Congress's latest final push in its ideological crusade called health reform is shaping up to be an act of historic arrogance and deception.
For months, the American people have been telling Congress to scrap the current bills. A recent CNN poll found that 7 in 10 Americans want Congress to start over on health care, or quit working on the issue altogether. Yet, the majority in Congress continues to march on in the face of overwhelming public opposition.
The American people have good reason to be concerned. The bill that may become law in a few days is not a collection of so-called fixes or compromises but the exact bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve that was filled with backroom deals such as the Cornhusker Kickback. The Senate bill also still contains half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, half a trillion dollars in tax increases, job-killing penalties for employers, provisions that will cause premiums to spike, and radical provisions to fund abortion and ration health care.
House leaders are so ashamed of the Senate bill that they have concocted a procedural process to pass the Senate bill without having a direct vote. In short, they hope to pass one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent history, which will affect one-sixth of our economy, without the public knowing. Even House Democrats are criticizing this charade. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), a member of the Blue Dog and New Democrat coalitions, called this process “wrong.” Altmire and other wavering Democrats understand that once the House passes the Senate bill, the Senate will have little motivation to clean up the bill under the arcane and complex reconciliation process.
The fundamental problem with the current reform bill is that it fixes the wrong problem. In medicine, we call this treating symptoms rather than the disease.
The fundamental problem in health care is cost. Every family knows that cost reduces access. As a nation, we spend twice as much on health care as any other industrialized country, but we aren’t any healthier as a result. A study by Thomson-Reuters shows that one in three dollars in our more than $2 trillion health care system does nothing to help people get well or prevent them from getting sick. If members of Congress focused their time and energy on allocating the health care dollars that are already in the system more efficiently—by reducing fraud and the costs associated with defensive medicine, for instance—we could lower cost and improve access overnight.
The bill before us, however, fails to do that. Instead, it builds on a broken and bankrupt system. The Senate bill will put 15 million Americans in the Medicaid program, which is bankrupting states and denying care to millions of American. Forty percent of doctors restrict access to Medicaid patients because reimbursement rates are so low. The rest of America will be funneled into the insurance industry the White House has been demonizing.
Supporters argue that the bill will save taxpayers $100 billion over 10 years, but this estimate is a sham. The numbers Congress gave to the Congressional Budget Office include 10 years of tax increases but only six years of benefits at the back end. This is unjust and deceptive Enron-style accounting. No homeowner would allow a bank to tell them they have to make mortgage payments for four years before they can move into their new home. Yet that is precisely what Congress is telling the American people.
The bill will also cause health care costs and premiums to increase, not decrease. According to CBO, premiums for families could rise 10 to 13 percent beyond current estimates. The president’s own actuary also estimated that health care costs will increase, not decrease, under the Senate bill.
Proponents are not only wrong about cost containment but patient choice as well. The fact is the Senate bill takes unprecedented steps to put government bureaucrats between patients and doctors. For instance, the Senate bill creates new comparative effectiveness research (CER) panels that have been used as rationing commissions in other countries such as the U.K., where 15,000 cancer patients die prematurely every year according to the National Cancer Intelligence Network.
The Senate bill also depends on the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in no fewer than 14 places. This task force was responsible for advising women under 50 to not undergo annual mammograms. Proponents claim the task force recommendations do not carry the force of law, but the Senate bill itself contradicts that claim by declaring health insurance plans “shall provide coverage for” services approved by the task force.
I’ve treated patients in my own practice who would have had their lives cut short had a government panel been allowed to tell me which treatments I could and could not prescribe. These and other provisions have caused physicians to turn against this bill. For instance, a recent poll conducted by Sermo.com, an online community of more than 110,000 physicians, found that only 1 in 10 physicians said Congress should push the current bills through, while nearly two-thirds of physicians said Congress should start over and work on targeted, step-by-step solutions.
Health reform will only be possible when Congress agrees to listen to reason, and the American people, and defeats a deeply misguided plan that will increase costs, limit patient choices and delay the real reform America needs.
Tom Coburn is a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He is also a practicing physician and author of the "Patients' Choice Act" along with Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina and Representatives Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Devin Nunes of California.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Reality
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson
What conditions would have to exist before the elected official at State and Federal levels would understand the following simple REALITIES?
1* "You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity."
2* "What one person receives without working for it, another person must work for it without receiving."
3* “The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else."
4* “When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them--and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation."
5* “You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
We under stand that our representatives in all levels of government cannot nor have they ever figured these realities out for themselves. Clearly, at the State and Federal government levels, it hasn't mattered which national party had the controlling majority. They simply never get this.
Because some Republican congresses lower taxes or somewhat slow the wealth transfers or that some Democratic congresses speed up these transfers, the drum still keeps beating.
What would we, the working voters, the folks these "tax transfers" are taken from, have to do in order to create the necessary CONDITIONS for representatives from both national parties to accept these realities and STOP this behavior?
Would limiting the time (terms) representatives can hold office be one step towards creating the "right" CONDITIONS? Limiting their time in office would end the concept of a career politician for sure. That might be a good thing. The representative would not have to worry 1) about being reelected; 2) worrying about his/her vote being acceptable to their party; 3) worrying about their vote being politically correct; 4) casting votes in order to secure funding for the next election cycle. Sounds like an idea. Sounds like.
Would these elected politicians vote to limit their time in office and would the Courts not overturn the idea of term limits if they did? It doesn't seem likely we can look to the elected or courts to solve the "career politician" problem for us.
Even if term limits could become the law of the land, does that address the core problem we are experiencing with our current government? This President along with a supporting Congress is redefining how this country will work, how every sector of our economy will work, how businesses will work, how salaries will be paid, how medical services will be supplied, how education will be conducted, and appoint themselves (i.e. the government) to manage it all. This is just a stunning and down right silly idea.
The part of this I clearly understand is the governments' quest for more and more power BUT what I don't understand is why close to 50% of the population are saying, "at-a-boy" to the whole convoluted mess. Its possible that this group does not understand what is happening…. What the Obama "changes" will cost not so much in dollars but of rights and freedoms they enjoy without recognizing what these freedoms are on a day to day basis. Until this group "gets it" they will not join us in our effort to put together a congress that holds the values and beliefs clearly laid down in the documents by Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers. They just won't join in.
The Tea Party efforts, if directed only towards the "bad" politicians, may not accomplish our goals. If the Tea Party effort is about educating and winning the minds and hearts of some part of the cheering quasi liberal "at-a-boy" group as well as more of the independent voter group, with a few fence sitters picked up here and there, then all together we could accomplish the Tea Party goals. Do not doubt that without sizable blocks of voters from these three groups the Tea Party effort/goals are real "IFFIE."
The poor brain damaged main stream press still think the Tea Party is against Health Care Reform. The Health Care Bill that just got signed into law is not in anyway about Health Care Reform. The press missed that and they also missed the fact that we think Health Care needs reforming. However, what they won't miss is any opportunity to attack the movement and Yes Mr. President it is a movement.
Showing up at rallies is important… It seems until people start taking to the street no one listens... Political history tells us that all politics are local…Local rallies are scary to local politicians, state politicians, and sometimes friends and neighbors.
This President has been the most effective president in our lifetime in dividing the country along liberal vs conservative lines. Conservatives are spoken of as bad citizens because they are against all the changes he wants to make. The main stream press reinforces his position. Between now and November both he and the press will demonize the Tea Party folks. The attacks have already started and will escalate.
The first major social program was Social Security and it has taken almost seventy years for the cracks in the program to begin to open. This month was the first month in history that Social Security had to send out more money then it took in. Medicare and Medicaid have been around less than a half century and are on the brink of bankrupting the states and the nation. These three programs are managed by our government. The current social Healthcare Bill is expected to run up to a trillion dollars in the first ten years and it too will be managed by our government. Everyone who believes that the government has "learned" and will manage this fourth national social program, well, raise your hand.
1/3 1/3 1/3 … About 1/3 of the citizens are unemployed or on some form of government support….. About 1/3 of the citizens are employed in some government position at the state or federal levels…..About 1/3 of the citizens work in the private sector and money is taken from this private sector group and given to the other two groups. So the 1/3 is effectively paying/supporting the other two groups. As the costs of the new social programs kick in, the private sector will need to work harder/more to support the other two groups. Makes sense? Not one bit. However, it's more of them than us so it is a pretty good bet which way they other two groups will do their voting.
Whoever the congress person might be, the one thing they have to be is firm and clear on their conviction and beliefs on the role of government in ways other than a transfer agent of productive working people's wealth. These potential congress people are out there but really hard to find.
One thing that is known is that these political and economic problems will not be solved in Washington with the current crop of elected leaders. If we don't change the make-up of this group they will sink the country in debt. But come November..
Come November, for the Tea Partiers, the vote will be about Stateism VS Enterpriseism - Takers VS Makers - Now vs Future…. Come November, for the President, the vote will be about Progressives vs Regressives… Most of the free press will echo his position. Most young voters will buy the talk, many liberals will buy the talk, all the "takers" will embrace the talk, so who will we find to walk the walk with us?
What would ideal candidate for us have to have on their résumés….?
EXPERIENCE: Built a business, hired and fired people, made a product or created a service, signed payroll checks every Friday, did the bookkeeping, filled out tax forms, paid State and Federal taxes, paid the business half of Social Security on each employee, been through IRS audits, been through State audits, worked fifty hours a week, bought business insurance, paid into workers comp insurance, paid into unemployment insurance funds, bought health insurance for the business and employees, dealt with EPA, created retirement plans, paid into retirement plans, developed medium and long term business plans, executed medium and long term business plans, gone through business cycles, had experience with contractors and subcontractors, had weeks when employees got paid and there was no money left for him/her, put children through college, paid off home, cared for aging parents, etc. (What size, shape, gender, color, ethnicity is not a issue on the resume but a law degree automatically disqualifies the individual.)
