It’s getting to be a little like a ‘Price is Right’ scheme. Behind this window we have… and behind window #2… The difference is that no one knows how to score this one yet. There’s a bunch of hype going on, primarily by a not-quite-panicky Democratic leadership. But the Republicans aren’t that far behind in taking advantage of the situation either.
With President Obama telling his Democratic membership to pay no attention to your jobs… you must sacrifice your careers for the greater good… makes you wonder how many judgeships he has to give out? I want my bill and I want it now. Uh, ok Barry, but just how motivated do you think these folks actually are in following you to Valhalla?
There’s a bunch of political experts and pundits wading in on this one. With the count, and the amount, ratcheting up from day to day. That is the count: the price that this monstrosity is threatening to cost you and your children, and their children, and their children. The number: those politicians who are actually going to be bold enough to sign away the freedom of choice of the entire populace of this country for a very bad piece of legislation on a straight party line reconciliation (there’s that word that Obama won’t use anymore, it’s no longer newspeak) vote of 51 lawmakers.
As tone deaf, elitist and arrogant as these people are they do know by now that the consequences of passage of this horrible major piece of legislation, by what amounts to legislative sleight of hand, can only further infuriate an already up-in-arms electorate, and result in a political bloodletting of historical proportions. Maybe they don’t care, maybe they are willing to slit their bellies on the Capitol steps in the Democratic version of ‘taking the big one for the Ogipper’.
But not according to the count that I’ve been able to put together… not enough of them anyway.
There are a few votes that can go either way, Nancy and her smiling eyes and the White House are threatening and cajoling with unremitting pressure to bring the numbers around. At the same time the Republican leadership is cultivating as many no votes as they can manage, while the country is going out of their minds with outrage and shutting down Representatives’ and Senators’ phone lines and burning up the internet with faxes and emails, flat-out letting these people know that if they vote for this bill they won’t be around come November.
My count of Democrats is 34 for a definite yes, 32 most likely or definitely no, and 27 scared witless.
This is not a complete list, but it is indicative of the rocks and shoals that are looming out of the darkness to sink the health care garbage barge.
Ms. Bachmann (R-Minn), was just on the Larry King show, where she asked some excellent questions about how Snowbama goes about appointing judges… it would appear that becoming a judge is now about who you are related to…and what those relatives can do to advance health care.
Let’s follow the dots on this one.
A) WH summons ten democrats who are going to vote NO on HC
B) John Matheson (D-Utah) is one of the ten
C) Scott Matheson is appointed to 10th Circuit of Appeals
D) Both A and C happen on same day.
Is there any connection? The WH says any connection is “absurd”. Sure, it’s absurd, but that doesn’t qualify as a denial. It’s absurd for the WH to think the American People won’t see the connection. It’s absurd that we’ve dropped to a point where even our justice system can be sold in order to advance this. It’s absurd to watch the WH use Third World Dictatorships as a model on how to govern – what’s next? Arresting dissenters?
One look at the Corn Husker kickback, and the Louisiana Purchase, it’s clear this WH is willing to accept, tolerate and even encourage out and out bribery in order to advance their agenda. This should be a clear indication this socialized medicine is corrosive to our country. Bankrupt the country – that’s ok. Sacrifice integrity, ethics and even our justice system – that’s ok.
Well…it’s not. And it’s time we kill this health bill once and for all.
Folks, you have to let your friends know about this one. If they weren’t interested in politics, then get them interested. This is one more indication of how much the WH is willing to destroy America, just to get their way. We have to raise our voices even louder. Get a megaphone. Get serious about it.
Sometimes I wonder why I even bother doing this show anymore. Is it really having an impact? Are people really waking up, or are we seeing more of the same crap thrown at us every single day.
In all honesty, this has got to be one of the most frustrating time periods in our country. We have a radical progressive movement that is fast tracking the rapid expansion of government and very few republicans in the house to stop it. If that weren’t bad enough, we have these morons on the fringe who think everything they see is a conspiracy threatening our national sovereignty, personal freedoms and individual well-being. In many cases these wing nuts are just as bad if not worse than some of the people on the left.
On a typical news day we have some one like Harry Reid making some obscure comment about how we should celebrate the fact that we only lost 36,000 jobs in a month, or we have Pelosi dropping a line about how honest and ethical her congress are. These two individuals are examples of some of the most arrogant self-centered agenda-driven individuals in power today. It is an agenda that must be defeated via election before too much damage can be done.
Having to fight the information battle against many on the left would not be so bad if it weren’t for the borderline anarchist separatists that disguise themselves among the independents in our voting demographic. The most recent act of violence was by a man who released a chilling video about his grievances with the establishment before attempting failed attack (fortunately for the pentagon officials). Already the lefty scream machine has tried to paint this guy as a conservative. The problem is, having grievances with government is not an inherently conservative viewpoint and people must understand this. The point is not to rebel against the establishment but to help vote people in with the proper leadership skills to take care of this country.
