The Unethics of Government, Lead by our President

Citezens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a left-leaning watchdog group, has released its annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress. And, strangely enough, most of the top-ten are Democrats.



On the subject of ethics issues and government officials, And according to Liveleak.com, Obama spent $20.3M to bring Hamas "refugees" to America. Well, it was part of H.R. 1388, which passed by the way. Don’t believe me? Here is the Federal Register entry on it…

Federal Register: February 4, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 22)
DOCID: fr04fe09-106 FR Doc E9-2488
Presidential Documents
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NOTICE: Part II
DOCID: fr04fe09-106
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:

[[Page 6115]]
Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009

Go look it up for yourself.



Obama also claims the fines for not carrying health insurance are not taxes. But, according to fact checking that’s a lie.

...the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation's health care system doesn't quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal clearly state that the fines would be a tax.”

It’s totally amazing to me how many times our President can lie, and not get called for it by the media. Left wing political watchdog groups I can understand skipping over it. But, the media not only downplays the all, but spends huge amounts of time attempting to marginalize anyone who tries to bring these lies to the light of day. How do I know? Check out this quote from later in the article:

Some liberals acknowledge that Obama might be vulnerable on the insurance requirement. But they say most people will understand as long as the legislation provides enough of a subsidy to make the coverage affordable. That's a central issue this week as the Senate Finance Committee starts voting on legislation.

Not only that, it goes on to quote a left wing group as saying whether it’s a tax or not is “a metaphysical question.” And, the media never even questioned that approach.



There were two other articles today that really caught my attention. The media and the President have been touting how much the economy is improving. They have been doing it a lot. So, explain today’s article about “10 Companies Approaching Bankruptcy”. It would appear with these big companies so close to bankruptcy that the economy is not as sound as our leaders would ahve us believe.

This was quickly followed by the article titled “FDIC Might Need To Borrow From Banks.” Turns out the FDIC doesn’t want to tap it’s credit line at the FED. So, they are trying to make banks foot the bill. Of course, the money would be borrowed, meaning banks would get some income off of it. And, borrowing from the big banks is just one option, but it is being seriously considered.

“Regulators also are considering levying a special emergency fee on all banks, charging regular fees early or tapping a $100 billion credit line with the U.S. Treasury, the officials said.”

Perhaps I’m just a bit naïve, but, aren’t these banks in danger of failing due to bad lending, and so forth? Especially the big banks? The same banks that are being told not to repay their TARP funds due to possible solvency issues? And, the government is now going to borrow from the same banks it bailed out?

The REAL Man-made God!

I had a really interesting…and frightening…thought today. But, have you ever considered how government is becoming like a god?

Let’s think about this for a minute. When things went wrong, people used to cry out to their deity of choice for relief. Who do we cry out to now? The government! Most religions have some clause where you give some percentage of your income to them to placate the anger of your particular deity. So what do we have now? The IRS! Most religions go to great lengths to keep you from finding out about other religions. So, what do we have? Separation church and state…where you can’t discuss other things or have government funding if whatever you does so! And, let’s not forget that every religion has all kinds of rules for proper behavior to keep your deity happy…or at least less mad at you. Dare we even discuss the size and complexity of legal code coming out of Washington (or whatever other world capital) these days? We can even carry out the Biblical analogy and say we have our own Pharisees and Saducees (feuding sects, a.k.a. Republicans and Democrats). This religion even has it’s own mouthpiece to declare it’s worthiness and greatness! Enter Mainstream media (MSM). And, finally, like all relgions, it wants to be incontrol of everything. So…we get nationalization of business and industry!

I tell you, it’s a religious monopoly! Government is forcing us all into religious service! It shuts down or marginalizes other religious views, defines proper behavior and activity, and demands out obeisance by threatening to not meet our needs. If that isn’t a man-made god, I don’t know what is.

9/11 Morning Report

Today is mostly a day of remembrance. When i first started this blog, I wrote something on 9-11. Those thoughts apply today, just as much as they did in 2006. So, before going on to current events, I ask you once again: Where Were you?

There was a pretty good article by Robert Tracinski yesterday about what President Obama is saying, and has said, regarding healthcare legislation. I would behoove us all to pay attention to what has been said, what is being said, and how it has changed during the so far short length of his administration. For example:

he assures us that "My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there is choice and competition." So how is it that he was recorded only six years ago describing himself as an advocate of a Canadian style "single payer" system — the very opposite of "choice and competition"?

