Sugar Creek Publishing

Just in case you haven’t noticed, more and more of your neighbors are out of work, but there’s more to that story. I find it intriguing how the rhetoric changes with the slide in the economy. Early on, President Obama praised private business, affirming that the private sector alone was able to create jobs and also stating that government does not create jobs. In the wake of the failed “stimulus” legislation, his wording has changed markedly. Now, government is the last best hope to create jobs and save the American people from further financial morass.

My father was a private businessman, as are my husband and my sons. They face something that the president never faces: meeting payroll. It’s easy to spend the old “OPM” — other people’s money — especially when all you have to do to get more of it is to raise taxes.

If you don’t believe that higher taxes are coming, you are deluding yourself. Polled extensively, only 6% of the American people support the present strategy of spending out of a recession. That’s a rather odd position at its core. The last time you were over budget in your household, did you immediately figure out how to go spend more money? Hardly.

We are in a terrible fix. When you see what is happening in Greece, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how a population thoroughly disgusted with its leaders can take to the streets and turn violent. Remember Los Angeles and Rodney King? That horrific incident was in response to a unit of local government — in that case the police department. Can you imagine if such anger was vented on a national scale?

I hope it doesn’t come to a flashpoint that erupts in our cities’ streets, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. There is a small reading I suggest to you. It won’t take long and it’s bound to spur thought.

A beautifully written piece, it ranks among the most important works of all time. It is the U.S. Constitution. Its 4435 words (including the Preamble but not including amendments) guarantee your freedom. Vital to you is that the government operates with “the consent of the governed”. When was the last time you gave your consent? Not lately, I would guess.

Most bookstores carry small, paperback editions of The Constitution. Other organizations supporting liberty send copies out free of charge.

Do your homework. Arm yourselves with the facts. You will be shocked at the actions taken by the federal government that have no basis in The Constitution. One parting thought. All powers not specifically given over to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people.

Nowhere in the Constitution is there any language allowing the government to launch the massive social programs that have grown steadily since the 1930s. We are given the right to pursue happiness, but we are not guaranteed equal results. We can succeed. We can fail. At this point, our government has failed us.

If you don’t want to see more “American Idle”, support THE American Icon, the U.S. Constitution. Make some noise. Raise your voice. Complain. Write. Call. E-mail. FAX. Tweet. Organize your neighbors. Form reading groups among family, co-workers and friends. Study The Constitution. Defend it on your own behalf. A few in Washington try to do that, yet so many others simply ignore it and— completely disregarding the people and following party ideology — plod across the marsh of debt and approach the cliff of financial ruin. Those who tread on our rights through such legislation should be seeking career counseling. Come November, they’ll need it.

Disclaimer: All data from credited sources are so noted.

Well, farmers know all too well that tax time is upon them. March 1st the magic day, not April 15th, so calculators and pencils are busy finishing the forms and readying payments to Uncle Sam.

For now, I’ll ignore the inequity of property taxes. Instead, I urge you to read about the hidden taxes Americans roundly ignore.
Judi Hasson tells us that, whether you’re making a PBJ sandwich or an airline reservation, you’re coming into close contact with invisible charges that make goods and services more expensive.
I used a number of websites for the following information, because finding precise tax information is a challenge. This may save you a trip to beauty shop, girls. It will curl your hair!
February 10, 2010:
You don’t even know it when you pay many federal taxes. Often, the tax does not appear on the sales slip and is simply lumped into the price of goods.

Cruising or flying anywhere? If you want to cruise down the Ohio River — or any U.S. waterway — there’s a $3.60 tax on anyone transported by boat.
Here’s what you pay for a flight: a 7.5% tax on a domestic ticket, a $3.60 tax for each segment of a flight and, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a $2.50 security charge on every segment. That’s in addition to a $16.10 international arrival/departure tax and a passenger-facility charge of up to $4.50.

Fishing isn’t free, either. A fisherman pays 10% of the sales price on sport-fishing equipment. Nor is archery. The federal tax on arrows is 45 cents per shaft. Quivers and broad-heads are taxed at 11%.

Handgun purchasers pay 10% of the sales price to the feds; other firearms, along with ammunition, are taxed at 11%.

