Conservative Girls Lunch, Gabfest and 'Politicalnostication' At Teton Pines

Over mixed greens and iced tea, four of us--- true blue, er, true red conservatives, all with a gift of gab---got together for lunch alfresco and political prognosticating at Teton Pines earlier this week. We had such fun and solved all the world's current dilemmas. Though we didn't unanimously agree on everything, we came up with several conclusions we think are right on, even if we do say so.

And we do say so.

So, without further ado here's what we conservative women are currently thinking:

First, the war in Iraq is winnable. The surge is really working. But the hands of the military must continue to be untied and the rules of engagement loosened. No more Mr. Nice Guy. One of us currently has a son currently serving his third tour of duty in Ramadi. She gets lots of good information first hand.

Second, we like Joe Lieberman and unanimously think he should be on the Republican ticket in November 2008 as the vice presidential candidate. So Joe, we hope you're considering this and we mean it!

Third, though we all are crazy about Fred and may support him, sadly none of us really think he'll ever be president. Not in 2008, not ever. We sincerly hope we're wrong about this.

We had a gabfest about Fred Thompson, some of us have worked with him and know him first hand. We all like Fred down to the bottom of our toes. However, we think he's a lousy manager. Lousy manager. And he needs to make up his mind, get on or off the starting line and never look back. We think he should not, NOT, let his wife Jeri run his presidential campaign, if he runs. None of us like the perception and think it makes him look oh so weak. He may think she's his greatest political asset now, but we think she'll turn out to be a liability later. Sadly, as much as we all like Fred, we do not think he will ever be president. And how old does he say he is???

Fourth, we sadly conclude the Republicans will lose the White House, the Senate and the House in 2008 probably to Hillary and Obama, and that we are in for tough sledding. Taxes will be foolishly raised, the economy will go into a tail spin and the good times of this Administration will be a fond memory.

Finally, we hope, really hope, we're wrong about some of these predictions.

None us ordered dessert. How could we, when we got real with each other? Still we found a way to have fun and decided to reconvene in the East between now and next summer to talk again. And who knows, we may change our minds between now and then.

Women do have the right to change their minds, don't they?! We hope it happens in this case.

UPDATE: Seeing things the way they are and not the way we wish them to be. This is why I/we like Joe Lieberman.

Why Women Are Attracted to Jerks, And Does Self-Interest Negate Altruism?

This is a rather interesting post by Dr. Helen at Pajamas Media dealing first with why women are often attracted to bad men, and second how self-interest relates to most altruistic acts. Do we often deceive ourselves when we do and give to others? Think it's well worth a read.

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Note to Commenters:

This post to a link is about two subjects: First, why women are attracted to jerks, and while we're at it, of the female as well as the male variety. And second, self-interest as it relates to altruisim?

That's it. You've gotten your licks in about Dick Cheney and Bill O'Neill. I got it. And my one or two readers got it too. I got it that you hate these men with a passion far beyond reason and you successfully have gotten this across in posts.

But I'm driving this here blog train and it's going to stay that way. We're not going off on a hundred different hateful tangents about whether Kos is a patriot or whether Dick Cheney has perjured himself in yet another ignominious way.

Stick to the topic if you want to get your comment published.

One more thing about commenters while I'm at it: No one will be banished from this blog, unless he assaults me, day in and day out with compulsive, hateful, multitudinous e-mails and comments-----that's only happened once.

So let me be clear once again, I don't believe any commenter is persona non grata, even if I don't like what you say, or worse yet, I don't care for you. While we all want to be universally loved and accepted, I won't hold it against you, if you don't like me or agree with everything I say and do. I hope my skin is a bit tougher.....but we shall see, won't we?

However, certain comments that I, the blog dame here, deem off topic, off color or off-the-wall won't always get published. Conversely, you are free to leave at any time, temporarily or for good, for good reason or no reason at all.

We all have First Amendment rights here. But it's still my blog....Na NA-NA NAHHHH NA!