This goes nicely with a great ironic little cartoon yesterday:




You can hear a lot of dissenting voices on what Obama did and did not say at the NYTimes article ”What was missing from Obama’s speech”. But, it merely echoes what I said the other day. The plan throws more money at the symptoms, but does nothing to actually control costs. Put another way, it makes great political hoopla, but actually doesn’t accomplish the goal. And,that basically means the conservative claims of merely being about government control and taxation could be the real truth of what is going on.


Meanwhile, there is the war effort going on in Afghanistan. And, thanks to so many months and years of anti-Iraq involvement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can truly say there is little support for increased involvement. That is sad. The U.S. has once again entered into Afghan life, and once again—this time because of Democrats—is deciding to run away before the full requirement is complete. The U.S. did it under Regan after the Russians gave up, and that let the Taliban take over. I wonder what will happen if the U.S. walks out this time? And how the Democrats will save their face. You should consider the sobering conclusions and thoughts of Michael Yon. He started recognizing the problems and potentials in Afghanistan before the pundits and politicians—just as he did in Iraq.

Big Brother Is About To Grow

Go ahead and post your comments on the White House’s publicly accessible sites. Just be prepared. The government is hiring vendors to market and store your information.

The National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a technology vendor to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years.

How much would you like to bet it won’t be just the information posted to their pages that gets examined, harvested and stored? For example, all they need to do is turn their page into an application at Facebook and it automatically shares all of your information. I’ll bet this gets billed as a means to hunt down threats to the President, but I bet all it eventually does is stifle dissent.


But, then again, that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Consider the President’s address to school children—just school children, by the way. Did you know the speech comes with accompanying lesson plans tailored to various grade levels? That’s the chief complaint from Republicans and other conservatives.

NBC spoke with Katie Gordon, a spokeswoman for the Florida Republican Party, who said the party's "beef" is with the accompanying lesson plans.

According to the article, people are calling those against the speech ignorant for keeping their children from being encouraged by the President. But, obviously that is not the goal. It is all about what the children are supposed to learn. That makes it an indoctrination event, using the basic definition from the dictionary (check this reference at Dictionary.com if you doubt what I say.) Maybe those accusing others of ignorance should better educate themselves on what is going in this case.

Speaking of ignorance, do you know what been going on with the money from the Stimulus package? Joe Biden gave of speech filled with praise on what the package has accomplished. But, the AP did a fact check that shows it isn’t as good as the administration would like it to appear.

(…and Obama wonders why his popularity is dropping…hmmm…)

Obama And the Ever Increasing Deficit

The AP article headline reads White House, Congress projects record deficits. Honestly, does this surprise anyone?

Both the White House Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit this year would swell to nearly $1.6 trillion, a record, and far above the then-record 2008 budget deficit of $455 billion.

Most of that increase is from stimulus spending. And, many are still arguing over whether the stimulus is actually accomplishing what it was supposed to do: job creation.

Meanwhile, there is a very important, and very over-looked, point in all of this:

Both see the national debt — the accumulation of annual budget deficits — as nearly doubling over the next day. The total national debt, made up of amounts the government owes to the public, including foreign governments, as well as money it has borrowed from itself, stood Tuesday at a staggering $11.7 trillion.

How many people realize the government has been borrowing from itself? This is one reason why Social Security is nearly broke. But, in the double entry world of accounting that becomes OK. I have money, I loan it to myself at interst, and that creates an asset to counter balance the liability. The problem is, in effective reality, the government is now out the money twice...and still can't pay it back.

And, the fiscal responsibility mud should get slung both ways. As much as the Democrats and the media slung it at Bush and the Republicans, we should expect to see it fly the other way. But, the media is already hiding things in these articles to gloss things over. For example, this article ends by saying:

The Obama administration did tout one number in its budget review: The 2009 deficit is now expected to be $1.58 trillion, $263 billion less than projected by the White House in May. That's largely because the White House removed a $250 billion item that it had inserted as a "place holder" in case banks needed another bailout.

The effect of ending on such a note is to say "Obama did good, so everything is OK." Which basically means the media will gloss over this. And, the American public will be hoodwinked again.

Oh! Haven't you realized? The media and government is playing the same games it did over the Vietnam War protests and 60s economy. Only this time, it's the liberals in control of what's being fed to the public.

(...my how the times they are a-changin...)