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson
Come November…. Come with us... The Oxford Tea Party
What conditions would have to exist before the elected official at State and Federal levels would understand the following simple REALITIES?
1* "You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity."
2* "What one person receives without working for it, another person must work for it without receiving."
3* “The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else."
4* “When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them--and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation."
5* “You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
We under stand that our representatives in all levels of government cannot nor have they ever figured these realities out for themselves. Clearly, at the State and Federal government levels, it hasn't mattered which national party had the controlling majority. They simply never get this.
Because some Republican congresses lower taxes or somewhat slow the wealth transfers or that some Democratic congresses speed up these transfers, the drum still keeps beating.
What would we, the working voters, the folks these "tax transfers" are taken from, have to do in order to create the necessary CONDITIONS for representatives from both national parties to accept these realities and STOP this behavior?
Would limiting the time (terms) representatives can hold office be one step towards creating the "right" CONDITIONS? Limiting their time in office would end the concept of a career politician for sure. That might be a good thing. The representative would not have to worry 1) about being reelected; 2) worrying about his/her vote being acceptable to their party; 3) worrying about their vote being politically correct; 4) casting votes in order to secure funding for the next election cycle. Sounds like an idea. Sounds like.
Would these elected politicians vote to limit their time in office and would the Courts not overturn the idea of term limits if they did? It doesn't seem likely we can look to the elected or courts to solve the "career politician" problem for us.
Even if term limits could become the law of the land, does that address the core problem we are experiencing with our current government? This President along with a supporting Congress is redefining how this country will work, how every sector of our economy will work, how businesses will work, how salaries will be paid, how medical services will be supplied, how education will be conducted, and appoint themselves (i.e. the government) to manage it all. This is just a stunning and down right silly idea.
The part of this I clearly understand is the governments' quest for more and more power BUT what I don't understand is why close to 50% of the population are saying, "at-a-boy" to the whole convoluted mess. Its possible that this group does not understand what is happening…. What the Obama "changes" will cost not so much in dollars but of rights and freedoms they enjoy without recognizing what these freedoms are on a day to day basis. Until this group "gets it" they will not join us in our effort to put together a congress that holds the values and beliefs clearly laid down in the documents by Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers. They just won't join in.
The Tea Party efforts, if directed only towards the "bad" politicians, may not accomplish our goals. If the Tea Party effort is about educating and winning the minds and hearts of some part of the cheering quasi liberal "at-a-boy" group as well as more of the independent voter group, with a few fence sitters picked up here and there, then all together we could accomplish the Tea Party goals. Do not doubt that without sizable blocks of voters from these three groups the Tea Party effort/goals are real "IFFIE."
The poor brain damaged main stream press still think the Tea Party is against Health Care Reform. The Health Care Bill that just got signed into law is not in anyway about Health Care Reform. The press missed that and they also missed the fact that we think Health Care needs reforming. However, what they won't miss is any opportunity to attack the movement and Yes Mr. President it is a movement.
Showing up at rallies is important… It seems until people start taking to the street no one listens... Political history tells us that all politics are local…Local rallies are scary to local politicians, state politicians, and sometimes friends and neighbors.
This President has been the most effective president in our lifetime in dividing the country along liberal vs conservative lines. Conservatives are spoken of as bad citizens because they are against all the changes he wants to make. The main stream press reinforces his position. Between now and November both he and the press will demonize the Tea Party folks. The attacks have already started and will escalate.
The first major social program was Social Security and it has taken almost seventy years for the cracks in the program to begin to open. This month was the first month in history that Social Security had to send out more money then it took in. Medicare and Medicaid have been around less than a half century and are on the brink of bankrupting the states and the nation. These three programs are managed by our government. The current social Healthcare Bill is expected to run up to a trillion dollars in the first ten years and it too will be managed by our government. Everyone who believes that the government has "learned" and will manage this fourth national social program, well, raise your hand.
1/3 1/3 1/3 … About 1/3 of the citizens are unemployed or on some form of government support….. About 1/3 of the citizens are employed in some government position at the state or federal levels…..About 1/3 of the citizens work in the private sector and money is taken from this private sector group and given to the other two groups. So the 1/3 is effectively paying/supporting the other two groups. As the costs of the new social programs kick in, the private sector will need to work harder/more to support the other two groups. Makes sense? Not one bit. However, it's more of them than us so it is a pretty good bet which way they other two groups will do their voting.
Whoever the congress person might be, the one thing they have to be is firm and clear on their conviction and beliefs on the role of government in ways other than a transfer agent of productive working people's wealth. These potential congress people are out there but really hard to find.
One thing that is known is that these political and economic problems will not be solved in Washington with the current crop of elected leaders. If we don't change the make-up of this group they will sink the country in debt. But come November..
Come November, for the Tea Partiers, the vote will be about Stateism VS Enterpriseism - Takers VS Makers - Now vs Future…. Come November, for the President, the vote will be about Progressives vs Regressives… Most of the free press will echo his position. Most young voters will buy the talk, many liberals will buy the talk, all the "takers" will embrace the talk, so who will we find to walk the walk with us?
What would ideal candidate for us have to have on their résumés….?
EXPERIENCE: Built a business, hired and fired people, made a product or created a service, signed payroll checks every Friday, did the bookkeeping, filled out tax forms, paid State and Federal taxes, paid the business half of Social Security on each employee, been through IRS audits, been through State audits, worked fifty hours a week, bought business insurance, paid into workers comp insurance, paid into unemployment insurance funds, bought health insurance for the business and employees, dealt with EPA, created retirement plans, paid into retirement plans, developed medium and long term business plans, executed medium and long term business plans, gone through business cycles, had experience with contractors and subcontractors, had weeks when employees got paid and there was no money left for him/her, put children through college, paid off home, cared for aging parents, etc. (What size, shape, gender, color, ethnicity is not a issue on the resume but a law degree automatically disqualifies the individual.)
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson
Come November…. Come with us... The Oxford Tea Party
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Student Loans
(Note: This part of the Health Care Bill is published just for "Shock and Awa".)
Student loans is attached to the Health Care Bill at the President request. It has nothing to do with health care. What is does have to do with is government taking control of student loans and grants. Read through all this and you will see the targeted groups… Also, from this you will know who will be selected to hand out these loans and the fees they will get for doing it. (Note: One Congressman protected a Bank in his State by getting the bank preapproval for the program. He voted "Yea" on the health bill. )(One more note: Acorn has had to change the names on many of its Chapters around the Country and close other because of fraud. Regardless of the new names, or the fraud associated with them, Acorn is stilled loved by our President and Congress.)
Title II – Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Subtitle A – Education
Section 2001. Short Title; References. Provides that this subtitle may be cited as the “SAFRA Act,” and that, except as otherwise provided, whenever an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Part I—Investing in Students and Families
Section 2101. Federal Pell Grants. Amends the Higher Education Act to include mandatory funding for the Pell Grant. This provides additional mandatory funding to augment funds appropriated to increase the federal maximum Pell Grant award by the change in the Consumer Price Index. The mandatory component of the funding is determined by inflating the previous year’s total and subtracting the maximum award provided for in the appropriations act for the previous year or $4860, whichever is greater. Beginning in the 2018-2019 academic year, the maximum Pell award will be at the 2017-2018 level.
Section 2102. Student Financial Assistance. This section provides $13.5 billion in mandatory appropriations to the Federal Pell Grant program.
Section 2103. College Access Challenge Grant Program. This section amends section 786 of the Higher Education Act by authorizing and appropriating $150 million for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the College Access Challenge Grant program created under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. Provides that the allotment for each State under this section for a fiscal year shall not be an amount that is less than 1.0 percent of the total amount appropriated for a fiscal year.
Section 2104. Investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. This section amends section 371(b) of the Higher Education Act by extending funding for programs under this section created under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 for programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority-serving institutions through 2019, including programs that help low-income students attain degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics by the following annual amounts: $100 million to Hispanic Serving Institutions, $85 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, $15 million to Predominantly Black Institutions, $30 million to Tribal Colleges and Universities, $15 million to Alaska, Hawaiian Native Institutions, $5 million to Asian American and Pacific Islander Institutions, and $5 million to Native American non-tribal serving institutions.
Part II—Student Loan Reform
Section 2201. Termination of Federal Family Education Loan Appropriations. This section terminates the authority to make or insure any additional loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program after June 30, 2010.
Section 2202. Termination of Federal loan Insurance Program. This section is a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program, limiting Federal insurance to those loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program for loans first disbursed prior to July 1, 2010.
Section 2203. Termination of Applicable Interest Rates. This section makes a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program limiting interest rate applicability to Stafford, Consolidation, and PLUS loans to those loans made before July 1, 2010.
Section 2204. Termination of Federal payments to Reduce Student Interest Costs. This section makes a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program by limiting subsidy payments to lenders for those loans for which the first disbursement is made before July 1, 2010.
Section 2205. Termination of FFEL PLUS Loans. This section makes a conforming change with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for federal PLUS loans by prohibiting further FFEL origination of loans after July 1, 2010.
Section 2206. Federal Consolidation Loans. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for federal consolidation loans. This section also provides that, for a 1 year period, borrowers who have loans under both the Direct Lending program and the FFEL program, or who have loans under either program as well as loans that have been sold to the Secretary, may consolidate such loans under the Direct Lending program regardless of whether such borrowers have entered repayment on such loans.
Section 2207. Termination of Unsubsidized Stafford loans for Middle-Income Borrowers. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for Unsubsidized Stafford loans by prohibiting further FFEL origination of loans after July 1, 2010.
Section 2208.
