This is absolutely one of the most wonderful stories I have ever heard. "Americans would rather die standing than live kneeling."

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=21689194

Oh PS, you'll have to cut and paste that because it's not giving it as a link.

A Campaign Begins Today [Mitt Romney]

America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power. President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation — rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends. He promised better; we deserved better.

He calls his accomplishment “historic” — in this he is correct, although not for the reason he intends. Rather, it is an historic usurpation of the legislative process — he unleashed the nuclear option, enlisted not a single Republican vote in either chamber, bribed reluctant members of his own party, paid-off his union backers, scapegoated insurers, and justified his act with patently fraudulent accounting. What Barack Obamahas ushered into the American political landscape is not good for our country; in the words of an ancient maxim, “what starts twisted, ends twisted.”

His health-care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today.

— Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts and author of No Apology

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzgyMzA1NWUwNjA5OTg2ZTUzMTliYzQyOTM1ZmIzNTI

I'm sick to my stomach. I want to throw up. I'm so disappointed and feel like there had to have been more I could have done to prevent the passage of this healthcare bill. Nothing in life is EVER free.(Okay, one exception. Salvation is free for me. But it, too, was paid for. Just not by me. ) What is going to have to be sacrificed? What freedoms are going to be taken away for my "free" healthcare? If anyone is feeling more optimistic tonight I need a pick me up.

"Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who are not."

Thomas Jefferson

I found a "Mormon Left" (www.mormonleft.blogspot.com) blog through a friends blog tonight and the first post that I read I had to comment on and it turned into a book so I thought I would cut and paste that book on to my own blog since this IS my journal. While my thoughts are not complete in this comment, I will always come back to personal responsibility and hard work. And PS it was nicely paragraphed when I pasted in over and even now isn't one ginormous paragraph, but publishes different and I don't know what to do about it. Sorry.

This is quickly becoming a favorite powerful quote for me:

Harold B. Lee's Quote on America

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through."

And here is the response I left on this blog.

So none of you know me. I just found your blog through a friend. I have to say I completely disagree. No, that's not true. I agree that healthcare is a major problem in the United States of America. It IS expensive, no one can argue that. But so is going out to eat, going to a movie, buying a car, having life insurance, having car insurance, owning/renting a home, etc... The problem that I have is no one in our generation thinks that we need to buckle down and figure out tough times. Or that we should have to.

No one wants to give up any of the stuff that I wrote because that's just part of how people live and that would be hard to have to take away those luxuries just to put it toward health insurance. What makes us think that health insurance is a human right? Is having a cell phone a right? cable? Internet? What about a car? A house? You may argue that those are just things, we are talking about people's LIVES!!! I am saying if healthcare means that much to you, which it should, give up everything that isn't necessity and see what you can do...go from there. I just don't think you really can complain until you have done everything you can do.

Insurance companies take advantage. Government has put regulations on insurance so they cannot cross state lines to bring down rates and provide the consumers with good competition between companies. I think when you take capitalism away by shutting down these private companies and give more power to the government, you are going to say good bye to even more of your freedoms.

I am not rich. On the contrary, I am a mother of three and my husband is in school and we live off off school loans and the money he brings in from a part time job. However, taking the road we have has taught me that life is rough and you do what you have to do.

I went to go read the article suggested and could not even get past the first sentence:

"Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world."

Are you talking about South America? I'm pretty sure that we have the best medical system in the world and that is why people come from all over the world to be trained at our schools and why people fly in from all over the world to be treated by the world's BEST doctors? What country do you live in? This is America! Quit complaining and get up and WORK HARDER!!! (Millions of people on welfare are depending on you! Sorry, I just love that bumper sticker!) It's the only country left where you can still have a dream and WORK HARD to achieve it. Please don't let it change. Fight to keep our freedom. God helped our founding fathers set this free nation up and no where did it say that healthcare was a right. I say quit taxing America so stinking much and see how generous people will be when they don't feel like so much money is being stolen from them. I think I can guarantee we will always come out more generous that what the government takes from us.

