October 29, 2009

Lucy and Charlie Brown

Poor Charlie Brown. He just wants to kick the football. But Lucy has plans of her own! Will Charlie Brown ever learn? Most of us know of this classic Peanuts scene where Charlie Brown attempts to kick a football as Lucy “holds” it in place only to pull it away as Charlie Brown falls on his head.

A second Republican senator signaled last Wednesday she’s open to voting for sweeping health care legislation this year, putting President Barack Obama closer to a historic achievement that has eluded generations of Democratic leaders.

But Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told The Associated Press that the bill approved Tuesday by the Finance Committee needs substantial improvements to make coverage more affordable, contain costs, and protect Medicare. Nevertheless, she joined her Maine GOP colleague Sen. Olympia Snowe in endorsing the goal of far-reaching changes.

Wednesday, Snowe tackled the most divisive issue still on the table: creation of a government insurance plan that would compete with private ones.

While emphasizing that she still opposes the so-called public option, Snowe said in a nationally broadcast interview that she could foresee a government-run plan that would “kick in” if private insurers failed to live up to expectations that they keep premiums in check.

“When has business ever lived up to promises like this? This is like when Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown and promises that this time she pull it away. He always thinks this time will be different, and he’s always wrong. This attitude is especially crazy when we currently have the example of financial institutions, bailed out by taxpayer money so they could keep loans available to other businesses, giving big bonuses to their executives who caused the financial meltdown, while resuing loans to small businesses.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has created an”opt-out” option for states who do not wish to accept the federal health care plan in their own budgets. However, this “option” does not exclude people in that state from the impending taxes to pay for such a expensive plan.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), a potential president candidate, says that his state should opt out of the public option if given the chance.

“I don’t know if we would opt out, but I personally would like to opt out because I don’t like government-run health care,” Pawlenty said.

This shouldn’t be too much of a shocker, considering that Pawlenty had previously talked about invoking the Tenth Amendment and attempting to nullify health care reform at the state level. Really, being given permission by the federal government to opt out isn’t much in comparison.

Is government run health care unconstitutional?

Any requirement that individuals either obtain coverage or pay a percentage of their income as a fine – is unconstitutional, presumably because it infringes on an individual’s rights.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”-Ronald Reagan

Fight for your future as I do, fight against tyranny and taxation, the blood of our founders were not shed to see it all go to waste in an excessively broke government. Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton and Franklin are looking down upon us and weeping….knowing full well what went wrong and wondering why we do not know the same.

October 10, 2009

Scooby and the Gang.

President Barack Obama sensationally won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, less than a year after taking office, with the jury hailing his “extraordinary” diplomatic efforts on the international stage.

Obama was honored “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjoern Jagland said.

The committee attached “special importance to Obama’s vision and work for a world without nuclear weapons” and said he had created “a new climate in international politics.”

However, as he is overseeing the ongoing military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama was not considered by many Nobel-watchers to be a leading candidate.

“Likely candidates had been seen here as including human rights activists in China and Afghanistan and political figures in Africa,” The New York Times noted in a story published moments after the decision was made. “But the committee said it wanted to enhance Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts so far rather than reward him for events in the future.”

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said.

As word spread around the world of Obama’s shocking victory, many welcomed the announcement with open arms.

“We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty,” read a statement issued by the Mandela Foundation.

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer added: “I am very happy that he got it. Now he has to do something with the award. It raises expectations on him to stand up for oppressed nations. … Uighurs are getting killed even now. With the award, he should know how to talk to dictatorships like China.”

“Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts,” the Nobel citation reads. “The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.”

“This year’s peace prize nominees included 172 people and 33 organizations,” noted CNN. “The committee does not release the names of the nominees.”

Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari won the award in 2008.

The deadline for applications (for the prize) was February 4th; not even a month after he was President. Questionable? Yes. Planned? Oh yes.

In a PR move the applicants are attempting to boost the President’s slipping support, though it seems the prize has only brought more attention to his lack of action over the past year.

Even SNL (known for their liberal leaning tendencies) has spoofed the President on his lack of action.

Seems like the Scooby Snack has done nothing to help Scooby……it has only made more of the gang leave him in the Haunted House.

September 25, 2009

Obama Vs Bush…more dollars yet no sense

wapoobamabudget1

President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s.

What’s driving Obama’s unprecedented massive deficits? Spending. Riedl details:

  • President Bush expanded the federal budget by a historic $700 billion through 2008. President Obama would add another $1 trillion.
  • President Bush began a string of expensive finan­cial bailouts. President Obama is accelerating that course.
  • President Bush created a Medicare drug entitle­ment that will cost an estimated $800 billion in its first decade. President Obama has proposed a $634 billion down payment on a new govern­ment health care fund.
  • President Bush increased federal education spending 58 percent faster than inflation. Presi­dent Obama would double it.
  • President Bush became the first President to spend 3 percent of GDP on federal antipoverty programs. President Obama has already in­creased this spending by 20 percent.
  • President Bush tilted the income tax burden more toward upper-income taxpayers. President Obama would continue that trend.
  • President Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt through 2008. Setting aside 2009 (for which Presidents Bush and Obama share responsibility for an additional $2.6 trillion in public debt), President Obama’s budget would add $4.9 trillion in public debt from the beginning of 2010 through 2016.

