Health Care is Here

On Christmas Eve, the Senate held their final vote for their version of the health care takeover.  The vote came out 60-39, with the bill passing strictly along partisan lines.

The truth is, pretty much every vote on health care has been on partisan lines, because this is a partisan bill written for a partisan Congress on a partisan issue.

The Democrats have been complaining lately that the Republicans have done nothing but obstruct their health care legislation, as if that were a bad thing.  Truth is, the Left has been trying to ram socialized health care down the throats of the American people for decades, but until now they've been stopped at every turn because too many people knew that "free" health care was a lie, a way for politicians to take more and more power away from the people, all the while setting the stage for socialism in America.

And the truth behind the Republicans' so-called obstructionism is that it isn't the real reason it took so long for the health care bill to pass.  The entire issue of health care reform has been crafted in such a way that any Republican worth his salt would be insane to cast a vote for the bill at any step of the process.  The people who have truly been holding up the process are the Democrats who disagreed with the bill for one reason or another - and the party leadership & the White House quite clearly showed their willingness to twist any arm and offer any bribe to push through their health care socialization.  They bribed Ben Nelson by offering to pay his state's Medicare costs - around $45 million.  Mary Landrieu was given $300 million for her state.  Christopher Dodd was able to write $100 million into the bill for his state.  The entire bill is full of nothing but socialism, waste and bribery.

The Republicans should be applauded for fighting tooth and nail to stop this bill.  Any of the so-called "moderate" Democrats who voted for the bill should be run out of Washington on a rail, and count themselves fortunate that they got off that light.  Any Senator who held out until funds were secured for their state should be put up on charges for accepting bribes, and the Senate leadership should be brought up on charges for bribing them...and then, any Senator who voted for the bill should be thrown out for violating their oath of office, in which they swore to support the Constitution of the United States.

Iran Pushing for War?

The regime in Iran seems to think they can get away with whatever they want...and the sad thing is, they probably can.  They've been developing nuclear weapons for quite a while now, despite sternly worded warnings from the UN, and even trade sanctions haven't stopped them from trading with nations such as Russia and North Korea, who don't give a damn what the UN thinks, either.

Iran is like a three-year-old.  Give an inch, and they'll take a mile.  Let them get away with one thing, and they'll see how far they can go, testing the limits just enough so that the "global community" won't annihilate them, but also so they will have increased room to maneuver and plot and scheme.

Now, Iran is in the news for more than just nuclear weapons.  A group calling themselves the "Iranian Cyber Army" hacked into Twitter, shutting the site down for several hours.  The message they posted: "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army. U.S.A think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power..."  The message also included the statement "Hezbollah is victorious."

Was this hack perpetrated by the Iranian government?  Who knows...it's more likely that this is an Iranian/Islamic terrorism-sympathetic cyber-terrorist group, but it's really impossible to tell at this early juncture.  Nations have increasingly been getting into cyber-warfare, which makes me wonder whether the Iranian government would try to show some muscle by temporarily bringing down one of the "Great Satan's" biggest websites.

The other incident that has put Iran back into the headlines is much, much more serious.  Iranian forces have taken over an Iraqi oil well in what is no less than an act of war.  It's not being treated that way by those in power, of course, because there is so much pressure from the worldwide progressive movement to avoid war no matter what that we may as well just let the Muslim extremists and communist dictators take over the world now & save us the trouble of a long, drawn out ordeal.  After all, Saddam Hussein did everything he could to provoke the UN, and all he got were sanctions (rendered meaningless by backdoor dealings with France & Russia), empty resolutions, and sternly-worded warnings.  It took the "cowboy" George W. Bush to finally do something about Hussein, and even then the UN still protested!

It's no wonder nations like Iran and North Korea act like the US and the UN are nothing but paper tigers.  With George W. Bush in power, at least there was the threat of force to keep evil regimes at bay, but now that anti-war progressives are basically running the entire Western world, it's abundantly clear that they will be able to run roughshod over all of the resolutions and warnings with little or no consequences.

US Goverment Over the Debt Limit

According to CBS News, the US government has exceeded the debt limit - no big surprise there.  According to a "senior treasury official," the government uses "extraordinary accounting tools" to give itself some room to maneuver when they're getting close to reaching the debt ceiling.