ACLU, Healthcare and the Socialism of America

I find it fascinating that people believe the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) has a high minded goal of seeing equal liberty for all. This is simply not the case. Have you ever heard of them taking a case to defend Christian rights? No. There are reasons for this. At its heart, the organization is Communist. Communist regimes have the state as God, since religion is merely a tool to keep the downtrodden masses in check. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the writings of Robert Baldwin, founder of the ACLU:

[There] I saw … fresh, vigorous expressions of free living by workers and peasants all over the land. And further, no champion of a socialist society could fail to see that some suppression was necessary to achieve it. It could not all be done by persuasion. … [I]f American champions of civil liberty could all think in terms of economic freedom as the goal of their labors, they too would accept ‘workers’ democracy’ as far superior to what the capitalist world offers to any but a small minority. Yes, and they would accept — regretfully, of course — the necessity of dictatorship while the job of reorganizing society on a socialist basis is being done.”(From "Freedom in the USA and the USSR" , 1934)

Their goal is to change the way Americans think about liberty, and bring about dictatorial leadership by the state.

What, you ask, does that have to do with cap and trade and government healthcare? Simple. It leaves the government in charge of everything, which is the goal of a socialist or communist state—it is just a matter of degree. Manufacturing is openly being bought by the federal government, in the name of job salvation. But, only economic development and growth can guarantee jobs—not government, Financial institutions are being bought out by the government, in the name of monetary stability. That one may be arguable, but one certain thing is government doesn’t finance entrepreneurs because they are not looking to increase return on their investment.

Consider that government healthcare, as it did in Russia and most socialist states, will reduced the quality and quantity of available healthcare. Don’t believe me? Name the countries that have produced applyable medical breakthroughs. Most have been from the US. Research, high caliber no doubt, has come from many countries. But, real advances in medicine and industry have primarily come from the US. Senators and Congressmen are already saying this will change with the implementation of proposed legislation. If you don’t believe me, maybe you should believe them.

And, if you don’t like any of this, let YOUR elected officials know. Make your voice heard on the internet, in public discussions, and anywhere else you can peacefully take a stand. As long as the American people say nothing, this will go on until there are no liberties left in this country. As the old saying goes, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” What are you doing to bring change?

Consider more about Baldwin. He was a friend of terrorists who supported communism (Pedro Albizu Campos). He was a friend and supporter of those who were willing to murder their won people for political means (Ho Chi Minh). In fact, maybe we should just consider Baldwin’s own words:

"I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately, for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the properties class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal. It all sums up into one single purpose -- the abolition of dog-eat-dog under which we live. I don't regret being part of the communist tactic. I knew what I was doing. I was not an innocent liberal. I wanted what the communists wanted and I traveled the United Front road to get it."

You should also know that Baldwin maintained an office in the United Nations after his retirement from the ACLU, working as a consultant for the International League for Human Rights.

So…do you still think it’s all about the best for man as opposed to what’s best for the state?

The Benefit of Government Healthcare...and related lies...

Isn’t it interesting that since the Youtube video where Democrats announced they were out to eliminate the private insurance industry, the Democrats and the media are going to great lengths to make Americans believe otherwise? In their latest move, Democrats are faulting CBO calculations that government healthcare would eliminate private coverage for 23 million Americans. Always quick to cite Congressional Budget Office figures against Republican opponents, Dems are slighting the office for it’s work on this. Among other things, the CBO has determined the Kennedy heathcare legislation—which is not as broad as the one Obama is pushing--will also increase the federal deficit.

Enacting the Kennedy plan, nonetheless, “would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficits of about $1 trillion," says the CBO. "That estimate primarily reflects the subsidies that would be provided to purchase coverage through the new insurance exchanges, which would amount to nearly $1.3 trillion in that period.”

The CBO also noted this would break a key promise of the Obama platform that those with existing coverage would get to keep it. The NY Times had this comment in their article:

Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, a senior Republican on both committees drafting health legislation, said he found the office’s numbers stunning. He calculated that the Kennedy bill would cost taxpayers $62,500 per uninsured person over the 10 years.

Even at Sen. Hatch’s numbers, that is a huge expense—and Congress knew about that number.

I only have one question. Government is taking over business. Government is saying how and who can be insured. And, it has been said by one Senator that the elderly will have to do without some levels of healthcare. At what point do stop believing the media and our government when it says socialism, or even communism, is not taking over America?

Smoke and Mirrors from Obama and the Swine Flu

So much for President Obama’s “tax credit for all” package. The way it was written, it is actually creating tax liabilities for the poor. And, more importantly, nothing is being done to let people know.

At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.

The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.

Retirees get the latest $250 SSN check deducted from their eligible “refund. College students may not get to claim it at all. Yet, this was hailed as a package that would provide for these very people.

Now, I am smart enough to realize people need to keep up with their own tax issues. But, the whole thing smells like a cheap public relations stunt. That is especially true since the government is saying nothing even though they knew in advance this would happen. So, how come no one is saying “Obama lied and ripped us off again.”