A childhood DPT vaccine (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) has a 75-cent charge per shot, paid into a trust fund for those injured by the shot.
Here is one the federal government rarely collects: a 2% tax on unauthorized wagering. Yes, it’s on the books, and it is directed at criminal cartels. When you bet legally, there’s a 25-cent tax on every bet you place.

Thrilled that your son or daughter got a college scholarship? There may be federal taxes on some parts of the award. Room, board and pocket money are taxable, but tuition is not.

The next time you find buried treasure, remember to With gold prices soaring and remote sites beckoning prospectors, remember this. report it as regular income.

Even if you’re so broke that creditors have forgiven part of your debt, you’re not off the hook. The forgiven portion of your debt is “income” and may be taxable as such.

* Note that there are exceptions if the debt is secured by your principal residence or you declare bankruptcy or are insolvent at the time.

I find the next statement applicable to the current gaming climate in Indiana. If you take a bribe or steal property, it’s income unless you give it back before the tax year is over. Just a tip.

So much for honesty these days, folks, so back to the sources….
Every tax has a purpose, political, practical or puritanical. Some are designed to cover the cost of services, like the 18.4-cent gas tax that pays for highway construction, and the airline-ticket tax helps build runways.
Other taxes are meant to discourage certain types of behavior as well as raise revenue, like the $13.50-a-gallon tax on hard liquor and the 33-cent tax on a six-pack.
Federal tax on a pack of cigarettes was 39 cents, until Feb. 4, 2009, when it was increased to $1.01 per pack. Since Jan. 1, 2002, 44 states and the District of Columbia have increased cigarette taxes to an average of $1.23 per pack. The 39-cent-a-pack federal tobacco tax contributed $7.7 billion to the Treasury every year.

Think about moving to the “Big Apple”? If you smoke, you might think twice. You’ll pay a cigarette tax of $4.25 per pack on all cigarettes possessed for sale or use in New York City — $2.75 is New York State tax and $1.50 is New York City tax.
* For your information, the federal cigarette tax increase will be used to fund health care for children not otherwise covered.
Buy a “gas guzzler” and the manufacturer pays a tax of up to $7,700 but passes it along — right on the sticker — to you, the buyer. American University’s Pike says the United States is the only industrialized country that does not have a value-added tax, which taxes all consumer goods and services at each step of the manufacturing process.
“A value-added tax could replace all these nickel-and-dime annoyance taxes,” he says. But it also would level the playing field so everyone would be taxed for buying products and not just specialty items.
Are we ready accept and apply everything Europeans do? Give me air!
Under a system of value-added taxes, each time a company handles a product on its way from raw material to finished good, it pays a tax on the increased value. Ultimately, all those taxes are reflected in the retail price of a good or service.
Of course, that makes a VAT the ultimate hidden tax. Keep an eye on Congress. Our representatives are currently looking into the possibility of a VAT to raise additional revenue.
Everyone knows there are federal taxes on tobacco and alcohol, but did you know the feds take a bite out of your afternoon candy bar?
There are plenty of unexpected taxes that raise the price of goods and services — sin taxes, import duties, user fees and excise taxes on everything from “gas guzzlers” and firearms to communications services and air travel.
“The less visible a tax is, the less likely taxpayers will be aware of it, unsettled by it and advocate against it,” says economist Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
You may feel lucky in Las Vegas, hit the lottery or have a good day at the racetrack, but all winnings are taxable as regular income.
There’s a tax on the life insurance policy that your employer so generously gives you as a benefit if it is over $50,000.
“Most of the hidden taxes pertain to products we buy rather than wages we earn,” adds Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C.
THE NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION:
Taxes account for 35 cents of the cost of a $1.14 loaf of bread, 18 cents of a 50-cent can of soda go toward taxes, 72 percent of the cost of a 750 ml bottle of liquor goes toward taxes, an average of 43 percent for an $80 hotel room, $63.60 of a $159 airline ticket, $39.35 in taxes on a$153.09 monthly utility bill, and —at $1.33 gallon of gasoline — half the cost is tax.

