The author of the article likens it to a Tennesee Williams play. Mary Landrieu sold out the country for $300 million, not $100 million as previously reported. Dana Milbank is right. It is a play but nothing really like those from Williams.

The script has become old and worn from overuse and the lines have been memorized by those who hear them, more so than those who act the parts for our benefit. The patrons are mutinous demanding better for their money but the actors seemed locked into this one play unable to step out of it to engage in another.

“My vote today,” she [Landrieu] said in a soft Southern accent that masked the hard politics at play, “should in no way be construed by the supporters of this current framework as an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end.”

How many times have we heard this same claim, yet, 97% of all bills that are approved in cloture become law. The actor indicates he hears the mutinous crowd, promising something different, but as the final act ensues we hear once again the same tired lines that echo in our memory like a too real nightmare proving to the patrons they were not heard at all.

Note: This is quite likely one of the shortest posts I’ve ever written but does anything more really need to be said?

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics.

It’s often quite difficult to talk about once having been an abused spouse because it elicits expressions of sympathy and overshadows the point of the posts or articles. It’s not about sympathy for me but looking out for my country. I’m okay. We are not okay.

There have been a few times when I’ve said that Obama reminds me of my ex-husband. My ex-husband is not a black man. You see, I lived with a narcissist for 23 years. That experience is why I recognize the same in President Barack Obama.

Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms may include (Source: Mayo Clinic):

Believing that you’re better than others
Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
Exaggerating your achievements or talents
Expecting constant praise and admiration
Believing that you’re special and acting accordingly
Failing to recognize other people’s emotions and feelings
Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
Taking advantage of others
Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
Being jealous of others
Believing that others are jealous of you
Trouble keeping healthy relationships
Setting unrealistic goals
Being easily hurt and rejected
Having a fragile self-esteem
Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional

You can look at that list all day long and not understand what you’re seeing in Obama without some examples.

During the last months/weeks of finalizing my divorce from the narcissist in my life, one of my friends confessed something to me one day. She lived on a hill in a wooded area that had been discovered to have old Indian burial grounds. I seemed to have a knack for finding things like that. One time when my husband and I were visiting I had gone off looking for something. She and he struck up a conversation about me, her telling him things about me he apparently didn’t know but should have after 23 years of marriage. The problem was, he didn’t recognize those qualities in himself and I was not a separate person from him in his world. It was when he asked her who she was talking about when it dawned on her that he didn’t even know me.

The narcissist sees everyone in his life as extensions of himself (or herself, although clinical narcissism is more common in men). They are not recognized as separate entities with individual strengths and weaknesses. This country as a whole, is now an extension of Obama. We are not separate beings with our own thoughts and failings or strengths and weaknesses.

The matter of the terrorist trials being held in New York give us an example via Politico.com:

“I don’t think it will be offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him,” Obama told NBC’s Chuck Todd.

When Todd asked Obama if he was interfering in the trial process by declaring that Mohammed will be executed, Obama, a former constitutional law professor, insisted that he wasn’t trying to dictate the result.

In Obama’s mind he’s setting right a wrong, according to the view of his world. It’s inconceivable that his right thing would be very wrong for those whom it most concerns, namely those who experienced deep loss from the attack on the World Trade Center. 9/11/2001. And he exhibits no understanding they would feel any different about the issue.

“What I said was, people will not be offended if that’s the outcome. I’m not pre-judging, I’m not going to be in that courtroom, that’s the job of prosecutors, the judge and the jury,” Obama said. “What I’m absolutely clear about is that I have complete confidence in the American people and our legal traditions and the prosecutors, the tough prosecutors from New York who specialize in terrorism.”

Read More →

Remember the day it became an epithet and Geoge W. Bush was labeled such with his “cowboy” diplomacy? Now, I’m a hillbilly, not a cowgirl, but recently I during a conversation with a friend she suddenly asked me who was my favorite famous cowboy. She chuckled at my answer. When I asked her why, she said that a person’s favorite cowboy tells a lot about a person.

She then explained that every cowboy has a code he follows and that code is what it says about the cowboy and the person who chose him. I laughed at her but there is some psychological research (psych-marketing research) to back her up.

So, I asked her what my choice meant about me. She wouldn’t tell me but told me to Google it. I did and here’s what I found:

1. A cowboy does not judge color of skin, but by character within.
2. A cowboy always respects a lady and tips his hat to all that pass him by
3. A cowboy stands strong for what the American frontier is all about: Freedom, Truth, Justice and the American way.
4. A cowboy will not be wronged, nor wrongs another. The justice he deems out depends on that.
5. A cowboy is loyal, and hard working and maintains a high ethic.
6. A cowboy loves his country, and will fight for it’s principles and sovereignty.
7. A cowboy respects his animals and the earth they roam upon.
8. A cowboy is faithful to what is entrusted to him.
9. A cowboy is bound by duty, honor, and gratitude for what God has given him, which includes his friends and family.
10. A cowboy maintains a hidden code in his heart, for all to see.

