Someone's liable...

Yesterday, I was listening to the Joe & Patti Show on KGMI. They were discussing the legal case of an injured firefighter whose court-award of $12million was challenged when he was investigated and found to be physically capable of much more than his original complaint claimed. Despite the video footage and photographs that showed him playing bocce & horse shoes, and even dancing, his award was re-instated.


A caller defended this guy saying that you can’t see all the consequences of the original injuries, so it’s not fair to judge. Someone may be disabled and not look that way...Besides, the caller stated, “SOMEONE is liable...”

Apparently, that’s a given. When something bad happens, SOMEONE is liable.

In this case, the firefighter was injured when he got up to use the restroom one night in a firehouse he was not familiar with. In the dark, he chose the wrong door, and stepped off into the hole for the fire pole down to the first floor. He suffered a head injury, 10 broken ribs and worse, if you can imagine that.

This just stuck in my craw, and I don’t mean the specifics of this case. You can argue about what this guy did or didn’t do, and whether he should have the money but that’s not what’s bugging me. I’m sorry that this guy suffered such severe consequences from an unfortunate mistake, but what about personal responsibility? No one shoved him over the edge. Why isn’t HE the one responsible? Why is SOMEONE (read: ELSE) liable? Why is this the immediate response?

There seems to be the attitude that because this firefighter has lost something, someone must make it up to him. It’s a general attitude these days, I fear. If I have less than you, someone should make it up to me...and most likely you. Or the government should...Or those rich, uncaring corporations...

People want to dissociate merit, or effort, or the lack thereof, with outcomes. They want us to think that we’re all the same, and deserve the same. We are all made in the image of God, and deserve the same respect, and the same opportunities – but we do not have all the same motivations, nor do we all deserve the same kind of outcomes. And sometimes we make bad, maybe even stupid, mistakes, that set us far back from where we want to be...

If you take the time to think about it, you recognize that while we all want security and happiness, no one defines them in the same way. As we persist in the pursuit of equal outcomes for all, we restrict our ability to freely pursue that which is our own unique definition of security and happiness. I may have to settle for yours, you may have to settle for mine, or worse, we both have to settle for the government’s definition of these.

So much is wasted by encouraging people to wait around for others to make up what they lack, when, all the time, opportunity and freedom are right there for us to grab hold of in pursuit of our unique dream of security and happiness.

This is America, people! -- the place where initiative, creativity and hard work allow us to take our talents to undetermined heights! Why are we ceding our dreams to wait for equal footing? We’ll never get it and we don’t even need it.

It’s time we stopped whining for equal outcomes, and grabbed the equal opportunities that already exist.

If someone is liable for what you lack, most likely that someone is YOU.

An Almost Wordless Wednesday...

Got this in the mail...

I decided to do this with it...

Thanks to the Republican Party for this little exercise that reminds us how the Federal government works.

When they send you money, you end up sending it back, and about 80% of it gets lost in the process.

God bless -- no, God HELP America!

It's not exactly a Death Panel, but it seems like it...

I heard on the news tonight that an Arizona man who has leukemia has been given a virtual death sentence because of budget cuts implemented by Gov. Jan Brewer.

The Arizona legislature, not just Gov. Brewer, made cuts to the state's Medicaid funding because federal mandates about who is now eligible for coverage have created huge cost burdens. They were forced to cut optional services, which included some transplants...including a non-family member bone marrow transplant which would likely save the life of Mark Price, father of six.

The media has brought this to light, most likely because they are not fans of Jan Brewer...because if they were honest about it, they would have to admit that when Obamacare was in process, they mocked the people who predicted that decisions would be made that would cost people their lives.

In this case, it seems that the system requires that more people are covered, at the expense of others with more uncommon problems. Arizona Attorney General, Terry Goddard, and the Democratic nominee for governor, accuses Gov. Brewer that she has not made "tough decisions; she's made mean decisions that hurt Arizona families".  So is that how the families that have gained coverage feel? That the Governor is "mean" for including them, at the expense of others? I doubt it...

I can understand the frustration and grief of the Price family...but how do you decide who gets what? If you make an exception, what will it be based on? Is one person more deserving of life than another?

While proponents of Obamacare would have us think that all our health problems can be addressed and resolved through their system, it's just not true. They would have us believe that everyone has a right to an equal outcome...It's just not possible. There is not an infinite, ever-flowing stream of funding...Choices will have to be made, and when we are dependent on one source, we have no opportunity, or freedom, to pursue our own resources...When this course is followed, eventually we do have an equality of outcomes -- and no one is happy with them.

Indeed, the whole world has gone crazy!

I'm sitting here by my window, waiting for a pig to fly by.

I won't even be surprised when it happens...It seems only a logical next step in the sequential insanity of events that have occurred with today's testimony of Stephen Colbert before a House committee.

