US Elections 2004

[Kristi Ann]

If you want socialized medical benefits in the US – the last ticket you want is one with John Edwards.  John Edwards has made millions upon millions upon millions of dollars (all YOUR money I might add) by preying on the medical system.  As a trial lawyer he specialized in suing doctors.  He has made his money by wheelchair jumping.  If you wonder why our current medical system is so expensive – blame Edwards and his evil cohorts.  Every penny he has made comes out of YOUR pocket through higher medical and insurance expenses.  If John Edwards overhauls the American Medical system he will be jerking the silver spoon from his own mouth.  In my opinion, Edwards is the lowest of the low – no one is more loathsome than a trial lawyer.

Wait a while and I will tell you what I really think.

Pray for John Edwards – but pray harder for his victims.


PS - Hitlary is evil.
 

Excuse me! Are you refferring to me at all?

Plus we are Not to Judge anyone Matthew 7:1. Why do you think Hillary is evil? She stood by her man in the White House even though he was unfaithful to her.  

Plus I have No money for health care, I am severly disabled and I am still awaiting SSDI from the SSA.  The USA needs a Health Care Overhaul badly!

Just Because I support Hillary does not mean I am going tgo vote for her.  I rather think my voting is a personal matter between my Daddy (God) and I.

So, Please lets Not fight nor bicker among Christians, that is un-Christian.  Jesus Said to Love One Another John 15:12!

Stay Blessed,  \o/

KristiAnn

[iconHis]

Hillary announced to a foreign country that "we" want a tolerant nation-concerning gun control.
Their advisor created an A,B list that the A list was chritians, homeschoolers, militants, etc.
The B list people were more tolerant, and would be able to supposedly be turned around in becoming tolerant to a new world order or martial law.
Yes, talk about scary.

                  Kerry is Scary!  OOOOOOOO

Vote for me!  I will humbly walk to the podium!  Just send me the funds and I will apply 10x10% to the Lord's work!  

(Just kidding of course!)
Hey Kristi!  

[Shammu]

I am severly disabled and I am still awaiting SSDI from the SSA.

Stay Blessed,  \o/

KristiAnn

Expect to be turned down the first time you apply for SSDI Kristi. I am on SSDI and it took one year for me to be accepted. I was glad I had money socked away, it carried me over till I was accepted.

[Shammu]

Hillary announced to a foreign country that "we" want a tolerant nation-concerning gun control.
Their advisor created an A,B list that the A list was chritians, homeschoolers, militants, etc.
The B list people were more tolerant, and would be able to supposedly be turned around in becoming tolerant to a new world order or martial law.
Yes, talk about scary.

                  Kerry is Scary!  OOOOOOOO

Hey Kristi!  

I myself do not want gun control laws. The thing is we are loosing our rights. When big brother inacts laws, such as gun control.

[JudgeNot]

Tibby must be giggling to himself now - some of you may remember he wanted a "Politics Forum".  (FYI - I was one who was not in favor it.)  Here - I thought this tread could be a discussion of the candidates and their biblical views and truths (or untruths!) - and we are discussing socialized medicine, gun control, etc.  

Tibby - if you are out there - I guess you were right!  

PS: Kristi - I wasn't aiming a post directly at you, just 'venting' to the board.  What I know of socialized medicine is scant.  Maybe our Canadian or European members could fill us in on how well (or badly) it works.  I've heard stories that Canadians come across the border when they want high quality care in a hurry?

PSS:  Dreamweaver - I openly exercise my 2nd Ammendment rights and would not want to lose them.  My best homeowner's insurance policy is through Smith & Wesson.  

[Gracey]

I've heard stories that Canadians come across the border when they want high quality care in a hurry?

NOT!

Maybe health care in a hurry, but we do have a reasonable health care system - not perfect, but reasonable. AND the only reason the US has any "high quality" care is because they steal the Canadian doctors   and nurses and spend a ton of money paying their wages, instead of putting it into a health care system  

Up until our most recent "budget" we haven't had to pay for health care (unless you wanted "extended" care, like private rooms, etc.), but somebody had to pay for it. Nothing made by man is free....premiums used to be paid for by the workers ($53/month per family-OHIP) and sometimes, if you were lucky, your employer paid those premiums as part of your "benefits" package. When they changed that (I forget when, but somewhere around 6 or 7 years ago?) there were no individual premiums any longer, but all employers regardless of size were required to pay a percentage (3%, I think?) of their total payroll cost as a health care premium. This was supposed to be able to cover everyone in Ontario. So what happened? Well, we had to raise wages for doctors and nurses just to hang on to them; hospital equipment costs rose because ageing equipment had to be replaced & old buildings refurbished; the influx of immigrants & visitors to Canada (partly because of the health care) rose drastically and is still (to some extent) abused in that way. People who've come here from other places to live bring their families here on a "visit" when they need health care and can't afford it. Is it any wonder our health care system needs help? Now we, each individual or family, must pay a yearly healthcare premium ranging from $300/yr to $900/yr, depending on your annual wage.

