Economics for Liberals

Here is a little tutorial...

Businesses create jobs, wealth and prosperity.

With prosperity comes educational opportunities, increased charitable giving, cleaner environments, a healthier population, and opportunities for more wealth and job-creation.

Free market capitalism has historically been the most successful path to prosperity (that coupled with strong legal protections and property rights).

So prosperity is good.

"Not so fast", say politicians of a certain persuasion, "Prosperity isn't evenly distributed."

These politicians do not care if people earn their living or not.

These politicians don't even actually care if prosperity is equal or not.

All these politicians want to keep their own job.

The favored means these politicians use to keep their job is by spending your taxes so that others do not have to work.

Or spending your tax dollars so that others get employed-for-life government jobs with big juicy taxpayer-funded pensions.

These politicians believe that if they can get as many people as possible either not paying taxes, supported by the government, or employed by the government, then those people will vote for more of the same.

But in order to get the most people dependent on the government, as few as people as possible must be taxed.

This means that fewer and fewer people pay more and more taxes - also known as "soak the rich."

The problem with taking from the rich and giving to the "poor" is that eventually the rich leave town. Taking their businesses and jobs with them.

That just leaves government workers and folks on unemployment hanging around.

Government workers and unemployed folks do not create jobs.

At least, not the way rich people create jobs.

So free-market captialism equals prosperity, jobs and many good things.

Taxing only the rich equals unemployment, poverty and crime.

Honest Map of EU

For the original, go here and check out the comments and interactive feature on the map.

TARP = Theft

Wow!

Fabius Maximus has created a one-stop site for folks wishing to explore all the thieving facets of TARP.

Detailed, heavily linked, this is an extraordinarily thoughtful act for American taxpayers who want to know how our government is spending our money.

Thank you, Mr. Maximus!

(Almost) Completely Quoted From Instapundit

THE EXAMINER: President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Others Owe 1.2 Million Tea Party Patriots Apology.

UPDATE: Reader Marc Greendorfer emails:

You linked today to a Washington Examiner editorial regarding the dismissive statements made by the Obama administration on the tax protests. What struck me about the statement from President Obama was how much change there has been from the days of that Darth Vader of civil liberties, President Bush. I can’t recall a single instance during his eight years where President Bush derided American citizens who took to the streets to protest his administration. In fact, I think that President Bush always acknowledged the right of citizens to disagree with him and he was always respectful of that dissent. If Obama’s mocking of dissent is the change he promised I don’t think I like it.

As I noted earlier, you can say what you like about George W. Bush, but he didn’t have a skin whose thickness was measured in Planck lengths. Or, to put it more simply . . . you can say what you like about George W. Bush.

Money quote from DC Examiner article...

At this time, the president, and all other politicians who demeaned the protestors, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, included, owe 1.2 million patriots an apology. If our politicians are truly interested in dialogue with the people they claim to represent, such a dialogue must begin with respect for the citizens of this country.

That show of respect will begin when the politicians acknowledge that mocking and demeaning well-intentioned, peaceful Tea Party Patriots who love their country is the height of arrogance, and a terrible mistake. The American people deserve better from their elected representatives, and are beginning to demand it.

Will he or Won't he?

Obama said he'd meet with the leaders of the TEA Party Protests and they've sent him a letter basically saying any time any place.

What do you think the odds are that Obama will actually practice what he preaches?

Torture Memo Truthes

The Wall Street Journal is handing Obama his ass over just about every comment the man makes about torture, here is another instance.

Still, the President's reference to Britain was unwittingly instructive, since the British treatment of IRA detainees during the "troubles" of Northern Ireland was one of the benchmarks the Bush Administration used in distinguishing between harsh treatment and actual torture. A 1978 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights found that "stress positions," "hooding," and sleep deprivation did not, in fact, constitute torture.

(Someone email that quote to Jon Stewart as well!)

Why are only some memo's being released? In for a penny, in for a pound. Obama should release them all - especially as WSJ Editors suggest, VP Cheney's memo with which Obama apparently agrees.

"Zip It Joe"

Gotta love that New York Post. One of their editorials today points out how gaffe-matic Biden could have caused a "pig panic" with his stupid swine flu comments on the Today show earlier in the week.

One thing to remember people, during the "regular" flu season running from Nov. to March, roughly 36,000 people die. That is correct. 36,000 people die from influenze every year in the United States alone.

