Indoctrination of School Children

There really isn't much comment necessary to this. Just watch the youtube video and be afraid.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0aqMTD5UFmU

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

High Praise for Obama: No Dissent Allowed

Moamar Khadafy (or however he's spelling his name this week) has heaped high praise on President Obama. He called him the son of Kenya and worried about what would America would do when Obama is no longer President.

This must make Obama feel good. Finally! Someone is on his side! He's just gone through a month of the American people telling the Congress (those that dared to have town hall meetings) that their take over of the American Health Care system is not wanted. He's just seen over a million people march on Washington protesting his uncontrolled spending of our dollars, that we can't afford, our government can't afford and our children and grandchildren won't be able to afford.

Obama is telling insurance companies that they cannot write to their customers and tell them that this Health Care Reform is bad. Freedom of speech is apparently a thing of the past under this Obama administration.

So today, he must have his chest all puffed up because Khadaffy, the man who just welcomed home the Lockerbie bomber home to a hero's welcome, praised Obama as his son.

This is a trend that is happening everywhere lately. In Michigan, if you write a letter to Senator Stabenow telling her that you don't want any of the five proposed health care plans (none of which are Obama's, by the way), she writes back to you telling you that she shares your concern for the state of health care in this country and that she is fighting along with the other Democrats to get health reform with a public option, passed.

Then there's Representative Pete Stark, who at a town hall meeting, listened to one of his senior citizen constituents tell him the Health Care plans were not good, and asked the representative not to pee on his leg and tell him it's raining. Starks' reply? "I wouldn't waste the urine on your leg." This is the Democrats idea of 'caring about the input of their constituents'.

I wander around some of the liberal blogs as well. A couple of them have stopped accepting comments from people that don't agree with them and I received an E-mail from someone that told me a blog I used to go to, but ended up banned from, has changed it so that you can only read his blog now if you're invited to do so.

Last weekend, Obama appeared on five Sunday morning news programs and David Letterman. One of them, Univision, didn't even ask him to appear. Obama asked them if he could be on. But he was too afraid to go on the Fox Sunday program with Chris Wallace. He'd have had to answer questions about taxes, ACORN, Van Jones, and others and he just couldn't handle that. Fox is only number one in prime time with all of their programming. The only competition they really have is with each other. Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity and Van Susteran are placing at the top of the ratings and falling way down is CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC and I suppose Univision would be below that.

You can't do anything but look at these situations and laugh. The liberals cannot handle control of both Houses of Congress and the White House. They are on the run.

It was announced yesterday that the Tea Party Express is embarking on another nationwide tour. This time they'll start the end of October in San Diego and end in Orlando, Florida in November.

While the Obamaites hunker down, the American people continue to try to let them know that they are against the Socialization of this country. But at least Khaddaffy is praising Obama.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

Solve the Health Care Problem

There are problems with the health care in this country. No surprise there. We all know it. Even with all of those problems, we still have the best health care in the world.

I've been reading different proposals and listening to Obama who says he has a plan, but nobody has seen it yet. We've seen HR3200 and now we've seen parts of Senator Max Baucus' proposal that came out of his committee this week. Never mind that it didn't include anyone else out of the gang of six committee. He's still put forth his plan which we now know includes alot of tax increases both hidden and out in plain sight.

The first problem with health care is that many can't afford it. It's not the 46 million, 47 million or 50 million (depending on which number they choose to use on any given day). We've been told there are 20 million illegal aliens in this country. Let's lower it to 12 million because the past couple of days they've been using that number again. We know that there are approximately 12 million that are children just starting out in their lives after college or high school that don't have and don't want to pay for coverage. We also know that there are people that choose to pay cash for their everyday care and only maintain catastrophic care in their insurance. That number is put at somewhere around 10 million. That's 34 million people, using lowered numbers. That leaves approximately 13 million that just can't afford to pay for health care for them and their families or can't get it due to pre-existing conditions.

The problem with the current health care proposals are that everyone will be required to take it, if not immediately, in the near future. It also includes penalities if you don't get the health care that they require. That's not freedom. That's a dictator saying 'do it or else'.

We don't need a health exchange. That's just more government. We don't need to hear that the government is saying we can do this for $900 billion or $850 billion. We all know that the government has never been right on their projections for costs for any plan they've ever come up with (War on poverty, medicare social security, etc). We also know that when we put money in the governments hands, they misuse it (Social Security).

Rather than force an overhaul to a system that is leaving out approximately 13 million and creating a government plan for the other 85% of the people, why not leave freedom in the health care plan? It's your responsibility to get coverage for yourself. It's not the responsibility to tell someone what they need, or should have.

If you don't have health care by choice, it is YOUR choice. If people say that you're irresponsible, that's just them meddling where they don't belong.

So I've come up with some possible solutions from all of the reading that I've done on what people want, and what people propose.

Keeping your Insurance when you leave your job.

First, there is the problem of your insurance covering disappearing if you change jobs. Why not allow the employee to own his policy? You are hired by a company. The company bands it's employees together in a group. This gets their insurance cheaper for them than if they tried to buy it themselves. (there is another option but I'll deal with that later). If your employer contributes to your health plan premiums, that's great for you. Employer pays some, you pay some. You benefit because you're not paying the full price for your coverage, and your employer benefits because he's contributing to your insurance which is likely to alleviate the problem of turnover in employees.

If you pay your own premiums and your employer pays none, that's fine too. He takes your cost out of your paycheck and sends it on to the insurance company for you. You're still benefitting by having a lower cost insurance because you're part of a group.

If you quit your job, or are fired or laid off, then your option is to go with Cobra. You pay a much higher premium for that coverage for a limited time and hopefully you'll get another job to replace the Cobra and get coverage at the new job.