Termination of Special Allowances. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program by limiting special allowance payments to lenders under the FFEL program to loans first disbursed before July 1, 2010.
Section 2209. Origination of Direct Loans at Institutions Outside the United States. This section provides for the origination of federal Direct Loans at institutions located outside of the United States, through a financial institution designated by the Secretary.
Section 2210. Conforming amendments. This section makes conforming technical changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for Department of Education agreements with Direct Lending institutions.
Section 2211. Terms and Conditions of Loans. This section makes conforming technical changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program to clarify the terms and conditions of Direct Loans.
Section 2212. Contracts. This section directs the Secretary to award contracts for servicing federal Direct Loans to eligible non-profit servicers. In addition, this section provides that for the first 100,000 borrower loan accounts, the Secretary shall establish a separate pricing tier. Specifies that the Secretary is to allocate the loan accounts of 100,000 borrowers to each eligible non-profit servicer. The section also permits the Secretary to reallocate, increase, reduce or terminate an eligible non-profit servicer’s allocation based on the performance of such servicer. In addition, this section appropriates mandatory funds to the Secretary to be obligated for administrative costs of servicing contracts with eligible non-profit servicers. This section also requires the Secretary to provide technical assistance to institutions of higher education participating or seeking to participate in the Direct Lending program. This section appropriates $50 million for fiscal year 2010 to pay for this technical assistance. Additionally, this section authorizes the Secretary to provide payments to loan servicers for retaining jobs at location in the United States where such servicers were operating on January 1, 2010. This section appropriates $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 for such purpose.
Section 2213. Agreements with State-Owned Banks. This section amends Part D of Title IV to direct the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an eligible lender for the purpose of providing Federal loan insurance on student loans made by state-owned banks.
Section 2214. Income-Based Repayment. The section amends the Income-Based Repayment program to cap student loan payments for new borrowers after July 1, 2014 to 10% of adjusted income, from 15% percent, and to forgive remaining balances after 20 years of repayment, from 25 years.
(Naïve us: We thought the Supreme Court had ruled that this kind of pandering was not a legal thing to do. We thought that would be the end of it. In a different form and a different context back it comes. Controlling who get student loans is where the rubber meets the road. More often then not, who gets students loans, defines who gets into Universities.)
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Pasted from <http://www.rules.house.gov/111_hr4872_secbysec.html>
Student loans is attached to the Health Care Bill at the President request. It has nothing to do with health care. What is does have to do with is government taking control of student loans and grants. Read through all this and you will see the targeted groups… Also, from this you will know who will be selected to hand out these loans and the fees they will get for doing it. (Note: One Congressman protected a Bank in his State by getting the bank preapproval for the program. He voted "Yea" on the health bill. )(One more note: Acorn has had to change the names on many of its Chapters around the Country and close other because of fraud. Regardless of the new names, or the fraud associated with them, Acorn is stilled loved by our President and Congress.)
Title II – Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Subtitle A – Education
Section 2001. Short Title; References. Provides that this subtitle may be cited as the “SAFRA Act,” and that, except as otherwise provided, whenever an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Part I—Investing in Students and Families
Section 2101. Federal Pell Grants. Amends the Higher Education Act to include mandatory funding for the Pell Grant. This provides additional mandatory funding to augment funds appropriated to increase the federal maximum Pell Grant award by the change in the Consumer Price Index. The mandatory component of the funding is determined by inflating the previous year’s total and subtracting the maximum award provided for in the appropriations act for the previous year or $4860, whichever is greater. Beginning in the 2018-2019 academic year, the maximum Pell award will be at the 2017-2018 level.
Section 2102. Student Financial Assistance. This section provides $13.5 billion in mandatory appropriations to the Federal Pell Grant program.
Section 2103. College Access Challenge Grant Program. This section amends section 786 of the Higher Education Act by authorizing and appropriating $150 million for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the College Access Challenge Grant program created under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. Provides that the allotment for each State under this section for a fiscal year shall not be an amount that is less than 1.0 percent of the total amount appropriated for a fiscal year.
Section 2104. Investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. This section amends section 371(b) of the Higher Education Act by extending funding for programs under this section created under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 for programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority-serving institutions through 2019, including programs that help low-income students attain degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics by the following annual amounts: $100 million to Hispanic Serving Institutions, $85 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, $15 million to Predominantly Black Institutions, $30 million to Tribal Colleges and Universities, $15 million to Alaska, Hawaiian Native Institutions, $5 million to Asian American and Pacific Islander Institutions, and $5 million to Native American non-tribal serving institutions.
Part II—Student Loan Reform
Section 2201. Termination of Federal Family Education Loan Appropriations. This section terminates the authority to make or insure any additional loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program after June 30, 2010.
Section 2202. Termination of Federal loan Insurance Program. This section is a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program, limiting Federal insurance to those loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program for loans first disbursed prior to July 1, 2010.
Section 2203. Termination of Applicable Interest Rates. This section makes a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program limiting interest rate applicability to Stafford, Consolidation, and PLUS loans to those loans made before July 1, 2010.
Section 2204. Termination of Federal payments to Reduce Student Interest Costs. This section makes a conforming amendment with regard to the termination of the FFEL program by limiting subsidy payments to lenders for those loans for which the first disbursement is made before July 1, 2010.
Section 2205. Termination of FFEL PLUS Loans. This section makes a conforming change with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for federal PLUS loans by prohibiting further FFEL origination of loans after July 1, 2010.
Section 2206. Federal Consolidation Loans. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for federal consolidation loans. This section also provides that, for a 1 year period, borrowers who have loans under both the Direct Lending program and the FFEL program, or who have loans under either program as well as loans that have been sold to the Secretary, may consolidate such loans under the Direct Lending program regardless of whether such borrowers have entered repayment on such loans.
Section 2207. Termination of Unsubsidized Stafford loans for Middle-Income Borrowers. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for Unsubsidized Stafford loans by prohibiting further FFEL origination of loans after July 1, 2010.
Section 2208.
Termination of Special Allowances. This section makes conforming changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program by limiting special allowance payments to lenders under the FFEL program to loans first disbursed before July 1, 2010.
Section 2209. Origination of Direct Loans at Institutions Outside the United States. This section provides for the origination of federal Direct Loans at institutions located outside of the United States, through a financial institution designated by the Secretary.
Section 2210. Conforming amendments. This section makes conforming technical changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program for Department of Education agreements with Direct Lending institutions.
Section 2211. Terms and Conditions of Loans. This section makes conforming technical changes with regard to the termination of the FFEL program to clarify the terms and conditions of Direct Loans.
Section 2212. Contracts. This section directs the Secretary to award contracts for servicing federal Direct Loans to eligible non-profit servicers. In addition, this section provides that for the first 100,000 borrower loan accounts, the Secretary shall establish a separate pricing tier. Specifies that the Secretary is to allocate the loan accounts of 100,000 borrowers to each eligible non-profit servicer. The section also permits the Secretary to reallocate, increase, reduce or terminate an eligible non-profit servicer’s allocation based on the performance of such servicer. In addition, this section appropriates mandatory funds to the Secretary to be obligated for administrative costs of servicing contracts with eligible non-profit servicers. This section also requires the Secretary to provide technical assistance to institutions of higher education participating or seeking to participate in the Direct Lending program. This section appropriates $50 million for fiscal year 2010 to pay for this technical assistance. Additionally, this section authorizes the Secretary to provide payments to loan servicers for retaining jobs at location in the United States where such servicers were operating on January 1, 2010. This section appropriates $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 for such purpose.
Section 2213. Agreements with State-Owned Banks. This section amends Part D of Title IV to direct the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an eligible lender for the purpose of providing Federal loan insurance on student loans made by state-owned banks.
Section 2214. Income-Based Repayment. The section amends the Income-Based Repayment program to cap student loan payments for new borrowers after July 1, 2014 to 10% of adjusted income, from 15% percent, and to forgive remaining balances after 20 years of repayment, from 25 years.
(Naïve us: We thought the Supreme Court had ruled that this kind of pandering was not a legal thing to do. We thought that would be the end of it. In a different form and a different context back it comes. Controlling who get student loans is where the rubber meets the road. More often then not, who gets students loans, defines who gets into Universities.)
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Pasted from <http://www.rules.house.gov/111_hr4872_secbysec.html>
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tired out @ 63
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
(In this article Mr. Hall is expressing the feelings of so many Americans who have worked, served, contributed to the welfare of the nation over a lifetime. No matter what they have done, no matter how much they have given, the only recognition is the continuing hammering demands from Government and niche special voting group wanting more. Now that these steadfast Americans are becoming thread bare and tired, the Government and these niche groups who have indebted him for the rest of his life are further demanding he indebt his children and grandchildren's for the rest of their lives. My God, is there no bottom to this moral and ethical breakdown we find ourselves in?)
"I'm 63 and I'm Tired" and I am Robert A. Hall
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela.
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of present government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
(Mr. Hall, I'm sorry for my grandchildren also. We will correct this travesty in November. Thank you for all you've done … The Oxford Tea Party.)
Click on the US Debt Clock below….. Take the time to figure how the clock is working. Move your curser over the title of each section in the clock so you know where the information is coming from. Some of the numbers are so large who can understand them? In the bottom right hand corner is the CURRENT liability for Mr. Hall, me, you, and each American citizen. (Make a note as to how much you owe today and come back to the clock in a couple of weeks and see how that has grown. (As the Health Care Law starts to kick in this section of the clock will rise rapidly.)
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
l
(In this article Mr. Hall is expressing the feelings of so many Americans who have worked, served, contributed to the welfare of the nation over a lifetime. No matter what they have done, no matter how much they have given, the only recognition is the continuing hammering demands from Government and niche special voting group wanting more. Now that these steadfast Americans are becoming thread bare and tired, the Government and these niche groups who have indebted him for the rest of his life are further demanding he indebt his children and grandchildren's for the rest of their lives. My God, is there no bottom to this moral and ethical breakdown we find ourselves in?)
