It really is nothing short of a miracle that Gabrielle Gifford’s is recovering as well as she is. Only two weeks ago a bullet went through her brain but she is already able to get out of bed and is even scanning through her iPad. She has not been able to speak yet but her husband states she recognizes the people around her and is aware of her surroundings.

Yesterday, she was transported from Tucson to a medical center in Houston where she can get advanced rehabilitation treatment. Doctors feel the sooner she is able to start rehab, the more completely she will recover.

Gabrielle has a lot to go through yet and it is still uncertain just how well she will be able to recover. However, it is still hard to believe just how well she has already progressed. It is also proof that our medical care is the best in the world.

The memorial for all the victims of the Tucson tragedy was very impressive, although kind of rowdy for a memorial. Obama made a very fitting speech and pleaded for a new civility in politics. However, just yesterday Democrat representative Jane Harmon of California threatened that if the Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare that there would be more incidents like Tucson. Well, so much for the civility.

Politics aside, I’m sure we are all impressed by Gabrielle Giffords and hope her miracle recovery continues.

No matter what part of the country you live in or even which country you live in, you most likely had to deal with some sort of severe weather over the holidays. If you didn’t have snow, mud slides, floods, tornadoes and or brutal cold, you were very lucky.

Here we had our first white Christmas in 120 years. Plus I’ve been dealing with a plumbing problem all week that I believe is going to get the best of me. At least I haven’t had crocodiles swimming into my house like some in flooded areas of Australia.

With a start like this it’s got to mean things are going to get better in 2011. Today a new U.S. Congress takes control and promises to stop the insane spending of the past two years. Conservatives pledge to repeal the government takeover of health care which is already proving to be a massive failure. Over 250 companies have already been granted waivers from Obamacare to prevent them from having to cancel health care for their employees and the plan hasn’t even taken full effect yet.

Another promising indicator is that the private sector added 297,000 new jobs after the extension of the Bush tax cuts was approved. If reckless government spending stops and companies regain the confidence to hire employees, the economy may rebound quicker than we expected.

There are still many serious problems that we need to deal with this year but hopefully our new representatives will keep the promises they made to get elected and make our nation more prosperous for all of us. It will be a pleasant surprise if we all get the happy new year we wished for a few days ago.

As the elections are only days away, Obama makes speeches claiming he has done so well fixing the economy that the Republicans “got to sit in the back”. However now with even the Obama media reporting more of the truth to salvage some credibility, he is simply not believable. Even CBS finally reported that if you include those who have given up looking for a job, the actual unemployment rate is 17%.

Nancy Pelosi pledged “no deficit spending” when she became Speaker of the House. Yet the Treasury Department just reported that the national debt has increased by $5 Trillion under her rule.

We are also getting more information on how much more Obamacare will cost than previously claimed. Medicare Advantage benefits are going to be severely cut to reduce costs. Insurance companies and employers are greatly increasing costs for healthcare or no longer able to provide the plans. 30 corporations including McDonald’s were just granted special waivers by the Obama administration to avoid having to drop health coverage for their employees just before the elections.

We seniors are specifically being targeted for significant rationing of Medicare benefits as Obamacare now stands. It seems that they want to eliminate Medicare Advantage plans completely as soon as possible.

If you are on Medicare, I hope you will take the situation seriously. Take the trouble to get out and vote for your own self defense.

The Obama supporters have had plenty of time to plan for this election and early voter fraud is already being reported in Nevada and North Carolina. We need to have a very strong turn out to be sure we cancel out any dirty tricks and fraud. If you enjoy your freedom and love this country as it was founded, this may be the most important election in our history. For your own good take it seriously and vote.

You most likely heard about the special waivers the Obama administration recently had to grant to 30 corporations to keep them from having to cancel healthcare benefits for many of their employees. The most publicized was McDonald’s which was faced with dropping care for 30,000 of its employees.

The mandates being forced on businesses by Obama care are increasing costs to the point where companies can’t afford the coverage. A major reason for granting these waivers now was to avoid embarrassment just before the elections. What do you believe the chance for those waivers would have been if not for the coming elections?