As conservatives it is paramount that you distance yourselves from anyone calling for revolution and anyone who won’t rebuke violent acts. That is not what we are about and is not a recipe for taking back this country. I can’t tell you how frustrating it has been to sit and listen to people try and come up with an explanation passing blame on the government for why this citizen would have acted in the way he did. It’s unacceptable, yet some people do it.
It’s important to make sure that we keep the overall message in tact and focused. We live in the greatest country in the world, with some of the greatest people the the world that live here. Remember the key to 2010 is getting united. Hang the third party ideas and get out of here if your res presenting a tater wedge self interest. It’s time to restore constitutional principal to this land once again. People do hear you, it may not be as loudly as you may wish, but they do hear you. Every little bit helps and we can all make a difference.
So call me crazy if you want to but i don’t believe it for a second considering many of those same blue dogs crumbled below promises of new jobs and previously a version of the health care bill was rammed through. This time around i don’t buy it either they can say they are against it blah blah blah but really in the end they only care about there jobs and hell if they get a promise of money or a better position in there state they will vote for it
Lieberman is a classic example of one that as many of you know came out backing McCain and it really appeared like he was dead set against battling this health care bill but when the time came to vote he folded and voted anyways to pass it
Those in power right now ala the democrats are nothing more than a Mafia of there own with Obama being the Don. Let’s his most recent words, “We will consider a few republican ideas” okay that sounds wonderful but what he is really saying is we will “consider” a few but guess what folks were not starting over and we are shoving this thing through and i have no doubt they will shove it through either
At the end of the day these “blue dogs” need to find a new job because they are not representing anything but themselves and the money for a new project in there state
In the words of my liberal friend Corey when talking to him about a month ago he had this to say about the president whom he voted for, “This is not change this is bullshit Chris”
Another take on the situation as i see it feel free to comment and i welcome a discussion if you agree with me wonderful and on the same hand if you don’t then tell me why and we can talk about it
I think a big problem with what is going on in the US Government today is that most people don’t really understand what’s happening. That’s because it’s complicated and because lots of jargon (technical language from different fields) is used that further complicates things.
One issue that is going on today is that of Government Intrusion– the government getting involved with things in the wrong ways. I’d like to use the recent financial bailouts in the US and the issue of “deregulation/regulation” to explain why this matters.
Understanding “Regulation” and “Deregulation” (Big Government Intrusion)
Whereas Republicans and Libertarians and many Independent voters are in favor of SMALLER government, Democrats and Socialists are for BIGGER government—that is a crucial distinctive to understand. Let’s first look at Capitalism.
Capitalism and Deregulation in Plain English
In Free Market Capitalism, the government allows supply-demand (business) to govern whether companies win or lose—whether they succeed or fail. In other words, in Free Market Capitalism, the government’s job is to create laws that ENABLE businesses to succeed and that “deregulate” them so no artificial barriers cause businesses to fail. That way, if a business fails it is because the idea was wrong or the leadership was poor, or the timing for the business idea was wrong: They win or lose on their own, and they bear that responsibility for their success or failure.
Socialism and Regulation in Plain English
On the other hand, in a more Socialist approach, Marxist ideas of economics are used. What happens is a few things.
(Photo: Karl Marx)
First, the Government chooses winners and losers. Instead of allowing businesses to fail, government decides who fails and who does not. So it chooses who will and who won’t get bailed out. So, instead of allowing businesses to fail or to force them to make hard decisions to change course and become successful, the government uses tax payer money to bail the business out. The companies it bails out then essentially become INCAPABLE of failing because they are funded with limitless supplies of printed money. But other businesses don’t get that bailout money, and are in danger of going under. That’s the problem with government bailouts.
Second, the Government begins to control private businesses by ‘owning’ them. When federal financial bailouts occur, businesses become (partially or entirely) publically-owned (owned by taxpayers or the government). And when government controls them, because a company needs capital/money, the government gets ‘shares’ of that company and may then have a “controlling interest” in the company. That’s another way of saying they get to call the shots.
One recalls when the US Government bailed out General Motors recently. Rival companies Ford, Toyota, Honda, and others got no money—and could have failed. But then, since the government bailed GM out, the President of the United States was able to fire the GM C.E.O., set salary limits, and help decide which brands (Buick, Pontiac, Saturn) died—affecting thousands of US Workers. So the government chose winners and losers. It controlled businesses by owning them. And one wonders—no matter HOW BAD General Motors might perform in the future, now that it is essentially owned by the government, almost without question there is no circumstance under which the government would even ALLOW GM to fail, but no other car companies have that same guarantee.
