Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
For one supposedly dedicated to bringing parties together for health care reform, President Barack Obama shows unremitting hostility toward one of them: the health insurance industry.
In practically every speech he gives or town hall he hosts, there's a slam at insurance profits and methods - and no recognition of the role its lobby, America's Health Insurance Plans, has taken to advance reform.
Call Dave Loebsack today and ask him to answer Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' question: +1 (202) 225-6576
Lee County Republicans held their annual feed/fund raiser Saturday, July 18, 2009, in Ft. Madison.
Office holders and seekers were there; lots of them.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks addressed the nearly 100 assembled on growing the party. The good doctor from Ottumwa was the only speaker to receive a standing ovation.
I attended the local Townhall Meeting this morning.
Some observations are
Unlike the defamations we have been hearing about Citizens exercising their First Amendment Rights to Assemble and Redress the Government of the Grievances.
I saw only handmade signs by the Anti-Administration Health Care Plan, and while I did see ONE handmade Pro Plan sign the rest were Mass Produced,
So who are the Astroturfers?
During the meeting there was a heated conversation between a couple sitting beside me and a woman on the row below us, When the man exclaimed " YOU want People to die in the streets" I jumped in with the statement that NO ONE in America is denied essential medical care due to lack of insurance or ability to pay, He backed down because he knew that was true.
While there I heard my Congressman making light of the idea that Death Panels would be enacted, and claiming that what had folks upset was merely a provision to have health professionals help patients with End of Life Decisions.
My Friends Death Panels are ALREADY in action in this Country and they actually are helping patients with End of Life Decisions.,
Patients who are DENIED treatment are helped to enter Assisted Suicide Programs
In Oregon, One of the States whose program is pointed to as a Model for the proposed National Plan
The Oregon Health Plan, more or less a real-world model of ObamaCare, is under tremendous pressure to cut costs. They have found a unique way of doing so: They no longer pay for life-saving chemotherapy for cancer patients with less than a 5% chance of survival for five years... but they will pay to help kill them:
Barbara Wagner has one wish - for more time.
"I'm not ready, I'm not ready to die," the Springfield woman said. "I've got things I'd still like to do."
Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved.
Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including "physician aid in dying," better known as assisted suicide.
"I told them, I said, 'Who do you guys think you are?' You know, to say that you'll pay for my dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer?' " Wagner said. [Hat tip to Sachi]
So... under government medicine, Barack H. Obama's grandmother shouldn't get a hip replacement, because she's going to die soon anyway; Sarah Palin's son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, wouldn't get long-term treatment because Down is incurable; and Barbara Wagner begs for cancer treatment -- and instead gets a not-so-subtle hint that she should contact a physician about how to "reduce the surplus population" by committing suicide.
There is really no nice way to spin this.
Yes there will be NO Death Panels who will deny an individual patient treatment, just Criteria which will do the same thing.
BUT they will offer them a Painless Easy Death.
I wonder will they also have showers for Undesirables?
Yes such a wonderful program we Taxpayers will get to fund
I attended the local Townhall Meeting this morning. Some observations are
Unlike the defamations we have been hearing about Citizens exercising their First Amendment Rights to Assemble and Redress the Government of the Grievances.
I saw only handmade signs by the Anti-Administration Health Care Plan, and while I did see ONE handmade Pro Plan sign the rest were Mass Produced,
So who are the Astroturfers?
During the meeting there was a heated conversation between a couple sitting beside me and a woman on the row below us, When the man exclaimed " YOU want People to die in the streets" I jumped in with the statement that NO ONE in America is denied essential medical care due to lack of insurance or ability to pay, He backed down because he knew that was true.
While there I head my Congressman making light of the idea that Death Panels would be enacted, and claiming that what had folks upset was merely a provision to have health professionals help patients with End of Life Decisions.
My Friends Death Panels are ALREADY in action in this Country and they actually are helping patients with End of Life Decisions.,
Patients who are DENIED treatment are helped to enter Assisted Suicide Programs
In Oregon, One of the States whose program is pointed to as a Model for the proposed National Plan
The Oregon Health Plan, more or less a real-world model of ObamaCare, is under tremendous pressure to cut costs. They have found a unique way of doing so: They no longer pay for life-saving chemotherapy for cancer patients with less than a 5% chance of survival for five years... but they will pay to help kill them:
Barbara Wagner has one wish - for more time.
"I'm not ready, I'm not ready to die," the Springfield woman said. "I've got things I'd still like to do."
Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved.
Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including "physician aid in dying," better known as assisted suicide.
"I told them, I said, 'Who do you guys think you are?' You know, to say that you'll pay for my dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer?' " Wagner said. [Hat tip to Sachi]
So... under government medicine, Barack H. Obama's grandmother shouldn't get a hip replacement, because she's going to die soon anyway; Sarah Palin's son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, wouldn't get long-term treatment because Down is incurable; and Barbara Wagner begs for cancer treatment -- and instead gets a not-so-subtle hint that she should contact a physician about how to "reduce the surplus population" by committing suicide.
