Month: March 2010

Politics

Health Care Law Makes Me Sick

Karen

I sit here at a loss for words. I’ve been operating on auto pilot ever since Sunday when this nightmare health care bill was shoved up our asses and passed with little to no regard for how the majority of people felt about it. I think I’m still in shock that it could even happen to begin with. Our country was built on WE THE PEOPLE and yet, WE THE PEOPLE opposed the health care bill and it still passed. This administration resorted to every dirty trick in the book, even going so far as to trap the Democrats in Washington until the bill was voted on.

It’s truly despicable behavior.

I have written draft after draft about the shocking ramifications of this health care law. I have ranted and raved and gotten downright nasty about my feelings about not only this bill, but about the sheer level of complacency this country has reached.

It both sickens and frightens me.

But in the end, I have deleted those rants – they do not serve any other purpose than to allow me to vent my frustrations. What’s done is done. However, I, along with over half of this country, will not take this grossly intrusive law sitting down. We will fight this process, tooth and nail, every step of the way.

And though our hands may be tied at this juncture, we will flood the polls in November and vote these rat bastards out of office. Since Congress’ approval rate is at AN ALL-TIME low, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

As long as we stick together and remain focused on our objective – fix this fiasco, or at least try to.

I won’t go into all of the reasons this health care law is so wrong for our country – you all know most of the arguments. But I would like to continue pointing out various “goodies” that I’m convinced will surface in the next several months that the media will be sure to ignore.

Let’s begin with the unacceptable intrusion that we will be forced to endure: the expansion of the IRS.

***Highlights of New IRS Authority***
IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care
coverage

IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent
of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove
that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage”

IRS can confiscate your tax refund

IRS audits are likely to increase

IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health
care program this decade

IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional
auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and
collect billions in new taxes from Americans

Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will
be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of
poverty ($66,150 for a family of four)

***SPECIAL EXEMPTION***
Democrats prohibit the IRS from imposing these taxes and
penalties on illegal immigrants

The IRS will be given the authority to “check your papers.” They have been appointed to act as Gestapo. Think about that for a moment. Think of the ramifications of having an organization being given that much power over our lives.

I have to ask you: you’re seriously okay with this??

Because if you are, then I’m truly scared for this country. America went to WAR with England precisely so they wouldn’t have the authority to tell us what to do or how to live our lives. And yet here we are freely handing our freedoms over to our own government.

Which somehow makes it worse, I think.

What is wrong with you, America? Are you so blinded by the prospect of getting something for free that you’re willing to sacrifice our most precious asset – our freedom? Because if you think this isn’t the beginning of that sacrifice, that there won’t be more legislation down the road that continues to chip away at our freedoms, then you’re truly delusional.

Complacency is strangling this country.

There are other, more efficient, less costly and FAIR ways of dealing with our health care issues. They are out there, but I’m betting most Obama supporters never knew that because our so-called media never reported on it.

*takes a deep breath* I’m ranting.

Here’s another unbelievable “perk” to this health care debacle:

Complete federalization of student loans. NO more private funding of college loans.

This is part of an interview transcript between Greta Van Susteren and Senator Lindsay Graham:

GRAHAM: So how do they pay for it? They cut Medicare by over $500 billion — not to save Medicare but to take money out of Medicare, senior citizens, to pay for the uninsured. They raised taxes by $600 billion. But that’s not enough. That doesn’t get you there.

So they’re taking the student loan program that 19 million students have access to, they’re giving the student loan program completely to the federal government. You want government takeover? Well, then, your ship has come in. Every student in the country can get their — has to go to the federal government to get their student loan. So what the federal government has done is dealt out the private sector, and they’re lending money at 6.4 percent, we’re borrowing it at about 2.6 percent. The difference the federal…

VAN SUSTEREN: The spread, the 4 percent spread or…

GRAHAM: Goes to the federal government. And guess what? Nine-point- one billion dollars of money created by the student loan takeover by the federal government is going to pay for health care. So it’s not enough to increase the taxes on these students when they get a job because that’s what will happen to them under this health care bill. It’s not enough to pass on $2 trillion of debt. That’s what happens when you look at this bill in perpetuity. You got to hit them while they’re in school. This stinks.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, this 4 percent spread, was this something that before was being paid into the private sector, or I mean, is the cost to the students still the same, it’s just a question of where the 4 percent goes?

GRAHAM: The average student will be spending $1,700 to $1,800 more during the life of their loan because of this surcharge. From the students’ point of view, it’s going to cost you $1,700 to $1,800 more to pay your student loan off, and all the money goes to the federal government. At the end of the day, they took the student loan business over to generate income for the federal government and they’ve applied it to paying for this health care bill.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are you going to have an amendment on this?

