Life is Good

Obama Update

2010-07-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration just can't seem to stop spending money. It is hard for me to understand how anybody can back this President and be informed at the same time. Now 41 cents out of every dollar that our federal government spends is borrowed. This is unsustainable.

Call me out and tell me where I am wrong, but the way that I see a financial crisis like this is much different than Obama sees it. When I have cash flow issues, I pull in. I don't buy that soda, my kids might not get that toy, I won't make that drive. I try to live cheaper, so that my paycheck will go further. Obama has a completely different approach. He spends more. He bails out corporations that made bad business decisions, he creates new gigantic social programs, he creates a larger federal governments, and he passes legislation that will make running businesses in America more expensive. What the government needs to do is pull back to help create long term sustainable jobs in our economy. When the government grows, it hurts business. When it shrinks it helps businesses. Without a doubt, taxes are going to have to be raised to take care of everything that Obama has done. Wait until the November elections to see the reality of this.

Health Care for All

2009-08-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

The thought of everybody in the USA being covered for HealthCare just for being an American...well it is a really nice thought. What a great idea...as we get old we won't have to worry about our health care. When our disabled need it they will have it. When our children need it, even in the poorest areas...they will have it. What a great country we will be when we can cover our own.

I can understand that side. It tugs at your heartstrings. It makes you think yes, why not?... But when I think about it more it makes less sense to me. Here are just a few of the reasons.

#1 - How is our country going to be able to sustain the cost of this Obama's Healthcare program?
Since Obama has taken office our deficit has quadruplied. The amount of dept our tax payers are paying is astounding. Currently we could calculate more than a %50 tax that the average American pays. This is including federal income, state income, local income taxes, property, and sales tax. This doesn't include medicare, social security, corporate, or excise taxes. Obama's Health Care plan will cost over the next 10 years an extra 634 Billion dollars. That is $634,000,000,000.00, and that is a very conservative estimate of what it will really cost. Experts are estimate 1.5 trillion as a more of a realistic number. That would be an extra $5000 per man, woman and child. This would be on top of the taxes we already pay. This cost would be picked up by the middle and upper class.

#2 - Is Obama Care going to make our health care better?

There are many other nations that have government health care. This includes Canada and many other European nations. How do these nations compare to the US Health Care. I have seen the World Health Organization's ranking of 190 nations with US as #37. So with this ranking the US with the most expensive health care in the world is ranked at #37 behind many nations that have socialized medicine. I do think socialized medicine could have an advantage in many cases. It is the cases that it can't that I would like to discuss

There is a reason that so many wealthy members of countries that offer socialized medicine come to the US for major health care needs. That reason is we have the best in the world. No place else in the world offers the level of technology and innovation that we offer. We are leading the world in new discoveries, research, and cures. If you need a transplant or cancer therapy this is were you want to be. If you have a broken leg, well that is something that anybody anywhere in the world can take care of for you.

Overall I think it will make our health care quality worse by taking away some of the competitiveness that is now active in our current free market. If doctors salaries go down, then we will not have as good of doctors. If prices are set for certain procedures, then there will be no reason for health care providers to try and improve the patient experience for those procedures. It will be who can do it the cheapest. Patient care will be effected.

#3 - What people don't want to hear the most...If you want to be healthy, then take care of yourself...

Let me start this by saying I know that there are health conditions that are not caused by poor habits. I know that, but the fact is that most are. If you want to be healthy then don't smoke, eat right, don't abuse alcohol and/or drugs, and exercise. Here is a universal health care solution for all of the americans that wont cost us more,..it will actually cost us less. It will create longer more productive and satifactory lives. The only problem with this solution is it puts the responsibility back on you as the individual for your own healthcare, not on the government. You don't have anybody to blame but, yourself.

Conclusion:

These are just a few of the things I have thought about with this whole health care debate. I would not call myself an expert on this subject. My opinion can definitely be persuaded with a well thought out arguement. If anybody has any then let me know.

Why Can't I Hear A Liberal Arguement That Makes Sense To Me

2009-08-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

I was raised by Democrats. The first couple of times I voted, I voted straight ticket Democrat. When I was growing up and I asked my parents what the difference is between Democrats and Republicans, the answer was "Republicans are for the rich, and Democrats are for the poor."

As I grew and studied out the issues more for myself, I noticed the way I believed things should be in this great country was much more conservative than I had been voting. I see corruption on both sides of the isle and I don't think I could associate myself with either side.

See Below a quote by Judge Andrew Napolitano. This just makes sense to me.

Judge Andrew Napolitano:

"Everything the government runs is bankrupt: Medicare is broke; Medicaid is broke; the Post Office is broke; Amtrak is broke; Social Security is a bigger Ponzi scheme and bigger fraud than anything Madoff ever dreamed of and it is broke.

