Saturday, February 28, 2009

Just Who Is Pulling Obama's Strings?

Here is some really interesting background information about how Obama was plucked from obscurity back in the 80's and groomed for bigger things. Take note of the radicals and Arab sponsors who propelled his career. Be sure to check out the various links to dig deeper; it gets more bizarre with every click.

Who is Khalid-al-Mansour?

Now add in the administration's about face in regards to US attitude towards Israel, and it really makes one wonder what the Arab world's relationship is with Barack Hussein Obama.

http://wcbstv.com/national/hillary.clinton.israel.2.945238.html

Friday, February 27, 2009

The Puppet Master

Great post by my friend here on the tactics Obama is using to execute his vision for a socialist America. Definitely worth a read.

Taxes Will Rise on Middle Class

Anyone who has read the revenue projections and cost of expenditures in Obama's "New Era of Responsibility" budget recognizes that the numbers are based upon pure fantasy. His projection that in 2 years, the US will achieve 5.5% growth is completely laughable; those are Chinese type growth numbers. He even projects growth of over 3% here next year, when we could easily still be in negative territory. His savings also take into account spending in Iraq for the next ten years that rival the spending there today, with 140,000 troops coming home in the next couple of years. On the spending side his rosy projections for the cost of expenditures like healthcare are way off the mark, even by his own estimation (he calls it a down payment), so unless he's planning to prevent anyone over the age of 55 from getting a new hip or the right treatment for their cancer, he's seriously delusional.

So what does this mean? It means the money has to come from somewhere, and that, my friend, is you. Forget the promises of soaking the rich to pay for all of this $3.7 Trillion bill. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, even if the government squeezed every extra dollar from the rich, it would not come close to the numbers he plans to spend. That leaves middle America as his next target. Face it folks. In a social democracy, anywhere in the world, the rich are not the only ones who pay exorbitant taxes. Everyone does. In Obama's world, you are not off limits.

From FoxNews:White House Budget Plan Leaves Little Room for Error, Economists Warn
President Obama may have a tough time keeping to his tandem goals of cutting the deficit and sheltering middle-class families from tax increases, critics say.

FOXNews.com
Thursday, February 26, 2009

"Estimated Budget Totals for 2008-2010 Show Government Public Debt Rise 63 Percent
Economists and conservatives say President Obama's massive $3.55 trillion budget leaves little room for error, and it will be very hard for him to meet his tandem goals of cutting the deficit and sheltering middle-class families from tax increases.

Obama, who released details of his budget for fiscal 2010 on Thursday, said he foresees halving the deficit by 2013. But his budget calls for a $634 billion "reserve fund" to cover the costs of universal health care coverage over 10 years, as well as $200 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through next fall and another contingency fund for the sickly financial sector on top of the $787 billion stimulus bill that he signed last week.

With all these expenditures, many are saying they doubt Obama can reach his deficit goal while keeping his pledge to raise taxes only on couples making more than $250,000 a year.

"He's going to have to start moving down the scale and raising taxes on people making $150,000, people making $100,000 and even people making $75,000," said economist Adam Lerrick, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "You have to increase taxes. It's very simple. You have to pay for this somehow."

Part of the concern stems from optimistic White House projections about the rate of economic recovery. The budget overview assumes the economy will grow at a rate faster than other forecasters, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Blue Chip index (the consensus of leading private economic analysts)."

Thursday, February 26, 2009

$1.6 Trillion in New Taxes

Think you are going to be exempt from the huge new tax increases in Obama' budget because you don't make over $250K a year? Think again. Read this piece, written by a member of the Patriotic Resistance at www.resistnet.com.

Obama Budget: More than $1.6 Trillion in new taxes (and counting)
Posted by Steve Elliott on February 26, 2009 at 3:00pm

News outlets are reporting that there are over $1 trillion in new taxes in the Obama budget. While that number is stunning, Grassfire.org has identified more than $1.6 trillion... and counting

No one is including the "Climate Revenues" of $645 billion. "Climate Revenues" is defined in the overview as "Proceeds from auctioning emission allowances" -- i.e. the Carbon Tax that every American will be forced to pay because it is a pass-on tax to the consumer. Actually, according to the fine print of the Obama budget overview, the $645 billion shown is just the portion of the "Climate Revenues" that are currently designated to "clean energy technologies" and "Making Work Pay" program. The footnote explains, "Shown here [i.e. the $645 billion] are those proceeds from auctioning emission allowances that are reserved for clean energy technology initiatives and to compensate families through the Making Work Pay tax cut.... All additional net proceeds will be used to further compensate the public."

Thus, the Obama budget, at a minimum, includes $1.6 trillion in new taxes and we have yet to add in the assorted "fees," "leases," and other "mandatory initiatives."

Squeak Loudly and Often

As Obama releases new spending proposals on a daily basis, we have got to make our voices heard by our legislators again and again that we have had enough. I know many people put in a huge effort to contact their senators and Congressmen about the Stimulus Plan, seemingly to no avail. But we cannot let up. In fact, I think we've got to turn the pitch up even higher. Our government leaders are aware that we have reached the point of bailout and spending fatigue. We have lost track of the unthinkable amount of money Obama plans to spend on unending social engineering and projects aimed at Democrat constituencies. Our leaders also know that we do not have the money for this. Even the Democrats are starting to get fidgety. They are beginning to question Obama's power grabs with his czars over which the Senate has no control. While Obama's polls remain high, although average for someone in office for a little over a month, his base of independent voter support, which got him elected, is eroding.

This is why it is crucial that we do not stop with our efforts. Go onto Michelle Malkin's site (under my blogroll) and sign up for a tea party event taking place near you. Keep the pressure on your legislators, even at the state level. Join The Patriotic Resistance at www.resistnet.com, where they are planning a huge march in DC later this summer. Organize and inform friends. Start a blog. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. We cannot stop, for we are reaching a critical point from which our nation may not recover in our lifetime. America, It is Time To Revolt! I guarantee you that if you don't do SOMETHING to stop the lunacy, you will regret it.

Above All Else, Have A Plan

Since the new administration seems to be in denial about the existence of terror threats with its failure to address the issue head on, it's moves to close down Gitmo and terror interrogation sites across the globe, and it's coddling of known threats, it is critical that Americans take it upon themselves to prepare for the worst. In the end, we can only count on our own preparedness to avert potential tragedy for our families.

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ BY EVERY AMERICAN!

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie 'Munich' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard -- she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.

In a lecture in New York City, he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.

He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News, stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. But, unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.

Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again, as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.

For example:

1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.

2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked! Every strategy we have is 'reactionary.'

3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.

Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel, security checks bags BEFORE people can even
ENTER the airport.

Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.

On an encouraging note, he believes that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.

He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'HOMEGROWN' -- having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U. S. He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East. These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans
won't know/understand a thing about them.

Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terroristic threats we will inevitably, face. America still has only have a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.

So, what can America do to protect itself?

From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to instead, follow Israel's, Ireland's and England's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, 'like babies'. Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.

Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!

In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves. But, unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.

Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City, this was days, in some cases!)

He stresses the importance of having a plan that's agreed upon within your family, to respond to in the event of a terroristic emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools, too, develop plans of actions, as they do in Israel.

Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.

Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan that, in the event of another terrorist attack, will immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.

While some question Aviv's predictions and scare mongering tactics, he nonetheless shares some useful advice about American's general lack of preparedness for a terrorist attack. How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak? You need to have a plan.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Stopping Obama

After just over a month of Obama in office, we are well on our way to becoming a socialist state. Today, Obama announced broad plans on financing universal healthcare by raising taxes, and banning assault weapons, except for Mexican gang members. Our guaranteed Consitutional Rights are being swindled away by our Radical-in-Chief. He is spending our future away with massive spending bills and bailouts. His DH Secretary won't utter the word terrorism.

A contributor to my blog sent me these thoughts. I'd like to hear feedback from you on how Obama can be stopped from turning our great Republic into a Socialist State.

"We have four fundamental problems in any attempt to prevent Obama from socializing the United States.
First, the numbers of liberals, the misguided, and the masses of people who want to continue living off the government dole, far outnumber the patriots and the educated who see precisely what this man is doing to the country. Those numbers will continue to swell as the Hispanics view Bwana as their ticket to citizenship, and he will keep that vision firmly in the forefront of their trespassing minds. He wants an amnesty bill so bad he can't stand it. That is one bill that must be defeated at
all costs.
Second, he has effective control over all three branches of the government, so the checks and balances have been neatly set aside.
Three, the MSM still will not overtly blow his cover. They will continue to color the actions of the incumbent precisely the way he wants his agenda to be portrayed. The MSM thus becomes complicit in the crimes against the constitution.
Four, the most difficult of all problems is to combine the efforts of the conservatives who are thinking along the same lines, into a single force that is visible and focused. This must happen in order for him to be stopped. Without this combined force, the foregoing three problems become insurmountable. Period.
That is the true nature of the problem "We the People" face today."

Throwing Down the Gauntlet

When will the assault end? Obama has not only set the stage for socialized medicine, but he's going to force additional taxes on the same group whose taxes he will allow to increase to 39% in 2011. Does he really think that the well off and small business owners are going to sit and take beating after beating to live in a country with less effective, government-run health care? A country which offers no future for their children, in which government runs the lives of it's citizens from cradle to grave, and punishes the productive?

Just in from the AP:

"Obama Seeks $634M Over 10 Years to Revamp Health Care System
A senior administration official says President Obama's budget calls for financing the overhaul by trimming Medicare spending and limiting tax deductions for upper-income earners.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
President Obama wants a significant "down payment" for overhauling the health care system: $634 billion over 10 years.

A senior administration official says Obama's budget calls for financing the overhaul by trimming Medicare spending and limiting tax deductions for upper-income earners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget won't be released until Thursday.

About 48 million Americans are uninsured, according to recent estimates. The cost of guaranteeing coverage for all could easily exceed $1 trillion over 10 years.

Obama has asked Congress for health reform this year, but senior members of both political parties say they are concerned about the cost."

Spending Like Drunken Sailors

Obscene spending in the "Obamnibus Spend Like A Drunken Sailor And Spread Pork Act, 2009"

$14.5 Million for a National Animal Identification program
$86.7 Million for the alteration and repair of buildings of the Agricultural Marketing Service
$1.5 Million for the California National Historic Trail visitor center in Nevada
$250,000 for the sage grouse in Idaho
$250,000 for the Lahontan cu.tthroat trout restoration
$250,000 for wolf monitoring in western states
$350,000 for the Nevada Biodiversity Research and Conservation Initiative
$350,000 for sea otters and pacific marine mammals
$4 Million Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR–salt ponds
$42.647 Million for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund
$300,000 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s ra.id on the ar.senal at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
$350,000 National Voting Rights Interpretive Center
$750,000 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial
$200,000 Loyola University, Mundelein, IL
$250,000 Julius Freyhan High School, St. Francisville, LA
$240,000 Schubert Performing Arts Ctr., Minneapolis
$150,000 WPA Mural Conservation, Harlem Hospital
$150,000 Af.rican American Art Museum, Historic Archives
$171,000 Williamsburg County, SC Courthouse
$175,000 Winnsboro, SC Historic Clock Building
$100,000 Can.non County, TN Courthouse
$125,000 Fisherman’s Hall, Charles Town, WV
$1.6 Million Golden Gate National Recreation Area (Pt Bonita)
$2.5 Million Vanderbilt Mansion NHS
$4 Million Golden Gate National Recreation Area–Rancho Cor.ral de Tierra
$500,000 for the Arkansas Seismological Observatory
$650,000 for minerals resource as.sessment of federal lands in Nye County, Nevada
$900,000 for San Di.ego, CA, aquifer mapping
$500,000 to maintain the San Francisco, CA salt ponds restoration science
$10 Million for the National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center
$5 Million for Tribal Governments to partially restore the welfare program
$2 Million for the Navajo Technical College
$25 Million for tribal law enforcement in In.dian country
$1 Million for the Marshall Islands four atoll health care program
$800,000 to maintain the Leetown, WV molecular biology effort
$300,000 for the University of Missouri’s extension program for a woody biomas.s technology
$500,000 to Purdue University to fund wood products technology development
$200,000 to New Hampshire’s Northern Forest Center to fund a sustainable forestry
$1 Million for emerald ash borer work in the Midwest
$750,000 for gypsy moth suppression in the Mid-Atlantic area
$500,000 for Seattle-Tacoma regional urban forestry
$300,000 for the Chicago GreenStreets Program to mitigate emerald ash borer infestation and promote urban forestry (IL).
$4 Million for the Valles Caldera National Preserve Trust
$200,000 to begin Timberline Lodge water system upgrades
$26.2 Million for Quincy Library Group’s hazardous fuels reduction activities (CA)
$400,000 for the Center for Bottomlands Hardwoods (MS)
$1.3 million for Forest Products Lab equipment (WI)
$900,000 each for the Northeast States Research Cooperatives in Vermont and New Hampshire and $300,000 for this item in Maine.
$50,000 for tree replacement in River Rouge, MI
$10 Million for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
$2,234,000 for the Commission of Fine Arts
$9.5 Million for the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs grant program
$47.26 million for the United States Holo.caust Memorial Museum
$2 Million for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
$8 Million to fund efforts to monitor and remediate groundwater contamination and other pollution sources at Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, CA
$2.2 Million Upper Sacramento River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
$1.35 Million Sandy River/Oregon National Historic Trail
$300,000 Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge–plan and design visitor center
$1.75 Million Mammoth Springs National Fish Hatchery–complete visitor center
$600,000 Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge–plan and design visitor center
$500,000 CA seafloor mapping
$400,000 National Ironworkers Training Program for American In.dians (IL)
$5 Million San Francisco Bay Restoration Grants
$15 Million California Emission Reduction Grants
$300,000 Kinzua D.am Marina Repairs (PA)
$300,000 Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
$60 Million Everglades Nat’l Park
$5 Million Boston Harbor Islands (Pavilion)
$5 Million Apo.stle Islands National Lakesho.re–lighthouse reconstructions
$2.25 Million Vir.gin Islands National Park
$1 Million for the Chesa.peake Bay program
$1.8 Million for the Eden Forest project in Vermont

For more porky tidbits, check in tomorrow.

Fairness Doctrine Vote Coming Up

"Subject: *VOTE REGARDING FAIRNESS DOCTRINE HOURS AWAY*

Call, fax or email your senators & urge them to vote FOR Senator Jim
DeMint's "Broadcaster Freedom Act (S.34). Go to this Web page link (The
Center for Individual Freedom) for further info:
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/bfa1.htmlAlso, if you choose to, you can send a blast fax through another link on
that Web page to President Obama & the Democrat Senators daring them to
oppose this bill. The site will ask for a contribution of at least $20. It
was worth it to me not to have to spend the time to look up all those email
or fax numbers. To find your senator's contact info, check out the links to the right under How to Contact Your Government Leaders.

Tea Party Movement Gains Momentum

Please check out the latest news and locations of the Tea Parties across America to take place this Friday. I urge everyone who lives near one of these locations to participate if at all possible.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/25/tea-party-usa-watch-party-planning-continues/

In Obama's World, Terrorists No Longer Exist

I guess we can feel comforted that the war on terror is over. At least according to Janet Napolitano, who won't mention the "T" word (is that like the new "N" word?). Apparently denial is magic, and she can wish the bad guys away.

Of course, this is typical of liberal thinking when it comes to criminals. It is far more important to fight for the rights of the bad guys than to protect the victims of these same individuals. Obama's administration is just taking this concept to the next level, by allowing the worst of the bad guys to skate, whilst thousands of American lives hang in the balance. But hey, we're expendable for the cause, right?

