Obama Cheating Scandal?

The National Enquirer...while not the journalistic source of the highest source is reporting that Mr. Obama may now be embroiled in a sex/cheating scandal of his own.  While I have to take this with a huge grain of salt...remember that this is the paper that nailed John Edwards after almost a year of denials that he was the father of Reihl Hunter's child.  Furthermore, the Enquirer's people were the one's who caught Gary Hart in 1988.

With that in mind, I'm not sure wether or not to take this seriously. 

And now, a hush-hush security video that shows everything could topple both Obama's presidency and marriage to Michelle!


A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.
While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, the ENQUIRER has learned that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous where the President was staying.

I'll wait and see on this one...but if the tape alleged in the report actually surfaces...Mr. Obama might find himself living in the Blair House, much as Rudy Guilliani was locked out of the official residence in NY City!

Dutch Navy Captures Pirates

This is really dramatic video from a helmet cam of one of the Dutch sailors...

Reason's Nanny of the Month

Obama Drops Immigration Amnesty Off Agenda

Mr. Obama has chosen to drop Immigration "Reform" (aka amnesty) of his agenda for this year, stating that it would be easier for him to pass in 2 years when he's up for reelection.  He spent two years promising amnesty supporters that he would pass a bill in his first year of office...unfortunately, the effort expended on the government's seizure of health care took up much of his first  13 months in office, leaving no time for extending amnesty to an estimated 25 million illegal aliens. 

Immigration reform was an issue Obama promised Latino groups that he would take up in his first year in office. But several hard realities — a tanked economy, a crowded agenda, election-year politics and lack of political will — led to so much foot-dragging in Congress that, ultimately, Obama decided to set the issue aside.
With that move, the president calculated that an immigration bill would not prove as costly to his party two years from now, when he seeks re-election, than it would today, even though some immigration reformers warned that a delay could so discourage Democratic-leaning Latino voters that they would stay home from the polls in November.

On the other hand, it may well be that the popularity of the very strict measure just passed in Arizona, nationally, just might have something to do with his sudden reticence.  73%  of Arizonan's support the measure while more than 70% nationally do so as well. 

Seventy-one percent of poll respondents said they'd support requiring their own police to determine people's U.S. status if there was "reasonable suspicion" the people were illegal immigrants, the poll found.  An equal percentage supported arresting those people if they couldn't prove they were legally in the United States.  Almost two-thirds, or 64 percent, said they believed [illegal] immigration hurt the United States, with nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, saying illegal immigrants took jobs away from American workers, the poll found.

So this just might be another election year loser...after all granting near instant citizenship to 20+ million people who have broken our laws to enter the country...just might not be all that popular. 

Personally, I firmly believe that the best way to eliminate illegal works is to first build a defensible/strong border.  Then begin to tackle the problem by prosecuting those who EMPLOY illegal workers.  If you place heavy fines along with removing the business license of those who hire them...the jobs they take will cease...additionally, stop paying ALL federal funds  to those municipalities and counties that are "shelter" cities  and see how fast those cities/counties stop supporting their illegal communities. 

The Zoo Sign

This sign is in Dumas, TX, north of Amarillo . Gotta love Texans. They usually get it right.

AL QAEDA ON STRIKE

via interwiremailnet service...

Muslim suicide bombers in Britain are set to begin a three-day strike on Monday in a dispute over the number of virgins they are entitled to in the afterlife. Emergency talks with Al Qaeda have so far failed to produce an agreement. Sounds like things are getting difficult everywhere.

The unrest began last Tuesday when Al Qaeda announced that the number of virgins a suicide bomber would receive after his death will be cut by 25% this May from 72 to only 60. The rationale for the cut was the increase in recent years of the number of suicide bombings and a subsequent shortage of virgins in the afterlife.

The suicide bombers' union, the British Organization of Occupational Martyrs (B.O.O.M.) responded with a statement that this was unacceptable to its members and immediately balloted for strike action. General Secretary Abdullah Amir told the press, "Our members are literally working themselves to death in the cause of Jihad. We don't ask for much in return but to be treated like this is like a kick in the teeth".

Speaking from his shed in Tipton in the West Midlands in which he currently resides, Al Qaeda chief executive Osama bin Laden explained, "We sympathize with our workers concerns but Al Qaeda is simply not in a position to meet their demands. They are simply not accepting the realities of modern-day Jihad in a competitive marketplace.

Thanks to Western depravity, there is now a chronic shortage of virgins in the afterlife. It's a straight choice between reducing expenditure and laying people off. I don't like cutting wages but I'd hate to have to tell 3000 of my staff that they won't be able to blow themselves up."

Spokesmen for the union in the North East of England, Liverpool, Ireland, Wales, New Zealand and the entire Australian continent stated that the strike would not affect their operations as "There are no virgins in their areas anyway".

The Scottish Al Qaeda spokesman said they had not had any volunteers since the emergence of Scottish singing star, Susan Boyle - now that Scottish Muslims know what a virgin looks like they are not at all keen on going to paradise.

Arizona Profiling

Obama Needs Riot Squad

Here are some of the desperado's that Mr. Obama required the local swat team be called to defend him from...his voters...

The crowd carried signs with messages ranging from “Give Us Liberty Not Debt” to yellow flags saying “Don’t Tread On Me.”


Urged on by people with megaphones, the crowd shouted slogans, among them “Remember in November” and “You work for us.”…

There were a few tense moments when the crowd moved west down York toward Third Street after the president’s motorcade arrived. A Secret Service agent asked the crowd to move back across the street to the north side.

When the crowd didn’t move and began singing “God Bless, America” and the national anthem, Quincy Deputy Police Chief Ron Dreyer called for members of the Mobile Field Force to walk up the street.

look in the back ground...and you can see the brave officers protecting the president from is EEEvil detractors...

Here are some more...

Obviously...these women are a threat to national security...here's some video...

Imam Ali

This sign was found in the window of the Harwin Central Mall.  This is from the very first store that you see when you walk into the mall shopping area.  They had this sign posted on their door. The shop is run by Muslims.

I don't know about you but this really pisses me off...Imam Ali flew one of the planes into the twin towers.  Nice huh?  Now, try telling me we're not in a Religious war!

