Are They Really This Stupid ?

Why are they so Stupid ?

I am so sick and tired of hearing this nonsense on damn near every radio talk show, every so called “conservative” tv hosts, the conservative print media, etc..

“the congress is acting like fools.. they cant be so dumb.. how can they think this will work.. why dont they realize this will destroy the economy” and all the other comments along the same vein.. all promoting the stupidity and idiocy of the congress, the judiciary and the executive.. imagine that.

If you actually believe they could be that stupid to accidently destroy this country then you really are an idiot. If you believe that this push to redesign the United States of America from the inside out to give absolute and complete control to the totalitarian socialist’s you gave your country to then you arent fit to call yourself an American any longer.. you better fit the soviets description of a “Useful Fool” and you should be ashamed of yourself for being so completely gullible and easier than a $3 hooker on a crack binge.

Come on now and think about it.. look what they, the domestics, have done since taking office. Forcing bills through without allowing them to be seen !! Lying about transparency, as if they really meant it anyway. Look at this health care crap.. they refuse to listen to anyone, they demand polite treatment at town hall meetings and then have union thugs from SEIU show up as instigators in an attempt to create fear and to make it look as if their opponents are the trouble makers.. this while the socialist congresswoman, left with her supporters claiming she felt she was in danger.. happened in Tampa, fl. and video is on youtube. What crap.. and nobody got the slightest bit upset over being manipulated ??? WTF People !!

This isnt just local politics its federal too.. DHS is labeling people who might oppose the domestics takeover as “Right Wing Extremists” in their original report (you can find it by googling this:
CRIM-040300-01-05, CRIM-040400-01-05, TERR-010000-01-05 ) and then revising their commentary and accusations when public outrage rises by adding a lexicon (google this:
TERR-020100-01-05, TERR-020600-01-05, TERR-060100-01-05 ) that adds other groups to the list but leaves law abiding Americans still ID’d as potential domestic terrorists all in support of the real domestic enemy currently controlling this country. This is a setup if there ever was one.. on a scale that makes Bill “Red Chinese” Clinton look like an amateur.

There is one person who gets it on the MSM and thats Glenn Beck. remember this when you watch him.. the harder they attack him, the more often they attack him the more you should listen to him.. he’s telling the truth. Look at how this country has been degraded over the last three generations.. the educational system is a joke. It’s no longer qualified to be called educational. If truth in advertising was a law they have to call the dept of education  the “Dept Of Socialist Programming, Indoctrination and Individualist Repression” and you gave them your children !! Wilson was correct when he yelled “YOU LIE” but he failed because he didnt include every leftist traitor in both houses of congress, the judiciary, the executive and a large portion of the bureaucracy they helped create over the last 50 odd years.

This cancer didnt start last year its been a work in progress and the media is a big player.. look at the elites on MSNBC.. they sold their souls and their right to call themselves “media” when they sold out the American public to support a totalitarian candidate knowingly.. they continue on today, in love with their leftist masters like a masochist pleading for a whipping. The media has been playing the subconscious game of programming for many years, marketers taught them how and they turned it against you very effectively. Think not ? Look at todays advertising about “Going Green” thats theirs too.. same tactics, same people, same agenda. Listen to MSNBC, NBC, CNN, CBS.. THEY ARE ALL LYING TOGETHER !

These “people”, the Domestic Enemy your founders warned you about, arent stupid, far from it they are dedicated political and ideological activists driven by an elitist concept that they have the duty and right to “FIX” everything that YOU, the civil property they will own soon, have so completely messed up with your religious values, your independent or conservative ideology and your refusal to see and accept their superiority and they will punish you for your failures.. by taxing you into oblivion, by regulating you into servitude and slavery and by crushing violently any opposition you attempt to make.. if you doubt this be as stupid as they believe you are and wait to see if I’m right ..or stand up now as an American and protest their treason.

Stand Up and Protest or be prepared to spend the rest of your life on your knees before people like your congress person.

One Man awake,
Awakens another.
The second awakens
His next-door brother.
The three awake can rouse a town
By turning
The whole place
Upside down.

The many awake
Can make such a fuss
It finally awakens
The rest of us.
One man up,
With dawn in his eyes,
Surely then,
Multiplies.

WE THE PEOPLE INDICT

WE THE PEOPLE INDICT

THE OBAMA SOCIALISTS

1. Whereas, you have destroyed liberty and freedom, and
2. You have attempted to jam unpalatable legislation down our throats, and
3. You have embarked on a planned destruction of our Constitution, and
4. You have vastly increased the debt of our children and grandchildren, and
5. You have caused massive unemployment, and
6. You have lied to try to shift blame for the economic downturn, and
7. You have alienated our allies in the world, and
8. You have appeased the homicidal killers of the world, and
9. You have lied about the transparency of your administration, and
10. You have divided our country as it has not been since the Civil War, and
11. You have continued the liberal “brainwashing” and dumbing down of students in our educational system, and
12. You have condoned the influx of illegal aliens for the sake of votes, and
13. You have allowed the destruction of the Christian religion and the rise of Islam, and
14. You have squandered taxpayer money on corrupt organizations such as ACORN for your own benefit, and
15. You have done the bidding of George Soros and others in order to destroy our economic system, and
16. You have cheered as ACLU destroyed individual freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, and
17. You have demeaned your fellow citizens for exercising their right to disagree with your socialist policies, and
18. You have flooded Washington with an assortment of tax cheats, socialists, racists and other fuzzy thinkers, and
19. Therefore, WE THE PEOPLE will vote you out of office this year and again in November 2010.

Government is, at Best, Evil <- Thomas Paine

Common Sense, the book advocating secession from the British empire and credited with starting the Revolution, was the top-selling book of the 18th century, globally.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
— Thomas Paine, Common Sense

you go, girl.

BBC brings us the heart-warming story of Rukhsana Kauser, a teenage girl living in Kashmir.  When militants came to her house to force her into marriage with their leader, and started beating her parents, Rukhsana and her brother basically uttered the local version of “Oh no, you di’nt”.  The girl disarmed one of the militants, grabbed his AK-47, and shot the militant commander dead.

Once again we see that a “no” tends to be far more effective against rapists, thieves, and other freelance thugs when it is spoken over the sights of a firearm.

I’ve long held the opinion that if NOW really and truly cared about empowerment, they’d include a .38 with every membership package, along with coupons for gun handling and shooting lessons.  You can’t be free and equal unless you have the tools at hand to cancel out any physical force used against you.  (That’s why gun control is a fool’s errand, by the way—even if you could magically transport all the world’s guns into the heart of the sun, you’d still have force disparity.  A 200-pound man usually doesn’t need a gun to subjugate and dominate a 120-pound woman.)

You want to stop the rapes in Darfur? Send in the Green Berets with planeloads of rifles, and have them teach the women how to use them.

The progressives' disarmament of British Subjects of the Crown

…will now being to proceed. This time it will be Air weapons.

I of course cannot say if this tragic accident has been staged on purpose by the GramscoFabiaNazis, since no participants appear to be bribable teenagers or autistic scumbags like Thomas Hamilton. But I await events.

GramscoFabiaNazis say things like “if it saves the life of one child, it is worth it”.

Similarly, if it costs the life of one child to advance their cause, I guess they will also deem it worth it.

I wonder if they will be able to ban longbows?

David Davis

Of wages and exchange rates - why governments shouldn't handle certain things

Egypt spends the equivalent of its entire earnings from tourism on food subsidies. Government redistribution in Egypt seeks to act as a social safety net – 19.6% live under $1/day; however, far from supporting the population, government activities perpetuates the poverty and hinders the ability of the people to consume adequately.

The intrinsic link between government controlled food subsidies and wages leaves the majority of Egyptian population incredibly vulnerable to even the smallest changes. In 1997, according to the IFPRI, the total cost of food subsidies reached 1.1 billion Egyptian Pounds (LE). Government regulated food redistribution depends upon import of wheat from the United States due to the fact that Egypt does not produce enough for domestic consumption – thus the exchange rate plays a huge role in the ability of the Egyptian government to subsidize the food. In 1997 the exchange rate was 3.40LE : $1 but in little over a decade the exchange jumped to 5.59LE : $1 – over the last decade it has become increasingly more expensive for the government to purchase food on behalf of the people. Taxes cannot be increased when it may endanger the people’s entitlement to the already subsidized food. Therefore the result is a forced reduction of public spending in vital sectors like education, health, and sanitation.

So what are the consequences of having controlled wages in a market that is incapable of sustaining the prices? Consider David Ricardo’s speech to the parliament in 1822:

“The people are dying or want of food in Ireland, and the farmers are said to be suffering from superabundance… the honorable gentleman thinks there is a manifest contradiction… [but] where was the contradiction in supposing that in a country where wages are regulated mainly by the price of potatoes the people should be suffering the greatest distress if the potato crop failed and their wages are inadequate to purchase the dearer commodity corn”

The presence of food within the territorial borders matter very little unless the people are able to purchase it. The condition of wages derived by potato harvest in 19th century Ireland is replicated by government controlled wages in Egypt – while intended to parallel the cost of living, controlled wage cannot adequately accommodate the various circumstances of individuals or even fluctuations in a state controlled market. What happens in the place of equity is an overall seizure of consumer choice. Egypt has not been reduced to the desperate conditions of Ireland during the potato famine yet – nonetheless, the people’s ability to readily purchase food is under threat.

The described entitlement failure has created an immobile society where the poor cannot divert attention from the procurement of basic income because the price of food continues to increase despite serious cuts in government spending (and disturbing mismanagements). The result is the establishment of a class society with the majority of the population grounded in their respective neighborhoods and professions. A definite juncture on the road to serfdom.

