IT’S ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES

This President has made it absolutely clear that he doesn’t gave a damn about the economy, about how many Americans are unemployed, what is going on in Iran, or where Khalid Sheik Mohamed gets tried. The only damned thing this demagogue cares about is his health care plan. Now the word of the day is being shouted around Washington: “RECONCILIATION! RECONCILIATION AT ALL COSTS! RECONCILIATION IS COMING, SO SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF THE WAY! CLING ON TO YOUR GUNS AND RELIGION!” 

Out here in California, they are getting ready to lay off thousands of school teachers. A gathering of concerned parents and other citizens stormed the San Francisco Unified School District with demands that these layoffs not occur. After all, they insist, education should be a top priority. Actually, I somewhat agree with them; if people don’t know how to read, how are they going to be able to understand the 2,700 pages of the new Health Care Plan? 


Or maybe, that’s in the grand plan of things? 

Nevertheless, this just sums up a looming case in point. Cities are out of money, states are out of money and, although the day of reckoning is fast approaching the Congress keeps on spending money as if there were no bottom to our taxpayer pockets. Yes, the day is coming when we are either going to have to literally learn how to speak Chinese, or we are going to be “tapped out,” as they say in the gambling business.

When that day comes, we the people and our illustrious Congress and President are going to have to come to grips with a word we haven’t really understood in decades: “priorities.” When we finally realize that there really isn’t enough money to go around, we are going to have to decide what is absolutely essential to the continuation of our nation, and what isn’t. 

And, where do you think a nationalized health care plan will be on that list of priorities in relation to:

• National defense

• Education

• Energy

• Law enforcement

• Fire protection

• Unemployment

• National debt

• Terrorism

Sen. Jim Bunning (Republican from Kentucky), Thursday stopped legislation that would extend unemployment benefits at a cost of $10 billion. He didn’t feel we should be shelling out another $10 billion when we have several hundred billions of unspent dollars in the stimulus fund. Why not take it out of there? Vice President Joe Biden went after Bunning like a caged whale, saying that it’s not right to hold up unemployment checks to millions who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Biden is correct, but so is Bunning. We’re heading for a big economic disaster; save the $10 billion by taking the money out of the stimulus fund and putting it into the unemployment fund. Biden’s priority is obviously to keep the $10 billion under Democrat control so it can be used just before the November election, and Bunning’s priority is to start taking steps now to protect our financial butts. Who’s right and who’ wrong?


I do know that ominous signs are running up the flagpole, as I predicted they would. The number of new weekly unemployment claims is rising again; new housing sales in January plummeted; foreclosures are really about to sting our economy again; and the Administration’s priority is health care. The message we Americans are hearing is: “Who cares if Americans are losing their jobs, cars, houses, bank accounts, retirement plans and furniture? Who cares? Just who gives a damn about those dumb Americans, anyway? The Administration’s only priority is to get health care passed, period.”


Hold on, friends. What is coming is obviously going to be a very rough ride. While Obama fiddles, America burns.


That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT

SPECIAL POST

I was sitting here listening to the Health Care Summit, listening to the worst display of Americanism I can remember since the final days of the Nixon administration, and the truth of the situation dawned on me. 

I don’t know that anyone else has had the same revelations, but I think we owe Barack Obama a very profound thanks. 

For the first time in decades, Americans are paying attention to what is going on in Washington and in our schools, and we’re discovering what rotten tricks our government has been pulling on us. Today’s lengthy display of purely rotten theatrics is but one of many examples of the depravation that has settled in to Washington. 

Had Obama not come along, we’d still be sitting on our couches in our happy stupors thinking that things were great. Obama’s agenda and ruthless tactics have awakened us to the real facts.

Our country is in trouble. 

Thanks, Mr. President, for waking us up.  

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted

HEALTH CARE SUMMIT; WEIGHING IN ON THE BIG DAY

SPECIAL POST - 11:00 AM EST

The Health Care Plan Summit is underway and President Obama has begun to deliver his opening remarks. Not long before the beginning of the Summit, jobs figures were released showing 496,000 people applied for first-time unemployment claims last week. Sales of new homes have plummeted, foreclosures are up. Nevertheless, the President indicated that health care is the biggest issue he’s facing. 

The President said that he wants all attendees to focus on the things they agree on and not their political differences. He spoke about his posting of his plan on Monday and the creation of an insurance exchange that, in his opinion, would help more people obtain insurance and at a lower price, and then rushed through a few other provisions before outlining the day’s agenda, where they will go through provision by provision and talk about what they agree on. He admonished that he doesn’t want participants making political theater out of the summit. 

Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, pointing out the he was also representing the views of some of the nation’s governors, said that they should start over put the emphasis back on controlling costs. The President, in his classic “I’m hearing, but I’m not paying much attention to what you have to say style,” initially busied himself writing, then finally leaned back in his chair and started listening. What the purpose of the President’s taking notes is unclear to me; why doesn’t he have one of his White House staffers who make $150,000 a year do that for him, so he can be more attentive to what is being said? One thing that was apparent was that the more Alexander spoke, the more the President glowered. 

Alexander asked the President at the outset to renounce the reconciliation threat and take it off the table. The President leaned forward in his chair with a defiant look as Alexander explained the background of his request. Alexander then said that if reconciliation is not taken off the table, then it will have an adverse effect on what they try to accomplish during the rest of the day. 

Nancy Pelosi took the mike to say that this is about the “character of our country.” She said that there are people out there who don’t have time for them to start over, (as if their plan that is slated to take effect in 2014 would save someone’s life today, before the summit is over, and that is her excuse for refusing to start anew,). Again, it was apparent that she is using the old “emergency, the house is burning down” avenue to try and force the plan through. Then she started talking about how the Plan will create jobs, “almost 400,000 jobs immediately. “
Both Obama and Alexander exceeded their allotted time in opening remarks; Pelosi, who evidently was to speak half as long, spoke longer. “We need to understand the urgency Americans feel” about this issue. 

Harry Reid then spoke, citing one Jesus Gutierrez from Reno and his health care battle with an insurance company regarding his baby child. Reid directly challenged Alexander that Alexander is entitled to his own opinion, “but not his own facts” as he talked about prescription problems, and then lambasted Alexander about mentioning his request to back off from reconciliation. He made it very apparent that he was on the muscle, calling the Republicans “stubborn.”


Obama and Alexander are now arguing the facts over the cause of rising costs and Obama is calling Alexander down. 


At this juncture it appears to me that this “Summit” is about to turn ugly.

HIGH NOON, EST

After a heated exchange between Obama and Alexander, Alexander said he had facts to back him up and rather than embarrass Obama in public, maybe they should discuss them later, and Obama said he wanted everything out in this meeting before it was over.  

Sen. Tom Coburn said that we should be focusing n the areas was costs are wasted. “One of out of three dollars spent doesn’t make anyone well.” Coburn said we need to focus more on prevention and the costs of medical tests given solely to protect the doctor and not necessarily to help the patient. He said the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance has to be addressed. They should be having undercover people investigate for fraud. Reid interrupted Coburn and accused him of filibustering. 

So far, this appears to me to be an overt attempt to denigrate the American position and the Republican opposition, and my opinion at this point is that the Republicans will either agree to what the Democrats want or they are going to get steam-rolled. This, in essence, is a “kangaroo court” of ideas… so one-sided as to stifle genuine conversation and sound resolution of the issues. 

Congressman Steny Hoyer went into a lengthy story about health problems in his own family. Then he said that he agrees about the rising costs of fraud, waste and abuse and claimed that their bill takes care of those issues. He basically slammed the medical profession for doing things based not on “best practices” for the patient, but on best revenues to be obtained. 


Congressman John Kline countered that they should go with a step-by-step approach as Alexander had suggested. Senator Max Baucus said everyone in the room is “very close” to getting the job done. Eventually, Alexander said that the Democrats had the floor for about 58 minutes while the Republicans had only been on the floor about 24 minutes. Obama took exception to that and fluffed it off. 

We’re into this “Summit” about an hour and 50 minutes and I have to give the Republicans credit for not getting up and walking out. This “summit” is not going to accomplish anything except to keep Obama’s mug on national T.V. for six straight hours. Nothing new has been proffered. The Democrats have obviously been on the attack and going for the Republican throats. Only the things that we have already heard in the public domain have been raised here. It is a pure waste of my time, and a total insult to my intelligence, to pay any more attention to this pejorative, divisive flap-doodle.

I’m signing off until it’s over. 

OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

SPECIAL REPORT

Look for it to contain broad provisions that can be interpreted in a multitude of ways according to who wants to use those provisions and the purpose for that use.  


Look for it to contain provisions contrary to the wishes of the American people, provisions that are buried in between other, unrelated provisions.  


Look for it to exemplify the struggle of the President's arrogant will versus the will of the American people. 


That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted. 

TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

How DARE you ask me to contribute to the G.O.P. so that they can “preserve America’s conservative values” when YOU deserted those values more than 20 years ago! If you think that Democrats have screwed up enough that November is going to be a GOP cakewalk, I’ve got news for you. You’re just as much at fault for the mess this country is in as the Democrats are. What this country needs right now is energetic American patriots who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work diligently together to proactively address the horrendous issues that are now boiling in the pot and, frankly, you have not yet demonstrated to me that you fit the job description.


