So why is a poll that clearly shows the public viewing Republicans responsible for the Shut Down at 53 percent and the President only at 31 percent misleading.  First of all the Poll is of a population of only 800 our margin of error is going to be roughly 4%.  We also know the poll included roughly 240 cell phone only contacts, statistically speaking cell phone only calls over sample Democrats http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cell-phones-demography-nielsen-data-breaks-mobile-phone/story?id=11468925.  This being the case over 25% of the population has already been an oversample of people who would in fact be sympathetic to the President during the so called shut down.  For simplicity sake lets assume that the cell phone usage sways 55 45 in the we now can adjust our margin of error by a +/- 9% meaning that the President would be marginal 4 points up over the Republicans.

Here is the next and more important factor though.  The President answers to different people. House Republicans and Senate Republicans like Senate Democrats and  House Democrats answer to their respective districts for the House and state for the Senate.  The President by contrast must win the electoral collage for each state.  This means that while in bearing responsibility in the public eye the President may be faring slightly better nationwide but it says nothing about the districts.

Think of the classic red map from the 2000 or 2004 election.  While Senators Gore and Kerry may have done well in the polls number wise, electoral votes and district wise both candidates were beaten. 

The poll NBC provided and I linked at the beginning says nothing of the cross tabs.  We don’t know individual districts.  Without that data this poll is incredibly misleading.  

Congressional and Republican approval may be at an all time low but so is the President with a rating of 37% . 

Bottom line what the true public approval is at this point is any body’s guess.  The situation for the past few weeks isn’t good for government but it has been good for the Constitution.  We have seen the battle of the Constitution Article 1 vs. Article 2 and just who in Government has what powers.

I would be curious if more people had a good education on the Constitution just what the opinion would be.  Take politics aside this entire shut down, or stall being that only 17% was actually shut down, this situation is entirely Constitutional.   The Congress doesn’t take an oath the continue government nor to continue funding laws previous Congress have passed they take an oath to uphold the Constitution.  This oath has held true regardless of what any person likes.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I
take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose
of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of
the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.]^“

Most people do not know what this is all about, most people don’t care about “Obamacare” or health insurance.  What they want is to have health care when they need it largely like we did before.

As of Tuesday the Affordable Healthcare Act otherwise known as Obamacare a law that was passed in the dark of night in 2010 finally took effect.  In theory everybody should be insured by January first or face tax penalties.

So what is the issue.  Why is the House fighting what seems on face value to be a good thing, people are insured?

1.  Prior to the law taking effect nobody was denied healthcare, while some were denied insurance based on previous conditions this is by no means a denial of service which many many experts in the field see coming down the road now.

2.  Since the law was passed in 2010, President Obama has granted exceptions to the law for large business, and for Congress http://www.nationalreview.com/article/355176/congresss-obamacare-waiver-michael-f-cannon.

3.  Republicans have been saying for months that the act was poorly named that it is in fact not affordable and they tried to stop on numerous occasions the law from taking effect but as they control only the House of Representatives not much has been approved (7 out of 30 bills were approved by both Houses and signed by the President.)

Economists and Healthcare experts have been predicting that costs would rise  at unbelievable cost to the consumer.  While the President went on to tell people that if they wanted their insurance they could keep it.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfl55GgHr5E This wasn’t a lie, you can keep your Doctor, you can keep your coverage, but as was noted over at http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/03/Obamacare-Facebook-Erupts-With-Citizen-Sticker-Shock one man posted to the Official Affordable Healthcare Act Facebook page

“The information is not very complete as I don’t see anything about deductible or other detailed info, but it does given an actual price as to the “Premium.” It is VERY SCARY!! For example, my insurance plan right now for my spouse and I costs $545 a month with 100% coverage after my $2500 deductible. We are both 32 years old. When I looked at this site for 80% coverage it says it will be $954.78 a month!!!! So compare my old Plan: 100% coverage for $545 a month To New Plan: 80% Coverage for $945 a month. This is only only an estimate but it is VERY Scary for me to see this kind of increase in rates and reduction in benefits!”

For many you can keep your old plan it is just going to cost you everything else you have.  I think it is safe to say that the Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is not aware of the outrageous costs the bulk of America now faces.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92wsfmLjzQ.  Of course she wasn’t too concerned about those costs nor debating them before passing the law.  Back when she was the Speaker of the House she said “We have to pass the bill for you to find out what’s in it”  Apparently she didn’t read it herself since as the man quoted above in the Brietbart story has a $2500 deductible.

Then take a look at the implementation of the Health Exchanges just on day one.  Well we can’t actually because the Government is not giving us an exact number which is odd since Apple for instance could tell you the exact number of iPhones sold on the first day, we can get a dollar number for the revenue for box office films for opening night but the official number of those signing up for the new health plans not so much.  California did initially report having over 5 million visits to their webpage but this turned out later to be only 640 thousand visits.

