$7,450

That's the average annual health care cost increase each American family can expect to shoulder under Obamacare according to Forbes' magazine calculations. Yup, the Affordable Healthcare Act. You betcha'. For whom?

www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/23/its-official-obamacare-will-increase-health-spending-by-7450-for-a-typical-family-of-four/

Recovery - Take 299

Family budget feeling pinched recently? There's a good reason. The Washington Post reports that the median household income of American families is the same as it was in 1989. Not to put too fine a point on it, that means that Americans have lost 25 years of economic growth. Gone. 25 years. So when the pols celebrate the recovery - Happy Days are here again! - pull out this little nugget and remind them what they have really done to us. And this is before Obamacare really starts to hit.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/17/the-typical-american-family-makes-less-than-it-did-in-1989/?wprss=rss_business&clsrd

Grace

The news has been pretty much awful these days, so a recent Ruben Navarrette column was a welcome interlude. A family was out to dinner with their two children and the grandparents. The older child, an 8-year old with epilepsy, threw a tantrum while the parents looked on in embarrassment. The staff came over to clean up his food on the floor when the family spotted another waitress heading their way. Instead of a lecture, though, she had a note from an anonymous patron watching the scene. The note simply said, "God only gives special children to special people." And they put their money where their mouth was - the same anonymous diner had also bought their dinner. Nice touch. Serious class. Grace in a grace-deficient world. Pay it forward.

syndication.washingtonpost.com/ruben-navarette

Obamacare - What It Looks Like from Here

Obamacare is starting to hit close to home. I got a text from one of our kids that their family health insurance premium is going up $300/month and - but wait, that's not all - their coverage is worse! I am guessing that a lot of families are starting to get similar renewal notices and I hope that a gag reflex will grow of enormous proportions. This bill is going to simultaneously decrease the quality of health coverage and be anything but affordable while adding trillions to the U.S. budget deficit. It's almost unbelievable that anybody could be that incompetent. My personal view - they're not. I think it's the Cloward-Piven strategy and the Dems are trying to bankrupt the country to usher in the great socialist paradise on the wreckage. Can't happen here? Right. 

Where We Are Heading

Today's Breakpoint had a scary article about euthanasia "donors" giving organs to people in need of transplants. Did you know that in The Netherlands, a doctor can now kill you if in his/her judgment your quality of live is no longer worthy of living. BTW, this can be done without input from you the patient or your family. "Professionals" will make the call. Think of the benefit to those who need transplants. Also think about the fact that:

"Last year, two Oxford professors writing in the journal Bioethics, described a way to facilitate this “benefit.” They asked 'Why should surgeons have to wait until the patient has died?” Instead, doctors should 'anesthetize the patient and remove organs, including the heart and lungs. Brain death would follow removal of the heart. This would increase both the number and quality of available organs.'

Why wait indeed! It sounds like a wonderful future, as long as you aren't in the hands of the "professionals." 

www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/23335#landingzone

Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Clip

Abortion clinics are closing around the U.S. at a record clip and that's a good thing. We have 56.6 million babies who are not with us because of abortion since 1973. The United States is the leading purveyor of abortion except for China. It is a crime against God that I doubt He takes lightly. In the Old Testament nations that continually ignored Him did not turn out well. I wonder if there is a connection to our current circumstances? It is definitely easier to think not, but ...

www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/september/abortion-clinics-closing-planned-parenthood-abby-johnson.html

(Tip o' the hat to Lisa Wipf)

A Sucker is Born Every Minute

Mark Steyn puts in perspective what Putin has done in the whole Syria mess:

"Putin has pulled off something incredible: He’s gotten Washington to anoint him as the international community’s official peacemaker, even as he assists Iran in going nuclear and keeping their blood-soaked Syrian client in his presidential palace."

Only in America! No, only with Obama and his zombies. Amazing.
www.nationalreview.com/article/358480/american-ineffectualism-mark-steyn

The Big Lie

Matthew Shepard was hung on a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming and tortured to death horribly. The legend goes that this was done by vicious fag-hating homophobes which fueled the adoption of "hate crime" legislation across much of the country and propelled the poor young man into gay sainthood. Elton John and others have sung his praises. The only problem is that it isn't true.

A new book by a gay author, The Book of Matt, meticulously researched the horrific murder and discovered that the perps were Shephard's gay lover who was on a 5-day meth binge and another dealer. Shepard himself was apparently a meth dealer. In fact, the killing may have resulted from a drug deal gone bad. All that is bad enough, but it has nothing to do with being a martyr to the gay cause. While we can mourn the unfortunate passing of a young man who made some bad choices of friends and career, hagiography is not in order. 

