Who is Promoting What?

Who is Promoting What?

It is the morning after the historic National Tea Party that brought thousands of patriotic Americans together in their home cities to protest the excesses of federal government. This movement is just getting organized. It is a grass roots effort in its beginning phase to let government officials know that Americans value freedom and demand that their representatives protect that freedom.

It was very revealing to see how the Tea Party was described and reported on by the media. Most ignored it altogether. Some talked about it in an extremely degrading way. CNN was particularly rude and dismissive, perhaps following Ms Pelosi’s lead.

Fox News was accused of promoting the movement, no doubt because it was the only network to attempt fair coverage or who even saw it as a newsworthy story. Fox did not “promote” the tea party or pay for its expenses. It only covered the story. I suppose, though, that “covering” does provide some publicity. I wondered what sort of ideas the other media might be “promoting” in the same manner?

I just looked up the headlines for our local liberal Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper. The first headline to catch my attention was, “Fifth-graders bring Scientific Method to Madness.” By its existance [using liberal media logic as applied to Fox News] this article is promoting insanity in science. Isn't that what Al Gore has done with his global warming? No news here.

New York Times headline: “Suicide Attack Kills at Least 16 in Iraq.” Hmm… I guess this means that the NYT is “promoting” suicide attacks?

USA Today headline: “5400 LA Teaching Jobs Face Ax.” Who would have thought that USA Today would be promoting the axing of teaching jobs?

A blond CNN reporter asked a Tea Party attendee why he was there and when he began to give what seemed to me a very thoughtful answer, she cut him off mid sentence. CNN must be “promoting” incomplete sentences!

The Stimulus Tyranny

This week the liberals in both houses of congress passed unprecedented legislation that will enslave the citizens of this country for generations to come. Conservatives are outraged and so should all Americans be, whatever their political affiliation.
There are many reasons for anger contained in this so called, "stimulus package."
There will be so much money confiscated from citizens for generations to come, that it will undoubtedly adversely affect the prosperity of this country. Since we are already in a financial crunch it is hard to imagine any good reason to take more money from the people, especially since the only thing that is likely to be stimulated is the greed and power lust of liberal politicians. It seems that large amounts of cash in the bill are not designated for anything specific, while other large amounts are designated to questionable organizations, such as ACORN.
Last week, after church, I spoke to a British subject who now lives in the USA. I remarked that with the passing of the "stimulus" bill our country was slipping away from us. The next thing would be a health care takeover. It was not until after the vote that Fox News began commenting on the hidden, but dramatic health care changes contained in the bill. I was stunned!
In the post below, which I entered a few days ago, is an email which gives a brief, but disturbing insight into the British health care system. This is where we are headed with our national health care. When liberals tell us that it will provide health care for everyone, it is a lie. Look at the British system. Government provided health care means that no one will get adequate care. Imagine being told that the waiting time for angina is 2 weeks! Another way that care will be rationed is that it will simply be denied. According to the bill, all our medical records will be in a data base, which our PCP will have to consult and then submit to get government permission to treat us. If you are elderly, forget it. You are expected, according to Daschle, to bear your infirmities or die. Only the abortion of the unborn matches this nefarious disregard for human life. Soylent green, anyone?
Adding to the outrage is the fact that no one was permitted to read the final, lengthy bill ahead of time! It was not given to the legislators in time to read. One "explanation" that was given was that "legislators don't read the bills anyway." Is that supposed to be comforting? What it means is that we do not have anyone in congress representing the people. What we have is warm bodies sitting there collecting salaries and perks and power for themselves.
"No taxation without representation," was the slogan of the American Revolution. We need to make it our slogan again today!

Look What is Coming!

The following is not an "essay," but an email from a British subject now living in the USA.
I will be commenting on it in a later post.

Hi Jane,

Here is some information about the UK National Health Service (NHS) which we were discussing at the church lunch.

I've attached results from a search I made in 2006 on the NHS website itself. Just as an example, I chose: Day Patient, Urology, a Postcode (Zip) from a typical small, industrial town in the North of England and a 25 mile radius. First attachment has the completed search form. Second attachment has the delay results in days, these are scary!

This is only half of the story. Delays in getting access to a specialist who will decide on the treatment are almost as long.

The information doesn't seem to be available any longer so I couldn't update the search. However, below is a statement taken from the current version of their website: www.nhs.uk

Terry


"The waiting time for an outpatient appointment is the time from when you are referred by your GP, until the consultant's next free appointment. Your GP will advise you about your appointment date.
The current waiting time for an initial outpatient's appointment should be no longer than 13 weeks. Once at the outpatient clinic, you should be seen within 30 minutes of your appointment time.

The waiting time to actually receive hospital treatment can vary depending on your local PCT. However, by the end of 2008, no patient should have to wait longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment, after referral by their GP.

If your doctor, or dentist, refers you urgently with suspected cancer, you should be seen by a specialist within two weeks. If you are suffering from chest pains, and angina is suspected, you should be admitted to specialist chest pain clinic within two weeks."

The following was contained in an attachment:

Day outpatient waiting time for urology given in days.

Airsdale - shortest 143 - longest 147

East Lancashire - shortest 64 - longest 65

Bradford Teaching - shortest 68 - longest 111

Lancashire Teaching -shortest 176 -longest 183

Calderdale and Hutterfeld - shortest 42 -longest 133

Black and White Pride

Recently, I received an email regarding the state of racism in America. The email decried the right of races other than white [especially the black race] who proclaim pride in their race to the point of having special holidays to celebrate it, but consider [denounce] whites as racist if they do exactly the same thing. It pointed out that if blacks can call whites denigrating names, then they should not be offended when whites do likewise. The email exhorted everyone who agreed with these ideas and who was "proud to be white" to forward the letter. The following was my response:

It is an interesting argument which does point out the disparity, but I don't quite agree with it completely. Why should anyone be holding public celebrations for racial pride? No one earned the color of his skin. No one created the color of his skin. Skin color is just a characteristic that God has blessed us each with.

The underlying, but unexpressed position of the email is that to be proud of your own skin color to the degree that you have special days set aside to honor it, implies that your skin color is better than someone else's. This is a form of self exaltation which results in a despising of those who do not share your characteristic color. The email suggests that the way to fight this insulting posture is to compete for bragging rights by out- celebrating self and out- offending others.

I don't think we should, as Christians, fuel the silliness. I am sure that God gave us our skin color for a reason. He made us different in other ways too. It might be useful to ask why God did things the way He did, but answering that sort of question must be done very carefully and lovingly. There are many questions that we cannot give complete answers to. Why do some people get cancer and others do not? Why do some live to be over 100 years old and others die in infancy? Why is grass green? A careful study may give us some hints, but in the end we have to acknowledge that God is Sovereign. He made plans for the world before its foundations were laid. There is a reason for everything, but we will not fully grasp it in this world. We do know that God's reasons are good. He has told us that "all things work together for good for those whom God has called." That is a comforting viewpoint for a believer. Perhaps in Heaven we will know more, but in the meantime we need to concentrate on developing our relationship with the Lord and our service to Him.

"Love one another as I have loved you." is perhaps the admonition we should be concerned with. God looks on the heart. We tend to look at appearances and make foolish judgments. We must examine our hearts and the actions that flow from our hearts. Do we love one another? Jesus died to save us. What are we willing to do for each other?