AARP- what do they really stand for?

AARP endorses the new House health care bill. Of course. Cuts to Medicare funding which are certain to come with this bill could mean a big opportunity for the organization. AARP does not live on membership alone. They are also in the insurance business. Add to that the fact that AARP has been criticized for years for it's inability to keep its business and consumer interests separate and anyone can see that they do not necessarily have the best interests of members in mind- at least when it comes to health care reform.

Democratic proposals to slash reimbursements for Medicare Advantage, are expected to drive up demand for private Medigap policies like the ones offered by AARP. United Health Care which provides most of the medigap health insurance marketed under the AARP brand, brought in $400 million last year alone in royalties. Compare that figure to the $249 million they collected in membership dues for the same period of time. AARP also brings in medigap royalties through Aetna Life Insurance, Genworth Life Insurance and Delta Dental.

It seems to me that AARP the business has far more to gain from this government program than any of its members do. What do you think?

Is this the end of free speech in America?

Has anyone (besides Glenn Beck) noticed that this White House really doesn't support our right to free speech? Besides its more blatant attack on those who question their decicions (or lack thereof) like Fox News, there is a general practice of attacking and attempting to suppress opinions not in line with their own. His own Communications Director admits to controlling the media all through the election making sure what got reported was only what they wanted reported. Is it really any surprise that this administration will do anything they can get away with to impose their will on American citizens?

We all know that the Obama administration is all about control. They control access by the press and therefore the message delivered by the media. If they can't control you, they smear you as evidenced by the dismissal of Fox News as not being a real news organization. He's accused Republicans of not being able to think for themselves. He's attacked capitalists, conservatives, Christians and Jews, white police and allied world leaders. About the only thing he ever does is take pot shots at people who don't worship him and his policies. And then he has the gall to preach at us to "grab a mop and start helping to clean up the mess". Great plan Mr. President. I'll start by doing my very best to get your Democratic Congress voted out of office and then I'll move on to making sure I help take back America by electing someone who cares about ALL Americans- not just the ones he can control.



Mr. Obama seems to believe that he only serves those who elected him. The rest of America clearly has no value to this President. I for one have had enough.

The Russia/Poland Choice

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/17/missile.defense.shield/index.html#cnnSTCOther2

Today President Obama announced that the United States will scrap it's plans for a missile defense shield located in Poland (you know that little country right next to Russia)
Whatever the reasons...today was not the day to make this announcement. 70 years ago today on September 17, 1939, the Russians invaded Poland in their bid to divide Europe with the Nazis. To this day, relations between the two nations remain straine...d and though Germany has offered many apologies for their role in the invasion 16 days earlier, the Russians have not. So the announcement of the removal of missile defense in Poland (our ally nation) is a slap in the face to the long-standing ties we've had. However, Vladimir Putin has expressed his approval of the decision.

As recently as last November, Russian Presiden Medvedev threatened to point missiles at Poland. Clearly the Russians feel threatened by having a U.S. missile presence so close to home..but if the American/Russian relationship is as good as this administration claims they why all of the fuss? The President has chosen to ignore the long standing relationship we have with the Poles and the Czechs in favor of appeasing the Russians.

The political spin to this story is that we have new and better information and those Iranians can't really nuke anyone in Eastern Europe, so we don't need the missile shield. But the history of this story goes further back. The Russians are pissed off because they don't want U.S. missiles close enough to them to put any pressure on them. These are defensive missiles by the way. They've threatened the Poles within the year and they have never apologized for the invasion of Poland. We can all see where Mr. Obama's alliegence lies. But is it in line with the rest of America. Ask the mothers of American sons and daughters who fight side by side with Polish soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They might have a different opionion than our President.

Health Care or Health Insurance

I am amazed at the number of people who think health care and health insurance are the same thing. FYI- health insurance is not a right or entitlement. The first group health plan came about in 1929- less than 100 years ago. Yet today There are many arguments from the left claiming health insurance coverage- namely the Obama plan- is a Constitutional right in America. They claim that article 1, section 8 gives the President and Congress authority-even a directive to provide universal health coverage. But if universal health insurance was mandated by the constitution, why did it take nearly a century and a half for the first group health insurance company to emerge?

