Setting Up The American Monarchy

President Obama and various members of his administration have been out touting America's supposed economic "recovery," but recent evidence proves that their claims are nothing but more lies and propaganda from an administration built entirely on lies and deception.

The jobs gains President Obama was touting just a month ago are gone.  This was inevitable: most of the jobs gains were temp jobs to begin with - hiring done by the Census Bureau...plus the fraud of firing and hiring in cycles in order to artificially inflate those numbers so the President would have some kind of success to talk about.

The President loves to talk about how the nation is recovering, but that just isn't the case.

The Obamas have spent a lot of time telling America all about how we're in lean times, and it's time for the people of America to conserve, to tighten their belts and buckle down for the rough times that are ahead.

In the meantime, the Obamas have been taking expensive vacations and throwing lavish parties, living the "do as I say, not as I do" lifestyle all too prevalent in today's political culture.  Americans are wondering whether they'll be able to keep their homes, and the Obamas are flying their dog up to Maine on a separate plain for their vacation.  A recent column in the New York Daily News comparing Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette became immensely popular this week in light of her extremely extravagant vacation in Spain.  It wouldn't be as much of an issue had the Obamas covered the entire expense of the trip, but a hefty chuck of the bill was paid by the US taxpayers - and in a day when wasteful government spending has reached epic levels and already overtaxed Americans are looking at tax hikes next year, this kind of extravagance is most definitely unwelcome.

It seems that Barack Obama, in his constant push toward socialism, is trying to set up a new ruling class in America.  As a socialist, Obama loves to demonize our current capitalist economic system, all the while pretending to be a friend to American workers and an advocate for small business.  Under the Obama administration, the corporate world has come under attack...but while the large corporations have been Obama's primary target, but in his push for over-regulation and ever-increasing taxation, small businesses are feeling the pain as well, and the main victims are everyday working Americans who cannot find jobs because companies can't afford to hire.

But the President's main objective is to set himself and his party up as a permanent ruling class.  All of their efforts so far have primarily focused on grabbing up as much power as they possibly can as quickly as they possibly can, all the while ignoring the Constitution they swore to protect, plowing roughshod over the freedoms of the people.

The Obamas are living as the new American monarchy: the King and Queen, with the Democrats in Congress as their royal Court.  Instead of the "two Americas" the Democrats so love to preach about during their campaigns, pitting the rich vs. the poor, but instead of the rich vs. the poor, we are now looking at the government vs. the people.  It really is the same old setup that socialist and communist dictators have gone for each and every time they take power.  It's the same setup they had in Soviet Russia, in China, in North Korea, in Vietnam...the pattern goes on and on.  The political class demonizes their opponents and either eliminates them, as they're trying to do to Fox News and the right-wing media, or they absorb their opponents, as they did with General Motors and they are trying to do with the health care and banking industries.

Barack Obama may be the President of the United States, but he and his political allies have proven themselves to be dangerous to America's way of life.  The US economy is under attack, but the Obama administration continues to get in front of the cameras singing "Happy Days are Here Again," trying to convince us the economy is recovering, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

President Obama and the Democrats in Congress cannot lie to us forever. We have an election coming up, and even if the Republican party isn't able to win enough of a majority to roll back at least some of the damage the Democrats have done, at the least they may be able reign in the Left and prevent them from doing any more damage until Obama is voted out of office in 2012.

Killing The Private Sector

Today, the Democrats passed their so-called "bank bill."  In reality, this isn't so much a bank bill as it is a move by the Democrats to take control of the US economy.  They have taken over AIG and GM.  With the health care bill, the federal government set itself up to take over the health care and health insurance industries - as the news stories tend to put it, fully one sixth of the US economy.

Obama's socialism is failing.  His bank bailouts haven't saved the banking industry.  His economic stimulus bill hasn't improved the jobs market - though President Obama does seem to enjoy lying to the American people about how much worse the economy would be without his wasteful spending.  And with these ever-increasing regulations, the Democrats are once again trying to lie to America, attempting to finagle the people of America into believing that their socialist policies might actually do something to fix our economic problems.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

The Democrats are trying to pull a big lie/little lie sting on America.  The small deception is the lie that the AIG/stimulus/heal care/wall street takeovers will have a net positive effect on the American economy.  The large deception is the lie that the Democrats are actually trying to help the American economic situation.

