Freedom Under Fire

And this is the reason we need to fight back all the more . . .

First and Second Amendments under Attack

Hat tip The Liberty Sphere

Chinese Servants

While talking to my aunt over the weekend about our country, we spoke about the national debt.

So, taking into account who has underwritten a large portion of our national debt, let's look at some words of wisdom from a book that says more that Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle ever could have dreamed.

Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor,and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Okay, I don't know about y'all, but I don't care too much for the idea of being servant to China, especially since they stand against everything freedom-loving Americans stand for. We need to do something, namely overhaul our government.

Check out these two links.

US Debt Clock

Defeat the Debt

Hat tip to Bloviating Zepplin for the links.

Nobel Race-Hate Prize?

While occupied over the weekend, I heard about the whole "Obama Nobel Peace Prize" thing. Yes, I know I'm a little behind, but I wanted to add my thoughts to the mix.

First off, give someone a prize for what they say they are going to do instead of what they did? You've got to be kidding me. Plus, the dude is a politician, and how often to they keep their word?

Second, and here's the big one for me, how can you give that man a "peace" prize. He and his minions have done more to build non-existent racial tensions in this country than anyone I've ever heard of. No longer is it just racist to throw around the "n" word, but now it's racist just to carry a gun, even if you're black! yep, that fella carryin' the AR in Arizona was a black man who is racist against Obama. Give me a break! When are people going to quit being so starry-eyed over a hate-mongering socialist who would just as well hand over our country to terrorists or China?

WAKE UP, WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where we are now

Everyone needs to take a look at this. It gives a great summary of where this nation began, and where it is now. Nowhere near its fathers, for sure.

INSIGHT on Freedom: The Bastardization of America!

(Almost) New Shooter Report

So, among so many of the other good things that came with getting to see my family again, I was able to give my little sister a good introduction to shooting. Now, she's grown up around us and guns, but never showed extreme interest, though she did try to shoot with us once or twice. We didn't have the setup back home to give her a good intro to rifle marksmanship, and she can't handle any of our pistols . . . until now. I broke out the S&W 22A again (which now has 1200 rounds through it . . . only had it two months). The grip is almost too big for her, but I had her adjust how she was holding it, and she did very well.

I started her off shooting at 5 yards.

Here she is shooting . . .

And here are her targets:

The first target was after her first set of 20 rounds. The second was a set of 28 rounds (target fell off, so she shot the last two at a steel flapper).

After that, we stepped back to 20 yards to let her try to hit a bigger target (about half the size of a torso target) with 10 rounds. She hit over 50%.

All in all, a great time shooting. She enjoyed it so much she talked about wanting to get a pistol, but one with a smaller grip to fit her hands better. I'd say that's a success!

Health Care or Health Insurance Reform?

Amid the debate about this health care stuff, I have had the opportunity to get an insight that many people do not have. My dad has worked at a hospital for about 30 years, and occasionally offers me some input on what's going on in that world. The conclusion I have come to is that what we really need is health insurance reform, starting with the socialist medicare/medicaid (hereafter "government") plans.

You see, government only pays 28% of what it costs to actually perform the surgery/testing/etc. In many cases, the servicer cannot bill the patient for anything beyond that. Obviously, nothing can operate at a loss margin, much less a 72% loss. As a result of that, hospitals/doctors actually charge twice what it costs to do something in order to make up for that loss. In other words, not only do we end up paying for the first 28% through taxes, but also pay for the other 72% through increased costs when we make visits. Therefore, in order to be a viable choice as far as coverage goes, insurance companies create plans to cover more costs, which means they have to raise premiums. All in all, it comes back to us paying more for our medical expenses.

Logically, then, if we eliminate the government from the equation, our costs are lower. Follow my logic.

1) No government means we keep more of each of our paychecks. No more paying for a failing system.

2) Doctors and hospitals will not have to charge double in order to break even/make a little profit.

3) Insurance companies will not have to pay as much in order to be a viable choice since cost of visits/procedures has been almost halved. That results in much lower premiums, making insurance more affordable, especially when combined with 1).

Let's also consider something else: frivolous lawsuits. I can sympathize with someone who has been paralyzed or lost a loved one as a result of a doctor doing something stupid. And yes, said doctor should pay for a mistake. However, in very few, if any cases, does someone deserve half a million or more dollars for a mistake that was not mere negligence. Our justice system has lost all reasoning ability, accepting lawsuits from people who say McDonalds made them fat or they deserve money because when the spilled the coffee on themselves they got burned. A lot of the costs we pay at the doctor now are really because of malpractice insurance. Doctors have to pay for it somehow, and again, it is not good business sense to operate at a negative margin. If we knock out the stupid lawsuits and only pay attention to the ones which have merit, i.e. negligence cases, then a doctor's insurance cost just for practicing would be lower, which would lead to lower cost per procedure.

Anyway, just ranting about the ills of government and our (in)justice system. Perhaps the politicians should instead debate these issues, rather than attacking a problem that doesn't exist with legislation that won't help. Oh, wait, that would require self-examination and independent thought. Guess that would be too much to ask . . .

Back to blogging

Alright, after almost a month, I can finally get back to posting and reading. On top of life (which is normally extremely busy anyway), my wife had surgery and we had family in from out of state for almost 2 weeks. Not much extra time. Hopefully I'll be able to be more regular now.