Now, I don’t know if I come close to living up to that code but I’m sure going to give it a try. I believe our veterans embody this code in our modern day versions of the cowboy. Cowboys aren’t gone. They just changed riding clothes for uniforms and tanks, tracks, ships, submarines, planes, and humvees for horses. They embody the best of America just as the cowboy represented the best of the old West. They live that code every day of their lives from the first moment they take the armed services oath and don that uniform.

God bless our veterans, our modern day cowboys.

My favorite cowboy? John Wayne.

Individual freedom is being assaulted from so many different directions the sheer weight of the assaults can cause the hardiest of us to buckle. Yet, there are still some who believe the government has only our best interests at heart. I find that sentiment mind-blowing in the face of what the government is doing.

Accessing records without consent of the individual.

… This study should include incentives such as “higher rates of reimbursement or other incentives for such health care providers to use electronic health records” and “promoting low-cost electronic health record software packages that are available for use by such health care providers.”

Read it all. Apparently, our ever so magnanimous government doesn’t care about the assault on our private records or the sharing of such records across agencies as their new health care legislation will require it.

As one friend put it:

“Our best
practice dictates that if you want to keep something private, don’t
share it. If data is shared by more than one entity, none of the
parties knows who leaked it. Eventually, anything shared becomes
public knowledge. This is one more case of the unwary opening
Pandora’s box.” (Thanks, Loren.)

But that’s not possible, is it? The government is supposed to take care of us, right? Right?

Then there’s net neutrality.

Their website is full of blatant lies. They claim that Net Neutrality would not be a new regulation, when in fact the whole point of the push is to get new regulations in place backed by the so-called Internet Freedom Preservation Act currently in the House. Obama’s FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski also made that much plain in a recent speech, that he wants the FCC to be an active, aggressive force on the Internet, picking winners and losers in private network policy disputes.

Again, read the whole article.

It’s okay if a Democrat does it.

Every student who brings someone to the polls to vote in the city council elections in Athens, OH gets $5.00.

Nice. But is that illegal?

Of course, it’s illegal. When did legality ever stop a liberal from doing what a liberal wants to do? They have a “cause” and this is merely the means to the end. Never mind that most of us don’t want the end they want.

How do you compete with government owned?

A new union contract would have lowered Ford’s labor costs in line with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC. It also included a no-strike provision. Workers are barred from striking Ford’s domestic rivals for several years as a condition of their bankruptcy restructurings.

“The UAW contract is up in 2011, and I think there could be a strike,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

Isn’t that bit like union workers sabotaging a competitor because they now have a stake in the other two companies? Nah, the government owns the union workers, too, now doesn’t it?

Wouldn’t that make union bosses the overseers of the government owners’ plantations? I thought slavery was dead in this country. Apparently, the Democrats want to go back to the future.

It’s not illegal so get used to it.

A San Francisco cosmetics company has ignited an outcry among pro-lifers for including an unexpected ingredient in its anti-aging creams: skin-cell proteins from an aborted fetus. [...]

In a statement released Friday, in response to a wave of condemnation from pro-life and religious blogs, Neocutis defended the use of its trademarked ingredient, Processed Skin Cell Proteins, or PSP, arguing that the fetal cell line was harvested in a responsible, ethical manner for use in treating severe dermatological injuries.

The company compared its situation to that of researchers who used fetal kidney cells to develop the polio vaccine.

It’s not as if they’re human, after all. That would be murder wouldn’t it? Murder for hire, if you want to put a fine point on it considering abortionists are paid to do the dirty work. And then they sell the bodies of the slain innocents to others for a bit more?

It’s not as if you’re not pro-choice. Oh no, we wouldn’t want to interfere with the government ruling that killing innocents is legal as long as it isn’t civilian casualties in the midst of fighting wars against terrorists who find safe havens among those civilians.

It’s for the children, after all, isn’t it? To make beauty products so others don’t have to age gracefully.

If the government can’t manage vaccinations with any level of competency, how do we expect them to manage health care? By creating more government agencies (read: bureaucracies), of course.

For a comparison to other welfare programs spending, let’s take a look shall we?

Over the next decade, welfare spending will amount to $30,000 per person per year — $120,000 for a family of 4 per year — 56% of which (or $67,200) goes to the recipients.

Moreover, these direct costs do not cover the concomitant costs for enterprises. That is, many organizations apply to whole populations, although their justification is the needs of the “poor.” For example, most people can afford education, but to guarantee it for the poor, there is public education for most, as well as subsidies. The same holds for establishing Social Security, Medicare, housing, health insurance, and industrial policy. There are then huge additional costs to the taxpayers and to the recipients of services who are not “poor.”

How much more than the 36% already being spent will these new bureaucracies cost? I wouldn’t put it past the government to flip those numbers. We can do without, of course. We might starve, freeze to death, or have a heat stroke but we’ll have health care if we do, right?

You can continue to believe in government’s goodwill if you choose. But don’t expect me to “jump off the Brooklyn Bridge” with you. If you keep trusting a government that has proven untrustworthy, this is what you get. You can make excuses all you want or say you didn’t sign onto this but if you support any part of it, you support the whole.

One person critiquing said this post seems disjointed but it’s not really. They are widely varying topics but are all these things are being perpetrated by the government simultaneously.