This is an extremely significant article. It shows that since President Obama has stated we are not the enemy of Islam, he will not allow Napolitano to use the "T" word, the "9/11" reference, or "vulnerability". This subtle change in dialogue is supposed to make
things go away I suppose. Do you feel more comfortable or less threatened? Next thing you know, Obama will tell Homeland security not to raise the "Threat Level" or even delete the term all together.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/24/napolitano-avoids-mentioning-terrorism-remarks-congress/

Dear Obama: Wall Street's Just Not That Into You

Another jaw dropping response to Obama's jabbering jaw. Maybe he and his posse should just shut up. Or maybe listen to what the market is telling them: Your plans STINK!


Wall St. drops after data, banks fall
Wednesday February 25, 2009, 10:15 am EST
Yahoo! Buzz Print
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks added to losses on Wednesday after data showed the pace of existing home sales unexpectedly fell in January, while bank shares slid on continuing worries over the fate of the sector.


Reuters - Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange February 24, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid ...

The tone was set early by disappointment President Barack Obama shed little new light about how his administration would stabilize the economy in a major speech before Congress.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) fell 141.46 points, or 1.92 percent, to 7,209.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) lost 15.88 points, or 2.05 percent, to 757.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) was down 28.26 points, or 1.96 percent, at 1,413.57.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

His Own Man

Bravo to Tiger Woods for his class and for remaining true to his principles. Here is a cool, talented young African American who could easily be an Obama BFF should he choose to. I'm guessing that he won't be invited to stay in the Lincoln bedroom anytime soon.

Tiger Woods comments/speech given at the inauguration

Tiger Woods spoke Sunday, Jan 18th at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington during "We Are One," an inauguration celebration for President-elect Barack Obama.

Below is the text of his speech, entitled "You'll Never Walk Alone," as posted on his Web site:

"I grew up in a military family - and my role models in life were my Mom and Dad, Lt. Colonel Earl Woods. My dad was a Special Forces operator and many nights friends would visit our home. They represented every branch of the service, and every rank. In my Dad, and in those guests, I saw first hand the dedication and commitment of those who serve. They come from every
walk of life. From every part of our country. Time and again, across generations, they have defended our safety in the dark of night and far from home.

Each day -- and particularly on this historic day -- we honor the men and women in uniform who serve our country and protect our freedom. They travel to the dangerous corners of the world, and we must remember that for every person who is in uniform, there are families who wait for them to come
home safely.

I am honored that the military is such an important part, not just of my personal life, but of my professional one as well. The golf tournament we do each year here in Washington is a testament to those unsung heroes. I am the son of a man who dedicated his life to his country, family and the military,
and I am a better person for it.

In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln, the man at whose memorial we stand, spoke to the 164th Ohio Regiment and said: 'I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.'

Just as they have stood tall for our country - we must always stand by and support the men and women in uniform and their families.

Thank you, and it is now my pleasure to introduce the US Naval Glee Club."

We should all be proud of Tiger Woods for this 2-minute tribute to the military at the Inaugural Celebration in Washington DC. You know he was greatly pressured to be there. The liberals have been mad at him for a decade for not joining their ranks. He probably didn't want to be there.

So instead of paying homage to Obama, he paid tribute to our soldiers. Not one time did Tiger mention Obama or the inauguration or the new administration.

He knew he would disappoint, even anger, many, many liberals. But Tiger is his own man. His father taught him to be his own man. Somewhere in that cold gray Washington sky,old Earl was smiling down on his son.

Stop Obama or America Will Cease to Exist

Alan Keyes on Obama

Bonuses to Pay Your Mortgage On Time!

This bit of news regarding the housing bailout is just too much to stomach. When will the lunacy end?

An excerpt from Glenn Beck's column today:

"Think of the housing bailout. A part of that plan (the TV show “Lost” is more rooted in reality) is President Obama giving homeowners an “incentive payment” of $1,500 if they remain current through their loan modification (translation: a handout just for doing what you’ve previously agreed to do). They also qualify for a bonus of $1,000 a year for five years if they keep up with payments. That’s a $6,500 perk for people to stay in homes they already can’t afford! And by the way–do you have a five-year mortgage? Me neither. Most of us have 30 year mortgages, so this is an awfully expensive band-aid on a problem that we’ll only have to rip off in five years –and you know how painful that can be. Plus, for good measure we’ve allowed people to remain under the delusion that they can and deserve to stay in homes they never should have been able to buy in the first place. It’s so insane, I’d actually laugh if I wasn’t so busy crying."

Transparency, Huh?

There is so much hidden social engineering and restructuring of government programs in the Spendulus Bill that it just boggles the mind. Not only was billions of dollars of unnecessary pork barrel spending heaped upon the American people, but the rules surrounding some of the state's moneys are intended to override their sovereign rights to create their own laws. This administration has no intention of being transparent, despite all it's bluster to the contrary. Obama and the Democrats are doing everything in their power to stealthily change this country bit by bit, and in record time.

See exhibit one below:


Jindal to Turn Down $100 Million in Stimulus Funds
Sunday, February 22, 2009 9:11 PM

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. He explained his decision to turn down $100 million in federal stimulus money for his state.

Transcript follows:
DAVID GREGORY: You have a budget shortfall in Louisiana of $2 billion. Now, under the stimulus plan by the Obama administration, you would get a cut of that. You'd get $4 billion in federal stimulus. But this is what you said on Monday about the stimulus plan: "We're going to have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars." And just Friday you made good on that pledge not necessarily to take the federal money, saying that you would reject almost $100 million in federal unemployment assistance. Why would you turn this money down?

GOV. JINDAL: Well, let's be clear. The best thing that Washington could do to help Louisiana and all of our states with our budgets is to get this economy moving again. I think we just have a fundamental disagreement here. I don't think the best way to do that is for the government to tax and borrow more money. I think the best thing they could've done, for example, was to cut taxes on things like capital gains, the lower tax brackets, to get the private sector spending again. I think they had a provision the net operating losses to help small businesses. Unfortunately, they slimmed that down. They could've done some things on a real energy policy. If all they do is borrow federal money and give it to the states, all we're really doing is delaying the inevitable. We're eventually going to have to make these hard choices anyway. In Louisiana we made midyear reductions, $241 million. We're going to have to do more with less. What would be more helpful from Washington is less unnecessary spending. How does $300 million for federal cars, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, how is spending like that going to help our economy? How's that stimulus?

MR. GREGORY: All right, but let's focus on--because I want to get to some of those larger issues in just a moment. But let's focus on this. Why would you turn down $100 million for federal unemployment assistance for your state?

GOV. JINDAL: Well, let's look at the programs we turned down.
MR. GREGORY: Yeah.
GOV. JINDAL: You're talking about temporary federal money that would require a permanent change in state law.
MR. GREGORY: But it is--it's a tax break.
GOV. JINDAL: Well, it, it's--no. The $100 million we turned down was temporary federal dollars that would require us to change our unemployment laws. That would've actually raised taxes on Louisiana businesses. We as a state would've been responsible for paying for those benefits after the federal money disappeared.

MR. GREGORY: All right, but the Democratic senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu, says you're wrong. This is how it was reported in The Times-Picayune Saturday: "Senator Landrieu disputed the governor's interpretation and said the new unemployment benefits are designed to be temporary. `The bill is an emergency measure designed to provide extra help during these extraordinarily tough times,' Landrieu said. `To characterize this provision as a "tax increase on Louisiana businesses" is inaccurate.'" Her point being, you could insert a sunset clause when this has to go away, but it would certainly be beneficial at a time when you're in economic stress.

