Monday, March 22, 2010

I Never Thought I'd Live to See the Day

Last night, after a year of arm twisting, back room deals, out in out, bribery and against the overwhelming outcry of the American people, an arrogant House of Representatives approved the Obama Administration's Healthcare Reform bill.  When history looks back on that night it will be remembered in infamy.  I will not, in this article, review the countless reasons this bill is bad for America.  That has already been done, and bemoaning the past does us no good.  However, as a man who loves this country and spent his life supporting and defending it, I am sickened.  I am witnessing the destruction of the country I love.   I never thought I'd live to see this day.  Our Constitution, the unique document that separates us from the rest of the world, defends our freedoms and that allowed us to become the greatest country in the history of the world, has been cast down and trampled by the Obama Administration and this Congress.  They are transforming this country to Socialism while vilifying Capitalism, the very system that made this country great.  At the same time they are bankrupting the nation's economy; not just the Federal Government's, but the States' as well.  I fear for our future, our children's future and our children's children's future.

House Minority Leader, John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) delivered an impassioned speech on the floor of the House, last night, prior to the vote.  It was one of the finest speeches I have ever heard.  It summed up my feelings better than I could hope to.  He admonished the Congress for what they have done to their honor, to our Constitution and to our country.  Watch it, below.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Urgent: Healthcare Reform Final Push

Congress is set to vote on the Healthcare Reform Bill on Sunday.  Despite the strongest outcry of the American people I have seen in my lifetime, the President and the Congress continue to ram this bill through by every means available.  They have used ARM TWISTING and out-in-out BRIBERY.  When that did not work, they CHANGED THE RULES.  First, they resorted to a procedure called RECONCILIATION in which the Senate would pass the bill with a SIMPLE MAJORITY instead of the required 2/3 MAJORITY.  Now, as passage in the House of Representatives becomes questionable, they are considering another loophole called DEEMING.  This process allows the House to vote on amendments WITHOUT FIRST PASSING THE ORIGINAL BILL.  By doing so, the original bill is DEEMED to have passed WITHOUT THE HOUSE EVEN VOTING ON IT!

This bill was created behind closed doors.  No one knows what it, actually, contains.  Speaker Pelosi stated that we need to pass the bill AND THEN find out what is in it.  The President, himself, told Bret Baier in a FOX news interview that AFTER THE BILL PASSES, THEN HE AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHAT IS IN IT. When the President took office a year ago, we were horrified to see him and the Congress pass bills that they had not read.  Now they intend to pass a bill affecting ONE SIXTH of our economy and TOTALLY CHANGE HEALTHCARE in this country BEFORE IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN!

Throughout this process, the President and Speaker Pelosi have been using the Chicago-style politics of BACK ROOM ARM TWISTING, THREATS and BRIBERY to force members of Congress to vote for this bill.  Estimates are that they are, now, within four votes of passing this legislation.  The President canceled his trip to the Pacific to step up the pressure during these final days with more arm twisting and back room deals.

Most doctors and members of the medical profession believe this new plan will severely degrade the quality of our medical care.  Massachusetts tried it, and it is bankrupting the state.  They are, now, asking the Federal Government for money to take it out of the red.  Statistically, the countries that have socialized medicine (Canada, Great Britain, etc.) have significantly worse survival rates and wait times for medical care.  And, make no mistake, THIS PLAN WILL RESULT IN RATIONING.  You, simply, cannot add 30 million people to the medical system without degradation.  There are not enough resources (doctors, hospitals, equipment, etc).  And, if that's not bad enough, hundreds of doctors say the new plan will put them out of business, thus reducing the number of doctors available to treat us.  The Mayo Clinic and Walgreens drug chain have already acted on their lack of confidence announcing they will no longer take patients under Medicare and Medicaid.  Doctors throughout the country are already refusing to accept new patients under Medicare.  The Federal Government tested the water last November with regard to rationing.  See my article, Healthcare Rationing Has Arrived.  I don't know about you, but I don't want the Federal Government running my healthcare with their track record.  Everything they run is corrupt, inefficient and goes bankrupt.  Have you ever tried to make a claim with Social Security?  How well is the Veterans Administration run?  Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt.  Even the US Postal Service (formerly run by the Federal Government) has never been financially solvent.  It lost 4 billion dollars last year and expects to lose 8 billion dollars this year.

Equally important is that no one really knows what the cost and effect of this new plan will be.  They claim they can add 3 million uninsured to the new plan, significantly reduce funding to the already bankrupt Social Security and Medicare plans, not adversely affect those plans and still  be deficit neutral.  How is that possible?  Worse yet, the figures they have shown are based on a plan we begin paying for immediately that doesn't go into effect for four years!  OUR COUNTRY IS ALREADY GOING BANKRUPT thanks to this Administration's runaway spending of the past year.  They are already imposing new taxes and working on more in an impossible attempt to make ends meet.  Moody's Investor Service warned, this week, that the U.S. is in danger of losing its AAA rating!  The financial analysis of this bill is being done with "smoke and mirrors".  Even the Congressional Budget Office finally succumbed to pressure from the White House.  What do you think this will do to the economic recovery we are hoping for?  The passage of this bill will put the final nail in the coffin of our economy and financial system.  As surely as the financial systems of Iceland and Greece have failed, so will ours.  It's simple math.  We can't continue to spend more than we have, print more dollars and survive (see my previous articles, The Dollar Bubble: Disaster in the Making, An Inconvient Debt:  Economic Apocalypse, and Stop the Madness: No More Bailouts ).

Finally, the American people have spoken loud and clear that they do not want Healthcare Reform in this package.  Most agree that Healthcare does need to be reformed, but an overwhelming majority of Americans do not like this bill for the reasons I stated, above.  They have risen up in a manner and degree I have never seen (Tea Parties, demonstrations, letters and phone calls to Congress) only to be ignored.  They manifested their anger at being ignored in the recent gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and the shocking election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts (see my article, The People's Seat).  Still, we have been ignored.

Yesterday, Congress posted the 2700 page Healthcare Reform Bill, starting a 72 hour countdown for a vote in the House of Representatives.  A vote could come as early as Sunday.  It appears the Administration is within four votes of passing this bill.  It is CRITICAL that our Congressmen hear from us.  This may be our last chance to take our country back.  It's High Noon!  This is the final battle.  Contact your Congressmen and tell them in no uncertain terms, if they vote for this bill, to pack their bags.  WE WILL VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER.

I URGE YOU TO GO TO THE "WRITE TO CONGRESS" BLOCK IN THE UPPER RIGHT OF THIS PAGE, TYPE YOUR ZIP CODE AND ENTER TO SEND LETTERS TO YOUR CONGRESSMEN NOW.  WE MAY NOT HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY.