My OWN experience with the new healthcare plan:

My OWN experience with the new healthcare plan:

I have been researching the "Affordable" Healthcare law (aka Obamacare) for several hours now. (Well actually for several years...) I have posted comments from others who have signed up for, or tried to sign up for, the "coverage." Sadly, many people dispute the evidence when it is given to them on a silver platter. If you really want to know, why can't you research for yourself? I am not being paid to cover this story right now. I am doing this on my own, for myself, and for my friends. So here is what I know for a fact:
1 - It is almost impossible for anyone to even get on the website at healthcare.gov. Once you are there, you can see many comments from people screaming in protest at how UNaffordable it really is. 
2- The healthcare plan will be the hardest for middle class to afford. Low income citizens will have provisions to make theirs cheaper. Ironically, high income citizens will as well. I saw this with my own eyes as I watched an employee on the healthcare.gov's Facebook page answer questions. Some people were even suggesting that people should lie and report a HIGHER income than they actually make in order to qualify for these provisions. The employee admitted that you can be punished for reporting a lower income, but said that as of now, there is nothing on the site referring to reporting a higher income. I personally would not advise this. 
3- Those states, such as Georgia, which refused to expand their Medicaid and comply with Obamacare will be punished for this. There will be no provisions for these citizens. How dare our governor stand up for what we want!
4- For me, a middle aged woman with no pre-existing conditions reported, I can expect to pay about as much as a house payment...with at least a $2000 to $5000 deductible. I will never get that deductible paid, so I will be paying the monthly premium for nothing. I have been to the doctor ONCE in the last 2 years. It cost me $80. That's $40 a year. I would be much better off choosing to opt out of Obamacare, but as a "FREE" American citizen, I do not have that option.
5- The punishment for remaining uninsured is more than $95. The minimum amount — per person — will be $695 once the tax is fully phased in. But it will be less to start. The minimum penalty per person will start at $95 in 2014, the first year that the law will require individuals to obtain coverage. (That is MINIMUM....if you have a JOB it WILL be more!) And it will rise to $325 the following year. (STILL MINIMUM)
Starting in 2017, the minimum tax per person will rise each year with inflation. And for children 18 and under, the minimum per-person tax is half of that for adults.
However, the minimum amount per family is capped at triple the per-person tax, no matter how many individuals are in the taxpayer’s household. So, for example, a couple with one child over 18 (or two children age 18 or under), and no coverage, would pay a minimum of $285 in 2014, $975 in 2015 and $2,085 in 2016. And that would be the minimum no matter how many uninsured dependents a taxpayer has.
The tax would be more for persons with higher taxable incomes. When phased in, it will be 2.5 percent of household income that exceeds the income threshold for filing a tax return. For 2011, those thresholds were $9,500 for a single person under age 65, and $19,000 for a married person filing jointly with a spouse. So, to give a rough calculation, a couple with $100,000 of income might pay a tax of $2,025 if they choose to go without coverage.
But the penalty can never exceed the cost of the national average premiums for the lowest-cost “bronze” plans being offered through the new insurance exchanges called for under the law. We have no way of knowing what that average rate might turn out to be in 2014, but there is reason to think it could be quite high. For example, the total cost of a basic Government Employees Health Association plan currently offered through the Federal Employee Health Benefit program (the model for the state insurance exchanges) totals $9,459 per year for a family plan, and $4,159 for individual coverage.
6- Many are disputing a man who said that he was told that the government could take his driver's license, put a lien on his property, etc if he refused to pay for Obamacare. The actual punishment for refusing to enroll is listed above at #5. BUT, if your taxes become so high that you cannot pay, then YES, the IRS CAN put a lien on your property, seize property, and in some states take your license, put you in prison, and more for tax evasion. So YES, you can face these punishments if you absolutely refuse to pay for Obamacare in any way. I do have links to prove this for those who cannot research for themselves.

As I said, I researched this myself...this is NOT hearsay. And I am not a happy camper at the moment. If you voted for this....please go see for yourself, and then....DO NOT come commenting to me...I told you so.
Angela Kaye Mason is an online researcher, writer, and editor. She may be reached at angelakayemason@gmail.com. Follow Angela on Twitter. Find her on Facebook.

