The day my family was almost murdered

Politicians have stories that they share at campaign events to try to show that they can relate to the people in the crowd. Far be it from me to operate like a politician but I have a story to share. This is the story of the man who almost murdered my family.

The afternoon of November 17, 2005 was busy. I had to get my eleven-month old daughter ready to go to her very first NHL hockey game. Since it was an almost three hour trip to the game, I was a typical mom making sure that I had everything that I could possibly need for the ride. We had a great day. My husband, daughter and I went to see the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the New York Rangers. And even though my husband was a little sad that his favorite team had lost, he was still beaming ear to ear from the experience of sharing his love of hockey and the Rangers with his little girl.

The game ended around 10pm and we began the long trip home. About an hour into the trip, with our little girl asleep in her car seat snug in her Rangers jersey, my husband had to swerve the car to miss a chair that had obviously fallen of someone's vehicle. We looked at each other and laughed - that kind of nervous laugh that you have when you don't know how else to react. An hour and a half later we exited onto the stretch of interstate that held the last 20 miles of our trip. My husband and I again exchanged a glance as if to say, "20 minutes and then we'll be home." As we crested over a hill near Idewild Rd on I-485 in Charlotte, I saw some lights in the distance. I asked my husband, "Do you see that?" My husband answered, "Yeah what is that?" Before I could answer we both saw that the lights were headlights and they were headed straight at us. Speeding toward us at over 100mph was an SUV traveling the wrong way on the highway in the middle lane. Neither of us spoke for what felt like minutes but was in reality just mere seconds as we braced to see which way the SUV would move and thankfully at the exact right moment, my husband swerved the car to the left avoiding a collision by inches.

As the SUV raced behind us, I scrambled for my cell phone and dialed 911. As calmly, as possible, I told the operator where we were and what had happened and finished with, "Please please hurry." I hung up and started shaking and crying uncontrollably. My husband and I made it home about 10 minutes later and after about an hour of clinging to my sleeping daughter I placed her securely into her crib for the night. I think it was about 4am when my husband finally succumbed to his exhaustion while I continued to shake, unable to sleep. At 5am, I turned on the television and the local station brought me the news I was afraid to see and hear.

They police were too late. A few miles after narrowly missing us, the speeding SUV crested over another hill and crashed head-on into a 19-year college student who had no time to react. Min Soon Chang was killed instantly. This innocent young man had failed to get into a sold out midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie and was on his way home when he was murdered. Witnesses caught the aftermath on cell phones and local news showed the video and photos over and over for the next few days.

Jorge Humberto Hernandez Soto (a drunk driver who was barely injured in the crash) was charged with second-degree murder. Upon his arrest a frightening history was revealed. This man was here illegally yes but that was not all. Not only was he driving drunk while here illegally, he was doing so after having been charged for doing so twice already in Tennessee and Colorado. As if that were not enough, it was also shown that Jorge Humberto Hernandez Soto had been deported from the United States seventeen times. SEVENTEEN TIMES!!!!!!!

This murderer was deported from Tucson, Ariz., twice and from El Paso, Texas, once and he voluntarily returned to Mexico 14 times after being caught within miles of the border, immigration officials said. Jeff Jordan, assistant special agent in charge of North Carolina for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was quoted as saying, "We have no idea how he's getting back in [the country]". Really Mr. Jordan? You have no idea? I bet its as easy as walking across one of the many gaps in the "fence" or one of the many areas with no such fence along our border with Mexico. This monster was charged with the murder of Min Chang but I contend he should have also been charged with the attempted murder of everyone he passed that night. This man wouldn't know me to see me but I will never forget the face of the man who almost murdered my family.

Unlike the healthcare debate with the anecdotes and tales of people dying because they have no insurance, there are countless actual cases where illegal immigrants have killed people. Real stories like mine are going to feed the firestorm of opposition to the amnesty plans for the millions of illegal immigrants currently residing on our soil.

I do not claim to be an expert and I don't claim to know the right answer. I know that there are reasons that illegals come here to work - namely to take jobs that Americans won't or choose not to take. I know that there is no way to either all of a sudden deport or admit all of the illegals who are already here. The one thing that I do know is that if significant improvements to the border fences are not made to stop the steady influx of people then we do not have a prayer of changing anything.

