Our Health Care Isn't Broken: The Government Is!

We've been hearing over and over that "our health care system is broken" but there seems to be a little fly in the ointment. 89% of the people like their health care, so how do you get broken out of that. And if there are some folks for which the system doesn't work, then fix that, but don't break what actually works. However, generally all of the things that are broken about the system were broken by the government, intentionally. The government has been getting more and more intrusive in all sorts of ways that are dysfunctional and frankly unconstitutional. SEE HERE
I've been trying to feature some of the examples that illustrate this issue. People seem to be waking up as states declare their 10th amendment sovereignty:
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Seven states passed resolutions this year affirming their sovereignty, and resolutions were introduced in 30 others. Some states have filed lawsuits or taken legislative action to challenge federal laws. SEE HERE
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What is actually broken is not the health care system but the Federal government which was supposed to have checks and balances, but has instead gotten into runaway mode. Now our new president is bent on overwhelming the system with financial irresponsibility, with overwhelming new intrusion into the private sector, taking over banks, automobile manufacturing, health care, organized labor, and energy, and on and on. The president has called for a federal police force as large as the military. If that doesn't scare you to death you have not read history. Do the words "Ruby Ridge" or "Waco" ring a bell? They were examples of government gone wild and it was lethal. That was just the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) running hog wild and demonizing people, compromising their rights, generating an incident and exercising lethal force on people who were innocent.
This is a situation which has progressed steadily going back at least to the New Deal, but with ground work laid even earlier. It has now progressed to close to the tipping point. Once the tipping point is passed there is no going back, no retrieval, the system collapses. Tyranny Rising!

The Reality of Taxes: Rape of the Productive

Top 1% of taxpayers whose income threshold is $389,000 (AGI) Adjusted Gross Income, (high but not a fortune), pay 40% of all the taxes. The bottom 95% pay about the same, except that the bottom 40% pay zip — yup nothing, in fact they get subsidies. So the system we have now is simply rape of the top 1% while building a 40% entitlement class who have no investment whatsoever in the country, they just reap, but don't sow in the government. This simply doesn't work. It is dishonest and unfair. (These are 2006 figures and they get worse each year) SEE HERE

The Myth of Cheaper Health Care

Just exactly how is government provided health care supposed to be cheaper than health care provided by the private sector? How does that happen? An economist will tell you that it's slight of hand. When you get something from the government that you don't pay for you think it is free. But of course nothing is free. TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)
The costs are actually covered by money taxed from you and from businesses who pass on the taxes they pay to you through the costs they charge, so it isn't free but it's invisible and it is also less efficient because of the round trip the money takes through Washington, various government bureaus, through paperwork disasters that everyone has to fill out and boards and study groups and all sorts of other things.
The likely overhead before you get to any kind of medical expenses is conservatively 20% to 30% relative to competitive private options. And we haven't touched the disincentives which reduce efficiency and technical innovation. In the final analysis it is not only not cheaper it is a spiraling down disaster in the form of growing inefficiency, poorer delivery, restraint of innovation, rationing of expensive options. The illusion is that it is cheaper, but the reality is that it is both more expensive and poorer.

Common Sense: Darn Little of It Out There

An Administration in Denial

The U.S. has suspended the visas of four Honduran diplomats for no obvious reason except the desire that their view of the perfectly legal removal of a proto-dictator who was violating the Honduran constitution not be widely discussed in the United States. At least that's how the action appears to be playing out. SEE IBD ARTICLE
There has been plenty of coverage of this issue in this blog and the bottom line is simply. The Honduran government removed legitimately and with full due process a chief executive who was in violation of the Honduran constitution and who refused to be corrected so that after roughly three attempts to get him to desist (note the first violation would have been enough to remove him) was finally removed from office by the congress and the supreme court using hte military as their agent to enforce the order.
The OAS, the U.N., and the United States are all interfering with the legal and appropriate sovereignty of a democratic state and imposing sanctions. The only construction of our action is that the Obama administration is unwilling to admit mistakes, just as the president has behaved in the Cambridge police affair when he prejudged the issue and then refused to recognize he had made a mistake, here the same scenario is playing out. Get over it and normalize relations with Honduras. This is outrageous.

I Think People are Catching On

Maybe people are catching on to Obama and the presidency that is dedicated to destroying America as you know it. If people catch on fast enough, maybe we can do something about it. We need to start by resisting. This is not the change anyone bargained for. This is Tyranny Rising!

Bob Goodlatte Nails It

Want to know what the health care bill means to you. Bob Goodlatte nails it! This is a really bad idea.

Double Teaming a Cop: Victims in America

Ann Coulter, probably the feistiest gal on the planet outside of my wife, nailed what was really going on in Cambridge in her column today. READ THE COLUMN I think the quote:
In modern America, the alleged "victim" is always really the aggressor, and the alleged "aggressor" is always the true victim. was particularly telling. How many times do you see the media posturing about some victim when it is really political theater set up to destroy some person who had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and so becomes the poster child for some liberal attack dog. Coulter's point is that the case of Sgt. Crowley and the Cambridge police department looks like a hatchet job gone bad. Obama and his buddy Gates might have been able to take Crowley down with the usual liberal bias against the police, but it didn't take. Now it is face saving time. I think Ann Coulter has likely nailed it.