Sandersville Woman Arrested: Freedom of Speech, or Terroristic Threats?

(Photo Courtesy of: http://www.41nbc.com )

So, has the removal of our freedom of speech come to Sandersville? The headline reads, "Sandersville Woman Arrested for Violent Facebook Comments. "  This one hits a little home for me since I consider Sandersville to be my home town. Before the flood of angry comments starts here, please read to the end.

Before I even write this, I am aware that many will disagree with me...that's nothing new. If I let that stop me, I'd never write again. I understand this woman said horrible things. I know that some of the people she said them against are even my Facebook friends. I have written many similar postings before, but never involving people I knew, and honestly, that frightens me a bit, so before I even get started, let me say I do NOT agree with what she did at all...however:

This is America. We have freedom of speech. How many of us have stood and protested when Facebook started censoring the things we DO agree with? How many of us have typed out our dismay when someone was fired over a Facebook posting? SO freedom of speech only applies when we like what was said?

Don't get me wrong...if her comments were threatening, then terroristic threat charges may be in order. But, for a charge like that to stick, she has to have threatened...there is a difference between threatening and making demeaning comments. “I hate purple people. Purple people should all die,” is a demeaning comment, and is not illegal. It is actually covered by freedom of speech. “Dear Purple Person, I am going to kill you and your purple kids next time I see you,” is a threat, and is illegal. For such a comment, the charge should be terroristic threat.

The article does not explain what she said. If she DID threaten to harm anyone, especially special needs children, then she should have been arrested for sure. This is a very fine line. A teenager in Texas spent 5 months in jail after posting a comment during an argument on Facebook. He is out on bail, but is facing felony terrorism charges for something he said in a spat over a video game. Groups all over the country protested to have him released. An anonymous donor posted a $500,000 bond to get him out. FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. He is a teenager. I have seen murders have lower bonds.

When something like this happens, it is easy for us a to stand up and cheer that the alleged perpetrator has been arrested...justice has been served, and we can all go on with our lives. My issue with this is that once we fight for one person to go to jail over a Facebook comment, then we can all expect the same. Once this becomes common practice, we will see more and more people going to jail because their opinion does not agree with what the government or others may want us to say. It is already happening in America's streets...preachers are actually being arrested for preaching against homosexuality, abortion, etc. Whether we agree with what they say or not the Constitution defends their right to say it.

It is just like the Westboro Baptist Church thing. I am disgusted with them for standing to protest military funerals, the funerals of children, etc. Absolutely disgusted. I have seen many people screaming for the government, for the authorities to stop them. Do we not understand that if the law stops them, then we lose our right to protest as well?? Same here. I am disgusted that anyone would in any way degrade, demean, or wish harm on any child, especially a special needs child. Absolutely disgusted. However, let's tread this fine line very carefully.

If she made threats, arrest her for the threats. But you cannot arrest someone in America for saying disgusting things, or for writing something we don't like. Do I think she should not have been arrested? I do not have enough evidence to say. I do not know what her comments were, whether they were actually threatening, or just disgusting and demeaning. All I am saying is...if she DID threaten, arrest her for the threats...but as far as being arrested for Facebook comments that we find shockingly horrifically disgusting...we have laws against that.

Angela Kaye Mason is an online researcher, writer, and editor. She may be reached at angelakayemason@gmail.com. Follow Angela on Twitter. Find her on Facebook.

Obama's Health Care Reform: One Year Later & Still Failing...Why?

It has been a year ago this week that President Barack Hussein Obama and his administration pushed the Health Care bill into law against the wishes of a great majority of Americans. The Affordable Care Act was met by a great deal of controversy at the time, but health policy experts were certain that it would “catch on” and that the public would soon embrace the idea.

These experts used Medicare as an example and reminded Americans that the Medicare program was very controversial in it's day, back in the 60's, but that it soon became quite popular, and good for many citizens. They also insisted that Medicare Part D was much the same way when President George W Bush extended it to cover medicines. Yet neither of these programs forced Americans to purchase health care like the Affordable Care Act does.

