Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Other Side of the Story - The Way Out Left - Frank Rich

I am sure by reading this you will be saddened about finding out that you are a racist, homophobic sexist against Obama, Frank and Pelosi. After reading this article, I am actually worried about the sanity of these progressives. Frothing, copper-faced, apoplectic, filibustering? A bit over the top?

Excerpt:
THERE were times when last Sunday’s great G.O.P. health care implosion threatened to bring the thrill back to reality television. On ABC’s “This Week,” a frothing and filibustering Karl Rove all but lost it in a debate with the Obama strategist David Plouffe. A few hours later, the perennially copper-faced Republican leader John Boehner revved up his “Hell no, you can’t!” incantation in the House chamber — instant fodder for a new viral video remixing his rap with will.i.am’s “Yes, we can!” classic from the campaign. Boehner, having previously likened the health care bill to Armageddon, was now so apoplectic you had to wonder if he had just discovered one of its more obscure revenue-generating provisions, a tax on indoor tanning salons. And on, and on, and on! Read full NYT Frank Rich opinion piece here.

Jesse Ventura on 2012 - Conspiracy Theory

For those of you concerned about the Mayan 2012 supposed predictions, this video by Jesse Ventura on Conspiracy Theory will be of interest.

We The People

Mark Hemingway: Stuffing union coffers with taxpayer cash

More and more taxpayer's money is going into union coffers to do who knows what. The Democrats are buying votes and are brazen about it. Government contracts are going to union companies even though the bid costs are significantly higher than those of non-union bids, again costing the taxpayer billions of dollars. Unions that have contributed significantly to the destruction of our manufacturing base are now working on our service companies and your government. Is this Constitutional? Probably not but will the SCOTUS stand up for its citizens?

Excerpt:
Obama's $859 billion economic stimulus package last year included Davis-Bacon "prevailing wage" provisions, which mandates more governjavascript:void(0)ment contracts going to unionized companies despite their submitting more costly bids than nonunion companies. Heritage Foundation scholar James Sherk estimates this provision alone cost taxpayers $17 billion.

Right now, Obama's White House Middle-Class Task Force is considering adopting "High Road" contracting policies that favor companies paying wages and benefits even beyond union scale. This move would radically remake the $500 billion annual federal contracting market and dwarf the costs incurred by Davis-Bacon.

With all these billions at stake, you might wonder why two powerful unions such as the UAW and AFSCME would bother force unionizing day care workers for an extra $3.7 million. The simple answer might be that unions have become so powerful and greedy under Obama that they did it simply because they could.
Read the Washington Examiner article here.

Flat Tax Explained

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

GOOOH - Get Out of Our House

For those of you who want to fire them all, this appears to be the organization for you. My concern is the same with the Tea Party, if they split and form a new party, they could split the conservative vote and guarantee a Liberal Democrat win.

Little-Known Health Care Law Provision Is a Budget Buster, Critics Say

It appears that this is another tax like SS that creates a slush fund for the Democrats to spend to shore up their constituency. In the end, the only money left will be IOU's from the Federal government (you the taxpayer) and it will be bankrupt like Medicare and SS. Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me again and again and again. These politicians must go.

Excerpt:
While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program.

Under-reported and the under the radar of most lawmakers, the program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care.

"This creates a whole new bureaucracy that is going to break this country," Nunes said. "In the early years there will be money in it, but at the end of the day there won't be enough money to cover the problems because there will be too many people in the program."

The statute says the program is designed to be self-sustaining, with an advisory board to assure the fund remains solvent. But opponents say the fine print already tells another story. Unless modifications are made, according to a CBO analysis of the bill, "the program will add to future federal budget deficits in a large and growing fashion."

Supporters and detractors admit much needs to be worked out, and eventually premiums will be based on how many Americans actually sign up for the insurance.
Read FOX News article here.

Apathetic - USA Intro Movie

This is a good summary of the possible influence of Cloward-Piven on our liberal/leftist friends in Congress and the White House. Watch and form your own opinions. Watch video here.

Arizona Rancher Is Murdered Hours After Confrontation With Illegals

We have lost control of our borders and if nothing is done, the gangs and drug dealers will gain control of our country just as they have in Mexico and South America. Amnesty is not the answer. Enforcement of our borders is.

Obama's army in the health care bill

I didn't know what to think of this post on God & Country USA, but checked the bill itself and there it was. The Administration will say it is just a standby emergency medical capability, and maybe so, but $87,500,000 has been appropriated for recruitment and operation for years 2010 - 2014 and its purpose is a little vague.

Read the post, go to the referenced bill and make a decision for yourself. I am a little skittish about Americorps and this new Corps. Read summary article here.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Actress Maria Conchita Alonso Smacks Down Useful Idiot, Sean Penn

Excerpt: Dear Sean, WHY?

Even though I have great respect for your artistic talent, I was appalled by a recent television interview where you vigorously showed support for the regime of Hugo Chavez. Therefore, I’ve decided to set the record straight for you regarding the Chavez regime, supporting my case based not only on my political ideologies, but on proven facts you choose to ignore. Otherwise, I believe your position would be different.

Being born in Cuba, a country where freedom of speech is non-existent, it’s startling to observe how Venezuela, where I was happily raised, is fast becoming Cuba’s mirror image: Dismantling of fundamental democratic rights deserved by its people and citizens of the world.
Read letter here.

GOP blasts Democrat bill that would allow deficit spending by Georgetown County schools

A local bill that shows how the Democrats, given a chance, will work around the law to get what they want. Those of you throughout the country should be on guard against this sort of threat against your State constitution.

Article:
Governor Sanford asked to veto bill

GEORGETOWN--The Georgetown County Republican Party today blasted a bill that passed the General Assembly last week, sponsored by Democrat state House Representatives Vida Miller and Carl Anderson, that would allow the Georgetown County Board of Education to borrow money to pay for any operational deficits in next year's budget.

"Apparently Representatives Miller and Anderson think it's a good idea to bring Washington, DC style deficit spending to Georgetown County by enabling the school board to engage in reckless spending beyond its means, just like the Obama administration," Georgetown County Republican Party Chairman Tom Swatzel said.

The South Carolina constitution prohibits state and all local governments, including school districts, from incurring operational budget deficits.

The bill would allow the county Board of Education to use the proceeds of a general obligation bond to pay for any operational budget deficits that might occur in the upcoming 2010-2011 budget year that starts July 1st.

"We are asking Governor Sanford to veto the bill because it's unconstitutional, not only because of the prohibition on operational deficit spending, but also because it's local legislation, which is also constitutionally prohibited," Swatzel said.

Murrells Inlet Republican state Sen. Ray Cleary does not support the bill. Democrat Senator Yancey McGill, who represents a portion of Georgetown County, supported the bill.

It's customary for only a county's legislative delegation to vote on legislation specific to a county.

Swatzel also said the bill was a backdoor way to increase property taxes on local homeowners.

In 2006 state law was changed to exempt owner occupied homes from property taxes that pay for school operational costs, but not from property taxes that pay for debt service on school district bonds.

"Miller and Anderson's bill would cause an increase in taxes on resident homeowners in Georgetown County at a time when record unemployment and home foreclosures are hitting the nation, this state, and Georgetown County," Swatzel said. "We should be trying to help homeowners by reducing their tax burden and focusing on reducing unemployment, not hurt them by raising their property taxes."

According to a report last week in the Pawleys Island Coastal Observer, Miller introduced the bill at the request of county school Superintendant Randy Dozier, who acknowledged that the school board was unaware of the bill.

Click here for article.

Swatzel pointed to state Budget and Control Board data that shows that while the school district spent $126.4 million in 2008, only 45 cents of every dollar was actually spent in the classrooms for instructional purposes.

