I had the pleasure to interview Congressman Dr. Michael C. Burgess today.
After spending nearly three decades practicing medicine in North Texas, Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., was first elected to Congress to represent Texas District 26 in 2002, and re-elected in 2004, 2006, and most recently in 2008. During his time on Capitol Hill he has earned a reputation as a problem-solver who seeks sensible solutions to the challenges Americans face.

For more information visit: www.burgessforcongress.com
Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on Grassroot Networks

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on Health Care Reform

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on democratic tatics

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess talks about Congressman Paul Ryan, Budgets & Bailouts

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on America’s Finances

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on Small Business

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on BP & The Gulf Oil Spill

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess on the Energy & Commerce Committee

Congressman Dr. Michael Burgess talks about Stephen Broden

Keynote Speaker – Stephen Broden – Candidate for House of Rep. – Texas District 30

Tired of the liberal hollywood line up of flicks?

Watch this and then visit these sites to learn more!

I Want Your Money!

I Want Your Money – Official Site

I Want Your Money – YouTube

I Want Your Money – Apple Trailers

Here are some articles to give you some background on Shirley Sherrod and the Pigford Class Action Lawsuit.

Shirley Sherrod’s Disappearing Act: Not So Fast

An announcement of Ms. Sherrod’s July 2009 appointment to her USDA position at ruraldevelopment.org gives off quite a few clues:

RDLN Graduate and Board Vice Chair Shirley Sherrod was appointed Georgia Director for Rural Development by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on July 25. Only days earlier, she learned that New Communities, a group she founded with her husband and other families (see below) has won a thirteen million dollar settlement in the minority farmers law suit Pigford vs Vilsack.

What?

The news that follows at the link, which appears to pre-date the announcement of Ms. Sherrod’s appointment, provides further details:

Minority Farm Settlement
Justice Achieved – Congratulations to Shirley and Charles Sherrod!
We have wonderful news regarding the case of New Communities, Inc., the land trust that Shirley and Charles Sherrod established, with other black farm families in the 1960′s. At the time, with holdings of almost 6,000 acres, this was the largest tract of black-owned land in the country.
… Over the years, USDA refused to provide loans for farming or irrigation and would not allow New Communities to restructure its loans. Gradually, the group had to fight just to hold on to the land and finally had to wind down operations.
… The cash (settlement) award acknowledges racial discrimination on the part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the years 1981-85. … New Communities is due to receive approximately $13 million ($8,247,560 for loss of land and $4,241,602 for loss of income; plus $150,000 each to Shirley and Charles for pain and suffering). There may also be an unspecified amount in forgiveness of debt. This is the largest award so far in the minority farmers law suit (Pigford vs Vilsack).

Pigford Class Action Lawsuit

Black Farmers filed the Pigford Class Action Lawsuit in 1997 against the USDA for discrimination in loan practices. Now advocates say the Obama settlement offer is good news, but still not enough money to make up for what it cost.

“One point 25 billion is not enough,” said Shirley Sherrod Georgia Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. “So now we’re scrambling to see what we are going to do.”

In 2008’s Farm Bill the offer was $100 million. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack says he wants to correct past errors by the USDA and move forward with a new civil rights program.

Obama Giving Black Farmers $1.25B in Reparations

Black farmers – possibly over 70,000 of them – will get cash payments and debt relief from the federal government totaling $1.25 billion, in reparation for alleged racial discrimination suffered under the Department of Agriculture’s loan programs, the Obama Administration has agreed.

Another estimate from a 1990s Harper’s magazine article calculated that reparations would cost $97 trillion – based on 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865, plus 6% compounded interest.

Pointing to “the staggering breadth of America’s crime against us,” TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson in his book, “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks,” argued that “Solutions must be tailored to the scope of the crime in a way that would make the victim whole. In this case, the psychic and economic injury is enormous, multidimensional and long-running. Thus must be America’s restitution to blacks for the damage done.”

According to the reparations mindset, therefore, President Obama’s $1.25 billion for 70,000-plus black farmers is hardly even a beginning.

Farmer Reparations

At issue is almost a billion dollars paid out by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for alleged racial discrimination by local offices administering farm loans under the Farm Service Agency. Dan Glickman, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Agriculture, following public complaints and even a White House demonstration by African American farmers in the 1990’s confessed the USDA’s guilt. He declared in a 1997 publication of the USDA news that local officials had “discriminated against some of the very people we were meant to help.”