If this seems a little far-fetched, then check out Michelle Malkin's column today which shows that intimidation and thuggery are a standard MO for this White House. Don't try to be an honest broker of information in this Community Organizer, Agenda Driven, Truth be Damned White House. The pattern is clear and growing more evident each day. READ MALKIN'S COLUMN

Congress Should Apologise to The American People

This young man has a thing or two to say. At a town hall meeting on the subject of health care reform in St. Louis on July 28th, a former soldier explains why he thinks a government health care plan is unconstitutional. He also calls upon Congress to apologize for trying to seize control of the health care sector of our economy. He mentions Article 1 Section 8 CLICK HERE
Do you see anything that can be construed as "control of health care"? I didn't.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

You need to see this! ORDERING A PIZZA IN OBAMAWORLD!!
For the title, apologies to Ray Bradbury. I couldn't resist.

The link is a video that is tongue in cheek but scary too because it cameos the direction we are going. The world is changing at internet speed and you have to realize that not only is privacy an illusion, but these incredible technologies empower, almost with effortless ease, the development of deep and penetrating tyranny, what some people have called Soft Tyranny but tyranny none the less.

Watch and imagine a world where everything is monitored and taxed and judged by what C.S. Lewis called in his great book The Abolition of Man — The Conditioners.

The Conditioners are the self-appointed intellectuals who given power, decide everything for you, for your own good of course, from birth to death. Perhaps it would not be too different from Brave New World written by Aldus Huxley who died on the same day as C.S. Lewis.

What's the Constitutional Clause that Provides for Nationalized Healthcare?

States' Rights might throw a monkey wrench into Obama-care. The lead paragraph in a story reported in the Star Telegram goes:
Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas. SEE ARTICLE
Maybe we should start asking those hard questions, like just where in the Constitution does it indicate that the Federal Government has a role of any kind in health care? All of this nanny-state nonsense has to stop while we still have some control. We are well on our way to being a country enslaved by an out of control bureaucracy generated by politicians who think they have a right to dispose of all our hard earned treasure.

The Confusion In Healthcare

We keep hearing about all the uninsured in the country. What is important is not so much the number that are uninsured as the number that are denied healthcare. For the most part that is a much much smaller number and should have a solution that is a much much smaller solution than taking apart a system that works well for something like 90% of all Americans.

Healthcare is not a right. You have an obligation to husband your resources so that you can provide for yourself. If you can't then you can hope that there are generous souls who will help you. That's called charity and it isn't something that the government has a responsibility for. Frankly the expansion of government into every nook and cranny of our lives is intrusive and unwarranted. It is also unconstitutional, but who cares about that these days. Just add a wise latino to the court and we'll get whatever she thinks is necessary, or not.

The rule of law should be based on principles which can be articulated, explained and defended not on sentiment and sentimentality. Wealth is something that is earned. Wealth taken from citizens to give to other citizens is a form of stealing and tyranny. The more we do it, the more the United States begins to resemble robber barons. You know, those bad guys they are always telling you about from the bad'ole days. If we have citizens who are destitute and need a hand up, then by all means let's figure out a way to help them. But let's not create tyranny and break something that isn't broken.

Palin Addresses Alaska As She Leaves Office

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The feeding frenzy to trash Sarah Palin has not let up, but she still was a class act as she stepped down as governor of Alaska yesterday.

The Gap Widens: Rasmussen Poll Shows Continuing Decline

Perhaps we're seeing the end of the honeymoon and the beginning of a rational assessment of this empty suit of a president. So far he's held more press conferences than George Bush did in years of being in office and at each one he's told more lies than Bush told. My favorite is "If you like your current health care you can keep it." How disingenuous is that. The bill actually says that you can't, but even if you could, the structure of these kinds of programs make it impossible for the private sector to compete, so in short order the only game in town is the government game, except of course for the rich and those who are outside the program with deep pockets like the congressmen and senators themselves.

Rush Limbaugh on Greta: Straight Talk

Whether you agree with Rush or disagree with Rush you can hardly ignore him. Rush Limbaugh doesn't just state his positions, he supports them. This may well be why he is so loathed by the left. The left takes positions for very fuzzy and ideological reasons. Rush takes issues on based on principles and argues his positions based on those principles.

Strictly speaking that's called critical thinking. What comes back are slogans and bumper stickers. Unfortunately we've got an electorate that no longer knows how to think. You can thank the public school system for that I suppose.

Nations get the government they deserve and if we deserve the left-ward, republic destroying behavior we've been seeing, then that is what we'll get. Rush is focusing on the core issues of the day, unlike the rest of the media which is just an Obama cheering section. An informed electorate needs a critical media. Rush right now is carrying the water for the Obama-smitten love-sick media. Hopefully the honeymoon will be over soon.

Meanwhile — Check it out!

Tea Party Patrients Unwelcome at Democrat's Townhall Meeting

Some citizens are less equal than others, at least if they show up at a congressman's townhall meeting with some criticism. Tea Party folks report on their experience on Fred Thompson's radio show. CHECK IT OUT HERE
The interesting thing, somewhat chilling, is that their license numbers were taken and they received a visit from the state police. Last time I looked the expression of disagreement was at least as protected as the expression of agreement. Apparently that is getting a bit iffy in the emerging Obamanation.

U.S. Humanitarians Working in Honduras Weigh In

Put your earphones on if you want to hear what U.S. citizens, working as humanitarian workers in Honduras for the past fifteen year have to say about the situation. LISTEN HERE (mp3 download) The short answer is that Chavez is running drugs through Honduras. Zelaya's administration has been corrupt and his removal was legal. Hundreds of thousands of men and women were crying "Liberty" and "Freedom" and CNN misreported an anti-Zelaya demonstration as a pro-Zelaya demonstration. The Honduran people are upset about being abandoned by the American people.