Additionally, Swatzel said that according to the school district's enrollment reports, the district has steadily lost student enrollment from a peak of about 10,700 in 1995, down to approximately 9,900 students in 2008- a loss of about 800 students.

"I know economically times are tough for everyone. But it's clear the county Board of Education can better prioritize their spending and live within the district's means, especially with declining student enrollment," Swatzel said. "Working families in Georgetown County are having to make ends meet every day on a limited amount of income and so can the school board."

Report From Liberal Cable Outlet Shows That More Guns Equals Fewer Firearms Deaths

As I have stated before, I do not own a gun, although my wife has prodded me to do so, but I strongly support the right of citizens to own them. This article referencing the liberal MSNBC report shows that claims by the anti-gun lobby are not credible.

Excerpt:
A new report published by MSNBC.com shows that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens results in fewer deaths from the use of firearms.

“Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens prevent 1 million robberies, murders and rapes every year,” John Pierce, a Virginia-based gun-rights activist with opencarry.org, told MSNBC.com.

Alan M. Gottlieb, vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), called the finding "further evidence that everything the gun prohibitionists have been claiming and predicted over the past two decades has been fundamentally fraudulent.”
Read CNS article here.

Scientists stumped as bee population declines further

For those of you who own farms, have gardens or just grow flowers for enjoyment, this is a problem that is only getting worse. Pollinators such as bees are an integral piece of the growing cycle and their disappearance is a major concern.

Excerpt:
Data from the US Department of Agriculture show a 29 percent drop in beehives in 2009, following a 36 percent decline in 2008 and a 32 percent fall in 2007.

This affects not only honey production but around 15 billion dollars worth of crops that depend on bees for pollination.

Scientists call the phenomenon "colony collapse disorder" that has led to the disappearance of millions of adult bees and beehives and occurred elsewhere in the world including in Europe.

Ironically, he said the problem stems from expansion of agriculture to feed the world. But in destroying bee populations, that can hurt crop production.

"The world population growth is in a sense the reason for pollinators' decline," he said.

"Because we need to produce more and more food to feed the world and we grow crops in larger fields. A growing world means growing more food and to do that we need pollinators. And the fact that the world is continuing to grow is the driving force behind the habitat destruction."
Read full article here.

The Great Reneger

STEYN: A healthy dose of catastrophe

Mark is in a bit of a rant here but makes a lot of sense. What about the imponderables he talks about? No matter what, the taxes on businesses will destroy our competitiveness on the world market, destroy our innovation and decimate our investments and financial security.

Excerpt:
Can we afford this? No. Even on the official numbers, we're projected to add to the existing $8 trillion in debt another $12 trillion over the next decade. What could we do? Tax those big, bad corporations a bit more? Medtronic has just announced that the new Obamacare taxes on its products could force it to lay off 1,000 workers. What do those guys do? Well, they develop products such as the recently approved pacemaker that's safe for MRI scans and the InterStim bladder-control device. So that's 1,000 fewer people who'll be working on new stuff. Well, so what? The public won't miss what it never knew it had. So again, the effect is one of disincentivization - in this case, of innovation.

If existing tax structures can't cover the costs, what can we do? Start a new tax. The VATman cometh. VAT is Euro-speak for "value-added tax." Americans often carelessly assume it's merely a sales tax, but in fact, it's far more cumbersome than that, being levied at each stage at which "value" is added to a product or service. The consumer can't claim back the VAT, but intermediate businesses in the production chain can. So self-employed individuals with relatively modest income wind up both charging VAT to their clients (25 percent in Scandinavia) and then claiming back the VAT they spent on the stamp and stationary they used to mail out the invoice. This is yet another imposition on businesses, taking time away from wealth creation and reallocating it to government paperwork. If the Democrats hold Congress this fall, I would figure on VAT sooner rather than later.

All of the above is pretty much a safe bet. What about the imponderables?


Read Steyn's article here.

CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP

For all his talk about his policies being budget neutral, his budgets show significant deficits in the next ten years and this is using the rosy scenarios and without the known deficits of ObamaCare and the Doctors' Fix. These numbers will skyrocket and are already in the critical stage. Expect to see the fix to be a VAT (Value Added Tax) that will hit all Americans, rich or poor.

Excerpt:
The federal public debt, which was $6.3 trillion ($56,000 per household) when Mr. Obama entered office amid an economic crisis, totals $8.2 trillion ($72,000 per household) today, and it's headed toward $20.3 trillion (more than $170,000 per household) in 2020, according to CBO's deficit estimates.

That figure would equal 90 percent of the estimated gross domestic product in 2020, up from 40 percent at the end of fiscal 2008. By comparison, America's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 109 percent at the end of World War II, while the ratio for economically troubled Greece hit 115 percent last year.

In a worrisome development, CBO projects that federal budget deficits, after dropping sharply, then will begin to rise continuously from 4.1 percent of GDP in 2014 to 5.6 percent in 2020.

For the 2016-20 period, CBO estimates that deficits will average more than 5 percent of GDP, even while assuming the economy will be near full employment, with an average jobless rate of 5 percent during that same five-year period.


CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP

Sunday, March 28, 2010

The 15 Money Rules Kids Should Learn


Read The 15 Money Rules Kids Should Learn here

Us Utah Gov. Oks Eminent Domain Use On Federal Land

This is a unique use of eminent domain, using it against the Federal Government that has catered to the environmentalists to the detriment of our western states. Maybe this will help to wake up the administration that we are fed up with big government.

Excerpt:
Fed up with federal ownership of more than half the land in Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert on Saturday authorized the use of eminent domain to take some of the U.S. government's most valuable parcels.

Herbert signed a pair of bills into law that supporters hope will trigger a flood of similar legislation throughout the West, where lawmakers contend that federal ownership restricts economic development in an energy-rich part of the country.

Governments use eminent domain to take private property for public use.

The goal is to spark a U.S. Supreme Court battle that legislators' own attorneys acknowledge has little chance of success.


Read article here.

10 Things Auto Insurers Won't Tell You

If you are thinking of changing your insurance coverage soon, you need to read this article. Read WSJ article here.

They Tell Us What They Are… SOCIALISTS!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Vat Cometh

Excerpt: As the night follows the day, the VAT 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.


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.

The Vat Cometh by Charles Krauthammer

Supply fears start to hit Treasuries

The threat of hyper-inflation still exists. Once the market for US Bonds gets too expensive or dries up completely, the only recourse our government will have to finance all the deficit spending will be to print more money, thus inflating our currency, a hidden tax, to what extent we do not know.

Excerpt:
The bond vigilantes are finally flexing their muscles. A long period of stability for the US government bond market showed signs of cracking this week as a lack of investor appetite for new debt sent the benchmark 10-year yield to its highest level since last June.

The fact that German Bunds have outperformed both Treasuries and gilts in recent months highlights this increasing worry over public debt. Germany’s budget deficit is much lower than the US and UK and inflation there is also expected to remain low.

“The spotlight on Greece only helped to reveal that the US’s kitchen – with Federal and state budget balances – was itself full of cockroaches,” says William O’Donnell, strategist at RBS Securities.

It hasn’t helped that the US announced a big overhaul of its healthcare system this month, adding to worries about the scale of US spending.

“The environment for debt auctions has turned negative,” says Rick Klingman, managing director at BNP Paribas. “Long-term rates are rising and it is no coincidence that this has occurred after the passage of healthcare reform and the end of Fed buy-backs.”