Suppose instead, when you leave your first job, you take your insurance with you? Naturally, you'll have to pay the premiums, but that will only be what you were paying before, unless your former employer picked up part of your costs. Then naturally, you'll have to pay the employers portion as well. But, you still have it as part of the group. When you get your new job, you just turn your insurance information over to your new employer and if he's going to pay a portion of it or not, he can begin paying your premiums from your paycheck immediately. You've lost nothing.

That is currently not allowed under current laws. Why? If you have a 401k at work and you change jobs, you can roll that money into an IRA that you may have or into your new 401k plan with the new employer. So why not health insurance? It keeps you covered and keeps your family covered.

The ONLY problem then is that the employer would be sending out premium payments to various companies for different employees. That problem seems less of a problem than paying a fine for not carrying coverage on employees or for employees for having to pay a fine for choosing not to have coverage.

The cost would come down because you'd always be in a group plan which is less expensive than buying your own individual policy not as part of a group.

Another option for those employers that pay for coverage for the employees is to give the employees a raise by the amount that they pay for each employees coverage and let the employee go out and buy his own coverage. If they go with a Health Savings Account, they can save even more money than what the employer was paying and likely get tax benefits from it as well.

Create more groups.

Another way to make health insurance more affordable is to allow more groups. Currently, this is not permitted. This would mainly be for those self employed, but could also be applied to others. First example; Self Employed. The self employed pay their own social security as well as the employer portion of the social security. That's a bite out of their income. Then add health care to that. If they choose to be part of a group, right now, they can't. The solution: Allow groups to band together and get group plans to save them on their premium costs. Imagine if you're in a city with 50 other self employed people. The self employed could create their own group and sign up for health care under that group getting the lower rates.

Second example: People living in poor areas where they can't afford health care and don't receive it from their employers. Let community groups (yes, I said community groups) band together and create their own group to get lower cost health care.

This could also apply to people that don't want to get it through their employer. Maybe they've chosen coverage from another company that is less expensive than that offered through their employer. So you get people on Elm Street together and create a group for the purpose of buying health care on each family.

Free up companies to offer coverage across state lines

Currently, insurance companies are not permitted in some states. They can't move from state to state. Each state has a choice of maybe five or six companies that are permitted to offer health care in each state. Imagine if all 1,300 companies could now compete in all 50 states (or 57 states in Obama's world). This would naturally drive rates down because of competition.

Pre-Existing Conditions

This is the most difficult part of any insurance plan. I'm going to give an example using life insurance. It's not going to be completely accurate so bear with me while I create figures here, but understand that the concept is correct.

A Life Insurance company looks at mortality tables. These tables show how long a person will live. It's not accurate when applied to one person, but it's really close when talking about a group of people. We know that the average life span for a male is 75.2 (2004 study by CDC). Women live on average 5 years longer.

So a life insurance company will look at a 20 year old male and know that he's going to live for another 55 years. So they figure out what it would take to pay off $1,000 of coverage during that 55 years and charge accordingly. So a 20 year old male will pay approximately 10 cents for each thousand dollars of insurance. A male smoker might pay 12 cents for each thousand dollars. But, if that 20 year old male is a diabetic, his life span decreases, do they have to charge more to cover the costs of paying off at death.

They also know that some will die prematurely regardless of how healthy they are at that time. Car accident, heavy drinker, their weight, if they have asthma or other maladies. All of these and more contribute to premature death. So they will charge accordingly. To the males advantage, if he's getting proper health care for his particular ailment, that counts in his favor and he may not be charged more, or his added charge may be less than it would be if he didn't get the proper care.

Health insurance works basically the same way. They must charge more for those with conditions that are there prior to the application for insurance. If they don't, they can't afford to pay out when it's needed.

So just eliminating pre-existing conditions, or making it illegal to take those conditions into account, will not solve the problem. It only takes the problem of not being able to get insurance to new heights because now, those that are healthy have to pay alot more to cover the cost of those that aren't healthy. You should not be penalized for your neighbor who's had three heart attacks and still eats the fat off his steaks, and smoking a cigarette while jogging in circles around the pool backward while the deck around the pool is wet. That's a guy that's got the coroner waiting at the door tapping his foot wondering how much longer you're going to be before you get there. He's either going to die of a massive coronary, or of a broken neck.

Adding the uninsured to the insurance rolls will decrease costs. Adding insurance companies to the list of choices you have in each state will decrease costs. But you cannot avoid the problem of pre-existing conditions. They are going to be there and they must be paid for if you're going to cover them. Is it entirely fair to someone that was born with a condition? No. Is it fair to the guy that didn't take care of himself when younger? No. But, if you're going to cover everyone, you must have the ability to charge for the ones with problems. If the insurance companies can come up with a way to do that with more people insured, then let them do it.

But whether it's an insurance company or a government, the cost is going to be there and it must be paid for. Would you prefer to have insurance professionals figuring out how to get more customers or would you prefer some elected government official with no idea nor experience in the insurance business doing it? Unless you're just bound and determined to get government health insurance, I think the answer is pretty obvious. Let the pros do it.

Dropping coverage after insured

Obama likes to tell stories about someone that is in the midst of chemotherapy and his insurance company dropping him when he needs it the most. I have no idea if it's true or not. I know that coverage being dropped due to non-disclosure does exist, but his examples always go to the extreme.

Again, in life insurance, there is a provision that doesn't allow the insurance company to drop your coverage after two years. Suicide for instance. If you take a out a life insurance policy and commit suicide within two years, the insurance company will only pay back the premiums paid in. However, if you commit suicide one day after that two year period has expired, the insurance company is required to pay off. It's called the Contestability Period.

