Beware of the Wolf

Ronald Reagan's birthday is approaching.  On February 6, the Gipper would have been 100 years old.  This pending centennial, apparently, has given USA Today cause to publish tributes from Reagan's admirers, like John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Ed Meese.  Even Sam Donaldson wrote a semi-positive remembrance.

But one tribute has taken me aback.  Barack Obama penned this piece lauding the Reagan's leadership and legacy.

Has the ultra-liberal changed his thinking?  Has the conservatism embodied by Ronald Reagan broken through and convinced Obama of the errors of his thinking?  His philosophy and love of freedom?  His view of government and its role in the lives of the American people?

Sadly, I don't think so.

And that brings me to the State of the Union address, which Obama will deliver tomorrow evening to a posturing group of politicians who think that sitting in a chair next to someone you disagree with makes a difference.  But the biggest phony of the night will be the one reading the TelePrompTer.  Obama, no doubt, will speak of bipartisanship and cooperation.  Of moderating our difference and setting a new tone in Washington.

Blah . . . blah . . . blah.

It would be worth ignoring completely if it wasn't so dangerous.  Faced with the fact of his policies' huge defeat in November and the power shift in Congress to the GOP, Obama is almost certain to paint himself as a moderate tomorrow night.  But do not be fooled.  The man lives and breaths liberalism.  He's a tax-and-spend Democrat who has done and is doing everything in his power to socialize this country - emphasis now our healthcare system.

Ronald Reagan said "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."

Barack Obama is a far cry from Ronald Reagan.  Beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.

The Whimpification of Language

I remember a commercial from the 1980s featuring L.A. Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser describing pitching as "like climbing a mountain" or "going to battle."  Hershiser's use of those analogies (similes?) irritated me at the time (believe it or not, I was more easily irritated back then) and I lashed out in verbal diatribes (since the blog had not yet been invented) whenever the commercial aired and anyone else was in earshot.  "Shut up Orel!  You've never climbed a mountain!  You've never been in battle!  How would you know what either one was like?"

So what does this trip down memory lane have to do with 2011?  The Arizona shooting spree seems to be taking its toll on the English language, at least as used in public America these days.  Apparently, language that when taken in any context as possibly or potentially or maybe-in-the-mind-of-a-sociopath violent is now taboo.  Take, for example, House Speaker John Boehner's new way to refer to Obamacare.  He used to call it "job killing" but now it is merely "job crushing."  (Link to Ben Smith's Politico blog here.)

Apparently, no one is allowed to use the word "killing" in political discourse anymore.  Even when it refers to the "death" of inanimate objects or ideas.  How, ever, can the wonderfully-named city of Town & Country discuss how to control its rampant deer population?  Or what would happen if a researcher today discovered a cure for cancer that "killed" malignant cells?  I guess they'd have to "disable" those cells instead.  Right?

English is not the most beautiful language in the world.  It is certainly not the most logical.  But it is certainly colorful.  But, in the aftermath of a deranged man's act of violence, the political correctness crowed is trying to scrub some of that color from our language.

If John Boehner had been referring to an "employee killing" piece of legislation, that would be over-the-line.  But no person in his or her right mind could possibly believe that a reference to a piece of legislation "killing jobs" is inciting violence.  It doesn't even mention violence.  How can it be violent to "kill" something that is not physical, not alive.

Now, whatever I can say about the Orel Hershiser commercial, his language was colorful and I still remember it about 25 years later.

Stop watering down our language!  Stop making us sound like a bunch of P.C. wimps!

President Fiat

It comes as no surprise that one American president, South American that is, has embraced the power to rule by decree.  That president is Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.  (Link to story here.)  But at least Hugo waited until his country's legislature officially gave him that power.

In North America, a president is ruling by executive decree and bureaucratic fiat as well.  Of course, that president is the United States' own Barack Obama.  Here are two recent examples . . .

#1:  Remember the brouhaha over "Death Panels" originally included in the monstrous bill that brought us (or is bringing us) Obamacare.  Without rehashing the details, suffice it to say that at the very least Obama and the majority of the Dems wanted end-of-life planning included in patients' government funded annual checkups.  Pro-Life conservatives opposed and won the battle.  The provision was removed before Obamacare passed.

But winning the battle is not winning the war.  The death panels are back.  The Obama administration has simply issued a new Medicare regulation enacting them.  (Link to story here.)  So much for the will of Congress.  So much for the will of the people expressed through their representatives in a representative democracy.

But one is not enough . . .

#2:  "Net neutrality."  The Obama-controlled Federal Communications Commission has decided to jump into the field of internet communications and regulate those communications as it does television and radio.  To date, standing alone, the reasons and the proposed regulations may even seem innocuous.  But the fact of the matter is, the government regulating the free flow of information on the only communication outlet not controlled by the political left wing in America should cause some pause.

