It has come to my attention that WalMart (and GM) have decided to pull their advertising from one of the HOTTEST shows on TV, the "Glenn Beck Program".  The reason they sight is that Glenn supposedly called the president a racist.  Now I watch the show all the time and I have never seen Glenn say anything of the sort.  He did say once that he thought the president was using the stimulus and healthcare bills as a form a "reparations for slaves"  but that is about as close he came to calling the president a racist.
 
   What I really think this is about is the health-care bill.  WalMart has gotten into bed with the Obama administration and has worked out a sweetheart deal that will give them an un-fair advantage over their competitors.  Now that the bill is looking like its going down to defeat, the Obama administration is working furiously to shut down all discenting voices and is using GM (Government Motors) and WalMart to make that happen.  Why else would WalMart care?  Like I said earlier, the Glenn Beck show is one of THE HOTTEST shows on TV and that is all companies like WalMart care about. 

   We need to stand up for voices like Glenn and boycott (loudly) WalMart and let them know who really matters in this country!!

    This post is going to be very short but to the point

    It has come to my attention that WalMart has decided to pull their advertising from the "Glenn Beck" program on Fox News.  The reasons they sight are that "Glenn Beck called the president a racist".   But I watch the show religiously and have never heard Glenn say anything of the sort.  He did mention that he thought that Obama was using the stimulus and healthcare bills as a form of "reparations" but that is about as close as I could find him calling Obama a racist.

    I think the REAL reason for them (and also GM) to pull their advertising is that they are both bowing to pressure from Obama to shut down the Glenn Beck program and to silence the oppositions voice on health-care (or should I say  Health Insurance?) reform.  WalMart has gotten into bed with Obama and has made a sweetheart deal with them if the bill is passed.  But now that looks unlikely and Obama is  telling companies like WalMart, that if they want this to go through they better drop advertising through channels like Beck.  Let's face it!  Why else would companies like WalMart drop advertising on one of THE HOTTEST SHOWS ON  TV??? 

   My answer to WalMart is this.   Prepare to be boycotted yourself!  I am doing all my shopping at KMart and Target and writing WalMart to let them know as well.   We cannot let this administration BULLY its way in our country.

   Send this out to your friends and family.

    Have you ridden a train lately?  For most people reading this post the answer will most likely be a resounding NO! AmTrack has been for years a giant waste of American money as another "government-owned-corporation since 1971".  Designed to somehow rescue the passenger train industry from the pesky takeover by the airlines flying all those passengers from here to there in hours instead of days it has been nothing but a major failure.   It constantly requires influxes of cash from the U.S. government to keep it from collapsing under the weight of its own rusted-out-of-date-deisel-engines. 

   Now the government which is gettting the message from the voters that we don't want socialized healthcare, is trying to do an end-run around by saying they are willing to explore government "co-ops" to supply healthcare to the American people.   This is nothing different from what AmTrak did for the rail systems.  It's merely re-branding "socialized-medicine" as "health co-ops" in which the government under they disguise of a so-called independent corporation will be controlling our healthcare.  This discussion might also being used to throw us "off-the-scent" and make the town-hallers back-off or not show up anymore making it look like there isn't any more discent on the subject of Obama-care and provide the assurance to the legislature that it's now OK to pass the bill through Congress.

    On a separate but similar note, I was listening to Fox News and they were discussing how healthcare now takes up about 17% of our GDP and will most likely be rising in coming years.  It then occured to me why congress is so interested in taking it over.  Not because they want to help the American people, but because it threatens THEIR piece of the pie.    For if there is one thing the federal government hates more, its competition for your dollars!   Lets say the 17% is correct and that for the average American the federal government takes 25%.   If the healthcare grows to 20%, then something has got to give and most likely that will be the people demanding lower takes.    In short, healthcare is competing with the federal government.  So as with anything else, its easier to BUY the other piece of the pie than to compete with it.   That is the real reason our politicians are so worried about the rising costs of healthcare and also why they want to buy NOW and not later.  Because its cheaper to buy it today than to wait later and buy it for more tomorrow. 

    We can't let these morons make us think that the war is won!  We need to keep fighting them until this bill is DEAD on the house floor!

Well Obama got his way.  He got the GREEN car of his dreams.  The recharge-able Chevy volt said to get an estimated 230 mpg.  Of course the car goes for a whopping $40,000 (but according to Al Gore.... saving a planet....priceless).   There's some dirty secrets about this car that needs to be pointed out first.