The government consumes wealth; private industry produces wealth. The government and private enterprise are the opposite: If private enterprise fails to produce what consumers want or fails to return a profit to investors, it goes out of business.

The government does not understand the need to satisfy consumers or investors because it doesn't produce anything; it just keeps consuming our tax dollars which we, like sheep, just keep turning over to bureaucrats to spend.

When the government wants to save money, it shuts down, like Chicago City Hall did on Monday. When private enterprise wants to make more money, it works overtime.

When the voters conclude that the public treasury has become a public trough, they will send to D.C. only those who will get as many freebees for them as they can and our constitutionally guaranteed values of private property and free enterprise will be gone forever.

If you want more of something, make it profitable, un-tax it and it will grow and flourish. If you want less of something, let the government regulate it, cap its costs and it will require taxpayer subsidies to stay alive."

What a Wonderful Week

2009-08-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

So here we are with 4 babies now. We had Iris Ann Richardson born on Monday, August 3rd. We are so blessed to have 4 beautiful healthy children. I can't get enough of them. See the most recent pics:

Noah was being really funny in this picture he has us all laughing

Sweet big brother

My sweet precious little girl

Noah is such a good big brother

Fun times

More fun with baby Walt pictures

2009-06-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

It is nice to see the kids thinking this little baby is so neat.....Especially since we have our next one due so soon. I think Mira will be in heaven her new little sibling.

Jana and Kris's New Gift from God

2009-06-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, Jana and Kris had there first child last night. For those of you that don't know this is my Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law. The new baby was a beautiful baby boy. I got to stop in and see him for the first time this morning. It was neat to see these 2 new parents so excited and so in love.

It made me think about a statement in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"

"Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."

There is no doubt in my mind that Jana and Kris will be wonderful parents and fulfill their responsibilities as parents to this wonderful gift from God. It brings me joy to see another child born to this world to goodly parents who will love their child as much as they will. I feel lucky to just share a small portion of their new found joy with them.

Connecticut on Catholic Petitions

2009-06-11T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here is an article about a Catholic Diocese in Connecticut that bused a group of it parishioners to a rally in Hartford to protest a bill. They then urged their parishioners to contact lawmakers about the same bill and another bill about same sex marriage. Now the state of Connecticut is investigating the Diocese actions, claiming that the organization is a lobbying group........???

What?...Is this confusing to anybody else? Are we as religious individuals just supposed to sit on the sidelines and watch? The whole purpose of the Church and State Rules was to keep government out of the churches. This way they would have have the right to express themselves and their views without government repercussions. This constitutional amendment was established because the ruling government (which at the time was a religion) was persecuting those who believed differently. There is a reason why the Founding Fathers chose this as the 1st amendment. It was that important.

Here we have a Connecticut law that is a loophole for striping a religious group's first amendment right to "petition the government" on issues that it holds dear.

PAYGO

2009-06-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

I really like the recent Obama challange to congress to have a PayGo budget. That just makes more sense. This PAYGO would basically mean that congress would need to create a budgett that could only be spent if the money was there. This would effectively balance the budget. This makes sense to me. This was also used in the 90's and it helped to balance the budget.

My confusion comes from the previous Obama money pushes. The budget deficit has exploded to 1.8 trillion. This is four times higher than the previous record deficit. Obama acknowledged: "Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for, they're not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable long-term policy." We as tax payers have bailed out the banks, auto makers, and the are paying for the $787 billion dollar stimus package. Our government is creating a budget problem that our future generations are going to be paying for. Our deficit alone costs every man, woman, and child US citizen $6,000 a piece. How can this President support PayGo when he has championed so many opposite programs. This seems more to me like a statement used for politcal purposes and not based in his own world of reality.

Church Blessings

2009-03-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling very lucky to be LDS lately. I have thought about all of the joy that it brings in life. There are so many ways this church blessed my life.

One inparticular one comes to mind....I got to hear Calan say the best prayer for dinner the other night. He never has a problem saying a prayer for dinner, but this one was really special. We had family over. When it was time to pray he said..." I would like to say this one." He started praying and you could tell he wasn't just repeating things that he had heard us say, or things he had said before. He was really praying. After he said A-men we all looked at him thinking the same thing. I was very proud of him. This little 5 year brought the spirit into our home that night.

I read a quote from Gordon Hinkley once that went something like "The greatest joy a man can have in life is to see his children grow up to be rightous and responsible adults."

I can understand this. I feel humbled by the task of being the father that I should be. Hopefully when they get older they will remember me as a good dad..and not remember some of the times that I was much less than a perfect father.