Why not use the "jobs bill" to give American workers jobs building fences along both our Northern and Southern borders and begin to make a change that we can all hope won't cost another life.

Waxman Fires First Shot on Capitalism

Wow! The Democratic leadership celebrated their healthcare "win" for all of four days before reality sunk in and the real work began. The beginning of the end of the free market system known as capitalism was witnessed this past weekend. Much like the first shot fired upon Fort Sumter that signaled the start to the Civil War, Henry Waxman has made a move that is just as foreboding.

Apparently there are some changes in the healthcare reform bill that effect the tax provisions available to companies who offer their retirees prescription drug benefits. These tax provisions are eliminated now that the law has been signed and these companies had a duty (under accounting rules) to report these losses as a part of their first quarter earnings. Companies affected by these changes and who made announcements stating so include; AT&T ($1Billion loss), Deere & Co ($150 Million loss), Caterpillar ($100 million loss) and AK Steel ($31 Million in losses). CEO's of these companies (and others adversely affected by the changes to the tax laws) reported these losses truthfully and unpolitically as required by GAAP (Generally Approved Acccounting Principles) to their shareholders and the public.

Mr. Waxman, apparently still high from the fumes of the twenty pens used to sign healthcare reform into law, got his knickers in a knot when American companies began to actually review the monstrosity known as Obamacare and didn't keep quiet about what they found. Mr. Waxman has called a handful of CEO's of companies, who released news of losses under the new healthcare regime, to Washington DC to appear before an Energy and Commerce Investigative subcommittee hearing on April 21. The California Congressman doesn't stop by "inviting" them to this hearing, no the CEO's also need to be sure to bring with them emails, documents and "the accounting methods used in preparing the cost impact statement released by AT&T this week".

So American companies are being called upon the proverbial carpet for abiding by GAAP rules and some would say free speech. Congress is smacking them down and in essence saying "No no, wait, that wasn't what we told you. We told you it would save money you can't tell people that we lied! No, no we can't have that. Now, please present yourselves to receive your punishment".

I think I see the problem and can almost understand where the CEO's went wrong. You see these companies use something called GAAP, Generally Approved Accounting Principles. Don't they know that they are supposed to use DAFT, Dubious Accounting (Barney) Frank Theorem?

It is also evident that Mr. Waxman has learned lessons from a high-level Obama advisor - good old "If we can't use the power of persuasion then we'll use the persuasion of power" Andy Stern. I assume that Congressman feels that he can help the misguided CEO's to see the light.

God help us all as our freedoms evaporate into thin air.

Feel free to follow me on Facebook

Zombies Don't Need Dentists

This morning a story has surfaced that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele contemplated the purchase of a plane with GOP funds. In addition to the rumors of a jet purchase, there is also a litany of extravagant charges on trips to California and Las Vegas.

Really does this surprise anyone? Okay well maybe some will be surprised about the $1946.25 spent at Voyeur West Hollywood but all of these "expenses" are part and parcel for most politicians in Washington DC (and even in some state capitals as well).

It seems that the majority of politicians, once elected (and some even before), feel that they are better than the rest of the American public. First class airfare, private jets, limousines, champagne, luxury hotels and over-the-top meals at swanky restaurants quickly become the standard that they feel entitled to. This perception of permission on the part of our elected officials is nothing new.

When did this transformation from being a servant to the public good to being someone who requires a servant happen? I tend to believe it was during the Kennedy administration. America's love affair with Camelot allowed politicians to begin to think of themselves as celebrities. And aren't celebrities afforded better treatment in our society?

Politicians in search of the ultimate prize of power have a number of tools in their bag to allow them the lifestyle they have "earned". Not only do they have tax-payer paid salaries, expense accounts, travel and entertainment allowances they also have access to funds from political action committees, re-election funds and the donations received by their national party's fundraising. And that doesn't include speaking fees that are often deferred or donated to "charity" in order to comply with ethics rules.

Politics is like a virus and politicians are like zombies infected with that virus. Unlike the standard zombie, who doesn't need food, water or air, political zombies do not need morals, ethics or good set of dentures. So absent preparing yourself and knowing how to survive a zombie attack, you must exercise your will in other ways and educate yourself and find people who will fight the zombies and their moral-less actions in Washington DC. Elect these people to office and pray that they don't find themselves infected as they are sworn in. And if they become infected, repeat the process again. But NEVER give up the fight.

