Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

We live in interesting times - again...

Yesterday's vote on the health care reform bill was the result of political machinations, arm twisting and outright bribery on a scale we didn't expect when Barack Obama was elected to bring "new transparency and bipartisanship to government".

It was a beautifully coordinated series of actions that cut through the time-tested defenses of our Constitution and our long history as a well-intentioned Republic. Those who pulled it off consider it a victory, but it may mark a turning point that will have unexpected results.

I have to feel that somewhere in the Democratic Party, some of those in touch with their constituents are wondering if this has "awakened a sleeping giant" of grassroots rebellion against the excesses of government.

From my perspective as a conservative, but not politically active voter, the giant woke up some time ago but was getting its wits together as ordinary citizens kept meeting and exchanging views while most "mainstream" media figures kept their eyes averted and kept praising almost every move by the Obama Administration.

While media figures of uncertain gender applied racial and sexual epithets to the tea party attendees, the tea parties kept gaining adherents and pulled in potential leaders while remaining essentially conservative, anti-big government, and anti-incumbent. This last characteristic may bring about a major change in the makeup of our Congress and Senate over the next four years.

The thing that makes this more than a remote possibility is the historical fact that a splintered group can be united by an attack by an external force. Our present US government has divorced itself from us taxpayers by behavior as alien to ours as Marie Antoinette's was to French subjects in 1789.

The rumbling in the streets is not tumbrils this time, it is the angry voices of people who have woken up to the fact that they were not watching the shop and the people they elected were partying like there was no tomorrow.

If all goes well, that may be exactly what happens...we will know more in November.

Keep your eye on the Internet because that is where history is captured as it is being made.

Maybe it's time to recycle Congress

We started out, as I recall, with a representative form of government which has gradually morphed into an elite group of lawmakers who are no longer accountable to the people who elect them.

For example, our Congress critters vote themselves raises even as the economy tanks because of their inept leadership. These same public servants have a health care system that is not affected by the health care legislation that was voted on today.

In case after case, we find the leadership of the House and Senate buying votes through special deals, funneling money to relatives through contract awards and special tax breaks, and holding closed-door sessions to circumvent established procedures.

I think the problem began with us voters assuming that our representatives would represent our interests and not realizing that once in Washington, DC. our representatives play to a different audience.

Too many Congressmen and Senators have turned a deaf ear to constituent's complaints. Some have even utilized union goons to intimidate voters who asked embarrassing questions. We are seeing a climate of corruption that is getting worse every month.

Even 30 year veterans like Rick Boucher seem indifferent to constituent's questions. Send him an email on a specific measure and you will get a canned response in a month or two with a few platitudes and no specifics.

Time for another reality check

It seems like our political class is comfortably divorced from reality. Congress voted itself another raise this year, increased their expense budgets and are working hard to pull off a trifecta of bills that will raise taxes and energy costs while the economy crumbles around us.

Government is preoccupied with saving the world from computer model "disasters" like "poisonous" CO2 and Anthropogenic Global Warming, while ignoring the rising tide of real disasters like massive unemployment, a real recession, and an indecisively managed war in Afghanistan.

Taxpayer resistance is growing, but will not significantly reverse the process until the 2010 elections.

If there is to be an economic resurgence, it will probably start at the grassroots level with local actions attuned to local needs and resources.

I do not see that government bail outs have helped GM or Chrysler and do not expect that the balance of the Stimulus money will produce significant results either, as most of the money will be funnelled to patronage jobs or to support union activity.

Certainly some money will trickle down to worthwhile projects, but the percentage of taxpayer money that arrives where it s needed is a small fraction what was borrowed and will eventually be collected from the taxpayers in future generations.

There is a question that should be asked about any government project: How many real jobs will this program create?

Failing to understand that Government and State jobs are a burden on the economy is a classic mistake. They are an OVERHEAD expense. When your company is not doing well, you cut overhead first.

No company I have ever known has improved their operating basis during a crisis by adding more levels of management, yet our current administration is adding Czars and new government organizations every day.

I don't see that as a winning strategy.

( Photo credit: wrensongfarm.blogspot.com)

Hypocrisy dominates Health Care "reform" campaign

Anyone who believes that the Health care reform bill is anything but a naked power grab should look into the following facts. Any one of them should be enough to make you feel betrayed by those you have elected.

1. This bill is cleverly misnamed: H.R. 3200: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

It should be titled America's Enforced Health Choices Act.  Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable health care (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income. It is a tax and the IRS will collect it from you.

According to Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold, those who fail to pay the fee for not buying health insurance could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty.

Where in the Constitution does it say that ordinary citizens will subject to fines and jail for not having federally approved health insurance? Your elected officials and certain union members, and illegal aliens are exempt from these requirements of course.

2.  Those working to impose this bill on us have  exempted themselves from being subject to this bill. Our elected officials have repeatedly refused to allow themselves to be covered by this bill and it appears that they have given unions special exemptions from the provisions of this bill.