Filene's Basement

Through all our trials and tribulations, we have always kept the ideal that we would find work...my wife was offered a job in the Baltimore, Pratt Street store of Filene's Basement.  She just got a phone call from the Regional Human Director Santina X...retracting the offer...after she put in her 2 weeks notice and now no longer has a job.  Cheri was supposed to start on this coming Monday...the company has decided that the position of Human Resources Coordinator can't be filled.  So, her now former employer has filled her position...what do you do?

So...not only does she not have a "new" job...but her old one has been filled as well.  So...what do we do?  I would really like your opinions.

Orszag Describes the New Obamacare Rationing

Obama's Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) describes how Obamacare will ration health care.  Ed Morrisey makes some very valid points:

The bill sets up a supermajority threshold of 67 votes to bring accountability to [IPAB] decisions, and the rule on being in or out of order can get waived at 60 votes. However, as this battle shows, even getting to 60 is almost an impossibility, let alone 67. Clearly [Harry] Reid wants to put accountability out of reach with these radical propositions.

Under this system...Congress will not be able to change any health care rationing decisions made by this board...think about that.  The Senate will need 67 votes to change board rulings...they can't get 61 votes now...how in the hell do they expect to do anything? 

If anything, Orszag might be underestimating the difficulty in changing the IPAB’s decisions on rationing. The bill required a supermajority of 67 votes in the Senate to override the IPAB, which made Jim DeMint irate and prompted a big “I told you so” from Sarah Palin.

Bureaucrats will now make your health care decisions...do you think that politics won't enter into WHO gets health care and who  doesn't? 

HT:  Hot Air

Economic Recovery ...

Jim Geraghty doess a great job brining to light those signs of economic recovery in Alexandria, VA...right next door to DC.

Obama Administration Hates Jews

It's official...the Obama Administration is anti-Semitic...their actions this past year against Israel as well as the Israeli state and their disregard for our closest ally  have to be taken seriously.



To have the National Security Advisor make this sort of "joke" means that this adminstration is anti-Semitic...Yid With a Lid say's...

At the very least it was an idiotic time and place to make the joke. Many of the attendees of The Washington Institute dinner were in fact Jewish. And the Jewish community is very nervous about the recent anti-Israel leanings of the Obama administration.


Its interesting that the same President that sees racism in the legitimate actions of the Cambridge Police and the State of Arizona, hides the possible anti-Semitic prose of its National Security Adviser.

Here's input from Anchoress: 

To which I say, for all anyone knows, the White House might have omitted the joke from its transcripts because it was too pro-Jew for their tastes!

All-in-all, I’d call it a very unwise joke for a security advisor to The American President to make, especially if the president is trying to convince the nation -by his words more than his actions- that he supports capitalism and the free market, the existence of Israel and the defeat of the Taliban.

Me, I'd call it symptomatic of the Obama Administration's dispregard for Jews...

Obama's Racist Appeal

Mr Obama makes a naked appeal to racism in a bald effort to save his administration: 

"This year, the stakes are higher than ever," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Democratic officials. "It will be up to each of you to make sure that young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.

Cathy Young on Real Clear Politics has an interesting look at this...

Ever since the “Tea Parties” gained national attention, the debate has raged on whether they are a grass-roots protest movement in the proud tradition of American dissent, or a hysterical mob driven by fear, intolerance and selfishness. Recently, two much-discussed surveys — a CBS/New York Times poll and a multi-state University of Washington poll — have been bandied about as proof that the leftist caricatures of the Tea Partiers as mean-spirited rich white bigots are accurate. Yet a look at the data suggests that this interpretation is highly skewed by political bias.

From the comments on Volokh: 

I haven’t heard any prominent “tea partier” make anything remotely resembling this blatant appeal to racial demography, courtesy of President Obama, in which he told activists that “it will be up to you to make sure that the young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.”

This is what a politician does when he's desperate...Mr. Obama has placed himself in a desperate position by introducing and backing legislationa and policies that this country does not support.  Thus spake our post-racial, post-partisan president...

H/T Volokh Conspiracy

UPDATE:  James Taranto has found this quote from...2004: 

“Even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us–the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of ‘anything goes.’ Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America–there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America–there’s the United States of America.”–state senator Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004"

In the video message to his supporters, [President] Obama said his administration's success depends on the outcome of this fall's elections and warned that if Republicans regain control of Congress, they could 'undo all that we have accomplished.' 'This year, the stakes are higher than ever,' he said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Democratic officials. 'It will be up to each of you to make sure that young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again. . . .' "--Washington Post, April 26, 2010

Obama Care Failing Already...

Actuaries of the federal government are already stating that Obama Care will fail in what the Democrats have promised for that past year to deliver.  Here are the major issues that they have found wrong with the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. 

1. People losing coverage: About 14 million people will lose their employer coverage by 2019, as smaller employers terminate their plans and workers who currently have employer coverage enroll in Medicaid. Half of all seniors on Medicare Advantage could lose their coverage and the extra benefits the plans offer.


2. Huge fines for companies: Businesses will pay $87 billion in penalties in the first five years after the fines trigger in 2014, partly because they can’t afford to offer expensive, government-mandated coverage and partly because some of their employees will apply for taxpayer-subsidized insurance.

3. Higher costs for consumers: Tens of billions of dollars in new fees and excise taxes will be “passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and devices prices and higher premiums,” according to Foster. A separate report shows small businesses will be hit hardest.

4. A program created to fail: The new “CLASS Act” long-term-care insurance program will face “a significant risk of failure,” according to Foster. Indeed, he finds, “there is a very serious risk that the problem of adverse selection will make the CLASS program unsustainable.”

5. Spending increases: Under the new law, national health spending will increase by $311 billion over the coming decade. And instead of bending the federal spending curve down, it will move it upward “by a net total of $251 billion” over the next decade.

6. “Free-riders”: An estimated 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019, roughly 5 million of whom would be undocumented aliens; the remainder would be the 18 million who decline to get coverage and who will pay the penalty.

7. Spending reductions are fiction: Estimated reductions in the growth rate of health spending “may not be fully achievable” because “Medicare productivity adjustments could become unsustainable even within the next ten years, and over time the reductions in the scope of employer-sponsored health insurance could also become an issue.”

8. You can’t keep your doctor: Fifteen percent of all hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers treating Medicare patients could be operating at a loss by 2019, which will “possibly jeopardize access to care for beneficiaries.” Doctors are threatening to drop out of Medicare because cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates mean they can’t even cover their costs.