This "swine flu" has killed about 100 people worldwide.

The media are playing out this crisis for their own pureile reasons. And interestingly enough, while the media do this huge distracting song-and-dance over the flu, Congress passed an appalling budget complete with disgusting backdoor appropriations to set up universal healthcare.

Let's be clear about one thing, universal healthcare is evil. No good can come of it for the American people.

So before we get as panicky as Biden over the swine flu, let's take a reality break and realize that now more than ever, we have to watch Congress like a deficit-hawk.

Illegal Immigrant Rally Flops

Only 2,000 "protesters" showed up for a immigration "reform" protest.

Kinda thin on the ground compared to several years ago.

Which is, as far as I am concerned, a good thing.

Susan Boyle as a Young Thing

A tape made 25 years ago when Susan Boyle was 22 has surfaced on YouTube and here.

The tape was unearthed by Gerry McGuinness, 61, who was in the audience that night at Motherwell Football Club's social club in Scotland.

The video quality is horrible and so is the music but you can still here Ms. Boyle's voice and it is as lovely then as it is now.

Cliff Vs. Jon

Go here to see the unedited version of the Daily Show interview with Cliff May vs. Jon Stewart about torture.

Unlike the edited-to-win version that aired, Cliff hands Jon his ass here. (Key exchage at 5:50.)

Weeping or Laughing

Oh dear, apparently the children are our future and I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.

A little of both, I think.

I Like Pudding

And so does Helen Thomas. Nice Satire.

Obama is a slippery liar

From the Washington Times, this piece titled Obama looks back in anger is solid.

Mr. Obama sought to portray the Republican definition of bipartisanship as "a situation in which basically, wherever there are philosophical differences, I have to simply go along with ideas that have been rejected by the American people in a historic election."

Really?

If the American people had any clue what Obama truly intended to do, if the American people could have looked into the future on Election Day and seen our country today, then Obama would have been the one rejected by the American people.

Again and again, Obama sees his own election based on a campaign of lies and empty rhetoric as justification to warp this great country into a twisted shell of its former self. To suck the marrow of capitalism from our bones, in order to gratify Obama's own intellectual egotism.

The man makes me ill.

He added: "We're probably not going to make progress," and in case the other party missed the message, he later said that "opposing our approach on every front is probably not a good political strategy."

Quite frankly, I am beginning to believe that opposing Obama on every front is the right political strategy.

AP News Fact-Checks Obama

And he doesn't pass. Read in detail here.

OBAMA: "Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.... That wasn't me. Number two, there is almost uniform consensus among economists that in the middle of the biggest crisis, financial crisis, since the Great Depression, we had to take extraordinary steps. So you've got a lot of Republican economists who agree that we had to do a stimulus package and we had to do something about the banks. Those are one-time charges, and they're big, and they'll make our deficits go up over the next two years." - in Missouri.

THE FACTS:

Congress controls the purse strings, not the president, and it was under Democratic control for Obama's last two years as Illinois senator. Obama supported the emergency bailout package in President George W. Bush's final months - a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.

To be sure, Obama opposed the Iraq war, a drain on federal coffers for six years before he became president. But with one major exception, he voted in support of Iraq war spending.

The economy has worsened under Obama, though from forces surely in play before he became president, and he can credibly claim to have inherited a grim situation.

Still, his response to the crisis goes well beyond "one-time charges."

He's persuaded Congress to expand children's health insurance, education spending, health information technology and more. He's moving ahead on a variety of big-ticket items on health care, the environment, energy and transportation that, if achieved, will be more enduring than bank bailouts and aid for homeowners.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated his policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years, even accounting for his spending reduction goals. Now, the deficit is nearly quadrupling to $1.75 trillion.

Time to Get Serious

Get going over to In My Copious Free Time and read his post on Obama and the TEA Party Protesters.

Beware: Video clip may cause high blood pressure.

Capitalism and Culture

This Wall Street Journal piece about the culture war over capitalism is a great read.

Check out what the blogsphere is talking about.

Held Accountable

What was Pelosi thinking? That she would not be held accountable for her actions a few years ago? That American's are too stupid to google?

This article in the San Francisco Chronicle (!) by Debra Saunders lays out the case that Pelosi's attempt at "truth commissions" on waterboarding wete, at best, an exercise in hypocracy.

