Dismantling America

By Thomas Sowell

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers — that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?

Does any of this sound like America?

How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.

How much of America would be left if the federal government continued on this path? President Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more than two centuries.

We already have local police forces all across the country and military forces for national defense, as well as the FBI for federal crimes and the National Guard for local emergencies. What would be the role of a national police force created by Barack Obama, with all its leaders appointed by him? It would seem more like the brown shirts of dictators than like anything American.

How far the President will go depends of course on how much resistance he meets. But the direction in which he is trying to go tells us more than all his rhetoric or media spin.

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.

Jeremiah Wright said it with words: "G0d damn America!" Bill Ayers said it with bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their contempt for the rights of other people.

Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?

Nothing is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people in government — people who reject American values, resent Americans in general and successful Americans in particular, as well as resenting America's influence in the world.

Any miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the administration's enemies list.

Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year — each bill more than a thousand pages long — too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question — and the biggest question for this generation.

Weary Americans

By: Melissa Clouthier

You are so sick of the debates. You have a freaking life after all. You have a mortgage. You have kids you worry over. You have a job, if you're lucky. You like sports. You like your family. You like your car. You like your country. You believe there is a God and after this short time on earth, if there's any justice, bad guys will pay and good guys will ultimately win. You're an American. Imperfect, sure, but mostly decent.

It is simply unfathomable that someone would would see that life and think it is bad. It is difficult to comprehend that someone or a group of people would see this life as evil. And yet, many do.

The traditional suburban family, job, kids, house, SUV, sports, dogs, etc. are viewed with suspicion and pure hatred by some. Americans are viewed as wasteful, consumptive, selfish, stupid, parochial simpletons.

The solution to the "problem" of the average American, then, is to help the American live a better life...by force, if necessary. Doctor Zero of Hot Air's Greenroom has a must read piece titled "The Aggressor State". He says:

Because liberalism defines itself as transformative, it is very comfortable with aggression. This posture serves them well with a public that believes “progress” is inherently positive. The business of building the modern super-state has been a sustained attack, using cultural pressure, legislative power, and the blunt instrument of loyal voting blocs to beat Middle America into submission. The goal of the Left is to convince the middle class to give it the power to do things they would never be depraved or dishonest enough to do themselves. Ordinary people refer to the “redistribution of wealth” as “theft.” If a man wearing a tailored suit and power tie came to your door one day, and offered to take care of your health, in exchange for surrendering all control over your medical decisions to a board of faceless strangers – who also demand unlimited control over every part of your life that might conceivably impact your health – you’d slam the door in his face and call the cops. If you caught someone writing himself a $4000.00 check from your checkbook, and he explained he needs the money as tribute to his Church of Global Warming so they can save the world from an imaginary evil, you’d shoot first and call 911 later. The mission of the Left is to convince people that all of these outrages become virtuous when elected officials perpetrate them. After all, “they won.” [Emphasis added.]

But those who view American life with contempt know that a direct assault on the American character won't work. It must be subtle. The arguments must infer that your neighbor, the small business owner whose company earns more than $200,000 is evil, not you. The insurance company is evil--hell, you know the pain in the ass insurance companies can be. The talk show host is evil--well, crud, Mr. Big Mouth Talk Show Host sure can be annoying sometimes. Then anyone who thinks mandatory union membership seems oppressive is evil. Then people who like their incandescent lights are evil. The circle begins to expand. Like a consuming Venn diagram, suddenly, all Americans, even you, are inside the circle of evil.

How did that happen?

Leftists and the state they worship know no constraint. There is not one aspect of life that they don't believe they know how to better manage than you. Not one. Health care is the big, juicy prize because under the auspices of caring, absolute and total control is willingly ceded to the government.

No one in America would argue that the health care system doesn't need reform. It is patently obvious that the biggest generation ever is reaching old age. Health care costs, just because there are so many people, will increase. What to do? The Congressional Democrat's solution is to cut coverage for these old people and "fund" health care for the uninsured. Like a shell game, the government will shift money and serve people who better "deserve" the care. More than that, taxes will go up to pay for everyone.

People are tired of the debate. This fatigue plays into big government plans. For generations, the Left has stoked a perpetual state of discontent. Finally, when the economy is staggering under the weight of bad debt, oppressive regulation and perverse incentives, people are sobered and serious about solutions. What the Left offers is more of the same: bigger government to solve an already too big government.

If the Left can continue to make people feel like someone else is to blame and someone else will be punished, the desire for Health Care legislation, and every other form of government control will pass. But people are starting to get wary, even in their weariness. Suddenly, the health care people already enjoy doesn't seem so bad. Suddenly, the massive expansion of government seems expensive.

Hopefully, the American people will overcome their political fatigue and become more active. After a certain point, the political process seems akin to the boy who cried wolf and when the wolf finally comes....no one listens. The government wolf is here and ready to devour a sixth of the economy. The time to fight is now.
Melissa Clouthier's Bio
Dr. Melissa Clouthier blogs on her own website and RightWingNews.com . She also hosts a new online radio show on RFC Radio . Owning her own medical business means that what happens in Washington is not theoretical to her or her family.

'Death Panels' in Oregon?

Maybe Sarah Palin wasn't off the mark after all:

August 11, 2009

Ethel C. Fenig
Perhaps former Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) was referring to the tragic predicament of Barbara Wagner of Oregon when she wrote how she feared for the fate of her Down Syndrome son under "Obama's 'Death Panels.' "

Susan Donaldson James of ABC News reports on the letter Ms. Wagner received from the Oregon Health Plan in response to a $4000 a month drug her doctor prescribed after her lung cancer, long in remission, returned..

the insurance company refused to pay.

What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.

Hmmmm, let's do the math. Yep, a one time prescription of $50 sure is cheaper than $4000 a month for who knows how many months to keep a 64 year old woman alive. So the Oregon "Death Panel" graciously offered suicide pills. Or doctor assisted murder.


But Ms. Wagner had an understandably different reaction.

"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."


Ah, but Ms. Wagner wanted to live. And she didn't care what the Oregon "Death Panel" - uhm, Oregon Health Plan decided. And her situation is not unique.


But a 1998 study from Georgetown University's Center for Clinical Bioethics found a strong link between cost-cutting pressures on physicians and their willingness to prescribe lethal drugs to patients -- were it legal to do so.

The study warns that there must be "a sobering degree of caution in legalizing [assisted death] in a medical care environment that is characterized by increasing pressure on physicians to control the cost of care."

Cancer drugs can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 a month. The cost of lethal medication, on the other hand, is about $35 to $50.

So Sarah Palin's "death panels" aren't as quite off the mark as those afflicted by Palin Derangement Syndrome and mocking her seem to think. Apparently they're called Centers for Bioethics and people are sincerely grappling with these issues. The issues are deep, the problems are complex. And alas there are no easy answers. But let's keep the Barbara Wagners in mind. For one day, a loved one may be in the same predicament. Or you.

How Should We Then Live?

Thursday, July 30, 2009


By Randy Wills
America's Right

It concerns me greatly that so much attention is focused on the individual plans and programs that the Obama administration is pushing to enact. All that you see taking place today on the floor of Congress simply obfuscates the real end game: the means to gain complete control over every facet of each of our lives. As Vladimir Lenin reportedly said, “It is true that liberty is precious – so precious that it must be rationed.” And you know who’s going to do the rationing, don’t you?

What’s going on reminds me of the tricks that a trainer might use to coax a green horse into allowing a bit to be put in its mouth. Of course, putting the bit in a horse’s mouth is by no means the goal; the goal is to be able to control the animal by the discomfort that the bit causes if the horse doesn’t obey the rider or the plowman. After we, like the dumb beast, have allowed the “bit” of complete government control to be placed in our mouth, then you’ll see the end game unfold.

Colin Powell was absolutely right when he endorsed Obama with the comment “He’s a transformative figure”. Unfortunately, transformations can be anything that the “transformative figure” wants them to be. History is replete with the tales of carnage-covered battlefields left to rot by arrogant leaders in their attempt to “transform” societies and cultures. I am convinced that the end game of this administration is a new world order in which all conflict-producing differences – race, economic, political, religious – are resolved by means of enforced sameness. The spark of human initiative and creativity – individual choice – will be dead, and with it, the spirit of man. The trumped-up emergencies attracting all of our attention are just a means of gaining sufficient control of the levers of political and economic power to begin this Orwellian end game. Don’t be fooled into thinking that defeating any one of these programs is going to change that.

We know what we have to do – take back our country - but how is not so easily discerned. And that is the problem. How do we take back a nation-gone-awry where every vote - regardless of competence, motivation, or legality - counts equally and can be purchased or enticed by corrupt politicians who have nothing in mind other than the power that comes with victory? How does one change the course of a democracy if the electorate – an electorate “educated” in an apostate school system which openly disdains and mocks traditional values - is told what to believe by a complicit MSM, has its values shaped by a hedonistic entertainment industry, and has lost interest in the principle of right and wrong? All one has to do is follow the news for one day to recognize that too many Americans now operate almost exclusively on the basis of self-interest rather than on some commonly understood standard of decency and corporate well-being.

For the rational thinker, it would be difficult to avoid the conclusion that there is some over-arching cosmic war going on between good and evil that is playing out on the world stage with the United States at its epicenter and poised for the climactic battle. I say climactic because if this battle is lost (and the outcome will be decided sooner than most think) and the U.S. is transformed into a Godless bastion of socialism, who will be left to take our place in the world as the friend and protector of all that is good and the implacable foe of all who would withhold the right of mankind to live free?

