United Conservatives of Virginia

Fry Him-Lethal Injection Is Too Humane

2009-11-09T16:04:00.002-05:00

As someone who has buried family members who were victims of violence, (Google James Baxter Wiseman) and then had the satisfaction of knowing that the perpetrator will never ever do it again, I am fully and completely in favor of strapping the DC Sniper into Ole Sparky and pulling the lever.

DC Protest Warrior: Baghdad Bob Gibbs Minister of Propaganda

2009-11-09T15:56:00.000-05:00

Baghdad Bob Gibbs Minister of Propaganda

...how in James Madison's name have we reached the point that Congress can so much as contemplate telling you, and you, and you, and all of us that we'll buy health insurance, like it or not, Buster?

There Were 14 Lives Taken At Ft Hood

2009-11-09T15:29:00.003-05:00

The news reports keep saying 13 people were killed by the asshat moozie jihadi turncoat. They are wrong.

There were 14 lives taken by this worthless piece of excrement in search of its 72 goats in whatever passes for paradise in their twisted little minds.

One of the Warriors who died was pregnant. Two months pregnant.

So this lying piece of scum took a truly innocent life when it decided to load two weapons, pack extra clips, and walk into a building full of unarmed people and start shooting. Some of those killed were shot in the back, BTW.

There is a room in Hell reserved for monsters such as this. There is no room service, no bellhops, no phone, no pool. And if there is justice, there are no windows or doors, once its inside. Just the screams of the souls this terrorist sent to Heaven.

After Forcibly and Illegally Removing The Legitimate Landowners

2009-11-09T15:22:00.002-05:00

Pfizer abandons site of infamous Kelo eminent domain taking

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
11/09/09 1:47 PM EST

The private homes that New London, Conn., took away from Suzette Kelo and her neighbors have been torn down. Their former site is a wasteland of fields of weeds, a monument to the power of eminent domain.
But now Pfizer, the drug company whose neighboring research facility had been the original cause of the homes' seizure, has just announced that it is closing up shop in New London.
To lure those jobs to New London a decade ago, the local government promised to demolish the older residential neighborhood adjacent to the land Pfizer was buying for next-to-nothing. Suzette Kelo fought the taking to the Supreme Court, and lost. Five justices found this redevelopment met the constitutional hurdle of "public use."
The Hartford Courant reports:

Pfizer Inc. will shut down its massive New London research and development headquarters and transfer most of the 1,400 people working there to Groton, the pharmaceutical giant said Monday....
Pfizer is now deciding what to do with its giant New London offices, and will consider selling it, leasing it and other options, a company spokeswoman said.
Scott Bullock, Kelo's co-counsel in the case, told me: "This shows the folly of these redevelopment projects that use massive taxpayer subsidies and other forms of corporate welfare and abuse eminent domain."

A Failed Presidency? A Failed Marxist Is More Like It

2009-11-09T13:15:00.009-05:00

I think people have begun to realize that Zero is more of a Marxist than Karl or Joe ever thought about being and are rejecting the socialist engineering and marxist tactics being employed.

From The American Thinker:
Another Failed Presidency

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.
Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding ashove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and mostimportantly, in forging connections with the American people.
The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them.
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed.
Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us.
All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms forboth houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."
"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." -James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union
"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown

The Wall - Never Forget

2009-11-09T09:39:00.009-05:00

Tyranny cannot tolerate opposition or escape. The Iron Curtain was the symbol of Soviet oppression of Eastern Europe. Children and young adults today cannot comprehend what it was like to live in such a world. Even the countries involved were labeled. Today no one speaks of Eastern Europe. Rather the world now speaks of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, etc. No longer are these free countries lumped together under a label of "the oppressed".

Even in the Free West, the Cold War and Soviet oppression was a dank blanket over the world. Its existence, though dismissed and minimized by many, including some in Congress today, was a blight upon the world. Millions were prisoners of that system, and millions died because of that system. Socialist/Communist oppression killed over 100 million in the 20th Century alone.

The greatest symbol of that oppression was the Berlin Wall. Erected in 1961 to stop East Germans from fleeing the country, it split towns, villages, and families. Ostensibly a wall to imprison West Berlin and separate it from East Germany, the effect was to accentuate the freedom of the West and the imprisonment of communist occupied countries. The attempts to cross the Wall showed all of us that freedom is priceless. Every success was a cause for rejoicing as if someone was back from the dead.

Fine words were spoken in support of the West Berliners. The evil was confronted at the border. Kennedy, after the Cuban Missile Crisis, went to West Berlin after the building of the Wall that split families asunder, apparently forever.