Taxes at the doctor? In the drugstore? In the hospital? In your paycheck? They’re hidden, but you’ll pay. New hidden taxes that Congress wants on your health are on medicines, medical devices and health insurance.
Devices is a category so broad that it includes everything from condoms to Band-Aids. Oh brother! Hidden health care taxes in the middle of a deep recession? If this isn’t a reason to call or write your congressional delegates, I don’t know what is!
Do you tire of not seeing “Made in the USA” on retail items? Consider these facts:

Import Taxes We Pay: (National Taxpayers Union)

Babies’ dresses, not knitted or crocheted, of cotton
12%
Bicycles
11%
Brooms (other/than whiskbrooms), wholly or in part broom corn, valued over 96 cents each
32%
Brussels sprouts, fresh or chilled
12%
Certain infant formulas
18%
Electric blankets
13%
Fishing rods and parts
7%
Flashlights
18%
Frozen blackberries
11%
Girdles and panty-girdles
24%
Hammocks, of cotton
15%
Nonwoven disposable hospital apparel
4%
Nursing nipples and pacifiers, of plastics
3%
Peanut butter
143%
Roses, fresh cut
7%
School supplies, of plastics
5%
Screwdrivers
6%
Table linen of man-made fibers, not knitted or crocheted
12%
Telephone sets
8%
Babies’ dresses, not knitted or crocheted, of cotton
12%
Bicycles
11%
Brooms (other/than whiskbrooms), wholly or in part broom corn, valued over 96 cents each
32%
Brussels sprouts, fresh or chilled
12%
Certain infant formulas
18%
Electric blankets
13%
Fishing rods and parts
7%
Flashlights
18%
Frozen blackberries
11%
Girdles and panty-girdles
24%
Hammocks, of cotton
15%
Non-woven disposable hospital apparel
4%
Nursing nipples and pacifiers, of plastics
3%
Peanut butter
143%
Roses, fresh cut
7%
School supplies, of plastics
5%
Screwdrivers
6%
Table linen of man-made fibers, not knitted or crocheted
12%
Telephone sets

This column should be enough to give you pause. Nothing like the truth to set you free? Maybe not… There’s an old saying that nothing is sure except death and taxes. What it doesn’t say is that we can be taxed to death. Think about it.

This community has lost a gem. I knew John Grigsby as a child. His eldest daughter, Mary Lou, and I grew up together in the First Presbyterian Church. We’ve been lifelong friends, and our memories mesh in a familiar patchwork of small town life in the Indiana of the 1950s.

Our parents worked in the church, and both John and Louise were very active with Westminster Fellowship (the youth group of that era). Later, as an adult, I had a friendship with the man I had always known as “Mr. Grigsby” that outstripped anything I had ever imagined.

You see, we belonged to a small coffee group known as “The Round Table”
— so-named for the location of our table in what was then the downtown Chicken Inn. Martin Zinser played host to us every morning and our numbers ranged from five to more than eleven.

Our compliment included businessmen like John, attorneys, insurance men, a barber, a fireman, a minister or two, a golf pro, and a traveling salesman. If I’ve omitted a category, forgive me. The group disbanded with the closure of the downtown restaurant, and although members have gathered in other places over the last few years, it just hasn’t been the same.

Crowded around that table in good weather or foul, good times or bad, we tackled topics that ranged from basketball and football to the politics of the day. Now, politics have a way of changing, but problems seem to endure — either ones of too much spending or too little. If someone had a health problem, everyone tried valiantly to put a bright face on it.

Over the years, we’ve lost a lot of people. There are likely less than six of the original members now. John came whenever he could, although at the group’s zenith, he was busy with Culligan and Grigsby Realty. He had a zest for life. He was a man of faith. I had seen that all my life, but perhaps never so much as I watched him care for his wife after a debilitating stroke. She never lacked for care or love, and he kept her at home. Today, many people don’t do that. John did.

Looking back, I realize that I didn’t take the time to appreciate the qualities of my parents’ generation. They were — and in some cases today — are different. A few of my classmates still enjoy the pleasure of a parent’s company. I can never walk into the First Presbyterian Church without closing my eyes as I sit in the pew and seeing the faces of all the people who helped guide me to adulthood.

As today’s children are driven to this event or that, I grieve that more are not driven to church activities. Oh, there are families who involve their children in religion, but I think the numbers are fewer these days than in the past.