What followed was a class action lawsuit (originally named Pigford v. Glickman) and a settlement by the Clinton administration in 1999. The consent decree which ended the lawsuit provided that farmers who had suffered discrimination could come forward to present claims and receive compensation.

However, the seeds of a vast scam were sown: with only a simple affidavit signed by someone who alleged he had applied for a loan or merely that he had “attempted to own or lease farm land,” $50,000 (tax free no less) would be paid out. Upon a slightly greater showing of proof (“a preponderance of the evidence”) even more money could be claimed.

Claimants did not need to prove that they ever actually farmed — or ever applied for a loan, only that they “attempted to farm” explains USDA’s General Counsel Marc Kesselman. Could someone sitting on their couch get money by saying they thought about farming in the 1990’s? Kesselman says that “folks have to sign an affidavit with sufficient detail” to describe how they attempted to farm. Well, people wouldn’t lie, would they?

What happened next was an extraordinary example of fraud on a massive scale. The USDA did its job under the consent decree. It provided notice to potential claimants and took steps to advertise the class settlement. Nearly a half a million dollars was spent to advertise on cable TV and in newspapers, with special attention to African American press.

“One point 25 billion is not enough,” said Shirley Sherrod Georgia Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. “So now we’re scrambling to see what we are going to do.”

After the initial time period for the settlement ran out in October 1999 the consent decree provided for another period of eleven months whereby claimants upon “extraordinary circumstances” could still file claims. More than 65,000 additional claimants stepped forward to file claim requests. Another 8000 then came forward with their late claims. (So in a universe of 18,500 farmers in 1997, 96,000 individuals managed to make claims.) But there had been a court-imposed deadline. Wasn’t this the end of the road? Not by a long shot.

“One point 25 billion is not enough,” said Shirley Sherrod Georgia Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. “So now we’re scrambling to see what we are going to do.”

Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) is one of the few legislators who has attempted to question this boondoggle. He terms this a case of “significant fraud.” King contends that at least 75% of the claims are fraudulent, the work of plaintiff’s counsel and activists who spread the word in African American communities that individuals, many of whom had never even farmed, were entitled to these monies. Asked if any of his colleagues seem inclined to rock the boat and challenge this give away, he says bluntly, “No.”

Although the evidence is plain, the fear of being labeled as “insensitive” or “opposing civil rights remedies” has kept most every legislator from stepping forward to challenge the gravy train of cash give away. After all, it’s only your money.

“One point 25 billion is not enough,” said Shirley Sherrod.

Don’t cry for Shirley Sherrod – I am sure even with the poor economic conditions caused by Obamanomics – she probably still has a fare chunk of that $300,000 provided by US Taxpayers.

The Fundamental Transformation of America

When Obama wrote a book and said he was mentored as a youth by Frank, (Frank Marshall Davis) an avowed Communist,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When it was discovered that his grandparents, were strong socialists, sent Obama’s mother to a socialist school, introduced Frank Marshall Davis to young Obama,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When people found out that he was enrolled as a Muslim child in school and his father and step father were both Muslims,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he wrote in another book he authored he will stand with them (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he admittedly, in his book, he chose Marxist friends and professors in college.

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he traveled to Pakistan , after college on an unknown national passport.

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he sought the endorsement of the Marxist party in 1996 as he ran for the Illinois Senate.

Many people said it doesn’t matter.

When he sat in a Chicago Church for twenty years and listened to a preacher spew hatred for America and preach black liberation theology,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When an independent Washington organization, that tracks senate voting records, gave him the distinctive title as the “most liberal senator”,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When the Palestinians in Gaza , set up a fund raising telethon to raise money for Obama’s 2008 election campaign,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When his voting record supported gun control,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Mummar Kadaffi and Hugo Chavez,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When it was pointed out that he was a total, newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When his voting record in the Illinois senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he refused to wear a flag, lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he surrounded himself in the White house with advisors who were pro gun control, pro abortion, pro homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he aired his views on abortion, homosexuality and a host of other issues,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he said he favors sex education in Kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When his background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco, a man of questionable character, who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he started appointing czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist/Communist’s,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he stood before the nation and told us that his intentions were to “fundamentally transform this nation” into something else,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax cheats and socialist’s,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed a science czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed Cass Sunstein as regulatory czar and he believes in “Explicit Consent”, harvesting human organs without family consent, and to allow animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual, and organizer of a group called gay, lesbian, straight, Education network, as safe school czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed Mark Lloyd as diversity czar and he believed in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth and admires Hugo Chavez,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When Valerie Jarrett was selected as Obama’s senior White House advisor and she is an avowed Socialist,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When Anita Dunn, White House Communications director said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed Carol Browner as global warming czar, and she is a well known socialist working on Cap and trade as the nations largest tax,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as green energy czar, who since had to resign when this was made known,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he recess appointed Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, whose prolific writings, suggest a radical view of labor law that flies in the face of established precedent and case law

