Fighting to Preserve Liberty in America
The 26th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday celebration sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) held at the New York Sheraton last night was a remarkable event in the midst of all the babble about discourse and civility. Of course it was civil; it would not be any other way, but considering the venom that has flowed in the past year with charges from racism during the health care debate to causing the Tucson shootings it struck a very different and positive tone.
I for one must say it’s about time. Representative Robert Brady (D-Pa.) is planning to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress. On Fox News he said emphatically that “you can’t put a bull’s-eye or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official.” He also said, “The rhetoric is just ramped up so negatively, so high, that we have got to shut this down.” Amen, brother. But let’s not stop at just bull’s-eyes or crosshairs. We need to make sure nothing triggers another individual like this. After all, we don’t know for sure he even saw the map on Sarah Palin’s web site. Maybe he’s was a basketball fan.
Nancy Pelosi is not feeling the love. After all she has done for us, we ingrates are not showing our proper appreciation. So, Speaker Pelosi is in talks with Steven Speilberg to see if he can help remake the image of the Democrats.
The baseball season has ended. The San Francisco Giants are the world champions for the first time since 1954 when they were the New York Giants. The stadiums are empty and the spring training fields have not yet gotten busy. But, fear not, the free agent season is heating up.
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The Obama administration, having stepped in it with both feet to protect their union backers rather than let two of the three U.S. automobile companies go into bankruptcy, are now weighing the sale of the stock owned by us, in an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Their plans are to scale back the offering to prop up the price that they might be able to get in the market so that they can ultimately get most of the taxpayer money they spent, back.
“While both G.M. and the Treasury still hope to reduce the government’s stake in the company to less than 50 percent and rid the company of its Government Motors nickname, that goal may not be met, one of the people said,” according to the New York Times. In saying that, auto analysts are increasingly projecting that the government could get most or all of its remaining $43 billion investment, but it will takes years to accomplish. Uh-oh.
Back on the campaign trail where he feels comfortable that he knows what he is doing, Barack Obama traveled to Las Vegas to stump for Harry Reid. Harry Reid used to be a boxer and when he told Barack Obama this he said, “Barack, I wasn’t the fastest. I wasn’t the hardest-hitting, but I knew how to take a punch.” Based on all the legislation that has been passed since 2008 that an overwhelming majority of the American people have opposed, makes one wonder if Harry Reid took a few punches too many.
Shortly after taking office and settling into his “bash business” mode Obama blasted businesses for their extravagant meetings held in places like Las Vegas. Someone then whispered in the president’s ear that extravagant business meetings in Las Vegas were good for Las Vegas and Harry Reid. Oops. And there you have the crux of the problem.
What, exactly, is government’s role to tell private companies how to spend their money? What is the role of governments to say to a BP, “Give us the $20 billion, or we’ll take it from you,” as was attributed to Joe Biden, without first going to court? What is the role of government to say to its citizens, you must buy this health care product or pay a fine? Well in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, it is probably all fine and dandy, but in America?
Barack, the standup comic, used the analogy that he and Harry Reid had mud on their shoes, were pushing hard to get the car back on the road, and were making progress little-by-little and when they finally got one wheel on the pavement the Republicans want to throw the car into reverse. Really? I would compare it more to conservatives telling everyone to get out of the car and help push, instead of waiting for Nancy Pelosi to come back from Dunkin Donuts with free food for all the overweight union bosses jammed in the car squawking that they didn’t do manual labor. Their contract didn’t call for pushing cars out of ditches.
So, while this car should have been out of this ditch and well down the road by now, Harry and Barry will try to convince us that what they’re doing is absolutely brilliant; it’s just that we are too stupid to see it. After all, it took the greatest president in history, FDR, over eight years and a World War to get us out of the Great Depression, so relax we have another 6 ½ years to go.
Imagine what would have happened if the ever resilient American economy was allowed to work on its own without all the government intervention in the 1930s. Perhaps the Depression would have been shorter like the recession of 1920-1921, and perhaps we would not have had World War II, and Fannie Mae, and a bankrupt Social Security, and a couple of generations later all of us swimming in debt. It’s time the tow truck of the most powerful economy on the face of the earth to come along and be allowed to do its job. Tell Harry and Barry to go sit down on that stump over there, and watch how it is really done. “You’re making a mess of yourselves and embarrassing the rest us.”
Comedian Lewis Black visited the Wall Street Journal and talked about the Tea Party and how he doesn’t understand them. I couldn’t have made a stronger argument for the Tea Parties by pointing out how little the leftists and the statists don’t understand.