However, despite the optimism of the health care advocates, one year later and the law is even less popular than it was. As a matter of fact, support for the health care reform has now hit an all time low. Why is this?

It is not just a matter of the huge amounts of money that this bill will cost the government when our deficit is already in the critical stage. It is also not simply because it is over two thousand pages of very complicated wording which most of those who signed it into law did not even understand. It is not even the fact that this bill forces American citizens to purchase health care which they may not choose, or need, or be able to afford. Those are the reasons that the original protestors of the bill were giving a full year ago. So why have the new ObamaCare protestors joined in the fight?

It is because they were convinced, or tricked into believing that this law was not only inevitable, but necessary. Those who were not one hundred percent in favor of the bill were pushed into “accepting fate” so to speak, because they were made to believe that this new health care reform was necessary in order for the country to survive.

Now, a year later, judges have denounced the bill, and over half of the country has filed a lawsuit against it's own government in an effort to reverse the law. Many of those states are creating their own laws which would make it illegal to prosecute their citizens for not adhering to the Health Care Law.

The country has not only survived without the bill, but the bill has actually turned the country against itself, and many are beginning to notice that this law, which was so important to the survival of our nation, has instead torn the nation apart. Some are even beginning to wonder if that was part of the plan all along. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Abraham Lincoln, quoted in Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858 from Matthew 12:25.)

State of the Union, Worded to Bring Compromise

US President Obama State of the Union Message: “Compromise”

As the president of the United States of America prepared to give his State of the Union speech in Washington, an empty chair was left for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head at a meet and greet in Tucson, Arizona. Congresswoman Gifford is still in the hospital in Houston. A standing ovation was given in her honor as the event got underway. Her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly was invited to the speech but was not expected to come since he decided to stay by his wife's side.

The family of nine year old Christina Taylor Green, and twenty other people were also invited to sit with Michelle Obama as President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union Address. The president used the shooting as a challenge to Congress, urging them to unite after the tragedy. “What comes of this moment is up to us,” he stated. A great chunk of the beginning of the State of the Union Address was made up of words intended to encourage compromise, suggesting that it is what the country wants, and what will help the economy. Obama touched on all of the major issues facing the nation today, with clear implications that such a compromise would be the solution to those issues.

Once the president had the minds of his listeners primed for compromise, he reiterated many of the same promises which was in his speech last year, touched on the success of such nations as China, spoke of global trade talks with Korea, Panama, and Columbia along with other Pacific and Asian countries, and insisted that the Health Care Law will slow the rising costs of our deficit, and that to repeal that law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to that deficit.

“We cannot win the future with a government of the past,” he insisted, adding, “In the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate, and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America. I will submit that proposal to Congress for a vote – and we will push to get it passed.”

President Obama also spoke on the war in Afghanistan, once again looking to unite the minds of the audience in compromise as he stated, Our troops come from every corner of this country – they are black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And, yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love.”

He went on to speak of how good it is to be an American, no matter how bad the democracy may get at times. He once again pushed for compromise and unity with the words, “We may have differences in policy, but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution. We may have different opinions, but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try. We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything’s possible. No matter who you are. No matter where you come from.”

Reminding the audience of another tragedy which united the people of America, and the world,  President Obama told the story of Brandon Fisher, who is a small business owner which lives “the American Dream.” Brandon started a small company located in Pennsylvania which specialized in new drilling equipment. As he was watching television last summer, Brandon saw a story about 33 Chileans miners who were trapped in a mine, and thought perhaps he could help. Brandon went to Chile, and began to drill the hole that ended up saving the miners. Once again, the minds of Obama's audience were united at the memory of triumph over tragedy.

The speech ended with “The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it is because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our union is strong. Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless the United States of America.” Indeed, Mr Obama, indeed.

Twas The Night Before..........