The Democrats aren't trying to help the American economy, they are trying to take over.  The problem for the Democrats is that the more they trample on the Constitution, the more they enable the Republicans to do so when they take power - and they will take power.  The political pendulum tends to swing back and forth, as the American people vacillate between one lying political party and the other.

The truth rests in between the lies of these two parties: the government needs to maintain some control over the US economy, but moderation is the key to success.  It was, after all, lack of government regulation of Fannie May and Freddie Mac that helped to bring on the US financial crisis in the first place.

It was over-regulation that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster being so far out to sea that the best minds in British Petroleum and the Coast Guard couldn't "plug the damn hole" until very recently.  On the flip side of that coin, it was government corruption and lack of regulation that led to the circumstances that caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In like manner, it was over-regulation that forced banks to make bad loans to people who couldn't afford them.  The powers-that-be in the federal government believed that artificially inflating the housing market was more important than making responsible loans to people who could afford them.  At the same time, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and other politicians in the Banking Committee wouldn't allow proper regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they were taking sweetheart deals.

The truth is that the American people can't trust either side of the political aisle with the kind of power the Democrats are currently taking through this banking bill.  It is exactly the ind of thing the Democrats will take advantage of while they're in power, then will complain about when the Republicans take over.

To trust either political party with the kind of power the Democrats continue to flirt with would be a monumental mistake on the American people, but the Democrats are continuing forward regardless.  It's almost as though they have designs on the upcoming elections, either in 2010 or 2012.  Either way, the Democrats are up to no good, and the Republicans cannot be trusted to reverse this trend enough to matter over the long-term.

The Democrats don't just want to create a nanny-state, they want to create a mommy-state.  Are you hurt?  Mommy will heal you.  Unemployed?  Mommy will take care of you.  In poverty?  Mommy will support you.  Not a US citizen?  Mommy will change that.  The Mommy State will keep you safe and warm and happy.

No political party can be trusted with this kind of power, and no political party should be.  This is why we have a Bill of Rights, but the parties are all too willing to ignore the rules and remake the government in whatever way will maintain their power and keep them in control of the people.

Yet Another Power Grab

They're trying to bill it as "financial reform," but what the Democrats' financial overhaul amounts to is yet another power grab by the federal government.

According to Senator Chris Dodd (D-Ct), "This is about as important as it gets, because it deals with every single aspect of our lives."  Dodd was also quoted as saying "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."

So let me get this straight: Chris Dodd, one of the architects of our current recession, is pushing a bill giving the US government unconstitutional oversight authority...and he doesn't even know what is in the bill?  Dodd was, after all, in bed with Fannie May and Freddie Mac and was largely responsible for their failure, all the while insisting that Fannie and Freddie were healthy and being properly regulated.  The very idea that Dodd is still has any kind of a hand in regulating the US financial sector is appalling.

This is typical of the Democrats: every crisis is an opportunity to take more and more power away from the American people and put it in the hands of the federal government.  The financial crisis has already led to the takeover of GM and AIG, and it seems that every time a major business starts showing some signs that it's in any kind of trouble, it is immediately demonized by the Democrats, who automatically assume that the federal government has to step in to save them, all the while completely ignoring the role that government interventionism played in their demise.

It's as if the Democrats in Congress, Chris Dodd especially, are completely blind to their part in the current recession.

The very idea that the American people should have this kind of legislation hefted upon us by a buffoon like Chris Dodd is ridiculous, at best.  Dodd is a joke - a lame-duck Senator who finally realized how much of a failure he is, so he decided not to run for re-election.  This, it seems, is his last-gasp effort to cement his legacy as an enemy to the American way of life and to do as much damage to American freedom and the US economy as possible.

What's more, the Democrats are continuing their trend of putting forward legislation that would curtail American freedoms without even knowing what is in the bill.  Dodd's "no one will know until it's in place" quote is eerily reminiscent of Nancy Pelosi saying "we have to pass the bill to find out what's in it" of the health care bill that passed earlier this year...and from the looks of things, this bill could be just has harmful to American freedom as the health care takeover.