Oh, I know it's not weird for celebs to testify in front of Congress, but usually they do it as citizens, or experts in their fields -- not in character.

Yes, Stephen Colbert testified as the character he portrays on TV with all the outrageous, satirical and sarcastic commentary he is known for.

What?! And this was important because...? And his sarcastic reporting about his stint working in the same fields as illegal immigrants do is valuable because...? Uh...because...uh, it made some people laugh...uh, because...uh, it was good for ratings...? It's going to take quite a bit of spin to get something that sounds even remotely appropriate or valuable about this. I'm anxious to hear this defended..

What a waste of time!! Who cares what a TV character thinks?? Who's next -- Homer Simpson?

The Congress has gone "high school" if you ask me! "Hey! Let's get that funny guy to testify about the issue...That will be AWESOME!"  Have they let go of their last shred of dignity? I would hope that our lawmakers might have more important things to do than spend their time on Stephen Colbert...and with my tax dollars...Please! Has this been entered into the Congressional Record?...Embarassing!

I want to know who set up this visit...and who attended...and what they say for WHY they attended!

As I said, embarassing...

The whole world is getting played...

Much ado about nothing?

I think we're all getting played on the issues of the "Ground Zero" mosque, AND the Florida pastor's threatened burning of the Koran.

Mosque, Shmosque...I hate the thought that a mosque is being built near the place where thousands fell to the evil purposes of terrorists who declare Islam their religion...Probably as much as abortion providers hate it that the law allows protestors to stand across the street from their clinics. The obvious point being that we are free to express ourselves as long as we do not break the law. We are free to have poor taste, be stupid, be confrontational and insensitive, and even be a bully -- along with all the appropriate ways there are to express ourselves.

If the builders of this mosque are trying to express the ultimate "neener, neener" to the United States, how should we respond? Don't bullies grow in power, as their victims grow loud protestations? I think indifference might be the most appropriate response. If their "parishioners" (?) are as moderate as they claim, do you think they will want to be seen attending this particular mosque? This issue may have already died, except that the media blew up the conflict to give it life...And so many have fallen for it, spending much loud energy opposing it...

Then there's a little issue with the owner of the property...I've heard that a buyer with 20 million could come in and make the whole conflict go away...Just buy the property from the mosque builders...What a clever way to increase the value of property...get the whole country angry, upset, incensed, offended...and just a few million sacrificed by someone will make SO many people happy...

Pardon my cynicism, but I think that the Florida pastor may have shown his ulterior motives for the Koran burning stunt as well...First, who would have ever known this guy if he had not proposed this activity? Second, for a little bit, it looked like HE would be the one to make the whole country happy by striking a deal to stop the "Ground Zero" mosque...a hero!

Seriously, Pastor -- you think the Islamic radicals are that upset about 200 Korans being burned? Come on! "Oh, please, please don't burn our Korans! We'll stop plans to build that mosque immediately if you just don't burn our holy book!" Ridiculous that this Pastor even believed that it was possible...I'm sorry, hero will not apply in this case. It's all foolishness...

To me, it was all much ado about nothing until I heard our President make a plea to the Florida pastor to not burn the Koran because of the suffering that would be caused by his action. Mr. Obama implied that our servicemen & women might be harmed...

Neither is this an appropriate response to a bully..."Please don't do anything to make the terrorists mad. We don't want to get hurt..." assumes powerlessness.  We won't stand on our principles. We won't stand against evil done against our people. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to keep from getting hurt...What?

I can't believe that our President would communicate such a weak position to the terrorists and to the world. I'm appalled...angry...embarassed...and I'm sad for our country. 

God help us to be committed more to what is RIGHT than to what is comfortable...

And God help us discern the truth in every situation so we are not deceived into inadvertently aggrandizing the "players" who create situations that hurt our country for their own gain...

I've been too tired to vent...

Sorry for the long absence. I'm getting my head clear after a busy harvest time.

Well, as clear as it is possible to get...

In the meantime, here is a post you will enjoy from an author I particularly enjoy...And I agree with him on this 100%.

http://www.redcounty.com/content/true-conservative-witch-hunt


BLOGGER'S NOTE: A blatant advertisement for my son's writing...but he IS good!

How SHOULD the "Have's" be responsible for the "Have-not's"?

President Obama today chided the GOP saying that the same people who want to give the wealthiest Americans tax cuts refuse to support continued benefits for the unemployed.

I believe they are just demonstrating consistency of principle.

President Obama, tax breaks for the wealthy could create a job for the Tom, Dick & Harriet you say are suffering in their unemployment. That would be a lifeline for them!

Continued unemployment benefits only give them another deadline -- emphasis on the "dead".

Which is the better way to help those who have not?