The Failed Two Party System

This quote by Bill Clinton's hero, Professor Carroll Quigley, author of Tragedy & Hope, says it all:

"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other partym, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies."

Couple that quote with the acclaimed article in The American Spectator, America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution, and you will get a better sense of what is wrong with the American system.

• It is run by power-hungry politicians who gerrymander themselves into lifetime appointments.


• The general public is complacent at best, apathetic at worst.

Is it time for a Constitutional Amendment for TERM LIMITS? There is no way to institutionalize the injection of new blood and new ideas into Washington. The Founding Fathers thought the electorate would kick the bums out but that certainly is not happening.

Who is up for a Constitutional Amendment? Wouldn't you love to hear the arguments against it and see who is making them??

Game Over or Silver Lining?

Is it over America? Did the bad guys win while you stood by and let it happen? Or is their a silver lining at the end of the disaster known as The Obama Administration?

In case you have not awaken from your Apathy Coma, Obama has delivered on his promise to, "FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM AMERICA". He said he was going to do it and he has! And over 50%+ of you voted for him! I will grant you that the alternative was lackluster but the evidence that the bill of goods you were sold was rotten is/was overwhelming.

Admit it, you fell for the "Hope and Change" bullshit because you had just spent eight years listening to the lamestream media beat the hell out of Bush. Now you know that same media that you relied on for your news has less creditability than the person currently residing in the White House. Do you feel stupid or what? You refused to listen to people like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Levine and Ingraham because the no-creditability media successfully painted them into the "right-wing extremist" or "racist" corner. AND YOU FELL FOR IT!

Let's review the countless campaign promises that have been broken in the first nineteen months of this regime:

• No new taxes for "folks making $250,000 or less". I guess it depends on what your definition of "taxes" is (sound familiar?).
  
  
• All Bills will be on the Internet for several days before any vote.
  
  
• Guantanamo Bay would be closed within one year of the inaugaration.
  
  
• Get out of Iraq.
  
  
• Unemployment will be held at 8% if the non-stimulus bill was passed.
  
  
• No federal funds used for abortions.
  
  
• The most transparent administration in history.
  
  
• Extinguish the Patriot Act

On top of that, we have been force-fed multiple, 2,000+ page bills full of thousands of new regulations and government agencies. And NEVER FORGET how the Democrats mocked the idea of actually reading the bills before voting on them because they were so long.

• Non-Stimulus Bill - Coming on the heals of Bush's TARP, who could argue? Remember the world was going to end and "They are too big to fail!". It's easy to get away with shit like this when only a handful of people in Congress have the guts to stand up to spending insanity (Bush or Obama). Nonetheless, this was just the First Act.



• Universal Healthcare - I don't care what experts are trotted out on behalf of the administration, this system will end in rationing of care. You simply cannot dump a twenty to fifty million new people into a system without increasing the number of doctors and expect rationing NOT to occur. Not to mention the fact that it gets the government's tentacles on your most private issue - YOUR HEALTH.
  
  Just understand that the model we are trying to emulate (Europe and Canada are collapsing under their own weight). The New York Times reported this weekend on England's plan to decentralize their healthcare system. Talk about ironic! There's just nothing like trying to copy a failed policy to instill confidence. Not sure why you would jump on a sinking ship but, then again, I don't understand socialism and communism either.
  
  Don't forget Pelosi's statement that, "we have to pass the bill so you can see what is in it."
  


• Financial Regulations - Who the hell knows what is in this bill! Not one Congressman has read it. From what I see it will impose fees on banks and other businesses who, in turn, will pass the costs on to the consumers essentially levving another tax on "the little guy" while, again, increasing the reach of government's tentacles.

ARE YOU SEEING THE PATTERN?

So what is next from the Congress with an 11% approval rating and a President currently sitting on his lowest ratings? Watch the lame-duck Congressional session because they are just getting started:

• Card-check.


• Budget-balancing through tax increases.
  


• Cap-and-Tax. Better known as climate-change legislation with taxes on exhailing and substantial regulation to boot.
  


• News outlet regulation (FoxNews and conservative bloggers must be reined in).
  


• Internet regulations (probably in the form of another tax and regulations). Remember, the President said, "there is too much information" out there.
  


• Control over talk radio. After all, we need to balance the rhetoric! Even though every liberal attempt at a radio outlet in the history of mankind has gone bankrupt (except NPR which, of course, is supported by tax dollars).


• Immigration Reform.


• Expansion of IRS tentacles.

The Silver Lining

The only silver lining I see to this unmitigated disaster known as Barak Obama-Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid-Barney Frank-Chris Dodd-Maxine Waters-Joe Biden-Al Gore-Chuck Schumer-Henry Waxman- et al is that the hapless Republicans will take back Congress and spend the next ten years unwinding the damage done by The Obama Train Wreck.