The Cold War was a constant. The Wall was its symbol. However, no Western country actually confronted the Soviet Union directly over the monstrosity of the Wall. No American president was actually willing to challenge the Soviet Union oligarchy about the morality of the Iron Curtain on fear of escalation.

Until Reagan.

His speech electrified the world. Lovers of freedom applauded while useful idiots disparaged him. His challenge illuminated the fact that it was the responsibility of the occupying power to destroy the Wall; that the only way for peaceful coexistence to continue was for the Soviet system of oppression to end. This speech was the first step that led to the fall of the Wall two years later. Confronted with an increasing exodus of East Germans fleeing to the West via Hungary and Czechoslovakia, political concessions were granted, allowing freer travel between the countries. Freedom cannot be constrained once fetters are loosened.

Ignoring facts isn't sensitive; it is suicidal

2009-11-08T16:38:00.002-05:00

EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism

The United States is engaged in a global struggle with violent adherents to an extremist Islamic creed. It does not besmirch the Muslim faith - or the vast majority of American Muslims - to admit that fact.
The politically correct tendency to define attacks as something other than terrorism simply to avoid addressing the motives of the attacker is dangerous. Anyone who shouts "Allahu Akbar" and opens fire on a crowd of unarmed people is a terrorist.
If Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is not a terrorist, no one is.

Free things that aren't

2009-11-08T10:06:00.003-05:00

Puppies

Elections in Iran

Health Care Reform

ROPE. TREE. CONGRESS. ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

h/t Hot Air

Warrior Song

2009-11-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

"Stand next to me you'll never stand alone"

8th of November 173DABN

2009-11-08T09:16:00.004-05:00

On the 8th of November the angels were crying.

ON the 6th of November 2009 the angels were crying.

The Hammer Is Dropped on Baghdad Bob Gibbs

2009-11-07T22:09:00.007-05:00

Baghdad Bob Gibbs, the current Minister of Propaganda, bemoans the use of fascist images, because no one has ever done that before. Its so gauche.

I've seen much worse than Hitler images in the streets over the past 4 years.

February 2006 Washington DC
World Cant Wait

Gibbs: Can You Imagine if, 5 Years Ago, People Had Protested With Hitler Pictures?!?

The Hammer Drops:

Let's help Gibbs out with this in particular:
Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler.

Let's see if we can imagine that, Bob. Click here, and just keep scrolling.
Or, here. You will be scrolling for a solid five minutes to exhaust the Hitler images employed by the left for eight solid years against Bush, and that's in just two blog posts. They were ubiquitous; far more prevalent that Nazi imagery in the Tea Party movement. Saying what Gibbs said, or repeating it credulously, requires an incredible amount of dishonesty.
Hmm, let's try a search on Flickr, just so we're sure I'm not cherry-picking.
Looking for something more recent? How about Alan Grayson's health-care Holocaust in America crusade, by which Gibbs was markedly less "stunned" despite the fact that Grayson's an elected official making Holocaust comparisons on the floor of the House. Imagine.
Before Gibbs took leave of his senses and all sense of history today, the White House had a more petulant response to the gathering, at which actor Jon Voight spoke. Yesterday, Gibbs very kindly stopped himself from making a "Deliverance" joke about the attendees. Considerate.

I would argue that the White House Press Secretary implying a joke about how protesters are rednecks prone to anal rape would fall into the category of "stunning" and "personally disagreeable," but I digress.

Heroes RUN to the sound of gunfire.....

2009-11-07T17:41:00.005-05:00

Sergeant Kimberly Denise Munley was on her way to have her car repaired when gunfire reports came over the radio. On reaching the scene, she bolted from the car, firing at the perpetrator in order to protect a wounded soldier.

"He turned on her and began to fire. She ran toward him, continuing to fire,..."

Read the whole thing at the NYT.

HAND SALUTE.

h/t Traction Control

BREAKING: On Monday, AMA delegates will vote to withdraw endorsement of House Health Care Bill.

2009-11-07T16:55:00.002-05:00

From the Ladies down in Atlanta at Bury the Blue.

