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.

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.

Robin Williams as the American Flag

This great video stars Robin Williams portraying the American Flag as only he could.  It's pure entertainment that will leave you just "feeling good".



[My thanks to Phil Hunter for forwarding this video]

State of the Union Arrogance

Once again, the voice of the people has fallen on deaf ears!  Last night, at his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made it clear he has no intention of changing the arrogant course set by him and his administration during his first year in office.  Despite an overwhelming mandate by the citizens of this country, this Administration dismissed the TEA PARTY movement and the shocking GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION  RESULTS in Virginia and New Jersey where angry citizens threw out incumbent liberal Democratic governors.  With his State of the Union address last night, the President made it clear he is, also, ignoring the resounding message the people of Massachusetts sent when they handed a historic defeat to Democrat Martha Coakley in an election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, ending a 38 year Democratic reign in that state.

These events have one thing in common.  THE PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE THE DIRECTION THIS ADMINISTRATION IS TAKING THEIR COUNTRY, AND THEY ARE FED UP WITH BEING IGNORED!  Scott Brown, who defeated Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, summed up the message. He was against the Healthcare bill, Cap and Trade, unbridled spending, Mirandizing terrorists and trying them in civil courts.  Most importantly, he stated that members of Congress WORK FOR THE PEOPLE; that their election to office does not give them the right to ignore the people's will.

The President's speech, last night, was not a "State of the Union" address.  It was another "campaign" speech; and an arrogant one at that.  Throughout the hour and fifteen minute speech, I didn't, once, hear him mention the "state of the Union".  If he did, it got lost in all the political rhetoric.  He spent the majority of the speech drawing political lines and chiding groups that opposed his agenda. He arrogantly reinforced his intention to pass Healthcare, EVEN THOUGH THE PEOPLE WERE AGAINST IT!  He did the same with CAP AND TRADE.  His plan for a SPENDING FREEZE would not go into effect until 2011, would LOCK IN THE MAMMOTH SPENDING INCREASES OF 2009 AND 2010 and would be a "drop in the bucket" compared to the MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS his programs will create.  To think the American people would buy into this "sleight of hand" is an insult to their intelligence!

Rather than deliver a true "state of the Union", the President arrogantly LECTURED the Congress, Supreme Court and government agencies on how to do their jobs.  At the same time, he widened the partisan gap between the parties by publicly embarrassing the Republicans, accusing them of opposing anything proposed by the Democrats.  I have never seen this kind of admonishment in a State of the Union address, and it is undignified of a president to resort to this tactic.  He continues to blame the ills of the country on former President George W. Bush.  IT IS, NOW, THE BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENCY AND HAS BEEN FOR A YEAR!  The people are tired of that worn out excuse.

During the speech, President Obama showed brazen disregard for the CONSTITUTIONAL SEPARATION OF POWER which created three EQUAL, INDEPENDENT branches of the Federal Government (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) to ensure no single entity acquired too much power.  HE PUBLICLY HUMILIATED THE SUPREME COURT for their decision in a recent campaign funding case.  He, even, had the audacity to reference the "Separation of Power" when he admonished them!  In its unprecedented grab for power, the Obama Administration has continually ignored and violated our Constitution (see my article, The Oath of Office and Political Action).  Once again, I have never seen that kind of admonishment in a State of the Union address.

In the end, the things said by the President during this State of the Union address ring hollow and meaningless.  Talk is cheap.  Actions count.  This President made many promises during his campaign:  Unprecedented transparency (CNet coverage of bill negotiations, posting all bills on the Internet for five days before signing), limits on lobbyists, earmark reform, and more.  Unfortunately, he has reneged on all of them.  And with all the rhetoric, the President made no mention of THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.  To the contrary, the defiant message was that he and his Administration were redoubling their efforts to enact the very legislation that the people said they do not want.

It's back to business as usual inside the beltway.  But the people will have their turn.  Elections are coming!

Fun Flying Fighter Style

As you know, we have serious issues to deal with every day; some of the most serious issues of our lifetime.  Tonight, the President will give his State of the Union address to the country.  Occasionally, we need a break.  Below, is a two minute video taken inside the cockpit of an F-18 fighter, accompanied by some some great music.  It shows the pilot launching from an aircraft carrier and performing some great aerobatics.  Take a few minutes to escape your day.  This is a video everyone can enjoy.  For my "gray haired " ex-fighter pilot colleagues, this will bring back some great memories.  Turn your volume way up and enjoy!

[My thanks to Rick Douglas '75 for this video]