Don't get me wrong, I would be perfectly happy with a Congress that spent a decade doing no further damage to the country. It does bother me tremendously how easily my fellow countrymen were duped by Obama's empty campaign when we had so much evidence right in front of us. I am still blown away that a man with no work experience outside community organizing and a quasi-professorship could be elected President of this country. Apparently our new national motto is "Ignorance, Apathy and Complacency is Bliss". Sad!

It is all about POWER and CONTROL!

Do not let the lamestream media off the hook. They unabashedly ignore stories that negatively impact the Obama Administration.

Have I lost faith?

• In God? No!


• In the ability of the American people to wake up from their APATHY COMA? Probably.

I will have a better idea after November 2, 2010 and November 2, 2012. Until then, we have no choice but to eat the shit sandwich being fed to us by this despicable Congress and administration.

Most Productive Congress Since Johnson

Interesting quote in a LA Times story about how Obama has worn out his welcome in Congress (even within his own Party). After all, they have supported his transformational agenda despite the support of their constituencies. As a result, many of them will lose their job in November; at least those who have not already quit.

This quote caught my attention:

"Obama has led what historians have called the most productive Congress since President Lyndon Johnson."

Two questions:

#1 - Are they referring to the same progressive historians who have been writing our textbooks for the last 60 years who make heroes out of people like Wilson, Sanger and Byrd while skipping over the details of the country's founding, the roll that God plays and vilifying the American military?

#2 - What the hell does "most productive" mean? Ramming legislation down the throats of a country largely opposed to it? Passing legislation that has not been read? Writing 2,000 page laws and telling us that it must be passed before we can see what is in it? Legislating against the wishes of the majority of Americans?

If answers to both questions are "Yes", then I understand. Otherwise, the LA Times is just showing why it, along with every other major liberal fish wrap, has become irrelevant.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-war-congress-20100709,0,1045259.story

Lame Duck Congress

Do you find it interesting that 40%+ of Americans describe themselves as "conservative" and only 15-18% describe themselves as "liberal" with the balance falling somewhere in between? This country is being run by a minority. And their agenda will bankrupt the country.

ARE YOU AWAKE YET?

What do you do when you legislate against the wishes of your constituency? You ram everything down their throat before they can kick you out of office.

It started with the "non-Stimulus" bill, followed up by the healthcare transformation bill, then we had the moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf, then they decided not to pass a federal budget (just deem and pass it), then we had financial transformation bill and the lawsuit against Arizona. Next up - Card Check, environmental regulations, more pork barrel spending and several items to usurp states' rights.

I recommend that you read this op-ed from the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704293604575343262629361470.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Notice how the Democrats characterize their intentions:

• "I've got lots of things I want to do" in a lame duck, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W. Va.) told reporters in mid June.
• North Dakota's Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, wants a lame-duck session to act on the recommendations of President Obama's deficit commission. "It could be a huge deal," he told Roll Call last month. "We could get the country on a sound long-term fiscal path." [by raising taxes on the few people who still have a job and redistributing it as the federal government sees fit]
• Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters last month that for bills like "card check"—"the lame duck would be the last chance, quite honestly, for the foreseeable future."
• Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chair of the Senate committee overseeing labor issues, told the Bill Press radio show in June that "we're still trying to maneuver" a way to pass some parts of the [card check] bill before the next Congress is sworn in.
• A Senate aide told me that "some of the biggest porkers on both sides of the aisle are leaving office this year, and a lame-duck session would be their last hurrah for spending."

Open Letter to Liberal Family Member

The following is my response to a self-proclaimed left-of-center family member who refused to finish watching one of Glenn Beck's Founders Friday episodes (at my request) because, "I didn't get a whole lot out of it other than Beck is accusing progressive liberals of not giving African Americans their due in History books by suppressing the truth about who really help found America". Ironic, huh? Since that was one of the points proven in the episode.


This particular family member also took the usual swipes at Rush Limbaugh because he, "blames liberal Democrats [for everything]" and explained that they do NOT read my DoseofTruth blog posts because they do not like the rhetoric.

See below:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Two final comments:

#1 - You said you did not agree with the "rhetoric" [of my blog posts]. Are my arguments valid or not? Are they based on evidence or innuendo? What does the rhetoric have to do with the point being made? I realize the tone and rhetoric may be inflammatory but we all need to evaluate the argument/message/policy by its merit not by its delivery.

Too many people are infatuated or turned off by rhetoric. That is one of the reasons why we are now "blessed" with our current President. He spoke really well and McCain was old, boring and stiff (kind of like Bob Dole), yet Obama was, hands down, the least qualified person to run for President in the history of this country from one of the two major parties. He has proved me right time and time again in these long 18 months of his dictatorship (just stealing a line from Keith Olbermann describing Bush). . . . Is that inflammatory rhetoric or is my argument valid? For the record, McCain is/was not qualified to be President either. I don't believe Senators are qualified to run anything except their mouth. Give me the governor of any state from either Party over any Senator any day of the week. Is that inflammatory rhetoric or is my argument valid? I hope you see my point on the "rhetoric" comment.

#2 - I don't look at politics as Left and Right anymore. It is total government on one end of the spectrum (fascists and communists) and anarchy on the other. The Founding Fathers placed the country much closer to anarchy than toward total government. Throughout the years we have moved up and down that spectrum. So, in my mind, there is a very simple argument that must be waged, do you want more or less government and where do you draw the line.

Bringing this back to liberals versus conservatives, clearly the majority of the country leans conservative. Americans are by nature independent. However, what we see now is a power grab of biblical portions because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. That is why 2,000 page bills are being passed on a regular basis loaded with all kinds of new government decrees and controls despite the fact that the majority of the country opposes the bills.

Let's not forget the fact that Senator Dodd and Congresswoman Pelosi both actually said the following about their respective bills, "We need to pass them so you can see what is in them" (Dodd on the financial reform bill and Pelosi on the Healthcare bill).

Now, I don't give a shit where you stand politically but a true American would have a problem with any elected official making such asinine and "fuck-the-voters" statements. That is a travesty and bodes poorly for our country in the long run as our kids get saddled with deficits bearing so many zeros that we need to make up a new numbering system. According to the Democrats, the standard by which we pass legislation is (in order of importance):

#1 - Write it
#2 - Pass it
#3 - Read it

I am begging you to make a lucid argument why that makes sense? "Ass backwards" doesn't begin to describe it, however, "corrupt" does! I am not talking about extortion-corruption, I am talking about moral and ethical corruption. If you flip the bird to the majority of the country in order to push a radical agenda, you are morally and ethically corrupt. Is that argument rhetorically inflammatory? If so, please explain?

Through all of this insanity, where is the media? Nowhere to be found! Weren't they called the fourth branch of government?

I believe people like you and me could sit down and compromise on how much government should be involved in the lives of the average citizens. I would get more than I want and you would get less than you want but both of us could walk away from the conversation feeling good about what was accomplished.

Instead, the country is being run by a minority of radicals (inflammatory rhetoric or true?) and there is no compromise. There is no discussion. The Republicans have been shut out from Day 1 (that is a fact, not rhetoric!).

Believe me, I have no compassion for the Republicans. I am changing my Party affiliation to Independent. The game was over the minute GW Bush called himself a "compassionate conservative" implying other conservatives are uncompassionate. At the same time, the liberal press spent eight years unfairly crucifying him and he never defended himself. Hell, Dan Rather threw away a four decade career in order to fabricate a story about Bush. Tell me The Left in this country are honest purveyors of the news!

That same Press completely ignores Democrats' incompetency and misbehavior - Katrina vs. Oil Spill; Packwood and Foley vs. Edwards, Gore, Clinton and Kennedy; Bork, Alito, Roberts vs. Kagan and Sotomayor; multiple tax cheats nominated to cabinet positions; bills being passed without being read; bills being passed despite 60%+ opposition by the population; an American President being chastised for too much spending by European leaders; do I need to go on?

So, there you have it, the last political conversation I will ever initiate with you.

Take it for what it is but I would hope you will ask more questions and never take anyone's word for it no matter where you get your news (including me). And please search out and listen to the other sides of every argument (watch Beck, listen to Rush, Neil Boortz, Jason Lewis with an open mind), ignore the "rhetoric" and evaluate the arguments being made, call bullshit when you see it but be able to back up your call, challenge both sides and make them explain why they are doing what they are doing.

Consider yourself removed from my blog mailing list.

He's Calling Our Bluff

After watching the video below, answer the questions that follow the link:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/27/obama_calling_bluff_of_those_complaining_about_debt_he_created.html

#1 - Does it bother you that the only spending cuts Obama mentions are, "killing" Defense spending?

#2 - Does it bother you that he gets away with mentioning "Pay Go" despite the fact that his Party has violated their own rule more than once.

#3 - Does it bother you that he has set up YET ANOTHER commission? This time it is the "Fiscal Commission", which will "start providing reports in November". Wow! I'm so glad the President feels a sense of urgency in getting spending under control. How many commissions has he set up now? For those of you who think electing so-called intellectuals to higher office is a good idea, I hope you like the fourteenth Obama commission. Lots of talk but no action!

Two last points:

#1 - Does it bother you that the lamestream media is mute on this type of shit? I am no journalist but I can identify bullshit when I hear it and the majority of the media ignores it. They would never act this way if a Republican was in the Oval Office.

#2 - Has any politician in the history of the world had the ability to talk longer and say less than Obama???? Even Dean Smith's 'Four Corners' basketball strategy was easier to watch than listening to Obama filibuster so he can end a press conference.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!