Porter Goss, the House Intelligence Committee chairman in 2002 who went on to become director of the CIA, has a different recollection. As he wrote in the Washington Post, he, Pelosi and the ranking Senate Intelligence Committee members were briefed extensively, "understood what the CIA was doing," and "gave the CIA our bipartisan support." Goss was "slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were actually to be employed."

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, has called on the Director of National Intelligence to release complete CIA briefing documents - including information as to who attended and what was said, so that Americans will know what congressional leaders like Pelosi knew. Daly told me that Pelosi supports that effort as she generally believes in transparency.

Just the threat of being exposed has made Pelosi back off on her push for the ridiculous and dictator/totalitarian attempt at a "truth commission".

So now we should ask, just what truth is Pelosi trying to hide from?

Wow! Nice Ukulele

Flu, Facts, and Fumento

(Originally posted by my husband at NRO - The Corner)

Those desperate for some sense on swine flu will be glad to know Mike Fumento's on the case. Mike, of course, has a great record in assessing the true state of affairs during health scares, but this never stops his detractors saying how dangerous he is.

Al Gore Is Right

(Originally posted on NRO - The Corner by my husband)

Yes, you read that correctly. The former veep is right to call today for the world to produce less black carbon, or soot, as the most recognizable form is called. I've been saying that this is the most important agent of global warming that we can address now since I started my career as a climate criminal six years ago, so I'm glad to see Al catch up. The trouble is that most black carbon is produced in the developing world, and the most potent solution is the building of afforable power plants to bring electricity to the poor, which Al's mates won't stand for. Ah well, it's the thought that counts.

We've Found Swine Flu Patient Zero

Torture Is Our Friend

I am sick and tired of the pantywaist hand-wringing amongst conservatives over torture - especially over at NRO-The Corner.

America is a great country but American Exceptionalism must be protected or, quite frankly, the whole world suffers. America must always speak softly and carry a big stick.

Part of that big stick isn't just overwhelming technological superiority, manpower, and firepower, it is also being willing to get the job done.

From taking out pirates to rebuilding countries, American soldiers have a hell of a job to do and right now they are getting zero support from their Commander-in-Chief, Congress, or any damn conservative who thinks torture, I mean "enhanced interrogation techniques" are never an option.

It is always an option.

Yes, it would be lovely if our NSA and CIA took their thumbs out of their asses and actually got some decently trained Islamic-speaking agents infiltrating these terrorist organizations but until that happens (and is producing decent and reliable intelligence), enhanced interrogation is a necessary tool.

I want these murderous terrorist bastards to actually fear us. I want them to know their lives and all who know them will left as burning cinders of hellfire if they harm Americans, America or any American ally.

Fear is our friend because these terrorist animals can not be reasoned with. Can not be argued with. Can not be convinced that American society is not the problem.

They are terrorists.

They want to murder, maim and destroy because they want the power that terror gives them. You don't rationalize with serial killers. We are talking about human beings who are so twisted they will blow themselves up in the middle of a crowded market, so they can kill as many other people including innocent children as possible. I pity them in many ways but terrorists are evil and some evil is beyond redemption.

And the idea that America squandered the sympathy of the world in the days after September 11th is ridiculous. America started getting blamed for being bombed immediately.

I don't like Tony Blair's politics but he will ALWAYS have a soft spot in my heart for his speech a couple of days after 9-11 when he described how mothers and fathers who thought they were taking their children on vacation had to turn their children's faces away from the plane windows as those towers loomed larger and larger in the sky.

There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect my children and I expect the government and military of the United States of America to do every last damn thing possible to protect my family as well. My children and I give thanks to every soldier, marine, and sailor we see for their work keeping us safe.

And now this stupid administration is dropping the big stick both metaphorically and literally and doing nothing except talking softly out of both sides of its mouth.

This decent but misquided concern for how terrorists are being interrogated is putting our children, ourselves and our country at risk.

Yes, it is a lovely and self-satifying feeling to believe you have the moral high ground and claim you would never condone torture and that you are ashamed of America for using enhanced interrogation techniques.

But let me ask you this, would you feel the same way if you had to turn your child's face away from the looming tower?

100 Days 100 Mistakes

The New York Post has a full list of Obama's first 100 Mistakes.

Query: has any newspaper ever done this to a president before? I couldn't find any such titled article for Bush. Mind you, I don't think it is wrong for anyone to point out any president's mistakes at any time. I'm just amazed that Obama has made so many, so quickly that even the fawning mainstream media is pointing some (if not all) out.

