Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me.

I just ran across a wonderful website to which I have pledged my support, Remember November.

In the spirit of their motto, "Remember[ing] November so we can return America to its founding principles of freedom, personal responsibility and economic liberty," I thought it appropriate to list the multitude of new boards and commissions which the new health care bill created.  Come November, these will surely help all those newly laid off legislators and their families, who will be re-locating from Washington when the American people send Congress and President Obama a giant, pink love letter at the ballots.

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1. Grant program for consumer assistance offices (Section 1002, p. 37)
2. Grant program for states to monitor premium increases (Section 1003, p. 42)
3. Committee to review administrative simplification standards (Section 1104, p. 71)
4. Demonstration program for state wellness programs (Section 1201, p. 93)
5. Grant program to establish state Exchanges (Section 1311(a), p. 130)
6. State American Health Benefit Exchanges (Section 1311(b), p. 131)
7. Exchange grants to establish consumer navigator programs (Section 1311(i), p. 150)
8. Grant program for state cooperatives (Section 1322, p. 169)
9. Advisory board for state cooperatives (Section 1322(b)(3), p. 173)
10. Private purchasing council for state cooperatives (Section 1322(d), p. 177)
11. State basic health plan programs (Section 1331, p. 201)
12. State-based reinsurance program (Section 1341, p. 226)
13. Program of risk corridors for individual and small group markets (Section 1342, p. 233)
14. Program to determine eligibility for Exchange participation (Section 1411, p. 267)
15. Program for advance determination of tax credit eligibility (Section 1412, p. 288)
16. Grant program to implement health IT enrollment standards (Section 1561, p. 370)
17. Federal Coordinated Health Care Office for dual eligible beneficiaries (Section 2602, p. 512)
18. Medicaid quality measurement program (Section 2701, p. 518)
19. Medicaid health home program for people with chronic conditions, and grants for planning same (Section 2703, p. 524)
20. Medicaid demonstration project to evaluate bundled payments (Section 2704, p. 532)
21. Medicaid demonstration project for global payment system (Section 2705, p. 536)
22. Medicaid demonstration project for accountable care organizations (Section 2706, p. 538)
23. Medicaid demonstration project for emergency psychiatric care (Section 2707, p. 540)
24. Grant program for delivery of services to individuals with postpartum depression (Section 2952(b), p. 591)
25. State allotments for grants to promote personal responsibility education programs (Section 2953, p. 596)
26. Medicare value-based purchasing program (Section 3001(a), p. 613)
27. Medicare value-based purchasing demonstration program for critical access hospitals (Section 3001(b), p. 637)
28. Medicare value-based purchasing program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 3006(a), p. 666)
29. Medicare value-based purchasing program for home health agencies (Section 3006(b), p. 668)
30. Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality (Section 3012, p. 688)
31. Grant program to develop health care quality measures (Section 3013, p. 693)
32. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 3021, p. 712)
33. Medicare shared savings program (Section 3022, p. 728)
34. Medicare pilot program on payment bundling (Section 3023, p. 739)
35. Independence at home medical practice demonstration program (Section 3024, p. 752)
36. Program for use of patient safety organizations to reduce hospital readmission rates (Section 3025(b), p. 775)
37. Community-based care transitions program (Section 3026, p. 776)
38. Demonstration project for payment of complex diagnostic laboratory tests (Section 3113, p. 800)
39. Medicare hospice concurrent care demonstration project (Section 3140, p. 850)
40. Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 982)
41. Consumer Advisory Council for Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 1027)
42. Grant program for technical assistance to providers implementing health quality practices (Section 3501, p. 1043)
43. Grant program to establish interdisciplinary health teams (Section 3502, p. 1048)
44. Grant program to implement medication therapy management (Section 3503, p. 1055)
45. Grant program to support emergency care pilot programs (Section 3504, p. 1061)
46. Grant program to promote universal access to trauma services (Section 3505(b), p. 1081)
47. Grant program to develop and promote shared decision-making aids (Section 3506, p. 1088)
48. Grant program to support implementation of shared decision-making (Section 3506, p. 1091)
49. Grant program to integrate quality improvement in clinical education (Section 3508, p. 1095)
50. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women’s Health (Section 3509(a), p. 1098)
51. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(b), p. 1102)
52. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(e), p. 1105)
53. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(f), p. 1106)
54. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(g), p. 1109)
55. National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (Section 4001, p. 1114)
56. Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health (Section 4001(f), p. 1117)
57. Prevention and Public Health Fund (Section 4002, p. 1121)
58. Community Preventive Services Task Force (Section 4003(b), p. 1126)
59. Grant program to support school-based health centers (Section 4101, p. 1135)
60. Grant program to promote research-based dental caries disease management (Section 4102, p. 1147)
61. Grant program for States to prevent chronic disease in Medicaid beneficiaries (Section 4108, p. 1174)
62. Community transformation grants (Section 4201, p. 1182)
63. Grant program to provide public health interventions (Section 4202, p. 1188)
64. Demonstration program of grants to improve child immunization rates (Section 4204(b), p. 1200)
65. Pilot program for risk-factor assessments provided through community health centers (Section 4206, p. 1215)
66. Grant program to increase epidemiology and laboratory capacity (Section 4304, p. 1233)
67. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 4305, p. 1238)
68. National Health Care Workforce Commission (Section 5101, p. 1256)
69. Grant program to plan health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(c), p. 1275)
70. Grant program to implement health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(d), p. 1279)
71. Pediatric specialty loan repayment program (Section 5203, p. 1295)
72. Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (Section 5204, p. 1300)
73. Allied Health Loan Forgiveness Program (Section 5205, p. 1305)
74. Grant program to provide mid-career training for health professionals (Section 5206, p. 1307)
75. Grant program to fund nurse-managed health clinics (Section 5208, p. 1310)
76. Grant program to support primary care training programs (Section 5301, p. 1315)
77. Grant program to fund training for direct care workers (Section 5302, p. 1322)
78. Grant program to develop dental training programs (Section 5303, p. 1325)
79. Demonstration program to increase access to dental health care in underserved communities (Section 5304, p. 1331)
80. Grant program to promote geriatric education centers (Section 5305, p. 1334)
81. Grant program to promote health professionals entering geriatrics (Section 5305, p. 1339)
82. Grant program to promote training in mental and behavioral health (Section 5306, p. 1344)
83. Grant program to promote nurse retention programs (Section 5309, p. 1354)
84. Student loan forgiveness for nursing school faculty (Section 5311(b), p. 1360)
85. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes (Section 5313, p. 1364)
86. Public Health Sciences Track for medical students (Section 5315, p. 1372)
87. Primary Care Extension Program to educate providers (Section 5405, p. 1404)
88. Grant program for demonstration projects to address health workforce shortage needs (Section 5507, p. 1442)
89. Grant program for demonstration projects to develop training programs for home health aides (Section 5507, p. 1447)
90. Grant program to establish new primary care residency programs (Section 5508(a), p. 1458)
91. Program of payments to teaching health centers that sponsor medical residency training (Section 5508(c), p. 1462)
92. Graduate nurse education demonstration program (Section 5509, p. 1472)
93. Grant program to establish demonstration projects for community-based mental health settings (Section 5604, p. 1486)
94. Commission on Key National Indicators (Section 5605, p. 1489)
95. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6102, p. 1554)
96. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6103(a)(3), p. 1561)
97. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 6103(b)(3), p. 1568)
98. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 6112, p. 1589)
99. Demonstration projects for nursing facilities involved in the culture change movement (Section 6114, p. 1597)
100. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1619)
101. Standing methodology committee for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1629)
102. Board of Governors for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1638)
103. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (Section 6301(e), p. 1656)
104. Elder Justice Coordinating Council (Section 6703, p. 1773)
105. Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Section 6703, p. 1776)
106. Grant program to create elder abuse forensic centers (Section 6703, p. 1783)
107. Grant program to promote continuing education for long-term care staffers (Section 6703, p. 1787)
108. Grant program to improve management practices and training (Section 6703, p. 1788)
109. Grant program to subsidize costs of electronic health records (Section 6703, p. 1791)
110. Grant program to promote adult protective services (Section 6703, p. 1796)
111. Grant program to conduct elder abuse detection and prevention (Section 6703, p. 1798)
112. Grant program to support long-term care ombudsmen (Section 6703, p. 1800)
113. National Training Institute for long-term care surveyors (Section 6703, p. 1806)
114. Grant program to fund State surveys of long-term care residences (Section 6703, p. 1809)
115. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 8002, p. 1926)
116. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 8002, p. 1927)
117. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 8002, p. 1931)
118. Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 8002(c), p. 1938)
119. Multi-state health plans offered by Office of Personnel Management (Section 10104(p), p. 2086)
120. Advisory board for multi-state health plans (Section 10104(p), p. 2094)
121. Pregnancy Assistance Fund (Section 10212, p. 2164)
122. Value-based purchasing program for ambulatory surgical centers (Section 10301, p. 2176)
123. Demonstration project for payment adjustments to home health services (Section 10315, p. 2200)
124. Pilot program for care of individuals in environmental emergency declaration areas (Section 10323, p. 2223)
125. Grant program to screen at-risk individuals for environmental health conditions (Section 10323(b), p. 2231)
126. Pilot programs to implement value-based purchasing (Section 10326, p. 2242)
127. Grant program to support community-based collaborative care networks (Section 10333, p. 2265)
128. Centers for Disease Control Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
129. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
130. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
131. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
132. Food and Drug Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
133. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
134. Grant program to promote small business wellness programs (Section 10408, p. 2285)
135. Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2289)
136. Cures Acceleration Network Review Board (Section 10409, p. 2291)
137. Grant program for Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2297)
138. Grant program to promote centers of excellence for depression (Section 10410, p. 2304)
139. Advisory committee for young women’s breast health awareness education campaign (Section 10413, p. 2322)
140. Grant program to provide assistance to provide information to young women with breast cancer (Section 10413, p. 2326)
141. Interagency Access to Health Care in Alaska Task Force (Section 10501, p. 2329)
142. Grant program to train nurse practitioners as primary care providers (Section 10501(e), p. 2332)
143. Grant program for community-based diabetes prevention (Section 10501(g), p. 2337)
144. Grant program for providers who treat a high percentage of medically underserved populations (Section 10501(k), p. 2343)
145. Grant program to recruit students to practice in underserved communities (Section 10501(l), p. 2344)
146. Community Health Center Fund (Section 10503, p. 2355)
147. Demonstration project to provide access to health care for the uninsured at reduced fees (Section 10504, p. 2357)
148. Demonstration program to explore alternatives to tort litigation (Section 10607, p. 2369)
149. Indian Health demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (S. 1790, Section 112, p. 24)*
150. Office of Indian Men’s Health (S. 1790, Section 136, p. 71)*
151. Indian Country modular component facilities demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 146, p. 108)*
152. Indian mobile health stations demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 147, p. 111)*
153. Office of Direct Service Tribes (S. 1790, Section 172, p. 151)*
154. Indian Health Service mental health technician training program (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 173)*
155. Indian Health Service program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 192)*
156. Indian Health Service program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 194)*
157. Indian youth telemental health demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 204)*
158. Indian youth life skills demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 220)*
159. Indian Health Service Director of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment (S. 1790, Section 199B, p. 258)*