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he recess appointed Donald Berwick as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) who has repeatedly made claims and statements that raise numerous questions about his suitability for this critical position,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When as president of the United States, he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When his actions concerning the middle-east seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel, our long time friend,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions and individuals that got him elected,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he signed into law ObamaCare, which took over 1/6 of the nation’s economy,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government by adding it into the 2700 page ObamaCare bill,

Many people said it didn’t matter.

When he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade,

Many people say it doesn’t matter.

When he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State,

People finally woke up…….. but it was too late.

Any one of these things, in and of themselves may not really matter. But…. when you add them up one by one you get a phenomenal score that points to the fact that Obama is determined to make over America into a Marxist/Socialist society. All of the items in the preceding paragraphs have been put into place. All can be documented very easily. The last paragraph alone is not yet cast in stone. You and I will write that paragraph. Will it read as above or will it be a more happy ending for most of America ?

Personally, I like happy endings.

If you are an Obama Supporter, please do not be angry with me because I think your president is a socialist. There are too many facts supporting this. If you seek the truth you will be richer for it. Don’t just belittle the opposition.

Search for the truth.

Hint: You won’t find the truth on the LameStream news or in the New York Times. Newspapers are a dying breed. They are currently seeking a bailout from the government. Do you really think they are about to print the truth? Obama praises all the television news networks except Fox who he has waged war against. There must be a reason. He does not call them down on any specifics, just a general battle against them. If they lie, he should call them out on it but he doesn’t. Find the truth, it will set you free.

Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Constitutionalist, Libertarians, Americans, we all need to pull together. We all must pull together or watch the demise of a society that we all love and cherish. If you are a religious person, pray for our nation.

Never before in the history of America have we been confronted with problems so huge that the very existence of our country is in jeopardy.

Our biggest enemy is not

China, Russia, N. Korea, or Iran ;

no, our biggest enemy is a

contingent of politicians in Washington D.C.

Arizona, Louisiana and now Texas…
The undeclared uncivil war has started.
And here is how he accomplished the destruction of Texas…Can you say $9.00 per gallon gas?

EPA overturns 16-year-old Texas permit program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country’s largest refineries in a state of limbo.

The move comes after years of backdoor bickering, negotiations and public arguments between the EPA and Texas. The argument recently escalated from a battle over environmental issues into a heated political dispute over states’ rights.

Gov. Rick Perry has been using it to drive home his contention that President Barack Obama’s administration is overreaching, saying in a statement Wednesday that “Texas will continue to fight this federal takeover of a successful state program.”

The EPA’s decision, announced in a statement, will force some 125 refineries and petrochemical plants to invest millions of dollars to get new permits. Many of the plants may also have to invest in updates to comply with federal regulations.

The decision did not come as a surprise to Texas or the industries. EPA regional director Al Armendariz has said for months he would disapprove the permits if Texas did not comply with the Clean Air Act.

Let’s recap what has happened in the last 90 days.

Obama is going after Arizona and trying to cut off all border security aide while suing the sate.

He is making no attempt to stop the oil leak in Louisiana. This is now affecting the economies of Louisiana, Texas, Georgia and Florida.

He is going after Texas and with this double whammy of shutting down the refineries and the oil spill the state that was doing the best in the country is now being taken down.

So far Obama has completely trashed five states and is in the process of destroying their economies. What chance do you think there is of a recovery.

This won’t stop until every democrat is thown out. Maybe big business will look
at what the support of democrats have done to America.

Hope and change! Totalitarianism is here!

