/saving $2,500.

That did seem a lot like Ron Popeil's snake oil, though.












The problem is not that after 3.5 years and $600 million dollars to make/promote it, the website never met ANY of its deadlines and repeatedly failed security tests, but constantly got passed along like a non-reader in high school.

Sheryl Atkinson @CBS reported this week that the man from CMS who was in charge of the website never knew of the internal memos talking about the identity theft vulnerability.  And the underling who signed off on that vulnerability waiver?  He retired last week.

The problem is not that "per-hour" navigators can be hired from illegals and the Affordable Care Act's regulations do not require that these navigators have a background check.

All that above stuff could be fixed.  Perhaps.  Now here is what the problem really is...

IT'S A PROBLEM...that people BELIEVED the promises of the Affordable Care Act.

We thought you could expect doctors to accept less money and stay in the system...we thought you could add 30 million people into the existing doctor pool without complications... and we thought it would all cost less?  Peachy keen.

IT'S A PROBLEM...that the ACA is KILLING the economy and job growth by demands made on employers.

AND IT'S A PROBLEM...that the ACA is KILLING the middle class by raising taxes and reducing income (by going to part-time employment or losing jobs altogether)...followed by government dependence.

The problems have happened as a result of two things.  The insurance industry needed a facelift and got an amputation.  And the federal government had a plan to become the single payer, and we now are in the process of that goal being realized.

C'mon now.  Doesn't it seem unlikely that we couldn't launch a website?  Listen to this take:

"From Pearl Harbor to the German surrender was 3 years, 5 months, and 1 day; from the passage of the ACA to it's launch was 3 years, 6 months, and 10 days.  We could mobilize men and tanks and planes, jeeps, submarines, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes and ammo...turn the tide in North Africa, invade Italy, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and Race to Berlin...while at the same time fighting Japanese in the Pacific.  But we couldn't launch a website." Even factoring in incompetence, the failure seems unlikely.

What seems more likely is the plan has been working from the beginning.  First, people can't get into the website and are frustrated.  People who squeak through find high prices and get more frustrated.  Insurance companies are strangled by regulations and cancel, causing panic.  And government tightens the noose on self-insured businesses.  Without insurance, there will be chaos and a clamoring for government to do something.  Voila!

And when government becomes the single payer, how will people be able to afford "free"?  What does government always do?  

Government will answer with their familiar solution of throwing money.  They offered subsidies to Congress  and that's what the unions wanted.

What me worry?  The government gets the check.

Have we all gone mad?  Pay everyone's healthcare with what?  Americans are losing more money and the country goes into more debt while the health of the economy is hanging by a thread.

Let's remember this all began with the ORIGINAL DECEIT that the "Affordable Care Act" was constitutional.  The Supreme Court said government had no right to compel Americans to either buy something or pay a fine, but then John Roberts threw out a lifeline.  He said it COULD be considered constitutional if it was called it a tax (which, of course, the president had said all along it WASN'T).  No one ever wants more taxes, but lipstick was put on that pig and the ACA squeaked through.

Liberty took a black eye that day.  It is highly unlikely that a sixth of our economy could be based on something crooked that hides in the skirts of "doing good for others".  This unhappy American chapter is not about compassion, but about power over people.  Now the government has all our information... so HIPPA, begone!

PANTS ON FIRE

Everyone knows God is love, but does the Lord hate anything?  Here's what Proverbs 6 says:

"There are six things that the Lord hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members."

Did you notice "lying" mentioned TWICE?  It would seem safe to assume that because God is truth, He will not abide the corruption of what is true.

When we were told that whopper about keeping our doc/insurance plan, we heard NOTHING about it coming with an "if" clause.

But White House conversations (registered in the Federal record) prove it was known what their legislation would do back in 2010.  In fact, they DESIGNED the regulations to push people out of their plans.  We are headed to single payer, all to become charges of the state.

So it was boldfaced and purposeful.  The president bought re-election and support for his plan by telling people they would save $2,500 on their plan.

Another big seller promised was that you could keep your plan.  We fell for that promise because we liked our plan and wanted to keep it.  Huh?  We liked our old one, but needed a new one?

Little did we know that we would be complicit in our own insurance demise.