Shocking Revelations About the Health Care Bill

Okay ... listen up, put your earphones on and LISTEN TO THIS The government wants to kill off the greatest generation, your parents. Listen to Patient Rights Advocate, Betsy McCaughey, who has actually read the 1400 page health care bill. The elderly are being targeted not only to pay for the bill but have their own benefits reduced. Euthanasia by neglect. For more SEE HERE

What about Government Regulation

Every one is drinking the government regulation koolaid these days. A bit of balance might be provided by listening to Milton Friedman. Government regulation is usually a bad idea.

Channeling Patton: The War on Terror

"All Real Americans love a good fight!" ... "If you intend to take up arms to take on Americans, you will lose!" ... "Shoot those bastards in the guts." ... "This is not a god-damn video game." ... "How stupid and ignorant should we be?" ... "You had all better wake up!" ... "If it were up to me we'd already be in Iran and their leader would be one dead son-of-a-bitch." ... "We're not pulling out of anything. Let the enemy do that." ... "One thing you'll be able to say when you get home What did you do on the great war on terror you won't have to say that you sat on your ass watching television." ... "I'll be proud to lead you into battle anytime anywhere. That's all!"

How Much Money Will Obama Spend to Hide His Past?

Muzzle Lou Dobbs since after all "It's a dead story." Well the Obama birth certificate story keeps getting weirder and weirder ... now there seems to be a full court press to discredit and muzzle Lou Dobbs. SEE THIS COVERAGE
The latest story (first I've heard at least) is that in 2001 Hawaii destroyed the original records which would have included Barack Obama's long form birth certificate. How convenient!
Here's what the article says:
The report said Klein wrote that CNN researchers found Hawaiian records were discarded in 2001 when the state's records system went electronic. Therefore, the report said, Obama's original long-form birth certificate no longer exists, and a computer-generated abbreviated version that has been promoted on the Internet

is the official record.

Sarah Palin Has Good Taste in Reading

Looks like Sarah Palin has good taste in her reading. Mark Levin's book "Liberty and Tyranny" is one of the clearest expositions of what the looney left is up to. Check out Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" to understand Obama and be very very concerned. There are lots more pictures of Sarah Palin at THIS SITE put up by a young supporter named Adrienne who has a web site labled: Motivation Truth! That title resonates with me.

Takes a While for People to Figure a Phony Out

Another Nail in the Coffin

"The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it." — H.L. Mencken

The globe may be warming, but human beings are not the cause. A new peer reviewed study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research titled Influence of the Southern Oscillation on tropospheric temperature by Chris de Freitas, John McLean and Bob Carter concludes
"The surge in global temperatures since 1977 can be attributed to a 1976 climate shift in the Pacific Ocean that made warming El Nino conditions more likely than they were over the previous 30 years and cooling La Nina conditions less likely" says co-author de Freitas.

"We have shown that internal global climate-system variability accounts for at least 80% of the observed global climate variation over the past half-century. It may even be more if the period of influence of major volcanoes can be more clearly identified and the corresponding data excluded from the analysis."
according to an article in Investors Business Daily SEE HERE

Mark Levin Summarizes Obama's Press Conference Last Night

Five minutes of common sense from Mark Levin beats an hour of vacuous blather by the president. Listening to the president last night was seriously painful. He said nothing, just his prior talking points which don't make sense given the structure of the healthcare bill that is coming out and the financial numbers make no sense at all. Mark Levin on his radio show captured it with the single word: "delusional." I agree. As time passes it gets stranger and stranger.

Who is Obama? Where is the promised Transparency?

Newsmax, a Conservative news organization, remains unconvinced of Obama's citizenship SEE HERE Or perhaps more accurately they point out that despite all the propaganda Obama has not released his birth certificate, but merely a certificate of live birth something quite different and which doesn't guarantee that he was actually born in Hawaii as is claimed.

The article also documents a long list of documents that Obama has not released but which have traditionally been released by political candidates. This makes Obama among the most mysterious presidents of all time and raises the question: "Why?" and with that question the suspicion "What is he hiding?"

It's also interesting that despite the obvious legitimacy of the questions, Obama finds willing accomplices in every direction to just swallow the inadequate information that has been released. Chris Matthews, the topic of the Newsmax article, is just one of the willing agents who simply salute the talking points of the Obama campaign initially and the White House now. Some journalists!

Obama's White House Avoids Criticism by Refusing Access to Critics

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, was barred from attending a meeting the White House called to shore up its support from the Jewish community because of criticism he had aimed at Obama. SEE HERE Klein had showed that Obama, to be blunt, had simply lied about such things as the number of Moslems in the United States and had been treating Israel unfairly. This is an important issue and shows that Obama plays fast and loose with the truth.
The Newsmax article reports:
Klein also found it ironic that he was chastised for criticizing the president, and banned from a meeting with top Jewish leaders, at the same time Obama has argued for sitting down and negotiating with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Obama in not only not transparent, he is lying, intentionally misleading people for reasons that are hard to discern. Transparency? Nothing like it. Tyranny Rising!

All American Healthcare Problems Come From Government

Dead-on Ann: Perfect Head Shot!

All the problems with the American health care system come from government intervention, so naturally the Democrats' idea for fixing it is more government intervention. This is like trying to sober up by having another drink.

