There once was a president-king
Who could do most any cool thing
Except writing code,
(His limits there showed,)
Now our health care is broke, in a sling.
There once was an Obamono-whiz
Whose health care rollout kinda fizz
Led. And it crashed
A new clunker for cash,
Because that is just what it is.
Envoi
There once was a man named Obama,
Who gave us all his health-o-rama.
He thought healthcare.gov
A gift from above,
But which we thought was just blunt force trauma.
There once was a blog @ Dougwils.
The words of the man there got thrills,
from the small group of Christians
Whose life goal and mission
Was to say that they all were Post Mills.
: )
If the politicians were poets
I would give them my voets.
Call me cynical, but I suppose
even the ones that don’t smoke Toronto crack
are daily adding to our woes
should get off the people’s back pronto.
If the politicians were poets // I would give them my voets // Call me cynical, but I suppose // even the ones that don’t smoke Toronto crack // are daily adding to our woes // and should get off the people’s back pronto.
Though Barack is as vain as six coxcombs // And his foibles could fill up twelve fat tomes // Like apples of gold // Set in silver, we’re told // He is fitly summed up in three small pomes.
Well done Valerie. This is fun. Thank you Doug.
Oooh fun.
“We’ll insure all 100 % / Whether sickly or healthy their bent / And our costs will go down / From the highest in town.” / The computers said, “Sorry, ol’ gent.”
To get out of our old health care mess / To get perfectly equal access / We’ll add thousands of help / And do not dare to yelp / ‘Cause they work for the dear IRS.
There once was a Prez named Barack,
In whose promise the nation took stock.
Now his lies are made known
But our freedom’s long gone,
And the sticker price jolts like a shock.
Our Lord spoke to the multitude as they gathered on the Mount, He said, “Don’t let the government get near your bank account; Keep your shotguns locked and loaded and stand them by the door In case some tyrant wants your cash to help the sick and poor. And if the feds demand your cloak to warm a homeless child Don’t even think of yielding or your soul will be defiled; Let them learn the hard way that it isn’t very funny To cure a cancer-stricken child with other people’s money. Render unto Caesar but make sure you… Read more »
To Jill, Christian Liberals make me smile because/every one of them has many dogs/With whom they are mild/As if its a child/why don’t any of them ever have hogs?/ Now on a more serious note/ I think I know how you go vote/but its hard to understand/why you so trust the “Man”/when he’s the one wearing a wolves’ coat/Don’t get me wrong I see your point clearly/I too hold real charity dearly/but why don’t you see/its so clear to me/that this land is communist very nearly./Here’s something for on which to sleep/these two ideas don’t compete/that a man with a… Read more »
I wanted to help the poor but/The government wanted a cut/It’s really not fair/They said with a glare/We’ll hit you with a rifle butt
Charity without laws is dead/At least I think that’s what they said/ We’ll trust Capitol Hill/ Instead of good will/ To care for the needy instead.
When Jesus said help those in need/ I’m pretty sure government greed/ To fill up their coffers / With lobbyists’ offers/ Is what we’re intended to feed.
I’m not one for pointless contrariety/ But good sense is often a rariety/ Those who think that Christ’s maxims/ Lead to federal actions/ Should learn about subsidarity
The lives of an ailing old geezer / Or spare embryos kept in a freezer / Are not (God forfend!) / The coin Christ meant to send / When he told us to render to Caesar.
Some people hate others we’re told./Because their love differs from a liberal scold/Who think that a womb/Can be a “choice” tomb…/The writing is strange on their “I” chart.
Well done Jonathan James.
Oops. Got lost in the rhyme, and it needs to be more nuanced, as not everyone fits this description : Some people hate others we’re told./Because their love differs from a liberal scold/Of whom some think that a womb/Can be a “choice” tomb…/Now tell me whose love has grown cold?
Jill Smith’s poem is too malicious in its mischaracterization to be innocent confusion. It comes across as the worn out propaganda of the socialist. In any case, Bastiat is still a worthwhile antidote to nonsense: “Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a… Read more »
Yes, well done Jonathan James. That’s publishable.
Katecho, I don’t mind being called stupid, naïve, idealistic, confused, and unable to profit from instruction. But malicious is a charge I take very, very seriously. Obviously the facts in my verse are overstated. I am quite aware that American children are not dying in the street while Christians laugh. I grew up in a country that offers tax-payer supported health care as matter of factly as it offers clean water, decent roads, and pensions for the aged poor. If my believing that all of these things were blessings makes me a socialist, so be it. As an extreme centrist,… Read more »
Analysis of taxes needs to include veterans issues.
Jill Smith said: I grew up in a country that offers tax-payer supported health care as matter of factly as it offers clean water, decent roads, and pensions for the aged poor. If my believing that all of these things were blessings makes me a socialist, so be it. Of course the first few generations always enjoy the blessings of socialism. That’s how socialist structures are designed. You just don’t want to be in the later generations who get to wait in lines and have to clean up the mess of indebtedness that ensues. However, I appreciate Jill acknowledging how… Read more »
Katecho, let’s address my issue : taxes and veterans affairs.
“Extreme Centrist”? Is that like one who is a rabid and fanatical supporter of moderation in all things?
