Garden State Patriot

On yesterday’s Glenn Beck show, Beck hosted a forum with some 40 doctors to discuss healthcare. After all, what better place to look for solutions than to actually ask the people in the industry what the problems are and how they feel they can be fixed? As you’ll see, many of the doctors indicated that the problems in healthcare stem from too much interference from the government and involvement of third party payors. Funny enough, those in the forum who were more inclined to favor Obamacare were med students who have yet to get a taste of the real world.

Here is the first of four installments of the show. You can watch the rest here, here and here.

Meanwhile, our President continues to demonize insurance companies and flat out lie to the American people. The man is a true fraud and a demagogue of epic proportions.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Last week, our own Richard Ross had a sobering and, well, downright scary post regarding the U.S. dollar. Well, I’ve come across some interesting information which puts this into further perspective.

In a piece in Smart Money magazine, investor Jonathan Hoenig uses the example of Zimbabwe’s economy to explain how a declining currency can render stock market gains meaningless.

Obama supporters will no doubt begin pointing to the Dow resurgence as evidence that the economy is rebounding. When they do so, be sure to use this evidence to refute them. 

More importantly, though, so long as this administration continues to pile up debt and pursue their statist/socialist agenda, our nation’s future prosperity will be in serious jeopardy.

{UPDATE} Larry Kudlow also has a similar article out today which I recommend reading: Storm Clouds Gather as Dow Hits 10,000

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

***Warning: Extremely Violent Content***

Why do I show you this? Watch here.

And we thought liberals didn’t like torture. Yet the White House’s current Communications Director says Mao Tse Tung - the killer of upwards of 70 MILLION people – is one of her favorite philosophers?!?! Absolutely sick.

Oh, and what else is Dunn known for lately? That’s right, she’s the point woman in the White House for attacking Fox News…

God help us.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Senator Olympia Snowe has once again sold Republicans down the river. Snowe already betrayed us by going along with the Porkulous Bill, now she has voted in committee for the destructive Baucus bill.

For all the dissent, for all the protesting, and despite public opinion firmly against the Democrat’s socialist healthcare proposals – I hate to say it – but right now we are losing this fight.

WASHINGTON – Historic legislation to expand U.S. health care and control costs won its first Republican supporter Tuesday and cleared a key Senate hurdle, a double-barreled triumph that propelled President Barack Obama’s signature issue toward votes this fall in both houses of Congress.

“When history calls, history calls,” said Maine Republican Olympia Snowe, whose declaration of support ended weeks of suspense and provided the only drama of a 14-9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee. With her decision, the 62-year-old lawmaker bucked her own leadership on the most high-profile issue of the year in Congress, and gave the drive to remake health care at least a hint of the bipartisanship that Obama seeks.

Obama, speaking to reporters at the White House, said, “I never count chickens before they hatch, but this is obviously another step forward in bringing about a better deal for the American people.”

Snowe, too, said there were problems with the bill, but on balance, the risks of doing nothing were too great.

“We should also contemplate the decades of inaction that have brought us to this crossroads,” she said. “The status quo approach has produced one glaring common denominator, that is that we have a problem that is growing worse, not better.”

This is the last of 5 bills to pass Senate committees. Now, Harry Reid will have a free hand to cherry pick whatever he wants from each and bring it to the floor for a vote.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Charles Krauthammer – one of the more lucid and intelligent thinkers in the conservative movement in my view – has a very thought-provoking and insightful piece in this week’s The Weekly Standard. The title of Krauthammer’s piece says it all: Decline Is A Choice: The New Liberalism and the end of American ascendancy. Here are a few highlights: 

…my thesis is simple: The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. Two decades into the unipolar world that came about with the fall of the Soviet Union, America is in the position of deciding whether to abdicate or retain its dominance. Decline–or continued ascendancy–is in our hands. 

Which leads to my second proposition: Facing the choice of whether to maintain our dominance or to gradually, deliberately, willingly, and indeed relievedly give it up, we are currently on a course towards the latter. The current liberal ascendancy in the United States–controlling the executive and both houses of Congress, dominating the media and elite culture–has set us on a course for decline. And this is true for both foreign and domestic policies. Indeed, they work synergistically to ensure that outcome.

But the liberal internationalism of today is different. It is not center-left, but left-liberal. And the new left-liberal internationalism goes far beyond its earlier Clintonian incarnation in its distrust of and distaste for American dominance. For what might be called the New Liberalism, the renunciation of power is rooted not in the fear that we are essentially good but subject to the corruptions of power–the old Clintonian view–but rooted in the conviction that America is so intrinsically flawed, so inherently and congenitally sinful that it cannot be trusted with, and does not merit, the possession of overarching world power.

