We’ve heard spin, hyperbole, and promises.  Most politicians have an agenda.  But the American people want the truth.

Some facts about health care reform as presently proposed by the Obama Administration in March 2010:

It will “only” cost $900+ billion.

It will reduce the deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years.

159 government departments and agencies will be involved in administering it.

The IRS will be the enforcer.

Everyone (or is it only CITIZENS?) will be REQUIRED to have health care insurance.

We will pay taxes for the reforms beginning this year.

Most benefits don’t begin until at least 2014.

A majority of Americans oppose the health care bill being considered, would prefer to see the plan scrapped and reform to start over, and fear the government more than they do insurance companies.  A huge majority, 76% rate their insurance coverage as good or excellent.

Given these facts, why are Democrats pressuring Congress to pass this bill and pass it now!  Pressure so intense, so manipulative that many of the deals being offered border on unethical if not illegal. (See questions and comments about the government’s shutting off water to the California Central Valley and recent announcements about possible votes for health care in exchange for more water. [http://american-conservativevalues.com/blog/

or http://nrcc.org/blog/blogitem.aspx?id=261.]  As I heard earlier today: recent dictators Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe have coerced citizens of their countries by withholding food and water.

*  * *

OK.  Let’s discuss some of these facts.

It will “only” cost $900+ billion.

Well how will THAT impact our country’s credit rating?   Moody’s Investor Services, whose credit-worthiness ratings impact interest rates the federal government must pay on treasury notes, has said that maintaining our AAA credit rating “… will invariably require fiscal adjustments of a magnitude that, in some cases, will test social cohesion.”  [quoted:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/business/global/16rating.html]

THAT sobering warning was based on current law, not even factoring in the impact of passing this new health care bill !!

And even if it didn’t cause us long-term, major problems with our credit worthiness, government estimates of entitlement programs are notoriously off (and always under-estimated).

The proposed system is already implemented in Massachusetts.  David Axelrod has referred to the MA health care system as the “pilot program”  for the proposed federal health care reform. Tim Cahill, State Treasure of MA related that the universal health care system instituted in MA 4 yrs ago was SUPPOSED to accomplished, and was said it WOULD accomplish, all the things the current federal proposed legislation is supposed to do    And it has not worked.

It hasn’t brought down costs, and in fact, he says their STATE would have gone bankrupt if the US government had not been overly generous and propped up that system with federal stimulus dollars  He said the program continues to increase costs to individuals and the state, and their budget deficit grows.

He warns, based on the actual experience of running this program of health care in MA, that that if this health care reform bill passes it will bankrupt the US in 4 years.

It will reduce the deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years.

But that is not counting the $208 billion price tag for the so-called Doctor Fix, the separate legislation that will increase Medicare reimbursement to physicians.  YES, that IS a health care cost, but by putting it in a separate bill, Democrats can say the Health Care Reform bill will reduce the deficit. More fuzzy math.  More fuzzy TRUTH!

159 government departments and agencies will be involved in administering it.

Oh yes, more government bureaucrats!  THAT will reduce cost. 

Dennis Cauchon reported in the Dec. 11, 2009 on-line edition of USAToday that

   “The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time - in pay and hiring - during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.”  He added that not only were federal government employees’ rate of pay rising faster, the “average federal worker’s pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.”  [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-10-federal-pay-salaries_N.htm]

So how does that factor into SAVING money in health care insurance?

The IRS will be the enforcer.

Every month the IRS will be tasked with checking that 300 million+ people have government-approved health insurance, and will have power to fine you $2,200 or up to 2% of your income if you don’t.  (Yea!  16,500 new IRS employees. MORE of those highly paid fed employees.) The IRS will also be able to share your personal information with the Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Plus, the IRS has a track record.  Do we want MORE of their intrusion into our lives with their fantastic record customer service, fair treatment, and ensuring compliance?  ABC News reported that nearly 100,000 civilian federal employees owe the IRS $962 million in back taxes yet the IRS is not collecting it.  So is it only PRIVATE CITIZENS they harass?

[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Tax/100000-federal-employees-owe-irs-back-taxes/story?id=10125860&page= 1]

Everyone (or is it only CITIZENS?) will be REQUIRED to have health care insurance

The only requirement for this mandate is that one is alive.  Since when does the federal government have legitimate power to force us to buy something just because we are alive? 