Uh Oh, better call the Gestapo...uh, er I mean the White House.

The Obama White House is asking that if you hear of people disagreeing with Obamacare or anything that sounds "fishy" through e-mail or casual conversation that you let the White House know by e-mailing flag@whitehouse.gov to inform on your friends and neighbors. I didn't believe it, so I looked it up myself and here it is. On the official White House site.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

What the hell has this country come to? Informing on your neighbors who disagree with Barack the Almighty? Somebody wake me from this nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Independent, illegal immigrant, veteran, civilian, man, woman, or child. If you value your Constitutional freedoms, this should really bother you.

Inform on me if you must, but you should be mad as hell at what this government is asking.

More on Climate Change

Today's Wall Street Journal opinion by Kimberley Strassel on climate change. Seems the Evil El Nino may be blowing some lawmakers back toward reality.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597505076157449.html

Today is a dark day in American History

The United States House of Representatives voted 219-212 this evening on HR 2454 - also known as Cap and Trade. Here are the eight Republicans who sold out the future of the American people:
Reichert-Washington--8th District
Bono-California--45th District
Castle-Delaware
Kirk-Illinois--10th District
Lance-New Jersey--7th District
LoBiondo-New Jersey--2nd District
McHugh-New York--23rd District
Smith-New Jersey--4th District

Remember them at election time!

I don't even know what to say.

I'm reading the news every single day. And every single day something makes me ask myself what the hell is going on in this country. Automakers are now owned by the Feds and the UAW after a bankruptcy which left secured bondholders with virtually nothing. Inspectors General are being fired for doing their job- protecting the taxpayers from fraud. Congress is voting to allow photos of "prisoner abuse" to be released endangering our troops all over the world at the same time that our President offers apologies to dictators and terrorists around the world. The Constitution is being disregarded in favor of circumventing separation of powers in govt. Elected officials have failed their constituents and have had their authority usurped by the czars appointed by the president who answer to nobody but the president. The president keeps reminding us of the 53% of voters who elected him to office, but seems to easily forget the 47% who did not.

I can't even begin to imagine where this path we are taking will lead us. What I do know for certain is that the American dream is over. The federal government is succeeding in taking away the rights of the people. The government "of the people, by the people, for the people" no longer exists. The president answers to nobody. The Congress is a bunch of cowards, liars, and cheats, the cabinet is a bunch of crooks, and the supreme court has steadily ignored the constitution and authored policy from the bench.

Will the people let this continue? I won't stand by and watch it happen without expressing my opinion (while I still can) and holding my congressmen and women accountable. We can't put up with this any longer. Our predecessors fought for our freedom and we are letting it be taken away. Shame on us. Stand up for your rights as an American citizen and demand accountability from your government! Get involved. Do something. Stop electing more of the same politicians to office. Use the power of your voice and your vote.

A tale of climate disater penned by alarmists. This week's bestselling "fiction"

More evidence of manufactured science by global warming alarmists. Only this time, the scientists are calling the alarmists liars. Sit down with a good cup of coffee and enjoy this one.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124424567009790525.html

Fascism is alive and well in the good old U.S.S.A.

I was listening to Hannity this afternoon on the radio and he was observing that President Obama still maintains an approval rate over 60% despite the polls showing a clear majority opposed to nearly everything he has done in office so far. This blows me away.

Then this evening on FOX News there was a discussion of how many in the press don't seem to be so much in bed with Obama any longer, but rather are afraid of him. The historical record has shown in BO's first months as President that if he opposes you, he will take you down. This first became clear when the feds ousted Rick Wagoner from GM. Nobody voted for that. Nobody authorized the President to have that kind of power- certainly it didn't come from the Constitution. The media should be afraid. Obama (with the help of the Bush administration) has taken over the American banking system and treasury. He has taken over American industry with the auto bailout, and he is getting ready to take over the health care system. Where is the opposition?