The colonists, risking all and eschewing anarchy, came to this continent to escape the tyranny of religious persecution, but there is no comparable place for us to go to escape the assault on our freedoms now being made by the White House, Congress, and the courts. We must fight the battle here, among our enemies, constrained as we are by our commitment to peaceful means. Consequently we are faced with even more difficult choices than the colonists were. And besides, aren’t we – those of us who trace our political and moral values to those same Pilgrims, Revolutionaries, and Founding Fathers - the rightful heirs of the product of their wisdom and sacrifices? Why should we be the ones to capitulate to those who claim that the Constitution is a “living document” and interpret it to suit their personal ideology? When President Obama declares that he is going to “remake” America, does he really have a right to claim such a prerogative without a Constitutional Convention giving him that right? Obviously not, but how do we put a stop to this mad plunge into the economic and moral ruin called socialism without resorting to violence? The plain truth is, perhaps we can’t, but rest assured that socialism, as it has in all of its prior manifestations, will fail, and when it does, only those who are able to survive the ensuing cataclysm will be in a position to bring about the rebirth of the Founders’ vision for a free and democratic society.

In my pervious postings on AR I have made it clear that I’m against all violence - except in an act of defense of self, family, community, or nation - as a remedy for human conflict, including political tyranny. All of the rhetoric about “Give me liberty or give me death” notwithstanding, I believe this position is consistent with that held by the Founders until goaded by the British into defending themselves. Their example continues to be my political, as well as spiritual, point of reference. Yet armed with only the two-party political system, weakened as it has become as a result of rampant corruption and moral failure, it seems as though we are faced with the “perfect storm” of destructive elements which many, including myself, fear may not yield to that dull tool in time to keep from reaching the point of no return . As far as a third-party campaign is concerned, my opinion is that it would have little real value other than to make a statement. We tried that in ‘92 with Ross Perot and got Bill Clinton for eight years, so let’s not waste time and resources by going down that road again.

I envision our nation as a house of beautifully unique architecture and great history – let’s call it “The People’s House” - that has become so infested with termites and rot that it is ready to fall with the slightest ground tremor or gust of wind. Perhaps even just one more day of destruction by the hordes of uninvited guests, the termites, will finish the job. We know that we must try to preserve it with our lives because it is the greatest structure of its kind ever built and, if destroyed, may well be the last of its kind in history. It represents who we are – or at least who we once were and would like to become again - but even its foundation (you know, the requisite “Godly virtue” upon which the Founders built “The Peoples’ House”) has crumbled from neglect and there appears to be little interest in rebuilding it. We’ve become so steeped in the fraud called “diversity” that we dare not even broach the subject of Godliness of the Judeo/Christian kind in the political arena, much to our shame.

So realistically, the question becomes an issue of whether it be saved before it collapses or must first be reduced to rubble by its own unsupportable weight before the rebuilding can begin. This has typically been the course that other totalitarian regimes, such as Nazism, Communism, and Fascism, have taken. Those political philosophies have left their host nations in ruin before they would admit to their failure. Don’t think for a minute that, if we continue down the path that the Obama administration has chosen for us, it can’t happen here. The political class has bandied about the term “economically unsustainable” so frequently and casually that we’ve become numb to the implications of that term. When economic collapse happens, as it certainly will if we continue to promise more than any nation can afford, it is a “given” that mass civil unrest will soon follow. As a case in point, it has been reported in the press that the prospect of uncontrollable civil disorder is exactly the “hammer” that Secretary of the Treasury Paulson used to strong-arm TARP through Congress.

So what should our strategy be in times such as these? Should we attempt to replace the rotted timbers by means of the elective process, one at a time, hoping to shore up the structure before it falls? And to what end will any strategy lead us without a foundation upon which to build anew? Some would resort to violence, but that would be the equivalent of burning our house as a means of fumigation to kill the invaders. Lest we bring it down on ourselves like Samson of old, we must choose other means.

Common sense would tell us to get out before it collapses on top of us all. And collapse it will, no matter what the new “Building Superintendent”, President Obama, tells us. A $780 billion “fix” here, a new $1.5 trillion “maintenance” plan there, more extortion of taxpayer wealth somewhere else; just continue to believe in “Hope” and “Change” and all things will be made right. Like the old-time evangelist, he’s very skilled at suspending us over the fiery pit, extorting more and more of our hard-earned income by telling us that if we don’t act now and pony up the cost of the obviously-needed repairs all will be forever lost. He thunders from the bully pulpit “It’s not about me. It’s about taking care of YOU, the endangered inhabitants of the about-to-collapse house.” And the best part of his spiel is that only the top floor tenants will have to bear the expense. Free-everything for all of the lower floor tenants. Right! Everyone with half a brain knows – or would know if they hadn’t had their brains fried in the public education system - that it’s a hoax. The top floor tenants can’t possibly pay for all of his new “repair” programs without bankrupting themselves, so they’ll take their wealth and their business elsewhere, leaving the lower-floor tenants with nothing but suffocating debt and no means to pay it. Obama is a smart guy; he knows this full well, so it must somehow fit his plan. You figure it out.

So, as you can see, our options are very limited. Of course we should continue to work as hard as we can through the political process to replace the current keeper of “The People’s House” and his wrecking crew in Congress. However, it would be foolhardy to bank on being able to fumigate the building and begin to repair the damage before the “Termite-in-Chief” orchestrates the total collapse of the structure. My guess is that the creatures who feed off the very structure that houses them don’t really care whether it is left standing or if it has collapsed into a pile of sawdust. To them, it all tastes the same, so, as long as they can satisfy their appetites, they’ll continue to gnaw away, mindless of what they have wantonly destroyed.

At the risk of being accused of apocalyptic hysteria, my recommendation, and the plan that I and my family are implementing, is for every one with the courage to face reality make preparing for a major upheaval, such as William R. Forstchen portrays in “One Second After”, their top priority. There are many scenarios in which civil disorder of this magnitude could become reality (just think “Katrina” in every metropolitan area), and I wouldn’t dismiss any one of them out-of-hand. We live in extremely volatile economic and political times, exacerbated by a delicate nuclear balance-of-power on the world stage. The match that ignites a global conflagration could be struck in dozens of places – you name it -and at any time.

On the domestic front, the prospects are not any better. I see racial conflict growing, and any serious threat to the Obama administration is only going to intensify that conflict. Listen to his words and you will understand why he wants a civilian armed force, GREATER than our military, made up, I’m sure, of the likes of Acorn, the SEIU, and Americorps. I fear that, in the minds of too many minorities, it's about payback rather than parity. I don’t think that anyone who sat through twenty years of Dr. Wright’s “Black Liberation Theology” rantings is going to do much to ameliorate those feelings. President Obama’s unfortunate press conference comments regarding the incident between Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley only serves to confirm his tendency to inflame racial tension as a political tool.

Disasters, either man-made or natural, happen, so be prepared. Be prepared for a major collapse of the infrastructure we depend on and civil disorder that will inevitably follow. If you have the freedom to do so, I would even consider moving away from major metropolitan areas - areas typically controlled by the forces that are driving this country into the ground - to areas of like-minded citizenry who will coalesce to provide mutual support in time of chaos. Most importantly, lay up supplies sufficient to sustain those you love in safety and health for an extended period of time. My starting goal was one month and then going on from there, but most people, other than our Mormon friends, aren’t prepared for even a few days absent an intact infrastructure.

My belief is that the next eighteen months will be the most dangerous for the survival of our Constitutional freedom since we became a self-governing people, so my advice is to not be lulled into thinking that this is just another soon-to-be-corrected, pendulum-like, deviation from the norm. It isn’t.

Facing the Abyss – H.R. 3200 and healthcare reform

Thursday, July 23, 2009


By Dr. William Harvey, M.D.
America's Right

It took the Continental Congress 5 years (1776-1781) to develop the Articles of Confederation governing the relationship between the states; after 6 years the Congress convened the Federal Convention (today known as the Constitutional Convention) ostensibly to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention took 6 months to do its work, but the entire process of developing the Constitution, from the Annapolis Convention to the seating of the first Congress under the Constitution, took almost 3 years (1787-1791). The Founding Fathers knew that critical decisions, nation-altering decisions, deserve full public deliberation and care before being enacted.


Three similar approaches to healthcare legislation, two from the Senate Democrats and one from the House Democrats, were made public last week. President Obama announced publicly he’d like to have final healthcare reform legislation on his desk for signature before the August Congressional recess. As a nation, we’ve had the financial stimulus and the bailout bills rammed through Congress before anyone had a chance to read or evaluate them. Will we do the same with the most critical piece of legislation that has come before the Congress in at least 60 years, if not longer?

In the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (appropriately abbreviated “HELP”)developed their bill under Senator Baucus. This bill is as yet unnumbered but is titled “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009”. I can’t find the Senate version of the bill in either THOMAS, the official Congressional website for pending legislation, or in Govtrack.us, but it is posted on the Senate HELP Committee’s website in its submitted form, the committee mark-up (Ref. 5), and the Chairman’s mark-up form (Ref. 6).

Once the Senate HELP reported its bill out to the Senate, the basic bill (now identified as H.R. 3200) was introduced by Rep. John Dingell on July14 and ultimately referred to four other House Committees. It was reviewed and reported out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to the full House on July 17. The vote was 26-22 along mostly party lines. (The full committee has 37 Democrat and 22 Republican members).

In short, both the House and the Senate have similar bills before each chamber, ready for debate and voting. Let’s look at the contents of H.R. 3200 to see the operational details of the Democrats’ healthcare plan.

H.R. 3200 is a svelte 1017 pages. The basic strategy is to leave the current multiple-provider / multiple-payor, employer-driven, insurance-based system intact but improve the system “by building on what works in today’s health care system, while repairing the aspects that are broken.” In fact, the bill, if passed in its current form, will, in a few short years, irretrievably destroy the current private healthcare system by removing the competitiveness of the private payer system and by creating a new generation of healthcare workers trained to believe that a government-run, government-financed system is the only choice.