2009-01-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened since my last post. We had a magical Christmas. Calan and Noah are at great ages for it. New Years Day we got to go visit family in Washington. My sister lives there. Here are a few picks.

We just had to go to the beach while we were there. It was COLD!!.. This was at Puget Sound.

Those babies were sure excited to see Grandma when we got there. We are blessed to have so many people in our lives that love us so much.

Since it rained just about the entire time we were there, but that is the Seattle area. We had to find indoor things to do. So this is a place called Charlie Safari. It was a pretty cool bouncing, climbing, hiding, exploring kid place.

It sure is nice being a part of such a nice family.

Separation of Church and State

2008-11-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

The 1st Amendment of the United States of America reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This reads that government should not be able to have an influence on religion. Religious groups have every right to be involved in political process. This does not mean political candidates, but it means political stances on morality issues. When a church that is opposed to gambling, abortion, gay-rights, etc. Then that church has a right to try and influence its members to defend morality.

I have recently heard people complain, saying "If a religious group wants to get involved in governement then they should lose their tax exept status." Our country's religions should not be bullied when they are only trying to influence their members to do what they think is morally right. It is government that should stay out of religion, not religion that should stay out of government.

Our country was founded with freedom of religion. I stand by the 11th article of faith that says

"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

Joy in My Kids

2008-10-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

Daily Morning Snuggle Time

Still learning to drink from a hose

What a great Big Brother

She is getting really good at ripping books apart

That Toad Tickles

It sure is fun being a Father.

Rant of the Day

2008-10-07T07:00:00.001-07:00

I love this country and what it stands for. I tell my kids how lucky we are to have a roof over our heads, food on the tables, a bed to sleep in, and most of all freedom. We have so much freedom. We have the freedom to be whatever we want. I believe that this country gives us the opportunities to be whomever we want. We are here in this life to live, learn, and grow. We just have to put forth the effort to learn and grow.

There are so many Americans that have forgotten the effort side of growth. Can this be partly to blame for the current economic crisis in America? Many of the borrowers were more motivated by the big house with the big payment, than the smaller house well within their means. Many Americans don't want to put the time in to save for that big house. Average American credit card debt is $8,000. Doesn't that seem crazy? Is it because Americans are struggling and they are using their credit card to live? Or more likely, Is it because they just not do without the latest gadget, style, or accessory that comes on the market? What ever happened to saving for the nice things in life? If you want a new car, save. If you want a Wii, save. Americans have become a "got to have it now" society. This is what has created so much debt. Kids get out of college and want to live how their parents lived. Cable/Sat TV is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. 62% of people that live in poverty pay for cable/Sat tv. Where are American's priorities? Why can't American's be gracious for what we have? Instead of being gracious it seems that Americans just want more. Where is the sense of responsibility? Why is it someone elses fault when something is purchased, but can't be afforded?

I hope that I can teach my kids to appreciate what they have. I hope that they know that "stuff" will not bring them happiness. I hope that I can teach them proper goals to strive for, and when they have those goals,....I hope that my children will have the opportunity to struggle for those goals. That way, when that goal is reached it will be appreciated more. I hope that I can teach them to fail with honor. Failure is an important part of learning. When we fail we learn. If we pick ourselves up when we fail and try again, then we gain invaluable experience. Life is not supposed to be easy. Life is supposed to be filled with trials. We have a Heavenly Father that can guide us through any of our trials. I hope most of all to teach them to rely on him. His guidance will always bring us peace and comfort.

Where Can I Serve

2008-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about service lately, and what I can do more in my life to serve. Sometimes when we think of service, we think of something big and bold that we can do that can very obviously help someone. Sometimes opportunities like this might arise in life, but for the most part service is something different.

I think I learned how to put this in words a couple of Sundays ago. We had a youth speaker that spoke on service. He had been having the same thoughts. He wanted to serve, but wasn't sure how. Then he had some words come into his mind. They said to him "Service is a state of mind."

If you think about that it says a lot. Our mind needs to always be ready to serve. We constantly have opportunities to serve. Most might not think of them.

Our families give us constant opportunities. I can definitly be less selfish at home. I could go more. Whether it is dishes, picking up, or reading to my kids. Not to say that I don't do these, but I could be more willing to...especially the dishes. There are many things at home I could do better. I could be better outside of home too. Sometimes I could be more willing to volunteer my time. There are always opportunities, but sometimes life just gets in the way. It wouldn't get in the way if I made it more of a priority.

And as our attitudes that we develope become more Christ like, then we will naturally better see the needs of our fellow man. We will be more apt to listen to that still small voice and heed it's suggestions.