What the government is doing is assaulting us with a dozen skirmishes at once all taking place in the same general location but with different foci; the individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the right to make our own decisions based on our individual circumstances as to what is best for us. When we focus on one point of attack we risk losing sight of the other battles taking place around us. These battles are orchestrated to keep us off balance in the hopes that one of them will gain them an opening and their desire of government for the government in spite of the people.

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics

The United States has for decades been known as the leader of the free world. Not anymore.

Obama with his speech brought rousing applause from those present at the United Nations to hear it. I’m unsure whether the applause was for promises of appeasement or his New World Order.

Responsibility and leadership in the 21st century demand more. In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional division between nations of the south and north makes no sense in an interconnected world. Nor do alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long gone Cold War.

The time has come to realize that the old habits and arguments are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people. They lead nations to act in opposition to the very goals that they claim to pursue, and to vote - often in this body - against the interests of their own people. They build up walls between us and the future that our people seek, and the time has come for those walls to come down. Together, we must build new coalitions that bridge old divides - coalitions of different faiths and creeds; of north and south, east and west; black, white, and brown.

The choice is ours. We can be remembered as a generation that chose to drag the arguments of the 20th century into the 21st; that put off hard choices, refused to look ahead, and failed to keep pace because we defined ourselves by what we were against instead of what we were for. Or, we can be a generation that chooses to see the shoreline beyond the rough waters ahead; that comes together to serve the common interests of human beings, and finally gives meaning to the promise embedded in the name given to this institution: the United Nations.

That is the future America wants - a future of peace and prosperity that we can only reach if we recognize that all nations have rights, but all nations have responsibilities as well. That is the bargain that makes this work. That must be the guiding principle of international cooperation.

And so we are no longer the leader of the free world. We have ceded that position to a global conglomerate of nations that have stood by while atrocities are committed against those who yearn for freedom, from the genocide in Darfur to the Taliban and Al Queda in Afghanistan.

I don’t believe the full import of what Obama was saying has occurred to all those who applauded him so loudly. Yes, he is now one with them and has ceded all power to the United Nations as the governing body. The in positions of power inside the United Nations see the path to amassing more power and their desired one world government and little else.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, gave the speech Obama should have given. It was at once, an admonition and a declaration. Of course, reactions on the web are mixed along partisan political lines.

For a partial transcript of the video you can access it here: Have you no shame.

During his speech, Netanyahu showed some documents; documents given to him just a short time ago. Nations must realize that there is no peace for the world as long as dictators like Ahmedinejad have the opportunity to spread hate and contempt toward other nations. And today, we find Iran is not only going ahead with plans for nuclear armament but has doubled its efforts. When confronted, Iran’s president shrugged it off.

He dismissed the idea that “we must inform Mr. Obama’s administration of every facility that we have” and said the uproar over the plant “simply adds to the list of issues [over] which the United States owes the Iranian nation an apology.”

And our so-called leaders call for sanctions.

“We will not let this matter rest,” Brown said. “And we are prepared to implement further and more stringent sanctions. . . . Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program.” [...]
Asked if Israel had been kept apprised of the unfolding intelligence, an intelligence official said that “we have regular international exchanges with our partners” and that “Iranian nuclear activity is a topic that is regularly discussed.”

Obama has flung down the mantle of the leader of the free world most heartily. Mr. Netanyahu has picked it up unafraid.

Well… Sarkozy tried:

“How, before the eyes of the world, could we justify meeting without tackling them?” Sarkozy said. “We live in the real world, not a virtual world. And the real world expects us to take decisions.”

Unfortunately, those who came before him squandered any chance of leadership for France; at least in the short term. But then, he followed up that statement with this:

Referring to an upcoming meeting in Geneva between representatives of Iran and six world powers, Sarkozy said, “Everything, everything, must be put on the table now. We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running.” If there is no “in-depth change” on Iran’s part by December, “sanctions will have to be taken,” he said.

I thought he wanted to live in the real world. All eyes will be on Israel in the coming months and no matter which way it acts, many will be swift to condemn, even while those criticizing opt for impotence instead of courage. Or perhaps, they won’t look too closely while Israel does what needs to be done but what those “in charge” refuse to take the responsibility for doing.

Remember, the Jews promised themselves: “Never Again.”

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics.

And we’ll never be able to call them liars for it again. And more reason not to support the health bill.

