d (5)

Obama's War on Seniors

Since 2009, the Obama Administration — whether intentionally or not — has been crippling the well-being of our senior citizens. Under the fiscal irresponsibility of Obama’s reign, inflation has risen by over 12%, leaving seniors on fixed incomes with less money in their wallets and purses. Last year, Obama’s budget deal extorted $150 billion from the Social Security trust fund in order to finance other areas of the budget. And now, Obama is planning his most egregious action yet — he wants to meddle with the elderly’s Medicare benefits and impose a hidden tax on their drugs.

Medicare Part D, better known as the Medicare prescription drug benefit, is a federal government program that subsidizes the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries.  While there is plenty for conservatives to not like about the program, it has at least brought free market prices back to the drug industry. Although Part D drugs are subsidized, prices are still determined through private negotiations between insurers and pharmaceutical companies. And, since the prices are negotiated through the private sector, costs have successfully spiraled downward. In fact, seniors can now often purchase drugs at a 30  percent discount from their originally marked prices. The cost-effectiveness of the drug benefit program has actually exceeded expectations —  to date, it has only cost taxpayers 55 percent of what it was originally budgeted for.

Although Medicare Part D has thrived under the restraints of private market forces, the White House is requesting that the public sector intervene in the program. In his recent budget proposal, President Obama asked that Congress repeal the non-interference provision, a clause which inhibits the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from interfering in Medicare Part D price negotiations. 

Translation: Obama is asking Congress to price-fix Medicare Part D drugs. If this country’s last two generations of senior citizens have learned anything, it’s that price-fixing never works  — it always leads to problems, normally shortages of the given product. We saw this with food during World War II and gas during the Jimmy Carter Administration. By setting the price of these goods artificially low, demand skyrocketed, causing their supply to run out. 

Price-fixing is not something that we can afford to let happen in the drug industry. Senior citizens need their medicine — they are dependent on it for survival. Interfering with the free market in the drug industry is not just bad economics, it also jeopardizes the health and safety of millions.

But President Obama’s budget proposal won’t just price-fix drugs, it will also impose a hidden drug tax on senior citizens. Obama requested that pharmaceutical companies return up to 40 percent of their sales back to Medicare. Unfortunately, this “gift” to Social Security will result in drug makers selling their goods at a loss, causing them to peddle the difference onto consumers. Prices will rise, and seniors will have less money in their already cash-strapped pockets.

Clearly, the potential effects of this Obama budget proposal are staggering. Thankfully, the conservative intellectual class is onto Obama’s Medicare schemes, and they’re doing everything they can to stop them. Last week, 26 leading conservative organizations, including Americans for Prosperity, the American Conservative Union, and the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, sent a joint letter to Congress cautioning the body from adopting the Obama Administration’s fiscally irresponsible Medicare Part D plan.

“Government forcing companies to turn money over to the Treasury is not a rebate, it’s a tax,” the coalition letter stated. “This tax will have a significant impact on the market. Drug companies will respond by embedding the cost of the tax in the price of their drugs, driving up the total cost of insurance. Increasing the price of insurance—due to direct government involvement—is a de facto tax increase on America’s seniors.”

While conservative advocacy groups outspoken opposition to this budget proposal will certainly be helpful in striking down these Medicare Part D provisions, the proposal’s fate lies in ultimately lies in the hands of the Republican-controlled Congress. The GOP holds a comfortable majority in both the House and the Senate — it can easily stop this fiscally irresponsible bill if it wants to. America’s seniors are counting on them to do so.

 

Read more…

4063787584?profile=original

I haven’t read this yet. I have read the original and loved it. 

Wanda Draper Ph.D, is the professional woman that inspired me to write a book to help other in the target audience of special needs or autism. Her book, “Your Child Is Smarter Than You Think,” that is being rereleased or is already now; gave me back my gumption and confidence as a parent. I knew my little one was hiding his secret true intelligence.  Confirmation came recently from a Microsoft Grade Readability Calculator, showing eleventh grade sixth month level. There is some error no doubt; but he is  afraid to show his true talents because of anxiety. Wanda is right!

I am sure this book will be an A+ addition. When I get my copy I will let everyone know. By the way Amazon says they are taking orders but if you want a copy, I can help you with this. The author has copies available or they are available through the author.

Below is what Amazon has to say about the book

“Your Child Is Smarter Than You Think! bridges the gap between how children think and learn and how they feel and behave. Dr. Wanda Draper discusses a whole-child approachto articulate the child’s development and its relationship to behavior and learning from infancy through adolescence. Based on thirty years of experience with thousands of children of all ages, and their parents and teachers, she suggests simple yet powerful ways to help children achieve success in school and life. She says, “You can’t send the head to school and leave the body at home—the whole child goes to school, the whole child lives at home, and the whole child participates in the world.”
 