"I'm 63 and I'm Tired" and I am Robert A. Hall
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela.
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of present government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
(Mr. Hall, I'm sorry for my grandchildren also. We will correct this travesty in November. Thank you for all you've done … The Oxford Tea Party.)
Click on the US Debt Clock below….. Take the time to figure how the clock is working. Move your curser over the title of each section in the clock so you know where the information is coming from. Some of the numbers are so large who can understand them? In the bottom right hand corner is the CURRENT liability for Mr. Hall, me, you, and each American citizen. (Make a note as to how much you owe today and come back to the clock in a couple of weeks and see how that has grown. (As the Health Care Law starts to kick in this section of the clock will rise rapidly.)
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
l
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Throw the Bums Out
The New "NEW" Deal
DOES THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS?
From time to time throughout history many people in power have thought so. Usually these people in leadership have found ways to justify their behavior and have found many followers to rationalize destructive outcomes. Today is no different than other points in history as our leader and his followers meet to celebrate another "end justifies the means" triumph. Today they will celebrate the nationalizing of the American Health Care system.
Our President called for government control of Health Care and our Congress answered this call with 219 "Yeas" VS 212 "Nays" votes effectively putting an end to Heath Care as we have known it since the founding of the Country. The ways in which many of these 219 votes were come by should be an embarrassment to us all, but for this group currently in power it is a triumph.
With fanfare our President will sign the new bill into law today March 23, 2010. He will assure us that this new law will change the way we will access medical services forever. He will be right. The change will be profound. The changes will take place over time and a little at a time. This scaling in of the new health care plan (or scheme) should, they hope, go unnoticed by many. Since there shouldn't be any jarring effects, they are betting the anger the voters are expressing will subside before November. This is what has happened in the past.
It is not unusual that "things" have to become big problems before we begin to look back to see what all went wrong. First will come the finger pointing, then we will begin to seriously ask what caused the problem (s) in the first place. To understand what problems led us to this Health Care bill we have to look way back in time.
In the early thirties, access to health care and health care costs were seen as a problem and out of reach for many citizens. In the fifties, Government saw the problem growing and took a stab at it. Businesses and Unions started stepping up to the plate with health insurance and this was seen as a solution. By the sixties the problems with health care were compounding with the advent of more older people trying to live off of Social Security and pay for medical services….Medicare and Medicaid came into law creating as much division in government and with the American voters as this current Health Care Bill. From the sixties until recently, business has been able to help more employees with health costs through insurance programs. However, during this same period, the number of unemployed workers has grown as well as a tremendous growth in the overall population. This unemployed group may well continue to grow because of the change that has taken place in the industrial base in this country. (The great sucking sound that was predicted that jobs would be moving outside this Country was taking place during these past three decades and is still very much alive. Unemployment is swelling not unlike what was happening with the workers' base during the thirties.) The history leading up to Sunday night March 21, 2010 is the ever rising cost of health care and less access to health care along with a growing need in a growing citizen base.
If the reading of this history is more or less correct, what we can put our finger on as the most consistent aspect of the health care system's problems has been the cost of doctors fees, hospitals costs , and medication which stretches back over these last eighty years. If these costs over the years had been reasonable, would we have these problems or needed health insurance companies in this mix? The idea that we need to insure ourselves against doctor costs in the way we need to insure our homes against rebuilding costs is simply obscene.
Now that the our health law is in place, dare we ask does this law and all the regulations that will come with it solve or lower the costs of health care? Or does this new law simply shift the cost from the people who work for a living to people who do not work or people who work in marginal jobs? Under a socialist system of government this is what happens and is expected.
I'm sure President Johnson meant well and thought he was doing the right thing with his "Great Leap Forward." At the core of his social program was the notion that every citizen was entitled to a living. The ones who work had money to make their lives comfortable and the ones who did not work would be given money each month as well as health coverage to make their lives fairly comfortable. This seems compassionate on the surface but the impact on these groups over just two generations has pretty much devastated them.
To regress: If I make a mouse trap and no one else does I make lots of money. Someone sees what I am doing and starts making a mouse trap. We both make money but a little less. The more people making mouse traps the less money we all make. We call this competition. We see competition as the heart of our free enterprise system. Where competition still exists in our Capitalist system, it works well. Where we do not see the same thing at work is in our health care system. Doctors make lots of money. Why aren't there more people going into medicine one might wonder. Well, it doesn't have to do with the number of applicants to our medical schools. Cost plays a part but if there were financial grants specifically for medical student (like the nurses programs) the number of applicants would double. The barrier has to do with how many students the medical schools will take. Who limits the size of the medical schools? Who decides how many doctors will come into the market place each year? If this number is being controlled, who is doing the controlling and to what purpose?
Given this new Health Care law we need to at least double the number of doctors coming into the health care market every year. Every State has a medical school. This school should be answerable to the people of each State. There are just a whole bunch of ways to bring pressure on these universities. They respond really well to political pressure. Tell them they can't add a new building or a new football stadium until they double or triple the number of students in their medical programs and see how fast the program will expand. (NOTE: When we fix the Congressional problem next November then the Tea Partiers need to begin to fix the doctor problems and the educational system is where we must start.). The resistance to expanding the medical program will not come from the physicians in the State. They are working ten and twelve hour days and would like the help.
At this point in time the Tea Party folks are looking to get the federal government back on some kind of sound common sense footing. Hopefully this step is being seen as only the first step. Also, the most important step, because no matter what all else needs doing, those things must take a back seat until we fill Washington with representatives that are responsive to the will of the people.
The health care problems are fixable. This Health Care law is so flawed with assumptions, strange math, and government controls, that when the "promised fixes" begin to kick in, everyone affected, which will be everyone, the yelling will start, " We've got to fix the health care system," and it won't just be Tea Partiers on the streets this next go round.
Come mid-November we will see if the same DEMS are celebrating "the end justifies the means" like they are doing to in Washington today, March 23,2010.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
From time to time throughout history many people in power have thought so. Usually these people in leadership have found ways to justify their behavior and have found many followers to rationalize destructive outcomes. Today is no different than other points in history as our leader and his followers meet to celebrate another "end justifies the means" triumph. Today they will celebrate the nationalizing of the American Health Care system.
Our President called for government control of Health Care and our Congress answered this call with 219 "Yeas" VS 212 "Nays" votes effectively putting an end to Heath Care as we have known it since the founding of the Country. The ways in which many of these 219 votes were come by should be an embarrassment to us all, but for this group currently in power it is a triumph.
With fanfare our President will sign the new bill into law today March 23, 2010. He will assure us that this new law will change the way we will access medical services forever. He will be right. The change will be profound. The changes will take place over time and a little at a time. This scaling in of the new health care plan (or scheme) should, they hope, go unnoticed by many. Since there shouldn't be any jarring effects, they are betting the anger the voters are expressing will subside before November. This is what has happened in the past.
It is not unusual that "things" have to become big problems before we begin to look back to see what all went wrong. First will come the finger pointing, then we will begin to seriously ask what caused the problem (s) in the first place. To understand what problems led us to this Health Care bill we have to look way back in time.
In the early thirties, access to health care and health care costs were seen as a problem and out of reach for many citizens. In the fifties, Government saw the problem growing and took a stab at it. Businesses and Unions started stepping up to the plate with health insurance and this was seen as a solution. By the sixties the problems with health care were compounding with the advent of more older people trying to live off of Social Security and pay for medical services….Medicare and Medicaid came into law creating as much division in government and with the American voters as this current Health Care Bill. From the sixties until recently, business has been able to help more employees with health costs through insurance programs. However, during this same period, the number of unemployed workers has grown as well as a tremendous growth in the overall population. This unemployed group may well continue to grow because of the change that has taken place in the industrial base in this country. (The great sucking sound that was predicted that jobs would be moving outside this Country was taking place during these past three decades and is still very much alive. Unemployment is swelling not unlike what was happening with the workers' base during the thirties.) The history leading up to Sunday night March 21, 2010 is the ever rising cost of health care and less access to health care along with a growing need in a growing citizen base.
If the reading of this history is more or less correct, what we can put our finger on as the most consistent aspect of the health care system's problems has been the cost of doctors fees, hospitals costs , and medication which stretches back over these last eighty years. If these costs over the years had been reasonable, would we have these problems or needed health insurance companies in this mix? The idea that we need to insure ourselves against doctor costs in the way we need to insure our homes against rebuilding costs is simply obscene.
Now that the our health law is in place, dare we ask does this law and all the regulations that will come with it solve or lower the costs of health care? Or does this new law simply shift the cost from the people who work for a living to people who do not work or people who work in marginal jobs? Under a socialist system of government this is what happens and is expected.
I'm sure President Johnson meant well and thought he was doing the right thing with his "Great Leap Forward." At the core of his social program was the notion that every citizen was entitled to a living. The ones who work had money to make their lives comfortable and the ones who did not work would be given money each month as well as health coverage to make their lives fairly comfortable. This seems compassionate on the surface but the impact on these groups over just two generations has pretty much devastated them.
To regress: If I make a mouse trap and no one else does I make lots of money. Someone sees what I am doing and starts making a mouse trap. We both make money but a little less. The more people making mouse traps the less money we all make. We call this competition. We see competition as the heart of our free enterprise system. Where competition still exists in our Capitalist system, it works well. Where we do not see the same thing at work is in our health care system. Doctors make lots of money. Why aren't there more people going into medicine one might wonder. Well, it doesn't have to do with the number of applicants to our medical schools. Cost plays a part but if there were financial grants specifically for medical student (like the nurses programs) the number of applicants would double. The barrier has to do with how many students the medical schools will take. Who limits the size of the medical schools? Who decides how many doctors will come into the market place each year? If this number is being controlled, who is doing the controlling and to what purpose?