Buried deep in the bill, pages 837-845 with a small segment in between dealing with Native Americans, are sections about HOME VISITATION PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES which will be handled under the Department of Human Resources and CPS (DFCS for some).

models of home visitation that have demonstrated positive effects on important program-determined child and parenting outcomes, such as reducing abuse and neglect and improving child health and development;

‘‘(ii) employ well-trained and competent staff, maintain high quality supervision, provide for ongoing training and professional development, and show strong organizational capacity to implement such a program;

‘‘(iii) establish appropriate linkages and referrals to other community resources

‘‘(iv) monitor fidelity of program implementation to ensure that services are

delivered according to the specified model; and

‘‘(v) provide parents with— ‘‘(I) knowledge of age-appropriate childdevelopment in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains (including knowledge of second language acquisition, in the case of English language learners);

‘‘(II) knowledge of realistic expectations of age-appropriate child behaviors;

‘‘(III) knowledge of health and wellness issues for children and parents;

‘‘(IV) modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices;

‘‘(V) skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development;

‘‘(VI) skills to recognize and seek help for issues related to health, developmental delays, and social, emotional, and behavioral skills; and

‘‘(VII) activities designed to help parents become full partners in the education of their children;

Now add to that, this: Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA, Public Law 105-89)

Moreover, ASFA marked a fundamental change to child welfare thinking, shifting the emphasis towards children’s health and safety concerns and away from a policy of reuniting children with their birth parents without regard to prior abusiveness. As such, ASFA was considered the most sweeping change to the U.S. adoption and foster care system in some two decades. One of ASFA’s lead sponsors, Republican Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, said, “We will not continue the current system of always putting the needs and rights of the biological parents first. … It’s time we recognize that some families simply cannot and should not be kept together.”

The results of the 1997 bill has massive corruption in CPS and a setup of quotas to bring in as many federal dollars as possible, including outright theft from the fund along with a rise in children being placed foster homes and shorter times before parental rights are terminated. There are reports of children being wrongfully taken from their homes, intimidation tactics, and more. Some have bitterly posted the prices of their children such as: Under 5, blonde-haired, blue-eyed: $6000.

Following up on that claim, I came across some statistics that sort of corroborate the statement when you find that black children are more likely to spend a year or more as wards of the state before being placed whereas white children are placed much sooner, sometimes immediately depending on age.

Now, if the 1997 bill gave CPS such powers as it has employed since, how much more power will they gain with the expansion of their mandate via the health care bill? What they want, they get?

Should we say: Welcome to Eugenics? Along with rationing for old people we have CPS at the forefront in home visitations to young families. Parents mean nothing when there’s money at stake. And these are the people who will be in charge of the HOME VISITATION PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES. Nice huh? I have said before that the health care bill is more about control than the title of the bill implies.

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics.

Next Sunday is my 51st birthday. I won’t be here on that day so I’m “celebrating” a bit early. For the first time in my life I’m scared of my government. That’s a first I never wanted to experience.

In every life there is always some uncertainty and insecurities. We can get angry at some of them or we can be depressed or run a gamut of emotions over turmoil.

Jaded says that race relations have not been this bad in decades. Obama was supposed to be a post-racial president. He was also supposed to be a bi-partisan president. In fact, he promised to be a lot of post- somethings. Instead, he went in the opposite direction. Who could have seen that coming? (A lot of people who were deemed racists for saying so.)

It’s not racial tensions that have me frightened. Racial tensions ebb and tide and there’s a limit to how much rage can be spewed before it dissipates, although it could get bloody before that limit is reached. We’ve been bloody before and while worrying it does not bring me to full terror.

It’s the whole monstrosity of government.There’s a segment of the country gnashing their teeth at the Republicans, insulting them with the “Party of No” nom de plume and insulting the people who oppose this complete takeover of the country that signals the death of our Constitution.

Some want that death, yet seem to have little understanding that it is the only thing standing between the government and our civil rights. Given the numbers who want it they may well achieve their goals and that is what scares me.

The federal government is made up of three parts and it seems two of those parts are in collusion to effect that change. The “Party of No”, in times past a part of the collusion, at others standing against it, has withdrawn and shed light on what happens in the shadows. It’s not pretty and I had not realized that we were so far gone until they did step back.

The other side wants its cover back so they can continue to work in the shadows and resort to bullying to get it. We’re called hate-mongers by people who hate us and what we stand for. If we dare question their premise or their statements, we’re accused of questioning their patriotism. I used to question their patriotism but not anymore. It’s just their patriotism is for something that isn’t this country in its original inception but for their own conception of what this country should be.

No, it’s the government that has me scared. Laws are permanent things. Once enacted they’re rarely repealed. That is why there is the hot and heavy debate over the health care bill. Some of us have actually read it and know more about what is in it than the Congress that purportedly wrote it.

In just the health care bill alone there are mechanisms of control that will be permanent and subdue (if not completely kill them) our civil rights under the Constitution. And there is other legislation coming down the pike that will cement those controls in place. For anyone who has read any part of these upcoming bills, they realize that it is more about control and very little about the thing they’re promising to fix. And they’ll lie and lie and lie, ad infinitum to achieve their goal which is power and control.

To show you what I mean here’s a small list of indignities (their so-called myths):

SEC. 152. PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE.
22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise explicitly per
mitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services.

In addition, in the early pages of the bill, pg 170, HR3200, it specifies that any nonresident alien is exempt from individual taxes.

What that says to me is that illegal aliens will be provided for under the health care bill. Now, that’s to be expected considering what who wants it. The issue is: Why Do They Have to Lie About it?

The pols say abortion isn’t covered in the bill but neglect to mention that it’s in there by definition pgs. 769-770, HR3200.

The health care bill provides for government sharing of your personal data, including bank records, between departments that have absolutely nothing to do with health care, pg 735, HR3200.