Also rattling US investors this week was a report by the Congressional Budget Office that falling payroll taxes due to high unemployment, means that the social security programme will pay out more in benefits than it receives for this fiscal year. “A sustained rise in yields is upon us and bond funds will start to incur losses,” says Jim Caron, global head of interest rate strategy at Morgan Stanley. He expects 10-year yields to reach 4.50 per cent in the second quarter, as investors pull their money from bond funds. March looms as the first month for negative returns for investors in Treasuries this year.


Read The Financial Times article here.

Dr Zero: The Parable of the Satellite Dish

This parable takes ObamaCare and explains it in a way those not paying attention will understand.

Excerpt:
When free people are told something is “inevitable,” their response should be an immediate and overwhelming refusal to accept it. Inevitability is a self-fulfilling prophecy in the absence of resistance. Freedom is the never-ending quest for alternatives.

The people who loudly celebrate “diversity” keep coming up with universal plans. Their State is a giant who trims citizens to fit its bed, using rusty implements. The giant, the bed, and the implements were all equal sins in the eyes of our Founders. They come as a set.

When the State refuses to let you debate the terms of its plans individually, you can rest assured the whole is worse than the sum of its parts.

Freedom requires the courage to avoid being stampeded. You should ask more questions about something you are told is an “essential right.” Sober reflection is a hallmark of maturity. A wise State would not require its citizens to act like children.


Read The Parable of the Satellite Dish here.

I Do Not Choose To Be A Common Man

Excerpt: During a deployment to Taiwan I found a plaque inscribed with a creed that aptly described what it meant to be an American during the last century. It was written by Dean Alfange a New York politico. He was of Greek origin, legally immigrated with his parents as a small child, fought in WWI and died at age 91. It is notable that he was regarded as a liberal during his era, certainly a far cry from today’s crop by the same brand.

The following is what Alfange wrote:

“I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man,

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can. I seek opportunity—not security.

I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done.’”

That creed was the essence of what most felt about America from the turn of 20th Century until after WWII. But with the passage of time it gradually changed and culminated in the signing away of fundamental freedom on March 23rd, 2010. Some applaud that for reasons explained in the last essay; others find it highly offensive, invasive and overreaching. It is the antithesis of “seeking opportunity—not security;” it is the implementation of being a “kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state” look after one; it is a step in the direction of a Soviet style future for our children and grandchildren; unless! Read An Introduction to Change

I Thought You Read It

U.S. House special elections provide clues to shape of November showdown

Excellent rundown on the midterm Congressional elections by the Los Angeles Times.

Excerpt:
Edward Lynch, a Republican running for Congress in South Florida for a second time, says he can tell a marked difference between the mood of the electorate now and during his first campaign two years ago.

"This year, they gave me a standing ovation," Lynch said of a recent campaign event. "Last time, they spit on me."

He's a candidate in one of five special elections in the coming weeks to fill vacant House seats that could provide clues about just how ugly November could be for the Democratic Party. The GOP hopes that a disaffected public soured on the economy and the healthcare overhaul translates into large gains in this year's congressional races.

Democratic strategists are less worried about the April 13 election pitting Lynch against Democrat Ted Deutch in this heavily Democratic district than they are about coming face-offs in Hawaii, Pennsylvania and New York. All are shaping up to be close contests -- and a GOP victory in any would resonate both politically and symbolically. A seat in a fifth race in a conservative Georgia district is widely expected to remain in Republican hands.

The contests have "the potential to be the next turning point in this election cycle," said David Wasserman, who follows House races for the Cook Political Report. "If the Democrats hold onto all their seats, it will be difficult for Republicans to claim they can execute in these regions."

They can also serve as a windows into the way campaigns will frame issues in this fall's races, with Republicans hammering Democrats over the healthcare bill and spending, and Democrats casting Republicans as do-nothings who advocate the privatization of Medicare and Social Security.

Read full article here.

More Unintended Consequences - The ObamaCare Writedowns

Those of you living on pension plans or investments should be concerned at the effect on earnings this bill will have. This is just the start.

Excerpt:
It's been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.

On top of AT&T's $1 billion, the writedown wave so far includes Deere & Co., $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; AK Steel, $31 million; 3M, $90 million; and Valero Energy, up to $20 million. Verizon has also warned its employees about its new higher health-care costs, and there will be many more in the coming days and weeks.

This wholesale destruction of wealth and capital came with more than ample warning. Turning over every couch cushion to make their new entitlement look affordable under Beltway accounting rules, Democrats decided to raise taxes on companies that do the public service of offering prescription drug benefits to their retirees instead of dumping them into Medicare. We and others warned this would lead to AT&T-like results, but like so many other ObamaCare objections Democrats waved them off as self-serving or "political."

The Democratic political calculation with ObamaCare is the proverbial boiling frog: Gradually introduce a health-care entitlement by hiding the true costs, hook the middle class on new subsidies until they become unrepealable, but try to delay the adverse consequences and major new tax hikes so voters don't make the connection between their policy and the economic wreckage. But their bill was such a shoddy, jerry-rigged piece of work that the damage is coming sooner than even some critics expected.


The ObamaCare Writedowns

Sen. Graham: Obamacare Doomed Immigration Bill

For what it is worth. I'm a SC resident and RINO Graham is not on my A list.

Excerpt:
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says Democrats' aggressive push for healthcare reform has "poisoned the well" for immigration reform, leaving it effectively "dead" in the Senate.

"When I say immigration's dead in the Senate, risk-aversion abounds," Graham told the media during a Capitol Hill news conference, "Some of my colleagues will lose over healthcare. The consequences of this vote are going to be long-lasting politically."


Read short article here.

Napolitano: Supreme Court to Strike Down Obamacare

Napolitan adds a number of additional points in ObamaCare that are unconstitutional, one of the problems is that they cannot be challenged until they take effect in 2014. This is well worth listening too.

Excerpt:
"The Constitution does not authorize the Congress to regulate the state governments," Napolitano says. "Nevertheless, in this piece of legislation, the Congress has told the state governments that they must modify their regulation of certain areas of healthcare, they must surrender their regulation of other areas of healthcare, and they must spend state taxpayer-generated dollars in a way that the Congress wants it done.

"That's called commandeering the legislature," he says. "That's the Congress taking away the discretion of the legislature with respect to regulation, and spending taxpayer dollars. That's prohibited in a couple of Supreme Court cases. So on that argument, the attorneys general have a pretty strong case and I think they will prevail.”


Read article here or view interview below

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ohio State vs Tennessee - So Sad

As an Ohio State graduate and fan, I am unhappy with their demise in the NCAA tournament, but want to congratulate both Ohio State (73) and the victors, Tennessee (76) for their hard fought game.

Is This Our Country Anymore

Unintended Consequences of Government Intrusion Into Health Care

Unintended consequence here is , who would have "thunk", that savings might not materialize. Increase in taxes may force companies to drop prescription coverage for retirees on their plans. Where do they go? Directly to Medicare. No savings, just federal control. Utilities will cover these increased costs by rate increases, on everyone. There is no "free lunch".

Excerpt:
With more than 3,500 companies now getting the tax break as an incentive to keep providing coverage, others are almost certain to announce similar cost increases in the weeks ahead as they sort out the impact of the change.

Figuring out what it will mean for retirees will take longer, but analysts said as many as 2 million could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers, leaving them to enroll in Medicare's program.

"You're increasing the incentive for companies to say 'We don't want to be in the health care business any more,'" said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which fought the overhaul.

American industrial companies that are struggling to compete globally against companies with much lower labor costs are particularly likely to eventually drop retiree coverage, said Gene Imhoff, an accounting professor at the University of Michigan.


Read AP article here.

Hope and Change ... the Constitution

One of the best articles on this subject I have read. Our freedom is at risk and, because of the Commerce Clause, we cannot depend on SCOTUS to protect us.

