My garden thanks you!

Ace hit a homerun today:

The media scoffed at the idea that Obama was a leftist more intent on wealth distribution than sound economic policy. How much harm could he do?, they seemed to think.
—
Oh, it’s fun to nationalize things at first. You get to seize money and assets from big, unpopular “speculators” and give them to your voters.

And then what? What do you do five years down the road, when you desperately need capital but no one wants to loan it to you, because they have the quite-reasonable suspicion you’ll just end up taking their money again?

…socialism only works until you run out of other people’s money.

Yep.

No doubt you’ve heard a lot about health insurance and reforming the whole insurance/medical business. Especially since Obama took office. So sit back and let’s talk about the issues.

The United States is the world leader when it comes to healthcare. Innovations in prescriptions drugs and medical procedures happen every day in this country. This is due to our free market system where it is in the interests of drug companies, doctors and hospitals to develop new and innovating drugs and procedures so that they will be able to profit from their labor. People flock to the U.S. from across the globe to receive the benefits of our health system.

These innovations and drugs aren’t cheap. It costs a lot of money for research and development. Money that must be recouped by the companies and turned into a profit. As costs have increased over the years, the ability for average citizens to afford medical coverage without health insurance has become impossible. So we have turned to insurance as a way to spread the risk and to be able to partake in the amazing medical breakthroughs that have happened over the past 50 years.

Health insurance is expensive. Let’s be honest, it costs a metric ton of dollars to insure a family with anything approaching decent coverage.

I am an engineer and so work in the professional and exciting world of the white collar worker. As with MOST white collar jobs, health insurance has always been one of the perks of my jobs. Some companies I’ve worked for have paid 100% of my insurance premium while most have paid a certain percentage while I paid the rest. My current employer graciously pays my entire premium. However, in today’s economy, there is no telling how much longer that will happen.

How expensive is insurance? Well, family coverage through a Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy costs my company $1,000 per month. Yes, $1,000 per month. Yes, you can get cheaper plans, but in order to do so you sacrifice by paying a higher deductible and getting crappy prescription drug coverage. As it stands, I have a co-pay and a fairly high deductible and my prescription drug plan pretty much sucks.

But as I mentioned earlier, I am fortunate in that my company currently covers this entire expense. I once worked for a company where I was having to pay out $7,200 per year for medical insurance. Yeah, my salary looked good on paper, but my take home pay…not so much.

So, I would say that I am fairly typical of most white collar workers out there.

The rest of the country?

It breaks down like this:

The wealthy can afford the pimped out, Cadillac insurance plan that even covers cosmetic surgery for their pet chihuahua and any out of pocket expenses are easily covered.

The middle class most likely consists of at least one worker in the family who has the option of purchasing insurance through their company. As discussed earlier, this cost can range from nothing to pretty darn expensive, especially for family coverage.

Lower income workers tend to work at unskilled jobs which typically do not offer insurance. Why? Because there is little to no incentive to keep unskilled workers. They are a dime a dozen, so there is very little reason for employers to offer perks to keep workers happy. Luckily for the lower income workers, the government has stepped in with Medicaid/Medicare to provide some level of medical insurance. This has expanded recently with State/Federally funded childrens health insurance. Here in Georgia it is called Peach Care. Eligibility is based on income and family size.

The politicians say we are in a healthcare crisis. Those with insurance are having to pay more and more and those at the lower end of the economic spectrum are losing insurance altogether. If this economic recession lasts longer, more and more companies will begin to eliminate insurance or charge employees more for it. This will mainly affect the mid to lower middle class as they wont be able to afford the additional premiums and will lack the funds required to purchase private insurance.

However, since these mid to lower middle class families make too much to qualify for government health insurance, they will be left in an Insurance No Mans Land.

Each year, health insurance premiums increase. Why is that? Well let me give you an example from my hometown.

In my town we have two hospitals: one for profit and one not for profit.

The not for profit hospital provides indigent care for quite a few surrounding counties. That means that they provide “free” care to people who cannot afford it. To recoup some of the costs, they receive reimbursements from Medicaid/Medicare/Peach Care. However, these reimbursements rarely come close to covering the cost of the care provided. In order to make up the difference, the hospital has to increase the costs to “paying” customers, i.e. people with insurance. Thus the $5 aspirin on your hospital bill. As these costs go up, medical insurance companies have to raise their premiums to help cover the added costs.