The Point? Government was never supposed to get into the business of owning private industries. When it does, it becomes unfair to other private businesses and the government ends up using taxpayers money to help some taxpayers and to hurt others, which affects persons, families and their futures. That’s not right.
Friends of Refugees’ presented a list of recommendations to the National Security Council for President Obama’s comprehensive review of the U.S. refugee resettlement program (here).
Here are the specific recommendations for the State Department:Funding increase — The only circumstances under which the government should provide a substantial increase in the public’s already huge share of the funding for refugee resettlement is if there is a guarantee from the resettlement agencies and the PRM that “minimum required” services of the PRM contracts will be provided to the refugees, with appropriate and comprehensive mechanisms to ensure this. The PRM must also guarantee that a firm set of penalties will be enforced against any resettlement agency caught failing to meet the minimum terms of their contracts, and that PRM inspections of resettlement agencies will now be done on a more frequent basis (not once every 8-13 years as currently practiced). The PRM must also promise that inspections will not be pre-announced (advance notice of inspection as is currently practiced allows resettlement agencies to clean up and cover-up), that PRM monitors will speak with any refugees that community members have reported being neglected by their resettlement agencies, and that PRM monitoring reports will be made public in a timely basis (instead of the current three-year FOIA delays). The reports should be posted on the PRM website as soon as practical after completion. They must also promise that there will be no more continued efforts to shield refugee resettlement agency failures from public scrutiny by failing to include vital information in the monitoring reports. They must also promptly returns calls from members of the media.
Revolving door — In addition, the problem of refugee resettlement agencies’ inner influence of the PRM via the revolving door needs to be seriously addressed. Almost all of the Refugee Admissions Office officials and monitors are former refugee resettlement agency employees, with corresponding interests and sympathies. This is not healthy for a truly objective oversight relationship with the resettlement agencies, whom they are entrusted to monitor from a neutral, critical vantage point.
For example, our group regularly forwards, to the PRM, refugees’ reports of neglect at the hands of their resettlement agencies, reports that involve agencies failing even to provide the minimum required services. We never ask for any confidential information about refugees clients, but we do ask to be told what the PRM has done to address the problems in general. Yet, the PRM does not even bother to respond. There is so little accountability in the current system that the PRM has considerable capacity to do nothing without any significant risk that they will be held accountable. The “public/private partnership” arrangement, which pairs mostly public funding with a tiny amount of private funding, has been expanded in thinking to neutralize the necessary government authority to oversee and enforce even basic rules of the program. The near familial relationship they have with the VOLAGS and resettlement agencies must come to an end.
- The PRM must start reform by finally beginning to enforce all minimum requirements.
- Increase frequency of monitoring visits to resettlement agencies to at least once very 2-4 years, instead of the current once every 8-13 years.
- Monitoring visits must no longer be pre-announced, but should be surprise visits, so that real, typical conditions at those agencies may be observed.
- They must stop forwarding to resettlement agencies details of specific refugee cases that have been reported as neglected or abused before government oversight agencies have first had a chance to look at the case files for those cases.
- Resettlement agencies are allowed to have anchor relatives and sponsors perform core refugee resettlement services, yet are still paid for providing these services. This encourages the agencies to dump as much work as they can on anchor relatives and sponsors. In monitoring reports we repeatedly see that resettlement agencies must be continually warned by monitors that core services are ultimately the responsibility of resettlement agencies, not anchor relatives. The resettlement agencies should transfer R&P money to anchors after resettlement agencies have verified core services and material items have been provided, instead of keeping the money as they currently do.
- The PRM must provide an action plan on how they will address the weaknesses of the programs, and then post these on their website for the public to view.
- VOLAGS investigating themselves (their affiliates) does not work. The PRM must investigate immediately when problems are reported by the media and the public. VALAGS will still be required to monitor their affiliates and report problems before they reach these crisis level.
- Add to Operational Guidance list: Irons, curtains, wallets, phones and phone service, stamps & envelopes, dictionaries, umbrellas, vacuums (an LSSND refugee’s Fargo apartment with children was heavily infested with roaches because there was no vacuum for a mostly carpeted apartment), phones & phone service, high-chairs for children, watches. (We wrote to Theresa Rusch, Director/Refugee Admissions, on August 13, 2005 about the need for these items to be in the Operational Guidance. She never responded)
- In addition, the Operational Guidance has no specific requirements for basic children’s items, e.g. cribs, toddler beds, play pens, car seats, boosters, high chairs, strollers, diapers, blankets, bottles, sippy cups, etc. (Our case study of LSSND shows that these items are rarely provided to refugees with children. The PRM does not consider LSSND as out of the ordinary, as the agency was not admonished for any serious deficiencies in the PRM’s most recent monitoring report).