That's Ann Coulter's lead in her latest column on the Obamanation Healthcare Power Grab. Think about the assertion. I think Ann's dead on. Between Medicare, Medicaid, all the various rules and regulations that have turned American health care over to the lawyers and the insurance companies, I think what we really need is a major rollback and rethinking.

SEE ANN'S COLUMN HERE
Her punch line is good too:
Instead of making health care more like the DMV, how about we make it more like grocery stores? Give the poor and tough cases health stamps and let the rest of us buy health care -- and health insurance -- on the free market.

Trouble Visualizing the President's Health Plan: Try This!

Sweet Illusion: The Government Cares About You

I thought this was pretty good!

No Net Jobs for the Next Five Years

Newt Gingrich points to a report from the Federal Reserve: SEE HERE
Last week, the Federal Reserve made a little noticed, but astonishing announcement. In addition to projecting unemployment over 10% in the coming months, they also projected no net new jobs over the next five years.

One would think this would be a clarion call that whatever they are doing is not working. But instead it's been buried under the drumbeat for a wasteful and cynical powergrab to seize control of the healthcare of the country, some 17% of GDP. When are the people going to wake up to what is going on. Tyranny Rising!

Capabilities not Intentions: Wake Up America

Some years ago I was reading a discussion of military strategic thinking by Robert Heinlein, the Father of American Science Fiction. Heinlein was a graduate of the Naval Academy and a significant thinker. What he pointed out was that military thinking and strategic planning have to be based on capabilities not on intentions. Intentions can change in a moment. A country that was your friend one day may undergo a sea change and be your enemy tomorrow. If you didn't think militarily in terms of their capabilities and not of their intentions, you may be in very very big trouble.

Newt Gingrich is one of the smartest politicians and strategic thinkers we have today. Whatever you think of his politics, he is worth listening to and pondering what he says. Here he addresses the Heritage Foundation on the topic of military preparedness. We are falling down seriously in our military preparedness and that is likely to be a mistake we can only make once. The problem of civilian leadership is that if they don't understand strategic thinking then they are likely to put us into an untenable position. This is a fifty two minute presentation on meeting threats and not expectations. If we don't continue to do that we are certain, certain to fail when the test comes. An attacker sets the agenda and gets a pass on the first engagement. In today's world if we are behind technologically, even for a short time, it may well be fatal. Gingrich does an excellent job of conceptualizing the issue. We must understand it, or we will fail. We are currently structured to lose and it will be inevitable if we don't recognize the threat and build the capacity to react. CLICK TO SEE THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ADDRESS

White House Press Secretary Evades the Question and Did You Know that Having a Hawaiian Birth Certificate Doesn't Necessarily Mean You Were Born There

The problem is he didn't really answer the question. This seems normal enough. The claim is that the President's birth certificate is on line and Hawaii has certified it. That seems pretty reasonable actually. No doubt it is and no doubt they have. But I still don't see the problem with releasing the long form. Here's snopes.com on the issue — CLICK HERE So they are convinced. And here is FactCheck.org on the topic — SEE HERE These seem pretty convincing to me. So if this is so, then are all these folks just nutjobs? Obviously they are not convinced. I suppose what this really means is that confidence in government is really low these days. Shame really. I still think Obama should release a lot of documents to show he's legitimate. The short form doesn't say much. Let's see the long form.

Catch 22

It turns out that there remains a fly in the ointment. Hawaiian law apparently allows you to get a birth certificate even if you're born outside of Hawaii ... Hmmmm... Here's an article about it back in November 26, 2008 on American Thinker CLICK HERE So now I have to take it all back. There remains an open issue. Is it certified that Obama was born in Hawaii? It's not enough just to have a birth certificate. Why can't things be simpler?

Nutty Foreign Policy: Clinton in India

Investor's Business Daily (IBD) lets Hillary have it right between the eyes. After all she's a shill for the Obama administration and sounds like the same old broken record. Instead of talking to India about things that are really important: trade, military cooperation, economic development, she touted the braindead carbon emission sanctimonious claptrap. SEE HERE
But instead of talking about a free-trade treaty, as India has sought, or taking steps to strengthen the U.S.-India military alliance as new challenges from China, Pakistan and emerging non-state actors like Somali pirates appear, Clinton called for a "comprehensive strategic approach," devoted to education, food security and the climate change agenda.

Not surprisingly, the Indians gave her an earful. "India's position, let me be clear, is that we are simply not in a position to take legally binding emission targets," India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, told Clinton. He noted that global warming is unproven science and India didn't want to give up its economic growth for that.

Give me a break! Junk science is on the table and trash talk like "carbon footprints" or other nonsense just don't cut it with those who are still trying to climb out of third world status. It's pure bunk anyway and India knows it. The science doesn't hold up to inspection and a country with an independent nuclear capability has the scientists capable of drawing that conclusion.

Then of course she made some sort of lame apology:
"We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change."

Save me from the idiots we have elected!

Paul Ryan Explains Why Obama-Care Won't Work

Got three minutes? Fine. Here it is short and sweet. The government plan with force employers to dump their private plans and at the end of the day the government plan will force health providers out of the market by underpaying and then there will be poorer quality care, less of it, scarcity and no choices. At the end of the day you'll be paying more for less because there will be a whole new layer of bureaucracy who only care about regulatory power and not about the health care consumer at all. Don't believe it? — look around at the existing public plans. Notice also that the congress explicitly write themselves out of the plan. Gee I wonder why?