I'd suggest making the same sort of Contestability period included in health policies. If it's found within two years that you hid a condition when you took out the policy, your coverage will be dropped. However, an insurance company can look at your health records when you apply for coverage with them. The onus should be on them to do their proper investigation before giving you the coverage and the rates that they'll charge. If they don't do a proper job gathering the information and you did have something unbeknownst to you, they can't drop you. If it's discovered though that you went to your buddy next door who is a doctor and he tells you that the bump on your backside is cancer and you immediately go out and get coverage then go to your regular doctor and he discovers it so that you can get the coverage, you and your neighborhood doctor-friend will be subject to insurance fraud.

This is not the end all be all to solve the health care problems, but if we don't have these things in there to protect us and to protect insurance companies, we're going to put the debt on the government. The government does not earn money. They confiscate money. If you think you're going to get "free" health care through the government, you're sorely mistaken. You're going to pay for it in the form of much higher taxes and you'll be pushing those costs on to your children and grandchildren and probably beyond because government will only add problems, add costs and have the problem of mismanagement.

For you liberals that trust the government or trust Obama, here's something for you to think about. Obama is not going to be the last President of this country. There will be another Republican President, probably in 4 years and more likely if not in four, there will be in eight years. We rarely keep the same party in power in the White House for more than two terms. Do you want to trust your health care to a Republican? I certainly don't want to trust my health care to Obama or his czars or his cronies or any health exchange they set up and staff with their partisans.

Every few years they will tinker with it and say "it's only cost...." This will continue as long as there is government health care.

If it's profit's you're worried about, do you realize that the profit margin for insurance companies is only 3%? That's not the massive profits that Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the liberals and their pundits say it is.

The private sector is always preferable to another government bureacracy. Government screws up everything they touch. They screwed up cash for clunkers. They created a stimulus plan that has not been stimulating unless the checks that went to dead people caused them to get out of their graves to cash the checks. They sent checks to prisoners. Those prisoners didn't all of a sudden become model citizens because some government official sent them $250 of our money. Unemployment continues to rise. The economy is still dismal.

If you're a doctor and your appendix bursts, do you operate on yourself? If you're smart, the answer is no. Yet, you're asking government officials to create a health care plan putting them in charge of it. I'd rather have the insurance professionals in the private sector create a plan or a set of plans that would address the problems, get the uninsured the ability to get insured and lower costs and still have the insurance companies profitable. I want the insurance companies profitable, because if I ever need them I don't want a letter saying "Sorry, Brett, we ran out of money, so we can't pay for your doctors bills."

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

Obama Creates Winds of War

For the past few years we've been hearing liberals say that we've created enemies around the world because of the war in Iraq. It didn't matter that we went in with 34 other countries. Liberals said we were hated around the world, so it must be true.

Well, Congratulations to the Obama administration. He's created more enemies. Poland, the Czechs. But to his credit, he did create one new friend (at least for today) in Russia.

This move to drop the missile defense system was dumb. To do it on the anniversary of when Russia invaded Poland in 1939 shows that this President is an amateur. Now the AP is reporting that Iran does have all that's necessary to create nuclear weapons for use. How many more examples do we need? DVD's as a gift to the Prime Minister of Great Britain. An IPod loaded with Obama's greatest speeches as a gift to the Queen. Now the dumping of the missile defense system saying that Iran isn't close to nuclear technology that would reach the United States.

This is history repeating itself. Shortly after Kennedy was elected President, Kruschev tested him and he stood up to them and they backed down. Now we have Obama. Putin stood up to Obama and Obama backed down. Someone should tell Obama that we're not France.

Iran has defied the world by developing nuclear weapons. Obama said in the campaign that he wouldn't sit down with the Iranian leader. Then after being elected he decided that the US would sit with Iran and talk. They gave them until September 30. Iran defied Obama and only recently said that they'd talk, AFTER September 30 (Obama's deadline) and that talking about nuclear technology was off the table. Still, Obama is willing to talk. This reminds me of how Clinton used to draw a line in the sand with Hussien. When Hussien tested the line, Clinton just drew another line and said 'don't cross this line'. And so on.

Obama has likely guaranteed that there will be an Israeli strike in Iran. His actions today has made that almost a certainty.

Obama has taken the greatest country in history and put it on a path to be the butt of jokes much as France has been.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

One of a Kind All Star

Normally, when I sit down to write something it's just my opinions/observations on current events mostly political. I do it because it interests me. I don't fool myself into thinking that this is actually reporting or making a difference. Lately though, I've been considering writing something that is outside of current events, politics. I wrote most of this about a week ago, and decided that I'd put it on here tonight.

Regardless of where you live in this country, you've probably heard the voice of Ernie Harwell. Whether it's on rebroadcasts or on national radio or television just in passing a radio or television that has baseball on it. If you've somehow missed hearing his voice, you've probably heard his songs or heard his voice in several movies.

If you're in Michigan, you couldn't miss hearing Ernie's voice on a summer day. He's never played an inning of major league baseball, but he's been baseball in Michigan and even since his retirement in 2002, when you hear his voice you immediately think of baseball.

Ernie Harwell was a rare baseball announcer. He didn't just call the play by play of the game, but his descriptions could put you in the stands even if you were in the upper peninsula listening to the game on the radio. Listening to Ernie announcing the games, you could almost smell the hot dogs. You always felt like you were sitting right there next to him watching the game.

He would tell you if the defense was in double play depth, or the third baseman was hugging the line. You always knew if the pitcher was pitching with a windup or from the stretch. A double play was "two for the price of one". If an opposing batter was called out on strikes, he "stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by."

Ernie didn't constantly talk like todays announcers do. He'd tell you the situation and then let the sounds of the ballpark take over. He'd work in baseball history into his broadcasts, but he did it with perfect timing and didn't overdo it. He instinctively knew when to say things and when not to say things and just allow the sounds of the ballpark do the talking.

