For 8 years in the eyes of the left, nothing George Bush could do was correct. He was blamed for everything from subverting the constitution to causing global warming to about anything else. However an interesting trend has developed. It has happened to me on several comments I've made on various news stories in my local paper. It has happened with comments I've made online in various forums. It has happened numerous times to comments, links and blogs made by others including my nephew Will. The most recent example was on my nephew's Facebook page where he posted a link to an article about the White House using taxpayer dollars to hire a firm to make mass emails about the benefits of the health care proposal. In other words taxpayer dollars are being used to spam people. One of the comments made by one of Will's "friends" was "So how is that different from what the "Bush" White House did to spam the entire country about WMDs." Leaving aside the factual inaccuracies of that statement and many that led me to write this, the sentiment is the same in all of the responses. When you talk about spending and the deficit, the first response is "well George Bush did spent us into the deficit." When you talk about Obama going back on his promise to close Gitmo, (which I'm glad he has by the way, I just don't appreciate his lies about it during the campaign) you get a response, well George Bush had Gitmo. The litany goes on. Every time anyone dares to criticize "The One" the first and almost immediate response is "Unhh Unhhh. George Bush did something like that." As my Mom tried to drill into my head years ago,"two wrongs don't make a right". If George Bush, in the eyes of the left was so wrong on everything, why is it all of a sudden the first line of defense that George Bush did x.
We are no longer in the Bush years. This is Obama's government. How much longer are we going to have to hear that everything bad in the world was caused by George Bush and that "The One" is only correcting those issues? How much longer are we going to have to hear the defense of any criticisms of "The One" as well how is that any different than what Bush did.
Right now, the emperor has no clothes. Whether or not the prior emperor had clothes is completely irrelevant, and I'm quite frankly tired of hearing it.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Moving the needle
I've never really been an ideologue. Oh, I'll be the first to admit I've been right of center politically my whole life. I grew up in a politically active Republican family in western Kansas, and it came naturally. (I tend to agree with some of the studies that shows there is at least a genetic disposition to political views). However needless to say as a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-censorship Republican, I don't fit in well with the "socially" conservative wing of the party.
Despite all that, the first seven months of Obama, Reid and Pelosi being in power has done more to make me a right wing ideologue than anything that has happened in my entire life. The bailout of the financial industry, the bailout of the auto industry, the "stimulus" package, and now the health care debate. Obama has doubled our national debt in seven months. It took us some 233 years to do what he has done financially in seven months. Unfortunately, there seems to be no regard for who is going to pay those bills.
Simply because I am one of many that oppose the federal takeover of my health care decisions, I have been likened to a Nazi, a brown-shirt, and a mobster. The White House has asked us to "snitch" on our neighbors and report "fishy" e-mails about the health care. Amazingly though, all of a sudden people that hadn't ever signed up got emails in support of the Obamacare from the White House. Damn, apparently none of my friends emailed the White House with one of my "fishy" emails. I feel left out. However, the thought of the White House collecting email addresses for blatant political purposes either in support of their program or to collect an "enemies" list, is rather scary as I've blogged before.
All in all, the last six months of Obama, Pelosi and Reid has done more to make me a right-wing ideologue than anything in my entire life. As Thomas Paine once wrote, "It is the duty of the patriot to defend his country from his government." And to the extent that Obama, Pelosi and Reid, represent that government, anything I can do to oppose them and any success they may try to have, is in my opinion a patriotic statement.
Despite all that, the first seven months of Obama, Reid and Pelosi being in power has done more to make me a right wing ideologue than anything that has happened in my entire life. The bailout of the financial industry, the bailout of the auto industry, the "stimulus" package, and now the health care debate. Obama has doubled our national debt in seven months. It took us some 233 years to do what he has done financially in seven months. Unfortunately, there seems to be no regard for who is going to pay those bills.
Simply because I am one of many that oppose the federal takeover of my health care decisions, I have been likened to a Nazi, a brown-shirt, and a mobster. The White House has asked us to "snitch" on our neighbors and report "fishy" e-mails about the health care. Amazingly though, all of a sudden people that hadn't ever signed up got emails in support of the Obamacare from the White House. Damn, apparently none of my friends emailed the White House with one of my "fishy" emails. I feel left out. However, the thought of the White House collecting email addresses for blatant political purposes either in support of their program or to collect an "enemies" list, is rather scary as I've blogged before.