Special Note: The author neither endorses nor condones the list of ways to prepare yourself for a zombie attack. I merely provide the link for your enlightenment.

Feel free to follow me on Facebook

Where is Steve Guttenberg when you need him?

It has now being reported that the healthcare reform bill includes a brand new Long Term Care entitlement program that Americans will be automatically enrolled in by their employers. This new program is designed to provide flexible spending of $75 per day at retirement to assist with home health care services. Great idea right? Its a good thing to care for the senior population. But excuse me isn't that what Medicare is supposed to do?

This new program will require employers to withdraw at least $1500 per year from each worker's paycheck. That figure is based on the current estimate of $140 per month in premiums however some estimates show that the premiums will be closer to $240 each month. Apparently there is the option to opt out of the program however I do not know how true this is or how difficult it will be to accomplish.

I have said many times, I am no mathematician but this math seems fairly easy to comprehend.

American Worker Pays $1500 per year for Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance

American Worker Works for 40 years (if lucky enough to find a job)

American Worker contributes $60,000 over lifetime to LTC program

Average Cost of Nursing Home Per Year - $50,000

Average Cost of Home Health Care Per Year - $12,000

Percentage of Elderly in Nursing Care - 17%

Percentage of Elderly Receiving Home Health Care - 80%

So approximately 97% of the American public will be eligible for the $75 per day stipend as the reach age 65. That totals $27,375 per year per person for ninety-seven percent of the population as they reach age sixty-five. So we have a total pay-in amount (after forty years of working) of $60,000 and the average life expectancy in the US is eighty years. Doesn't that leave as many as 13 years of the average life expectancy unfunded under this entitlement program? And that doesn't even take into consideration people who would qualify for the program without paying in.

So.....I think that I am going to opt out of paying my share and use the money to hire Steve Guttenberg to dive for my cocoon since that may be my only hope!!!

Feel free to follow me on Facebook

I Triple Dog Dare You

Who created the game of Chicken? Do you think it was a couple of cavemen who thought it would be funny to run full speed at each other and see who flinched? Or maybe the origins aren't quite that ancient. Maybe it was in Rome with gladiators and the lions. Wherever it started, I think that we can all agree that it is not a game that should be played between the President of the United States and the American public.

Today, President Obama mocked talk of repealing the healthcare bill in a speech in Iowa. In his prepared remarks he said, "They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November. You’ve been hearing that. And my attitude is: Go for it. " That of course was followed by applause by the University of Iowa crowd. My question is Mr President, did you hear the thunderous roar outside of the arena? That was the barrage of the American public as you once again pooh-pooh their will and their convictions.

Already in the past 48 hours, the Attorneys General for 14 states have filed suit against the healthcare bill. There are at least 25 other states considering the same types of litigation. That's 39 states. The last time I looked three quarters of fifty is 38. Sixty-eight percent of people think that the quality of healthcare will either stay the same or worsen once this legislation is enacted. Seventy-six percent of the American public think that the cost of healthcare will stay the same or be raised. Seems to me that the majority of the American people are probably not going to be terribly thrilled when the IRS is charged with monitoring healthcare policies every month and probably less thrilled when they realize that even the immediate benefits that have been touted (lifting of pre-existing condition provisions for children and coverage limits) don't and won't actually go into effect until 2011.

So is it really a stretch to think that the (dare I say 3/4) majority of the country might be a little angry at the big government takeover of the healthcare system. I don't know if repeal is possible. I don't know if de-funding of the bill is the answer. What I do know is that throwing down a challenge to the people of the greatest country in the world is probably not the best idea unless you are ready for the fight of your life. Anyone remember the mood after September 11? We're pretty easily rallied when we're threatened.

So here it is, the President has dared us to fight. Well Mr. President, okay, I triple dog dare you. Now watch us go. Make sure the Secret Service has some hot water and gauze before you put your tongue on the flagpole.

Click here to follow on Facebook and get updates each time a new post is added

Is it red or blue?

