It is a well know fact that once elected politicians almost immediately forget the very promises that got them elected in the first place.  This administration has been no different.  Of course they have kept some of the promises that they made, but those are only the ones that serve their purposes and drive their agendas. 

What promises have they kept?  Well that is easy, we were promised justice for those held in Guantanamo Bay, they have certainly delivered on that.  In fact those who are now held at Gitmo can rest assured that they will have far more legal rights then the very soldiers that captured them on a foreign battlefield.  You see the Obama administration promised them justice and they shall have it in the form of the American civil legal system, something actually denied our brave men and women who serve and die for this nation.  No, military tribunals or courts martial was not good enough for the illegal enemy combatants who fought our soldiers overseas.  They must have far superior legal rights, attorneys paid for by the American tax payer and access to all the case law, precedence and jurisprudence afforded each and every American citizen.  Who cares that our brave servicemen and women do not get this luxury, those terrorist suspects certainly deserve it.  You see when you become a soldier, airman, sailor or marine in service to this nation, you not only pledge your life to the defense of this nation and her Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic, you also waive your right to the very guarantees provided by the document that your are duty bound to protect.  You swear to surrender your rights and be governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).  However, now those who fight against American troops on the field of battle do not have to worry about such details.  Now they can have the same rights as any other American criminal, including the right for some sleaze ball attorney to find a legal loop hole to let them go free, because some bureaucratic bookworm did not fill out some piece of paperwork in triplicate or some soldier was insensitive to the cultural needs of a detainee.  Not to mention the fact that in their utmost lack of wisdom, the Federal government has decided to try some of these terrorist just miles from the scene of the ‘crime’.  I be New Yorkers will welcome any verdict that comes out of these trials that they will be forced to host, even if it is an innocent one, so long as the rights of these terrorist who killed 3,000 innocent New York citizen were not violated in even the slightest way.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is one promise that the Obama administration has kept: Far superior legal rights and proceedings for terrorist suspects than is afforded our very own soldiers, all at the expense of the American taxpayer.

You want an American trial for these jihadist?  Well, I agree.  Here is my idea.  Dress them in bright pink jumpsuits, pick a day and time to release them in Hoboken or Queens, broadcast the location and time of release to everyone in the Tri-State area, then let them go.  If they can make it out of the city alive, they are free to go.  It is a hell of a better fate than the three thousand innocent civilians that burned to death or were buried alive in the rubble so many years ago.

What other promises have they kept?  Ah, yes, healthcare.  They told us they would ram a Federally controlled healthcare plan down our throats whether we liked it or not.  Almost a year later they are close to succeeding, but here is where some of the broken promises come in.  Now I am not talking about the one we would have plainly been fools to believe, like that he would not have any activist or lobbyist as his advisors or that he would not sign any bill with a single piece of pork attached to it.  No, I am talking about those that he repeated over and over again that gave all the naive liberal votes hope that we would see the shining light of democracy from the unprecedented transparency promised by the Obama administration.  You see he knew this healthcare thing was poisonous.  He knew that the American people would not willingly sacrifice their choices, their rights and their control over their medical decisions if they really knew what was being planned.  No secrecy would be key to the success of this agenda.  The American people could not really find out what what in this healthcare bill or they would resist, but if he promised us that we would get to see each and every deliberation about this  live on CSPAN it sounded awfully good for the campaign.  Complete transparency, it seems, is just a bit more opaque than we thought.  Where has this CSPAN coverage been?  Why now that people are demanding that he live up to his promises is he hemming and hawing about allowing his bumbling press secretary to blurt out one half-witted excuse after another?  It is funny how those promises that you never meant to keep, come around and bite you in the ass, Mr. President.

On to other promises, how about that unemployment rate?  Hey, I know this one personally.  Both my wife and I had good productive jobs to start off 2009.  Nine months later neither of us did.  So what was this about if we passed the TARP bill, or was it the Omnibus, that we would not go over 8% unemployment?  What about the transparency promised with all of these bailout an stimulus programs?  Oh, sure there was a website created and job loss numbers spewed about, but then we find out that those numbers were complete bullshit.  They included thousands of jobs that had not even started yet and did you know that almost one billion dollars, that is right $920 million of your dollars cannot be adequately accounted for from the funds that were spent in the first six months.  Oh and did you also know that much of this money did not even go to create jobs?  Well that is of the money that has actually been spent of the staggering amounts allocated for these travesties that were voted into law.  That is another thing that apparently was just a flat out lie or just something that this administration does not care much about.  You see, for weeks we were told that we had to act now to avert a crisis.  We had to infuse the economy with these staggering trillions of immediately of face collapse.  Funny, that, because as of today only about 20% of the funds for first $890 billion so called stimulus packages has been spent with another 20% or so in process to be spent within the next six months.  That does not sound like a shot in the arm, but more like a long term prescription plan.  So why the rush if we are going to sit on more than $600 billion dollars until well into 2010?  Why did we have to pass this massive bill in its entirety right then?  Could we not have slowed down and voted to spend the roughly $160 billion dollars that we have so far, then taken our time on the rest?  Hell, now there is even talk of another stimulus package, because the first one was ineffective and the economy has not recovered.  Well no shit, Sherlock.  If $890 billion dollars in funds immediately injected into the American economy was the real answer, then spending $160 billion over six months won’t have the same effect.  That is the difference between a shot and a slow drip IV, not anywhere close to the same thing.