What If Part II

Part one available by clicking here.

WHAT IF. . . .

• President Bush constantly and consistently blamed all the country's woes on former President Clinton?

• President Bush averaged five hours per golf game - http://nyti.ms/cLSEXo?
  


• President Bush said something like, "my daughter asked me today, 'Daddy, when are you going to fix all the damage from Katrina'"?
  


• The Bush Administration had given an oil rig a clean bill of health (and an award) a month or two before it exploded and caused the largest natural disaster in American history?
  


• Bush surrounded himself with radical right-wingers?
  


• Karl Rove had said something like, "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste."
  


• Denny Hastert had said something like, "we have to vote for the bill so you can see what's in it"?
  


• Karl Rove had offered a Republican congressional candidate a quip pro quo deal not to run against a Bush favored senatorial candidate?
  


• President Bush waited over a month to do anything significant about the damage caused by Katrina (as Obama did in the Gulf oil spill)?
  


• Republican Congress passed a bill despite opposition from 60%+ of the American electorate?

OMG - Noonan Finally Figures It Out

I just read Peggy Noonan's Wall Street Journal editorial, He Was Supposed to Be Competent. I had a mixed reaction between wanting to puke and laugh. Disbelief does not even begin to describe how I felt reading this from, supposedly, one of the most astute political commentators in the country.

She could not see this coming? The evidence of Obama's incompetence was mountainous, voluminous, overwhelming (fill in your own adjective here). I thought John Kerry was the least qualified person to receive the nomination from a major political party until Obama came along. As incompetent as Jimmy Carter was, at least he ran a state before being elected to run the country.

Obama had never run ANYTHING. He had never made a payroll; doesn't know what payroll is. His lifelong influencers, for the most part, hated America. How many of us have friends like Bill Ayers, a preacher like Jeremiah Wright and associates like Van Jones. If you want to be really frightened, read the resume of a randomly selected Obama “Czar”.

Noonan expresses incredulity over Obama's obtuseness, disconnection, indifference and chronic detachment from the majority of voters, his poor political instincts and judgment. My question to Noonan is what evidence did you have prior to your recent revelation that Obama would be otherwise?
He is doing exactly what he told us he would do, "FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM AMERICA". He knows he will be a one-term President unless, of course, the reconstituted ACORN can be revved up, he passes Illegal Immigration Reform and turns 80% of the illegals into Democrat voters and/or the Census results can be manipulated in his Party's favor. See how this is all related Ms. Noonan???
Even if he is a one-hit wonder, look at the damage he will have inflicted on the country. He will be a paragon of virtue for left-wing, progressives for the rest of his life and beyond. FDR has got nothing on the Big O.
Noonan goes on to say, "It's not good to have a president in this position—weakened, polarizing and lacking broad public support—less than halfway through his term." - THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ELECT SOMEONE WHOSE RESUME HIGHLIGHT IS "COMMUNITY ORGANIZER"!

"Obama was supposed to be competent" - HOW THE HELL DID SHE DRAW THAT CONCLUSION?

I will give credit where it is due here. At the end of the article, Noonan says this "when you ask a government far away in Washington to handle everything, it will handle nothing well." At least she ended on a high note.
-----------------------------------

A Look Into the Future

Want to look into the future of America? Turn you gaze east - look at Europe. That is where we are being led.

First, think about the bill-of-goods we have been sold by the Left in this country: government-administered healthcare, government-run public transportation, government-managed energy policy, government-allocated entitlements, government-provided jobs, government-owned and government-regulated industries (shall I go on?)

Second, look who the President surrounds himself with. His influences are exclusively unions, Communists, Socialists, liberal progressives and Rahm Emanuel (whatever he is). Don't discount this. Do the research for yourself and dispute me.

Do you know what happens when 30% of your workforce works for the federal government and the 'private' sector is controlled by unions while 50% of your population pays no federal income taxes?

Greece happens!

Greece, the beacon of capitalism and entrepreneurism where:

• Retirement with full pension is at age 61.


• You receive EVERYTHING for "Free" including healthcare (sound familiar?)


• People riot in the streets when cutting their social services is discussed.

Heaven forbid they get off their ass and work! Dependence on government breeds complacency and a sense of entitlement, which is exactly the seeds that Obama is sowing RIGHT NOW!

Of course, anyone with half-a-lick of commonsense or with one economics class under their belt understands someone must pay for all the FREE shit handed out by government. In Greece, who is paying????? Not the Greek. Why? Because . . . . they are too big to fail. Heard that one before????

Where will the $145B bailout come from? The EU and the IMF! Of course the US' share of the IMF is 17.1%. Thus we are shelling out almost $25B to bail out Greece. Then we will be on the hook for Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland. Of course we already sent $30B of taxpayer dollars that were part of the $120B used to bail out AIG to European banks. In that light, what is another mere $25B? When the last one standing turns to ask the next one for help and no one is there, that is the end of the game and everything has to reset.