By, Angela Kaye Mason

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was sure what it was even about
The leaders were choosing their words with such care
No one could remember Jesus ever was there

The children said no prayers before snuggling in bed
The greed of the holidays danced in their heads
As mom worked the night shift, and dad was away
Fighting for his country, that had gone astray

When on the news there arose such an alarm
The news caster said “Christmas” and caused so much harm
To Facebook and Twitter people flew in a flash
To post their displeasure, the newsman to trash

As God looked down sadly on his children below
Wanting so badly His gifts to bestow
When what to His tear stained eyes should appear?
But a group whom upon His son’s birth loudly sneered.

As Satan led them, so charismatic and quick
Making them doubt God was just one of his tricks
They each sounded good, his tricks and his games
No one could see through them, as I called them by name,

Political Correctness, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,
Make gay marriage legal, and abortion as well,
But don’t respect Christians, or say “Christ” at all
Cause if atheists hear it, they may be appalled!

And all over the world there was heard a great sigh,
Crashed economies and disasters causing loved ones to cry
Yet no one could fix it, because no one knew,
They could call upon Jesus and His angels too

And then, in a twinkling, it was Christmas Day
With people demanding we say “Holiday”
As I tried with my words to turn them around
To make them remember back when Jesus came down

He was dressed in swaddling clothes from His head to His feet
Laying down in a manger, this new world to meet
The gift of salvation He had come here to bring
Wise men gathered around Him as angels did sing

His eyes, how they twinkled, with love, peace and joy
This first Christmas gift for each girl and each boy
From out of God’s heart, pure love did flow
As He sent His Son down so we could be white as snow

A blink of his mom’s eye, and the turn of her head,
Her Baby was grown, and her heart filled with dread,
Jesus went about spreading the news on the Earth,
And was soon about doing His own Father’s work

Just thirty three years, and the whole time He knows,
He came here to die and in the third day arose
But they heard Him declare, before He left from their sight,
I AM coming back, it could be Christmas night!

Obama's Ice Cream........

From a teacher in the Nashville area.

"We are worried about 'the cow'
when it is all about the 'Ice Cream.'

...The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.

The presidential election was heating up
and some of the children showed an interest.
I decided that we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees.
They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.

We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.

We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.

I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day for their speeches arrived.

Jamie went first.

He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place.
He ended by promising to do his very best.

Everyone applauded and he sat down.

Now is was Olivia's turn to speak.
Her speech was concise.
She said, "If you vote for me, I will give you ice cream."
She sat down.

The class went wild.
"Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."

She surely would say more.
She did not have to.

A discussion followed.
How did she plan to pay for the ice cream?
She wasn't sure.

Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know.

The class really didn't care.
All they were thinking about was ice cream.

Jamie was forgotten.
Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52 percent of the people reacted like nine year olds.

They want ice cream.

The other 48 percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

This is the ice cream Obama promised us!

Remember, the government cannot give --anything to anyone -- that they have not first taken away from someone else.

“Political Correctness” FAIL

“Political Correctness” FAIL, by Angela Kaye Mason

I have a close friend, whose name I won’t mention, who simply doesn’t get me. When in public, I embarrass him, because I say what I think, not loudly, not rudely, and not specifically to  the person I am speaking of, but yep, I voice my opinion. I know....whodda thunk it?

I was in Walmart with this friend once, and the man standing behind us in line was talking loudly on his cell phone. He was obviously upset and in a heated argument with the person on the other end of the phone call. My naturally inquisitive mind would have loved to know just what was going on, but there was one problem....he was yelling in Chinese! (or Japanese, or some “ese” whatever the case may be.)

I tried, I really did. I knew how “politically correct” my friend is. I knew he would want me to do just as he was doing, and stand there quietly, pretending not to hear. But, as many of you know, I have panic issues in crowds anyway, and so, full of nervous tension, and simple being my usual “I don’t care what people think” self....I started laughing, and whispered..”I think he is cussing someone out in Chinese!”