You know there is a question that I always hear thrown around at election time.  Are you better off today than you were four years ago?  It seems that is how we are to judge the effectiveness of our leaders, most pointedly the President.  Well, Mr. President, I am not better off that I was four years ago, nor even two for that matter.  Two years ago, my wife an I both had very profitable jobs in solid industries, hers in the middle of a growing boom.  We were making significant salaries, had good future prospects, good health insurance, large life insurance policies, a healthy stock portfolio and plenty of money in the savings.  Yeah, uhm, we don’t have any of that anymore.  My wife has spent the last nine months unemployed because her industry freaked out about Cap and Trade and I joined her for two months as the economy wore into my job as well.  Hell I even worked for a government contract regulatory lab.  People HAVE to have done what we did, but it still cut into our business enough that I am not even sure my former company will survive after being in business since it was founded in 1976.  No, Mr. President I am far, far worse off now than I was before you were elected and there are many Americans who are right there with me.  You have had a year and all your policies have done is make worse an already bad situation.  You have three years left.  The clock is ticking.

Since I am in an analogy mood, this evening I will give you another one.   Let’s say you take your car into a mechanic and he charges you $890 dollars to fix your engine.  A week later you have to take it back to him for the very same problem.  This is when you discover that he only spend $160 dollars to fix your car the last time, hides the invoice when you try to look at it, can’t explain to you what some of it was spent on and tells you that it should be running better because the flux capacitor is now in synch with the primary phase coil, but he promises that if you will give him another $1,000 he will make sure it runs right.  Now, ask yourself, how likely would you be to let this man work on your car again, provided you do not punch him out straight away and take your money back forcibly.  Now ask yourself how likely would you be to let him recommend a doctor for you and your family, or decide what medical procedure you need or do not need?  Scary thought isn’t it?

When do we realize that our system of government has failed to live up to the promises of our forefathers?  At what point do we fully comprehend just how far from that vision we have come?

Is it when our government completely fails to understand that it’s own power is derived from the consent of the governed and not by some ordained right for it to exist?  We can see plenty of examples of this today, be it the idea that the government has the right to demand, control and ultimately decide healthcare choices for each and every citizen or the false presumption that the will of the American people and the massive resistance to this idea is somehow irrelevant.  How do they respond to the demand by an even increasing segment of the population that the Federal government stay out of our healthcare and eliminate the public option from this reckless push to reform?  They pretend that we are idiots and simply change the name to something that sounds less ominous and more capitalist.  Now it is the consumer option!  That is better right?  Yeah, consumerism promotes capitalism, right?  Surely the unwashed masses will like that better, right?  Nah, none of them will actually read the changes and figure out that this new consumer option is basically the same damn thing as the previous public option.  They aren’t that smart. 

The problem is that we do read and understand far more than given credit for.  We do realize that, to quote our great leader, “putting lipstick on a pig, still makes it a pig”.  Our government honestly believes that the millions of people showing up at these TEA Party protests and 9/12 rallies are just common simpletons, spurned on by Fox News and a couple of conservative talking heads.  They are incapable of seeing that this is an underlying movement across this nations composed of average, everyday citizens who are finally finding their voices and who have had their fill of a bloated, inefficient, expansive and detached government who is no more in touch with the people that they govern than King George was with the Colonies.  Here in Texas, we do have some hope.  Our governor has already stated that Texas will not participate in any Federally back or controlled healthcare system to the point that the State of Texas will withhold her Federal tax contributions should she be forced to.  Our House of Representatives has already passed HCR 50 declaring Texas’ sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, hopefully our Senate will have the wisdom to follow course and our governor the strength of will and conviction to sign it into law.  We are not alone.  Many states have already passed such legislation and are demanding that the Federal government cease its interference with the governing of the States.  Should Texas decide to resist this healthcare option, others will surely follow.  Many have expressed similar objections and warnings directed towards Congress in the passing months.  What will happen if this comes to pass?

It is at this point that I grow concerned.  Texas is a fairly conservative state except for select pockets of liberal ideology.  We as a people in general value our traditions, our rights and our way of life free from the interference of others.  Yet recently we have seen them come under almost direct assault from the Federal government.  The opposition to the bailouts, the Federal manipulation of the free market, the refusal to allow domestic drilling, the re-investment act, the gun and ammunition control measures and the healthcare initiative has been powerfully strong here in Texas.  We will not take many more direct assaults on our freedoms.  Any one of these issues could be the straw, but issues like the Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009, various iterations of the Ammunition Accountability Act and nationalized healthcare are ones that I fear might push Texas to say enough if enough.  Should Texas finally stand its ground what will happen then?

If Governor Perry’s promise of refusing to participate in a Federally mandated healthcare system come to fruition and Texas attempts to withhold its Federal Income Tax contributions, what will be the consequences?  There is no possible way that the Federal government could allow this to occur.  Some states might get away with such threats, but not Texas.  Texas is a donor state.  This means that we pay in more Federal Income Taxes than we receive back from the government, and we are a large donor state at that.  If you compared the Texas economy against other nations in the world we would rank the 12th largest even in these poor economic times.  The Federal government could never allow the withholding of such a significant chunk of its income.  What if other states followed suit?  What then would Washington do if say just ten states refused to participate and threatened to withhold Federal tax dollars should they be forced to?  Would the Federal government finally come to grips with the fact that the States hold the power to be governed or would it come down to another civil war?  Would the Federal government try to take by force the funds withheld by states resisting such overarching legislation that is directly in contravention to Tenth Amendment? 