The bill is organized as follows:

Division A (“Affordable Healthcare Choices”) establishes standards for health benefit plans (Title 1), defining the services that must be offered and ensuring access. Title 2 creates the Health Insurance Exchanges (also called gateways), defines the public health insurance option, and establishes subsidies for lower-income households. Title 3 requires employers to provide and individuals to obtain health insurance. Title 4 modifies the IRS code to establish penalties for companies and individuals who fail to comply. This Division essentially redefines the American healthcare system from both the individual and employer perspectives.

The Congressional Budget Office, in its formal review of the introduced version of this bill, indicated that (Refs. 1, 2):

Collectively, those provisions [of the bill] would yield a significant increase in the number of Americans with health insurance. By 2019, CBO and the staff of JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people without health insurance would be reduced by about 37 million, leaving about 17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be unauthorized immigrants). In total, CBO estimates that enacting those provisions would raise deficits by $1,042 billion over the 2010-2019 period.

Because of certain projected “revenue provisions” (like $583 bn in increased taxes on individuals and employers) and other “savings”, the net budget deficit in the CBO projections is smaller, on the order of $239 bn. This plan certainly does not meet the President’s goal of being revenue neutral.

The public health insurance “option” in Title 2 is perhaps the most worrisome aspect of the first division of this bill. In a New York Times editorial, Mankiw (Reference 4) examines how such an option would quickly drive pricing to the point where only the public option would remain. Many articles have mistakenly referred to this option as creating a government monopoly, but in fact, it would create a monopsony. A monopoly is a market situation where one seller has multiple buyers and can drive prices up; a monopsony is a market situation where one buyer has multiple sellers and can drive prices down.

Imagine a taxpayer-subsidized public option, which starts with the single largest patient pool (all Medicare, Medicaid, S-Chip, Defense Department and Department of Veterans’ Affairs beneficiaries and dependents; approaching 50% of the U.S. population). How hard would it be for such a behemoth to “negotiate” major discounts from all stakeholders in healthcare and then price undercut all private payors and other suppliers? Employers would clearly turn to such an option to reduce their (now government-mandated) healthcare expenses, and in a short period of time there would be only one plan: the public option. Government should not be in the business of competing with the private marketplace under any circumstances, but certainly not while subsidized with taxpayer funds.

Division B modifies Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP to align and operate more smoothly in the new healthcare landscape. It provides consistency of services in rural areas, establishes quality standards, and impacts the education of medical trainees within Medicare, although, as we’ll see in a moment, the entire medical educational system will be revamped eventually, under the direction of the Federal government.


Division C continues the Public Health aspects started in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“The Stimulus Bill”). Here, a complete revamping of the Primary Care, Nursing and Public Health workforces is implemented. As in the UK and other countries with a government-run healthcare system the government will take over the training of most healthcare workers in the US through a series of scholarship, loan or other support programs which will require either a period of National Service (Public Health Workforce Corps, section 3401) or some method for loan repayment (section 340N). These programs will include training for diversity (section 2241) as well as “cultural and linguistic competency training for health care professionals (section 2251). Section 2301 expands the prevention and wellness research initially authorized in (you guessed it!) the Stimulus Bill. Section 2002 creates a protected “slush fund”, under the title Public Health Investment Fund, starting with $5 bn in annual funding in fiscal 2010 and growing to $12.7 bn annually in fiscal 2017. This fund is to be used to carry out “activities under designated public health provisions”. These funds “shall not be taken into account for purposes of any budget enforcement procedures… of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act and budget resolutions for fiscal years during which appropriations are made from the Fund”, meaning they are “off the books” for deficit reporting and reduction.

Here again, the Federal Government is stepping well beyond any passive role as a provider of financial support for medical education to provide staffing for the nation’s need. Instead, during a long period of public service to repay loans, the nation’s healthcare workers are being given non-medical, political indoctrination on what the proper social and societal views should be towards the provision of healthcare in a free-market based constitutional republic. If this bill is left in its current form, within one generation, there will be no way to modify any aspect of this approach to healthcare; both the private payer infrastructure and the required workforce will be utterly destroyed.

Perhaps most insidious is the last provision of Division C of this bill. I’ll simply quote it in full:

Subtitle E—States Failing To Adhere to Certain Employment Obligations
SEC. 2541. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL FUNDS.
A State is eligible for Federal funds under the provisions of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) only if the State—
(1) agrees to be subject in its capacity as an employer to each obligation under division A of this Act and the amendments made by such division applicable to persons in their capacity as an employer;
and
(2) assures that all political subdivisions in the State will do the same.

In short, the Federal government here demands that in order to have medical staff and receive funding for health care facilities and other resources each state must impose on itself and on its local governments all the obligations the Federal government is placing on employers. Any semblance of the original relationship intended by the Founding Fathers between the powers of the Federal government and the states is utterly lacking. This is the clear imposition of the will of the Federal government on the states.

Every American is impacted by healthcare reform. Not sometime in the future but immediately. This bill will change your care, your taxes and the nature of your relationship to your doctor (or your next doctor, if many physicians elect to retire early once they sense the direction of this change). More importantly, it will be an irreversible step in the relationship of the Federal government, the states, and the people. Read the parts of this bill that worry you … and contact your Congressional representatives. Senator Enzi has certainly provided his thoughts (Ref. 3) and polls are beginning to show the American people are not as dazzled by President Obama’s rhetoric as they were in January. Let your Congressmen (and women) know how you feel. Politically there is nothing more important than this bill right now. Let’s not let the “dog days of summer” allow something this critical to just sneak by. Nothing less than the future of America is at stake.


REFERENCES
1. CBO to Rep. J Dingell, letter dated July 17. Preliminary analysis of HR 3200.
2. CBO, Director’s Blog: Preliminary Analysis of the House Democrats’ Health Reform Proposal.
3. Enzi: HELP Democrats’ Bill a Prescription for Failure. Press Release; July 15, 2009 (pdf)
4. Mankiw, N. Gregory: The Pitfalls of the Public Option. NY Times; June 28, 2009
5. Senate HELP Committee: Markup of H.R. 3200 (“America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009’’).
6. Senate HELP Committee: Chairman’s Markup of H.R. 3200 (“America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009’)’. (pdf)
7. Singer, Peter: Why We Must Ration Health Care. NY Times Magazine, July 19, 2009

---------------
William Harvey is a physician with extensive experience in drug research and development. He began as an academic researcher but has been a pharmaceutical executive in the global development arena for almost two decades. His current position involves the strategic use of comparative effectiveness research to speed drug development and to educate healthcare stakeholders: government, payors, prescribers, and patients. He lives in the greater Philadelphia area.
Read more...
Bookmark and Share

Things Hippies want to blame on global warming

[I found this list on "America's Right" blog. I was both stunned and bemused that there was actually an article associated to each item. To read the articles, go to www.americasright.com]