9. Coverage but no care: A significant portion of those newly eligible for Medicaid will have trouble finding physicians who will see them, and the increased demand for Medicaid services could be difficult to meet.

It's so bad that a vast majority of the states have introduced legislation that nullifies the basic tenets of the federal law.  For once, Florida is leading the charge,

The Florida legislature voted Thursday to place a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ban any laws that compel someone to “participate in any health care system.” It requires a 60 percent vote to succeed. The legislation is modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, which has been introduced or announced in 42 states.

Table Trick

This is really cool...a very good friend asked me if you can do THIS with a Harley...I don't think so.

Obama Video Stating No Contact With Blago

Unfortunately, recently it's been admitted that he did in fact discuss his then recently vacated Senate Seat.  Here is the part that wasn't reported via news alert:

Obama had a secret phone call with Blagojevich


Redacted portion: President-elect Obama also spoke to Governor Blagojevich on December 1, 2008 in Philadelphia. On Harris Cell Phone Call # 139, John Harris and Governor’s legal counsel discuss a conversation Blagojevich had with President-elect Obama. The government claims a conspiracy existed from October 22, 2008 continuing through December 9, 2008.6 That conversation is relevant to the defense of the government’s theory of an ongoing conspiracy. Only Rod Blagojevich and President Obama can testify to the contents of that conversation. The defense is allowed to present evidence that corroborates the defendant’s testimony.

So, yet again this President has been caught saying things that weren't quite true...

Voter Fraud To Be Nationalized

It seems that Charles Schumer, D-NY has introduced legislation that would over-ride all 50 state's laws on voter registration.  His bill will be permit same day registration with very little identification required to do so.  This will permit whole sale fraud through multiple precinct registrations/voting. 

Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat, has introduced federal legislation to mandate same-day registration in every state, claiming the system has worked well in his state. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is readying a bill to override the election laws of all 50 states and require universal voter registration—which would automatically register anyone on key government lists. This is a move guaranteed to create duplicate registrations, register some illegal aliens, and sow confusion.

Additionally, this would permit organizations like ACORN to request wholesale absentee ballots that would throw the election to whom so ever pays the most...think about that, this bill would turn our election system, which for the most part, has been the most honest in the history with consistently honest results...into a banana republic. 

After all, do you think the present ruling party would permit their majority to simply be voted out by a majority of those presently registered...or keep their majority in perpetuity...just as Fidel Castro has been...and just as Josef Stalin was reelected with virtually 100% of the vote...that would lead to a civil war here,  or bloody repression by the government upon our fellow citizens. 

In 2004, John Kerry won Wisconsin over George W. Bush by 11,380 votes out of 2.5 million cast. After allegations of fraud surfaced, the Milwaukee police department's Special Investigative Unit conducted a probe. Its February 2008 report found that from 4,600 to 5,300 more votes were counted in Milwaukee than the number of voters recorded as having cast ballots. Absentee ballots were cast by people living elsewhere; ineligible felons not only voted but worked at the polls; transient college students cast improper votes; and homeless voters possibly voted more than once.

That was ACORN's doing...and could very well become the norm if this bill is passed and presented to this President for signature.  It would be the end of Democracy in America...is this what We The People want?  I hope not.

South Park...Jon Stewart and Free Speech

What Is Wrong With California...

Victor Davis Hansen has a great description of just what is wrong with California...and oddly enough, he has some great suggestions on how to fix things:  

After all, in no particular order, we would have to close the borders; adopt English immersion in our schools; give up on the salad bowl and return to the melting pot; assimilate, intermarry, and integrate legal immigrants; curb entitlements and use the money to fix infrastructure like roads, bridges, airports, trains, etc.; build 4-5 new damns to store water in wet years; update the canal system; return to old policies barring public employee unions; redo pension contracts; cut about 50,000 from the public employee roles; lower income taxes from 10% to 5% to attract businesses back; cut sales taxes to 7%; curb regulations to allow firms to stay; override court orders now curbing cost-saving options in our prisons by systematic legislation; start creating material wealth from our forests; tap more oil, timber, natural gas, and minerals that we have in abundance; deliver water to the farmland we have; build 3-4 nuclear power plants on the coast; adopt a traditional curriculum in our schools; insist on merit pay for teachers; abolish tenure; encourage not oppose more charter schools, vouchers, and home schooling; give tax breaks to private trade and business schools; reinstitute admission requirements and selectivity at the state university system; take unregistered cars off the road; make UC professors teach a class or two more each year; abolish all racial quotas and preferences in reality rather than in name; build a new all weather east-west state freeway over the Sierra; and on and on.


In other words, we would have to seance someone born around 1900 and just ask them to float back for a day, walk around, and give us some advice.

As Glenn Reynolds would say...read the whole thing.

Remember November

For once the RNC has produced a video that actually gets it right.  It's not very often that the idiots who actually lead the GOP do that.  All too often the leadership of the Republican Party is pretty much the same as the Democratic party.  Remember that from 2002-2006 they attempted to spend their way to a permanent majority.  The the broad centre of the country realized that they were spending money like drunken sailors and voted the Democrats in power, first in the  House of Representatives (06), then both the Senate and the Presidency (08).

That's when the Democrats became stupid and have spent so much money that they have passed the equivalent spending of WW2 already...in 15 months...surely that has to be a frightening record.  We now have a Speaker of the House who thinks she must be ferried around in the same manner as the President or Vice President.  Even Newt Gingrich, who is a corrupt politician (look at HIS book deals in the '90's) never demanded such luxury.  A friend sent me the following 

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California, current Speaker of the House. The Pentagon provides the House speaker with an Air Force plane large enough to accommodate her staff, family, supporters, and members of the California delegation when she travels around the country. But, Pelosi wanted routine access to a larger plane. It includes 42 business class seats, a fully-enclosed state room, an entertainment center, a private bed, state-of-the-art communications system, and a crew of 16. Pelosi wanted "carte blanche for an aircraft any time," including weekend trips home to San Francisco . Pretty nice but a very expensive perk! Her Air Force C-32 costs approximately $15,000 an hour or approximately $ 300,000 per trip home.

but there's more...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's home district includes San Francisco .. Star-Kist Tuna's headquarters are in San Francisco, Pelosi's home district. Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi. Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa employing 75% of the Samoan workforce.


