This is just another scatter, but I am mad about so many things that I can't settle on one to write about.  First, I missed the tea parties because I got sick and when I saw the coverage I was really sick.  I knew people who were there.  They aren't wild-eyed radicals, but men and women who don clothe coats and drive to work every morning.  They make money the old fashioned way they earn it by working long hard hours.  They pay their own bills and educate their own children and they don't live beyond their means.  The current government and its minions in the media would have you believe they are evil and worse than Osama Bin Laden.  Heaven knows they would probably be jailed quicker and/or go to jail for a longer time for a crime more heinous than murder.  They are dreaded Christians and they may even be (horrors) right wing NRA members or pro-family (read pro-life/or pro heterosexual marriage) or maybe all 3.  They'd be better off being Muslim, anti-gay, pro-life and pro gun people.  At least then it would be politically incorrect to jail them, but alas as Christians they have no rights at least in this world.

Remember years ago when they stopped logging in the Pacific NW to save the spotted owl habitat.  Hundreds of loggers were out of work, but no one said anything because most of us weren't Pacific NW loggers.  It didn't affect us so we didn't say anything.

It reminds me of what the Rev. Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran Minister whom the Gestapo arrested in 1938 said.  "In Germany the Nazis first came for the communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.  Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.  Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was Protestant.  Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak for me." 

So many things are happening and so many rights being abridged by government and presented to us in such a palatable way that we are just absorbing them.  They are either laws actually being passed by Congress or just government edicts on a federal or state level that most of us don't even know anything about.  They are passing under the radar.

FOCA means medical personal can't refuse to be involved in procedures that offend them religiously  (But don't take a seeing eye dog into a cab.  That would offend the Muslim cabbie.); don't say what you personally think about gay marriage in a public forum or a celebrity blogger (who happens to be gay) can publicly berate you (or worse).  Our biggest mistake lately has trying to be politely "Christian".  That's seen as a sign of weakness.

Following is a list of proposed federal and/or state laws that could be passed by Congress or state legislators.

In California (and now it is being proposed federally), they want to use "smart" technology to control your thermostat so that you don't use too much energy.    Your house may heat unevenly and be too warm in one place and too cold in another.  Or you may be older with poor circulation.  You've already tried sweaters, socks to keep you warm and nothing works so you keep your house warmer than the government wants.  The setting the government chooses may not be right for you.  (Too bad).

Health care will be rationed.  (This is already a given).  Right now they are rattling sabers about the people who are a drain on the health care system like diabetics, etc.  Now they are going after you if you're are obese.  It costs the government more so lose weight or die.   If you have diabetes, Parkinson's, MS, cancer or heart disease care for all these conditions are costly.  You could be denied medical care.

Have you noticed that they now ask if you want paper or plastic bags in the store.  One chain is now advertising that there is a fee if you use plastic bags.   Remember, when we were told we had to use plastic to save trees.  

The government is now mandating caf‚ standards for cars   What kind of car you get will be determined by the government.  After all you don't want to pollute the air, do you?  According to Forbes Magazine on-line  (April 25, 2009), Low polluting cars mandated by government are not as safe.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested these smaller cars and they don't protect passengers as well.    Passengers in these cars are twice as likely to be killed or maimed in a head on or even off set collision.  Let's face it killing people means less money will be spent on health care in future.  In Europe (I asked about it when I saw all those Smartcars there), they admit they have higher mortality rates in auto collisions.   That's why I'm encouraging everyone we know and love to buy new cars now while they're still heavy enough to protect the passengers inside.  You don't have to buy a behemoth that uses a lot of gas, but at least good protection for the passenger compartment.  You can't breath pristine air if you're not alive. 

How far is this going to go?   Well, in California they are proposing banning all black automobiles because they absorb heat and use more a/c energy.  Higher taxes and draconian proposals pushed by environmentalists are driving people out of California in droves.  They are going to Arizona and New Mexico and demanding all the same rules and regulations that raised taxes and drove them out of California.  (Go figure.)

Another proposal from an environmental group (honest) is that all cows should be eliminated because they are flatulent and beef causes people to be flatulent, too and flatulence tears holes in the ozone layer.  Older people are gassier, too.  How long will it be before they propose doing away with all older people because they are tearing holes in the ozone layer, too.  While they are at it they should eliminate turkey, onions, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, my husband, and the spotted owls.  (I have heard they are tasty.  Spotted owls not my husband!!!!  ">)

Oh by the way you've all heard that planes striking birds are on an increase.  No reason is given.  However, one article I read in the Chicago Tribune specifically said that Canadian Geese are hit the most often.  Canadian Geese are a protected species.  And, all those Lake Michigan closings caused by pollution.  Here's a little known fact (honest), the Lake is being polluted by bird feces.  Coming from pigeons a protected species.  (We don't have enough of those do we?)

Do you see a pattern here?   The safety and wellbeing of people is always second to the rules (or proposed rules) put in place to protect the environment and/or the government.

Is the water hot enough for you yet?