- Competency standards for community/cultural orientation, with periodic tests of refugees’ knowledge. Add more necessary basics, e.g. teach how to address envelopes, American bills and coinage, need for filing income taxes, rights when dealing with the police, basic Constitutional rights, understnding their apartment leases and what the rules are for moving out, how to deal with a hostile landlord, how to change address at post office, need to turn off utilities when moving, van tours of town to show refugees where things are (not just pointing to places on a map), where to gets quarters for laundry, etc.
- Performance rewards and punishments for refuge workers to incentivize work, since they have no paying customers. (Safe jobs for refugee workers are bad news for refugees.)
- Religion-affiliated refugee resettlement agencies should not ask potential volunteers from the community about their religious or “spiritual” status or views, or asking volunteers to be committed to their religious or spiritual values, e.g. a dedication to the mission of Jesus. All interested members of the community should be welcomed without having to submit to a religious interrogation in person or on an application. (Some cities and towns in the U.S. only have faith-based refugee resettlement organizations, e.g. Spokane, which has World Relief and Catholic Charities. Why should any member of the community who wishes to help this public refugee program be discriminated against by these private contractors?)
- Refugee clients should rate the work of their resettlement agencies, and their feedback should be posted on the PRM website for the public to read. The PRM should tie those ratings to numbers of refugees to be placed with the agencies., i.e. unhappy refugees means less refugees assigned to the resettlement agency.
- The PRM must require that refugee resettlement agency caseworkers give their business card to each refugee case, listing their name, phone number, and hours they may be contacted. Voice mail messages left by refugees must be returned within 24 hours. An emergency after-hours phone number must also be listed.
- Refugees must never be required to sign any forms, including apartment leases, without an thorough explanation of what they are signing and with an interpreter present if they have limited English, as the majority of refugees have.
- Travel loan repayment letters must be provided in English as well as written in the refugee’s language.
- Posting PRM refugee resettlement agency monitoring reports on the State Dept. website, and timely.
- Opening up funding increase considerations to the public, instead of just relying on the resettlement agencies to decide how much government funding they should receive.
- Allowing the public from local communities to give their input into local refugee resettlement efforts.
- Establishing a hotline for the public to report “hotspots” in the program, and posting those comments where the public can view them.
- Requiring resettlement agencies to show how much of their funding for refugee resettlement is from various government agencies, and how much is from truly private sources (990 forms since 2008 no longer have this simple disclosure), including what percentage comes from each (in-kind donations and donated labor must be subtotaled). Posting this information on the PRM website.
- Providing email addresses or a web form for the public to reach employees of the PRM’s Office of Admissions.
- Disclose in detail all PRM funding for each VOLAG and resettlement agency, and make it easily accessible to the public.
- Reduce number of refugees being resettled to states that community groups and members of the public report as having a state refugee coordinator and/or other state officials who are un-responsive and/or ineffective at resolving refugee abuse and neglect. (Evidence such as emails may be requested that demonstrate non-responsive or ineffective state officials, regardless of whether or not this evidence comes from state residents or non-residents.)
Subject: Read what a White Reporter wrote about President Obama ==>
All I can say is AMEN!!!! AMEN!!!!
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good!
This article should be shared with all people.. it proves that we must continue to pray for President Obama and the first family.
This is a MUST read which resonates with at least 90% of the world. Please, please pass this one on, even if you have to print it and mail it to your “computer challenged” friends and relatives. Don’t forget your Caucasian friends and “relatives”.
Read what a White Reporter wrote in a Georgia Newspaper (YESS)
Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in
Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.
Andrew M. Manis:
When Are WE Going to Get Over It?
For much of the last forty years, ever since America “fixed” its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, “When are African Americans finally going to get over it?
Now I want to ask:
“When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color? Recent reports that “Election Spurs Hundreds’ of Race Threats, Crimes” should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in “Bombingham,” Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of
comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than “talk the talk.”
Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.
We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent.
Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his
agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of
presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes.
Call for their impeachment, perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator
was non-political mental case who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.
But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we’re back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we’ve proven
what conservatives are always saying — that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president.
But instead we now hear that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to “assassinate Obama.”
Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, “How long?” How long before we white people realize we can’t make our nation, much less
the whole world, look like us?
How long until we white people can – once and for all – get over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color?
How long until we white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us superior?
How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?
How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?
I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners?
How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to
edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?
How long before we start “living out the true meaning” of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that “red
and yellow, black and white” all are precious in God’s sight?
Until this past November 4, I didn’t believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don’t believe I’ll live long
enough to see us white people get over our racism problem.
But here’s my three-point plan:
First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I’m going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him
and his family from us white people.
Second, I’m going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying, in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President
Obama.
Third, I’m going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can “in spirit and in truth” sing of our
damnable color prejudice, “We HAVE overcome.”
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It takes a Village to protect our President!!!
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(Photo: Karl Marx)