If you do the math (and as a computer engineer, I can't pass it up) the car will on average take about 26 years to pay for itself.  That's right!   26 years!!

Here is the math.
First lets assume the average driver drives 12,000 miles per year and currently drives a car getting 15 mpg and the price of gas is $3.00 per gallon.

Doing the math, the average person will save about $2200 per year in gas (I don't know how much they will spend in added electricity bills at home however so I won't take that into account).

If the Chevy Volt costs 40,000 and the person gets the $7500 back from the government and trades in their car for say 5,000 they will have a bill of about $31,100 (including tax).   Now assume they take an car loan for 8% at 5 years the total amount paid becomes

$37,800

Now divide that by $2200 and you get 17 years.    But wait there is more!   You will need to replace the battery pack every 10 years and they are estimated to be $10,000 a pop.   So doing a little more math you will need to replace the batter 2 times so in the end it comes out to

26 years

Longer if I took into account your increased electrical bill at home (unless of course you run an extension cord from your neighbors outdoor outlet at night and use HIS electricity).

Let's face it.  Cars like the Chevy Volt are nice but not practical for most people.  If you think buying one is going to save you money in the long run, think again.   Also if you think driving one will some how save the planet, think again.  Just where do you think this car will get its electricity from?  The air?   No!   Most likely from coal-fired generation plants... that's where!   All you did was shift the problem from one location (under the hood of your car) to a plant somewhere outside your town. 

Now of course the price of these cars will come down and make the math more amiable to getting one.     Also, if gas were to jump back up to $5.00 then it would take less time (13 years in all) to pay for itself but given the current economic climate.   But I don't see either of those happening anytime soon.

NOTES:

• If you trade in a car for 5000 that gets 25 mpg, the car NEVER pays for itself  as the battery replacement costs every 10 years can never be recouped.  
• If you trade in a car for 20,000 that gets 25 mpg it will still take 39 years to recoup the costs
• If you trade in a car for 20,000 that gets 15 mpg then it will take 9 years (this is the best case scenario)
  

     Recently a woman lectured Sen Specter about what she saw as the systematic dismantling of the Constitution and running up huge deficits that will bankrupt our country.   Another woman at another meeting lectured the senator on how she felt that government has failed at Social Security, Medicare, Welfare and now they want us to believe they can get Healthcare right.   "No Senator" was her final strong words to the senator. 

    Senator Specter today was asked about the anger being voiced by the people at the town hall meetings and what people are angry about.  His response was that the same old line that" people are angry about the partisan politics of Washington and not getting anything done".  WHAT???

Is he   a) DEAF
Is he   b) STUPID
Is he   c) DRUNK

    No.  I don't think he is any of the above.   I think real answer is:   d)  HE'S ARROGANT.

    Most of our politicians take offense to us, less "educated" and less "sophisticated" members of society to tell them that they are wrong and that we know what's better for our lives than they do.  That is the way it is with the progressive movement, for progressivism has at its heart a "class system" in which upper-class (ruling class) are smarter and more educated and enlightened about the world and what is better for the lower-class (working class) members of society.   Therefore anytime the lower class tries to tell the upper class to "shove it"  they don't hear what we are saying but instead look at us as "angry mobs" that need to be "dealt with" and "educated". 

    My hope is that Pennsylvania will throw this guy out on a rail in 2010.  They deserve better than an arrogant A-hole like Specter who only APPEARS to be listening to us but in reality could care less about what we have to say.  It reminds me of a "Far Side" cartoon in which the first panel says "What we say to cats" and the person is yelling at their cat saying "Bad Fifi! Bad Fifi!  I don't want you scratching the furniture!  Bad Fifi!".  Then in the second panel it says  "What cats hear us say" and there is a blank cartoon bubble above the persons head showing that they don't hear anything we say.   Sadly, the same is true for politicians today.

     Government is a expert player at what I call "The Waiting Game".   Simply put, any time government wishes to take over a part of our society it merely has to put into place a system by which over time other competitors are drained slowly out of business until they are the last one standing.  It can do this only because its rules are different from the rules played by private companies.

For example
Lets compare the difference between CIGNA and the Obama-Care plan.