UPDATE: Many Obama defenders in the comments are claiming that the numbers above do not include spending on Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush years. They most certainly do. While Bush did fund the wars through emergency supplementals (not the regular budget process), that spending did not simply vanish. It is included in the numbers above. Also, some Obama defenders are claiming the graphic above represents biased Heritage Foundation numbers. While we stand behind the numbers we put out 100%, the numbers, and the graphic itself, above are from the Washington Post. We originally left out the link to WaPo. It has been now been added.

September 20, 2009

College has made me a Stronger Conservative

As I endeavor into my second year of college, I look back on the year I spent witnessing a wasteland that can praise the product of secular liberalism with no greater purity. Before I began, I wasn’t a firm adherent to any particular side of the culture or political war. I opposed government interventionism that favored anyone. I tended libertarian.

I believe libertarianism to be the ideal political philosophy. It’s fair to everyone. It rewards people according to their worth rather than according to a dictator’s moral judgment of their worth.It is the ideas of Martin Luther King come to life. That people will be judged “by the content of their character”.  

But it cannot succeed when only one side is willing to play by the rules. So called “progressives” want to destroy everything that has been considered the American way of life. They want to destroy what has been the American value system for over two centuries.

I could provide countless recollections of times where my conservative standpoint was under attack by classmates and professors alike, however, I will spare you from the redundant detailing. Our confrontations, ideological battles per say, have proved the age old conservative belief that many professors really teach for no other reason than to indoctrinate.

College is a place that should be open to all ideas. A place where individualism should flourish, not be suppressed by being something different or contrasting with the liberal belief. It seems hypocritical that a ideology that presents arguments of inclusion and tolerance are the ones who are intolerant and excluding conservative ideals from the classroom.

Before last week, we did not have an oligarchy, in which an elite few impose their values on the majority. However, now with the confirmation of Al Franken as the new junior Senator from Minnesota, an oligarchy is exactly what we have in the Obama era.

For some, college is a necessity. But only about 30% of American adults have attended college — and I would argue that the 70% who have not had to deal with this valueless, ideological whorehouse are all that has kept this nation from falling into the abyss of despotism.

I have seen the result of years of indoctrination in friends and professors alike. What starts out as a fear to speak out against the herd in order to save your grade ends up being a conforming to those beliefs you opposed in the first place.

I for one will not let my voice, or ideals go to waste for a grades sake. Stand tall fellow conservatives because I know that this fight of ideology does not end at college campuses and classrooms.

I have learned from a quote presented to me during my graduation party (high school) in advice.

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leave a trail fellow conservatives, leave a trail fellow classmates, leave a trail as Americans.

 


August 28, 2009

What the heck is Obamacare?

Apparently, that is the question the Senate is asking themselves regarding Health Care Reform in the US.

Time and time again, President Barack Obama has insisted that his proposed health-care overhaul won’t add to the U.S. deficit. With grim new deficit figures out this week, analysts say it’s more important than ever for the president to follow through on that promise. Experts say, however, that the current bill being pushed by both the White House and Congressional Liberals will exponentially increase the budget deficit for decades to come.

So what is in the bill?

Here is what is in the thousand page behemoth:

PG 22 Mandates the Government will audit books of all employers that self insure.

PG 24 Line 116 Government effectively sets prices for ALL private health plans.

PG 30 Line 123 There will be a Government committee that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

PG 37 Line 132 Te Government will be reviewing grievances about themselves and will decide on appeals for rejected claims.

PG 42 The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HealthCare Benefits for you.

PG 50 Line 152 HealthCare will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

PG 58 Government will have real-time access to individuals’ finances & a National ID HealthCare Card will be issued.

PG 59 Line 21-24 Government will have direct access to your banks accounts for electronic funds transfer.

PG 61 Line 22-24 Congress has no clue what Electronic Medical Records will cost. Asks for estimate.

PG 62 Protection of Data, Government shows they will have database of your personal & financial info.

PG64 L 21-25, pg65 L 1-5 refers to processing payment transactions by financial institutions

PG65 Line 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations (ACORN).

PG 72 Line 8-14 Government is creating an HealthCare Exchange to bring private HealthCare plans under Government control.

PG 84 Line 203 Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private. HealthCare plans in the Exchange.

PG 85 Line 7 Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Government will ration your HealthCare! #AARP members – your Health care Will be rationed.

PG 89 Line 6-10 Te FAR is not applicable. Government can write contracts any way they want.

PG 95 Line 8-18

The Gov. will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Government HealthCare plan.

PG 98 Line 8 Americans – You will be paying for others HealthCare while paying for your own.

PG 100 Line 15-19 Te Government Will be using ACORN and other community groups to promote & enroll.

PG 102 Line 12-18 Medicaid Eligible Individual will  be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

PG 109 Line 207 Health Trust Fund.

PG 110 Line 7-12 Employment taxes on ALL employers NOT offering Government HealthCare. No choice.