The House plans to vote on Pelosi's health care bill this Sunday - just 2 days away! Tonight AMA announced that they will vote on Monday to withdraw their endorsement of this outrageous bill. Because Monday will be too late to affect the House's vote, I STRONGLY encourage you to email the AMA and ask that they hold an EMERGENCY meeting to vote on reversing this endorsement ASAP!AMA

Contact Info: http://webapps.ama-assn.org/contactus/contactusMain.do;jsessionid=30054D46170E2D7BD247FC27037C0A4F

Stay Strong!
Tracy

Red Flags, Klaxon Horns and Sirens

2009-11-07T11:31:00.003-05:00

Nidal Hasan: Ft. Hood Shooter Participated in Homeland Security Disaster Preparation

The gunman who killed 12 people today at Ft. Hood appears, based on current media reports, to be Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan who was listed as a participant in a Homeland Security Policy Institute's presidential transition task force last year.
The task force was not officially affiliated with the White House. It was a project of the Homeland Security Policy Institute, an independent thinktank housed at George Washington University, aimed at drafting policy recommendations for the incoming Obama administration.
According to the task force's May 2009 report [pdf], a "Nidal Hasan" from the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine was a task force event participant. Other participants included Senate and House staffers, Department of Homeland Security officials, Defense Department officials, and reporters for Politico, the Washington Post, and the London Times.

It seems very convenient that this asshat moozziee decided to begin his quest for 72 virgins on the day 50,000 people showed up in DC to protest the takeover of 1/6 of the Nation's economy.
But I am a paranoid cynic who doesn't believe in coincidences.

Buy Healthcare or Go To Jail?..I Don't Think So

2009-11-06T19:40:00.003-05:00

As a friend of mine told his EllTee when he arrived downrange in Iraq in 2004, "You may as well start the paperwork now, cause I'm not going to recognize those rules."

The dhimmicrat Congress is now officially off the reservation. They have gone rogue, or rouge, both apply equally. They have over-stepped their Constitutional limitations by a factor of 100 to the nth power.

Committee On Ways & Means Republicans Ranking Member, Dave Camp http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=153583

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:
“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1] - - - - - - - - - -

“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2] - - - - - - - - - -
“Criminal penalties
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.

According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

Blackfive Has A Ton of Info On Ft Hood

2009-11-06T19:27:00.003-05:00

Go.

Thank God for everyone who was there, except one.

And Officer Munley is a Carolina girl. Figures.

MyHeritage.org

2009-11-06T18:27:00.004-05:00

November 6, 2009 By Amanda Reinecker
Conservative Comeback

Tuesday was a big day for conservatives. The landslide victories of gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey, plus the Maine referendum upholding marriage as a union between a man and a woman, clearly illustrates that "the state of conservatism is strong," writes Heritage's Conn Carroll in Wednesday's Morning Bell.

But why would states that voted last year for President Barack Obama now vote against candidates the President himself campaigned for? Heritage Vice President Michael Franc explains that "it's all about taxes, debt, and too much government." In short, it's about the government's complete abandonment of conservative principles.

The results in Virginia, New Jersey and Maine confirm what has become increasingly evident over the past 10 months: conservative principles are very much alive and popular among most Americans.

Since taking office, President Obama has made it clear he is among the most progressive Presidents in our history. But he didn't win based on his progressive tendencies. In fact, Carroll explains that the President led a fairly moderate campaign:

Obama promised to address jobs, the economy, our national security and even hold teachers accountable for children's education. Obama promised that most of America would receive a tax cut. He promised to win a necessary war in Afghanistan. These are conservative principle.

Once elected, however, the President and his allies on the Left quickly abandoned these sound campaign promises in favor of big-government policies that increase taxes, kill jobs, raise the deficit and weaken our national security. As history has repeatedly revealed, there is an inherent conflict between these progressive policies and the "overwhelming conservative philosophy in America."

Tuesday's results exposed this conflict by demonstrating the broad support for conservative ideals. They reflect the same sentiments expressed at tea parties, protests and town hall meetings nationwide: enough is enough!
An even worse health care plan

On Thursday, over 10,000 people rallied on the steps of the Capitol to express their concerns about the harmful health care discussions currently under way in the House of Representatives. The House could vote on this proposal as early as Saturday, though this timeline could slip as moderates peel off.

"Look closely at the latest House bill," writes Heritage health policy analyst Bob Moffit in Human Events. "This 1,990 page beast contains all of the problematic issues Americans has with [the last proposal] -- and then adds more," all of which will adversely impact the lives of all Americans.

Moffit outlines a few of the major flaws with the House's "revised" bill:

1. The federal government will control the health insurance market, roughly one-sixth of the nation's economy;

2. A great deal of power will be granted to a newly appointed "Health Choices Commissioner," i.e. a health czar, who would define coverage and premiums for everyone;

3. Eligibility for Medicaid, a poorly functioning entitlement program in desperate need of reform, will expand, causing benefits to decrease for those who truly need them;

4. Federally mandated minimum benefits that will be subsidized by taxpayers, regardless of whether they need the benefits or not;

5. Individual mandates that will require everyone to purchase government-approved coverage or else pay an extra income tax of 2.5 percent; and
6. Employer mandates that will likely force small business owners to cut wages and lay off workers in order to meet the coverage requirements, or pay a heavy fine per employee by choosing not to provide coverage.