Obama, Meet Thomas Jefferson

GREAT ARTICLE I wrote a piece one time which was titled "Welcome Mr. Jefferson" which showed by explicit examples that were Jefferson alive today he would be a Republican, at least he espoused principles far more consistent with the Republican Party then the sad shabby pretend egalitarian bunch of liberal whackos that go by the name of the Democratic party today. This piece makes much the same kind of point.
Some quotes from Mr. Jefferson:
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

You can't be ignorant and free. The ignorant are easily and quickly enslaved. Enter the government indoctrination centers called public schools.

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
That's why we're a representative republic. If you make us a true democracy we will be enslaved in do time. This is why Plato and Aristotle both thought democracy such a poor form of government and they lived in one of the first ones.

The 10th amendment was supposed to keep us from being dominated by the Federal government:
“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.”
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”
Unfortunately the government is neither wise nor frugal nor does it think that we have the right to the fruits of our labor. The joke about the simplified income tax form is apropos of what the government believes: How much did you make? Send it in!

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”
Jefferson was not afraid of an excess of liberty but of liberty denied. He would be appalled today.

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
This is the quintessential role the nanny state assumes. We are to trade our treasure and our liberty for government supplied security. It is a recipe for slavery and bondage.

I'll stop here. Go to the link and see a lot more from Mr. Jefferson. Here's the LINK again.

Whence the Economy?

Robert Shiller, Yale Economist, is cautiously optimistic about the future. CLICK TO SEE VIDEO He counsels that older investors be very conservative, but if you're young and don't have too much at risk in the market, then go for it. Meanwhile, back in June, Arthur Laffer was quite concerned about the massive boost in the money supply. One account of his concern is given HERE.

The Rule of Law

This video says it all. The OAS, the UN, the United States and the rest of the leftist tyrants should butt out. There is something sinister going on when a constitutionally illegal action is followed by appropriate action and the petty tyrants and our own wanna-be tyrant in chief immediately cry "coup." Watch the video.

The Birth Certificate Issue: AGAIN!

Two more military officers have joined the group demanding that President Obama demonstrate that he has the right to be the commander in chief. SEE HERE

Here's an excerpt:

retired Maj. Gen. Carol Dean Childers and active U.S. Air Force reservist Lt. Col. David Earl Graeff have joined the suit “because it is a matter of unparalleled public interest and importance and because it is clearly a matter arising from issues of a recurring nature that will escape review unless the Court exercises its discretionary jurisdiction.”

This gets weirder and weirder ... Why doesn't President Obama just produce his birth certificate, long form, and prove he's a legitimate citizen? Why not? Instead he seems to be spending a lot of money with lawyers keeping from doing the simple and obvious thing that most of us have had to do at one time or another to register our children in school, to demonstrate we are eligible for Social Security, and many other things. Apparently Obama finds this threatening. Why?

Check out the comments after the article. I don't know to what extent any of the points being made are well founded, but they do show that there are a lot of people with a lot of reasons for concern. This should be cleared up and not simply allowed to fester.

Crazy Economic Times Lie Ahead

A student of mine pointed out Arthur Laffer's June 11th article in the Wall Street Journal which includes the paragraph: SEE HERE
With the crisis, the ill-conceived government reactions, and the ensuing economic downturn, the unfunded liabilities of federal programs -- such as Social Security, civil-service and military pensions, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, Medicare and Medicaid -- are over the $100 trillion mark. With U.S. GDP and federal tax receipts at about $14 trillion and $2.4 trillion respectively, such a debt all but guarantees higher interest rates, massive tax increases, and partial default on government promises.

I added up some of the unfunded liabilities I knew about a few days ago and came up with around 56 trillion dollars. Laffer's figure of "over the $100 trillion mark" is downright scary. Laffer is being conservative when he only sees the potential for double digit inflation. The Fed's unwarranted and huge increase in the money supply ("The percentage increase in the monetary base is the largest increase in the past 50 years by a factor of 10 ..." ) certainly provides the fuel for a huge inflation. We can't say how quickly it will develop but develop it most certainly will. The question is how to protect your assets? This kind of inflation simply beggars those on fixed incomes and stresses most assets to the breaking point.

Socialized Medicine: A Comment from the Front Lines

Here's a comment by one of the dependents of our finest in uniform on the benefits of socialized medicine:
"All you have to do is ask ANY military family about their "healthcare". It is a prime example why we SHOULD NOT have socialized medicine. My son was in the hospital er waiting room turning blue while they were busy treating someone with the sniffles (I overheard his mother talking to the nurse "I know it's a cold, but can't you give him something. I don't want him to miss a party he is supposed to go to this afternoon") I told the triage nurse that my son was asthmatic and needed help. He was having trouble breathing and they IGNORED us...go sit, fill out this paperwork and we will get to you when we can. Right - I practically had to throw him at the staff, screaming at them, to get him help! His lips were BLUE! We were there for over an hour BEFORE he got any kind of treatment. At the civilian hospital - he was whisked back with an inhaler treatment while I filled out the paperwork! BIG DIFFERENCE! I will NEVER forget it!"

That's what you're going to get when you have the gubment providing your health care. Do you hear the laughing in the background. That's the Democrats spending you hard earned money on junkets.

Some Legislators Get It!: Bob Goodlatte is One!