PG 110 Line 13-18 An excise tax on ALL goods from companies not offering Government HealthCare. ALL Americans pay.

PG 110 Line 19-24 the Treasury can take $$ from Soc Line to pay HealthCare.

PG 111 Line 208 Te Federal Government will usurp all State powers in State Based HealthCare Exchange. Violation of 10th Amendment.

PG 119 Line 1-3 establish geographically-adjusted premium rates for public option.

PG 121 Line 223 PAYMENT RATES FOR ITEMS AND SERVICES.

PG 124 Line 24-25 No company can sue Government on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Government Monopoly.

PG 126 Line 10-15 Te Government can make up prices for anything at anytime for any reason.

PG 126 Line 22-25 Employers must pay for HealthCare for part time employees and their families.

PG 127 Line 1-16 Doctors: Te Government will tell YOU what you can make.

PG 129  The public option will be subsidized. Credits = your tax dollars. Redistribution of wealth.

PG 130 Line 10-23  Federal Government will subsidize State Medicaid = Even Higher State & Federal taxes for all.

PG 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE.

PG 149 Line 16-24  ANY Employer with payroll 400k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.

PG 150 Line 9-13  Biz with payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesn’t provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

PG 151 Line 1-3  Aggregate Rules-tax on employers payroll not on public option include payroll of other biz.

PG 167 Line 18-23  ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable HealthCare according to Government will be taxed 2.5% of inc.

PG 170 Line 1-3  Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)

PG 195  officers & employees of HealthCare Administration (Government) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal records.

PG 198 Line 1-3  1.5% ADDITIONAL TAX on people who have income of 500k to 1mil. Redistribution of Wealth.

PG 198 Line 4-6  5.4% ADDITIONAL TAX on people who have income of 1mil+. Redistribution of Wealth.

PG 199 Line 1-4  Surtax rates on raised AGAIN on Americans in 2012.

PG 201 Line 12-19 Government will ignore whatever costs they see fit to show savings.

PG 203 Line 14-15  “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax”

PG 202-215 is a Government rewrite of the tax code ensuring more taxes for EVERYONE, Everywhere.

PG 239 Line 14-24 Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected.

PG 241 Line 6-8 Doctors, doesn’t matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same.

PG236 L22-25, 237 L1-3 National rate of uninsured defined by Census.

PG 239 Line 10-12 Medicare DSH payments will be increased.

PG 238-249 Line 1121 Doctors-Government mandates your growth, costs, value, services, & income.

PG 253 Line 10-18 Government sets value of Dr’s time, prof judg, etc.

PG 260 Line 1125 Fed Government will adjust Medicare Payment Localities for California based on Census. ACORN?

PG 265 Line 1131  Government mandates & controls productivity for private HealthCare industries.

PG 268 Line 1141  Fed Government regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

PG 270 Line 1144 Government Mandates that all private ambulatory surgical centers submit cost data & other data.

PG 272 Line 1145 TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer patients –

PG 276 Line 3-20 Oxygen Equipment & Supply Companies – Government MANDATES you will provide supplies NO MATTER where individual is.

PG 287 Line 14-25 Proof that Government will ration HealthCare by mandating waiting periods for readmission.

PG 298 Line 9-11  Drs, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission – Government will penalize you.

PG 303 Line 12-25  Post Acute Care Services Data – Government will collect data including personal information as they see ft.

PG 304 Line 17-19  BIG ONE HERE: Expedited Data Collection –Government does NOT have to protect your private information, share with anyone, & is not resp  Expedited Data Collection – Chapter 35 of Title 44 of USC SHALL NOT APPLY. This gives the govt the right to access your data any way they see ft. (8) ensure that the creation, collection, maintenance, use, dissemination, and disposition of information by or for the Federal Government is consistent with applicable laws, including laws relating to— (A) privacy and confidentiality, including section 552a of title 5; (B) security of information, including section 11332 of title 40 [1] ; and (C) access to information, including section 552 of title 5; PG 306 Line 3-6  Te Government can expand the scope & size of Post Acute Program Services anytime & as they see ft.

PG 313 Line 9-14  Government MANDATES Health Services providers will state ownership, invest, & compensation arrangements.

PG 317 Line 13-20 Prohibition on ownership/investment. Government tells Drs. what/how much they can own.

PG 317-318 L 21-25,1-3 Prohibition on expansion- Government is mandating hospitals cannot expand.

PG 318-319  Government is mandating how hospitals & physicians conduct business & investments.

PG 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required.

PG 328 Line 1157 Government study disguised. It’s a HealthCare workforce study mandated by law for unionization.

Pg335 L16-25,PG 336-339 Government mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HealthCare the way they want. Essential Rationing.

PG 341 Line 3-9 Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing into Government plan.

PG 355-369 Line 1181 Government disguises tax on Drug Companies as rebate to Government to subsidize Drugs. We pay in the end.

PG 379 Line 1191  Government creates more bureaucracy – Telehealth Advisory Committee.

PG399  If you’re a subsidy eligible individual under Medicare part D and you don’t enroll, the Government will auto enroll you.