Then there is the matter of security.  In Minnesota Personal Identifiable Information was already leaked from the MNSURE people, a surprising feat as the incident happened prior to the exchange coming online.  http://www.startribune.com/business/223564521.html

So what does this all have to do with the crisis and the Government shut down.  It is simple.  The Republicans in the House have had enough.  When Congress was exempted from the Health Care law by the President, a divide was created.  We now have a ruling class and everybody else.  Republicans asked in their funding bill to extend the waiver to every American not just Congress and Big Business.  They also wanted to get rid of what many people on both sides of the aisle consider to be a very bad tax.

The Medical Device Tax, was already voted on in the Senate at a vote of 79 to 20 for repeal.  The issue being that all Tax laws must originate in the House of Representatives and as this law originated in the Senate and the House never took a vote on it until now the tax was never repealed.  Amusingly despite the original Tax Repeal law being written and sponsored by Democrats http://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/news-releases?ID=D97E6C71-A30C-4828-8ECB-B74C9AF0DC6F they now seemingly want nothing to do with the repeal Officials from the White House have said repeatedly the President will not sign any bill other than the Funding Bill the Senate passed which does not mention the Medical Device Tax.

People losing their insurance, people who can no longer afford their insurance, people getting cut hours at work and losing their insurance….

-BrotherLeRoy

Earlier this month on July 8^th, 2013 Archbishop Charles Chaput delivered this Address at the National Shine in Washington D.C.  This spoke to me more than any sermon had in a long time.  It spoke to my frailties as a human.  It reignited a more noble purpose within myself that has been lying dead inside from the festering wounds of my agnosticism.

More importantly, Archbishop Chaput delivered this not just through the words of Christianity.  He sought out an enemy of Christians and used his words to deliver the message.  “Speak both to the powerful and to every man—whoever he may be—appropriately and without affectation.  Use plain language.  Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance, and be ready to let it go.  Order your life well in every single act.  Behave justly to those who are around you.  Be vigilant over your thoughts, so that nothing should steal into them without being well examined.”  Every moment, focus steadily on doing the task at hand with perfect and simple dignity, and with feelings of affection and freedom and justice.  Put away hypocrisy.  Pout away self-love and discontent with your portion in life.  We were made for cooperation, and to act against one another is contrary to nature.  Accept correction gladly.  Teach without anger.  Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, a friend of justice, kind, affectionate, and strenuous in all proper acts.”  Take care never to feel toward those who are inhuman and feel the way they feel toward other men.”  These were the words of Marcus Aurelius. 

For those who do not know your history, Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor of Rome.  In his days he was no friend of Christianity, yet reading these words today you would never know it.  These words contain wisdom.  The Archbishop then goes on to site his dictionary “The Dictionary in my home defines wisdom as ‘the understanding and pursuit of what is true, right or lasting’.”  I personally would like to know what dictionary he is using, because I find this definition far more useful than Webster which describes wisdom as:
1.     “a : accumulated philosophic or scientific learning : knowledge
            b : ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : insight
            c : good sense : judgment
            d : generally accepted belief <challenges what has become accepted wisdom among many historians — Robert Darnton>
2.     : a wise attitude, belief, or course of action
3.     : the teachings of the ancient wise me”n
I won’t reiterate his entire homily, I think you should read it or listen to it.  I will highlight his three points however.

“Here’s my first point:  The more secular we become, the less we care about the true, the right and the lasting.  And here’s the reason:  We don’t really believe they exist.  Or we simply don’t care.
“Here’s my second point:  Just as we transformed our belief in God to a belief in ourselves beginning with the Enlightenment, now we’re shifting a belief in ourselves to a belief in our tools under the cover of a scientific and technological revolution.  To put it another way: Losing faith in God inevitably results in losing faith in man, because only God can guarantee man’s unique dignity.  Without God, we turn ourselves into the objects and the victims of our own knowledge.  And we’re doing that at a moment when our tools have more destructive power than at any time in history.”

“That brings me to my third point:  I believe that it’s exactly this vocation—this eternal perspective that makes the Church the most reliable bearer of wisdom for the contemporary world.”
His three points each touch on the three pillars of Wisdom.  I don’t doubt in my mind at all that the more secular we become the less we care about Wisdom.  Before I graduated with my undergraduate I attended three Universities and a Community College.  While there were certainly wise individuals within the Public Education structure, just as there were people of various religious inclinations, by and large the education provided was information only.  In other words it lacked wisdom. 

Perhaps one of the most telling examples was in a class where students discussed the attack on the world trade center.  A student likened the terrorist attack to the end of Star Wars where the Rebels, and specifically Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star.  Instead of being denounced instead of being roundly criticized for this comparison, the student was applauded.  I’m not saying that Star Wars cannot provide Wisdom, what I am saying was that the attack on 911 was an attack of pure evil comparing it to the Rebels or the good guys from a popular culture reference is not worthy of applause.  This is just one small anecdotal example of the loss of Wisdom on campus.  There are numerous others.