Paul Pelosi, Nancy's husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kist stock. In January, 2007 when the minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $7.25, Pelosi had American Samoa exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have to pay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products less expensive than their competition's.

When the huge bailout bill was passed, Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 million dollars for an 'economic development credit in American Samoa .'

Pelosi has called the Bush Administration "CORRUPT" !!

How do you spell "HYPOCRISY" ??

my friend has asked for anonymity and I'll give him that...but I agree that Mrs. Pelosi is a hypocrit from the word go.  I didn't like that she corruptly has exempted an American Protectorate from the minimum wage law that she inflicted on the rest of America...but to do so because the company is a large political donor of hers is unconscionable.  This is the leadership of the country.  It's time to vote all the bums out.

Remember, November!


Hat Tip Hot Air & Instapundit

May 20, 2010; Everybody Draw Mohammed Day

Illegal Immigration & States Rights

The Arizona Legislature has taken a step in the right direction...by passing a law requiring law enforcement officers to detain anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.  Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law yesterday.  For the first time, a state is baldly accusing the federal government of failing in it's Constitutional duty to secure the borders.  This requirement is found in Article IV, Section 4. and states: 

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

The flood of illegal workers almost certainly consitutes an invasion.   With the federal governments failure to secure the border, the several states then must do so themselves.

What is being proposed by the Democratic party and their supporters in the SEIU and La Raza isn't "comprehensive immigration reform" at all.  It's merely another amnesty that we were promised would never happen again...but then in politics no promise is ever "forever" and only lasts until it becomes expedient to cast it aside, something at which this president is becoming an expert.

By passing this legislation, Arizona has once again stepped into the fore front of the battle to gain control of our porous border.  Immediately the democratic enablers have decried it violates "their civil rights. 

President Barack Obama called the measure “misguided” on Friday and said his administration will “closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.”

Forgetting for a moment, the non-citizens who are in fact felons de facto and de jurre, and thus HAVE no civil rights.  There there is Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) who immediately denounced the measure and called upon on the president to

...instruct federal agencies not to cooperate with the new law. “This is a discriminatory policy that cannot be enforced without committing grave breaches of due process and equal protection. The law will not withstand legal scrutiny, and I call on the president immediately to reject it in the strongest possible terms,” he said in a statement. Checking someone’s immigration status requires cooperation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

And then there is the SEIU

...“This could happen in other states if Congress doesn’t pass real reform,” said Eliseo Medina, a vice president at the Service Employees International Union and a key voice on immigration reform. Medina said SEIU, joining with other organizations, “will be turning up the pressure on Congress and the President to address this crisis once and for all and pass true comprehensive immigration reform.”

who don't want genuine reform, but rather more dues paying union members.  Then of course there is La Raza who don't want reform, but rather would see the southwestern US annexed by Mexico...

National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguía called the bill a “watershed moment for the president and Congress. Will they continue to abdicate their responsibility and allow other states to follow suit or will they show leadership and respond to the state of emergency that our communities face by enacting comprehensive immigration reform?” she said.

I suspect that once voters desires are taken into account, the Democrats will learn Iraq wasn't the only reason George Bush's poll numbers began to sag so preciptously after his reelection. 

Whenever President Bush talked about immigration, his approval ratings went down. It was like clockwork: liberals never understood that the fatal decline in Bush's popularity during his second term had at least as much to do with his advocacy of "comprehensive immigration reform" as with war-weariness. Now President Obama has entered the lists, urging Congress to take up immigration. One can only wonder what Congressional Democrats make of this. Maybe they figure their own approval ratings can't possibly get any lower. But Obama's can, and they will if he keeps talking about immigration.

Most of those people I know in my neck of the woods, suburban Baltimore, Maryland, support measures like this because they see it as a way to put Americans back to work.  There are 15-20 million illegal workers here in country.  Many people here feel that right now, they're taking jobs from people who are literally desperate for work...30 million strong.   If we as a nation actually enforced the laws that we have on the books, and by enacting legislation that would remove the business licences and give heavy fines to those who employe illegal workers, there wouldn't BE a problem.  There would be no work for them to do.

THEN, once the air is clear, we could begin to work on a plan that not just makes sense, but is genuine reform.  But giving those who are here illegally a free pass and push them to the head of the line for citizenship isn't the right way to approach this at all.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

I received this from a very good friend.  I agree with the contents and so I'm going to publish it:


My friend wants to promote a "Congressional Reform Act of 2010". It would contain eight provisions, all of which would probably be strongly endorsed by those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights..

I know many of you will say, "this is impossible".. Let me remind you, Congress has the lowest approval of any entity in Government, now is the time when Americans will join together to reform Congress - the entity that represents us.

We need to get a Senator to introduce this bill in the US Senate and a Representative to introduce a similar bill in the US House. These people will become American hero's..

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six year Senate terms
B. Six Two year House terms
C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension:

A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make these contracts with congressmen, congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

Financial Reform....

Recently, Pres. Obama traveled to Wall Street so that he could present his "reforms" of the system currently in place.  His proposed reform package on future 'bail outs'.   As is usual, the Democrats want this set of "reforms" while predictably the GOP hates it. The Democrats is now claiming that it will prevent future bail outs, while the GOP is claiming it virtually guarantees new bail outs.


Here is a list of those largeWall Street firms who contributed significant amounts to the Obama campaign, in 2008.  While you peruse the below list, you can figure out for yourself if  M.Obama represents the average American citizen or those "too big to fail" corporations on Wall Street.  This list comes from http://www.opensecrets.org/.

Because of present limitations on contributions, organizations that bundle together many smaller individual contributions (coercively obtained from their employees or not) are often found to be among the top donors to presidential candidates. The organization may support only one candidate, or hedge their bets by donating to multiple candidates. Groups that have an established national network of donors - like EMILY's List and Club for Growth (a large Democratic Party fund raising organization)- make for particularly huge bundlers.

