Dear America,

Harry Reid is a chicken.

He knows exactly what would happen if the repeal of the Health Care Law came to the floor of the Senate for a vote; exactly, without a doubt, as the case with everything else NOT brought to the floor -- it is a case where you want the votes and don't have it, or you don't want the votes and you do.  Congressional Math 101.

And now, with twenty six states joining forces in the Floridian Lawsuit, the Senate -- who's founding principles were to act on behalf of the best interests of the state, having originally be destined to each seat in the senate by a vote by the STATE legislature, and not directly by the people -- it would seem they almost have to now.  Needless to say, our system of checks and balances, as the founders intended, is not being properly orchestrated without this key relationship in place.

But what does Harry do?  Just don't talk about it, don't discuss it, and surely, don't take up a vote -- you pick up your toys and go home.

Hey, Reid -- READ THIS... from some of my favorite people... The Heritage Foundation; churning out Constitutional repartee, and explaining the process of process, every day... with what I do believe is a big smile on their face; for deep down, they know, they are on the right side of the argument, on behalf of the American people, every time.

Hey, Reid -- I got another idea -- how about this, given you are an avid follower of the anti-business, anti-corporate, anti-free enterprise president, how about we run with that and also take the lead from information flashing the airwaves in thirty second spots daily -- let us go, all together now, to the root cause of what is "killing more people than aids, drugs, alcohol, cancer, and car accidents COMBINED."

Honestly, when I first heard this, my mouth dropped to the floor; just think about it for a second.

Just what is this mass murderer, on the loose, and chipping away at our national security and well being?  

TOBACCO.

Now, if you think way back, there were days when I actually took up smoking -- research, you know -- only a matter of a few days -- for my blog; disgusting habit, couldn't stand my breath, let alone smoke actually inside my house, ugh! yuck.  Don't hate, but I do not know how people do it!  but people do.

SO this commercial claims that much of the rising costs of health care are due to the unintended consequences of getting people hooked on the bad stuff; and clearly, statistically speaking, it sounds quite right.

Being a non-smoker, let's just cut to the chase right now; just as my taxes should not support abortion, I shouldn't have to pay -- and by the looks of things, pay dearly --  for everybody and their uncle's smoking habit -- especially in light of such a cost.  That is just not right.

So can we talk division now?  Let's separate the smokers from the non-smokers; let's get a health care package that rewards those of us who do not use a nicotine crutch everyday, and give all the punitive damages to the one's who do.  

How about we redistribute the disproportionate costs, and stick it to the maker of the cancer sticks, and we all know who they are...although the only one that comes to my mind right now is Phillip Morris... along with the millions of Americans who consciously choose to smoke, day in and day out, at what, five bucks a pack, every single day. unbelievable as that sounds.

Separate us right now; divide and let us conquer the liability gap, right here, right now.

I shouldn't have to pay for something "killing more people than aids, drugs, alcohol, cancer, and car accidents COMBINED" and exponentially adding to the cost of health care, burdening the American people who do not smoke with an unfair, unbalanced, unfunded liability that sends our insurance premiums through the roof.  That is just not right.

This is the irony though -- here we sit with the best health care system on the planet, arguing over who is going to pay for it and how -- and all these years, we didn't even realize how we have grown so far away from our first principles; by the beauty of becoming this burgeoning economic superpower that we are (and yes, we still are), we have fallen away, mindlessly and carelessly, from the days when we were actually responsible for ourselves in every which way til Sunday (even for dealing with, and paying for, our own addictions).

I'm thinking of the days before we had insurance at all!  I'm thinking of the days when we got seriously ill, sometimes we just died; I'm thinking of the days, we had old wives remedies and a medicine chest full of homemade elixirs and whiskey; I'm thinking of the family doctor venturing out to the family farm for a house call; I'm then thinking, how in the world did we pay that? a family doctor making house calls!? did we pay him in chickens? give him a buck/fifty and call it a day? oh how I get lost in the details, right?

I'm thinking of the days when a child was born with down syndrome, the doctors told the parents to put the child in a "home away from home" and move on (that wasn't that long ago, as it happened in our family in the 1960's); I'm thinking of the time before massive amounts of antibiotics were distributed like candy; I'm thinking of a time before there was a pill for everything under the sun; I'm thinking of a time before heart stints and replacements were no big deal.