You may remember a guy called Adolf Hitler who rose to power in Germany after the First World War. Hitler was voted in as chancellor and soon made his way to becoming dictator. In a matter of months he had otherwise intelligent citizens deciding to round up the Jews and gas them all. Much like Hitler, Obama has taken his elected office and morphed it into some sort of sick dictatorship without the people who elected him even realizing what is going on. This is serious folks.

We have got to put a stop to the President and his "czars" and take back our country before we completely destroy our infrastructure and sell everything we have to China. At the rate we are going, we will soon be left like the post-war Russians with nothing but a dying dream of change and of power to the working class. Not since the Russian Revolution have we seen this kind of full-scale assault on law-abiding citizens. The anxiety produced by the upheaval of our economic system has led otherwise normal people to fall for this crazy scheme called the economic recovery plan. But every effort just brings the economy further under fire. More people are losing jobs and the industry that can save us is being parceled out to whomever the "car czar" or the President chooses. This is exactly the same thing that Lenin and Stalin did. It is the end of capitalism in America and the beginning of a fascist regime.

For anyone who might argue that fascism is too harsh a term, here is the definition. Don't know how you can argue that Obama is not fascist.

Fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Yep. That is pretty much what we're looking at.

Interesting article today on wsj.com about lawmakers and how they spend our tax dollars

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124364352135868189.html

A Lexus, big screen Sony TVs, really expensive cameras, etc. How do these people sleep at night? Probably on memory foam mattresses with 1000 thread count sheets. Check it out.

Somebody just doesn't understand- a misguided protester

Today a friend of mine posted a link to this picture on digg and facebook. I had to comment. This photo originally ran with an article in the Wall Street Journal online edition. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329389315852597.html

The reason my friend "dugg" this photo was the sign the protester in the background is holding which reads "Jesus had two dads why can't I?" Attached to the posting of the photo on digg is the caption "Take that Pope." How clever. I suppose now they'll get that nasty, closed-minded old guy in Rome to admit that he was wrong and gay is ok after all.

I think it is fair to assume that the protester had in mind that Jesus had two fathers, his earthly father, Joseph, and his Heavenly Father, God. Too bad she missed the entire point. To equate Joseph and God to a gay couple is not only completely misleading, it is also blatantly blasphemous and utterly offensive.

The Lord God himself gave us this command in Leviticus 18:22 (New International Version) "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (New International Version) "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

It is clear that homosexuals “marrying” is not God’s will, and would be, in fact, sinful since the God condemns both homosexual acts and desires. And for those who say that the Bible never directly condemns homosexual marriage, my response is that whenever the Bible mentions marriage, it is between a male and a female from the first mention of marriage in Genesis which describes a man leaving his parents and being united to his wife to later passages with instruction for marriage in Corinthians and Ephesians which clearly state the relationship between men and women in marriage.

And furthermore, Jesus Christ is not the product of any sexually immoral union. The Gospels clearly state that Christ was the product of a virgin birth -son of God the Holy Spirit through the vessel, the virgin Mary.

What a day in the news!

There was a lot of note in the news today. Lets start with California upholding the same-sex marriage ban. Despite severe criticism by activists, the CA supreme court upheld the will of the 52% majority who approved Proposition 8 with a 6-1 vote today. Same-sex marriage remains invalid in the State of California. Conservatism lives!

Unfortunately, the government seems to have gotten its hands on GM today as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/business/27auto.html?hp According to the New York Times, the Treasury Dept will hold 70% of GM when it emerges from bankruptcy. With the UAW holding 37.5% that leaves very little for bondholders and creditors. Hmmmm.... I don't think that is how bankruptcy is supposed to work. Next thing you know, the federal government will be controlling other industries as well. And we've seen that done before. This is the same thing that Castro did to foreign corporations including nearly 6,000 American companies operating in Cuba in 1959.

And then there is President Obama's pic for the Supreme Court- Sonia Sotomayer. Where do we begin? I was reading comments on a story run on CNN in which Florida senate hopeful Marco Rubio http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/ expresses concern over Sotomayer's admission that she would set policy from the bench. The majority of respondents to the story thought the republicans were being naysayers, racists, lemmings, and big babies for raising such concerns. many even responded that they believe that the job of the SCOTUS is to set policy. It is unfortunate the lack of understanding that the average American citizen has when it comes to the Constitution of the United States and the separation of power in the Federal Govt.

