A trip to Costco - courtesy of you and me

This morning after church I made a trip to Costco. As usual, it was packed. When I finished my shopping I headed for the check-out area. I ended up in line behind what seemed to be a healthy, able-bodied, attractive woman of about 30. She had two carts full of groceries, with a cute baby riding in one of them. This woman wore fashionable clothes, accented by a fully-loaded Pandora charm bracelet.
When all of her groceries had been rung up she told the cashier "put the first $300 on my EBT card and the rest on my American Express card." (those are words that I confess I never thought I'd hear in the same sentence - "my EBT card" and "my American Express card"). She completed her check-out, and I completed mine. We both got in that Costco line to have our receipts and carts inspected before leaving, and then headed for the parking lot. Her car happened to be parked right in front of the store. It was a brand-new Ford Expedition (minimum MSRP about $40,000).
There is no doubt that there are truly needy people among us, and those in true need should surely be helped by their fellow man. But was EBT (a.k.a. the Food Stamp program) really meant for people with American Express cards, fully charmed-up Pandora bracelets and new Ford Expeditions?
A relevant quote on this topic is attributed to Benjamin Franklin. It states "when people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." If people can carry American Express cards, wear expensive jewelry and drive new $40,000+ cars and still qualify for EBT - the heralding may already have begun.

My Ongoing Dialogue with My Senators

I'm not sure why I keep doing it, since my Senators are so incompetent and uncommunicative, but for some reason I feel compelled to at least attempt to get through to them. The latest effort is below:

Senators Warner and Webb,

We begin another day with more talk from the democrats, but no leadership and no solutions.

Are Obama and Senate democrats actually capable of anything but ceaseless sniping and demagoguery?

Let's review some facts:

• ·         You both voted for Health Care " reform", after a process during which Republicans were literally locked out of meetings. This was a fine example of how you democrats define "compromise" - and a major contributor to our current economic woes.

o   on a side note, can you tell me where I get my waiver from Obamacare, since you all seem to be passing those out like candy to your pals?

• ·         The Senate has failed to meet its Constitutional  duty and pass a budget for well over 2 years.

o   Obama did submit a "budget" - but it was so reckless and irresponsible it didn't even get a single vote in the Senate. Not even from you two - which is saying something given your records of voting for every statist solution he has put forth.

• ·         The House has passed a budget, which Harry Reid refused to allow a vote on in the Senate

• ·         The House passed Cut, Cap and Balance, which Harry Reid refused to allow a vote on in the Senate.

• ·         The House has passed the Boehner bill, which Harry Reid refused to allow a vote on in the Senate.

There seems to be a distinct pattern here. Democrats propose no specific answers or solutions, refuse to even listen to Republicans, denigrate alternative solutions and palaver about the need for "compromise" (which is apparently defined in Obama-world as doing exactly what he and Senate democrats want) and then take their ball and go home when they don't get exactly what they want.

To quote Obama - it is time to act like adults. Do your jobs. Stop spouting useless nonsense about your pursuit of "economic fairness and social justice" - goals you can't even define in any way you can be held accountable for  but which I'm sure make you appear noble to people not paying attention to what you're actually doing - and get to work. You democrats have created this mess. Since you took over Congress in 2007 the debt and deficits have skyrocketed, accelerating our collision with the debt ceiling and contributing mightily to the debt crisis. You are part of the problem. Asking Virginians to believe you can be part of the solution is patently absurd. So if you can't be part of the solution, at least get out of the way so you don't continue to exacerbate the problem.

I wrote you both a couple of days ago asking if you could provide me with the specific details of the "plans" Obama and Reid have for reducing the debt and deficits. I am of course shocked that neither of you replied. Probably tough for you to answer though, I suppose,  when there is no answer to give.

I'm not holding my breath on getting responses, but if I do I'll post them.