Thanks for your interest and comments!

Update on Sudan: Al-Qaeda Coming Back

According to a report sent to me today, the radical Islamic government in Khartoum, Sudan is allowing Al-Qaeda back into the country to help put down all insurgencies against the government and to thwart U.N. peacekeeping efforts there, especially in Darfur where native Muslims have been slaughtered en masse by radical Arab Islamic Muslims, especially the radical militia called the Janjeweed. Al-Qaeda is being welcomed back to join the fray. As you remember, Sudan is where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lived for three years in the early 90s, before moving his movement and training camps to Afghanistan.

This is not necessarily new news, but simply a reality worth repeating.

We are in a war with radical Islam. It is the continuation of a war that goes back over a thousand years. It is a global war for the hearts and minds of people everywhere. And it is a war that threatens all aspects of our way of life, including all of our freedoms.

Thank you HR for sending this.

Mamma Said There'd Be Days Like This, There'd Be Days Like This My Mamma Said

A long, long time ago, I can remember my mother telling me about growing up and becoming a lady. I distinctly recall her saying when I got a little older, there'd be fewer and fewer skinned knees. One day, all that would be a thing of the past as I attained my rightful place in society as a, dare I say it? A Southern Belle.

When, pray tell? When? I demand to know! When? 20? 30? Oh no maybe it was 40? Okay, maybe 50? Surely she can't have meant 60?

Mother wasn't wrong about many things, but today, I proved her wrong....again and for the second time this year, doing my training hike up a long steep grade, happy as a clam, seeing the branch up ahead and deciding to sprint over it, rather than to go around it. I could take that sucker!

I went up and over but failed to see a second limb, hiding behind the first, on my descent.

It was the Three Stoogies take a hike.

God must have a sense of humor because the next thing I knew, I was splat fully on the ground, writhing in pain and humiliation, but fully conscious. What a damn fool thing to do! So I rolled over, ultimately managing to sit up. Then I proceeded to have a good cry. I boo hoed for the first time in months.

The the skinned knee was one of my best.

I took out a tissue, blew my nose, wiped my eyes and proceeded to crawl back up, in fine Scarlett O'Hara style. Then, thank God, I was able to walk back to my car.

I realized coming back down the mountain, it's still happening because I never have quite mastered the southern belle thing, like Scarlett O'Hara.

Meanwhile, I'll being wearing either skirts or shorts to all upcoming social events. And working hard to bend my knees and stay upright!

Tomorrow is another day!

Cowboy Church and Taming A Wild Mule in Moran, Wyoming

Before (above): A wild mule---and I do mean wild---kicks, snorts, and paws impatiently in a dark stall, as it awaits its encounter with the horse whisperer.


After: Almost two hours later, the cowboy presents the "tamed and better behaved" mule to the congregation. It's the first time the mule has been touched with a saddle or bridle and mounted by a rider. This mule is described as "very smart" and "determined," rather than "stubborn," by the cowboy wrangler.

This guy has no intention of making nice with the wrangler or being ridden or befriended. A huge and magnificent beast, as mules go, its mother was a wild horse running free on the great, open plains of Wyoming. This mule would rather be any place but here.

First steps of friendship.

The saddle's on, next the bridle. When the cowboy is through, this mule will become his lifelong, devoted friend and companion in every conceivable situation.


Last week, I attended church in a huge barn in Moran, Wyoming at a service called "Cowboy Church," where the principles of the Gospel are demonstrated by cowboys working to break and tame horses and mules that are wild and dangerous.

Above, Jessie, horse whisperer and chief wrangler of Heart Six Ranch in Moran, works to tame a wild mule named Samson, first by building trust through simple things. By the end of the service, Jessie has saddled, bridled, mounted and ridden Samson for the first time. It's truly fascinating to watch. Many parallels are made throughout the service to our own walk in faith and devotion to the transforming power of Jesus Christ. In case you don't get it, we're the mules in this analogy and the horse whisperer is the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit that whispers to us through the still small voice of grace.

