Nancy Pelosi also seems to be hell bent on pushing through government run health care.

The White House claims it wants to dispel any information that seems “fishy” by having people email them at flag@whitehouse.gov. Does this concern anyone else?

Update: Apparently, the White House decided the flag@whitehouse.gov was not the best idea and has now disabled this email account.

Here is the official video and blog post produced by the White House explaining the reason for this request.

The White House Communication Director, who’s job is to “keep track” of all the disinformation, says that the video below which is singled out in the above video includes what she claims as sentences and phrases out of context.

Hmmm… to me something is fishy alright. Which of these quotes were out of context?

I have a few things to send to flag@whitehouse.gov that seem “fishy” to me.

First…

Why in the hell is the government asking people to snitch on other people based on what they feel is misinformation? This is flat out scary! Can you imagine the outrage if George Bush did something like this. If this is not a blatant over-reach of our government, then I don’t know what is.

Who is to say what is “fishy”? How is this information going to be used? Am I going to be put on a watch list because of this blog?

Our Government just grew 5%….

Second…

The White House blog post title of “Facts are a Stubborn Thing” is a bit ironic to me when you consider the FACT that Obama has said in his own words that he wants a single payer health care system.

There are a couple “stubborn facts” I want to touch on from this video:

1. He states that the “U.S. spends 14% of its gross national product” on health care and “can’t provide basic health insurance to everybody”.
   

   The Congressional Budget Office estimates the current health care bill will cause “a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion” from 2010 to 2019. But according to the agency, the bill would still leave 37 million Americans uninsured by 2019.

2. In this video, Obama goes on to say “we may not get there immediately because first we need to take back the White House, and we need to take back the Senate, and we need to take back the House.” Let’s see here… take back the White House – check, take back the Senate – check, take back the House – check. It looks like all of Obama’s prerequisites for a single payer, Government controlled health care system (aka socialized medicine) have been taken care of.

Our U.S. Government just grew another 15%….

Third…

Obama wants a single payer, government controlled health care system. The far-left liberal wing of the democrat party wants a single payer, government controlled health care system. The majority of citizens however like the coverage and health care they receive today and don’t want Government run health care.

Recent polls show that 68% of Americans rate their health-insurance coverage at good or excellent. Half of the people polled felt if the current health care reform bill passed it would lead to a decline in the quality of health care.

Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel said,

“The goal is non-negotiable; the path is” negotiable.

Rep. Barney Frank seems to have let the cat out of the bag on what that path looks like to get to a single payer system.

Did you catch what he said?

Because we don’t have the votes for it. I wish we did. I think that if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer and that is the best way to reach single payer. Saying you’ll do nothing till you get single payer is a sure way never to get it. … I think the best way we’re going to get single payer, the only way, is to have a public option and demonstrate the strength of its power.

What’s that smell? Something smells a bit fishy to me.

Our U.S. Government just grew another 10%….

Fourth…

Isn’t it a good thing when people get involved in the political process. Many organizations on the Left conduct protests and demonstrations all of the time and they are applauded by the Left. After all, community organizing is how our President got his start in politics.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi seems to think the people who are demonstrating their freedom of speech and vocalizing their outrage with this bill is not authentic.

I think it is ironic when the people on the Left are the focus of the protests and demonstrations, the value and authenticity of these citizens is questioned. Remember the Tea Parties?

Pelosi thought the Tea Party protests were also orchestrated by a few rich people and not a true grassroots effort.

Finally…

The goal was to get this bill rushed through congress prior to the August recess. Why the rush? Doesn’t something so important such as health care during a time of record deficits deserve a good long look to ensure we have the best solution?

Rep. John Conyers doesn’t think that reading the bill is important because he only had two days to read it and it would require two lawyers interpret what it says.

What about these promises?

If the hope and change that people voted for included transparency and bipartisanship then a few extra days to review bills seems fair. This will give Congressmen like Conyers time to get with his two lawyers and full understand the extremely complex bill presented and time to have a debate.

Pushing 1000 page bills before anyone has time to read them smells fishy to me. It kind of smells like a stimulus package.

Our Government just grew another 20%…

Asking for people to send the White House “fishy” information about other people’s views on the Health Care bill is extremely concerning. Everyone should be concerned about this over-reaching, potentially illegal move by the White House. Who knows, maybe they want to send these people a dead fish.

“President Bush was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don”t know how anyone could have handled this situation… I dont give a f**k who’s in office, Bush or whoever, there is no simple solution to this problem… I’m not one of those who blames Bush for everything. This s**t between Christians and Muslims goes back to the Crusades, doesn’t it.”

Anyone want to bet Rourke’s Hollywood awards will end at the Golden Globes?

This makes Sean Penn the easy front runner for the Oscar for his portrayal of a Gay Rights activist and city politician. A much more Hollywood friendly bet.