It's the U.S. who will be looking over her shoulder and seeing no one to bail her out. Meanwhile, how many future generations have we bankrupted and sentenced to a life of a lower standard of living than the current and past generations. Is that the American Way?

Progressives in this country have systematically (progressively) taken us apart piece by piece. The steps included: removing God from the public discussion, denigrating the Founding Fathers and slowly increasing the level of entitlements from cradle to grave (see Pay for Your Own Damn Healthcare).

If the U.S. does not change its Greece-like ways and continues to slog toward more and more government control of business and the financial markets, we will become Greece. We do know that in the next 5 to 10 years our debt to GDP ratio will be the same as Greece when it tumbled into this crisis. Ironically it was the 'fiscally responsible' Democrats crying during the Bush administration's absurd spending binge about deficits. Now that they are in power they have more than tripled our debt in less than two years and the 'fiscally responsible' Republicans are crying.

What about all of us truly fiscally responsible Americans having to foot the bill? WE are the ones crying. WE are the ones fitting the bill.

We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. Voila! - the Tea Party movement is born. What does the mainstream media, the Democrats, progressive Republicans and the Obama Administration do? They denigrate it. Call them violent. Call them racists and bigots. In the meantime, it is union thugs conducting themselves with violence.

Is anyone else bothered by the level of apathy and blatant hypocrisy displayed by the media and the Left?

Wake up America!

Fire Congress?

I recently came across www.GOOOH.com. I think it is worth your time to check them out. Very interesting concept.

Is it time for Constitutional Amendments for congressional term limits and a balanced budget? Is that the only way to keep Washington from destroying this country?

Below is part of their most recent press release. While I do not agree that the Republicans "ignored the looming Social Security crisis", I still think the idea is worth your consideration:

Neither party has offered a remedy for what ails our nation; neither comprehends fiscal responsibility. The Republicans are begging to be put back in power, but what have they done to deserve it? They ran up the deficit and refused to put an end to earmarks. They did not seal our borders. They did not improve the education system. They did not decrease our dependence on foreign oil, or prevent the collapse of the housing market. They argued about steroids in baseball and the minimum wage, while managing a mere and temporary 3% cut in the top tax rate. They ignored the looming Social Security and Medicare crisis, and will continue to do so. What exactly have they done to deserve your vote other than vote against the “other” party? It is dishonorable for us to pass this debt, these problems, to our children. It is our duty to fix it, and we need to fix it now!

We cannot continue to vote for the lesser of two evils, regardless of the party you prefer. It is time to raise our voices and tell the politicians we are going to do things differently. It is time to redirect the course of our nation before the politicians of both parties destroy her. It is time to tell the politicians to Get Out Of OUR House.

Pay for Your Own Damn Health Care

A friend of mine was sick recently for over two weeks. When we spoke, I asked him what the doctor said. He said, "I didn't go because I don't have insurance". I lost my cool and asked him, "what do you do when your car breaks down?" He said, "I take it to the shop". I said, "so you allowed your body to get run down and lost two weeks from work instead of spending $100 going to the doctor and getting an antibiotic?" His response, "yes".

Given that scenario and given the debacle of the health care bill that was just shoved down our throat, I ask you to consider this:

• When YOUR car needs new brakes, do you keep driving it until the rotors burn up? Do you go to you local repair shop and pay a $15 co-pay? Or do you pay out of pocket after shopping around in a competitive marketplace?

• How much do you spend every year for your cell phone? Do you make a co-pay or do you shop around for the most competitive service given your needs?

• How much do you spend every year for your cable TV or satellite TV? Do you look to the government to pay for it? Do you make a co-pay and a third-party pays the rest of the bill?

• When your dog or cat gets sick, do you go to your local vet and make a co-pay or do you call around and get a referral to a competent vet and pay out of pocket?

• How much do you spend every year eating out? Maybe you should spend less at restaurants and save some of that money to pay for your health care. Just a thought?

• How much do you spend at Starbucks every year?

• How much do you spend on vacations, travel, entertainment, your boat, your lake house, beach house, your motorcycle, etc?

• How much do you spend on lawn care?

I have two points:

#1 – None of the things I listed above – car, entertainment, pets, cell phones, etc are more important than your health yet, for some reason, this country does not think that we should pay for our own health care. How the hell did that happen?

#2 - WE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO HEALTH CARE! The Constitution does not state it. The Bible does not state it. There is nothing in The Federalist Papers, the Magna Carta or The Articles of Confederation. The only place this entitlement exists is in the minds and doctrines of socialists and communists.

It's a slippery slope folks! What comes after health care? Mortgage assistance (my fault, we already have that)? Prescription drug benefit (already there)? Food Stamps (damn!)? Car care? Entertainment? Pet care? Vacation assistance?