But there seem to have been breakthroughs in climate change today. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090526/sc_afp/climatewarmingusbritainchu The AFP reported that the Obama administration wants to paint roofs white (or other cool colors) in order to cut down on global warming. This goes well with the article in the Sunday Times in the UK that suggested giving up eating lamb, tomatoes, and other "carbon rich" foods will cut down on methane production and therefore help save the planet.

I do think we may be fast approaching Armageddon.

Obama vs. Cheney...I pick Cheney.

Despite the best efforts of the President to fend off the issues raised by VP Cheney's speech this morning, the message came across loud and clear. The President's plan for national security puts Americans at risk. I applaud Mr. Cheney's efforts at getting the truth out to Americans regarding the very real threats which have faced the United Stated in the last 8 years. It is no wonder that Bush and Cheney approval ratings are going up. People are starting to realize that the hope and change Obama promised us are not in line with the hopes we have or the change we want.

Dems did something to be proud of today!

Hooray for the Democrats in the senate!

Bet you never thought you’d hear that from me. But they earned their paychecks today by turning down funding to close Guantanamo Bay prison –at least until the President and his staff come up with a viable plan for the detainees. The house passed their war funding bill last week with the same noticeable omission. They haven't completely forgotten national security after all!

http://tinyurl.com/r8b6yj
AP source: Democrats won't fund Guantanamo closing
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writer

President Obama at Notre Dame

Yesterday, President Obama addressed the graduating class at Notre Dame. Unless you’ve been living in a cave in the Ozarks for the last several weeks, you know about the controversy surrounding this particular speech. President Obama not only supports traditional abortion, but also partial birth abortions and embryonic stem cell research. The Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion wholeheartedly and therein lies the controversy.

So the President, recognizing that many Catholics do not support his views (oddly enough, they already have a Messiah), called for people to be more “open-minded” on the issue of abortion. He recognized that the different points of view are irreconcilable. How then, can one still hold to his/her convictions and stand by as those convictions are denied in federal courts?

The answer is that you can’t. To pro-lifers, the issue of abortion is about life and death. How do you compromise on life and death? Abortion is murder. One human takes the life of another human. It is pretty simple. But liberal politicians like President Obama claim that the life of the baby in the womb (or partially out of the womb) has no value. To them, abortion is a solution to the inconvenience associated with irresponsible sexual behavior. They justify the killing of babies by claiming that it is the right of the mother to decide what to do with her body. They claim that the baby isn’t really its own person until it is fully born and breathing air. They claim that it is better to abort than to bring the baby into a world in which it may not be well cared for.

But the pro-choice folks are leaving out some pretty important considerations. It takes two to make a baby. Where are the rights of the father when it comes to abortion? They do not exist. And that baby is a real, living child in the womb with a heartbeat, and brain function and the capacity to feel pain. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/Fetal_Pain/FetalPain091604.pdf. And as far as bringing a baby into a world in which it may not be well-cared for, perhaps the liberals should look at their social programs and start focusing on helping parents learn to prevent pregnancy in the first place and to teach them to care for babies rather than providing a way to get rid of them. And perhaps legislators should look at drafting enforceable laws with serious consequences for parents who neglect their responsibilities as parents rather than providing for federally funded abortions.

Advocates for “choice” often indicate that mothers must have the option of abortion to protect their own health, but the reality is that 93% of all abortions performed in this country are performed for social reasons and not for health related reasons. Less than .5% are the result of rape, 4% for the mother’s health, and 3% because the baby may have a health problem while the other 93% are performed because the mother isn’t ready, can’t afford, or simply doesn’t want a baby. *

In response to conservative pro-lifers, many liberal pro-choicers claim that there is hypocrisy in being pro-life. They claim that the churches promote war, that many conservatives support the death penalty, etc. My response to that is that wars happen for various reasons and they are always tragic- but they are not all products of the church by any means. Whatever your feelings on the death penalty might be, comparing it to abortion is like comparing apples and oranges. Death penalty is reserved for extreme cases of violence and law-breaking. Since 1973 (the year of Roe v. Wade) fewer than 2,000 death row executions have taken place in America. That is just over half the number of babies who were aborted today! Since 1973 over 49 million babies have been aborted in this country. How can you even compare the situations?