Things Hippies want to blame on global warming


ACNE
AGRICULTURAL LAND INCREASE
AFGHAN POPPIES DESTROYED
AFRICA DEVASTATED
AFRICAN AID THREATENED
AFRICA, CONTINENT OF CONFLICT
AGGRESSIVE WEEDS
AIR PRESSURE CHANGES
ALASKA RESHAPED
ALLERGIES INCREASE
ALPS ARE MELTING
AMAZON WILL TURN TO DESERT
AMERICAN DREAM AT END
AMPHIBIAN BREEDING PATTERNS
ANAPHYLACTIC REACTIONS (BEES)
ANCIENT FORESTS CHANGED
ANIMALS HEAD FOR HILLS
ANTARCTIC GRASS FLOURISHING
ANTARCTIC ICE GROWTH
ANTARCTIC ICE SHRINKS
ANTARCTIC SEA LIFE AT RISK
ANXIETY TREATMENT
ALGAE BLOOM FORMATIONS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AT RISK
ARCTIC BOGS ARE MELTING
ARCTIC IN BLOOM
ARCTIC ICE FREE
ARCTIC LAKES ARE DISAPPEARING
ARCTIC TUNDRA WILL BURN
ATLANTIC OCEAN LESS SALTY
ATLANTIC OCEAN MORE SALTY
ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES
ATTACK OF THE KILLER JELLYFISH
AVALANCHES NOT AS COMMON
AVALANCHES MORE COMMON
BAGHDAD SNOW
BAHRAIN UNDER WATER
BANANAS GROW WILD
BEER SHORTAGE (yikes!)
BEETLE INFESTATION
BET FOR $10,000
BETTER BEER (yay!)
BIG MELT COMING FASTER
BILLION-DOLLAR RESEARCH PROJECTS
BILLIONS FACE RISK
BILLIONS OF DEATHS
BIRD DISTRIBUTION CHANGES
BIRD VISITORS DECREASED
BIRDS ARE CONFUSED
BIRDS RETURN EARLY
BIRDS DRIVEN NORTH
BITTERN BOOM ENDS
BLACKBIRDS STOP SINGING
BLIZZARDS
BLUE MUSSELS RETURN
BLUE TONGUE
BRAINS SHRINK
BRIDGE COLLAPSE (MINN.)
BRITAIN SIBERIAN
BRITISH GARDENS ARE CHANGING
BROTHELS STRUGGLE
BROWN IRELAND
BUBONIC PLAGUE
BUDGET INCREASES
BUDDHIST TEMPLE THREATENED
BUILDING COLLAPSE
BUILDING SEASON EXTENSION
BRUSH FIRES
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
BUSINESS RISKS
BUTTERFLIES MOVE NORTH
CAMELS ARE DYING
CANCER DEATHS IN ENGLAND
CANNIBALISM IN THIRTY YEARS
CATARACTS
CATERPILLAR BIOMASS SHIFT
CAVE PAINTINGS THREATENED
CHILDHOOD INSOMNIA
CHOLERA
CIRCUMCISION IN DECLINE
CIRRUS DISAPPEARANCE
CIVIL UNREST
CLOUD INCREASE
CLOUD STRIPPING
COCKROACH MIGRATION
COFFEE CROP THREATENED
COLD CLIMATE CREATURES SURVIVE
COLD SPELLS IN AUSTRALIA
COLD WEATHER TREND IN INDIA
COMPUTER MODELS
CONFERENCES INCREASE
CONFLICT
CONFLICT WITH RUSSIA
CONSUMERS FOOT THE BILL
CORAL BLEACHING
CORAL REEFS ARE DYING
CORAL REEFS ARE GROWING
CORAL REEFS SHRINK
COST OF TRILLIONS
COUGAR ATTACKS ON THE RISE
CRADLE OF CIVILZATION THREATENED
CRIME ON THE RISE
CROCODILE GENDER SHIFTS
CROPS DEVASTATED
CRUMBING ROADS & SEWER SYSTEMS
CURRICULUM CHANGES
CYCLONES IN AUSTRALIA
DANGER TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH
DARFUR
DARTFORD WARBLER PLAGUE
DEATH RATE INCREASE IN U.S.
DENGUE HEMORRHAGIC FEVER
DEPRESSION
DESERT ADVANCES
DESERT RETREATS
DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH
DISAPPEARANCE OF COASTAL CITIES
DISEASES MOVE NORTH
DOLOMITES COLLAPSE
DROUGHT
DUCKS AND GEESE DECLINE
DUST BOWL IN THE CORN BELT
EARLY MARRIAGES
EARLY SPRING
EARLIER POLLEN SEASON
EARTH BIODIVERSITY CRISIS
EARTH DYING
EARTH EVEN HOTTER
EARTH LIGHT DIMMING
EARTH LOPSIDED
EARTH MELTING
EARTH'S MORBID FEVER
EARTH ON FAST TRACK
EARTH PAST POINT OF NO RETURN
EARTH SLOWING DOWN
EARTH SPINNING FASTER
EARTH TO EXPLODE
EARTH UPSIDE DOWN
EARTH IS WOBBLING
EARTHQUAKES
EL NINO INTENSIFICATION
END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
EROSION
EMERGING INFECTIONS
ENCEPHALITIS
ENGLISH VILLAGES LOST
EQUALITY THREATENED
EUROPE BOTH BAKING AND FREEZING
EUTROPHICATION
EVOLUTION IS ACCELERATING
EXPANDING UNIV. CLIMATE GROUPS
EXTINCTION -- THE HUMAN RACE
EXTINCTION -- CIVILIZATIONS
EXTINCTION -- LOGIC
EXTINCTION -- INUIT AFFECTED
EXTINCTION -- SMALLEST BUTTERFLY
EXTINCTION -- COD
EXTINCTION -- LADYBIRDS
EXTINCTION -- PIKAS
EXTINCTION -- POLAR BEARS
EXTINCTION -- GORILLAS
EXTINCTION -- WALRUS
EXTINCTION -- WHALES
EXTINCTION -- FROGS
EXTINCTION -- TOADS
EXTINCTION -- PLANTS
EXTINCTION -- SALMON
EXTINCTION -- TROUT
EXTINCTION -- WILDFLOWERS
EXTINCTION -- WOODLICE
EXTINCTION -- PENGUINS
EXTINCTION -- A MILLION SPECIES
EXTINCTION -- 1/2 ANIMALS, PLANTS
EXTINCTION -- MOUNTAIN SPECIES
EXTINCTION -- NOT POLAR BEARS
EXTINCTION -- BARRIER REEF
EXTINCTION -- LEECHES
EXPERTS MUZZLED
EXTREME CHANGES TO CALIFORNIA
FADING FALL FOLIAGE
FAINTING
FAMINE
FARMERS GO BANKRUPT
FASHION DISASTERS
FEVER
FIGUREHEAD SACKED
FIR CONE BONANZA
FISH CATCHES DECLINE
FISH DOWNSIZE
FISH CATCHES INCREASE
FISH DEAFNESS
FISH GET LOST
FISH STOCKS AT RISK
FISH STOCKS DECLINE
FIVE MILLION ILLNESSES
FLESH-EATING DISEASE
FLOOD PATTERNS CHANGE
FLOODS
FLOODS OF BEACHES AND CITIES
FLOOD OF MIGRANTS
FLOOD PREPARATION FOR CRISIS
FLORIDA ECONOMIC DECLINE
FLOWERS IN PERIL
FOOD POISONING
FOOD PRICES RISE
FOOD PRICES SOAR
FOOD SECURITY THREAT
FOOTPATH EROSION
FORESTS IN DECLINE
FORESTS ARE EXPANDING
FROG WITH MULTIPLE HEADS
FROSTBITE
FROST DAMAGE INCREASED
FROSTS
FUNGI FRUITFUL
FUNGI INVASION
GAMES CHANGE
GARDEN OF EDEN WILTS
GENETIC DIVERSITY DECLINE
GENE POOLS SLASHED
GIANT OYSTERS INVADE
GIANT PYTHONS INVADE
GIANT SQUID MIGRATE
GINGERBREAD HOUSES COLLAPSE
GLACIAL EARTHQUAKES
GLACIAL RETREAT
GLACIAL GROWTH
GLACIER WRAPPED
GLOBAL COOLING
GLOBAL DIMMING
GLOWING CLOUDS
GOD MELTS
GOLF -- MASTERS WRECKED
GORE OMNIPRESENCE
GRANDSTANDING
GRASSLANDS WETTER
GREAT BARRIER REEF 95% DEAD
GREAT LAKES DROP
GREENING OF THE NORTH
GREY WHALES LOSE WEIGHT
GULF STREAM FAILURE
HABITAT LOSS
HANTAVIRUS PULMONARY SYNDROME
HARMFUL ALGAE
HARVEST INCREASE
HARVEST DECREASE
HAY FEVER EPIDEMIC
HEALTH AFFECTED
HEALTH OF CHILDREN HARMED
HEART DISEASE
HEART ATTACKS AND STROKES
HEAT WAVES
HIBERNATION PATTERNS AFFECTED
HIBERNATION ENDS TOO SOON
HIBERNATION ENDS TOO LATE
HOMELESS BOOM TO FIFTY MILLION
HORNETS
HIGH COURT DEBATES
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REVERSAL
HUMAN FERTILITY REDUCED
HUMAN HEALTH IMPROVEMENT
HUMAN HEALTH RISK
HUMAN RACE OBLIVION
HURRICANES IN GENERAL
HURRICANE REDUCTION
HYDROPOWER PROBLEMS
HYPERTHERMIA DEATHS
ICE SHEET GROWTH
ICE SHEET SHRINKAGE
ICE SHELF COLLAPSE
ILLNESS AND DEATH
INCLEMENT WEATHER
INDIA DROWNING
INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURE (CANADA)
INDUSTRY THREATENED
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
INFLATION IN CHINA
INSECT EXPLOSION
INSURANCE PREMIUMS ON THE RISE
INUIT DISPLACEMENT
INUIT POISONED
INUIT TAKE LEGAL ACTION
INVASION OF CATS
INVASION OF HERONS
INVASION OF JELLYFISH
INVASION OF MIDGES
ISLAND DISAPPEARS
ISLANDS SINKING
ITCHIER POISON IVY
JELLYFISH EXPLOSION
JETS FALL FROM SKY
KEW GARDENS TAXED
KIDNEY STONES
KILLING US
KITTEN BOOM
KRILL DECLINE
LAKE, STREAM PRODUCTIVITY DOWN
LAKE EMPTIES
LAKE SHRINKING AND GROWING
LANDSLIDES
LANDSLIDES OF ICE AT 140 MPH
LAWSUITS ON THE RISE
LAWSUITS SUCCESSFUL
LAWYERS' INCOME INCREASED
LIVES SAVED
LOCH NESS MONSTER DEAD
LUSH GROWTH IN RAIN FORESTS
MALARIA
MAMMOTH DUNG MELT
MAPLE PRODUCTION UP
MAPLE SYRUP SHORTAGE
MARINE DISEASES
MARINE FOOD CHAIN DECIMATED
MEACHING
MEDITERRANEAN RISES
MEGACRYOMETEORS
MELANOMA
METHANE EMISSIONS FROM PLANTS
METHANE BURPS
METHANE RUNAWAY
MELTING PERMAFROST
MIDDLE KINGDOM CONVULSES
MIGRATION
MIGRATION DIFFICULT FOR BIRDS
MIGRATORY BIRDS HUGE LOSSES
MICROBES DECOMPOSE SOIL QUICKER
MINORITIES HIT
MONKEYS ON THE MOVE
MONT BLANC GROWS
MONUMENTS IN PERIL
MOOSE ARE DYING
MORE BAD AIR DAYS
MORE RESEARCH NEEDED
MORTALITY INCREASED
MOUNT EVEREST SHRINKING
MOUNTAINS BREAK UP
MOUNTAINS MELTING
MOUNTAINS TALLER
MORTALITY DECREASED
NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS
NATURAL DISASTERS QUADRUPLE
NEW ISLANDS
NEXT ICE AGE
NFL THREATENED
NILE DELTA DAMAGED
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS
NO EFFECT IN INDIA
NORTHWEST PASSAGE OPENED
NUCLEAR PLANTS BLOOM
OAKS DYING
OAKS MOVE NORTH
OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
OCEAN DESERTS EXPAND
OCEAN WAVES SPEED UP
OPERA HOUSE TO BE DESTROYED
OUTDOOR HOCKEY THREATENED
OZONE REPAIR SLOWED
OZONE ON THE RISE
PACIFIC DEAD ZONE
PERSONAL CARBON RATIONING
PEST OUTBREAKS
PESTS INCREASE
PHENOLOGY SHIFTS
PLANKTON BLOOMS
PLANKTON DESTABILIZED
PLANKTON LOSS
PLANT VIRUSES
PLANTS MARCH NORTH
POLAR BEARS AGGRESSIVE
POLAR BEARS CANNIBALISTIC
POLAR BEARS DROWNING
POLAR BEAR STARVATION
POLAR TOURS SCRAPPED
POPCORN RISE
PORPOISE ASTRAY
PROFITS COLLAPSE
PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS
PUFFIN NUMBERS DECLINE
RAILROAD TRACKS DEFORMED
RAINFALL INCREASE
RAPE WAVE
REFUGEES
RELEASE OF ANCIENT FROZEN VIRUSES
RESORTS DISAPPEAR
RICE THREATENED
RICE YIELDS CRASH
RIFT ON CAPITOL HILL
RIOTING AND NUCLEAR WAR
RIVER FLOW IMPACTED
RIVERS RAISED
ROADS WEAR OUT
ROBINS RAMPANT
ROCKY PEAKS CRACK APART
ROOF OF THE WORLD A DESERT
ROOFTOP BARS
ROSS RIVER DISEASE
RUINS RUINED
SALINITY REDUCTION,
SALINITY INCREASE
SALMONELLA
SATELLITES ACCELERATE
SCHOOL CLOSURES
SEA LEVELS RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE FASTER
SEALS MATING MORE
SEWER BILLS RISE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
SEX CHANGE
SHARKS BOOMING
SHARKS MOVING NORTH
SHEEP SHRINK
SHOP CLOSURES
SHORT-NOSED DOGS ENDANGERED
SHRINKING PONDS
SHRINKING SHRINE
SKI RESORTS THREATENED
SKIN CANCER
SLOW DEATH
SMALLER BRAINS
SMOG
SNOWFALL INCREASE
SNOWFALL HEAVY
SNOWFALL REDUCTION
SOARING FOOD PRICES
SOCIETAL COLLAPSE
SONGBIRDS CHANGE EATING HABITS
SOUR GRAPES
SPACE PROBLEM
SPECTACULAR ORCHIDS
SPIDERS INVADE SCOTLAND
SQUID POPULATION EXPLOSION
SQUIRRELS REPRODUCE EARLIER
STORMS ARE WETTER
STORMWATER DRAINS STRESSED
STREET CRIME TO INCREASE
SUBSIDENCE
SUICIDE
SWORDFISH IN THE BALTIC
TABASCO TRAGEDY
TAXES
TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENT
TEENAGE DRINKING
TERRORISM
THREAT TO PEACE
TICKS MOVE NORTH TO SWEDEN
TIDES RISE
TORNADO OUTBREAK
TOURISM INCREASE
TRADE BARRIERS
TRADE WINDS WEAKENED
TRANSPORTATION THREATENED
TREE FOLIAGE INCREASE
TREE GROWTH SLOWED
TREES COULD RETURN TO ANTARCTIC
TREES IN TROUBLE
TREES LESS COLORFUL
TREES MORE COLORFUL
TREES LUSH,
TROPICS EXPANSION
TROPOPAUSE RAISED
TRUFFLE SHORTAGE
TURTLES CRASH
TURTLES LAY EGGS EARLIER
U.K. COASTAL IMPACT
U.K. KATRINA
VAMPIRE MOTHS
VENICE FLOODED
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
WALRUS PUPS ORPHANED
WAR
WARS OVER WATER
WARS SPARKED
WARS THREATEN BILLIONS
WATER BILLS DOUBLE
WATER SUPPLY UNRELIABILITY
WATER SCARCITY
WATER STRESS
WEATHER GONE WILD
WEATHER PATTERNS INCONSISTENT
WEEDS
WESTERN AID CANCELED OUT
WEST NILE FEVER
WHALES MOVE NORTH
WHEAT YIELDS CRUSHED IN AUSTRALIA
WILDFIRES
WIND SHIFT
WIND REDUCED
WINE -- AUSTRALIAN PROBLEMS
WINE -- CALIF. INDUSTRY DAMAGE
WINE -- U.S. INDUSTRY DISASTER
WINE -- MORE ENGLISH
WINE -- GERMAN BUSINESS BOOMING
WINE -- NO MORE FROM FRANCE
WINE -- NAPA PASSE
WINTERS COLDER IN U.K.
WINTER DEAD IN U.K.
WITCHCRAFT EXECUTIONS
WOLVES ARE EATING MORE MOOSE
WOLVES ARE EATING LESS
WORKERS LAID OFF
WORLD AT WAR
WORLD BANKRUPTCY
WORLD IN CRISIS
WORLD IN FLAMES
YELLOW FEVER

Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sotomayor and Abortion for Undesired 'Populations'

From National Review [Ed Whelan]

In this interview from this coming Sunday’s issue of the New York Times Magazine, Justice Ginsburg sees fit to offer her views on a range of matters, including:



1. Interviewer Emily Bazelon states that Ginsburg “was forceful about why she thinks Sotomayor should be confirmed.” Just the topic, of course, that any Supreme Court justice should see fit to opine on the day before a confirmation hearing starts.



Ginsburg offers this feeble defense of Sotomayor’s “wise Latina woman” comment: “Think of how many times you’ve said something that you didn’t get out quite right, and you would edit your statement if you could.” Ginsburg is evidently unaware that Sotomayor’s comment was part of a text that Sotomayor herself prepared and later published as a law-review article (and that she repeated on several occasions).



2. Speaking of something that maybe “didn’t get out quite right” (but maybe did): As part of her broad-ranging discussion of abortion, Ginsburg offers this, er, interesting comment why the Court’s 1980 decision in Harris v. McRae, which ruled that the Hyde Amendment’s exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from Medicaid reimbursement was constitutionally permissible, “surprised” her:

Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.

Gee, Justice Ginsburg, would you like to tell us more about your views on those populations that “we don’t want to have too many of”?

Tell the Senate to Say NO to Robert Groves and ACORN Corruption!

NetRight Nation Blog
Written by ALG News
Thursday, 09 July 2009 20:14
Barack Obama -- the former attorney for the corrupt Association of Community Organization and Reform Now (ACORN) -- has now nominated for Census Bureau czar a man who (perhaps not surprisingly) refuses to rule out paying ACORN lieutenants tens of millions of tax dollars to, of all things, count the number of Americans who should receive federally funded hand-outs and be allowed to vote.
Now, remember, this is the very same ACORN group that is currently under investigation for committing electoral fraud in 12 states during the most recent election cycle alone, including Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. And it’s the same group whose malfeasance dates back at least to 1998, when its Project Vote contractor was arrested in Arkansas for falsifying 400 voter registration cards.

In King County, Washington, in 2008, elections officials were forced to remove 1,762 voter registrations submitted by ACORN. In Delaware County, Pennsylvania, nearly 1,200 fraudulent voter registrations were submitted by ACORN. In Cleveland, Ohio, ACORN registered one voter 77 times. And in Chicago, 10,000 false registrations were submitted.

No wonder Chicago is Barack Obama’s kind of town. Clearly, his kind of people tally the votes there. Which may explain why in 2008, his presidential campaign paid ACORN operatives a whopping $800,000 to register voters. And why Investor’s Business Journal called Mr. Obama “ACORN’s Senator.”

In view of all this, it is little wonder that on May 19 of this year, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) asked Obama Census Czar nominee Robert Groves for a firm commitment that he would not hire ACORN operatives to count the U.S. populace. And it is even less wonder that Mr. Vitter has now put a hold on the Groves’ nomination, since Mr. Groves refuses to extend the Senator even the courtesy of a response, let alone a commitment to protect the sanctity of the census from the voraciously corrupt ACORN lieutenants.

What is at stake in this situation is much more than a mere uneven headcount; it is the corruption of the voting process itself. If ACORN is allowed to skew its census count the way it has repeatedly skewed its voter registrations, key decisions as to where and how federal funds are distributed will be at stake. And the redrawing of congressional boundaries will be at the mercy of ACORN operatives’ decisions as to whom they wish to count and whom they don’t.

If ACORN lieutenants decide to lose a few hundred thousand citizens in districts where Republicans are strong – such as the South and West -- those voters could be deprived of congressional representation. And if they decide to add on a few hundred thousand in areas where Democrats dominate – such as major urban areas – those cities could find themselves with additional votes in the halls of Congress.

In short, to put it bluntly: if ACORN is allowed to corrupt the census as it has, time and again, corrupted voter registration, the fragile fabric of democracy could be forever destroyed.

That’s what is at stake. And that’s why Americans from all walks of life, from either party, and from every area of the country must support the Vitter hold on Robert Groves.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has threatened to invoke a cloture vote Monday morning to break Mr. Vitter’s hold on Mr. Groves. It’s time to tell the members of the Senate in no uncertain terms: “If Robert Groves won’t commit to keeping ACORN away from the census count, we want him kept away from the Census Bureau.” The Senate switchboard number is 202-225-3121.

The Fed Must Be Stopped

July 9, 2009
Written by: Ron Paul
Our country currently finds itself in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and, as during all economic crises, people search for the answer as to why this has happened. Not only have large financial firms been affected, but also mainstays of American industry such as GM and Chrysler, all the way down to the Mom & Pop stores on Main Street. The easy way out is to blame the traditional scapegoats: foreign governments, fraudulent businessmen, and greedy speculators. But the real villain is far more sinister; the organization entrusted with maintaining a stable dollar and touted as the guarantor of economic stability – the Federal Reserve.

In the United States, monetary policy has been the domain of the Federal Reserve since its inception in 1913. Since that time we have had a number of cyclical recessions, each one following a boom caused by the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy. The problem with the Federal Reserve is that it interferes with market pricing functions. Interest rates are a price just like any other and arise because of the fact that people prefer to consume in the present rather than in the future. The extent to which people defer present consumption is reflected in interest rates, which in a free market are determined by the spontaneous interactions and decisions of millions of people.

Fed intervention to set prices throws markets and interest rates out of equilibrium. When the Federal Reserve pushes interest rates below what the market rate would be, everyone wants to borrow money for long-term projects. Shortages of loanable funds would occur, except that the Federal Reserve has the ability to create bank balances out of thin air. The Fed can create a bank ledger on paper, or on a computer, establish a balance of millions or billions of dollars, and then spend these dollars out into the economy.