Get it through your thick heads: This election is not about Republicans vs. Democrats; this election is about saving the country. And, if you are not part of the solution, which you have not been for at least 20 years, then you are part of the problem. The nation is surely in a state of emergency on many, many fronts, and all you can do is run around gloating about Scott Brown!

Well, get over it.

The G.O.P. doesn’t seem to have any defined leadership or platform, other than to seize power back from the Democrats so that its members can be back in charge of the same old Washington games. And, if it is successful, the country will continue to head straight for the rock pile while the Republicans go back to “business as usual,” just like has happened time and time again. There will be no difference; it’ll just be elephants in charge of the animal farm instead of donkeys.

You know it, and I know it.

Just how much of this national debt are you responsible for creating? Why didn’t the G.O.P. do something about the health care issues when they were in charge? The G.O.P. points its finger at the Democrats over the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue, insisting that it all started back in the early Clinton era. Okay, let’s accept that argument; why didn’t the G.O.P. do something about that issue when it was overwhelmingly in charge during Bush’s first term?

Do you also think we Americans are as dumb as Astroturf?

Just where you get the notion that, just because we despise what the current Congress and President are doing to our country we are in love with the G.O.P., I don’t know. If you’re so damned good for the country, then why in God’s name did you vote for the TARP Bill? I heard a prominent Republican on a national television show make a remark the other night that Obama and the Democrats should come out and admit their mistakes and promise to do better. Well, duhhh! I don’t suppose it occurred to anyone in the G.O.P. to lead by example, did it?

As if you pious recreants have not made your own share of mistakes?

And now, you want me to contribute my hard-earned money to the Republican National Committee to “preserve America’s conservative values”? What audacity! Am I angry? You’re damned right I am. Are my neighbors angry? Beyond words. Is the country angry? Americans’ seething anger has just about had it up to its collective neck.

You lost it; you blew it.

Move over. Get out of the way. We who believe in the restoration of the fundamentals of American Democracy are going to work together, shoulder to shoulder, arm to arm, and we are going to go where no Republican and no Democrat has gone in recent history. We are going to resume control of our country and we are going to stop this madness which permeates every despicable nook and cranny in Washington before it is too late.

And, if you think that we’re going to be donating our hard-earned money to fools like you, you have lost touch with reality.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

IRAN WORKING ON NUCLEAR WAR HEAD?

SPECIAL POST

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said, in a draft report, that Iran may secretly be working on a nuclear war head to attach to one of its missiles. It is the first report by the agency's new director general, Yukiya Amano. While this report seems to be a surprise to the United States, a November 2009 U.K. report said that Iranian scientists were already working on an advanced nuclear warhead design at that time.

Yesterday, the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned that Iran was "becoming a nuclear weapons capable country and that is very dangerous." However, he stressed that the Obama administration's priority was to initiate dialogue and engagement with Iran.

Pardon me, but it seems to me that we are playing with fire here. Maybe we should go ahead and pass the damned health care plan so that our illustrious President will pull his head out of his rear and start attending to the business of the country?

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

MY CHIEF AMERICAN REGRET

SPECIAL POST

My chief regret on this day is that there are not more primary challengers to the incumbents.   

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted. 

ARROGANT, SECRET PLAN TO GO AHEAD WITH HEALTH CARE PLAN

Word is leaking out of the House of Representatives that plans are underfoot to go ahead and pass the current version of the Health Care Plan, using the Reconciliation method in the Senate with 51 votes. In reading between the lines, it appears to me that the February 25th “summit” is designed to be a dog and pony show. The Republicans can’t back out now. Obama, Pelosi and Reid will sit there with their condescending smiles and arms folded while listening to what the Republicans have to say, and then the pre-designed media blitz will start off with the three of them deriding the plans put forth by the Republicans as being “stupid and obstructionist,” and then they’ll fake utter outrage at their “blatant failure to come to the table in a bi-partisan way,” and they’ll ram the current plan through both Houses within 48 hours and follow that up with triumphant remarks about how they saved the country.

This move gets them past the “We’ll post the whole thing on the Internet for the country to read and see” promise that Obama made and sets the scene for passage before we can mount a strategy to stop it.  It also provides a televised stage for them to showcase their sincerity and begin their attacks, in a subtle way, against the Republicans. 

