Big Announcement(s)

Barack Obama has officially cleared himself and his staff in the Rod Blagojevich mess. Done. Finis, Over. Finished. Caput. Oh, it was just announced that Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, is on twenty-one federal tapped phone conversations. Hey, what's the problem? He's Obama's Chief of Staff. If he hadn't been talking with the Governor about a Senate replacement I'd be disappointed in the transition process.

Gov. David Paterson(D-NY), who took over for disgraced Eliot Spitzer, has proposed a 15% tax on all soda(Pop, for those of us who grew up in the "real" Midwest) that does not contain the word, "diet" on the can. He's trying to wipe out obesity in young children. When I was a kid a long, long time ago in the land of Oz we had never heard of diet soda, fat free food or low sodium foods. I was never introduced to a cooked vegetable until I got married. In my house, when we had seconds it might have been bowl of gravy. Mashed potatoes and gravy topped off by creme corn was dessert. What we did know about was something called a bicycle, outside games like "kick the can" and "ante, ante over". We did things such as throwing and catching a ball. We didn't have computer games. Maybe this why I'm heavy. I don't play kick the can anymore. That, and I eat too much.

I just finished reading an article from lucianne.com about a lady in the United Kingdom. She was pregnant with twins but because of the lack of facilities in four hospitals was required to travel 250 miles to these different hospitals to try and find incubators to keep her new babies alive. They were eventually born Caesarean. She said, "what started as a beautiful thing turned into a nightmare". I'm not sure why these people didn't call ahead to each hospital but the problem boils down to Universal Health Care.
Understand, I'm quite skeptical of government funded universal health care. Does anyone in their right mind, Democrat or Republican, think they can get it right? Yes, I am skeptical and a realist. There have been way too many horror stories on this subject.
I am reminded of a story about a man who dies and is met by the devil and an angel at a way station before entering heaven. The guy, let's call him Tom Daschle, was a passionate golfer. While on earth all he could think about was playing golf with all the great ones who had gone before him; Sam Sneed, Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, his heroes all. They would play together all day and all night. It would be wonderful. Anyway, before his life's dream could be realized the angel and devil decided to show him around their golf courses. He needed to make a decision on where to spend eternity. The angel went first. They took the tour and the course of choice was nice but not special. It was the same course he had played his entire life; nice but the same old same old. Then, the devil had his chance. His courses were the same as Pebble Beach, St. Andrews in Scotland, Oakmont and, the best of all, Augusta National. Tom thought he had died and gone to ----. Tom's choice was easy. He told the devil he'd go with him. The angel only shook his head. The devil clicked his heels and jumped for joy.
Tom decided to play Augusta first. When he got to the course Tom was by himself and decided to go to the driving range to hit a few. As soon as he got there he asked the devil, "Where are my golf clubs?". The devil replied, "golf clubs? We don't have those things here. If you wanted to actually play you should have gone with the angel"
Health care? Be careful what you choose.