Had you asked me that question ten or twenty years ago, I would have automatically assumed that the Federal government would never even consider the possibility of force to strong arm a state to participate in a nationalized healthcare system.  Today, however, I am not so sure.  A friend of mine asked me an interesting question while we were discussing the foolish cancelation of the F-22 program earlier today.  The question was simply this, “What do you think we will see first, another civil war or another world war?”  Again, had this question been asked years ago, the answer would have automatically been that we are far more likely to see another world war, than we were to see another civil one.   When I was asked today, I honestly had to stop and consider the question before giving my answer.  My answer ended up being, “I am not sure.”  Unfortunately, I find that both are as easily possible in the world that we face today.  There are still serious threats outside our borders and as America continues to weaken it status and power across the globe, the likelihood that a major conflict between large nations could erupt and spread into a global one will continue to increase.  However, there is just as likely a chance that if our Federal government continues to grow and expand as it has been doing for far too long, makes reckless, wasteful decisions with our tax dollars, continues to interfere with the free market and continues to attempt to usurp rights from its citizens and its States, that some States will finally decide that they have had enough and refuse to comply.  What then?

I honestly do not know which is more likely for us to see in the future; a major world war or one bound within our own borders.  Human history has taught us that we will suffer long before finally deciding that we have had enough.  I see signs of it today.  Never before have so many States passed legislation declaring their own sovereignty and demanding their rights to govern themselves be restored, but never before have those rights been under assaults as they have been for the past fifty years.  Never before have the States been forced to watch their own power, individuality and sovereignty wither away under a slow, but persistent assault by a detached, distant central government.

So, enough…  When is it really enough and what will become of us then?

We have seen some frightening developments in the seven short months since Barack Obama was ‘anointed’ to the presidency. One of the aspects that I simply abhor is the Orwellian style ‘newspeak’ that is surfacing from this administration and the blatant hypocrisy of the left. To clarify things, let us go over some of the new rules.

For starters, let us examine some behaviors.

Private Jets

It is apparently absolutely unacceptable for captains of industry to fly on private jets when their companies are struggling and near collapse, even though multiple business analysts have confirmed that by driving to Washington or flying on normal commercial flights, these men wasted more of their shareholders money than the private flights did. However, if you are in Congress while our nation is struggling economically and hemorrhaging taxpayer money at an alarming rate, it is perfectly acceptable for you to order eight high-end Gulfstream G550 jets to ferry them around. Even when the Air Force says they do not need that many new aircraft and don’t have the proper resources to operate and maintain them for the Congressional fleet, you can simply ignore those who actually have a clue about the issue and set aside over half a billion dollars so that you can travel in luxury.

Protests

Apparently, when you are protesting former President George W. Bush and his policies it is your patriotic duty to do so and any form of protests is acceptable. You can carry swastikas or even wear Nazi uniforms. You can call him a murderer, a terrorist or anything else you want. You can stalk him and wait outside his private residence for weeks on end. This is your patriotic duty to do so. As Hillary Clinton once said, “I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic. We should stand up and say, we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!” Oh, wait… She must have meant to say any Republican administration.

If you dare to debate or disagree with THIS administration then you are a political plant, an angry mob or a political terrorist and you should be reported by your friends and neighbors. If you carry a sign denouncing his policies, then you are disruptive and unpatriotic. If you carry a banner with a swastika crossed out by a big red circle and slash saying “No Repeat of Socialism” then you are insensitive to the seriousness of the issue surrounding World War II. I guess if you wore one on your arm to protest Bush and called him Hitler, you were somehow being sensitive to those issues? I see. No, wait. I don’t see it at all. Nice double standard you hypocrites on the left have established.

It was perfectly acceptable for thousands of people to hold marches, rallies and protests over whatever struck their fancies about the Bush administration. Fast forward to the Obama administration and suddenly common everyday American citizens who speak out about their governments action by hosting nationwide TEA Party demonstrations are labeled racists, tea baggers (a sexually insulting connotation) and potential terrorists. They are chastised by Congressional members as if they were unruly children disobeying their elders. They are plotted against by the very people who’s job it is to serve their interests and they are ridiculed by a shameful media that has lost all sense of journalistic integrity. This is oppression of dissent is eerily reminiscent of things we have seen before.

Definitions

I was so glad to hear that the War on Terror was over when the administration announced it a few days ago. I was just a tad bit confused as to who won or what we were still doing in Afghanistan if that were true. This behavior is straight out of Orwell’s 1984 novel. The practice of using less offensive or abrasive terms for things was referred to as ‘newspeak’ by Orwell and it is in full swing today. We are no longer fighting ‘jihadists’ but we are fighting someone, so who is it? We are no longer at war with terrorists, just at war with al-Qaida. I am sure that the Taliban are glad to hear this. Even though we are still killing them on sight, it must be nice to know that we are no longer at war with them. At least this will limit the number of unlawful enemy combatants we obtain. Oh, I am sorry. There I go again using plain English to explain things. What I meant to call them was ‘unprivileged enemy belligerents’. That sounds so much better doesn’t it?