A memo was issued by the OMB (Office of Management & Budget) informing all Federal agencies of a US District Court ruling that in essence found that the Congressional blocking of funding to ACORN was unconstitutional. This memo tells the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Commerce, and Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency that the previous ruling has been overturned which one would intimate opens the doors for ACORN funding to be reinstated immediately. With all due respect, what?!?!?!?

Let me get this straight. ACORN, an organization shown to have a less than stellar record of playing by the rules, is about to get their funding back at just the moment when its been reported that they are folding. A Fox News story quotes ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan saying, "It's really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need." Well how convenient that, in the wake of healthcare passing and everyone's focus shifted to the "historic" events, this agency so beneficial to the President's election has regained funding in the nick of time to save themselves.

Do not be fooled when the ACORN spokespeople say that they are shutting down, the most important of all offices have already taken steps to distance themselves from the news media scrutiny. The New York and California ACORN offices broke away earlier this year by changing their names in hopes to salvage the outside funding that they receive. I am sure though that in the name changing process that they made sure to keep in their charters the ability to receive the Federal funding due under the original name.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the President continues to surround (rather than distance) himself with people and organizations that are champions in the art of getting what they want by any means necessary. The President himself stated (in an interview last week) that, " I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or the Senate." No Mr President, I don't think you do spend a lot of time worrying about rules. Now. Because as is evidenced with your 129 "present" votes in the Illinois state Senate, I believe that you spent years learning the rules so that you would no longer have to "worry" about them. The idea that you were okay with the "deem it passed" scenario for healthcare is further evidence that you are well aware of the rules and how to use them to reach your end game.

All of this being said, the biggest slap in the face of the OMB's memo reinstating ACORN funding has to be the line "Federal agencies are hereby advised that the District Court has declared the above-listed legislative provisions unconstitutional". Great, its unconstitutional to block funding to a corrupt organization but its totally okay to tell private companies how they must operate and to force the American people to buy a product that they do not want.

Excuse me but is it the red pill or the blue one that will get me out of this wonderland?

(Feel free to email the author at stephanie@vpmedia.com)

My fear has been transformed

Yesterday morning I was scared. Its difficult to put into words how I feel at the moment. Its kind of like the scene in "The Patriot" where the Revolutionaries are making the final push and the line starts to fall and someone has dropped the flag. I'm confused and tired and wow it would be nice to turn, run and just give up. The House of Representatives voted last night to pass the Senate version of the healthcare reform bill. Obamacare is now a reality and 1/6 of the American economy is firmly in the hands of the government.

I am sick to death of the politicians in Washington telling me what I need. I am tired of them telling me that the founding fathers would want me to have health insurance. I am exasperated by their insistence that they are better equipped to decide how my business can operate than I am. I am simply worn out by over a year of fighting with politicians who neither listen to nor care about their constituents.

Politicians. There's a real winning group of people. We've got Nancy Pelosi who can't be farther in the pocket of all that is evil if she tried. Its been said that it was she, and not Rahm Emanuel, who urged the President to keep fighting for healthcare even after the Scott Brown election. I certainly don't want to visualize the locker room confrontations that she had to conduct to get this legislation to a vote. Then we have Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Kent Conrad (just to name a few) that were able to score big kickbacks with catchy names for their states. Some of those kickbacks have been stripped with the change language to the bill but at least they showed the ability to get something tangible for the selling of their vote. Maybe it will help them that they tried to get something for their state but then again they probably really don't care. None of them are up for reelection until 2012. They are free to wreak havoc for another 2 years.

That's not the case for poor Bart Stupak (D-MI). I think I need to make him one of my shirts. "I negotiated with the President and all I got was a lousy piece of paper". Mr. Stupak sold his vote for a non-binding promise of an executive order on abortion language. He didn't even hold the President's feet to the fire and ask for the executive order before the vote. I guess the economic woes of Michigan extend to their Representative's offices.

I know people who support this bill. They aren't bad people and I am confident that they do not want to see our beautiful Republic destroyed. These are people who have been convinced by the Washington DC and Chicago power machines that health insurance and a college education are a right. I don't blame them for their opinions. I just hope that someday that they can awaken from the dream.