I can't honestly say I've ever had to wait long periods for treatment; my husband needed open heart surgery and received it right away; my father needed treatment for leukemia and got it right away; my aunt needed retinal surgery and waited 3 days for it (that's hardly a long time).

Our biggest problem is a lack of family doctors. We just don't have enough for the number of people now in Ontario.

But having said all that, I am glad we have an open system that will treat anybody. We have some of the best specialists in the world here, too. The people who head to the US are the ones who:
(a) can't get treated first because they have to wait in line like anyone and won't
(b) have the money to be able to do it
(c) can't get a particular treatment here because it is not available.
(d) are sent by their doctors because the best doctor for that person's problem is there

Canada's health standards are different from the US: I'm not entirely sure how, but I know that there are certain drugs etc. I can purchase in the states, but that Canada won't let my druggist import because they don't meet the "rules".

Truthfully, I couldn't afford to get treatment in the US, although I'm sure it's probably just as good as ours. Last time I was sick in the US I came home to see my own doctor.

I can't speak for other provinces, though and the health care plans differ from province to province.

And that, I'm sure, is more than you ever wanted to know about Canadian' health care, lol

Gracey

[JudgeNot]

Wow, Gracey - great report!  Thanks for the info.

[Shammu]

I openly exercise my 2nd Ammendment rights and would not want to lose them.  My best homeowner's insurance policy is through Smith & Wesson.  

So do I now, mine is a Colt .38 pistol, built on a .45 911 frame.

[JudgeNot]

and you get to keep your smith & Wesson.

Actually, to be more accurate, Wesson should be plural... and I have "riders" on my policy from Remington, Browning and Winchester.
Louisville Slugger and Mr. Nine Iron are backups.  

Of course - my number one insurance policy is Prayer!  

[JudgeNot]

What the Wall Street Journal has to say about the John-John ticket:

Liberal Loopholes
July 13, 2004
In embracing John Edwards, John Kerry has also endorsed his populist "two Americas" rhetoric and has put tax increases at the center of the election campaign. So it's fair to ask the two Democrats: How much of those tax increases will actually hit the super-rich like yourselves, and how much will end up on the backs of upper middle-class wage earners?
For an answer, let's look at what the two Senators have themselves been paying in taxes. It turns out that the Kerrys and Edwards have exploited plenty of tax loopholes over the years. Of course, nobody is obligated to pay more than what the letter of the law requires. But the complex tax code benefits the wealthy, who can afford tax attorneys and complicated schemes to skirt the law. And high marginal rates give them plenty of incentive to do so.
Senator Edwards talks about the need to provide health care for all, but that didn't stop him from using a clever tax dodge to avoid paying $591,000 into the Medicare system. While making his fortune as a trial lawyer in 1995, he formed what is known as a "subchapter S" corporation, with himself as the sole shareholder.
Instead of taking his $26.9 million in earnings directly in the following four years, he paid himself a salary of $360,000 a year and took the rest as corporate dividends. Since salary is subject to 2.9% Medicare tax but dividends aren't, that meant he shielded more than 90% of his income. That's not necessarily illegal, but dodging such a large chunk of employment tax skates perilously close to the line.
The Internal Revenue Service takes a dim view of such operations and "may collapse the structure entirely and argue the S corporation is not truly a separate entity," in the words of Tax Adviser magazine. Attorney CPA magazine lists it as No. 11 of its "15 best underutilized tax loopholes," but warns that the IRS "has successfully litigated cases against individuals, particularly sole shareholders of personal service S corporations, reclassifying such deemed distributions as wages subject to social security taxes."
As a political matter, the dodge is especially hypocritical because the income limits on which Medicare taxes are paid were lifted by Democrats in 1993 specifically to hit "the rich," as Mr. Edwards likes to call people in his tax bracket. And the supreme irony? Mr. Edwards has claimed that he set up the subchapter S company to protect himself from legal liability. You know it's time for tort reform when even the trial lawyers say they're afraid of getting sued.
Senator Kerry's personal finances are not so complicated, since most of his income comes from his government salary and a modest inheritance. But he owes his jet-setting lifestyle and indeed some of his political success to the wealth of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Her personal assets have been estimated at up to $3.2 billion, and the couple travel among their five houses scattered around the U.S. on a $35 million Gulfstream V jet. During a tough election for the Senate in 1996, Mr. Kerry sidestepped a gentleman's agreement with opponent William Weld to limit the spending of personal wealth on either side to $500,000 by having his campaign borrow $1.7 million from his wife.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry's finances remain largely a closed book, since she has so far refused to release her tax returns. What we do know so far is that she has prepaid $750,000 in federal taxes on $5.1 million in income for 2003 -- an effective tax rate of 15%. That is because a significant portion of the income came from tax-free municipal bonds, which is perfectly legal.
Even so, her net income must be much higher. We know that since the death of her husband John Heinz in 1991, Mrs. Heinz Kerry has invested shrewdly and possibly even doubled her inheritance. Even if one takes a conservative estimate of her net worth, say $1 billion, an income of $5.1 million means a paltry return of just 0.5%. More likely, the majority of her investment income is sheltered within trusts so that tax is deferred until she or her family actually wants to spend it. Again, perfectly legal, but this is a luxury that the average middle-class professional working for a wage does not have. These are the non-rich who will pay the bulk of any Kerry tax increase.
So when John Kerry and John Edwards say that they want to tax the wealthiest Americans, let's be clear about what they really mean. They want to tax the most productive people at higher marginal rates and close loopholes for corporations, while they themselves dodge taxes by exploiting loopholes they plan to preserve.
Mr. Edwards is right that there really are two Americas. The people who work for their money and want to keep more of their own paychecks. And wealthy politicians who want to raise taxes on the middle class secure in the knowledge that they won't have to pay.