Correspondence with my Senator

This morning I received an email from Senator Mark Warner entitled "A grown-up discussion about deficits". Since any democrat in Washington talking about a "grown-up discussion" about anything strikes me as supremely ironic and absurd, I could not let this pass without replying to the Senator. Here is that reply:

Senator Warner,
I received your email entitled "A grown-up discussion about deficits". I hope you can understand how a voter would see such a message coming from you as completely absurd. You voted for every one of the Obama programs that has accelerated at an unprecedented rate our drive into the fiscal ditch. And now that the political winds have shifted you have the gall to suggest voters should turn to you on matters of fiscal responsibility? What a sad joke.
And can you not see the irony of a democrat calling for a "grown-up discussion" about anything? It was the democrats who locked Republicans out of House chambers during the health care debate, and democrats in Wisconsin and Indiana who have abandoned their posts because things weren't going the way they liked. Obama was caught on video early in his reign telling John McCain "the election's over. I won" - implying that Republicans should shut up and behave and let Obama do as he pleased. And you supported him with your vote on every ridiculous, irresponsible initiative. Now the shoe is on the other foot - and the democrat response is to take their balls and go home pouting.
Senator Warner, you and your fellow democrats are the source of the problem. It is patently absurd for you to come to the voters now and suggest we should look to you for leadership on the solution. Your comment about "the simple fact is, drastic and even painful cuts to these programs alone will not fix our structural budget problems" is the classic democrat dodge and your usual excuse for doing nothing and kicking the can down the road. Nothing that you will suggest will, "alone", fix our fiscal problems, either. Does that mean that unless a single solution can fix it all we shouldn't do it? Or is it just that democrats lack the courage and integrity to actually "cut" anything (as opposed to reducing the rate of growth and claiming you made "cuts")?
It's a sad time for our republic when Congress is populated with people so blinded by ideology, so hypocritical and so grossly incompetent to have created this problem in the first place. And to then suggest those same people should be relied upon to fix it is beyond belief. Obama created more debt in two years than all prior administrations in the entire history of the country - and you voted for every bit of it. Please spare me and the rest of Virginia voters the claim that you can be part of the solution.
Thank you

 

The sad part is there are people out there who will take Warner at his word and believe he's really trying to fix the problem. Unbelievable.

An ObamaCare Thank You to my Senators

I wrote the letter below to my Senators, Warner and Webb, to thank them for their efforts on health care reform. You'll likely enjoy and appreciate it more than they do.

Senators Warner and Webb,

 Thank you very much. I just received the annual enrollment form for my 2011 medical insurance. My premiums will be rising by 31%, which my plan administrator attributes largely to the impact of ObamaCare. You both voted for ObamaCare, without the benefit of having read it, so I believe I have you to thank for this 31% increase in my costs. I’m not sure whose cost curve is getting bent downward, but it sure isn’t mine.

 My 31% increase in medical insurance premiums is not unique, of course. This is happening all over the country to all kinds of people (except you, I’m guessing, since Congress has a tendency to exempt itself from the negative impacts of its own decisions). Besides the dramatic increases in premiums, other reactions to ObamaCare include entire plans being eliminated and insurance companies leaving markets entirely. These actions will of course reduce competition and increase cost, the exact opposite of what Obama and his lapdogs in Congress cynically predicted. Is this the “economic fairness” and “social justice” that Senator Webb ceaselessly palavers about?

 It doesn’t take an actuary to forecast what ObamaCare will actually do. Options will be eliminated; costs will go up as more medical demand chases less supply; insurance companies will collapse as costs are shifted onto private insurance policies since Medicare and Medicaid reimburse below cost; and people will be forced into government-run health care. This is happening now, years before the most onerous and anti-capitalist provisions even kick in.

 So I have to ask you: was Congress (not having read the bill before passing it) really oblivious to the easily predictable consequences of ObamaCare, or was Congress actually on board with what Nancy-Ann DeParle has acknowledged was the White House plan all along – to collapse the private insurance market and force everyone into a single-payer system? Neither answer speaks well of you or your colleagues, but it would be nice to get an honest answer just once.

 Something you might want to consider: Obama and Congress are no wiser, no less greedy, no purer of motive, and no more worthy of trust and respect than the American people you treat with such condescension and disdain. Which is why you deserve no more power than the Constitution specifically grants you. Being Senators, and specifically Democrats, I have no expectation that you’ll actually take that to heart. But it needed to be said.

God Bless America

 

A recent piece from the Heritage Foundation entitled "Constitution Day and the Perilous Future" is worth taking a minute to read. The issue at hand is critically important (especially for the younger folks!)
 