I'm thinking of a time before Europeans and Canadians and Sheiks could easily cross over to America to take advantage of our system, our doctors, our hospitals, our nurses, our rehabilitation care, our expertise, our medicines...our liabilities, our doctors who pay through the nose for added insurance and malpractice lawsuits; I'm thinking of a time before we let other people cross our border to have babies while we simply paid for it -- handsomely-- in more ways than one-- trusting them with our unbelievable generosity

I'm thinking of a time before we made America this big and if I do say so myself, pretty darn great, compassionate, and open-hearted.

We grew a good reputation rapidly; word got around; the dream, for hundreds of thousands of people, more like millions, around the globe, was simply to get here; to live and raise a family in America, and gladly blend into the American family, for the American way came with a flashing sign in neon lights that you had finally arrived.

IF we really think long and hard about how things have turned out over the years, I do believe, we could very well find ourselves all in the family on the funny farm, by golly; what have we done to ourselves?  where have our first principles gone?  we had everything going for us...what happened?

The thing is, the prevailing winds afoot have blown in a mighty vicious strain, a progressive contagion, with enough strength to take hold, if we let it; the ability for this nasty stuff to go viral is upon us.  It is an addiction of the worst kind, for we, as a people,  have just allowed it to rule our every  move, giving it free rein to sneak up on us and become this huge burden right before our eyes -- for they were closed -- or we were simply lost in the moment of enjoying a really good high; while just maybe, some of us even saw it coming -- there were signs, you know, the dust up was a plenty -- but no matter now; 

now, the addiction just has us in a choke-hold, either begging for more or for mercy.

hey Harry, don't be a chicken; take this repeal to the floor of the Senate today; if you don't have the guts, America will never find her glory again.  buuuc buucbuucbuuc buc bucbaaww (say it like a squawking chicken)...

long gone are the days we can afford to pay Peter with the help of Paul, especially when our name is Harry.

long gone -- 

our founders knew this day would come -- they warned us -- they gave it their best shot by giving us all the tools necessary to stay on the path of the straight and narrow.... the thing is, we kept on smoking behind the barn anyway as it was just    too    much     fun and so hard to stop.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

Oh thank you father/mother Christmas!  Thank you!  It's just what I always wanted.


Harry Reid got nothing on his 1.1 Trillion Dollar OMNIBUS spending bill; and not because the momentum of the Democratic Majority Senate was being obstructed by their fellow republicans, oh no, it was his own party keeping him from riding into the homestretch on a big white horse to save the day.  even with the majority, Reid didn't have the votes...because it was @*&(#^(*& ridiculous.

Surely, we should all be kissing the ground right now, as that was a close one.

But look alive, people, he is still not done: believing he can still pummel through DADT, the Dream Act, a Boxer/Reid Land Grab, and finish the New Start Treaty... and here's the real kicker, all before the end of day Saturday, he says (that would be tomorrow).

Yeah yeah, that's the ticket; let's rush controversial, monumental changes at the last minute, without debate, and vote on it starting at about 9am.  are you for real playa?

Just before jumping into my G thing, I did a short search for the following, "what has Obama cut from the budget the last two years."

Top two contenders were from a recent Bloomberg piece, crafting an overview of where the Bush Era Tax Cuts stood, posted this month (not what I was looking for) -- and the second article that popped up was from May 2009, a news feed from the Associated Press and posted on MSNBC.

Oh, if we only knew then what we know now.

In a nutshell, way back when, Obama was proposing a $17 Billion Dollar reduction of federal spending  -- but keep in mind, this is 2009...way before the summer of townhall meetings and the coming arrival of Santa loaded up with the unwanted, unwarranted, overzealous Health Care legislation passing on Christmas Eve (at a cost of 1.3 T's).

Much to my surprise, even the liberal mainstream media could not deny that $17 B's was like a drop in a very deep bucket -- can't help but get a rise out of that, way to make me want to like you.

To pick some what was said apart:

The article explains that "the proposed cuts amount to less than one-half of 1 percent of his $3.6 trillion federal budget outline." 

But the AP quickly came to his aid, adding a heartfelt connection between The Chosen One and the people, quoting our new leader, "[Washington] is prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility" as all the rest of America... especially since it is a time when everyone is "tightening their belts."

"'I believe we can and must do exactly that,' 

Obama said in a statement he delivered before cameras..." 

"But $17 billion a year is not chump change by anyone's accounting," he said.

(not "chump change" he said...it is now, eighteen months later...but I digress)

While the AP ventures on, putting the "17 B" into layman's terms context:

"those savings are far exceeded by a 2 1/2-inch thick volume detailing Obama's generous increases for domestic programs. And instead of devoting the savings to defray record deficits, the White House is funneling them back into other programs...