GOV. JINDAL: That's great, except the federal law, if you actually read the bill--and I know it was 1,000 pages, and I know they got it, you know, at midnight, or hours before they voted on it--if you actually read the bill, there's one problem with that. The word permanent is in the bill. It requires the state to make a permanent change in our law. Law B--our employer group agrees with me. They say, "Yes, this will result an increase in taxes on our businesses, this will result in a permanent obligation on the state of Louisiana." It would be like spending $1 to get a dime. Why would we take temporary federal dollars if we're going to end up having a permanent program?

And here's the problem. So many of these things that are called temporary programs end up being permanent government programs. But this one's crystal clear, black and white letter law. The federal stimulus bill says it has to be a permanent change in state law if you take this state money. And so within three years the federal money's gone, we've got now a permanent change in our laws, we have to pay for it, our businesses pay for it. I don't think it makes sense to be raising taxes on Louisiana businesses during these economically challenging times. And what it shows is what we're going to do in the stimulus is we're going to look at every program, every dollar. If it makes sense for Louisiana, makes sense for our taxpayers, we'll use those programs and dollars. If it doesn't, like on Friday we said, "This doesn't make sense for us. This is not a good deal for us." It makes--my job is to represent Louisiana's taxpayers. Makes no sense for us to take temporary federal dollars and create permanent state obligations

Monday, February 23, 2009

Two True Patriots


The attached message is from the son of a Doctor in Sanford NC. He has a clear message that shows both his patriotism as a war vet and his frustration with what is going on in this country. Pass this along, so people will get the flavor. Attached to the message is a story about another true patriot, Denzel Washington which shows his heart is with the vet and the country.


"When someone takes a stand for a selfless act you never hear about it. I mean these guys paid for our freedoms for God sakes. Instead we are hearing about a welfare mother having another 18 kids whom we will end up paying for and supporting. Where are the ethics and where are the real decision makers when we see this obvious need? We had one millionaire step up, Where are the others? Supporters that are selfish, liberal, socialistic, irrational and Irresponsible please step down.

You know the ones who will never be responsible will get away with this, but those who are responsible will never be able to forget it and will keep having to support the indiscrimatable mistakes that our leader is making. This isn't Europe (but I am glad he can give a good speech America). Why would Americans vote for someone who's views might work on another continent but never have on ours?

I'm tired... I am tired of seeing my friends leave. I am tired of trying to motivate them when I know that there is no truth. I see no solution. We can't just leave...

Transparency, seriously, the only reason he is able to claim that is because he has a website. HTML... You can put anything on a site. Just ask the recent perverts who were able to manipulate an entire school who fooled school children to expose themselves worldwide. This I do not want to confront, but people, is this transparency BC I believe I am getting lied to worse than these children.

Disgusting and appalling, Leadership use to mean responsibility and not selfishness. When did a millionaire start looking more glorious than a war hero? I will tell you when.... Now....

The only transparency I see is that Govt will continue to manipulate Americans until it hurts us so much that ALL Americans finally pay attention and quit being lazy about their only responsibilities as an American. That is to stay knowledgeable about the facts. Good luck when the media only wants you to hear one side, and most who only watch and do not read account for the majority of voters. Which in short means, don't vote for someone just because you like the WAY they talk.

I could go on and on but we have already made our mistakes. The bad thing is that the ones who tried to deter us away from these mistakes are not even heard during these times. Like a former General of the US Army... (Petraeus)...

God bless our troops."

And...

Remember this next time you walk up to the ticket window of your local movie theater with $$$$ in your hand.

The Media (Accidently?) Missed this one!!!!

Please read this:

The troops oversees would like you to send it to everybody you know.
Subject: Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center

Don't know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. There are some
buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American
public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.

The question is - why do: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise and other Hollywood fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics and Denzel Washington's Patriotism doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the Local newspaper in San Antonio?

Kudos and a big heartfelt thanks to both of these Patriots. True Americans and friends to all in uniform!

What If...

I posted this a few months ago, but with the pending unveiling of Obama's budget with it's focus on increasing taxes on businesses and the wealthy in an attempt to shore up the huge deficits (in large part created by his huge new spending programs), I decided to post it again. We are closing in on a point from which there may be no return.


Headlines scream of looming deficits and ongoing, seemingly never ending new stimulus and entitlement programs proposed and dreamed up by the Democrats in their quest to nationalize every industry in the USA, and I wonder what the consequences will be. What will the USA look like when my kids are adults? What kind of tax burdens will they shoulder in order to ensure that everyone gets their "fair share", with no regard to their contribution to society? Will they ever know of the opportunities to attain prosperity for which America has been known for 200 years? Or will their efforts be for naught in a country which will eagerly strip them of their earnings should they desire to go above and beyond to educate themselves, work harder, and provide more for their own families?

If indeed the USA of tomorrow looks more like the France or Denmark of today, (minus the beautifully preserved historic cities and towns), then would I, or my children choose to live here? What other options exist for a fruitful existence based on one's personal responsibility and desire to achieve, to reach farther down into the human spirit to create, to strive, to provide a better life for one's family? What if huge numbers of educated people with a strong work ethic got so fed up that they just....left? Went to New Zealand or Tazmania or Kenya or wherever to start a new life? Doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, engineers, computer geeks, scientists, entreprenuers, manufacturers. For a moment, forget the issues related to visas and attaining citizenship and whatnot. Just imagine a mass of the (relatively) richest, most educated, and entreprenuerial people on the planet moving to some other place to start a new life, based on the principles espoused by the America they once knew. The America which rewarded creativity and work ethic and education and risk taking rather than rewarding only abject failure. The kind of America our ancestors left their homelands for in search of opportunity. Would a developing country willingly throw this great human capital away? Perhaps some would welcome their traditional American can-do spirit and allow them to create an existence which would better the lives of all. Without having to own them all.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Putin for President?

At the recent economic summit meeting, Putin had this to say:

http://www.therightperspective.org/?p=1472
One always has to take Putin's words with a grain of salt, as clearly his interests are not always in line with those of the US. But maybe, this time, our interests are aligned, and his warning should be heeded. And why is it that everyone else in the world seems to see where we are headed and Americans continue to blindly follow The Messiah off the cliff? Are we too busy playing video games and watching American Idol to give a crap? Any thoughts?

Mortgage Plan Lies of Omission

According to Fox Business News, Obama's new mortgage rescue plan will not work because it does not take into account a well known aspect of lending, namely PITI.


"Friday, February 20, 2009
It's a PITI -- Why Obama's Mortgage Plan Doesn't Work

Mark Lieberman, Senior Economist
FOX Business News

It’s a PITI.

How did so many smart people get it wrong?

The ambitious mortgage rescue plan offered by the Obama Administration appears to miss a couple of critical elements which could -- unless corrected as details emerge -- leave the plan dead on arrival, and that would be a pity.

Indeed PITI is at the root of the problem.

In mortgage parlance, PITI represents Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance: the components of the monthly mortgage payment. Typically, according to knowledgeable insiders, the latter two elements -- real estate taxes and homeowner’s insurance -- represent about 1/3 of the monthly payment. Lenders generally require borrowers to pay those expenses monthly into an escrow account to ensure property taxes will be paid -- or, in the event of damage, that the property (collateral for the loan) is protected.

PITI -- with some other factors -- is the numerator in the equation used to determine the target percentage of a borrower’s income under the Administration’s plan to make mortgages affordable.

The arithmetic using the examples offered by Treasury to illustrate the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan suggests the goal of bringing the monthly payment down to 31% of gross (pre-tax) monthly income may be illusive at best.

In addition to PITI, mortgage lenders include all mortgage payments -- including those for home equity lines of credit and home equity loans -- in computing the ratio. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, or HASP, doesn’t address those obligations.

These omissions not only could be, but are, significant.

Mortgage payments are calculated using three factors:

The interest rate,
The amount of the loan and
The length of the loan.
Tweaking any one of them could change the monthly payment -- with a different outcome."