Health care IS NOT a right! Don't be fooled or sucked in to thinking that it is. The federal government has no Constitutional authority to mess with health care. The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Therefore, if any of the fifty states want to offer universal health care, they can do it (i.e. Massachusetts). Let a state go bankrupt but don't bankrupt the whole country. You can move out of Massachusetts if you don't like what they are doing but you can't easily leave the country.

You are not going to get anything for free. We will all eventually suffer through higher rates and rationed care. The reason I can make such a statement is because, without exception, everywhere socialized medicine has been instituted, rationing has ensued and the quality of care has declined. EVERYWHERE!!!! Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Cuba!!!! That's all the proof I need to know that what was just passed is going to be a disaster.

I am not even going to dive into some of the more obvious issues with the bill:

1. The manner in which it was passed
2. The fact that it was almost 3,000 pages
3. The fact that it established countless new government bureaucracies and unrelated earmarks
4. The fact that it was NOT READ by the people who voted for it INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT
5. The fact that the Speaker of the House told us that we must pass it in order to see what is in it
6. The fact that 60%+ of Americans disapprove of the bill
7. The fact that Pelosi and Reid have an 11% and 8% approval rating respectively
8. The fact that Congress' approval rating is 18% or 20%
9. The fact that the President blatantly lied about putting the debate on C-SPAN
10. The fact that the President blatantly lied about putting the bill online for us plebeians to read before it is voted on
11. The fact that we get to pay for the program for the next 3 years via higher taxes before seeing any of the, so called, benefits.
12. The fact that buried within the bill is a takeover of the student loan industry (what does that have to do with health care?)

And for my liberal readers who want me to articulate an alternative, here you go:

1. Tort Reform
2. Remove the 2,100 mandates currently imposed on health insurance companies which will allow a la carte purchasing of insurance
3. Allow the purchase of health insurance across state lines which will instill competition
4. Create a pre-existing conditions pool to lower the cost for those of us with pre-existing conditions. And YES, health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions will be more expensive. That's why it is called insurance because we are a higher risk to the insurer.
5. Read The Patients' Choice Act (look it up!)

Wake up America!

100% Failure Rate - Part II

Consider this further evidence of my post back in September:

I don't know about you but the news out a few days ago about Social Security just proves that our federal government is unable to do anything right; especially with our current administration.

You didn't hear the news? You must watch the mainstream media who refuses to report anything that may make Obama look bad and, if they do, they blame Bush.

The disturbing news is that projections for Social Security are significantly off. Social Security was supposed to remain in the black for at least another six years. We found out a few days ago that it is already in the red; in other words, it is paying out more than it is taking in right now. (You mean to tell me that the government, which publishes its own projections for its own programs was wrong? I'm shocked!).

DO ANY OF YOU REMEMBER WHEN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION TRIED TO OVERHAUL SOCIAL SECURITY?

WHO STOOD IN THE WAY? WHO DEMONIZED THE EFFORT? WHO SCARED SENIOR CITIZENS? ? ? ? ? ?

The answer is the same party that is trying to "fundamentally change America". The Republicans aren't much better but at least they would not have taken the country on a kamikaze mission. They could never get away with it because the loony left and the mainstream media would have screamed day after day like they did for eight years under Bush.

Back to the point of this post: We have commitments that we already cannot meet, and we are saddling ourselves with massive new expansions and more commitments (i.e. health care, stimulus bills/jobs bills, corporate bailouts, massive earmarks, mortgage bailouts, etc).

Where is it coming from?

• It will come FROM debt spread out over generations.

What does it come with?

• It will come WITH a lower standard of living as a result of massive new taxes heaped upon the citizens of the United States and the higher interest rates we will be forced to pay.

Until there is a commitment to MASSIVE spending cuts at the national and state level and MASSIVE tax cuts to stimulate small business owners to create jobs, we are screwed!

Ask yourself why the Obama Administration is not cutting taxes or reducing spending in the midst of the worst economy since The Great Depression???? Why are they piling on with more and more policies that have been proven over time NOT to work????

Power and control!!!!!

HOW'S THAT 'HOPE AND CHANGE' WORKING OUT FOR YOU?????

Please wake up America!

Corporate Debt Viewed More Favorably Than US Debt.

From Jon L. Johnson's Technical Trader Market Update for March 22, 2010:

How pathetic is this?

In a very, very rare circumstance, the debt issued by corporations, i.e. corporate bonds, is worth more than comparable term US treasury bonds. How do you tell? Look at the yield. Corporate bonds issued by Berkshire Hathaway, PG, JNJ, and LOW just to name a few, sport yields 3.5BP less than US treasuries of comparable terms.

As noted, this happens very rarely. It happens when the US outlook is viewed as less safe than that of corporations. The driver? The US debt and the debt to come. Moody's has already said if the US stays on this debt course it is going to lose its AAA credit rating.