For the New Liberalism, it is not just that power corrupts. It is that America itself is corrupt–in the sense of being deeply flawed, and with the history to prove it. An imperfect union, the theme of Obama’s famous Philadelphia race speech, has been carried to and amplified in his every major foreign-policy address, particularly those delivered on foreign soil. (Not surprisingly, since it earns greater applause over there.)

And because we remain so imperfect a nation, we are in no position to dictate our professed values to others around the world. Demonstrators are shot in the streets of Tehran seeking nothing but freedom, but our president holds his tongue because, he says openly, of our own alleged transgressions towards Iran (presumably involvement in the 1953 coup). Our shortcomings are so grave, and our offenses both domestic and international so serious, that we lack the moral ground on which to justify hegemony.

I would strongly recommend reading the piece in its entirety. It’s a bit lengthy but well worth the time.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

We, really, truly are living in a Bizarro world!

OSLO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism.

It’s really not even worth posting any more. If you really feel compelled to read the rest, go here.

I’m sure you all remember this seminal moment of the 2008 campaign:

Well, who knew she would be absolutely right on the proverbial (stimulus) money!

You see, ‘hope’ is right around the corner. No need to fret about the economy. No need to worry about 9.8% unemployment. All we need to do to give our economy a jolt is to ’spread the wealth’ around a little. And what better place to start than in that shining jewel of opulence, Detroit, Michigan, USA. 

Oh, and it gets more entertaining. Here is a welfare seeker demonstrating her understanding of where all this new found moola comes from.

ROGULSKI:  Did you get an application to fill out yet?

WOMAN:  I sure did.  And I filled it out, and I am waiting to see what the results are going to be.

ROGULSKI:  Will you know today how much money you’re getting?

WOMAN:  No, I won’t, but I’m waiting for a phone call.

ROGULSKI:  Where’s the money coming from?

WOMAN:  I believe it’s coming from the City of Detroit or the state.

ROGULSKI:  Where did they get it from?

WOMAN:  Some funds that was forgiven (sic) by Obama.

ROGULSKI:  And where did Obama get the funds?

WOMAN:  Obama getting the funds from… Ummm, I have no idea, to tell you the truth.  He’s the president.

ROGULSKI:  In downtown Detroit, Ken Rogulski, WJR News.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Obama’s America. Shovel-ready.

Last week I reported on Harry Reid’s scheme to pass Obamacare by tying the Senate measure to a House bill with nothing to do with healthcare. Further, during my trip to D.C. for the AFP Summit, our group met with a Lautenberg spokesperson who did not deny this was this case.

Well, to no surprise, this story has been confirmed by CNS News. Here is the update from The Foundry @ Heritage:

Leaders in the House and Senate have a plan to pass President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care plan by Thanksgiving without any significant participation by the American public. CNS News has confirmed the details in our September 22nd titled “Passing a Shell of A Bill: Congress’ Secret Plan to Ram Through Health Care Reform.” Nicholas Ballasy reports “a senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told CNSNews.com that it is ‘likely’ that Reid will use H.R. 1586—a bill passed by the House in March to impose a 90-percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions—as a ‘shell’ for enacting the final version of the Senate’s health care bill, which Reid is responsible for crafting.”

This story confirms the four part scenario that would railroad the bill through the Senate using a very unusual closed door procedure to craft the bill with no input from the American people.

The four stage plan to pass Obamacare has been publicly confirmed and is ready to be implemented. The following is a comprehensive update:

Step One: “The Senate Finance Committee will finish work on the marking up of Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) conceptual framework for legislation by this Friday.” Progress on this had been stalled and the bill was not passed by the end of last week. Foxnews.com is reporting that the Congressional Budget Office score of the bill will be released later today and a high score may further stall progress on the Committee’s Vapor Bill.  Senate Finance Committee’s progress on passing something out of committee – INCOMPLETE.

Step Two: Next, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will take the final product of the Senate Finance Committee and merge it with the product of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. CNSnews.com has confirmed that “the actual final text of the legislation will be determined by Reid himself, who will consolidate the legislation approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the still-unapproved legislation from the Senate Finance Committee. Reid will be able to draft and insert textual language that was not expressly approved by either committee.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will write the final version of Obamacare to be considered in the Senate with no input from the American people. This is an extremely complex procedure that will not be done in public, or in the form of a hearing, or a public conference committee, and only Senator Harry Reid, some other Senators chosen by Reid and Obama Administration officials will be allowed to read the bill before the Senate debate starts. Merger of the bills – IN PROGRESS.

Step Three: Senator Reid will then move to proceed to H.R. 1586, a bill to impose a tax on bonuses received by certain TARP recipients. A senior aid to Senate Majority Leader Ried has confirmed that he will move to proceed to Senate Calendar Number 36, H.R. 1586, or another House passed tax measure, so the Senate can avoid the Constitutional mandate that tax bills originate in the House. Proceed to tax shell of a bill – CONFIRMED.