Thanks to my good friend, Elaine Luton, for suggesting and encouraging me to attend this fascinating service in the Buffalo Valley.

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Here's an archived sermon by Lon Solomon from McLean Bible Church outside Washington, D.C. on the subject how Christianity is the best friend women have ever had. In case you've forgotten to count your blessings as a woman in this great country, or are a man who loves and respects women's equality in our society, this is a sermon you won't want to miss.

Lon is currently recovering at home in Virginia from some corrective heart surgery and, God willing, will be back to McLean in early September. All his friends in Wyoming wish him and his family Godspeed and send our best wishes for his complete recovery.

A Classic Small Western Trout Stream

Why I Changed My Mind About Government-Run Socialized Medicine

In a guest editorial in Friday's IBD, a Canadian doctor describes the day he began to give up his idealization of socialized medicine and how it lowers the bar for medical care and treatment on every level.

Read it if you dare, and remember, this is the direction Hillary Clinton wants to take us in this country. I don't know about you, but having a doctor's appointment cancelled 48 times, or having to draw straws to see who gets the next available doctors appointment doesn't sound like a very good plan to me.

As in all things, free markets makes things more efficient for the medical consumer, and government intervention makes things more laborious.

DOW in a Huge Downer

Wednesday, I got stopped out of all but one of the stocks I personally manage online. When that happens, I get a little sad and mope around for a while. Last night I checked my portfolio, saw the stops had been activated and went into mild moping mode before going to bed.

I told myself before turning in I might have tightened these stops a little too much after Tuesday's decline and the market would probably shoot back up today, leaving me out of the party.

Today at just a little past noon MDT the Dow is down almost 400 points. UPDATE FINAL: Dow down 311 at the close.

All I can say is THANK HEAVENS for getting stopped out of these stocks yesterday thereby locking in the very nice gains I've made over the past six months! In other words, yesterday, stops enabled me to ring the register, and take some good profits off the table.

I'm happy I've learned a little about principled investing from reading Investors Business Daily over the past 7-8 years. Principled investing takes buying and selling out of the emotional realm of fear and greed and into a more rational mode of principles decided ahead of time and emotions.

A big Market drop is like a gully washing thunder storm, as it washes out all the excessive buying and exuberance, creating new opportunities to make money, often in new sectors.

In gratitude today, I am adding IBD to my sidebar links. In my opinion, it's the only financial newspaper in the world worth reading. You can have the Wall Street Journal in my opinion.

I'm an IBD woman all the way.

Larry Kudlow, a real pro, puts things in perspective on the market correction.

Straight From My Middle East Bureau

Two peas, er, in a pod? How in the name of heaven did they get these creatures in the back of that little Peugeot truck? Amazing.

My least favorite animals in the entire world, they have a disposition only Arab dictators can appreciate. And oh, the spitting they can do with impunity when they're out of sorts. My adorable daughter talked me into riding one of these beasts with her when we were in Israel last year....she loved seeing me terrified and totally out of my element! What a relief to finally disembark.

Hat tip: It's Knuttz

And here is a good laugh, if you liked She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy. Country music, Baghdad-style. Maybe this is really Allahpundit?

Stephen Mansfield: The Establishment Clause's 'Ten Tortured Words'

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Thanks to Bill Hobbs, I learned about Stephen Mansfield who lives in Nashville, Tennessee and writes books as well as conservative/Christian commentary on current events.

Today, Hobbs features a post on Mansfield's new book Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America and What's Happened Since.

Bill also links to Mansfield's recent op/ed piece in USA TODAY and to Mansfield's webpage/blog.

I am reprinting Mansfield's op/ed here in full and I hope you will find it well worth reading:

The Founders got it right. Religion now rests in a tortured place in society today, thanks largely to unfortunate and misguided rulings of the Supreme Court.