In other words, the government has spent more money than is allowed, but when that happens, all they have to do is cook the books to make it look like they still have some breathing room.  If this was done by any corporation in the US, they would immediately be labeled as "evil" and the CEO would be jailed...but in the US government, crime is okay (after all, the Obama administration has tax cheats setting tax policy).  The real question is, why do they still call it the debt ceiling?  With the frequency that the Dems keep moving it up, it's more of a one-way elevator.

Congress was already set to raise the debt ceiling by $2 trillion, a move that was (thankfully) shot down by Republicans & Blue Dog Democrats.  The progressives wanted to raise the debt ceiling now so they wouldn't end up having to do it closer to the midterm elections, when there is a much better chance that voters will remember their actions in the voting booths.

But let's face it: the Democrats are setting records when it comes to spending.  Barack Obama has spent more money in his first year in office than any other president in history ever did in the same amount of time (and that's after adjusting for inflation).  If they're looking to save face with these kinds of cheap shenanigans, it won't work.

It's time to throw the bums out...and it wouldn't hurt to throw in some prison time for fraud while we're at it.

Reid: Opponents of Health Care = Supporters of Slavery

Harry Reid is at it again: this time, he has compared opponents of Obamacare to those who supported slavery, opposed women's sufferage, and opposed the civil rights movement.

Now, besides just being patently absurd on their face, Reid's comments show his utter ignorance of history: it was the Republicans who led opposition to slavery, and a Democrat who tried to filibuster the 1957 Civil Rights Act.  Conservatives and Republicans have historically stood on the side of liberty, and the situation with the health care bill is no different.  Conservatives want to reform the health care system in a way that uses less regulation on the health care system to give the people more freedom and increase competition in the health care market, which will inevitably drive prices down.  Liberals want to take power away from the people, impose higher taxes, and give the government further control over peoples' lives.

It's interesting how liberals try to ascribe a moral imperative to any piece of legislation that grants the government more power, no matter how much damage that legislation will do to the nation.  When Republicans want to outlaw (or even just outlaw taxpayer-funded subsidies of) abortion, or want to outlaw gay marriage, we are routinely told that "you cannot legislate morality."  When Democrats want to take over 1/6 of the nation's economy in a massive power-grab that will require all citizens to purchase health insurance or take a government health plan under penalty of fines and possible jail time, legislating morality is suddenly acceptable.  President Obama has even quoted the Bible to justify the health care takeover, justifying federal wealth redistribution schemes by saying that we should "be our brother's keeper" (taken from Genesis 4:9).  The irony is, Barack Obama's own brother lives in poverty in Africa.

But the moral imperative where health care is concerned is disingenuous on multiple fronts: we already have regulations in place requiring doctors to provide emergency care to patients in need, regardless of whether they can pay.  With that statute in place, there is no reason for the power-grab to extent health insurance to everyone in America (by the way, many liberals are now calling the current bill "health insurance reform," since Americans started catching on to the fact that it does more to change the insurance system than the health care system).  With emergency care required, we are already being "our brother's keeper."

The Progressives are only using the Biblical/moral (and in some cases, the race card) argument in an attempt to get the American people to hand over all of their freedoms to the progressive nanny state.  What is the end game?  That largely depends on which special interest is pushing which power grab at any particular time, but the bottom line is: keep ahold of power, no matter what.

Reids comments show clearly that they will say nearly anything to villianize anyone who opposes them.

Barack Has Fixed The Economy!

According to the AP, the jobless rate has dropped from its high 10.2 percent in October to an astoundingly low 10 percent in November!!!  Everybody break out the champagne!  The crisis is over!

The first line of the article states "Two years of steep job cuts all but ended last month, unexpectedly pulling down the unemployment rate and raising hopes for a lasting economic recovery."

It then goes on to say that the unemployment rate "unexpectedly" dropped by 0.2 percent, and the "real" jobless rate dropped 0.3 percent, moving from 17.5 percent to 17.2 percent  It also referred to the numbers as "better than expected."