Anthony Weiner, (Representative from New York), was on TV yesterday defending the move with more of the “Americans don’t understand what’s best for them, we can’t sit by and do nothing, it hasn’t been explained in a proper way,” line. Weiner said it doesn’t matter what the Constitution says about a 60 vote requirement, a mere majority should certainly be enough in this country, and that’s 51 votes. When asked what the overwhelming majority of Americans who adamantly oppose the plan as it exists, will think, he basically said: “They’ll have to get over it.”


Of course, that begs the question of what our reaction will really be. We think, “Aren’t they aware of the fact that they will all get chased out of office?” And that is the point. What happened in Massachusetts and in the days after, what the polls say, and the number of incumbents who are announcing they will not seek reelection… All of these things have already convinced them that their future prospects in Washington are already non-existent. Therefore, in their minds they have nothing to lose by going ahead with this really shitty move against American democracy, do they?

And, who do you think has devised this grand scheme to catch us totally off-guard and flat-footed? Nancy Pelosi? I hate to say it, but she doesn’t have the ability to strategize her way out of a wet paper bag. Harry Reid? Maybe. Obama? Most likely. I think Obama, Emmanuel and Holder came up with it and ran it by Reid and he liked the idea, and then they told Pelosi how it was going to play out. Pelosi, unable to contain herself at the thought of shoving something like this up our “Astroturf” rear ends, could not resist letting the cat out of the bag, and that’s where the leak seems to have originated.

Now what?

The arrogant audacity of these Benedict Arnolds cannot be overstated. They have consistently lied to us about what the contents of the Bill have been at various stages. They have concealed or misrepresented the true costs. They have even stonewalled on “transparency.” They’ve said one thing and done others. They’ve pulled every dirty trick in the book. This latest revelation should certainly come as no surprise. They are charlatans, traitors posing as patriots, Beelzebubs posing as archangels.

We may have to get on trains, buses, planes, horses, and donkeys…whatever it takes… and get our fannies back there to Pennsylvania Avenue to flood the streets with angry protests. That day may come, very soon. We need to be prepared to march through the halls of Congress and look these scums straight in the eyes and let them become fully and personally aware of our angst. This “crisis in the making” may ultimately be the seeds of a real revolution against the incumbents. But, we need to be careful; Obama may seize upon our anger that HE created to turn us against our own Constitution.

Before we reach the point of such action, we need to exercise every reasonable effort that we can to get the message across without creating a showdown on the Capitol steps. We need to fax, call, write, email every Congressman and Senator in Washington, whether or not they are from our state, and we need to totally vent our rage over this scheme. We need to do it now, today. Forgo the cost of a 12-pack or a bottle of good wine and use the money to unload on these worse than senseless beings. Don’t mince any words and be sure to send a copy to your local newspaper when you do it.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, urgently submitted.

2010: HOW BEST TO MAKE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS

SPECIAL POST

We need to make a change in Washington, and we call know that “business as usual” has been “business as usual” for decades. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have been at fault, because they have allowed “business as usual” to not only become the norm, but to dictate how they view their duties toward us, “we, the people.” We need to shake up and remove the characters involved and get totally cured of the cancer upon our country commonly referred to as “business as usual,” or “that’s the way things work in Washington.” We need to get rid of every last vestige of it. The only way to accomplish that is to remove every incumbent we can, regardless of political affiliation.

So, how do we best invest our political contributions toward accomplishing that goal?

I believe that the best tactic is to get the incumbents out in the primaries. If we get rid of the incumbents in the primaries, then we will have two or more new and fresh choices to consider for election in November. In the process, we will have a “pre-inauguration” bonus, a shakeup of old political bases, fiefdoms and dynasties that have been established by all of the long-time residents.

That’s my game plan. Yes, I think a contribution to the Tea Party is a good move as well. They are not running any candidates and they are lining up to endorse and support candidates, regardless of political affiliation, who will do the best to bring our country back to being a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

The sooner we get Washington back under our control, the better off the country will be.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted. 

PRESIDENT FUELS FIRESTORM

SPECIAL POST

Facing a prolonged unemployment crisis that is on the verge of creating astronomical business and housing foreclosure rates, which in turn will fire up MORE banking problems, and just two weeks after Scott Brown made it clear that Americans and Massachusetts residents in particular are fed up with his agenda, Barack Hussein Obama interrupted Super Bowl Sunday long enough to announce that:

REGARDLESS OF THE LOOMING CRISIS, HE STILL WANTS HIS DAMNED HEALTH CARE BILL!

With the national debt rising faster than a NASA rocket, Obama wants another stimulus bill, he wants to spend hundreds of billions more on a 2,500-page national health care package and he does not care what Americans do or don’t want.

When he has the unmitigated gall to say that he guesses he didn’t explain it right, he is saying that we are too stupid to understand it; you can almost visualize him reaching down into his desk drawer and producing a .45 caliber pistol and pointing it at you and saying, “I’m only going to explain it one more time.”