Food subsidies should be gradually eliminated, but this would take something close to a political revolution since it’s generally agreed amongst scholars that the government is more interested in procuring consent by providing cheap food – It is crucial that Egyptian politicians realize that subsidizing food equates to national suicide, especially when there is no circus to accompany the bread.

So what will the liberalization of food distribution achieve?

In the short term the price of food (especially bread) will increase – this achieves two important tasks:

1) The rich will consume less, decreasing the demand for basic grains like wheat which can be redistributed in the form of cheap bread – baked with other filler grains to maximize the quantity but minimize the cost per loaf (In fact, this is what IFPRI suggested in its 2001 report). With Egypt’s growing obesity problem, the cut back on carbohydrates should be a good thing. Joking aside, since the subsidized bread is consumed by all social classes, as the government seeks to phase out the bread subsidies, those who can afford non-subsidized bread should be taken off the state payroll first.

2) End to government intervention will encourage private enterprises to take their own initiative in provide affordable food for their own profit. Many Egyptians are enterprising. Many are conducting illegal enterprises smuggling government subsidized bread and selling them to private bakeries – they should have no problems lowering costs and entitling the masses to more food with their somewhat backhanded entrepreneurship. Furthermore, a robust food distribution sector will encourage a more expansive food production sector.

This is a rudimentary sketch, but the skeleton of my grievance and theory are present – A free Egypt, capable of feeding itself, is the best deterrence against its frequent outbursts of violence. A dash of Thatcherism is what the Arab Republic needs – and if both Hosni or Gamal Mubarak cannot fulfill the iron role, they should step aside.

Horreya!

Most parents won’t have kids get H1N1 flu shots

A national survey suggests parents are confused about the risks of the virus and its vaccine.// By Melissa HealySeptember 25, 2009

Germ-spreading schoolchildren are expected to be the focus of a massive U.S. vaccination campaign against the novel H1N1 flu.

But if their parents are hearing the rallying cry to have their kids vaccinated, they’re not buying it, says a new national survey.

In a poll of 1,678 U.S. parents conducted by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 40% said they would get their children immunized against the H1N1 virus — even as 54% indicated they would get their kids vaccinated against regular seasonal flu.

Among those who said they do not intend to have their kids vaccinated against H1N1, almost half — 46% — indicated they’re not worried about their children becoming ill with the pandemic virus. Twenty percent said they do not believe the H1N1 flu is a serious disease.

There were differences along racial and ethnic lines in parents’ responses, which were collected Aug. 13 to Aug. 31. More than half of Latino parents said they would bring their kids to get vaccinated against H1N1. Among white parents, 38% said they would do so. African American parents were the least inclined to vaccinate: 30% said they planned to do so.

About half of the parents who said they’d pass on the H1N1 flu shot for their kids expressed concern about possible side effects of the vaccine.

The chatter about seasonal flu and novel H1N1 flu, and the differences in their relative virulence, has certainly confused parents, the survey suggests. Half of respondents said they believe that, for children, seasonal and H1N1 flu pose roughly equivalent risks.

“That perception may not match the actual risks,” Dr. Matthew Davis, the poll director, said in a statement. Davis is a University of Michigan professor of pediatrics and internal medicine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that though serious complications of seasonal flu appear to spare most kids and strike the elderly and very young most heavily, the novel H1N1 flu appears to hit children and young adults hardest.

Not surprisingly, parents who believe that the H1N1 flu will be worse for children were most likely to say they will have their own children vaccinated.

In a news release accompanying the poll results, Davis said that public health officials wishing to maximize vaccination rates among schoolchildren need to communicate clearly to their parents that kids are at relatively greater risk of becoming seriously ill with the novel flu strain if they get it.

G-20, A Lesson In Contrast

Replete with reinterpretations of old Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger Wobblies songs and chants of “They took our money–we’re going to take it back,” and “Bring Down The System” and other Communist psychopablum, about 2,500 disaffected, dyspeptic, deluded naifs called for pResident Minderbinder and the assembled members of the G-20 Leadership Summit (who were more than a mile away) to destroy the international banking system, give free homes to people who can’t afford them, and to give people with no skills jobs at the wages of neurosurgeons–before such remunerations are minimized by the free ObamaCare they were also asking for.

But not all the protestors were among this rabble. But first, oh yeah, the rabble:

and, the obligatory blonde kids and old hags who hate the Joooos…

But across town, a few hours earlier, others were protesting…

Ethiopians saying their dictatorial PM should be in jail not at the G-20…

MenschMan from Ft. Lauderdale, whose gripe needs no elaboration…

And Ofelia from Honduras (right), who with her two student companions, railed against Obama, Chavez and Brasil for supporting wannabe El Presidente for life Zelaya instead of freedom.

Now, for the rhetorical question of the day: Of these groups, which one had the money, hmmmmm?

But it’s even better. Before the rabble–who railed all day against the evil capitalist system–marched to another site where Code Pink Icon, moonbat Cindy Sheehan spoke, they passed a bucket asking for cash–because, as the last speaker said, “Revolution takes money.”

Demagogue-in-Chief and Amnesty

dem⋅a⋅gogue  /ˈdɛməˌgɒg, -ˌgɔg/  Pronunciation [dem-uh-gog, -gawg]

–noun 1. a person, esp. an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people.

–verb (used with object) 3. to treat or manipulate (a political issue) in the manner of a demagogue; obscure or distort with emotionalism, prejudice, etc.

-an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people.

Obama has used, and still does use, sad stories and stories of struggles to create sympathy in the crowds towards his agenda.  When the facts are checked, Obama’s stories don’t hold up, but he’s already got the crowd in his corner by then.  At his most recent speech to Congress on the health care debate, he told a false story about a man who died because his insurance company didn’t pay.  That has since been proven untrue.  It’s not the first nor will it be the last of his sad stories proven false.

Demagoguing is Obama’s specialty.  Demagoguing is the specialty of the Democrats.  Arouse passion, sympathy, outrage, and the feeling of victimization, to get your agenda passed or get yourself elected.  Listen for this from now on when you hear a Democrat or Obama speak on an issue they support or a candidate running for office.  YouTube is a good resource. 

Obama understands demagoguery – or does he?

He seems to think that a demagogue is anyone who doesn’t agree with him and he doesn’t seem to  recognize that  he’s a demagogue!

Besides noting that the demagogue-in-chief is himself a demagogue, falselyaccusing his critics of the same, the issue of amnesty must be addressed.  Obama plans to execute amnesty for illegals and has said so.  The illegals believe that he wants to help them.  They are wrong.  He wants their vote as soon as they are legal citizens.  He will have them registered as Democrats the same day they receive citizenship. His people will be right there with the pen and the form.  And like any good narcissist, he wants more and more people to rule over.  He needs more and more praise.

CNS.com at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54514 is reporting that the Obama administration is cutting the number of  border patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border at a time when drugs are gushing into this country, deadly drug cartels are killing on the U.S. side, Mexican/drug related kidnapping is rising on American soil, human trafficking is spilling into the U.S. in large numbers and Mexican gangs are killing, stealing and running drugs in American cities.  This is also the border where terrorists have entered our country illegally.    But Obama is increasing the number of border patrol agents on the Canadian border.  Where is the wisdom in these decisions?

Or does he have an agenda?  Amnesty for illegals.

Amnesty leads to enough voters for Democrats to keep them permanently in power and pass their agendas, which may include repealing the current law that limits presidents to serving only two terms.  Hugo Chavez – style !

( http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-hj5/show)  Google the term, “bills to repeal the term limits law for president”.

Democrats will simply pass laws that give hand-outs and welfare to these new voters who will become dependent on them and never be willing to vote against them.  A new form of slavery.  Obama will re-distrubute the wealth from the rich to poor illegal aliens now given amnesty and create a permanent position of power for himself and his party.

Think it can’t happen in America?  Look what’s already happened here that we never thought possible.

Now you can understand how Obama can say that his non-existent health care bill will  not cover illegal aliens.  He simply plans to give them amnesty and they will be covered.

The land of the free is under attack from within and without.  Obama and the Democrats within and illegal aliens and terrorists from without.  Our old form of a republican democracy will be a memory if we don’t stop this now.  Complacency is our enemy.  The Tea Party movement must be strengthened with opposition efforts to stop:  amnesty, universal health care by increments, repealing term limits laws, unbridled welfare, ACORN, SEIU, TIDES FOUNDATION AND AFFILIATES, GEORGE SOROS, OBAMA,  the Pelosi crowd and BIG GOVERNMENT.

Do everything YOU CAN to help.

Sorry guys

UPDATE1:- And here’s a little bit of circumstancial evidence for my case: they bastards don’t even rate their own slaves, let alone us, who don’t acknowledge them as our masters.

David Davis

Libertarians ought to have well-articulated and widely-trawled plan of what to do about members of the Enemy Class. They ought to start to be told that they are identified as inimical to personal liberty in all areas of a person’s life.

We are too fixed on the universal provision of Natural Rights and individual liberty for all. In pursuing this admirable goal, we neglect at our peril its mortal enemies, who have pursued their own “Project” for centuries, are doing so now, are now extremely able communicators and media-mobsters, and will continue so to be and to do.

They will never change, never apologise, and never surrender. Living and recently-dead-examples in no special order? Polly Toynbee, George Monbiot, Al Gore, Michael Moore, Baroness Scotland, Douglas Hogg, the BBC top brass, Castro (who at least died), Madeleine Bunting, Sunny Sandalwood, Kim Long-Il (ditto), that woman in the EU who wants to shut “right wing” political blogs down, the other guy who forces toxic defective lighting on us, and so on. Form an orderly queue, chaps, to convert one of more of these to liberalism, starting now.