Photo Credit: juliet_a on Flickr

He goes on to claim that a second economic stimulus package in the range of $600-700 billion would be needed in the short run to keep the economy from “absolutely tanking”. Others believe this stimulus package will near $1 trillion.

Some feel a Government spending approach to the problem will only make things worse or prolong the recovery. Maybe that is what Joe Biden was referring to when he made his “absolutely tanking” comment.

I don’t understand why many in the Republican party (led by President Bush) have moved away from the traditional views of the party that made it once great. Bigger, more powerful government has not been the recipe for success in our nation’s history.

The nationalization of banks and most recent bailout of the Auto industry by the Republican party have laid the stepping stones for making Obama’s path toward bigger government a reality.

With these first stepping stones in place, the Democrats have momentum to push through a trillion dollar economic stimulus package. This proposed “stimulus package” includes funds for roads, bridges, energy efficient government buildings, broadband internet expansion, renewable energy, school repair, among others.

Since the government doesn’t make any money (other than physically making the money), the only source of income for the government is through taxes. These “stimulus” projects will then be paid by the citizens through our taxes.

I don’t think anyone can disagree with the importance of improving roads, bridges, schools, etc. Where I have concern is doing this now with a record debt and deficit. There is debate on how effective these programs will be at providing the planned stimulus and how quickly we could see any results. Let’s worry about spending more money when we have our debt and deficit under control.

I know when I am low on funds and high on debt, I cut my spending to only necessities. When my debt is under control and I make more money than I have going out, that is the time to make improvements on the house. Not when I can’t afford them. As a nation, we can’t afford another home equity loan from China to paint the house and fix the cracks in the walls.

The Obama/Biden plan to throw more money at the problem during a time of crisis will only make it easier for projects full of pork to get thrown in and our tax dollars spent wastefully. If history is any indicator of the future, Democrats have been responsible for the most wasteful spending. With a Democrat majority Senate, House and President we better be ready to hold our government responsible for these earmarks and pork-barrel spending.

Let’s look back at what works.

Photo Credit: blunck2 on Flickr

Reducing taxes has been proven to increase, not lower the government’s revenue. As taxes are reduced, people are encouraged to take risks by creating solutions to the problems we face. This innovation and entrepreneurship by the people and companies, not the government, resulted in the creation of the best companies in the world.

Innovation by the people is key to creating the next Google, Microsoft, and Ford. These new companies will be what leads us out of this time of crisis as long as Government doesn’t get in the way.

When I look at how President-Elect Obama won the 2008 election I am amazed. I don’t agree with most of his political positions, but I can appreciate the way he ran his campaign. According to this report, Obama raised 89% of his money from individual contributors.

Mr. President-Elect, let the people bring us up out of this crisis by reducing the barriers to American ingenuity to create solutions to the problems we face. Companies (people) provide the jobs and resources that drive America, not the Government.

These same individual contributors who put Obama in office are the answer to our problems. American’s, when faced with challenges, always rise up and make America better. I hope the policies put in place now and in the near future don’t impede the true solution to the problem. The more we rely on Government for solutions the more we will rely on Government for solutions.

I’d hate for us to loose the American self-reliance, independent spirit that makes us the best nation on earth and why 73 million people have immigrated to the U.S. since 1820.

I guess the 6,838,107 people who voted for Prop 8 in a democratically held vote are bigots and full of hate.

Neil Patrick Harris concludes the video with explaining that legalizing Gay Marriage will pull us out of a recession because of the all the money that would be generated from the weddings.

I guess Jack Black’s push to legalize marijuana would also help the economy and reduce the deficit through additional sales tax collection.

Over an over Celebrities use their Celebrity to get their message out of what they feel the true Christian political agenda is.

Listen to Ed Young, the pastor at Fellowship Church, as he does a great job of explaining how the Bible teaches Christians to shape their political views.

Do you think the passing of Prop 8 was a result of Christians and Non-Christians hating Gays, or do you think it passed for some other reason?

Share your thoughts below.

Who’s next to be added to Obama’s team of change?

Secretary of Commerce
Bill Richardson – Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton

Secretary of the Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano – Appointed U.S. attorney for Arizona by Bill Clinton

Attorney General
Eric Holder – Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno by Bill Clinton

Chief of Staff
Rahm Emanuel – Senior Clinton White House advisor

Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton – Former First Lady and wife of Bill Clinton

Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tom Daschle – Wife Linda Hall Daschle, a registered Washington lobbyist.

Watch this video for a little refresher on Obama’s pledge for Change.

Photo Credit: mean daddy on Flickr

It seems the Screen Actors Guild is a couple steps closer to another strike that could cost Los Angeles billions of dollars and jobs.

Missed royalties from increasing demand of DVD’s and Internet sales from services like iTunes are the reason for the dispute. It seems the Actors want their cut of these royalties earned from their hard work and success. Seems fair to me.