Then again, five years ago Obama was nothing but a state representative no one had ever heard of with no experience in anything ever....

Totally Biased, Totally Funny

This is supposed to be a joke from The Futurist blog but it just feels right.

Remembering The Contract With America

REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.
That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:


FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

It's Funny Because It's True

Ever Hear of Photoshop - You Idiots?

Damn right you're going to cancel the "photo-op" flight of an air force one jet over the DC monument.

Seriously, this administration is supposed to be the techno-savvy ones and they can't even use Photoshop?

The monumental waste and stupidity of this decision process is staggering.

Super Lame Sea Kitten

PETA are continuing to promote their attempt to rename fish "Sea Kittens" with a super lame Sea Kitten plush toy that you can win after playing a super lame Sea Kitten game and then entering at their "blog".

I played the game, created a "sea kitten" and named it "fried".

A Little Teleprompter Joke?

Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts of Men

Well, these cartographers might not know what, but they do know where.

As an intellectual mapping exercise, according to the Las Vegas Sun -

"Geographers from Kansas State University have used certain statistical measurements to quantify Nevada’s sins and come up with a county-by-county map purporting to show various degrees of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride in the Silver State."

Check it out, they also extrapolated data to do the whole United States and not just Nevada. I find it interesting that Greed is highly presented in the Boston - Washington, DC corridor.

Must Visit Website

I think the name - www.stopspendingourfuture.org - says it all.

What Do You Know....

I agree with Sen. Schumer...

"It is absolutely outrageous and appalling to think that the FAA would plan such a photo shoot and not warn the public, knowing full well New Yorkers still have the vivid memory of 9/11 sketched in their minds," the New York Democrat said. Schumer said the FAA's decision to not announce the fly-by "really borders on being either cruel or very very stupid."

No Charity Without Prosperity

I took an opportunity yesterday to mention one of my all time favorite quotations to one of the priests at our church. It is from Edmund Burke...

"A loosening of Morals leads to a hardening of hearts."

Father recognized the quote and agreed with me that the thought was great but then casually tossed out the sentence, "But didn't Burke contribute to that loosening of morals?"

Moved forward by the exiting crowd, I couldn't ask Father what he meant by that but I can only guess that Burke's justifications of Capitalism might be it.

The association of materialism with Capitalism is justified but believing materialism is in itself bad demonstrably false.

After all, there can be no charity without prosperity.

Yes, the poor widow's sacrifice is far greater than the rich man's. Her gift is an example of faith, submission, and love for her fellow man and God.

However, at the risk of being "tart", the rich man's gift will do more good for more people.

I feel good when I give to my Church. I know that a large portion of it goes to amazing charities and support groups locally and globally. When anyone gives anything to charity from canned food to old clothes to tithes, it an expression of love for others.

But compared to the other socialist, communist, or any non-capitalist societies on the planet, NO ONE gives more to charity than good-old-capitalist Americans.

You could combine all the charitable giving of all the other developed countries and Americans still give more.

It's not just that we are more religious (we are) but that we are wealthier.

And we are wealthier because of the freedom of Capitalism. Yes, Capitalism can be materialistic but when socialism takes over a formerly capitalist country, prosperity drops, charitable giving drops, and the government decides who gets what.

Giving doesn't have to be religious either. Secular giving is good too. (Although it does irk me that liberals seem to believe giving to the National Endowment of the Arts makes you a "sophisticate" but giving to the Church to feed the poor makes you a "right-wing extremist".)

All that said, you can't give what you don't have.

Capitalism enables charity. Socialism kills it. So with all due respect to Father, it is the people who use money for evil that are evil, not money itself.

A loosening of Morals does lead to a hardening of hearts. Burke's capitalism requires good behavior, responsible behavior. But neither Capitalism nor money itself are what harden hearts, that happens only when people loosen their morals and give up their personal responsibility to choose doing good over doing evil.

American exceptionalism stems from our blend of the freedom of the individual to pursue their own happiness with the knowledge that America is only successful when we are one people, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All US Dollars

All Hail Our Robot Overlords

Talledaga Crash

Because, whether you love, hate or are indifferent to NASCAR, seeing a big race car crash is just riveting.

Link here and watch the first minute or so.