Many individuals are also suffering major healthcare increases because of the Obama care mandates. The cost of providing the required benefits is now so expensive that many insurance companies are canceling their healthcare plans. Individual families are seeing cost increases they can no longer afford but we are not being offered any waivers.

A major concern for seniors is the severe benefit cut to Medicare Advantage plans that so many rely upon. It looks like, as Obama predicted, many of us will have to be satisfied with pain pills instead of an operation when we reach a certain age.

If you are already covered by a Medicare Advantage plan, you will be seeing some changes soon. With luck after the elections, a conservative majority will be able to reverse this healthcare mess. For your own best interests don’t forget to be part of the solution on November 2.

This has been a hard week for me. Wednesday I learned that a close friend had gone to the hospital with chest pain and had to have emergency heart bypass surgery. Six bypasses! Surgery did go well and we are hoping for a good recovery but his life will be much different than before. He seemed healthy and was very active but always too busy to properly exercise.

On Thursday, I learned that my neighbor had been in an Atlanta hospital and had been diagnosed with a blood clot on his brain. I don’t know all the details, but his doctors don’t feel that is is a threat for now.

These are both serious situations that seem to be progressing well but these guys are both younger than me and it feels like a slap reminding me of my own mortality. It is no secret to any of us over 50 that each year makes it harder to stay fit and healthy.

I am also a caregiver for my 90 year old mother, so trips to the golf course are getting rare. I do exercise but need to do more to keep my weight down and stay healthy. However I don’t want to go to crazy extremes to do it. That’s why I’m glad I just discovered The Diet Solution Program.

This is a very popular program developed by Isobel De Los Rios, a nutritionist and exercise specialist with 10 years of experience helping clients reach their ideal weight and tackle conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol. The Diet Solution Program is the result of 15 years of study and research. Part of Isobel’s motivation was a personal weight problem and her mother’s severe diabetes.

Isobel believes this program is the most comprehensive and detailed nutrition manual available today. It teaches you the principles you need to follow to reach your ideal weight but also meal plans, shopping lists and recipes to do so. It actually teaches you how you can make this healthy way of eating into a lifestyle and enjoy it.

Like anything worthwhile in life, it does require commitment and honest effort to get results. However, it is not extreme or unreasonable.

For more information, just click Diet Solution. It could be the key to better health and fitness you have been waiting for.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

When I started this site I planned to provide information about retirement and vacations but since Obamacare, it has been focused more on politics than I like. Whether I like it or not, it is critical for those of us over 50 to be aware and prepared for the effects Obama’s policies will have on our lives. Unfortunately the facts are far different from what Obama promised and the compliant news media covers for him.

Our generation is a prime target for cost cuts under Obamacare and this means health care rationing. Obama’s recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to take charge of Medicare and Medicaid Services is a warning of what is to come. Dr. Berwick is a huge fan of Britain’s National Health Service because of their aggressive rationing. He has stated “the decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

Rationing will mean as we grow older, the government will decide on what care we receive based on cost effectiveness rather than medical need. In other words, as we grow old forget about the surgery and settled for a pain pill or possibly just do without.

The way Obama handled the Berwick appointment exposes his lack of respect for the Senate and the voters. It also shows us Obama’s true feelings regarding denial of health services under his program. If Berwick had faced Senate confirmation his radical views on rationing and wealth redistribution would have been exposed. Obama does not want us to realize what is coming before it is too late to change it.

Berwick also has stated that any just health care system must redistribute the wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate. So you’ll not only have your personal health care rationed by Dr. Berwick but you will be expected to surrender your wealth to provide the health care for others. You may have heard of “death panels” before but did you realize that you would also have to finance them?

Obama had to bypass Senate confirmation because Berwick’s radical socialist views are even too much for some Democrat Senators, Max Baucus for one. Obama doesn’t want it exposed how different Obamacare is from what he and the Democrats promised.