There is really no nice way to spin this.
Yes there will be NO Death Panels who will deny an individual patient treatment, just Criteria which will do the same thing.
BUT the will offer them a Painless Easy Death.
I wonder will they also have showers for Undesirables?
Yes such a wonderful program we Taxpayers will get to fund
False Assumptions: Proponents of cap and trade point to the low cost estimates by the EPA and CBO as a reason to pass Waxman-Markey. The EPA underestimates that the bill would cost households an additional $140 a year.
Based on Consumption: The EPA's numbers are based on consumption changes, which are typically less than income changes, as families respond to income losses by saving less.
Uses Discounting: Discounting is a reasonable approach for comparing costs and benefits that occur at widely different times. However, costs of climate change rarely use a discounted rate this high. Without discounting, the impact per household is $1,288 in 2050. Adjusting household size to reflect a family of four raises this cost to over $1,900.
Assumes Rebates: The EPA assumes all the allowance proceeds will be rebated directly to consumers. This clearly isn't the case, since most of the allowances have been promised to industry.
No New Taxes?The loss that the EPA calculates doesn't include the cost of the energy tax to consumers, since the EPA assumes that all of the money is rebated. The cost of the energy tax is actually $4,600 per family of four in 2035.
The CBO Is Wrong
False Assumptions: CBO underestimates that the bill would cost households $175 in 2020. They assume that the carbon tax isn't a tax if the government spends the money. When have Americans ever seen all of a tax returned to them? It's like suggesting your tax rebate will be as large as the amount taken from your paycheck every year.
Numbers Don't Add Up: The CBO's allowance cost numbers don't add up. They say the allowance price will be $28. Since there are 5.056 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in the cap that year, that implies a $141 billion gross cost. They list $91.4 billion.
Hard to Believe: In the CBO's June 5 analysis, they projected allowance revenues of $119.7 billion, $129.7 billion, $136 billion, $145.6 billion and $152.9 billion for the years 2015-2019. It's hard to believe that the next number in that series would be $91.4 billion.
Ignores Economic Damage: The CBO doesn't include the decrease in GDP as a result of the bill. The GDP hit in 2020 would be $161 billion (in 2009 dollars) according to our analysis. For a family of four, that is $1,870 that they ignore.
Cap and Trade Is Wrong
It's a Massive Energy Tax
It Will Not Make a Substantive Impact on the Environment
It Will Kill Jobs
It Will Cause Electricity Bills and Gas Prices to Sharply Increase
It Will Outsource Manufacturing Jobs and Hurt Free Trade
It Will Make You Choose among Energy, Groceries, Clothing and Haircuts
It Will Be Highly Susceptible to Fraud and Corruption
It Will Hurt Senior Citizens, the Poor, and the Unemployed the Worst
It Will Cost American Families Nearly $3,000 a Year
President Obama Admitted "Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket" Under His Cap-and-Trade Program (January 2008)
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, urged on by President Barack Obama, announced progress on Tuesday toward quick passage of legislation to fight global warming by reducing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide.
At a midday White House press conference, Obama said the "historic" climate change bill moving through the House would "transform the way we produce and use energy in America."
With incentives to encourage utilities, manufacturers and other companies to switch from higher-polluting oil and coal to cleaner energy alternatives, Obama said the legislation would spark a "transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet."
I bet we have to do it NOW. Like we will get to see the text one night and it will need to be passed before the following evening, otherwise the public might wake up and realise how much they are being lied to, AGAIN.
But the principles of a Bedrock Foundationn for Grassroots Political Activity can be applied I think in a healthy manner to any location or Party for that matter.
There has been some talk about a Precinct Initiative.
An enterprise I full heartedly endorse. There will be many plans and information forthcoming,'
Here are some of my ideas and what I hope will be useful tools.
Those who have been following my posts, may recall sometime back I posted a table with links to maps of the County Precincts.
Later I used the same format to post the Form As for all the Precinct Caucuses from last year.
Here I present that same format to be built into a table of Facebook Groups where residents of Precincts may communicate and inform each other.
We keep hoping they will change, but sometimes things seems hauntingly familiar.
In June's Linn County GOP Central Committee Meeting, a Precinct Initiative was discussed.
I STRONGLY support Precincts being organized. But one phrase kept popping up.
To Elect Republicans.
Now of course I ALSO want to help Elect Republicans,
But my interest in Precinct development has a different primary focus.
This system of political organization that has served Iowa so well for generations, has broken down.
IT needs no change but WE certainly need to change.
In the Past the Precinct Caucus was your neighbors, you KNEW your neighbors, Your families knew each other, possibly for generations.