Now, certainly in a representative democracy, the will of the people on this issue should matter, right?  Certainly our elected representatives in Congress would be the ones to determine whether or not a new field should be opened to government regulation, right?

Not in Barack Obama's America.  Nope.  Congress passed no law unleashing the hounds of the FCC on the internet.  And, according to this Rasmussen poll, just 21% of American voters want government regulation of anything on the internet.   A majority opposes such regulation in favor of a free market.

Welcome to America.  You and I are the great unwashed.  What you think doesn't matter - at least to President Fiat.  He knows best.  The great father looking out for us from the mountaintop.  So he thinks.

The upcoming regime change in 2012 (actually January 20, 2013) can't come fast enough.

Deal or No Deal

No deal.  Link here for details.

Or deal.  Link here for possible new deal.

Unless there is a deal, your taxes will be going up in January.  And you'll have the lame duck Democrat Congress to thank for that.

If that happens, I have a suggestion for the incoming GOP majority . . . House Bill #2* should be an immediate and retroactive reinstatement of the Bush tax cuts, with no additional spending attached.  If Obama and the shrunken Dem majority in the Senate want to block that bill, be my guest.

(*HB #2 only because HB #1 is already spoken for . . . repeal of Obamacare.)

Election Reflections . . . belated edition

Well, it has become clear for all to see - including me - that anyone depending on a regular blog fix should look elsewhere.  However, if you want to read something good once in a while, stay tuned.  I promise not to go away (Lord willing and the creek don't rise) without telling you all that I'm gone.

So here we go, belatedly, with SLC's reflections on the November elections.  I haven't been so happy with an election result since 1994.  This was, of course, an even bigger victory.  (Though I must admit that my mood was even better in 1994 for two reasons . . . that one came as more of a surprise but, more importantly, it was because I heard the results on CNN while on vacation in Spain.)

In January, Republicans will take a decisive majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and a significant minority in the Senate.  In the Missouri General Assembly, the GOP has an overwhelming numbers advantage.

It is time to lay the the groundwork both in our state and nationally but anyone who wants real change needs to take a look at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City and the White House.  There are still significant stumbling blocks in the persons of Jay Nixon and Barack Obama.  Keep 2012 in your sights.

In the meantime, Roy Blunt and the other Republicans given our trust and sent to Washington have to draw a line on spending.  The government must realize that we're broke and start cutting the budget in real ways.  It won't be easy but it must be done.  If the Democrats won't go along, that's their choice.  Let them defend a government shutdown caused by their insistence on borrowing more money and adding it to our children's and grandchildren's tab, or printing it and devaluing the dollar.

Republicans in Washington must also target Obamacare.  All of it.  Repeal the monstrosity.  Only then will we be in a position to negotiate substantial but incremental, reasoned, and conservative changes to America's healthcare system.  Changes that would improve the private system rather than scrap it entirely  and replace it with a Socialist single-payer government behemoth.  A repeal of Obamacare should be the first one passed by the new House.  And its repeal should be tacked onto other bills sent to the president's desk.  Again . . . and again . . . and again.  Let Obama be responsible for veto after veto if he must.

The Jeff City Republicans have a chance to make a real difference too.  I heard Arthur Laffer on KMOX a while back, talking about a proposal to repeal Missouri's income tax in favor of a new, and surprisingly low, sales tax (coupled with refunds to cover the tax on purchase of necessities).  Slashing income taxes would likely draw business like pigs on . . . well, you know.

And, I read in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch about another pro-Missouri jobs measure that will be pushed by GOP in the General Assembly . . . the Right to Work.  Simply put, passing a Right to Work bill would prevent labor unions from automatically deducting or taking (some might say stealing) money from non-members paychecks and workplaces covered by union contracts.  It sure seems like a good idea to me.

So, here's to the GOP for the next two years and beyond.  Push the agenda to save America and build Missouri.  If you can't get everything you want, get what you can.  But don't settle.  2012 is not too far away.

Fox News Poll Shows Blunt by 8

Despite Robin Carnahan's efforts (if standing in a cow pen and propping up cardboard cutouts of her opponent, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi can be considered "efforts"), Roy Blunt has a commanding 8 point lead in the latest poll from Fox News.

That's the headline.  And it is great news.  But there is even better news in the poll results.  Missouri is breaking conservative!

58% of Missourians disapprove of Obama's performance as president (and 53% believe that Carnahan agrees with Obama too often).

A whopping 40% are "angry" about "the way the federal government is working."  Another 29% are "dissatisfied."