I wouldn't limit the amendment to the forced purchase of health insurance, but would include language to restrict the Commerce Clause to its original intent.

Excerpt:
The Constitution has been attacked, interpreted in a way beyond its original intent. Therefore, we must change it.

Ignoring the will of the majority of the American people, the discouraging experiences of countries with socialized medicine, and the already staggering amount of entitlement debt, President Barack Obama and the congressional Democrats "reformed" health care. Once a nation under a Constitution that restricted government intrusion, we now want government to provide for our "needs" by calling them "rights."

We now ask government to prop up failing businesses, make student loans, guarantee mortgages, build and maintain public housing, financially support state education from preschool though graduate school, fund private research, provide disaster relief and aid, pay "volunteers" and on and on.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court broadly interprets the commerce clause -- wildly beyond the intent of the Founders -- to allow just about anything.

So, the Constitution must be changed. It must be amended to make what was once clear absolutely, positively, unavoidably clear. Two-thirds of the states can call for a constitutional convention, where an amendment can be proposed to prohibit the forced purchase of health insurance. Three-fourths of the states could then ratify it


Read Larry Elder article here.

Palin Death Threats - Not on MSM

An example of what the MSM leaves out while bashing the Tea Party. Read the entire list of Palin threats in the article. This is something she has to deal with on a daily basis.

Excerpt:
@sEaTtLe_MeTrO Death 2 Palin family them retarded hillbillies take teabaggers w/ you hateful bitch

and this:

We cant expect gov to intervene we must shoot Gen. Palin on site be 4 her troops strike again!

and this:

@interactionswst one word racism choose sides plain and simply that bitch Palin launch an attack, she need 2 b shot on site!

and this:

@Palin360 you need 2 b assassinated soon we ll settle 4 one of the family if not u!

and this:

maybe it takes a murder or 2 2 get the point across take aim at radical TP members

and this:

@BRIANGLAD Palin will b met with gunfire her or her family

and this:


Leftist Issues Death Threats to Palin and Family on Twitter

Obama Support of Palestinians at Expense of Israel Making Peace Impossible

Excerpt: "Oh, he said that everything is on the table," she reassured me. "Everything." It turns out, two years later, that "everything" includes Jerusalem itself. The Obama administration, breaking its own word and that of previous administrations, wants the Israeli capital on the block.

The consequences go far beyond a few neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. In the eyes of the Palestinians and the Muslim world, Israel is being asked to give up its claims in the Old City as well. Immediately after the Obama administration demanded that Israel stopped building homes in Jewish neighborhoods, Palestinian rioters took to the streets to protest the opening of a restored synagogue in the ancient Jewish Quarter.

Effectively, the Obama administration has made progress towards a two-state solution difficult, if not impossible. Before, the minimum the Palestinians were willing to accept exceeded the maximum the Israelis were prepared to give. Now, the Palestinian minimum has been raised even further.


Read End of the Road here.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Unions want Washington's help with pension funds

Unions, that have destroyed every US business that they have forced themselves into, are now wanting the taxpayers and nonunion businesses to bail out their pension funds. Why, because of their under-performing investments. Who is going to bail out the small businessman whose investments have tanked and is ready to retire. Who is bailing out the retiree who is living on half of what he once had. Where is the COLA that Social Security recipients should get after paying into a non-existent fund for retirement. Let's tell the crooked unions to go live on what they have, which is much more than the average worker gets. Most of the SEIU workers work for us taxpayers anyway.

Excerpt:
Nonunion workers and private companies could be forced into absorbing the financial liabilities of underfunded union pension plans, thanks to pending health care mandates and an executive order that could be finalized this year, policy analysts and trade group representatives have concluded.

Even as unions continue to market themselves to new members on the basis of generous pension programs, government figures show these plans are performing poorly in comparison with retirement packages that operate beyond the orbit of organized labor.


Read Washington Times article here.

Fox News' Ailes not afraid of taking sides

Read about the man behind FOX News, Roger Ailes. Well paid and worth every penny of it in my opinion.

Excerpt:
Nowhere has this grand opera played out more forcibly than on Ailes' top-rated cable news channel, accused by some of peddling propaganda while celebrated by others as the only media outlet dedicated to aggressively challenging big government.

"Certainly, there are good things in this health care bill they're presenting, and there are bad things in this health care bill that people are trying to present," said Ailes, who will turn 70 in May. "Our view is people better know both and decide, 'OK, if I'm willing to pay this for these bennies, then that's good.' But they have to know what the price tag is."

Noting that 13 state attorneys general are suing to overturn the massive health care overhaul, Ailes predicted health care coverage "will be a long, drawn-out story, interwoven with other events."


Read the Chicago Tribune article here.

G.O.P. Forces New House Vote on Fixes to Health Bill

This most likely won't mean much except to delay this amendment, but it does force those queasy Democrats to go on the record and vote for this monstrosity again so the target will be more visible in November.

Excerpt:
Republicans early Thursday morning identified parliamentary problems with at least two provisions that will require the measure to be sent back to the House for yet another vote, once the Senate adopts it.

Read NYT article here.

The ObamaCare 'Acceptance' Strategy

What will we be seeing from the Democrats in the following months regarding Obamacare? This article expects us to hear a lot of propaganda and misinformation intended to put us asleep and convince us that nothing can be done to stop it. Read the article and be alert. We must stay awake until this travesty is stopped.

Excerpt:
The Democrat/progressive spin machine is going to mount a massive disinformation campaign with assistance from their surrogates in the MSM, unions, and "community groups" designed to change the subject. They are counting on getting you cooled down about the unconstitutional takeover of the health care system and usurpation of your personal freedom and individual liberty. And they will constantly hammer that this takeover is "the law of the land" that will "never be repealed" and must be accepted as a fait accompli. Anyone who disagrees with them will be portrayed as "dangerously angry" and a potential threat for "violence" in order to paint dissenters as "extremists".

Here are the DNC main talking points (all false, of course):

* It is not government-run health care because it's not a single-payer system, nor is there a government option insurance; it's "private" insurance of your choice.
* This bill is "no big deal," and it's "very moderate and watered-down."
* This is a "giveaway to insurance companies" because of the $2.5 trillion in government medical welfare subsides to purchase "private" insurance.

While all of these statements may have a small grain of truth or are technically correct in a very narrow sense, they are in no way accurate descriptions of how this government health care takeover works.

ObamaCare amounts to a de facto federal takeover of the entire medical and health insurance system through regulation, forced participation, and financial control over individual citizens and the major health care interests. At best, the ObamaCare structure will function as a shadow single-payer system. In the worst case, the massive amount of government control can be unleashed at any time to destroy the entire health care system in this country in a few short years.
Read full American Thinker article here.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Who's in your wallet

View video here.

Are cosmic rays really causing Toyota's woes?

It is interesting that as technology enables microprocessors to become smaller and smaller, it becomes more difficult to protect them from nature.

Excerpt:
It may sound far-fetched, but federal regulators are studying whether sudden acceleration in Toyotas is linked to cosmic rays.

Radiation from space long has affected airplanes and spacecraft, and is known for triggering errors in computer systems, but has received scant attention in the auto industry.

The phenomenon can trigger software crashes that come and go without a trace. Unlike interference from radio waves, there's no way to physically block particles; such errors typically have to be prevented by a combination of software and hardware design.

And an anonymous tipster told NHTSA last month that "the automotive industry has yet to truly anticipate SEUs."
Reed Free Press article here.

Democrat Dingell Says It Takes Time To Set Up To CONTROL The People

States Sue Over Overhaul That Will Bust State Budgets

I guess this is an additional cost not in the CBO numbers. What else is in the bill?