Loans become cheap, and the result of these lower interest rates is an economic boom which eventually manifests itself as a bubble. Beginning in 2001, the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates to as low as one percent, which after adjusting for inflation meant that the real interest rate was negative, so businesses were actually making money by taking out loans. This was the fuel for the housing bubble and the reason there are 19 million empty houses today.

Because of this awesome power to create money out of thin air, the Fed has jumped in to stabilize ailing financial firms by pledging over $7 trillion through various guarantee programs and credit facilities. This is equivalent to over half of the entire nation's GDP. Over $1 trillion of this is already in play, propping up banks and other institutions that should be allowed to fail. All of this has taken place with no oversight by Congress. The Fed was created by Congress, and it is unconscionable that we have allowed it to act in such a way without our oversight. Currently the Federal Reserve's credit facilities, open market operations, and agreements with foreign governments and central banks are all exempt from any sort of audit or oversight. Earlier this year I introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HR 1207, that would remove all restrictions on Federal Reserve audits and call for a f ull audit of the Federal Reserve System to be completed by the end of 2010. At this writing, 245 of my fellow Congressmen have cosponsored this bill and we hope to have hearings in the near future. In the Senate, Republicans Jim DeMint, Mike Crapo and David Vitter have cosponsored S. 604, companion legislation introduced by Bernie Sanders. I am very encouraged by the tremendous growing momentum on Capitol Hill.

Our Founding Fathers never intended for a single entity such as the Federal Reserve to have this much power. In fact, there is no authority in the Constitution for the federal government to create a central bank, to enact legal tender laws, or to print paper money. The Tenth Amendment is quite clear that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The states themselves are prohibited from emitting bills of credit, i.e. paper money, arising from the Founders' negative experiences with paper money during the Revolutionary War. Cheap, un-backed, easily counterfeited paper money nearly lost the Revolution, until the government returned to minting gold and silver coins. Unfortunately, like too many other lessons learned by the Founders, the painful experiences of paper money have been forgotten by those living in the pres ent. We even ignore the experiences of Germans in the 1920s, Argentines in the 1980s, and Zimbabweans over the past decade. The Fed doubled the monetary base last fall in a matter of months, and God help us if any of this high-powered money begins to make its way through the economy.

An audit of the Fed is only the first step towards returning to where our Founders intended this country to be. The Founders knew that paper money could ruin a country, and drafted the Constitution in such a way that they thought would ensure sound, commodity-backed currency. Unfortunately, the Constitution was dispensed with long ago, and we find ourselves now suffering under an unconstitutional regime of un-backed paper money. Until we abolish the Federal Reserve and return to a stable currency that is not able to be manipulated to create boom and bust cycles, we will continue down the path of economic ruin.

Congress Ron Paul serves the fourteenth district of Texas and is honorary chairman of Campaign for Liberty. His new book, End the Fed (Grand Central Publishing) will release on September 16th and is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Why Women Are Unhappy

June 19, 2009
by Phyllis Schlafly
The National Bureau of Economic Research released a study to be published soon in the American Economic Journal that shows women's happiness has measurably declined since 1970. It's no surprise that this has stimulated much comment.

This study covers the same time period as the rise of the so-called women's liberation or feminist movement. The correlation demands an explanation.

One theory advanced by the authors, University of Pennsylvania economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, is that the women's liberation movement "raised women's expectations" (sold them a bill of goods), making them feel inadequate when they fail to have it all. A second theory is that the demands on women who are both mothers and jobholders in the labor force are overwhelming.

I'm neither an economist nor a psychologist, but I'll join the conversation with my own armchair analysis. Another theory could be that the feminist movement taught women to see themselves as victims of an oppressive patriarchy in which their true worth will never be recognized and any success is beyond their reach.

Feminist organizations such as the National Organization for Women held consciousness-raising sessions where they exchanged tales of how badly some man had treated them. Grievances are like flowers; if you water them, they will grow, and self-imposed victimhood is not a recipe for happiness.

Another theory could be the increase in easy divorce and illegitimacy (now 40 percent of American births are to single moms), which means that millions of women are raising kids without a husband and therefore expect Big Brother government to substitute as provider. The 2008 election returns showed that 70 percent of unmarried women voted for Barack Obama, perhaps hoping to be beneficiaries of his "spread the wealth" policies.

In the pre-1970 era, when surveys showed women with higher levels of happiness, most men held jobs that enabled their wives to be fulltime homemakers. The private enterprise system constantly produces goods that make household work and kiddie care easier (such as dryers, dishwashers and paper diapers).

Betty Friedan started the feminist movement in the late 1960s with her book The Feminine Mystique, which created the myth that suburban housewives were suffering from "a sense of dissatisfaction" with their alleged-to-be-boring lives. To liberate women from the home that Friedan labeled "a comfortable concentration camp," the feminist movement worked tirelessly to make the role of fulltime homemaker socially disdained.

Economic need played no role in the feminist argument that marriage is archaic and oppressive to women. A job in the labor force was upheld as so much more fulfilling than tending babies and preparing dinner for a hard-working husband.

Women's studies courses require students to accept as an article of faith the silly notion that gender differences are not natural or biological but are social constructs created by the patriarchy and ancient stereotypes. This leads feminists to seek legislative corrections for problems that don't exist.

A former editor of the Ladies' Home Journal wrote in her book Spin Sisters that the anorexic blondes on television are every day selling the falsehood that women's lives are full of misery and threats from men. Bernard Goldberg calls the mainstream media "one of America's most pro-feminist institutions."

According to feminist ideology, the only gender-specific characteristic is that men are naturally batterers who make all women victims. On that theory, the feminists conned Congress into passing the Violence Against Women Act (note the sex discriminatory title), which includes a handout of a billion dollars a year to finance their political, legislative and judicial goals.

The feminists whine endlessly using their favorite word "choice" in matters of abortion, but they reject choice in gender roles. The Big Mama of feminist studies, Simone de Beauvoir, said, "We don't believe that any woman should have this choice. No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children . . . precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one."

The feminists have carried on a long-running campaign to make husbands and fathers unnecessary and irrelevant. Most divorces are initiated by women, and more women than men request same-sex marriage licenses in Massachusetts so that, with two affirmative-action jobs plus in vitro fertilization, they can create a "family" without husbands or fathers.

Despite the false messages of the colleges and the media, most American women are smart enough to reject the label feminist, and only 20 percent of mothers say they want full-time work in the labor force. I suggest that women suffering from unhappiness should look into how women are treated in the rest of the world, and then maybe American women would realize they are the most fortunate people on earth.

I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin

July 07, 2009, 4:00 a.m.


The Republicans bring a knife to a gunfight, and lose again.

By David Kahane

One of the most terrifying moments of my political life came last summer at the Republican convention in St. Paul. No, I don’t mean seeing John McCain careering around the Xcel Energy Center like Eyegore in Young Frankenstein, his face frozen in a Lon Chaney Sr. rictus grin as he reached across the aisle to his erstwhile friends in the media and got his hand bitten off. Rather, I’m referring to the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s outrageous acceptance speech, which whipped up the Rotary Club delegates into a frenzy of white-boy fury that not even heckling by a brave Code Pink embed could deter. Truly a fascist classic and one that sent shivers down our collectivist spines.

Even worse was the glaze of horror on the phizzes of the assembled heroes of the Mainstream Media. Andrea Mitchell — yes, the very same Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, whose employer saw no conflict of interest at all when she married then Fed pooh-bah Alan Greenspan — stood there gaping like a frog while the rest of the assembled Finemans and Matthewses and Olbermanns scurried around like roaches when the light gets turned on: What the hell just hit us? For one horrible moment, it looked as if the carefully crafted plans of David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, George Soros, and the Second Chief Directorate, first department, of the old KGB were about to gang agley.

Not only were we offended at the sheer effrontery of McCain’s pick: How dare the Republicans proffer this déclassée piece of Wasilla trailer trash whose only claim to fame was that she didn’t exercise her right to choose? Where were her degrees from Smith or Barnard, her internships at PETA, the Brookings Institution, or the Young Pioneers? We were also outraged that the Stupid Party had just nominated a completely unqualified candidate nobody had ever heard of, a first-term governor of Alaska whose previous experience consisted of a small-town mayoralty. As opposed to our guy, Barry Soetoro of Mombasa, Djakarta, and Honolulu, a first-term senator nobody had ever heard of, whose previous experience had been as a state senator (D., Daley Machine) in Illinois. After eight long, illegitimate, lawless years of &*^%BUSH$#@! tyranny, how dare you contest this election?

And so the word went out, from that time and place: Eviscerate Sarah Palin like one of her field-dressed moose. Turn her life upside down. Attack her politics, her background, her educational history. Attack her family. Make fun of her husband, her children. Unleash the noted gynecologist Andrew Sullivan to prove that Palin’s fifth child was really her grandchild. Hit her with everything we have: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, taking a beer-run break from her quixotic search for Mr. Right to drip venom on Sister Sarah; post-funny comic David Letterman, to joke about her and her daughters on national television; Katie Couric, the anchor nobody watches, to give this Alaskan interloper a taste of life in the big leagues; former New York Times hack Todd “Mr. Dee Dee Myers” Purdum, to act as an instrument of Graydon Carter’s wrath at Vanity Fair. Heck, we even burned her church down. Even after the teleological triumph of The One, the assault had to continue, each blow delivered with our Lefty SneerTM (viz.: Donny Deutsch yesterday on Morning Joe), until Sarah was finished.

You know what? It worked! McCain finally succumbed to his long-standing case of Stockholm Syndrome (“My friends, you have nothing to fear from an Obama presidency”), Tina Fey turned Palin into a see-Russia-from-my-house joke, “conservative” useful idiots like Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker hatched her, and finally Sarah cried No más and walked away. If we could, we’d cut off her head and mount it on a wall at Tammany Hall, except there is no more Tammany Hall unless you count Obama’s Tony Rezko–financed home in Chicago. And it took only eight months — heck, Sarah couldn't even have another kid in the time it took us to destroy her. That’s the Chicago way!