He's a member of the baseball Hall of Fame. He's also a part of baseball history. In 1948, the General Manager of the Dodgers, Branch Rickey, traded a catcher named Cliff Dapper to the Atlanta Crackers for the Crackers radio announcer, Ernie Harwell to replace Red Barber who was ill with a bleeding ulcer. Harwell became the only announcer ever traded for a ball player.

A very famous play was during a playoff in 1951. Everyone remembers Russ Hodges call of the "Shot heard around the world" when Bobby Thomson homered to win the game. Russ Hodges screamed "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!". It's the most listened to replay of a play in history. Ernie Harwell was also announcing the game on television. He said "the only one that heard my call of the home run was Mrs. Harwell."

In 1960, Ernie joined the Tigers. In 1967, the Tigers were in the pennant race until the last day of the season. In 1968, the Tigers won the pennant. I delivered papers during those years. We didn't have Ipods in those days. We had transistor radios. The radios weren't little pocket radios in those days. Mine was about 8 inches tall. Two inches thick and about 4 inches across. I used to stick it in the bag and listen to the ballgames as I delivered my papers.

As I walked up to the house to leave the paper in the door or on the porch, if anyone was home, you could hear Ernie's voice through the windows. Nearly everyone was listening to the ballgame. We'd had the riots in Detroit in 1967 and baseball with Ernie Harwell was one thing that nearly everyone could agree on.

If the Tigers played on the west coast their games would start at 10:30 at night. This was back when the Los Angeles Angels were still the California Angels. I'd have my radio tucked under my pillow. No small feat since the radio was so large. Trying to keep it loud enough to hear, but soft enough that my parents didn't hear it.

People were fascinated with Ernie's stories and his knowledge of history. He'd seen alot of it and alot of the players that were no longer around and he told it as if it had happened just yesterday.

Ernie was the perfect radio announcer. He'd make you see with his words what you couldn't see with your eyes. Even foul balls were fun to listen to. "There's a foul ball into the stands behind first base and a man from Livonia caught that ball." Or someone from Bay City, or Westland, or another city in the state.

Ernie spent 55 years announcing baseball. 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers. He's a man of deep faith and was involved in baseball chapel. He's a very humble man. He's a member of the baseball Hall of Fame in the broadcast wing at Cooperstown.

In the early 90's the Tigers decided to replace Ernie in the booth. This did not go over well with the fans of the Tigers. Two years later, the Tigers asked him to come back. He retired for good from broadcasting Tiger games in 2002. Later, Blue Cross Blue Shield signed Ernie to a ten year contract to represent them. He'd finish that contract at the age of 95 and Blue Cross pledged to renew his contract for another ten years at that time.

On September 3 of this year Ernie was diagnosed with cancer near the bile duct. He and his family along with his doctor decided not to go with surgery.

Tonight, the Detroit Tigers paid a tribute to Ernie. They played a video salute to him in the third inning of the game against the Royals. Then Ernie came out and said a few words. When he came out, the Tiger players stepped out and lined up in front of the dugout and the bullpen, and on the visiting side, the Royals players and coaches did the same. Some taking pictures of him. He did not come to say goodbye nor to revel in his many accomplishments over the many years. Instead he thanked the fans, and had words of praise for the people of the state of Michigan.

For two to three hours a day over a six month baseball season, Ernie Harwell helped raise kids throughout the state of Michigan by calling Tigers baseball games. He entertained adults and children alike with his descriptions of the plays, the games and even the ball parks around the country for those of us at home, or in the car, or in the backyard bar-b-que or the kids in bed late at night when they are supposed to be sleeping. Yet tonight, it was him thanking the fans and the people of Michigan.

Mr. Harwell is 91 years old. Still married to his wife Lulu. He still lives in the Detroit area. He was born in Georgia, but he's Michigan's now.

Ernie's Opening Day Speech

That's Baseball

Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. And so is the big fat guy with the bulbous nose running home one of his 714 home runs.

There's a man in Mobile that remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburg 46 years ago. That's baseball. So is the scout reporting that sixteen year old kid in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered or booed. And then becomes a statistic.

In baseball Democracy shines its' clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rule book. Color merely something to distinguish one teams uniform from another.

Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It's a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Daffy.

Baseball is the cool clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an overaged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.

Baseball is just a game as simple as a ball and bat. Yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport a business and sometimes almost a religion.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying,.."I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth."

Baseball is cigar smoke and hot roasted peanuts The Sporting News, Ladies Day, "Down in front", Take me out to the Ballgame and the Star Spangled Banner.

Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you.

Jimmy Carter Claims Wilson is a Racist

Former President Jimmy Carter claims that Representative Joe Wilson's "you lie" shout during President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress was based in racism.

His reasoning for this? "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be President."

In other words, he has no scientific data to show this is true. He doesn't explain how many is "many". Is many considered more than 50%? What about 25%? 10%? Or is it just his circle of friends that he's drawing from?

Jimmy Carter is not someone that I take seriously, although I am thankful that he was President. His presidency ran from 1976 to 1980. Double digit inflation, double digit unemployment. Gas lines and gas rationing. Jimmy Carter showed us just how bad an American President can be and it led to one of the most positive thinking and patriotic Presidents in our history. Jimmy Carter showed us the failure of Liberalism which set the table for President Ronald Reagan to show us that Conservatism succeeds giving us the largest peacetime growth in history and caused the downfall of the Soviet Union.

There is racism in this country. But it's nowhere near what it was. It continues to decline. Will we ever eliminate it? I doubt it. People will always treat others that are different from themselves, differently. However, claiming racism where it doesn't exist doesn't further the fight on racism, but rather it takes the true racism and makes it questionable. It's much like the story of the boy who cried wolf. Eventually, claiming that racism is everywhere, even where it's not, will cause people to turn away from it and ignore it. This can only lead to more racism.