Excerpt:
Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania are among 14 states that filed suit after the president signed the bill over the constitutionality of the burden imposed by the legislation. The health-care overhaul will make as many as 15 million more Americans eligible for Medicaid nationwide starting in 2014 and will cost the states billions to administer.

Florida will have to spend an additional $1.6 billion for Medicaid and hire 1,000 new workers to accommodate the overhaul, the state’s Attorney General Bill McCollum said yesterday in Orlando, Florida.

“This is a bad bill,” he said. “That’s a political determination and a practical one.”

The states that sued are Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington, McCollum said in a statement on his office’s Web site.

The complaint posted on the Florida attorney general’s Web site called the legislation an “encroachment on the sovereignty of states,” and said Florida will be asked to “broaden its Medicaid eligibility standards to accommodate upwards of 50 percent more enrollees.”


Read Bloomberg article here.

Was Stupak Bought Off? Last Minute Airport Deals Make It Look So

Excerpt: Was this Yet Another Backroom Deal to Force Obama’s Bill Down the American People’s Throats?

Three airports in the district of infamous fence-sitting and ultimately kowtowing Democrat Bart Stupak were awarded $726,409 in grants by the Obama Administration just two days before a vote on Obama and Pelosi’s government takeover of healthcare.

Did Stupak compromise his supposed principled stand against taxpayer funding of abortion in exchange for taxpayer dollars for pet projects?
Read article here.

Paris Cap & Tax Bill on Skids - EU Pulling Back

Paris has scrapped its planned carbon tax because of voter disapproval and lack of support in the rest of the EU. They cite the adverse effect of the tax on France's competitiveness within the EU as the reason for the change. Here's hoping the Obama administration and the Democrat Congress will be as pragmatic and drop the whole idea of the huge job killing Cap & Trade (Tax) bill.

Excerpt:
The French government on Wednesday said it would abandon its plan to introduce a carbon tax on domestic energy and road fuels unless there was agreement for a European Union-wide levy.

The U-turn on the controversial environmental tax come two days after the governing UMP party of President Nicolas Sarkozy suffered a heavy defeat in regional elections. Senior UMP politicians have blamed the defeat in part on the proposed tax, which was due to come into effect on July.


Paris scraps carbon tax planhere.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Car of the Future

Decoding an Ancient Therapy - Acupuncture

For those of you in pain from whatever cause, it appears you should not overlook acupuncture. Studies of the brain transmitters during treatment show effects that indicate the treatment is effective. It is used by our military to relieve pain and even some insurance covers it. Try it, it may help.

Excerpt:
Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.

As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.


Read WSJ article here.

Repeal

The Heritage Foundation along with the States will help lead us in the fight against this horrendous medical takeover bill. This article mentions something I considered in that, without money, Obama cannot create the bureaucracy to implement the bill. Congress controls the purse strings so Republicans must be ever vigilant to keep these appropriations from being passed. Taking back control of Congress is a must.

Excerpt:
Those who supported this bill are our fellow Americans, and we do not question their good will or patriotism. In public policy, however, good intentions alone do not suffice. And let there be no mistake, our philosophical differences with supporters of this bill are profound. The reason government-run health care has been the holy grail of the left for decades is that liberals realize as much as we do that it is a giant step toward the creation of a European-style welfare state. This is an evolution Americans have always resisted because it is alien to our national character.

On Capitol Hill, the initial battle over Obamacare will occur when Congress considers whether to fund the tens of thousands of new federal bureaucrats necessary to implement the new law. In the tradition of the Hyde amendment, which prevented federal funding for abortions through annual limitations appended to appropriations bills, conservatives should look to the appropriations process as our first line of defense. Straightforward funding limitations would prevent any Administration official or any bureaucrat from implementing the law.


Read The Foundry article here.

The Coming Consequences of Obamacare

Disappointed, yes, but we must pick ourselves up and take back our government from the liberal/progressives that are scoffing at our Constitution and destroying our freedom and our children's future. This article states that well qualified citizens are coming forward and will give conservatives the impetus to take back the House in November and names a number of these candidates.

Excerpt:
"When we started out recruiting, right after the Obama win, the president had an approval rating of about 72 percent and we had just gotten through losing about 50 seats in the last two cycles," says Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who is playing a key role the GOP effort. "It wasn't easy to recruit anybody." Then came Democratic overreach -- stimulus, cap and trade, health care. After that came GOP victories in the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races. And then came Scott Brown's Senate win in Massachusetts. A trickle of good candidates turned into a flood.

The new candidates deeply believe the Obama administration has put the country on the wrong track. They sense weakness in Democrats who had to be strong-armed into voting for Obamacare. They feel the support of growing numbers of voters in their districts. They're running hard, and they're most likely going to leave a bunch of Democrats without jobs. Obamacare will have consequences.
Read Byron York article here.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Unions, Public Schools and Minority Children

Star Parker has documented the main problem with our education system by focusing on the unions. Unions, with their political clout with the Democrats, have thrived in our public schools, while almost disappearing in the public sector, and have succeeded in blocking any real change in the system. Because of this, many under educated minorities and others are stuck in the unending cycle of poverty. Who to blame, unions and the legislators who cater to them.

Solution: charter schools, vouchers and any other form of school choice.

Excerpt:
Speaking a couple years ago about technology and education, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs said that technology wouldn't matter as long as you can't fire teachers.

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," he said.

Jobs likened schools to running a small business that he said could never succeed if you can't hire and fire.

A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed reported on the glowing success of charter schools in Harlem. "Nationwide the average black 12th grader reads at the level of a white eighth grader. Yet, Harlem charter students ....are outperforming their white peers in wealthy suburbs."

Yet, in 2009 the New York teachers union successfully lobbied the state legislature to freeze charter school spending and now is pushing to limit penetration of charters in school districts.
Read Star Parker article here.

Media Attacks on Tea Party - Video Proof of Misinformation

The Liberal media and some Democrat representatives have accused the Tea Party demonstrators of spitting on them and calling them vile names as they walked from the Longworth office building to the Rayburn office building. This video is of that walk and does not support those allegations.

Read the Liberal media article

CNBC's Cramer On Effect of ObamaCare on Investments

Aristotle's Warning

Aristotle lived in a time of change, where governments and constitutions were fluid. He documented his studies of these governments in his book "Politics". Our democracy is in trouble and we need to take heed.

Excerpt:
To many otherwise innocent American voters, "change" likely meant the change from Bush-era recession to a vibrant new Obama-era prosperity. But when candidate and President Obama began stirring up class warfare against Wall Street, bankers, insurance companies, and the "rich," my instincts led me to Aristotle, who saw and wrote about various populist "demagogues" and their effect on democratic society many times during his lifetime in Athens.

Democracies, says Aristotle, tend to be pulled in one direction: toward a vilification of everything involving merit, hierarchy, inequality, proportion, and worth. For Aristotle, this type of democratic "energy" actually begins at birth: "People are prone to think that the fact of their all being equally free-born means that they are all absolutely equal."

The duty of a mature legislator and statesman, says Aristotle, is to spend much of his time pulling his country in the opposite direction from where the righteous wind tends to blow in a democracy. That means blocking legislation that undermines the ability of talented, qualified, and hardworking individuals to receive the benefit of their exertions in due proportion.
Read the American Thinker article here.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Is the AFL-CIO Getting Federal Dollars to Support Health Care Deform?

Nothing here surprises me with all the corruption in our government. I guess I have the same question the writer has: Why is the ACILS (AFL-CIO) getting $28 million of taxpayers dollars?