I've also provided a link to the U.S. Constitution. That too is worth taking the time to read.

My kids have often chided me for being too political. I can't say I completely disagree, but I think the bigger risk is in not being political enough. If Americans are not involved (political) enough we risk ending up exactly where Jefferson and later Reagan predicted - with a government big enough to give some people all they want and take from other people all they have.

The bottom line is this: those who run our government, regardless of what party they belong to, are no better or smarter, no more honest or ethical, no more caring or compassionate, no purer of motive and certainly no more worthy of the trust of the American people than the American people themselves. Which is exactly why they should have no more power than they are specifically granted in the Constitution. 

If Americans can trust God and themselves more than they trust their alleged "betters" in government, and act upon that faith in God and country, we can rebuild our country and restore its Constitution before they get transformed into something true patriotic Americans would no longer recognize. 

God bless America

The Team Obama Flop

During the recent World Cup the U.S. team inspired new interest in soccer, at least for a short while. They persevered through some questionable calls, giving up some early goals and the deafening noise from the vuvuzelas.
Because of the increased attention the U.S. soccer team generated, millions of Americans watched on TV a game they'd normally ignore completely. And much of what they saw caused them to rethink what might be called the world's pastime. They found that soccer can be an enthralling, exciting game. But they also saw things completely unfamiliar to fans of American sports, and wondered if soccer was enthralling and exciting enough to overcome the sheer nonsense that often took place on the pitch.
The nonsense I refer to is the seemingly incessant flopping of players at the slightest hint of what they consider to be a penalty. Supposedly adult men, falling to the ground and rolling around whining that they'd been harmed and that a penalty needs to be called on somebody. It happened so often, so consistently, that it became a real source of frustration for American watchers of the World Cup and probably convinced many never to watch the game again.
Perhaps you'll think this is a bit of a stretch, but I see a parallel between Americans' indifference to soccer and their decreasing belief in and support for Team Obama. And I believe it has to do with the flopping. Just as soccer players flopped to the ground at every perceived foul, whether real or not, Team Obama cries "racism" every time anyone disagrees with them on anything. They can't even conceive of the possibility that they missed their shot on goal because of something they did. Every failure, every disagreement with their policies, must be the result of some foul committed by some "racist".
Team Obama's constant cries of racism are every bit as infantile, stupid and infuriating to watch as the soccer players flopping on the ground crying like babies for a foul to be called. Americans don't care much for soccer - largely because of the flopping. And they seem to care much less for Team Obama now that it has become evident that they are every bit as immature as the floppers on the pitch.

The Single-payer / Multiple-liar System

Throughout the debate on health care "reform" Obama has publicly stated, multiple times, that he had no plan to create a single-payer system. To the shock of nobody who's actually paying attention - he's lying.
For many large hospital systems Medicare and Medicaid patients make up a significant percentage of their total volume - sometimes 40% or more. The problem for the hospitals is that Medicare reimburses them at 75% of their cost, not their retail price, and Medicaid reimburses at only 60% of cost. There's simply no way hospitals can survive that payment scale without sticking it to their other "customers". So they're forced to charge exorbitant rates to the other, privately insured patients - with the result that those who are privately insured are subsidizing the health care of those whose costs are paid by the government. That is not a model for the long-term survival of either the hospitals or the private insurance companies.
Knowing that this system is completely unsustainable two Senators met with the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, before the final vote on the health care bill. They told her that unless the reimbursement issue was addressed the health care reform bill would eventually bankrupt private insurance in this country - leaving no option but a single-payer system. Ms. DeParle reportedly told them "that's our intention".
So we have the White House Office of Health Reform purposely pursuing the destruction of private health insurance to force a move to a single-payer system, while Obama, Reid and Pelosi are publicly claiming there is no such plan.
Is anyone surprised anymore at the magnitude of the lies being told by Obama and his minions?

Where's the $500 Billion?