PG 401 Section 1221  Americans will fund Medicare Language & Translation Services Program.

PG 404 Lines 12-16  Government exempts itself again from – Chap 35 of title 44, USC including privacy of Americans.

PG 404 Lines 17-19  Government doesn’t know the cost of Language services but states that money is there.

PG 425 Lines 4-12  Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consult.

PG 425 Lines 17-19  Government will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty.

PG425 L22-25, 426 L1-3 Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.

PG 427 Lines 15-24  Government mandates program for orders for end of life. Te Government has a say in how your life ends.

PG 429 Lines 1-9  An “advance care planning consultant” will  be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.

PG 429 Lines 10-12  “advance care consultation” may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from Government.

PG 429 Lines 13-25  The Government will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

Logan’s Run anyone?

PG 430 Lines 11-15  The Government will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life.

PG 432 Lines 18-21  The Government will publish “quality measures” for individual’s end of life in Federal Register.

PG 434 Section 1234  Military Active, Reservists, Families – If you’re not enrolled in Tricare it is mandated.

PG 434 Section 1234  Military Active, Reservists, Families – Once HealthCare bill is passed your premiums will go up.

PG 438 Section 1236  The Government will develop a patient decision making aid program that you & Dr. WILL use.

PG 443 Lines 7-24 Government at taxpayer’s expense test out an “Accountable Care Org” program (Government doesn’t have plan.)

PG 444 Lines 1-6  Government’s Accountable Care Program will mandate services & infrastructure thru reward/penalty system.

PG 448 Lines 4-17  Government will set performance targets for ALL Accountable Care Organizations including private.

PG 455 Lines 3-4  Government exempts itself from Chapter 35, Title 44 Paperwork Reduction & Citizens Privacy Protection Act.

PG 460 Section 1302  Government and I’m PG 460 Section 1302  The Government WILL provide medical services in your home.

PG 469  Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit organizations.

Page 472 Lines 14-17  PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED Organization – 1 monthly payment to a community-based organization Like ACORN?

PG 476 19-20  Chapter 35/ title 44, (Privacy of personal records) shall not apply Home Medical Services

PG 489 Section 1308  Government will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage.

PG 494-498  Government will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services.

PG 502 Section 1181  Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research Established. -

PG 502 Line 5-18  Government builds the “Center” to conduct, support, & synthesize research to define our HealthCare Services.

PG 503 Line 13-19  Government will build registries and data networks from YOUR electronic medical records.

PG 503 Line 21-25  Government may secure data directly from any department or agency of the US including your data.

PG 504 Line 6-10  The “Center” will collect data both published & unpublished (that means public & your private info)

PG 506 Line 19-21  The Center will recommend policies that would allow for public access of data

PG 518 Line 21-25  The Commission will have input from HealthCare consumer reps -

PG 524 18-22  Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund set up. More taxes for ALL.

PG 525-620  deals with the Government basically taking over nursing homes,

PGs 525-620 deals with the Govt basically taking over nursing homes, long-term care facilities (think assisted living) through regulations of the facilities, the owners of sd facilities, the employees of said facilities and even the land owners of that said facilities reside on.  Additionally as you read these 90+ pages you can come to the conclusion that any Health related services will be determined and rationed by the Govt for our senior citizens and others in nursing homes.

PG 620 Line 1-9 The  Government will define, prioritize, and nationalize your Health Care Services.

PG 622 Lines 2-9  To pay for the quality Standards Government will transfer $$ from to other Government Trust Funds. More Taxes.

PG 624  “Quality” measures shall  be designed to assess outcomes & functional status of patients.

PG 628 Section 1443  Government will give “Multi-Stake Holders” Pre-Rule Making input into Selection of “Quality” Measures.

PG 630 9-24/631 1-9  Those Multi-stake holder groups including Unions & groups like ACORN deciding HealthCare quality.

PG 632 Lines 14-25  Te Government may implement any “Quality measure” of HealthCare Services as they see ft.

PG 633 14-25/ 634 1-9  The Secretary may issue non-endorsed “Quality Measures” for Physician Services & Dialysis Services.

PG 635 – 653  Physicians Payments Sunshine Provision – Government wants to shine sunlight on Docs but not Government.

PG 654-659  Public Reporting on Health Care-Associated Infections – Looks okay.

PG 660-671  Doctors in Residency – Government will tell you where your residency will be, thus where you’ll live.

PG 676-686  Government will regulate hospitals in EVERY aspect of residency programs, including teaching hospitals.

PG 686-700  Increased Funding to Fight Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.

PGs 701-704  Section 1619 If your part of HealthCare plan that isn’t in Government HealthCare Exchange but you qualify for Federal aid, no payment.

PG 705-709 SEC. 1128  If Secretary gets complaints (ACORN) on HealthCare provider or supplier, Government can do background check.

PG 711 Lines 8-14  The Secretary has broad powers to deny HealthCare providers/suppliers admittance into HealthCare Exchange.

Pg 719-720 Section 1637 ANY Doctor who orders durable medical equipment or home medical services MUST be enrolled in Medicare.

PG 722 Section 1639  Government Mandates Doctors must have face-to-face with patient to certify patient for Home Health Services.