Meet Stephen Broden (R) – Running for House of Representative – Texas District 30

I am running to be your Representative in the 30th District. I am asking for your support to take this District in a new direction, one that promotes jobs, strong families, and a return to the founding principles that made this Nation great. Since the beginning of the year we have witnessed unwillingness on the part of legislators in Washington D.C., including our current 30th District Representative, to listen to the will of their constituents.

Our Declaration of Independence establishes that those who govern us do so at “the consent of the governed.” Like you I am deeply disturbed that there is a blatant disregard by our leaders of the interests of those who sent them to Washington.

I want to change this culture of disregard, and I need your help. I am asking that you send me to Washington D.C. with the mission of making the interest of the people first, not the personal interest of an elite few.

Requiem for Marx

I think this book would make a great fathers day present for Obama.
Maybe his daughters are smarter then him when it comes to economics.

After the fall of communism, and certainly after this wide-ranging demolition of Marxism by Austrian scholars, who can possibly defend Marxism? Plenty of people, many of them smart otherwise but uneducated in economics. This book is the antidote, covering the whole history of this nutty and dangerous system of thought

It begins by an alternatively hilarious and tragic introduction by the editor Yuri Maltsev. He describes in vivid detail life in the Soviet Union, which, he points out contrary to myth, was indeed an attempt to realize Marx’s vision. Of course the system moved away from the strict doctrine, lest everyone in the country be reduced to the most primitive possible economic conditions. He describes a society in which nothing works, ethics and morals collapse, and absurdities abound in every aspect of daily life. It is a priceless first-hand account.

Next come sweeping essays by David Gordon and Hans-Hermann Hoppe that get into the guts of the Marxian system and show where it went wrong from both a philosophical and economic perspective. Hoppe in particular here shows how Marx took classical liberal doctrine on the state and misapplied it in ways that contradicted all logic and experience.

Gary North provides a devastating look at Marx the man, while Ralph Raico zeros in on the Marxian doctrine of class. Finally, and as a triumphant finish, Rothbard offers a wholesale revision of the basis of Marxism. It was not economics, he says. It was the longing for a universal upheaval to overthrow all things we know about the world and replace it with a crazed fantasy based secular/religious longings. Rothbard finds all this in the unknown writings of Marx and his post-millennial predecessors in the history of ideas.

Requiem for Marx was written by Yuri Nicholas Maltsev

Barack Obama ran a campaign of “Hope & Change”. I see little hope and change for the worse for the rest of this “historic” presidency:

CLINTON CATALYZED GULF OIL DRILLING BOOM

Just as the subprime mortgage crisis had its roots in the Clinton Administration decision to require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to find enough low income borrowers so that half their loans were subprime, the Gulf oil spill also had its roots in misguided policies begun by the Clinton Administration.

In 1995, President Clinton signed the Outer Continental Shelf Deepwater Royalty Relief Act which exempted oil wells drilled deep in the Gulf from the normal royalty payments they would normally have owed the government for their oil. Usually, these payments amount to between 12% and 16% of their revenues, so exemption from this requirement did a great deal to catalyze drilling in deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the Administration action, deepwater oil production in the Gulf increased rapidly, growing from 42 million barrels annually in 1996 to 348 million in 2004. The latter figure represents about 6% of total United States oil consumption and about 15% of domestic production. Natural gas production from deepwater Gulf drilling increased tenfold during the same period.

Instead, the oil industry took its cue from Washington and went full speed ahead into drilling and production in deepwater Gulf oil wells with the predictable result that something, somehow, sometime would go very, very wrong and that nobody would have the faintest idea of what to do about it.

This decision to embark on vast Gulf oil drilling was, of course, the correct one. But the failure to think through how to avert a disaster on the magnitude of that which is now on our hands is the height of irresponsibility. The Deepwater Horizon well was one of those catalyzed by the Clinton legislation and began drilling in 2001.

But, as with the subprime crisis, policy initiatives taken during the Clinton years – with the best of motives – were implemented without adequate regulation and without due consideration of the dangers involved. We are now suffering mightily for this failure of foresight and planning.

Obama needs to read this:

The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan: September 15, 1994

One of the primary purposes of the NCP (National Contingency Plan) is to provide for efficient, coordinated, and effective action to minimize adverse impact from oil discharges and hazardous substance releases.

The major revisions to the NCP being promulgated today reflect OPA (Oil Pollution Act) revisions to CWA (Clean Water Act) section 311. These changes increase Presidential authority to direct cleanup of oil spills and hazardous substance releases and augment preparedness and planning activities on the part of the federal government.