When all the Obamatons were trumpeting the benefits of ObamaCare, they kept telling us that there was $500 billion of "waste, fraud and abuse" in Medicare. Obama told us that they would go after that waste, fraud and abuse; capture all the savings; and use the money to help pay for ObamaCare. Now that ObamaCare is (at least temporarily) dead, where's the talk about the need to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse from Medicare? If that waste, fraud and abuse really exists - isn't it the responsibility of Obama and Congress to eliminate it and capture those savings regardless of whether ObamaCare survives?
Since they have completely dropped that subject, we're left with only two logical explanations regarding the waste, fraud and abuse:

1. It doesn't exist and Obama and Congress were making it up to help promote ObamaCare, or
2. It does exist, and Obama and Congress are being grossly irresponsible and ignoring their fiduciary duties to the American people by failing to eliminate it.

There really are no other logical explanations. Either Obama and Congress were lying, or they are grossly irresponsible (of course they could easily be both liars AND grossly irresponsible, but for this explanation of the ObamaCare charade we have to choose one or the other).

Making vs. Taking

The strength of a nation rises and ebbs over time. Strength - fiscal, moral, social, political - increases when a nation creates the opportunity for all of its citizens to pursue their hopes and dreams to the best of their own ability. People free to make their own way have invariably created more opportunity for those around them and given more freely to those less fortunate. A nation's strength ebbs away when its government takes freedom away from its people, no matter the professed motive of said government.

Our country became great by making more and more people more and more free over time. The process was not perfect and mistakes were made, but in the course of history no country made more such progress. And as freedom grew, so did creativity, productivity and the wealth of our nation. America led the world in manufacturing, agriculture and innovation and spread them around the globe. We made the planes, trains and automobiles, and the loans to export them to the world. In the process, America made all those willing to work, those who recognized that rights also bring responsibilities, more prosperous and free.

But sadly our strength now ebbs away because we are no longer a nation of makers. Ruled by a government bureaucracy run amok, we have become a nation of takers. Half of Americans pay no income tax. They take the benefits our great country provides but contribute nothing to producing them. We take the goods now produced overseas since we no longer make them, and pay for them with the loaned money we have taken from those same countries selling us what we no longer make.

This new economic model is clearly unsustainable. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher - eventually we're going to run out of people to take from. Only if we return to making - making people more free from government, making products here in the U.S., making people responsible for their own actions and free to reap their own rewards - will we once again thrive as a nation.

A Message to my Senator

Senator,

You must vote AGAINST Harry Reid’s attempt to bring his 2,000+ page health reform bill to the Senate floor (and why did the Senate bill grow from 1,500 pages to over 2,000 – did Harry just want to make sure his was bigger than Nancy’s?).

Exactly one month ago I sent you a message thanking you for voting against Harry Reid’s attempt to scam the American people by passing the “doctor fix” separately from the health reform bill. Now he’s trying the opposite trick – passing the health reform bill without the “doctor” fix. And he’s trying to do it in such a way that only 51 votes will be needed for final passage of the bill, rather than the usual 60.

Harry Reid’s health care bill is an outright scam and a shell game, and an economic disaster in the making. It’s easy to make a bill appear to reduce the deficit when you include 10 years of “revenue” and only 6 years of cost in the first decade. But of course after that the program will be upside down and a permanent drag on the economy.

If the real goal was improving health care (as opposed to the increased government control and social engineering that are clearly driving the Reid -Pelosi agenda), the legislation would be concise and targeted to the major issues needing improvement:

• portability of health insurance among employers and locations
• encouraging increased competition and reduced cost through the sale of health insurance policies across state lines
• equality of tax treatment of health insurance premiums regardless of where or from whom policies are purchased
• allowing the sale of policies customized to buyers' needs rather than mandating one-size fits all policies that make people pay for coverage they'll never need.

These are simple concepts and each could be documented clearly in just a few pages. Even if each took 20 pages to outline you'd have only an 80 page bill. But the House version is 2,000 and the Senate version is now even larger.

Congress has proven it doesn't read bills before passing them, and we know they didn't write this themselves. Bills this long simply create the impression that Obama and Congress have told their favorite special interest groups to load up the legislation with whatever they want. And they're hoping to rush it through before we catch on.

Senator, Reid’s bill is a bad bill. It will not achieve the goals that are supposedly the reasons behind this effort; it will increase taxes and reduce service. All it will accomplish is increased government intrusion into our lives – and we’ll get to pay for that privilege.