SEE HERE Bob Goodlatte is my congressman. I've supported Bob for many years and it's because he is just the best darn congressman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I've known several and followed more and Bob gets it. He gets it when he had town meetings and really really listens hard. Bob must wear out more shoes than most congressman because he goes to tremendous lengths to go out and listen to his constituents of all parties and persuasions. He takes the role of being a "representative" very seriously.
The link above is to Bob's comment on this disastrous health care that the Obamanauts are trying to jam down our throat. I can't get over the gall of writing an over a thousand page program, dropping it on the legislature at like 3 a.m. and expecting to get it voted on without it having been read or debated. Where are we living, a banana republic? run by a dictator? Oh, yeah, like Obama says he won't take "No" for an answer. When you're a dictator you don't have to take "No" — so let's show Obama that we won't be dictated to. Say "No" and say it emphatically.
Some of what Bob says:
At least two different independent analyses of the House Democrats health care legislation estimate that more than 100 million Americans would lose their current health care coverage. In addition to losing their health insurance, Americans are going to lose control over their health care decisions. Under the Democrats vision, Washington would have ultimate control over what is best for patients, what treatments are acceptable, and how long patients wait for needed care.
SEE IT ALL

The Straight Skinny: It wasn't a Coup!

The L.A. Times strikes again on the Honduran "coup" that wasn't. SEE HERE
Other news: Walter Cronkite died today. He did a lot to undermine American support for the Vietnam War due to his reporting on the Tet Offensive, reporting that showed how little military judgment he had. But one is not to speak ill of the dead. Walter Cronkite gone today.

Weirder and Weirder ...

Here's a quote from a news story posted by World Net Daily, a follow up to a story I reported on last Wednesday : SEE HERE
The Department of Defense has allegedly compelled a private employer to fire a U.S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.
Now that is unusual. I'm not sure what the real story is. The spin on the internet is that it's all a conspiracy by the Major's attorney. But it is stranger than that. This is the military we're talking about. On what grounds can they ask a private employer to fire someone? If the military revoked his orders and then ordered his CEO to fire him, where's the due process in that. There has to be more to this story than meets the eye. Again, why is this a story? What is it that makes the Obama birth certificate story have any traction at all? It's a birth certificate. Why is it still a story if there isn't a problem? I've read all the stuff. I've seen alleged short form birth certificates. I've seen the birth announcement in Hawaii newspapers. I've seen claims that the doctor who delivered him had conversations with folks — the doctor is dead now though. You would think this would not be a story any more even with nutjobs pushing it. In fact I thought that was the case and now the military is involved revoking orders and causing people to be fired. Just what is going on? Here's a video on the topic.

Protest Yesterday Outside Senator Webb's Office

Get government off our backs. You're not sent to Washington to be tyrants, but to protect us from enemies within and without. You're starting to look more like the enemy than the protector. American citizens are free men and women, not wards of the state. This is supposed to be government of the people, by the people and for the people. For one thing if this health care plan is so great why do you exempt yourselves from it? I think I can pick my doctor and select my own health care if the government would be so much help. One of the most ironic sentences in the English language is: "I'm from the government, I'm here to help you." Sure, and I'll be impoverished as you rob me blind. We need less government, not more of the nanny state.

Health Care Distortions and Lies

Investor's Business Daily in a column today takes on the health care claims fueling the current stampede towards socialized medicine and finds that virtually all are false. SEE HERE
To summarize:
• America has a health care crisis. Nope — 4% maybe lack health care.
• Health care reform will save money. Nope — unsustainable 1 to 3.6 trillion
• Only the rich will pay for reform. Nope — likely to produce systemic unemployment as employers are hit for 8%, opting out will cost you 2% the rich will pay the most until they move.
• Government-run health care produces better results. Probably the biggest lie. The American system is the best in the world measured by our recovery rates from major diseases compared to the rest of the world.
• The poor lack care. Lacking insurance is not the same thing as lacking care. Anyone who walks into an Emergency Room must be treated and there are many programs for the poor and indigent.

Figures don't like but liars figure. If you're part of the 89% who are happy with their health care, if this goes through that will change.

How do you tell the President is lying? His lips are moving!

The President is probably the most glib person that has ever been in the White House. His Health Care Plan is in trouble because none of the figures add up and just saying it will be cheaper isn't the same thing as being cheaper. Oh, by the way, did we mention that on page 16 of his health care bill there a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal. Better hope it's a good bill if it goes through. What other bill that was jammed through like this was ever good?

As I listened to him what I heard was someone whose solution to expense is to refuse to pay or hugely increase taxes. There wasn't any valid strategy mentioned only promises promises. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are out of control he said. Well whose fault is that? How much Medicare and Medicaid fraud is there? How does the government intend to reduce costs? There are only a couple of ways even conceivable. You can reduce the delivery of health care so there is less of it, or you can try price controls which any economist will tell you will lead to shortages, so again there will be less of it.

If you want to reduce health care costs you can do something real like get all the middle men out of the program. Restore control to the people who actually consume the services. You can also get the lawyers out of it. They are running up the cost with all kinds of lawsuits. Doctors can't guarantee outcomes, so lawyers see every poor or less than perfect outcome as an opportunity to sue. This drives up costs a lot and doesn't improve health care but leads to lots of unnecessary testing to allow doctors to defend themselves in the event of suit.

The bottom line is that the President is trying to force a bad program down our throats. If we let this happen we'll all be sorry for it later. Ask the American Indians what they think of their health care. Ask military families about their health care. Rationing, long lines, limited choices. The rosy picture the President paints is a false picture.

Joe Cacciotti on the Richmond Tea Party Today

Tea Party in Richmond ... Time to listen to the people instead of running roughshod over them.