There is an honest debate that could have taken place over Joe Wilson's shout, but it's been watered down because of the claim of racism when it wasn't racist. There are clear differences between Obama's plans for Health care, stimulus and cap and trade that are honest and could be hard fought debates but the liberals whining that anyone that disagrees just can't stand it because the President is black is showing only that they don't have a argument for their position and need to try to shut down debate so as not to have to deal with the differences in opinion.

By the same token, the other side jumping in and saying "he's not black, he's only half black" is just as silly in that they aren't debating the issue but rather they are joining the racism debate which really has no place in the health care issue.

This current problem with Health Care has some serious problems. Even Jay Rockefeller, Senator from West Virginia is against the bill being pushed by Max Baucus who put together the so-called "gang of six". The three Republicans in the gang and Rockefeller, a Democrat are against it, so Baucus is currently talking about bringing his bill out of that even though there is just he and one other in the "gang" that are anxious to push it forward.

There is no honest debate going on about Health Care Reform. Republicans aren't included. Democrats aren't pushing their plan, they are claiming racism whenever someone raises a question. They aren't interested in getting it right, they are interested in getting a bill. It doesn't matter if it's a good bill or a bad bill, they just want a bill so they can say they did something about it and get their hands on all of the money that they'll be taxing us to pay for it.

By all accounts, Jimmy Carter has never met and doesn't know Joe Wilson. By all accounts, Joe Wilson doesn't have a racist bone in his body. Some have said that he doesn't even laugh at off-color jokes.

This isn't a debate on health care. This is a snowball fight between the left and the right and the ones walking in the middle between them are the American people. We are the ones being hit. We have the best health care system in the world and it could be made better and solve a few of the problems that exist. Unfortunately, we seem to have a bunch of spoiled little kids in the US Senate and the US House and someone left the playpen door open.

Jimmy Carter showed why he had a failed Presidency with his comments that were not backed up with any facts. The nation would be better off if he returned to farming peanuts. Maybe he could take 535 others with him and let them work for the peanuts as well and maybe, just maybe, we'll get some people in Congress that will quit damaging this country with all of the spending and taxing that's going on. It might help as well, if we could get new people in that actually know how to read as well.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

If You Disagree with Obama.....

How dare we disagree with Obama!!!!! Who do we think we are? This man was duly elected to the Presidency and it's our responsibility to listen to him, agree with him and encourage him to do more of the same that he's doing to us now.

We're now learning that if we disagree with Obama, we're racist. We just can't stand it that a black man is President. So I decided to look. On this day, when a black kid beats a white kid on a school bus while others are yelling for him to continue the beating I've looked for incidents of racism perpetrated by the Right Wing fanatics. On this day when a group of people in Valdosta are calling for the Superintendent of the schools to step down because he refused to allow the Presidents speech to school kids on the first day of school, I've been searching for incidents of racsim since Obama became the clear front runner in the race last year and President in January.

I've decided that I must be a racist too. After all, I disagree with the (not so stimulating) stimulus bill. I disagree with Cap and Trade bill that deals with global warming. I disagree with the government takeover of the health care system. I disagree with the massive influx of czars and am happy that Van Jones is gone. The only thing I can remember agreeing with him about was when he made reference to the day in a speech. He said it was Tuesday and I agreed....after looking at the calendar.

I've also discovered that I'm an angry mob. Or maybe I'm part of a mob. I also checked my closet and am disappointed that I don't have any brown shirts. They are all blue, red, green, white (now if that doesn't indicate racism, I don't know what does). I haven't figured out how I can be an angry mob when I'm just one person, but the President said so, so who am I to disagree?

I have found one incidence of racism from the Right. An assistant to a Congresswoman in Tennessee sent out an E-mail that was blatantly racist. But I haven't found any others. At least, not from the right side of the aisle.

It is now not the proper thing to do to think for yourself. It's okay if there is a white man that is President, but not when there is a black man as President. We must walk on egg shells. The President said that his stimulus plan is working, so it must be working. Never mind that there is nothing to indicate it's working. On Sunday night, I drove 6 miles on a road that had a sign at the beginning of it that said this construction was paid for by stimulus dollars. They sugar coated it and said it was the America Recovery Act or whatever they are calling it. The funny thing is that the sign was at the beginning of my six mile trek and it was at the end of the six mile trek. But between those two signs, there were no construction trucks. There were no cones. No orange signs. Nothing to indicate that the road was, nor has been worked on.

So I assumed that it was Sunday, they must not be working. On Monday, I drove that way again. There were only two differences from my trip on Sunday. First, someone has run over a racoon and it was laying, pretty much flat in the road. The second thing is that I just missed hitting a deer. There were no "deer crossing" signs, so maybe that's what the stimulus money is going to pay for or maybe they cut some bushes so the deer would have an easier time coming out and crossing the road.

While it's true there are no death panels in HR3200, it is just as true that there are "end of life" provisions where you must speak to a government worker every five years. Hopefully, the news is correct and that will be dropped. But how can it be dropped when Obama tells us it's not there? I used to play baseball, basketball and softball and even a little football. Never once did I drop a ball that I didn't have. So how could Obama drop a provision in the bill that is not in the bill?

While it's true that the bills says it won't cover illegal aliens, but it doesn't allow you to check on someone's residency status. I'm glad that the bill doesn't cover illegal aliens. It's good to know that the only way an illegal alien will be covered under money paid by me in the form of taxes for their plans is if that illegal alien signs up for health care illegally. But what proof do we have that they'd do that? Oh wait, they are HERE ILLEGALLY. Maybe they'll see the error of their ways after having come here illegally that they'll begin to respect our laws now.