EPA does not believe that the provision suggested by the commenter – essentially preempting all Federal and State law when the OSC (On-Scene Coordinator) directs response to a discharge – is authorized by the OPA. Furthermore, adding such a provision to the NCP (National Contingency Plan) appears to be unnecessary. Section 311(c)(1) of the CWA, as amended by the OPA, gives the OSC authority to “direct or monitor all Federal, State, and private actions to remove a discharge.” The same provision also authorizes the OSC to remove or arrange for the removal and, if necessary, destroy a vessel that is discharging. In addition, if a discharge poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States, CWA section 311(c)(2), as amended, requires the OSC to direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge and gives the OSC authority to carry out the other actions mentioned in section 311)(c)(1) “without regard to any other provisions of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the Federal Government.”

Congress explicitly provided for limited preemption only for contracting and employment laws and the limited preemption applies only when a discharge poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States.

Mr. President, it is all laid out in black & white. Documents written by lawyers that you should understand. You ran for President, you won and it is your responsibility under “The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan” to use your powers to get things done.

And yet:

Environmentalists give Barack Obama a pass on oil spill

As the greatest environmental catastrophe in U.S. history has played out on Obama’s watch, the environmental movement has essentially given him a pass — all but refusing to unleash any vocal criticism against the president even as the public has grown more frustrated by Obama’s performance. 

“These guys have bet the farm on this administration,” said Ted Nordhaus, chairman of an environmental think tank, the Breakthrough Institute. “There has been a real hesitancy to criticize this administration out of a sense that they’re kind of the only game in town. … These guys are so beholden to this administration to move their agenda that I think they’re unwilling to criticize them.”

Several analysts said the low profile of the large environmental groups since the disaster is due in large part to uncertainty about the impact of the spill on the strategy for passing pending climate legislation. Environmental groups are leery of alienating Obama as he weighs how hard to push a sweeping cap-and-trade energy bill to rein in carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Asked if Sierra Club has any concerns about the administration’s response to the spill, Willett said, “Overall, we’re satisfied with the cleanup and recovery effort.”

Meanwhile:

BP agrees to expedite oil spill payments

BP said Thursday it plans to boost its ability to capture the oil gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico by early next week as the Obama administration announced that the oil giant agreed to speed up payments to people whose livelihoods have been washed away by the spill.

Despite anger with BP, some lawmakers and Louisiana residents reiterated their call to end the 6-month deep-water drilling moratorium, saying it will cause economic hardship in the region. “Every one of these 33 deep-water wells employs, directly, hundreds of people and indirectly thousands,” Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said in an interview Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Cleanup of the gooey oil continued along the Gulf Coast. In Orange Beach, Ala., reddish-brown globs of oil the size of credit cards littered the beach at the tide line as a blue farm tractor loaded with shovels and other cleanup equipment chugged down the beach.

County commissioners in Florida’s southern Escambia County approved $700,00 in emergency funding to promote the Pensacola area’s beaches as tar and oil sheen began breaking through a boom designed to protect inland waterways.

Outside the meeting, about two dozen men, some in fishing waders, carried signs criticizing BP. One of the men, Dennis Miller, who has been fishing for more than four decades, said they are frustrated because there is nothing to do. “We’re just worried,” Miller said. “We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do when they shut the whole Gulf down. And we know that’s coming.”

Brown: Obama is a good man

On his first Sunday show appearance, the Republican from Massachusetts said President Barack Obama is not so bad after all, and the tea partiers were not the only ones to get the senator elected.

After declining, in several ways, to answer whether the president was leaning toward socialism, Brown said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the president is “a good man.”

“He has a good family. He has two wonderful daughters…I recognize that challenge and what that can hold and I respect the office of the president and I’ve always said that he is an American,” Brown said. “I know he cares deeply about our country, but there’s just different priorities.”

Mr. Brown, I am very disappointed in you. I will probably not send you anymore money for your next run. I have had it with the RINO’s, the RNC, NRCC & the NRSC. You guys are doing everything to let the democrats maintain control. Your messages are flawed as they show no true conservative viewpoints. Senators like you Mr. Brown are a severe disappointment. The way to lose is to keep assuring the American public that our current leaders are “good people” – THEY ARE NOT.