Payers
     With CIGNA, people who opt for the coverage pay premiums (and co-pays) along with their employers to gain coverage so they have skin in the game. But the Obama-care plan gets it money from OTHER people (not the ones using the service), so they have NO skin in the game.  In fact, if needed, those people (taxed on their health-care benefits) will get taxed MORE if more money is needed to cover Obama-Care.  Also as more people go on the Obama-care plan, the HIGHER the tax burden will be on those with prvate health insurance. Eventually a "critical mass" will be hit where those people will be so over taxed they have no choice but to move to Obama-care as well.   That's the way always is when you have people RECEIVING a benefit paid for by those NOT RECEIVING the benefit.  There comes a tipping-point where there is not enough people paying into the system as those taking out (just look at Social Security). 

      To put it another way, lets say 70% of America pays for the other 30%.  If the 70% pays an extra $5,000 per year in taxes to cover the 30%, what happens when half of the 70% leaves and joins the 30%.  You now have 35% paying for the other 65%.  If the costs of covering those additional 35% don't change, the 35% left holding the bag will see their taxes go up to $22,000 per year to cover the ones recieving the care.   That is just not sustainable and the ones remaining will have no choice but to join the others as well.

    Also, CIGNA has no ability to make other health-insurance plans MORE expensive to make theirs look LESS expensive.  But the Government can very easily make all the other insurance providers much more "expensive" by simply racheting up the taxes on the prvate insurers.  No other company can do that and it puts the governement on unfare footing.

Providers
With CIGNA, they work closely with medical providers (such as doctors and hospitals) to insure that

1. Payments to providers are acceptable to both parties
2. The payment system (paperwork) is streamlined so that providers are reimbursed on a timely basis and with minimal hassels

    If either of these 2 are not met, doctors and hospitals can opt to drop CIGNA from their accepted plans list as its not worth it to them to carry them anymore.  This of course would force CIGNA to get with the program and fix their problems and make things better again.

    For the Obama care, the governement does not have to work with the providers to may sure the payments are "fair" as they will be REQUIRED to take the Obama-Care plan.  There is no opt-out for them.  The payments are whatever government decides and the system can be as muddied as it needs to be.  The government can always add more workers on their side as necessary and print more money to cover those costs.  CIGNA can't do that.   Therefore the doctors office has only one solution for their problem:  drop the other providers to give more resource to handling the Obama-care system.  Let's say a doctors office has 3 workers for handling the variety of heathcare companies.  Obama-care comes along paying much less than the other providers, the doctor cannot afford to hire more help to support the  Obama-care system.  Instead they will need to move resources from other providers to haldle the Obama-care paperwork.  Eventually, as the Obama-care becomes more and more convoluted it will need more and more workers and in the end cause most healthcare providers to drop their other plans.  Not because THEY are so BAD, but because the government plan is so HORRIBLE! 

To accelerate the process of taking over all of healthcare all they only have to do is:

1. Increase taxes on the private healthcare users which will accelerate the numbers of people being thrown onto the Obama system as it will be "cheaper" than private health-care  (also maybe make sweetheart deals with large corporations that they will get more of the governments business if they drop their employee healthcare benefits)
   
2. Increase the paperwork and decrease the payments to healthcare providers to force them to drop other plans in order to stay above water as that will be their only choice.

Then just sit back an WAIT and WAIT and WAIT.

As Obama said, "It may take 10, 15 or 20 years. But we will get there"

    Today, normal people showing up at town halls across America are making their voices heard.  They are angry and letting their congressmen and senators know how they feel.  Yet, the left calls them "AstroTurf" and not "real people".   They call it "fake anger" and staged by the hard right.  Why do they think that?  Because they play that game all the time and they think we do too.  They call on their minions from ACORN and SEIU to ask staged questions that they just so happen to have the perfect answer for.  People in the audience hold "prepared signs" chear their every word.  That's the kind of town halls they are used to and so they don't understnad when REAL people who are not paid, take time off of work to come and as questions.   Their first thought is "Who are you and who is paying you to be here!".   