Given this new Health Care law we need to at least double the number of doctors coming into the health care market every year. Every State has a medical school. This school should be answerable to the people of each State. There are just a whole bunch of ways to bring pressure on these universities. They respond really well to political pressure. Tell them they can't add a new building or a new football stadium until they double or triple the number of students in their medical programs and see how fast the program will expand. (NOTE: When we fix the Congressional problem next November then the Tea Partiers need to begin to fix the doctor problems and the educational system is where we must start.). The resistance to expanding the medical program will not come from the physicians in the State. They are working ten and twelve hour days and would like the help.
At this point in time the Tea Party folks are looking to get the federal government back on some kind of sound common sense footing. Hopefully this step is being seen as only the first step. Also, the most important step, because no matter what all else needs doing, those things must take a back seat until we fill Washington with representatives that are responsive to the will of the people.
The health care problems are fixable. This Health Care law is so flawed with assumptions, strange math, and government controls, that when the "promised fixes" begin to kick in, everyone affected, which will be everyone, the yelling will start, " We've got to fix the health care system," and it won't just be Tea Partiers on the streets this next go round.
Come mid-November we will see if the same DEMS are celebrating "the end justifies the means" like they are doing to in Washington today, March 23,2010.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 22, 2010
Part 1 & 2. Misplaced Power
Part 1.
The Boston Tea Party, we were taught, came about because the people on Boston believed they were being taxed without any representation…. They didn't have a say in government and they did not see that their tax dollars were in any way benefiting them. Well, we now have elected representation… We are led to believe now is not the same as then.
The main stream press ask, "So, why are we complaining? What are we complaining about? They say nothing has changed. This is the right question to ask because our elected representatives, in fact, haven't changed. They are behaving the same an we are not being represented.
The question, what are we complaining about, is simple and valid, but the answer is not simple. When you log onto Tea Party web sites what you will see over and over are general statements concerning principles of individual rights and freedoms handed down to each of us through the Constitution and Bill or Rights. These significant documents purposes was to clearly say who were are as a people and as a nation under law. What we discovered very quickly was the language in these documents could and would be interpreted to suite the elected majority in both the House and Senate from time to time, as they responded to pressures of each new challenge throughout our history. A Supreme Court was established to see that the elected body (s) could not create laws or regulations that were in conflict or denied any aspects of life and liberty in our original foundation documents. The Court has been consistently called upon to do just that and has overturned many errors in judgment of the people we have elected to represent us.
Our elected government is still in place doing what it is suppose to do. Court is in place doing what it is suppose to do. Why then are so many people angry and frightened?
If we just look at today for the answer we can point to Congress and say the Health Care Bill, or the Cap and Trade Bill, or the New Taxes, endless Wars, and a myriad of other bills and regulations winding their way through our Congress…. But we have seen many of these same bills, over the years, in one form or another and from congress to congress but this time there is something different. Uniquely different in many ways.
The one thing that is so different is we have a majority in Congress and President who says on a daily basis, no matter what most citizens think or believe we are going to pass laws that we want to pass without regards of their wishes, hopes, and beliefs. Never before has a Congress or President behaved so arrogantly.
This is something real to fear. We ask what comes next?
The world, the government, and each of us evolve over time. What was done yesterday lays the foundation for today. So, to simply look at this Congress and this President for the answer is not going to allow us to know what has happened over time, which is where things that are wrong, started going wrong. Our history as a people is, if it "ain't" broke don't fix it…The problems associated with this mantra is we wait till problems reach a crisis before we are moved to take any actions... How this starts showing up before the crisis occurs is with our reelecting the same people to congress over and over. It is us, the voters, that has created the idea of a "career politician." It is our reelecting that has given the politician a sense of entitlement and their sense of us as the "the dumb unknowing" electorate. We give them our trust by electing them over and over which gives them reason to mistrust of us. There shouldn't be any surprise in this but there is.
(Foot note: England had already removed the "Tea Tax" before the folks in Boston had their "Tea Party." What were they so mad about that caused them to throw the "Tea Party?" This is a discussion we will all need to take up on a different day.)
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
PART 2
Throw the rascals out!!!!! This may well be the first needed step… To do this we will need to replace people who have become social/political icons with others… But who? And how do we know the newbie's won't turn out the same…. If left to their on devises they may well become the same, given time, which has been the history. If we continue to believe that our responsibly ends in the voting booth then for sure the newbie's will morph into the same representatives we replaced. If this Tea Party group seems radical to the main stream press let us consider, just for the moment, even something more radical then the radical group of Americans that founded this Country. Lets us consider the notion of constantly monitoring our elected representatives behavior.
Monitoring has to start when the person running for office is asking for our vote.… At that time we need to make sure that they understand exactly what we want them to do, what we want our government to be, how we want our government to operate, and what guiding principles must always be the underpinning of each and ever piece of legislation…. Give the candidate a list of what we want them to do and not do and clearly state our beliefs, values, and goals. Make it clear that they will be working for us.. If elected they will be our employees… We are the one that will pay their salary… We are the ones that hired them and we are the ones that will fire them.. If they "blink" at these ideas don't support them.
Does anyone, reading this missive, believe that had the voters in every State taken this stance, at the beginning, with these elected officials we would be where we are today with high unemployment, banking crisis, faltering economy, national debt, nationalizing our Health Care system, and student loan funding ?
Close monitoring… How close might be asked? Daily… Every single day...The elected official must post, on a daily basis, what bills are in the works. What they think objectively about the bill. What effects will the bill have on each of us…What will the bill cost each of us.. Then as we respond the responses will be tallied and tracked… Comments and suggestions will be posted for all to see. If the elected official does not cast their vote based on a general consensus of the voters we start a "recall" to replace him… Hard ball. This is political Hard Ball and it helps our representative stay focused, meet our goals for government, leaves no room for arrogance, and serves the people who elected them. (Representative democratic government is what that’s called. He, she, it, or they are there to represent us, the American voter period.)
A Representative Democracy, in theory, should be a partnership between the elected and the folks who did the electing... If we don't meet our responsibility in this partnership it ceases to be a partnership. If we don't step up to the plate the "guide," all our representative is left with are pressures from other Congressman, the process of the Congress itself, mainstream media, small vocal niche single purpose groups, PAC's, Political Parties, lawyers, and business of every shape and size. Powerful forces each and everyone.
This Representative form of Democracy we have is messy and slow…It takes hard work and the work has to be constant on the part of the people represented. It is easy when we talk of such things to think in terms of Congressional members being our leaders…Knowing what is the right thing to do as well as doing the right thing. This notion puts us on slippery sloop. In ways it rationalizes our not being active and not taking responsibility for our life, our partnership with our representatives, and our County. Being active may not be as much fun as complaining but the first gets the job done and the second is just noise.
It seems the Tea Party folks know this…..
The vetting process for the November elections is under way around the Country….We need to know who the new potential candidates are and this can be done through the Tea Parties in each and every state. Information about the new candidates will be on their web sites. The new candidates will have their own web sites. They will need our money, which we can give, even though they won't have our vote. For new candidates early in the campaign is the most difficult time to raise money. The incumbent has money. A new candidate has to be seen and heard early in the election cycle so that the voters can get to know and talk to other voters so as to build a base for him/her. How fast and well this is done is mostly and directly linked to money.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
The Boston Tea Party, we were taught, came about because the people on Boston believed they were being taxed without any representation…. They didn't have a say in government and they did not see that their tax dollars were in any way benefiting them. Well, we now have elected representation… We are led to believe now is not the same as then.
The main stream press ask, "So, why are we complaining? What are we complaining about? They say nothing has changed. This is the right question to ask because our elected representatives, in fact, haven't changed. They are behaving the same an we are not being represented.
The question, what are we complaining about, is simple and valid, but the answer is not simple. When you log onto Tea Party web sites what you will see over and over are general statements concerning principles of individual rights and freedoms handed down to each of us through the Constitution and Bill or Rights. These significant documents purposes was to clearly say who were are as a people and as a nation under law. What we discovered very quickly was the language in these documents could and would be interpreted to suite the elected majority in both the House and Senate from time to time, as they responded to pressures of each new challenge throughout our history. A Supreme Court was established to see that the elected body (s) could not create laws or regulations that were in conflict or denied any aspects of life and liberty in our original foundation documents. The Court has been consistently called upon to do just that and has overturned many errors in judgment of the people we have elected to represent us.
Our elected government is still in place doing what it is suppose to do. Court is in place doing what it is suppose to do. Why then are so many people angry and frightened?
If we just look at today for the answer we can point to Congress and say the Health Care Bill, or the Cap and Trade Bill, or the New Taxes, endless Wars, and a myriad of other bills and regulations winding their way through our Congress…. But we have seen many of these same bills, over the years, in one form or another and from congress to congress but this time there is something different. Uniquely different in many ways.
The one thing that is so different is we have a majority in Congress and President who says on a daily basis, no matter what most citizens think or believe we are going to pass laws that we want to pass without regards of their wishes, hopes, and beliefs. Never before has a Congress or President behaved so arrogantly.
This is something real to fear. We ask what comes next?
The world, the government, and each of us evolve over time. What was done yesterday lays the foundation for today. So, to simply look at this Congress and this President for the answer is not going to allow us to know what has happened over time, which is where things that are wrong, started going wrong. Our history as a people is, if it "ain't" broke don't fix it…The problems associated with this mantra is we wait till problems reach a crisis before we are moved to take any actions... How this starts showing up before the crisis occurs is with our reelecting the same people to congress over and over. It is us, the voters, that has created the idea of a "career politician." It is our reelecting that has given the politician a sense of entitlement and their sense of us as the "the dumb unknowing" electorate. We give them our trust by electing them over and over which gives them reason to mistrust of us. There shouldn't be any surprise in this but there is.