Yes, my friends, it’s once again time to quote Sean Connery’s famous speech from The Untouchables, written by David Mamet — the lecture the veteran Chicago cop gives a wet-behind-the-ears Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner, back when he was a movie star) while they sit in a church pew. “You want to get Capone? Here’s how you get him: he pulls a knife, you pull a gun, he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!” If you just think of us — liberal Democrats — as Capone you’ll begin to understand what we’re up to. And we just put one of yours in the morgue.

I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but maybe now you’re beginning to understand the high-stakes game we’re playing here. This ain’t John McCain’s logrolling senatorial club any more. This is a deadly serious attempt to realize the vision of the 1960s and to fundamentally transform the United States of America. This is the fusion of Communist dogma, high ideals, gangster tactics, and a stunning amount of self-loathing. For the first time in history, the patrician class is deliberately selling its own country down the river just to prove a point: that, yes, we can! This country stinks and we won’t be happy until we’ve forced you to admit it.

In other words, stop thinking of the Democratic Party as merely a political party, because it’s much more than that. We’re not just the party of slavery, segregation, secularism, and sedition. Not just the party of Aaron Burr, Boss Tweed, Richard J. Croker, Bull Connor, Chris Dodd, Richard Daley, Bill Ayers, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and Emperor Barack Hussein Obama II. Not just the party of Kendall “Agent 202” Myers, the State Department official recruited as a Cuban spy along with his wife during the Carter administration. Rather, think of the Democratic Party as what it really is: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.

If you had any sense, you would start using our tactics against us. After all, you have a few lawyers on your side. Sue us. File frivolous ethics complaints against all our elected officials until, like Sarah, they go broke from defending themselves. (David Paterson would be a good place to start.) Challenge the constitutionality of BO2’s legion of fill-in-the-blank czars — none of whom have to be confirmed, or even pass a security check. (Come to think of it, neither did Barry.) Let slip your own journalistic dogs of war, assuming you have any, to find Barry’s birth certificate, his college transcripts, whether he applied to Occidental as a foreign student, and on which passport he traveled in 1981 to Pakistan with his friend Wahid Hamid, for starters.

You might also want to think about interviewing New York literary agent Jane Dystel, who a) contacted the totally unknown Obama in the wake of an adulatory New York Times piece in 1990 and b) got him a $125,000 advance for a memoir that c) he couldn’t write, even after a long sojourn in Bali, which d) got the contract canceled, whereupon e) Dystel got him $40,000 from another publisher, following which f) the book finally came out to glowing reviews and g) Obama fired her. Wouldn’t she have an interesting story to tell?

Of course, you won’t. You’re too nice, too enamored of history and tradition to realize that the rules have changed. Remember, I live and work in a town where, “Hello, he lied,” isn’t a joke; we men of the Left are perfectly comfortable lying, cheating, and stealing — hello, Senator Franken! — in order to attain and keep political power. Not for nothing is one of our mottos, “By Any Means Necessary.” You see, we’re the good guys, and for us the ends always justify the means. We are, literally, shameless, which is why Bill Clinton is now a multi-millionaire and Eliot Spitzer is already on the comeback trail.

In Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, “the fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.” This is the book that “Reset” Rodham (what ever happened to her?) and BHO II grew up reading and continue to live by. If you don’t understand that that’s the way we see you — as the enemy — then you’re too dumb to survive. Remember that for us politics is not just an avocation, or even just a job, but our life. We literally stay awake nights thinking up ways to screw you. And one of the ways we do that is by religiously observing Alinsky’s Rule No. 4.

Did Sarah stand for “family values”? Flay her unwed-mother daughter. Did she represent probity in a notoriously corrupt, one-family state? Spread rumors about FBI investigations. Did she speak with an upper-Midwest twang? Mock it relentlessly on Saturday Night Live. Above all, don’t let her motivate the half of the country that doesn’t want His Serene Highness to bankrupt the nation, align with banana-republic Communist dictators, unilaterally dismantle our missile defenses, and set foot in more mosques than churches since he has become president. We’ve got a suicide cult to run here.

And that’s why Sarah had to go. Whether she understood it or not, she threatened us right down to our most fundamental, meretricious, elitist, sneering, snobbish, insecure, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders bones. She was, after all, a “normal” American, the kind of person (or so I’m told) you meet in flyover country. The kind that worries first about home and hearth and believes in things like motherhood and love of country the way it is, not the way she wants to remake it.

What you clowns need, in other words, is a Rules for Radical Conservatives to explain what you’re up against and teach you how to compete before it’s too late. Luckily, since I care about money even more than I care about politics, I have just such a book in the proposal stage, currently making the rounds of various publishers, assuming any of them are wise enough to take me up on it.

And, yes, this time it really is personal.

— David Kahane is pushing for a new national holiday to commemorate the destruction of Sarah Palin, and is hopeful that his senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, will co-sponsor it, along with Henry Waxman in the House. You can second the motion at kahanenro@gmail.com or on Facebook.

—

More Constructive Obstructionism in Action

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
From America's Right blog

Louisiana congressman introduces bill that would force any member of Congress who votes in favor of government-run health care to enroll themselves in the program.

Yesterday, I wrote a little about the Doctrine of Constructive Obstructionism, about how congressional Republicans must propose alternatives to the plans and proposals put forth by their counterparts across the aisle, unify behind those alternatives, and refuse to budge with regard to each and every piece of legislation proposed by the Democrats that weakens our economy and undermines our national defense.

It seems as though, when it comes to the health care debate, one House Republican is getting the ball rolling. In a recent press release, Louisiana Congressman John Fleming, M.D.--that's right, a medical doctor--described a new piece of legislation he has introduced which would hold his colleagues accountable as they seek to enact groundbreaking reforms to the American health care system. Fleming's statement:

As a physician, I am amazed at the number of bureaucrats in this House who are quick to claim a government-run health care plan is the reform this country needs. This resolution will offer members of Congress an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, and urge their colleagues who vote for legislation creating a government-run health care plan to lead by example and enroll themselves in the same public plan.


Fantastic. What better way for congressmen and congresswomen to truly represent their constituents than to subject themselves to the very same rules they enact? I love it.

Fleming's legislation, of course, will likely not go anywhere -- but it's the idea that Republicans are offering alternatives and new ideas while at the very same time strongly saying "no" to the Democrats' plans. Regardless of whether the health care reform legislation passes, the GOP can and will be in the position of looking back upon the debate and informing the electorate that, no, the Democrats refused to play by the very same rules which they were foisting upon the American people.

Nothing So Shocking About This Coup

Written by Glenn Garvin
Wednesday, 01 July 2009 02:35
From the Miami Herald:
The greatest tourist attraction in Central America has always been politics. Diplomats stop by every few years, take a couple of snapshots of what's going on at the presidential palace, and then profoundly declare their opinions, devoid of context or history. This week's favorite diplotourism destination is Honduras, where the army Sunday arrested President Manuel Zelaya and booted him across the border to Costa Rica. In the Polaroid analysis, it's pretty clear what happened: ''A return to barbarism in our hemisphere,'' as Argentina's president Cristina Fernández put it.
She had plenty of company. ''The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ``We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law.''
The OAS Permanent Council voted ''to condemn vehemently the coup d'etat staged this morning against the constitutionally established government of Honduras.'' U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded ``the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country and full respect for human rights.''
Here's a question for all these new-found defenders of Honduran democracy: Where were you last week? Perhaps if some of these warnings about sticking to the constitution had been addressed to President Zelaya, the Honduran army would still be in the barracks where it belongs.
A naked power grab
For weeks, Zelaya -- an erratic leftist who styles himself after his good pal Hugo Chávez of Venezuela -- has been engaged in a naked and illegal power grab, trying to rewrite the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for reelection in November.
First Zelaya scheduled a national vote on a constitutional convention. After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country's congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. (It would be ''non-binding,'' he said.) When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.
His actions have been repudiated by the country's supreme court, its congress, its attorney-general, its chief human-rights advocate, all its major churches, its main business association, his own political party (which recently began debating an inquiry into Zelaya's sanity) and most Hondurans: Recent polls have shown his approval rating down below 30 percent.
In fact, about the only people who didn't condemn Zelaya's political gangsterism were the foreign leaders and diplomats who now primly lecture Hondurans about the importance of constitutional law. They're also strangely silent about the vicious stream of threats against Honduras spewing from Chávez since Zelaya was deposed.
Warning that he's already put his military on alert, Chávez on Monday flat-out threatened war against Honduras if Roberto Micheletti, named by the country's congress as interim president until elections in November, takes office.
''If they swear him in we'll overthrow him,'' Chávez blustered. ``Mark my words. Thugetti -- as I'm going to refer to him from now on -- you better pack your bags, because you're either going to jail or you're going into exile.''
Hey, Hillary: What does the Inter-American charter say about that?
The Honduran army clearly did not act on its own when it arrested Zelaya and sent him packing. The supreme court says the generals acted on its orders, and almost every Honduran politician of any note -- regardless of party -- has voiced approval.
Long, unpleasant history
They may come to regret their decision. Honduras had a long and unpleasant history of military government in the 20th century, and perhaps the army will not march back into Pandora's box and close the lid behind it so willingly.
But the initial signs are promising; the army, after getting rid of Zelaya, put congress in charge of choosing his replacement. Elections are still scheduled for November. Let's see if the OAS and the United Nations and the Obama administration come back to take another snapshot then.

A Tribute to the Heroes of Honduras

I found the previous article and this video on the Net Right Nation blog. The situation in Honduras has received poor media coverage from networks such as CNN. The following video was created by someone in Honduras and shows that the protests are peaceful. I encourage everyone to spread this around and help get the message out for those fighting for freedom in Honduras:

Cynthia McKinney Earns Certificate of INSANITY

Note: I included this article for the amusement of our group, since we are by enlarge, Atlanta natives. Who voted for this woman anyway???