     It will be interesting to see how Obama handles the town hall in New Hampshire.  Of course we know the deck will be stacked in his favor.  Maybe the college kid from Florida will be there who so profusely thanked the President for taking time out of his busy day to come and talk to them.   Or, maybe the lady who was homeless and needing a home will be there too?   Who knows from this crowd the President will "connect with"  and give a presidential "hug" to.    I can't wait to see!   It's like watching "The Hills" which my daughter calls "scripted reality".   Surely some person, probably a woman, will be there that has suffered innumerably under the current system and will be comforted by "The One".   Tears will be shed as she can barely get her words out to ask her question.  "Ahhhhs" we be heard throughout the room followed by distant chants of "Yes we can! Yes we can" that will grow slowly and then reach a deafing roar until "The One" raises his hands to tell the crowd that he has been inspired and heard their outcry.      He will then take the mic and look directly into the camera (first glancing at his teleprompter to remind him of his next line of the script) and then proclaim to the American people that he will make sure that the healthcare bill passes (no matter how many people polled are against it).  He will then stroll slowly over to the woman and put his arm around her back and assure her that all will be well and he will take on the evil insurance companies who have hurt her in the past (though smoking 2 packs a day and eatnig fast food for breakfast lunch and dinner didn't help her either).   The woman will then faint in his arms like a scene out of some lame religious "Healing Service" where the pastor says "BE HEALED" and the person faints on the floor.  She will need assistance by the secret service and be escorted from the building never to be seen or heard from again (hmmm wonder why?).  The cameras will pan the audience for their reaction as people put their hands to their mouths and their eyes open wide in amazement.  Then the MS-NBC reporter will say (on queue),. "The president has done it again.  Reaching the American hearts and leading our nation in ways we have not seen for a very long time, if ever.  It's no doubt in my mind that the American people are behind him and this legislation now".

That is how it's going to go down.   Mark my word!

If I could add a Right to the Bill of Rights it would be this

The Right to a Slow and Deliberate Government

It would read as follows:

Congress shall pass NO law that:

1. Has less than 70% approval (90% if the bill requires funding of any kind)
   
2. Is longer than 1 page, single sided, single spaced, 14 point Courier font with one inch margins (top,bottom, left and right)
3. Has not been read out loud by every member of congress on CSPAN
   
4. Has not had a 30 day waiting period from the time it was first introduced out of committee to the House floor to give the American people an opportunity to contact their representative to voice their opinion.
   

By enacting this, our country would be saved from the tyranny being inflicted by the thieves in the dead of night who try to push through this kind of so-called legislation.   It would stop our government from making us lose sleep and basically scaring the hell out of us.  Yes, that's right congress!   You scare the hell out of us!  And what amazes me even more is that you are so blinded by power and corruption that can't see why!   You don't think we should be scared when:

• Bills are not measured in pages, but by the POUND.
• You think that everything in that bill is "good for America"?
• Bills cannot be read and understood even by your own lawyers
• Bills are being pushed through committee and through congress at LIGHT SPEED like they have some sort of expiration date on them.
• Common citizens (grandmas and grandpas even) are referred to by you as "angry mobs"
  
• sounds like you are 2 seconds from pressing the panic button and sending in the National Guard (or ACORN)
• Members of the Administration are on the record for supporting things such as:
• rationing health care for the young and old and disabled..
  
• assisted suicide
• Obama himself has said in the near past, that he wants America to "eventually" have single-payer (ie taxpayer) system
  
• it might take 10,15 or 20 years but we will get there (his words... not mine)
  
• The CBO places the cost of this bill at 1.7 TRILLION DOLLARS over the next 10 years
• the even worse news is that is probably a BEST CASE figure and the real cost will be 2 or 3 times that figure
• Government run healthcare has destroyed every other country's economy that has tried to do it (but of course that won't happen to us)
  

These are the truths that congress must confront.  These fears are as REAL as the blood pumping through my veins.    

Another Right I would introduce is:   The Right to NOT BE AFRAID of the government.
(but this is already covered by the 2nd Amendment)

As Thomas Jefferson once said, "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"

It seems Halloween keeps coming earlier and earlier every year.  Its seems just like yesterday my wife and I were handing out gobs of fancily wrapped chocolates and other sweets.  But here we are, August 8th and I haven't even gone shopping yet.

Oh wait!  Halloween isn't on August 8th (actually its my brother's birthday... Happy Birthday Jim!)  but apparently our politicians think it is.  Why?  Because they are rolling out the biggest bowl of "goodies" our country has ever witnessed in its 233 year history, that's why!  But this isn't just ANY NORMAL candy.  No.  This is "special" candy the government hopes will take and gorge ourselves on.  Why?  Because there is poison inside that is why.

As any good parent, I have always gone through my child's candy to make sure none of it has been tampered with.  We all know that there are crazies out there that get their jollies by harming little children and we don't want that to be our child. 