Frankly, any good news on the jobs front is "better than expected," but to assume that this is a portend of the end of the current economic crisis laughable.  The government has done little more than spread some money around - so what will happen when the money dries up?  Nothing has been done that will lasting effects on the economy, but the media is so desperate for good economic news that an insignificant shift in the unemployment rate is reported as great news.

Rubbish.

Time To Save The Liberal Media

According to Henry Waxman (D-CA), it's time for the government to step in to bail out the failing newspaper industry.  This has been in the works for a while - after all, the government bailed out the banks, and the auto industry, giving handouts to their union allies all the while, so it was only a matter of time before they decided that the newspaper industry is "too big to fail." 

According to Waxman, the "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."  Wouldn't that imply that a government bailout wouldn't help anything over the long term?  Of course, they aren't just talking about throwing money at failing newspapers, they're talking about offering tax breaks and even possibly allowing newspapers to be classified as non-profit organizations, as well as loosening up media ownership regulations for newspaper publishers (on a side-note: if loosening up regulations will help the newspaper industry, isn't it possible that it will help in other areas of the economy, such as health care?).


This is absolutely, totally, and disgustingly predictable.  When conservative talk radio succeeds, all we hear from liberal politicians is the need for government-regulated "fairness" on the airwaves.  When the liberal media fails, though, it's up to the government to step up and save them.


Henry Waxman is right: newspapers are facing a structural failure.  The problem with newspapers is that they are antiquated, fast being replaced by internet news.  Waxman speaks of his worry that the failure of the newspaper industry will result in "the loss of an informed public."  The truth is that the internet provides people to much more information every day than newspapers ever could, and the internet allows opposing viewpoints to be heard much more than newspapers ever would.

The Dubai Bubble

If I've ever seen a predictor of where overspending will lead, it's in Dubai.  The UAE, basking in the wealth they gained from oil sales, spent and spent and spend, even going so far as to build a tower to the heavens (the Burj Dubai) and a man-made island.

This is the danger that America faces: we cannot afford the arrogance to think that we can spend as much as we want with no consequences.

Obamacare is One Step Closer

In the interests of transparency and openness, the Senate decided to take an idea from Nancy Pelosi and hold their cloture vote for the health care power-grab as late on Saturday night as they possibly could.

According to Harry Reid, Republican opposition to cloture constitutes opposition to debate.  This notion is, to put it simply, idiotic.  America has already debated government health care.  We debated it throughout the summer, when Senators and Congressmen went to their districts and held town halls.  We debated it when people from across America journeyed to Washington to voice their opposition.  We debated it in poll after poll, showing that an overwhelming majority of Americans don't want the government to run our health care.

This vote for cloture isn't about debate.  It's about power.  It's about manipulation.  It's about the elitist politicians in Washington taking away the freedoms that our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought and died to protect.

This isn't about what the people want, it's about what the politicians want for the people...and no matter what they say, all they want for us is to have power over us and to control us in the interests of maintaining their power and ability to control.

The bottom line is this: a vote against cloture was a vote for the people of America.  It is essential to the continuation of our freedoms that this health care bill be opposed at every turn.  Once Obamacare is instituted, it will be permanent.  As nice as the thought is that conservatives could take back control of the government in 2010 and/or 2012, even conservative majorities in the House and Senate, combined with conservative control of the White House cannot guarantee the repeal of any government program.  Politicians are, by nature, stubborn, and once they gain power over some aspect of our lives, forcing them to give the power up is next to impossible.

Is Universal Health Care Worth Destroying America?

The Democrats, in typical crooked politician fashion, are now pushing the health care travesty through the Senate just as fast as they can. Word has it they're pushing for a cloture vote as early as Saturday, which would put the bill in the Senate for all of two weeks before it comes up for the first round of voting. In those two weeks, the bill has grown nearly 200 pages over the sorry excuse of a bill the House passed.

The idea that the purpose of this cloture vote is to open the bill up for debate is little more than a cheap lie. All a cloture vote will do is to begin the arm twisting, cajoling and bribery that are all too typical in Washington. In fact, the bribery has already begun. With deals like this going on, it's no wonder the only Republican congressman to vote for the House bill was from Louisiana...way too suspicious to be coincidence.

More flaws in the Senate bill:

The abortion provision that was introduced to the House bill that would block federal funding for abortions has been done away with, and replaced with a fee specifically for the purpose of funding abortions.