In the ultimate irony, if the bill passes, President Obama plans to sign it on Independence Day.

***UPDATE ***

From President Obama, before departing for the G20 Summit:

Now, let me be clear.  Our economic growth and prosperity depend on a strong, robust financial sector, and I will continue to do what I can to foster and support a dynamic private sector. But we've all seen what happens when there’s inadequate oversight and insufficient transparency on Wall Street.

The reforms making their way through Congress will hold Wall Street accountable so we can help prevent another financial crisis like the one that we’re still recovering from. 

We’ll put in place the toughest consumer financial protections in our history, while creating an independent agency to enforce them.  Through this agency, we’ll combine under one roof the consumer protection functions that currently are divided among half a dozen different agencies.  Now there will be one agency whose sole job will be to look out for you.

President Obama seems to love creating his so-called "independent agencies,"  especially when those agencies are beholden to and report to him.  The truth is that President Obama has no idea what is in this bill - it is enough for him to know that it will increase his power of the US economy and turn more American freedoms over to his control.

It seems that every time President Obama utters the words "let me be clear," he's getting ready to lie to the nation - he hasn't done anything to "foster and support a dynamic private sector," and this bill won't do anything to help that.

Lies, More Lies, and Villians

Well, they've done it.  The Democrats have lied, cheated, twisted arms, and bribed their way into passing their health care bill.

They accomplished this primarily through class warfare.  When they weren't demonizing the evil insurance industry, they were demonizing the so-called rich who could afford health care, as well as demonizing those companies that paid top-dollar  to provide their employees with top-of-the-line health insurance (the so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans, which are now being taxed - unless you're in a labor union).

Immediately after the bill was passed, the Democrats, with the aid of the mainstream media, began escalating the demonization of their political opponents.

Congressional Democrats have made accusations of racism, violence, and threats of violence, all with no proof.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) stated that Tea-Partiers had shouted the N-word 15 times at the Congressional Black Caucus as they headed over to the Capitol for the vote.  There were reporters and cameras all over the place, yet there is no video or audio to confirm this allegation.

Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH) alleged that a protester threw a brick through the window of his office in Cincinnati.  The press breathlessly repeated the story, neglecting to mention the fact that his office is on the 30th floor of an office building.  So, the person either had an extremely good arm, or went up 30 floors just to throw a brick through a window.  Oddly enough, after the location of Driehaus' office was reported, the brick story mysteriously went away.

But the real issue is this: if some on the Right are moving closer to violence, it's probably because those on the Left are leaving them no other options.  When conservatives protest, they're labeled as being too white, or "astroturf."  When conservatives call liberal members of Congress, they are routinely insulted, told they are wrong, or the phones are just shut off so no one can get through.  Poll after poll showed that around 70% of Americans disapproved of the health care bill, yet it has been passed and signed into law, despite protests, phone calls, petitions, letters, emails and town hall meetings. 

Polling and elections have shown that the nation is pretty evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but as the Democrats move the nation closer to being a socialist state, liberals are starting to see just what they've been a part of, and are moving more towards conservatism.  Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress just gave more than half of the nation the middle finger.  What did they expect would happen?  That we would just go away & let them steamroll over our freedoms and values?  I don't think so.

Any real violence or threats of violence so far have come from wackos on the right - and there are, without a doubt, wackos on both sides of the aisle & within any political group.  But as the Democrats continue their transformation of our nation, subverting the rights of citizens and trying to set themselves up as the permanent ruling class, it would not surprise me if things begin to escalate.

The Democrats are playing with fire.  They are subverting our freedoms and telling the American people that their opinion does not matter.  Meanwhile, with their push for "comprehensive immigration reform" and automatic voter registration, they are seeking to subvert our election process and establish a permanent power base for their party.

This is the stuff revolution is made of.  There has already been talk of secession, and the possibility of civil war is starting to crop up.  My fear is that the Democrats don't know what a dangerous game they are playing, and won't see the error of their ways until it is too late.

The Slippery Slope Is Here

It's official now: Obamacare is here.  Well, not here necessarily.  We get the taxes right now.  The actual Obamacare won't kick in until about 2013 or so - probably so Obama can get away with saying he was telling the truth when he said we could keep our insurance plans and our doctors during his next presidential campaign.