My question is, with all these "smart" guys working on this plan, did they really miss this vital point? Doesn't everyone know that lenders take into consideration Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance when computing loan to income ratios? And what about PMI, Private Mortgage Insurance, which is required for loans which exceed 80% of a home's value? Will PMI be waived for these folks, or is this another oversight?

My guess is that the Obama administration did not forget these details at all. Instead, they simply knowingly failed to include them in the details released to the public, as adding in their additional cost will significantly increase the cost of the program. The spin-meisters realized the real price tag would be too much for responsible mortgage payers to stomach, but once the program is a fait accomplis, and the true cost emerges, it will no longer be front page news. People are already outraged at the thought of bailing out irresponsible homeowners. When the actual cost of this program becomes known, will they revolt, or will they simply shrug their shoulders and acquiesce to yet another slick move by our "transparent" new President?

Friday, February 20, 2009

A Modest Proposal

I love this piece written and sent to me by a true American!


Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists,
Marxists, Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this
latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I
know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future
generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two
ideological sides of America cannot, and will not ever agree on what is
right, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up
to irreconcilable differences, and go our own way.

Here is a model dissolution agreement:
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each
taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two
sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that it should be
relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide
other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome
to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll
take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military. You can keep
Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however,
responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move them).
We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical
companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved
homeless, homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot
Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEOs, and rednecks. We'll keep the bibles
and give you NBC and Hollywood . You can make nice with Iran and
Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that
threaten us.

You can have the peaceniks and war protestors. When our allies or way
of life are under assault, we'll provide them job security. We'll keep
our Judeo-Christia n values...You are welcome to Islam, Scientology,
Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. But we will
no longer be paying the bill. We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and
over-sized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can
find.

You can give everyone healthcare, if you can find any practicing
doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a
right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National
Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to
Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World. We'll
practice trickle-down economics, and you can give trickle-up poverty its
best shot.

Since it often so offends you we'll keep our history, our name, and our
flag and our GOD and prayer. Would you agree to this? If so please
pass it along to other like minded patriots, and if you do not agree,
just hit delete and hang on. In the spirit of friendly parting.

Sincerely,

AN AMERICAN

P.S. Also, please take Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda


As an added point to this proposal, I would also like to suggest that we split the nice beachfront property, as I am an ocean kind of gal.

Obama's Revenge; Connecting the Dots

An interesting piece from the Canada Free Press which begs the question why so many of these issues were not investigated prior to the election. We've all heard this information before, but Ms. Swisrky connects the dots in a compelling fashion which really gives one pause.


By Joan Swirsky Sunday, February 15, 2009

"Once upon a time, a white teenager from Kansas got pregnant by her black Kenyan boyfriend, Barack Obama Sr., or was it her husband? Whatever. (I say whatever because we’ve never seen either marriage or divorce certificates). Some say the couple was in Kenya visiting relatives when the birth of their son, Barack Obama Jr., occurred. No matter. (I say no matter because we’ve never seen an authentic birth certificate). By the time the baby was two years old his father abandoned him for his other wife and child in Kenya.

I wonder how toddler Barry felt when his father left him, and never reappeared until a single time when the boy was 10. Bewildered? Sad? Lonely? Angry? What do two-year-olds do with those feelings?

It didn’t take long for Barry’s mother to meet and marry an Indonesian native named Lolo Soetoro. They moved to Indonesia, where her child became Barry Soetoro, took on Indonesian citizenship, and was presumably schooled in public, Christian, and Muslim schools. (I say presumably because we’ve never seen those school records). But when Barry was 10 years old, his mother sent him back to the U.S. to be raised by her parents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, although she kept her baby daughter Maya Soetoro with her.

I wonder how the by-now fully-sentient young Barry felt when his mother sent him packing. Sad? Jealous of the baby who remained behind with mommy? Confused and dizzy by the disparate cultures – languages, customs, foods, sights, sounds, schooling – he had experienced? Resentful? What did Barry do with those feelings?

By the time he was 10, the boy had been abandoned three times – by his father, stepfather, and mother. And although he was raised by his white grandparents in Hawaii – where “people of color” were not his color – he found out soon enough that his mixed-race background rendered him, in effect, an outsider. Did that make him feel self-conscious, indignant, victimized?

But he wasn’t altogether an outsider. In Hawaii, young Barry met Frank Marshall Davis, his first and perhaps most influential mentor. The infamous Marshall, a Communist activist (and self-confessed pedophile) taught Barry – was it Obama, Soetero, Dunham? – that white people were the devil incarnate and that blacks were the most “victimized” people on earth.

Yet the abandoned and rejected child was lucky. His white-devil grandparents gave him a comfortable life in Hawaii, and an education that apparently qualified him to attend several prestigious schools – Occidental College in CA, Columbia Univ. in NY City, and Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA.(I say apparently qualified because we’ve never seen any of his college transcripts).

BARRY MORPHS INTO BARACK

After his undergraduate days at Columbia, Obama chose not to go to graduate school, but instead held various jobs in the Big Apple and then moved to Chicago to become a community organizer. Although he had been exposed to American exceptionalism through his life in the United States and his privileged education, it is clear that his experiences in impoverished Kenya and totalitarian Indonesia, as well as his exposure to Marshall and the other radicals he had met during his years in New York – among them the unrepentant domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn of Weather Underground infamy – made the deepest and most lasting impressions.

Their messages of American imperialism and its white-devil culture clearly resonated in the thrice-abandoned boy. In his young-adult and adult years, free to choose his friends and pursuits, he opted exclusively for far-left socialists and Marxists, and activities aimed at relieving the suffering of people he perceived to be as victimized as apparently he felt he had been. He understood their feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and impotent rage, as well as the pain of fatherlessness. After all, his Harvard-educated father consciously chose to leave him. And his mother gave him away. Was that depressing to Barry? Infuriating?

When given the opportunity to join one of dozens of churches in Chicago, Barry – who had morphed into Barack – opted for the Trinity United Church of Christ, which was led by the fire-breathing Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose decades-long anti-American and anti-Semitic rants apparently resonated in Obama’s rejected and abandoned heart and soul. (I say apparently resonated because in over 20 years of regular attendance, Obama said he heard nothing inflammatory or anti-American, and we’ve never seen the videotapes of any sermon, although each one was unfailingly recorded).

“God damn America,” Wright raged. “The chickens have come home to roost,” he “preached” to his whooping and hollering congregation after 9/11. Obama heard nothing.

But it wasn’t only Wright who Obama was attracted to in Chicago. He was also drawn to another hate-spewing radical, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, as well as to the raving Father Michael Phleger, the radical Islamist Khalid Rashidi, his friends and neighbors the Ayers, and to equally-close friends “Tony” and Rita Rezko – Tony being the notorious “fixer” and now-convicted-and-imprisoned felon for fraud, bribery, and money laundering. What did the seemingly mild-mannered Obama find so irresistible in these angry and/or crooked people and others like them? Was it the same thing that a shy man finds in his attraction to a flamboyant girlfriend – and alter-ego, a person who expresses what he really feels but is unable to give voice to?

In these relationships and in community organizing – which offers inner-city mostly-black residents job training, tutoring, and methods to organize tenants’-rights groups and voter-registration drives, etc. – the twenty-something Obama apparently found his calling, and also a renewed and burning ambition.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE

While his community-organizing job paid a paltry $12,000 or so per year, Obama somehow managed to pay his way through one of the priciest graduate schools in the world, Harvard Law School. (I say somehow managed because we have no record of his tuition payments). Even more amazing, he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review without ever producing a written paper – or at least a paper that the public has ever read.