We as good citizens are being asked to "not look too closely" at this bill and take it at its face value and pass it.  Like people who poison dogs by wrapping poison in hunks of meat, the dog doesn't smell the poison until its too late and they have already taken the bait and are mindlessly gorging themselves on the delicious red meat.   So it is with this bill.  You see, as with all bills there is good and bad.  There may be some very good things in this bill.   But inside it is also a lot of bad economic poison in it that will cripple our country for decades to come.  It's an all-or-nothing proposal to our politicians and Obama knows it.   We can't just take part of it and leave the rest behind.  It's too big to read and understand its ramifications (and Obama knows that too).   It's also being pushed through too quicklly and there is no time to debate and analyze. (or at least that is what Obama is saying, like there is some sort of expiration date on the bill).  

We need to use our common sense I think before we take this candy, for once we do, there is no turning back the clock.  We need to slow down.  We need to unwrap this candy and examine it thoroughly for what could be inside it.   We also need to know WHO is providing us this candy and their intentions.  Is it Grandma Jones or Charlie Manson?  It makes a big difference.  We also need to know WHO wrote this bill and what are their intentions.  I don't think this bill was written by our politicians in the past 6 months.  No!  I think this bill was written by a variety of think-tanks and special-interest groups like SEIU and ACORN.   

I, for one, am not ready to eat this piece of "special candy", and I think most of America is with me on that too.

Leave "Trick or Treat" to the children on Halloween night and keep it out of our government!

Its a RAT! 

If you have heard, the White House now wants its supporters to write to flag@whitehouse.gov to report (yet.. REPORT) any FISHY emails or web-sites reporting what they think might be "mis-information" on the proposed Obama-Care bill. 

Well like I said, its not FISH we smell, but instead a RAT.   The White House now wants people to RAT on other people.  Something that is illegal for his administration to do.  In the early 70's, Nixon tried to do this against Vietnam protesters and had the FBI taking pictures of protesters to try to scare them.  Congress said that such actions infringe on our 1st amendment rights and passed legislation that prohibited this kind of actions by the White House. 

Let me say this to be fair though.  There probably is some mis-information out there.   People are prone to fear that which they cannot understand.  That's normal.  But I think most of the information out there is on the mark and correct.

So what exactly is it that we fear? 

I think the fear comes in 2 forms:   Present and Future


Fear #1:  No one knows whats in the bill
    Lets look at this 1000 page monstrosity called Obama-Care.    First, we know that most (if any) have read this bill and know what is in it.  Most of this bill was written in backrooms by Left-Wing so called "think tanks" and groups like ACORN and SEIU.   It wasn't written by our congressmen so they don't even know what's in it.  If someone put a 1000 page contract in front of you and said "SIGN IT!" ,  would you sign it?   Of course not.  We would demand to have months to have a team of lawyers to go over it and see if its in my best interest or not.    But of course, this bill does not affect our leaders as they have their own healthcare already.  This bill only affects their constituents who for the most part are invisible and meaningless masses to them. 

How congress can alieviate this fear:
Simple, break it up into 100 smaller bills and vote on each one separately.   Do you know that the bill that built our Interstate system was only 60 pages long?  Instead congress is trying to shove down our throats this huge bill all at once claiming its ALL OR NOTHING!   Well I guess we the voters would rather take NOTHING.   What the American people want really need is a Constitutional Amendment that states:

       "Congress shall not pass any bill over 10  (8.5x11  12 pt font, single spaced, single sided) pages in size". 

This would allow our people to voice their concerns on each item separately.  Some of the ideas may be good and it would allow those ideas to be passed.  

Fear #2:  Costs are too high and will bankrupt our country

    Since when has Congress ever had a bill come UNDER the proposed budget?  Answer: NEVER   So when we tell them that this bill will bankrupt the country when its spending increases out pace our taxes.   Thats not being stupid, that's being reasonable.  I have every reason to believe that this system will go the way of every other program (Medicare, Medicaid, Social-Security, Welfare). 

How can congress alieviate our fears?

Simple.  Take out every provision that has $$$ attached to it.  We do need some healthcare reform, but not all of it needs to have $$$ attached to it.  Hear is what we REALLY need

1. Legal Reform to cap medical malpractice payouts
2. Legal Reform to have "Loser Pays" which would prevent FRIVOLOUS lawsuits from being thrown at doctors and hospitals
3. Stop allowing illegal aliens from getting FREE medical care. This is why hospitals charge $10 for an asprin.  They need to in order to cover the costs of their care of illegals.
   