PG 724 Lines 16-22  Government reserves right to apply face-to-face certification for patient to ANY other HealthCare service.

PG 724 23-25 PG 725 1-5 The same Government certifications will apply to medicaid & CHIP (your kids)

Pg 735 lines 16-25  For law enforcement purposes, the Secretary of Health & Human Services will give Attorney General access to ALL data.

PG 740-757  Government sets guidelines for subsidizing the uninsured

Pg 757-762  Fed Government will shift burden of payments to Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) to States. (Taxes)

Page 763 1-8  No DS/EA hospitals will be paid unless they provide services without regard to national origin

Pg 765 Section 1711  Government will require Preventative Services including vaccines. (Choice?)

Pg 768 Section 1713 Government – Nurse Home Visitation Services (Hello union paybacks)

Pg 769 3-5  Nurse Home Visit Services – “increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.”

Pg  769 11-14 Nurse Home Visit Services include-economic self-sufficiency, employment advancement, school-readiness.

Pg 769 3-5 Nurse Home Visit Services – “increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.”

Pg 770 SEC 1714 Federal Government mandates eligibility for State Family Planning Services. Say abortion & State Sovereignty.

Pg 789-797 Government will set & mandate drug prices, controlling which drugs will be brought to the market.

Pgs 797-800 SEC. 1744 PAYMENTS for grad medical education. The government will now control Drs education.

PG 801 Sec 1751  The Government will decide which Health care conditions will be paid.

Pg 810 SEC. 1759.  Billing Agents, clearinghouses, etc. required to register. Government takes over private payment system.

Page 820-824 Sec 1801 Government will identify individuals ineligible for subsidies. Will access all personal finances.

Pg 824-829 SEC. 1802. Government Sets up Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund. Another tax black hole.

PG 835 11-13  fees imposed by Government for Trust Fund shall be treated as if they were taxes.

Pg 838-840  Government will design & implement Home Visitation Program for families with young kids & families expecting kids.

PG 844-845  This Home Visitation Program includes Government coming into your house & telling you how to parent.

Pg 859  Government will establish a Public Health Fund at a cost of $88,800,000,000. Yes that’s Billion.

Pg 865  The Government will MANDATE the establishment of a National Health Service Corps.

PG 865 to 876  The NHS Corps is a program where Drs. perform mandatory HealthCare for 2 years for part loan repayment.

PG 876-892  The Government takes over the education of our Medical students and Drs.

PG 898  The Government will establish a Public Health Workforce Corps. to ensure supply of public health professionals.

PG 898  The Public health workforce corps shall consist of officers of Regular & Reserve Corps of Service.

PG 898  The Public health workforce corps shall consist of civilian employees of the U.S. as Secretary deems.

PG 900  The Public Health Workforce Corps includes veterinarians.

PG 901  The Public Health Workforce Corps WILL include commissioned Regular & Reserve Officers. HealthCare Draft?

PG 910  Te Government will develop, build & run Public Health Training Centers.

PG 913-914  Government starts a HealthCare affirmative action program thru guise of diversity scholarships.

PG 915 SEC. 2251.  Government MANDATES Cultural & linguistic competency training for HealthCare professionals.

Pg 932  The Government will establish Preventative & Wellness Trust fund – initial cost of $30,800,000,000-Billion.

PG 935 21-22  Government will identify specific goals & objectives for prevention & wellness activities.

PG 936  Government will develop “Healthy People & National Public Health Performance Standards”

PG 942 Lines 22-25  More Government? Offices of Surgeon General -Public Health Services, Minority Health, Women’s Health

PG 950- 980  BIG Government core public health infrastructure includes workforce capacity, lab systems; health information systems, etc

PG 993  Government will establish school based health clinics.

PG 994  School Based Health Clinic will be integrated into the school environment.

PG 1001  The Government will establish a National Medical Device Registry.

PG 1003 9-11  National Medical Dev Reg ‘‘(iii) other postmarket device surveillance activities” you WILL  be tracked.PG 1018  States give up some of their State Sovereignty.

Most Congressional members have already stated that they are “not familiar” with the bill (including our own President). Only time will tell if the thousand page bill passes.

August 21, 2009

Guest Editorial: Rick Mahler’s America

 - This guest editorial is self-explanatory. It is a beautiful and tragic story about the corruption of the socialist system.  Rick Mahler has a great story to tell. So, kick back, and spend a few minutes. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Americans are a very diverse group. No surprise there. Remember the melting pot? What can sometimes be a surprise is the types of diversity we show. American people have many differences. But isn’t that what makes this country so great? The fact that we can all co-exist without fear of the government intruding in our live because of our race, religion, or beliefs.

I am the child of Brazilian immigrants. My paternal Grandfather was born in Siberia, Russia and moved to Brazil with his family as a child after his father was murdered by socialist government officials for not giving up his land for “the greater good of the people”. His mother and siblings joined another farmer and his children whose wife had been murdered by the same officials in an effort to escape to the US.. They fled through China and soon found that money did not allow the voyage. Brazil became the only option as subsidies were being offered for farmers. You would think that the rest is history but not quite.

