Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Alito Confirmed Without Filibuster

I gained a little more respect for the Senate today when I found that they went ahead and confirmed Alito to the Supreme Court without a filibuster. The filibuster was never intended to be used to stop a confirmation and shouldn't be either. I believe that the filibuster is an important part of our free government, but I don't think it should be used to stop the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice.

Alito is a worthy man of this post.

I'm so glad.

God Bless America


NY Times Story

England: National Helth Service Franticly Tries To Rework Budget

England NHS: Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt presented the new outline of adjustments that will be made to help England pay for its socialized medicine health care services. NHS has been forced to downsize because of a lack of funding. They have developed this huge socialized government funded system of healthcare throughout their country and it is failing because they don't have enough money to pay for it.

So with this information, why are some people still trying to push the same thing here in the United States? Health Care, like any other business, must be part of a free market economy in order to thrive. It must be forced to be economical and efficient. Without that check on its spending it will get out of control. Last year (2005) in California there were at least three attempts by legislators to create a universal, mandatory, socialized healthcare system for this state. How can we even think about doing something like that when we are watching the very same thing wreaking havoc in other countries and being forced to shut down because of its inefficiency?

Further Reading:
The Times Link

EADT Link

Monday, January 30, 2006

Existence Of International Court In Jepardy!

The trial seeking to bring to justice those captured in Operation Iraqi Freedom doesn't seem to be going very well. Saddam stormed out of the courtroom again. This time in front of a new judge.

According to a Times Online article (Link) the whole idea of having an international court of law is in jepardy. This is bad news for the future of the international court.

See other articles on Google News

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Sacramento: Assisted Suicide

Governor says people should decide the issue Link


According to a Link Sacramento Bee article Schwarzenegger said yesterday:

"I personally think that this is a decision that probably should go to the people, like the death penalty or other big issues," Schwarzenegger said. "I think let the people of California make that decision. I don't think that 120 legislators and I should make that decision."



On one hand it seems that the governor is not willing to take the chance that he might offend somebody by making this type of decision, but on the other hand, at least he isn't saying that he's all for it. The Biblel is very clear on this issue. While it may not specifically say in our terms "don't commit suicide", it does say don't murder (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5)and suicide is a form of murder. You are taking a life.


God created man so that he (man) could bring glory and honor to God. That was God's purpose in creation. And in order for man to fulfill this calling God created man in His image.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27 KJV)


It is therefore our responsibility to live our lives to the glory of God alone. Every time we take our lives into our own hands we are sinning. Our lives don't belong to us, they belong to the Lord.


Since the beginning of time God has shown how wrong it is to take innocent life. This page has an explanation of some of the discussion.
Link

Here's another Link

Monday, January 23, 2006

What Is The World Coming To? Pray For The Nation

A rural midwestern town decides they have enough churches and declares founding new ones or expanding old ones to be illegal. Story



Ban on gay marriage ruled unconsitutional in Maryland. Story



All this and yet... God will win in the end. Best be on the right side. When Jesus comes back He won't be friendly to those that are on the other side. Its something to think about if you are on that other side.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Socialized Health Care Dying in China and England

California Lawmakers are still talking about embracing socialized health care for Californians in spite of the failures seen in other countries where such a system is used.

A recent NY Times article 79% of the people of China have no health insurance. The article also describes how terrible health care conditions are in rural and poor areas in China.
Even the official Chinese news media are regularly filled with accounts of the desperate choices people are forced to make over health care, of brothers who must draw lots to see whose serious disease will be treated because their family cannot afford to treat both, or of a father who sells a kidney to treat an ill son.

"There's basically no safety net at all for medical care in the village I live in," said Yang Yunbiao, a worker with a Chinese independent organization in Fuyang that aids poor sick people. "Our village has a lot of aged people with disease who are unable to get treatment, just staying at home in bed with barely enough to eat. They are shut in and can't work, and their disease and poverty have taken away their dignity."


According to The Times of London many hospitals have been closing wards in England this week because they cannot afford to keep them open. Is this the type of health system we want for California?

Friday, January 13, 2006

Government Representatives Show Little Respect For Their Office Or Each other

Being interested in government, I have seen a lot of politicians going at each other’s throats. Many of them use foul language and swear at each other while they are arguing. And all this not just in the privacy of their own offices (I can't imagine how bad it must get there) but in public. The general public got another taste of this earlier in the week when Senator Ed Kennedy was threatening the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Senator Arlen Specter.

