I found it nice that a show like CSI: Miami was even bringing attention to the issue. Until they had the character of Ryan Wolfe say that capitalism was “screwing people out of their homes.”

I’m dumbfounded. How can anyone with a reasonable intelligence believe that? It was a government ruling that allows Eminent Domain.

Eminent Domain in and of itself is a government imposition.

In a free market, a big private corporation could never legally and forcibly kick people out of their homes. Big corporations achieve this only with the help of big government policy.

Of course, it wasn’t when McCain said it a long time ago (referring to the hard working citizens of this country).

Don’t be fooled, the economy is whatever Obama needs it to be. He wanted to pass a huge stimulus bill that will double our current deficit (after attacking the previous administration for huge deficits), so before that was passed the economy was horrible.

We were told it would take years to recover.

Apparently, it only took a couple of weeks. Because now the economy is not as bad as we thought it was, meaning Obama can tax and spend the fundamentals of the economy to spread the wealth around and make things fair.

What he’s really going to do is MORE OF THE SAME.

He’s going to punish hard working people who generate most of the wealth in this country. And he’s going to bailout the people who sit on their asses and sign onto mortgages they can’t afford.

He’s continuing Bush’s horrible fiscal policy.

I know it’s still too early for some of you to admit all this. It took me about 7 years to question Bush, and I hated all the “progressives” who ran around hammering Bush, even when his big spending lined up with traditional progressive big government ideals. So I understand.

But once I declared my independence, I realized how useless our stupid political parties are. They only serve to take more and more and give less and less.

The only way real change is going to happen in this country is if we abandon the parties, and vote for independent individuals to represent us.

In the meantime, sucks to be a wounded hero. Looks like you’ll be paying for your health care. Remember when Bush was accused of abandoning the military when it comes to health care? (By the way, for those who want to comment and say that they just want to make private insurance pay - remember, that’s what Palin was accused of doing in Alaska with the rape kits)

He said a $500 credit should be given to middle/lower families, but that’s not even 2 months worth.

This, of course, included in a spending bill that is in Congress - just after the enormous stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed by the President.

Sorry, but I’m failing to see the hope and change here. Will suddenly forcing families to shell out $4k a year make new technology magically appear? And even if it did, would people be able to afford it?

No.

What if everyone in America was an independent? What if we voted for individuals instead of parties?

I’ve been a Republican for years and I’ve just printed out the form to update my voter registration. I’m going back to being an independent. The primary reason is how much Republicans increased government spending while they had a majority of the Congress and occupied the White House.

But Democrats, don’t gloat. Your party helped get America into the economic mess we’re in. Democrats are the party that forced bad mortgages on low income people who couldn’t pay and banks who didn’t want to make the loans. The Community Reinvestment Act of the 1970s forced banks to issue loans to “be fair,” and expansion of the program has existed ever since.

Then when Republicans tried to bring reforms in Congress, folks like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Maxine Waters, et al, blocked those reforms.

I know you guys love Obama, but he secured subsidies for private developers to build public housing - and those developers mismanaged the properties leaving scores of low income families to live in horrible conditions. He still hangs out with these developers today, securing them more $$$ in the stimulus bill and giving them prominent advisory positions.

Plus, he’s not keeping his transparency promise. You guys did hate that about Bush, right?

Here’s the real reason for the new majority to be unaffiliated with political parties: There’s too much baggage and too much corruption in political parties.

Instead, individuals can be independent. They can join coalitions that share their same view on a single issue - which will add up to being associated with several coalitions - but not being pegged to a single party.

This will help reduce the labels that are associated with parties. From a Republican background, it’s really flipping annoying that Republicans are seen as racist - especially since historically Republicans have done more for civil rights than the Democrats have.

Maybe Democrats are sick of being associated with things like being soft on terror. I don’t know. Whatever the misconceptions are, they won’t go away because of a vain and arrogant association with political parties. Each side has everything to lose by conceding, no matter how much their constituents hope for bipartisanship.

Being independent means thinking for yourself, instead of relying on the talking points of whichever association you choose.

Spend enough time in one party and anyone with a conscience will become uncomfortable with the things they have to defend. Whether it’s the war or pretending an affair isn’t a big deal, our ties make us compromise the things that matter most because of an ulterior desire for power.

So, join me in ditching your political party. Enough is enough. Washington has been taking out loans by the trillions and rewarding companies and people who poorly conducted their finances. It’s time for us to secure our freedom and our finances - and the only way we can do that is independent of political parties.

Many Americans already have government healthcare, and the quality of care is often poor or requires many stressful hassles. Just ask any one using the VA (veterans not virginia) system.

A friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous has been trying to get a simple prescription refill from his VA doctor. But he can’t. His name has been mysteriously erased from the system.