(Foot note: England had already removed the "Tea Tax" before the folks in Boston had their "Tea Party." What were they so mad about that caused them to throw the "Tea Party?" This is a discussion we will all need to take up on a different day.)
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
PART 2
Throw the rascals out!!!!! This may well be the first needed step… To do this we will need to replace people who have become social/political icons with others… But who? And how do we know the newbie's won't turn out the same…. If left to their on devises they may well become the same, given time, which has been the history. If we continue to believe that our responsibly ends in the voting booth then for sure the newbie's will morph into the same representatives we replaced. If this Tea Party group seems radical to the main stream press let us consider, just for the moment, even something more radical then the radical group of Americans that founded this Country. Lets us consider the notion of constantly monitoring our elected representatives behavior.
Monitoring has to start when the person running for office is asking for our vote.… At that time we need to make sure that they understand exactly what we want them to do, what we want our government to be, how we want our government to operate, and what guiding principles must always be the underpinning of each and ever piece of legislation…. Give the candidate a list of what we want them to do and not do and clearly state our beliefs, values, and goals. Make it clear that they will be working for us.. If elected they will be our employees… We are the one that will pay their salary… We are the ones that hired them and we are the ones that will fire them.. If they "blink" at these ideas don't support them.
Does anyone, reading this missive, believe that had the voters in every State taken this stance, at the beginning, with these elected officials we would be where we are today with high unemployment, banking crisis, faltering economy, national debt, nationalizing our Health Care system, and student loan funding ?
Close monitoring… How close might be asked? Daily… Every single day...The elected official must post, on a daily basis, what bills are in the works. What they think objectively about the bill. What effects will the bill have on each of us…What will the bill cost each of us.. Then as we respond the responses will be tallied and tracked… Comments and suggestions will be posted for all to see. If the elected official does not cast their vote based on a general consensus of the voters we start a "recall" to replace him… Hard ball. This is political Hard Ball and it helps our representative stay focused, meet our goals for government, leaves no room for arrogance, and serves the people who elected them. (Representative democratic government is what that’s called. He, she, it, or they are there to represent us, the American voter period.)
A Representative Democracy, in theory, should be a partnership between the elected and the folks who did the electing... If we don't meet our responsibility in this partnership it ceases to be a partnership. If we don't step up to the plate the "guide," all our representative is left with are pressures from other Congressman, the process of the Congress itself, mainstream media, small vocal niche single purpose groups, PAC's, Political Parties, lawyers, and business of every shape and size. Powerful forces each and everyone.
This Representative form of Democracy we have is messy and slow…It takes hard work and the work has to be constant on the part of the people represented. It is easy when we talk of such things to think in terms of Congressional members being our leaders…Knowing what is the right thing to do as well as doing the right thing. This notion puts us on slippery sloop. In ways it rationalizes our not being active and not taking responsibility for our life, our partnership with our representatives, and our County. Being active may not be as much fun as complaining but the first gets the job done and the second is just noise.
It seems the Tea Party folks know this…..
The vetting process for the November elections is under way around the Country….We need to know who the new potential candidates are and this can be done through the Tea Parties in each and every state. Information about the new candidates will be on their web sites. The new candidates will have their own web sites. They will need our money, which we can give, even though they won't have our vote. For new candidates early in the campaign is the most difficult time to raise money. The incumbent has money. A new candidate has to be seen and heard early in the election cycle so that the voters can get to know and talk to other voters so as to build a base for him/her. How fast and well this is done is mostly and directly linked to money.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Ghost Breakers
This is real jump back in time...it's from the movie The Ghost Breakers, a 1940 classic with Bob Hope.
Even in the early 40's when Roosevelt was suppose to be so popular this was Hollywood's response to the DEMS....
Even in the early 40's when Roosevelt was suppose to be so popular this was Hollywood's response to the DEMS....
BIG Change is a coming
President Obama finally made it official: He wants Congress to ignore Senate rules - and the American people - and use a parliamentary trick "deemed as passed" to pass his health care takeover legislation.)
It looks like the next ten or twelve hours will tell the tale.
It looks like the key vote on the Healthcare Bill will occur in the House of Representatives late today (Sunday).
Speaker Pelosi will use every procedural congressional trick in the book to try and find the 216 votes she will need to ram through the health care bill passed "pre-Scott Brown" with 60 votes in the Senate back in December. This will be the defining vote.
2,700 plus pages of big government waste, fraud and abuse... corrupt back-room deals including the "Cornhusker Kickoff" to buy Ben Nelson's vote, the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" to buy Senator Landrieu's vote... $1 trillion in new spending that will run up the deficit…(Where is the CBO when the DEMS need them..On the job...)
Tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats and dozens of new federal agencies... government medical boards will decide what medical treatments will be allowed. ... This vast new entitlement program comes at a time when current entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid are already on track to bankrupt the Country and States.
Democrats in the House will try to justify their votes for the disastrous Senate bill based on vague promises that it will be "fixed" later. But no changes could fix this disastrous bill. The bottom line of this Health Care Bill is the federal government taking charge of the health delivery system. Given their track record we should be worried.
We must make sure the individual members of the House of Representatives know beyond a shadow of doubt what their "Yes" vote cost them. Take another step and thank the house members who say they are a "NO" vote.
Yesterday, the president actually said the nation is "waiting for [Washington] to act" on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying "NO" to the health care "reform" coming out of Washington, D.C.
IF this Health Bill gets passed what will be next?
We may have seen "a sample of what's next" earlier this week. What was added to the Health Bill was the Government taking over Students Loans program… (See the main parts of the Student Loan bill on the Tea Party blog. LINK below.) The President has said he believes every one should have access to a College education….The Government takeover of this program will end up with a price tag almost the size of the Health Care Bill.
The mainstream press along with our liberal elected representatives really don't understand what all of our fuss is about…. They see the purpose of government one way and we see it another. They cannot and will not look at what they are doing in any other way than "government control is good".… There needs to be some balance of views in our congress…. These DEMS are good people and good citizens… What has been lost over these last few election cycles is the balance on views in Congress. This cannot be fixed till November…However, by November what will be needed is a swing to another "out of balance" so that some of these ("Obama, Pelosi, Reid) laws can be amended or overturned completely.
Lots of work and effort…. Question? Are we as a People up to the task and is the will of the People going to be the laws of the Land? The answer to this question is, "Yes maybe" depending on who we replace these incumbents with… Come November the answer will be in our hands… and that’s just where it should be.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
It looks like the next ten or twelve hours will tell the tale.
It looks like the key vote on the Healthcare Bill will occur in the House of Representatives late today (Sunday).
Speaker Pelosi will use every procedural congressional trick in the book to try and find the 216 votes she will need to ram through the health care bill passed "pre-Scott Brown" with 60 votes in the Senate back in December. This will be the defining vote.
2,700 plus pages of big government waste, fraud and abuse... corrupt back-room deals including the "Cornhusker Kickoff" to buy Ben Nelson's vote, the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" to buy Senator Landrieu's vote... $1 trillion in new spending that will run up the deficit…(Where is the CBO when the DEMS need them..On the job...)
Tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats and dozens of new federal agencies... government medical boards will decide what medical treatments will be allowed. ... This vast new entitlement program comes at a time when current entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid are already on track to bankrupt the Country and States.
Democrats in the House will try to justify their votes for the disastrous Senate bill based on vague promises that it will be "fixed" later. But no changes could fix this disastrous bill. The bottom line of this Health Care Bill is the federal government taking charge of the health delivery system. Given their track record we should be worried.
We must make sure the individual members of the House of Representatives know beyond a shadow of doubt what their "Yes" vote cost them. Take another step and thank the house members who say they are a "NO" vote.
Yesterday, the president actually said the nation is "waiting for [Washington] to act" on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying "NO" to the health care "reform" coming out of Washington, D.C.
IF this Health Bill gets passed what will be next?
We may have seen "a sample of what's next" earlier this week. What was added to the Health Bill was the Government taking over Students Loans program… (See the main parts of the Student Loan bill on the Tea Party blog. LINK below.) The President has said he believes every one should have access to a College education….The Government takeover of this program will end up with a price tag almost the size of the Health Care Bill.
The mainstream press along with our liberal elected representatives really don't understand what all of our fuss is about…. They see the purpose of government one way and we see it another. They cannot and will not look at what they are doing in any other way than "government control is good".… There needs to be some balance of views in our congress…. These DEMS are good people and good citizens… What has been lost over these last few election cycles is the balance on views in Congress. This cannot be fixed till November…However, by November what will be needed is a swing to another "out of balance" so that some of these ("Obama, Pelosi, Reid) laws can be amended or overturned completely.
Lots of work and effort…. Question? Are we as a People up to the task and is the will of the People going to be the laws of the Land? The answer to this question is, "Yes maybe" depending on who we replace these incumbents with… Come November the answer will be in our hands… and that’s just where it should be.
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Has the Health Care Question been Answered?
Its seems the struggle will be over, more or less, late Sunday on the "Health Care" bill.….What few DEMS that were "NAYS" are caving in…. So the "Yeas" have it… The health Care Bill will be "deemed" accepted.
If this Bill was perceived as improving the Health Care delivery system, people in general would see it as a good thing. Some would complain but the complaints would be about the details of 'this or those' parts of the Bill.. However, this is not the perception. At the heart of this Heath Care Bill/debate is another issue as important or even more important to many Americans and that is government's control and management of the Health Care system.