University of California .......$1,591,395
Goldman Sachs .....................$994,795
Harvard University................ $854,747
Microsoft Corp..................... $833,617
Google Inc ............................$803,436
Citigroup Inc .........................$701,290
JPMorgan Chase & Co .........$695,132
Time Warner .........................$590,084
Sidley Austin LLP ..................$588,598
Stanford University .................$586,557
National Amusements Inc .......$551,683
UBS AG ................................$543,219
Wilmerhale Llp....................... $542,618
Skadden, Arps et al ................$530,839
IBM Corp $528,822
Columbia University................ $528,302
Morgan Stanley ......................$514,881
General Electric ......................$499,130
US Government ......................$494,820
Latham & Watkins.................. $493,835

Surprisingly, in the financial melt down last year, many of these companies received huge federal subsidies and "loans" so that they wouldn't fail.  These numbers are very large even by the record amounts raised by Mr. Obama's machine ($750,000,000.00) in the last persidential election cycle.  I contend that if you have a pliant media, if you raise and spend that much money ANYONE could be elected president in this country.

Now the Democratic party is paying back their supporters on Wall Street by presenting "reform" which is more of a formalized "protection racket."  I don't think this Congress is  capable of actually reforming anything at this point as any "reform" will actually be a pay off to a constituency rather than real reform.

Give Tiger A Break

The problem is should we give Mr. Obama a break?  After all the policies that he is enacting...are being done literally because the far left of the Democratic party has desired them for 100 years.  I don't think that the country can afford Obama Care, especially after the numbers that Congress used to show that it is "budget neutral" are a fraud.   Via the AP

President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law will increase the nation's health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation.

A report by economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million Americans to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, however, since the report also warned that Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, forcing lawmakers to roll them back.

That was via Legal Insurection.  William Jacobson's take is,  

The CBO numbers were rigged, because the CBO was forced to follow unrealistic assumptions in its forecasts.
We said it, the American people understood it, but the Democrats forced the bill through anyway. They must pay the price in November.

Now it makes sense. The Democrats refused to delay the vote on Obamacare even though the Medicare Actuary was not able to complete his analysis and cost estimates in time for the vote. In light of this report, it is clear why the Democrats didn't want to wait. They could game the CBO, but not the Medicaire Actuary.

That goes a long way to explain WHY the Democratic Leadership wanted this legislation passed quickly.

UPDATE:  From Pete Suderman, of Reason Magazine, we have this report: 

Just look at the New York Times. Since the law's passage, the Grey Lady has reported that New York state's efforts to regulate insurance companies drove premiums through the roof and destroyed the market—and an individual mandate, which the state lacked, is a theoretical fix at best. The paper of record also reported that the law may not actually bring down costs for the sick, that the law was hastily and confusingly written (enough that it may deprive Congressional representatives and their staffs of health care coverage), that it may not help all the tough-luck cases it was supposed to resolve, and that health insurers may soon be turned into de facto public utilities.


The details vary somewhat, but cumulative picture is one that's broadly in line with what critics have been arguing since the first legislative drafts became available (at least). Rather than offer true reform for our country's health care system, ObamaCare takes a dysfunctional mess and makes it even more dysfunctional, and at greater cost.

Even Kathrine Sibelius has admitted that the Obama Administration has no  clue as to just how much this fiasco will cost the people of this country.



Now...tell me, do you really think that Congress has a clue on just what this 2500 page bill  really means to this country?  I don't think so...

Obama On The Federalist Papers

Nation’s First Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle by High School

From a press release:

HACIENDA HEIGHTS, CA—April 17, 2010—Students of the Los Altos Academy of Engineering have created a one-of-a-kind hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle (HICE). This is the first to be built by high school students and is rare even among the car industry. The Los Altos Academy of Engineering is a student-run program that offers high school students opportunities to explore career paths through education, training in vocational and business skills, hands-on experience, and exposure to engineering and technology.

President Obama’s State of the Union Address mentioned a need for change in education and a focus on energy research. His focus goes hand in hand with the guiding principles of the academy as it has a twenty-year history producing energy efficient vehicles. In addition, the academy’s students excel in mathematics and science as students work on engineering projects more innovative than those currently offered in the marketplace. The Los Altos Academy of Engineering truly offers the world-class education mentioned by the President, to a group of high school students diverse in backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders, working in a team and project oriented environment.

Despite recent economic turmoil, students have further driven themselves to complete HICE (Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine). HICE is a one-of-a-kind vehicle utilizing a student-modified engine to use hydrogen as a fuel. HICE is different from traditional hydrogen cars as they are generally fuel cell vehicles. The concept behind this vehicle is similar to that of a gasoline vehicle. Using a four-stroke engine, it is designed to burn hydrogen without the use of gasoline, therefore reducing carbon emissions.

LAAE will be hosting its fifth annual open house on May 8th in order to showcase the first hydrogen internal combustion vehicle built by high school students. This vehicle is also amongst the first to be built by any technical institution. In addition, the Los Altos Academy of Engineering would like to invite media outlets, elected officials, and community and business leaders to the fifth annual open house. Students have already been gotten response and have received confirmation from Congresswoman Grace Napolitano.
Other historical and eye-widening projects will also be displayed. Among them include: Solar Shadow, the only high school solar vehicle that raced across Australia in the World Solar Challenge; Infusion, the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle built by high school students, which won first place in the Shell Eco-marathon; Speed Racer, one of the first electric cars built by the program; and Project Zeus the school’s entry government sponsored DARPA Grand Challenge.

The LAAE at Los Altos High School is a joint program between the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District and La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program. Founded in 1989, the LAAE is one of the remaining career and technical education programs in California and is also the only engineering academy amongst public high schools. LAAE has many notable achievements building alternative energy vehicles. The Los Altos Academy of Engineering is a student-run program that offers high school students opportunities to explore career paths through education, training in vocational and business skills, hands-on experience, and exposure to engineering and technology.

Obama's Honeymoon is Over

Here's a sign on Hwy 61, outside of Hutchinson, Kansas.


...

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.--Winston Churchill

It would appear that Obama's honeymoon is over !!

Mike Monsoor, MAA2, USN

From Wikipedia

Michael Anthony Monsoor (April 5, 1981 – September 29, 2006) was a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during the Iraq War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Monsoor enlisted in the United States Navy in 2001 and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in 2004. After further training he was assigned to Delta Platoon, SEAL Team Three.


Delta Platoon was sent to Iraq in April 2006 and assigned to train Iraqi Army soldiers in Ramadi. Over the next five months, Monsoor and his platoon frequently engaged in combat with insurgent forces. On September 29, 2006 an insurgent threw a grenade onto a rooftop where Monsoor and several other SEAL and Iraqi soldiers were positioned. Monsoor quickly smothered the grenade with his body, absorbing the resulting explosion and most likely saving his comrades from serious injury or death. Monsoor died 30 minutes later from serious wounds caused by the grenade explosion.