With Obama’s failure with the economy, refusal to secure our border, incompetence with the oil spill and misrepresentation of Obamacare, it is urgent that we do all we can with the November elections prevent his policies from being successful.

A recent Associated Press article by Jeannine Aversa shows that debt still has Americans feeling a great deal of stress. A recent AP poll found 46% are suffering from debt related stress and half of those describe the amount of stress as great.

It’s bad enough when you make bad decisions and end up in trouble. On the other hand when you save and sacrifice to provide for your future but still wind up in trouble, you can feel helpless and violated which really increases your stress.

Unemployment is still near 10% and those in charge seem more talented at increasing the national debt than putting people back to work. The poll shows those currently feeling the most stress have incomes below $50,000 even though they have only slightly increased their debt level.

It seems that most of us are worried things will get worse before they get better. I just heard that in the month of May 95% of jobs created were government jobs. Our taxes pay those salaries and government workers are currently paid more than private-sector jobs doing the same work. So we all have good reason to feel stress as well as anger right now.

The oil spill in the Gulf has also given us a lot to feel anxious about. Many are worried that their jobs related to the Gulf will never return. No one yet knows how bad the oil damage will be or how long it will last.

It also seems Obama doesn’t have a solution but will not take advice from experts and local leaders on any of their plans for protecting the coast. BP does seem to be trying their best to cap the leak but with little success. At present we are not even sure if the leak may spread as far as the Atlantic coast.

I hope with the November elections that we will get enough new leaders to change the direction of the economy to encourage business and job growth.

In the meantime, I suggest that you take any opportunity you can afford to enjoy family and friends to relieve your stress when possible. People don’t realize just how badly stress and anxiety can harm their health if they don’t control it. Don’t underestimate the value of a vacation or long weekends but only if you can afford it in these times.

If you already feel that stress and anxiety have gotten the best of you, you might want to consider a guide such as Conquering Stress or even get medical help. Don’t take stress for granted if it is already affecting your health, seek help.

For the sake of us all and our country, I hope our situation will improve as we go through the summer but I fear it will take the election to ignite some positive change. Until things do improve, I wish you the best and urge you to do what you can to manage the stress we are all dealing with now.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

P.S. For more details on the guide, Conquering Stress, simply click the link.

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

Each year about this time I try to encourage you to do whatever you can to get out and enjoy your summer. I also realize that current conditions are making it even harder this year for many to find time and money for a full vacation.

Too many of us are either out of work, trying to save our home or rebuilding retirement savings because of economic uncertainty. However for your own good and your family, you do need to take advantage of any reasonable opportunity to relax and relieve some stress the summer.

This has already been a bad year and it doesn’t look like much will change before the elections in November. This means more stress and anxiety for all of us, although the degree may vary. You need to relax and recharge as best you can so you can deal with what comes ahead.

I’m not suggesting that you run up a lot of debt you can’t handle just to have a flashy vacation but do some things you can afford and enjoy. You need to try to maintain a positive attitude not only for your own good but for your spouse and family. Relieving stress and anxiety not only affects your mental attitude but does more good for your physical health than many realize.

Pushing yourself too hard can do more harm than good. You can find ways to have fun and relax without spending a fortune to do so.

If you are able to travel this summer, you’ll find there are some great bargains available. So many people are not able to travel this year that resorts are offering very impressive incentives to lure those who can. Just do some research ahead of time and you’ll be impressed at how much you should be able to afford.

(Thought you might enjoy some scenery.)

Even if you can’t take your regular vacation this summer, you ought to be able to find places closer to home you can afford and enjoy. A lot of us are in the same boat this year. Do the best you can to make the most of this summer and enjoy the people closest to you. Even if it is only a backyard barbecue or day trip to the lake or mountains, have fun with your family.

If you are having much more trouble with stress and anxiety than you feel a vacation can solve, you may find some help with Conquering Stress , simply click that link for details. Many others have found it to be helpful and I hope you will too.

This mess is not your fault. We’ve all got to look out for ourselves and our families the best we can for now. Do your best and be sure to remember to vote in November to get our country back.