GRAHAM: You better believe it! And the one thing I want students to do is speak up. Your student loan rates are going to change. You’re going to have one place to get your student loan from.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are the Democrats saying they’re doing this to help finance the health care reform bill, or do they say that there is another reason? Is there more…

GRAHAM: They’re…

VAN SUSTEREN: What’s their explanation for it?

GRAHAM: They’re saying that the banking system doesn’t work, that the private lenders ought to be taken out of the equation, no private sector entity should make money sending kids to school. So we’re going to have a federally government run student loan program. You know, it’s not enough to own a car company, we got to take over all the student loans in the country. So they’re saying this is better for the students.

The truth is that the spread between what we borrow the money and we charge the student is about 4.2 percent, maybe a little bit higher. It generates money for the federal government to be used not to retire the deficit, not to help students go to school, but to pay for this health care bill. So this is another example of a government takeover of the private sector that will cost the average person more money. And why they’re doing it? To pay for a health care bill that they can’t afford unless they start robbing students.

Again, yet another government take over that squeezes out the private sector – all in the name of funding a health care law we can’t afford and don’t want.

They are slowly, bit-by-bit, chipping away at the foundations of what make this country so great. And I guess we’re just going to stand by and watch them stick it to us, and to our children.

This is unacceptable.

Stay tuned – I’m sure this will only get “better” as we learn more and more. Now that the bill is law, we can learn what’s in it.

If you truly care about this country, then look past the guise of FREE health care for a minute and look at the bigger picture. You owe your country that much.

I have written an apology to my children. I think it’s warranted, don’t you? After all, they will be forced to pay for most of it.

(And by the way, comments are closed. I’m not debating this. I mean, why? What’s done is done. All we can do at this point is damage control).

Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction: Placing My Life Into His Hands

Karen

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Fiction under 250 words.

_________________________________

It’s so hard for me to keep my mouth shut.

I watched my son navigate traffic from the corner of my eye. His hands nervously fluttered over the steering wheel, but his dark brown eyes flashed with determination. Left turns on busy streets were always a challenge, even to a seasoned driver, but they were tricky, even downright dangerous, to an inexperienced driver.

“Don’t take chances,” I mumbled quietly, afraid that if I allowed even one trace of anxiety into my voice it would be enough to spook him from driving forever. “Take your time, watch for an opening.”

I tensed as I noticed his fingers tightening on the wheel. He was getting impatient. That was never a good sign. People made stupid decisions when they got impatient – people sometimes died from those stupid decisions.

“Oh my gosh, this is taking forever!” he growled.

I sighed. His generation wasn’t used to waiting … for anything. Everything was instant gratification and even small pockets of forced patience all in the name of safety were nearly impossible to endure.

“Just don’t kill me,” I half-joked.

He turned his head toward me and scowled. “That’s not funny, mom.”

I never thought funerals were fun, either, I thought to myself. I forced myself to take a breath. “Okay. After this car, floor board it.”

His eyes narrowed and as soon as the car slipped past, he shot out into traffic.

The car roared in protest.

I hung on for dear life.

And prayed.

Read by the author
Click the arrow to listen.

Book Corner

Spring Reading Challenge ’10

Karen

March 20 – June 20 2010

I’m on a reading kick – I read a book on Saturday, and I read a book on Sunday. So it only seemed natural to jump onto this reading wagon.

And the more I read, the more I want to write. Hopefully I’ll be posting some new fiction soon.

At any rate, my average reading rate is two books per month, so I’ll keep it realistic and list six books I plan on reading before June 20th.

In addition, these books will be for sale in my Amazon book store after I read them, if you’re interested.

Happy reading!

More from Write From Karen

Book Corner

Book Review: Killer Smile

Karen

Killer Smile
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (June 1, 2004)
ISBN # 0060514957
368 pages
Author Website

My Grade: C –

Plot / Premise:

I’ve decided to copy and paste the plot summary from the below source. I always feel like I don’t do plot summaries justice and I’m only regurgitating what other people have said and … okay, fine. I’m lazy. I’d rather concentrate on character development and writing style.

From Amazon:

Growing out of Scottoline’s discovery of her own grandparents’ alien registration cards, the book involves the case of an Italian-American who was interned during WWII. Amadeo Brandolini emigrated from Italy to Philadelphia, where he started a family and worked as a fisherman. When the war broke out, the FBI arrested and imprisoned him (along with 10,000 other Italian-Americans). He lost everything and wound up committing suicide in the camp. Rosato and Associates’ young star, Mary DiNunzio, steps up to represent Brandolini’s estate as it sues for reparations. Mary “grew up in South Philly, where she’d learned to pop her gum, wear high heels, and work overtime” and silently prays to saints when she can’t find things. This case, a pro bono one, means a lot to her; the local small business owners and family friends she grew up with want retribution for Brandolini as much as she does. Mary puts all of her energy into the job, and when clues suggest Brandolini’s death may have been a homicide, she becomes even more enthralled. As Mary learns more, the enemy camp (another Italian-American family, the Saracones) turns its murderous eye on her.