58% (again) want Obamacare repealed (while only 35% want to keep it in place).

And 51% of Missourians "support the Tea Party movement."

If this is what big media considers a "battleground" state, it is going to be a great November.

Even Ziggy knows the inevitable truth about Obamacare

September 29, 2010

Obama administration advocating "reeducation"

From Steven Portnoy at ABC News:  Since Americans haven't embraced the healthcare reform blunder know as Obamacare, "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration has 'a lot of reeducation to do' heading into the midterm [elections]."  (Link here.)

Now, I'm sure, Secretary Sebelius didn't know what "reeducation" really means in the 20th and 21st century.  Of course not.

Obama spends $700,000.00 of OUR MONEY to convince America that Obamacare is a good idea

If the cost of Obamacare wasn't high enough already, the federal government is spending $700,000.00 on nationwide television advertising featuring Andy Griffith to convince you that you really should like it.  (Link to story here.)

Yes, your federal government, is spending money again - even more money that it doesn't have.  And a few hundred thousand dollars may not seem like much these days, but it is, again, and this is important, hundreds of thousands of dollars that the government doesn't have - on top of hundreds of billions or trillions to be spent on Obamacare.

Matlock won't be able to convince the American people that this is a good idea.  And, even liberals supporting this fiasco ought to realize, $700,000.00 can't buy enough lipstick for this pig.

Proposition C . . . a message to Barack Obama and the Democrats

Missouri's Proposition C, purportedly allowing Missourians to "opt out" of Obamacare's mandatory healthcare coverage provisions, is passing with overwhelming numbers.  (Link here.)

Legally, that probably won't matter as federal law will preempt the new state law but that wasn't the point of Proposition C.  The point was to send a clear message to the advocates of the Democrats' healthcare "reform" package that was wheeled, dealed, and lied into law earlier this year.  Consider the message sent.

But, unfortunately, I doubt that the intended audience is listening.  How long has it been since the Democrats in Washington gave a [darn] about what us common folk out in the country thought?  Have they ever?  I don't see much evidence that Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or their ilk are very concerned about what we think.

I am curious to see if the message gets through closer to home.  What will the Democrats' newly-minted nominee for the U.S. Senate say about Obamacare now that the voters she's courting have spoken with such a loud voice?

I'm curious but that's about all.  Robin Carnahan is an Obamite, through and through.  Whatever she says now, she'll be saying to get elected.  If elected, she'll be a rubber stamp for the Obama agenda.  (For fun, check out this link.)

Seriously, the elections this November matter - a great deal.  Missouri needs Roy Blunt.  America needs Roy Blunt.

I can't say it enough.  And I'll be saying it often for the next three months.

Bart Stupak must be proud . . . U.S. Government to fund killing of Pennsylvania children

It has now been reported (link here ) that the Obama administration, despite empty promises and even a sham of an Executive Order to the contrary, has decided to use American taxpayers' money - yours, mine, and even Bart Stupak's, to fund abortion in Pennsylvania.

The liar-in-chief, a.k.a. Barack Obama, had promised that under Obamacare, "no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions."

So much for Obama promises.  Would you like your Obamacare vote back Bart?

58% of Americans want REPEAL of Obamacare

We knew that folks didn't want Obamacare.  Now we have the data to prove it!

"Fifty-eight percent of Americans (96 percent of Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Independents) support repealing the health care reform legislation that was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, according to a new national survey conducted April 6-10 by researchers from Indiana University's Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research."

To that 58 and, I suspect growing, percent in opposition, you have only one hope . . . Vote Republican for every office on the ballot, from Senator to dog-catcher in 2010.

Democrats = Obamacare.

Republicans = Repeal.

It really is as simple as that.

Missouri Senate Race is a Referendum on Barack Obama and the Government Takeover of Healthcare . . . and that's good news for Roy Blunt!

In a poll released today from Public Policy Polling, Roy Blunt is leading Robin Carnahan 45%-41% in Missouri's Senate race.  Why?  Blunt is a good candidate of course, worthy of support even in a vacuum, but this race boils down to Barack Obama and Obamacare.

This latest poll shows that 80% of Missourians who disapprove of Obama's job as president plan to vote for Blunt (while 6% plan to vote for Carnahan - maybe those are the ultra-far-left liberal crazies who think Obama's not Socialist enough).  On the other hand, folks who approve of the job Obama is doing back Carnahan 84%-6%.  Thankfully, for the state and the country, only 43% of Missourians approve of Obama's job performance.

And how does Obama's signature issue . . . Obamacare . . . impact the race, well, Missouri voters oppose Obamacare 54% to 37% and 51% think that it should be repealed. 