The President went on TV to pat himself on the back and to again tell me how this was a good thing for the country. He made a statement that stuck with me. "To every unsung American who took the time to sit down and write a letter or type out an e-mail hoping your voice would be heard — it has been heard tonight." You are correct Mr President. The voices were heard and summarily were ignored over and over and over again. But do not be mistaken, we will not go quietly into the night, we will not go without a fight. The majority of the American people did not want this bill. Your bill went from a 67% approval to under a 35% approval in less than a year.

Well, I now know how to feel. I have seen the flag fall but that cannot be the end. I am energized and ready to pick up the flag again and fight. The light of the morning and the fact that the IRS is now going to control healthcare is going to bring more people to the fight. As more information is gleaned from the bill, we will gain more and more supporters and we will find a way to save our country. That's what we do, we're Americans.

The Morning of Our Destruction?

How is one supposed to feel on the morning of the day that may change our country forever? I grapple with that question this morning as the healthcare vote looms in the House of Representatives today.

I want to have hope. I want to think the American people still have a voice. I want to think that the folks who gave up their time and money to march on Washington yesterday made a difference. But I am afraid. I am more afraid than I was on the morning of September 11. On that morning, I at least felt as though we as Americans would have a chance to retaliate. I don't feel like that today.

If this abomination of a bill passes into law today, Mr Obama will have succeeded in taking the first step to "fundamentally change" our country. The government will begin to control 1/6 of our economy and the IRS (yes the IRS!) will control healthcare. The government not your doctor will begin to make decisions regarding your healthcare. Supporters of the bill will say no that's not the case. But how could it not? Doctors (the real ones not the fake ones in the coats at the White House) are already making the difficult choice to stop accepting Medicare patients because of the regulations. If the government is forcing their hands already and the bill hasn't passed how could there not be more government control on the way?

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are flaws in our current healthcare system. But I certainly don't think government takeover is the answer. Taking small steps and fixing key problems is a better idea than an overall takeover but when have politicians ever actually done something to benefit the American people and not themselves and their thirst for power? I, like others, think that tort reform and the ability to buy insurance across state lines are good starts. Things like a complete audit of the approval process and then the actual management of current government programs like Medicaid and Medicare is a better start to reform the system. If the government can show the ability to fix the problems with their own program, well then maybe the American public will trust them to tackle the bigger issues. But of course any of those things would require common sense to implement and I believe that it is required that you leave your common sense with security when you enter the Capitol.

Instead of working with common sense, the future of America is under attack by power hungry politicians with an agenda. I hope with all of my being that a handful of Representatives in the House actually LISTEN to their constituents and vote no to the destruction of America. I hope that there is someone with a soul left in the Democratic party that has the courage that is required to stand up to the Obama machine. If you truly want to be remembered, then vote NO to this tragedy and be known as the Representative who saved the country.

It is Sunday. It is the first day of Spring and normally a day to revel in the anticipation of everything new. I simply pray that at the end of today that I am not mourning our destruction.

Please feel free to email the author at stephanie@vpmedia.com

When $940 Billion is NOT a Trillion

Only in Washington, D.C. is it a day to celebrate that a proposal that will only cost $940 Billion. The Democratic leadership in DC is "giddy" (to quote a Congressman) that the CBO has come out and stated that the healthcare bill's price tag is under the magic level of $1 Trillion.

Really? Really? If the average American spends $940 on a couch most likely they will tell you that they had spent a thousand dollars. Buy a car for $9400 in most cases you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't feel that you had spent ten grand. So really democrats, do you really think that the American public is so dense that you can tell us that you AREN'T spending a TRILLION dollars to take over 1/6 of the economy?

And am I the only person who this morning is questioning the supposed non-partisan makeup of the Congressional Budget Office. Can I possibly be the only one who thinks that the delay with receiving the (barely but) under a Trillion price tag is a little suspect. I tend to believe that there was a lot more jockeying back and forth between Dems and the CBO to ensure that this number was what they needed. And now that they have the UNDER A TRILLION price tag they are giddy and moving forward with a vote on Sunday.