You know, the next time I get pulled over for speeding, I need to tell the officer that I was not actually speeding. I was simply traveling at an increased velocity to expedite my transit. Surely, I would not get a ticket for that, right? When someone commits murder, we should call it something else because murder just sounds too bad… Let’s call it an unsanctioned life force termination. Or maybe even an extreme post-term abortion… Those sound more acceptable.

This mind numbing bullshit is just that. It is designed to restrict speech and limit debate and those are but a few examples of the insane amount of politically correct crap spewing out of Washington. Orwell would be shocked at how close he came. He was just about 25 years off the mark.

Policy

The government is tired of wasteful spending by these corporate executives and it is bound and determined to do something about these irresponsible executives. However, Congress and the President continue to waste trillions of dollars on programs that the American people do not approve of. Are we simply to accept this? We are told that we must conserve energy and drive more fuel efficient vehicles, while we watch Nancy Pelosi fly back and forth to California on the taxpayers dime and see President Obama take three times the normal staff on trips with him around the world. How about you give up your fleet of SUVs that you drive around in Mr. President? I am sure some one can figure out how to armor plate a Chevy Volt for you.

We are to believe that insurance companies are responsible for denial of services, massive healthcare costs and limited availability of healthcare to Americans. Yet, when you look at all of the government programs concerning health you actually will find those traits there. The tell us that we must surrender our choices in an effort to reform healthcare, but Congress refuses to adopt the same plan for their families that they are trying to shove down the throat of the American public. They talk of greed and profit in the healtcare industry, yet will not touch the issue of tort reform for that very reason. Having the tort lawyers in their pockets are very profitable for them.

If we take things from another that do not belong to us by coercion or threat of force, it is a felony in most states. When the government does it, they call it taxes.

This hypocrisy must end and it needs to end now.

In a striking turn of events, that actually surprised no one, it has now been confirmed that Nancy Pelosi is one of the most ignorant people that has ever held a public office. I have not given out a Blithering Idiot award in some time, so maybe one is due. Congratulations Nancy Pelosi, you are the Blithering Idiot of the Week. She has plenty of company in Congress right now and they are willingly showing their ineptitude day after day.

Astroturf? Seriously? Did that take you all morning to come up with Nancy or did one of your staffers write that little line for you? The indignation and arrogance on display by our Congressional leaders against the American people right now is simply appalling. These corrupt, out of touch, elitist morons cannot fathom that the American people are completely fed up with their crap and are finally standing up for ourselves.

Just a few short months ago Hillary Clinton stated that it was our patriotic duty to voice our dissent against a government that we disagreed with. There were multitudes calling President Bush everything from a murderer to a terrorist to Hitler himself. We saw morons like Cindy Sheehan literally camped outside his home, shouting horribly insulting and borderline threatening comments at the President. How did the former administration act when these ‘angry mobs’ showed up? Did he encourage other Americans to report them to their government for exercising their free speech? No. Did he chastise them publicly claiming that they were an unruly angry mob? No. Did he demand that others show up to counter their protests? Nope. He simply acknowledged their right to have their own opinions and protest against the actions of their government.

Now we see astounding arrogance coming from Washington in their personal attacks on citizens who are speaking their mind openly and honestly. Nancy Pelosi even went so far as to claim that these citizens protesting the nationalized healthcare were carrying swastikas and similar symbols to the protests. Really? I have done some extensive searching and can find not a single photo or video from these protests containing any such symbols. However, I was able to find multiple photos containing swastika symbols from earlier protests against President Bush. Was that who she was talking about? I wonder… This just goes to further show the feeble intelligence of this woman. If she actually knew anything about the Nazi (or National Socialist) Party, she would realize that it would more likely be those in favor of this national socialized medical program that would bear symbols hailing the Nazi regime. After all, one of the questions often ask of German citizens in the 1930s and 1940s was, “Are you a good socialist?” Well, Nancy, are you?

What they do not realize is that by dismissing these normal, everyday citizens who have legitimate concerns as nothing but an angry mob, they are likely to turn them into just that. Now we hear that they are canceling these town hall meetings in an act of pure cowardice because they do not want to face the truth of a public turned against them. They might as well stand upon the steps of Congress and shout, “Let them eat cake!” This will not sit well with an America already tiring of the wasteful, corrupt and reality deprived administration that has shown nothing but contempt for the will of the populace. I will point you to another time in our history, when the calls from the people went unheeded. A time when taxation was used as a means to control and laws were forced upon a people from a distant, detached government who did not concern itself with what those governed desired. We should learn from this past where the voices of the people went unheard and the protests that they staged were dismissed as a bunch of unruly ingrates and angry mobs. In the end this did not fare well for the governing body responsible for such injustices against the American colonies, nor will it do so now.

If we stare into the Abyss long enough, the Abyss stares back at us. Right now we stand at the edge of the Abyss, what we do will define the future of this nation for generations to come. I say we stand and fight.

Arise you sons and daughters of Liberty. Stand firm in your beliefs and make your voices heard from the tip of the Aleutians to the Florida Keys. Call them out and give them no quarter to the lies being told. Fight for your freedoms and liberty, lest they be stripped from you while you sleep.

I have not had much time to write over the past few days. Some changes are taking place in my personal life that have had me quite busy and I have been working on getting a project off the ground that has taken some of my time as well.