Despite redoubling its efforts to portray itself as tough on waste and spending, it's undeniable that the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress has taken the nation on a steady course of higher budgets in appropriated accounts. In rapid succession has come passage of a $787 billion economic recovery bill, a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill and Congress' $3.4 trillion budget, which calls for increases of almost 10 percent over current funding for non-defense agency budgets...

Obama has said repeatedly his administration will go through the budget "line by line" to eliminate waste. But the resulting savings are relatively minor compared with the government's fiscal woes, especially a deficit that's likely to exceed $1.5 trillion this year, the latest installment in a national debt now at about $10.7 trillion.

Many of the cuts mirror those proposed previously by Bush but largely rejected by Congresses controlled by both Republicans and Democrats. In fact, Democrats already have pared about $10 billion from Obama's appropriations requests in passing the $3.4 trillion congressional budget plan last month...

Can we note the numbers, please: $787 billion economic recovery bill, $410 billion OMNIBUS bill, $3.4 Trillion Dollar budget!, increasing nearly 10 percent...deficits reaching $1.5 T projected for 2009...national debt then, $10.7 Trillion (oh to have this day back again) -- and now, nearly $14.

And yet, Obama was somehow pleased with himself to maybe shave off about $17 billion dollars of savings here and there, give a little, take a little...not so fast... that's right... even the MSM had to admit that the money was just being "funneled," or shall we say redistributed, to somewhere else; it didn't go straight to the bottom line,  mending the deficit, or the national debt.  It was circulated, and thus amounts to the real reason for this season, and last season, and the one before that...Washington is broken.

Oh how this girl loves to tiptoe through the archives.

So all in all, the annihilation of this year's Omnibus spending bill is a good thing. 

Okay now, just before I go, get a load of what an outlet called "POLITIfacts" calls the Lie of the Year...and they had some good one's, for sure, up for nomination...you can see them all for yourself if you jump over to their website; personally, I wouldn't waste your time. 

This is what the lame stream media is circulating -- mostly amongst themselves... here we go now... wait for it...

The biggest lie, according to the self-proclaimed authority on all the media matters at hand, PolitiFacts, is "the claim that ObamaCare is a government takeover of the Health Care System."  BIG FAT LIE they say.

Sorry kids, that isn't exactly true now, is it?  is it?

What the left fails to recognize (again) is the funny thing about the Free Market System -- you start messing with it, manipulating it, massaging it, feeding it uppers and downers, the beast begins to self destruct from the inside out. 

The left, recklessly fails to look beyond the horizon.

The left, is always kicking the can down the road, and sadly, making gains with the help of many on the right.

The left, refuses to see (even after the shellacking on Nov 2) that we can no longer support government by immediate gratification.  

But there they go, the left, choosing to pass a new health care law, on the eve of Christmas, to the utter disgust of nearly every American (pro or con for one reason or another) -- and not without giving us a conciliatory brush off  from Nancy Pelosi, that "we must pass it to know what's in it."

The left, without actually resolving the highest concerns, empties a piece of loaded legislation ringing into the new year a brand new entitlement, further strangling, entangling, and enslaving a system already suffocating under the pressure.

The left,  despite enjoying the best health care system in the world, with 85% of the people happy with it, gives the people a bureaucratic bombshell, only exponentially exasperating the abuses even further; even as issues of government regulation, malpractice, lawsuits, waste, fraud, along with the chokehold of systemic failure due to the inability to carry insurance across state lines, allowing the free market of the sale of health care insurance to actually operate freely, and thus equitably balance costs through fair competition practices ...all of it, continues to grow untethered.

In the end, the bottom line is that the Left is clinging to an unrealistic outcome:  sooner, or later, the market we know and love will implode, all that will be left standing (if we're lucky?), will be the government's public option (no, we're not there yet, but we will be -- simply by the natural "progression," or rather, attrition, of the market itself).  And those of us "not on the left" can see this from miles and miles away; while those on the left, inside the beltway, that is, know this, too... we might as well have had Nancy saying, 'all in due time, my pretty, all in due time.'

So PolitiFacts, you fell for a really, really, big lie, with a lie; oh the irony in becoming the BIGGEST LIE of them all.  Sleep well. 

Thank goodness we have a president who is "prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility."

Make it a Good Day, G

click your heels on Dear America...

Dear America,

Dizzy is the day today; if our world could spin any faster, we would be confined to rubber rooms before four.