By Stephen Mansfield

"Two days after he wrote the famous words "separation between church and state" in an 1802 letter to Baptists in Connecticut, Thomas Jefferson began attending church — on the floor of the House of Representatives. He would attend the makeshift church in the national Capitol nearly every Sunday morning for the rest of his presidency. Clearly, his understanding of the connection between religion and government is not the one we endure today.

"We should not be surprised. It was Jefferson, after all, who insisted upon the Bible as part of the curriculum at the University of Virginia, Jefferson who approved federal funding for a Catholic priest to serve the Kaskaski Indians, and Jefferson who once said, "I am a Christian in the only sense in which he (Jesus) wished anyone to be." True, he was far from theologically orthodox, he expected most of the young men in his day to end their lives as Unitarians and he angrily despised the clergy of his day. Yet, contrary to the secular dreams of an influential few today, Jefferson envisioned a government that would encourage religion while neither submitting to nor erecting a religious tyranny.

"Even if Jefferson had envisioned a secular state, it would have made little difference in the early history of our nation. It was not his words that carried the force of law — written as they were 14 years after the Constitution was ratified — but rather the 10 words that are undoubtedly the most tortured in our history: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." These words, the first 10 of our Bill of Rights, make the intentions of the Founding Fathers clear. Having just fought a war of independence against England and her state church, they had no intention of allowing the U.S. Congress the authority to erect a new religious tyranny to dominate their young nation. Instead, they denied Congress the power to create a national church. The states and the individual citizens, of course, were free to be as religious as they wanted to be.

The court oversteps

The result was a marvelous triumph of freedom, a miracle of history, prevailing for more than 150 years. Never had religion so graced a nation without controlling it. Then came the disastrous Everson case of 1947. Breaking with both legal precedent and the clear counsel of our history, the Supreme Court exchanged Jefferson's words for the first 10 words of the First Amendment. The phrase "separation between church and state" — which had appeared in neither the Constitution nor the debates that produced the Bill of Rights — was made the law of the land.

"The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state," wrote Justice Hugo Black for the majority. "That wall must be kept high and impregnable." Accordingly, the court ruled, no government policy or funds, at any level of government, may encourage religion to any degree.

It was, simply put, bad law: without precedent, unworkable and — given that Black feigned support for his reasoning from the intentions of the founding era — informed by the most astonishing revisionism. Now, the secularist storm troops of the American Civil Liberties Union and its like drive religion from the public square with the mandate of the Everson ruling in hand. Religious symbols are removed from cemeteries, student prayer groups are driven from public facilities, and religious leaders are threatened if they dare speak about political issues from their pulpits. All this comes at a time when America is experiencing a new birth of religious interest, one that could grant a needed infusion of nobility, ethics and wisdom to our national life.

There is hope: Measures are arising in Congress designed to hold Everson's ravages in check. There is also the possibility that the Supreme Court may have opportunity to revisit elements of the case in years to come.

A true freedom of religion

The most important point to remember in this, the 60th anniversary year of the Everson decision, is that our Founding Fathers did in fact make a covenant with us. That covenant guaranteed us that Congress would make no state church but that religion could be free to shape our national life with its ethical and ennobling content. We suffer for lack of that content today, and it is time for us to consider anew the wisdom of our Founders in guaranteeing us the blessings of faith while protecting us from the dark tyrannies of faith that bedeviled the centuries before us. The Founders' plan for religion in our national life was certainly more successful than the confused design the courts have saddled us with today.

It was John Quincy Adams who called to us from an earlier age when he wrote, "Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." We may well do so, but only if we return to the religious wisdom of our national fathers."

Stephen Mansfield is a best-selling author. His book Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America and What's Happened Since was released in June, 2007.

Does This Bode Ill For Fred Thompson?

Video I posted last night has been pulled, so I'll wait to get more information on changes at the top of Fred Thompson's presidential campaign until later. I most likely jumped the gun about what all this means.

Rightwing Nuthouse has commentary here.