However, I have been keeping a close eye on this healthcare debate and it is scaring the hell out of me. I cannot believe that this is even under consideration, until I look at those pushing this agenda. There is so much subterfuge and deception surrounding this issue that it is almost impossible for the average American to get their minds around and understand what is really occurring. This administration and many in Congress are trying to shove this legislation down the throat of the American people, yet do so with coercion and deception.

Lie Number One – 47 Million Uninsured

For starters, the number of uninsured Americans in this country is greatly inflated. The 47 million that the President claims he is trying to cover is not as clear as you might think. Within that 47 million exist around 10 million illegal aliens, around 17 million that make well over the median income of $46,300 annually who could afford health insurance but choose not to have it and a small percentage of people who lacked health insurance for short periods of time only. Even if you just take number of illegal aliens and those who could afford insurance, but choose not to, you more than cut the 47 million figure in half, leaving only 20 million Americans uninsured, just 7% of the population. Some estimated put the number of critically uninsured as low as 8.2 million or 3% of the total.

Lie Number Two – The Government is the Solution

While I acknowledge that some healthcare reform is needed in this nation, I flatly reject the notion that it is the right, duty or business of the Federal government to mandate or control it. Constitutionally, not only does the Federal government lack any and all power over this issue, but it is explicitly barred from action on matters such as these via the 10th Amendment. Not to mention that what they are currently proposing will be drastically harmful to the healthcare industry in this nation. Just look at the example that the government provides in Social Security, Medicare and the Veterans Administration. All dismal examples of government waste, corruption and bureaucracy at one time or another. Now we are told that the government can reduce healthcare cost, improve quality and not reduce services. Even when the Congressional Budget Office releases report after report disagreeing with this claim and greatly expanding the projected cost of this program, it is just ignored. Even when the very sections of the bill that point out planned cuts to Medicaid and Medicare are pointed out, excuses are made and those calling foul are branded as cold hearted obstructionists. The plan currently in the House would create twelve additional government agencies just to deal with this massive undertaking, creating more inefficiency, waste and bureaucracy.

Lie Number Three – You Will Still Have a Choice

This is one of the most grievous fallacies of this entire fiasco. You will lose your ability to choose, period. For starters, the President has already made it clear that you will be forced to have health insurance whether you want it or not. No choice there. Now we hear that doctors will be rated and paid based on how well they treat an illness, not per patient or per procedure. Really? I want to know who in the hell decides by what benchmarks to gauge my doctor? What if I think my doctor has performed admirably, but some distant, detached bureaucratic moron in Washington, who has no clue about me or my doctor, decided that he is not as ‘efficient’ as they would like and decides not to pay him? How to I have a choice in that? When my personal physician that I have had for well on twenty years has to quit his practice because he cannot afford to function on his government allowance, where is my choice?

Now we discover the horrible truth about other aspects of this bill such as end of life care. After a certain age you will be compelled to meet with a ‘counselor’ every five years to discuss your future healthcare needs. Really? Discuss what about them? Why would I need a counselor at the age of 65 and beyond to discuss my healthcare requirements, unless you are planning on restricting the services available to me due to my age and failing health? You see once you pass the age of 65, you are not as good of an investment as when you are young and healthy. You have less time to live and you consume more resources via the healthcare system, therefore it only makes sense to a cold, calculating government bureaucracy that they not spend money on you. Sure they will offer to make you comfortable, but will not approve the procedure that might extend your life because the return on investment will not be enough.

Lie Number Four – Not a Single Payer System

While this statement may be true at this point, it will not be so for long. As Barney Frank openly admitted a few days earlier, this is a gateway to a single payer system.

“If we get a good public option it could lead to single payer,” Frank said. “The best way to get single payer — the only way — is to have a public option and demonstrate the strength of its power.”

You notice the words he chose there? Power. This is after all what this is really all about. Power. Power to control. Power to have millions depending on the government for their very health and survival.

The other part of this lie is that the private insurance companies can survive this ‘public option’ when it is more likely that it will cause the failure of most major insurance companies, costing this economy precious jobs and destroying the healthcare industry as we know it. The government option could be as much as 20% lower in cost for private business, since it will use taxpayer money to support the implementation of this program. How many businesses do you think would love to get a 20% reduction in the cost of benefits they provide to their employees? Suddenly, millions of people will be shoved onto this government program, taking critical market share away from the private insurance companies. Without the monthly premiums, these companies will not be able to provide for their remaining insured parties and will quickly fold, leaving even more people with nowhere else to turn but the government. Of course, that it the real objective of this, not healthcare at all.

Those are just four obvious ones. There are multitudes of more that I could expound upon, but these should be enough to wave us off of this destructive past. With the example of failures in the States where these single payer models have been tried such as Wisconsin and Massachusetts, we should be scare to death of even discussing any government run options at all. I sincerely hope that the governor of my great State meant what he said early last week. Governor Perry stated that if the Congress was foolish enough to pass this destructive legislation, Texas would assert her right under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and flatly refuse to conform or participate in any way. God bless that man and give him the strength to stand his ground should this disaster find its way into law. Should Texas refuse Federal interference and further usurpation of her citizens right by the Federal government, I believe that others would follow her lead.

This is a battle of life and death. Either you control your life or the government will control both it and your death.

Welcome to the USSA.

Is no one getting tired of this crap yet?

