Sunday’s cowardly, midnight-ish vote by the Demarxists was a life changing event for myself and my wife and I’m sure for many of us here at Redstate. It was our Pearl Harbor, except we knew it was coming. It was telegraphed from the moment Obamao was selected as the 44th POTUS. But what was so important about Sunday night was that it completely changed the political paradigm in this country for a generation. People at work who I thought were either leftish or apolitcal are openly talking about how bad this bill is and more importantly how the Democrats represent everything wrong about this country.

Much like what Chemical Sam mentioned in his diary today, Sunday’s vote means war. The bill and these Marxists have launched an all-out assault on the freedoms and liberties that this country has cherished for over 230 years. I will not be silent anymore. They picked this fight and I will do my best to end it. And part of this battle is openly confronting known Statists about every issue, every position, and everything un-American that they push. My wife and I have had enough. We have a 9 and 7 year old and tonight for the first time we read the Declaration of Independence to them. Word for word as if we were standing in the middle of Independence Hall beaming with pride as we read the sacred words of this country’s founding.

Part of my family’s escalation of the defense of our beliefs is ramping up confrontation. Every opportunity we have to confront a co-worker, a family member, friend or acquaintance we will seize….right out of Rules for Radicals. An as these confrontations continue I thought I would start to chronicle the exchanges here at Redstate.

Below is the first installment…..a word for word exchange from Facebook and I have replaced the names for privacy. Let me be clear….these people are the enemy. Without a doubt the enemy. So here we go, Arguing with Leftist Idiots, Volume 1, the escalation of rhetoric between American and Marxists.

The post that started it all:

GFG: yes! health care for all! but republicans moved to recommit the bill to committee. during speeches against motion a representative yelled “baby killer”. such vitrol and hatred is sad. Wrong. just plain wrong

BN: Did you read on the National Catholic Review where 59,000 nuns sent letters to congress AND the bishops letting them know that the health care bill would actually provide more coverage for pregnant women and their babies and wouldn’t increase abortion coverage at all. They basically said that people were either mistaken or lying (and some of the bishops were the ones saying it….) I was proud of them!!!

JF:Vitriol results when the people you elect go against the will of the majority in a shameless power grab. Shame on Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the pack of spineless followers.

BN: You must not be seeing the same polls I am Mr. Fxxxx….the majority of American’s did want this.

JF: You’re right, I must not be seeing those polls.

…..so this is the point when I start to chime in:

Stephen Halsey : I’m a fraternity brother of GFG’s. Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll this past weekend had 40% wanting nothing done and 36% wanting to start all over. 3/4 of the American people wanted nothing to do with this bill. No poll anywhere the past six months had a majority of people wanting this bill, not CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC or NBC. The elected representatives ignored the will of the people and they will pay dearly in November.

….so this is when BN starts to spew the Marxist talking points:

BN: Wow….really folks???? It upsets you that much for all Americans to have health insurance? Let me guess…you’ve all got it right? The polls I’ve seen have said that 67 t0 80% of Americans want reform. I don’t think I’d call Fox’s poll objective.

…..and my retort to this idiocy:

Stephen Halsey: BN, it’s not a question about people having insurance or not. It’s a question of whether it is the responsibility of the government to provide it or mandate the purchase of insurance. Please read the Constitution. Nowhere does it provide Congress or the federal government the authority to mandate the individual to purchase a product. And no the Commerce Clause, with years of abuse by Congress and the courts, does not allow this much federal latitude.

Many Americans do indeed want health insurance reform but I dare you to find a poll that says 70%-80%, much less 40% wanted THIS reform. This is government intrusion into the market place and the individual life on an unprecedented scale. This bill does NOT provide ‘free’ health care for all. It provides a MANDATE for you to purchase insurance. If you are below a certain income level then insurance companies through government subsidies will provide you a government approved policy. You will find many small and medium sized businesses will find it cheaper to pay a fine than to provide a company plan so they will cancel your coverage but will not pass those savings along to the employee…..a simple business decision. Yet everyone beyond the family of 4/$88,000 threshold will be forced to either go without coverage and pay the IRS or spend upwards of $14,000 for a government mandated plan. Do you know how many families of 4 are out there making that? A lot….. Think small business, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, receptionists, paralegals…..everyday Americans. And they will be forced to choose between putting food on the table or pay 25% of their take home pay for a crappy government policy.

It really is much more than the utopian notion of free health care for all…….