All in all, the last six months of Obama, Pelosi and Reid has done more to make me a right-wing ideologue than anything in my entire life. As Thomas Paine once wrote, "It is the duty of the patriot to defend his country from his government." And to the extent that Obama, Pelosi and Reid, represent that government, anything I can do to oppose them and any success they may try to have, is in my opinion a patriotic statement.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Proud Member of the Un-American Mob
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently called many of the Americans who were showing up at town hall meetings with their Congressmen as un-American. Other Democrat elected officials have described the crowds as "mobs". These citizens were actually exercising their first amendment rights of free speech and daring to laugh at, boo, jeer and yell at their elected officials when the official responded to questions and concerns about the proposed federal takeover of the health care system by parroting the democrat party line. Funny how in just a short period of time, Queen Nancy can have done an about face on such protests. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Pelosi said in January 2006 when anti-war protesters interrupted one of her town hall meeting, "It's always exciting. This is democracy in action. I'm energized by it, frankly." At another meeting where anti-war protesters interrupted the meeting in June 2007, her comment was "just go for it. I respect your enthusiasm."
Other than the obvious double standard, I think the Democrats are missing the boat on this whole issue. I think the protests are just a tip of the iceberg with a general mistrust of government. The general populace recognizes there are issues with health care, but you don't have to turn the system on its head to solve those problems. They have seen the centrist rhetoric from candidate Obama turn into hard left policy of President Obama. They have seen massive "bailouts", the takeover of large parts of the auto industry a "stimulus" bill that hasn't stimulated anything. The economy, despite all assurances, is not improving because of the government. Huge government spending increases and huge deficit increases will not and cannot get us out of the problem, and the health care bill is going to cost us a trillion more dollars over the next 10 years. And no government program ever comes in under budget. Look at the Cash for Clunkers. One billion dollars was supposed to last for 5 or 6 months of the program, it lasted a week and they went back and gave the program an additional 2 billion dollars.
Despite claims of savings to the contrary, no one has been able to point out where any cost savings will come from. Most experts are saying the only way we can cut costs is from rationing of care. In other words, a government bureaucrat will determine that this illness can only get this treatment, or if you are over 65 forget about a heart valve replacement. These are just examples, I know there are more out there. While it isn't explicitly in the bill, that is about the only logical conclusion one can make.
Put simply the majority of Americans that I am seeing at these town hall meetings are fed up with the way Washington works. We've seen too many instances of backroom deals cut on legislation in the middle of the night to trust what the liberals are saying about what is in and not in the health care bill. Despite claims to the contrary, there is video evidence of Barack Obama supporting a single payer government health care system. He claims his proposal doesn't do that. However, when government becomes involved, the cost of doing business for the insurance companies will increase dramatically. The rules and regulations they follow will become staggering. In the end many of them will simply get out of the health insurance business, leaving the "public" option as the only option. Thus while not explicit in the bill is the most logical outcome a couple of years down the line.
Funny thing is, all the "mob" activity is taking place at the Democrat town hall meetings. The Republican meetings where the representatives are sympathetic to the concerns of the citizens are being described as crowded but polite. Maybe it is the condescension that is so typical of the left. They know what is right for everyone and anyone who disagrees with them is a lunatic.
As Thomas Jefferson once said, "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" So Mrs. Pelosi, sign me up as one of the Un-American mob. I don't want government to take over my health care and I'll tell anyone including elected officials exactly why.
Other than the obvious double standard, I think the Democrats are missing the boat on this whole issue. I think the protests are just a tip of the iceberg with a general mistrust of government. The general populace recognizes there are issues with health care, but you don't have to turn the system on its head to solve those problems. They have seen the centrist rhetoric from candidate Obama turn into hard left policy of President Obama. They have seen massive "bailouts", the takeover of large parts of the auto industry a "stimulus" bill that hasn't stimulated anything. The economy, despite all assurances, is not improving because of the government. Huge government spending increases and huge deficit increases will not and cannot get us out of the problem, and the health care bill is going to cost us a trillion more dollars over the next 10 years. And no government program ever comes in under budget. Look at the Cash for Clunkers. One billion dollars was supposed to last for 5 or 6 months of the program, it lasted a week and they went back and gave the program an additional 2 billion dollars.
