From My Perspective - - -

One of the several goals of the new administration in Washington, DC pertains to a form of Universal Healthcare. The suggestion is that 47 million people are without Health Coverage and the Government must assume the responsibility to provide coverage for all residing within our borders. That coverage will very likely provide coverage for those who are not yet citizens, as well as for those who are illegal aliens. In the address President Obama presented before the Joint Session Congress and to the nation made reference to the following: “The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds.” Is this true or is this a mischaracterization?

The issue rests upon extrapolation versus interpolation. The explanation and rationale for this can be found in The American Heritage explanation regarding Extrapolation and Interpolation. They are, “A mathematical procedure which estimates values of a function for certain desired inputs given values for known inputs. If the desired input is outside the range of the known values this is called EXTRAPOLATION, if it is inside then it is called INTERPOLATION. The method works by fitting a curve to two or more given points and then applying this function to the required input.” Gary Langer is Director of Polling at ABC News. He observes the following in his report entitled, “The Numbers”! In that article on March 05, 2009, he notes the following: “Medical Bankruptcies: A Data-Check (responses from the lead author of the Harvard study, Dr. David Himmelstein, are included) “President Obama’s kicking off his health care reform today in the worst possible way: with a mischaracterization of data. The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds, Obama said at the opening of his White House forum on health care reform. The problem: That claim, based on a 2001 survey, is simply unsupportable. The figure comes from a 2005 Harvard University study saying that 54 percent of bankruptcies in 2001 were caused by health expenses. We reviewed it internally and knocked it down at the time; an academic reviewer did the same in 2006. Recalculating Harvard’s own data, he came up with a far lower figure – 17 percent. A more recent study by another group, approaching it another way, indicates that in 2007 about eight-tenths of one percent of Americans lived in families that filed for bankruptcy as a result of medical costs. That rings a little less loudly than “one every 30 seconds.”

The ABC News article continues with these observations: “A good part of the problem is definitional. The Harvard report claims to measure the extent to which medical costs are ‘the cause’ of bankruptcies. In reality its survey asked if these costs were “a reason” – potentially one of many – for such bankruptcies. Beyond those who gave medical costs as “a reason,” the Harvard researchers chose to add in any bankruptcy filers who had at least $1,000 in unreimbursed medical expenses in the previous two years. Given deductibles and co-pays, that’s a heck of a lot of people. Moreover, Harvard’s definition of “medical” expenses includes situations that aren’t necessarily medical in common parlance, e.g., a gambling problem, or the death of a family member. If your main wage-earning spouse gets hit by a bus and dies, and you have to file, that’s included as a “medical bankruptcy.” When I asked the lead author, Dr. David Himmelstein, about his definitions of medical bankruptcy back in 2005, he said, “It’s a judgment call,” and added that any death, for example, “to our mind is a medical event.” A last problem was sampling: The Harvard researchers surveyed bankruptcy filers in five federal court districts accounting for 14 percent of bankruptcies nationally; projecting this to the other 86 percent is sketchy. Said Himmelstein: “Obviously the extrapolation is rough.”

From My Perspective - - -

Reality and Integrity are two worthy aspirations. Most people are weary of the façade approach to life and the inability to be straightforward in responses. If one asks a politician a “Yes” or “No” type question, it seldom is the response. There is usually several sentences shared and the point of the question is obscured by intentional vague rhetoric.

It is interesting to note in an editorial comment by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal Online for August 08, 2008 – Political Cycles – where she states: “…Mr. Obama got tagged the past month as something new, not the candidate from Men's Vogue but arrogant, aloof and somehow ethereal. There is no there there…The daring and exciting European trip was probably a wash, and possibly a mistake in the bridge-too-far sense…Mr. Obama consistently shows that he doesn't know what he doesn't know. It's a theme with his talented, confident staff. They don't know what they don't know either. Because they're young and they've never been in power and it takes time to know what you don't know. The presidential-type seal with OBAMA on it, the sometimes over-the-top rhetoric about healing the earth and parting the seas. They pick the biggest, showiest venue for the Berlin speech, the Brandenburg Gate, just like a president, not realizing people would think: Ya gotta earn that one, kid. Going to Europe was fine, but they should have gone in modestly, with a modest venue…”

Peggy Noonan is allowing that people are hungry for Reality and Integrity – not Public Relations success stories, or showy events, or rhetorical performances. While Ms. Noonan has been employed by Republicans over the years, her analysis seems balanced. Her summary statement would apply to all evenly, when she notes: “Does he have real greatness in him? Or is he, say, a product of the self-esteem campaign, that movement within the schools and homes of our country the past 25 years that says the way to get a winner is to tell the kid he's a winner every day? You can get some true people of achievement that way, because some people need a lot of reinforcement to rise. But you can also get, not to put too fine a point of it, empty suits that take on a normal shape only because they're so puffed up with ego.”   

The statement – “empty suits that take on a normal shape only because they're so puffed up with ego” – is an apt summary for all too many. If in the midst of personal ambition, we could get across a basic premise for life – DON’T FAKE IT! – it would bring refreshment to many because the road of Reality and Integrity would be viable once again. The impression that people have regarding a cross-section of professions in this country is negative. It was interesting to read on the Christian Post Website yesterday about the Jury Selection for the trial of Victoria Osteen, where a potential Juror echoed the thoughts of others when she said, “I don’t trust preachers – they all lie!” One must ask: Why do people feel this way? What has happened to cause their disillusionment and negativity? Who/What has proven to be their defining moment? Did they observe a “preacher(s)” more focused on self-adulation rather than focusing people upon Jesus Who they should love with all their heart, soul, strength and mind?

It is obvious that one’s life must be lived with a particular commitment that reflects the great benefit for one to implement Hebrews 12:1-3 (NLT), “since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith (Hebrews 11), let us strip off every weight that slows us down - the sin that so easily hinders our progress….We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish…We should be more disciplined in terms of how our lives are lived so we do not become a stumbling-block to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Our lives must direct the attention of all to Jesus Christ Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He IS the reality – He IS the Integrity for which people seek.

Consider these things with me – and let us walk Humbly and Modestly with the Lord God!

From My Perspective - - - -

An important Biblical narrative regarding the acceptance of responsibility pertains to the conduct of David when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then arranged for the murder of her husband in battle. As much as he tried to avoid responsibility for his actions, he was internally afflicted and conflicted. One can only imagine the agony of soul experienced by David as he struggled with his disobedience and awful behavior. In both Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, we have a brief glimpse of that inner struggle and the resolve that was finally sought. In Psalm 32, it speaks of the soul’s anguish and the pain within his bones when he tried to remain silent about his sin and admitting the same to God.

In Psalm 51, David finally arrives at the point where he cries out to God: “Against You – You only have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight!” As the Psalm progresses and as he seeks the mercy and forgiveness, David makes certain requests in Psalm 51:7 through 14, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.”

It is a regrettable observation that in the Church one will often find turbulence rather than tranquility, factions rather than unity, self-centeredness rather than yieldedness, conflict rather than peace. The Book of Revelation (Chapters 2 and 3) pictures Jesus Christ walking in the midst of Seven Churches and stating what he is observing. Out of the seven, only one receives almost complete approval. If Jesus Christ walked in the midst of our Churches in the United States today – what would He observe? What would He indicate needs to take place? Would He point His finger directly at the Church one belongs to and categorize what He sees wrong? Would He state – and would we heed – Repent! Return to your first love! – or else you will be removed from any further Kingdom opportunity and meaningful representation? Could that be why one can observe so many churches that seem to be “going through the motions” while actually going nowhere?

Consider these things with me and accept responsibility to be different and to do differently - - -