So here's a message from SLC to any undecided Missouri voters . . . Robin Carnahan is another vote for Barack Obama and his agenda.  She's a Democrat.  And how many Democrats did you see in the effort to try to stop Obamacare?

A vote for Carnahan is a vote for Barack Obama.

A vote for Roy Blunt is a vote for referendum and repeal.  (And we'll get a good Senator as a bonus.)

Does care suffer when the government runs a healthcare system?

Just ask the English . . . 

Specifically, ask the family of Derek Sauter, who died of pneumonia after British nurses failed to check his oxygen levels for 11 hours (they were low) and - believe it or not - after he had to use his cell phone to call his wife so that he could get someone to bring him a drink of water.  (Link to story here.)

I know this is only anecdotal.  But it is endemic of systems where bureaucracies are in command - systems like the "universal" healthcare systems in the U.K. and the rest of Europe . . . and systems like the one that, thanks to Barack Obama and his liberal Democrat friends, will soon be coming to a hospital near you.

Unless, that is, something BIG (and probably impossible) happens in November's mid-term elections.

What does the Obama debt mean to your household?

The Congressional Budget Office released a revised report on Thursday projecting new budget deficits of $9.75 trillion over the next ten years.  $9,750,000,000,000.00!  (Link to story here.)

This $9.75 trillion will be added to the national debt, of course, and the CBO projects that by 2020, the federal government's debt total will be $20.3 trillion.  $20,300,000,000,000.00!

Again, a trillion dollars is a lot of money.  This many trillions of dollars are so far beyond human comprehension that these deficits risk being ignored as incomprehensible.  But the story linked above breaks the debt story down to meaningful terms:

When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the debt was $6.3 trillion or $56,000.00 per American household.

Today, the debt is $8.2 trillion or $72,000.00 per household.

By 2020, if something doesn't change - fast, the $20.3 trillion debt will divide to more than $170,000.00 per household!

In other words, on Obama's watch, the federal government has already saddled you and your family with $16,000.00 more in debt.  And if he and his liberal Democrat friends are allowed to spend what they plan to spend, your family will be borrowing another $98,000.00 or more for D.C. to spend in the next ten years.

This spending is not sustainable.  That's simply put but it is reality.  We can't do this.

The spending must be stopped.  The spenders must be stopped.

2010 is your next chance - maybe the last chance.  After seeing what happened in the healthcare "reform" battle, realize this, a vote for a Democrat, any Democrat, in 2010 is a vote for unbelievable and out-of-control spending of money that doesn't exist and will have to either be printed (with resulting massive inflation) or confiscated from you in the form of crippling taxation.  

An endorsement of Obamacare that should tell you something . . .

Fidel Castro, the Communist former (?) dictator of Cuba, lauded America's passage of healthcare "reform."  (Link to story here.)

When this guy pat's you on the back, any non-Communist should want to re-think his actions.

"This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."

The nation is at a desperate hour.  America as we know it is on the brink.  It is time to pull out all the stops.  It is time to throw the "Hail Mary" pass.  It is time to get the plans to the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance.  It is time to sue.  (Link to the present-day story of some hope here.)

219-212

219 votes for a government takeover of American healthcare.

219 votes to take a giant step toward the end of America as we know it.  

219 votes for Socialism . . . against the will of the people.

If you can stomach the bad enough facts and the even worse AP spin, link here.

Stop the Presses! A Massachusetts Democrat and ally of Nancy Pelosi may vote to uphold the integrity of the democratic process!

According to this article from the Boston Herald, Representative Stephen Lynch (D-Massachusetts), one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's floor whips, previously a "yes" vote on Pelosi's version of Obamacare, has indicated that he will "probably" vote against the Senate version of the bill when it comes up and could not support Pelosi's plan to "deem" the Senate bill passed without anybody casting a vote.  To do that would be "disingenuous.  . . . It would really call into question the credibility of the House."

It would do more than that Congressman Lynch.  There would be no question of credibility if the Democrat leaders jam this through in such a squirrelly way.  There would simply be no credibility.

A personal story about healthcare in America

My daughter had a routine checkup with her pediatrician today.  He discovered that her heart was beating too fast.  He wanted her to have an EKG.  We drove her to a local hospital and within five minutes of walking in the door, she had her EKG.  Unfortunately, the EKG showed a problem and we're booked to see a specialist tomorrow morning.

Would my daughter have such rapid access to hospital procedures and specialists under Obamacare?  I sincerely doubt it.

Right now, Americans have access to the best healthcare system in the world.  And the liberals in Washington want to destroy that system.  Are there problems with the system?  Sure.  And those problems can and should be solved.  But we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water.