…..so in typical cowardly Leftist fashion she responds:

BN: You’re right….I wanted health care reform but not this one. I would have liked to see one more along the lines of what Mexico has. But we’ve gotten this, which is better than nothing in my book.

Just one question and then I’m leaving this discussion. Why does everyone suddenly want me to “read the constitution?” I’ve read it and I’ve seen nothing in the last year to even come close to the constitutional ludicracy we saw in the 8 before that.

So…..this whole exchange with a complete stranger in Facebook-land demonstrates a whole bunch:

Leftist idiots cannot talk specifics about the monstrosity just passed.
Leftist idiots, when presented the facts about the bill can only assume the fetal position and whine “Boooooosh” and “The last eight years……”.
Leftist idiots actually think that the ideal health care model is in Mexico…….freakin’ Mexico!!!! but what was just passed is a step in the right direction. Notice the quote from BN….
‘better than nothing’. So the best health care system in the world was nothing in this person’s mind…..IDIOT!!!!
Leftist idiots just make crap up to support their case…..never mind the facts.
Leftist have no regard for the Constitution. And just exactly was the ‘Constitutional lunacy’ this person saw the past eight years???

I will tell you fellow Red-Staters….this is what we’re up against. This is the enemy. Know them well. Confront them at every occasion. Do not allow them to get away with lies, distortions and exaggerations. An remind them that if they don’t like it here then just GET OUT! Why suffer under the greatest country ever created when you can go live in socialist utopian bliss in Mexico or Cuba or Venezuela.

Redstate, this is a battle we can win and will win.

Confront everyone at every opportunity.

Use these rules at every opportunity each an every day:

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rule
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose.
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

Marxists and Alinskyites for years have used these rules against us, spewing lies, hatred and divisive insults against true Americans. But everything changed Sunday night. We must use these rules against these occupiers of our House, our Government.

We speak the truth.

You cannot dispute the truth and we must push back hard at every opportunity using the same rules, the same tactics as these invaders.

As my wife and I continue to confront every Leftist at every opportunity it’s my intent to continue with with volumes of Arguing with Leftist Idiots. I will do everything in power to expose, ridicule and defeat these evil-doers who seek to destroy this country.

From the diaries, by Erick. Call 202-224-3121 right now.

People. Today should be a busy day since the Statists have once again scheduled a cowardly, nightime, weekend vote on healthcare.

Contact your Senators today urging them to vote ‘No’ tomorrow night to even begin debate. We can kill this thing tomorrow night if they can’t get 60 votes.

I just sent this to Senator Webb in Virginia, who being a veteran who fought for liberty and freedom I hope would still be open minded about this bill.

Senator Webb,

I am writing you to encourage you to vote ‘No’ on the Senate health care coming up for debate tomorrow night.

Vote ‘No’ so debate cannot proceed.

Vote ‘No’ to end debate should debate proceed.

Vote ‘No’ on the bill should it ever come up for a final vote.

You see, this bill is simply un-Constitutional. Nowhere in the founding document does it empower Congress to mandate the free (for now) citizens of this great country to purchase a product or service. Not the Commerce Clause. Not the ‘general welfare’ language. Nothing.

Not.A.Word.

I would encourage you and the junior Senator from our great Commonwealth to look back in time to 2 1/2 weeks ago, where the people of this great state overwhelmingly voted against the leftist policies of the junior Senator when he was Governor, and Gov. Kaine, and President Obama. The people of this country want MORE freedom not less. MORE opportunity not less and this health care bill robs the people who are the engine of this economy their ability and desire and means to produce and grow our economy. People want to be free and independent. You, of all people being a decorated veteran, should know this since you bravely fought for the very freedoms and liberties this bill would take away.

Resist the urge to vote with your leftist colleagues. Vote with the people you represent. Vote to kill this bill.

The people will not forget a ‘Yes’ vote in 2012.

Thank you.
Stephen Halsey

It’s been almost a week since the cowardly vote by the Marxists (that’s right I said it….) in the House on the single most dangerous and totalitarian bill ever to be voted on in Congressional history. And yet save for comments from a few reliable conservatives on the Sunday morning circuit and in the beginning of the week, the RNC and GOP leadership is curiously and disappointingly quiet as this bill prepares for debate in the Senate.

Yes I know Graham, Inhofe and Lieberman have pronounced this bill D.O.A. And while those were reassuring words downstream of the House vote, it didn’t stop DIngy Harry from placing this bill on the Senate calendar.