I must be a racist for expecting my Representative to read the bills. I must be a racist because I expect that if the President is going to talk about what's in the bill that he actually take some time to read the bill. I did. My disagreement comes from an informed position. But if I expect the President to read it and be informed then I'm a racist.

The President by-passed the school systems when he wanted to speak to the school children. He went right past the school boards and sent his speech and lesson plans directly to the schools. Once caught, he had to back track and take that lesson plan away and change his speech. Once he changed it then the liberals said "see, there was nothing wrong with that." Are they really so stupid as to not recognize that he did have a lesson plan until he was caught?

This President has thus far shown a proclivity for incompetence. If that makes me a racist, then I'll add that to my list of accomplishments albeit one that I didn't set out to become. But as long as we let the liberals define us, we'll just have to accept that we're racist. Oh wait. We didn't let them define us. Over a million people showed up in Washington DC to protest the same things that I'm against.

What did the Presidents staff say? 'Gee, we didn't know a rally was planned.' The President? He was off in Minnesota talking about the plan that I read, but that he didn't read. He didn't care what over 1 million people had to say. He preferred to duck into the liberal bastion in Minnesota.

I guess when Obama says that he has a grip on the pulse of the nation, he's just waiting for those that disagree with him to have their pulse stop. Could that be the new end of life counseling?

I found a picture of a man holding a sign. I've posted it above. Is that the new sign of racism? I choose freedom. Freedom to make my own choices, my decisions and my own opinions without being held back by those that don't like my choices, decisions and opinions. If all the liberals have is to call me a racist because I disagree with the man sitting in the White House, then they are really desperate. They have no coherent message to put out other than "you just can't stand it that a black man was elected President." Once again, the only ones talking about race and racism are the liberals. It seems to me, that if they see race without any intelligent arguments to the issues, the true racism lies on the liberal side of the aisle and it tells me that the color blind society that they've been preaching has failed. Imagine that, another failure by the left.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

The People Speak Loudly and Forcefully!

Forget about the million man march. Forget about the thousands in various cities across the country over the past few weeks. The Tea Party, Tax Protest had up to 2 million people in attendance!!! http://dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/up-million-march-us-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html

Several groups brought their people, but alot more people showed up on their own, not affiliated with any organizations and created a huge turnout for the protest of Obama's Health Care plan, the House health care plans and the Senate Health Care plan and the increased taxes and the increased spending, and the deficit having been quadrupled in 7 months time and the debt growing out of control.

There were Republicans, Democrats, Independents and people that identified themselves in other ways all at the Capitol. There were so many people that the sound system they had couldn't reach the entire crowd. There were many that said that they had never protested anything before and some that said that it was the first time they marched against something rather than for something.

One of the things that Obama said during the campaign was that he wanted to bring people together. I don't think he intended to bring them together against him. There were many that were protesting the nations move towards socialism and didn't hesitate to say so to the news broadcasts.

People were not happy with CNN. They chanted "Go Home" so much and so loud during a live remote that the reporter couldn't even be heard. CNN has had a bad few months. They have been one of the news outlets that have fawned over Obama and pretty much have given him a free ride. In addition, they reported on a possible terrorist attack on the Potomac yesterday which turned out to be the Coast Guard doing some training.

I am happy to see this. I was afraid that after the tax day tea parties on April 15, this year that people would say 'I did my part and they still aren't listening'. But it hasn't stopped there. It's grown since the spring. August gave us town hall meetings where people wouldn't just accept the "company line" any longer. They challenged their representatives and senators when they tried to give them political speak as if they were just tolerating having to put on the town halls. This led to many that refused to do town halls and instead, many started having teleconference calls where they could pre-screen the questions.

Today, the American people stood up, 2 million strong, and said "Screw you guys. This is what we want and as our Representatives it's your responsibility to act on what the people want."

This has been an amazing day. Now we'll see if the people elected to office actually sit down and say "they don't want our plan we should try to devise a new plan."

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

Do You Remember?

On this date, eight years ago, America was attacked. Not by uniformed soldiers. Not by a country with borders. Instead, we were attacked by men that had come to this country and learned how to fly in our flight schools. They were here with visa's. They didn't attack the military. They didn't stand up to American servicemen. They went after American citizens. Businessmen. Women. Children.

These men didn't use AK-47's. They didn't use shotguns. They didn't use handguns. They used boxcutters. An ordinary everyday household tool. They spread out over four airplanes. Passenger airplanes. They overpowered the flight crew and took over command of the planes.

One flew into the first tower of the World Trade Center. The news organizations broke in to their programming with breaking news. A plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Pictures were shown of black smoke coming out of one of the towers. How could this happen? How could a plane not see the World Trade Tower? But then, a second plane was seen. It was headed for the other tower and flew right into the side of it and disappeared inside. Then the windows broke out on the other side of the tower. There was now no question. We were under attack!

Not long later, reports came in that another plane had hit the pentagon. The questions then started all over. Are there are other planes out there that are headed to do more damage? To kill more Americans? Then a report of a plane coming down in Pennsylvania. Was this an accidental plane crash? Was it caused by the confusion created by the three that attacked New York and Washington? Why did it go down in a field when the rest had largely populated targets?

The President was whisked to Air Force One and the protection protocol was enacted. The Vice President was taken to a bunker. The military was ordered out to airfields. Commercial flights were ordered grounded.

Later, we found out that an attempt was made on the Presidents life early that morning. We also found out that 19 terrorists had boarded these planes and taken them over and purposely headed for their targets. We also found out that there were hero's in this attack. The passengers on the flight that ended in Pennsylvania had heard about the other planes and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They called family members and a flight attendant called 911 and learned of the other planes.