On March 31, 2008, the United States Department of Defense confirmed that Michael Monsoor would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor from the President of the United States, George W. Bush. Bush presented the medal to Monsoor's parents on April 8, 2008. In October 2008, United States Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced that DDG-1001, the second ship in the Zumwalt class of destroyers, would be named Michael Monsoor in honor of Monsoor.

Unemployment Claims Increasing...

Over the past several months the Obama Administration and their enablers in major media have claimed that unemployment has been decreasing.  The opposite is true.  Unemployment claims have been slowly increasing each and every month.

This graph shows a disntinct ocilation is occuring.  While at some point, claims have been decreasing, it swing immediately in the opposite direction and more cliams are filed. 

The data are oscillating about a slowly increasing value, indicating that, if anything, unemployment claims are increasing. That means that for the past 5 1/2 months, every time the administration has told us that the unemployment situation is slowly recovering, and that the data show “the right trend,” they have been absolutely mistaken.


The media has been doing their typical baby duck analysis: every day is a brand new day, every unemployment claims report is the first one they’ve ever seen. So we get headlines like, “job situation improving” when the number of claims drops, and “unexpected increase” when the number rises.

For half a year the claims data has just been oscillating – going nowhere. And nobody seems to have noticed.

For years under the Bush Administration major media harped on a jobless recovery in the short/sharp recession following 9/11...when jobs did recover to the point at which the recession began...major media never seemed to follow up on that point.  When is the MSM going to take a hard look at this and realize that they are flushing what remains of their credibility away?

Obama Administration Business Experience

Here's another important aspect of our present administration. Here's the percentage of all the president's cabinets since William Howard Taft, 1909-1913, to Barack Hussein Obama, 2009-2013(?) who have actually worked in the private sector...and had to meet payrolls and produce an actual profit, not in either academia, or government. The highest percentage and lowest percentage will be bolded.

Taft.....................40%

Wilson ................52%

Harding................49%

Coolidge.............. 48%

Hoover.................42%

Roosevelt............ 50%

Truman................ 50%

Eisenhower.......... 57%

Kennedy.............. 30%

Johnson............... 47%

Nixon...................53%

Ford.....................42%

Carter..................32%

Reagan................56%

GHW Bush.............. 51%

Clinton ............... 39%

GW Bush .................. 55%

Obama................ 8%

Here we have a President who has never worked outside of government or academia who has advisors who have never worked outside of government or academia telling our largest corporations how to run their businesses...They know what's best for these huge companies...and Wall Street, yet, 92% of his advisors have never, ever had to meet a payroll or produce and actual profit.

How can this President lecture us on jobs, business or profits, when he's never had to do so himself, much less his advisors. They have spent most if not all of their working lives in academia, government and/or non-profit jobs... or as "community organizers," when they should have been in employment line.

UPDATE:  Here's another version from the National Journal

Statistic on Health Care & Government

A recent "Investor's Business Daily" article dated Wednesday, May 27, 2009,  provided very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.  Congressman Mark Kirk, IL-10 (R) is another source for these same statistics.


Here's a shot of the article in question.

Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%

Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%

Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%

Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%

Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:
U.S. 71
England 14
Canada 18
[The MRI was INVENTED in England!]

Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in "excellent health":
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%

From this alone, I don't really think that our health care needs "reforming" at all.  It already is better than the models the Democratic Congress is using as a template...

Michelle Bachman's Tax Day Tea Party Speech

Here's Ms. Bachman's speach:






Fore more speaches from the Tax Day  Tea party gathering in DC follow this link...

If You're Older Than 30...

My wife sent this to me...and it's true.  I don't know who wrote this bit...but kids these days...

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Jewish Support for Obama Slipping Significantly

The Democratic Party may  have overstepped it's bounds, even with Jewish voters.  As recently as 2008, Mr. Obama won 78% of the vote vs 21% for McCain.  On the other hand as recently as last month, the picture hadn't changed much...

...but then, that was before Obama turned on Israel. 

Now, in this McLaughlin & Associates poll that was taken earlier this month and release on April 14, 2010, shows a very different picture. 

I. A plurality of Jewish voters would consider someone else for President.


According to the 2008 exit polls, Barack Obama won 78% to 21% among Jewish voters. Now, in the second year of Obama’s presidency, only 42% of voters would re-elect him, while the plurality (46%) would consider voting for someone else.

Would you vote to re-elect Barack Obama as President or would you consider voting for someone else?

Total
Re-Elect  42
Someone Else   46
Don’t Know/Refused  12

If this sort of numbers continue to hold, then the fund raising ability of Mr. Obama will be very, very differnt.  While it's not true that all jews are wealthy, very many of them do contribute significant sums to Democratic politicians...but also WITHOLD those funds  when they get pissed at said politicians...(see Jimmy Carter and his 30 years of antipathy towards Jews who DIDN'T donate to him as they did Ted Kennedy).  If Mr. Obama continues to punish and push Israel at the same time he has been soft-soaping Iran, Venezuela and North Korea...then his ability to raise money in the Jewish community will be seriously hampered.

UPDATE:  Roger L Simon at Pajamas Media has a thread going on about this.  Some of the comments are interesting.  Take the time to read it if you can.

Uninformed Protester Says Obama Is Not Raising Taxes

You can't cure stupid...

But you CAN vote it out...come November, let's do so...

Overbearing majority

In the Federalist Papers, No. 10, James Madison warns of the "Overbearing Majority" wherein a majority party in Congress would lose sight of it's political mandate and begin enacting legislation that is diametrically opposed by a majority of the populace.  The men who wrote the Constitution put into place a number of procedural safeguards to keep this from happening.  It appears that many of those safeguards were violated when the Democratic Majority passed their "reform" of the health insurance industry.  I believe that this "reform" was more in line with a government seizure of the  health care industry. 

In a Weekly Standard column, Jean Kaufman has begun making an excellent case for this. 

The process by which this bill was passed didn’t just feature corruption and violate traditional ethics. It revealed a president and a congressional leadership that in concert have shown more callous contempt than any in history for the will of the American people, the safeguards against the tyranny of the majority built into the Constitution, and the parliamentary rules by which Congress operates. And there’s every indication that, if need be, the same will be true of cap and trade, immigration reform, or whatever else Obama, Pelosi, and Reid may deem the next morsel they plan to cram down the recalcitrant throat of the American public.