From The Lid blog:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
--Albert Einstein

Former Congresswoman, and professional nut job Cynthia McKinney fits Einstein's definition perfectly.

This past December McKinney, who was once arrested for slapping a US Capitol Policeman who asked her for ID, decided to get on a boat in an attempt to get around Israel's blockade and dock the vessel in a war zone so she could help and resupply the terrorist group Hamas. McKinney was on the boat as it was damaged by an Israeli navy vessel which rammed it three times before it was sent on its merry moonbat way home.

The brain cell deprived McKinney decided that once was not enough, as she left Cyprus on a boat toward terrorist controlled Gaza and expected a different result.

"This is an outrageous violation of international law against us," said McKinney. "Our boat was not in Israeli waters and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip. President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."

The Israeli military issued a statement Tuesday saying that the boat had attempted to break a blockade of Gaza and was forced to sail to an Israeli port after ignoring a radio message to stay out of Gaza waters.

The statement said navy personnel boarded the freighter Arion without any shots being fired, and those on board were to be handed over to immigration authorities. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel was planning to free the crew and passengers.

"Nobody wants to keep them here," he said. "They will be released as soon as they are checked."

Hey we don't want her here either. Maybe we can negotiate with Israel to keep her. I got it, how about, Israel keeps McKinney and Obama eases up on his anti-Israel settlement rhetoric:

The humanitarian cargo was also to be trucked into the Gaza Strip after a security check.

In a statement released by the Green Party, McKinney said she had sent appeals to Obama and the State Department for assurances of protection for the relief mission. She said the boat was sailing in international waters when it was seized.

But McKinney got her desired result, when she returns to the US she will get an official certificate of insanity.

Israel’s consulate general accused McKinney of a “reckless political stunt.”


“Once again former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her fellow travelers have taken it upon themselves to disregard their own safety, as well as the safety of the vessel’s crew, by leading a boat into restricted waters,” the consulate general’s office in Atlanta said in a statement.
Source Fox News

Kill Cap-and-Trade Before it Kills US/Call Congress NOW !!!

From The Lid blog:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

This past February, in a stunning disregard of their fiduciary responsibilities to the American People, the Congress voted on a stimulus bill that they hadn't read. This one bill that singlehandedly increased the national debt by 160%. The bill was over 800 pages, and the members of the House received the bill at 11 pm the night before they were to vote on it. The vote couldn't be delayed because Nancy Pelosi was going on vacation to Italy.
Nancy Pelosi is about to do it again, she has scheduled a vote on the 800+ page bill and while there is a little more time than the February incident it is clear by the bill's support that many in Congress have not read the bill. Because if they had, they could not support it.

If they read the Waxman bill these Democrats would realize that not only will the legislation do nothing to help the environment, it will hurt the US Economy. Just take a look at the map above (click on it to see it larger). The states in green will do better under the plan, the ones in red, including Waxman's sometimes home state of Florida, will have to pay much more in energy costs. What the map doesn't reflect is the fact that manufacturing and production costs for all goods made in those states will become more expensive because of the increased energy costs, that greater expense will be passed to the consumer, causing inflationary pressure above and beyond all of that extra money the fed has been printing.

There is good news though, the vote will be close, if you call Congress today, there is still time to kill Cap-and-Trade, before it kills us:

Not Too Late To Kill 'Cap-And-Tax' Bill By ROBERT E. MURRAY
Perhaps the most destructive legislation in our country's history will, as soon as this week, be voted on in the House of Representatives: the Waxman-Markey tax bill in the guise of addressing climate change.


It will have adverse and lingering consequences for every American. It will raise the cost of electricity in our homes, the fuel for our cars and the energy that produces our manufacturing jobs, with little or no environmental benefit.


Further, independent experts estimate that it will cost Americans more than $2 trillion in just over eight years.


All Americans in the Midwest, South and Rocky Mountain regions will be most drastically affected because the climate change legislation will destroy the nation's coal industry and the low-cost electricity it has provided to these regions for generations.


Wealth will be transferred away from almost every state to the West Coast and New England.


The most abundant and by far least expensive energy source in our country for generating electricity is coal. America's coal reserves rival the energy potential of Saudi Arabian oil.


Unfortunately, the proposed climate-change legislation in the House of Representatives, the Waxman-Markey bill, forces America to throw away this tremendous resource, and our low-cost electricity with it.


The legislation discards coal and low-cost energy with it by setting an unattainable cap on carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, with the first reductions due by 2012.


Under the program, businesses that emit carbon dioxide would be required to purchase or obtain from the government special carbon dioxide credits. This carbon dioxide cap will force utilities to switch from lower-cost coal to natural gas or other more expensive energy sources.


Reliable estimates show that this bill will cost each American family at least $3,000 more in energy costs each year, notwithstanding the $2 trillion cost to the economy in just eight years. The chief executive of one of the nation's major utilities recently said it best in the Wall Street Journal:


"The 25 states that depend on coal for more than 50% of their electricity . . . will have to shut down and replace the majority of their fossil fuel plants as a result of the climate change legislation."


The supporters of this ill-conceived legislation point to two provisions that they claim will help coal. The first is that they give electric utilities free credits. However, those credits are worth millions of dollars, and the utilities will be free to sell the credits and use the proceeds to build more expensive natural gas or nuclear power plants, and not use our lowest-cost fuel — coal.


Second, the authors of the legislation invest money in carbon capture and storage technology, claiming that this will save jobs. But this technology will not be commercially available for at least 15 to 20 years, long after the reductions are required in 2012 and long after our coal plants are shut down and our manufacturing jobs are exported to China, India and other countries.


All these countries have stated that they will not place any restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions. China alone, which has surpassed the United States in carbon dioxide emissions, brings a new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant on line every week. They will have low-cost electricity, and America will massively export more jobs to them.


It is not too late to tell Congress to kill this flawed bill. Call your representative in Congress and ask him or her to vote no on the Waxman-Markey climate bill (otherwise known as cap-and-tax) and support affordable energy, American jobs and our quality of life.

Our dumb and dumber Congress

The Washington Examiner

James Carafano - June 26, 2009

Something extraordinary will happen at Washington, DC's Newseum on July 3. There, on the day before Independence Day, those who suffered through the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon will tell their stories. For the ages. It's part of an oral history project sponsored by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, in partnership with StoryCorps.

Attack survivors, members of victims' families, first responders, volunteer rescuers and other witnesses will record the horrors and heroics they witnessed that day. Their interviews will be maintained at the Library of Congress and become part of the permanent collection at the 9/11 memorial in New York. (While the interviews are being recorded, Newseum visitors will be able to sign one of the "I" beams that will be used in building the memorial.)

It's important to preserve, forever, the memory of that murderous attack on the American homeland. If we forget the past, it may well revisit us again.

That said, let's hope members of Congress will read some of these transcripts. It may remind them of their obligation to be ever-vigilant, and to give us laws that will keep us safe, free, and prosperous against a lurking transnational terrorist threat.

Sadly, this year the House on the Hill seems inclined to do anything but that. Here is a short list of really stupid pending legislation. Some entries exemplify "checkbook security"--measures that succeed in spending money, without improving our security.

Others exemplify "feel-good security"--bills that pretend to do something worthwhile, when it's not. And some demonstrate "checklist security"--meaningless gestures that won't accomplish much of anything. None of it is real security.

Topping the "dumb" list is a bill called "Providing for Additional Security in States Identification (PASS ID)." Despite its misleading title, PASS ID actually "takes a pass" at implementing a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission: Improving the security of identity credentials like driver's licenses.

The bill would rescind key provisions of the REAL ID Act, which established national standards. One requirement eliminated is a system that allows states to readily cross-check their data bases to combat fraud and identity theft. While PASS ID wouldn't roll back REAL ID in its entirety, it would leave us with something akin to a square fort with three walls.

Then there's the proposed "Chemical Facility Antiterrorism Act." The Department of Homeland Security has already established reasonable standards for chemical security, but they expire in October. Rather than just reauthorize the standards, this House bill would hijack the issue and force new regulations to advance an activist environmental agenda.

Under this bill, the government gets to decide what chemicals companies should be producing. And the criteria for this decision-making will be "green," not security. While this will do little to make us safer, it is sure to drive some chemical companies out of business and encourage others to move operations--and jobs--overseas.

Also pending in the House is the "Homeowners Defense Act," a bill to create a massive government insurance program--allegedly to help Americans recover after a catastrophic disaster. In reality, the main function of the bill is to force all taxpayers to subsidize insurance for folks who opt to live in beach houses in hurricane zones.

Beachfront property offers a pleasant but risky lifestyle, to be sure. But why should these property owners expect others to underwrite their risky behavior? And what in the world does it have to do with security?

And, of course, there's the "Travel Promotion Act." This bill proposes an unusual "solution" to the post-9/11 decline in foreign travel to the United States: Slap a tax on foreigners who do visit. The tax money, you see, would then pay for a government-sponsored ad campaign to encourage people to visit.

The geniuses in Congress are really onto something with this one, aren't they? It could be the start of something really big. How about taxing foreigners who buy U.S. produced beef so the government could launch a "Buy Beef" campaign? Or maybe a special levy on foreigners who buy GM cars. You can almost see the U.S. steel flying off foreign showroom floors, can't you?

Unfortunately, this through-the-looking-glass logic is all the rage on Capitol Hill. But piling up debt, raising taxes, growing government, strangling private industry, and repealing sound security measures will not make us safer. As unveiled so far this year, the Congressional agenda for homeland security so far just makes our legislative leaders look dumb and dumber.

Examiner Columnist James Jay Carafano is a senior research fellow for national security at The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org heritage.org)