Seriously, this man stands before this nation and lies through his teeth knowing full well that he cannot prove a single thing he says. At least when Clinton lied to the nation, he did so skillfully and made it so that you were never sure when he was shooting you straight or filling you full of bull shit. He was an artist when it came to dishonesty and misdirection. Obama simply does not care if what he says is true or not, much less who believes him.

Just days ago we were treated to a speech about how Americas was one of the largest Muslim nations in the world. Uhm, not true. If you take the latest CIA estimates of about 1.8 million Muslims in the country that would place us somewhere around 58th out of 60 ranked nations. I wonder how the 76.5% of Americans that identify themselves as Christian like to constantly hear that we are not a Christian nation. How do they feel when the President of this country tells us that the Muslim population in this country that is less than 1% of the whole makes us one of the biggest Muslim nations on the planet? How about the fact that we are the largest Christian nation on the planet? Or do we Christian simply not count anymore?

I have already covered the other lies in that speech in a previous article, so I will not dwell over the idiocy of expecting people to believe that Islam gave us modern printing, the compass, algebra or our base understanding of the spread of diseases and how to cure them. What I want to focus on today it the sheer arrogance that it takes to stand before the American people and promise to cut our non-defense based deficit in half on one hand, while you other hand spends this country into massive debt. Does he think we are that naive? Does he really believe that we are that stupid? Or does he even care?

Where is the recovery? Where is the stimulus? Where are the jobs that were supposed to be created by the trillions of dollars of our money that Congress has plundered from the already overdrawn coffers? Oh, I see. Those jobs have not been created, but they have been saved! All rejoice and hail the mighty one for he has saved however many jobs he claims he has.

How do you count a job as saved? This is pure conjecture. The economy either creates jobs or loses them. Since Obama has taken office millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Our unemployment rate has soared to 9.4% and is only beginning to show hopeful signs of slowing. I will consider jobs having been saved when the number of jobless claims stops increasing and the unemployment rate begins to decline. Only then will we be saving jobs by *gasp* actually creating them.

I can barely listen to this man speak anymore for knowledge that if his lips move, we should beware. While other nations raise their heads to test our will and resolve, he tours around countries that have teetered on the edge of hostility against this nation for decades apologizing for OUR behavior. He panders to regimes whose citizens cheered as the towers fell and thousands of innocent Americans perished. He wants to talk with nations who openly show their hatred of this nation and threaten everything that we stand for. He cowers at the feet of our enemies and hides in fear from his responsibilities to uphold the constitution of this nation.

I am through with this. I have never before even come close to thinking this before. I have often argued against this notion with good friends in the past, but it may be time for Texas to find its own path. I am sure that there are many other fine states that may like to join us. Maybe not, but for the first time in my life, I would actually consider it.

I was deeply disappointed to discover your vote to accept the Federal stimulus funds and feel that you have completely disregarded your constituency with this vote. Just last week we saw thousands of Texans rise up with one voice and declare that we have had enough of our Federal government’s excessive taxation and irresponsible spending. Even in Weatherford, such a small community, we managed to bring out over a thousand people to protest the actions of our Federal government and demand that this madness cease.

One thing that was hot on the lips of all the protestors was their support for Governor Perry’s decision to get behind HCR 50 and Texas’ claim to her sovereign right to govern herself, a subject over which I have written you before and was assured that you were fully behind. Yet it seems that you have betrayed that sentiment with this vote by agreeing to legislation that allows the Federal government to dictate the policy Texas when it comes to our unemployment benefits.

Do you not listen to your constituents? Do you not hear the cries and see the rallies by common Texans across this great state telling our government that enough is enough? Did you not meet with Republican Women on Wednesday and assure them you would vote against such legislation? Did you not understand their message to you or did you simply tell them what they wanted to hear while they stood in your office, never intending to uphold your word?

I am asking you these questions because I was impressed with the letter I received from you detailing other legislation along the lines of HCR 50 that you supported and had hoped I had found in you a strong, state’s rights Senator who supported the founding principles that this nation was born from and recognized the deeply independent spirit of the state in which you serve. Your vote today shows me that I was sadly mistaken in my hopes for you.

Texas currently has one of the strongest remaining economies in the Union. We should be serving as a shining example of how to govern ourselves correctly instead of having our hands out to the Federal government. Especially when it comes with permanent Federal intervention in the Texas economy by forcing the taxpayers of this state to continue payment of federally mandated unemployment programs once the Federal money is gone. This decision was fiscally irresponsible, the very thing that thousands of Texans stood up against last Wednesday. It pains me that our message fell on deaf ears. It troubles me that you who are supposed to serve us and act on our behalf, failed so miserably to heed our call.

Texas does not need more federal interference in our government. We need less, we want less and as citizens of State of Texas, just four short days ago, we came together in more than 300 communities in this state alone to DEMAND less. Why did you choose to ignore us? When you run for office, you come to the people and ask for our vote. How then is it that when we come to you and ask for you to represent our will, that you assure us one moment that you will vote as we have asked, then turn your back on us and do the complete opposite?

I await your response.