And all of this will be ours for a whopping $1.055 trillion over the next 10 years -- a price tag that will surely add more than "one dime to our deficits" and saddle future generations with massive debt. All of this is in the bill, but few will be able to see it, as Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) has rescinded her pledge to post the final language online for 72 hours before a vote.

This is not real health care reform. Instead, Moffit argues, "it is a new health care entitlement that will speed up our fiscal insolvency, push new taxes on Americans in all income brackets and have a greater say over our health decisions."

In an exclusive interview recorded at The Heritage Foundation, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) explains that the current health care bill reflects a big-government approach to problem-solving. "The most outrageous detail in the current House bill is the philosophy on which it is premised," he argues. "It is premised on the philosophy that the government knows best how to organize one-sixth of our economy."

Real reform should be a bi-partisan product, based on America's core principles, that empowers the individual to choose the coverage that best suits his specific needs and budget and those of his family.

Best Sign From Yesterday's House Call

2009-11-06T15:28:00.005-05:00

Don't mess with the old folks.
H/T FreeRepublic.com

A Soldier Died Today

2009-11-06T14:32:00.004-05:00

The Old Soldier
(A Soldier Died Today)

He was getting old and paunchy

And his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion,

Telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he once fought in

And the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies;

They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors

His tales became a joke,

All his buddies listened quietly

For they knew where of he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,

For ol' Bob has passed away,

And the world's a little poorer

For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,

Just his children and his wife.

For he lived an ordinary,

Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,

Going quietly on his way;

And the world won't note his passing,

'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,

Their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing,

And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories

From the time that they were young

But the passing of a Soldier

Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution

To the welfare of our land,

Some jerk who breaks his promise

And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow

Who in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his country

And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend

And the style in which he lives,

Are often disproportionate,

To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,

Who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal

And perhaps a pension, small.
It's so easy to forget them,

For it is so many times

That our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys,

Went to battle, but we know,

It is not the politicians

With their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom

That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,

With your enemies at hand,

Would you really want some cop-out,

With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--

His home, his country, his kin,

Just a common Soldier,

Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,

And his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us

We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,

We find the Soldier's part

Is to clean up all the troubles

That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor

While he's here to hear the praise,

Then at least let's give him homage

At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline

In the paper that might say:

"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Author Unknown

Reduction of Supplemental Medicaid in HR 3962

2009-11-06T13:03:00.002-05:00

H/T The Dillard Doctrine

Today's Virginian-Pilot reports that one of the provisions under consideration to fund HR 3962-the healthcare bill that will be voted on in the House tomorrow-is a reduction in supplemental Medicaid payments to hospitals that serve a substantial amount of poor and uninsured patients.

One of the hospitals that could lose funding under this bill is Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. This hospital sets the standard for neonatal and pediatric care in Hampton Roads.

People trust CHKD with their children's care in both emergent and non-emergent situations.

As a citizen, I would question the support of my representatives who choose to support this bill. I would want them to explain to me why, in the words of one representative, it "makes sense to keep [the bill] moving forward," knowing that one of our region's best hospitals could suffer as a result.

Military.com Article on Asshat Mooozzziee Murderer

2009-11-06T10:33:00.004-05:00

Alleged wounded? Alleged casualties?

Details Emerge on Hood Rampage Suspect

WASHINGTON - His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with Soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

There are many unknowns about Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. As of this morning 13 people are dead and 30 wounded following his alleged shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas.
Most of all, Hasan's motive remains unknown. But details of his life and mindset, emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are troubling.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

This Aint Hell has some insight and I agree.

Government Enforced Compliance

2009-11-06T08:44:00.002-05:00

Obamacare is government-by-coercion, not consent.
Examiner Editorial
"Welcome to America, land of the formerly free, and home of citizens covered by a nationalized health care system crafted by the same government that can't care for American Indians on their reservations or deliver swine flu shots on time."

That American citizens should be fined or even put in federal prison for refusing to purchase government-approved health insurance is as un-American as any idea we can imagine. But such a mandate is the very heart of the bill written behind closed doors by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her privileged pals. If their bill is approved by the House tomorrow, we will be a big step closer to the day when everybody gets their health care insurance through the government or from an approved insurer offering policies that meet meticulously detailed specifications contained in thousands of pages of federal regulations.

Zero Cares More About China Than America

2009-11-06T08:36:00.003-05:00

China has no environmental concerns, no EPA, no controls.