Our objective can’t be cleanly reached in any even vaguely reasonable timescale, if there are intelligent, highly-educated and well-resourced humanoids who openly and sincerely mean to impose the opposite case by force if need be. What, after all, is “choice-editing”, for God’s sake?

These buggers are in it from times primeval in their lives, probably from swaddling-clothes in fact: they are collectivists deliberately, and they deliberately do collectivist things to masses and masses of unwilling or too-busy-to-do-anything-about-it-people. And then, when parts of the Project go pear-shaped, they get parachuted out to other parts less exposed to our ire. Sacked Prime-Monsters who go on $100,000-speechmaking junkets are another case in point.

We can hold conferences till we are blue in the face. In fact I will raise this very matter at a frnge-meeting which I will try to set up on 24th/25th October at the Libertarian Alliance’s annual binge in London.

We can publish stuff till the Finnish paper-forests are razed. (Indeed, you ought to weigh the tonnage of paper which the Libertarian Alliance alone produced from the 70s to the 2000s, until http://libertarian.co.uk came fully on-stream.)

Libertarians have blogs – there are probably hundreds out there, mostly talking to each other. Libertarian blogs’ blogrolls are among the longest you will find anywhere in the internet. They are usually a good read, unlike the collectivists’ attempts: perhaps we are cleverer or wittier or better educated (I doubt it) writers, or we read more things faster in wider areas, and so write better.

But all the while, the collectivists and other GramscoFabiaNazis seem to gain ground. They now openly flaunt the levers of State Power,  brandishing joyfully and exultantly the hammers-and-anvils-of-compulsion, dressed warmly and cuddlily in the clothes of caring, security, safety, community-concern and the like. They will never admit they are unfathomably evil by design, nor will they ever backtrack.

I do not, any more, believe that even a minority of them are capable of honest conversion to liberalism and liberty of humans all as sovereign individuals. Their potential rewards for the successful completion of their “Project”, of total and eternal human enslavement, to the benefit of the chosen Honestiores and believers, exceed in their eyes the importance of the general destruction of Man’s prospects in The Universe.

After all, why ought they to care about that? They think we all die in the end, and that there Is Nothing After. If they get to be Earthly Lords – for even a little time – to whom we always and everywhere bow the knee: and if we are forced to offer our sexiest daughters (and sons?) for their shagging, in return for our paltry rations of saltless boiled vegetables and water, eaten and drunk in the freezing darkness: then, what is it to them? Nothing.

They will have taken /revenge/ – for what? Here are five reasons for vengeance ‘pon the rest of us that incense the Enemy Class. And I could go on after…

(1) Revenge for the slow but sure concatenation of events that followed Magna Carta -

(2) Revenge for the Rennaissance -and for printing -

(3) Revenge for the Industrial Revolution (a wrong name) which took millions of us out of their mud-bound, sword-flatting, oak-hard-grip -

(4) Revenge for agricultural-surpluses -which meant that 98% of us didn’t have to spend more than all our lives simply trying to grow food and eat some -

(5) Revenge for towns and cities where poverty first became hideous at last, for scientific and medical progress, with Christian Charity (not fake ones, they’d have been appalled, specially the “poor”) showed what would be achieved instead -

If they’d thought harder about it, they’d even have been decrying and execrating the invention of the WHEELED PLOUGH. This brought the rise of the “New Towns” from about AD 1050 to 1400. Newport, Neustadt, Neuville, Newton-le-Willows, Newcastle, Novgorod. Clearly hotbeds of anti-Righteous sedition and revolution, all of them. I don’t however see George Monbiot and Paul Ehrlich criticising it though.

I have said before that we have to have a serious, and published plan about what is intended for those of the Enemy Class who do not recant, and who will not recant. There will be many. Furthermore, many will recant who are not sincere, and who will intend to prosecute their evils after recantation. These will need specially to be identified.

People who oppose liberty for sovereign individuals – the utterly individual, contractual, trust-based, one-to-one, fully-atomised kind of libery that Lords so hate and fear, must be made to feel that we are as serious about promoting this kind of liberty as they are about demolishing it and replacing it with collective liberties for masses, handed out by said Lords as acts of dispensation.

The time has come to draw the line.

THE 2010 BUDGET: GOVERNMENT IS SPENDING THE TUNE OF $206,500,500 FOR WHAT??? NOTHING MORE THAN IN BED WITH OUR ENEMIES

Our government is in “Bed”…with our enemies.  Giving 98 million dollars to Kim Jong-il of North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.  (Don’t know about you but I feel this is a real dangerous thing to do …for they will then have the money to continue making nuclear weapons and possibly using them on us one day……..VERY SCAREY!!!).

This buget to fund these Enemy Countries…is in the tune of $206,500,000.  While we the taxpayers and Citizens of this Country is being taxed to death and our Country Broke.  This could have paid for the Health Care Reform if they really wanted to do something….but they plan is to Bankrupt our Country and Us …..then we will be looking to the Government for our every needs in life.  This is a Dictorship….and we are headed there past unless we stand up and fight back now.   Not tomorrow….Today!!!  Call your Senators and Congressman/woman and give them a piece of you mind on this.  I have listed the receipetences of this Money below and I have provided the web-link to the complete article ……Really a  “MUST READ AND TAKE ACTION”.

Much of the foreign aid budget is spent on military, disaster and humanitarian assistance. But some of the spending for 2010 will be heading to countries where dictators rule:

• $98 million to persuade Kim Jong-il of North Korea to give up nuclear weapons
• $20 million for political prisoners and political rights in Castro’s Cuba
• $6 million to promote civil society in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela
• $500,000 for border security in Muammar al-Qaddafi’s Libya
• $26 million to help train police in Evo Morales’ Bolivia
• $56 million to support the rule of law and human rights in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, arguably one of the world’s richest nations

Foreign aid checks are rarely ever written directly to a government. Funding is generally provided to companies and non-governmental organizations that operate in other countries, which the U.S. government says helps advance human rights and the rule of law abroad. Some organizations keep close ties to their host government, and others work in spite of them.

The question is, do any of the programs work?

In Colombia, where the U.S. spent $38 million to improve human rights in 2008, State Department auditors concluded five of six program areas failed.

 

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way”.    Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities,  1859

Wow!  You would think Charles Dickens was living today!

A couple of thoughts struck me as I read that famous opening.  One, obviously was how, no matter what age we live in, not much changes in outward circumstances.  No matter who is in political power, no matter what the economic conditions, no matter whether taxes are high or low, no matter how much we complain, those things will not bring much change in our lives.

Which brings me to the second thought:  What does make the difference? Why is it, simultaneously,  the “best of times” for some and the “worst of times” for others?  Why do some become wise and others remain fools their whole lives?  How is it that with people who have relatively the same starting circumstances, some live lives that seem to soar with the belief that they can accomplish whatever they set out to do, yet others never seem to break out of the patterns that keep them barely treading water their whole lives?

And of course there is the matter of Light & Darkness, Heaven & Hell! That is a subject that deserves sole attention, so I will leave it for now.

Unsuccessful people as well as successful people both have 24 hours in a day!  As Jim Rohn put it, “wouldn’t it drive you crazy until you realized what the difference was?”  If outward circumstances (people, places, things, etc.) are not the deciding factor, then what is?  It must then be internal.  It has been said that our outward circumstances are a reflection of our inward philosophy or perspective!

Take the young students who daily complains that he or she is no good at math!  Guess what? He’s right!  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Do you think Tiger Woods would be the champion he is today if he were constantly telling himself that he was only as good as anyone else, or even worse – that he was just an amateur golfer?  Absolutely not! He believes that he is the best golfer in history! He mentally plays each hole of each course he is competing on over and over in his mind before he ever makes the shots!

So, what’s the difference? It starts with your philosophy of life.  Jeff Olson in his excellent book, The Slight Edge, has a great formula, “Your philosophy = your attitude= your actions = the results which = your life!”    Now just put a “positive” or “negative” in front philosophy, attitude, actions, results, and life.  See how it works?

So Cork,  are you saying that what and how a person believes determines how his life turns out?  YES I am! Because what we believe is reflected in the choices we make and the choices we make shape our lives!

We want to blame the boss, the president, the congress, the neighborhood, the teacher, our parents, society, and on and on.  But the bottom line is that the only person we can truly blame is the one we face in the mirror each day!

We choose who we hang out with.  We choose what we eat. We choose whether to do our homework or goof off. We choose how we perform on the job. We choose what we read, listen to, or watch!  The only thing we don’t have a choice in is what family or country we were born in.   But all we have to do is study those who have chosen not to let these things hinder them from accomplishing their dreams and desires to know that they are not roadblocks, only excuses!

One of my all-time favorite verses of scripture is found in Romans 12:2. It tells us that we can be “transformed by the renewing of your minds”!   Spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally!  This is indeed powerful and wonderful news.

So what is it with you -  Best of times or Worst of times?   It’s your choice!

The Liberty Smell Test

Can your President/Senator/Representative pass the Liberty smell test?  This is the test on how they respond to a person’s call give them liberty or freedom to make their own choices in life.

For example, many big government politicians fail (despite their constant, though rather empty use of the word liberty).  On health care, President Obama has proposed taxing and fining people who don’t want to get health insurance.  Obviously such an action goes against the meaning of the word liberty.

SSDP and the War on Drugs

Today, the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) had it’s first ever meeting on SCSU’s campus. You can find out information about the organization, which has over 100 chapters in the U.S. and more in other countries, on its Web site. Though it might be easy to assume otherwise because it is a college organization regarding drugs, the organization does not promote the use of drugs or necessarily support the legalization of narcotics. Instead, it is focused on more sensible drug policies on the campus, city, state, or national level, namely due to the failures of the United States’ current War on Drugs. The mission statement, also available on their Web site along with other helpful information, is as follows:

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our generation and our society.

SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against counterproductive Drug War policies, particularly those that directly harm students and youth.

Again, as per their values statement available on the Web site, SSDP “neither encourages nor condemns drug use.” Instead, it seeks “a just and compassionate society where drug abuse is treated as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue.” Furthermore, the SSDP continues, “As scholars we seek solutions to society’s drug problems through focused research, honest dialogue, and informed debate, instead of unquestioned extremism, punishment, and propaganda.”

So that’s the SSDP. Now that SCSU officially has a chapter, I hope the issue of sensible drug policy can more earnestly be discussed on campus. In fact, I’m rather optimistic that this can happen even after just the first meeting tonight. There were good ideas brought up about spreading awareness and contributing useful dialogue. We are still discussing the scope of our focus (thinking primarily the campus-level at the moment) and the types of policies we should be promoting, but I’m confident this organization has the capability of creating meaningful discourse and even implementing helpful changes because I know there are members working on this who are eager, intelligent, and devoted to the issue.

My diatribe on the issue
What is my take on the issue of drug policy? I don’t know how aligned my views are with the rest of the group’s but I think we can all definitely agree the War on Drugs has been a fantastic failure. The research and academic literature on this issue is immense, and I cannot possibly address it all. To make a seriously thorough post on this topic is probably beyond my capability, especially for the purpose of crafting a blog post (so I won’t pretend to address every or even most of the salient points, which are important and have been discussed diligently elsewhere). One thing has become abundantly clear, though: Prohibition does not cause things to go away; it makes things more dangerous among other adverse social effects. The argument in support of the War on Drugs are plentiful and nuanced (mostly coming from the conservative right), but usually fall flat when seriously scrutinized.

Of particular interest has been the issue of marijuana. Increasingly, the American public has been concerned with the government’s harsh laws on marijuana and there has been a very strong push for legalization (or at least decriminalization), even to such an extent that President Obama and his administration had to respond. The response has been less harsh than that of President Bush’s, but it still falls short.

But we cannot even begin to talk about the criminalization of marijuana without first acknowledging its purpose. There is a reason why marijuana is illegal (and alcohol is not, for example). History actually ran a show about it (Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way—I recommend everyone watch it). The reason is because it was associated with “deviants” (read: minorities). So the policy has its roots in racism. The laws are still quite racist, in fact. The only way to justify them is through bigotry.

There is no medical reason for banning marijuana (a claim strongly supported by the medical literature). Certain drugs, including marijuana, have become criminalized because they’re associated with what’s called the “dangerous classes,” meaning poor people. That’s why, for example, gin was criminalized in 19th century London and whiskey was not. Poor people drank gin. This is why the sentencing for crack is so much harsher than for powder cocaine. Poor people use crack. For marijuana, it was Mexicans bringing it in. That’s why you’ve got to criminalize it.

So, yes, it’s also quite true that there was a time when these things weren’t prohibited. Society functioned still. In fact, there are places were it’s currently not criminalized. Take Portugal for example. They’re a functioning society. In fact, since they’ve legalized marijuana, they have said it has benefited their society (teen drug use decreased, HIV from needle sharing decreased, and treatment increased). Of course, one should not be surprised by this.

As it happens, places such as the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study and the RAND Corporation have done studies the cost effectiveness of certain approaches. Invariably, what they find is that treatment and prevention is the most cost effective (and by large margins). Law enforcement, police work, and incarceration was more expensive and less effective. Even more expensive and even less effective is border intervention. The least effective and most costly? Extra-national operations. So what approach do the United States take? We actually do it in the opposite direction. We’re spending more money on doing things like engaging in chemical warfare on Colombia’s farms. The next biggest place we spend money is on border intervention, and down the line. Why is it done this way? Because it helps corporations and the government. It’s used as a cover for counter-insurgency, clears the land of peasants so large multinational corporations can come in for resource extraction and agrobusiness, benefits the prison-industrial complex, grows the government, unconstitutionally expands their power, etc. But it doesn’t stop drug use. And this is no small amount either. We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars on this so-called war on drugs. And for what? For naught. (In fact, it’s making things worse.) All the while we could be making billions from the legal sale of it in taxes. On the other hand, while we’re losing hundreds of billions, drug cartels and other illegal enterprises are making billions. Does that really seem logical to anyone?

WHY I JOINED THE TEXAS NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, AND MY THOUGHTS ON HOW I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

By Cary L. Wise

On the 19th of September, 2009, I made one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made as an adult. After long hours of research, and careful thought about me and my family, I joined the TEXAS NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, for the establishment of an independent REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. A new nation among the world’s nations, free of the government of the United States, and all that has come to mean. A new nation free to once again establish and follow a constitution written by the people, and for the people, that will assure the freedoms and rights as established in the original constitution of the U.S. A new nation that will be free of over two hundred years of judicial activism that has bastardized that constitution to where now no one in government pays attention to it, or in some cases even bothers, or attempts to follow it.

I have chosen to join and lead because I will not live just taking whatever Washington DC chooses is the best way for me. I will not just stand by and be denied the rights of a citizen to share and prosper as an individual because of an over burden of taxes, a denial by my country to the riches of its natural resources, because of fringe environmentalists, and the greed by some to prosper by the denial of those God given rights.

I choose not to take it anymore when it comes to politicians who can see the masses, and the masses disagree, but the masses are ignored. I’m done being silent of career politicians, whose number one priority is their own pocket book. I’m done with welfare and equal opportunity mandates that have ruined what the US was all about when it was born. I’m done with not being able to speak the truth, and if you do, you are labeled a racist, or a bigot. What happened to being able to disagree and speak what one knows to be the truth? Political correctness, that’s what happened. It has destroyed the ability of people to debate, converse, decide, and make common sense decisions based on the welfare of all involved.

Yes, I believe the US has grossly gone astray from what the founding fathers had in mind. I also believe it has gotten this way over the last 70 to 80 years, while the public was not watching, and when they began watching, the political correction of our time was too much pressure for people to bare, so we have just been quiet, and took it! I believe that the politicians in Washington are so corrupt, that they are rendered useless. My proof is when “czars” are appointed by Obama, that are functioning completely outside the constraints of Congress, and not one Congress person yells foul, unconstitutional, stop! Not one! Where is the outcry that Congress is being usurped every day, on TV, and no one says a word? Why is it we now see trillions of dollars being given away to curb a crisis that for all purposes, was started by the government?! These are not the people I choose to represent me!

So why was the decision so tough for me? I am 59 years old. All my life I have been all about the red, white and blue. I served in the Air Force for 4 years during Viet Nam. I was a flight crew member in Viet Nam. Although I hail from Texas, I spent 15 years in Michigan, serving as a state trooper in the Michigan State Police, one of the finest police organizations in the US. I have always been about law and order, and discipline, and self improvement, and taking care of yourself. I have been in business for 28 years teaching people how to be successful and how to win by always DOING WHAT IS RIGHT! I was, and have always been a patriot to my country and what it has stood for.

I have come to the sad conclusion that those ideals no longer exist as I knew them in the US. I can no longer support a government that blatantly steps on the rights, the dreams, the ambition, and the blood so many of us have spilled to maintain what we once knew was the best country in the whole world. I have traveled the world; I knew that to be true! I don’t see that anymore as corruption has spoiled that vision.

So I make my decision with a heart full of passion and belief, that the Republic of Texas can once again make that vision return. I know that Texas, and people from Texas are indeed unique. If you have ever traveled the world, or gone anywhere where you were the only Texan present, you know this to be true. We have grown up with a huge sense of state and historical pride. We have a history of straight talking and if you don’t like it here, you are damn sure welcome to leave as fast as you got here! We understand and love our tradition, our brave history, our heroes, our willingness to take a stand, and even die for it if we know it to be right! I have traveled the United States extensively. Many other people do not understand this, and they never will. They were raised differently in their home states…we are unique. That is the bond that has held Texas and Texans together forever. I understand it, and so do many here within our wonderful state.

To the Texas Nationalist Movement: I have also read all the documents, the articles, the opinions, the good and the bad, the legality of such a movement, and I am convinced that done the proper way, which is legally and through established legislative procedures, this can be accomplished. I am adamant that I do not want to fight the civil war again. I don’t want conflict with the U.S. federal government. I don’t want Texans turning on other Texans. I want the same set of circumstances that our founding fathers found themselves in. Do not stand for a tyrannical government abusing your rights! Declare your desire for independence and follow the proper procedures to do so. It is NOT against any law for the people of Texas to hold a referendum and choose independence! It violates no one’s constitution, the U.S. or Texas. If we can return our beloved Texas to one of the leading independent countries in the world, instead of being run into the ground now and for generations to come, we owe it to ourselves and our children and grand children to be the next “FOUNDING FATHERS AND MOTHERS” of a new shining light on the hill. It can be done, and it should be done!

This concept of education, and learning, and speaking of the real issues, is what will make the movement happen. I fully understand that many people are “red, white, and blue.” They do not get involved because that’s hard! They do not protest because that’s uncomfortable! They don’t want to rock anyone’s boat because their own life is still kind of OK yet.

Here is what people MUST UNDERSTAND! For 70 to 80 years, the progressives have been chipping away at the US. Now, they are in power. Look what has happened in the last 9 months alone. Connect the dots, folks. Bailouts, czars, national health care, GM, bank bailouts, headlines of a page full of new taxes, the race card being played from the WHITE HOUSE! Texans, if nothing else, things are getting even worse than they were, and they’re going faster. Whatever Obama gets from his long list of things that are happening now, will NEVER BE REVERSED! Fellow Texans, it can only, and will only get worse. Unless you are ready to give more and more of your pay away, ready to NOT be allowed some of the financial, religious, political and social freedoms we used to enjoy, you must start thinking in a reality mode.