Sotomayor Unqualified for the Supreme Court

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor's activist posture particularly towards abortion disqualifies her as a candidate for the Supreme Court. Whether or not she is a "wise latino" injects not only race but judicial activism into the discourse. The militant and pro-death abortion movement has corrupted not only our society but the very relationship between parents and children. The holocaust against the unborn has led to over 50 million deaths and fundamentally weakened our society. When will we wake up?

More than a few people are concerned ...

A piece wrongly attributed to Pam Geller because it appeared on her blog Atlas Shrugged on November 13, 2008 warns of the signs of Tyranny Rising in a well written summary which you can read if you like by going to the blog. SEE HERE

I share the person who wrote that's concern. When you see what appear to be an orchestrated sequence of extreme activities, surrounded by the shrill cries of "crisis", "emergency" and bills being jammed through, thousands of pages long, without being read that spend trillions (not billions, trillions) of dollars, you have to feel like you've just entered a mad house. The whole U.S. economy only produces 14.2 trillion in a year. But we're throwing a large fraction of that around like it's swiss cheese.

Do we get accountability? No, instead we're fed more empty rhetoric. This is not governance it is a mad cap race like that in Alice in Wonderland. What is disturbing is how reminiscent so much of it is to Hitler's rise to power. That's what bothered TPS and I've seen a number of others point out the similarities. If you're an older person and remember some of what was going on in those times, it is particularly distressing.

Here's the video of Obama's call for an internal federal security force. The piece Pat Geller cited included this reference to Hitler:

... the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises.

And another thing he did was use the Gestapo, the internal police force, to promulgate his tyranny.



What we don't need is government by crisis and trumpted up emergency. We don't need to beggar the country by spending so far beyond our means that we destabilize the economy. We don't need to be lectured by a president who is now experiencing his first opportunity to run something bigger than a neighberhood organization. A talent for talking doesn't necessarily translate into a talent for governing. When you look at who he's surrounded himself with it is not particularly encouraging. I think it is prudent to be concerned. It is also prudent to find some way to reel in the more extreme elements of his programs.

Freedom of Speech Democrat Style

Apparently freedom of speech is only free if you're a Democrat in the House of Representatives. Human Events keynoted a move by House Speaker Pelosi to muzzle Republican Special Orders Monday. SEE HERE So now, in addition to not being able to read the bills before you're asked to vote on them, you're also not supposed to be able to complain. Tyranny Rising!

Quid pro Quo: White House Corruption

Apparently the response you get from the White House if you criticize them is threats. SEE HERE
Generally speaking this form of behavior is straight corruption. It's not hard ball politics it's simple bribery, intimidation to buy silence and compliance. It ought to be an impeachable offense. The thuggery from Democrats is getting to be a recognizable MO. It ought to be shouted from the rooftops and they should be held accountable for this kind of behavior. They are always posturing as being better, caring more, and all the rest of the charades they play. The reality doesn't resemble the advertising. Gangsters in suits! Tyranny Rising!

Russian Rudeness

CLARIFICATION: Glenn Beck on July 21st ran an extended video of this piece and it appears that President Obama is introducing the other person and not being snubbed.
This is just weird. Why are the Russians snubbing the president. It's not as if they aren't shaking the hands of the other guy. This looks like an intentional snub. Maybe he should have bowed, no I'm being snotty there. Obama is not the sharpest chisel in the box when it comes to foreign relations, but this is outrageous. I suppose after bending over and giving the Russians everything they wanted without getting anything substantive in return, he's lost what little respect he may have had in the first place. But this is egregious.
CLARIFICATION: Glenn Beck on July 21st ran an extended video of this piece and it appears that President Obama is introducing the other person and not being snubbed.

The Issue that Won't Go Away

It gets weirder and weirder. Now a reserved Army officer has had his orders revoked apparently so the Army will not have to come to court to defend against the allegation that the president is illegally holding his office. SEE HERE

Major Stefan Frederick Cook, an engineer, was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan on July 16th when according to the story on World Net Daily, his orders were suddenly rescinded. Major Cook argued he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office. Like all of these kinds of allegations regarding the legitimacy of the president's birth, it could in principle be cleared up easily. Just produce the long-form birth certificate showing that the president had indeed been born as is alleged in Hawaii.

The spin surrounding this issue is mystifying. Almost everyone I know, challenged, could produce their birth certificate and show they were native born Americans. I personally had to do it when I submitted my application for social security. It was a bit annoying, but it was no big deal. The president has made it a big deal, and that alone keeps the issue alive. Why is it a big deal if he isn't hiding something? That's the question. If you search the internet on this issue you'll find lots of pictures of alledged birth certificates and many discussions of how they have been forged. It seems to me that this issue should be securely put to bed once and for all in an authoritative way and not just linger to cast doubt on the president's legitimacy. Why does it continue to be an issue?

Government Of the People, By the People and For the People: Really?

A Veto-proof Senate is a terrible thing to waste. Get set for the biggest rollercoaster ride you've ever seen. It should be a doosey! Tyranny Rising!

How Deep Is the Hole?

Current unfunded obligations that the U.S. has appear to be about $56.1 trillion dollars or at the current GDP ($14.264 trillion in 2008, current dollars) about 3.9 times the entire Gross Domestic Product. Given that the federal government revenue for 2008 was only $2.54 trillion if we stopped funding everything and just paid off the unfunded obligations it would take the entire government revenue for 22 years with no interest. A 3% interest rate would consume two thirds of the revenue just paying the interest. It should be obvious to anyone that this is not a sustainable situation. The government can be expected at some point to default on its obligations. So if you're counting on them not defaulting you are going to be badly disappointed.

