Also ...

I guess I must be pretty fired up ... never done two posts in one month, let alone two in 48 hours. After finishing the politically themed post yesterday, I read what I think is a really well-written commentary in the Louisville paper by a local doctor regarding the healthcare issue. It's a little long, but very interesting.

A doctor's perspective

While I'm not sure I buy everything he says (Sorry, but I do not believe most doctors work 80-hour weeks. I've had to reschedule appointments too many times because Dr. DowhateverIwant decided he's only working on Wednesday mornings now.) ... I do respect his point. Why should politicians be able to vilify those who've chosen to care for others as a profession, with a highly respectable skill set that they either paid a whole lot of money or went into a whole lot of debt to obtain? They provide a service, and they deserve to be paid for it, and there's nothing wrong with that. Of course, that's oversimplifying a much larger issue, but ... I'm just saying that I hadn't thought about it that way, and I'd be pretty P.O.'d if I were a physician, too.

Lastly ... I saw a statistic yesterday that said 45 percent of physicians say they will consider leaving the profession if the U.S. adopts a system of governemnt-run healthcare. That alone is a good enough reason to abandon it, if you ask me. Even fewer doctors than we have now to care for millions and millions of new patients. Sounds good, right?

Time to get it together

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the state of political discourse in America and how, frankly, it's so screwed up. So, fueled by an uncharacteristic desire to have my opinion heard (hehe), I signed up on the Republican National Committee's website. I'm not really sure what all that entails, other than the opportunity to volunteer to register voters and help with campaigns. One thing it does involve, though, is receiving e-mail newsletters from RNC chairman Michael Steele, which I discovered today. This is the e-mail I recieved:

Dear Caroline,

In another stunning example of hypocrisy, congressional Democrats wasted taxpayers' time and resources on a legislative measure to censure Congressman Joe Wilson so they don't have to talk about their exceedingly unpopular health care plan.

If we are going to march Members down to the well of the House to apologize, Joe Wilson is going to have to get in line behind Nancy Pelosi, who attacked the intelligence community who protects us, Charlie Rangel who cheated on his taxes, Jack Murtha - a walking scandal, and we all know how the Democratic leadership tried to protect convicted felon William Jefferson.

Check it out:

• First, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accuses the CIA of lying though an intelligence report indicates that she was briefed on the use of harsh interrogation tactics in 2002; contradicting her previous statements.

• Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is under investigation for misusing rent controlled properties, avoiding taxes, and using U.S. government letterhead to raise money.

• Reps. John Murtha (D-PA) and Peter Visclosky (D-IN) have been linked to lobbying firm PMA, which has been raided twice by FBI agents.

• Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) has refused to subpoena Countrywide Mortgage documents to investigate possible sweetheart loans; Towns received two loans from Countrywide.

• Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) forced aides to perform personal tasks against ethics rules and had them work on "several local and state campaigns including his wife's failed bid for a seat in the state senate."

Heard any apologies from these people? Where are the outcries of the Democrat leadership?

The truth -- the Democrats don't want an apology. They want a side show -- something to shift the focus away from their government-run experiment on health care.

The Democrats don't seem to listen, so we'll send them our thoughts. Go here to add your voice to the call for an end to their political games. Sign our Petition to "End the Side Shows and Get to Work."

After you sign the petition, I hope you'll make a contribution to support our media efforts to get our message out nationwide. If we don't stop the Obama Democrats' disastrous health care takeover now, we'll all be facing the end of health care choice and endlessly rising taxation very soon.

Let the Democrats know you've had enough of the circus acts. It's time to end the side show and the experiments. Please help today.

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee

Now, listen. I'm as fed up as the next conservative with what I believe is some serious deception and hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats in Washington. But let's be honest here. There are no fewer Republicans out there doing ridiculously immoral and hypocritical things than there are Democrats, and the constant blame game is really making me tired.

How much more productive would it have been for Michael Steele to spend his time writing a newsletter urging conservatives to ask their elected leaders to contribute something meaningful to the healthcare debate, instead of running around berating their opponents? Or to get involved by trying to properly educate those who don't understand what we're getting ourselves into if we adopt a system of nationalized healthcare? I, for one, would have been inspired to join the conservative effort to reform healthcare in a democratic, American way. (And saying that there even is a conservative effort is probably being too generous.) Instead, I feel even more annoyed with the Republican party than I already did.

One lesson I was always taught growing up is that you can't control what others do; you only can control how you react to what others do. What good can it possibly do for Michael Steele and the RNC to react to hypocrisy with more hypocrisy? The DNC could easily send out a nearly identical e-mail urging its members to tell Republicans in Washington to "stop the scare tactics and misinformation" and listing all the Republicans who have attacked whoever or misused funds for whatever. What's the point? It only perpetuates a cycle of blame and inaction that is going to eat American democracy alive if we let it.

Why doesn't anyone in Washington, Republican or Democrat, seem to realize that at this point, no one really cares to hear their bickering. There are a lot of Americans who feel they are not being heard, and childishness like this newsletter is one reason why.



We all know Nancy Pelosi tells lies and has crazy eyes and just generally sucks right? Here's an idea ... Let's grow up and move on, m'kay?

Some pictures

Nothing too exciting today, just a few pictures to share ...



It's a little blurry, but this is Sean's newest nephew - Alexander Winfield Jemley, born June 19. Isn't he precious? I had never seen an actual just-born baby before him ... so teeny tiny!

And this is Alex with Sean this past weekend, at his brother Luke's flag football game. Still pretty teeny. He was so cute and just sat in everyone's lap watching the game the whole time, cool as a cucumber. I guess that sort of comes with the territory when you have three older siblings!





















Our cat Joey, who loves to lay around showing off his belly. Joey hides anytime anyone is over to visit, leading some people to doubt his existence, so I thought a picture might be nice.





And this is what my fruit/vegetable bowl looked like yesterday after a trip to the farmer's market. So pretty ... I'm so sad summer's almost over!



That's all folks ... have a wonderful hump day!