Volunteer Voters has more, and then at the Politico.

Will post more commentary here later in the day.

Our Enemies Must Be Thrilled at the Thought of "President Obama," Meanwhile Mitt's Looking Pretty Good

Mr. Nice Guy. Wants to negotiate with terrorists. It's not about punishing countries by not talking to them. It's that there's nothing to talk about. Would you really want to sit down and negotiate with a burglar who was breaking into your house or who intended killing you and your family? Our man Obama seems to be more than willing. And it's scares me to death.

And even Hillary says that Obama is clearly a naive young man who hasn't a clue of the real dangers we face. He comes across as soft, weak and way too nice. Wet behind the ears.

Meanwhile, Mitt is sounding very strong and presidential. Sorry to say he's gaining on Thompson. Where is Fred, anyway? Mitt's coming to Jackson Hole soon and passing the hat for some of the the big, big bucks that hang out here. And he's hanging tough about being victorious in the war in Iraq. Strong momentum.



Note Romney's subtle jab at Thompson about running for president with young children. Of course JFK did it, but in the final analysis, Thompson, with little kids and lymphoma, may have two strikes against him that Romney doesn't seem to have.

Mediation and Conflict Resolution Can Save Money, Time and Sometimes Heartache

One of the things that I have the privilege of doing during the summer months I'm in the West is mediate in small claims court in the county where I reside. Many years ago, I spent a winter in Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico training as a mediator --- mediating in the courts and and teaching peer mediation skills to middle/high school students in that area. We sometimes trained negative gang leaders and observed how this training often turned them into positive leaders. It was a great learning experience for me in many ways.

Today, I have some thoughts on mediation---what it can and can't achieve---and what a valuable resource it can be at the right time, in the right place, for people who have conflicts that must, sooner or later, be resolved. Make no mistake, mediation is not a panacea, however, in numerous instances, it can be used with great efficacy for solving real problems.

In Teton County and the court here, mediation is strictly voluntary. Approximately 40-50% of litigants choose to mediate with us (The Center for Resolution), and of those, almost 70% settle their cases outside of the courtroom. It helps to have judges who support and encourage this process. Many people who decide to mediate their case are completely befuddled when they enter the mediation room with us--we usually mediate in pairs and often allow observers in the room---but come out of the 2-3 hour process simply amazed at what they were able to accomplish.

While not all disputes can or should be mediated, many are well worth the effort, and can save litigants or potential litigants huge amounts of time, in the form of lawyers fees. Over the years, I have mediated many kinds of contracts, landlord/tenants, homeowners associations and medical disputes.

MEDIATION BEFORE LITIGATION
While there are many issues that need to go to court, I have to say many things should be mediated as a first response to trouble. Homeowner associations (where thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, are often spent on lawyers fees to resolve neighborhood squabbles) should require mediation before litigation.

The next time you make a contract with someone, make sure you require mediation for any and all misunderstandings, before anyone hires a lawyer. Incidentally, I have found that lawyers often make the poorest mediators, because they're trained to be advocates for one side or another and also to be combative.

Mediation requires neutrality and the ability to keep the process on track so that the participants can ideally work out their own solutions without the judge doing it for them.

If you're looking for a mediator, I suggest getting someone middle aged with plenty of life experience and a practical perspective. I find young mediators too idealistic and often bleeding hearts who can't be neutral or firm. And don't get a radical feminist to mediate anything. There are far too many out there with axes to grind.

The Call of The Entrepreneur

The most creative and subversive of forces to tyranny. But it takes courage and the willingness to take a calculated risk, as my late dear father used to say.

Hat tip: Bill Hobbs who introduces The Call of the Entrepreneur and links to one dazzling review of the upcoming documentary.

To Me, From Southern Sudan, With Love

The next chapter of my life is coming, and it will involve much less time in the wonderful West and on trout streams, and much more time and resources devoted to causes I deeply care about and believe in. How many big trout can one person catch in a lifetime, in good conscience, anyway?