 Just last week I saw a news story where college students were signing a petition to endorse 4^th Quarter or post birth Abortions.  It isn’t just the lack of Wisdom that bothers me, it is the rapidity and the new culture and path that is filling the void left in its absence.  We are not all Christians, we are not all Jewish, nor Muslim, nor Atheist, nor Agnostic, but we should all be able to agree there are common pillars of Wisdom, of Conscience, and of Culture.  It is time we take a look at what our ancestors did right and not just simply dismiss them for because they may have endorsed some really bad ideas, our ancestors prevailed based on their application of Wisdom and tried and true morals and beliefs, rules and of course determination.

Earlier this month on July 8^th, 2013 Archbishop Charles Chaput delivered this Address at the National Shine in Washington D.C.  This spoke to me more than any sermon had in a long time.  It spoke to my frailties as a human.  It reignited a more noble purpose within myself that has been lying dead inside from the festering wounds of my agnosticism.

More importantly, Archbishop Chaput delivered this not just through the words of Christianity.  He sought out an enemy of Christians and used his words to deliver the message.  “Speak both to the powerful and to every man—whoever he may be—appropriately and without affectation.  Use plain language.  Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance, and be ready to let it go.  Order your life well in every single act.  Behave justly to those who are around you.  Be vigilant over your thoughts, so that nothing should steal into them without being well examined.”  Every moment, focus steadily on doing the task at hand with perfect and simple dignity, and with feelings of affection and freedom and justice.  Put away hypocrisy.  Pout away self-love and discontent with your portion in life.  We were made for cooperation, and to act against one another is contrary to nature.  Accept correction gladly.  Teach without anger.  Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, a friend of justice, kind, affectionate, and strenuous in all proper acts.”  Take care never to feel toward those who are inhuman and feel the way they feel toward other men.”  These were the words of Marcus Aurelius. 

For those who do not know your history, Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor of Rome.  In his days he was no friend of Christianity, yet reading these words today you would never know it.  These words contain wisdom.  The Archbishop then goes on to site his dictionary “The Dictionary in my home defines wisdom as ‘the understanding and pursuit of what is true, right or lasting’.”  I personally would like to know what dictionary he is using, because I find this definition far more useful than Webster which describes wisdom as:
1.     “a : accumulated philosophic or scientific learning : knowledge
            b : ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : insight
            c : good sense : judgment
            d : generally accepted belief <challenges what has become accepted wisdom among many historians — Robert Darnton>
2.     : a wise attitude, belief, or course of action
3.     : the teachings of the ancient wise me”n
I won’t reiterate his entire homily, I think you should read it or listen to it.  I will highlight his three points however.

“Here’s my first point:  The more secular we become, the less we care about the true, the right and the lasting.  And here’s the reason:  We don’t really believe they exist.  Or we simply don’t care.
“Here’s my second point:  Just as we transformed our belief in God to a belief in ourselves beginning with the Enlightenment, now we’re shifting a belief in ourselves to a belief in our tools under the cover of a scientific and technological revolution.  To put it another way: Losing faith in God inevitably results in losing faith in man, because only God can guarantee man’s unique dignity.  Without God, we turn ourselves into the objects and the victims of our own knowledge.  And we’re doing that at a moment when our tools have more destructive power than at any time in history.”

“That brings me to my third point:  I believe that it’s exactly this vocation—this eternal perspective that makes the Church the most reliable bearer of wisdom for the contemporary world.”
His three points each touch on the three pillars of Wisdom.  I don’t doubt in my mind at all that the more secular we become the less we care about Wisdom.  Before I graduated with my undergraduate I attended three Universities and a Community College.  While there were certainly wise individuals within the Public Education structure, just as there were people of various religious inclinations, by and large the education provided was information only.  In other words it lacked wisdom. 

Perhaps one of the most telling examples was in a class where students discussed the attack on the world trade center.  A student likened the terrorist attack to the end of Star Wars where the Rebels, and specifically Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star.  Instead of being denounced instead of being roundly criticized for this comparison, the student was applauded.  I’m not saying that Star Wars cannot provide Wisdom, what I am saying was that the attack on 911 was an attack of pure evil comparing it to the Rebels or the good guys from a popular culture reference is not worthy of applause.  This is just one small anecdotal example of the loss of Wisdom on campus.  There are numerous others.

 Just last week I saw a news story where college students were signing a petition to endorse 4^th Quarter or post birth Abortions.  It isn’t just the lack of Wisdom that bothers me, it is the rapidity and the new culture and path that is filling the void left in its absence.  We are not all Christians, we are not all Jewish, nor Muslim, nor Atheist, nor Agnostic, but we should all be able to agree there are common pillars of Wisdom, of Conscience, and of Culture.  It is time we take a look at what our ancestors did right and not just simply dismiss them for because they may have endorsed some really bad ideas, our ancestors prevailed based on their application of Wisdom and tried and true morals and beliefs, rules and of course determination.

I wish this young lady the best.  She has some big shoes to follow but it appears she has the drive.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/07/28/mass-girl-becomes-youngest-chess-master/7LFLcT49MAxYx3jm2A7eIK/story.html 

 -BrotherLeRoy