WoW - Prophetic Words of D&C 89

2008-07-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some thinking about the "Word of Wisdom". Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants is commonly refered to (in LDS circles) as the "Word of Wisdom". This is why most LDS members choose to not smoke or drink.

First a little background. This is a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1833. Early on in the LDS Church, some of the members would use tobacco products in meetings. This led Joseph into thought about it and eventually took it to the Lord. D&C is the revelation that was given to Joseph.

Just reading this section and thinking about it one should realize this was from God. This was given in 1833... God wants us to take care of ourselves. His plan is the great plan of happiness. He knows that if we are healthy then we will be happier. D&C 89 tells us how to eat. It also warns us against the use of Tobacco and Alcohol products. This is more what I wanted to talk about.

Jesus Christ drank wine. It is clear in the scriptures that he did. So why would he recommend against it in our day?

D&C 89:4

4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation

I think that our Heavenly Father saw our day. He saw where alcohol use would go. He saw the alcohol corporations that we have today. These corporations do not care about anything except making money. He saw the pressure we would face to consume alcohol. He also saw the lives that would be destroyed.

Here are just a couple of alcohol related statistics:(alcohol-information.com)
- Drunk drivers are responsible for 50% of highway fatalities.
- Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of America's murders, suicides and accidental deaths.
- More than three fourths of female victims of nonfatal, domestic violence reported that their assailant had been drinking or using drugs.
- Underage drinking costs Americans nearly $53 billion annually. If this cost were shared equally by each congressional district, the amount would total more than $120 million per district.
- Individuals in stable marriages have the lowest incidence of lifetime prevalence of alcoholism ( 8.9%) as opposed to co-habiting adults who have never been married (29.2%).
- Approximately 14 million people in the United States are addicted to alcohol or abuse alcohol.
- 500,000 Americans who are dependent on alcohol are between the ages of 9 and 12.

I am thankful that I have never had a problem with alcohol abuse. I have met many people who have a hard time enjoying life without alcohol to enhance the experience. The freedom of alcohol use in time can become chains. I appreciate the freedom that I have in the choice of not using alcohol. The Lord always gives good council.

Chubb Trail

2008-07-02T09:30:00.001-07:00

Well, I hit the trail on my mountain bike. Since our recent move to Eureka, MO I have been checking out the bike trails. We are close to a Route 66 park and we have a bike path that cuts through our new subdivision and right out the park. This is a great perk of living here. I have been hooking up the trailer on my bike and toting the kids around. I throw some books, toys and snacks into the trailer and I can get a good 10-12 mile ride in. Plus we would stop by a park so they can play.

I was doing this for a couple of weeks and checking out all of the different paths when I found one that went right up the entrance of the Chubb Trail. For those of you that don't know the Chubb Trail is probably the most difficult mountain biking trail that this area has to offer. What makes it hard is all of the roots and rocks that cover the path. If you are a novice rider, like myself, as soon as you get you momentum going on a climb, you hit a root and it stops you in your tracks. I used to ride this trail quite a bit and really enjoyed it. Of course that was probably 3 years and 30 pounds ago.

So I hit the trail. It was a beaultiful morning. The dew had made the ground pretty wet and the rocks pretty slippery. It was pretty frustrating. I used to be able to just get up the momentum and power over obsticles. That wasn't happening this time. Also about half way through the trail my back tire slipped on a boulder and I went down pretty hard. My hand was numb for about 1/2 an hour from hitting it so hard. I also was slightly bleeding from my leg and arm. It was a lot tougher than I remember. Overall I really enjoyed the ride. It got my heart racing and my lungs burning. When I would get going it was invigorating. Going up and down the rolling hills felt great. It made me miss it alot. Hopefully I will be able to hit the trails a lot more in the near future.

1st Post

2008-07-02T07:26:00.001-07:00

I have been looking at others blogs for a while and thinking of starting my own, well this is my first attempt at this. I guess I will start with a little bit about myself.

I was born in Indianapolis, IN, raised in Texas (El Paso, Midland, Houston), and have now lived in the St.Louis, MO area since 1993. So I pretty much feel like a St. Louis Native. I have been here 15 years now. Go Cards...

I currently work for BJC HealthCare in their IS department. I support the network of 2 of the hospitals in their healthcare system.

I am married to a wonderful woman. We have been married for 5 1/2 years now. She is a great wife and companion. We have 3 sweetheart little kids. Their ages are 4,2, and 10 mo. The oldest 2 are boys and the youngest is a girl. They bring us a lot of joy.

Religion is a large part of our lives. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, or Mormons as the media terms us. This church is the best way that I know to help me grow as a person and us as a family. It helps us grow closer to God and closer to each other.

I am sure that I will get into many of theses subjects more as this blog goes on. For now I will end this post.