If you are as fortunate as I am, perhaps you will forge a friendship with the parent of a friend. If you are really lucky, it will be a person of the high moral character and ethics of a John Grigsby. Whenever I glimpse a picture of a golfer kneeling to assess that last putt on the green, I will smile and think of a similar photo in the Grigsby home. John is studying his putt and his wife and girls are looking on with pride — just before he brought home the Elks Blue River Golf Course Championship.

If there’s golf in heaven, they’ve gained a grand player. Good-bye, John. Many of us will miss you. You were a gem among stones.

There’s only one scenario that tops sitting comfortably in the privacy of your own home to be insulted or disgusted by drug ads on TV and that’s being bombarded by them in someone else’s home — or worse yet — in a public place on a “big screen”.
I have been disturbed by the specter of big pharmaceutical ads on television for some time. I must admit that the advent of Cialis and Viagra only exacerbated an already-existing bias; but, all that aside, haven’t we had enough of this?
Not only do these ads account for billions of dollars that could be better spent in research and development, but they also seed a really bad habit. There are those who, despite being fairly well, desire attention from the medical community. TV ads that describe conditions in great detail can inspire those with little medical knowledge to cite symptoms chapter and verse at the next doctor’s appointment. Oops! Dare I suggest corporate-influenced hypochondria?
After going to professional sources, I am relieved to learn that I am not alone in my opinions. Many who know the pharmaceutical business inside and out feel much the same way.
An article printed in 2008 cited that a study by two York University researchers estimated that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.
The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.
The research is co-authored by PhD candidate Marc-André Gagnon, who led the study with Joel Lexchin, a long-time researcher of pharmaceutical promotion, Toronto physician, and Associate Chair of York’s School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health.
It is hard to imagine the man-hours lost to drug representative visits in doctors’ offices nationwide. You’ve glimpsed them. Slickly coifed and impeccably clad, they saunter in with trays of food or wrapped gifts — as you and the other patients wait for the doctor. Many doctors, disgusted with the interruptions, have banned all such visits during office hours.
Add to this dilemma the angst of listening to the long list of adverse affects from the advertised drugs and you can see how far this has gone over the past few years. My favorite is an oft-aired side effects question. “If you have experienced any of these (problems with a drug), stop taking the medication and contact your doctor immediately.” Of course, that warning followed a list that included death. Now, if someone has experienced death and obeys this instruction, I want to be there to see that encounter!
And the future….? Well, who knows at this point? As for me, I wish the large pharmaceutical companies would leave diagnostics to the doctors and channel their dollars marked for advertising toward a powerful combination of both lowering drug prices and advancing research and development. I’m tired of all of it. How about you?

13 – Hoosier legacy

When I learned that Ruth Lilly had died in late December, my mind drifted back to stories from my mother who grew up in Madison, Indiana. There, in the wake of the Great Depression, she and my grandmother were left destitute after my grandfather died at the age of 35. The farm payments made to their insurance agent had been pocketed and not forwarded to the mortgage company. Alas, fraud and theft are not new in American society.

Miss Drusilla Cravens was the granddaughter of J.F.D. Lanier, who, with the help of famous architect Francis Costigan, built the magnificent Lanier Mansion in 1844. Lanier finally relinquished title to the Madison property and deeded it to his oldest son, Alexander, in 1861. Moving to New York City, he maintained close ties to his former home state. As an interesting side note, you should know that during the Civil War, Lanier made unsecured loans totaling over $1 million, first to enable Governor Oliver P. Morton to outfit troops, then to enable the state to keep up interest payments on its debt. By 1870, these loans were repaid with interest. Lanier died in 1881.

Getting back to Miss Cravens, she learned of my mother and grandmother’s situation and took them into her home, where they lived until my mother graduated from Madison High School with The Class of 1935. While living with Miss Cravens, my mother was exposed to a wide variety of impressive visitors. Among these was Josiah K. Lilly, Jr., who would have been about 45 years of age when mother was a senior in high school.

Mr. Lilly brought my mother a lovely beaded necklace from one of his European trips. A delicate piece, it reposes in the safe haven of a vault. I can’t bear to think of losing it. I treasure it as a relic from that golden time when movers and shakers who would build a pharmaceutical giant were simply known as hard working entrepreneurs — men borne of a family from Greencastle.