(…tell me again why people believe the Liberals really care about the poor…???...)

And, in the continuing stories showing the stupidity over the Swine Flu, Mexico is reporting a drop in reported cases THE DAY AFTER closing businesses and offices.

Mexico started a five-day shutdown of most offices and businesses on Friday to try to halt the spread of a deadly flu strain, and officials said they were encouraged by signs the number of new cases was dropping.

Does anyone really believe that a single day of closings brought an immediate drop to the number of cases? That’s as crazy closing schools in Texas in hopes of keeping disease from spreading. The kids will go to malls and daycare centers while their parents work. That is not the type of isolation required to stop the spread of a dangerous disease. The WHO (World Health Organization)…

said on Friday that no meeting of its emergency committee was scheduled, meaning there was no immediate likelihood of the current level 5 alert being raised to a full 'phase 6' pandemic alert.

In fact, only mild cases have occurred anywhere outside of Mexico, indicating the spread is relatively limited. According to this article, the number of new cases being reported by hospitals in Mexico in the last 10 days has dropped by some 75%. And, while 176 deaths so far is a lot, 13,00 flu deaths occur in the US each year. This is a very far cry from a lethal pandemic.

(…do I really want to ask how dumb the media and government think we are…)

The problem this type of media hype could create is horrifying. consider all the false warnings the media gives...on an ever increasing basis. As time goes on, people will probably pay less and less attention. And, then, one day, the media will get one right but no one will pay attention. People will probably blame God for the problems. But, in fact, they were created by men and God simply let us have what we created and did not bother to fix. I pity the millions who will probably die in those days. I also pity the punishment that awaits those who brought it on.

The Banking Crisis, Anger and Islam

There has been a lot of media hype lately about the financial crisis. And, of course, the crisis has EVERYONE’S attention. But, what isn’t covered, or dealt with openly is the seething anger below the surface. This was best revealed on the Tonight show when President Obama was a guest.

Jay Leno described the immense dollar amounts of executive bonuses, and said

"I know what would make me feel better -- shouldn't somebody go to jail?"

At this the audience clapped and cheered loudly. In turn the President indicated that he understands the sentiment, but gave this reply:

"Here's the dirty little secret -- most of the stuff that got us into trouble was perfectly legal."

Actually, it’s not that dirty of a secret. But, it is true. It was all legal. One thing the media and government has not focused on is that most of it went on with Democrats in charge of financial oversight through the US Congress, but who said and did nothing about it. Their inaction caused a lot of this trouble. And the trouble has, in turn, generated is a lot of anger. As the audience of the Tonight show demonstrated, we are pointing fingers and demanding vengeance. And, what is being done to deal with the anger? NOTHING! ZIP! NADA!

Would you like to know why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world? At it’s fundamental levels, it justifies anger. Most religions do the same thing, but some are more codified about it than others. You have to earn forgiveness, favor from heaven, etc. Any structured institution built by men does this.

So, why is it that we expect government to be able to solve the problem? Due to the control factors, government obviously has a vested interest in not seeing this change. People need to pay more attention to how and why government, or any other institution, gains more control over situations. And, what government does not do to solve issues…like go after the ones who did not solve the financial problems in the first place (aka Barney Frank and company).

Only one thing is required break the growth of the anger in America. It is changed hearts. So, pray for America to have a changed heart, and for people to go out living lives from changed hearts. Otherwise, the anger is only making room for more judgment and anger, which can only be justified by a religion built on it--Islam.

(...i bet you never thought there was a real connection...did you?...)

My Rant On Debt, Debt and More Debt

Debt is scourge on the American people. According to America’s Total Debt Report, 2008 debt was $186,740 per man, woman and child - - 6.4 times higher per capita than in 1957. The report also shows that higher debt reduces the level of real national income while adding little to the economy. In fact, according to the report, every dollar of economic growth requires more debt per dollar than ever before. Consider this:

Household debt is made up of consumer debt plus mortgage debt. The Family Income Report shows real median family incomes stopped growing in 1970, and thereafter families tried to keep up by going deeper and deeper into debt ever since - at near 3x the rate of national economic growth - to an all-time high today. Consumer debt payments % disposable income are at historic highs. The Family Income Report cites the reason, with dramatic pictures.

This is just to give you an idea of what lies below the surface. There is a lot more in the entire Grandfather Economic Report series. You should go read it for yourself. All of his debt information is supplied from Federal sources, by the way.