Overall Thoughts:

This was not one of my favorite Lisa Scottoline stories. It started out slow and then only got slower as the story progressed. Just when I was about to give up on it entirely, the pace picked up and it finally got interesting … sort of.

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I simply didn’t care about the case that Mary became obsessed about. And quite frankly, I couldn’t figure out why Mary cared about this particular case. I suppose if it had some personal meaning to her, I could see why she would continue to put her job, and life, on the line in order to get to the bottom of it, but until one of her good friends dies and the case turns into some sort of revenge-seeking mission, I just couldn’t understand her drive.

Mary herself was a rather boring character. She starts out mousy and then through a rather unrealistic epiphany suddenly develops a backbone. I found this unbelievable and tedious, quite frankly. I did end up liking her a bit more by the end of the story, but only a bit. The rest of the time I felt like she was a bumbling idiot and though she made progress throughout the story, it was more of an accidental progress – Lady Luck was on her side just a bit too much for my taste.

This was one of those stories where I thought the minor characters were way more interesting than our heroine and that’s really never a good sign, in my opinion.

Stuffed in between this uninteresting case she pursues obsessively throughout the story are her blind dates. Mary’s husband is dead and her well-intentioned friends are trying to get her back on the dating road again. Only these episodes felt completely out of place given the backbone of the story and they served as an irritating distraction more than anything else, though I will say, there were humorous moments. (Which might have saved the entire story from putting me to sleep, quite frankly).

I ended up giving this story a C- (as opposed to an F) because I liked how Scottoline ties the entire story together by the end. The seemingly random, pointless clues that Mary “accidentally” stumbles across throughout the story do come together in the end and though everything is nicely tied up, it worked for me; I finished the story feeling satisfied with Mary’s vindication.

One of the more interesting aspects of this story were the author’s notes at the end.

Responding to Negative Reviews:

This book has 140 interesting pages. Unfortunately, it’s 352 pages long. It starts out great – with a unique plot and some thought-provoking mystery elements. However, at page 141 it turns into a typical thriller novel with every possible cliche thrown in. The plot twists in the wind well beyond my ability for suspension of disbelief. I skipped through the last 3/5 of the book, wishing that I hadn’t dropped $20 for the hardcover. My advice is to borrow it from the library.

I have to say, I agree with this review. A reader could begin this book, skip several chapters and then resume without having missed too much. And I agree, the “mystery” seems formulaic given that it’s 50 years old and somewhat difficult to unearth to begin with.

After slowly building to a climax, the book concludes with a Santa Clause ending. A Santa Clause ending is employed by writers that do not want to expend the energy necessary to create an intricately woven plot and conclusion. Rather, they resort to a surprise ending that is only surprising because nothing lead to that result. In other words, you are expected to slap your forehead and exclaim, “wow, I never would have guessed that Santa Clause was the murderer.” She then wraps up everything discussed in the novel in a nice bow, even though the results are inexplicable.

I have to disagree with this one. The ending somewhat surprised me – I saw it coming, but only at the end. I thought she did a good job of tying in meaningless relationships at the end – again a nice, neat little package. But one that worked for me.

Managed to get 1/2 way through, when I had to call it a day. Character of Mary was somewhat stupid…especially for a lawyer. Her actions (e.g. breaking into a crime scene and stealing evidence, only to have it stolen from her purse?!!! And, that’s just one example…there are too many to list) I was so disgusted with her stupidity that I couldn’t force myself to read on any further.

Agreed. Mary was a bumbling idiot and I just couldn’t buy the fact that her boss kept going out on a limb for her. She was an airhead with extremely good luck and though she was charming, in a ditzy sort of way, I thought she was too stupid to be an up-and-coming lawyer. It just didn’t seem plausible given her personality.

I also found Mary, usually the wallflower of the group, to be highly annoying as the lead character. Her hundreds of apologies got old really fast, and her stupidity made me want to put the book down several times without finishing it. The worst came when she broke into a crime scene to steal evidence and basically got off with a slap on the wrist when she confessed what she’d done to the lead detective. Close behind were the two scenes at the Saracone house, when she broke away from the wife at a run to storm in on Gio on his deathbed, and when she waltzed into the house pretending to be a “funeral planner” in order to snoop. None of this was realistic and all these things made me dislike the character even more than I already did. She was wimpy, stupid and annoying.

Again, agreed. I couldn’t imagine anyone “real” getting away with half of the things that the other characters allowed Mary to get away with. It was as if all she had to do was smile her simple smile and POOF, everything was magically okay. I’m sad to say, Mary was the least interesting character in this story and considering it was HER story, that’s not saying a lot for this story overall.

By the way, I have this book for sale in my book store if you would like to purchase it and check it out for yourself.

Abundant Life

Teaching: Love is Tough (Part Five – Final)

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here to inform and bless you. God granted you the gift of free will – take it or leave it).

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