Excerpt:
Tom Buffenbarger, the Machinists’ union leader, is flat out at war over this provision and lots of union leaders are wondering why the heck the AFL-CIO decided to line up behind legislation that taxes union workers.

Here is the ACILS’s 2009 annual report.

If you look on page 29, you will find that Congress funneled $28,475,408.00 to the AFL-CIO through the ACILS for the year in 2008. And I suspect if you dig around you are going to find that the AFL-CIO now stands to get more money.

In other words, the AFL-CIO’s leadership is getting federal money in exchange for supporting a health care proposal that will screw its workers.
Read post here.

Price: Obamacare Means 159 New Gov't Agencies

Excerpt: The bill would create 159 new governemnt agencies to regulate insurance and medical care for Americans.

Writing for AOL News, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. says in an op-ed that the healthcare overhaul being contemplated by House Democrats will sacrifice “the quality of health care that has made this nation's practice of medicine the envy of the world.”

“Quality remains one of the six principles of patient-centered health care that Republicans have advocated,” Price writes. “Yet, all Americans find in the Democrats' government-centered vision are various boards of bureaucrats -- not practicing physicians -- determining what is considered quality care.”

The plan will take away the right of individuals to make the best decisions about their healthcare in consultation with their physician.

“An individual patient is far better served when health care decisions are informed by the advice of their doctor, not the dictates of Washington,” Price writes. “So when one reads the details of the legislation pending before Congress and finds the creation of 159 new government offices and programs, there is little else to feel but fear and concern for what will happen to the level of quality care in this country.”

Chris Dodd’s Big, Misguided Bill

Dodd in the Senate and Frank in the House were largely responsible for the collapse of Fannie and Freddie and almost, the entire banking system. Now Dodd is Chairman in charge of the new financial control legislation. Perhaps the thinking is that a person learns from his mistakes and, boy has Dodd made mistakes. The only sure thing is that another (or two) costly government bureaucracies will be born.

Excerpt:
The Dodd bill does propose a big new government department inside the Fed to protect the consumer from banks and bad financial products. But the Federal Reserve System is already overburdened with regulatory duties, and it’s a mistake for Congress to assign it yet another complicated role.

Rather than creating a new oversight department that expands Washington’s regulatory power, it would be better to use this opportunity — per the Obama administration’s notion of not letting a crisis go to waste — to streamline and concentrate the many existing consumer financial regulators in one place. This would result in a reduction of government jobs, rather than the big increase that is going on now.

By focusing on the wrong problems, the Dodd bill would make the economy worse, meaning the private sector will not be able to create the jobs the U.S. economy needs. At the same time, state and local governments won’t collect the level of tax receipts needed to pay pensions and operating expenses.

Economic and job growth require good financial regulation, proposals for which are few and far between in Washington today.
Read National Review article here.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Liberals Getting a Taste of How ‘Balance’ Feels - Texas School Books

Excerpt: Lack of balance is the charge being levied against the Texas State Board of Education after it inserted changes to new standards in social studies programs in public schools. The Associated Press said in an article that a “far-right faction” of the board had succeeded “in injecting conservative ideals” into the curriculum.

The Texas flap matters because Texas is so big. Publishers will revise textbooks to win the prize Texas contract. But the debate also reminds us that our current definition of balance is distorted. After all, what’s wrong with “injecting conservative ideals” into a curriculum, as long as they aren’t the only ideals?

At its most devilishly aggressive -- and whatever lines it inserts about church, state, hip-hop or the Alamo -- the board will not restore true balance. It will merely manage to make the curriculum a little less skewed to the left.

America's Comeback

Rep. Paul Broun, M.D. (R-GA) on Federal Power

I like his 4 way test prior to voting: is it right/moral? Is it constitutional? Is it needed? Is it affordable?

Excerpt:
Since the New Deal, the American people have witnessed the federal government steadily overstep its authority established by the U.S. Constitution. But that just laid the groundwork for the damage that has occurred over the past two years. The snowball started with bailouts for the two housing giants, Fannie and Freddie, followed by the banking and auto bailouts, and then lawmakers drafted an overhaul of our financial industry to establish permanent bailouts. Now Washington is trying to takeover our entire health care system, our energy-supply, and even the job market. Read Rep. Broun Opinion here.

Democracy Denied - Obama Charted


To Repeat: Doctors Could Hang It Up

My cardiologist recently left a group that he started a number of years ago to go it alone. The doctors in his group were lessening the time they were spending with patients in order to make up for reductions already made in reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies. He decided to leave and accept a reduction in earnings in order to spend quality time with his patients. What further cuts in reimbursements will do to his practice, only time will tell, but these highly educated and caring doctors should not be forced out of business because the liberal democrats want power, and will divert healthcare funds to create a money guzzling socialized bureaucracy.

Excerpt:
In our original poll taken in August of 2009, of the physicians queried, 45% said they'd consider closing their practice or retiring early if the overhaul then being considered were enacted. Also, 65% said they opposed the government's attempts at taking over the health care system. Just 33% supported it.

Given that the White House and Congress both promised then — as they do now — to provide health care coverage for 31 million new patients while at the same time cutting costs from the $2.4 trillion a year we spend on medical care, we thought it was important to reveal that doctors wouldn't go along with it.

What we found was that of the 800,000 physicians practicing in the U.S. in 2006, as many as 360,000 might leave the profession. So with the proposed overhaul, we'd be trying to cover 31 million more patients with up to 45% fewer doctors.

Impossible. It can't be done.

The current poll, conducted by the Medicus Firm, a physician search and consulting outfit, found that 29.2% of the nearly 1,200 doctors it queried said they would quit or retire early if a health overhaul were passed into law. That number jumped to 45.7% — nearly identical to our own — if a public option were included.

In the end, it's clear: A health care overhaul, as it's now being pushed, could lead to a precipitous drop in the number of doctors.

"Many physicians feel that they cannot continue to practice if patient loads increase while pay decreases," wrote Kevin Perpetua, managing partner of the Medicus Firm, summing up his findings.
Read IBD article here.

On Ethics, Let the Minority Rule

Both remedies in the article have its pitfalls, minority party in charge, witch hunts; majority party in charge, witch hunts and stonewalling. Maybe dual chairmanships, each presides over the other parties ethics violations. Couple this with equal representation on the committee and you have the ability to forestall frivolous attacks. After that you would need men of principle to break any political stalemates and prove to the electorate that Congress can be ethical and worth its salt.

Excerpt:
Yet the deeper problem may be structural, within the rules of the House itself -- specifically, the rules governing the ethics committee.

Though the House ethics committee (technically, The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) is made up of five Republicans and five Democrats, the chair is always chosen from the party that holds the majority in the House. Though it is meant to be independent, in practice, the committee's leadership is accountable to the Speaker and obeys the majority party's priorities, whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge of Congress.

Even when the ethics committee does its job properly, leadership by the majority party can create the impression that investigations are motivated purely by political concerns. That is the charge levied by Rep. Massa and others who claim they were threatened with ethics investigations to silence their opposition to the Obama administration's health care legislation.

The moral of the Massa mess is that the House must pass a rule-change requiring the leader of the ethics committee to be chosen by, and from, the minority party. This practice is common throughout the British Commonwealth. In the House of Commons, for example, the chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts is Edward Leigh, a member of the Conservative opposition.
Read article and great comments here.

Obamacare Would Prompt Devastating Medicare Cuts

Being on Medicare, this article was a little scary until I read further and realized that it would take courage by the Democrat Congress to let these cuts go through. This is the same problem with the CBO scoring, they have to assume (ass-u-me) that the courage is there and the savings will be realized. Fat chance!