You must vote to defeat this bill NOW, not try to amend or defeat it later. Stop Harry Reid and then do health reform the right way.

Crawling to Conclusions

After the Fort Hood "man-made disaster", we were treated to the absurd irony of Obama telling the American people not to "jump to conclusions" about why this tragedy occurred. This from a man for whom jumping to conclusions is one of his primary skills and means of exercise. Obama had no trouble jumping to the conclusion that police officers in Boston "acted stupidly" in the arrest of Louis Gates, before he had any facts whatsoever about what actually happened. Yet in the case of the Fort Hood tragedy the murderer might as well have worn a Team Al Qaeda t-shirt, but Obama still can't even crawl to the conclusion that the shooter is a terrorist.

2,000 Pages!?!?

Pelosi's new health care bill arrived yesterday - and it comes in at 2,000 pages. Any bill that long is guaranteed to be a compliance and enforcement nightmare that will dramatically increase bureaucracy, inefficiency and cost (pardon the redundancy). Does anyone really believe that health care can be made more effective and efficient through a bill that's 2,000 pages long?

Anyone in Congress or the media who comes out today in favor of this bill is revealing themselves to be an ideological kool-aid drinker. They cannot possibly have read the bill and judged it on its merits, so it's clear they'd be supporting it only because Obama, Pelosi and the special interest groups that actually wrote it told them to.

Democrats will say that anyone who opposes this bill is simply being obstructionist. But which is more logical and responsible - supporting legislation that hasn't been read (as the Democrats do), or NOT supporting legislation that hasn't been read?

If the real goal was improving health care (as opposed to the increased government control and social engineering that are clearly driving the Democrats' agenda), the legislation would be concise and targeted to the major issues needing improvement:

• portability of health insurance among employers and locations
• encouraging increased competition and reduced cost through the sale of health insurance policies across state lines
• equality of tax treatment of health insurance premiums regardless of where or from whom policies are purchased
• allowing the sale of policies customized to buyers' needs rather than mandating one-size fits all policies that make people pay for coverage they'll never need.

These are simple concepts and each could be documented clearly in just a few pages. Even if each took 10 pages to outline you'd have only a 40 page bill. But the House version is 2,000 and the Senate version is currently over 1,500 pages.

Congress doesn't read bills before passing them, and we know they didn't write this themselves. Bills this long simply create the impression that Obama and Congress have told their favorite special interest groups to load up the legislation with whatever they want. And they're hoping to rush it through before we catch on.

We should trust these people because.............?

Perhaps the most critical element in the long-term success of any democracy is mutual trust between a nation's people and their government. Such trust must be earned through demonstrated integrity, fidelity to common principles and performance over time.

Right now, our government is asking us to trust them as they develop their plan to radically transform our health care system. So I thought it appropriate to review some relevant history to find out what our government has done to merit such trust.

• Social Security and Medicare are the most analogous programs to what Obama and Congress wish to impose upon us with health care reform. Both are effectively bankrupt (the "lockboxes" don't actually exist) and contribute enormously to our federal deficit. How Obamacare will be any better on this account has not been explained.
• When Medicare was started in 1965 the government estimated it would cost $9 billion per year by 1990. In fact, Medicare was costing $67 billion per year by 1990 - more than 7 times the government's estimate. Why should the American people believe the forecast on the new health care reform will be any better?
• Obama promised that the $1,000,000,000,000+ spent on his various programs to "stimulate" economy would keep unemployment under 8%. He dramatically missed that forecast in less than 6 months and there's no prospect unemployment will be under 8% any time in the foreseeable future.
• We were promised by Obama and Pelosi that all health care debate would be open to the public, even broadcast on C-SPAN, and that everything would be available to Americans to review before legislation is voted on. They've already proven multiple times that they have no intention of living up to that commitment. What are they hiding - and why?

Based on these facts it would be difficult to make the case that our government merits the trust of the American people in crafting health care reform (or much of anything else for that matter).

While a nation's long term success depends on mutual trust between a government and its people, I maintain that under our Constitution - with its foundation on individual rights and responsibilities - the onus is on the government to earn the trust of the people rather than the other way around. Obama and Congress have done precious little to earn that trust.