I am sure Senator McCain would love to take his words back when he said that Obama would make a good President. Mr. Brown, you will be eating your words as you let the “Kennedy’s Seat” fall back under democratic control.

Check out Crash The Tea Party

This site was just launched April 3rd.

Here is what the landing page says:

Who We Are:

A nationwide network of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents
who are all sick and tired of that loose affiliation of racists, homophobes, and morons; who constitute the fake grass-roots movement which calls itself “The Tea Party”.

What We Want:

To dismantle and demolish the Tea Party by any non-violent means necessary.

How We Will Succeed:

By inflitrating the Tea Party itself! In an effort to propagate their pre-existing
propensity for paranoia and suspicion… We have already sat quietly in their
meetings, and observed their rallies.

Whenever possible, we will act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which
exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs,
wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from
mainstream America and damage the public’s opinion of them.
We will also use the inside information that we have gained in order
to disrupt and derail their plans.

Sound like fun? It is!! If you’d like to join us, just click on the word
“crash” below.

When you click crash it goes to a forum.
Here are the 5 registered users so far as of April 9th:

asshat, birthcertifhunter, grizzfan, hamil9, Mad Hatter

So, going forward – be forewarned. The asshats of the left
are Mad as Hatters and will be claiming they are part of the Tea Party
and are birth certificate hunters. Actually, most of them are Grizzled Fans
of Mark Hamil.

Obama’s health care plan is a disaster:
Rick Perry, GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

President Barack Obama’s signature on Congress’s disastrous health care plan was a disappointment to everyone who values limited government, bipartisanship and quality and affordable health care.

In forcing the bill through, congressional leaders from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on down substituted their own desires and political goals for the good judgment and common sense of the people they represent. Indeed, the more the American people learned about the socialist proposals, the more they rejected them.

We’ve known for a while that the Obama administration and congressional leaders might eventually twist enough arms, broker enough backroom deals and bend enough procedural rules to pass the bill. Still, it’s surprising that it’s come to this, with the federal government unconstitutionally mandating the purchase of a specific product, and threatening those who don’t abide with government fines. The bill represents a federal overreach unprecedented in scope, reaching into the lives of each and every person in America, with the staggering costs handed down to generations yet unborn.

The fight, however, is far from over.

Senator’s Cornyn & Hutchinson – can you hear us now.?
REPEAL, REPEAL, REPEAL – Nothing else is acceptable
Rick Perry speaks for most Texans and I am one of them.

We must send the message that opposition to the bill is not generated by angry mobs, as media portrayals might suggest, but by everyday people legitimately concerned to see the federal government so quickly expanding its control over all of our lives. More than 1,000 e-mails flooded my office the weekend before the bill’s passage, almost exclusively against it.

And I was one of those that sent some of those e-mails.

We can’t afford to accept this situation, and I mean that literally. As Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Joe Straus and I wrote in a letter to the Texas delegation last week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission estimates that the bill will double the number of Medicaid recipients in the Lone Star state. The burden that would place on Texas taxpayers could be as much as $26 billion over the next 10 years. Despite that increased cost to our taxpayers, there will be no improvement to either the cost of health care or its quality.

The ObamaCare plan puts too much of a burden on all states and more so on Texas.
We are the 2nd most populous state with an ever increasing illegal community. Obama’s plan to tackle immigration reform and Cap & Trade will only drive the people of Texas to the brink.

It’s vital we fight this on every front available to us, because mandates are painful to rank-and-file Texans and extremely ineffective. Look at Massachusetts. In the Bay State, where a mandate is already a fact of life, premiums are 40 percent more expensive than elsewhere in the country, and it’s becoming harder and harder to find a doctor to see even if you are covered. By the way, the number of uninsured people in Massachusetts is about the same as it was when the mandates were passed in 2006.

Help keep Texas free by voting in REAL conservatives in 2010 that will stop the freedom robbing policies of Barack Obama and his socialist juggernaut.

Obama Makes Recess Appointments to Vacant Administration Posts

Despite intense Republican objections, President Obama on Saturday used recess appointments to fill 15 administration posts without Senate confirmation, including Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.

Who is Craig Becker?

All 41 Senate Republicans wrote Obama this week urging him not to use a recess appointment for Becker, a former top lawyer with Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, whose nomination was rejected by the Senate last month, 52-43.

And why should business care?

