Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ray LaHood OD's on Kool-ade.......

The other token Republican in the Obama Administration, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, has been sipping the Kool-ade again....

He has joined the rest of the rest of Obama’s sycophants in decrying the lack of civility in the way the opposition media deals with his boss’s policies. In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch, Secretary LaHood lamented the "harsh discourse in Washington has probably reached an all-time high", He further stated that the blame for this came partly from "all of this trash talk about the process and about politicians 24/7" on cable television and talk radio”. What does he expect? Does he not understand the word “opposition”? Does he not grasp that the more conservative voices in this country are not simply going to be silent or polite as the Congress and the White House ram any old piece of legislative tripe down our collective throats?

What is amazing to me is that we are even having this conversation at all. The administration and the Congress have brought all this on themselves by their actions with Cap and Trade and the Obamacare Health care bills that they have put on the table. The attempt to ramrod these budget busting, job-killing, and economically unsustainable bill through has brought down hell and furry on their collective heads, and they deserve every syllable and ounce of vitriol that has been blasted at them. He also included remarks about cable TV news shows, LaHood stated, "Look, you know as well as I do that there's not enough news for 24 hours, so what happens is that these channels keep repeating politicians yelling at one another or people that are all exercised, and that gets people all revved up”. He continued the “...it also gives the idea that maybe these politicians don't know what they're doing."

The problem with Mr. LaHood is that he is too concerned about “getting along” and not doing the right thing. People need to get exercised, get focused and get vocal to oppose that which is destructive to the nation as a whole. We are in debt many TRILLIONS of dollars to governments that are not friendly to our interests such as Communist China and the Oil Kingdoms of the Persian Gulf. They hold the mortgage to our collective futures and we all need to get angry and exercised at the continued arrogance of the administration and this Congress in trying to sell us on a plan that will lead to greater debt and spending, more government bureaucracy as well as lead to the potential nationalization of the health care delivery system of this nation.

If Mr. LaHood wants to be concerned about incivility, he has only to look at the people he works for in the White House. These are the same people who play the race card against those who object to the policies of the first black President, labeling them as racists.

As a person who has been married to a person of another race and has a bi-racial child, for whom I am very proud, I resent the administration and their supporters for the tone and substance of their partisanship. What they say and do is based on defending the cult of personality of Obama where the conservative media is concerned with the actual policies and personnel that are making those policies.

I think Mr. LaHood needs to do his job as Transportation Secretary, and stay out of the larger conversation. He obviously just doesn’t understand the vast majority of people really don’t want what his boss and his cronies are selling.

He needs to get a clue and maybe start drinking tea instead of Kool-ade...







Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Obama Medicine show continues...


The mainstream media stenographers (they aren’t really journalists anymore...) have been missing the boat for quite sometime. Their adoration of all things Obama have kept them from acting as they should, the watch dogs of the other three estates of government.

In the wake of the media blitzkrieg this last Sunday, we find that the President is still unable sell his program of government control of the health delivery system. Prior to that media blitz was the interview that occurred on September 9th, 2009. This glaring example of intellectual ineptitude was when David Axelrod one of the Presidents closest advisors was asked by Wolf Blitzer of CNN why the people couldn’t just be allowed to buy insurance across state lines, Mr. Axelrod dithered badly, uttering platitudes about how the states regulated their insurance markets and when Mr. Blitzer further pressed Mr. Axelrod why the feds couldn’t pre-empt the state regulators and force competition allowing the people to buy across state lines, Mr. Axelrod said that wasn’t the way the administration wanted to go.