Questions for my Senators

This evening I sent the message below to my two Senators, Warner and Webb. My expectation is that they will respond with the usual form letter about all of the great things they are doing on behalf of their constituents (although their previous responses have caused me to wonder how they define "constituent" - since it doesn't appear they're as interested in the welfare of Virginia's citizens as they are with the welfare of their party and Obama's agenda).

Senators Warner and Webb,

Why are Democrats hiding behind closed doors while crafting the health care reform bill? Obama promised that all debate and discussion on health care reform would be open for public viewing on C-SPAN. Why are you not doing that? What is it that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are trying to hide? Who is actually writing the legislation – and why should the American people trust those authors? Congress has already proven it doesn’t read legislation before passing it so members of Congress surely aren’t writing the health care bill. Who is? And why can’t we watch the debate as Obama promised?

Also, what happened to Obama’s promised “new era of post-partisanship”? Democrats in Congress are literally locking Republicans out of meetings and Obama is going to battle with anyone who dares propose ideas different than his own.

This is no way to build trust and confidence among the American people. And you’d be well advised to tell Obama to stop his incessant whining about what he inherited and blaming everyone but himself for the problems he faces. That behavior is undignified and cowardly and it needs to stop.

The courtesy of a clear, direct response to the questions I posed above would be appreciated.

Respectfully,

Lou

I'll let you know what I hear back from them, but my expectations are pretty low.

Reflecting on Predictions from a Year Ago

Below is a "letter to the editor" that I wrote on October 5, 2008. When it was written I wondered if it was perhaps a bit too pessimistic. Alas, it now appears that things are even worse than contemplated in this letter from a year ago. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Letter to the Editor from October 5, 2008:

“Hope” – untethered from logic and principle - can’t change the world, or our country, for the better. Promises of “change” are meaningless without a clear plan of action. Unfortunately, Barack Obama – without demonstrable logic or principle - seems to have gained considerable political momentum without any clear plan of action to actually create the “change” he seeks and which he has yet to clearly define.

Senator Obama appears to be an empty political vessel, into which can be poured the very worst of liberal doctrine and orthodoxy from the most leftist of ideologues, and from which may flow the class and identity warfare, income redistribution and suppression of alternative thinking that have proven disastrous multiple times throughout history.

Senator Obama has no record of being able to create or lead any substantive change. He’s a great orator, no doubt, but a man who voted “present” 130 times as a state senator clearly has no track record of making tough decisions in crunch time. Neither he, nor his supporters, can clearly articulate any reason Americans should consider voting for him. All they can talk about is what they are against, which is apparently George Bush, a man who is not even running for office. One has to wonder what the liberal democrats will do when they don’t have George Bush to hate, since they are seemingly more driven by hate for him than love for our country.

If Obama is elected, we will have turned our country over to the most liberal senator on record. A man who has taken more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the last 3 years than anyone, and has the failed CEOs of those organizations advising him on economics, of all things, yet blames George Bush and John McCain for their failure. And he will be assisted in implementing his socialist vision by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, a team that has led the most partisan and least productive congress in history. Obama, Reid and Pelosi running the country – so much for checks and balances.

We can avoid this fate, but only if the American public votes on the basis of logic and principle, and not on emotional reaction to empty political platitudes and clichés.

Who wrote it and who will actually read it?

So now we have the 1,500+ page Senate Health Care Reform Bill. This is yet another bill that no Senator will actually read and that surely no Senator actually wrote. This raises some legitimate questions that Senators - particularly the Democrats driving this travesty - owe their constituents clear, direct answers to.

These questions include:

• Will you once again vote for a bill you haven’t read? If so, why?
• If Senators did not write this bill, which they surely did not, who did?
• Why do you trust the authors of this bill so much that you’d vote for it without reading it?
• Why should the American people trust that the authors of this bill have their best interest, and not the political interest of Obama and his Democrat cronies and sycophants, in mind?
• If there are hundreds of billions of dollars in savings in Medicare thru eliminating waste and fraud, why aren’t you going after those now to prove you can actually deliver those savings?