I’ll stop there otherwise I’ll be here for the next week outlining that bill. However, the pols say these things aren’t in there and, yet, here they are. When that doesn’t work, they say the bill hasn’t been written, yet. So, they lie. Why do they have to lie if it’s such a good deal?

Even if you’re willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because you support Obama or one or another member of Congress, remember what I said: Laws are typically permanent things.

I’m not just scared of my government. I’m terrified.

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics

The Huffington Post is celebrating today because the Color of Change has managed to pressure companies into pulling or not consider advertising on Fox’s Glenn Beck Show.

The new companies distancing themselves from Beck include Airware Inc. (makers of Brez anti-snoring aids), Ancestry.com, AT&T, Blaine Labs Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Clorox, Ditech, The Elations Company, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Farmers Insurance Group, Johnson & Johnson (makers of Tylenol), Lowe’s, NutriSystem, Sprint, The UPS Store and Verizon Wireless.

According to the article, there are 160,000 Color of Change members. Wow, that’s a LOT, especially stacked up against 2.2 million, on average, who watch Beck’s show. Of course, they’re simply bowing to a majority to keep themselves solvent, right? Right?

What’s that you say? 2.2 million is more than 160,000? Are you saying I have it backwards?  But that can’t be! The Huffington Post says… and they’re demanding accountability. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t trust their accountability any further than I trust their math considering they’re all too willing to cater to the 160,000 over the 2.2 million.

It’s a pity for some of them. Lowe’s, today, just lost some business. I need a new toilet, or at least parts to fix it. I woke up this morning to a flooded home office. I’ll find somewhere else to buy the parts for repairs.

Likewise, Johnson & Johnson. I don’t use Tylenol because it simply doesn’t work for me but I do buy other products. I love the Dow bathroom cleaner; scrubbing bubbles and all that. I’m sure I could run down the list and find something they sell that I will no longer buy.

I’m not going to call it a boycott. Nor am I asking for a boycott of those companies, although I will admit it would be nice. I’m simply distrustful of a company that has such horrible math that they would cater to 160,000 over 2.2 million.

I also found an old blog post claiming that Beck drove viewers away from CNN. If it’s all Beck’s fault how come his viewership is going up and theirs is still going down? I suppose they must say something to comfort themselves.

Before their demands for accountability per the Huffington Post article, this group is asking for help in the form of contributions. One wonders if they’re willing to bailout the companies they just rolled.

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics.

P.S. If you want to let Fox know what you think you can do that here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html

Supposedly, Cooper is taking calls and setting up meetings but he’s not noting how many for or against the health care bill that is being so actively debated. In the linked article, he says he’s voting against the bill when Congress reconvenes.

“I take constituents’ calls and messages as seriously as a heart attack,” Cooper said. “I declared weeks ago that I was voting against 3200, but hearing from constituents confirmed my doubts about the bill.”

That’s news to me; that he is voting against it. Considering I’ve made it my most important goal for 2010 to see that Cooper is voted out of office, I’ve followed him closely. He lies. Not only does he lie, he thinks we’re too stupid to remember that he lies.  After Labor Day, we’ll be out of sight, out of mind:

The rhetoric in the debate over health care reform has become more heated, as lawmakers have faced or prepare to face their constituents.But when the U.S. Congress resumes work after Labor Day, many believe that the feisty, contentious town hall meetings will quickly fade into the background, as debate shifts from pointed partisanship to compromise.

To corroborate the above paragraph, Cooper in his own words has this to say:

Congress has botched the marketing of these four bills,” said Rep. Jim Cooper. “That’s what the talk show hosts are able to focus on and ridicule. But the House bills really don’t matter, and what will really matter doesn’t exist yet.”

In politics, lying isn’t lying if the bill that doesn’t exist yet has a new number but is essentially a carbon copy of the one he’ll “vote against.”  And, of course, there’s the obligatory attack on talk show hosts. This is what the liberal shills think of us:

Some followers of the debate over health care say that, for all the drama of this month’s town hall meetings, they may eventually turn out to be sideshows.

We’re sideshows.  We don’t know what’s right for us. Only this all important body sitting in Washington, D.C. can make decisions that affect you, the individual. The mixed messages are deliberate. We’re supposed to be mollified while they trek back to their citadel and pull more power to them while we trust that, because of their words, they’re going to do the right thing.

In addition, we’ve accepted the premise that health care is so broken, only a complete overhaul of the entire system and government takeover will fix it. If health care is so broken how come this country has one of the highest life expectancy rates?

When are we going to learn to question the premise first?

If this legislation passes and doesn’t mean the total destruction of the Constitution without further legislative encroachments, Jim Cooper (and others like him) must go.  I suggest all of you who are fighting with Democratic Congressmen follow them and their words very carefully. They lie and rationalize their lying as truth so easily it can make one breathless. There’s no such creature as a Blue Dog. It’s a myth conjured to win elections by convincing the gullible who still believe in fairy tales.

District 6 Tennesseans don’t get to ask anything of the “honorable” Jim Cooper. He canceled his appearance at West End Middle School out of fear.