Excerpt:
Either the Medicare cuts will take effect or they will be postponed by a terrified Congress.

If they take effect, physicians' fees will be slashed 21 percent and hospital reimbursements for Medicare patients will be cut by $1.3 billion. Tens of thousands of doctors and thousands of healthcare institutions — hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics and such — will refuse to treat Medicare patients.

Entire cities could be without one doctor in important specialties who will take care of the elderly on Medicare. Particularly in fields like arthritic and joint pain, doctors will simply refuse to accept the low reimbursement rates they are being offered and hospitals will refuse all but emergency care to Medicare patients.

In effect, the elderly could experience a doctors' strike against Medicare patients.
Read Dick Morris article here.

Ryan Discusses The True Cost Of ObamaCare

Friday, March 19, 2010

KUHNER: Impeach the president?

I don't know whether I would put the country through an impeachment debacle at this time and we know there are not the votes in Congress for it, but I do believe as Kuhner does, that this Democrat solution is Unconstitutional. The bicameral legislature was set up to insure the minority parties had a say. Use of this procedure eliminates this safeguard.

Excerpt:
The Slaughter Solution is a poisoned chalice. By drinking from it, the Democrats would not only commit political suicide. They would guarantee that any bill signed by Mr. Obama is illegitimate, illegal and blatantly unconstitutional. It would be worse than a strategic blunder; it would be a crime - a moral crime against the American people and a direct abrogation of the Constitution and our very democracy.

It would open Mr. Obama, as well as key congressional leaders such as Mrs. Pelosi, to impeachment. The Slaughter Solution would replace the rule of law with arbitrary one-party rule. It violates the entire basis of our constitutional government - meeting the threshold of "high crimes and misdemeanors." If it's enacted, Republicans should campaign for the November elections not only on repealing Obamacare, but on removing Mr. Obama and his gang of leftist thugs from office.

It is time Americans drew a line in the sand. Mr. Obama crosses it at his peril.
Read Washington Times article here.

Democrat Senator Byrd

*The author of reconciliation cries “foul.” Here's what Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has to say about using “reconciliation” to ram Obamacare through the Senate. You might share this quote with some friends: “I was one of the authors of the legislation that created the budget ‘reconciliation’ process in 1974, and I am certain putting healthcare reform and climate change legislation on a freight train through Congress is an outrage that must be resisted.... The misuse of the arcane process of reconciliation—a process intended for deficit reduction—to enact substantive policy changes is an undemocratic disservice to our people and to the Senate's institutional role.... Essentially it says ‘take it or leave it’ to the citizens who sent us here to solve problems, and it prevents members from representing their constituents interests.”

Source: Personal Liberty

The Wrong Prescription: Democrats’ Health Overhaul Dangerously Expands IRS Authority

Committee on Ways and Means Republican Report
Prepared for Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Charles Boustany (RLA),
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight
March 18, 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
***Highlights of New IRS Authority***

IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care
coverage

IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent
of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove
that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage”

IRS can confiscate your tax refund

IRS audits are likely to increase

IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health
care program this decade

IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional
auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and
collect billions in new taxes from Americans

Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will
be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of
poverty ($66,150 for a family of four)

***SPECIAL EXEMPTION***

Democrats prohibit the IRS from imposing these taxes and
penalties on illegal immigrants

Read the full report here.

Obama's New Investment Tax

This tax increase coupled with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts should really create jobs and stimulate the economy. Note the sarcasm.

Excerpt:
The White House's new health-care proposal promises the "largest middle class tax cut for health care in history," which is a creative way of describing a vast taxpayer-subsidized insurance entitlement. Naturally, the fine print goes on to describe one of the largest tax increases for health care in history, too.

This new ObamaCare bargain would for the first time apply the 2.9% Medicare payroll tax to "interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rents," so-called passive income that we are told includes capital gains, though the latter wasn't explicitly mentioned in the proposal. This antigrowth investment tax would apply to singles earning more than $200,000 and joint filers over $250,000 and comes on top of the Senate's 0.9-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax, which would bring the combined employee-share to 3.8%.

This will be sold in the name of "fairness," if anyone else in the press corps notices, but the worst implications are economic. The 0.9% increase is another tax on job creation, though Democrats claim they want more jobs. The devious 2.9% hike on investment income will raise the cost of capital, though Democrats claim to want more capital investment. Sometimes we wonder if Democrats even listen to their own rhetoric, or if they assume voters are too dumb to notice their contradictions.
Read WSJ article here.

Senator Colburn to Democrats - Sell Your Votes and Reap the Consequences

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Specter Opens Door on White House Felonies

Do we have an ObamaGate here?

Excerpt:
In the circumstances at hand, any future Congressional investigator or prosecutor will be using this reputation just as it was used to ruin Haldeman and Regan. And no one anywhere can miss the legion of political commentators predicting the health care issue will result in Republicans regaining control of the Senate, the House -- or both. Either one of which, if it happens, will instantly put the investigating machinery of Congress in the hands of Republicans -- like Darrell Issa..

There can be no other reason for Gibbs to be fending off Jake Tapper or Major Garrett, for Robert Bauer and Gibbs both to ignore Congressman Issa, or for Andrew Romanoff to stonewall Denver's Peter Boyles -- the list is growing - than one.

That one reason?

At a minimum someone inside the Obama White House has screwed up and embarrassed the president.

Or, that somebody or more than one somebody -- a somebody or somebodies of note -- has or have in fact committed a federal crime in the President's name.
Read full article here.

Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow

Excerpt: The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Russia more sensibly views energy primarily as a strategic resource. Energy is critical to Russia's economy, as fuel and as a source of profit through export. Now Russia is using oil exploration to establish a new presence in the Western Hemisphere. From Russia's perspective, this is another way to gain leverage inside what traditionally has been America's sphere of influence. It may not be as dramatic as the Soviet Union attempting to use Cuba as a missile platform, but in the energy wars, the message is the same. Russia is projecting power into the Western Hemisphere while the United States retreats. The world will not tolerate a superpower that acts like a sidekick much longer.
Read Washington Times article here.

Quality Competition in Health Care by John Goodman

An interesting article discussing the market's effects on health care where government intrusion is not a factor.

Excerpt:
Most providers don’t compete for patients either on price or on quality. Since out-of-pocket payments by patients are well below the true cost of their care, demand exceeds supply and services are rationed by waiting — just like in Canada. In such an environment, quality improvements do not increase provider income and quality degradation does not decrease it. That’s why so much of the health care system resembles the Department of Motor Vehicles.

In some specialized markets, however, providers actively seek more customers, often advertising directly to patients — on TV, in magazines, etc., sometimes in other cities and sometimes nationwide. For example, New York’s Mount Sinai Medical and Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Massachusetts General in Boston are all aggressive advertisers on cancer care. In these markets, third-party payment significantly exceeds the marginal cost of care, and supply often exceeds demand.

Providers in these markets typically compete for patients based on quality. They need patient-pleasing services in order to attract their clientele in the first place and to retain them as ongoing customers. And their activities raise an obvious question: Why can’t we have quality competition system-wide?
Read full article here.

Crisis in Turkey

Turkey has long been one of our staunchest allies in Korea and around the world until recently when radical Muslims gained control, by a plurality, of the government. Through attempts to purge the military of secularists, those against Shari'a law, they have lost some popular backing and are expecting to be defeated in the next elections. The US and the world cannot afford to lose the "Republic" of Turkey to radical Islam. Read the Daniel Pipes article Crisis in Turkey here.

Excerpt:
The arrest and indictment of top military figures in Turkey last week precipitated potentially the most severe crisis since Atatürk founded the republic in 1923. The weeks ahead will probably indicate whether the country continues its slide toward Islamism or reverts to its traditional secularism. The denouement has major implications for Muslims everywhere.