Several passengers on the Pennsylvania flight decided that they would attempt to take the plane back. Many said goodbye to their loved ones at home by phone. They knew going in that they couldn't fly the plane but they had to take it back to save other lives. Then, over the phone, people heard the passengers saying "Let's roll" and off they went. They took back the plane and it ended up crashing in a field in Pennsylvania. The lives they saved were all of those that were in the Capitol or the White House.

Meanwhile, back in New York, firemen were rushing into the two towers to rescue anyone they could. People on the upper floors were jumping off to avoid being burned to death. In Washington DC, people were trying to rescue those in the Pentagon. Even Donald Rumsfeld was out assisting to get people out.

The twin towers came down, killing many that hadn't yet gotten out along with the firemen that went in to rescue them. A little later, the second tower came down killing even more Americans. When it was all said and done, nearly 3,000 people were killed. People in the World Trade Center. People in the pentagon and those passengers in the planes that were turned into missiles.

What have we learned? Are we better protected? Could this happen again?

The answer is that we've learned nothing. Our borders are still not secure. Illegal aliens are still here and the only thing seriously being considered to solve this problem is to let them stay and make them citizens. So no, we're not better protected and yes, this could happen again.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

Is Obama a Liar?

In his speech to the Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday night, Obama laid out his plan for health care. This followed a month of protests, town hall meetings where questions weren't answered truthfully and often ignored altogether by elected officials.

Obama's plan that was unveiled on Tuesday didn't have much detail. However, he did challenge a couple of so-called scare tactics.

One of the things that he claimed were false, was the end of life plans. He said that the idea that seniors will be permitted to die wasn't just false, but he called it a "Lie". Was it a lie? Look up the bill. HR3200. Turn to page 425 and read that page as well as pages 426 and 427. It clearly states in there "end of life" provisions. So Obama was right. There was a lie. Unfortunately, he was wrong about who was telling the lie. It was his lie, not the lies of the Cable News programs or Radio talk shows.

Obama also said that this isn't a government takeover of Health care. Yet on page 72, that is exactly what is happening. So again, is Obama lying? If you read the bill, there is no other conclusion that can be drawn. It states it.

At one point, Obama said that there is no provision for covering illegal aliens. At this, a Representative yelled out "You lie!" Well, again, we look at the bill to find out which is the truth and sure enough, on page 91 we find that Obama is again lying. There is a set up for illegal aliens.

There are many more that you can read in the bill. On each that I've checked out thus far, Obama is the one lying as you can see above.

Obama's plan announced last night is nothing more than a copy of the plan put out by the House. I suspect it will be at least 1,000 pages long as well. The only purpose for creating bills that are 1,000 pages long is because nobody can read it that fast. We already know that the Congress doesn't bother with the reading of these bills before voting on them. They will try to push it through fast before the people can find all of the lies in the bill.

We know the lies will be there. After all, we were lied to on national television by the President.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

Obama: Incompetent? Racist? Anti-American?

Is President Obama and his administration incompetent, corrupt, racist, disorganized, evil or just plain stupid?

In the past several days much information has come out about one of over 30 of Obama's "czars". It's not reported on NBC, ABC, CBS nor in the Washington Post and New York Times, but it's been discovered by Glenn Beck and then others following his initial reporting.

Van Jones, the Green Energy Czar in the Obama administration has been discovered to have made vulgar comments about the Republicans, racist comments about school shootings and ebonic style comments about President Bush. All of these just in the past 72 hours.

First the YouTube video came out showing him giving a speech and in answer to a question called Republicans A**holes. Then it was discovered that he signed a petition claiming that the government knew and did nothing to stop the attacks on September 11, 2001, in effect blaming the Bush Administration for plotting to kill 3,000 Americans. He's also claimed that whites are steering poison to black neighborhoods. Next came the comments he made saying that black kids don't shoot up schools, that only white kids do that. http://www.breitbart.tv/van-jones-surbabal-white-kids-shoot-up-schools/. Today it's out that he said that President Bush's desire for oil makes him look like a crackhead licking his crack pipe for a fix. Van Jones is a self described Marxist.

Questions have come up since this came out. What's wrong with the vetting process in the Obama Administration? Why didn't they find this before he was hired? Will he be asked to resign? Will Jones resign before the holiday weekend is over?

This isn't the first time vetting has been an issue. Remember that Timothy Geithner has been found to be a tax cheat. He now runs the Treasury Department, which is the head of the IRS. Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader before he lost his election, was found to have not paid taxes. Governor Bill Richardson, had his own scandal in New Mexico. THere were several others that had tax problems that had to be dropped or dropped out of consideration on their own, and then there is the Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, who's husband had a tax problem.

Then there was a problem with Obama's Supreme Court nominee who claimed that because she's Latino she has a better perspective than white men.

The definition of a czar is "emporer". These czars that Obama is appointing don't answer to Congress. They don't have to go through a confirmation hearing. I'm not sure this would matter. After all, Geithner, Solis and Sotomayor had to go through confirmation hearings and despite their failures with taxes and racist comments, they still managed to get into their positions.

It's obvious that either the vetting process of the Obama Administration is either incompetent or non-existant. I suspect that it's non-existant. I believe that these things were known about Jones prior to his appointment. Remember, Obama spent 20 years in a church led by Jeremiah Wright who preached against whites.

So if the vetting process didn't catch this information, the question should be, why not and how are they going to correct it? If it did catch this information the question should be why would they hire someone like this? However, now that it's been discovered, the question has turned to, 'will he resign before the end of the holiday weekend?'. My question is, "why hasn't he been fired already?" Why wait for the guy to resign? Get him out of that position, and get him out NOW.

Obama has appointed over 30 czars. Who's next? Who will be the next czar that is found to be racist? Or have a tax problem. Or have a an anti American agenda.