As Joe Biden so eloquently put it, this is a big f***ing deal.




And it is.  Never before has the federal government of the United States been so well positioned to control the lives of the American people.

The big question is, what's next?  The movement to overturn Obamacare is already in full swing, with several different states filing suit claiming that the bill violates their sovereignty - which, under the 10th Amendment, it clearly does.  But those appeals will take months, if not years to run their course.  The only short-term good that could come from those cases is the possibility of an injunction barring the bill's implementation until the suits are resolved.

In the meantime, the Democrats are declaring victory and moving on, already preparing to push through the rest of the wish-list of progressive reforms they've been dreaming of but haven't had the votes to get through Congress.

Some of the most nefarious of these measures: National ID cards, which would increase the federal government's ability to track us and regulate our activities (mark of the beast, anyone?).  "Comprehensive immigration reform," which, if supported by the American people, would have been passed during the Bush administration...but just like health care, the Democrats will not let this issue die.  Automatic voter registration would do just what it says: automatically register every US citizen.  Combine that with immigration reform, and the Democrats will have a massive new voter base...and if they can push it through before the midterm elections, they're almost guaranteed to maintain their power base indefinitely.

Now we see the real reason why it was so important that the Democrats push through health care reform as quickly as possible: for one thing, at the least they needed a platform on which they could build a national health care system (which several Democrat Congressmen have admitted the health care bill was).  For another, they need to push through as much of their agenda as they can, so they can cement their power, turning Congressional Democrats into the new Politburo of the United Socialist States of America.

Taken one piece at a time, the Democrats' agenda doesn't look all that sinister, but when you look at the big picture, it's easy to see that they don't have America's best interests in mind.  It's all about power and control, and it's coming our way as fast as the Democrats can ram it through.

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."

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.

We're Going The Wrong Way

The US economy is in trouble...more trouble than most people are aware. The problem is that our government, in trying to fix the problem, is actually taking steps to make things worse.

Treasury Set to Announce Regulatory Overhaul

Fed Eyes Nordic-Style Nationalisation of US Banks

Paulson Plan Endorses Fed's Enhanced Market Authority

Brace for $1 Trillion Writedown of 'Yertle the Turtle' Debt

Not long after our nation's founding, the country was plunged into a debate over whether the federal government had the authority to create its own bank. The truth is that the federal government has no authority to mess with the banking industry, including the creation of a national bank - yet the bank was created. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government given the right to nationalize any private industry, but now there are rumblings of a nationalized banking industry. How can this be good news for the US economy?

For a long time now, the US government has garnered a well-deserved reputation as being an inefficient, slow-moving behemoth that just cannot seem to do anything right. Remember Hurricane Katrina? Is that the kind of leadership you want running our banks?

Yet that's just the kind of banking system our leaders are talking about.

The Constitution does not give our government the authority to nationalize our banks. The government has done nothing to help thus far. They've made some cosmetic changes, to be sure, but nothing that will fix the long-term disaster that looms over our economy.

Personally, I think it's time for the people of America to look to our founding documents. Read the Constitution, and realize that the government is exceeding its authority.

How about this line from the Declaration of Independence:

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.

Nationalizing the US banking industry is yet another cosmetic change that, in the end, will only make things worse...and the more our federal government exceeds its authority, the more I tend to think of the original founding document of the United States: the Declaration of Independence. I think of how, as our federal government becomes larger and larger, taking more and more power away from the people, they "[become] destructive of these ends." It's time for the people of America to wake up. It's time to invoke the "alter or abolish" clause of the Declaration of Independence. It's time to put the politicians back in their place and start running a government that realizes that its authority and power comes from the people, and the people can take that power away.

Maybe it's time for another American Revolution.

Thanks to Socialized Health Care, Boy Goes Deaf For Nine Years

An eleven-year-old boy in England has finally regained his hearing.

For nine years, doctors and specialists didn't know what the problem was - they thought it was just ear wax blockage that made the child completely deaf in his right ear.

Then one day, the problem was solved when a cotton bud (the end of a Q-Tip) came out of his ear.

Remember, this is in England, where the government runs the health care system.

Does everyone still think Hillarycare is a good idea?

They're Conservative Now....But How About After The Election?