GOP/RNC: This is your wake-up call. Your last chance to redeem yourself to your base. You see, we’re about done with you. Between voting for TARP when you didn’t vote for TARP, pre-emptively endorsing  Crist in Florida and supporting the Marxist in NY-23, just to name a few betrayals, this is the last out in the 9th inning. If this thing passes, regardless of the makeup of Congress after 2010 and regardless of who is the Republican POTUS in 2012, we will never, ever get rid of the Statist apparatus constructed with this bill.

It will be like a computer virus that you cannot get rid of unless you rebuild the whole thing.

So instead of spending $900K of our money supporting a Marxist in NY-23, and spreading money around to good little moderate soldiers, why don’t you spend that money blitzing media, educating the American people on what will happen to their way of life should this monstrosity become law.

Explain to the people that Obama lied.

Their taxes will go up.

They will have no choice.

They will not be able to keep their existing coverage.

They may go to jail if they don’t obey.

Yes, I said obey. That’s what this is about. Control. Obey the State or face the consequences. That’s what good little Marxists-Statists do. They say ‘blank’ is good for the people….good for the collective, and yet they always include draconian compliance measures to make sure the serfs comply. Every totalitarian regime in modern history has ruled this way. The Obama/Pelosi/Reid regime is no different. The GOP/RNC knows this. Yet they are silent.

Why?

GOP/RNC: Stop parsing words!

It’s past time to call Obama a Marxist.

It’s past time to call Obama a radical-Islam appeaser.

It’s past time to call Obama anti-military, anti-West, anti-free market, anti-freedom, anti-liberty, anti-people.

Obama is a totalitarian, plain and simple. A cold, withdrawn, calculating bully hellbent on getting his way, ‘fundamentally transforming America’ if we don’t stop this trainwreck.

GOP/RNC; it is that serious. 2010 and 2012 simply won’t matter unless this thing is killed. NOW.

So do your job. Lead. Educate. Remember this simple rule to govern by:

‘Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem’.

Do the right thing. Kill.This.Bill.

By ANY means necessary.

I thought that after a week of digesting HR 2454 and it’s devastating consequences to this country should it become law, it might be good to provide a real world scenario of how this bill would devastate our residential and construction industries and consequently, our economy.

First of all, I’m an architect of 18 years, most of which have been in the K-12 education market, a market almost completely dependent on a robust housing market to create the need and demand for school construction and renovation. I’m also LEED accredited so I have a pretty good idea of what the federal government has in mind for new national energy standards.

There are many downright sinister provisions in HR 2454 but the provisions related to retrofitting existing homes before an individual is able to sell their house are especially troubling. To think the federal government can force an individual to meet a new residential energy standard retroactively is almost beyond comprehension. I am assuming that since the USGBC (US Green Building Council) has a close relationship with local and state governments and the federal government, that LEED standards, especially related to energy would likely be the model for new national residential energy standards. And if that’s the case, a vast majority of homes in this country would require substantial renovation to meet these energy standards. This could require upgrades to wall insulation, windows, doors, and even roof, depending on if heat-island effect is factored into the new energy standards. In fact, many homes built out of solid masonry construction before WWII may not ever be able to meet these standards.

I’ll use my own house as an example of the real cost of cap and trade. My wife and I bought our house in the summer of 2002. It’s two story and was built in 1984 in a very typical suburban subdivision out of very typical wood stud and masonite siding. Since we’ve had the house, we’ve replaced both heat pumps, upgrading from 8 SEER units to 11 and 13 SEER units depending on when we did the replacement. Keep this SEER rating in mind as we go forward. We’ve also replaced the roof, replacing a cedar shingle roof with dimensional asphalt shingles. Between these three improvements, we’ve spent about $17,000. Our house, depending on what day of the week it is is worth in the mid-300s and we have about 40% equity in the house so maybe $140,000. Maybe or maybe not a typical housing situation in this country but I’ll show below how HR 2454 would impact us.

In 2006 the EPA mandated the minimum SEER rating for residential units to be 13 SEER. So virtually every house in this country has 13 SEER equipment or less heating and cooling their house. Assuming we use LEED guidelines for energy efficiency standards for renovation, I’m also assuming that somewhere around a 7% increase in energy efficiency would be required. That’s the minimum improvement over baseline ASHRAE standards for existing construction to even pursue LEED certification. I would bet that it may end up being more than 7% which it’s all said and done. That means virtually every house in this country before it’s sold would have to have it’s HVAC equipment replaced. Fathom that for a minute:

Every.Single.House.