Through a down-to-earth approach, Dr. Draper offers insights about how to tell the difference between natural behavior and a real problem—and what to do about it. She gives a lively explanation of how children think and act in relation to how they feel. Your Child Is Smarter Than You Think! focuses, at each stage and pathway of development, on suggestions for how to successfully:
 

  • live and work with a smart child
  • help without interfering
  • activate the learning loop
  • communicate to get results

 
“Parents and professionals are often confronted by the challenges of children because they are smarter than we think.”
-Dr. Wanda Draper
 
Wanda Draper, PhD, professor emeritus of the College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma, testifies about the relationship between childhood development and adulthood consequences as an expert witness in capital death-penalty trials. She studied at Texas Woman’s University, with additional studies at Harvard University and in Geneva, Switzerland. The author of sixteen books, she has appeared on television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, and has been quoted in CNN News, USA TodayThe New York Times,The Washington PostParent magazine, and Reader’s Digest.”

I promise this is a must for educators and parents.

Read more…

4063777309?profile=original  Methodist Minister found guilty of performing gay marriage

Somewhere in heaven God has to be wondering what in tarnation is wrong with the shepherds who claim to serve him and pledge to follow his word.  Even though it is abundantly clear that same sex marriage is not accepted in the church a Pennsylvania Methodist pastor decided to officiate a gay wedding.  Rev. Frank Schaefer, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer held matrimonial services for his gay son’s  wedding.

Even though the Methodist Book of Discipline is very clear in forbidding this type of wedding ceremony, the pastor stated that “he tried to follow God’s command to minister to all,” suggested the Philadelphia Enquirer.  The only problem with that, the church officials of America’s largest Protestant denomination begged to differ.  In fact, the errant minister was brought up on charges by the church hierarchy even though the church itself has accepted lesbian and gay members in its congregations.

Rev Schaefer stepped over the line and apparently decided to push the church’s moral envelope in deciding on a church trial instead of simply agreeing to not engage in the forbidden practice again.  It is not clear why church officials waited several years to bring charges against the Methodist minister for his son’s gay marriage ceremony which took place in Massachusetts.

What is clear is that the minister, who has been ordained for 20 years, decided that the punishment which ranges from a simple official reprimand to being stripped of his pastoral credentials was worth the risk. He stated, “”I love the United Methodist Church,” and even he agrees with a great number of its tenets, except for the gay marriage provision.

And there lies the problem with ministers like Rev. Schaefer of Pennsylvania or Bishop Allyson D. Nelson Abrams, 43 of Detroit who married a female bishop and hid her act from her church; you cannot rewrite the word of God in the bible.  Being an ordained shepherd is not a menu which allows you to select which holy tenets of God you feel like obeying and others you can conveniently ignore.

 

( click to read more )

 

 

Read more…

The Impossible Dream


Right in Front of You

When it comes to the things we want, there always seems to be an endless list. No matter how many times we get something off that list, we add new things to replace it. In life, this drama of wanting and getting and wanting is all part of the dance. The things we want motivate us to get up and get them.

And yet, at the same time, we can torment ourselves with our wanting, especially when we want something we can’t have or can’t find. It is in cases like these that it might be fruitful to entertain the idea that maybe what you really want is right in front of you. Maybe you are using this desire you can’t fulfill to distract you from truly engaging the blessings you already have. It may seem like that doesn’t make sense, yet we do it all the time. It may be easier to see in other people than to see it in ourselves. We have all heard our friends wishing they were more this or less that, and looking at them we see clearly that they are everything they are wishing they were. We know people who have wonderful partners and yet envy you yours. We wish we could give these people a look at their situations from our perspective so that they could see that what they want really is right in front of them.


It’s not too far-fetched to consider that we might be victims of the same folly. It can be scary to have what we want. We get caught up in the chase and forget to enjoy the beauty right in front of us—like a child who never wants the toy she has in her hand but always the one just out of her reach. Take a moment today to consider the many things you are holding in the palm of your hand and how you might best play with them Dom

Burgess LifeStyle
Read more…

Growing Self-Reflection

You may feel perceptive and in tune with your life or the goings-on in the world. Perhaps you are engaged in a journey of self-reflection and are giving some thought to your past or future. If so, you may receive a wealth of inspirational insights. You could also be drawing conclusions about yourself that could help you to grow in your work or spiritual life. Consider allowing yourself ample time to look inward and notice any behaviors or beliefs that continue to support your life purpose. You may wish to figure out how you can continue to consciously apply them to your life. The answers you seek can always be found inside of you.

Self-reflection inspires us to forge ahead on our personal journey of development. When we look inward, we recognize how some of our behaviors and thoughts have helped us get to where we are in our lives. This self-awareness motivates us to continue calling these specific attributes or abilities into action—not only have they helped us move forward in life but they have contributed to our happiness and well-being. We are left with an honest appreciation of how these behaviors and beliefs have shaped our identities. Reflect on yourself, your past, and your present today, and the resulting insights will inspire you to new spirals of growth.
DOM

Free gifts for you--->http://tinyurl.com/9n3tqm
Read more…