Fast forwarding to the late fifties my family prospered in Porto Alegre, Brazil and became very well known. It seemed that the sky was the limit. At that time, south Brazil had an economy that was very similar to the US. The region was full of hard working European immigrants that had developed what was once jungle into major metropolitan areas. Kind of reminds you of the US doesn’t it? Well here’s where it gets scary. In the early sixties, the Brazilian government which had been mostly hands off and happy with the fair amount of tax revenue it was receiving suddenly had “change” voted in. North Brazil with it’s corrupt politicians and military police was near bankrupt (Chicago? Detroit?) and needed a way to stay solvent. The “change” that came about in their eyes was a perfect solution. The south is full of wealth. Increase tax rates and the problem will be solved, right? WRONG! What resulted was threats of civil war and secession. ( sound familiar? ) With that, the North stepped in and enforced the new rules using the military police. What resulted from this was the more enterprising people left the country. ( my Father, Mother, and Grandparents) Some of the wealthy that stayed invested in things in other countries and banked there as well, and the middle class disappeared. Now, all that remains are the very wealthy (mostly politicians and high level military) and the very poor. Businesses are required to give credit lines at grocery stores for employees, health care, and a 2 hour lunch each day. Yes, I said 2 hour lunch. Most small businesses are gone now. The unemployment rate is astronomical. Poverty reigns supreme.

With that story being told I want you to understand that this was a gradual process in the name of economic stability… They took over the banks that were at risk of failing. They invested in private enterprise that is no longer private. The 40 year process has led to many Brazilians begging for socialism in the hopes that they can eat tonight. I lived in Brazil for a year when I was about 10 years old. The memories I have are good ones. I returned in 2005 to visit family that I had not seen since 1981. What I found was not the Porto Alegre I remembered as a child. My Grandmother’s apartment building is surrounded by iron bars and the owners pay a security firm to have armed guards at each corner. I wanted to walk 6 blocks to see the school I attended and was told I may get killed for the sneakers on my feet. I walked those blocks everyday as a 3rd grader and there was never a concern.

In the eighties and nineties there was an uproar in this country over the fact that our government was spending $500 for each hammer they purchased and $2000 for a toilet. America is the best country in the world. I thank God everyday that my parents came here and that I had the privilige to be born here. Maybe the insight that I am afforded by this is what makes me a conservative. I have seen first hand what happens when the government controls things. That $500 hammer used to make people use terms such as “government waste”, “political red tape”, and many more. Where is the uproar over government slowly taking over private enterprise? Why is it okay to spend millions on helicopters for the Mexican Army but not buy a $500 hammer? Fire the bums!!! Yes all of them. If anyone has been in for more than 1 term vote them out. Sure some good ones will get kicked out. There has to be a couple…right? But overall we can only gain from it.. If they know we are watching… maybe, just maybe, they might represent us and not themselves. We need to be self sufficient! We need a balanced budget! We need the US Constitution to mean something again! Freedom is not FREE, you cannot stay free by watching a sitcom. Spend time with your kids, read a book, read the constitution. Learn and understand why we are free and maybe you will see why it’s slipping away.

Rick can be reached through his website: Mahlerforcongress.com or through his facebook account.

August 6, 2009

I Told You So.

Apparently Representative Bob Inglis may be able to say it…..and I am saying it in regard to the President.

Since his announcement of candidacy for US Congress (4th Distict), Solicitor Trey Gowdy seems to be in the public spotlight more. While doing research in local news archives, it has only been recently that Gowdy has been a real voice from the office. Before his announcement, approx 90% of all public announcements came by representative or spokesmen from the Solicitor’s office. After, Gowdy has been in front of every camera he can.

Using his job to his political advantage?

Incumbent Representative Bob Inglis caught some heat when he called for Solicitor Gowdy  to take a leave of absence or part time pay while campaigning. Perhaps Inglis saw this coming….

Representative Bob Inglis is facing a tough reelection bid in the SC4 Republican primary. His move to the political center and ignoring of his constituency regarding legislation has angered many.

Currently Bob is trying to make up for lost time in connecting to individuals outside of his own household and those in the beltway.

Now I am not saying that Gowdy is a bad guy, nor am I saying that Inglis should still be in office. All I am saying is that a public servant, should not use their office to further their political ambitions.

Andrew Smart, CEO of Smart Foods, has dropped out of the race (yeah, like that’s a shock) to support Gowdy in the Republican primary. This leaves Christina Jeffrey, Jim Lee, David Thomas and of course Inglis himself in the race.

Only time will tell if Gowdy continues to use his office to his advantage. If he does, as it “seems” he has already, Inglis can say, “I told you so.”

I can finally say, “I told you so,” regarding Comrade in Chief Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama’s treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit. Further, his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul.

Both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers attempted to side-step questions on the tax increases and seemed to take a cue from the President when he is missing his teleprompter (er, eh, ah, er, you see, er…).

As most of you should remember, Now-President Obama planted his whole campaign with the seeds of rhetoric. The best known example of this rhetoric, of course, is that, “… the middle class ‘will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime.’”