Why aren't insurance companies talking?  Good question.  You don't hear a peep out of them.  Perhaps they were told EVERYONE would be required to have a policy...even the uninsured...and saw all the new customers.  Now they've been required to not divulge the cancellation numbers.  Surely they can foresee being run out of the business.

Now seniors are paying for maternity plans.  Young people are thought to have extra money to support the health needs of seniors.

Those may be the humorous aspects of what's happening, but it's not funny that the administration thinks Americans are too stupid to understand how good the ACA will be for everyone.

We get it; we just don't think it will work...and we don't think we can afford it.  Welfare didn't work and welfare is breaking us.  The website didn't work and it cost in the hundreds of millions.  How long can government throw money at a problem?

There's an interesting thing being said now to scratch dirt up over the lie.  Democrats and Bill Maher say the lie was brilliant political strategy.

So THAT'S where we've come?

Get a pass for telling a boldface lie in order to do something for the country that they don't want and you have to disguise to get elected.  The end justifies the means.

Disgusting.

People who think lies go unpunished are mistaken.  God keeps a record of our deeds.  So while your base may be celebrating your accomplishment, Mr. President, the reality is that your word just lost market value.

"Keep your doctor...IF"?  Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have much in common.  They both torture two-letter words.

SCARY

Like a good comedy-musical-fantasy movie?  Then you might set aside December, 2014 when "Into the Woods" opens.

Meryl Streep plays the witch who teaches lessons to assorted characters from children's stories (such as The Wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood", played by Johnny Depp).  The movie says it breaks the witch stereotype and Ms. Strep's character is portrayed as "normal" in a family setting.  There's a mainstreaming leap.

British Professor Owen Davies studies social history and has authored AMERICA BEWITCHED: THE STORY OF WITCHCRAFT AFTER SALEM.  He says in his book "witches and ghosts speak to something fundamental and innate in our psyche.  It's an emotional connection."

If that is so, then Halloween is a windfall of emotional connections.
The marketplace is flooded now with characters associated with manipulating supernatural forces.

Even going to WalMart is like going to that grotesque bar in Star Wars.  Many moms with young kids avoid those aisles.

Yes, Virginia, there is a media blitz (movies, TV, and video games) camping out on the themes of DEATH and the SUPERNATURAL.  Why?  Do people identify because they're in need of an "emotional connection"?

Let's first set aside the fun that kids and adults can have as they creatively dress up.  Adults become like children at this opportunity.  This little boy's Mom gets the prize for her work with 8 Solo cups and an old box.  Except for the redistribution of sugar, Halloween does give the family something fun and creative to do together.

The perennial Halloween favorite may be witches, but these days a zombie outbreak takes center stage.  Maybe you are a fan of the TV program "The Walking Dead".

We do seem to have a magnetic draw to the hellish and hideous.  Let's explore these characters from the dark side.

ZOMBIE.  In Creole culture, a zombie is a dead person thought to be raised by a witch's magical powers to a hypnotized state.  Then Hollywood took the zombie a step farther to have them feed on human flesh, and in particular, brains.  Nice...

This cartoon takes some thought.

ZOMBIE TRUTH.  Nothing comes back from the dead except by the hand of the Nazarene.  Zombies mock God's power and plan.  The "sucking your brains out" is another way to say "mindless" and it is mindless to live without considering truth.

WITCH:  A person with power to cause the natural world to react at their command.

WITCH TRUTH.  The power over the universe belongs to God, but the devil is a wannabe.  We read about the priests of Pharoah making the river run red and turning rods into snakes as Satan did battle with God.  The imitator can be flashy, but God has the final say.  Remember Elijah brought fire down from heaven and made a bonfire with wet wood... while the priests of Baal gave up their efforts to do the same.

So there ARE two sources for supernatural power and Satan is called the ruler of this world.  That's why this statement is comforting: "The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  1John 4:4

GHOST.  The spirit of a dead person.

GHOST TRUTH.  We are made of body, soul, and spirit.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 says when someone dies, the body returns to the earth as it was (dust to dust), but the spirit will go back to God who gave it.  The part called "soul" is our mind, emotion, and will...and is the part in the believer that has been progressively sanctified unto God while on earth.

Believers may have trepidation about how their death may occur, but God's friends long to see and be with the One whose goodness and mercy followed them.  The unbeliever's spirit is dead to God (by their choice) and lacks confidence about the future.

If you need a ghost buster, don't call Dan Aykroyd because heaven has already sent help.