One of those causes closest to my heart is Sudan, especially Southern Sudan, where native peoples and Christians are racing against the clock and against Arab Muslims who would destroy them all through genocide---both in the South (where Arabs have killed hundreds of thousands of Christians) and in the western region of Darfur (where Arabs have killed hundreds of thousands of native Muslims)--- in radical Islam's unrelenting, manic drive to take over the world though jihad.

Here, refugees are returning in the south of the country and beginning to resettle around grass community centers/Christian churches that are springing up on the border with Ethiopia. They are clinging to life and hope by a thread, but cling they can and must. Make no mistake, the radical muslims in the north and Khartoum want these people to submit, convert or to die.

Thank you Hearty for sending this photo. And God bless you, your people and their indomitable spirits.

Quote of the Week: Bondage of the Mind

On the Powerline scroll Monday is a piece on Hip Hop madness by Myron Magnet. In the quote, Magnet quotes Wynton Marselis on the subject of professional victimhood as in "mind forg'd manacles:"

"Those chains are not only the chains that bind prisoners but also what the poet William Blake called “mind forg’d manacles”—beliefs, attitudes, and habits of feeling that imprison you even when you are outwardly free. For the underclass, those manacles are the beliefs that they’re victims, that they’re entitled to be angry and resentful, that the law is an oppression, that the larger community owes them a living, that education is useless, that sex is without responsibility or even emotion, that they’re not responsible for supporting and nurturing their children, and that because they’re victims they never need to be ashamed of anything they do.

This is so relevant and poignant, in my opinion.

Do you know professional and intractible victims, in their own minds? It is the greatest of curses: people who are spiritually, politically and econonically free in this great country of ours, and have had every advantage, and yet throw it all away on the altar of being wronged and short-changed at some point in the game of life. They feel they have a free pass to whine endlessly about their victimhood and are justified in any and all behaviors, as they cling to their sad badge of being wronged. They simply refuse to ever get over it, whatever that "it" is. Their victimhood obviously gets them something and they aren't about to willingly leave it behind.

Note to remember: We're all sinners. We've all been wronged and can find reasons to be victims. We've all wronged others. Not one person is exempt, no, not one. It's not what happens to us, it's what we do with what happens that makes us who and what we are and that defines our character and ultimately our lives.

Where Are The Tough Guys With Staying Power Today?

Reid represents the new light-weight leader---and I use the word "leader" loosely--who would guide us to ignominious defeat and ultimate ruin in this country.

Sunday, Kay Arthur on the Alpha and Omega

Kay Arthur talks on the Alpha and Omega in Revelations 1. One day all tears will be wiped away no matter what hardships we now go through.
Some fascinating images of the First Temple of God, built and completed almost 3,000 years ago by King Solomon, son of King David. Above, the inner sanctum, and below, the Sea filled with thousands of gallons of water for ritual cleansing, and finally a rendering of the Temple from the outside.





After hundreds of years of carrying the Ark of the Covenant around in a tent, his people have built God a splendid new Temple, and Jerusalem becomes the center of the world.

Hat tip: 2 Chronicles and One Year Bible blog.

How Does Castro Continue to Get Away With It?

A recent editorial in Investors Business Daily features Cuban dictator Fidel Castro denouncing semi-legal Cuban cab drivers for making "juicy profits," as gas prices continue to skyrocket. Castro also unleased his anger against Cuban housewives who receive $1,200 each year from rich Miami relatives who send them money to help them make ends meet.

This is a country where per capita incomes are about $628/year.

Castro, of course, overlooks the greatest disparity of wealth of all: his own estimated net worth of $900,000,000--almost a billion dollars, according to Forbes Magazine.

But Cuba experts like Maria C. Werlau, author of a study entitled " Fidel Castrol, Inc.: A Global Conglomerate" say a billion is a gross underestimation.