As the premiums go up, fewer companies will elect to provide insurance and fewer people will be able to afford the added costs. So now the hospital has fewer “paying” customers…so they have to raise their costs, which causes premiums to go up which causes people to drop insurance…you see the cycle.

This cycle has been going on for the past 30 years.

So what do we do?

As a Conservative, the first question that I feel needs to be answered is: Does government have a responsibility to provide medical care to its citizens?

My core values say no, the government has no business being in the insurance industry. People should make good choices in their lives and plan so that they will have the proper protections in place when they need it.

BUT

That will never work.

So I guess that my answer would have to be that yes, government has some minor responsibility to the poor and the elderly. Thus we have Medicaid/Medicare.

One idea making the most waves now is Obama and the Democrats plan for Universal Healthcare. Meaning everyone, regardless of income (*cough*) will be covered by insurance.

This will not work. It hasnt worked in other countries, yet the Left so desperately wants to be liked by Europe and the rest of the world that they are intent on providing Universal Healthcare. But it doesn’t work. Show me a country who’s health plan is not heavily in debt. Show me a country that doesn’t have long waiting lists. Show me a country that does not ration healthcare.

It sounds so appealing. Especially if you are in the category of not being able to afford insurance. After all it’s FREE!!! Um, yeah, about that. Remember when your Dad or Mom told you there are no free lunches, well, they were right. Nothing is free. Someone has to foot the bill for your “free” healthcare.

The problem is that far too many people in this country have no understanding of basic economic principles and since around 40% of them pay little to no taxes, they don’t care about what it costs. Give me my free healthcare!!!! Sock it to the rich. Make them pay for it. Make corporations pay for it. They have deep pockets. Make the drug makers provide free drugs! They have deeper pockets!!!

*sigh*

Here’s how it works. Poor people do not create jobs. Blue collar workers don’t create jobs. No, jobs are created by mid to upper middle class and the rich. They take their money or investors money and take a risk by backing a new company, starting a new company or developing a new product. This effort of theirs creates jobs. White collar and blue collar jobs. You know, jobs you and I do.

Why do they take the risk? It isn’t out of the goodness of their heart or that they just want to put people to work…nope, it’s because they want to make money. They want to make money so they can grow their business which leads to hiring more people and leads to more money being spent in the economy. More people working means that they spend their money on food, clothes and services, which in turns creates more jobs filling those needs.

If you are going to have universal healthcare you have to cover the close to 300 million citizens in this great country. How much is that going to cost? Some say at much as $1.2 TRILLION. Yes that is Trillion with a T.

How are you going to pay for it?

Close to 40% of Americans pay little to no taxes…can’t raise taxes on them, Democrats have already bought their vote. So that leaves the rest of us working stiffs to pick up the tab. So you will have to raise taxes on the middle class and the wealthy.

The very same people who create jobs in this country.

Any guesses on what will happen when the people who create jobs have less money?

You guessed it, they won’t hire as many people. Wages will stagnate. Unemployment will remain high. The cost of being successful will be substantially higher which will limit innovation and investment in new industries.

You may have universal healthcare, but you also may not have a job.

The other dirty little secret about universal healthcare is that the government will be forced to save money. How will they do this? They will limit care of critically ill infants and the elderly. Gee, you’ve lived 70 years, I just dont think spending money on cancer treatment is going meet the cost benefit analysis. Sorry, but here are some pain pills and a bed at Hospice. I’m sorry Mom and Dad, but junior has a heart defect. The chances of long term survivability plus the cost of long term care doesnt meet the cost benefit analysis. Enjoy the few hours you have left with him.

For the rest, we will have rationed care. Need a hip replacement? Get in line, it could take a few years. Need a knee replacement? You have to lose 30 pounds first. It goes on and on.

So no, universal healthcare is not the way to go.

What do we do?

To be honest, I don’t know. The only thing I DO KNOW is that the government has never and will never run anything efficiently. The last thing we need is some mindless government bureaucrat making life and death decisions. The taxes needed to fund universal healthcare or expanded government programs will stifle job growth and will harm the economy. But at the same time, there will be people who fall through the cracks and are left uninsured or underinsured.

What do you guys think? I am open to your thoughts and opinions.