The budget deficit is now 10% of the GDP, a post-WWII high. The US has the highest debt service cost (debt as a percent of revenue) of any top rated country with the exception of the UK. In 2010 it is 7%. By 2013 it will be 11%. That is not including the healthcare plan that will, despite absolutely bogus projections that count as savings money to be used elsewhere, don't count over $200B in increased doctor payments under Medicare, and that don't count $150B in administrative costs, balloon the spending. If you doubt, look to Massachusetts and its plan that cost 40% more than expected in just three years, Medicare that cost 10 times as much as projected, and Medicaid that cost 100 times as much as projected. The US won't save money by creating entitlements. When each has been passed it was going to save money over the private system. Each time it has taken us several steps toward breaking the bank.

This one will do it. That is why before passage corporate bond rates were lower than US Treasuries (indicating less risk and thus they had to offer less to attract buyers) and they are going to be an even better bargain as these costs become more apparent.

Sheer Lunacy

Did any of you see the Obama interview with Bret Baier at FoxNews yesterday? http://drudge.tw/ago8fD.

THIS GUY IS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! If you missed it, here is a synopsis:

#1 - He never answers THE QUESTION! He is a tyrant at best, a dictator at worst!

#2 - Did you catch that???? “we’re not transforming one-sixth of the economy in one fell swoop”

#3 - "Bret, Bret stop interrupting me from NOT answering your questions!”

#4 - ‘If I say his name enough, he will stop asking me questions that I refuse to answer’

#5 - 'If I keep talking and not saying anything, my handlers will tell Bret that time is up'

WAKE UP AMERICA!

The Next Shoe to Drop

Does anyone in Washington think about the next shoe to drop or the

unintended consequences of their meddling?

In the Obama Administration's latest attempt to spend our tax dollars, we have yet another bailout, They have proposed a new program that will pay homeowners to sell at a loss.

http://tinyurl.com/ydf4yfz

So let me get this straight, the federal government forced lenders to make loans to people who were not qualified then had quasi-government institutions (Freddie and Fannie) buy the soon-to-be-worthless mortgages and now that the mortgage have assumed close-to-worthless status, the tax payers must now pay the originally non-qualified borrowers to vacate their underwater homes??????

Not a lot of common sense being employed here.

Being one who employs common sense, I'm thinking the next shoe to drop is . . . . . . the commercial real estate market. If you pay any attention to the financial markets, it has been abundantly clear that the next financial crisis will be triggered by commercial real estate loan defaults.

I'M JUST CURIOUS IF OBAMA WILL HAVE ENOUGH OF OUR MONEY LEFT OVER TO BAIL OUT THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET AFTER HE HANDLES THE RESIDENTIAL MARKET, WHICH WAS PRECEDED BY THE BAILOUT OF WALL STREET (with the help of the Bush Administration), WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY THE BAILOUT OF GENERAL MOTORS, TO BE CAPPED OFF WITH . . . . .THE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL AND CAP AND TRADE.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

A Really Good One-Term President

In a December 18 interview, President Obama stated that he "would rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

Is this the most idiotic statement you have ever heard?

There is no such thing as a really good one-term president. There is only one reason you become a one-term president; BECAUSE YOU SUCK!

Since Hussein cannot tell us what he really believes, let me rephrase this statement for him:

"I would rather ram my radical, progressive agenda down the throats of
America than get reelected in 2012."

Stated that way, you have to admit, he's doing an incredible job.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

The Truth About Reconciliation

I want to reference last week's blog where I quoted numerous Democrats', including Biden and Obama, who maligned President Bush's attempt at using "The Nuclear Option" to get his judges confirmed over the unprecedented obstruction of the Democrats in Congress.

A Wall Street Journal op-ed outlines the history of reconciliation and just what an abuse of power we are about to witness: http://bit.ly/ceNdtA

Even Robert Byrd is opposed to its use for non-budgetary legislation.

The level of desperation and Kamikaze approach to this legislation on the part of the Progressives (Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Waxman, Schumer, Boxer, Frank, Dodd, Rockefeller ) is nothing short of breathtaking.

And, once again, the lamestream media shows themselves for what they are . . . . . nothing short of a democrat party hack.

It's Official - The End Is Near

http://bit.ly/c57HLq - Washington Times

Congratulations to Mr. Obama and his merry band of socialist! It is official,

"for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes."

The preferred course of action by our current administration and our two highly-esteemed Congressional leaders Pelosi and Reid is to throw more money at the problem.

You will not hear one mention of lowing taxes in order to stimulate job growth. The entire focus is two-fold:

#1 - Grow the government's employment roles so we have more and more citizens dependent on the government for their livelihood and, of course, become members of unions and;

#2 - Throw more and more money at various social programs so . . . . more and more citizens remain dependent on the government for their livelihood.