Contrary to what he seems to believe, he’s only the President. .. Nothing more. He only has one vote, same as you and me. I don’t know about you, but I do not respond well to mob-style government. And, if what I hear going around America is true, he’s in for a very, very rude awakening.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

AMERICAN CIVICS 101

I am honored to be a member of the American Legion. Not only is it fitting, since I spent four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Viet Nam era, but it is also fitting because I was privileged to be selected to attend Utah’s American Legion Boys State back in B.C. (before computers). Today, I’m working with a Post committee in the recruitment and selection of young men and women to attend Boys State or Girls State in California. In reflection, I think that my involvement in military service, Civics in high school, the American Legion and Boys State have all contributed to my interest in what is going on in Washington and all over America today, as well as to my outspoken criticism of today’s politicians and our government in general.


I thank Glenn Beck for taking on the challenge of educating Americans as to the real history of this country and as to what is really going on in Washington and in state houses around the country. I think he has done more in the past year to teach Americans about who we are and where we are going than any single person over the past 30 or 40 years. Maybe that is why his ratings are the highest in his time slot, second best among all T.V. shows of all networks of the entire 24-hour day, and why the White House never dings his red phone.


Somehow, in all of this prosperity we have enjoyed as a nation, over the past five or six decades we have lost our way and we are in danger of losing our identity not only as a nation, but as individuals as well. And, I see the foundations upon which this great country was built being eroded every day; history tells me that the things that are happening in our country today are precursors to a change in government.


That disturbs me to no end.


What is encouraging is the success of the American Tea Party. Other signs also point to the fact that Americans are wanting to find out what in the hell is going on and they don’t like what they are discovering. For years now, both parties have been guilty of a cavalier attitude about the trust we place in them and about their duties as public servants. As a result, our basic justice system has been compromised. You can buy a Judge or a Congressman. Our educational system is infested with books and teachers who deny our heritage as a country and who push their agendas into the brains of our children; that’s called indoctrination. Our financial system is crumbling.


Our Constitution lays out a grand plan where the central government has severely restricted powers. Each state is a sovereign state, much like a sovereign nation; it enacts its own laws, elects its own leaders. The only reason you had a central government in the first place was to provide for the common defense and to regulate commerce among the states. There was no other reason for a central government; the states, by joining the Union, gave the central government very limited powers and the Constitution specifically reserved any powers not expressly given to the central government to belong to the states.


The role of the people was to exercise their political powers at the state levels. The state would send people to Washington to represent the interests of the states in the central government. But, as time has gone on, the states have allowed the central government to grow and we, the people, haven’t put a stop to it. Once the central government got the right to levy taxes on us, they gained the ability to say to the states, “We may not constitutionally have the power to make this law, but if you interfere, we’ll cut off your funding.” You know the old saying… “He who controls the purse controls the country.”


And, now look where we are.


How do we regain control? Well, the first thing is to run off all of the incumbents we can in 2010. The greed, corruption and lack of ethics in Washington are a cancer upon this nation and the only way to remove the blight is to get rid of those who allow it to exist. The second thing we need to do is to reduce the role of the central government and to return the powers to the states. Only by so doing can we disassemble the dynasties and fiefdoms that have flourished in Washington and pirated our freedoms and liberties.


That’s it in a simple nutshell.


That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

EMMANUEL'S "REMARK:" WHAT IT REALLY MEANS

The furor over the "f-----g retarded" gaffe has Sarah Palin and a whole slew of other Americans totally ticked off, and rightfully so.  The fact that the Obama Administration has now twice openly denigrated the mentally challenged makes matters much, much worse, and not just on the surface.  There is a darker, more sinister side to this story.  

Take the birth certificate issue.  What is so difficult about just putting the certificate out there for all to see?  The records from Columbia and Occidental?  Why the denials over Bill Ayers and Sol Alinsky and Jeremiah Wright and... Well, are not all of these things indicative of an arrogant and contemptuous attitude toward all Americans?  Aren't we all "f-----g retarded" in their eyes?  Doesn't this all strike at the heart of their saying one thing and doing another?  "Yes, we're going to have transparency because we're going to do everything on C-SPAN so the whole nation can see it?"  "Screw you, you don't have a right to know what is going on?"  


When I hear these things coming out of the White House, the words I hear are "Shut up and get out of the way....you lowly piece of crap.  It's beneath our dignity to even speak with Americans.  You need to be exterminated like vermin."  


It's a mind set that has to offend all of us.   It's a mind set that must be eliminated.  Post haste. 


That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.