Let me move into the thoughts of a guy who I don't know very much about but, you know that game where you ask someone, if you could invite ten people over for dinner, who would you want at your table?  This would be one of those guys.  He is a renowned libertarian and world philosopher, centralizing on the economic free will of the marketplace, as well as, in person, as it pertains to our own personal activity and overall governance as a whole.

As a frequent editorial writer for The Daily Bell,  Dr. Tibor Machan, regularly stops the world and speaks directly to the heart of the matter, illustrating a view that is wildly libertarian, non-political, and unabashedly to the point, always finding a way to elevate the debate with common sense, practical experience and knowledge, while adding the much needed higher consciousness in the process. (and his bio is pretty incredible too)

The Daily Bell comes out of Liechtenstein, from the Appenzeller Business Press, a "Swiss-based publisher built upon free market ideas and concepts," mainly coming from the position that "the best form of government is one that governs the least."

His article today is entitled, "A Stupid Analogy,"  and is spot on as he answers the connundrum facing America today, is the health insurance individual mandate the same thing as car insurance?  Oh, yes, and you better believe you know where this guy is going with this -- nicht so gut! Nein, nein, nein.

So guten morgen! and read Machan's splendid take, if you will; read the whole thing, it will only take you a couple minutes...  go ahead...do it...  I'll wait.

It is the end that will make your head spin, but in a good way; it will be a moment that will put all the pieces of Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Machan concludes the following:

"...Other people should not be placed into involuntary servitude so as to bail one out of either bad luck or misconduct that creates medical problems for one.

It is always a puzzle to me that so many people who are notoriously righteous about the past enslavement of millions of people around the globe, including in America, have no compunction about partially enslaving others so as to get their own agendas fulfilled.  But if slavery is wrong, then so is imposing on others the negative consequences of one's own life, just as it is wrong to deprive people of the positive consequences of the same.

This is the central issue so many public policy debates not only in our time but from time immemorial.  People are not for other people to be used against their will.  Never, nohow, under no circumstances.  Until this lesson is learned good and hard everywhere, the world will be very far from having become truly civilized."

This health insurance mandate is reminding me of something that was said by our First Lady just yesterday, when she was at the ceremony ringing in another new law controlling the lives of others, so fabuloso (slipped a little Spanish in for you, coming from SoCal it's the way of the new world, you know).  Anyway...Michelle had no problem saying this stunner:

"We can't just leave it up to the parents."

Yeah, yeah, that would be just crazy talk.

The law itself will subsidize and regulate everything from the (presumably nixed) Tuna Casserole Surprise to the next ASB Bake Sale, not to be confused with the Junior Varsity Softball sale of Junior Mints, or the Varsity Football sale of Butterfingers, see Section 10, sub-section B, (IV) spelling out just one of the many requirements, and any special exemptions there of, blah blah blah, as long as the fundraisers are "infrequent within the school."  Hmm can we get a definition of "infrequent" for 4.5 Billion dollars, please... danke.

So if you really want to read something more fun than the Whirly Twirl, go to this little number, expressly made by the fearless actions of your good government, hard at work serving you -- not all of you, but a few of you anyway.

The thing is, we can't afford to add one more thing;

I don't know about you -- Was mochten Sie? -- but I am prepared, and on my knees really, begging that we all go by way of the lessons of the old world, what I like to call the "prairie philosophy", as personified by our heritage through the selfless, mind blowing, rugged, hearty libertarians and pioneers who have come before us; they had no health insurance, stage coach insurance, horse insurance, chuck wagon (aka school lunch) insurance, happiness insurance, or any insurances of any kind; they lived hoping and wishing and praying that they could just live beyond the next bend; it is normally associated with a philosophy otherwise known as the school of hard knocks.

So, Nein Nein Nein.

Not one more thing; "never.  nohow. under no circumstances."
Konnen Sie mir helfen?  Can you help me?
and Vielen Dank! thank you very much to Dr. Tibor Machan, and The Daily Bell, imprinting humanity with a daily account of the free market system, guarding lady liberty with a Swiss knife of sorts, and bravely presenting our duty and  responsibility to protect our freedoms every day via a forum of the most fascinating thinkers of our time.

And by the way, you are truly welcome for dinner anytime.

Guten Tag! Auf Wedersehen!  G
yes, I am aware, that what I just did makes absolutely no sense, saying hello and goodbye at the same time; ah so goes the spinning world we live and the contradictions that surround us... try to keep steady and make it a good day!


U2 is playing VERTIGO with a click on Dear America, it's still a free world today so play it loud while you still can...