Sticking one’s head in the sand won’t get it anymore. We must be REALISTS!! If we are not, we will wake up real soon, and wonder what the hell happened! That’s when the frustration and anger will boil over, and there might be violence. There is no need for that! Start now, plan now, prepare now, for a peaceful and legal transition into a new Republic that has term limits on politicians, laws that are clear, concise, and upheld, a foreign policy with animosity to no one, a trade policy that is good for Texas, and immigration and education policies that can again turn Texas to a world leader.

These are the reasons why I joined, and why I believe in the dream of achieving great things. It takes great people, and a great venue to achieve great things. WE HAVE BOTH!

Cary L.Wise
Hondo, Texas

It is very interesting

Michael Winning

Baroness Scotland, who is a Baroness for exactly what reasons I can’t really quite fathom, is in some trouble. Devil’s Kitchen has been discussing her, a good blog I have justt found. She has employed an “illegal immigrant” while pretending not to know what this meant but also pretending it wasn’t against laws she had commanded to be drafted. I’m not so discussing the immigration bit here but the concept of “illegally working” which I find strange and unintelligible.

The other thing which bothers me is that there are people who willingly take jobs where they are paid to go after such “illegal workers”. My colleague Davis sometimes gets at people who he says ought to know better morally, than to work for socialists, and for socialist ends. When we Come To Power, something will have to be done about people who work for “The Border Agency” and who did willingly take jobs with it. I think that a sinister title: anybody else agree?

Really the problem is people who want to work for people who want to enslave people. I think about 22,000 Austrians were found to have actively applied for jobs in death camps and this was a high % of all those thus employed. Is this so and what does it say about Austrians? What ought we to say abotu British people whjo actively are employed by oppressors?

Enough Politics! Go Liberty!

Tired of all the political bickering?  There is another way, a simpler more fulfilling way.  Grant each other the respect of freedom, of liberty.

People who aren’t being told what to do (or backed into a corner) feel less threatened and less inclined to argue and fight.  It’s just common sense.

So, instead of forcing your will on others, next time say what you think and let the others make their own decisions.  You might even find, you’re working with people and not arguing.

Happy Constitution Day

On this day, September 17, 212 years ago, a group of men convened together to approve the re-writing of history.

No, they were not revisionist historians. They were making history by rejecting the ineffective Articles of Confederation, adopted as the United States gained its Independence from Britain, and establishing a more capable and effective form of republican government.

They established in the preamble both the reason why they were there, the purpose of the existence of the government of the United States of America and the reason why governments are established for mankind:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Establish Justice.

Insure domestic Tranquility.

Provide for the common defence.

Promote the general Welfare.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty.

God bless these souls (linked from Constitution Society):

Go. WASHINGTON — Presidt.

and deputy from Virginia

New Hampshire { JOHN LANGDON

NICHOLAS GILMAN Massachusetts { NATHANIEL GORHAM

RUFUS KING Connecticut { WM. SAML. JOHNSON

ROGER SHERMAN New York . . . . ALEXANDER HAMILTON New Jersey { WIL: LIVINGSTON

DAVID BREARLEY.

WM. PATERSON.

JONA: DAYTON Pennsylvania { B FRANKLIN

THOMAS MIFFLIN

ROBT MORRIS

GEO. CLYMER

THOS. FITZ SIMONS

JARED INGERSOLL

JAMES WILSON

GOUV MORRIS Delaware { GEO: READ

GUNNING BEDFORD jun

JOHN DICKINSON

RICHARD BASSETT

JACO: BROOM Maryland { JAMES MCHENRY

DAN OF ST THOS. JENIFER

DANL CARROLL Virginia { JOHN BLAIR

JAMES MADISON North Carolina { WM. BLOUNT

RICHD. DOBBS SPAIGHT

HU WILLIAMSON South Carolina { J. RUTLEDGE

CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY

CHARLES PINCKNEY

PIERCE BUTLER Georgia { WILLIAM FEW

ABR BALDWIN

Congressman Paul Ryan--Townhall Meeting--Health Care Reform and The Patients Choice Act--Videos

Congressman Paul Ryan – Townhall Meeting

 

Congressman Paul Ryan – Opening Comments – Pt. 2

 

Congressman Paul Ryan – Opening Comments – Pt. 3

 

Question 5

 

Question 7 Cost Containment

 

Question 9 Socialized Medicine

 

single payor and 18,000 people are dying

 

Will Abortion Be Covered and SHould My Son Become A Doctor?

 

Is Your Plan Bipartisan and Isn’t Medicare Socialized Medicine

Background Articles and Videos

Paul Ryan

“…Paul D. Ryan, Jr. (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician and Congressman from Wisconsin. He is a member of the Republican Party, and represents Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ryan, born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, is a fifth-generation Wisconsin native currently serving his sixth term in Congress.

Ryan is a graduate of Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville and earned a degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Ohio where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He has worked in the private sector as an economic analyst and previously served as president of his own consulting firm.

Ryan and his wife Janna live in Janesville, Wisconsin with their children, Liza, Charlie and Sam.

Ryan worked as an aide to U.S. Senator Bob Kasten beginning in 1992 and as legislative director for Sam Brownback of Kansas from 1995 to 1997. He worked as a speechwriter to “drug czar” William Bennett and to Jack Kemp during his run for the vice presidency.

He was first elected to the House in 1998 after two-term incumbent Mark Neumann made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate. Ryan defeated 35-year-old beer distributor Brian Morello in the Republican primary and Democrat Lydia Spottswood in the general election by a 57-42 margin.

He defeated Jeffrey C. Thomas in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. In the general election on November 4, 2008, Ryan defeated Marge Krupp, the Democratic candidate. …”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan_(politician)

 

Paul Ryan Offers Amendment to Strike Government-Run Health Care Plan

 

Would ObamaCare Cover Sticker-Shock Treatment?

 

The Perils of Government-Run Healthcare 7.15.09

 

Glenn Beck – Health Care Is Another Governmental Nightmare -

 

Obama’s Hearth Care Deception – “Public Option” will end up “Single Payer”, per their Plan

 

Paul Ryan on the Patients’ Choice Act

 

The Patients’ Choice Act (1 of 4) Press Conference (Senator Burr and Congressman Ryan)

 

The Patients’ Choice Act (2 of 4) Press Conference (Congressman Nunes and Senator Coburn)

 

The Patients’ Choice Act (3 of 4) Press Conference

 

The Patients’ Choice Act (4 of 4) Press Conference

 

 

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Obama--Corruption Kingpin--Campaign Contributions and Support for Government Payoffs and Subsidies--Stealing From The American People To Payoff Obama's Pals

 

 Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 1/6

 

Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 2/6

 

Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 3/6

 

Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 4/6

Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 5/6

 

Glenn Beck: September 14, America’s Future, 6/6

 

Background Articles and Videos SEIU’s Andy Stern on FNS: Power Player of the Week

Corrupted Obama – The Antoin Rezko case

Obama committed to single payer universal health care … what a liar

SEIU’s Andy Stern on the Health Care Debate (Part 1)

SEIU’s Andy Stern on the Health Care Debate (Part 2)

Card Check – Employment Free Choice Act – More Unionized Socialism. Call Congress!

Labor Day Briefing – Randy Johnson on EFCA

Barack Obama on the Employee Free Choice Act

AFL-CIO Employee Free Choice Act NOW

 

Glenn Beck — Rezko and Obama

 

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Apollo Alliance Apollo Alliance and Obama’s Green Czar Van Jones: Greens on The Outside–Reds On The Inside–Big Greens, Big Unions, Big Foundations, Big Business, Big Bucks, Big Taxes–Videos

 