The bill will raise taxes on anyone not buying "qualifying" health plans, as well as levying other taxes and fees specifically designed to get people on the so-called "public option."

The million dollar question that has yet to be answered is this: Since when did the federal government have the authority to tell American citizens what products and/or services they have to buy? It's bad enough that the government is out there levying taxes on all of the things that the experts say will kill us - that trend has gotten so bad that they're now considering taxing soft drinks.

This used to be a free country. If the federal government would follow the Constitution, we would be still. But today, we are not a free country. We do retain some freedoms, but the number of freedoms we enjoy is shrinking daily. I have read the Constitution, and nowhere does it give the federal government the right to tell Americans what they can and can't buy. The ironic thing is that that fact matters more to millions of Americans across this great nation than it does to those who have sworn to protect and defend our Constitution. Any politician in Washington who votes for this health care bill should be tried for treason against the United States, because the only thing this legislation will bring us is poverty and destruction.

It is high time that the ordinary Americans who still possess common sense and pride in their country stand up and tell the politicians that we have had enough. Thomas Jefferson said it best when he wrote:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

These words, from the document that started the Revolution that spawned the freest nation on Planet Earth, ring just as true today as they did when they were written. Our government is full of "light and transient causes," and it is high time we "throw off such Government, and...provide new Guards for [our] future security."

The Big Shocker: Dems Break Their Promise

As the Democrats' pork barrel spending bill slowly and unfortunately makes its way through Congress, Nancy Pelosi's more honest and transparent Congress has broken its promise to allow public access to the pork bill by failing to post it on the Internet as promised.

This provision is about the only thing having to do with the 'stimulus' bill that has truly been bipartisan...and, of course, we now find out that it's a promise broken.

Truly, no one in America should be surprised to find out that all the Democrats are about is secrecy and waste.

Happy Presidents' Day from the American Left.

Pelosi Proves It

Many conservatives have long known that whenever the Democrats called for bipartisanship when Republicans held the Congressional majority, they were lying. Now we have proof.

The Democrats have put forth their ultimate masterpiece in pork-barrel spending under the guise of an "economic stimulus" bill (at least it's not all attached to a military appropriations bill for a change). Now Pelosi is complaining that Congressional Republicans are holding up the process, saying that the process needs to be moved forward regardless of the level of bipartisan support. From the article:

“Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship, when the rest of the country says they need this bill,” the California Democrat said, seeming to sweep aside the Obama administration initial desire to have broad GOP support for the plan.

Now, when the Republicans held the White House and the majority in Congress, the Democrats wouldn't stop whining and crying about the need for bipartisanship, even despite the fact that the Bush administration was anything but conservative when it came to spending money and they had plenty of support from Congressional RINOs (Republicans in Name Only)...but now the Democrats are showing the nation their true colors: when they're down, we have to work together, but when they have the majority, it's "to hell with the rest of you." This was further evidenced by Obama's mocking of Republicans' concerns that this 'stimulus' amounts to nothing more than a massive spending bill, saying, “What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point. No, seriously, that’s the point,” to a laughing audience. If Obama knew anything about elementary economics, he would know that government spending doesn't really stimulate the economy over the long term: tax cuts do. But this is what we get for electing an inexperienced liberal buffoon to be President.

Personally, I'm split when it comes to this spending bill. Part of me wants to see it pass and fail, to show the American people once and for all that liberalism is a self-destructive philosophy that cannot lead a nation into a prosperous future. At the same time, I love my country, and with the understanding that the Democrats' spending bill will hurt America, I would like to see it fail miserably and never be implemented. However, it may just be time for America to learn the lesson the hard way...and if the Democrats get their way, it will be a hard lesson, indeed.

Bush (FINALLY) releases US border guards

President Bush today finally commuted the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

The plight of these two border guards has been a source of frustration for many conservatives, as they were sent to prison on trumped-up charges for shooting a man who was transporting drugs across the US border. The only bad thing is that commuting their sentences means that Ramos and Compean will still have the convictions on their records, whereas a pardon would have essentially erased those convictions.

Personally, I think that President Bush's last act in office should be to make it legal to shoot drug traffickers in the butt, but that's just my opinion.