They are so upset about this unfair treatment of not being able to keep what they feel is rightfully owed to them they might end up going on strike. I imagine if no agreement could be met they might even look to take their work elsewhere which might cause other people in the industry to lose their jobs.

What happened to the Hollywood backing of wanting to “Spread the Wealth Around”?

Hmmm… Maybe Joe the Plumber had some valid concerns with the proposed tax structure of President-Elect Obama.

After all, the people who make DVD’s and the folks over at Apple are entitled to some of their money. Aren’t they?

What about the people who watch and buy the movies? Shouldn’t we get some of that money? Those Hollywood actors are making “too much” money anyway, and need to spread some of that money to me, right?

Maybe if hard working people, who own small businesses and create jobs for other people, are not able to keep their fair share of their earnings they too will go on “strike”. Their strike would not involve signs and picket lines, but would mean layoffs and in some cases business owners taking their company overseas.

What do you think? Do you see a parallel here?

Let us know what you think by adding you comment below.

Photo Credit: dalydose on Flickr

Two friends of mine posted this cartoon on their blogs, and something about it struck a chord with me. I thought to myself, “Why shouldn’t we “Spread the Wealth Around”? What is wrong with Barack Obama saying these 4 words? After all, isn’t it a good thing that everyone has at least something?

I don’t know a single person who wants other people to suffer or be poor. Everyone wants government policy that will help decrease poverty and increase wealth for every American and everyone in the world. The debate comes from how this is best accomplished.

My biggest concern with the “spread the wealth around” philosophy is that it does such a disservice to both the giver and receiver of the handout.

The giver is deprived of the satisfaction of knowing they helped someone because they wanted to and not because the government forced them.

The receiver is deprived of the satisfaction of knowing the amazing feeling of the reward for working hard and improving their own life.

Both parties have no future motivation to give or strive to earn their own rewards.

Non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and others will find their donations dry up because people will be less willing and able to give.

The individuals who receive the hand outs will be less motivated to go find a job or further educate themselves because they will never know the satisfaction of earning their own reward.

It amazes me when I see young kids sporting events where everyone gets a trophy. It doesn’t matter if you come in first place or last place, everyone gets a trophy.

When I grew up, that didn’t happen. First, Second, and Third got the reward.

If I finished last, I didn’t want a reward. I was mad. I knew if I wanted to finish first I needed to work my butt off to get where I wanted to be.

I remember one track event in particular where I finished dead last. I didn’t bitch and moan about how fast the other guys were. I didn’t say, “man that isn’t fair, those guys are too fast. They need to slow down so I can catch up”. I think everyone can agree that statement is laughable.

Let’s put this in different terms. “Man that isn’t fair, those guys are too rich. They need to give me some of their money so I can catch up.” Why do we not think this statement is laughable?

The reason Obama’s plan sounds so good to half the country is because we have taken the approach with our kids that everyone is rewarded just for participating. This mentality wasn’t what made America great.

This cheats the kids who finish first because they see the kids who finish last get a reward too.

What is their motivation to work harder and get even better?

What is the motivation of the kid who finished last to improve or focus on something where he can excel if he always gets rewarded “just for trying”?

The hand outs the government needs to provide are tools and opportunities not cash. Setup a reward system not a welfare system.

If we hand out cash, this problem will only compound itself 5, 10, 15 years from now and we truly will find ourselves in a socialist society.

America has the richest poor people in the world and that is because there are rewards for being successful. The answer to improving everyone’s life in this country is not to “spread the wealth around”, but to drive people to work hard and reward them for their success.

The more Bill Gates, Warren Buffets, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos this country produces, the more jobs will be created. Jobs help people to be come productive members of society and help people’s self worth and self esteem. This allows everyone to enjoy the rewards of hard work and improve their lives; not at the expense of others, but because of others.

This country was made great by people working hard so they can earn a reward to help their families and then provide opportunities for other families.

I would prefer to continue the course that made America great and not the “spread the wealth around” course taken by countries like China, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, and others.

Electing Barack Obama would not cause our country to become Socialist overnight, but with a Democrat majority in the House and Senate we certainly would be taking HUGE steps toward that direction.

This country needs change. We took our eye off the ball, but the change needed is not a whole new game plan toward Socialism. We need change that puts us back on the path that made us a great country in the first place.

Capitalism NOT Socialism
Hard Work NOT Handouts
Personal Responsibility NOT Entitlement
Traditional Family Values NOT Hollywood Values
Smaller Government NOT Bigger Government
Fiscal Responsibility NOT Tax and Spend
Private Businesses/Services NOT Government Controlled Services

I am not convinced John McCain would put us back in the right direction for all of these critical areas where we lost our focus.

I am certain that a Barack Obama presidency and a Democrat House and Senate majority would not.

I pray we make the right decision as a country.