It is disrespectful of other elected officials, and it is disrespectful of those who elected them when our legislators display little or no professionalism in their job. Saying things and acting in ways that ought to be below them, shows that they are not only unworthy of their office, but a disgrace to it.

Many have said that to see the problem of a nation one need only look at its leadership. To me, at least, this practice is an embarrassment to our government, our society, our nation, and our world.

I would support enforcing a code of professional behavior in our legislature. We put these men and women at the head of our nation, we ought to expect more from them.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

England: Govt. Funded Care for the Elderly cut back to keep taxes down.

A government program, meant to help the elderly, is being forced to cut services because of increased cost and lack of funding. We should take this as an example of a government program this should have been left to free enterprise and Christian charity.


From an article in The Times


January 12, 2006

Elderly face cutbacks in care as councils fight to keep tax down
By Jill Sherman, Whitehall Editor



TOWN halls are planning to withdraw care services from hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people and to raise charges to keep council tax down this year.

Many councils are now considering raising charges for domiciliary care, which includes bathing, cleaning and dressing the elderly, disabled and infirm, preparing meals and shopping.

Finance officers across the country have been told to cut spending to keep council tax increases below 5 per cent to avoid being capped by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister. The Times has learnt that authorities are planning to withdraw care from less dependent people altogether by changing the eligibility criteria for home and residential services. They are also planning to raise income by charging more for home care or providing a lower level of services...

“People entitled to services last year will not get the care this year,” Sir Sandy told The Times after a meeting with Mr Woolas. “The picture emerging is a mixture of raising eligibility criteria for social care, charging more and making cuts. Services are being rationed.”



Right now in California the Legislature is deliberating a bill (SB 840) which would institute a Socialized Health Care for all residents of California. This system would no doubt suffer the same setback if not failure as the government programs in England discussed in this article. The more programs our government gets involved in, the more problems it is going to have in meeting the needs of those programs. Like any business the government will have to meet the needs of growing problems. But the government isn't a business, it isn't in it for the money so it is guranteed not to be as effective or efficient as a business with the same focus.

See article against Socialized Medicine

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Judge Orders Priest To Prove Christ Exsisted

While many throughout history have argued who Jesus was, few have actually challanged the fact that He never exsisted. That hasn't stopped a judge from ordering Father Enrico Righi of Viterbo, Italy to prove that Christ lived. According to The Times of London, this came as a result of a lawsuit filed against the priest by an athiest Luigi Cascioli. [Article]

According to The Times:

Signor Cascioli, author of a book called The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago after the priest denounced Signor Cascioli in the parish newsletter for questioning Christ’s historical existence.

Yesterday Gaetano Mautone, a judge in Viterbo, set a preliminary hearing for the end of this month and ordered Father Righi to appear. The judge had earlier refused to take up the case, but was overruled last month by the Court of Appeal, which agreed that Signor Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was “abusing popular credulity”.

Signor Cascioli’s contention — echoed in numerous atheist books and internet sites — is that there was no reliable evidence that Jesus lived and died in 1st-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, which Christians took on faith. There is therefore no basis for Christianity, he claims.


This comes at a time when in the United States, teaching inteligent design in public schools is being chalanged. Cases in Pennsylvania last month and in California this month on the topic have raised a renewed interest from the press.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Cubans Turned Back - The Florida Keys

15 Cubans were picked up of the coast of the Florida Keys on the pilings of a bridge that are no longer connected to the mailand and sent back to Cuba according to the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg FL. [Link]


"If they are on an artificial structure and can't walk to land they are considered "feet wet,"' said Petty Officer Dana Warr, pointing out that several spans of the old bridge are missing.

Had they been picked up on pilings under the adjacent new bridge, he said their fate would have been different. "It's not our policy," he added, pointing out that the directive comes from Washington.


If this is what the most freedom oriented nation on earth calls compassion and freedom I don't think I like it. For over two centuries the United States has been a haven for persecuted peoples to run to for freedom. Now we are turning them away. How is that justice?

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Attempted Marriage Amendment Fails For Lack of Signatures

Prior to WWII polling was done to see if the American people were ready to become involved in the war. Some time after the First World War it was too early to take action according to these polls. The people weren't upset enough. In fact, most were not ready until after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

So too, the people are not up in arms enough to take a step like passing a constitutional amendment to protect marriage. A clear and present danger has not been evident enough to the people of California for them to be pressured enough to take action. There is one group trying to push on getting signatures for a marriage amendment but their wording isn't the best out there. There is another group (voteyesmarriage.com) who has stood firm in their wording even though others say it is to bold. This wording is the best and has been worked through with many of the top constitutional lawyers in the country.