The are so many reasons why the public does not and should not trust government's management of anything. Besides all the examples of mismanagement that could be recited, the arrogance with which they so readily take money from us to spend on things they deem important, without ever once asking, "What would you like us to do, what do you think is best, how can we serve you?" Can anyone think of any example, in any part of our society, where the employee tell the boss how much money he/she can have at the end of the day?
Come November… The "Reelecting of Incumbents Bill" will be on 'our' table in 'our' homes not in D.C. come November. History tells us that IF the incumbent has hidden most of his/her unpopular votes, hasn't made too many waves, has pleased their "party's leadership", has raised lots of campaign money, the electorate will reelect them. That is what we have done, more or less, consistently as long as the oldest seniors in our society can remember.
Come November…Come November What will the voters do? On this broad question the question can't be answered. However, the question asked in a different way, "What will I do in November?", is very different and forces responsibility on each of us. Which is right where it should be.
Come November… Come November… Come November… Between now and November what can each of us do to elect representatives that have the courage and foresight to reexamine the Health Care Bill. Representatives who understand and believe in all the rights and liberties that the founding father had hoped for… That we hope for…
Between now and November the liberal press will be relentless in their attack on the individual conservative, conservative groups, conservative candidates. The press will get their cannon fodder from the liberal representatives, liberal parties/groups, and a huge group of voters who are simply frightened of any change in how government goes about governing and their personal responsibly that would be part of that change.
The Tea Party, at its core, movement is about 'something' that has changed over time, in our Country. The Health Bill is an example of that 'something'. This 'something' is referred to as individual rights, liberty, freedom as a self governing nation, where elected representatives serve at the will of the people, where these representatives govern in ways that protect our way of life, our beliefs, and values. These elected representatives and our new President, many feel, are morphing our country into a government managed socialist nation like so many other nations throughout the world. The Health Bill has become a symbol of this government quest.
For the time being we can still demonstrate on our streets. We can make lots of noise which will attract others. However, the real rebellion will take place next November in a small voting booth (s) around our Country. We can look at the incumbents representatives who voted "yea" on this Heath Bill and replace them. To replace them all might be a good thing but not possible. However, we can replace many of the key "Yea" players.
The goal is a conservative majority in both houses.
Is this a doable thing, You bet….
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
If this Bill was perceived as improving the Health Care delivery system, people in general would see it as a good thing. Some would complain but the complaints would be about the details of 'this or those' parts of the Bill.. However, this is not the perception. At the heart of this Heath Care Bill/debate is another issue as important or even more important to many Americans and that is government's control and management of the Health Care system.
The are so many reasons why the public does not and should not trust government's management of anything. Besides all the examples of mismanagement that could be recited, the arrogance with which they so readily take money from us to spend on things they deem important, without ever once asking, "What would you like us to do, what do you think is best, how can we serve you?" Can anyone think of any example, in any part of our society, where the employee tell the boss how much money he/she can have at the end of the day?
Come November… The "Reelecting of Incumbents Bill" will be on 'our' table in 'our' homes not in D.C. come November. History tells us that IF the incumbent has hidden most of his/her unpopular votes, hasn't made too many waves, has pleased their "party's leadership", has raised lots of campaign money, the electorate will reelect them. That is what we have done, more or less, consistently as long as the oldest seniors in our society can remember.
Come November…Come November What will the voters do? On this broad question the question can't be answered. However, the question asked in a different way, "What will I do in November?", is very different and forces responsibility on each of us. Which is right where it should be.
Come November… Come November… Come November… Between now and November what can each of us do to elect representatives that have the courage and foresight to reexamine the Health Care Bill. Representatives who understand and believe in all the rights and liberties that the founding father had hoped for… That we hope for…
Between now and November the liberal press will be relentless in their attack on the individual conservative, conservative groups, conservative candidates. The press will get their cannon fodder from the liberal representatives, liberal parties/groups, and a huge group of voters who are simply frightened of any change in how government goes about governing and their personal responsibly that would be part of that change.
The Tea Party, at its core, movement is about 'something' that has changed over time, in our Country. The Health Bill is an example of that 'something'. This 'something' is referred to as individual rights, liberty, freedom as a self governing nation, where elected representatives serve at the will of the people, where these representatives govern in ways that protect our way of life, our beliefs, and values. These elected representatives and our new President, many feel, are morphing our country into a government managed socialist nation like so many other nations throughout the world. The Health Bill has become a symbol of this government quest.
For the time being we can still demonstrate on our streets. We can make lots of noise which will attract others. However, the real rebellion will take place next November in a small voting booth (s) around our Country. We can look at the incumbents representatives who voted "yea" on this Heath Bill and replace them. To replace them all might be a good thing but not possible. However, we can replace many of the key "Yea" players.
The goal is a conservative majority in both houses.
Is this a doable thing, You bet….
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Dick Morris Warings to DEMS
(Note: No one would ever suggest that Dick Morris is a conservative anything. For those who might not know of him he was a "Clinton" advisor. In reading this article it looks as if it is a plus for the Tea Partiers and may well be good news of sorts but it is a warning to the liberal DEMS.)
IF OBAMACARE PASSES, WHAT WILL HAPPEN BY ELECTION DAY
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
If the House Democratic majority passes Obama's health care proposals, one of two things will happen by Election Day, 2010 - and neither one will be healthy for the Democrats seeking re-election.
Either the Medicare cuts will take effect or they will be postponed by a terrified Congress.
If they take effect, physicians' fees will be slashed 21 percent and hospital reimbursements for Medicare patients will be cut by $1.3 billion. Tens of thousands of doctors and thousands of health care institutions - hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics and such - will refuse to treat Medicare patients.
Entire cities will be without one doctor in important specialties who will take care of the elderly on Medicare. Particularly in fields like G.I. care or arthritic and joint pain, doctors will simply refuse to accept the low reimbursement rates they are being offered and hospitals will refuse all but emergency care to Medicare patients. In effect, the elderly will experience a doctors' strike against Medicare patients.
Congress, faced with this massive revolt coming right on the verge of the election, may back down and postpone the cuts. Originally, doctor reimbursement rates were scheduled to drop on March 1 of this year, but Congress postponed it until the fall. Now the Democrats in Congress will face not only cuts in doctors' fees but in all forms of Medicare reimbursement - the so-called "market basket" of cuts programmed into Obamacare.
Congress, being Congress, will probably seek to postpone the cuts until after Election Day. But in doing so, they would expose the deficit reduction and cost containment features of Obama's bill for the fraud that they are. The news media headlines would blare that Congress just voted to add tens or hundreds of billions to the deficit and the big spending, high borrowing image of Congress will worsen. All pretense that Obamacare is not a reckless spending bill will be stripped away and we will be face to face with the reality that it will add hugely to the deficit.
All this will come at precisely the time that House and Senate Democrats are scrambling to rebut the attacks of their Republican challengers over these very issues. If Congress votes to postpone the Medicare cuts, as a former Secretary of HHS predicted to me, they will have to answer for their fiscal irresponsibility right before the election.
Either poison - the cuts or the deficit - will be enough to eradicate an entire generation of House and Senate Democrats.
And these cuts will take place against a backdrop of continuing increases in health insurance premiums, no expansion of coverage (it doesn't kick in until 2013), and no tangible benefit from the Obama bill.
This is the prospect the House and Senate Democrats who vote for Obamacare will face in the fall of 2010. This is the record they will have to defend.
Or, they could save their political lives and vote NO!
Help them to make the decision.
IF OBAMACARE PASSES, WHAT WILL HAPPEN BY ELECTION DAY
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
If the House Democratic majority passes Obama's health care proposals, one of two things will happen by Election Day, 2010 - and neither one will be healthy for the Democrats seeking re-election.
Either the Medicare cuts will take effect or they will be postponed by a terrified Congress.
If they take effect, physicians' fees will be slashed 21 percent and hospital reimbursements for Medicare patients will be cut by $1.3 billion. Tens of thousands of doctors and thousands of health care institutions - hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics and such - will refuse to treat Medicare patients.
Entire cities will be without one doctor in important specialties who will take care of the elderly on Medicare. Particularly in fields like G.I. care or arthritic and joint pain, doctors will simply refuse to accept the low reimbursement rates they are being offered and hospitals will refuse all but emergency care to Medicare patients. In effect, the elderly will experience a doctors' strike against Medicare patients.
Congress, faced with this massive revolt coming right on the verge of the election, may back down and postpone the cuts. Originally, doctor reimbursement rates were scheduled to drop on March 1 of this year, but Congress postponed it until the fall. Now the Democrats in Congress will face not only cuts in doctors' fees but in all forms of Medicare reimbursement - the so-called "market basket" of cuts programmed into Obamacare.
Congress, being Congress, will probably seek to postpone the cuts until after Election Day. But in doing so, they would expose the deficit reduction and cost containment features of Obama's bill for the fraud that they are. The news media headlines would blare that Congress just voted to add tens or hundreds of billions to the deficit and the big spending, high borrowing image of Congress will worsen. All pretense that Obamacare is not a reckless spending bill will be stripped away and we will be face to face with the reality that it will add hugely to the deficit.
All this will come at precisely the time that House and Senate Democrats are scrambling to rebut the attacks of their Republican challengers over these very issues. If Congress votes to postpone the Medicare cuts, as a former Secretary of HHS predicted to me, they will have to answer for their fiscal irresponsibility right before the election.
Either poison - the cuts or the deficit - will be enough to eradicate an entire generation of House and Senate Democrats.
And these cuts will take place against a backdrop of continuing increases in health insurance premiums, no expansion of coverage (it doesn't kick in until 2013), and no tangible benefit from the Obama bill.
This is the prospect the House and Senate Democrats who vote for Obamacare will face in the fall of 2010. This is the record they will have to defend.