By violating the ethical rules put into place, the majority party has begun to upset the delicate balance that was  installed withing the Constitutional frame work. 

…[M]easures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority…By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community…


But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society…It is in vain to say that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing interests, and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm…


Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people…

Even after the passage of this bill, when the majority party in Congress claimed that once passed, the bill would become popular.  This has not in fact occured.  Rasmussen Reports and Gallup Polling have both indicated that opposition to the legilsation has increased by more than 4 points with 58% now favouring repealing all of the legislation.  Generally, when one party has gained a huge majority in Congress as well as control over the Executive branch such as now, the  desire to retain that control has, in  the past, kept the majority party from enacting fractious legislation.  Heretofore, that has been the case.

At the present time, that seems to no longer be the case.  The Democratic leadership seems to have taken the consious decision to enact as many of its long desired legislative goals regardless of public opinion. 

(1) Never before have we seen such a drive to pass a profoundly unpopular bill.


(2) Never before has a bill been passed when it has immediately afterward become clear that the best way for candidates to win an election, or to gain traction in the polls, is to say that they will work tirelessly to repeal that bill.

(3) Never before have a party and a president so publicly and boldly discounted the very idea that procedures in the legislature matter.

Mrs. Pelosi, the Speaker of the House has publicly stated that her goal though this bill was to enact much more legislation that has a far greater impact upon the country. 

"My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive," Pelosi said, according to an account by Washington Post reform advocate Ezra Klein. "We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."

Thus it now appears that this Democratic leadership has decided to commit political suicide in order to utterly wreck the ecnomic system that has been working fairly well for over 100 years.  

Pelosi argued that the debate over health care reform can begin after the bill is passed. "Pelosi said passing the bill would allow Dems to undertake a 'debate' with Republicans over 'what is the balanced role that government should have,'" writes another pro-reform blogger at the Post, Greg Sargent. According to Sargent, Pelosi explained, "We have to take it to the American people, to say, this is the choice that you have. This is the vision that they have for your health and well being, and this is the vision that we have." Again, in Pelosi's scenario, that debate would occur after the bill is passed.

That is completely against the entire American system of checks and balances.  Debate about legislation under our system must take place during the legislative process, not after that process has ended.  This fall's elections will be a referendum, not just on this majority party's platform, but upon it's actions while in power.  Never before has the party in power utterly ignored the will of the people.   Ms. Kaufman defines it well in her closing...

Pelosi’s phrase was profoundly aggressive, although perhaps she used it without complete consciousness of what she might be conveying. But it was no accident. This is an extraordinary way for a speaker of the House to talk, congruent with the Democratic Party’s newly combative attitude towards the wishes of the American people. This approach is (to use one of Obama’s favorite words) unprecedented for a major political party—at least in this country.

The Democratic Party has placed itself in a precarious position...it can either continue with it's precipate agenda, or pull back and attempt to save what it can.  I suspect that the leadership will continue on it's course having decided that it's too late to turn back.

We're Here For Your Guns

...as well as everything else we can get from you...

Proud To Be A Tea Bagger

I too am proud to be a Tea Bagger!



via Instapundit

Free Home Offer: A Modern Cautionary Tale

This came to me in an email from a very good friend whom I admire deeply...and I couldn't help posting it...

Free Home offer
by
J. P. Bender

I was in my neighborhood restaurant this morning and was seated behind a group of jubilant individuals celebrating the successful passing of the recent health care bill. I could not finish my breakfast. This is what ensued:

They were a diverse group of several races and both sexes. I heard the young man exclaim, “Isn’t Obama like Jesus Christ? I mean, after all, he is healing the sick.” The young woman enthusiastically proclaimed, “Yeah, and he does it for free. I cannot believe anyone would think that a free market would work for health care. They are all crooks and thieves and don’t deserve all of that money.”

Another said, "The stupid Republicans want us all to starve to death so they can inherit all of the power. Obama should be made a Saint for what he did for those of us less fortunate.”

At this, I had had enough. I arose from my seat, mustering all the restraint I could find, and approached their table. “Please excuse me; may I impose upon you for one moment?”

They smiled and welcomed me to the conversation. I stood at the end of their table, smiled as best I could and began an experiment.

“I would like to give one of you my house. It will cost you no money and I will pay all of the expenses and taxes for as long as you live there. Anyone interested?”

They looked at each other in astonishment. “Why would you do something like that?” asked a young man. “There isn’t anything for free in this world.”

They began to laugh at me, as they did not realize this man had just made my point.

“I am serious, I will give you my house for free, no money what so ever. Anyone interested?” In unison, a resounding “Hell Yeah” fills the room.

“Since there are too many of you, I will have to make a choice as to who receives this money-free bargain.” I noticed an elderly couple was paying attention to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the old man shaking his head in apparent disgust.

“I tell you what; I will give it to the one of you most willing to obey my rules.”

Again, they looked at one another, an expression of bewilderment on their faces. The perky young woman asked, “What are the rules?”

I smiled and said, “I don’t know. I have not yet defined them. However, it is a free home that I offer you.”

They giggled amongst themselves, the youngest of whom said, “What an old coot. He must be crazy to give away his home. Go take your meds, old man.”

I smiled and leaned into the table a bit further. “I am serious, this is a legitimate offer.” They gaped at me for a moment.
“Hell, I’ll take it you old fool. Where are the keys?” boasted the youngest among them.

“Then I presume you accept ALL of my terms then?” I asked. The elderly couple seemed amused and entertained as they watched from the privacy of their table.

“Oh hell yeah! Where do I sign up?”

I took a napkin and wrote, “I give this man my home, without the burden of financial obligation, so long as he accepts and abides by the terms that I shall set forth upon consummation of this transaction.” I signed it and handed it to the young man who eagerly scratched out his signature.

“Where are the keys to my new house?” he asked in a mocking tone of voice. All eyes were upon us as I stepped back from the table, pulling the keys from pocket and dangling them before the excited new homeowner.