Despite claims of savings to the contrary, no one has been able to point out where any cost savings will come from. Most experts are saying the only way we can cut costs is from rationing of care. In other words, a government bureaucrat will determine that this illness can only get this treatment, or if you are over 65 forget about a heart valve replacement. These are just examples, I know there are more out there. While it isn't explicitly in the bill, that is about the only logical conclusion one can make.
Put simply the majority of Americans that I am seeing at these town hall meetings are fed up with the way Washington works. We've seen too many instances of backroom deals cut on legislation in the middle of the night to trust what the liberals are saying about what is in and not in the health care bill. Despite claims to the contrary, there is video evidence of Barack Obama supporting a single payer government health care system. He claims his proposal doesn't do that. However, when government becomes involved, the cost of doing business for the insurance companies will increase dramatically. The rules and regulations they follow will become staggering. In the end many of them will simply get out of the health insurance business, leaving the "public" option as the only option. Thus while not explicit in the bill is the most logical outcome a couple of years down the line.
Funny thing is, all the "mob" activity is taking place at the Democrat town hall meetings. The Republican meetings where the representatives are sympathetic to the concerns of the citizens are being described as crowded but polite. Maybe it is the condescension that is so typical of the left. They know what is right for everyone and anyone who disagrees with them is a lunatic.
As Thomas Jefferson once said, "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" So Mrs. Pelosi, sign me up as one of the Un-American mob. I don't want government to take over my health care and I'll tell anyone including elected officials exactly why.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Something fishy
John F Kennedy once said, "Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive." Claiming there is a lot of "disinformation" circulating, the White House this week asked citizens if they got an email or blog from someone about the health care debate that they thought was "fishy" they should send it to the White House. So, the White House is going to be collecting names, email addresses, IP addresses and private speech of citizens who oppose their massive government takeover of health care. For what purpose? To create an "enemies list"? To target these people for government paid "propaganda" to "educate" them as to the errors or their ways? I can see no other purpose for sending private emails and blogs to the White House on this specific purpose. I'd love to hear a rational explanation, but so far have yet to even hear the White House acknowledge the program. What are we going to have a "TRUTH CZAR"?
Just a quick question, is the disinformation from the Obama White House going to be reported? Despite claims to the contrary, there is video evidence that Barack Obama wants to go to a single payer government health care system. However, he now claims he is opposed to such system. Was he lying then? Or is he lying now? Or has he changed his mind, and if so, why? Sounds fishy to me.....someone ought to report it to the White House.
Besides having serious issues with the policy direction of this administration, the political power grabs are even more disconcerting. Government has taken over large parts of the financial system, the automotive manufacture and is now proposing a health care takeover. More "czars" have been appointed than I think Russia ever had. These shadowy positions bypass the ordinary "checks and balances". There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the alleged attempts by the Bush administration to consolidate power in the executive branch. Yet the appointment of all these czars and the government takeover of industry and finance is the biggest power grab going.
As I wrote before, there is a disturbing cult of personality rising around Obama. And just one more step in that direction is the White House request for us to "snitch" on our neighbor who disagrees with the President. It is quite frankly getting scarier by the day.
Just a quick question, is the disinformation from the Obama White House going to be reported? Despite claims to the contrary, there is video evidence that Barack Obama wants to go to a single payer government health care system. However, he now claims he is opposed to such system. Was he lying then? Or is he lying now? Or has he changed his mind, and if so, why? Sounds fishy to me.....someone ought to report it to the White House.
Besides having serious issues with the policy direction of this administration, the political power grabs are even more disconcerting. Government has taken over large parts of the financial system, the automotive manufacture and is now proposing a health care takeover. More "czars" have been appointed than I think Russia ever had. These shadowy positions bypass the ordinary "checks and balances". There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the alleged attempts by the Bush administration to consolidate power in the executive branch. Yet the appointment of all these czars and the government takeover of industry and finance is the biggest power grab going.
As I wrote before, there is a disturbing cult of personality rising around Obama. And just one more step in that direction is the White House request for us to "snitch" on our neighbor who disagrees with the President. It is quite frankly getting scarier by the day.
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