Our church intersession team was wandering around Albany’s oldest cemetery today trying to find the grave of Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany.

Jen called letting me know where she was and that they found another important grave. So I decided to do some quick web research to see if I could find out info on Tift’s grave which would be helpful to the team.

I didn’t find anything helpful and in the end they found it on their own.

But…

While perusing through some grave information from the cemetery I stumbled on this name:

A. W. Cosby
Mar. 15, 1839
Sept. 6, 1894
Co. E. 4th. Ga. C. S.A

Since it was such a detailed tombstone description, I was curious if I could track down any information on the regiment or Mr. Cosby.

A little searching brought me here.

There I found this:

So there he was.

It made me wonder all sorts of things like was he born in Albany? How did he end up in Albany? Did he fight for the duration of the Civil War or did he join later? Base on his birth date, I would assume he joined with the rest in 1861.

Looking at the unit history of the 4th Georgia Regiment I was stunned. The regiment fought in almost every major battle the Army of Northern Virginia participated in. The fact that any of the men survived from enlistment until the end of the war is amazing:

Near Seven Pines (skirmish) – June 15, 1862
Seven Days Battles – June 25 – July 1, 1862
Beaver Dam Creek – June 26, 1862
Gaines’ Mill – June 27, 1862
Malvern Hill – July 1, 1862
South Mountain – September 14, 1862
Antietan – September 17, 1862
Fredericksburg – December 13, 1862
Chancellorsville – May 11-14, 1863
Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863
Bristoe Campaign – October 1863
Mine Run Campaign – November – December 1863
The Wilderness – May 5-6 1864
Spotsylvania Court House – May 8-21, 1864
North Anna – May 23-26, 1864
Cold Harbor – June 1-3, 1864
Lynchburg Campaign – May – June 1864
Monocacy – July 9, 1864
3rd Winchester – September 19, 1864
Fisher’s Hill – September 22, 1864
Cedar Creek – October 19, 1864
Petersburg Siege – May – June 1864 – April 1865
Fort Stedman – March 25, 1865
Appomattox Court House – April 9, 1865

And now this man is buried and forgotten in a cemetery in Albany, Georgia.

I love history and I love cemeteries.

If you were the Fire Chief of a mid sized town and one of your Assistant Chief’s used firefighters and equipment to help clean up said Assistant Chief’s Aunt and Uncle’s flooded property, what would you do?

You have three choices:

1. Ignore it – Hey, people needed help, who cares if they happened to be family members getting free clean up services….um…yeah….

2. Big slap on the wrist including temporary suspension – He’s a good guy, he just had a lapse in judgment. Maybe a few days off without pay will help him remember the rules next time

3. Fire him

The Fire Chief and the City decided to fire the man. Not knowing anything about the magnitude of the assistance he provided or anything about his past performance, this would seem to be maybe a bit harsh. But, it is possible this person has had other work related issues and this was the final straw.

I don’t know.

But, I can see that firing the guy is warranted. A bit harsh maybe, but totally within the legal rights of the City and the Fire Chief since what the guy did was in clear violation of City policy.

That’s all fine and dandy, but it seems his friends and family have decided to protest his firing.

“Regardless of who it is if there is a person that need help a fireman is supposed to help them, I don’t care who it is your mother, your brother, they are citizens that need your assistance, this is what they do all the time,” said Bishop John Burr, People Clergy Community Involvement.

Right……

Yes, if a house is on fire, it doesn’t matter if it belongs to the Chief’s Mom…you put it out. But cleaning up after flood damage? Sorry dude, that’s sort of like using the fire department to cut my grass….

Best part:

Jolivette’s supporters called for a new investigation into the firing, an apology from the city, and for Chief James Carswell to step down.

Now why would they want that? What possible reason could there be for the Chief to step down and for the City to apologize?

I suspect I will be updating this post with the “real” reason in a few days.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: Some pictures of the finished product.

UPDATE: If you’re not into food blogging, you can always check out the Death Star blowing up the Enterprise…the way God intended it…

Original Post:

First off, Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers out there. My goodness, where would we be without you guys…

We are having our Mom’s over for dinner tonight. I am in charge of the cooking and have decided on a big feast from my Southern Living Cookbook.

For starters, there is the 6.5 pound Boston Butt that I just stuck in the oven:

it was marinated in orange juice, brown sugar, oregano, garlic and onion powder, chili powder and some other spices. Oh man, does it smell good!