Republican presidential candidates held a presidential debate last night. Much of the debate centered around criticizing Hilary Clinton, but before they got to Hilary, they spent some time arguing over who is more conservative.

My problem is this: listening to them in the debate, all of the candidates sound good.

I know that Giuliani is too liberal on too many issues to earn my vote.

Romney, as the former governor of the liberal haven of Massachusetts gives me pause if for no other reason than he was elected in Massachusetts. I've heard many things from Romney that make me think he would be a good president - better than Giuliani, anyway (or anyone the Democrats are running).

Thompson looked good...then he actually entered the race, at which point it became hard to tell just what he stands for. He may make a good conservative candidate, but that has yet to be seen for sure.

I've heard some good things from McCain during the campaign that make me wish he were consistent enough to earn my vote. However, he co-sponsored the McCain Feingold Act, as well as the recently defeated immigration bill. I have a lot of respect for John McCain - it takes a lot of courage to go through what he went through in the Vietnam War...but his record just isn't conservative enough to earn my vote.

Duncan Hunter looks like the best candidate to me...the primary problem is that he's largely an unknown: he doesn't generate the type of press that big names like Giuliani, Thompson, and Romney do. Hunter has been consistently conservative on a range of issues, and I believe that he would make an excellent president.

Personally, I have a problem with what has been going on in the conservative camp. The candidates are trying to out-conservative each other, each trying to pass himself off as the most conservative candidate. Basically, they're trying to out-Reagan Reagan (whose name was mentioned multiple times during the debate).

Ronald Reagan was a man who stood for conservative values in the face of harsh criticism. He stood up for his beliefs, unafraid and unashamed to stand up for his beliefs. This is what America needs in a president.

But this election is not just about having a candidate who knows what he believes and will stand up for it. This election is about America's future, and just what course the nation will take. Will we become yet another bastion of socialism, a nanny state destined for failure, or will we stand up for the true value of the individual, knowing that the feel-good option is not always the right one...or will we opt for the status-quo of straddling the fence, halfway between what we need and what feels right?

I think Duncan Hunter is what America needs. He will stand up for conservative values in the face of criticism; he has shown this in the past. In order to successfully move forward, we need to look at the values and the policies that have made the United States the world's superpower. Socialism didn't get us to where we are today. The United States of America got to where it is today through what is known as the American spirit: the willingness to buckle down and work hard, knowing that through hard work and perseverance you can be successful.

It's About Time

Finally, there is some plain talk on Capitol Hill.

Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) finally told the nation what Democrats really think of President Bush.

Apparently, Stark got a little steamed with Republicans, who weren't willing to fall for the Democrats' next step toward socialism: the expansion of the SCHIP program.

From Stark:

"I'm just amazed that they can't figure out -- the Republicans are worried that they can't pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq."

"Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

So, according to Representative Stark, we're only in Iraq so that President Bush can get his jollies watching US troops "get their heads blown off?"

In the height of irony, there hasn't been much of any condemnation for Stark's comments from the Left. Thankfully, however, Republican leader John Boehner called Stark on it:

"Our troops in Iraq are fighting against al-Qaeda and other radical jihadists hellbent on killing the people we are sent here to represent. Congressman Stark's statement dishonors not only the Commander-in-Chief, but the thousands of courageous men and women of America's armed forces who believe in their mission and are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security. Congressman Stark should retract his statement and apologize to the House, our Commander-in-Chief, and the families of our soldiers and commanders fighting terror overseas."

There's only one point that I disagree with Congressman Boehner on: after the shameful example that Pete Stark has made of himself, I think some form of seppuku (aka hari kari) would be much more appropriate.

Seriously, though, I think that more Democrats should stand up like Pete Stark, speak their minds and tell the people of America how they really feel; if Americans knew what most Democrat leaders truly believed, the only constituency left to vote for them would be the hate-filled anti-war commie wackos in Code Pink & International ANSWER (in other words, nine-tenths of the population of the San Francisco Bay area).

UPDATE***
Liberal wackos come to Stark's aid.

This is how liberals are: if conservatives either (1) makes the slightest misstep or (2) defends America's sovereignty and/or national security, they should be made to apologize (or thrown in jail, depending on the vitriol of the issue), but liberals can get away with saying whatever they want.