Here is the question Americans, and even those abroad, must answer. If debt got us all into this economic mess, why do we believe more debt will get us out? Everyone should know that you can only leverage your earnings so far before you produce a diminishing return due to interest requirements. According to another source, “In 1946 the debt hit 121.7% of the GDP due to WWII, it's currently (as of 2003) at 62.4%.” These figures are referring to total debt—business, household, government, etc. What does that mean in real terms for today? According to a March 3, 2009 MSN Money article:

Consumer credit ranged between 12% and 14% of the GDP from 1965 through 1995. It currently stands at 18%. With the GDP at $14 trillion, the American consumer will have to shed $600 billion of debt to achieve a 14% level. It will take years of debt reduction and GDP growth to rebalance the economy.

Put in perspective, that means almost $1 of every $5 earned is paying for debt, rather than producing anything meaningful.

So, I repeat my question. If creating so much debt, which actually reduced economic growth despite driving industrial production, got the world into this economic mess, why do the powers that be believe more debt will get us out? Simply put, debt allows more goods to be purchased, thereby maintaining economic output, if not increasing it. So, in order to keep producing goods and everyone have a job, more debt must be created. But debt actually reduces economic gain after it reaches a certain size. That’s one reason why the US dollar keeps dropping in value as we create more federal debt.

The result of the banking and financial mess was the cessation of the flow of credit. No money is reaching the market. This causes people to be unemployed, because goods are not being produced, which causes a further drop in spending, creating a further reduction in spending, and more goods left on the shelves. In order to counter that, prices would have to fall. This is something called deflation. So, the Federal government is working to cause credit to flow again, by creating more debt. The result being that the viscious cycle just continues.

The one way to guarantee the cycle stops is to cease the increase of debt. But, that would mean 10s of millions of Americans, hundreds of millions of people world wide, would suffer catastrophically. And that is political suicide for anyone in a public office. It is, or should be, morally repugnant to most people. The alternative method is to limit debt, that is place restrictions on the ability to borrow—perhaps using long abandoned security requirements (such as 20% down for mortgages). Unfortunately, that would probably have the same result, just to a lesser degree depending on how limited credit actually becomes

The simple truth is Americans cannot continue to let debt continue to get out of control. We need to stop being the selfish cretins we have become, demanding government bail us out of the messes we create. And, we need to take responsibility for our own actions. I fear, however, that we have forgotten how.

More of the Same...

Washington needs to be very cautious making deals with Afghan insurgents? Really? Do you think the Obama administration will listen?

The International Crisis Group said previous deals had broken down within months and strengthened the militants.

Instead, it said Afghans needed a stronger state and the rule of law.



In its report, the Brussels-based ICG warned that previous truce deals with militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan "enhanced the power and activities of violent insurgents, while doing nothing to build sustainable institutions".

A timely warning given that US military officials say the administration is close to announcing the strategy. The question is will the media hold Obama to the standard? Or will they continue to soft pedal the warnings and push the liberal agenda of appeasement with the enemies of peace?

(…gee…do we really need to ask?...)


Meanwhile, the NYT reports another Democrat is caught in a scandal. With her husband as a major stockholder, Maxine Walters influenced the doling out of bailout funds for OneUnited, one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks. Ms. Walters did not even disclose her relationship to Treasury officials until later. Treasury officials claim the disbursement was made on the merits. Does that change the facts of impropriety? Does it really matter if it is a minority owned bank? Apparently it does to the liberal media. Just read the article.

(…just one more case of Democrats manipulating the finicial system…but not being held accountable…what a surprise…)

Bad Decisions...And More Bad Decisions

Well…no surprise…but another Obama nominee appears to be in legal trouble.

Obama appointee Vivek Kundra is on leave from his White House post following the arrest Thursday of one of his former colleagues on suspicion of bribery and money laundering.

Now, to be fair, Kundra is not actually named as a party in any of the FBI actions. But, it once again raises the question of who Obama associates with. Pre-election, he was bothered by conservative calls for definition and repudiation of relationships with several unsavory characters. Since his election, he has appointed several who have had tax-evasion problems. And, it seems the circle just keeps repeating itself. My question for America is when does the love of personal charisma give way to legitimate skepticism?

Kind of makes you wonder about another Presidential nominee.

Prominent Wall Street lawyer H. Rodgin Cohen has withdrawn from consideration to become deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary, Democratic sources said on Thursday, dealing another setback to the department's efforts to fill critical positions.



Cohen is the second person to withdraw from consideration for the No. 2 job at Treasury after former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Annette Nazareth decided to drop out last week.