She is in the oven for 4 hours. I will update as I start cooking the other dishes which include: edamame succotash, cauliflower and leek puree, tomato Florentine and berry cobbler for afters!

The edamame succotash could have used a bit more seasoning, but it was good:

The tomato Florentine was probably the best, well, besides the meat.

The finished product!

Oh man the meat was very tender and juicy and the seasoning was to die for. I will definitely do it again.

Jon preached on Sunday and he gave his testimony about the Lord delivering him from fear.

Seeing the man that Jon has become, it was amazing to hear how he was totally bound by fear. Not just some “simple” fear like heights or something like that. No, I mean life altering fear.

In the end his deliverance wasn’t with someone praying for him or with his head spinning, pea soup flying everywhere. It was with a small still voice that said “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

It changed his life and by proxy, mine.

He shared two of the most famous scriptures on fear. Read them again and really ponder what Paul is saying.

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So fear is a spirit. Where does it come from? Well, it definitely does not come from the Lord because:

1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

God is perfect love, therefore there is no fear in God.

I am working with a program called HEC-RAS. It is the hydraulic modeling software that is used to map the 100-year floodplain. If any of you pay flood insurance you know what I’m talking about.

HEC-RAS was developed to take the place of HEC-2. HEC-2 is probably what the 100-year floodplain near you was modeled in. Unless your models have been updated recently. HEC-2 was born in the age of punch cards. The various data input parameters are still called “cards”. It was also born in the age of dot matrix printers and giant mainframe computers. The outputs that we work with (now on microfilm) were all printed out on 81/2×11 paper, portrait style. Some of the scanned copies even have the dark and light banding you would expect from the old green and white paper they used.

HEC-RAS is now a slick windows GUI program, but it still looks like its distant cousin HEC-2 in one respect: the output reports.

See here:

It produces pages and pages and pages and pages of data. Here is a text file output so you can see what I mean.

Because the report generates so much paper and what not, we try to limit the report or to take only the important parts, but sometimes we have to print out the entire thing.

The engineers who developed HEC-RAS apparently understand that their program produces so much paper. In fact, they even found a way to be humorous about the whole thing.

I know this because when you tell HEC-RAS to generate a report a little status bar comes up with an image of a tree in the right corner. As the report is generated, the tree is cut down. I took some screen shots of it:

Generate a report, kill a tree!

Who says engineers don’t have a sense of humor?

I was listening to NPR on the way to pick up dinner and This American Life was playing. I’ve heard bits and pieces of the show before and have always enjoyed the format: narration, interviews and music. A unique way to tell a story.

The last part of the program was written and narrated by contributing editor Sarah Vowell on the Marquis de Lafayette’s trip back to the United States in 1824 for a 13 month tour in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

I thoroughly enjoyed the piece and urge you to give it a listen. For some reason, America and more specifically, the men and women responsible for her founding, have been on my heart lately.

You can click here to go to the Chicago Public Radio website where you can listen to the entire broadcast which also has an interesting story of a man and his cloned bull. Scroll on over to minute 49:20 to listen to the part about Lafayette. Click the “Full Episode” button on the left side under the picture.
Or, you can listen to it here:

Two best parts. The first is a quote from Lafayette:

Within these sacred walls, by a council of wise and devoted patriots, was boldly declared the independence of these vast united states. Which has begun for the civilized world the era of a new and of the only true social order founded on the inalienable rights of man.

And the second is when General Pershing in World War I paid a visit to Lafayette’s grave and planted an American flag in his memory:

He was an amazing man.

Oh yes….

Go check out the heavenly creations. Remember if it tastes good, it can’t be bad for you.

It was the Honors Day for the boys.

They did great!

It was a tough year at times for Charlie, but he pulled through and finished strong. Nate sailed through and is an amazing reader.

Here are some pictures:

All dressed up

Me and Charlie

Waiting for Nathan

Thank you is never enough, but it is all I can do.

To those who paid the ultimate price, thank you.

To all who served and are serving, thank you.

All gave some

Some gave all

And one of the best

Hello world!

Yes I’m still alive and kicking.

Been one heck of a busy week.

I like making excuses.

I promise to be more entertaining or your money back.

To make up for my lack of posting, I leave you with a few Fails: