Another Day, Another Obamacare Exemption

A few days ago, Obama announced another exemption to Obamacare. Earlier this week, the administration announced that some of the people who had their plans cancelled can apply for a "hardship exemption" and purchase only catastrophic coverage for one year. How exactly does this help anyone?  It's only for one year, and then these people are out of luck and have to buy an expensive plan they don't want. It's no different than when Obama tried to backpedal once he got caught in the lie of "if you like your plan you can keep it".  His solution to stem the outrage was to tell Americans they could keep their plan for one more year. Just one problem, Mr. President, the insurance companies have spent 3 years preparing policies to meet all your requirements- you know they can't reinstate millions of plans at the last minute. All this, including this latest exemption, is a distraction in hopes that Americans forget this debacle when midterm elections rolls around next November.

Meanwhile, Congressional democrats continue to run away from Obamacare in droves. Senator Manchin from West Virginia is worried that Obamacare could suffer a "complete meltdown" and collapse under its own weight from rising costs and public outrage. Wow Senator, you are just now figuring this out?  Isn't this what your republican colleagues told you during the debate over the bill?  Three years ago, this was a great law and was going to bring healthcare costs down, but now that the proof is in the pudding you want to distance yourself from it?  Are he and his colleagues now asking Obama to delay parts of the law, including the individual mandate, for a year?  Didn't they attack republicans at every turn in September when they wanted to include a delay as part of the bill to fund the government?   They were warned by republicans that this would happen, and yet they absolutely refused to compromise on any aspect of Obamacare.  This bill passed without a single republican vote, and they own every single part of this debacle. They have no one to blame but themselves, and Americans need to remember this on November 4, 2014. Will we let them get away with the smoke and mirror tactic of one year delays?  Will we let them continue to insult our intelligence with their back pedaling?  Will we continue to let them get away with shoving a law we didn't want down our throats based on false promises and lies?  For the sake of the future of healthcare in this country, I certainly hope not.

The Slow Death of Free Speech

Today I have finally joined the ranks of the bloggers. For a few years, I've been mulling over the idea of starting a blog where I can express my thoughts on what's going on in our country these days. Political debate in America has become so bitter that it's almost impossible to have a reasonable and fair discussion about the issues. I want to use this blog to express my views but hopefully in a civilized manner without the vitriol and hate that has become all too commonplace. Before I get into the topic that motivated me to finally start this blog, I'll share a few details about me. I'm a native Texan and currently live in the suburbs of Houston, Texas and am happily married to my husband of over 4 years. I currently work as a Petroleum Engineer for a major oil company. I am a Republican who is not afraid to stand up for my conservative values. Most importantly, I am a Christian, and I try daily to live my life so that it is pleasing to God and I strive to become more Christlike every day. I believe in the truth of that Bible, and I am not ashamed to say that it is the guidepost for my beliefs and decisions.

That's enough about me, though. In the last few years, I have become more and more discouraged about the direction our country and society has been moving.  The liberal media and the left has been working hard to subversively silence free speech for years by labeling those who dare to disagree with them as hateful, racist, homophobic bigots. After all, how much of an audience will someone have once they have been accused of bigotry?  This strategy was on full display when A&E suspended Phil Robertson from his series Duck Dynasty for the crime of simply expressing his opinion. Phil sat down for an interview with GQ and answered their questions honestly on his views about homosexuality.  Phil has always been clear that his beliefs are based on the Bible, and he paraphrased 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that states that the homosexual act is a sin. However, he did not say anything hateful about gay people but actually said he loved "all of humanity" and "would never treat anyone with disrespect because they are different" from him. In fact, he also called out heterosexuals who sleep around outside of marriage.  The media reaction to his comments are exactly what I've come to expect. They twisted his words and extracted pieces out of context in order to vilify him. As is typical these days, fear of the liberal media and the homosexual lobby led A&E to condemn him even after acknowledging that his statements were based on his personal beliefs. 

I have a serious problem with this. The last time I checked, the First Amendment gives the right of free speech to ALL Americans, not just those with opinions in line with the left and their liberal media mouthpieces.  Those who are so proud of their "tolerance" are too blind to see how intolerant they really are. I don't think I'm the only one outraged by this shocking trend. Apparently liberals think that the First Amendment doesn't apply those of us with conservative and/or Christian views.  The double standard for conservatives and Christians is glaringly obvious.  Alec Baldwin repeatedly insults the gay community but it barely makes news, and GLAAD almost completely ignores it.  How long did it take before Martin Bashir finally resigned from MSNBC for his comments about Sarah Palin?  For every Martin Bashir that has resigned, liberals like Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, David Letterman and others remain on the air.  They continue to say genuinely hateful things and call us racist and ignorant because of our political and moral views.  While I certainly don't agree with what they say, they do have the same right to free speech that we all have, including Phil Robertson.  No matter what you think about Phil's comments, all Americans should be shocked and concerned by how the media and A&E is treating him. I refuse to stand back and let people like Phil be accused of hate speech when he did no such thing.  I refuse to be accused of racism when I dare to disagree with the Obama administration. I ask all of you to support Phil Robertson and let A&E know that we will not support the trampling of our right to an opinion. Stand up for your convictions and be proud of what you believe in. Don't let anyone bully us into silence because we are afraid of the nasty labels they will try to throw at us. Free speech will continue its slow death march unless we the people stand up and fight.