Here is a transcript of the exchange between Mr. Axelrod and Mr. Blitzer:

BLITZER: Why not break down the state barriers and let all of these insurance companies compete nationally without having to simply focus in on a state by state basis?
AXELROD: Because we are trying to do this in a way that advances the — the interests of consumers without creating such disruption that it makes it difficult to move forward.
BLITZER: Why would that be disruptive? If Blue Cross and Blue Shield or United Health Care or all of these big insurance companies, they don’t have to worry about just working in a state, they could just have the opportunity to compete in all 50 states?
AXELROD: But insurance is regulated at the — at this time, Wolf…
BLITZER: But you could change that. The president could propose…
AXELROD: …state by state.
BLITZER: The president could propose a law…
AXELROD: That is not…
BLITZER: …changing that.
AXELROD: That is not endemic to the kind of reforms that we’re proposing or that…
BLITZER: Why not?
AXELROD: …that…
BLITZER: Why not?
AXELROD: …we think — we’re proposing a package that we believe will bring that stability and security to people, it will help people get insurance, it will be — it will lower the costs and that can pass the Congress. And that has to be the test. We’re not into a symbolic expedition here. We’re trying to bring real relief to hardworking middle class people in this country. We believe the plan that we’ve outlined will do that.
BLITZER: Because I want to move on, but if the president wanted great competition — greater competition — he could say let’s change the law and let these health insurance companies compete nationally.
AXELROD: I’m not sure, Wolf, that that would — that that would end the debate that you asked me about in the first place. And, you know, I think that the idea that he’s proposal will promote that. Others have other ideas. But they are not central.
What is blatantly clear is that “competition” means different thing to different people, and those differences lie along ideological and philosophical lines. If you subscribe to the usual, dictionary version, it is the freedom of like entities to go head to head and provide like products and services at market price in direct competition with each other. If Mr. Axelrod is to be believed, the Liberal Democrats have a far different idea of what constitutes competition.
What is also clear is that the administration doesn’t even want to try opening the broader market to competition.

It is clear to see by the most casual observer that the administration doesn’t want to face the possibility that simple, less complex solutions to health care costs reduction are not part of the agenda, which begs the question, what is the agenda? As with all government, the objective is control: control of the health delivery system in the United States. The government wishes additional bureaucracy and therefore will need additional funding to setup and run that bureaucracy. Additional funding means more taxes and more administration which requires more staff and more bureaucracy to administer those staffers, and so on and so on... It becomes a self-perpetuating, ever-increasingly complex of government regulation and taxes, all of which is controlled by an ever growing pool of government bureaucrats. Through this leviathan of control, the government can force the people and the insurance industry to do whatever they want us to do and we will have less choice, less freedom and less availability of products as private payers disappear from the scene do to the excessive government meddling and control.

This is what we have to look foreword to in the weeks and months to come as the Obama Medicine show continues its attempts to foist its graven vision of health care reform on the American public.

Welfare for the 4th Estate…



Seems Barack Obama wants to preserve the old line print media that was so supportive of his candidacy and of the Democrat agenda. In a world where advertisement revenue is the lifeblood of newspapers, declining revenue is causing many newspapers to die off. Levels of earnings are a levels not seen since the 1960’s and with the exorbitant legacy costs of pensions and health benefits added to the expenses of major daily papers, profits are virtually non-existent. Falling advertizing dollars are a trend that has been an on-ongoing issue 2006 when many businesses began limiting their expenditures on print ads in the beginning of the economic downturn. The competing mediums of television, radio and on-line advertising has also cut heavily into newspaper revenue.

Several well known papers have closed since 2007 such as the King County Journal, The Rocky Mountain News, Tucson Citizen, Baltimore Examiner and the Albuquerque Tribune have all gone the way of the dinosaur. While 43% of respondents to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in March, 2009, said that the loss of the local paper would hurt civil life significantly, only 33% said that they miss the paper should it no longer be available. One of the greatest challenges faced by newspapers is the fact that there are so few Generation Y readers. Pew Research found that just 27% of Generation Y – those born in 1977 or later – read a newspaper the previous day. That compares with 55% of those born prior to 1946.

In light of the growing atrophy of the print media in America, Barack Obama has said that he would be “happy to look at" bills Congress may propose that would give struggling news organs tax breaks if they were to restructure and become nonprofit businesses. A senate bill, S-673, has been introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). The so-called "Newspaper Revitalization Act,” would give news outlets tax deals if they restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations. This would in effect make the newspapers that restructure, state subsidized via the tax code.

It is very possible that Obama’s concern is actually an covert attempt to save his media base of support rather than support the print journalists for their own sakes or because they are so important to the health of the republic.

The alternative media is making vast inroads into the readership of local and regional print dailies. The so-called Blogosphere has become an important source of information and debate that has in effect begun replacing the Op-Ed pages of local daily papers. Websites like The Drudge Report, Breitbart Online and the online sites of news organizations like the FOX and other smaller news sites are winning greater popularity as they are constantly available via computer, PDA and cellular devices. They are also constantly updated, sometimes hourly when an event warrants.

The other great challenge faced by print and electronic media outlets is the issue of credibility. In the last two decades, the steady erosion of the so-called mainstream media has been notable. The amount of investigative journalism has fallen off in favor of politically correct reporting. Content geared to a younger demographic hungry for fluff and frivolity has trumped hard nosed, fact based reporting. News programs and newspapers are formatted to resemble magazine shows and gossip rags seen at supermarket check stands, have replaced the nightly news broadcast and the evening paper as sources for an ever shrinking viewing and subscribing public.
To demonstrate just how far the so-called mainstream media has fallen, the exposure of ACORN as a corrupt organization was accomplished not by a large, respected organ like the New York Times or one of the broadcast outlets. A twenty-five year old documentary film maker James O'Keefe and a 20 year old female journalism student, Hannah Giles, mounted a sting operation that would make the FBI proud. In a hidden camera expose' reminiscent of the type of reporting done in the old days of “60 Minutes”, they approached ACORN offices in 4 cities around the country and asked for help in setting up a home based business. This wouldn't normally be a bad thing, except the business in question was a brothel dedicated to the exploitation of children brought to this country from Central America for the sexual amusement of pedophiles. ACORN employees were anxious to help not only to get the couple a house but to help cheat the tax man and even get their under aged employees over the boarder from El Salvador via an underground railroad-like smuggling outfit that the San Diego ACORN operative claimed to have ties to in Mexico.

What was truly remarkable about the exposure of this corrupt organization was that the entire so-called mainstream news industry in this country, with the exception of the FOX network and a few websites like the Drudge Report and BigGovernment.com, virtually ignored the story. Only after a week of videos was aired on FOX and after the Blogosphere got a hold of the story and sprayed it all over cyberspace did the neutered media begin to react. Within a week, the Census Bureau cut its ties to ACORN and the Senate had voted to de-fund ACORN. A couple of days after that the House of Representatives voted to defund ACORN removing all government funding from that organization.

Where was the so-called mainstream media? Where was the New York Times? Where was the Washington Post? Where was the White House press corps? None of these organs asked questions about ACORN, the sitting Presidents favorite community organizing group. It makes a reasonable person ask the question; are the liberal members of the press covering for this corrupted agency in order to shield the President? Are they embarrassed that a popular and influential group like ACORN, so close to the sitting Presidents heart, has been shown to be an outfit that would be willing and able to assist in forming a child prostitution ring in 4 major cities in America? Or are they just embarrassed that two twenty-something’s showed them, the establishment media for what they are, lazy, ineffectual, and corrupted and inconsequential in the new age of the internet and the blogosphere.

In a recent interview, President Barack Obama said:
"I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding,"

Sounds like he is worried that he can’t control the media or message anymore...

Friday, September 18, 2009

It seems the President did lie…by omission.


It seems the President Obama did lie…by omission.

In the joint session address on health care he specifically said that illegal aliens would not be covered by any bill he signed.

Guess what. The current bill does. Because it does NOT specifically forbid them coverage, they can get coverage. They will come up with some way to weasel them into the program on humanitarian grounds or some other method, and here is how they will most likely do it…

We have now heard from Barack Obama’s his own lips how he will end-run around any prohibition. He wants to give amnesty to illegal aliens. He said as much in an address in a Wednesday evening speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

He stated, “Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken,” He further stated “That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.” He added “If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

If that doesn’t sound like an official intent to give amnesty to illegal aliens, I don’t know what does.