We are being forced to accept a health care system that our "elite" leaders are avoiding. So much for equality under the law.

3.  In spite of bland assurances that services will never be rationed, staffing has already begun for an unelected, largely unaccountable group of bureaucrats charged with containing Medicare costs. Obama has stated that such a group, working outside of “normal political channels,” should guide decisions regarding that “huge driver of cost ... the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives.

Most of this group is already in place as a result of the Stimulus Bill which contained funding for a $1.1 billion enterprise run by federal bureaucrats—not practicing doctors on the front line or patients and this part of the President’s plan dictates that doctors and hospitals will be overseen and reviewed by The National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. 

This “Coordinator”, who has already been appointed by President Obama, will be responsible for monitoring treatments to ensure doctors and hospitals strictly follow what the government deems appropriate and cost effective, and to “guide medical decisions at the time and place of care.” So much for Obama's assurance that the government will not come between you and your doctor!

HR 3200 adds another layer of bureaucrats who will allocate resources on the basis of budget needs, not patient needs. This is a great employment opportunity for those who desire absolute power over their neighbor's lives.

4. Democrats are already planning to institute $500 Billion in Medicare cuts. So much for Obama's assurances that Medicare will not be affected.

5. Our president and his supporters continue to insist that this vast bucket of unionized services and patronage handouts will not add to tax burdens or deficit spending. This is so blatantly false that it boggles the mind. The Congressional Budget Office has contradicted these claims of a "deficit neutral" program again and again.

6. Finally, our representatives in Washington are planning to ram this bill through under cover of darkness again. They have refused to allow a period of 72 hours between finishing the bill and voting on it. Remember that these representatives are not subject to this bill or the "death panels" they are forcing on an unsuspecting populace.

Some will protest that the bill does not explicitly state that the Federal Government will lower medicare coverage, deny services to the elderly and mentally incapacitated, or interfere with patient/doctor relationships. The simplest answer to such a blatant denial of reality is to look at the many clarifying amendments which were killed at the behest of Nancy Pelosi and her chairmen.

These amendments were all killed:

-  Require all members of Congress to get their health insurance through the government-run plan.
-  Prevent bureaucrats from making personal medical decisions for patients
-  Keep the Federal Government out of health care decisions
-  Require government-run plan to operate under the same standards as private health plans
-  Ensure that Americans cannot be forced into a government-run health plan
-  Stop seniors from being stripped of their health care choices like Medicare Advantage
-  Keep the federal government  from choosing "favored" physicians
-  Ensure that Health Savings Accounts would not be shut down or gutted by federal mandates
-  Allow Americans to continue to enroll in private individual market health plans

If you are not angered by the actions of our President and other elected officials, you are not paying attention. With very few exceptions, this  country would be vastly improved by replacing all incumbents as soon as possible.

It's time to stop drinking the Socialist Kool-Aid. We are heading toward a bleak future as a second-rate nation dominated by a "entitlement" mindset. We will experience a fiscal tsunami of out-of-control spending that will wreak havoc on our economy unless we all get involved in the 2010 elections.

Sarah Palin writes about true Health Care Reform

Sarah Palin has written another note on her FaceBook page and I think she speaks for a lot of us.

She writes:

"We need to address a REAL bipartisan reform proposition that will have REAL impacts on costs and quality of patient care".

Many of us see a need for real health care reform and our opposition to the Administration's HR3200 is not based on resistance to reforming health care. It is based on our view that this bill is not about improving health care and saving money.

A growing number of voters view this bill as a pork-filled spending fest with overtones of Orwell's 1984 and realize, after reading portions of it, that it is not about reform and does not cut costs.

In my opinion the current Health Care bill is a giant step towards total control of the public. I think we can do better if we insist on a thorough airing of the issues involved. If we allow another rush to enact like the ill-fated Stimulus bill, we deserve the hardships we will inherit.

Read Sarah Palin's article and let us know your thoughts.

Obama underwrites offshore drilling in Brazil, but not in the US?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil, while still blocking offshore drilling in the US.

Sarah Palin has written a thoughtful commentary on this situation on Facebook:
YOUR TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK: FIRST CARS, NOW FOREIGN OIL.

Both articles are worth reading.

It doesn't make sense to me that we should spend taxpayer money to expand Brazil's oil production while prohibiting commercial expansion of US oil production.

Perhaps some of you may have insight into the thought processes behind this paradoxical state of affairs.?

Keeping a Bad Bill Bad - hidden agendas must be kept hidden

When a bill is written in a confusing fashion, it can be the result of incompetence or guile. If sensible amendments to clarify the intent of the bill are defeated, it is fair warning that dirty work is afoot. As many people have noticed, the things Obama SAYS he wants to accomplish could be handled with a much simpler bill.