When the Caucus met, it was an assembly of citizens who knew each other and chose from their numbers people they respected to represent them on the next level of political organization.
Today when we go to a Caucus few know anyone else in the room, They have no basis with which to gage anyone who wants a political position,'
So how to we fix this gapping wound in the Body Electorate?
We arrange for Republicans in a Precinct to meet and become acquainted.
Backyard cookouts.
Picnics in the Park
Neighborhood coffee meetings
Using the new Social Networking systems such as Face book.
Creating a PRESENCE in our neighborhoods.
Form a sense of Community and Connection.
THOSE are the reasons I find the topic of a Precinct Initiative energizing.
Not simply to Elect Republicans in the next Election cycle and then let them go to sleep until awakened for the following cycle
But to BUILD a PARTY.
Give Power to the People on the basic levels of Politics.
Because they are in fact the Foundation of Democracy.
The Party is not the officers at the County, State and National Levels.
Not our Elected Officials.
It is WE who are the Party.
They exist to serve and fulfill OUR wishes.
It is said
If He Knows and Knows that He Knows
He is Wise Follow Him
If He Knows Not and Knows Not that He Knows Not
He is a Fool Shun Him
If He Knows Not and Knows that He Knows Not
He is a Child Teach Him
But if He Knows and Knows Not the He Knows?
He is Asleep Waken Him.
Friends.
We have been asleep.
And In our Slumber?
Things have not gone well.
It is time in the words of Yamamoto Isoroku
For the Sleeping Giant to Awaken
and perhaps be filled with a Terrible Resolve.>
We must take back our Government.
The Battle lines are drawn and the War is not to be fought or won
in distant Capitals but on the sidewalks of our Blocks and Streets.
Gather together, Talk to your Neighbors,
All the other desires, Election Republicans, Gathering Volunteers
Collecting Donations?
They will FOLLOW as Healthy byproducts of a Political Base that rests on a Sound Foundation rather than the Shifting Sands of we must do anything, we must ignore violations of our basic Core Beliefs just to amass numbers.
For if we continue to follow those sorts of Paths?
Instead of Elected Officials to whom we can look with Pride?
We may get, and deserve rather than healthy sound leaders the
ghostly image of a
Specter
Click here to play Senator Specter's welcome message
So I say to you
Aux Barricades mes Amis
To the Barricades my Friends
For your Homes
For your Families
For the Souls of Your Party and Nation
Fiat justitia, ruat coelum
Let Justice Be Done,
Though The Heavens May Fall
My Friends this struggle is not for the faint of heart,
There are always those who value, Tranquility over Disruption, even if the disruption leads to a better, Freer Life
They are with us now, as they were at the Birth of this Republic.
Those who do not wish to enter into a Stuggle for Democracy
To Them one of Our Founding Fathers said.
Samuel Adams
American Patriot & Politician
1722 - 1803
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
There are few things that can send a chill down the back of a man,
A man who is a father and husband, that is,
As the sight of this dreaded phrase.
Some Assembly Required
In the Cartography of the Family Landscape
It is the indication of Tera Incognito
Quite similar to the areas on Ancient Maps inscribed with
"Here be Monsters"
It is the signal that you face a gauntlet, which if not traversed successfully will result in the wrathful glares of wives and mothers, the teary eyes of toddlers and
The knowledge that Daddy has RUINED Christmas or a Birthday, whichever the case may be.
But be of Good Cheer Fathers and Husbands, for there IS Hope.
There is a simple Binary, Two Step Program of Recovery, which will enable you to sail through those troubled waters and emerge on the other side victorious and the Family Hero, instead of the Family Villain
They are
1) READ the Directions!
and what is more Important
2) FOLLOW the Directions!
These two Rules will carry you in good stead all the Days of your Life and in any Trials you may encounter.
The correct assembly of a County Central Committee has some characteristics in common with the ordeal of putting together the annual Christmas or Birthday gifts.
We started off with Central Committee 2007 it was to some extent complex, but not unduly.
It had a 4 part Executive Board much like the current model and a Central Committee Body composed of various and sundry Sub-Committees, a single Meeting Location and County Party Office.
Now Central Committee 209 Build A was much streamlined,
It had the same 4 part Executive Board, but an attempt was made to run that as a Stand Alone system. The single Meeting Location was replaced by a menu of options and the County Party Office was eliminated for the sake of steam lining.
There were some problem that arose. The isolated Central Committee Body and the Standalone Executive Board developed a VERY severe feedback problem resembling the situation that arises when a microphone is placed too close to a speaker.
A very high pitched angry sounding squeal arose and the functionality seemed to be lacking.
That to do?
I suggest the same thing the Wise Husband and Father decides when he realizes that Tab A will NOT fit into Slot A because Tab B seems to be already inserted.
That is take the device apart spread out the constituents and READ the Directions!
In the case of assembling County Central Committees, the directions we need to concern ourselves with are :
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