After rumor spread that Rep. Jim Cooper would be holding a public town hall meeting — rather than delivering the opening remarks to parents and students as he was scheduled to do — Friday morning at West End Middle School in Nashville, the Congressman canceled his appearance, fearing protesters would disrupt the school.

Some hardy protestors will turn out anyway. That is a good thing but to highlight just what is thought of Jim Cooper in his own district:

Despite Cooper’s cancellation, Tom Kovach, state director of America’s Independent Party, said his group’s planned “Tea Party” protest would still go forward at the school. (emphasis mine)

Here’s what Kovach had to say in a press release sent this afternoon:

“Recently, there was a successful event in another part of Tennessee, where citizens lined up to pose questions to a *photograph* of their absent congressman,” Kovach explained.  “I’ve heard enough of Cooper’s commentaries to know that he doesn’t directly answer the question even when the person is standing right there, so we probably won’t bother with the expense of a photograph.”

Remember, this is how the left defines leadership: avoid the tough questions and speak as if you know what you’re talking about when you haven’t the faintest idea.  And, of course, stack the deck:

During the annual August recess, Congressman Cooper does not have even one “town hall” meeting on his schedule.  And, during a telephone conversation on Monday, the congressman’s district scheduler told Kovach that Cooper has no plans to conduct any such public meetings.  Cooper had been scheduled to speak before several area Rotary Club meetings, but he also cancelled those after news of the Friday independent Tea Party became public.  Cooper has said that he would meet — privately — with individual constituents.  His scheduler told Kovach that the individual meetings were “just more efficient” — a commment at which Kovach has scoffed.

In spite of the fact that I’ve quoted a good swath of the article, there’s more.

Halfway through the August recess and now we find there are no townhall meetings and it’s possible to set up “private meetings’?

To fellow Tennesseans: In 2010 when you stand before the voting machine, remember the absolutely stunning non-leadership qualities of Congressman Jim Cooper. We need leaders who are unafraid of their convictions, not wimps who hide at the first sign of a challenge to them.

The Tennessean Newspaper is about as useless as Cooper but, surprisingly, this article seems only a half-hearted attempt to defend him. I find it beyond sad that a townhall with only a “photograph” of the Congressman is as good as having the official there in person.  It speaks volumes for the majority of Congressional Unleaders considering we’re hearing the same types of stories across the country.

It would be so easy, so very easy, to buy into the “let the government handle it” meme but it only seems easy. I would have to live with myself in the mirror every day. It’s not a pretty sight already but it would be downright horrifying afterward. It’s not just freedom robbing, it’s a soul sucking disease.

Before I go further, let me explain why I’m presently without health insurance. My husband worked in the construction industry. When the economy goes south construction feels the effects first. Being of the older persuasion life became difficult in finding and maintaining a job long enough to get and keep affordable health insurance thorugh a company plan. I work from home and private insurance for individuals at our age is practically impossible. Not being spring chickens, private insurance bills would have eaten us alive; a case of the cure being worse than the disease.  You see all those ads on television about affordable insurance but the minute one of us says how old we are you see the premiums going up, up, up. We’re not in the greatest of health but neither are we of the poorest; simply getting older.

Yes, it would be so easy to sit back and let the government handle it all, even to what I’m entitled to as far as lifesaving measures at the end. Yes, it would be so easy to be that selfish, giving up my freedoms and those of my descendents for the short term gain of not having to worry about a hospital bill in the future or how I’m going to pay for a catastrophic health incident. Or would it?

For someone like me, the guilt would be mentally crippling and that mental anguish would eventually rob me of the health I enjoy at present. I would be sleepless at the legacy this generation is leaving for succeeding generations. We are robbing them of their rights under the Constitution, the greatest gift a government can give to the people it governs.

So many think the Constitution is outdated and needs to be rewritten for modern times. I’ve read the Constitution. It’s timeless. It doesn’t worry about technological advances, for or against. If anything it is the reason why this country has acheived what it has acheived because it simply stayed out of the way of what each individual’s accomplishments. It did concern itself with exactly the circumstances with which we are presently faced and took steps to forestall such usurpations.

I often wonder if the founding fathers ever thought that the people themselves would rather cede to the government than to engage in self governance and self determination. Who would have conceived at that time that this nation would one day have a majority who trade their freedom tomorrow for a little more comfort today?

I won’t mention the abortion funding, the illegal aliens, or any number of other Constitution killing clauses in that bill. No, I won’t mention that the government exempts itself from the same legislation that it would impose on the rest of us. No, I won’t mention that little clause about requiring your debit card number. Anyone who bases their arguments on those things is missing the real significance of the legislation. No one should be surprised at those clauses when one considers who is writing the legislation.

I may not have health insurance right now and worrying about those possible catastrophic incidences, especially considering the financial hits my husband and I have taken in the last year or two. However, freedom is priceless. Only those who have no concept of the value of freedom, the lives that have been lost to preserve it for everyone, can even consider selling it so easily.

In other words, this generation will sell future generations into slavery for a little comfort today. What tomorrow brings is not their concern.

I can’t do it. I pity those who can.

Note: Forgive me if this is rambling at times or contains typos. I rattled it off in a hurry. Apologies in advance for not taking the time to proofread.