IBD continues:

" For every economic transaction in Cuba, Caastro take his 'Commandante's reserves' cut. He shakes down foreign investors, state corporations, overseas remittances, and drug traffickers to finance his bast empire.

"....which he and his cronies have used to buy land for descendants on the Chile-Argentine border, real estate projects in Shanghai, and conglomerates from Japan to Lichtenstein.

"Castro also controls banks, drug companies and shipping firms.

"He claims he doesn't own a penny (and he certainly looks that way!) but that's belied by how he lives. A string of mansions of tropical islands enable him to stay anywhere in Louis XIV comfort. He is ferried around in black limousines with manicured hands, and a traveling medical crew at his beck and call."

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There are too few places in the MSM that you can get the real story on how lavishly these dictators live on the backs of those they subdue into political and economic bondage. Victor Chavez is in the process of doing it in Venezuela, as Ahmadinajad is attempting to do in Iran and, of course Yasser Arafat, did to the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The tragedy is they get away with it, even as they, their wives and other family members live like Roman emperors in other parts of the world, away from the little people they subdue and then criticize for desperately trying to make ends meet.

John Tamney, Hits the Economic Nail on the Head, Again

Without Healthy People, There Is No Insurance

By John Tamney

A recent newspaper headline bemoaned the fact that "Insurance rewards healthy workers." A similarly tautological headline might be that, "Employers reward productive workers." What's surprising isn't that healthy employees would be rewarded with cheaper insurance premiums, but that something so logical could be passed off as news.

USA Today's Julie Appleby began the above-mentioned article with a scenario suggesting that an overweight worker "with high cholesterol and blood pressure could pay $2,000 more a year in health insurance deductibles" than a more fit co-worker under a new insurance plan being offered by UnitedHealthcare (UHC). The latter firm is set to begin offering new policies that will reward its customers not just for living healthy lifestyles, but for actual health results.

Specifically, UHC will offer high deductible insurance of $2,500 per year for individuals, alongside $5,000 per family. The innovation within is that the plan offers its enrollees an opportunity to lower their annual deductibles by submitting to blood tests and other evaluations to see if they smoke, and generally measure up to other targets set in terms of blood pressure, cholesterol, and height/weight ratio.

Not surprisingly, UHC's evolved form of insurance has attracted its share of criticism, specifically from Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. Court says, "If you want people to live healthier lives, you need to educate them and make it safe for them to seek medical treatment, without fear of financial penalties." Without addressing how the plan will save healthier-living consumers money, Court misunderstands the happy truth that insurance companies are in the business of making money. Wanting to avoid excessive costs, firms in the insurance space will have a very real incentive to make sure their customers are well educated about healthy living in a way that will save customers and providers money, all the while offering the former an incentive to improve how they live.

Court adds that the new plan "is turning health care into a police state." In truth, customers will have a choice as to whether they want to meet the requirements set by UHC. No one will force them to live in a way that could potentially save them money.

Furthermore, for someone who claims to defend consumer rights, Court has an interesting way of showing it. The reality is that the consumers who live more healthily will gain from UHC's product, and importantly, not have to pay as much for the excesses of others within traditional plans. Rather than an assault on the consumer, UHC's innovation means there will be less in the way of "moral hazard" that presently exists due to customers being treated equally irrespective of their lifestyles.

Most importantly, it should be remembered that without healthy people, there is no insurance. Insurance firms prosper and compete for customers given the certainty that some will need less in the way of health care, and because of that, their premiums will fund the doctor visits of those who aren't as healthy. UHC's logical innovation doesn't strip the sick in favor of the strong, but it does give both an incentive to save money through voluntary actions that will make them feel and look better.

Once again, the only surprise here is that such a logical step (sure to be followed by others) made by UHC is news, and more surprising, that it's being criticized.

Tamney is the editor of RealClearMarkets and can be reached at jtamney@realclearmarkets.com

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In our increasingly political correct world, it's getting to be scandalous that companies should be in business to make a profit and to reward its best and healthiest customers. What ever is this world coming to?!