China buys into U.S. off-shore oil leases.
Mark Tapscott, Beltway Confidential
"If the administration approves the deal, it will be more vulnerable to charges that the White House is being careless with U.S. national security issues in the energy sector, and that it is putting the interests of a foreign power before those of U.S. energy consumers."

UPDATE: Bishop says Obama policy aids foreign nations, not U.S.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-UT, says the Statoil/CNOOC deal is indicative of the Obama administration's failure to protect U.S. consumers from foreign nations seeking to tap into this country's abundant energy resources:
“Unemployment will continue to exceed acceptable levels and the economy will continue to suffer until this administration reverses its anti-energy policy. China and other foreign countries are gaining access to the abundant natural resources located in the American OCS, meanwhile an energy starved U.S. continues to experience the detrimental effects of Secretary Salazar’s decisions to place special-interests before the American people.
Since taking office this administration has made great strides in helping countries gain access to American energy resources, it’s just too bad the U.S. isn’t one of them.”
Bishop is chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which includes a number of representatives from Western states with significant energy and other natural resources.

2200 Pages and Counting

2009-11-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

That 1,990-page Democratic health care bill?
It's longer now; includes new government controls
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
11/05/09 9:17 AM EST

It's become common practice to refer to the House Democrats' national health care bill as being 1,990 pages long. That's true of the bill introduced last week by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But now Democrats have added a 42-page "manager's amendment" to the bill. Some of the new language in the amendment replaces material already in the bill, but there are enough new provisions to ensure that the bill is now more than 2,000 pages long. And there will likely be even more additions to the bill before the final debate.

What's more important is what is in the new amendment. Much of it reflects Democrats' concerns that their bill would cause an increase in health insurance premiums. Remember when the House leadership, the White House, and sympathetic media commentators everywhere attacked the insurance industry for predicting that the Democratic bill would cause premiums to go up? The manager's amendment is, in effect, the House Democrats' admission that it would do just that. Their answer: more government control. The new language sets up a process for the government to monitor "unjustified premium increases" and threaten insurance companies with exclusion from the government-run Health Insurance Exchange if they exhibit a "pattern of excessive or unjustified premium increases." The government, of course, will determine what is "excessive" or "unjustified."

Virginia Dhimmis Getting Physical With Visitors

2009-11-06T07:46:00.003-05:00

Congressional staffer denies pushing visitor UPDATED!
By: J.P. Freire
Associate Commentary Editor
11/05/09 9:53 PM EST

A heated exchange during a visit to the office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., led to a staffer putting his hands on Teri Christoph, executive director of Smart Girl Politics, in order to get her to put her camera down, reported Jillian Bandes of TownHall.
In a phone interview with The Examiner, the staffer, press secretary George Burke, said that claims that he had "pushed" Christoph were untrue. When asked about the report in TownHall, he replied, "Is that a reporter? Some right-wing blog?" Yes to both questions, but was the claim true?
"She came in and whipped out a camera. Staff people told her, 'we don't want you to use a camera in here.' I put a hand on her shoulder same way I put on my daughter's and of course she said that she was going to the media," he said.
The scuffle started when Christoph joined a number of Connolly's constituents in his office. A younger staffer was distributing pens to enable them to leave a message for their congressman. Christoph, Burke said, had started "badgering" the staffer, preventing him from being able to further help other constituents.
"Voices were raised, so I came out of my office and told her politely to put away the camera," he said. "I didn't even ask her to leave. Just to put away the camera."
I asked what the policy was about having cameras in the office. "Only credentialed media. And I'm sure you know about the rules in the House regarding credentialed press," he replied. Were media cameras allowed into the office? "Yes, throughout the day." But what was the impetus about having her remove her own camera? "It was a decision we made. There was no reasoning behind it."
Burke said that Christoph was the only problematic constituent. "Others came in and were certainly very spirited, but it was a good discussion overall."
Asked about Connolly's decision on the health care bill, Burke insisted that the congressman will not "make a final decision until he sees the final product." The congressman's district, the 11th district, is the wealthiest in the nation as measured by median income. Touting Connolly's achievements in increasing surcharges in the bill to prevent higher taxes, Burke said, "We want to protect the interests of small business, and what we've been fighting for is to relieve them of that burden."
Will he actually read the bill before voting on it? "He has read most of it, he's gone to briefings on it, and he's got several of his staffers reading it. He's not going to commit
to it until he sees what new details are in it."

UPDATED: Christoph posts her account and video:
Christoph provides a detailed post on her blog of the encounter in Rep. Gerry Connolly's office this afternoon, as well as a video of the minute or so immediately before Connolly aide George Burke firmly placed his hand on her. The video makes clear that Christoph was polite and calm, at least during the captured portion of the encounter.