Now, if the President was so adamant that it would not happen, why are his advisers telling the American people something different?

“If we want an economy that’s going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it’s going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform,” Geithner said. “We’re not at the point yet where we’re going to make a judgment about what it’s going to take.”

I’ve got an idea for the administration. It may seem a little crazy, perhaps a little “right wing extremist” to the socialistic Obama liberals.

How about leaving the American people alone? Let capitalism work as it is supposed to. Get your hand out of my pocket. Rescind the rest of the stimulus funds and do not spend it again. Just say no to government-run health care and leave the states alone.

Maybe this is too “extreme” for liberals to understand. But guess what? If we got the government out of people’s lives….they wouldn’t be spending nearly as much as they already do. Magically, the deficits would cease to increase and begin to decrease. WHOA!

Too bad that will never happen….not yet.

July 27, 2009

Liar Liar

Obama said recently at a town hall meeting:   “I want everybody to be well-enough informed so that the scare tactics of those who oppose reform won’t work… Don’t let people scare you out of reforming a system we know is not working.”

What about during the campaign when he claimed that the McCain campaign was using scare tactics. Or, when Barack claims that the Bush administration used scare tactics to force the American people into certain legislation.

Wait a second. Is this not the same man who used scare tactics to pass his own stimulus package?

Obama claimed that upon passage of the bill, unemployment would not go above 8%. It is currently reaching 10%. Obama claimed that if Congress did not pass this legislation millions of jobs would be lost. Currently, millions upon millions have been lost, with more to come on the horizon.

Barack is currently using scare tactics in an attempt to pass his Health-Care bill. He claims that the legislation is vital to economic recovery.

One of the numbers that Obama and his crew constantly toss around is that 46 million people are currently uninsured in the United States.  What they fail to explain is why those people are uninsured.  The numbers have been broken down by Sally Pipes in the Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen’s Guide.  Many have written articles reposting her information all across the web for Americans to research for themselves.   Obama fails to tell us that the number includes millions of those who are eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP but for some reason are not on it yet.  He fails to tell us that the number is estimated to include at least 10 million illegal aliens.  The number also fails to include the number of Americans who can afford health insurance but who choose not to purchase it.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield did a study in which they found that the true number of people who were uninsured because they weren’t poor enough to get Medicaid but didn’t make enough to afford it for themselves is only 8.2 million people in the United States.  Obama wants Americans to revamp their entire healthcare system at huge costs to many of us in more taxes for 8.2 million people.  The estimated cost for this – already over a TRILLION dollars.  This is just one of the myths that have been debunked by various organizations that Obama chooses not to tell Americans, obviously for good reason because spending over a TRILLION dollars to cover 8 million people is absolutely outrageous.

The reason I focus on this one myth is because when people continually hear 46 million uninsured they feel that is such a high number plus it is really a simple myth to understand.  If you look only at that number as a whole, then more than 15% of our country is uninsured.  If you look at the true number of uninsured in our country, the percentage is only 2.7%.  The immediacy of pushing Obamacare does not seem as urgent when the numbers are tweaked to show the reality.  Obama is pushing Congress to get this massive  health-care plan out within months or the economy will somehow suffer.  His alarmist tactics using inflated numbers and false assumptions are what scares people into agreeing that we have to do something and now regardless if it is the right thing to do for Americans.

Obama claims to have the most “transparent and open administration” of modern history. However, how can one be transparent when they are blatantly lying to the American people and continuing the shredding of the constitutional limits on government.

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” -Thomas Jefferson (He should know…he wrote it)

So where in the constitution is Congress granted the power to make it’s people slaves to a federal health-care system? I would imagine that it would be somewhere in Article 1.

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;


To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;
Hm. It seems I cannot find it. Can you?
In 1828, not that long after the founding, South Carolina Senator William Drayton asked this excellent question:
“If Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?”
Until this is changed in the Constitution, we are stuck with excessive spending in the name of “progress”.
We are stuck with politicians like Barack Obama….our Liar Liar.

July 23, 2009

Big Brother is Watching!

When I started writing this piece I was only focused on Congressional Term Limits. But after watching “the messiah’s” press conference tonight….I just had to write about Obama-Care as well.


To quit…or not to quit. That apparently is not only the question, but the reasoning behind a new DNC ad attacking Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, and Attorney General Kelly Ayotte.

To be clear, I would rather more politicians be subject to term limits within American politics. However, every single public servant (with the exception of Sarah Palin) with the plans to run for higher office, holds their initial political title and continues to accept a paycheck.

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, John Kerry, Joe Biden, among countless others within American politics have “clung” to their former office while attempting a run for a higher office.

This problem does not distinguish between parties or levels of public service. It has infected every aspect of the political spectrum in this country.

In my own home Congressional district I am subject to an essential liar in regards to Congressional term limits.

When Representative Robert “Bob” Inglis was elected to his seat in 1993, he ran on a platform that included term limits of three terms (6 years). He made good on that campaign promise, leaving the seat in 1998 to run for the Senate against Democratic Incumbent Ernest Hollings. After losing that race, Inglis returned to being an attorney practicing commercial real estate and corporate law.