Respectfully…

Well I could not have been more pleased with the turnout yesterday for the Weatherford TEA Party. The police estimated about 850 people at the peak of the event. Official estimates provided to QXFM 89.5 by the Weatherford Police Department put the final number between 1,200 and 1,500 people in attendance. People started arriving about an hour before the event and stood around talking about issues, handing out flyers and grabbing signs to carry. By the 4:00PM start time, a decent sized crowd had gathered neat the speaking platform. American and Texas flags covered the crowd in a sea of red, white and blue. Signs were held aloft proclaiming a wide variety of slogans all aimed at the same message, we are fed up.

The most encouraging thing to see was the diversity of ages in attendance. There were children waving flags and holding signs in the midst of teenagers and young adults cheering on the speakers. The range of adults in attendance stretched from college students just starting on their taxpaying journey to people way into their retirement ages. I even witnessed a blind woman brave the danger of walking in a public street, cane outstretched feeling the way in front of her, just so that her voice would be heard as well. We have a wonderful showing of veterans and even a couple of full uniform military personnel showed up, even though they are not supposed to appear in uniform at events such as these while. I for one was honored to have them there.

Just after 4:00PM we began our march. We started off on a small street near the assembly area and marched towards the courthouse square. Many people stood waiting for us to walk by. They waited on their front porches, at street corners and in front of businesses along the route. Almost off all of them were cheering the rally us on, some waving signs and banners of their own. After a few minutes we had reached South Main St and turned our march north towards the courthouse. They had shut down the outside lane of traffic for the march and as vehicles passed they shouted out measures of support and honked their horns as they passed us by. The march line stretched out over several city blocks and finally wove its way back to the original assembly grounds where after the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem and a short prayer we listened to people speak about the issues.

I cannot claim that I was enthralled by all of the speakers, but the young and vibrant JJ Williams and the colonial clad Judge Mark Riley, were the highlights for me. I was glad to have Ms. Williams speaking at the event to show all the young people in attendance that this was their issue too. She seemed to really connect with some of the teenagers in the crowd when she was speaking. Judge Riley in particular delivered a powerful speech that excited and energized the crowd, spurning shouts of agreement and the occasional, “Hell no!”

Members of the Parker County Young Republicans canvassed the event speaking directly to those who came to protest and signing people up for our mailing list. It is our sincere hope that we can build upon the energy displayed at the TEA Party and turn it into a political force, not just simply for change, but for reformation of this nation. I am sure there will be more events and other times in the future where the American people must stand together and demand that the government heed our call.

I was pleased to see the massive turnout of protestors all across this nation, most of whom were average everyday people from all walks of life and all political affiliations. I was also thrilled with the Governor of the great State of Texas, Rick Perry, as he attended several TEA Parties himself yesterday and sent a clear, concise message to the Federal government. Texans are a proud people who remember the cost of freedom and we will take no more of this. What did surprise me some was his discussion of secession with reporters after the events. I had heard that people were yelling the slogan at many of the rallies, but I just assumed that it was the normal call to secede we here so often down here when we disagree with what Washington does. However, to hear a sitting governor of Texas actually discuss the possibility of secession with a reporter is a chilling event. As you can see from this Dallas Morning News article, Governor Perry is not calling for secession, but he is also not discounting it as a possibility in the future if this long train of government abuses is not reconciled.

These are definitely interesting times we live in.
 
 
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Finally! After almost two weeks worth of database issues, I finally have the site back up. I apologize for the down time and the inconsistency in the displayed content during the last few days. I have managed to preserve all the content and the styling of the site, but some things I could not save. Articles and comments posted after March 31st, 2009 are gone as are all of my links and references. I will get those rebuilt over the next few days. So if I linked to your site before and forget to put it back, please let me know.

Now on to more interesting things. I was honored to be the guest of Parker County Judge Mark Riley on a local radio show this morning where we discussed the TEA Party rallies that will occur tomorrow. There are well over 300 communities in Texas and over 1,800 nationwide that will be hosting a Taxed Enough Already rally tomorrow, April 15th, 2009, to protest the reckless fiscal irresponsibility of our government. It has amazed me the involvement and interest that the community has shown over this issue. We are still getting emails and phone calls requesting information and the enthusiasm expressed by these people is definitely refreshing.

During the program we discuss many aspects of taxation and the extreme amounts of abhorrent Federal spending we have witnessed in the last few months. Allow me to expand upon this for a moment. In the last few months we have been subjected to massive expansions in the Federal government, enormous spending increases and rampant disregard for the public will. When you consider the $750 billion dollars for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the $787 billion dollars for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the $410 billion dollars for the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, this government has already spent and additional $1.947 trillion dollars above and beyond what was budgeted. If you divide that among every taxpayer in this nation it equates to $25,735 per person. These numbers get so staggeringly large that it is almost impossible to fathom the actual amount being spent, so let’s break this down into terms that most people are familiar with. We will start with $1,000 dollars, an amount not too high as to be unimaginable for most working Americans. If you started spending at $1,000 per second and continued to do so until you reached $1.947 trillion dollars, how long do you think it would take? Now realize that at that rate you are going through money at a staggering pace. It equates to $3.6 Million dollars an hour or $86.4 Million a day. By the end of your first month you breached the billion dollar mark at around $2.6 billion per month. At this rate it would take you about 62 ½ years to spend the amount of money that our Federal government has committed within the last six months. This staggering amount is just the money that we have already spent. There is more yet to come.