*Section 10221, page 2173 of H.R. 3590 deems that S. 1790 shall be deemed as passed with certain amendments.

I Thank Obama

We just wrote a nice, long thank you letter to President Obama in our last post, but we thought we'd draw particular attention to the fact that, yes, President Obama actually DOES have a website called "I Thank Obama" where you can personally give thanks and "share why you are thankful for the presidency of Barack Obama."

The website comes complete with idiot-proof color-coded categories that stamp your comment as "Positive" if you have something flowery to say to Mr. Obama, like Patricia E. Coleman from Jonesboro, who gushes:

"I thank President Obama because he has given young Americans an example of hope...[and has] the intelligence and mental stability to keep his eye on the prize regardless of the distractions that are meant to throw him off course. I am thankful that he is a man a husband and a father. To me he is fearless. He accepted the responsibilty to help America through the horrible circumstances left to him of war near financial collapse unemployment and so many situations that have left American citizens in pain on many levels. I am thankful that he is mature and wise beyond his years. ...I wonder how many of those who protest the healthcare bill are without healthcare themselves. It is like not caring about feeding the hungry because your belly is full.."

Whereas, if you dare to question The Almighty Obama, Savior of the U.S., your comment gets flagged as "Critical," such as Jerry Jeseski's (from Newport News): 

"I thank President Obama for spending more in two years than George Bush spent in eight years. I can't wait until the taxes go up to pay for it all."

Needless to say, we're in the process of copying and pasting excerpts from our last blog one heart-felt "thank you" at a time, so our love notes can also be part of the historical book that will be presented to Mr. Obama on Inauguration Day in 2013.

~Gee

Thank You, Mr. President

Dear President Obama,

Recently, you expressed your amusement at Tea Partiers, those of whom have been the primary organized vocalization of the people’s frustration at the out of control government spending and corruption. Mr. Obama, you even had the audacity to suggest that the American public should thank you for the current state of the tax system.

Well, considering that the taxpayers employ you and pay your salary, I’d say you should be thanking us.

Mr. Obama, you should be thanking the top 50% of the earners in this country (those making over $26,000), as they are responsible for about 95% of the government’s income, according to the IRS. 

You should especially be thanking those making $60,000 and above (the top 1/4 of the earners), since this “wealthy” group is responsible for paying 86% of the nation’s federal income tax, also according to the IRS.


Considering that 25% of the population contributes more than 4 out of every 5 dollars that the federal government collects, I don’t quite see why you think we need to “thank” you for this gross abuse of the tax system and blatant wealth redistribution structure.  Likewise, considering that bottom 50% of earners barely pay any federal income tax (if they pay ANY at all), exactly HOW can this group thank you for tax breaks?  After all, surely you aren’t implying you offer tax breaks to people who aren’t paying into the system in the first place, are you?


Regardless, we recognize that since your approval ratings sink to a new low with each new day, we thought we would appease your desperate need for a pat on the back by offering our thanks for a few other topics.

So without further ado: Mr. Obama, thank you.

Thank you for your conceited, false belief that you can solve the problems of the world.  Thank you for your bloated self-love of yourself and desperate need to remind yourself how "great" you think you are.

Thank you for pandering to the unions, Andy Stern, and the thugs at SEIU, who beat a conservative African-American man unconscious who was handing out flags which read "Don't Tread On Me" at a St. Louis town hall meeting.

Thank you for paying homage to Mao on the White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room.
  
Thank you for Anita Dunn, whose favorite political philosopher is mass-murderer Mao Zedong, and all the other admitted communist revolutionaries you have appointed within your cabinet and who helped elect you.

Thank you for Barney Frank, who not only paid $20,000 (unreported to the IRS) to Steve Gobi, a male prostitute who later became Frank’s personal aide but also later had a relationship with Herb Moses, a “mortgage guru” and high-level executive at Fannie May from 1991 until 1998, who helped develop many of the sub-prime lending programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the housing market.

Thank you for Charlie Rangle, who “forgot” to report $75,000 in income from a rental property in the Dominican Republic, a rental property that he charged at least $500 a night to rent.

Thank you for Ron Kirk, your nominee for U.S. Trade Representative who owed $10,000 to the government in back taxes. 

Thank you for 9-11 Truther Van Jones, who after "resigning" from his Green Jobs Czar position, has been forever divested of his power and influence in your administration as he sits on the board for the progressive think-tank known as the Center for American Progress.