For those who insist that protesters are completely nuts in claiming that the Health Care Bill is going to ration healthcare, cover illegal aliens, and choose “favored” physicians, here is a list of 31 sensible amendments that have been DEFEATED by Pelosi and company.

It appears from a cursory reading that this 1300 page bill is huge only because there is so much pork to dole out and there are so many things like rationing of services that need to be hidden away from view.

Read Keeping a Bad Bill Bad from John Boehner and draw your own conclusions.
Democratic leaders blocked 31 common-sense changes to Health Care Bill H.R.3200. What would have been the result if all these amendments had passed?

One last example from life for those of you who do not understand what is going on here:

Have you ever had to sign a contract for a car or an apartment and objected to the language or penalties in some section of the contract because it didn't apply in your case?

In many cases, the person on the other side of the table will say, "Oh, don't worry about that! That's just standard boilerplate, it doesn't apply to you.

In those cases, I whip out my pen and suggest that we cross out that section and both initial the change.

If the person objects to the removal of this section that "doesn't really apply to me", I hand the contract back and make my exit. There is a hidden agenda and my suggestion exposed it.

H.R.3200 is full of hidden agendas. The proposed and defeated amendments reveal some of them.

Palin shoots and scores - "Death Panels" will be axed from bill

Sarah Palin's notes on her FaceBook page raised so much public awareness that the Senate Finance Committee will drop a controversial provision on consultations for end-of-life care from its proposed healthcare bill.

The committee, which has worked on putting together a bipartisan healthcare reform bill, will drop the controversial provision after being derided as "death panels" to encourage euthanasia by conservatives.

"On the Finance Committee, we are working very hard to avoid unintended consequences by methodically working through the complexities of all of these issues and policy options," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement. "We dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly."

Grassley also said, ""The bill passed by the House committees is so poorly cobbled together that it will have all kinds of unintended consequences, including making taxpayers fund health care subsidies for illegal immigrants." 

I hope that Chuck Grassley and the other members of the Finance Committee continue their good work and remove any possibility of taxpayer funded health care subsidies for illegal immigrants.

H/T to Michael O'Brien at The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Concerning the "Death Panels" in H.R. 3200

Sarah Palin has written a detailed response to Obama's fervent denial that the mandatory end of life counseling in H.R.3200 is nothing like a "Death Panel".

Her article on Facebook is titled, Concerning the "Death Panels" and it contains exact references for her statements.

One of the things that shows me how hollow Pelosi's and Obama's promises are is the fact neither ever quotes page reference for the positions they are taking. It may be that neither of them has read the entire bill and are relying on the words of others, but I think their denials are intentionally evasive.

To me, the strongest indication of devious intent by the bills supporters has been the voting down of amendments that would specifically prohibit rationing of heath care or would deny free health care to illegal immigrants. Amendments that would have clarified the intent of this bill have been voted down on party lines.

Confusing language is not a "bug" in this bill, it is a feature. If the law is "silent" (meaning non-specific) the general practice is to continue prior practice or let judges decide. If we have a 1000 plus page bill that is confusing, there is a very good reason for it being written that way.

I have set myself the target of reading this bill and it's amendments so I can get a more comprehensive view of what is actually being proposed. Secondhand viewpoints, even from trusted writers, reflects their reality and is not necessarily true.

Feel free to take my views with a grain of salt as they are not true for you unless you have verified the facts yourself.

Any more stimulus and we will be using these...

This is the low-emission vehicle that will replace the Harleys and other vehicles we used to enjoy.

The much-vaunted Stimulus Bill has managed to give money to every crackpot alternative energy scheme, while ignoring tested alternative energy like nuclear and hydro power. One might almost think that Obama and friends were more interested in "control" than in creating a robust economy.

The Stimulus and Cap and Tax bills were crafted by lobbyists and they did an excellent job of assuring that Obama's friends were paid off first. At the same time, enough crumbs were sprinkled onto worthy projects that many people felt that the stimulus was a good move.

Unfortunately our national debt has ballooned beyond all expectations and we will not get any concrete information until August.

The administration's annual midsummer budget update, usually scheduled for mid-July, has been put off until the middle of next month. It is expected to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in Obama's February budget and May update.

Our elected predators are busy taking us down the road to Socialism. Taxpayer money is being used to entice individuals, organizations and even states to get on the gravy train and support a government that is nationalizing businesses like any third world dictatorship.

The weak-minded are seduced by the prospects of easy money and it causes them to change from "What can I do to improve my situation in life" to "What do I have to do to continue getting government money".

Since productive businesses and individuals are being forced to support unproductive businesses and individuals through discriminatory taxes, it is only a matter of time before the bigger and more prosperous companies and individuals will vote with their feet and leave the country.

The rest of us will learn to live with our down-sized third world economy unless we insist on our Constitutional rights and elect representatives who actually represent us.

We still have a choice. We had better learn to communicate our needs to our elected officials more effectively.

H/T to Rico at  Theo Spark for the timely image.