The hole is very very deep!

Hudge and Gudge, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum

G.K. Chesterton back in 1910 wrote "What's Wrong with the World" which is, like all things that Chesterton wrote, fundamentally prescient. Chesterton seemed incapable of writing anything that wasn't ultimately about everything. In "What's Wrong with the World" he introduces us to Hudge and Gudge.

Hudge is Big Governmnet and Gudge is Big Business and together they conspire to take from us our liberty and our property and ultimately we become slaves of these two collusional forces. This was written yesterday right? Perhaps Hudge and Gudge have been working us over for longer than we realize.

The two remind me of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum from Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass. A common version of the nursery rhyme begins:
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

and it goes on from there. The idea is that Hudge and Gudge while they appear to be in conflict are really brothers under the skin. They are both fleecing the public in an alliance for mutual gain.

We can see this scenario playing out before our eyes as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, through policies fostered by the congress have created mountains of bad debt which no the government runs to the rescue and spreads tax-payer money around profligately but in a way unlikely to solve the problem and the loser is the tax-payer while all the players, Hudge and Gudge, congratulate themselves and pocket the money.

Caught in the middle are those people, large or small organizations, which have tried to be responsible and honest. They are not to be rewarded. GM and Chrysler get mountains of tax payer money, but their bondholders are stiffed as are those holding their debt. Meanwhile, the solvent struggle on. Profligacy is rewarded while responsibility is ignored and indeed raped by taking their taxes to give to the irresponsible. In the long run this penalizes the honorable and rewards the dishonorable.

Government has become a charade. Republicans and Democrats wring their hands about crises which they themselves fomented and they frantically point fingers at everyone but themselves. ACORN, gangster-like, threatens banks if they don't give bad loans. The bad loans are snapped up by the Fannie Mae's and Freddie Macs and put into financial investment instruments and sold to your retirement programs. Then when the bottom drops out there's a double whammy effect: Your retirement programs tank, and you are assessed added taxes to bail out the bad paper while the government points fingers at the very institutions that they forced to make the bad loans in the first place and yell "Greed."

How long do we take this charade in silence? It's Hudge and Gudge shaking hands behind their backs and laughing all the way to the bank, well maybe to the Federal Reserve. What will the money be worth when we really get the printing presses rolling? Not much I'd wager. It is long past time to remedy this problem by reducing the size of government and putting the people back in charge of their own lives. The Nanny State is a failure and it's well on its way to becoming a tyrant as well.

Tax and Spend or Spend and Tax

That's it, the two strategies that guide the Federal Government in my lifetime. An ever expanding set of mandates that are discovered ever since Johnson's Great Society but even before. It's become an addiction and it's going to sink us all fairly soon if we don't do something about it.

What ever happened to those archetypes of the past: The Yankee who was an ingenious innovator, the lone Cowboy who was capable of saving the day, soft spoken, the strong silent type. Now everyone is a victim and looks to someone else to bail them out. Well when everyone's a victim there are no someone elses to bail you out. We're well on our way to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, the market economy and the small business entrepreneurship that fuels most of the innovation and employs at least 40% of the workforce.

You can see some of the progression by going to the Heritage Foundation site HERE and mouse on the interactive map. We're always hearing about how the poor are mistreated and how the rich are getting away with murder. Well folks, that lie is exposed here. The top 10% of taxpayers are paying 71% of all the taxes and the bottom half are paying 3%. I'm in favor of fairness, but we're in a quickly destabilizing situation. When 50% who are paying virtually nothing can vote to rape the rest of us, the dissolution of the republic cannot be far behind. Someone predicted this point long ago and high taxes have been the death of more than one empire. Tyranny Rising!

What Is This? An Incredible Rant

You just have to wonder sometimes. A friend of mine sent me this YouTube video with the comment "Thought you would enjoy this." — well she go that wrong! I don't quite know what to make of it. This guy is totally new to me but his name is Hon. James David Manning, Ph.D. and apparently he's the chief pastor of the ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem, New York City.

The video is over the top for this rather conservative contemplative caucasian who doesn't go in for much harsh name calling. Some of the allegations on the video are not new to me, for example the ongoing question of Obama's birth certificate. That just seems like an issue that should have gone away a long time ago. It's so transparently easy to resolve if it's not an issue. So the fact that it is even still on the table takes some explaining. SEE SNOPES.COM

The issue Manning raises about a guy named Larry Sinclair is new to me. I guess I don't get out much. The claim is that this guy Larry Sinclair did drugs and homosexual sex with Barack Obama while he was a state senator in 1999. Sinclair is writing a book. He apparently failed a polygraph test so may well be a liar at least about his Obama connection. Related to that assertion is the assertion that Obama was implicated in the death of a homosexual lover, Donald Young. Is any of this true? Or is it all a fevered fabrication of people hostile to Barack Obama? Frankly, as I said, I must live in a cocoon because I had not heard about any of this stuff. If you haven't either, you certainly can wonder why not? Maybe it's because the news media vetted the stories and found them without merit. Again perhaps it was just that they didn't want to hurt Obama's chances to be elected just like they protected John Kennedy when he had mistresses in the White House, common knowledge among the press corps. Who knows? I sure don't.

POLITICAL THEATER

While I was rooting around on the internet trying to find out more about these allegations, I stumbled on this rather fun political video hyping Obama over Hilary Clinton. Since I'm a Star Wars fan I watched the whole thing. If nothing else it certainly puts American political campaigns in some perspective. Can anyone believe any of these people? Incredible.!