Most of us have grown up with Eli Lilly as a familiar part of our lives, since many local people have worked for the pharmaceutical company over its many years. Stories abound about Ruth Lilly, and I find it intriguing that her own family’s company produced a drug that gave her some respite from a dogging depression with which she had struggled for years.

Her passion for poetry is well known. As a novice poet myself, I appreciate her efforts on behalf of American poets at large. This coming Monday, Indiana will inter a woman of considerable influence and generosity. Crown Hill Cemetery is a fitting last resting place for this gentle woman. Its beauty and symmetry equal that of a great poem and its history is replete with legends and lore common to such a large cemetery.

As for me, I will think of Ruth Lilly on Monday, and later on I will pick up that old necklace and muse about a man who took the time to bring a fatherless, seventeen-year-old girl something precious from a faraway land…. a man whose family impacted— and continues to impact — the lives of countless Hoosiers. Indiana is, in large measure, a better state for the work of the Lilly family. I wish them continued success.

The other day, as I say musing over the past year’s events, I was reminded of an old children’s story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. You probably recall it. The story line was that a costumer came to a ruler claiming to have the most beautiful fabric in the world, but only a royal person could see it. Not wishing to admit that he might be less than royal, the emperor agreed to have a new robe made from the fabric.

When word spread that the Emperor would appear in a parade wearing the new outfit, crowds of subjects lined the thoroughfare. The people, unwilling to disappoint the emperor made glowing comments about his clothes as he passed. Then small child piped up, and the “jig was up”, so to speak. A tiny voice called out that the Emperor was not wearing any clothes.

We are faced with a similar situation today. All manner of legislation is coming out way disguised in invisible fabric. If we peel back the impressive rhetoric, these initiatives — like that culpable ruler — are not a pretty sight.

I yearn for a time when both print and broadcast journalists live up to their names. The very profession that not only extols, but exists by, freedom of speech lays waste to it daily. Any dissenting voice is either ignored or impugned. Any facts that fail to fit into what the mainstream consider the “truth” is discredited and those who present it called names.

I learned as a child that fine minds discuss ideas and weak minds call names. I am sick and tired of politicians constantly calling their opponents names. When an issue cannot be supported by facts, it is worthless. I am beginning to think that the majority party not only heralds such personalities, but also cultivates them.

It’s time to put a stop to this insanity. Start today and look for candidates who vow to vote on behalf on their constituents and not claim to know “what’s best for them”. Refresh the mix. Keep up the pressure on our legislators to work for us, not in spite of us. We deserve better. Think about it. Let 2010 be a real “10” for the American people. Push the Congress to knuckle down and quit spending our money. We can weather any financial storm without the government’s help.

Remember, the government doesn’t make money — it takes money.

For years, I have lauded a particular bent of mind. Once it was a near synonym for American. Yet, now, as I sift through the morass once labeled “the print news”, I fail to find a vestige of it.

We are a hardy lot. It takes a lot to rile us. Memorable examples are the War of 1812, Pearl Harbor, 9/11…. I am waiting for the rise to action against a volley without guns — a volley launched from our own houses of Congress.

We are under attack, folks. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the concept of representative government hangs in the balance.

If the environmentalists are searching for air quality, maybe they should open the closed doors of Democrat meetings within the US Capitol Building and the White House.

Leaving people out of meetings is as against the American system as anything I could name. Bicameral legislation and division of power should afford us protection against such childish practices, yet — at the present time — they do not.

Keeps those phones humming in the Congressional offices. Pound away at the fact that these people are supposed to represent you.

If I hear the phrase “we know what’s best for you” one more time, I may scream. I cringe at the prospect of the damage that could rain down on every taxpayer.

The other day I was reminded that many prices would be far lower were it not for regulation and its inherent cost. Don’t get me wrong; some regulation is not only good, but also sensible. However, I fear we are becoming a nation whose future will be stilted by frivolous regulation written by those with a very pointed agenda — taking over the nation without firing a shot.

