poor

I promised myself that I would stay away from the political fray for awhile. My unsuccessful primary run for the U.S. 3rd Congressional seat from NC in 2007 really took its toll on me and, to tell the truth, kind of hurt a little. It is never a good feeling to let anyone down and although I don’t think anyone would accuse me of letting them down, one cannot escape the feelings of personal responsibility when a plan, or a promise go afoul.

Anyway, while driving near Washington DC several days ago I heard part of the speech Sarah Palin made at the February 6th Tea Party Convention. When speaking about President Obama’s campaign words of hope and change, Sarah Palin said, “How’s that hope-y, change-y thing working out for you?”

Have you ever noticed how the Health Care Safety Nets such as "Free" Clinics, Medicaid, Medicare, and other such programs are touted as a "Safety Net" to "Prevent people from going without health care" and to "assist citizens in local communities"? I have seen these programs touted by government officials and some government employees as a safety catch-all that will supposedly help everyone. They receive commendations for their innovation and serving the citizens that can't afford to pay for health care. They are great things, really, they provide a service to SOME of the citizenry and they fulfill a need for a portion of the population. So I am not really speaking ill of them because they are a good thing. My beef is with those who tout them as a complete "safety net" without understanding that they only serve a small portion of a population.

They're at it again. The liberal commies in North Carolina are all up in arms again about poor old poor people. The Winston Salem Journal, via the Associated Press, has the story

Dozens of anti-poverty and special interest groups urged budget negotiators Tuesday to keep in place two "temporary" taxes, approve a tax credit for low-income residents and spend more on education, health and environmental programs.

"We urge lawmakers to adopt a progressive, forward-looking and fiscally responsible state budget. It's what we call a 'can-do' budget that aggressively engages the problems confronting the people of our state, particularly the most vulnerable," Bill Rowe with the N.C. Justice Center said at a Legislative Building news conference.

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Coalition members sent a letter to most House and Senate members asking them to keep in place what's left of two taxes first approved in 2001 _ a quarter-cent increase on the sales tax and a higher income tax rate for the state's highest wage earners. The Senate wants the taxes to expire, saying they've been on the books long enough. But House Democrats want them kept on, leaving the sales tax at 6.75 percent and an 8 percent income tax bracket in place until 2009.

Been on the books long enough? What the heck does that mean? The real question should be: How long has POVERTY been on the books? These temporary taxes shouldn't be repealed they should be made permanent. And Joe Hackney should start the negotiations by saying he wants to raise the tax on the highest wage earners by another half percent.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_latimes-what_health.htm

(This information was passed onto me by a reader and in checking it out I found that of those listed among the uninsured are those on Medicaid. Well these are the very poor, unemployed or unemployable and they are indeed covered if they are on Medicaid. So when you subtract the number of people on Medicaid the number of uninsured is considerable less than the figure often given. As for the rest of the information I also did some checking of the Census Bureau and could verify some but not all of the information before my patience ran out. Sorry.

And I know many of you do not want to read this information that is contrary to what you currently believe. I was where you are at one time too. So I know how passionately you feel about the inequities of life. Dear Lord how I know! But as I got more and more information my opinions changed. I DID NOT ACCEPT THIS NEW INFORMATION LIGHTLY. I CHECKED OUT EVERY LITTLE FACT. But eventually knowledge changed my views. I am sincerely not trying to force feed you into changing your views. Please believe this. I am just trying to help you to get more information about a subject you feel is important. AND YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO READ MY BLOG OR CREDIT ANY OF THE INFORMATION I GIVE. IT IS YOUR CHOICE TO MAKE. Brenda