For me, extreme centrist means that I see much to detest in both the left and the right. I make tentative forays and then withdraw, repelled by flagrant self-interest and cupidity in the name of religion or progress or the national good. I don’t have the temperament for fanaticism but, as Katecho observes, I am capable of emotionalism regarding sick and dying children. Clearly this is a weakness although I had previously considered it one that is universally experienced by anyone of normal sensitivity. Katecho, I have not said that evangelical Christians are indifferent to the sufferings of the sick… Read more »
Jill Smith wrote: I believe that access to health care is a right stemming from respect for life, respect for human dignity, and the duty to pay taxes to promote the general welfare. Ahhhhh yes that galactic taxation catch-all of the Constitution called “promoting the general welfare.” If socialists and other guilt manipulators didn’t always use this to beat people over the head then our federal government would in fact approximate what the Constitution envisions. They conveniently overlook the fact that the general welfare clause is in the preamble and preambles have no legal force. It is just a statement of… Read more »
Daigh, I should have been much clearer in my use of that phrase. I am not American, and I do not have the intimate familiarity with the Constitution that you do. In using the phrase “promote the general welfare”, I was drawing on Catholic social teaching as outlined in the statements of the Catholic Bishops Conference and in the official church catechism. I am not backing away from my statement, but I did not intend to invoke the constitution as the moral justification. Catholic social teaching insists on the duty to pay taxes not merely for defense and infrastructure and… Read more »
You are like the American Catholic bishops of the the New Deal era of American history who did not stop to think what would happen by supporting and encouraging the state to get involved in charity. Read this piece by Paul Rahe at http://ricochet.com/main-feed/American-Catholicism-s-Pact-With-the-Devil In his piece he points out how the U.S. Bishops in the 1930s got on the New Deal bandwagon and pushed Roosevelt’s Social Security ponzi scheme. Did they not expect it to undermine the Christian duty of children to their parents or turn procreation into an indoor sport? But Rahe also points out (in the comments)… Read more »
There once was a prez like King Tut
Whose mouth overloaded his butt
When he said “you can keep it”
Most everyone believed it
But, alas, the policies had been cut.
Daigh, that was my favorite so far.
Daigh, the caravan has moved on and this is last week’s topic. But I appreciated your courteous explanations, and I wanted to try once more to explain myself before retiring from the field. First, if I said anything which made you or anyone believe that I see Americans as knuckle-draggers about health care, I am sorry because that was not my intention and it is not what I think. Mentioning health care in other nations was not intended to indicate that those nations are morally superior, although I understand why you might have interpreted my words that way. I should… Read more »
Jill Smith wrote: When you say that the church is to be the nurturing mother for these unfortunates, do you mean in some future Christian society based on original constitutional principles, or do you mean that sick people who rely on government help for their medical treatment should, right now, lose benefits paid for by taxation? The former, although not by appeal to constitutional principles. We need to return to Scriptural principles to establish the lawful spheres of authority. I’m not a radical or revolutionary. It has taken us decades to get into this compromised situation, and I expect it would… Read more »
I see Jill is from Canada. That answers my question.
Katecho, I have misjudged your meaning by reading you too literally. I did assume that you were advocating an immediate end to all vestiges of the welfare state. That assumption has undoubtedly led me to be more argumentative than I ought to have been. I think we have some common ground. My experience with Catholic charities has led me to believe that they are much more efficient and compassionate than the government in relieving distress. Of course I would rather have my tax dollars dispensed by the Salvation Army and World Vision if only on the grounds of doing the… Read more »
I should have added that Obamacare as it was enacted is not the kind of health care reform I would have chosen. Oscar Wilde once said something like “It is unfortunate that so many people are poor. But to remedy that by impoverishing the rest of us is merely ridiculous.”
Daigh, the caravan has moved on and this is last week’s topic. Ms Smith I am so sorry I am behind the times that you have declared passé. I suspect that remark is more a result tiring of trying to defend the indefensible than stale topics. The single hardest thing for me to understand is why there is an assumption among writers on this board that to be in favor of universal access to health care is to be in favor of full blown socialism. I should rather have said: If some nations are able to have both free… Read more »
The Pres wants control of your purse strings // Can you fathom the pain that this curse brings? // Bureaucracy in layers // Sucking dry the taxpayers // Debt loads crushing the economy’s hurse springs.
I note that Canada came up in the discussion above. That’s my home and native land. But anyone who tells you our health care system is free is living in a dream world. We pay monthly fees whether we use it or not, we pay additional fees for certain services, and we pay crushing income tax as well as various other taxes on nearly everything you can imagine. By the time all is said and done, I think I pay nearly 75% of my income in taxes of one form or another. Oh yeah, and if you need any type… Read more »
That should have been “hearse springs”. Speling isn’t my storng paint.
Daigh, I was not suggesting that the topic is no longer timely, and the caravan reference was meant lightheartedly. I was intending to ask the readers’ indulgence for my revisiting this topic one more time. I believed–probably correctly–that I was becoming irritating. I should have said: I know that other topics have arisen that people are posting about, and I know that I am becoming wearisome in trying to explain or defend my point. I apologize for using words or tones you found offensive. I think that my posts on this issue are straining not only the patience but also the charitableness… Read more »
No, Ms. Smith, it was your regular assertions that no matter what you said, that was not what you said that was overdone. That’s quite a useful tactic for avoiding having questions raised by others. All I really discerned from your postings is that you are a proponent of the Canadian form of the impersonal messianic state and not the Obama version of “God walking on earth.” “I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” ~ Alan Greenspan However, I really do wish… Read more »