SO WHY IS THERE ALL THIS DARKNESS?

Most know the origins of Halloween.  Christendom long celebrated the saints on November first, a day called "All Hallows Day" (later, All Saint's Day).  The night before became "All Hallows Eve" (say that fast and it's "Halloween"), a time for the dark side to prance around before the saints were honored.

That prancing is on the rise; last year we spent an average of $79 per person on Halloween.  So tonight, what will God look down and think? Perhaps He will say "I was clear on this issue."  We willingly step into the danger zone when we dabble in His prohibition.

"There must never be found among you anyone who... 

practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, 

one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner 

of the occult, or one who calls up the dead.  Whoever does these things
 is abhorrent (detestable) to the Lord."  Deuteronomy 18:10-12

"You may not make use of strange arts (witchcraft) 

or go in search of signs and wonders (fortune-telling)."  Leviticus 19:26

"I will put an end to all witchcraft; 

there will be no more fortune-tellers to consult."  Micah 5:12

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft;

hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,

dissentions, factions.  Galatians 5:20

"But those who are full of fear and without faith, the unclean and 

takers of life, those who do the sins of the flesh, and those who make use of 

evil powers or who give worship to images, and all those who are false, 

will have their part in the sea of ever-burning fire which is the second death."

Revelation 21:8

NOW WHAT?

Now some might think this is much adoo about nothing because they're just having fun, not endorsing darkness.  But those words (above)...what do we do with His words?  

This power feud has ancient beginnings and we surmise the "home" team doesn't wear the sweatshirt of the "away" team.  God holds blood to be precious, but Halloween is blood-soaked, making blood common.  God said it is appointed for all men to die once and then face judgment (for unbelievers, the second death, the Lake of Fire...which could have been avoided with pre-arrangement); Halloween makes light of that certainty by raising zombies and ghosts and skeletons at will.  

The British professor who says America is bewitched may be right because we do have a fascination with the things that go bump in the night.  But the people in search of an emotional connection might take notice that the ghoulish Halloween is just an adrenaline apparition.  The true emotional connection is with the Lover of your soul.  HIS IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER.

"Despite the fact that they knew the one true God, they have failed to show the love, honor, and appreciation due to the One who created them!  Instead, their lives are consumed by vain thoughts that poison (darken) their foolish hearts."  Romans 1:21 The Voice

WEIGHT-BEARING

Several years ago I called my right leg "the soldier".  It took over as my weight-bearing leg when the left knee was replaced.

Legs are not the only weight-bearers.  Whether it be the local president of the Rotary Club or the president of the United States...leadership is weight-bearing.

Think back with me at statements our president has made when things went haywire:

FAST AND FURIOUS:  "There may be a situation here where a serious mistake was made and if that's the case we will find out and we'll hold somebody accountable."

BENGHAZI:  "When it comes to this issue, when I say we are going to find out exactly what happened, everybody will be held accountable."

IRS:  "With respect to the IRS, I spoke to this yesterday and my main concern is fixing the problem."

HEALTHCARE:  "We've had some of the best IT talent join the team.  And we're well into a tech surge to fix the problem.  We are confident that we will get the problem fixed."

This morning's news says that the President didn't know about the NSA listening onto foreign leaders.

For real...how much slack can we keep cutting this president?  You wouldn't keep the Rotary Club prez if this were his track record.

"It's his staff, not him" some might say.  Really?  Here's his staff:

Eric Holder lied to Congress about Fast and Furious.  Susan Rice lied about the Benghazi video.  James Clapper said the NSA doesn't spy on us.  The IRS said they didn't target their enemies.  And Kathleen Sebelious said "shutdown or no shutdown, we are ready to go".

THE TROUBLE WITH LYING IS THAT NO ONE TAKES YOU SERIOUSLY.  When the President assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that we weren't listening to her calls, do you think she believed it?  We didn't even believe it.

Last night CBS ran a piece by Laura Logan on 60 Minutes about Benghazi.  FINALLY, the media is beginning to tell the story...a year and a month after it happened.  Still, there is more to be told on that outrageous story.

When I trusted my "soldier" leg, it bore my weight.  America wants to be able to trust government; they want to know why are these things happening.  Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has a learning curve.  But in order to move forward, resolution is key.  C'mon, leadership.  Fix something!  Man up.