What is it about our President that keeps him from picking people for important positions who do not have legal or personal problems that unqualify them for office? When you add it all up, it appears that the conservatives may have been more correct in their judgments than the liberal left has been.

(...didn't we hear somewhere that there would be no double standard for Obama's appointments?...guess the media really does recognize a difference between a liberal and a conservative...check the coverage levels for yourself...)

NEW US Healthcare Initiatives (...yeah...right...)

There is now another healthcare plan being proposed. The center point of this plan is to keep the government from totally controlling healthcare. This plan uses the availability of a government plan as well as private insurance. But, there is one small detail…

Every American would be required to have some form of public or private health insurance, and one choice would be a new nationwide government program for anyone under 65, the age when eligibility for the existing Medicare program begins.

Can someone please tell me the difference? Either way, the government is in control and be in the insurance business, making it one more Nationalized industry.

Speaking of which, did anyone else notice the report about exceptions allowing the sale of your medical records included in the Stimulus Bill?

Though the legislation says there is a “prohibition on sale of electronic health records or protected health information,” there are five pages of exceptions to the prohibition that include research, treatment of an individual, or a decision by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive the prohibition.

Now, I understand the need for combining data for research and so forth. But, since when does that involve SALE of data? And, since when has that involved the inclusion of personal and private information?

(…does anyone still believe the government respects your rights of privacy?...)

The Middle East And Middle America

How can anyone believe that the Arab world really wants a peaceful settlement in the Middle East? The Turish Prime Minister walked out (stormed was the word used by the BBC) of meetings in Davos over the Gaza situation. Then, in a meeting in Instanbul, Sunni sheiks and scholars called for a new jihad.

Mohammed Nazzal, a senior Hamas leader based in Damascus, challenged Arab governments to "open their borders and allow the fighters to come."

Delegates from all over the Middle East, and from Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan and Indonesia applauded as he stabbed the air with a raised finger and declared: "There will be no agreement with Israel... only weapons will bring respect."

Mr Nazzal told his audience: "Don't worry about casualties."

The Arabs do not want, and have never really wanted, peace with Israel. Consider, for example, missing explosives, under Hamas guard, waiting UN disposal that are now missing. Does it really surprise anyone that Israel is blaming Hamas for sneaking the weapons off. And, in normal anti-Israel media fashion, no one seems to be commenting on Hamas’ silence over the situation. And, then, there was John Kerry’s comment about the peace process. Speaking about relations with Syria Rueters reports:

On the possibility of improved relations with Israel following recent elections there, he said: "Betting on the Israeli government is a waste of time."

(…nope…no bias in this administration…)

Meanwhile, at home, the Obama Administration is figuring out how to limit executive compensation. A Reuters news report said something stunning:

Many analysts say the government's activities in pumping massive amounts of capital into banks and setting rules for executive pay for those receiving funds represents the greatest intrusion of government into the private sector in decades.

Is there really any question on this issue? The government is nationalizing banks, and perhaps other industries. It is deciding what employees (executive or otherwise) can and cannot be paid. And, nothing of this scope has been done in America since the 1930s. The Stimulus Plan does not “represent” the biggest move of government into the private sector. It IS the biggest such move in America. And, it certainly is not what America’s founding fathers had in mind when they strove to create limited government and maximum personal freedom.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

(...you might also want to go read The Mind of the Obama Follower does not understand that Tax and Wage Increases on Business Hurts The Middle Class...well worth it...)

02/15 Obama, Healthcare, and the Lack of Debate

There were three news reports from Friday that I found VERY interesting. They all revolve around the Stimulus package that many expect to rejuvenate the economy. All are from CNSNews. You can claim bias all you want to…but the reports should be disturbing to everyone…

First, a Democrat says no one will have time to even read the Stimulus Bill before it has to be voted on.

The first PDF was 424 pages long and the second PDF was 575 pages long, making the total bill 999 pages long. The House is expected to vote on this 999-page bill Friday, and the Senate either later Friday or Saturday. [Editor's note: The first PDF, as posted on the House Appropriations Committee website as of 8:20 AM Friday morning, had grown by 72 pages to 496 pages, increasing the length of the total document to 1,071 pages.]

If you had any illusions that there would be reasonable debate, discussion or even understanding of the whole thing, you were sadly mistaken.

Second, we now have a new government agency that will have possession and control of all medical records. This was slipped into the bill without debate. And, although Bloomberg News reported on this agency that will have a budget bigger than the US military, no one raised a fuss or demanded explanation. It’s amazing that the American people would scream and shout over the excesses of the Bush administration, without oversight, but say nothing of such an expensive agency.