I remember my own experience when I was helping my foreign bride go through all the bureaucracy to become a resident alien after we were married. We spent money we couldn’t afford but we did it. We filled out form after form and did interviews. We had photos taken and waited interminable hours to get through each step. It took months for her green card to come and we had to wait for it before she could work full time legally. We suffered economic hardship because of the bureaucracy and now all those people who are here illegally may get to avoid all that. It makes me resentful and it should make those who went trough the process resentful, too. It makes me feel like a chump for following the rules…

I have a question for the President….

Since these illegal persons will seeming have the privilege of committing felonious acts simply by being here, without sanction or consequence, what felonies do I, as a citizen of the United States get to commit, and when may I exercise that privilege? After all, I have been her all my life. I own property and I have paid my taxes and followed the rules. Why can’t I get away with something, too? I actually have a real stake in this country. I have served in America’s military, defending her from all enemies, foreign or domestic. I always paid my own way and have never been a burden on society. Shouldn’t I, an honorably discharged veteran of the naval service, who has served in time of war, get a proverbial “Get out of Jail FREE” card for my efforts?

Fair is fair, after all…

It is only equitable and logical…

Unless, of course, you are just trying to buy the votes of all those people you want to make legal. Just a few more bodies for the Democrat voter roles… What a cynical and blatantly political act. Anyone with a drop of political acumen can see why Obama wants this. Illegal’s made legitimate would be beholden to Democrats who gave them access to liberal plantation and all the social services they want, at the expense of those who have been born here, legally immigrated here, paid taxes here, or are here following the rules.

As angry and betrayed as I feel by the prospect of an Obama end-around on this issue, I really feel sorry for those immigrants who did follow the rules to come here and live in this country. Any attempt to legitimize those who came illegally, would be a slap in the face to all those who played by those rules; did the paperwork, waited in lines at I.N.S., paid their money, did the interviews and background checks, and then waited sometimes years to be recognized as resident aliens and then eventually, American citizens.

Amnesty makes a mockery of the entire process that others have gone through. It is patently unjust to do that to those people.




Thursday, September 17, 2009

Why we should care what Jimmy Carter thinks….


Just when we thought the dialog on the Rep. Joe Wilson’s call-out on President Barack Obama, calling the President a liar, was finally beginning to simmer down, former President Jimmy Carter, arguably, the most discredited, ineffectual and naive man to occupy the office in recent history, decided to weigh in with his two cents worth. Once again defying the custom of former President’s maintaining silence on public issues, Mr. Carter has fanned the flames by suggesting that the white congressman from South Carolina had malice in his heart against a black President.


It is absurd to make this connection as there is no proof whatsoever that Rep. Wilson has any animosity against people of color.


Mr. Carter said in an interview with NBC News, “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American”. He further said, "That racism inclination still exists, and I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of belief among many white people -- not just in the South but around the country -- that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply.”


Mr. Carter, once again, has stirred the pot of animosity. He has made a statement that is terrifically divisive and unfair to the congressman from South Carolina. Has Mr. Carter some special, unique and omniscient knowledge of the hearts of the American people? What gives him the right to make such an egregious, universal statement? Has Mr. Carter not found enough to do in his dotage? Isn’t hob-knobbing with terrorist groups and dictators not enough for him, that he must now must slander the people of this nation, accusing us of being racists if we happen to think that Barack Obama is dead wrong, and that we question his ideology and his commitment to the improvement of the nation?


Mr. Carter could do us all a favor and go back to pounding nails for “Habitat for Humanity”, and leave politics, statecraft and race relations to those who have the with and the acumen to understand them.


He obviously doesn’t. His record on that score is infamous; he arguable had the most failed Presidency in the last half of the 20th century. Yes, perhaps he should go back to Georgia, and keep to the old tradition that former Presidents keep to themselves and manage their own affairs, and keep out of the public discourse.


