I WILL NOT BE STANDING WITH THE NC GOP ON THIS ISSUE.

N.C. GOP leaders push to have marriage defined.

I consider myself a political conservative & have voted Republican 96% since I registered to vote in 1982. I have voted for a democrat when I considered that person to be the best qualified. I am also a Christian, a follower of Jesus and my faith is dear to me and the defining guide of my daily life. I am also a citizen of The U.S. and the great state of N.C.

Sometimes I find my faith and citizenship to be in conflict. I am a citizen of this nation and a follower of a Jewish Rabbi from the 1st century. When this conflict happens I must always look to love and care for my fellow secular citizens and neighbors just as much as those inside my faith. With that in mind I have chosen a more secular view on the gay/lesbian marriage debate.

I believe in LIBERTY, FREEDOM, PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY, the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS and that the Declaration of Independence & The U.S. Constitution are the sacred documents of our nation. If your life or lifestyle does not cause me, my family or my neighbors harm I believe you should be left alone by the law and any moral code someone else has chosen. I will not use my rights or moral code to restrict your freedom if you will give me the same courtesy. If a married lesbian or gay couple becomes my neighbor they would in no way harm me or my moral code. They would also not harm my marriage or your marriage for that matter. As a matter of fact and biblical teaching, I truly beleive I should invite them over for dinner and love/protect them like any other neighbor. On this issue I beleive my NC GOP leaders are violating the very code of liberty and freedom they say they hold so dear. LIFE, LIBERY & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS should also include my gay and lesbian neighbors.

An ex-Brit speaks on national health care.

My friend "William" was born in the UK. He was educated in the UK. He graduated from the Royal Naval Academy & served in the Royal Navy as a Commander of Her Majesties vessels throughout the Royal Naval Fleet. After retiring as a naval officer he joined a multi-national corporation and worked with many European governments, including the UK. He realized the British system was growing larger and less free while requiring more and more of his taxes to support more and more "free" services. He came to the USA as a VP of a large international technology company. Since that time, "William" and his wife have become citizens of the USA. His views expressed here are as a man who loves both his home nation and his new home. His identity will be kept secret as he is stilling working in the medical technology field. Big brother could be watching.

A couple of weeks ago I lost a very dear friend. Charlie and I met when we were cabin-mates at the UK Naval Academy nearly forty years ago and though our careers had taken each of us in different directions (his into becoming a fast jet jockey and mine into the rather more sedate surface fleet) we had remained friends throughout the years and always stayed in touch. When he left the navy he carried on flying with a defense related organization, about which he shared many stories but only a few intriguing but frustratingly sparse details.

At work about eighteen months ago, having just landed and parked his aircraft, Charlie was walking through the hangar when he was felled by a massive brain haemorrhage. Fortunately he was surrounded by people who knew what to do in such circumstances, and he had been walking through the home hangar of the local the air ambulance, which delivered him to the area accident and emergency (UK National Health Service) hospital within minutes. It took several very anxious days for Charlie to wake up, and even longer to regain the full use of all his faculties, by which time the entire medical staff had become fully conversant with the pleasures and perils of night flying at fifty feet at nearly 600 mph over parts of the world they had never heard of. He probably omitted to mention that he had been a lot younger at the time. However, I am told that one rather ill-informed but 'know-it-all' individual had the temerity to challenge Charlie about the 'below fifty feet' claim and said that he happened to know that the designed limit for that type of aircraft at that speed was above 200 feet. “Ah” said Charlie. “That's the one they reserve for the guy who doesn't suffer from vertigo”.

For the longest time during his recovery the doctors couldn't figure out why Charlie's blood tests always came back with readings that were alarmingly abnormal, and so stubbornly resistant to corrective medication. His wife, who is not a lady easily ignored, insisted on further investigations and eventually, but hopelessly too late, the advanced metastasized prostate cancer was revealed. You see, under a single payer health system such as that found beyond our borders, investigative research and diagnosis beyond the issue immediately at hand, in this case a brain haemorrhage, is not the norm. It incurs an additional and possibly 'uncontrolled' cost on the system.

And making a bad situation worse there is this. During treatment for the cancer Charlie's doctor told him that there was a drug that he felt would be particularly helpful but, because of the very high price of the drug he was unable to prescribe it on a NHS prescription. So, after a family conference regarding what savings and other assets might be gathered together Charlie and his wife went back to the doctor and told him that though the cost of the drug would swallow almost everything they had put aside, they had decided to go ahead and pay for it. To which the doctor replied, "I am so very sorry. When we last spoke I did not know what I must now tell you. I have been informed that if you elect to pay for that drug yourself you will, by definition, be electing to remove yourself from my care, and that of the NHS, and you would have to find and pay for any further treatment privately".