I may not be the greatest mathematician but if something costs $940 billion over the first ten years and that figure includes a planned Medicare savings (yeah like that has ever happened) of $120 billion, doesn't that mean that the bill actually costs $1.06 Trillion?? The planned savings from Medicare would include cuts that would affect millions of seniors who will lose a great portion of their benefits and they would be forced to foot even more of their healthcare costs. I thought that Nancy Pelosi wanted to close the donut hole not the other way around. And this is all dependent upon generating these savings. The CBO also projects that "total federal Medicare and Medicaid outlays will rise from 4 percent of GDP in 2007 to 12 percent in 2050 and 19 percent in 2082. So if the CBO predicts that the percent of GDP is going to grow that dramatically, how can they also state that they predict that there is a savings?

Feel free to email the author at stephanie@vpmedia.com

I found my best friend

Somewhere sitting in a high school classroom, I met a girl. I didn't like her. She didn't like me. Then one day we were forced to spend time together in jail (on a school trip for our Business Law class) and the mutual fear of being attacked by the inmates in the intake area bonded us. From then on we were inseparable Thick as thieves, two peas in a pod, all of the standard cliches, there we were. When circumstances tried to pull us apart we rebelled and still remained true. She was my rock and without her I would have never survived high school.

We had all the plans that friends in high school have - room together in college, get married, have kids at the same time and grow old together. Well of course, as with all of the best laid plans, NONE of that happened. I was unable to go with her to college and I got married first (without even having her with me at the ceremony - bah). She soon married and I remember thinking okay well that was a bump in the plan but we still have the rest. Again, things changed. I got divorced and she moved away

Throughout all of this we stayed in touch although never as close as when we were in high school. She moved back and was still married and I was floundering in bad relationships. It seemed as if she had it all and I admit I was jealous.

I met a man and fell in love. Hooray! Except that it was a relationship that I couldn't fully share with my friend. I wished for a way to tell her of my happiness but I thought that she would try to talk me out of it because I assumed that she wouldn't approve. It was then that we started to drift apart.

When my not exactly ideal relationship crumbled and I was in emotional fragments I still did not go to my friend. Why? I don't know other than I was scared that she would reject me (although why I thought that is still a mystery).

Life went on and I eventually met and married a wonderful man and began a family of my own - even though I was behind on the timing of the original plan. Her kids were already toddlers before mine were even born. It shouldn't have made a difference and we should have been as thick as thieves and yet we weren't. We were in different towns and different places emotionally.

Life, as it often does, reared its ugly head and a situation arose between my friend and I that I did not handle well at all. I was very high and mighty and judgmental and I decided that I wanted out. I threw away my friendship of almost 20 years because I was stubborn, pig headed and selfish.

Luckily, my friend is forgiving and she took me back - almost 2 years later! Even after our reunion, we do not see each other enough but we are in contact on a daily basis one way or another.

Life of course still goes on. My friend is now going through some rough spots and I am glad that I can be there for her and I hope that I am a help to her in some small way. I know that I have not always been a good friend but I am smart enough now to know that I should not take the

relationship for granted.

Tonight, my friend and I went out. Nothing fancy - just dinner and drinks (okay well maybe A LOT of drinks) and we had FUN! I realized that this one night is the first time in our entire friendship where we were together as adults, as moms, as women and most importantly as ourselves. We laughed A LOT and we learned A LOT and we were able to share things that we never before were comfortable or open enough to do.

Tonight, I found my best friend again. I am sorry for the lost time but I am thankful for the future and maybe just maybe if we're lucky, we'll grow old together.

Why is the President Yelling at Me?

You know? I thought that I had outgrown the need for lectures on my behavior when I moved out of my parents house oh so many years ago. Apparently not, because wow I feel almost guilty for something after listening to the talking to that I got from the President of the United States yesterday.

The President, again flanked by people in white lab coats and blue scrubs, entered East Room of the White House to urge Congress to pass the latest version of his healthcare bill. He proceeded to tell me that this version of the bill even included many of the proposals from the healthcare summit last week. Wow! Really? Tort reform? The ability to buy and sell insurance across state lines? No, oh okay. I'm sorry, Mr President I didn't mean to interrupt, please continue....