How can we as a nation make things better for all people when people like Mr. Carter ascribe a racial component to legitimate opposition? This creates a resentment that would not necessarily have been present previously, had the conversation remained in the political and ideological realm. To suggest that opposition to policy is solely due to race is a disservice to the nation. It creates a “bunker mentality” to groups that are accused of being discriminatory, stifling real and useful discourse, and creates the air of “protected class” status for those who use that gambit against their political rivals. It can become a millstone around the neck to those who use the tactic by actually creating racism where it previously didn’t exist. Logic and human nature being what they are may see some reconsider racial tolerance and acceptance. After all, what good does it do to try and set aside the entire cultural and historical baggage associated with race relations in this country if we keep getting beaten down with it, or have past behavior thrown up into our collective faces at every turn? Why try to find common ground with those who look different, act different, or believe differently if the only pay-off is to be labeled a racist if we happen to disagree on some issue? It is true that there are some who don’t like the fact that a black man occupies the White House; it would be naïve to suggest otherwise, but to make the wholesale assertion that ALL opposition is race based, is absurd and creates race based animosity where none may have existed before.


There is also a small possibility that it may even hurt future candidates of color because some of the voting public will not like to see a repeat of this racial acrimony should other minorities attempt to seek office. Some voters may just decide that it isn’t worth it to them to vote for minorities candidates if it follows that disagreement equals racism. It would be easier to simply not to back minority candidacies and avoid future problems. This would be a huge tragedy for all Americans as We, the People could be denied the best and brightest men and women for office because it’s just easier to exclude, rather than deal with the potential slander.


Then again, maybe that’s what they Liberal Democrats want….


It would be a self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation of the liberal world-view that America is an inherently racist country, beyond hope and redemption without the blessings and programs only liberalism provide.


It is also my belief that there is an industry that exists to profit from racial inequities whether real or imagined. Men like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have enriched themselves to the tune of millions of dollars and created empires based on reverse race baiting, accusing enterprises and individuals of discrimination and racism when no absolute proof exists, and then extort money or favors from the accused. It is a tremendously effective tool to mute opposition.


America has come so far in the 40+ years since the Civil Right Act was signed into law. Nobody with any intelligence would argue that we still have some work to do to ensure that progress continues toward a truly color blind society, free of base prejudices’ that have so divided us as a nation. I believe that the day will come when we will look back and wonder how all those who came before could have been so ignorant to look at people and measure intellect, competency and character by some superficial differences in color, appearance, or national origin.



I hope that that day comes soon.


My response to Glenn Greewald, from "ACORN Apologetics" by Joseph Lawler, American Spectator Online

This is my comment to an article in the American Spectator website on 9/17/2009.

Joseph Lawler outline the arguments made by ACORN apologist Glenn Greenwald that Wall Street's abuses exceed anything ACORN has done because they are doing good works for the poor and down-trodden and that the relative dollar amounts should excuse them from all the harangue and vitriol.

Here is my response:

Venality and corruption abound in Washington. Nobody questions that there is waste, fraud and abuse in all areas, and that Wall Street has that problem as well. Whenever people are exposed to huge sums of money, be it public or private money, there is bound to be some graft and corruption. It is something we all agree is a bad and should be fought, and prosecuted whenever misconduct or malfeasance it is found. When comparing ACORN to Wall Street, however, let us remember that despite all the faults that one may find with the financial industry, at least they never showed a willingness on multiple occasions to give aid, comfort and support to people in setting up a criminal enterprise to traffic in young children across international borders to be used as sex toys for degenerates, and to out and out defraud the government in the process. Stealing money is one thing, sex slavery of minor children is quite another. And to think, ACORN is up for 8.5 billion in stimulus cash... Makes one wonder how many kiddie brothels ACORN could help fund with that chunk of change... Hey ACORN... Can you say R.I.C.O. ???

Monday, September 14, 2009

STRIKE 3....Maybe for ACORN

The young, intrepid and courageous reporters have stuck again at the corrupt organization, ACORN…

Last week it was Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

This time, in Brooklyn, New York….

Once again, our faux pimp and hooker have taken their “show” on the road to the “Big Apple” and we have seen, once again, that the criminal enterprise known as ACORN has shown it’s true colors as an aider and abettor of child trafficking, child prostitution, and tax fraud. When asked about what was necessary to set up a brothel and how to hide the proceeds, they were given specific information how to hide the cash (in a can in the backyard!) and how to characterize the young lady’s employment as that of “Performance Artist”. When asked how they should deal with their El Salvadorian child prostitutes, they were told that they could make them dependents for tax purposes.