So I ask you to consider whether or not the true story above could possibly be an example of a third party coming between the doctor and the patient, or is it a simple case of rationing brought about by a disproportionate share of healthcare funds being swallowed by administrative costs rather than on patient care? Or is it all of the above? I suspect it is the latter for to provide healthcare services to sixty million UK inhabitants, of which twenty-nine million comprise the working population, over 1.4 million are employed by the National Health Service. A report I saw the other day informed me that the UK NHS is the world's third largest direct employer, after the Chinese army and the National Railway of India. A replication of the UK system in the US, or even a close approximation of it, could easily employ 7 million public pay-roll people without the addition of a single doctor. What a very convenient and reliably compliant electoral power base that would be.

Interviewed on Bill O'Reilly last night Dr. Brian Day, former President of the Canadian Healthcare Association made a number of interesting remarks. Among other things he said that 14% of Canadians do not have a family physician, said that rationing is a major problem in Canada and stated that out of the population that is just one-tenth the size of the United States, they have 1 million people waiting for surgeries, and another 1 million waiting to see a specialist for their condition. He also pointed out that a significant number of Canadians die needlessly because they were unable to get an ambulance to take them to the emergency room. The reason? You need separate insurance for an ambulance ride. See the video at http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-bloggers/2321143/posts

So, at the acceptable risk of being labelled an astroturf mobster I find myself implacably opposed to the various versions of the proposed healthcare reform bill washing around Capitol Hill. I’m opposed not because I believe our healthcare system is just fine and dandy the way it is, but because I believe that the solution to the shortcomings of the system in no way support a wholesale takeover by the government. I am insulted by those who tell me that such a takeover can be achieved without adding to the economic deficit. I am angered by those who would have me accept at face value their assertion that somehow, despite overwhelming international evidence to the contrary, that a couple of hundred politically motivated ideologues are capable of succeeding where the rest of the world has so demonstrably and unarguably failed. And I am enraged by politicians who do not read bills, but who are nevertheless content to rush them into law without giving me and millions of others the chance to consider and comment. That’s not democracy, that’s government by dictat. And they call my objections ‘un-American’? How dare they!

Conservative Americans agree that nobody should be left impoverished and/or homeless just because they got sick. They believe that nobody should have healthcare insurance denied or withdrawn because they fall victim to a disease or major ailment; that’s not insurance. They accept that there are probably some 17 million people who through distressed circumstances have less than adequate access to quality healthcare, and they are anxious for that need to be addressed. And they also recognize that the scourge of unemployment, particularly when it is accelerated and exacerbated by reckless, frivolous and wasteful government spending, adds to the ranks of those that become uninsured.

But they don’t accept that the solution to these and other problems lies in the creation of a bloated, unelected, unaccountable and perpetual bureaucracy. They do believe that someone who is harmed by medical or any other malpractice or incompetence should be properly and fairly compensated, but they don’t believe that the fool who bites into an apple turnover still bubbling from an extended session in the micro-wave should receive hundreds of millions of dollars for their stupidity. So why not tort reform? Could there be a powerful interest group or two at work?

And finally, for those who believe that the defeat and banishment of the current healthcare reform bills will allow them to sleep peacefully once more, I’m afraid I have some disturbing news. The American Recovery and Re-investment Act (HR 1), also known as ‘the stimulus bill’, - the one that nobody bothered to read before it was rushed into law, - contains all the new healthcare rules and information technology infrastructure, together with the necessary funding, for the current administration to achieve a very large part of what they are seeking to enforce through the healthcare reform bills. Don't believe me...................?

For details, go to http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_hr1_text.pdf, and read:

Division A, TITLE IX—LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION starting on or about page 129, and,

Division B, TITLE IV—HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY starting on or about page 395.

Certainly it creates several new agencies and off-shoots of agencies and czars, and it also mandates the introduction of electronic health records, the better to strip fraud and abuse from the system - and also adjust physician reimbursement rates. There is much there that if used by safe hands there is every expectation that huge financial savings can be won. Unfortunately however, those safe hands are self evidently not available in Washington.

Oh! About Charlie. Well he cheated the cancer, but at way too high a price. He was fifty-eight. He spent his life defending the land that he loved. He leaves a wife and two fine adult sons.

While resting at home after a heavy dose of chemo, he succumbed to a stroke that occurred in almost exactly the same position as his first haemorrhage.

I wonder why they didn’t fix that in the first place. May he rest in peace.

The best five bucks I've spent in a long time.