Thank you for your hypocrisy: “The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States.” – then, Sen. Barack Obama

Thank you for flying all the way across the globe to Copenhagen and making time out of your hectic schedule in attempts to restore honor and dignity to our much despised country and giving an enthusiastic pitch for the Chicago Olympics bid.

Thank you for earning winning   being given the first Nobel Peace Prize for participation.

Thank you for appointing Nancy Killefer as your "Chief Performance Officer" to monitor government waste, even with her failure to pay employment taxes on household help for 1.5+ years.

Thank you for Rahm Emanuel, your Chief of Staff.  Thank you for his failure to disclose +$100,000 in taxable income, and especially thank you for his “service” on Freddie Mac’s board of directors during which time that government-baked lender was accused of fraud for lying about their income back in 2000, 2001, and 2002.  Thank you for that generous contribution to 2008 stock market crash.

Thank you for Vincent Fumo, the former Pennsylvania Senator, who was convicted and found guilty for 137 counts of corruption, including defrauding the state Senate, etc. of +$3.5 million to pay for his private (lavish) lifestyle, in addition to racketeering, bribery, destroying evidence, and obstruction of justice... Not to mention his 1974 encounter with the law when he was the target of a 44-count indictment for mail fraud. 

Thank you for hosting dinner parties with ex-terrorist Bill Ayres.

Thank you for criticizing former President George Bush for playing golf during wartime, and thank you further for, in your first year and a half in office, managing to play more rounds of golf than did President Bush in his entire eight years in office.

Thank you for believing the American people are either too dim-witted or ignorant to either read or understand the health-care bill.  (Thank you for signing into law a health care bill that none of your Congressional supporters took the time to read before passing.)

Thank you for Charles W. Freeman Jr., your selected candidate to the National Intelligence Council, who had to withdraw his nomination because of questions about his questionable financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia.

Thank you for identifying Reverend Wright as your spiritual mentor.  His hate speech against our nation (and against white people) is an enlightening look at your “spiritual” philosophies.

Thank you for Monica Conyers, a Detroit City Council Member and wife of (D) Rep. John Conyers, who was involved in bribery.

Thank you for William Jefferson, who took more than $500,000 in bribes for business deals and was indicted on 16 counts of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and money laundering.

Thank you for Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, CA and your friend/ supporter during your campaign, who misused copious amounts of money from AmeriCorps, even though you fired Inspector General Walpin for obtaining proof of Mr. Johnson’s misuse, calling him “confused,” despite having personally co-sponsored a bill that should have protected Walpin from political retribution for his outstanding investigations.

Thank you for never thinking anything is outside of your reach or grasp - including the takeover of 1/6 of the American economy.

Thank you for your ties to ACORN, laughing when questioned if you knew about their brief month of de-funding, and lying bold-faced to the American people when you stated you were unaware that ACORN received federal funding.

Thank you for Cass Sunstein, head of the office of information and regulatory affairs, who has not only advocated bestowing legal rights on animals, but is now also championing the creation of fake websites and the employment of outside interest groups to act as independent supporters of government policy who would then infiltrate opposition (conservative) websites. 

Thank you for downplaying and failing to understand the threat of a nuclear Iran.




Thank you for having the most liberal voting record in the Senate. Our country might have actually believed your campaign lies about you being "moderate" and "bipartisan" had it not been for the proof available to us all via the internet.

Mr. President, thank you.

Thank you for opening our eyes as a nation. If it weren't for you, the public --your constituents-- might have allowed the long-standing precedent of fiscal irresponsibility and corruption to drag our country to a slow, painful end, but thanks to you, we're taking swift action to rectify the course of our great nation.


Most of all, we would like to thank you – thank YOU– for reminding us that our liberty and freedom comes from the Almighty God… and you, Sir, are not Him.