There is a good deal of evidence that Obama’s acceptance at Harvard Law – and his tuition – were facilitated by friends who had a vested interest in the community organizer. Among them was Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president and ardent leftist, who was also Malcolm X’s lawyer. In an interview last year, the octogenarian Sutton stated: “I was introduced to [Obama] by a friend. The friend’s name was Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, and the introduction took place about 20 years ago.” Sutton described al-Mansour as “the principle adviser to one of the world’s richest men” and suggested that al-Mansour was raising money for Obama. Knowing that Sutton had friends at Harvard, al-Mansour asked him if he would write a letter to Harvard recommending Obama, which Sutton did most agreeably. This took place about 1988 when 27-year-old Obama was applying to Harvard Law.

Journalist Jack Cashill has credibly speculated that Obama’s two memoirs were actually written by his pal Bill Ayers, who was and is a University of Illinois at Chicago English professor, having escaped life in prison on a technicality. Two years [after he was admitted to law school], Cashill writes, “while still a law student, Obama improbably received an advance to write a memoir that would be called `Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,’ which was published in 1995.” His second memoir, published in 2006, was “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.” (I suspect Cashill said “improbably received an advance” because, as stated earlier, Obama had not produced even one paper or distinguished himself in any way to have inspired a major publishing company to approach him).

Al this begs the question: Who writes two memoirs about himself before the age of 45? My own speculation is that it could be no one but a narcissist. As most people know in this age of pop psychology, the psychiatric disorder of narcissism derives from the Greek myth in which Narcissus, a handsome young man, became obsessed with himself and fell in love with his own image as he gazed into a pool of water. A lot of people have some degree of narcissism, which is characterized by grandiosity, an unquenchable need for admiration, unhealthy self-absorption, dependence on the affirmation of others, and also a lack of empathy, which is hidden by both personal charm and the kind of earnest language that pretends to “feel your pain.”

Or he could be a malignant narcissist., which psychiatrist Dr. Otto Kernberg, a legendary leader in thought disorders, compares to a narcissist on steroids. This variety involves paranoid traits (think of Obama’s thin-skinned, quasi-hysterical reactions to Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin), and ego-syntonic aggression, which means the person is perfectly in-sync with people who have the courage he lacks to lash out.

But consider the source! Obama’s father was a self-aggrandizing narcissist who thought nothing of throwing his son away to fulfill his own ambitions and his mother also threw him away for the same reason. Talk about DNA, which Obama perfectly exhibited when, during his campaign, he unflinchingly dispensed with both his white grandmother and his black “mentor” Rev. Wright for his personal ambition.

GROOMING THE PERFECT MARXIST CANDIDATE
This leads me to only one conclusion, which I wrote about in a former article: “Obama: The Trojan Horse.” My theory is that President Obama’s narcissistic charm, even temperament, skill with words (teleprompter included), hunger to please, radical agenda, and subterranean rage at the “unfair” American system have been brilliantly exploited by powerful leftist radicals and Marxists in the United States, who for decades have plotted America’s path to socialism. He is their pawn, totally dispensable but handy while the “aura” lasts.

These “handlers” saw in Obama the ideal blank slate on which to actualize their agenda, and they made sure the slate remained blank by concealing (or destroying) any evidence of his past, including his birth certificate, Selective Service record, visa(s), school transcripts, and other vital documents. All of which is costing his moneyed backers – including America-loathing billionaire George Soros – multimillions in lawyers’ fees to fight the proliferating lawsuits that seek the truth about this stealth president.

In fact, former ambassador Alan Keyes, one of the many plaintiffs seeking proof of Obama’s American citizenship, has reported that Obama’s lawyers have now filed a motion “to quash our effort to obtain the relevant documents…[which] confirms Obama’s ruthless determination to destroy anyone who continues to seek the information the Constitution requires. Obama thus signals his intent to bring financial ruin on those who won’t accept his cover-up of the circumstances of his birth is a tactical escalation. It confirms the common sense suspicion that he won’t act forthrightly in this matter because he has something to hide.”

It is clear that Obama and his fellow radicals are restive. In the less-than four weeks of his presidency, the new president has taken volumes from the Marxian handbook, which dictates that the stupid masses be blitzed with an overload of information, hollow press conferences, appointments, dismantling of formerly effective national-security programs, et al., in order to set the stage for a massive, Soviet-style takeover of our government, including a civilian national security force that Obama has said should be “just as powerful, strong and well-funded as the U.S. military.” Echoes of Nazi Germany in 1938, anyone?

According to writer Kyle-Anne Shrive, in Obama’s ascendance:

“We have yet to see a more perfect collision of Murphy’s Law with the Peter Principle. In only three weeks’ time, [he] has signaled to every terrorist on the planet that we are a sorry, groveling, ashamed nation ready to come to the diplomatic confessional. He is closing Gitmo within one year, has suspended trials there, and dismissed the charges against the U.S.S. Cole plotter. [He] has just put our money where his mouth is and is using $20.3 million to bring in Palestinian refugees from Gaza…[he] had the gall to pronounce the so-called economic stimulus bill absolutely free of `earmarks’ and `make-do work’…but according to the Congressional Budget Office [this bill] will do worse to our overall economy than no government action whatsoever.”

And Obama has done all this with the predictable double-speak that characterizes malevolent intention, i.e., touting transparency while concealing everything, speaking of integrity while appointing crooks and incompetents riddled with conflicts-of-interest, supporting energy independence while killing off-shore and domestic oil-drilling and nuclear power, and feigning optimism while he speaks of impending “catastrophe” in order to push through a pork-laden, trillion-dollar-plus Stimulus plan that rewards the corrupt voter-fraud organization Acorn with billions and unions with discriminatory union-only labor agreements, paves the way for socialized medicine, and threatens to take away the most cherished rights of We The People.

As blogger Eric Gurr has said: “We still talk about the health care crisis, the environmental crisis, the oil crisis, the banking crisis. Let me tell you my friends you are about to learn the meaning of the only crisis that matters, the survival crisis.”

You can be sure that the sad-lonely-angry two-year-old, the jealous-confused-resentful 10-year-old, the self-conscious- cheated-victimized adolescent, and the man who found solace in and identified with his hate-America mentors is now determined to redeem all of his demons.

Unfortunately, he is acting out his rage on free-market capitalism, a free press, property and gun rights, a limited constitutional government, protection of the unborn, and everything else that is good and great about our country.

This is Obama’s revenge!"

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Sheriff Joe Story

I'm not sure who first reported this story but thought it worth sharing.

SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!

Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.

The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.

The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip in sert ed the day we got him. Cost us $78.

The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budge t is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.

I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand.

He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes theChristmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.

Yup, he was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.
Now he' s in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a 'Git-R Dun' kind of Sheriff.

TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO

HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTYSHERIFF

AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER
THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona ) who created the ' Tent City Jail':
He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights Cut off all but 'G' movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do fre e wor k on county and city projects.

Then He Started Chain Gangs For Women So He Wouldn't Get
Sued For Discrimination.

He took away cable TV Until he found out there was A Federal Court Order that Required Cable TV For Jails So He Hooked Up The Cable TV Again Only Let In The Disney Channel And The Weather Channel.

When asked why the weather channel He Replied, So They Will Know How Hot It's Gonna Be While They Are Working
ON My Chain Gangs.

He Cut Off Coffee Since It Has Zero Nutritional Value.

When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This Isn't The Ritz/Carlton......If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back.'


More On The Arizona Sheriff:

With Temperatures Being Even Hotter Than Usual In Phoenix (116 Degrees Just Set A New Record), the Associated Press Reports:
About 2,000 Inmates Living In A Barbed-Wire-Surrounded Tent Encampment At The Maricopa County J ail Hav e Been Given Permission To Strip Down To Their Government-Issued
Pink Boxer Shorts.

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached
138 Degrees Inside The Week Before.

Many Were Also Swathed In Wet, Pink Towels As Sweat Collected On Their Chests And Dripped Down To Their PINK SOCKS.

'It Feels Like We Are In A Furnace,' Said James Zanzot, An Inmate Who Has Lived In The TENTS for 1 year. 'It's Inhumane.'