One more perspective before I get off my soapbox. I am SO grateful for health insurance. While it is expensive and most of the time confusing and frustrating to deal with, I have personal experience with it being wonderful. I have a little brother who has had two brain tumors and is now completely hormone dependent and severely mentally behind and physically handicapped, but thanks to the wonderful training of our medical doctors, is still alive. I have a father who had such a rare cancer that he battled with, and thanks to our wonderfully trained medical doctors, is now the 15th documented person to survive the treatment for that cancer after a bone marrow transplant. Without having the medical insurance that he worked his whole life to have, I would no longer have my little brother, nor would I have a father on this earth. I am so grateful for insurance.

Here is the link to the article that I couldn't get past the first line. If it begins with a line as stupid as that one, it's not worth reading, in my opinion.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/

This post is my vanity

So I am not posting to tell everyone that I think I am fat. I recognize I am not. However, I'm 5'4" and weigh 140 lbs. I think I'm supposed to be 125-ish? I went to the doctor for a checkup and referral (is that spelled right?) in October and my doc told me that I was one pound away from telling me that I needed to lose some weight. Okay, fine. I have this problem with food addiction, though. I LOVE, LoVe, lOvE good food! It's terrible! I love mexican, italian, indian, chinese, anything greasy, anything healthy, you name it and I'll eat it. Although seafood is something I only tolerate. DO NOT LOVE!!!

When Emma started school in August I made a goal that I would bike or run her to school everyday (2 miles there and back..i mean altogether not 4 miles). I did really well the first 2 1/2 months. I was doing 20 miles a week...that sounds so much to me, but considering I was biking half of those it's not so much. in november i took a 2 1/2 month leave and started up again in february. I run almost every morning. Oh PS i use the would run VERY loosely. It's a mix of however hard I am breathing at the time. I don't like it. i would so rather dance, but when do i find time to do that with three kids? if you say morning you have to remember that i also love sleep. So here are my pics of me right now...

my belly relaxed

love handles. I carry the majority of weight gain in love handles.

holding things tight. not sucking in, just holding tight. not too bad

still holding things tight. gotta love emma in all these pics, too. she picked her own lovely outfit out for school this day. turquoise, pink pants, and a wool lime-ish sweater. who am i to tell her it doesn't match. she could be the next fashion guru.

after my jog, now sucking in

jack thinks I'm hot after my jogs when I'm stinky and sweaty. would i win a hot award? I think I look like my brother more and more which makes me think i am not so hot. a girl having the facial characteristics of a boy? ewwww...

I clean my bathrooms in general once a week. I'm not anal about all too many things in my house, as far as cleanliness, but my bathroom I am. I have to clean every crevice and wipe down the walls and wipe the ENTIRE toilet down, etc...I'm sure what probably most women do. I doubt I'm all that different. I cannot handle walking into a bathroom (especially mine) that smells like a gas station restroom.

This is something that I really struggle with. Not so much at other people's houses, I guess I should say, but just at my own. I get really emotional and angry if it smells like urine in MY house.

So having this specific personality trait and a little boy does not mix very well. I tried to teach him when we began potty training over a year ago that he needs to sit and point it down. He would have none of that. It has been standing since day one. So several times a day I have to wipe down the walls and toilet with clorox wipes on top of the once week deep clean. I'm just surprised, I guess. I would think since I am doing the daily wipe-downs that by the end of the week, it wouldn't stink as bad as it does. But I am not so lucky. Or maybe I am.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn and change. In blog stalking over the past two years, I have come across so many blogs of women who have lost their children and they put their hearts out there to the world. They don't get to hug and kiss and laugh and scold and smother with love. And they don't get to wipe down the pee that their kids leave behind.

I know I have never posted about what happened with my son last summer, and I don't intend to, at this point. I'm not at a place in my life where I could handle comment discussion. However, when I faced death or was holding it by the hand, I promised I would do anything if I could only keep my son by my side. Or please take me instead. Or PLEASE let me keep him. PLEASE. My cries were heard. And I haven't forgotten. I would most definitely take my daily toilet wiping routine than the alternative. And I will do it with a HUGE smile on my face and gratitude in my heart.

Because I AM really blessed.

Just thought I would share since we are here. I have a feeling this will be forever a part of what we do behind a computer...