An Excellent Explanation of Obama's "cuts"

Boston Globe Criticizes DHS

Every now and again, The Boston Globe publishes something logical and rational - which for a large city newspaper in one of the most liberal states in the Union is a big, big deal.

In this op-ed, The Boston Globe criticizes the Department of Homeland Security for their disgusting and ham-fisted report on "right-wing extremists" presumably released in an attempt to intimidate TEA Party protesters.

Good job, Boston Globe.

Scandals in Congress

This list of corrupt politicians is from National Review via instapundit and it is only touching upon the corruption of Democrats (I am sure Republicans are tainted too).

So on one hand, it is biased. On the other hand, this list ends with a very good point...

But other than that, they’re “draining the swamp” and beating back the “culture of corruption,” as promised . . .

Take a scan of the list, if anything so you know just who is doing what badly.

When Anna Talks, People Listen

This City Journal article discusses Anna Schwartz who worked with Milton Friedman and is considered a revolutionary montetary economist.

Ms. Schwartz believes the feds are on the wrong course to solving our economic woes.

Yet isn’t Bernanke a disciple of Friedman and Schwartz? He publicly refers to them as mentors, and, thanks to their scientific breakthrough, he has famously declared that “the Great Depression will not happen again.” Bernanke is right about the past, Schwartz says, “but he is fighting the wrong war today; the present crisis has nothing to do with a lack of liquidity.” President Obama’s stimulus is similarly irrelevant, she believes, since the crisis also has nothing to do with a lack of demand or investment. The credit crunch, which is the recession’s actual cause, comes only from a lack of trust, argues Schwartz. Lenders aren’t lending because they don’t know who is solvent, and they can’t know who is solvent because portfolios remain full of mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets.

Read the whole piece. The article is both educational and it is a pleasure to learn about such an amazing person and woman who had so much influence on Economics (both here in the US and globally). I love City Journal!

Are Vicious Gay Activists Hurting the Gay Movement?

Yes, says Andrew Breitbart in this op-ed in today's Washington Times.

I have to say I agree with Mr. Breitbart. Perez Hilton executed a set-up on Ms. California. The extreme antics of the leftwing gay activists is repulsive. And if more stunts like targeting Mormons rather than Muslims happens, these activists will only hurt their movement.

There is something hypocritical about activists targeting the weakest points instead of taking more principled stands.

PETA only throws paint at women in fur coats, not Harley-Davidson bikers in leather jackets.

Vegans target Family-friendly McDonald's rather than Burger King's blue collar worker demographics.

And gay activists pick on Miss USA contestants and Mormons rather than Muslim Imams who advocate death-to-homosexuals.

And why, why, why do they give Obama a pass when he has outright said he does not believe in gay marriage?

Mr. Breitbart is right to call them hypocrites.

I Pray This Is A Hoax

This must be a hoax.

Why would someone put this up in Union Square? It is so awful.

Please let it be a hoax.

First Do No Harm

Obama and the democrats are attempting to cram government-controlled healthcare down the throats of Americans by putting their god-forsaken healthcare reform plan into the budget appropriations act.

This is a dispicable denogration of the democratic process.

Healthcare reform is healthcare rationing. Every government that enters into universal healthcare ends up rationing medical care to its citizens. This is truly a life and death issue.

To that end, I urge anyone reading this blog to sign this petition protesting the governments disgusting and underhanded attempt to ration our healthcare. The petition is run by this group here.

Cake and Pie

My son told me that our cat James was a "cutie pie and a cutie cake. I like cake."

I thought that was clever and too cute not to share.

Vicious Tree Pollen Attack

It's human vs. tree!

And the trees are winning.

Am covered in tree pollen. Our cars are now light green in color.

We don't even bother to wash them as they will just be green tomorrow.

UGH! Sneeze. Cough. Blow. UGH!

"Elections Have Consequences"

Great op-ed from Wall Street Journal basically an interview of Sen. Judd Gregg.

Here's a tidbit...

As he says, "Elections have consequences."

That said, Mr. Gregg doesn't necessarily think the American people will be happy with those consequences if the Democrats succeed in pushing through a "stalking horse" for a single-payer health-care system. "If they produce a partisan bill and pass it on a party-line vote, it's their baby," he warns. "They're going to have to defend it in the next election cycle and it's likely that it's not going to be perceived as fair by the American people."

Read the whole thing because he is quite frank that Obama and his cronies are "quite open" about their goals, if not so "open" with the American public.