For all you Baby Boomers out there be sure to tune into the next episode of American Experience entitled 1964. See a You-Tube preview here.  It airs on January 14 on most PBS stations.   Continue reading For All You Baby Boomers….

Since the First Century, if not before, the choice of people of faith has been between empire approved institutions or the individual or tiny group quest for peace, justice and personal, if not cultural, transformation. Could any of us even begin to imagine how different European (and world) history would have been if, instead of massive armed hordes of Crusaders, Christianity had been represented on the world’s stage by a dozen or so St. Francises? SOURCE:  Morf Morford | Christianity, Empire, and a USS Mother Teresa? | Red Letter Christians. Continue reading Christianity, Empire, and a USS Mother Teresa?

Roughly 4.7 million Americans went online Tuesday to browse the Obamacare health insurance exchanges prompting HealthCare.gov administrators to increase the site’s server capacity and create a new “wait page” to hold a person’s place in line until the site can load properly. On top of the Web traffic, 190,000 Americans used federal health insurance exchange call centers and another 104,000 requested live chats. “Now that quality, affordable coverage is within reach, we’re seeing that pent up demand break through, underscoring once again how important it was to fix our broken health care system,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman … Continue reading Heavy Traffic Clogs – and Delights – Obamacare Insurance Sites

But one of the most notable additions to the 35-page bill was a $2.1 billion increase in funding for a dam under construction on the Kentucky-Illinois border, which just happens to be the home turf of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It has raised the alarm bells of conservatives, who have long complained about Republicans who spend heavily on their home states. One group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, immediately christened the dam project the “Kentucky Kickback.” “The McConnell-Reid bill not only funds Obamacare and suspends the debt limit, it ALSO includes a provision…that increases the authorization for the Olmsted Lock in Kentucky … Continue reading Earmarks…..

A recent poll by the Massachusetts Medical Society, a statewide physician group, finds that most people in Massachusetts today are generally satisfied with the health care system there. “Eighty-four percent of residents expressed satisfaction with the care they received over the last year, including 56 percent who indicated they are ‘very satisfied’ and 28 percent who are ‘somewhat satisfied,’” the survey report states. Seventy-three percent of residents reported that gaining access to health care they need is “not difficult,” and for serious medical problems, 86 percent said the amount of time they needed to wait was not a problem. While no … Continue reading They Might Just Like It…..

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA Amid escalating threats from North Korea, U.S. and South Korean defense officials will meet over the next few days and discuss whether to extend America’s wartime control over the South’s armed forces, 60 years after a truce ended the Korean War. SOURCE: U.S., South Korea debate military control 60 years after war’s end – CBS News. I was nine years old in 1955 when the Korean war truce was called. My father fought in WW II and fortunately unlike today was not called up once, let alone again and again as our soldier are now. Sixty years is … Continue reading 60 Years… Enough Is Enough…

“This is an interesting thing to ponder,” he said of his detractors. “That your top agenda is making sure that 20 million people don’t have health insurance and you’d be willing to shut down the government and potentially default — for the first time in United States history — because it bothers you so much.” SOURCE: At Black Caucus Dinner, Obama Vows to Continue ‘March’ on Gun Control, Healthcare – ABC News. The logic currently used by the Republican party in opposing Obamacare bothers me much.  I really want to believe that my conservative friends out there actually care about their … Continue reading Making Sure People Don’t Have Health Insurance…

I wish President Bush and many of those presidents before him had taken the words of Jefferson to heart before they did many of the things they did.  I know it is against basic human nature to not utilize the power you control. Just look at all those yahoos in congress to see an example of abused power. I have read quite extensively on Jefferson so I know the words above were at the heart of his nature. OOPS –  I guess I was in too much a hurry to get this weekend quote out and forgot to add the … Continue reading Less Power….

SOURCE:  Across Egypt, piles of ash where church pews once stood (+video) – CSMonitor.com. While we are meddling in the various civil wars in the Middle East, and aren’t almost all of them in one form of war or another, how do we choose which side we are one? It seems in Syria and Egypt the “rebels” are the extremists who are burning churches that are not muslim whenever they come across them.  How do we choose where to inject a few billion dollars to affect the outcome. Mr. Obama is trying to make the case to drop bombs and … Continue reading Across Egypt, piles of ash where church pews once stood

Al-Qaeda-linked rebels take Syrian Christian village, activists sayIt is unclear how an historic village just 26 miles from Damascus could be overrun; locals say rebels burned churches SOURCE:  Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News – CBS News. It bothers me greatly that there will likely be severe innocent deaths associated with President Obama’s rush to enter into the Syrian civil war. Yeah, million dollar smart bombs and drones are more accurate than huge shells being blasted from the battleship Wisconsin as in the past but they still kill many who are just trying to survive the conflicts around … Continue reading And My Tax Dollars Support It???