Inglis’ former seat was filled by now-Senator Jim Demint.

When Demint chose to run for Hollings open Senate seat in 2004 instead of running for reelection to the house, Inglis chose to run for the seat again. He won with no promises of term limits this time around. Inglis was even recorded as saying that “asking an incumbent member of Congress to vote for term limits is a bit like asking a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders”.

Perhaps he would rather collect a paycheck while misrepresenting the people of the 4th Congressional district than to stand on principals he once upheld.

If the greed outweighed principal in this one issue with this one representative…who is to say that all “incumbent” politicians are not driven by greed over principle.

Thomas Jefferson said it best when he wrote:

“The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. …
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure.”

Speaking of manure, let me move on to Obama-Care.

“If you like your health plan, you can keep it, the only thing that will change is that you’ll pay less.” Remember that? Well, according to the new Lewin study:

  • Approximately 103 million people would be covered under the new public plan and as a consequence about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance. This would represent a 48.4 percent reduction in the number of people with private coverage.
  • About 88.1 million workers would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted to the public plan.
  • Yearly premiums for the typical American with private coverage could go up by as much as $460 per privately insured person, as a result of increased cost-shifting stemming from a public plan modeled on Medicare.

So, is there truth in the way the President and Congress are advertising their plans?

In his address President Obama asserted that, “If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period. End of Story.” But what the President forgot to tell you is that his assertion is only true if the story were fiction.

I sat and listened to the “Great Communicators” press conference tonight where he attempted to “sell” the manure that is Obama-Care. Perhaps he thinks the American people are too dumb to realize the package that is right in front of them. I hate to tell you President Obama, but when people smell something nasty…they walk away from it.

I do not go against the fact that the medical system is flawed. Yes it is flawed. However, piling onto a government system with more bureaucracy is not the way to “save” America. Let’s fix the embedded social programs we already have before we put the federal government in charge of your medical care. Maybe that idea is just to hard to understand. Why try to push through a bill in two weeks that won’t go into effect until 2013? Obama wants control. He wants to be Big Brother. How can the American people support a plan that the President’s own party does not support?

Perhaps with term limits we can limit the manure being piled on the the steps of the Capital building. Perhaps.

The American people have done this to themselves, much like they did in the 1970’s. I only hope that there is a Reagan in 2012 and that this legislation, along with cap and trade, will epically fail when they come to a vote in Congress.

Til then I support the growth of the American spirit, but not the American government.

July 19, 2009

What happened to the Democratic Party?

My great grandfather Allen Butler was an avid Southern Democrat. He believed in a party that supported the working class man, one that listened to the people, one that defended the country, one that was of the people. I could only imagine his comments on the Democratic party of today.

Looking back through American politics I realized that after the death of President John F. Kennedy, political polarity between the 2 major parties undeniably switched.

Although President Obama often is compared to the 35th President, the two couldn’t be farther from each other in the political spectrum. Kennedy was, without a doubt, a conservative.

Glancing back through quotes from the 35th President of the United States what is extremely apparent is the Conservative nature of JFK’s policies compared to those of our current President, Barack Hussein Obama.

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” This quote displays JFK’s conservatism. He’s saying not only does the country not owe you anything, you really should consider serving the country in some way. You are not entitled to a free education, health-care and a drivers licenses. These are all privileges. Ones we should take advantage of and expect the best of, yet many people today feel they are owed these things. Kennedy feels one should consider giving back what has been so generously given and to be grateful for the many blessing this country provides. Are there problems? Absolutely. Yet, we in this country get to protest, voice our complaints, and demand change. In some countries, voicing an opinion contrary to the state line, gets you jailed, tortured or killed.

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.” I can hear the screams of ‘warmonger!’, if these immortal words were uttered by W or any other leading Conservative in the present poltical climate. Yet, Kennedy was a well educated historian who knew what he spoke of. Kennedy felt the United States did have a special role in the world and historically speaking we are obligated to live up to it.

“I’m an idealist with no illusions.” One of the many problems the left and Democrats have today is their reliance on a 1960’s way of thinking. As if policy should be made according to John Lennon’s song, Imagine. The song while perfect perfect in it’s melody, words and spirit, is as delusional as Lennon probably was at the time when he wrote it. But JFK was different. He grew up as a Greatest Generation patriot. And while we all know about his flaws and the serial womanizing, it’s hard to ignore his timeless stance on life. The above quote shows a certain maturity of his own generation along with the hope and optimism of the boomers to come.

I realize that for every one of these quotes there is an equally strong statement proclaiming his liberal tendencies. However, one must realize that, compared to today’s far left Democratic party, JFK was a Conservative (slightly right of today’s blue-dog Democrats).

I could only hope that today’s Democrats would realize the fact that extreme liberal policies are proven failures in all historical contexts. Although, I am not so optimistic.

The party of my Great Grandfather died with JFK.

Sorry Pop, I don’t see the party returning to the Leadership for the 60’s…..though the Leadership is needed now. Conservatives, regardless of Party, speak out about the atrocities happening in Washington. As you stand silent, conforming to a parties ideals, you condemn America into failure.