I'd bet good money that the same liberals who are defending Pete Stark are the ones who think Ann Coulter should be censored.

***UPDATE***

While it's pretty much impossible to get complete common sense out of a liberal, at least Nanci Pelosi has done something slightly encouraging by rebuking Pete Stark...it seems that her main concern was not the outrageousness of his statement, but the fact that it "distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand—providing health care for America's children."

Now if we could just get her to come to her senses on the whole socialism thing...

Make a Note: This is Where We're Heading

According to a report in SKY News on Monday, an alarming number of people in England are doing their own dental work. This, in one of the idyllic havens of "free" health care.

As it turns out, the government covers part of the costs of dental care in England - the full cost is covered only for children and those on welfare. And apparently, being a dentist under the British national health care system isn't all that profitable - the number of dentists in the system has been declining, leading to increased costs. This (combined with the prohibitive tax rates already in England) is leading to people skipping out on dental work, or even trying to do it themselves.

The moral of the story: the market works. Government interventionism only screws things up, and leads to people resorting to pulling their own teeth, because the socialized health care system costs too much!

What's Happened to American Politics?

The '08 presidential campaign started earlier than any other presidential campaign in US history. Recently, it's been losing some steam, probably because most people are just plain tired of the political sniping and mud-slinging...and there's another year to go before the actual election.

But looking at the platitudes being put forward by today's candidates, it's a wonder just how far US politics has come.

As America began, debate was fierce, and the political process was heated. However, the debate was over which policies would be better for the nation, the assumption being that the candidate with the best ideas would win the most votes.

Today, US politics has been reduced to candidates offering bribes to the people in an attempt to buy votes: welfare, nationalized health care, social security entitlements, amnesty for illegal aliens - all designed to bribe people for votes. And the politicians who speak out against these measures are automatically villanized, depending on the issue: politicians who are against socialized health care "hate the poor." Those who are against social security "hate the elderly." Those who are against amnesty for illegals are "racists."

America's political process used to be about which candidate's ideas would most benefit the nation as a whole, but over time, it has become nothing more than a contest to see which politician can offer each American a larger bribe. The truly sad thing is that all too many Americans have bought into the entitlement mentality, believing that they truly are entitled to welfare, social security, and "free" health care, and that Mexican poor are entitled to come to America illegally and enjoy all of the rights and freedoms of US citizens. It isn't about what's right anymore, it's about what individuals can get from the government. And if this trend continues, the US will end up like the former Soviet Union: bankrupt, with citizens living in poverty because the government has to take so much of their money in taxes to pay for social programs.

SC jumps on the global warming bandwaggon...

The US Supreme Court ruled today that the EPA must regulate greenhouse gases, saying that they fall under the Clean Air Act's definition of "air pollutant." According to Justice Stevens: "The harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized."

The Supreme Court was right in one thing: global warming is a very serious problem. It's not a serious problem for the reasons the Court cited, though. Global warming is a serious problem because it is a vehicle for government regulation and socialism. Liberals have been trying to over-regulate businesses for years now; it looks more and more like global warming will be the vehicle whereby they will finally get their wish - and with laws like the Kyoto Protocol, this is not just a movement toward socialism within the US - it is a move toward global socialism, regulated and run by the United Nations.

The other bothersome aspect of global warming is that it is inherently anti-progress. You'd think the self-labeled "progressives" would see how foolish they look, advocating for a position that essentially seeks to eradicate every technological advance in the 20th and 21st Centuries (electricity is evil, cars are evil, incandescent light bulbs are evil, plastic shopping bags are evil, and on and on). And organizations like PETA are even advocating veganism in the name of saving the environment...because cow flatulence is apparently destroying the planet. If cow farts are so hazardous to the environment, we should re-write history, praising the men who nearly eliminated the world's population of buffalo as America expanded westward - after all, if cow farts are so deadly, I'm shocked that the buffalo didn't kill us all a thousand or two years ago.

The truth of it is that global warming is a theory driven by emotionalism, shoddy science, and a lust for greater government control. The lust for government control has existed for some time, but finally, the socialist Left has found a way to get its wish: the regulation of every aspect of people's lives in the interests of "saving" the planet.