I am a sucker for books. I am a giant sucker for cheap books. About twice or three times per year I end up spending some time of the Barnes & Noble website. I browse through the reduced/remainders section looking for treasure. I find good books, O.K. books and just a few that I order and then find myself disappointed I spent that $2.99, but that does not happen much.

I saw this book and ordered it:
1. Because I grew up with Mr. Rogers on PBS TV
2. Who does not LOVE Mr. Rogers.
3. I love reading and learning about friendship.
4. We would all love a friend like Mr. Rogers.

I was not disappointed. Oh, that each of us will find and have a friend like Fred Rogers. It is my book of the year and it was bought from the remainders bin. The best $5.00 book I have purchased in a long time.

I ended up on the front page.

The Daily Dispatch 10/21/2008, Page A01

Comments in Granville get personal
BY WILLIAM F. WEST DAILY DISPATCH WRITER OXFORD — A preelection candidate forum in Oxford on Monday night turned into an intense verbal clash between Democratic state Sen. Doug Berger and one of the local Republican leaders, Jimmy Chalmers. And that was followed by a spur-of-the-moment emotional remark aimed at Berger by Connie Stires, who is the wife of Berger’s GOP opponent, Chuck Stires. The situation erupted nearly 50 minutes into the nearly hour-and-10minute-long session, but stemmed from Berger’s remarks earlier in the forum in which he argued the state government had a surplus in 2000. Berger argued that, in North Carolina, “We have a balanced budget. And over the past four years we have taken the surplus that we have had and invested it principally in education while at the same time we have an $800 million rainy day fund.” PLEASE SEE PERSONAL, PAGE 6A

PERSONAL, from page one

And Berger argued that, “We have been good stewards of your money.” Berger is up for reelection Nov. 4 in a 2006 rematch with Stires. Some minutes later, state Rep. Jim Crawford, a Democrat also up for re-election, took his turn at the podium. Crawford, who is one of the chairs of the state House Appropriations Committee, told the audience, “We’ve got a lot of very serious problems that we’re facing in the North Carolina Legislature.” According to Crawford, the state has spent much money and has tremendously increased the education budget, but has faced tremendous inflation. Crawford argued the state is trying to ensure the young people “are ready to take the jobs of the future” instead of the jobs of the past. Then, Crawford stated, “We’ve got a serious budget problem this time. It looks to me like we’re going to be a little over $2 bill ion — with a ‘B’ — short. That’s about a 10 percent shortage in our state budget. “So there will not be dollars available for the kind of issues that we’ve been funding in the past. And there’ll be some serious budget cuts,” Crawford added. Later in the forum, after the floor was opened to questions, Chalmers, who is the Granville County Republican second vice chairman, asked Berger about stating the budget is balanced has is rainy day fund when Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, is indicating the state will come up short and Crawford moments earlier forecasted at least a $2 billion shortfall. “So, sir, which budget are we discussing here?” Chalmers asked. “Is the budget actually running behind? Are we actually going to be short or is there lots of money laying around in Raleigh that we haven’t spent yet?” Berger argued Chalmers mischara cterized his position, which he restated. “However, your party in Washington has run this country in the ground,” Berger, his voice rising, told Chalmers. “Your party spent $10 billion in Iraq and that’s less than all that we’ve had for child health insurance.” Chalmers argued that he was not discussing what was going on in Washington, but that “I’m concerned with what’s going on with the state budget in Raleigh.” As Oxford attorney Willie Darby, moderating the forum, called for order, Berger stated that, while he would answer the question, “I’m not going to debate the Chuck Stires right-wing coalition.” “Let’s keep our tact,” Darby advised. “Let’s not make ’em personal.” Berger argued that the state will have to make cuts, that the whole system of mortgage lending has been destroyed and that Uncle Sa m will have to spend at least $700 billion to bail out the banking system. “But,” Berger said, “point is, I’ll put up (Democratic U.S. Senate candidate) Kay Hagan’s record, my record, Jim Crawford’s record, up against (Republican U.S. Sen.) Elizabeth Dole, John McCain or George Bush, because one thing we do, we pay the bills. Crawford declined Darby’s offer to comment. Then, Connie Stires faced Berger. In a soft voice, she stated that, for a time, she worked in the school system in Massachusetts. “And when I came back, I was very distressed at what I saw,” she recalled. She went onto to add that she was for a time working at North Carolina’s Teacher Education Consortium, where part of her job was to compile the answers to questionnaires. Her eyes nearly in tears, she stated, “I was appalled at the grammar of the teachers who were teaching the children” and added that she today constantly corrects one of her own grandchildren. She went on to express concern about the effectiveness of the money being spent in terms of performance in the classrooms. Berger replied that he sees the schools system fundamentally different from her and Chuck Stires and went on to argue that the Bush administration&# 8217;s “No Child Left Behind” was a good concept, but that the money did not follow the program. At the same time, Berger, his voice again rising, argued that one of the reasons North Carolina is top-ranked nationally in business investment is because of a first-rate university system, with most of the students coming from within the borders. “So all this bashing of North Carolina schools, I don’t buy,” Berger said. “I see Granville County as on the cutting edge in particular.” Chuck Stires supports parents having the right of school choice and favors lifting the statewide limit on charter schools. Berger, addressing Connie Stires, argued, “I am the only Democrat to be a primary sponsor of lifting the cap on charter schools, but they’ve got to be done properly and for the right reasons.” Contact the writer at bwest@hendersondispatch.com.