  Services Employee International Union (SEIU) Public Option = Government Option = Pathway to Single Payer = Single Payer = Socialized Medicine = Blue Pill = Poison Pill The American People Confront Obama’s Red Shirts (ACORN) and Purple Shirts (SEIU)–Bullhorns and Beatings Over Obama Care! Obama’s Marching Orders For His Red Shirts (ACORN), Purple Shirts (SEIU) and Black Shirts (New Panther Party)–Progressive Radical Socialists   Barack Obama Hype: The Obama Effect–Videos Crime–Corruption–Organized Crime–ACORN–Taxes–Obama Connected And Trained The Arrogance of President Obama: Hectoring Habitual Liar Broom Budget Busting Bums: Replace The Entire Congress–Tea Party Express and Patriots–United We Stand! Obama’s Civilian National Security Force–Youth Corp Wave–Friendly Fascism Faces–Cons–Crooks–Communists–Communities–Corps! Obama’s Hidden Agenda and Covert Cadre of Marxists, Communists, Progressives, Radicals, Socialists–Far Left Democrats Destroying Capitalism and The American Republic Apollo Alliance and Obama’s Green Czar Van Jones: Greens on The Outside–Reds On The Inside–Big Greens, Big Unions, Big Foundations, Big Business, Big Bucks, Big Taxes–Videos Public Option = Government Option = Pathway to Single Payer = Single Payer = Socialized Medicine = Blue Pill = Poison Pill Obama: First We Kill The Babies, Then We Kill The Elderly, Then We Kill The Veterans–Your Life, Your Choices–Your Time Is Up! This Joker Is A Lost Cause: Keeping President Obama Honest on Health Care–Let’s But A Smile On That Face–Staying Alive The American People Believe The Government Public Option Plan Is The Path To The Single Payer Government Plan–Socialized Medicine–Obama Caught Lying To The American People! The American People Confront Obama’s Red Shirts (ACORN) and Purple Shirts (SEIU)–Bullhorns and Beatings Over Obama Care! The Obama Depression Has Arrived: 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 Unemployed Americans–Stimulus Package and Bailouts A Failure–400,000 Leave Labor Force In July! Obama’s Marching Orders For His Red Shirts (ACORN), Purple Shirts (SEIU) and Black Shirts (New Panther Party)–Progressive Radical Socialists The Economic Consequences of Barack Obama’s Radical Socialist Agenda–Videos The Bush Recession Is Over–The Obama Depression Has Begun! Barack’s Bud Beer Bash or Bust–Do Not Confuse Me With The Facts I Have Made Up My Mind–Invincible Ignorance! Hacker Obama (HO): We Are From The Federal Government and We Are Here To Help You–Don’t You Believe Him!–Cash For Clunkers or Invasion of Privacy??? Socialism’s Snake Oil Salesman–Barack Obama–Encountering Consumer Resistence and Voter Remorse Obama Youth–Civilian National Security Force–National Socialism–Hitler Youth–Brownshirts– Redux?–Collectivism! Obama’s Waterloo– Government Compulsory Single Payer Socialized Medicine!–Videos President Obama’s Plan of Massive Deficit Spending Is Destroying The US Economy–The American People Say Stop Socialism BS Now! Discover The Left’s Organized Crime Network–Crime Pays–Organized Crimes Pays More–Apply for Census Taker Jobs! Chairman Obama’s Progressive Radical Socialist Health Care Bill Kills Individual Private Health Care Insurance–Join The Second American Revolution! President Obama: A Teleprompter, A Teleprompter, My Popularity for A Teleprompter! President Barack Obama Beats It–President Franklin Roosevelt Record–Worse Unemployment Numbers Since 1933–14,700,000 Unemployed Americans Greater than 13,000,000 in 1933! The Obama Depression (OD) Starts July 4, 2009–30 Million Americans March To Tea Parties In Washington D.C. and Over 1,000 Cities and Towns Across America! United States Economic Depressions–The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly–Obama’s Depression–Over 15,000,000 Americans Seek Full Time Job! President Obama and His Keynesian Spending Cult of The Fascist Democrat Radicals–FDRs  Obama’s Opague Oppression–Collectivist Czars Or Commissars–Terminate Tyrants Tea Parties–Join The Second American Revolution President Obama Fires Inspector General Gerald Walpin–Teapot Scandle Slowly Simmers! Obama Throws The American People Under The Government Motors Bus!–Ice Tea Party Time! Obama’s Organized Crime Syndicate: ACORN, CCI, SEIU, TARP, GE, Cap and Trade?–Video Exposé Obama Fully Supports Ending Secret Ballot For All Employees–Are Voters Next?–Employee Free Choice Act a.k.a. Card Check is Ballot Check Next? Failing The Iranian Test–Barack “Hamlet” Obama–To Be or Not To Be President of The United States And Commander-in-Chief? President Obama Is Driving The American People Down The Highway to Socialism and Serfdom–Stop The Bus! CIA Old Boy Network–Walking Back The Cat–Barack Obama–Who Recruited Him and For What End? President Obama Delays E-Verify–Shame On You Mr. President! President Obama’s Cloward-Piven Strategy of Controlled Crisis Creation Crippling Capitalism–Coup D-Etat On America

Barack Obama America’s Puppet President Pinocchio –The Transparent Lies–Ears and Nose Are Growing?  George Soros: Barack Obama’s Money Man and Agenda Puppeter President Doom and Panic Obama’s Big Lie: More Government Spending Works and Tax Cuts Do Not Work President Obama–Killer of The American Dream and Market Capitalism–Stop The Radical Socialists Before They Kill You! A Fiscally Responsible President or The Flim-Flam Man–Never Trust A Lying Radical Socialist! New Presidential Helicopters Modified for Conformal Fuel Tanks That Will Dispense Money! President Obama’s Internet Attack On The American Family, Marriage and Values Cap and Trade Carbon Dioxide Tax: Gore’s and Obama’s Revenge on The American People–Let Them Freeze and Sweat! Al Gore 2.0 and The Coming Renewable Energy Ice Age–The Big Chill Barrack Obama’s Kansas Values–Killing Babies in Cold Blood? Eugenics, Planned Parenthood, Population Control, and Designer Babies–Videos

Papering Over the Illegal Immigrant Problem

    I have noted in my posts and comments below, that I have not seen illegal aliens coming to the hospital for elective care. Qualifying for a subsidy would mean presenting a W-2 and a social security number, which an illegal will not have. If they are able to forge them, they may as well forge birth certificates. At any rate, this will clearly not satisfy many. It is possible a few illegals might buy insurance through the public option system, even if it is unlikely. I therefore propose a solution. Let us go ahead and develop a national ID system. Let’s require that people carry their National ID card with them at all times.

Now, to be honest,I find “National ID Card” a bit cumbersome for an item that will need to be presented many times a day. The poor police who will be stopping you on the street for random checks to see if you have your card, are going to be exhausted and tongue tied by the end of the day. I propose that we title the National ID Card with a single word, Papers.

When you want to buy health care insurance, you show your Papers. Illegals having no Papers will not be able to buy insurance. If you want to buy food, you show your Papers. Illegals who have no Papers will not be able to buy food and will have to leave. Want to buy a car? Show your Papers. Illegals will not be able to drive to work without a car. Want to buy medicine? Show your Papers. If illegals cannot get treatment, they will have to leave. Walking down the street looking suspicious? Be prepared to show your Papers. Illegals act suspicious all the time.

This list could go on and on, but really, I cannot think of a time when it would not be appropriate to have to present your Papers. Requiring Papers for any and all societal transactions is sure to rid us of all illegal aliens. Once again we can be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(AIFD Media Roundup) Review of AIFD Media for Sep 11, 2009

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy sends its prayers and blessings to all those who lost loved ones in the horrific attacks of 9/11. We will never forget! And we will always stay vigilant. May God always bless the United States of America. Below for your review are a few of our media items from today available on the web.

1] (AIFD in the Media) Muslim Americans Post 9/11, Channel 3 KTVK TV, Good Morning Arizona with Scott Pasmore…VIDEO LINK at Channel 3.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD President is interviewed on “Being a Muslim American in this country today — even eight years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks — has its trials. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician and founder of American Islamic Forum for Democracy, talks about it with azfamily.com’s Scott Pasmore.”

2] (AIFD in the Media) Not Over Yet , The Washington Times, by Jennifer Harper (from Inside the Beltway) September 11, 2009

NOT OVER YET

Consider that the 9/11 attacks occurred 2,922 days ago. That’s about 70,000 hours. Are memories less visceral? Among some people, perhaps. Among others, an intense vigilance remains.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is on record as wanting to destroy Western civilization from within. While this thought may seem paranoid or farfetched, we have to remember that these organizations take a long view of history. The destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 is just one tool in their arsenal,” Dr. Zuhdi Jasser tells Inside the Beltway.

The founder of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy cautions against militant threats – along with “soft cultural jihad … Terrorism is just a tactic. This is a long war, a long ‘contest of ideas’ between political Islam and Western liberty-based societies.”

Dr. Jasser adds, “Americans should mark this eighth anniversary of 9/11 by dedicating ourselves to being vigilant on all fronts – academia, government, media, business, and the interfaith community in the protection of our individual liberties and the founding principles of America. … Until Muslims can lead a movement of reform which separates mosque and state the Islamist threat will only continue to increase.”

3] (AIFD in the Media) Wariness linked to 9/11 has faded, but is that wise?

Editorial Board. The Arizona Republic . September 11, 2009 Wariness linked to 9/11 has faded, but is that wise?

9 comments

Sept. 11, 2009 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

The eighth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, has arrived and, thankfully, we have other things on our minds than mass death.

Yes, we should be thankful that, as a people, we are on to other things. But, in so many respects, the wariness has dissipated almost entirely. Can that be wise?

For years after 2001, air travelers did everything in their power to avoid traveling on Sept. 11. Today, slippage in airline traffic is almost entirely related to the flagging economy, not to passenger fears of being hijacked.   OAS_AD(’ArticleFlex_1′)

The touchtone concerns of our post-Sept. 11 world are becoming cultural artifacts. Who anytime recently has bothered to mock the most current “threat level” color of the day? The once-burning racial/religious debate over radical Islam in this country has evaporated. Concerns about terrorists filtering in across porous borders rarely come up.

Things have changed. A long, bloody war in Iraq has come and effectively gone since Sept. 11, 2001. Iraq sparked countless spot fires of division and distrust, possible recriminations against officials in power in 2001, and the creation of a still-thriving subculture of conspiracy theorists who will never be convinced that Sept. 11 wasn’t a murderous inside job. But it too is moving, slowly, into the past.

Officially, the federal government doesn’t even recognize a “war on terrorism” anymore.

It is telling, too, that the president of the United States, on the eve of Sept. 11, would engage the public and Congress on a debate over health-care reform, a matter wholly unrelated to terrorism or the war against it.

Alive though Osama bin Laden may be in the hills of Afghanistan, the nation has lost its once single-minded conviction that hunting down the perpetrator of the Sept. 11 attacks is the most important national purpose.

Terrorists are patient in their awful work, of course. Al-Qaida agents spent five years watching and planning for their attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. And bin Laden spent eight years mulling the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City before trying again. Terrorists view time differently than we do.