All things considered, I hope you are able to make this summer a pleasant one.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline

With bomb threats, oil spills, floods, tornadoes and immigration troubles, we have all had some sort of crisis lately. What’s even worse is that this isn’t a complete list of all the problems so many of us are dealing with currently.

I know that we are all tired of constantly dealing with all of this aggravation. So with this being Mother’s Day weekend, I hope to offer you Moms a small change of pace with a short video. It’s a place I like to visit to relax, enjoy the scenery and recharge. I hope this will be a small treat for you as well.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you.

Best Regards,

Charles Moore

Now that Obamacare has been passed by Congress, many who expect free health care or big savings on their insurance costs are going to have an unpleasant surprise. Charles Krauthammer wrote an impressive article on what is ahead and Paul Volker validated his prediction in statements he made on April 6.

I don’t expect you to like this information but I hope it will open your eyes to what is ahead for us if Obama has his way.

This article appeared in the Washington Post:

“Obamacare’s next trick: the VAT

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 26, 2010

As the night follows the day, VAT follows health-care reform.

The VAT-man cometh

With the passage of Obamacare, creating a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind near-universal in Europe is inevitable.

We are now $8 trillion in debt. The Congressional Budget Office projects that $12 trillion will be added over the next decade. Obamacare, when stripped of its budgetary gimmicks — the unfunded $200 billion-plus “doctor fix,” the double counting of Medicare cuts, the 10-6 sleight-of-hand (counting 10 years of revenue and only six years of outflows) — is at minimum a $2 trillion new entitlement.

It will vastly increase the debt. But even if it were revenue-neutral, Obamacare preempts and appropriates for itself the best and easiest means of reducing the existing deficit. Obamacare’s $500 billion of cuts in Medicare and $600 billion in tax hikes are no longer available for deficit reduction. They are siphoned off for the new entitlement of insuring the uninsured.

This is fiscally disastrous because, as President Obama himself explained last year in unveiling his grand transformational policies, our unsustainable fiscal path requires control of entitlement spending, the most ruinous of which is out-of-control health-care costs.

Obamacare was sold on the premise that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “health-care reform is entitlement reform. Our budget cannot take this upward spiral of cost.” But the bill enacted on Tuesday accelerates the spiral: It radically expands Medicaid (adding 15 million recipients/dependents) and shamelessly raids Medicare by spending on a new entitlement the $500 billion in cuts and the yield from the Medicare tax hikes.

Obama knows that the debt bomb is looming, that Moody’s is warning that the Treasury’s AAA rating is in jeopardy, that we are headed for a run on the dollar and/or hyperinflation if nothing is done.

Hence his deficit-reduction commission. It will report (surprise!) after the November elections.

What will it recommend? What can it recommend? Sure, Social Security can be trimmed by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing and changing the indexing formula from wage growth to price inflation.

But this won’t be nearly enough. As Obama has repeatedly insisted, the real money is in health-care costs — which are locked in place by the new Obamacare mandates.

That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion).

It’s the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it. By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent.

American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation.

Obama set out to be a consequential president, on the order of Ronald Reagan. With the VAT, Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism. Liberals have long complained that Reagan’s strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes — then ultimately you have to reduce government spending.

Obama’s strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast and then feed it. Spend first — which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.

And the VAT is the only trough in creation large enough.

As a substitute for the income tax, the VAT would be a splendid idea. Taxing consumption makes infinitely more sense than taxing work. But to feed the liberal social-democratic project, the VAT must be added on top of the income tax.

Ultimately, even that won’t be enough. As the population ages and health care becomes increasingly expensive, the only way to avoid fiscal ruin (as Britain, for example, has discovered) is health-care rationing.

It will take a while to break the American populace to that idea. In the meantime, get ready for the VAT. Or start fighting it.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com ”

Paul Volker, the White House Economic Adviser, made remarks at the New York Historical Society April 6, that the US needs to raise taxes and should look toward a Value Added Tax.

Between now and the November elections make your voices heard and vote for candidates who will fight to preserve our freedom and limit government.