MARYLAND
OREGON
The list will grow. If you live in these states – I would move now.

Some States Already Implementing Health Care Overhaul

As 13 state attorneys general, most of them Republicans, await the next step in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of forcing Americans to obtain health insurance, other states led by Democrats are already moving at full throttle to implement the new health care law.

In Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley signed an executive order on Wednesday that creates a health care reform council to examine how the $938 billion, 2,400-page law will affect families in the state. And in other states, like Oregon, the effort to revamp the health care system has been long under way.

“Over the last three years, we’ve acted … to expand access to quality, affordable health care to more than 160,000 Marylanders, 78,500 of which are children,” O’Malley, a Democrat, said in a written statement. “These federal reforms will build on our progress. Thanks to our Congressional delegation and President Obama’s leadership, we will help even more families.”

Meanwhile, health officials in Oregon are touting the work they’ve been doing since July, when the state legislature created the Oregon Health Authority to implement forthcoming federal reforms as quickly as possible. Efforts to overhaul health care in the state actually began in 2007 with the establishment of the Oregon Health Fund Board, a nine-member citizen entity that serves as the policy-making body for the health authority.

“While the eyes of the nation are focusing on the health care debate in Congress, Oregon will continue to lead with changes on a state level,” Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski said in November. “Ultimately creating policies and programs that improve the health of Oregonians is going to come down to state innovation, and this board and agency will be leading the way.”

DEERE SAYS NEW HEALTH CARE REFORM LAW WILL INCREASE 2010 EXPENSE BY $150 MILLION AFTER-TAX

MOLINE, Illinois (March 25, 2010) — Deere & Company announced today that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law this week will adversely impact its expenses for fiscal 2010. As a result of the legislation, the company’s expenses are expected to be about $150 million higher on an after-tax basis, primarily in the second quarter. This impact was not included in the 2010 outlook for net income attributable to Deere & Company of approximately $1.3 billion disclosed in the company’s first-quarter earnings report on February 17th.

$150 Million – I know that is chump change to Obama, but this will cost jobs.

Caterpillar: Health care bill would cost it $100M

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan “because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees.”
Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it’s particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

$100 Million – I know that is chump change to Obama, but this will cost jobs.

Larger Businesses Lament Costs, Stricter Coverage Rules

The legislation hits companies in myriad ways, from stricter coverage rules to new taxes, which could change how they offer health care to employees. Yet, many larger businesses worry the measure will do relatively little to hold down their overall health-care costs, once a primary goal of the legislation, and could even force them up.

Some big retailers could decide to cut back on the number of workers they hire and cover, business advocates said. Large corporations might decide within days to end coverage for their retirees’ drug costs, because of a provision that takes away an existing federal subsidy.

I know Obama thinks capitalists are chumps, but this will cost jobs.

Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Afghan Work to Dem Donor

Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide “rule of law stabilization services” in war-torn Afghanistan.

So you ask what is “rule of law stabilization services” ? And why does it cost $24,673,427 ?

A synopsis of the contract published on the USAID Web site says Checchi & Company will “train the next generation of legal professionals” throughout the Afghan provinces and thereby “develop the capacity of Afghanistan’s justice system to be accessible, reliable, and fair.”

The legality of the arrangement as a “sole source,” or no-bid, contract was made possible by virtue of a waiver signed by the USAID administrator. “They cancelled the open bid on this when they came to power earlier this year,” a source familiar with the federal contracting process told Fox News.

“That’s kind of weird,” said another source, who has worked on “rule of law” issues in both Afghanistan and Iraq, about the no-bid contract to Checchi & Company. “There’s lots of companies and non-governmental organizations that do this sort of work.”

One of the hardest working Republicans in Congress is Rep. Darryl Issa, R-California.

Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Fox News’ reporting on the no-bid contract in this case “disturbed” him.

Issa has written to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah requesting that the agency “produce all documents related to the Checchi contract” on or before Feb. 5. Citing the waiver that enabled USAID to award the contract on a no-bid basis, Issa noted that the exemption was intended to speed up the provision of services in a crisis environment.

Yet “on its face,” wrote Issa to Shah, “the consulting contract awarded to Checchi to support the Afghan justice system does not appear to be so urgent or attendant to an immediate need so as to justify such a waiver.”

Corporate rivals of Checchi were reluctant to speak on the record about the no-bid contract awarded to his firm because they feared possible retribution by the Obama administration in the awarding of future contracts.