Finally, there is another question that is really not a question at all. Why hasn't the press, CBS, NBC, ABC et al covered this story? I know, it's not a serious question. They are all protecting this President. It does make one wonder though about their credibility in dealing with Talk Radio, the fairness doctrine, and anything else they may try to create to bring out liberal talk radio over Conservative talk radio.

So is this administration Incompetent? Well, yes, I think so, but I don't think that's the case with Jones. Is this administration racist? I think that's been answered with the appointment of Jones. Are they just plain stupid? Nope. Obama has an agenda and it's not for all Americans. It's just forced on all Americans.

Incompetence could be a factor as well. President Obama held a private dinner to celebrate Ramadan. Ramadan is a period of fasting in the muslim world. So to celebrate a period of fasting, Obama holds a dinner? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not incompetence. Maybe it is just plain stupid.

Do you still wonder why I don't want this President speaking to the children of this country on Tuesday in a television address?

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

President Obama: STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!

President Obama plans to address all of the nations school children next week. A letter was sent out to Principals across the nation telling them he was going to address them and giving them talking points for prior to the speech and talking points for after the address to the students.

Recently, on his vacation at Martha's Vineyard, Obama told the press to stay away from his children and not to take pictures of them. I have the same demand. "President Obama! Stay away from my children!"

My children don't need to be indoctrinated by a President that can't resist spending their money that they haven't earned yet. My children don't need to be directed by a guy that does not have their safety in mind. I don't want my children getting advice from a guy that calls a domestic terrorist his friend (Bill Ayers). I don't want my children getting any information from a man that calls me a Domestic terrorist because I disagree with him on some of the issues. I don't want my children subjected to a guy that would have been perfectly willing to see them dead by abortion and if they failed on the abortion at the time, to go ahead and abort them even after birth because the first abortion attempt failed.

I don't want my children listening to advice from someone that is dishonest. Children are impressionable. They are easily manipulated. It's bad enough that they are manipulated by people every day, including family members.

In the 90's the liberals used the term "do it for the children" for anything that they wanted, whether it was a good idea or a bad idea. That was their way to get things through. Apparently, it's now changed to "talk to the children and bypass the parents." Obama has already bypassed the school board and gone directly to the principals. So why would I have any reason to believe that he's not going to bypass the parents?

School is supposed to teach children reading, writing and math. They are supposed to teach them how to think, not what to think. This is not the place for President Obama. Imagine if President Bush wanted to address the school children. The liberals would be up in arms. Well, now it's my time to be up in arms.

Public education is the worst form of education in this country. It's failed. Not surprising that another government system would be failing, but the fact is that it has failed. Even Obama knows this because he's put his own children in private school. So why would I want this President, let alone any other President, to address my children?

Obama could better spend his time concentrating on national security, balancing a checkbook, or learning that taxes are stifling. Addressing school children by this man cannot produce anything good.

As President Obama said on his vacation, "stay away from my children", I am saying "President Obama, STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!!!"

You're welcome to comment.

Brett

America in Distress

The Health Care debate rages on. Or is it the Health Insurance debate? Or is it just the Federal Government that is attacking the American people? Whatever you want to call it, the Democrats plan for Health Care reform continues to fall apart and the Obama administration continues to shoot it's slingshot into it's own feet.

The American people are showing up in droves at town hall meetings all across the country. They are complaining that the government is trying to take over the health care industry. We've had plenty of lead up to this fear by the American people.

Obama said he wanted a stimulus bill to sign into law by Presidents Day. The bill was passed. Nobody read it, but it passed on the Friday prior to President's Day. Rather than signing it on Presidents Day as he stated that he wanted to do, the President decided that it wasn't as important to get it signed by Presidents Day as he originally touted. So he put it off for a day and flew to Denver to sign it there. The photo op was more important than the actual bill....which again, nobody had read.

He wanted the cap and trade bill done. It's now being put off by the Senate until at least the end of the month. In the meantime, other countries are saying to leave them out of it. This will help stop global warming. It must have worked. Records are being set all across the country for the coldest summer months in history.

Democrats are claiming the Tea Parties are being led by politicians. They are claiming that the town hall "disruptions" are being organized by right wing fanatics and talk radio. They are claiming that groups are being bussed in from outside the district. Yet, that hasn't bee proven. In fact, Representative Moran of Virginia tried to shut down one questioner claiming he wasn't from the district. That is until the gentleman pulled out his identification and lo and behold, he was from the district.

So how are the Democrats fighting back against the American people? They are bussing in union thugs to the town halls to shout down the American citizens from asking the tough questions of their elected Representatives. They claim there are no "death panels". Yet, the Senate comes out a couple of days later and say they are removing the "end of life" provisions (aka death panels). So they are removing the death panels that don't exist?

Now we find out that in the bill, HR3200 the IRS is required to share information. These can be found in Section 431(a) and Section 245 (b) (2) (a).

Having discovered these items buried in the bill that is over 1,000 pages long much like the stimulus package was, they've turned to a new tactic. Now the protestors are just only wanting to resist Obama because he doesn't look like them. Again, the Democrats are injecting racism where it doesn't exist. Or perhaps I should say where it didn't exist. It does exist now that they have brought up racism.

The Democrats have passed a stimulus package which has been a screwup, first sending checks to people that have been dead for years, and now sending checks to inmates at prisons. They've started the cash for clunkers, but now aren't paying the dealers what they are supposed to pay them. This will only force these dealers out of business. Are these the surviving dealers that weren't required to close their doors after the government takeover of GM and Chrysler following their bankruptcy's?

Are these the same people that will be running the health care if they get their reforms?

This reminds of the old line "I love my Country, but I fear my Government". Can we really fear something that's incompetent?

You're welcome to comment.

Brett