Where is the veto pen promised by our president? Why does he continue to sign legislation rife with earmarks when he vowed to end them all? Where are the bills promised to be public on the Internet when even the members of the US Senate have not seen a bill that threatens our pocketbooks as well as our health?

Soaring rhetoric is one thing. Obfuscation is quite another. A void exists — one I never expected to witness. The precipitating event must have happened when I wasn’t paying attention.

I missed the obituary. Common sense has died. I fear that her offspring are endangered, too. I remember one writer who condensed it perfectly. Common sense died and her children, reason and logic, are terminally ill.

If there is one condition we can do something about, it’s the life of logic and reason. Remember the man who hung out the window in the movie “Network”? Would that the press would take his view today.

His scream should be yours. Recall it? “I’m a mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Go for it. Vent that anger. Melt those phone lines in Washington, DC and in regional and state offices. Write letters. E-mail. Sign on line petitions. Take a hint from Jack Webb of “Dragnet” — taking a play on words — “…. just the FAX, Ma’am”!

It’s high time the Democrats accepted the fact that nearly 70% of the American people want no part of government involvement in health care. We don’t lack health care in America. We do need a few things. First of all, we need a system that absent of huge punitive damages. Put plainly, we need tort reform desperately.

We need to close our borders and deport —yes, deport — illegals. California’s health system is crushed by their numbers. How far you do think you would get if you entered a foreign country illegally and demanded free anything? I guess few of those pushing for this mess ever thinks about anything like that.

Every day, I hear Democrats tout FDR. Do they recall that he deported huge numbers of illegals in order to assure jobs for Americans? They need to bone up on his actions. I hear them cite the Commerce Clause of the Constitution when asked how they have the authority to mandate we purchase health insurance. The Commerce Clause regulates business, folks, not individuals.

It’s time they were stopped in their tracks. The year 2010 is pivotal. We need to clean house — literally. Send these foolish representatives and senators packing.

Many people with whom I have spoken were duped by a campaign flush with dreams that delivered an administration of nightmares. You may have made a mistake with a vote in 2008, but you can cripple the current power structure easily in 2010.

The ballot box is the answer. Let’s write the obituary we have yet to see, the demise of an incessant power grab manned by agenda-driven zealots. America is better than that. Change it.

Only you can.

My father was not only a sage advisor but also a keen judge of character, especially when it came to business people and politicians. Undoubtedly, his ashes are churning at the very thought of this health care debacle on the table in Washington these days.

He knew the value of a healthy debate and could talk you under the table with an almost inexhaustible supply of facts peppered with his trademark humor.

Some of you might remember the time when open discussion included both sides of a situation. Well, that’s gone. It’s odd how, when the political tables are turned in a pivotal election, what was perfectly fine for the minority party of the previous administration is suddenly completely unacceptable when they are in the majority, i.e. no opposing views allowed.

I don’t care what kind of a personality a politician has. He, or she, could be the most charming person in the room for all I care. What I want is someone who openly espouses their points of view, but accepts dissension without rancor.

I weary of the majority today. Whenever someone disagrees with them, they take the opponent alright — but not on the issues. They attack the opponent personally. As the old story goes, “let he without sin cast the first stone.” Don’t look for that anytime soon.

I once heard that fine minds talk about ideas and small minds talk about other people. Consider the recent comments of the Senate leader when he compared his assumed “right” to health care to slavery. Oh, please. Get a life, fella! There is no such comparison that would pass the smell test.

It’s about time we had a little of what one of my favorite commentators calls “adult supervision” in the halls of Congress. I hear solid voices such as Mike Pence and Joe Wilson. They don’t screech and scream when they make their points. Calm and collected, they state their side and ask only that they be heard and that all the facts be checked before any action is taken.

All these folks that push for this so-called “public option” better remember a critical decision for any patient when faced with a serious illness. The one aim that a resounding majority seek is a “second opinion”. Would that our majority Representatives and Senators apply that wisdom to the current discussion.

Oh, and by the way, do you know that you will pay into the fund for the “public option” for five years before it kicks into gear? Nice, huh? They take your money for five years and you have nothing to show for it. That’s certainly one way to keep the financial projections look good.