[Kristi Ann]

PS: Kristi - I wasn't aiming a post directly at you, just 'venting' to the board.  What I know of socialized medicine is scant.  Maybe our Canadian or European members could fill us in on how well (or badly) it works.  I've heard stories that Canadians come across the border when they want high quality care in a hurry?

Oh okie dokie, I am sorry, I apologize.  

Blessings,  \o/

KristiAnn

[JudgeNot]

Don't appologize to me!  You didn't do anything wrong!
Smile    it makes a body healthier.  

[digme]

not a single voice mentioned what i am about to say, hence my two cents here on this topic for i received few emails from all types of christian friends about talking to my reps. about the vote that took place yesterday and i refused to do that and deleted the emails promptly.. i don't know how old some of you are or how much exposure you have of the world outside the US. Hold on, maybe not even out of the US, but out of your town... you know in the inner city, you know in the places you would call the ghetto, the trash place, where there are no white picket fences, a few X86 machines in a classroom to be used by all the students, where students can't even write their names properly...

all being said, coming back to the topic, it saddens me that we paint our president as a saint, and Kerry as a villain... I bet God wants Kerry to be president just as much for Bush to be indeed... just on the radio a few days ago, and mind you this usually is mostly conservative radio show, i heard Bush was involved in some type of secret organization in Yale University. but you see, even before that, i have doubts... whenever we realize that individual piety comes before public morality we will get it right in the world(not only in the US but in the rest of the world)...  sometimes i really ask God to take me away because all i see is people suffering left and right- for example my friend was just gauged for $1600 for his car yesterday,- and this guy is a dear brother who has encouraged me a lot in my life... i read some prayer requests yesterday on the board and i was in tears for some that were single moms struggling to make it....  I am so sad that we still envy our broken sisterns to fix our pain and issues through the means of politics... I wonder when we will come to our senses... isn't there enough pain to let us hear God shout to us?

[nChrist]

Hello Digme,

I don't make it any secret that I will vote for who I think most represents my Christian values, and that would be President Bush.

You spoke volumes in your post, and many things could be said about it. America started turning its back on Almighty God in the 1950s. With the evil that's grown and our nation's obvious lack of respect for Almighty God, why would God bless our nation? It's getting worse by the second, and some would wonder when it will be time for God to judge our nation for the evil it has become. President Bush didn't turn America away from God. In fact, he's tried the opposite.

One could also look at things and say we're having a preview of the end times. If so, it's too late for America to turn back to God. Biblical prophecy might be unfolding as we speak, and no power in the Universe will be able to stop it.

We are, as individuals, all partly responsible for what happened to America. We certainly can't blame it on President Bush. Personally, I see no comparison at all between Kerry and Bush. You couldn't pay me enough to get me to vote for Kerry. To me, he represents the people who ruined this country. As an example, the ACLU will have parties in the street if Kerry is elected. This isn't a rant, just my personal opinion, but I will have one vote when the time comes.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[digme]

thanks for the post bep...

i don't like saying much... but i wanted us to start weeping... for God is only going to turn his Head when we start weeping for ourselves and for others....  

Amos 6:

Woe to you who are complacent in zion..
you notable men o fthe foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!  Go to calneh and look at it: go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two KINGDOMS? Is their land larger than yours?.....

you dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.....

you drink wine by the bowful.... but you don't grieve over the ruin of Joseph.  Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile: your feasting and lounging will end...

"God whispers in our pleasure, shouts in our pain" CSL