There is not a single historical example of the U.S. government even coming close to achieving any goals such as those Obama claims will be achieved thru health care reform. Government meddling created the problems we now face in the economy and in health care. Increased government meddling will only exacerbate the problems – not solve them.

There are things that government can do to improve our health care system, none of which involve the government increasing control over our lives or forcing a “public option” upon us.

These include:

• Eliminate the restrictions on insurance companies selling across state lines. This will increase competition and drive down costs, while adding a government insurance option will crush competition and dramatically increase costs and drive up the deficit.
• Equalize the tax treatment of all health insurance policies, no matter where or how they are purchased.
• Allow insurance companies to sell and Americans to buy policies customized to the needs of the insured, rather than forcing Americans to buy coverages they neither want nor need.

Senators need to remember that they are elected to represent and serve their constituents, not Obama and the special interests. They may think that’s an antiquated notion, but that does not make it any less true.

The Ongoing Idol Worship

As I write this Obama is in the midst of his sprint through the Sunday talk-show circuit. His plan is to appear on five programs, including Spanish-language Univision. Conveniently for him, he's avoiding Fox News Sunday - the only place where he might be properly challenged on what he's done, and plans to do.
So the big question is - will anybody on any of the shows Obama is performing on this morning actually ask him any tough questions about his policies, programs and political associations (e.g. Acorn, Van Jones, Jeff Jones, SEIU, etc.)? Or will this be a contest in which each talk-show host seeks to prove he loves The One more than all the others?
Unfortunately for our country, I believe the latter is far more likely.

Exactly where - and what - is the plan?

Obama keeps saying, in his seemingly daily (or is it hourly?) speeches about health care, the words "under my plan.....", which are always followed by a string of fabrications and falsehoods that boggle the mind. But if there really is an Obama Health Care Plan, why can't anyone find it and why can't he show it to us so we can read it? And if he already has a plan - why are multiple bills being worked on in Congress? One would think that if Obama already had a plan then Pelosi and Reid could spare the special interest ghostwriters who wrote the stimulus bill the effort of writing health care bills as well.
Perhaps the saddest part of this whole situation is being faced with the reality that there are many Americans who actually believe the nonsense Obama is spewing. Whatever one's ideological disposition, simple logic would tell anyone who takes the time to read more than a bumper sticker about what he and his comrades are working on that it simply won't work. But then again - liberal democrats have never let facts get in their way. And if anyone disagrees - you can always just call them a racist and change the subject.

Proof of Truth

Last night Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled "you lie" at President Obama when Obama claimed that his health care plan would not cover illegal aliens. While the democrats have gotten themselves in high dudgeon over this allegedly horrendous breach of etiquette (forgetting of course that they booed President Bush during a State of the Union address and said things far nastier than "you lie" both to and about him), the real important question is being ignored.
If Obama is telling the truth, where is the proof? Throughout this health care debate it has seemed that every time Obama has made a claim about what is or is not in the plan, that claim is readily refuted by actually reading the proposed legislation. Even if that was happening only half the time it would be enormously concerning. But by my reckoning far more than half of Obama's public claims about what is or is not in the plan have been proven false.
So if it is so easily proven that Obama's rhetoric does not match what is actually being proposed as legislation, one can draw only a couple of possible conclusions about why that would be the case. Either Joe Wilson is right and the President is lying. Or the President is simply profoundly ignorant of the content of legislation. One or the other must be true, but neither leaves me with a good feeling about what Obama and the democrats want to do to "reform" health care.

The Gates Metaphor

The Professor Gates controversy in Cambridge is the perfect metaphor for the entire Obama presidency. To paraphrase Mr. Obama's answer to a reporter's question about the Gates incident at his recent press conference about health care, he effectively said "I know I'm biased,......I don't have the facts,.......but I'll speak out anyway."
When has that NOT been the case with Obama? He speaks with bias and without facts all the time, and supports other Democrats in doing the same. He has signed enormous spending bills that neither he nor the Congress have read - which I would interpret as a form of speaking without the facts. While pushing his radical health care agenda on a conference call with some liberal bloggers he admitted he hadn't read the bill he was arguing in support of. Again, speaking without the facts.
At least Obama has now admitted to speaking with bias and without facts. But most of us who have been paying attention knew that already!