An Inconvenient Eruption

Back in March, a little-known volcano snugly situated under Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull glacier erupted, resulting in the evacuation of hundreds of local townspeople from the region.  This event received little media attention until less than a month later, the same volcano erupted a second time, emitting huge, billowing plumes of ash and smoke into the atmosphere. Authorities evacuated the local population again, and now, as a massive smoke cloud drifts southeast across central Europe, as hundreds of international flights are inconveniently cancelled, and as the world takes a renewed interest in how volcanic eruptions influence the earth’s geography, climate, and inhabitants, I can’t help but wonder...

Considering how there’s been a smoldering volcano gearing up to spew liquid hot magma out from underneath the glacier’s surface, why again did Iceland’s Reykjavik City Environmental Department blame the glacier’s melting on man-made global warming, predicting their glaciers would “completely disappear” within the next 200 years unless the country reduced its greenhouse emissions by 70 percent?

What about the President of Iceland, who constantly lobbied against former President Bush to visit Iceland in person to see the melting firsthand – when will he issue an official apology for blaming the melting of his country’s sixth largest glacier on America’s refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty?

Moreover, I'd really like to know, how in the world do you pronounce "Eykafkallajökull"? (Even with the audio pronunciation, I’m still baffled.)

Credit Limit Increases for Congress

Imagine today the household of Sally Spender, a likeable girl from Middleton, U.S.A., who earns $2,000 a month but spends $2,500. At first, she lets herself believe her spending habits aren’t a problem, because she has a great credit score and is obviously reliable, otherwise her credit card companies wouldn’t have given her hefty credit limits with low interest rates.  Besides, she just bought a house, and she’s got expenses that she needs to cover. That couch she just bought home via a 12-month no payment promotion? It’s just a temporary expense, and once it’s paid off, she won’t need to worry about any other furniture or appliances.

After a few years, however, Sally starts consistently reaching her credit card limit month after month so she starts pulling money out of her long-term savings to pay off her interest.  Sally realizes that she doesn’t have enough money to pay for all of her expenses, but eventually, her savings account is empty.  Still, she knows her bills are too big to ignore.  So what does she do?

Common sense tells us that if we were in Sally’s position, we’d stop our spending – immediately. We would sit down, take a good look at our personal finances, and decide what permanent lifestyle changes we’d need to make to stop living beyond our means.  Maybe we’d exchange the expensive phone data plan with a basic one.  Perhaps we’d stop buying a new dress every two weeks, cook our own lunch and dinner instead of eating out, drop the subscription to NetFlix, or do all of the above to ensure we don’t increase our debt beyond our capabilities to pay it back.

Common sense tells us for our personal finances when we are spending too much based on our income.  Common sense tells us when to stop spending and from where we can make adjustments to keep us out of financial trouble.

Common sense tells us that we can’t spend our way out of credit card debt. 

Our government, however, is ignoring common sense.  Congress is spending money it doesn’t have, and it is dragging the country into uncontrollable debt to do so.  We know from our personal finances that we can’t spend our way out of debt, so why does Congress think the rules of common sense don’t apply to their larger, federal budget?

Congress is still trying to brush off this issue as an exaggerated concern brought about by those crazy, fear-mongering, right-wing, talk radio extremists, because they don’t want the public to look at the facts.

However, the fact is, as of December, 29^th, 2009, Public Law 111-123 was signed into law to “the continued financing of government operations” by increasing their spending limit to $12,294,000,000,000. Less than two months later (on Feb 12^th, 2010), Public Law 111-139 was signed into law to approve a public debt increase to $14,294,000,000,000.

Yes, that’s right.  In less than 60 days, Congress raised their “credit limit” and our bill -- not once, but twice -- to allow them to continue increasing spending and increasing our debt.  In less than 60 days, Congress essentially gave themselves a $2,000,000,000,000 credit limit increase.

To continue the Sally Spender analogy (where Sally Spender is playing the role of the irresponsible, indebted federal government), it’s like saying that in order to get the credit card companies give Sally Spender a credit increase, her solution isn’t to examine her spending habits and stop spending.  Her solution is to ask her employer for a raise, so she can simply spend more and dump more purchases onto her credit card debt.