And, that brings us to the third report. It seems that The Guardian is reporting the British centralized records system isn’t working like it should.

An NHS hospital boss criticised the new computerised medical records system today, saying it had cost his trust an extra £10m and meant fewer patients could be seen.

Andrew Way, chief executive of Hampstead's Royal Free hospital, in north-west London, said his staff were "incredibly disappointed" with the IT upgrade on trial at the hospital since last summer.

The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) aims to create a centralised medical records system for 50 million patients in England at a cost of more than £12bn.

The article goes on to cite some very strong privacy concerns, since pharmacists would be able to see the entire record—not just doctors.

So, for everyone who thinks this is the best thing since sliced bread…maybe you should reconsider. Are the expected benefits of an agency that will have the authority, in the future if not now, to control healthcare access and spending really going to be worth it? Maybe taking subsidies away from drug manufacturers and no longer propping them up by restricting alternative medical means would accomplish more to reduce costs. Which, of course, begs the question since government subsidizes so much of healthcare technology and drug research…why are costs rising so sharply?

(…either way…government has near total control of medicine…I hope everyone is happy with it…)

02/12 Obama's Stimulus "Victory"

Well…the “Stimulus Plan” is one step closer to passing. It made it through the Senate yesterday. But, that wasn’t really a surprise to anyone. After all,

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, complained that despite Mr. Obama’s call for bipartisan cooperation, Republicans had largely been shut out. “We didn’t have a chance to negotiate,” Mr. Grassley said.

It is very difficult to get much disagreement when, having the majority and needing little help from opponents (3 Republicnas), you can shut off input and debate.

In the same article, I found something else that was quite frightening.

The White House is considering a prime-time bill signing ceremony, and on Wednesday asked the television networks if they would air the event.

Obama is running government on public opinion like no one has before him. As we all know, polls and opinions are fickle. They change on a whim. More than one government has been established on setting, controlling, or living by public opinion. And, they have all failed, leaving their nations in worse state than they were before. The design of the Constitution was such that public opinion would be separated, as much as possible, from the legislative process to allow careful deliberation and appropriate action. I still very much want to remind people of my comments yesterday. Government, by design, is supposed to move slowly—not taking immediate action on every whim of the people. We see all the ramifications of rapid changes and actions taken by the Bush administration. Do we really believe the same speed of action by the Obama administration will produce better results? I think we are going to get much more than we bargained for from this President who runs on Charisma and persona rather than decision making skill.

Indecisive Leadership

Should we be surprised at the "Stimulus Package" announcement? Not really. Geitner's announcement was so full of vague there was no substance to it at all. It was almost as if the administration was trying to see what would public opinion might be, rather than making a statement of policy. Of course, this is nothing new for Obama. The signs of this style of decision making were all there during the Presidential Election Debates. When asked a question that required a direct answer, Obama never gave one unless someone else did first. Not so McCain. Even if the answer was not popular, McCain spoke directly to almost every question. Obama ALWAYS spoke in generalities first, specifics later. Yet he demands swift passage of his plan...which still lacks details. That smacks of everything the Democrats were complaining about during the Bush years. I guess somethings don't change.

The lesson of the Bush administration should be to act with consideration and restraint. That is, by the way, the function of government. It is, by design, slow to accomplish anything. Swift change is dangerous for government to enact. Consider the billions released during the closing years of the Bush presidency that are unaccounted for. As much as we would like to blame Bush for everything, Congress is equally at fault for not providing oversight of the money. It was a knee jerk reaction to a crisis, which is understandable. Mistakes in things done that quickly should be unstandable as well. But, now we are angry at the consequences--while looking for someone to blame. And, of course, Bush is an easy target. But so are the Democrats that continue to chair the financial committes in Congress but haven't done their jobs.

Meanwhile, we have Congress wrangling over passage of the Stimulus package. Why? Maybe it's because they are trying to create something the American people can actually live with. Maybe the creation of some a new super agency, with more funding than the military, to monitor and control healthcare access. If nothing else, maybe there are enough Senators and Congressmen who aren't sure where the money for that will come from to pay for that. But, since it was put on the Stimulus Package without disagreement by either party, that's probably not true.

It's been said that it takes anywhere from 5-8 years for Presidential policies to take full effect. If true, that would actually mean that most of the economic success attributed to Clinton was actually the result of the Reagan-Bush policies. It would also mean that, taking the Iraq and Afghanistan expenses out, the economic failures of the W years were actually Clinton's fault. Not too far fetched since the economy was already strating to slide during Clinton's last two years in office.