You Have To Pay For Stuff
I happen to enjoy watching Lewis Black entertain. His hook is that of a very angry man sputtering about what is dumb and frustrating in the world and for me it really hits a chord. It’s a pity he doesn’t see what is so dumb about his view of the Tea Parties. In the WSJ interview he mentioned that he was poor at one time and the government actively pursued him for his last quarter. That’s your first hint, Lewis. He says now he is rich and when the government takes some of his money, guess what, he’s still rich. Okay, good for you. The Tea Party believes you are entitled to that and that is the American way. But then he steps on his argument and says, you’ve got to pay for: policemen, firemen, educate our children and provide water. I can’t argue with that, but what has that got to do with an out of control federal government? That’s the problem. Most members of the Tea Party aren’t protesting paying for police, firemen, education and water. We don’t get those from Washington, we get them and pay for them locally. We don’t believe there is a phenomenal brain trust in Washington that knows all and sees all and can tell us how to live our lives better than we can.
Later in the interview Black actually says, “I can agree with the Tea Parties in the way it [money] is used some times.” What does the Tea Parties really believe in? Limited federal government. Limited to the powers granted to it by the Constitution. Everything else, such as police, firemen, education, and water, should be provided by the state and local government. Lewis, it sounds like you actually agree more with the Tea Partiers than against them if you only took the time to understand what we stand for. You might actually find some new material for your act, such as:
“The Department of Education… THE Department of EDUCATION!!..those morons need an education. Ever since that nitwit Carter created the damn thing they spent a TRILLION F*%!&#G DOLLARS, and now no one graduates HIGH SCHOOL!!! BRILLIANT!!!”
If Lewis Black watched any of the town hall meetings over the summer they looked like his act. The only difference being there were 150 Lewis Blacks (the citizenry) and one member of the audience (Congressperson), except the Congressperson wasn’t visibly laughing.
So, Lewis, should I look for you at the next Tea Party?
I was watching Mike Huckabee’s show this weekend when a curious exchange took place. Governor Huckabee tried to be fair to President Obama by saying “I believe in his heart that President Obama believes he is doing what is best for the country.” The governor is not alone among those who oppose President Obama who graciously say this. Perhaps it is a preemptive strike to avoid being tarred as a racist. At the same time, however, they will say they think President Obama is a smart man. How do you reconcile those two positions?
Either the man is an idiot and he is stumbling toward socialism without realizing it, or he is an intelligent man who is taking the country to socialism by design. I don’t see a middle ground. The only possibility is that he is a man with an arrogance so breathtaking in scope, that he ignores the will of the people and is implementing programs and policies that he believes is better for the unintelligent masses, and mistakenly thinks it is still capitalism. I can’t square the man’s intelligence, which I believe he has, with him not knowing the difference between capitalism and socialism/Marxism.
Okay, so what prompted this train of thought? It was prompted by some little know activity south of the border and I don’t mean Mexico. Earlier in his term, President Obama, Secretary Clinton and others tried to help return a Hugo Chavez puppet to the presidency in Honduras. Manuel Zalaya was following tactics of Chavez and Castro, to remain in office beyond his term which is limited. By doing so, he was immediately in violation of Honduran law and their constitution. He was removed by order of the Honduran Supreme Court with the backing of the Honduran legislature. The only step they might have taken which was too far was they put him on a plane out of the country.
Chavez, Castro, et al, were outraged. Did the Obama administration come down on the side of democracy and democratic institutions? No, they tried to strong arm Honduras to put Zalaya back in office, by cancelling visas, affecting trade and other measures. Honduras proceeded, ignoring these threats, to hold a general election to peacefully choose a new president which they did. The United States has reluctantly agreed to recognize the new president, but it was not easy for small Honduras to stand up to the United States and based on what they were fighting for and they shouldn’t have had to.
What other signs do I find troubling? After going against the will of the American people in forcing through ObamaCare, Fidel Castro heaped praise upon Obama for the law’s passage only criticizing him for taking so long. In April of 2009, President Obama embraced Hugh Chavez. Today Hugo Chavez is in the process of shutting down the last television outlet that is critical of him while forming closer ties to Ahmadinejad of Iran.