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: 'It's 120 Degrees In Iraq And Our Soldiers Are Living In Tents Too, And They Have To Wear Full Battle Gear,
But They Didn't Commit Any Crimes,So Shut Your Mouths!'

Way To Go, Sheriff!

Hope and Change? Maybe Not.

The natives are getting restless. Or at least catching on to the man behind the smoke and mirrors. Now that Obama actually has to lead, and not just pontificate, Americans are slowly beginning to realize that maybe the campaign was a dream, and now they've awakened to the nightmare that is the economic reality of America today. How will The One handle the growing sentiment that perhaps he is not up to the task at hand?

Check out this video from the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853


Further down the road, in Mesa, AZ, Dobson High School Advanced Placement government students watched the president's speech Wednesday. Here are some comments from the kids:


"Senior Syna Daudfar took some notes during the speech and was among the most vocally opposed to Obama's words.

At one point, when he talked about the costs of his stimulus plan, senior Maaike Albach and Daudfar looked at each other and said, "uh-oh."

"Overall I think it's a good idea, but he's not addressing the issues of the economic crisis," said Daudfar, a John McCain supporter who added he leans more toward being a moderate conservative. "The spending bill he just passed is just progressing the Democratic agenda rather than addressing the economic issues in the country."

Daudfar thinks Obama's plan is backward and deals with the "less important stuff" first. "Bailing out businesses" and "providing better regulatory systems for giving out money to businesses" should have been first, he said.

"If businesses can't afford to hire people, then people won't be able to work and pay off their mortgages," he said. "It's kind of like putting money into a funnel."

Albach, who is also a Republican, said Obama's plan sounds good but questioned how Obama can want to rely on "people's responsibility" when that is "what got us in this economic crisis in the first place."

"This puts us more into debt," said Albach, 18. "It's a horrible situation we're in."

Senior Brandon Miller wore a shirt with the words, "Hitler gave great speeches, too" above a picture of Obama.

Miller said he had been an Obama supporter "because of his speeches," but after debating the issues in this class and looking more into Obama's policies, his vote was swayed toward McCain. "I just don't believe all the things he's telling us. His goal is just too big and broad." Miller wanted to hear more about the costs and guidelines the stimulus bill entails.

Senior Katelyn Meyer, who also leans more toward being a Republican, said Obama's plan sounds good, "but it's easier said than done."

"I like the refinancing part, and I like the part about mortgages, but I'm afraid we're going to put the money in but won't see any effect," said Meyer, 18, who still thought it was "cool" to say the president was at her school, even though she didn't get to see him live.

How to Affect Change

Many of you ask, how can I be a part of the solution? How can I make a difference in the direction which the government takes in this country? Today, I highly recommend you check out this site which has a great article on how, as individuals, every one of us can contribute to making a difference.

http://standupforamerica.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/now-the-tough-part-getting-there-from-here/#comment-1761

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Middle East Geography Quiz

This is a really cool website sent to me by my mother. There's no time limit, and no score. It's just a really interesting interactive puzzle to test your knowledge of this very tumultuous part of the world. Give it a whirl and see how much (or how little) you know about the location of countries in the Middle East.

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Building A Head of Steam

I hear a low rumble across the land, a steady build-up of steam that grows with each passing day. It began with the same sounds of discontent heard across America every four years by those unhappy with the results of an election that decides who will become President. But something is different this time, after this short post-inaugural period, that defies precedent. Whilst half of the nation moves ahead with either blind hope, complete ignorance, or inward glee at how our country is being "fundamentally transformed" as Obama promised he would, the remaining populace, whose views are ignored by the main stream media outlets, slowly boils. Every move made by this administration and this Congress in its 4 week infancy adds fuel to the fire.

The hopes that Obama would govern from the center, in spite of his past, have been dashed. Talk of transparency, of the most ethical White House ever, of a post-partisan leadership style that would reach across the aisle, of centrist campaign themes to woo moderates, all dashed. Just Words! Just Speeches! Obama mocked talk of his "social-is-tic" views during the campaign, and yet to those who know history, his actions speak oh-so-loudly of his core beliefs. Within his first 28 days in office, our new President has laid the framework for universal healthcare, redistribution of income, increased entitlement programs, decreased national security, and most of all, big government spending with trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. All the while, the sickly economy from which The One was to save us, reels in response to his every move.

Meanwhile, those whom the media chooses to ignore, those who see the writing on the wall in bright red ink, are filled with a sense of dread. They know these are not normal times, that theirs is not normal partisan angst. They sense a cataclysmic shift in the very foundation of the government, from which the country may never recover. They are angry, scared, confused; they feel powerless, their views unrepresented. And as the scope and power of their feelings grow by the day, so do their numbers, as more people take off the rose colored glassed and actually look over the precipice to which we are being led.
They know what others before them in history have done to alter the course of their fates. But they are, as of yet, unsure of what to do, how to act. There comes a time when one realizes that not to act is to acquiesce, and subsequently burden one's children and grandchildren with the consequences of one's failure to make a stand. At what point, if ever, will the courage of the disaffected kick in? An eruption is brewing. We have the power to harness it's energy with coordinated effort, or we can let it explode unchecked and let the chips fall where they may.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Burn After Not Reading

Turns out that not one Congressman or woman had the opportunity to read the 1000+ page Spendulus Bill that will push this country into untrodden debt territory. Never mind the fact that the 48 hours of public disclosure never came to fruition. Please pass the wine. I'm sure gonna need it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvnwOjDjnH4

Porky Tidbits In the Spendulus Plan

This isn't everything folks; just a little taste of the bacon.

$160 million to pay “volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
$45 million dollars for the removal of fish pas.sage barriers.
$248 million to buy furniture for the Department of Homeland Security.
$25 Million shall be available for tribal alcohol and substance abuse drug reduction assistance grants
$150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
$50 million for habitat restoration and other water needs in the San Francisco Bay Area
$198 million to compensate Filipino World War II veterans
$125 Million for the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$650 Million for Digital Converter Box Program, coupons and converter box installation.
$1 billion for the Census Bureau
$40 Million to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Operation of Indian Programs
$954 Million to carry out the immunization program
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
$1.7 billion for the National Park System
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 Million to the Forrest Service for hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire
$545 Million for Indian Health Services
$100 Million for the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program
$850 million for Amtrak
$150 million for the Smithsonian
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
$7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
$150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
$1.368 Billion for grants or loans for energy retrofit and green investments in as.sisted housing
$1.5 Billion for NASA, Science, Aeronautics, Exploration, and Cross Agency support.
$198 Million for School Lunch Room EQUIPMENT
$ 9 Billion for ‘Broadband Technology Opportunities Program’
$1.256 Billion for NOAA, Operations, Research, Facilities, Acquisition, Construction and Management
$300 million for Violence against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs’,
$545 Million to carry out chronic disease, health promotion, and genomics programs
$60 Million to carry out environmental health programs
$50 Million to carry out injury prevention and control programs
$40 Million for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to carry out research activities within the National Occupational Research Agenda
$40, Million for the National Center for Health Statistics
$390 Million Dollars for the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund
$600 Million Dollars for acquiring motor vehicles with higher fuel economy
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
$200 Million to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program
$200 Million for direct loans and grants for distance learning and telemedicine services in rural areas
$6 billion for university building projects
$4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
$200 Million for developing and implementing a nationwide Integrated Wireless network supporting Federal law enforcement
$1.2 Billion for TSA procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment
$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization As.sistance Program
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$4.5 billion for electricity grid
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (for bailing out your local politicians overspending)
$145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
$83 billion for the earned income credit
(largely welfare now defined as a tax cut)

Free Down Payments for Idiots

Seems like some people never learn. The same mentality of making home ownership an option for anyone with a pulse, regardless of ability to pay, and which was the spark that ignited the firestorm called the economic collapse is baaaaaccccckkk. Indeed, Obama is now mulling ways in which those individuals who bit off more than they could chew, who bought houses with no down payments, and crazy ARM's, can stay in their houses through loan modification programs. So if you are one of the lucky ones who bet the ranch to buy a home above your means, and now the place is worth less than what you owe, Uncle Sugah is coming along to save the day. If you are a nitwit who chose to buy a less impressive abode to ensure that even with a job loss, you'd be safe with the mortgage payments, you get to finance the gambler's bet.