Step Four: This scenario would most likely be implemented after the Massachusetts state legislature gives Governor Deval Patrick the power to appoint a new Senator and that Senator is seated by the Senate. The Senate swore in new Massachusetts Senator Paul Kirk on September 25th. Change Law of Massachusetts to allow for interim Senator – COMPLETE.

The final step in this plan is for the House to take up Obama care, without amending the legislation, and then sending that bill directly to the President for his signature. Matt Cover at CNSnews.com reports “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) won’t rule out having the House vote on the Senate health-care bill without making any changes in it, which would allow the bill to go directly to President Barack Obama without having to pass through a House-Senate conference committee and another round of votes in the House and Senate–and a longer period of public scrutiny of what the text of the proposed law actually says.” This scenario is in the process of being implemented and, if successful, it will result in Obamacare being on the President’s desk in time for Thansgiving with minimal participation of the American public.

The San Francisco Examiner published an editorial today that exposed the fact that the American people can’t see the bill. “When then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama promised not to sign major legislation until it had been posted on the Internet for public reading at least five days, trusting voters took him at his word. Now they know better. Not only is the actual language of what is likely to become the main legislative vehicle for Obama’s signature health care reform not available on the Internet, it hasn’t been given to members of the key Senate committees or the Congressional Budget Office.” The procedure being used, in addition to the exclusion of the American people from the process, should be of grave concern to all who want to participate in democracy and have a say in Congress’ health care reforms that will touch 1/6th of the American economy.

Importantly, Reid’s scheme still requires breaking a filibuster. This is where healthcare opponents need to focus their attention and pressure. Per Dick Morris, the key Senators we need to persuade are Olympia Snowe and Blanche Lincoln.

Watch how Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln vote in the Senate Finance Committee on the Baucus version of the Obama healthcare plan. As Snowe and Lincoln go, so will the Congress.

The Democrats need Snowe’s vote desperately, to convince wavering moderate Democrats that they can offer a veneer, however thin, of bipartisanship to the health proposal. If Snowe, their last chance at a Republican vote, opposes the Obama/Baucus proposal, there is no hope of a bipartisan fig leaf for the package.

On the other hand, if Snowe backs the bill, it will send a signal to moderate Democrats that it’s OK to join in and the bill will probably attract the 60 votes it needs for Senate passage.

Lincoln’s vote becomes critical if Snowe votes no. Lincoln is probably the single most vulnerable Democrat running for reelection in 2010. She is the proverbial canary in the coalmine. If she makes it, so will all the Democrats. Hailing from a conservative Southern state, her poll numbers suggest that she would be in a heap of trouble with a stiff challenger.

If Lincoln defects and joins the Republicans in voting no (as she has done on a number of amendments), she will do a lot to cement her chances to remain a senator, but will open a wound in the Democratic Party. A domino effect will likely set in.

Here are the phone numbers of Snowe and Lincoln’s Senate offices. It’s time to start burning up the phone lines.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR) 202-224-4843
Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) 202-224-5344

Despite opposition to their healthcare proposals reaching a new high, the Democrat’s march towards government-run healthcare is moving forward undeterred. If you believe yesterday’s vote in the Senate Finance Committee means the public option is dead, well, think again.

According to The Heritage Foundation, Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, are planning to ramrod their legislation through Congress using what can only be described as scheming, underhanded tactics. As the Foundry piece explains, filibustering the legislation would likely be unsuccessful as it would require the more  ‘moderate’ members of the Democrat caucus going against their own party — an unlikely scenario.

The question is not whether Democrats can muster 60 votes to pass Obamacare; they only need 51 votes to do that. The only time the number 60 will be relevant is when the Senate votes on whether to end debate and vote on the final bill. This is a separate question. We can see Senators from red states like Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanch Lincoln (D-AR), and Kent Conrad (D-ND) voting against an amendment creating a public option. But voting with Republicans against their party and against their President to support a Republican filibuster? That would take a lot of courage. It would guarantee that these Democrats would face fierce opposition from their leftist bases back home.

Subsequently, Reid will take two Senate-passed measures, merge them together and attach it to a House bill which has nothing to do with healthcare.  

So just how close are we to being inflicted with the Obama/Moore dream of anti-capitalist, competition-free, government-run health care? Closer than many realize. Multiple sources on the Hill have told The Foundry that as early as next week, the Senate could be debating Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Reid has stated an intention to take the HELP Committee product and merge it with the Senate Finance Committee markup that is expected to be over by this Thursday or Friday. Their plan is to proceed to a House passed non-health care bill to provide a shell of legislation to give Obamacare a ride to the House and then straight to the President’s desk.