At least not in polite company.

They’re calling in the big guns. 

Policymakers, scientists and marketers should look at these factors to figure out what might prod people take action, the task force reported at the association’s annual convention in Toronto. [...]

Despite warnings from scientists that humans need to make changes now if they want to avoid the worst effects of climate change, “people don’t feel a sense of urgency,” the association said in a statement.

Numerous psychological barriers are to blame, the task force found, including: uncertainty over climate change, mistrust of the messages about risk from scientists or government officials, denial that climate change is occurring or that it is related to human activity. [...]

It identified other areas where psychology can help limit the effects of climate change, such as developing environmental regulations, economic incentives, better energy-efficient technology and communication methods.

I suppose, nobody ever heard of being told what you want to hear because what you don’t want to hear won’t be heard. I suppose the fact that we’ve had the coolest summer in how many years(???) wouldn’t be a reason for the mistrust of scientists and government officials when they keep pushing a hoax. Oh, no, surely it’s not something that simple. It must be psychological barriers.  Is that anything like the manufactured outrage rife in internet blog posts and tea parties?

We’re not quiescient enough, so they call on psychologists to “make a difference”? Is this a case where truth is stranger than fiction? I’m reminded of a scene in the movie Serenity when Mal and his crew are watching the video that tells how the Reevers were created from government interference; a government that always thinks it knows better and can somehow make people better than they can make themselves. At our present level of technological development there are no “packs” to guarantee our gullibility, so the government will use psychologists, instead; not to mention the fact they couldn’t afford them even if they were available. The nation is broke. Even China doesn’t want our debt anymore.

Just as I couldn’t believe my ears this morning as I listened to the entire speech, something I’m not inclined to do if there’s something really interesting on, I still can’t believe it in this clip that has been transcribed:

While citing Africa’s sometimes “tragic past” and acknowledging the ravages of colonialism, he said, “It is easy to point fingers and to pin the blame for these problems on others.”

“But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants,” he said.[...]

“No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers,” he said. “No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.”

President Obama on your return to the states could you perhaps practice what you preached to Ghana?

I did listen to the entire speech and it was filled with segments similar to the one quoted. Yet, the very things he outlined to the people of Ghana and it’s parliament as detrimental to a nation are exactly what he has done in this country, as its leader.

From the coercion of banks to take TARP money, the takeover of the auto industry, cap and tax, and nationalized healthcare, Obama has done exactly what he, this morning preached against.

So which do we believe? The words of Obama in Africa or the actions of the Obama here?

He laughed.

There is no point in being outraged, really there isn’t.

“Rush Limbaugh, ‘I hope the country fails’ — I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? … He needs a good waterboarding, that’s what he needs.”

Obama joined the crowd in laughing at the crack about Limbaugh’s “kidneys.”

Apparently, it’s funny to wish death on someone.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the least bit surprised. I knew this would happen, has been happening for years now, which is why calling it an outrage is basically saying no one has the courage of their convictions to stand up to bullies. The biggest bully now sits in the White House and the lesser bullies are so afraid of him they can’t make a joke about him, which is the tradition for this yearly function.

I know many a conservative site that talks about the left drinking Koolaid. I don’t believe it’s Koolaid at all but a whole different drink: Haterade. When cruelty is the only thing the left seems to find funny, perhaps they should abstain from the haterade for awhile but I believe they’re addicted now and can’t stop.

Time after time after time, the left has shown that it lives for and thrives on hate( You can google them because I will not give them a link to the vileness):

Carrie Prejean
Sarah Palin
Joe the Plumber
Rush Limbaugh
Anybody who stands in Obama’s way.

The vitriol aimed at these and others not named is not dislike for them. It’s not a disagreement with their views. It’s nothing but pure unadulterated hate. Where are all the political correctness police now? Probably getting their fix in for their daily ration of haterade. I’m sure we’ll be hearing all about it when the hate juice kicks in so they can laugh about it a little longer.

Crossposted to Hillbilly Politics.

Take a break. Although I could say this is something similar to what Congress is doing, I won’t. Instead, I’ll just laugh and enjoy the humor of it.

Nailing jello to a wall. It can be done.  Oh, and open thread.

H/T Attack Machine

At least the Republican flow, that is.

Napolitano is an idiot; no question about that but to call for her resignation will change nothing.  As one put it:

“I don’t know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she’s caused,” Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, told FOX News on Thursday, referring to the report on extremist threats. “I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let’s move on.” 

except there will be no moving on. Like everything else in Washington, D.C. once done, it is rarely undone. The report is dissminated and the investigations will go on whether it’s Napolitano in charge or a replacement.

When there were all the calls for some Bush officials to resign, did it change anything in Washington, D.C. except to give them Democrats more credence every time they uttered some falsehood? Who paid the price for that? It wasn’t just the Republicans in Congress who paid, but the American people.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., also said Napolitano’s resignation is in order, and she should be brought before Congress for a hearing. 

Yes, let’s have a hearing, give Napolitano a slap on the wrist. In the meantime, the report is disseminated and people are being investigated as a result. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m just a tad tired of show trials and hearings. It’s a waste of taxpayers money when enough of that has been wasted already.