I understand that the banks and economy are looking for any way to shore up the housing market. I also get that there are some people, as there always have been, who through no fault of their own are in dire straits. But the ethic of rewarding lack of personal responsibility has become so endemic in this country that we risk reaching a tipping point. If the message continually sent out to businesses, government, and the public is "Don't worry, we'll pick up the tab", at what point will responsible individuals feel like dupes, and join the party?


"WASHINGTON -- President Obama's administration is considering spending taxpayer dollars to cut monthly payments for homeowners on the verge of foreclosure, according to two people briefed on the proposals.

The deliberations came as lawmakers prepared to enact a new tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that is intended to boost the ailing housing market.

Details of the plans to aid troubled borrowers were not final but were expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks, according to the people who declined to be identified because the details were not yet complete. The effort would be part of a plan to spend $50 billion on foreclosure prevention and establish national standards for modifying home loans.

The administration has several ways it could spend money to stem foreclosures.

It could follow a proposal by Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., who wants to give banks an incentive to reduce borrowers' payments by having the government absorb some of the losses should loans fail again."


So if someone bought a $500,000 house with no down payment, with an interest only ARM, and the house is now worth $400,000, that person is now underwater, meaning he/she owes more on the house than it's worth. The new plan will allow the government to step in and provide that individual with a $100,000 to incentivize them to not walk away from the property. To me, that sounds like a free down payment on the home, albeit after the fact, that that individual did not have to sacrifice for years to save, as a responsible homebuyer would have done.

"Government could also direct federal dollars to loan modifications. If a lender, for example, agreed to reduce a borrower's rate, the government could subsidize a further interest rate drop.
Still, deciding who would qualify would be a challenge, especially as foreclosures continue to soar. More than 274,000 U.S. households received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month, according to RealtyTrac." Inc.


In many places, the market is still over-priced. Are we going to once again artificially prop up housing prices, creating the same problem that got us into this mess in the first place? And for what? Recent statistics show that most homeowners near foreclosure who have had their loans modified eventually default anyways. So are we accumulating yet more national debt to simply put off the inevitable?

America is no longer the land of the free and the brave. It is the land of "I want it free" and the duped.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

$550 Billion Run on Banks?

According to Rep. Kanjorski (D-PA) during this interview on C-Span, there was a run on US Money Market Funds starting at around 11:00 a.m. on September 18th, 2008, in which during a two hour period $550 Billion dollars simply disappeared. Reports have surfaced of individuals who lost $100,000 from their money market accounts. Bloggers are abuzz over this story, and conspiracy theories abound. Immediately after this event, President Bush held a news conference with Hank Paulson at his side, in which he stated that our country was in the midst of a financial emergency. Money market accounts were frozen, and the FDIC upped the insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 per account. And then TARP was born.

Copy and paste this into your browser, and pay attention to Rep. Kanjorski's words at about the 2:20 minute point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NMu1mFao3w

What does it mean? Is this guy another gaffe prone Biden clone, who just spouts off nonsense to hear himself talk? Or did something really happen to the markets that day that nobody is talking about? Were US financial institutions hacked into, or was there a concerted effort by certain individuals and governments, such as George Soros or Saudi Arabia to deliberately tank our economy and create the October Surprise (even though it was September) that often throws a wrench into the outcome Presidential elections? Certainly Obama benefited from the economic collapse with a Republican in charge, and the narrative of the race went from one of excitement about the new face from Alaska, terror, Iraq, and an economy with a minor cold, to ECONOMY! ECONOMY! ECONOMY!

I am not an economist or a financial wizard, and I'm certainly not privy to the goings on of the powers-that-be behind closed doors. So I don't know what to make of this. Perhaps it will debunked as conspiracy theory hoo-hah, and the babbling of a crazy old Pennsylvania Congressman. But in this strange new Land of Obama, I am becoming more skeptical of government with each passing day, and there is very little that would surprise me anymore.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Another Dem Conflict of Interest? Who Woulda Thunk It?

I've mentioned Senator Debbie Stabenow's (D-MI) effort to revisit the "Fairness Doctrine", which is designed purely to shut down conservative talk radio. Here's an interesting little tidbit about her involvement in the talk radio sphere.


An excerpt from Camille Paglia's article on salon.com:

"One of the nuggets I've gleaned from several radio sources is that Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has been in the aggressive forefront of the campaign to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, is married to Tom Athans, who works extensively with left-wing radio organizations and was once the executive vice-president of Air America, the liberal radio syndicate that, despite massive publicity from major media, has failed miserably to win a national audience. Stabenow's outrageous conflict of interest has of course been largely ignored by the prestige press, which should have been demanding that she recuse herself from all political involvement with this issue."


Golly, I am shocked! Shocked, I say, that a Senator would put her own interests ahead of the the Constitutional Right to Free Speech! Unfortunately, that is the direction we are headed- total destruction of the document upon which our nation was founded. We the People are all that stand between our government and it's efforts to completely dismantle the US Constitution for political gain. Are we going to stand for that? Whilst the veterans and people who fought in WWII are rightfully called "The Greatest Generation", another truly great generation will be the one which has the will to stand up and oppose the enemy within which poses even greater danger to our nation.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

America's New Health Dictatorship

Little known to virtually every American until this article was posted yesterday, is the inclusion of a National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the Stimulus Package. Sounds innocent enough, right? Obama has been talking about converting medical records to electronic records for some time in an effort to streamline medical care. The real purpose of this new healthcare nominee, however, is far more sinister, and was purposely slipped into the Stimulus Bill without fanfare, without discussion, and without the knowledge of the American people. And it, perhaps more than anything in that bill, will effect the lives of every American more than any of us can imagine. Seniors, in particular, are in the cross hairs of this brave new Obama health care world.

I have a special interest in this topic as I worked in biotechnology for 18 years, and my husband is a physician. I also have relatives and friends in Canada and England who live under the universal healthcare umbrella. The systems are wholly designed on cost-effectiveness models of providing health to a wide variety of individuals, under a strict bureaucracy which dictates which medicines and technologies are worth providing to specific groups, based on certain criteria, such as age. Rationing is inherent to the system; otherwise it is simply too expensive to provide. This will be more problematic in a country of 300 million people of various races and ethnic backgrounds. Every day, scientists find genetic differences in the way that individuals respond to medicine. Under this new regime, we will all be treated as the same based on whatever group in which the government decides to place us. If a particular cancer drug may work for you, but it is experimental, or too expensive, too bad. You'll get the drug the government says you'll get, regardless of whether it will actually work to cure you. You think HMO's are tough to deal with; try changing the government's mind about the effectiveness of the newest drug before your child dies of a cancer that it may have cured.



Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey

Commentary by Betsy McCaughey


Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.

Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.

New Penalties

Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)

What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.

The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.

Elderly Hardest Hit

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).

The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision.

Hidden Provisions

If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders of the system say that individuals benefit in younger years and sacrifice later.

The stimulus bill will affect every part of health care, from medical and nursing education, to how patients are treated and how much hospitals get paid. The bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).

Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”

More Scrutiny Needed

On Friday, President Obama called it “inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill needs more scrutiny.

The health-care industry is the largest employer in the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats health care the way European governments do: as a cost problem instead of a growth industry. Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the electronics or auto industry during this downturn. This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the economy.

(Betsy McCaughey is former lieutenant governor of New York and is an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Betsy McCaughey at Betsymross@aol.com