All he wants to do is set an appointment with his doctor and get a refill and he cannot do so. He has two options: set an appointment with a new doctor (not of his choosing) or take a day off of work to sit in the emergency room at a VA facility the next county over. The emergency room generally requires an 8 hour wait.

Setting an appointment requires speaking with a nurse first. You cannot simply make an appointment.

He only finds this information out when the VA actually answers the phone. Many times, they do not.

I know the private health care in this country is flawed, but clearly government healthcare is not the answer. Remember, this is a simple refill for an existing prescription for an existing patient. His data was lost. By the government. And it wasn’t the first time.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated at the DMV or the Social Security office, then just imagine the hassles you’ll face when you’re forced into government-run healthcare.

If you think this is just an American problem brought on by eight years of George Bush, think again. It’s a government problem worldwide. The stimulus bill is about to take us further down the path of government healthcare. But there are other solutions.

The truth is that a mix of Republican and Democrat Presidents, including Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43 increased government spending and contributed to the deficit. I know liberals/Dems don’t like to remember it, but Bush inherited deficits and a recession from Clinton. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

So, if government spending can truly stimulate an economy and keep it strong and going - and eliminate poverty and secure the middle class - then don’t you think 3 decades of enormous government spending would have accomplished that already?

People like to talk about the failure of the free markets, but quite frankly the only reason we can know that Bernie Madoff did something wrong or that Freddie and Fannie did things wrong is BECAUSE OF REGULATION.

You see, regulations can be broken. You can outlaw bad practices, but criminals don’t care about laws.

We haven’t seen a truly free market in a very long time. Believing otherwise is, I guess, a symptom of the crappy education - that once again has been funded by government spending.

I guess Tom Daschle somehow missed that because he says it was a mistake when he didn’t pay taxes for a fancy Cadillac.

It must have been a slip of the mind, because we all know how badly the Democrats want to pay more taxes - especially the rich ones!

change
verb, changed, chang-ing, noun
–verb
1. to continue the same old partisan politics
2. to take politicians from a previous Democratic administration and reinstate them in another Democratic administration
3. to make the public think that Republicans are needed to pass a stimulus bill because you know its a bad bill and don’t want to accept the blame for yourself and your party
4. to maintain that those who disagree with you are “ignorant” and “dangerous,” despite your own severe misunderstanding of history
5. to trick a generation of people who have never followed politics into believing that what the Obama administration is doing is new and fresh and will better the country

If Republican leaders were in agreement with Rush Limbaugh, then the last 8 years would have looked drastically different

1. The No Child Left Behind Act would have been left behind.
2. Seniors would not have drug coverage through Medicare.
3. The war in Iraq would not have stalled. Rush wanted surge-type strategies from the beginning.
4. No bailouts.
5. No stimulus plan last year.
6. Social security would be privatized.

As Rush rightly points out in his rebuttle, Obama is sticking to Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Rule 13 is

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

But shouldn’t it be unnecessary? Obama also said to Republicans “I won,” supposedly meaning he can get his agenda passed.

So why is he worried about Rush or Republicans? He’s a Democrat President with a Democrat majority Congress.

The only thing that makes sense is that the next Congressional elections are in 2010, not too far away. Like Pelosi and Reid last September when the TARP was being passed, Obama needs Republicans to share the blame for the new stimulus package. If Repulicans are not on board and the economy is not better by 2010, then the Democrat majority will be threatened.

That’s right, folks. It hasn’t even been a week, and hope and change have already been abandoned. Besides, Obama also has an axe to grind with Mr. Limbaugh.

After all, Rush’s efforts to get conservatives to vote for Hilary Clinton in the primaries made Obama’s job even tougher.

Politics as usual. Nothing new here, folks.

I immediately felt convicted, and his prayer is being answered inside of me. Here’s what I’ll be doing:

1. Selling Freeing my slaves. I’ve been holding on to a small family of slaves passed on down through generations of my family because I was sure that the abolishment of slavery would be abolished. This, of course, is something that blacks have known that us whiteys have been doing since the Civil War. But now Barack looks black enough, so we can’t get away with it anymore. I thought the African family down the street would want them, but it turns out they’ve got all the slaves they need.

2. Giving my job to a black person. This should help that whole problem of staying back.

3. Moving into a public housing community. Well, I won’t have a job. And why should only black people live in public housing? A little reverse affirmative action.

4. Boycott Mellow Yellow. Clearly this energizing soft drink is offensive to Asians. From now on, it’s all about the Mountain Dew.

5. Eat at Mexican restaurants more. I didn’t realize brown people were having a hard time sticking around. Hopefully, my patronizing patronage will help them stay in America.

6. Gamble my welfare check away at casinos. With my new welfare checks I’ll be getting from quitting my job for the blacks, I can help red get ahead by playing the slots at Harrah’s in Cherokee.

7. Join Obama’s Civil Security Force. Ok, technically I won’t have a choice, but that’s only fair, right?