It doesn't take a genius to see what is going on.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Quote from Kissinger

Henry Kissinger wrote in his memoir Years of Renewal,

"The great statesmen of the past saw themselves as heroes who took on the burden of their societies' painful journey from the familiar to the as yet unknown. The modern politician is less interested in being a hero than a superstar. Heroes walk alone; stars derive their status from approbation. Heroes are defined by inner values; stars by consensus. When a candidate's views are forged in focus groups and ratified by television anchorpersons, insecurity and superficiality become congenital."

Sounds like Congress!

Hypocrisy Abounds Part III

The Senate just renewed the Patriot Act for another year!

Does anyone else remember how the Democrats demonized this Act and the Bush Administration for seven long years???????????????? There is way too much apathy among the American people. That is why liberals and progressives can get away with this shit.

Don't forget the slippery slope and cyclical nature of allowing little things like this go by undenounced:

Apathy leads to lack of accountability. Lack of accountability leads to arrogance. Arrogance leads to power grabs. Power grabs leads to quid pro quo legislation. Quid pro quo legislation leads to wasteful spending. Wasteful spending leads to prolonged economic malaise.

DUH!!!

Please wake up America and demand to be heard!!!!!!!

Hypocrisy Abounds Part II

Do any of you remember how the Democrats in Congress gave all of us a lesson in The Constitution, the Founding Fathers and the traditions of the Senate back in 2005 when the Republicans in the Senate threatened "the nuclear option" in order to get some of Bush's judicial nominees appointed (who the Dems had blocked for months on end)?

Then-Senators Obama and Biden, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Christopher Dodd, Max Baucus, et al lamented about how unfair it was that the Republicans were going to side-step the Democrats' prolonged obstruction of the nominee's up-or-down-vote. They took to the microphones and talked about how:

• Then Senator Obama (without a teleprompter) said this, "A change in the Senate rules that really, uh, I think would change the character of the Senate, uh, forever. [snip] Uhhh, and what I worry about would be th-th-that you essentially still have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but you have simply majoritarian, uhhh, absolute power on either side, and that's just not what the Founders intended."
  
• Then Senator Biden had this classic line, "

-->I say to my friends on the Republican side: You may own the field right now, but you won't own it forever, and I pray [to] God when the Democrats take back control we don't make the kind of naked power grab you are doing." Who 'owns the field' now and how are they handling it?

And then he said this, "-->This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power. It is a fundamental power grab."

Hillary Clinton said this, "So this president has come to the majority here in the Senate and basically said "Change the rules! Do it the way I want it done," and I guess there just weren't very many voices on the other side of the aisle that acted the way previous generations of senators have acted and said "Mr. President, we are with you, we support you, but that's a bridge too far. We can't go there. You have to restrain yourself, Mr. President."

And then she said, "The Senate is being asked to turn itself inside out -- to ignore the precedent, to ignore the way our system has worked, the delicate balance that we have obtained that has kept this constitutional system going -- for immediate gratification of the present president."

• Chuck Schumer said this, "We are on the precipice of a crisis, a constitutional crisis. The checks and balances which have been at the core of this republic are about to be evaporated by the nuclear option. The checks and balances which say that if you get 51% of the vote you don't get your way 100% of the time. It is amazing. It's almost a temper tantrum."
  
  And then he said this, "

-->They want their way (banging podium) every single time! And they will change the rules, break the rules, misread the Constitution, so that they will get their way." [sound familiar?????]

• Harry Reid said this, "Mr. President, the right to extended debate is never more important than the one party controls Congress and the White House. In these cases the filibuster serves as a check on power and preserves our limited government."
  
• Senator Feinstein said this, "The nuclear option, if successful, will turn the Senate into a body that could have its rules broken at any time by a majority of senators unhappy with any position taken by the minority. It begins with judicial nomination, next will be executive appointments, and then legislation."
  
  And then she said, "

-->If the Republican leadership insists on forcing the nuclear option, the Senate becomes, ipso facto, the House of Representatives where the majority rules supreme and the party in power can dominate and control the agenda with absolute power."

Senator Dodd said this, "

-->Why have two chambers? What were the framers thinking about 218 years ago? They understood, Mr. President, that there is a tyranny of the majority."

Senator Max Baucus said this, "This is the way democracy ends. Not with a bomb but with a gavel."

Fast forward five years and what do you find? The Democrats in Congress trying to take control of one-sixth of the economy through the "budget" reconciliation process which will allow them to . . . . . circumvent the Senate rules (i.e. the filibuster).

Anyone with half a brain would ask, "what the hell does a health care bill have to do with a budget procedure?" or "Given everything the Dems said in 2005, shouldn't they back off in 2010?" Good questions! Why don't you call or email your Democrat Senator's office and ask?

Ram it down the American people's throat at all costs! That is the motto of the liberals and progressives in Washington. Sad, sad, sad!