M. Zuhdi Jasser of Tempe, the post-Sept. 11 embodiment of moderate Islam, worries we may be forgetting far too much.

“The disease (of radical Islam) is not going to go away,” said Jasser, who worries that leaders in the U.S. and Europe are beginning to accept the radicals as the face of Islam.

“I think there is a blindness to the ideas we are fighting,” he said.

Perhaps that is the fundamental question to ask ourselves now: Are we merely relaxing from the tensions immediately following Sept. 11, 2001?

Or are we, to our detriment, becoming blind to them?

4] (AIFD Commentary) Family Security Matters Editors Remember 9/11 Eight years later

September 11, 2009

by M. ZUHDI JASSER

As an American Muslim, the terror inflicted on America on September 11, 2001 struck me on many levels. The terrorists hijacked planes and my religion to attack my country and killed over 3,000 of my fellow Americans in the process. For me, it quickly matured my life-long mission to preserve the principles that founded the United States, and it made far more urgent the need to demonstrate to my fellow Muslims that the tenets of genuine liberty and freedom as they exist in America are integral to our faith.

Now, eight years after the attacks we, as a nation, continue to ignore the writing on the wall only to fall further and further behind in the contest of ideas. There seems to be a spreading denial over the threat and yet, it is obviously not going away. Just in the past few months, we have seen homegrown terror cells arrested in North Carolina and New York. And, over 30 attacks have been prevented since 9/11 – all of which have only one thing in common- the ideology of militant Islamism which fuels the radical Muslims who plotted them.

What has been lost in the public debate since the attacks is that terrorism is just the symptom of a much larger ideological struggle. American families need to realize that on every front from government, to media, to education, and business, today we face a national and global conflict between individual liberty and political Islam. Make no mistake: Islamists are at odds with Western civilizations and will use all the tools available to them to dominate. The militant Islamists will hijack planes and detonate bombs while the lawful Islamists will institute Sharia courts in Great Britain or exaggerate the victimization of American Muslims. Ultimately, Americans are then taken off course of our advocacy for liberty and against Islamism while the Islamists’ advance their own agenda seeking to erode public confidence in our institutions and our way of life. Their dreams of an Islamic state stand in stark contrast to the American dream which we should be teaching our families. It may sound farfetched to some, but read the writings of the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamists are patient and take a long view of history. They know that while death by a thousand cuts is not quick, it still is death.

Islamism is growing in America. In 2009, we saw Hizb ut-Tahrir go public with their convention in Chicago and actively and openly recruit followers to bring an end to our way of life. Yet our government is still quibbling over the language we will use to describe our efforts against their ideology which fuels terrorism.

The Obama Administration has naively called for a “Day of Service” this 9/11. At AIFD, we are calling for a “Day of Remembrance and Vigilance.” Americans must remember the horror of 9/11 and must be vigilant in not allowing Political Islam to wear down the principles that built our country. American Muslims in particular must be vigilant in protecting our faith from Islamists and act upon our responsibility to lead the national effort against Islamism while providing our own families an alternative to political Islam.

-M. Zuhdi Jasser is the founder and Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona.

[Via http://papundits.wordpress.com]

912 Tea Party in DC Headcount

The Democrats in Congress, specifically an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelocchio, sent out a memo last night “warning” other libs that there could be 1-2 million attendees at the Capitol for today’s protest.

Event organizers said they expected 30,000-50,000 people and would be thrilled to recieve that number of participants.

While the MSM news stations (Fox included) have been saying there are “thousands” or “tens of thousands” of protesters, numbers are starting to come in.

It was just reported to me that a speaker has just announced that ABC reported 1.5 million tea party patriots with more attendees still arriving in. I have not been able to find verification of that on the internet as of yet, but I will keep looking.

An unnamed Fox news reporter told some attendees that there were 50 people per second marching down Pennsylvania Avenue for 2 and a half hours, plus some stragglers for another 45 minutes, at about 20 people per second. This translates to about 500,000 people in the march, headed for the Capitol lawn.

While we are still waiting for number confirmations, we’ve found that any MSM crowd estimate is about 1/3 of the real size. So, while we continue to hear reports from NBC, CNN, Fox, etc, keep in mind that you need to multiply their crowd estimates by 3 to get the real number.

Keep coming back for more updates, pictures, and video later on tonight.

[Via http://papundits.wordpress.com]

Cognitive Dissonance, or American Life in the 21st Century

Cognitive Dissonance is the accepted psychological term for the uncomfortable feeling one gets when simultaneously holding two conflicting ideas in one’s mind. When people’s ideas and behaviors are consistent with each other, there is peace and harmony. But when ideas or beliefs clash with behavior or facts, there is usually some emotional reaction. The reaction could be anger, embarrassment, guilt, shame, stress or some other form of emotional discomfort…especially if you get caught in the midst of your conflicting behavior.

Examples of day-to-day Cognitive Dissonance could be:

• Driving 75 in a 55 mph zone because 75 mph is the flow of traffic.

• “Fudging” on your tax return, after all, taxes are too high.

• Stealing office supplies from your employer because he doesn’t pay you enough.

• Pocketing a cash transaction so there would be no income tax.

• Munching your way through the supermarket without paying for the food you eat.

• Returning a dress for a refund after you wore it to the event you bought it for.

• Accepting pricey gifts from vendors or contractors, a “thank you gift” in advance.

• Being an animal rights supporter that eats a hamburger while wearing leather shoes, jacket and belt.

In the realm of government and politics, I believe that most Americans have serious cognitive dissonance issues.

Examples are:

• Citizens who complain about government excess and waste while accepting Federal largess, like “Cash for Clunkers” payments, crop subsidies, Social Security payments, Senior prescription drug benefits, mortgage guarantees, commodity price supports, college Pell grants or loans, Medicare or Medicaid, Section 8 rent subsidies, anti-competition tariffs…and the list could go on and on.

• Calling another person pejorative names when they point out your logical inconsistencies.

• Flag waving and rah-rah about the USA, when you are really cheering for the government, not the nation.

• Calling WWII “the greatest war” and those who fought in it “the greatest generation” when America had no business being in that war.

• Criticizing Vietnam-era “draft dodgers” when history has proven them right.

• Saying that you “support the troops” when they are doing evil deeds daily and violating the Constitution with those deeds. The Nuremburg defense does not work. The soldiers are not “just following orders.” They have moral decisions to make every day. That is why the suicide rate for deployed soldiers is so high.

• The American citizen who votes for “the lesser of two evils” in ANY elections.

• Citizens who attend “Tea Party” rallies but vote to elect Congressmen and Senators who violate the Constitution with their actions.

• The Congressman or Senator who votes for unconstitutional laws or spending bills.

• “Supporting” any President who proposes Unconstitutional laws and programs.

• “Supporting” any President who signs an Unconstitutional bill into law.

People hate feeling uncomfortable for any long period of time. So they have essentially three choices: (1) Change their behavior to match their ideas or beliefs, (2) Change their ideas or beliefs to match their behavior, or (3) Rationalization.

Choice #1 sometimes requires more of a human being that he is willing to do. Selfish desires often conflicts with your beliefs.

Choice #2 requires an absence of hypocrisy. After all, hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.

Rationalization serves us well. Rationalization is the action of creating justifications for one’s behavior or belief. We Americans rely upon rationalizations to get through our days. Rationalizations are more important to humans than sex. When is the last time you went a week without a rationalization?

It also has choices:

(1) Confirmation bias – a tendency to interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions. Rose-colored glasses, so to speak. But our world view, our preconceptions color everything we see and preconceptions are often hard to change. Much easier to justify our behavior or belief. But in government, politics and military strategy, confirmation bias can produce disastrous results. An example would be the American generals who keep asserting that the wars are going well and that objectives are being met. Another example is the “living Constitution” theory, which allows adherents to make it say whatever they want.

(2) Denial or dismissal of the disconfirming evidence – In the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer” is the lyric “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Labeling the unwanted evidence “liberal” or “conservative” or “socialist” or “just plain nuts” often lends enough credence to justify our beliefs or actions.

So, why all this fuss about Cognitive Dissonance? Simply to point out that ALL human beings labor under it, and that Cognitive Dissonance has real consequences in our real world. It goes a long way to explain why people do the things that they do. And, if you want to really understand people and have a clear understanding of what they value, don’t listen to what they say…only watch what they do.

A very small minority of American citizens truly understand the principals of liberty and manageable governance. In order for there to be a sweeping wind of liberty in America, the majority of Americans will have to put aside their Cognitive Dissonance, biases and rationalizations and embrace TRUTH.

I doubt if Americans are up to the task.

[Via http://dumpdc.wordpress.com]

Three Wrongs Make a Wrong

Three Wrongs Make a Wrong

In confronting the disaster of 9/11/2001, we made three mistakes which in hindsight have left us with a war that will not end until the apocalyptic scenarios of three religions play out to the satisfaction of each creeds’ fanatics. The first mistake was framing the terrorist strike not as a criminal act but as the opening shots of a war. The second mistake was squandering the capital of sympathy and solidarity with many nations and exchanging it for the false security of a coalition of the willing all under the banner of “you are either with us or with them.” The third, and gravest error, was falling into the trap of accepting the terrorists’ world view -that we are in a final war of religions, a crusade for us and a jihad for them. 9/11 changed the world, and we will have to face the consequences of our decisions for generations.

9/11 was unprecedented as a criminal act perpetrated on the world’s largest stage. It was well executed, but the use of suicidal airplane attacks is not an original one. Tom Clancy in 1994 turned a 747 into a kamikaze that was piloted into a Joint Session of Congress. Despite the carnage on 9/11, it was a criminal act originating from a cell of religious fanatics who claim to speak for all Muslims and not the actions of a nation state. The first action should have been coordinating the FBI, CIA, along with the Justice and State department in dealing with this as a purely criminal matter -international in scope, but ultimately something to be tried in Federal court.