The President continues, "I spent seven hours at a summit where Democrats and Republicans engaged in a public and very substantive discussion about health care. " Wait, wait Mr President, I watched that very public "debate" and all I took away was that my senators and congressmen like to talk and tell stories about constituents.......oh, oh, again I'm sorry you say you gained valued information..okay, I'm sorry for interrupting again, please continue

"Now, the proposal I put forward gives Americans more control over their health insurance and their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable. It builds on the current system where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. I can tell you as the father of two young girls, I would not want any plan that interferes with the relationship between a family and their doctor. " But Mr President, what if my employer decides that he can no longer pay for my insurance, that its cheaper to pay the fine for not having insurance, how do I keep the coverage that I like then? COBRA? Okay well that's limited in time and very expensive to maintain......oh I'm asking too many questions again, I'm sorry, please go on.

"We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for the past year but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of 60 votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up or down vote that was cast on welfare reform, that was cast on the Children's Health Insurance Program, that was used for COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and, by the way, for both Bush tax cuts --- all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority. " OKAY WHOA HOLD IT! I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!! Debated this issue for a year? How can you debate when one of the parties is literally locked out of the negotiations? These bills passed with the earmarks and special favors that you now say have been removed. Now here's the kicker - YOU Mr President have said that you cant govern by using the "simple majority" approach to healthcare. In 2007 you said that we have to break from the 50+1 pattern of Presidential politics, that you can't govern. What happened to that approach Mr President. What happened to the man who said that he would rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term one? If you think you can't govern with a 50+1 strategy then WHY WHY WHY are you using it?

Stop force feeding YOUR union funded agenda down the throats of the American people. Stop leaving town when we come to talk. Listen to us for once!!!

I would love for my President to be angry and condescending when he is talking to terrorists or nations who threaten us, I don't want him to be when he is talking to the American people. Stop waving your finger at me Mr President, I've tuned you out.

A Truly Lovely Tale

So I finished "The Lovely Bones" and while I know I came very late to the party with this, I am so glad that I made the time to read this book.

Alice Sebold wove an amazingly riveting and captivating story from what most would think an impossible start - the rape and murder of Susie Salmon (like the fish). As a parent, the first chapter was intensely hard to read. As I got past that and into the story of Susie's life and afterlife I found myself wanting the same things that she did. Through Susie I was able to experience vicariously (just like Susie does) the thrill of first love (with Ray) and the intenseness of true love (Samuel and Lindsey). Feelings as strong as these are sometimes hard to describe in words yet Ms Sebold has crafted these emotions my in such that was not overly sappy nor preposterous.

The pain of the loss that Jack is unable to deal with is completely believable. I am never sure how a parent copes with the loss of child, especially in such a violent way. Jack's pain is evident in every move that he makes. How does one deal with the death of one child and the participation in the lives of the other two? One of my favorite passages in the book was when Jack helped Lindsey shave her legs the first time. Every single parental emotion is evidenced in the span of a couple of pages. I had to stop reading and just go with the tears that flowed for about 30 minutes.

Abigail's struggle is one that is again easy to understand and to relate to. Before Susie's death, Abigail was questioning her place in the world and trying to carve out an identity apart from being a mom. As a mom, I struggle with that every day as I think that all moms do. So the idea that Abigail would retreat from her family, look for comfort with Len and then just bolt is believable and quite frankly expected given the already fragile state she was in. In many ways Abigail does what so many moms might secretly want to do but never will.

I do wish that some of the peripheral characters had been developed a bit more. I felt as though the author got started with the development of Ray, Ruth, Mrs Ruana and others but then all of a sudden she dropped the ball. Especially Ruth. Ruth experienced the pain of Susie's death by accident and by no fault of her own except by being in the wrong (or right?) place at the wrong time. It opened a part of her soul to the reader that we were able to see for a bit but then it seemed like that was forgotten til almost the end of the book when her presence was needed again. The other complete miss is Buckley. Ms Sebold treated Buckley as so many younger children are treated in families every day - an afterthought and often forgotten. Thank goodness for Grandma Lynn or else Buck would have been left in the dust.

All in all, I enjoyed the time that I spent with these characters and even though I know that it will not be anywhere near as good, I will probably see the movie too just for the chance to be able to spend some time with them again.

Next up for me? I have two Kristen Hannah books and Nanny Returns on the top of the pile from Christmas. I think a trip down memory lane with Nanny and Mrs X awaits............