Our Government is Bleeding Us Dry

Today was a tough day to listen to the local news. Oil prices are soaring and the Katrina disaster will cost of tens of billions of dollars. Our county executive here in Erie County, NY was on the radio today talking about his proposed 50% hike in property taxes and an additional 1% sales tax (for a total of 9.25%). The radio announcer talked about how our natural gas prices are expected to go up 35% this winter - somehow this is related to Katrina, although I still can't quite make the connection. Furthermore, we are being told to expect only a mild increase of 19% in our health insurance rates (which is far better than the 25-30% of the last few years).

So here I sit, trying to balance my checkbook and figure out where all my money went. My school tax bill arrived today - only $2,700. I can't wait to see what awaits me on the county tax bill in February. I just can't help but feel that our government is bleeding us dry. And I don't just mean the federal government, which currently takes about 25% of my paycheck and the state government which takes even more. It is the government's lack of control that allows our gas prices to soar to almost $3.50 per gallon and allows the utility companies to continue to enjoy record profits while claiming hardship. And, now that we have had 2 airlines declare bankruptcy just this week, will we be expected to bail them out as well?

I am just wondering - who is going to bail me out when I am forced into bankruptcy? The government takes from my paycheck to help the poor and underpriveleged. But it won't be long before we are ALL poor and underprivileged. You can't keep making the working half of the country pay for the non-working half. Why should I pay for someone else's health insurance when I am struggling to pay my own? The middle class is getting squeezed. The bottom half of the middle class are falling into the lower class. Something needs to change soon or there will be no one left to pay for everyone.

I can't help but wonder how many of us would be able to easily take care of ourselves and have money left over to help others who deserve it if we just had our paychecks for ourselves without any taxes. We can only imagine...

Imperfection

Being born a perfectionist and living with a perfectionist father and twin sister created a lot of internal tension during my life. Even though I have now come to understand that none of us are perfect (nor are we expected to be), it still causes me extreme stress when I don't live up to my own expectations. Other people are far more accepting and forgiving of me than I am of myself. At times, I am my own worst enemy, tearing myself down, minimizing my accomplishments and exaggerating my failures. Is there any hope for me?

I try to understand God's love for me and I still find it amazing that he could love someone so flawed and imperfect. He knows everything about me and yet still loves me - how awesome is that? I try to think about my own kids and how I do not expect them to be perfect. When they fail, I still love them. More and more I feel that it is a trick of the devil to try to keep us from realizing our full position in Christ. If Satan can but keep us down, keep us feeling like a failure, then we are of little use to the Kingdom of God. He would love for us to remain ineffective, insecure, and feeling unloved.

I am determined to start talking to myself in a positive light. So many times I find that I am berating myself, tearing myself down, hurling accusations and insults. I am determined to try to do some good in this world, despite my imperfections. My prayer is that God will help me deal with the hurts and insults that come my way from others as well as myself and that I would realize that Satan uses not only me, but others as well to tear me down. Lord, please help me to look to you when I feel weak and when I fail. Help me to have hope that with you, I can succeed and I can be loved, imperfections and all.

The Lousianna Disaster

I call this the Louisianna Disaster and not the Katrina Disaster because the real disaster is not what happened by way of the storm, but rather what happened in the hearts and minds of the people who determined to stay in Louisianna. I have never seen so many people who somehow felt that they were entitled to help and support. Mind you, it is not that we all didn't try to send money and send people to assist them. But we weren't fast enough, and they were inconvenienced by not having enough food or air conditioning.

I have talked at length to others among my family and friends and we all have this uneasy feeling about helping these people. I know when tragedy falls on most of us, we are grateful for any help we are given. I can't remember a time that I ever just expected anyone to help me. After all, taking care of me and my family is my responsibility, isn't it? Since when did we become a nation where we expect our government (or anyone else for that matter) to take care of us?

I am very saddened at the loss of homes and the loss of life. However, I am very angry that somehow the liberal left has turned this into yet another opportunity for Bush-bashing. I guess the fact that President Bush declared Louisianna a state of emergency two days early and offered to take over the evacuation plan was not enough for the arrogant governor of that state to allow President Bush to help. Was this a ploy by the left to find a way to discredit the president? Did they think to themselves, Hey, if we let all these people die we can blame it on Bush and say he hates blacks? While it seems preposterous to even think such things, you do start to wonder why this democratic governor seemed to refuse help from all sides and then afterwards whines about how she begged and begged for help but no one came.

I for one, have decided to donate money to the Humane Society to help the animals get cared for. It's all just semantics. They are all acting like animals down there. At least I know that the furry ones will be grateful.