If you don’t read anything else in this post please read the New York Times article. When I read it I thought… if this article is true why wasn’t something being done to make the necessary changes to protect these miners.  It seems Massey Energy treated these employees as expendable resources.  Anytime there is a tragedy someone always knows why.  I find it difficult to believe that the elected officials in West Virginia were not aware of Massey Energy’s tactics in handling the mining inspectors.  Who in West Virginia is willing to fight for the safety of the miners?  In a state as small as West Virginia people had to know about the problems. Unfortunately, no one did anything to address them.  How did Massey Energy’s safety record go unnoticed by West Virginia’s two U.S. Senators—Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller?   The workers needed their jobs and were not in a position to take on their Management.  Who in the state had the power to do something about it? Who could have fought for these miners and their families—and will fight in the future? 

It makes me sick to think that people in our country are forced to work in an unsafe environment and feel they have little recourse if they want to keep their jobs.

Many of our congressmen have held out for a special deal for themselves or their states. Look at Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. His “Cornhusker Deal” is one of the more high-profiled deals of the many Democratic Senators and Congressmen who have sought special deals before agreeing to vote for the Health Care Bill written by Democrats. If the Health Care Bill is so great for the American people why should these congressmen expect a deal from the President or their leadership in the House and Senate? It doesn’t make sense. If the Health Care Bill is so good I would think every Democrat in the Senate and Congress would want to vote for it and take credit for it. Instead, billions of dollars are being promised by this Administration to gain support from members of their own party.

Our nation is facing bankruptcy and we’re wasting billions to placate these Senators and Representatives. States are going broke (Read Bob Hebert’s A Ruinous Meltdown) and making drastic cuts, and yet, it is business as usual in Washington. Millions are unemployed with little or no hope for a job and yet it is business as usual in Washington. Wages are being cut while Wall Street hands out millions in bonuses yet it is business as usual in Washington. And so it goes.

Our political leaders refuse to do what is right. Our Democratic Senators & Representatives are some of the most educated people of our country who campaigned for these jobs. They are better paid than most of us with better health insurance and benefits, yet many of them have held out for something extra before voting in favor of the Health Care Bill.

I want to know why our political leaders won’t do what’s right.

I thought of what a remarkable response I had witnessed.  Another family might have kept quiet and quickly rounded up the money and kept it for themselves. Yet this woman in an instant called out to me and her young son helped me recover it all. What a wonderful example of doing the right thing: treating others as you would want to be treated. The woman taught her son well.  He learned more from his mom about doing what was right than from any lesson a teacher, priest or preacher might have taught. It’s the parents or a significant person in a young child’s life who lays the foundation. Without a foundation, the teacher, coach or counselor are building on sifting sand that will be blown away when trouble or temptation comes.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)  

Please notice that it says train not teach.  Teaching and preaching ethics without training will accomplish nothing.

This country has the best Health Care System in the world and does not need to be overhauled.  It needs to be adjusted. The following reforms or adjustments should be well thought out, debated and legislation passed to provide coverage this year:

1. Those who are denied or dropped from health care coverage as a result of pre-existing illness.
2.  Catastrophic Care for those whose health care cost would jeopardize the financial stability of their insurance company.
3. Tort Reform
4. Portability of Insurance
5. Health care insurance should be purchased the same way we buy car insurance
6. Coverage for those who can’t afford it which is 31 million—1/10^th of the population.

My concern is the President sees Health Care Legislation as war between himself and the Republicans while some Republicans see it as a chance to defeat the Democrats.  If that’s true then it’s an immature and self-centered attitude.  It’s not about who is Democrat or Republican; it’s about providing legislation that protects America’s health care system and this nation’s economy.

In 2008 the tide of American opinion was with the Democrats. We saw the tide begin to shift to the Republicans in 2009.  The American voters have not been running to a political party so much as they have been running away from the party that is perceived as doing the greatest damage to our country at any given time.   