Fried Green Tomato BLT...

I am renovating a bathroom in an old house in Durham. Don't believe all you here about the Bull City. It is full of great folks and has some of the best food, music and art in all the southeast. Working there for me is always a thrill, as I will usually see someone I have known my whole life or have met along the way.

Milton is one of those I met along the way. He and his wife Ginger are fairly new to the Triangle. Not only will they add much to the mix of D town, they will be a blessing to all they meet. Ginger is the new pastor of Pilgrim UCC Church. I truly feel the congregation gets a twofer with Milton and Ginger.

Milton is a chef at Watts Grocery; one of the many fine eateries in the growing food family of Durham. Yesterday he brought and bought me lunch to my jobsite. It was a Fried Green Tomato sandwich and fresh cut fries. Milton, Kevin(my trusty sidekick) and I, sat out on the front porch steps and ate as the traffic drove by on Hillandale Rd.
The food was delicious, but the conversation and friendship were truly filling. I will be hungry again, and need to find another sandwich, but I now have something of substance to carry with me from a conversation on front porch steps.

"You use steel to sharpen steel,
and one friend sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:17 (The Message)

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Random Links...

Federal Credit Cards providing lavish perks for employees.

Advances in surgery continue...

They should just leave the "crisis" alone.

The Christian church of the U.S. built the cassette tape industry in the 70's, could they now conquer the podcast?

We as the Church of Jesus in America must deal with this issue.

Missionary in Guam loves whirlled peas...

Missionary Brad Boydston in Guam always finds the neatest information. One of his latest links is about how the famous peace symbol came to be. It is worth the read.
If you are one of the Christians who thinks it a diabolical symbol to mock Christ and the cross, you need to give the article a look. The truth of the symbol and the meaning are much more intriguing.

Haagen Dazs does the bees...

Let me tell you this. The honey bee population of USAmerica is sick.
Without honey bees our vegetable and fruit outlook gets very slim.
You will have mushrooms, bananas, potatoes and tomatoes. Those four species self pollinate or are pollinated by the bumble bee. That means, that if your want to eat more than these four things plus grain, you better start praying for the bees and supporting your local bee keeper by buying local sustainable honey and hive products.

I also want you to load your freezer with Haagen-Dazs ice cream. This producer of premium ice cream understands that with no honey bees, they will be out of business. They know that if fresh strawberries are $10.00/lb wholesale, no one could afford a pint of there treat. As a responsible corporate partner, they have donated $250,000.00 to honey bee research. They have promised more and are encouraging more companies to do the same. Visit their website and send them a thank you. You also need to check out there new campaign because, Haagen-Dazs loves the honey bees.

Oh my, there goes grammy...

If you were to listen to my Ipod, you may truly think a twisted mind has conceived the music mix.
One track will give you James Taylor, the next may give you Arcade Fire. A longer listen would place a song by Peter Frampton before a gospel tune by Randy Travis. A seventies rock guitar scream could easily be followed by Pavarotti. You could hear blue grass, bagpipes and opera, all with a twist of old hymns and country favorites. Folk ballads would live beside Paul Potts and Jimmy Page would be residing close to Jerry Douglas while Lyle Lovette and Yo-Yo Ma do play well together in my Ipod. I love music! All kinds, types and genres. But, I could not be more disappointed that the Grammys were dominated by an artist who is controlled by and proud of her cocaine use. Amy Winehouse walked away with the largest share of the music awards and she and the music industry do need rehab!

Just so you would know...

Now that the Super Bowl is over...let's count the cost.

The Dirty Movies Critic

One of my close friends Larry has started a new blog. It is sarcastic, cutting and biting with it's commentary on movies and American culture. You will laugh, you will winch, you may even be disgusted. It is an awesome blog. Take a moment and read The Dirty Movie Critic.