Sound illogical? That’s because it is.

The skeptical employer, by the way, is playing the role of the U.S. public.  After all, the public employs government.  We hire them, we fire them, we pay them, and we finance every single one of their operations.

Congress is our nation’s Sally Spender.  Sally never considered looking at her personal finances to address her spending problem.  She just wandered off to her employer with her outstretched hand, since she figured, if her employer already dumps a paycheck into her bank account at least once a month, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t give her a little bit more, right?

Common sense tells us that the employer would (and should) tell Sally to go fly a kite. 

Common sense tells us that the country’s debt is out of control.  Common sense tells us that Obama's measly $100 million budget cuts (hilariously demonstrated here) won’t be but a single drop in a very, very large bucket.

The federal government thinks it knows how to spend your money better than you do.  Well, common sense tells me that this simply isn’t true.

Happy Tax Day.

~Gee

iPad vs. oBamaPad

Just ran across a hilarious video satire of the Obama health insurance bill. Since both Elf and myself are avid Mac fans and committed critics of ObamaCare, I felt it was necessary to share this video.

        

As the iPad hits the market, I'm sure we've all, like those guys over at BulletPeople, have thought to ourselves: "If only the government passed a law to make sure that those people who can not afford an Apple iPad do not suffer the unfairness and indignity of living without access to tablet computing."

If only, indeed...

~ Gee

The Hippocratic Oath and Hypocrisy: Free Speech in the Era of Obama's Nanny State

Following the passage of the health care bill, Florida urologist Jack Cassell exercised his first amendment right to free speech and posted a sign on his office door which reads, “If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere.  Changes to your health care begin right now, not in four years.”  Dr. Cassell expressed his frustration with a bill that he believes will irrevocably harm if not ultimately destroy the health care system as we know it in this country, specifically the care he gives his patients.  Although Dr. Cassell, a registered Republican, did not refuse to treat anyone – including Obama voters, which he acknowledged would be unethical – patients who dare tread past his sign will visit a waiting room stocked with a variety of conservative pamphlets opposing Obamacare.  “This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it,” a waiting room sign reproves. 

In response to Dr. Cassell’s sign, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), the same congressman who suggested Republicans’ only answer to the health care is for the sick to “die quickly,” has now attempted to further quell opposition to Obamacare and the president’s far left politics of redistribution.  Most troubling, Grayson has pulled out the proverbial and all too often unfairly employed “race card” and alleged that Dr. Cassell’s sign is tantamount to a refusal to treat black people.  Rep. Grayson told the Sentinel that Dr. Cassell’s behavior disgusted him. “Maybe he thinks the Hippocratic Oath says, 'Do no good',” Grayson said.  “If this is the face of the right wing in America, it's the face of cruelty. ...Why don't they change the name of the Republican Party to the Sore Loser Party?”

While Rep. Grayson’s comments undoubtedly malign Dr. Cassell, I believe this is part and parcel of a more insidious agenda of the Bolshevik left in this country to systematically suppress free speech, especially political in nature, and to construct an “enemies of state” list.  The Fox News network is one such enemy that has met squarely with the opprobrium of the Obama administration.  President Obama has himself called Fox “troublesome” and “vitriolic” in an interview with CBS’ Harry Smith: 

OBAMA:  When you listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck --

SMITH:  It's beyond that.

OBAMA:  It's pretty apparent and it's troublesome.  But keep in mind that there have been periods in American history where this kind of vitriol comes out.  It happens often when you've got an economy that is making people more anxious and people are feeling as if there's a lot of change that needs to take place.  But that's not the vast majority of Americans.  I think the vast majority of Americans know that we're trying hard, that I want what's best for the country.