Officials at ACORN have threatened lawsuits for Defamation of Character…

“Defamation of Character" implies that they HAVE character.....

Hey ACORN...Can you say "R.I.C.O.”?
They are totally corrupt...
Corruption in ACORN seems systemic when you look at how many investigations and irregularities have been found involving them. Barrack Obama was a trainer and legal defender of this organization, so one is apt to wonder what he knows and how much responsibility he has in shaping the tactics and practices of the apparently criminal enterprise. Why hasn't the U.S. Attorney opened a RICO investigation? The corruption is nation-wide, therefore can be looked into by the Feds. Perhaps Obama is shielding his buddies at ACORN from federal scrutiny... Maybe it is time for those of us sick of the corruption to take matters into our own hands like some folks in Ohio did and file our own suites...Any organization that would help set up a criminal enterprise that assists in the trafficking and exploitation of children for the sex trade, and then assist with the "paperwork" to make it all legal-like even if fraudulent, is beyond inhuman.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Hey ACORN....STRIKE 2 !!!!

To paraphrase an old movie and book title, once seems to be not enough for the folks at ACORN...

Two expose' videos put out in the last 48 hours by 2 very brave young people have shown just how venial and corrupt ACORN truly is. There might have been a valid argument that this is a smear campaign by Republicans to discredit the organization, but when you have voter fraud cases in 2 states and now these videos from 2 other areas of the country, it is blatantly apparent that there is a culture of corruption that leads all the way to the highest levels of our government. The President of the United States has publicly commended this organization for its efforts on many fronts including voter registration, which now are under investigation in several states. Obama has so many ties to this organization going back over a decade that one is apt to wonder what he knows about them and if he has had any knowledge of past acts like the ones seen in the videos.

Conspiracy to aid and abet child trafficking and child molestation, tax evasion, and fraud should rate a look-see by the U.S. Attorney... Since the whole organization seems corrupted (Indictments in Florida and Nevada..), they should be shut down and their leaders and lieutenants tried and jailed. Perhaps a look at the voter registration efforts by ACORN on behalf of the Democratic Party should rate a look as well since the Demos have seen to it that ACORN gets federal funds...over 8 BILLION dollars worth...

I say the videos tells the whole sordid and felonious story... These are the sorts of people the Democrats are in bed with...People who would willingly and happily help the criminal element game the system and set up brothels stocked with illegal alien/child prostitutes in your backyard. These are degenerates of the highest order. There is no excuse. No cover or pit deep enough to hide for those who would aid and abet that sort of thing.

Hey ACORN....Can you say R.I.C.O. ???

P.S. At least Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts had gay ADULTS turning tricks from his home...not kids!!

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK, FOLKS

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Welcome to Cloud Cuckoo Land!!

In the wake of President Obama’s speech Wednesday night, I have stopped and reflected on the words and substance of his address to the joint session of congress. My initial reaction was that he was back on the campaign trail running for office again. He is a good speaker, maybe even a great one when he attempts to move the crowd. The problem was that when you strip away the platitudes and the rhetoric, what are you left with?

The essence of the speech was that we have to reform healthcare or else….

Well, for those who have been without health insurance, as I myself have been on occasion, I can certainly sympathize. But the bottom line is that the republic will not collapse if the status quo continues. But if this bill, HR 3200 does make it to the President’s desk for approval, we may very well hasten the bankruptcy of the country, and disrupt permanently, what is arguable the best healthcare delivery system in the world.

This is not rhetoric, it is fact.

Keep in mind these 2 indisputable facts:

1. Congress just raised the national debt ceiling to 12 TRILLION dollars this week
(that’s 12,000 BILLION dollars…) If you need a visual, it would be enough dollar bills to reach the moon and back over two and a quarter times if you laid the bills end to end…

2. The Obama Administration and the Democratic controlled congress have spent over 1.38 Trillion dollars since January, 2009. That is 4 times what the previous administration spent in its last year in office.