4. Build more medical schools to help increase the number of doctors and decrease the huge costs of getting trained

None of these require large government agencies to impliement and yet solves most of the problems we have in our current healthcare industry.

Fear #1:   Elderly will be given limited care

This is not an unfounded fear.  Every country that has implimented socialized health-care ends up doing this.   Costs will inevitably rise and curtailing those costs will require "choices".  Choices not made by the people but by the government.  Who gets care and who does not.  Since government ALWAYS favors the tax-payer over the non-tax-payer,  those elderly who are not employed and therefore bring nothing to the tax table, will be the last to get care.  The next in line behind them will be the infirmed and the mentally retarded who are less productive and therefore pay less in taxes.   These fears are not un-reasonable.  Where do these fears come from?  From Obama's own staff that's where.  People in his own cabinet have written articles and papers on this very topic and there is no way for them to refute these claims.   Its all there in black and white. 

    Let me also say this.  I label this a FUTURE fear because while maybe this current bill only HINTS at such a possiblity, it does nothing to ever put a roadblock against it ever happening.  Maybe Obama will never propose this to be added, but what about a future successor?  Why give the government this power in the first place?  

Fear #2:   Government run healthcare will run private health-care out of business.

     Government HATES competition because it knows it cannot compete.   Its not a question of IF the public "option" will take over the system, but WHEN.   Here is why I think we will eventually have no choices at all.

1. Government system will be so complicated, hospitals and doctors will drop private health-care from their lists.   That right!  Unlike private health-care which is optional for hospitals and doctors to accept.  The public system is not optional.  So if the public system is SO convoluted and difficult to manage they need more workers to support it, they will need to drop private health-care as a way to keep their costs down.  Its as simple as that!
2. Businesses will see that being fined for NOT carrying healthcare is CHEAPER than being taxed for supplying health-care.  Therefore more and more business will drop their employees private health-care provisions over time.  Also as taxes increase to cover the public option, people themeselves will have no choice but to opt-out of their own health-care and go to the public option to save money.  Of course the governement will see this as people CHOOSING them as a BETTER choice when instead its that they have no other choice.

How can government alieviate this fear?  
How about taxing those who don't fund their own health-care to cover the costs of their PUBLIC health-care.  This could provide incentives for them to take their health-care more seriously as over half of the un-insure inflict that on themselves by opting out of paying for health-care.  

      

    Below is a link of a VERY GOOD EXAMPLE of what I wrote in my last blog (2 sets of rules)  about HOW TO CONDUCT YOURSELVES.   I would like to commend these people from New Hampshire (My wife has a brother that lives there and grew up in New England and they are good people there) for being courageous and good citizens.

http://www.thefoxnation.com/health-care/2009/08/06/shaheen-constituents-right-have-been-trampled-protesters

This is how you protest in a way to engage the public and other protesters in a way that is decent and yet to the point.  I especially liked how they confronted these "out of state supporters" and showed how they did not belong there.  The reporter also showed that they were getting their instructions from "someone else"

I urge all of you to view this video and use it as a form to build on. 

They:
   - stated their names and where they were from
   - stated that they were NOT paid but in fact some had to take time off from work to be there
   - they did not YELL at the other group but calmly confronted and asked questions
   - they documented where the other side was from and that they would not answer basic questions about themselves
   - showed that ANYONE can be a journalist today
   - had signs that were descent and to the point
   - they did not yell at their congressman's staff but asked simple questions and let them know that a form letter was not enough

Our forefathers would be PROUD!!

    Imagine playing any organized sport where the 2 teams have 2 different sets of rules to follow.   Say for example a football game allowed the following to occur:
                                       Home Team                           Visiting Team
    Touch Down                       6 pts                                      4 pts
    Field Goal                           3 pts                                      2 pts
    Extra point                          2 pts                                      1 pt
    Downs allowed                   4                                           2
    Yards per 1st down            10                                         20
   
    What visiting team would agree to such absurd rules and would not just get back on their bus and go back home?   Answer: NONE

    Yet sadly that is that state of our political system today.   The Democrats can disrupt any forum they wish with chants of racism or vicious lies or even call for the death of the President, while Republicans can't even raise their voices in a Town Hall meeting without being labeled as "angry mobs".   People dressed in everyday clothes bought at WalMart or Kmart are characterized as "organized by Right-Wing groups" and "astro-turf", while people dressed in pre-fabbed T-shirts baring logos for ACORN or SEIU are labeled as "grass-roots".  This is only allowed because the so-called "referees" of the system, the media, allows these absurd difference in the rules and promotes this kind of behavior. 