Turkey's Islamic importance suggests that the outcome of this crisis has consequences for Muslims everywhere. AKP domination of the military means Islamists control the umma's most powerful secular institution, proving that, for the moment, they are unstoppable. But if the military retains its independence, Atatürk's vision will remain alive in Turkey and offer Muslims worldwide an alternative to the Islamist juggernaut.

Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16 (Washington State)

The savings that are considered in the ObamaCare bills will have unforeseen consequences and credit for these savings may be premature. The old " can't get blood out of a turnip" saying will come back to haunt the Democrats if they think they know more than the doctors, hospitals, druggists, and pharmaceutical companies about costs and cost containment.

Excerpt: Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.

The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.

In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.

Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid patients last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at all but 15 of those stores.


As an aside, through my wife's business, we had some relationship with the Bartell Drug store chain. The management has a great respect and caring for their customers and are not the evil businessmen that Obama would want you to believe. They are trying to make a good living for themselves and their employees and to do this, they cannot afford to sell prescriptions below cost. If you do not understand this, then you are a true Obama believer and you are a taker, not a contributor to our great society. Government takes, business creates. Read full article here.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

New Poll Finds Americans Really, Really Do Not Want ObamaCare

Excerpt: The poll suggests that Americans oppose how the health care bill is being passed and want more debate and a more democratic approach. … The potential of House Democrats sending the Senate bill to the president without an up or down vote is clearly counter to public sentiment and in strong opposition to the meager support for the tax increases, Medicare cuts and subsidies embedded in the reform bill. Not to mention, there remains strong public opposition to empowering government panels to set limits on future access to care and what kind of health plans the uninsured can have. What Americans do support are proposals to buy plans that reward healthy behavior, encourage saving and investing for future health needs, and policies that reward future treatments and cures.

To read the results by question please read the full article here.

All the Presidents Budget Gimmicks

Excerpt: President Obama's new budget proposal would raise taxes by $3 trillion over the decade — and still double the national debt.

He inherited unsustainable Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and net interest costs, but instead of paring spending back, decided to pile on trillions of dollars in new health care, education and energy spending. Even the historic tax increases proposed by the president would cover only a fraction of these new costs. By 2020 — even assuming peace and prosperity — the budget deficit would still top $1 trillion. At that point, more than one-third of all income taxes would be needed just to pay the interest on this debt.

Yet it could be even worse.


View the list of gimmicks and discussions at All the Presidents Budget Gimmicks

Pelosi Sleaze - Jack Cafferty

Jumping off the Government Bridge - Privatization

The CATO Institute has analyzed a number of agencies of the Federal Government that are not part of its Constitutional charge and which would be better operated in the private sector and would bring needed funds to the Treasury.

Excerpt:  Privatization of federal and state infrastructure makes sense for many reasons. First, privatization would reduce the responsibilities of the government so that policymakers could better focus on their core responsibilities, such as national security. Second, there is vast foreign privatization experience that could be drawn upon in pursuing U.S. reforms. Third, privatization would spur economic growth by opening new markets to entrepreneurs. For example, repeal of the U.S. postal monopoly could bring major innovation to the mail industry, just as the 1980s' breakup of AT&T brought innovation to the telecommunications industry.

Here are some of the government businesses and infrastructure that could be privatized:

Postal Services. The mammoth 685,000-person U.S. Postal Service is facing declining mail volume and rising costs. The way ahead is to privatize the USPS and repeal the company's legal monopoly over first-class mail. Reforms in countries such as Germany and New Zealand show that there is no good reason for the current mail monopoly.

Air Traffic Control. The Federal Aviation Administration has been mismanaged for decades and provides Americans with second-rate air traffic control. The FAA has struggled to expand capacity and modernize its technology. Canada privatized its ATC system in 1996. It set up a private, nonprofit ATC corporation, Nav Canada, which is self-supporting from charges on aviation users. The Canadian system has received high marks for sound finances, solid management, and investment in new technologies.

Highways. A number of states are moving ahead with privately financed and operated highways. The Dulles Greenway in Northern Virginia is a 14-mile private highway opened in 1995 that was financed by private bond and equity issues. In the same region, Fluor-Transurban is building and mainly funding high-occupancy toll lanes on a 14-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway. Drivers will pay to use the lanes with electronic tolling, which will recoup the company's roughly $1 billion investment.

Airports. Nearly all major U.S. airports are owned by state and local governments, with the federal government subsidizing airport renovation and expansion. By contrast, airports have been fully or partly privatized in many foreign cities, including Athens, Auckland, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London, Melbourne, Naples, Rome, Sydney, and Vienna.

Seaports. Nearly all U.S. seaports are owned by state and local governments. Many operate below world standards because of inflexible union work rules and other factors. A Maritime Administration report noted that "American ports lag well behind other international transportation gateways such as Singapore and Rotterdam in terms of productivity." Dozens of countries around the world have privatized their seaports. One Hong Kong company, Hutchinson Whampoa, owns 30 ports in 15 countries. In Britain, 19 ports were privatized in 1983 to form Associated British Ports.

To sum up, some policymakers think that certain activities, such as air traffic control, are "too important" to leave to the private sector. But the reality is just the opposite. The government has shown itself to be a failure at providing efficiency and high quality in services such as air traffic control. Such industries are too important to miss out on the innovations that private entrepreneurs could bring to them. Read CATO article here.

Also read a more detailed listing prepared by CATO here.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Talking Points vs. Realty - Obama's Ponzi Scheme

Excerpt: In a swindle that would make Bernie Madoff look like an amateur, Barack Obama has gotten a substantial segment of the population to believe that he can add millions of people to the government-insured rolls without increasing the already record-breaking federal deficit.

In politics, however, you can say all sorts of things that have no relationship with reality. If you have a mainstream media that sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil-- when it comes to Barack Obama-- you can say that you will pay for a vast expansion of government-provided insurance by taking money from the Medicare budget and using other gimmicks.
Talking Points vs. Realty

Mexico violence factors in spring break plans - Keep Your Kids In USA

Parents should be aware of what is happening below the border and take the necessary precautions.

Excerpt:
Whether it was grisly murders of three people with ties to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, over the weekend or months of reports about the bloody drug war south of the border, students at the popular spot just off the southern tip of Texas said they were avoiding the short drive to Mexico. For many, parents' admonitions short circuited spring break plans before they began.

"Parents should not allow their children to visit these Mexican (border) cities because their safety cannot be guaranteed," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said in a warning issued March 4.

The alert applied specifically to border towns and did not include other popular Mexican destinations such as Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, but University of North Texas student Katie-Ross Ward said the strong warning closed the deal for her parents.
Read it here.

We've Landed In Alice's Wonderland

This American Spectator article lists a number of instances where decisions being made today are, seemingly, out of step with common sense and teachings of history. It makes one wonder how we let it get to this point.

Excerpt: It appears America has become that mad land Alice stumbled upon down the rabbit hole. There is so much about American society that no longer makes any sense. Up is down, black is white and right is wrong. We've witnessed the implementation of programs, policies and court opinions over the last several decades that defy commonsense and logic.

And there appears to be no end in sight to the madness.There exists in Washington, D.C., today, a political climate that considers business evil, hard work to be without virtue, and individual liberty and freedom a plague that must be eliminated.

Time after time, government bureaucrats, politicians, academia, major news organizations and the cultural elite demonstrate themselves to be out of step and out of touch with the American people and their valueshttp://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/12/weve-landed-in-alices-wonderla/"
Read it here.

Monday, March 15, 2010