Maya Angelou has said, “If someone shows you who they are, believe them.”  Barack Obama attended Jeremiah Wright’s church for twenty years and absorbed his bitter, racist, and anti-American rhetoric, yet it is Fox News he deems “troublesome,” not the “damning” of the country he claims to love.  Like Peter, Obama denied his relationship with Wright, but his speech betrayed his disavowal.  On the campaign trail, Obama told us who he was, but we did not believe him:

“You go into these small towns of Pennsylvania like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them and they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.  And it's not surprising, then, that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustration.”

It’s not so much that this administration is against free speech; they are simply against the speech of those who refuse to fall in line with their agenda of “fundamentally transforming America” through the premeditated obsolescence of self-reliance.  Keith Olbermann spewed hate speech at the Bush administration from NBC for eight years, told President Bush to “shut the hell up,” because “someone had to,” and he didn’t have the “creativity or presence of mind to throw a shoe at him.”  Olbermann called on President Obama to prosecute former President Bush for war crimes.  Yet, the liberal media and their cronies in Washington remained silent as he utilized his pulpit to incite violence against then President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

President Obama has indeed divided this nation, but I believe that that is precisely what he came to do; while his propagandized campaign so artfully crafted an image of the future president as the great unifier, his fourteen months in office are instead a reflection of a man who came to divide and conquer.  Obama is who he said he was, and he is doing what he said he would do.

Evidence abounds that our first amendment freedoms are under attack, and there is no better example than the aspersions this administration and the lame-stream, State-controlled media have cast on the tea party demonstrators.  Despite any actual evidence, despite countless organized and peaceful protests, the tea partiers have been branded with the twenty-first century’s scarlet A.  On the day the health care bill was signed, Congresswoman Pelosi, in nothing short of a calculated photo-op, accompanied the Congressional Black Caucus to the Capitol building amongst a sea of tea party protesters.  Beneath the city of Washington exists a labyrinth of rails, the Metro system.  There was no reason, other than for the imperious pomp and circumstance to which this administration has crowned itself entitled, for Rep. Pelosi, et als., to walk above-ground to the Capitol. 

This wanton display, so patently self-aggrandizing, I conjecture, had a deeper motive to incite violence, or at the very minimum, to create a scene that would send a thrill running up Chris Matthews’ leg.  Undeterred that an altercation did not, in reality, occur, the administration fabricated one.  Racial slurs and invectives, they alleged, were hurled during the anti-Obamacare protest, the “n” word was called fifteen times, and a representative was spit upon.  The countless cameras surrounding the Capitol inexplicably failed to capture this vituperative rhetoric.  Had this actually occurred, it would have been a front-page headline across the nation, especially from those news organizations who support this administration’s proclivity for massive government expansion and industry takeover.  That it did not is a testament to the lengths this administration goes to impose its will upon a people it deems either too recalcitrant or dim-witted to realize what’s in their best interests.  After all, we have to pass the bill to know what’s in it.

More cries of racism have ensued.  Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tn.), during an Internet radio show, insinuated members of the Tea Party have an agenda of bigotry and hatred and have demonstrated a “hardcore angry side,” even “without robes and hoods.”  He alleged that the organizers have shown “opposition to African Americans, hostility toward gays, hostility to anybody who wasn't just a clone of George Wallace's fan club.”

            Americans have come to a crossroads.  The American people and tea party protesters are not radicals, as this administration and President Obama would have us believe.  The act of disagreeing with the policies and politics of a black president is not a smoke signal for racism.  We aren’t overly concerned; in fact, I believe we aren’t concerned enough.  We aren’t bitter clingers; we proudly cling to our faith and the freedoms our forefathers fought and died to bequeath, and when besmirched with false labels of racism and bigotry, we cling boldly to the Truth.  We see this administration’s socialist agenda corroding the Constitution, crippling the private sector, increasing taxes, and decreasing personal liberty, and we’re tired of standing idle.  We aren’t afraid of the bullying and intimidation anymore.  What we used to accept, we no longer will.  President Obama, you’ve shown us who you are.  Now, it’s our turn.

~elf