     But I think things are changing slowly.  The media is still operating on a 20 year old view that they control what people see on the field.  But with the internet sites such as YouTube, FoxNews, and a variety of blogs such as this one, the truth has found a way around the system like water flowing around stones in a makeshift dam.  People are getting their information from a wider variety of sources.  Too many for any President to control (unless of course we go the direction of China). 

What do I think we need to do in the mean time?

1. Be ABOVE the system.  I don't see a reason for us to SHOUT down our representatives.  We do need to be stern with them and make sure they ANSWER our questions and not dodge them as they so often do. If you don't feel they adequately answered your question,  politely let them know and ask them to try again. (re-state your question again if needed). 
   
2. Be prepared with your question.  This will keep you from rambling or sounding un-intelligent (something the left wants to paint us as ... such as being called "stupid rednecks").  Don't YELL your question unless you have to. 
   
3. Make your question specific about the bill.  Don't ramble on about "The Constitution" or "The Declaration of Indepedence".  Yes we do want to honor these documents, but often our representatives sadly don't give a rats-a-- about it.  I know it's sad, but it's important to confront them about the bill and how it will impact our country and how passing it will impact their future jobs.
   
4. Don't call them names.  We didn't like it when they did that to Bush. We should not do it either.  They are not satan in the flesh.
5. Make sure we have all of our facts before we confront.  The left wants nothing more than to highlight some person who is yelling about something in the bill that is not there (like killing old people).   Check and re-check your sources.  If not 100% sure, phrase your issue as a question to your representative to clarify as truth or not.
6. Personalize your question if you can.  Show them how this bill will directly affect you as a person. 
7. If you have never been involved politically before.  Let them know that.  Show them that their job is on the line if this bill is passed because they have woken up a "sleeping giant". 
   
8. Confront people who may give our side a bad name.  (They may actually be from the other side)   If someone shows up with Nazi symbol or a congressmen hanging in effigy tell them to put those away and that they have no use or purpose there.  If you see a reoprter talking to one these idiots, make sure you get in on the conversation and let them know that you want nothing to do with that person and to have the report pan the hall to see all the good signs and protestors. 
   
9. Video tape the event as much as possible.   If your local news only shows the 10 seconds of stupidity by one person.   Call them and let them know you have the whole event and you are posting it on YouTube.  Also if a local news station shows a positive view of the meeting,  call them and thank them for their even handiness in covernig the meeting.   We often forget to do this and only contact them when we are angry.  You may also want to tell the negative station that the other station was much better at covering it and you will be watching their competition from now on (also let their advertisers know this as well).  This of course does not work on large outfits like MS-NBC and the like as they are well funded by left and have no concern about viewership.   Also, video tape the reporters as they walk around.   Let them know you are watching them as well and how they are targeting various people in the meeting, either by looking for Nazi's or people they can exploit as "stupid".   All is fair in love and video. 
10. Be prepared for the media to question why you are here.  Have an answer ready that is short, simple and non-frightening.
    

     Watch what you say or write these days.  You may very well get "flagged" by those who do not agree with your view.  Like a play out of Communist Russia, the Obama administration has enabled a high-tech way of reporting on discentors by creating an email address to report people who are discussing the negative points of the current healthcare bill.  Now people can send information directly to the administration using "flag@whitehouse.gov" to report on us "right-wing-loons". 

    I believe we are witnessing the disintigration of this administration as it flales its arms in desparation to convince the American people that it can "fix" health-care.   Just how they "fixed" Social Security,  Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid and a host of other government run programs.  The people obviously are not buying it and all the current polls show that the American people are not behind it.  We know that is has failed in every other country that has tried it.   We know that money will be wasted by the billions, if not trillions.  We know that our health-care will get rationed especially if we are old or of no use to the country.  We know that our taxes will go ballistic to cover the costs and that our choices will be limited.  We are not as stupid as you may think.