Remember, these are the people that run Medicare and Medicaid — programs that will crash and burn. They are unsustainable. So is this health care legislation. Don’t let a day pass before you contact your Congressional delegation and let them know what you want them to do. They work for you! Think about it.

December 2, 2009

Thumb through the telephone directory and you will find lots of them. An ethnic preface for a wide variety of listings, with the exception of the occasional one additional letter, they all begin the same way.

For my purposes, I will capitalize both of them and laud them in terms that shout tradition! The letters? MC. The message? Merry Christmas.

Once upon a time, we saw the words emblazoned on nearly every retailer in the nation. Sadly, that is not the case today. As an integral movement to remove God from American life, holiday spoilers claim inequity and want everything labeled for Christmas to be retitled “holiday”. Give me oxygen.

Our Founding Fathers based this nation on Christianity and that faith has buoyed us not only in good times but on the stormy seas of both civil and world wars.

Spires of countless churches aim toward heaven. Our art and music reflect our close relationship with the Creator. The Declaration of Independence is but one of our most precious documents that strongly reference God. Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural, noted God many times.

Likely, it has not escaped your notice that more and more mega-stores bend to the pressure of the minority — yes, minority. America is, overall, a Christian nation. We welcome other religions. We do not force Christianity on newcomers. We stand aside and say nothing when non-believers observe their religious traditions. You don’t see us moving to abolish or diminish the holy days of other faiths.

Why, then, are we — as a people — so quiet when others push Christmas to the side and relegate it to a generic holiday category? It is, of course, complacency, but a complacency borne of openness.

Make it a habit to wish all comers “Merry Christmas”! If you see a retailer use the holiday wording, complain. An overwhelming majority of Americans profess their Christian faith. Traditional, mainline churches remain very active, yet their attendance is waning a bit. New, non-denominational churches are growing in numbers. It isn’t unusual to see a congregation begin meeting in a storefront setting.

Tolerance is laudable, but that practice goes both ways. If Christians are perfectly comfortable with other faiths and their holidays, then those who believe otherwise — or do not believe at all — should adopt that position.

Bask in the sights, sounds, and smells of the season. Inhale the scents of Christmas candles… the sounds of bell ringers… the lyrics of familiar carols… the pleasure of giving…. Yes, in the end, the initials MC mean much more than the introduction to a surname that heralds from Scotland. MC means Merry Christmas. Don’t allow anyone to remove it from the American scene.

Enjoy the season. Take its message to heart. You won’t be sorry that you did. Think about it.

When Thanksgiving comes to mind, many of us grab the waistline and grumble. Inevitably, eating too much goes with the territory on that festive Thursday in November.

Such was not always the case. Those first hardy souls who joined with the Indians to enjoy a repast in the woodlands never could have envisioned what we maintain as “a normal Thanksgiving” today. Their focus was the next meal, and the ingredient were not as important as its existence.

Few of us went out to hunt our main course, but there are exceptions. I remember one particular Thanksgiving day when my father did furnish all the meat — and not from the neighborhood grocery store! That meal was different. Let’s say that we did it just that once.

Looking back, let’s reflect on the motives that spurred the Pilgrims to venture forth over a huge expanse of water in search of a new home. It was religious freedom.

We pride ourselves on that freedom today, and a plethora of religions practice within America’s borders.

Take a moment and put yourself in the position of a Pilgrim. Your main job is to stay alive in a virtually untamed environment. Forest creatures abound, and not all of them are friendly. Weather is unpredictable and shelter is paramount.

You are thankful, not only for food for sustenance, but also for the friendship of natives who join with you to exalt the Almighty. While you name Him God, your Indian neighbors deem Him The Great Spirit.

In any event, you recognize that there is something greater than yourself. A timeless lesson, that knowledge humbles us and prods us to use our time on this earth wisely.

On this Thanksgiving Day, vow to make a difference in your world. Your efforts need not be global. They can be within your own family or neighborhood. By extension, they could be in your township or community. Join with others. There IS strength in numbers.

Encourage others to espouse religion and select a house of worship. We all need a good dose of God on a regular basis. If you are truly thankful for each week, then set aside one hour of it to spend with the Lord. Make sure your children recognize the importance of faith in their lives. You won’t be sorry that you did.

Happy Thanksgiving, readers.