By declaring it an act of war, it elevated the criminals to nation-statehood. Because these terrorists could not be easily found, actual nation states (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) were attacked. Over a trillion dollars were spent when bribes, a handful of car bombs, well-aimed 50 caliber rounds, and a six pack of cruise missiles could have done the job. We didn’t need to conquer Baghdad to hand it to the Iranians. Afghanistan could have been cleared out and righted years ago before we mortgaged our moral capital. We are now left with a region of misbehaving puppets -ours versus Iran’s. The only ones left acting as their own agents with their mission and philosophy intact are the same people who attacked us.

The second mistake was taking the view that the world was black and white when it has always been shades of gray. Simpletons, religious fanatics, and transistors cleave to  binary logic. At the time of the tragedy, nations almost universally joined in offering sympathy and condemnation of the crime. It was a crisis which offered many opportunities for positive action, creative diplomacy, and lasting peace. It was an opportunity which fatefully was lost in the rush for vengeance. The position that you are either with us or with the terrorists was frankly insulting to our friends who wanted to offer advice and encourage discussion and planning. By isolating us and watching us spend hundreds of billions in weaponry and incalculable costs in precious lives, sow hatred towards ourselves for generations to come, and tear ourselves apart socially and politically, all from the comfort of some cave (likely with satellite TV, internet, an espresso machine, and a Nintendo Wii), they have been winning this war. They have been winning by just surviving and waiting. Look at our country and think where it could be if instead of a trillion dollars conquering Babylon, we pushed a billion here and a billion there to get some nice targets. You don’t hunt turkey by making a lot of noise, and by blundering into Iraq and Afghanistan, we have flushed the turkey out of the kill zone.

The third and final mistake has implications for the survival of the species. All three Abrahamic religions pine for an end to this life that we have in stewardship of this unique and precious planet, to trade it all in for paradise explained variously as an eternal family reunion of those who didn’t go to hell, an eternal orgy with virgin girls for those righteously martyred, or an eternal time share in Boca. All three claim with absolute certitude that they are right and the others are wrong. All three have access to nuclear weapons. The moment that our war was declared a crusade, the implications of this struggle went from a search for perps to take back to Foley Square in lower Manhattan to a religious struggle of apocalyptic proportions. Our foreign policy became informed not by diplomacy and political history but the Book of John. This is not a little thing as people are constantly looking for signs on all sides. Where is the Mahdi/Moshiach/Messiah returned? Who is the anti-Christ? Who is the Whore of Babble-On? Everyone who has read Sun Tzu knows that you want to first set the battlefield. What should have been the greatest episode of Law and Order is grinding on as an ersatz prequel to Left Behind. So not Ancient Art of War!

But this is what we have begotten. Prosperity makes us soft, coarse, and ill-educated. I had the fortunate circumstances of private school education from high school to graduate school, and I met many very bright people, but also had to get on with many not so bright legacies who were allowed to pass and get the same degree with relative ease that I had to struggle mightily to get even the opportunity to get, being an immigrant. These idiot children of the wealthy, famous, powerful, or accomplished have to keep up the appearance of doing something important to fill that void left by daddy/mommy. They have invaded politics in a way to makes the Gilded Age look, well, gilded. They are joined by equally uneducated not as well off individuals who enter politics to push their parochial, moral agendas whether on the right and left. This union of the empty suits is a root cause of the sclerosis in our politics.

But particularly loathsome to me are those who yammer about family values as they fellate strangers in airport bathrooms, who espouse hatred for foreigners, minorities, or gay people, who cynically whip up the anger and support of poor people who they view with contempt and whose interests they betray in every corporate dollar they take from their lobbyist, whom, it seems from the news, are perfectly happy giving away money while on their backs. Who is the whore?

I believe in fiscal conservatism in times of prosperity. I believe in intensive care and active resuscitation when the country is in extremis and about to go financially flat line. I believe that war should be fought violently and totally, but only as a last resort, and not in creating a Maginot line “over there” built with the bodies of our brave men and women. I believe in the goodness of people and that religion has its place in the heart and actions of believers and not as an instrument of tyranny for a theocratic fascist state.

I believe that 9/11 represents an impenetrable glass wall that we return every day to look back through to a happier time, to see ourselves innocent of Abu Gharib, of a broken Iraqi nation, of a divided America, of our abandonment of rights that extend back to the Magna Carta, and most of all to see those still alive on 9/10/2001. I fear the solution lies in declaring the determination to blot out anyone and their neighbor who would strike the homeland and establishing this as our doctrine, as we leave the poor people of Iraq and Afghanistan to their fate. The alternative solution, to act in diplomacy what we have already done in war, by treating these Barbery Pirates as a nation state and sit at a table to discuss options other than annihilation is a fool’s dream that needs a generation to pass. The maintenance of mutual annihilation (and peace) became another just another government process during the cold war after the dangerous early decades. Like the Klingons say, “Only Nixon could go to China.”

[Via http://golfism.org]

Health Insurance Misdiagnosis and the Destruction of Medical Wealth

President Obama has repeatedly asserted that no alternatives to his health care/health insurance plan have been offered by his opponents. As recently as Monday, in his Labor Day speech to the AFL-CIO, he stated, “I’ve got a question for all those folks:  What are you going to do? What’s your answer?  What’s your solution? And you know what?  They don’t have one.”  The White House, September 7, 2009.

The President’s assertion easily may be proven as false as numerous proposals have been advanced. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, for example, recently released a thorough analysis of the problems in the health care and health insurance sectors and have recommended solutions to those problems. The report is titled “Health Insurance Misdiagnosis and the Destruction of Medical Wealth.” They also develop in much more exacting detail the threads in my last post. I highly commend the entire report and you may find it here. Be prepared for a large dollop of clear information, sound analysis, common sense, and very thoughtful recommendations.

For those just interested in the Executive Summary by Gregory Conko, it states:

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have proposed a major restructuring of the American health care system. They argue that Americans spend too much for health care of often dubious quality and that tens of millions of Americans lack meaningful access to health insurance. In turn, they have proposed structural reforms to the existing private and public health care financing systems that are intended to increase coverage, lower costs, and improve health care quality.

Most Americans agree that our health care system is broken and must be fixed. But it is increasingly clear that what ails health care is not too little, but too much government intervention. Federal and state tax preferences for employer-sponsored health insurance distort the market in a way that limits choices for individuals, reduces competition among insurers, and artificially inflates costs for health care services. For most working Americans, switching jobs often entails switching health plans and doctors or losing coverage altogether, while many others find non-employer-sponsored insurance unaffordable or difficult to obtain.

Efforts by federal and state governments over the past few decades to solve these problems have generated additional burdens and distortions, leading to increasingly bigger problems. To ensure affordable coverage for those in poor health or with potentially expensive medical conditions, governments have implemented guaranteed renewability, guaranteed issue, and community rating laws that force healthy individuals to subsidize those with higher health care costs. Many states require insurance policies to pay for niche specialists, including acupuncturists, pastoral counselors, and massage therapists, or to cover alcoholism and substance abuse treatment, smoking cessation, and in vitro fertilization. But these regulations further raise the price of insurance coverage, leading many healthy individuals to forgo insurance altogether.

Similarly, numerous state and federal restrictions on who may provide medical services and how they must be delivered have hindered the development of innovative ways for medical professionals to offer more convenient and lower-cost health services to consumers. A combination of government and medical professional lobbying has restricted the supply of new doctors, creating an artificial scarcity and contributing to rising prices. And medical products regulation substantially raises the cost of producing new drugs and medical devices, often without increasing their safety.

Instead of reducing these burdens, Democratic health reform proposals would impose more regulations on insurers, place mandates on individuals and employers to purchase health insurance, provide subsidies for individuals to pay for health care coverage, expand Medicaid, and create a new government-run “exchange” through which individuals and businesses could purchase strictly defined coverage from private insurers. But more government intervention will only add cost and complexity to the health care system; without solving the underlying problems.

As an alternative, policy makers should eliminate the many layers of market-distorting government regulation that have produced our current crisis. To truly reform America’s health care system, policy makers should:

1. Modify tax policy to eliminate the disincentives for individual purchase of health insurance and health care.
2. Eliminate regulatory barriers that prevent small businesses from cooperatively pooling and self-insuring their health risks by liberalizing the rules that govern voluntary health care purchasing cooperatives.
3. Eliminate laws that prevent interstate purchase of health insurance by individuals and businesses.
4. Eliminate rules that prevent individuals and group purchasers from tailoring health insurance plans to their needs, including federal and state benefit mandates and community rating requirements.
5. Eliminate artificial restrictions on the supply of health care services and products, such as the overregulation of drugs and medical devices, as well as state and federal restrictions on who may provide medical services and how they must be delivered.
6. Improve the availability of provider and procedure-specific cost and quality data for use by individual health consumers.
7. Reform the jackpot malpractice liability system that delivers windfall punitive damage awards to small numbers of injured patients while it raises malpractice insurance costs for doctors and incentivizes the practice of defensive medicine.

Each of these changes would help to fix our broken health care system by reducing costs and enabling better informed, cost-conscious decision making. By themselves, they will not guarantee access to health insurance among those with chronic preexisting conditions. But if we reform the existing maze of federal and state regulation, we will then be able to address the problem of the truly chronically uninsured. Because they are a fraction of the 46 million individuals who now lack insurance or government health coverage, it would then be possible to create targeted programs to help subsidize their health insurance costs without breaking the bank and without distorting the rest of the health care and health insurance markets.

[Via http://freedomcorrespondent.wordpress.com]