    To "fix" the situation,Obama is trying to spin DIS-information to the public on health-care and telling the people that these protestors are "not real" and that they are "astro-turf" (payed by insurance companies) and not "grass-roots".   They are also busy telling people that the videos that have popped up on the internet, showing Obama's true intentions of replacing private health-care with single-payer, are "fake" or pieced together.  I have seen the videos myself and there is NOTHING pieced together about them and there is nothing Obama can say to change that.

   We are being LIED to America and treated like sheep.   They hope to scare us into following along with the fear of being turned in.  Well this is one blogger who will NOT go quietly into the night. 

   Flag THIS Mr. President if you like.  I will not shut up!

During the Civil War a song was written  by Julia Ward Howe to inspire the troops and the people during this horrible, but necessary, war.  Today we are not at war with other states, but with our own government that has forgotten what freedom is and what price has been paid to earn that freedom.  We are no longer treated as citizens but instead as servants to do their bidding whenever they say JUMP.  But we as Americans have NEVER gone quietly into the night.  We have in ourselves the confront "change" that seeks to take away our freedoms as individuals.  Freedom to speak.  Freedom to own a gun.  Freedom to choose our doctors.  Freedom to own our own companies.  Freedom to earn a living.  Freedom to live where we want to live and how we want to live.   All these are quietly being taken away from us by countless "czars" who answer to no one but the President.  Call it a secondary or shadow government that does not have the constitution to concern itself with as it operates "above" the constitution. 

Today we need a new "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to inspire us and help us REMEMBER what it REALLY means to be AMERICAN.  And I think I have found it.  I have listened to this video a hundred times already and cannot get enough of it.

I urge you to go and check it out at:
http://www.thefoxnation.com/politics/2009/08/03/rate-video?page=1

Then PASS IT ON to others.  

We need to fight for our freedoms again.  These modern day "King Georges" have underestimated us again and we need to send them a modern day equivalent of the "Declaration of Independence"

    I am so grateful to the 52 blue-dog democrats (God I can't believe I am saying that), who are holding up the president's so-called "health-care bill".  We should all write them and thank them for putting their country first BEFORE their party or their "president".  Our country cannot handle this level of spending and it will forever cripple our country (financially and physically).  Tonight Obama is hitting the air-waves again hoping his TV charisma will charm the American people into writing their representatives to "get on board".  But with the presidents poll numbers falling I don't think it will do much good.  The president himself even had to recognize that the interview with Susan Boyle from "Britians Got Talent" was going to be MORE likely to be watched than his speech so he ended up moving his time slot earlier in the evening.  Geez!  Must be tough being out done by an over-weight, 40-something, brit with bad hair and bushy eye-brows. 
  
     I think America is waking up and realizing that this Chicago-trained Politician is nothing more than a thug who is pushing his own agenda no matter who it hurts in the end.  Obama is selling yet another "crisis" situation as an excuse to pass another 1,000 page bill that no one has time to read and which creates a maze of bureacracy never seen before.  Only problem is this crisis is completely made up just like global-warming.  But we can only allow so much pushing of the panic button.  Eventually we will turn a deaf ear to the alarm just like in the old story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf!" and will not come running to his aid anymore. 

Now, do I think NOTHING should be done about health-care in America?   No.  I think there is plenty to be done, but not so much by the governement!  Here is what I think the government COULD do to help:

1) People to take "invested" interest into their own care
         - Pay more if you smoke
         - Pay more if you are grossly over-weight
         - Pay more if your cholestoral is too high
         - Have higher deductibles to keep patients from running to the doctor for runny noses

2) Income based tax-credit for Heath-Insurance
         - If government says poor people need access to health-care then let them HELP pay for it....but NOT supply it.
         - Its simple and it directly helps those who need it the most.

3) Over-sight into price gouging
          - This is where our government can help with to insure hospitals are not over charging for aspirn etc..
          - It would help keep costs down and therefore the cost of insurance.

4) Loser-Pays Legal reform
          - When it comes to medical malpractice, help protect our doctors by enforcing "loser-pays" so that lawyers don't bring frivolous lawsuits which indirectly drives up medical costs by burdening the insurance companies
          - But I doubt that with 99% of all our law-makers being lawyers (including Obama) that it will ever get passed.

These are the REAL CHANGES we need in ouir health-care. But I doubt that any of these ideas mean much to Obama.  These mostly fall in to his "We should look at" category which really means "You can F-ing forget it". 

But its worth considering