In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa is following the Chavez model. He is also chummy with Iran, is constantly threatening the free press, and the economy is in shambles. He fired congressmen who disagreed with him and replaced them with others who saw things his way. When the constitutional court said the fired congressmen had to be reinstated, Correa took to the airwaves to declare he was ignoring the court’s decision. Shortly thereafter an angry mob marched on the court, the police who are supposed to protect them stood aside. Do we have a statement of concern from the White House regarding this trampling of democracy? No, we have the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, calling on President Correa. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady:
During Tuesday’s meeting before television cameras, Mr. Valenzuela expressed concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its budding relationship with Ecuador. According to Reuters, Mr. Correa told him: “We don’t want to get involved in that discussion. But what does it have to do with selling bananas to Iran or with Iran financing our hydroelectric plants?” Translation: Ahmadinejad is my friend. You butt out.
The U.S. response? Mr. Valenzuela would not rule out a meeting between Mr. Correa and Barack Obama. If that happens, prepare for a redux of the Obama embrace of Hugo Chávez in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in April 2009—more humiliation for Americans who used to think of their government as a noble defender of liberty against despots.
Creeping Socialism
Obama has given government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy with the implementation of ObamaCare. He has nationalized two automobile companies. He has nationalized the student loan program. Unions, for the first time, have more members in the government than the private sector, but President Obama wants to increase their numbers in the private sector as well with Card Check. Who are the unions beholding to and vice versa? The Democratic Party. With more union members to do his bidding where does the average citizen stand? In a July speech President Obama said the following:
”We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” (emphasis added)
If this doesn’t send chills up your spine conjuring up dark images from the 1930s, you need to put down the Playstation and pick up a newspaper or a book. Consider that when he graduated from Columbia he became a follower of Saul Alinsky, a Marxist community organizer. Barack Obama did not cut his teeth by starting a small business. He cut his teeth learning how to take down capitalism using Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. As he gets chummy with America’s enemies, he gives the back of his hand to our allies: Israel, Great Britain, Poland,and the Czech Republic. Do you still believe this is a coincidence Governor Huckabee?
That was the famous “Pottery Barn” analogy that Colin Powell used regarding the war in Iraq. Now that ObamaCare + Reconciliation is done, all the ugly details that come crawling out of the health care bill like cockroaches when you turn the lights on, will all come to you courtesy of the Democrats.
Because they chose to go the reconciliation route, the Senate could not dare change a word in the House bill of “fixes” so they could approve what the House sent them with less than 60 votes. Here’s a sampling of what the genius of government brings you, wrapped in arrogance, with a bow of disdain for the people, as reported by Kimberly Strassel in the Wall Street Journal:
“Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) offered language to bar the government from subsidizing erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted pedophiles and rapists. Democrats voted . . . No! Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) proposed exempting wounded soldiers from the new tax on medical devices. Democrats: No way! Pat Roberts (R., Kan.) wanted to exempt critical access rural hospitals from funding cuts. Senate Democrats: Forget it! This was Republicans’ opportunity to lay out every ugly provision and consequence of ObamaCare, and Democrats—because of the process they’d chosen—had to defend it all.
And so it went, into the wee Thursday hours. All Democrats in favor of taxing pacemakers? Aye! All Democrats in favor of keeping those seedy vote buyoffs? Aye! All Democrats in favor of raising taxes on middle-income families? Aye! All Democrats in favor of exempting themselves from elements of ObamaCare? Aye!”
Now doesn’t that just make you warm and fuzzy inside?
Bill O’Reilly and Congressman Anthony Weiner had a debate on O’Reilly ‘s show that was jaw-dropping to listen to. Weiner said that O’Reilly and others were blatantly misstating the facts about the health care bill. O’Reilly questioned Weiner about the IRS learning details about people such as whether or not they had health insurance. Weiner said that was untrue and that if you wanted to get a tax credit for health care, you had to say on your tax return that you had health insurance. He said it is just like if you claimed a tax credit as a first time homebuyer (I won’t get into all the fraud taking place on the homebuyer credit, even by IRS employees). So according to Weiner it’s all voluntary reporting, just as takes place every year when we file our taxes. How can Weiner stand there and make such a statement? A key requirement is that everyone has to be covered by health insurance according to the law and the law provides for hiring 16,000 more IRS agents! Well what are those agents going to be doing if not following up with you if you don’t say you are covered? Weiner danced and dodged and at one point stood silently pouting when O’Reilly tried to pin him down.
This is ugly and it is going to get uglier as we learn what is in this cancer on our economy. But Nancy Pelosi warned us. “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Well, they passed it, now we get all the bad news.