The President said on Thursday, the day after his address, at his cabinet meeting that the status quo could NOT be maintained and we had to do something because so many Americans were going bankrupt and that people were dying for lack of care. Well Mr. President, that may happen from time to time to a few, and yes, it is tragic when it happens, but ultimately, if you destroy the economy of the country, if you set up a system that bankrupts the entire nation trying to provide services to everyone, we are all in a great deal more trouble than those unfortunate few.

But let us not focus just on that one point. Let us look at what is known to be in the actual bill and look at what is on the record, from the Presidents own statements.

The first thing that I would like to make note of was the numbers of uninsured or under insures people the President said would be covered. We have heard repeatedly from the administration and from the congressional leadership that there were 45-47 million people needing help. Inexplicably, last night the number dropped to 30 million…. How did that happen? Where did 15-17 million people go? Perhaps he removed the illegal aliens from the mix? OK, I am fine with that… But why were illegal aliens in the computation in the first place? Why was the higher figure bandied about as gospel? He stated categorically that illegal aliens were not going to be covered by his program. If that is the truth, then why were they a computed factor before? Were they going to be covered prior to his speech last night? Who was lying to whom about this?

The Congressional Research Service published a report in August 25, 2009 that outlined the coverage of illegal aliens in HR 3200. According to the report:

“ H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens participating in the exchanges whether the noncitizens are legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently.”

So in effect, the President did lied…… Big surprise there, right?
Another point that needs to be made is that on 2 occasions, attempts were made by Republicans to put in specific language that would specifically bar illegal aliens from getting taxpayer assistance in acquiring healthcare. One well known attempt was by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, who tried to introduce an amendment that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama. The House Ways and Means Committee defeated the Heller amendment by a 26-to-15 vote along straight party lines, and followed this action by passing the 1,018-page bill by a 23-to-18 margin, with three Democrats voting against the plan. Incidentally, he also put in for an amendment that would require Congressional members and their staffs and other government employee to be made part of this plan, but the Democrats on the committee struck that down as well. What is good enough for us is evidentially not good enough for them.

So much for principle of bipartisanship…

So much for equal protection under the law…


Then there is the really shaky economics of this program, which will, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan agency of Congress, cost the taxpayers an estimated 1 TRILLION dollars to help an estimated 45 million people (or is it 30 million…). According to the President, he would not sign a bill that added “one dime to the federal deficit”. Well, I believe he believes that. And because I believe he believes that, he is the most dangerously ignorant individual to occupy the office of President in a very long time. He seems not to have a clue as to how the real world works or any concept of business, economics or human nature. One thing is certain, he may be a great community organizer, but he’s a lousy mathematician.

He stated that that he would fund most of this program from savings from reductions in waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid; Most of it… meaning more than 50% of it, or more than 500 billion dollars using the C.B.O. numbers.

Well, isn’t that great! I can’t wait……

Wait a minute…. Why haven’t they made these sorts of efficiencies before? Why is there so much waste, fraud and abuse in those programs now? Why hasn’t Congress or the administration dealt with this already? Is there over half a Trillion dollars in savings that can be had from cutting waste, fraud and abuse from Medicare and Medicaid; to be transferred from those programs? If there is that much inefficiency, that much waste and fraud in those programs, why on earth would we trust Obama and his sycophants in congress to start up a whole new and ruinously expensive program to deal with less than 10% of the population (by his new, revised numbers) and that in effect puts major controls on 16% of the national economy? It is utterly incomprehensible how anyone could honestly look at this plan, read it and do the basic math and see anything but disaster for the nation.

I have an idea…

Why don’t the powers that be prove their contention that they can do all they say they can. Let’s see if they can come up with the monies they say they can BEFORE they pass this egregious piece if legislative pap. Let them prove to all of us on both sides of the political spectrum that economies to existing government programs can be made without cutting services to Medicare or Medicaid and that there won’t be a drop in service quality. Let them show the fiscal and administrative chops to make these 2 programs run the way they should have been all along BEFORE they get their hands on the system the rest of us depend on? It is truly unbelievable that Obama and his minions are pushing this when they haven’t demonstrated an ability to deliver on any aspect needed to fund this program without busting the budget. Let them prove their competency. Lets see if there is any credence to anything they say.