So, now we have Congress dragging it's feet in tackling the economy, just as it did during the Bush years. And, we have a President who demands things change immediately, while threatening to use Presidential Orders to accomplish his goals--just like Bush did, and Clinton. Some things just don't change--even though party affiliations do.

11/05 Morning Report

I do not often trump the Wednesday Hero post. Today, I thought it was appropriate, since we have a new Commander-in-Chief.

I have been super busy lately finishing college. I have been following the election process. I am proud to say that my children have been doing the same, asking some great questions, and learning a lot. I hope, if you have them, you have been doing the same with your children. They will be the ones who assume control and leadership of our nation when after us.

I will say that I am very glad a black man has been elected to the highest office in our nation. That is a huge milestone of change for America. I do, however, think there is too much being made of this issue by the media. They seem to be creating a new group of smoke and mirrors so people are kept from recognizing real issues.

I will also say that I disagree with his ideas. I do not believe that government is the savior of men. I do not believe that government should have the responsibility to say who should have what. I will also say that I intend, however often I can write it down, to continue to point fingers at the media for not doing their job. Bias allows many evils. The media has many liberal biases they need to deal with.

Barak Obama ran a good campaign. He didn’t really do anything more sneaky or behind the back than anyone else in politics. But the result is he becomes the new Commander-in-Chief. As such, I will pray for him, and support him with honor. I will not name-call. I will not slander. I will disagree, because that is my right and my responsibility. And, they are not just mine. We all have the same ones. I hope you all exercise your rights and responsibilities well.

10/28 Morning Report

The Democrats are guilty of dishonest politics again. They are using misinformation to do it in Texas specifically. Let’s take the battle for Texas courts as an example.

In a campaign called “Fair and Balanced Court”, the liberal s are saying the Republicans are out of line, and side with the rich and corporate interests. The TV ad (see the YouTube video on the web site) includes something else. It says that the Supreme Court is supposed to weigh the evidence and rule accordingly. And, that is not true. All the appeals and Supreme Courts are supposed to do is rule on procedure. In other words, they look at what the lower court did and how it reached it’s decision. It does not rule on the evidence.

While the facts they state, that 82% of cases are overturned, are probably true…maybe that’s because of real errors in the lower courts. After all, that’s how these cases are supposed to be treated in the higher courts. Clearly the liberals are trying to bring increased legislation from the bench in courtrooms across America.


For the absolute record, I’m glad the FBI caught those murdering skinheads. They stepped way outside the boundaries of acceptability in political discourse. It is terrorism, nothing more. The role of American politics is to provide an arena to discuss our differences, and eventually unite behind the leadership chosen by the people. The role of people in American politics is to use discussion and debate, not guns, to reach consensus. Racism, therefore, is just another form of terrorism. None the less, Obama has played the race card repeatedly. And, the media lets him—but no one else—get away with it. The media has even gotten into the act of already blaming possible failure on race. The first possible issue raised by the BBC in their analysis was racial. Anyone making the same comments about an African-American gets crucified. There are plenty of quotes from Obama’s books to demonstrate it. He bluntly says, several times, in both books that he is anti-white. Why is this is not considered racist? But, the media has their “darling.” I would write more, but , Judith A. Klinghoffer did the job well enough I don’t have to.


One final comment on the incongruity of the media…How come they have comments and understanding of every voting group in America…except the Arab-American populations (Christian, Muslim, whatever)? Jonathan mark takes a look at that, and the vagaries of candidates on both sides as it relates to the subject. It’s worth reading.

10/24 Morning Report

Did you know that Obama considers children to be a punishment? While I agree there are situations children may not be an optimal situation to be in, they are NOT a punishment. Punishment is something you work to do away with and avoid. Small wonder that Roe v. Wade is such a water mark legal case. But, it really has defined how our society views children.

Couples, women specifically, are having children later in life--if at all. And, if you boil it all down, the reason is money and control. No children means more money for things, or savings, or whatever. No children means you get to decide what you do with your life, instead of having to meet the needs of another--physical, emotional, and spiritual.

And, men, we can blame women for this all we want to, but us guys are just as much to blame for allowing it, or worse encouraging it. As far as i am concerned, there is no greater joy than being around children--your own children--as they grow up. Passing that up is why Americans specifically, and westerners in general, have such a lousy concept of what a mother and father should really be.

We need to lose this perspective that children are a punishment. When leaders, taking ultimate authority in our nation, publicly declare children something to be avoided or to be done away with, what are my children supposed to learn from that? What are my daughters supposed to learn from that?

Why should someone who says those things about our children be elected to the highest office in the land? What does it say about us as a nation when the majority think this is a good outcome?