“Now that we have entered into this binding contract, witnessed by all of your friends, I have decided upon the conditions you are obligated to adhere from this point forward. You may live in the house for only one hour a day. You will not use anything inside of the home. You will obey me without question or resistance. I expect complete loyalty and admiration for this gift I bestow upon you. You will accept my commands and wishes with enthusiasm, no matter the nature. Your morals and principles shall be as mine. You will vote as I do, think as I do and do it with blind faith. These are my terms. Here are your keys.”

I reached the keys forward, and the young man looked at me dumbfounded.

“Are you out of your freaking mind? Who would ever agree to those ridiculous terms?” The young man appeared irritated.

“YOU did when you signed this contract before reading it and understanding it, and with the full knowledge that I would provide my conditions only AFTER you committed to the agreement,” was all I said. The elderly man chuckled as his wife tried to restrain him. I was looking at a now silenced and bewildered group of people.

“You can shove that stupid deal up you’re a** old man, I want no part of it,” exclaimed the now infuriated young man.

“You have committed to the contract, as witnessed by all of your friends; you cannot get out of the deal unless I agree to it. I do not intend to let you free now that I have you ensnared. I am the power you agreed to. I am the one you blindly and without thought chose to enslave yourself to. In short, I am your Master.”

At this, the table of celebrating individuals became a unified group against the unfairness of the deal.

After a few moments of unrepeatable comments and slurs, I revealed my true intent. “What I did to you is what this administration and Congress did to you with the health care legislation. I easily suckered you in and then revealed the real cost of the bargain. Your folly was in the belief that you can have something you did not earn; that you are entitled to that which you did not earn; that you willingly allowed someone else to think for you. Your failure to research, study and inform yourself permitted reason to escape you. You have entered into a trap from which you cannot flee. Your only chance of freedom is if your new Master gives it to you.

"A freedom that is given can also be taken away; therefore, it is not freedom.

With that, I tore up the napkin and placed it before the astonished young man. “This is the nature of your new health care legislation.”

I turned away to leave these few in thought and contemplation and was surprised by applause.

The elderly gentleman, who was clearly entertained, shook my hand enthusiastically and said, “Thank you Sir, these kids don’t understand Liberty these days.” He refused to allow me to pay my bill as he said, “You earned this one, it is an honor to pick up the tab.”

I shook his hand in thanks, leaving the restaurant somewhat humbled, and sensing a glimmer of hope for my beloved country.

Use reason.

There's no such thing as a free lunch - SOMEONE has to pay, and you may too late realize that the one who will be paying is YOU.

TANSTAAFL=There Ain't No  Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Reasonable Men

Much as I hate to steal nearly a whole post, but Bill Whittle of EJECT EJECT EJECT has collected a huge assortment of quotes from some reasonable men some of whom were the spritual and political forbearers of this nation...you know the guys that not only wrote and/or signed the Declaration of Independence and fought for our liberty in the American Revolution, but took the huge leap and put into writing the first written constitution...The Constitution of the United States of America.

George Washington:

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

To those who say, well, the Government has to force you to buy something you don’t want. It’s for the greater good! Here’s William Pitt, 1783:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.”

Thomas Jefferson, the most intellectually brilliant man to ever hold the office of President – Barack Obama excepted, of course – had this to say in his First Inaugural, accepting the reins of that power:

"A wise and frugal government – (wise and frugal, my God how we have fallen) A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government…”

Did the greatest mind in American history have any other radical, dangerous thoughts on the encroachment of government and uncontrolled spending?  Jefferson, 1782:

“On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?”

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, May 28, 1816:

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Spencer Roane, March 9, 1821:

“The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.”

Thomas Jefferson, 1824:

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”

1824! If Jefferson was outraged at the extent of the federal government in 1824, then that’s good enough for Bill Whittle in 2010. You see, unlike Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann, I don’t think I’m smarter than Thomas Jefferson. But Ed and Rachel and Chris and Keith are here to tell you that protesting this government takeover of the auto industry, the financial industry, the insurance industry, the housing market and now the nation’s health care is a wild and radical idea!

I’ll tell you what else we Tea Party supporters believe in: we believe that the Constitution is Law. In the same way it’s the Ten Commandments and not the Ten Suggestions, we feel that the Constitution is law. When the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was asked where she drew the Constitutional authority to force people to buy health insurance, she said this…

And, famously, a few days ago, Democratic Congressmen Phil Hare, from Barack Obama’s own state of Illinois, had this to say about the source of his legal authority to make people do things they don’t want to do…

Now, if you took your responsibilities and your oaths seriously, I would be forced to at least respect the offices you hold, Madam Speaker, and Congressman Hare. But it’s obvious you don’t. So listen carefully, Nancy and Phil, to what better people then you can even imagine being had to say about the source of your authority: 

“If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last…. A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. “ Alexander Hamilton, Aug 28, 1794

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.”  Patrick Henry

“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." Thomas Jefferson, 1774.

And finally, what about the dangerous, wild-eyed, hateful and threatening allusions to violence? What about that un-American, unheard of, unprecedented repudiation of the genteel nature of politics, as represented by the calm and rational rhetoric that came from the left during the Bush years? What did the founders have to say about defending freedom, by force if necessary?

One of the Framers of the Constitution, John Dickinson wrote:

“We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers (“irritated ministers” – I love that; that’s spot-on) or resistance by force. Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.”

Or this, from Patrick Henry , 1778:

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

Of all of the things I have seen since this movement began, nothing has tickled me the way blogger Kent McManigal has with his updated take on the famous Gadsen Flag, widely popular at the time of the Revolution and making a strong comeback in the Tea Party movement. Here’s Kent’s flag:

Time’s up, guys. I know you Irritated Ministers and the defenders of the rich and powerful in the news media loathe and despise the Tea Party because you fear it. And you are right to fear it! It’s coming! It’s coming to take the country back from you big-state, anti-freedom elitists. Time’s up.

Here are some final words to take us out.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 21, 1787:  “The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.”
John Adams, 1765:  “Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.”
Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776:

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

And then there’s this: 

“What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 November 1787

And finally, from Samuel Adams – for all you big-state control freaks, Tea Party slanderers and the entire staff at MSNBC: 

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Mr. Whittle is far more eloquent than I but the real points here were made by men who literally put everything they had on the line in order to secure the freedoms we take for granted today.  All but a very few of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were peniless by the time we gained our independence.  We have an obligation to leave to our children and grandchildren a country as wealthy was it was when we received from our parents.  We will be the first generation in our history to fail at this task...