What color is the sky in their world?

Stories like this abound. Women choosing to have their babies in rural Montana hospitals instead of their native Canada, because that's how bad the hospital system is there. People diagnosed with brain tumors being told they have to wait 6 months or more for an operation to remove it, because that's how long the wait list is. Britons removing their own teeth, because they can't find a dentist who can them as a patient.

What do all these people have in common? They live in countries with a government-run health care system.

And yet, despite all the evidence, the Democratic geniuses here in America want to move towards a nationalized health care system. At what point do we burst their bubble and tell them utopia doesn't, and won't ever, exist? I have no doubt that the sky in their world has many pretty, shiny colors in it, but at some point don't they have to wake up to it not being REAL?

While the American health care system may not be perfect, and we certainly need to do something about the uninsured (particularly kids - adults need to figure that out for themselves), I'll take my doctors and my system ANY day over theirs.

I don't see any of our esteemed Democratic leaders going to Canada, England, Cuba, etc for their health care. If it's not good enough for them, why should it be good enough for us?

What is WRONG with these two?

I mean, seriously. They have 2 adorable, innocent little boys and yet neither parent can get their own personal act together. Britney looks like she is on the verge of losing it, and K-FedEx is now the responsible parent??

I just hope there are grandparents involved in the little boys lives somewhere, to maybe, MAYBE give them some sense of normalcy. On the other hand, do we really want the adults responsible for giving us Brit and K-Fed to get their hands on 2 new victims?

And here's to hoping this is the last thing I ever post on either of these two twits.

Fascinating

So this little boy in England went through a tough time - complained of headache, had a fever, then a seizure only to discover there was an abcess on his brain caused by a rare form of meningitis. What an absolute nightmare for him and his parents.

HOWEVER - read the article! Not only has he made a full recovery, but he's also learned to speak again - but with a completely different accent! Medicine and miracles go hand in hand in so many ways.

He gets this one right

I think it's well-documented (OK, well maybe not documented, but certainly well KNOWN) how I feel about Senator John McCain. But being intellectually honest means admitting when someone totally nails an issue on the head, even if you don't necessarily like that person:

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain made the following statement today: Senator Clinton said that believing General Petraeus' testimony requires a 'willing suspension of disbelief.' I think it willingly suspends disbelief to not repudiate an advertisement run by a radical left wing organization that impugns and dishonors the integrity of a man who has served his nation with dedication all of his life. If you're not tough enough to repudiate a scurrilous, outrageous attack such as that, then I don't know how you're tough enough to be President of the United States.

Hat Tip: The Corner

The dust waits

An acquaintance of mine shared the following yesterday:

*****

On September 11, 2002, I appeared on the Kean University radio program “Poets On Air” (http://www.kean.edu/~kuradio/segments.html ) to read a poem I wrote shortly after 9/11/01 for the families left behind. To commemorate the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I am sharing my work for those who may not have seen it …Never forget.

CB

*****

THE DUST WAITS
(to the families left behind)

The dust waits
shrouding sidewalks
anticipating footprints
that will never come

There are no cell phones in Heaven
sound-bite from a mother/daughter conversation
belonging in some far-off future
not a five year-old’s now

In a suddenly unfamiliar living room
a mother holds on
to a silent cell phone
that final connection
with a husband
whose death she just heard

Replaying in her mind
those last words of love
she listens to the decomposing static
until three hours later
the battery runs out

An interconnected network of empty beds
with permanent holes on one side
will remain

like the family photographs and wedding videos
capturing lives that will never be again
stared at so intently
in the hope of somehow pulling out
that one last piece of a soul
and touching it ever so briefly

until the warmth fades into memory
like the September 11 sun
before 8:46 AM

Woof

As a lover of all things critter (ok, well actually just the mammals - and anything non-mammal but cute), I have had an incredibly hard time understanding the motivation behind Michael Vick and his dog fighting activities.

I just don't see this as a sport, sorry. Breeding animals to be vicious to each other just doesn't strike me as a good idea. But what I am absolutely incredulous about are those people who are attempting to defend him and the activities as CULTURAL issues.

Take, for example, Whoopi Goldberg's words: "Goldberg said that 'from where he comes from' in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual.
'It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico,' she said. 'There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country.'"

Well sure, but that doesn't make them RIGHT. First of all, the manner in which she defended him is absolutely insulting to all Southerners. There was a time when the "cultural sport" in the south involved burning crosses in certain demographic groups front lawns--maybe preceded or followed by a chase through the woods. That was certainly "southern cultural" at the time - it didn't happen in the north. Why not defend those heinous activities as "cultural"?

Secondly, not all "cultural" things are equal. It was cultural for the Romans to capture people and make them fight as gladiators to the death (sound familiar?) - doesn't mean it was right. It was cultural for ancient Mayans and Aztecs to sacrifice virgins to the gods - doesn't make it right. It's cultural even today for women in many Islamic countries to be treated as second class citizens (or worse) - barred from going to school, working, owning property, voting. Just because these things are part of one's "culture" doesn't make them OK.

This is the problem with the liberal worldview. In their "anything goes, all things are equal, I'm OK, you're OK" world, there is no room for discernment, critical thought or - heaven forbid - judgement of values. Right and wrong still exist in this world, whether liberals choose to believe it or not.

It is not right what Michael Vick and his friends and family did. It's also not right to try and paint this as a cultural issue.

Where did we get off track?

"When good news is awful news," by Wes Pruden, is a must-read in its entirety. However, I'll do you a favor and pull out the most demoralizing and infuriating quote regarding the war in Iraq and the reaction of some of our elected (!) officials:

'Nevertheless and grudging or not, things are reported to be better than they used to be, and seem to be getting a little better every day. It's enough to make a partisan Democrat weep. Some are. Nancy Boyda of Kansas, a freshman in the House, was so unnerved by good news from the front that she stalked out of a committee hearing when a retired general described developments in Iraq as encouraging. Good news like that, she said, only "further divides the country." Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic majority House whip, was even more revealing: If things improve in Iraq, that would be "a real problem for us [Democrats]." '

No, Mr. Clyburn, you are wrong. Iraq improving is not a problem for any one. Period. It is a good thing for Iraqis, a good thing for our troops and a good thing for Americans. Your myopic view of our country, your ability to only see it in terms of blue and red (that is, the election map), has caused you to lose sight of what is truly of value. Freedom. Life. Liberty. Before our troops, the average Iraqi had none of those. Now there is at least hope - another value that was in short supply in the Saddam years.

As for Ms. Boyda, I can only hope that her constituents throw her out of office. Not because she is a democrat, but because she is, to be kinder than how I really feel about her, not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.