Last year, the House Republicans began a revolt. What happened to that? Now, since the election is over you’re back to playing the Democrats’ games written to the Democrats’ advantage and you pay the American citizens, who pay your salaries by the way: lip service.

If you can’t fully join in the movement called Tea Parties, then get out of the way and let the people do what you should have done years ago and didn’t. Diplomacy doesn’t work with Democrats. The only thing that works with them is the threat of losing power and money. They don’t care how they get it as long as they do and they’re sure not going to just give it back once they’ve got it.

But, would someone please explain to me how the banks could be any worse off from releasing the stress tests?

The disarray highlights what threatens to be a lose-lose situation for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: If all the banks pass, the tests’ credibility will be questioned, and if some banks get failing grades and are forced to accept more government capital and oversight, they may be punished by investors and customers.

It seems to me, the money quote is in that paragraph: “If all the banks pass…” I don’t know if it’s because of the test’s credibility or the credibility of the Secretary is at stake. There are other quotes I could pull out about banks being weakened, possibly more economic downturn, and so on.

Since September ‘08 can the banks look any weaker? Every week there is one or two banks seized by the Feds. They don’t get much billing but even a simple following of Drudge will give you that information.

There’s no doubt we’re headed for more economic downturn, when companies continually turn to the government for bailouts and the government willingly forks over the taxpayers’ money to prop up them up while not giving an inch to the issues that made them failing in the first place.

So, all you economists out there on Redstate, can you explain it for the uneducated masses, like me?

Janet Napolitano appeared on Fox this morning and said she apologizes:

“To the extent veterans read it as an accusation … an apology is owed,” she said during an on-air interview on FOX News Thursday, a day after veterans’ groups and members of Congress blasted her for the report, which they said libeled members of the armed forces.

The problem with that apology is that she retracts it almost as soon as it is uttered by stating the following:

“I’m not running away from it, but I will say it was an assessment. It was not an accusation, and quite frankly, these are products that are produced and shared with law enforcement on a routine basis.”

Does she know the definition of assessment? I think not when the free online dictionary defines it thusly:

1. Analysis of the security, effectiveness, and potential of an existing or planned intelligence activity.
2. Judgment of the motives, qualifications, and characteristics of present or prospective employees or “agents.”

Not to mention the fact that the entire document slams anybody and everybody who holds opposing views to the present administration.

Others have tried to argue the point that there is a left wing extremism report, which can be found here. But the stark and profound differences between the two reports is eye opening. Read it and the contrasting right wing report for yourselves.

Yesterday was the first time in my life I’ve ever attended a protest of any kind. I’m old, fat, and dumpy but now I’m a right wing extremist because I hold opposing views to the socialist attempts at taking over my country.

And proud of it!!!!!

Today is tax day. We here at RedState know what that means. It is no ordinary tax day of rushing to mail off returns before the magic hour or the usual grumbling about how much your tax bill ended up being, “why couldn’t I have that deduction, too?”, ,or “I don’t want to fund research on snails.”

Today, we embark on a journey. The tea parties are the first step. Sometime, in August, I believe, there is going to be a march on Washington. Then what?

Obama was elected because he promised change. During the campaining, he called himself a blank slate and hid his agenda. I don’t believe the change he is bringing is the change the country wanted. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having a protest today, which is much larger than anyone knows, including our conservative friends at the only media outlet that is giving it positive coverage. For every one who stands up in protest there will be at least two more who secretly agree with the rest of us. Then what?

Have you ever had a junk room, garage, or drawers that you simply can’t find the will to clean out because it’s a tedious, seemingly thankless job? Doesn’t our government rather resemble them?

There are any number of issues being discussed on this site from education to taxes to bailouts to media coverage. They’re the trees. Most of us here agree that they’re dying, dead, or rotting trees. In spite of all the dead and rotting trees there are a great many that are vibrant and full of life. We can’t see them because of  the dead ones crowding around them. In my mind, the next step would be to start clearing them out but that presents a problem. Some are quite attached to some of those dead and rotting trees and think if only we put more attention into them, they’ll suddenly come alive again.

We’ve been travelling this path through this forest for a long time. Most historians put it at either the time of Wilson or FDR but I believe we’ve been on it longer. Wilson and FDR mark only the big changes. Before them were many small changes that people accepted as temporary which then became permanent but decided they were something we could live with.

Where do we start thinning out the forest that is so overgrown with dead and rotting trees that it is threatening to kill the whole?

I don’t have much to say about this but I didn’t see anywhere to insert it into comments so let’s declare it an open thread; a place to put all those extraneous tidbits of the day that don’t seem to fit anywhere else.

Of course, you know that as swiftly as Obama pushed off any responsibility for the economy that he and the other Democrats in Congress helped cause, he’ll certainly take credit for something else Bush left for the next president to inherit. But don’t expect Bush to get any credit for it. (emphasis mine)

Manhattan district attorney’s office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.

Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.

“This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already,” a law enforcement source close to the case said.

“We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Obama machine spins this in light of his plea for nuclear disarmament, which the Russians rejected.