Congress just passed the new Federal budget, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will cost this nation $1.2 trillion dollars each year for at least the next ten years and increase our national debt to more that 5% of our GDP, a rate that the CBO itself has deemed absolutely unsustainable. Using the above formulas, that equates to $8,823 dollars annually from every taxpayer and would take you over 38 years , at $1,000 per second, to spend what our government will each year for the next ten years.

We have even heard talk of a second stimulus package being needed to bring this country out of its recession, yet just last week President Obama attend a European conference where he promised to contribute billions of your tax dollars to a trillion dollar fund to help other nations. What about our own? Where does he plan to get all this money that we obviously do not have?
Well, the sad truth is that it will not come from you or me, my friends. It will come from our children, their children and untold generations to come that will be saddled with this insurmountable debt and the crushing interest that it will bear. For those of you who have children, go home this evening, give them a hug and ask them to forgive us for not doing enough to protect them as we as parents should have done. Tell them we are sorry and we hope that they will not suffer to greatly for our apathy and indifference.

Or you can attend a TEA Party tomorrow and get involved with this growing movement to take our government back from politicians who feel entitled to govern you as they see fit, not as you will it. You can stand against those that have forgotten that they serve us, not the other way around. Remind those in Washington that by our will and consent alone does this government exist and we will no longer be ignored. We must make them and millions of others in this nation acknowledge that they have no power over us save that which we grant them ourselves. Their jobs are to govern as representatives of the People, not to rule in the name of the government.

It is not necessarily time for a new revolution, but for a reformation of ideals and principles that empower the individuals and the States and a return to the founding principles of this nation. It is time that we stand with one unified loud voice and demand that our government heed our call. It is time that the ever so silent majority lift their voices to shake the halls of Congress and be silent no more.

What have we come to? It is now clear that this government is drunk with its own power and intent on controlling every aspect of our lives, our economy and our freedoms. This is getting to a point where it is so Orwellian as to be extremely frightening.

For starters, stocks of General Motors plummeted this morning after the resignation of GM CEO Rick Wagoner. It appears that after a discussion with President Obama this weekend Wagoner was forced to resign or forfeit all government assistance to the faltering company. This is a scary turn of events when one man holds enough power to dictate to companies who their executives should and should not be. This is what you get when you make a deal with the devil, GM is now mostly owned by the Federal government and apparently the government has decided to use this massive power over this once private industry to decide who will be in charge. Some people may see this as fair since there is so much tax payer money tied up in the corporation, but I see it as dangerous and foolish. Even the Associated Press admits that Wagoner had been crucial in fine tuning GM since the auto manufacture started having difficulties. He had reduced their workforce, closed and consolidated plants, optimized their product lines and encouraged the development of more fuel efficient vehicle options. Not to mention that even the Center for Automotive Research claims that the dismissal of Wagoner by the government will likely have little or no effect on the direction or progress that GM is making because the newly selected CEO Fritz Henderson was the heir apparent to the position already and the direction Wagoner was taking the company is still the direction they need to go. This is why the Federal government should never be investing in private industry, they now have control over a major industry and they intend to use it. Where does it end? What if they do not like Henderson? What if they do not approve of the salary for Henderson? Will the government just stop listening to the will of GM’s board and appoint a government official to run the company? Socialism at its finest.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The federal government is now in negotiations for a treaty giving them unprecedented power over the privacy of individuals. They are attempting to sign an international copyright agreement that would give governments the power to examine your computer and audio player data without know permission of even knowledge in an effort to hunt for copyrighted material. Even under efforts to keep this very quiet, news of this endeavor is starting to surface and the outrage is starting to build. Jenn of the Jungle has a video clip posted on her site detail this program and the dangers involved therein. It is amazing how people in their own ignorance were revolted by the idea of the government sifting through millions of phone records looking for patterns that lead terrorist suspects. That was an activity that was perfectly legal and individuals have no expectation of privacy to those records since they do not own them, the phone companies do. Where is the outrage now, when the government is proposing that they have access to all your private information stored on your personal computers, without a warrant, your permission, your knowledge or any obligation to establish probable cause? What about when this new ability is turned to other aspects of your personal life? Of the government gains this power, it is nothing but a small step before it is used against political opponents or to oppress political speech. If the ability is there to access and copy any and all of the data on these systems, what prevents them from placing data on these systems? Will they place trackers on computers to identify those opposed to their agendas or to see who is reading the new media sites demanding this administration stop their wanton destruction of the American economy? This is outrageous and just more proof that this administration has no regard for the law or your constitutionally protected rights. This is far too much power for a government to obtain. These are the steps of fascists and dictators, not of the President of a supposedly free people.

The final thing I will mention today is the complete arrogance and ignorance by which the Democrat majority in Congress and the President as continuing to press forward on these horribly destructive fiscal policies which they have proposed. When nations around the world are now warning the American government of these reckless actions, they pay no heed and rush headlong into oblivion. When the Congressional Budget Office highlights the real cost of their plan, warns about the massive debt that this will incur and calls the projected spending completely unsustainable, the administration simply ignores the warnings and pushes on with plans that will saddle massive debts upon future generations.

Massive government control, massive government spending and an increased deficit that we can only begin to imagine, all these things lie ahead on the path we are on. Government control of wages, government control of the types of vehicles you may own, government control of the temperature of you home and massive government restrictions on your ability to arm and defend yourself all are future tenets of American society in Obama’s vision.

Welcome to the USSA.