Yes, governments require us to have licenses to drive or do any number of jobs, but we always have a choice of whether or not we want to engage in that activity.

The Bill uses questionable accounting methods

We will pay taxes for the reforms beginning this year.

Most benefits don’t begin until at least 2014.

The bill uses fuzzy bookkeeping (in the real world, it would be illegal) by applying one pool of money to meet two different costs.  Even the CBO, which must score the bill it’s given even if the bill is impossible, illegal, or unethical, ”says the proposed reductions in cost are incorrect BECAUSE of this accounting trick.

* *

This health care bill infringes on our rights and freedoms as American individuals.  It transfers too much power to the federal government. It will add to the crushing debt of this country.  And make no mistake:

This health care bill is just a first step.  Pelosi, Harkin, even President Obama himself as far back as 2007 have been telling us they want — and intend to get — a single-payer system.  But that will take transition step to achieve.  THIS BILL IS THAT STEP.  We Americans must wake up, stand up, and protect our rights from usurpation by the state.  And many, MANY will pay a price if we do not.

Our rights and our country are at stake.

Even our flag seems to be weeping.

..where God broke through my pain and reminded me that He was very real and very near.

Mary DeMuth is inviting readers to share such places in a 259-word post and offering the chance to win a Kindle.  The deadline is Feb. 12, 2010 at midnight–so get busy writing.  Go here to find out more:  http://www.blogtourspot.com/2010/02/thin-places-blog-tour/

My offering follows:

I threw off blankets and dashed out the bedroom door.

“Where are you going?”                       

            I kept running. 

Ed called, “Come back.  I’m sorry.”                

            Sorry.  I’d heard that before.  I slipped into the yard, tiptoed through snow and climbed atop our picnic table.  And sobbed.  Later I shivered and peered over my shoulder.  Hoping he’d follow; hoping he wouldn’t. 

When we’d hugged, everything seemed right with the world.  So as I slid into bed, I

didn’t expect being pushed aside while he punched a hole in the wall. 

Sitting in the snow I doubled over and wept, misery spawning a litany of questions-without-answers.  They hung like the puffs of my frosty breath.  Hope waned; an emptiness blacker than the night enveloped me.  I sighed, and watched the vapor drift heavenward.  Stars twinkled there.  “Please, God.  Do something.  I’m so lonely.  I can’t endure this.  I think I’ll die.”  

Die rattled around my brain.  That’s the way out.       

No!  I crumpled crying again.  “Please make Ed open up and talk.  I want him to want to be with me.”

            Then God whispered to my heart.  “I know that desire, dear child.”      

“You do?”       

“Yes.”

I waited.          

“I hurt each time I call to you…and you refuse.”                       

Shame burned my cheeks.  Often I presented the same cold shoulder to God that Alan had given me.  I talked with Him—but always on the move.  Like a busy mom with a toddler who’s always there, I seldom stopped and focused solely on God.

Yes, my Lord understood my sorrow.  And forgave me, too.                

Click on the ‘x’ and drag to the ‘o.”

X Even though you can’t see Him, God is there. O

It’s been a very busy, early fall.  But exciting news has accompanied the release of Christmas Miracles, which hits booksellers on Oct. 13 and is already in its 3rd printing. I am honored to have a story, “Stretching Christmas,” included in this lovely gift book.  And I look forward to reading the other stories as soon as I can get my own copy!

It’s July.
Fourth of July to be exact.And somehow the fireworks and rousing band numbers don’t strike me the way they usually do.Along with the pride and reverence for those who fought and worked to birth and protect this country, I feel a sense of disappointment, unease.  I hear so many headlines that unsettle–and engender a sadness because it seems our strength, uniqueness, and power as a country is ebbing away.  Like a rose severed from the plant.  Like a wounded soldier whose life blood seeps into the sand. I’m reminded of Proverbs 29:2: When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

And some thoughts from Ronald Reagan: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction….It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for [our children] to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States when me were free.”

A few more Reagan quotes I appreciate:
“Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” and
“Man is not free unless government is limited.”

Why does it seem that our country is ebbing away?  The vital energy is laying down, letting the vitality and power of the government  multiply–all in the name of “our best interests.”  If our country were attacked by some external enemy, we’d rally, mobilize and defend it as we did on 9/12.  But it seems the “attacks” are more subtle–a creeping deceit, a growing obfuscation–that results in an incremental decline.