No one could hear me. If they could, they were probably thinking it sounded just as funny as I did...but for some unknown reason, God chose to gift me  with the nerve to say something, to laugh at what was funny, to say what I was thinking. My friend was appalled. “Shhhhhh, Angie, please stop.” Geesh, I hadn’t even gotten started yet...but I stopped. After all, I may be all guts and glory when it comes to voicing my mind, but I stink at confrontations...he wants me to stop, I stop.

Political correctness...the need to censor what we say as opposed to what we are thinking for fear we might “offend” someone. Ugg! Basically, taking away our freedom of speech and creating highly sensitive, easily offended Americans. What brilliant mind came up with that idea? I decided to research it. I looked it up. Inquiring minds want to know, after all. I was expecting some “Grand PooBah of Lefthanded Politics” to be the guilty party. Boy was I wrong.

What I found has given me even more anger against my own gender than I already had over the whole apple thing. (Seriously, Eve, no fruit in the world was worth all this!) It was not a politician, not a government official who first demanded “Political Correctness”, it was the feminists!

Now I have already expressed my opinion on feminism loud and clear in a prior blog post. I am sure it made many women hate me....oh well. The post speaks of what a great gift we have, America, which our “Daddy” gave us, and we broke it. I describe how America began to fall, and some of what started it all. Here is an excerpt from that article:

“Look back a few years shall we? Its the 1950's. Mama stays home, cares for the kids,cooks, cleans, pretty much has it made. Daddy goes to work, handles the discipline, pays the bills, HEADS THE HOUSE! Now..I know a few women will hate me for this , but here we go. They just HAD to fight for equal rights. Forgetting what the Bible said, forgetting that God put man as the head of the house , not to degrade us, but so that we could be in our natural, caring, nurturing role in a safe, protected environment. They had to try to improve it.

So they fought, and they won. We, as women , had it made, but it wasn't good enough. Now, with the economy crashing, more women are working than men. More kids are in jail, on drugs, in gangs. Children are growing up with a confused sense of gender-roles and believing they were ''born gay''. More abortions are taking place, sometimes simply because a woman doesn't want a child to interrupt her career. Others are because of immorality, whether by promiscuous actions, rape, etc. The Catholic church has just decided to accept homosexuality in the church and approve of same sex marriage.

So we now have reversed gender roles, abortions, gangs taking over cities, children killing children, crushed economy, government trying to cost people more money while everyone is losing their jobs, immorality is not just accepted, it is now welcome in our churches, and even in small town America, it is not safe to walk down the street.”

Well guess what? Those same feminists apparently started the ball rolling which has almost led to the complete erasure of our freedom of speech. Feminists first began, in the 1960s, that the neutral pronouns “he, him and his be replaced with expressions like "he or she", "him or her", "them", etc. They argued that no one would be able to understand that the masculine gender included the feminine gender in neutral contexts. But this was just part of their campaign to redefine the social roles traditionally associated with masculinity and femininity. (I think I am still allowed to speak out against this, since I am, after all, a woman.)

Pretty soon, this idea expanded far past a few feminist who were offended at the English language and it’s established use of pronouns. At one time, it was perfectly acceptable to say someone was “crippled”. Soon, people such as Bob Dole  began to feel this was degrading, and changed it to “handicapped”. Soon, that too offended someone and then the word was “disabled”. Now, even that is offensive, and we have to say things like “physically challenged.”

Another example of political correctness in the “Urban Dictionary” is as follows, “Jamal was offended by me calling him a perverted gay fairy black boy all strung out on crack. The politically correct thing to say would be that Jamal is leading an acceptable alternative lifestyle as an African-American homosexual who has the disease of drug addiction.”

So here we are, America. One of our own citizens has been forced into hiding because she had the nerve to draw a cartoon which expressed her feelings. It is no longer allowed for us to speak out against a religious group who came into our own country and killed over 3000 American citizens, some of whom were crushed to death, some who burned to death, and some who jumped to their own deaths to avoid being crushed under molten metal. I do not like the people who did this. I do not like their religion. I do not support their beliefs. I feel it is an abomination to have them in our country, and I AM NOT ALONE. I am just one of the few with the nerve to say what I think. The few, the proud, the POLITICALLY INCORRECT!