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/14/The-Matthew-Shepard-Story-is-a-Lie

Heroes in the Making

(Tip o' the hat to Nate Lyons!)

The Center of Common Core

The "Common Core"curriculum is another of the periodic educational fads foisted on public school parents. It has been quite controversial and really does not encourage acceptance when it makes recommendations like reading Dreaming in Cuban for its high school English curriculum. I will let you read the enclosed Breitbart article for the details, but suffice it to say that adding officially-sanctioned fuel to the fires of already horny high schoolers does not sound like wise policy to me. And did I mention that a Stanford math professor quit the math panel because the proposed "product" wasn't too interested in correct answers? How do you feel about the number 12?

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/12/Arizona-School-District-Pulls-Sexually-Explicit-Book-Recommended-by-Common-Core-Standards

This Man is Not Our Friend

Inasmuch as the U.S. has subcontracted its Middle East policy to Mr. Putin, it is an opportune time to point out that he is not our friend. The former KGB colonel a peacemaker? My patoot! Yet we have now handed him our cards in Syria and the Middle East and next thing we know, President Obama will be barking for treats after performing tricks for this head of the New Evil Empire. We have now officially moved from comic material to dangerous ground. People will be dying over this. Russia - and Iran - are in the driver's seat.

Do Your Part to Start WW III!

Pedophilia Lite

Richard Dawkins is a loud atheist who gets a lot of press play for trashing religion, particularly Christianity. He is also a lecturer at Oxford University who thinks that some sexual touching by teachers of their minor students isn't really abuse. Consider the source the next time you hear him or read about his exploits on behalf of atheism. 

www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/09/10/Author-and-Oxford-Lecturer-Richard-Dawkins-Defends-Mild-Pedophilia

Losers

These are a couple of Colorado state senators who were recalled in separate special elections yesterday.  Both of them are Democrats who went far left on gun control in districts outside Denver and Boulder despite having sizable numbers of Republicans and independents. Who live in a western state. Cowboys. Six-shooters. Cattle. Corrals. See ya!

Which Obama Syria Policy Do We Support?

In Memoriam

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! Wait...What?

In 2007 the BBC dutifully reported the solemn pronouncement from the Global Warmist community that by 2013 the Arctic would be ice-free. This was a 90%+ certainty. Break out the sun tan lotion and jet skis and watch the poor polar bears! Funny, new data is in showing the ice pack increased by 60% in the last year - that's almost 1 million square miles of new ice! The satellite shot of this is most illuminating. 

Perhaps weather and climate is a more complex subject than Global Warmists want to admit - which most won't because it doesn't fit their political narrative. I hope that there are a few sheepish scientists, though, who will admit that maybe they got carried away by this Grand Crusade and are now willing to return to science rather than a pilgrimage.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415191/Global-cooling-Arctic-ice-caps-grows-60-global-warming-predictions.html

Take It for a Test Spin?

Breakpoint had a good piece today. Living together - try before you buy - has become widely accepted in American culture. A poll 12 years ago showed that half of the respondents wouldn't get married unless they first tried it out. Too bad the data shows that is exactly the wrong choice if you are really interested in a solid marriage down the line.

Eric Metaxas, Breakpoint's author du jour, cites psychologist Meg Jay of the University of Virginia who describes what is known as the “cohabitation effect":

 “Couples who cohabit before marriage . . . tend to be less satisfied with their marriages—and more likely to divorce—than couples who do not.”

The researcher explains that people sort of "fall" into the relationship and do not expressly talk through why they want to live together and what that means. Because it is not really an intentional relationship, when a crisis comes along, all too often the relationship founders because it is the proverbial house built on sand rather than solid rock. 

As a father of 3 daughters, I was also particularly interested to read that while women tend to view cohabitation as a step toward marriage, men tend to view it as a test drive or a way to avoid commitment.  Going back to the idea of expressly working through expectations, this is a fairly major dissonance that is ignored at one's peril - particularly on the woman's part. 

Drawing the larger lesson, this is what becomes of a society that ignores intentionality and has elevated feelings over all. We drift about the ocean of life carried on the uncertain currents of feelings and are surprised when we wash up on some foreign shore. There is a lot to be said for being intentional in making important life choices.

www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/23081