If you think the National Health Care in Canada meets the needs of its citizens read this link. To me this article shows that if you have a heart condition and can afford it, you go to the best place in the world for treatment.

If you think it’s a good idea to have government-controlled health care please read this article. 

 You can read my post Healthcare is Too Important to be left to Politicians HERE.

I want to believe our President but his policies do not make sense.  I want the opponents of the President to stop their personal attacks on him and propose specific solutions that will eliminate wasteful spending and turn this nation’s economy around. The American people don’t need another President Obama joke or another attack on Sarah Palin. We need to get serious about the business of America. 

I have written before that sacrifice requires trust and that the Democratic and Republican Parties have destroyed the trust the American people had in them.  I pay taxes and yet they are squandered to the likes of ACORN.  The financial institutions have in recent years become nothing more than casinos.  The house never loses—the deck is always stacked against the player. The lobbyists have it both ways; they win no matter who loses. Our nation’s leaders are like a dollar bill—they don’t have a home.

Some people with addictive behavior have to lose everything before they can turn their lives around.  This country can’t wait that long. We run the risk of losing our national sovereignty to our debtors. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  The Democrat’s & Republican’s answer—their only answer—is to blame each other and incite or frighten the electorate instead of making an effort to stop the spiral into disaster.

I know people read this and say I can’t picture it happening, but just because you can’t picture it happening doesn’t mean it can’t and won’t happen.  Who could have pictured the Twin Towers collapsing on 9/11?  Our leaders are going to have to sacrifice before they can get the American people to sacrifice.  I am concerned that the country is becoming united in name only.  What do you think?

Two deer were fighting with each other and got their horns locked.  A hunter came along and killed them.  Our nation is like the deer. We have our horns locked and we can’t get anything accomplished.  There are plenty of hunters in this world willing to prey upon a weak and divided America.

In my post last week I wrote of my concern for this nation’s economy and how our banking system has to be reformed. Thomas L. Friedman’s column of Feb 2 in the New York Times, “When Politics Meets Economics” stated that the bankers are telling the lobbyist and lawmakers to resist any serious reform. The bankers are acting as if the crash in the fall of 2008 never happened.  If the U.S. dollar becomes worthless this country we will be in serious trouble.  Forty percent of every dollar our federal government spends is borrowed. We can’t go on like this and yet we do. 

The Bible tells the story of Hezekiah, King of Judah in 2 Kings 20: 12-19.  He had been ill and Merodach-Baladan of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift upon hearing of his illness. 

Verse 13:   Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses— the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

The prophet Isaiah went to Hezekiah and after questioning him:  

Verse 16: Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:  17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon . Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 

  19 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” 

Is that this generation’s answer? Are we hoping it will not happen in our lifetime?   We have to unite and quit devouring our future by piling up this massive debt.  We can either sacrifice today or suffer tomorrow.

Barofsky continues, ”Even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car.”

Why can’t we stop this plunge toward economic disaster?  If the economy collapses we are all in trouble. There will be no safe zones for any of us.  I’m afraid the economic crisis of 2008 was the tip of the iceberg and we have a short amount of time to try to save ourselves.  I can’t understand why our political leaders are unwilling to initiate effective reform.  The financial institutions are not going to stop on their own and we may not have enough money to bail them out again.

Our political system is gridlocked.  It reminds me of the years leading up to this nation’s Civil War.  There is no one leader in the country that we can trust, and yet trust is the foundation of a nation.  Without trust it is every man for himself.  Our nation is infected with a toxic cocktail of arrogance, greed and selfishness that has brought our economy to the brink of disaster. We have destroyed our public education and piled up a mountain of debt that will bring our nation to a halt.  No one wants to give an inch–from the school board to the White House. It is a my way or the highway attitude. I  had hoped that the American Public could shame our leaders into doing what is right about Health Care Reform but our calls, the town hall meetings and emails will not stop them. It takes our vote.  Our vote is the only thing they will listen to. 