Ironically, it wasn’t that long ago that Democrats threatened to shut down the Senate if Republicans used the ‘nuclear option’ to bypass filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. The then-Minority Leader even was quoted as saying that the use of the nuclear option would ”ruin our country.” Now, with the stakes far higher for the nation, the Reid-led Democrats in the Senate are willing to effectively bypass the House of Representatives in their effort to achieve their dream of government-run healthcare. The people’s body, for all intents and purposes, would have no voice in legislation that directly affects the healthcare of the citizenry and 1/6th of our nation’s economy. 

The Democrats’ healthcare proposals already represent an assault on our individual liberties and the concepts of capitalism and free markets which so many of us hold dear. But now their tactics represent nothing less than a direct assault on representative democracy. No sacred institution, no cherished principle, nor the Constitution itself are above sacrifice in the pursuit of their extreme agenda.

Truly shameful.

With apologies to that unforgettable band of the 80’s, A Flock of Seagulls, their biggest hit song of that era is an apt description of sorts of Obama policy towards the rogue, terrorist state.

President Obama’s approach to Iran is a failure unfolding before our eyes. Despite his overtures to open up a dialogue with the Tyrants on Teheran their fists have only become more firmly and tightly clenched than ever before. Now, as their efforts to acquire nuclear weapons become ever more close to becoming reality, Obama offers the free world nothing but empty words – plenty of carrots but no stick in sight.

In fact, you know the world is turned upide down when the leader of France – France! – feels the need to scold Obama for his failure to lead on the issue.

The contempt with which the president of France regards the president of the United States was displayed in public last week.

Nicolas Sarkozy was furious with Barack Obama for his adolescent warbling about a world without nuclear weapons at a meeting Mr. Obama chaired of the United Nations Security Council last Thursday (9/24).

“We must never stop until we see the day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of the earth,” President Obama said.

What infuriated President Sarkozy was that at the time Mr. Obama said those words, Mr. Obama knew the mullahs in Iran had a secret nuclear weapons development site, and he didn’t call them on it.

‘President Obama dreams of a world without weapons…but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite,” Mr. Sarkozy said.

“Iran since 2005 has flouted five Security Council resolutions,” Mr. Sarkozy said. “North Korea has been defying Council resolutions since 1993.”

“What good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community?” he asked rhetorically. “More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe out a UN member state off the map.”

If the Security Council had imposed serious sanctions on the regimes which are flouting UN resolutions, the resolution Mr. Obama proposed about working toward nuclear disarmament wouldn’t have been so meaningless, Mr. Sarkozy implied.

“If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce or own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons,” he said.

The extent of President Obama’s naivete – or duplicity – was on display Friday at the G20 summit when the president, flanked by Mr. Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, revealed to the American public that Iran had a second nuclear weapons site on a military base near the holy city of Qom.

News reports indicated Mr. Obama had been briefed on the site before his inauguration. But he’s been conducting his foreign policy as if the mullahs could be trusted.

The fact that Obama has known about the secret nuclear site in Iran and has still persisted in a Neville Chamberlain-like approach to this problem is stunning - and suggests that his ego is far larger than his intelligence. It his time for him to lead before it is too late.

Let me be clear. The Iranian situation is indeed complex. The answers are not easy, nor are the consequences of using military force to stop them pretty. Iran very easily could attack Israel, either directly or throught their surrogate terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. They could also use these terror groups to attack American interests and disrupt the world’s oil supply and, thusly, further damage an already weak world economy. All of these possibilities are indeed bleak.

Bleaker yet, though, is a world in which Iran possesses nuclear weapons. Like Pakistan and North Korea now, the free world would have no leverage over Iran. The mullahs could see fit to transfer their nuclear know-how to other terror states like Syria or, worse yet, put nuclear weapons in the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah. An arms race could spread across the Middle East. Iran would also be free to continue to foment terrorist activities across the globe, with particular aim at the state of Israel, without the fear of consequence. This second scenario would be a far worse reality than using force to stop them now and, one would hope, replacing the regime with the pro-western contingent in that country.

Despite my many other serious concerns about what this President is doing, this issue should be above party and above ideology. An American President needs to, above all, be grounded in reality. He (or she) needs to understand their role as both leader of America and the free world. The time for diplomacy is quickly running out on Iran, I fear. The President now needs to step up and be forthright about the matter at hand and let the American people know that military force may be the only solution to this crisis. This is not an issue that the United States can defer on and leave to the state of Israel.

The President has before said the time for ‘childish games is over.’ Well, the time for fecklessness, weakness and naivete now ought to be over. It’s time for Obama to step up on this issue. To do otherwise, is an abrogation of his sworn duty to protect and defend our nation. To do nothing, would be unforgiveable.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!