So figure replacing both heat pumps, AHUs and piping: $6,500 per floor or $13,000.

This is only part of the equation. The government will require you to perform an energy audit to determine the baseline performance of your existing house to determine how much improvement you need. This will factor in roof insulation, roof material, wall construction and existing R-value and window and door performance. Since our house has the original windows and doors, I’m sure these would have to replaced.

Figure 20 windows, replaced with an insulated low-E windows at $500/window. We have 20 windows so another $10,000.

Three existing exterior doors replaced at $800 each so another $2,400.

So we’re up to $25,400 already and have not even dealt with the roof or wall construction. You could conceivably double this number if you had to replace the roof and retrofit exterior walls with improved insulation.

So unless I had $25,000 lying around, I’d have to take this out of my $140,000 of equity reducing my once reasonably healthy equity down to less than $115,000. And for what? Maybe a 20% decrease in our monthly power bill? Our yearly power bill is about $2,500 a year so a 20% decrease would be $500 a year in savings. At that rate, it would be a 50 year payback of these improvements. 50 years.

The average American has no idea what this bill would do to the economy of this country. I would say that’s its impact would be more devastating than health care reform. People simply wouldn’t move. Businesses wouldn’t grow. Companies would have to bear the cost of relocating key employees since they’d end up having to purchase these homes and retrofit them before they were put back on the market. We would see almost unimaginable stagnation.

And this is only one small part of this Orwellian nightmare passed by the House last week.

Don’t you feel it? It’s all around us.

Everywhere.

At the mall.

When you’re at a restaurant with your family.

When you’re watching your kids play soccer on Saturday morning.

About the only place I don’t feel it is at church on Sunday morning. Maybe that should be a clue about what’s missing in our country today.

It really hit me last week when I was shopping for the kids at a neo-surburban mall in town. You know, the mall that was in fashion 20 years ago before the McMansion-villes sprouted out of nowhere outside of town demanding the latest fashionable outdoor New-Urbanist shopping complex. I was walking through this mall last week, that, to the credit of the Owner, has modified its appearance and size and shopping options to keep up with its surroundings and still the malaise was almost oppressive. No joy. No smiles on anyone’s face. People walking around as zombies, simply going through the motions. I started to wonder what is the origin of this.

Is it that people are really worried, downright afraid of where this country is headed?

Are people worried about their job, their future, their kid’s future?

Are they worried about living under crushing personal, local, state and federal debt and taxes?

Could it be people are starting to regret the way they cast their vote last November?

Or is that they are in a state of disbelief, shell-shocked even, as one crisis after another appears in the so-called press, just waiting for the next national or global crisis to emerge.

The last two years have seen changes here and around the world that, a few years back, seemed unimaginable. It’s almost hard to think back and remember a time when we didn’t live in a state of crisis and turmoil, and for many, despair. I can’t believe that I’m going to write this but for all of their shenanigans, the Clinton years almost seem like Camelot compared to the last two. It seems like today, people have pushed ‘pause’, just waiting for any good news, any sign that this period of profound change and financial loss is over. Any sign that we’re done with this numbing pattern of the weekly crisis.

As I was walking through this mall I started to wonder what will it take to remove the cloud of malaise gripping this country. As this pace, it’s worthless to project 3 years out as this administration winds down its first [and hopefully only] term. Certainly nothing that has passed Congress in the past 5 months and nothing planned on the horizon will lift this cloud. In fact, if cap-and-trade and health care reform become law, this malaise may become permanent or morph into something our Founding Fathers could have never envisioned; raw, unbridled, unchallenged power at the federal level, unimaginable federal intrusion into our lives, suffocating the liberty and creativity of every individual in this country.

I’ve read on several websites this notion of the 4^th generation….the idea that every 4^th generation, or every 70-80 years, there is a great and systemic shift, here and abroad. Looking back over our country’s history this hypothesis seems to have merit.

1770s-80s: Revolutionary War and our country’s birth.

1860s: The American Civil War

1930s-40s: The Crash of 29/The Great Depression/WWII

2010s:?????

It’s becoming apparent that we are in another one of those periods of great change some 70 years after the end of WWII. We have a global financial crisis that shows little sign of improvement. A domestic housing crisis that may get worse before it gets better with many exotic mortgages still in the pipeline that have to reset leaving millions more underwater on their house. We have unrest brewing around the world; North Korea, Iran, Russia/Georgia, Honduras, the list goes on and on. Tyrants around the world are trying to obtain WMDs, hellbent on consolidating their own domestic power for a purpose that is still unclear. It seems, at least today, that we are headed towards another period of inevitable and prolonged global war and conflict.