And on July 6 I received an e-mail about a Washington Times editorial condemning Congress for passing laws that they haven’t read, and some even passed before the bill was entirely written!!   An organization, Let Freedom Ring, is trying to get congressional reps. to sign a commitment to NOT pass legislation that they–and the American people–have not read.  That seems a bare minimum of responsibility we should expect from our elected representatives.I mean–isn’t that what Independence Day celebrations are about?  No Taxation without Representation.

JUNE…“A slice of heaven.”  Maybe trite; nevertheless, it was my response while attending the Glen Eyrie Writers Workshop led by Alton Gansky, Angie Hunt, Kathy Mackel, and Nancy Rue.

Just outside of Colorado Springs and The Garden of the Gods, wouldn’t you agree?   In addition to the glorious views, we had splendid fellowship, encouragement and instruction.These folks are awesome instructors and encouragers, inspiring Christians, and a whole bunch of fun.Don’t miss Glen Eyrie!!

One of my passions, in my life, my writing, and ministry with domestic violence victims, is helping others own and follow their dreams.     Dreams.    The word evokes images of fuzzy, insubstantial froth.  But no!  Dreams grow from our unique giftedness and purpose. Following our dreams allows us to live the abundant life Jesus tells us in John 10 that he came to give us.  And it allows God to share bits of his nature with us and the world, because we are not the only ones who benefit when we unleash the power of our dreams and our gifts.

If you doubt, or if my late night ramblings are not clear, listen to this dear woman, Susan, as she sings and seeks a dream she shared with her mother, who died two years ago.  Let her inspire you to follow your dreams.  Don’t ignore them.  Don’t dismiss them.  Beth Moore points out that God has planted eternity in our hearts.  I believe big dreams are a reflection of God.  Enjoy your journey with Him.                                                                                                                                                                         I encouraged you on the Tips page to attend writers conferences.  “Persisting in Justice” is my latest article.  And it wouldn’t have happened if I had not attended the Writing for the Soul Conference Where I met Rod Morris and Sue Kline.  While the book didn’t meet NavPress’ needs, one of the stories did fit Discipleship Journal’s March/April 2009 focus.  Hooray for writers conferences.  I find nothing surpasses them for the instruction and fellowship with other writers.  If you’d like to check out the story, click on the magazine cover below.

What fun to visit the book signing by a quartet of favorite authors!  Mary DeMuth, Sally John, Susan Meissner, and Marcia Ramsland hosted an event chock full of fun, tips, and gifts!  What a perfect intro to the Christmas holiday season.  Excitement abounded when someone produced a copy of Publishers Weekly with its list of Best Books of 2008, and we learned that Susan’s recent release, THE SHAPE OF MERCY, was one of only two books in the Religious Fiction category.  And well deserved it is.  Way to go, Susan!   Sally, Mary and Susan all write compelling fiction–so engaging you can walk into the world created in their books and lose the day as if you walked through the wardrobe into Narnia.  Marcia, an organizing pro, offered her eminently practical help to Simplify your Holidays, a yearly planner.

  My husband, Ed, and I are truly blessed to meet and interview many inspiring people with stories of great courage, vision, faith, and commitment.One highlight of spring 2008 was meeting Bishop John Rucyahana and his lovely wife, Harriet.

Their servant’s hearts were obvious, their commitment contagious. They continue to work on both sides of the Atlantic in a ministry of reconciliation. They travel and speak not only to inform about the Rwandan genocide, the healing begun and the needs that continue–but to encourage Christian reconciliation on all fronts. Discover more about Bishop John’s work at the sites of The Mustard Seed Project and Saddleback Church.We were blessed and honored to spend time with them. And they (like me) urged Ed to smile when being photographed!November 16, 2007I helped writer friends Kimberlee Mendoza and Susan Meissner with their book launch party. Love Thy Sister, Guard Thy Man (Book 1 in Kimberlee’s Russell Family YA series) and Days & Hours (Book 3 in Susan’s Rachel Flynn Mystery series) flew off the tables. Always fun to hang out with and support fellow writers. (Learning how to add photos. But eventually you’ll see this event!)September 1, 2007 Hey everybody! Today is the launch of my new website.Welcome to God’s pottery shed and cyber-home to one of His cracked pots. (No, I didn’t say crackpot!)The new email account is not quite ready so in the meantime if you’d like to contact me, send an email: mary@marykaymoody.com or write:

Feel free to look around and check back here for updates!