As usual, President Obama left the Notre Dame graduates with some words of wisdom (after all, he is the smartest President ever- or so I've heard) :

“But remember, too, that you can be a crossroads. Remember, too, that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It's the belief in things not seen. It's beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us. And those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own. “

Perhaps the President could take heart to those words and have faith that when God said thou shalt not kill, He knew what he was talking about.





*Source: Lawrence Finer, et. al, "Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives" Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Vol. 37 No. 3 (Sept., 2005) p. 110.

Jennifer Granholm on short list of potential Supreme Court nominees

http://tinyurl.com/d4syva





This is some scary stuff! I don't think I want a Supreme Court justice who is so out of touch with reality. In her two terms as governor of the great state of Michigan, Granholm has accomplished much of her agenda- to trim manufacturing jobs and to destroy the rights of the unborn.



Just take a drive down any one of our deteriorating roads in your foreign car and stop to talk to the locals. Don't worry, they'll be home. (Our jobless rate is 12.6%) But before you head out, you might want to fill up first. Michigan gas taxes are among the highest in the nation (behind only California, New York, Connecticut, and Illinois) even before you consider a proposed 15 cents per gallon increase in the works to keep our roads in "good repair". Stop to enjoy our natural resources (if you can get to them). You might notice how expensive things are in the tourist areas- but don't fret- that is just because we have to tax you to help balance our state budget (which hasn't happened in a long time even though taxes keep going up on everything from gas to ski lift tickets). Just keep driving. Pay no attention to the closed auto plants...Governor Granholm doesn't want us to focus on those. Instead, look for movie crews and wind farms. Those are the future jobs in Michigan.



And in case all of that doesn't give you confidence in our governor, perhaps you should consider her social agenda. She's Catholic and claims to rely on her faith as long as it supports her social agenda. For instance, when trying to balance a budget without cutting her pet social welfare programs to the mentally ill and homeless, Granholm took aim at Republicans who opposed her by saying...



"Often those who cloak themselves in a cape of religiosity happen to be some who are the biggest cutters. Now, some of that can balance out. But when you get to cutting the services for the least of these – in the 25th chapter of Matthew in the 37th verse the Lord says, 'Whatsoever you do to the least of these, so also you do unto me' – that's when I question whether somebody is really living out the faith that they profess."



But at the same time, Governor Granholm wholly supports abortion and embryonic stem cell harvesting which are in opposition to the core of Christian faith, Granholm said that “as a Catholic, I can say to be pro-cure is to be pro-life." She has been publicly rebuked by Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing for those remarks. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Bishop Boyea said. “While the Catholic Church strongly supports legitimate forms of stem cell research and all other proper forms of scientific inquiry, the Church also teaches that is it is always immoral to destroy a human embryo.”



As a Supreme Court justice, Granholm would have the potential to influence or perhaps "legislate" from the bench. This is when her anti-life stance really becomes a problem. In 2008, Granholm vetoed SB 776, a bill which would ban partial-birth abortions in Michigan. She vetoed the bill claiming that there was no loophole for life-threatening situations for the mother. This veto has no precedence because a similar bill has already been passed and upheld by the Supreme Court at the Federal level. This blatant disregard for the rights is indicative of Granholm's character and her history of opposing life issues. In October 2003, Governor Granholm vetoed Senate Bill 395, the "Legal Birth Definition Act," which sought to outlaw partial-birth abortion by granting full legal status to the child as soon as any part of his or her body emerges from the mother.



This woman is reckless and dangerous. Her record in Michigan is atrocious and her social agenda does not belong on the bench of the highest court in this land.

Welcome to my thoughts

With all the great stuff to comment about lately in political news, I found myself becoming a bit obnoxious with my facebook posts. So I've created this blog so my friends can follow my political commentary at their own risk.

I hope you enjoy!