And here at home we have an out-of-control Congress cramming down 1,200 page bills on a day’s notice, created by a small, secret, select group with no input from the rank-and-file and no opportunity for opposition input or revision. A President about whom we know very little, and what we do know (and that was buried by the MSM last fall) should cause grave concern in each and every American. A past filled with a steady stream of Marxist, communist, socialist and radical influences. To those aware of these, what’s happening today in this country, the policies, the consolidation of power, the nationalization of industries, the advance of the State and its intrusion into our lives should come as no surprise. Obama is no moderate. He is cut from the same cloth as Castro, as Chavez, as Morales, as Ortega. He is a red-diaper Leftist.

And this cloud of malaise produced by Leftists could only be the beginning of their nefarious plans.

I, for one, refuse to give into the malaise and the loss of hope that seems embedded in our current societal state. I believe, to quote Bush 43, that there are ‘evil-doers’ in this world. And I believe that there are domestic evil-doers that are running this government. Why else can you explain that every bill proposed and passed, every policy shift planned is the exact opposite that common, rational sense would suggest is needed to repair this country and get it moving in the right direction. I also believe that these evil-doers know they have a limited window to accomplish their coup for they know once the sleeping giant of the American masses awakens, their time in power will come to a quick and abrupt end.

I sense that people are waking up and information is slowly getting to the masses. I’ve made a commitment to assist. I joined the local Republican Party committee. I’ve started blogging. I’m connected to people on Facebook and Twitter. I’m using these social networking sites to post whatever information I find, whenever I find it to my friends, family, colleagues, whoever……in order to educate people and make them aware of what we’re up against. To the extent my wife allows it, everything we do is now political; conversation, actions, contributions. We are of the mindset that you are either with us or against us; with friends, with family, with colleagues.

And it’s been a long time coming.

It’s the way the Left has operated for over a generation. It’s what required to turn the tide against the evil doers. It’s what’s required to combat and prevent malaise. It’s what’s required to win back our country, our freedom, our liberty.

I ask you……What are you going to do combat:

Malaise.

This diary is also posted at: http://theadmiralsbridge.blogspot.com/

Is McDonnell a squish?

In these economic times, with public support moving more towards the generic GOP label in more than 2 decades and when 40% of the public identifies themselves as a ‘conservative’, why would our nominee not take advantage of this political environment and make a clear no tax pledge?

I understand politicians not wanting to get boxed into a corner a la Bush 41. But………..if one is guided by conservative principles, which always includes low taxes and no new taxes, and if one consistently operates on principle, is it really that hard to make a commitment on the record of no new taxes? It’s either black or white. There is a reason cardboard boxes are brown. Operate on principle and you won’t ever get boxed in.

Mr. Attorney General, you are either conservative or you aren’t. Remember…..bold colors, not shades of pastel. We don’t need a squish as Governor.

Show us that you are a conservative.

Show us that you are not a squish.

Pledge…..

No new taxes.

I’m sure many of you have heard that Waxman’s Cap and Tax bill passed committee last night paving the way for yet another round of crushing tax increases on average Americans. I just called Cantor’s office here in Richmond to inquire about the GOP’s gameplan to fight this and was transferred to his DC office handling legislative matters. My conversation with Lisa in his office will make, to quote Glenn Beck, blood shoot from your eyes.

Past responses from staffers resembling crickets chirping have morphed into a stunning case of uhs and uhms of Obama-esque quality. When I asked about what the GOP gameplan was to fight this bill and educate the American people that one of the largest tax increases in our country’s history was looming she stunningly said that there was none.

Yes you read that correctly.

There.Is.No.Game.Plan.

Folks, we’re past time for torches and pitchforks and as each day passes, I’m convinced that something very wrong is going on right now in this country. When supposed ‘conservatives’ and GOP party leadership do not have a clear and strategic plan to counteract the continuing Marxist march towards the destruction of this country then I can draw only one logical conclusion.

They are complicit.

They are in on the whole damn thing.

The fact that this proposed legislation has been out there for months and there was no gameplan to fight this being simultaneously developed is stunning and and frankly negligient. At your leisure, contact Lisa in Cantor’s DC office. Her number is: 

202.225-2815.

Express your discontent at the the leadership displayed by our Whip and the rest of party leadership and explain that either leadership change their ways or they can expect new leadership come 2010.