Wake up, ladies and gentlemen……

Our leadership is in cloud cuckoo land.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Good enough for thee, but NOT good enough for me!!...

This is the message we get when the government exempts itself from the laws and regulations that it passes. Health Care Reform as it is presently being sold to the rank and file citizen will exempt the political class in Washington contrary to popular belief, and White House assurances.

Rep. Dean Heller, R-NV, during a Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, attempted to add an amendment during the meeting just before the recess began that would have required Members to be covered by the so called “Public Option” plan if it was approve for private citizens.

Big surprise, the Heller amendment was shot down by ALL 21 committee Democrats. Not a single Democrat voted to be part of this supposedly good plan for the rest of us. Yes, BIG surprise there...

That vote is indicative of the reality that any bill requiring Congress to be covered by the same health care as the public has absolutely NO chances of being enacted. It seems that the golden rule truly applies… Those who control the gold make the rules for the rest of us, and exempt themselves.

How good can the “Public Option” be if they won’t give it to themselves?

By the way, just in case you didn’t know it, f Congress and their staffs and families presently get health insurance coverage through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which offers enrollees nearly 300 choices among a variety of plans, coverages and costs.


The FEHBP also covers most federal employees, and federal retirees, and all members of the House and Senate (Congress) though the latter (Congress) has additional perks of office that make their health coverage far better than that available - or affordable - for the vast majority of working Americans. One of these perks include admission to Federal Hospital facilities like Bethesda Naval Hospital and it’s VIP wing.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Obama speaks to the kids.....

Today, President Obama is speaking to the children of the nation in their school rooms.

According to the text of the speech, which is VERY long and punctuated with an excess of personal pronouns, he will extol the virtues of education and encourage the youth of America to pursue education. It will be a very vanilla speech as speeches go. Hopefully it will touch a child or two, encouraging them to stay in school and to achieve excellence.

Unfortunately, the more conservative elements in this country made a great issue of the address and have been complaining that the entire evolution was a attempt to indoctrinate the kids. There were criticisms of the after speech activities that were posted to the Department of Education’s website. The specifics were that the speech and writing assignments were an indoctrination tool, cultivating the cult of personality of Obama.

All this was put out into the mainstream media and onto the blogosphere prior to any transcript of the actual speech being made public. Predictably, the ensuing harangue began almost immediately and built to a crescendo at the same time that Van Jones was (probably) being thrown under the bus by the White House. Weather he arises again like Lazarus to hold some back-office position is yet to be seen, but you can bet we have not heard the last of Mr. Jones.

All the hoopla over the President’s address begs the question as to weather the liberals have rope-a-doped conservatives by salting the already charged political environment with what appeared to be a potential propaganda play by Obamanites; Create a predictably pseudo-political workbook assignment for the kids to be done after the speech, one that has the tone and effect of aggrandizing a presidential cult of personality. A predictably volatile reaction ensues, only to be shown to be all for not. The speech is rather bland and apolitical. As of today, the offending after-speech assignments are gone from the D.O.E website. The bait and switch is now complete.

The mainstream media will predictably say in the wake of the speech, “what was the big deal?” The independent crowd will say “where is all the controversial stuff you conservatives said was it this speech?” and the Obamanites will get the last laugh as they may have had a couple different versions of this speech available depending on the reactions to the concept.

Under fire, they withdrew the offending assignments after the storm began. They complete their operations to make the right look like a bunch of whiners by releasing a toned down schoolhouse address (their version of Plan “B”). The bottom line is that too much was made of the president’s speech to the school kids.

Based on my own experience, as the father of an active son who is now in college, most of them won’t remember it past next week, if even that long. The attention span of kids in class is limited to the length of a sitcom segment or music video at the most. The content of the speech will not do much more than provide a Sominex moment to the youth of America. When I read the text, I felt like Tip O’Neill during a State of the Union address…drowsy by the time I finished. We must maintain focus on the speech that really matters and that is the one President Obama will give to Congress on Heath care reform. We must all keep after the congressional representatives and keep after the senators as we get down to this major threat to personal freedom and independence.

August Recess is over. Now the real fight begins….