“We don’t want to be blackballed,” said the managing partner of a consulting firm that has won similar contracts. “You’ve got to be careful. We’re dealing here with people and offices that we depend on for our business.”

Still, the rival executive confirmed that open bidding on USAID’s lucrative Afghanistan “rule of law” contract was abruptly revoked by the agency earlier this year.

“It’s a mystery to us,” the managing partner said. “We were going to bid on it. The solicitation (for bids) got pulled back, and we do not know why. We may never know why. These are things that we, as companies doing business with the government, have to put up with.”

As a candidate for president in 2008, then-Sen. Obama frequently derided the Bush administration for the awarding of federal contracts without competitive bidding.

“We don’t want to be blackballed,”
Hmmmm, they better watch out – Obama might think these people are racist.

Read the bid award here: Afghanistan Rule of Law Stabilization Program (RLS)

Click here to read Rep. Issa’s letter to USAID.

Massachusetts voters’ message to Washington: It’s time for action

Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern released the following statement after Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts.

“The reason Ted Kennedy’s seat is no longer controlled by a Democrat is clear: Washington’s inability to deliver the change voters demanded in November 2008. Make no mistake, political paralysis resulted in electoral failure,” Stern said.

It is tough to see what is really going on when you are blinded by an idiology.
BTW – Here is what People’s World is all about.

We are partisan to the working class, racially and nationally oppressed peoples, women, youth, seniors, international solidarity, Marxism and socialism. We enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views.

More from Andy Stern

“The Senate may have squandered the trust the American people gave to Washington in 2008. But now, every member of Congress and the Administration must act with a renewed sense of purpose to show working families whose side they are on and deliver meaningful change to every American. This is not the time for timidity. It is time to show the courage and strength of conviction to move this country forward and bring working families the change they need. It starts by passing health insurance reform and giving Pat and millions of people like her the security and peace of mind they deserve.”

Stern is from another time. The struggle he is fighting should have died a long time ago. The American people were sold a bill of goods with Barack Obama. The people are awake and
labor leaders like Stern will get shoved under the bus soon enough. Real HealthCare reform
needs to start with tort reform and then less government intervention. The results of Tuesday
election are clear. Real HealthCare reform will only get underway after the swamp in Washington D.C. is drained. Real policies – not politics. No deals. Fairness for every American. Not just union workers.

Obama plans combative turn

President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say.

“This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt,” a senior administration official said. “It more reinforces the conviction to fight hard.”

A defeat by Martha Coakley for the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy would be embarrassing for the party — and potentially debilitating, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof, 60-vote hold on the Senate.

A potential casualty: the health care bill that was to be the crowning achievement of the president’s first year in office.

In office less than a year and President Obama wants to fight Americans harder than he fights terrorists. THIS should be the wake-up call for all sitting Republicans in Congress!!
Obama will fight the Republicans harder than he will fight the Taliban.
Obama will fight dirty and bring out whatever he can.

My suggestion is that NO REPUBLICANS show up at the State of the Union address.
In my mind the Union is broken and needs to be re-taken.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 will go down as the first battle in the New Republican Revolution.

“Give me Liberty or Give me Death”

“Support for President Barack Obama’s health care reform continues to decline marginally and now only about one in three voters say they mostly approve of the pending legislation. Opposition seems mostly driven by those who think the plan under consideration is too ambitious. The whole health care issue showcases the Grand Canyon-like divide opened up among the electorate,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Code Pink To Muslims: ‘Help Us Cleanse Our Country’

Photo: Atlas Shrugs

As Americans keep a wary eye on Muslim radicals in Yemen, little attention is being given to a far more dangerous enemy right in our own backyard. Under the banner of ‘anti-war’ activism, the radical groupCode Pink is running banner advertisements on the English language version of the official Web site of a terrorist sympathizing group, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which invites the Muslim Brotherhood to “join us in cleansing our country.”

Another ad was entitled ‘Arrest The War Criminals.’ (Ad just pulled). Only problem is, Code Pink believes the war criminals are none other than George W. Bush and Co. And they’re actively recruiting radical Muslim terrorists to help them in their cause.

The ad linked to this CodePink website that calls for the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush, his wife Laura, his family, and various former administration officials. To date, not a peep has been heard from the Secret Service.