Our nation is capable of great good as evidenced by our help to the Haitians, yet we throw common sense out the window when it comes to solving our own problems. We need to pray to GOD for guidance and that He gives us leaders who are willing to do what is right.   

 “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  Proverbs 29:14 (KJV)

We can only be happy by keeping GOD’s law.

During the Vietnam War, “Gooks” was one of the names many Americans used when referring to the Vietnamese Communists and often times the Vietnamese in general.  Words have a power to inflame others and ourselves.  Everyone wants to be treated as an individual and with respect.  Our nation would be better off today if certain words had never become part of our nation’s vocabulary. We do not need to use words in either our foreign or domestic policy that inflame others.  That doesn’t mean we should beat around the bush, but common sense should dictate that we can get our point across without using an ethnic slur to make our point.  

About 10 years before the Civil War, there was a group of men in the South who were called Fire-Eaters.  These were men who engaged in a persistent advocacy of Southern independence.  They worked to convince the people of the South to secede but failed to realize or mention the dangers of secession. Many Southerners agreed with these men and followed their words with actions that lead to this nation’s Civil War. 

We have no idea the depth of anger, hurt and hostility that has been stirred up because of our words.  

Proverbs 18:21 states that the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6

In the fall of 1950 as U.S. forces approached the 38^th parallel in Korea, word came from various diplomatic channels that China was indicating they would intervene in the Korean War.  The U.S. ignored these warnings and the Chinese sent their soldiers into Korea.  The U.S. Army was initially overwhelmed and forced into the longest retreat in U.S. history.

Just because we don’t take our words seriously does not mean we should ignore the words of others. When the Iranians say they are building nuclear weapons we should believe them. When the Chinese tell us they are concerned about the mounting U.S. debt, they mean it.  We should not ignore their comments and expect them to keep funding our economy without consequences.  

On August 23, 1996, Bin Laden told the world he was declaring war on the U.S. and we wondered what he meant. Now we know.  When our enemies say Death to America they mean it. When our leaders respond with posturing and hollow words, it only weakens the U.S. position.  Before we speak we need to make sure that we are able and willing to back our words with actions.  Teddy Roosevelt said, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Instead, we speak without regard of the consequences while our ability to carry a big stick shrinks. 

If a man can’t keep his word, what can he keep? If a nation cannot tell the truth, what is its future?

General George Marshall facilitated a peace agreement between Mao Tse-Tung’s communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists’ government in 1946. Three years later, Mao took control of China while Chiang Kai-shek fled to Formosa which is now Taiwan.

The United States and South Vietnam signed a peace agreement with North Vietnam in 1973 and two years later the North Vietnamese renewed their war with south Vietnam and South Vietnam ceased to exist as a country. Mao had been fighting for control of China since the 1920s. Do you think he was willing to settle for less? Ho Chi Minh had been trying to obtain independence for Vietnam since 1919. Ho died in 1969, still determined to see Vietnam united and free of foreign soldiers. Both Mao and Ho had a vision of what they wanted for their countries. They wanted power and control; no sacrifice was too great.

Negotiating with the Taliban will not lead to peace but to the destruction of the Afghans chance to live free from the iron rule of the Taliban. Afghan women will once again know the terror and shame of living in a country that terrorizes their own mothers, daughters, and sisters.

Do we honestly believe the Taliban–having fought for ten years or more–will be willing to settle for only a portion of what they want? They have survived battles, bombs and drones, living like hunted animals for years. They have tasted power; they crave power. They are not going to settle for anything less than absolute power. The Taliban will not be defeated unless the Afghans unite to destroy them.

Visualize this: a 16 year old member of the Taliban riding in a Toyota pickup with a Kalashnikov (AK-47) in his hands. He has power. His presence instills fear and submission. Having experienced that, why would he trade his life for that of a farmer or a merchant?

Do the moderate Taliban really exist?