Or, they could save their political lives and vote NO!
Help them to make the decision.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Canadian Press
Ever wonder why we have to depend on the foreign press to find out what's "really" going on in our own country. It's a good thing that Obama and the democrats don't own the Canadian press.. Here is what Howard Galganov predicts: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barack Hussein Obama: I Told You So – Yes I Did
By Howard Galganov
Montreal, Quebec , Canada
When Obama won the Presidency with the help of the LEFTIST Media, Hollywood And Entertainment Liberals, Ethnic Socialists (ACORN), Stupid Non-Business Professionals and Bush Haters, I wrote: It won't take six months until the People figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they've made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great it will take a generation or more to repair - IF EVER.
The IDIOTS who not only voted for the Messiah, but also worked [hard] to promote his Lordship, are now left holding the bag.
Here are two things they will NEVER do: They will NEVER admit to making a Blunder out of all proportion by electing a snake-oil salesman with no Positive social history or management experience of any kind. They will NEVER take responsibility for the curse they've imposed upon the immediate and long-term future of their country.
In essence, the people responsible for putting this horror show in power are themselves responsible for every cataclysmic decision he makes and the Consequences thereof.
In just six months, the Messiah's polls are showing the following: 1. On Healthcare Reform - He's going under for the third time with polling well Under 50 percent, even within his own Party. Even though he might be able to Muscle a Healthcare Reform Bill by using Chicago BULLY tactics against his Fellow Democrats, it will just make things worse. 2. On Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax) - The Fat-Lady is already singing. 3. On the Stimulus Package (Tax and Spend) - His popularity is in FREE-FALL. 4. On the TARP package he took and ran with from President Bush - It's all but Good-Night Irene. 5. On the closing of GITMO and "HIS" war on what he no longer wants called the War On Terrorism - He's standing in quicksand with his head just about to go under. 6. On a Comparison between himself and George W. Bush at the same six months into Their respective first term Presidencies - Bush is ahead of him in the Polls. 7. On a comparison between He Who Walks On Water and the 12 preceding Presidents between WW II and now - Obama ranks 10th. 8. On a Poll just Conducted, that asks who would you vote for today between Obama and Mitt Romney - It's a dead heat. Between Obama and Palin - Obama's ONLY ahead by 8 Points and she hasn't even begun to campaign. It seems to me that Obama Wants to be everywhere where he shouldn't be.
He's personally invested in 'totally insulting' America 's ONLY REAL Middle Eastern ally ( Israel ) in favor of Palestinian Despots and Murderers. He's traveling the world apologizing for the USA while lecturing others on how to do it right, when in fact and truth he has no experience at doing anything other than getting elected.
He went to the Muslim world in Egypt to declare that America IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION while he heaped praises on Islam, where he compared the "plight" of the Palestinians to the Holocaust.
The Russians think he's a putz, The French think he's rude.
The Germans want him to stop spending.
The Indians want him to mix his nose out of their environmental business.
The North Koreans think he's a joke, The Iranians won't acknowledge his calls.
And the British can't even come up with a comprehensive opinion of him.
As for the Chinese, he's too frightened to even glance their way. [After All, China now owns a large portion of the United States .]
Maybe if America's first Emperor would stay home more, travel less, and work a little bit instead of being on television just about everyday or stop running to "papered" Town Hall Meetings, perhaps he would have a little bit of time to do the work of the nation.
In all fairness, it wasn't HARD to be RIGHT in my prediction concerning Obama's presidency, even in its first six months, so I'm going to make yet another prediction:
OBAMA WILL PROBABLY NOT FINISH HIS 4-YEAR TERM, at least not in a Conventional way.
He is such a political HORROR SHOW, and so detrimental to the USA and his Own Democratic Party, that the Democrats themselves will either FORCE him to Resign or figure out a way to have him thrown out.
Or - MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, the Democrats will make Obama THEIR OWN LAME DUCK PRESIDENT.
I don't believe the Democrats have nearly as much love for their country as they do for their own political fortunes. And with Obama, their fortunes are rapidly becoming toast.
Barack Hussein Obama: I Told You So – Yes I Did
By Howard Galganov
Montreal, Quebec , Canada
When Obama won the Presidency with the help of the LEFTIST Media, Hollywood And Entertainment Liberals, Ethnic Socialists (ACORN), Stupid Non-Business Professionals and Bush Haters, I wrote: It won't take six months until the People figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they've made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great it will take a generation or more to repair - IF EVER.
The IDIOTS who not only voted for the Messiah, but also worked [hard] to promote his Lordship, are now left holding the bag.
Here are two things they will NEVER do: They will NEVER admit to making a Blunder out of all proportion by electing a snake-oil salesman with no Positive social history or management experience of any kind. They will NEVER take responsibility for the curse they've imposed upon the immediate and long-term future of their country.
In essence, the people responsible for putting this horror show in power are themselves responsible for every cataclysmic decision he makes and the Consequences thereof.
In just six months, the Messiah's polls are showing the following: 1. On Healthcare Reform - He's going under for the third time with polling well Under 50 percent, even within his own Party. Even though he might be able to Muscle a Healthcare Reform Bill by using Chicago BULLY tactics against his Fellow Democrats, it will just make things worse. 2. On Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax) - The Fat-Lady is already singing. 3. On the Stimulus Package (Tax and Spend) - His popularity is in FREE-FALL. 4. On the TARP package he took and ran with from President Bush - It's all but Good-Night Irene. 5. On the closing of GITMO and "HIS" war on what he no longer wants called the War On Terrorism - He's standing in quicksand with his head just about to go under. 6. On a Comparison between himself and George W. Bush at the same six months into Their respective first term Presidencies - Bush is ahead of him in the Polls. 7. On a comparison between He Who Walks On Water and the 12 preceding Presidents between WW II and now - Obama ranks 10th. 8. On a Poll just Conducted, that asks who would you vote for today between Obama and Mitt Romney - It's a dead heat. Between Obama and Palin - Obama's ONLY ahead by 8 Points and she hasn't even begun to campaign. It seems to me that Obama Wants to be everywhere where he shouldn't be.
He's personally invested in 'totally insulting' America 's ONLY REAL Middle Eastern ally ( Israel ) in favor of Palestinian Despots and Murderers. He's traveling the world apologizing for the USA while lecturing others on how to do it right, when in fact and truth he has no experience at doing anything other than getting elected.
He went to the Muslim world in Egypt to declare that America IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION while he heaped praises on Islam, where he compared the "plight" of the Palestinians to the Holocaust.
The Russians think he's a putz, The French think he's rude.
The Germans want him to stop spending.
The Indians want him to mix his nose out of their environmental business.
The North Koreans think he's a joke, The Iranians won't acknowledge his calls.
And the British can't even come up with a comprehensive opinion of him.
As for the Chinese, he's too frightened to even glance their way. [After All, China now owns a large portion of the United States .]
Maybe if America's first Emperor would stay home more, travel less, and work a little bit instead of being on television just about everyday or stop running to "papered" Town Hall Meetings, perhaps he would have a little bit of time to do the work of the nation.
In all fairness, it wasn't HARD to be RIGHT in my prediction concerning Obama's presidency, even in its first six months, so I'm going to make yet another prediction:
OBAMA WILL PROBABLY NOT FINISH HIS 4-YEAR TERM, at least not in a Conventional way.
He is such a political HORROR SHOW, and so detrimental to the USA and his Own Democratic Party, that the Democrats themselves will either FORCE him to Resign or figure out a way to have him thrown out.
Or - MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, the Democrats will make Obama THEIR OWN LAME DUCK PRESIDENT.
I don't believe the Democrats have nearly as much love for their country as they do for their own political fortunes. And with Obama, their fortunes are rapidly becoming toast.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Illegal Immigrants - What to do?
When you read the estimated medical cost for illegal immigrants the numbers are simply incredible…. Also, I find it hard to understand how these numbers are arrived at.. I assume the approximate numbers of people who are in this county without our permission is guessed at with some actuary. From this number cost can infer for different types/cost of service.
As you see from the list below different organization spend a great deal of time and resources trying to estimate the illegal immigrants cost to American tax payers.
Many of us in Oxford grew up on small farms around the County. So we know poor and we know need. We are generous compassionate people who given a choice would not deny medial services to anyone. However, given the growing number of immigrants we must find other solutions because we are rapidly running out of checks in our check book.
(Read the numbers and some of the links are not be working or my browser can't open them.)
1.
$11 Billion to $22 Billion
is spent on welfare to illegal aliens
each year by state governments.
Verify at:
http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2.
$2.2 Billion dollars a year
is spent on food assistance programs
such as food stamps, WIC, and free
school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
3.
$2.5 Billion dollars a year
is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
4.
$12 Billion dollars a year
is spent on primary and secondary
school education for children
here illegally and they cannot
speak a word of English!
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt..0.HTML
5.
$17 Billion dollars a year
is spent for education for
the American-born children of illegal aliens,
known as anchor babies.
Verify at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
6.
$3 Million Dollars a DAY
is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
7.
30% percent of all Federal Prison
inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.CNN.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
8.
$90 Billion Dollars a year
is spent on illegal aliens for
Welfare & social services
by the American taxpayers.
Verify at:
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.HTML
9.
$200 Billion dollars a year
in suppressed American wages
are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC%20RI%20PTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
10.
The illegal aliens in the United States
have a crime rate that's two and a half times
that of aliens that are here legally.
In particular, their children are going
to make a huge additional crime
problem in the US .
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn..com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt..01..HTML
11.
During the year of 2005,
there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens
that crossed our southern border.
Additionally, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens
crossed from Terrorist Countries.
Millions of pounds of drugs... cocaine,
meth, heroin and marijuana crossed into
the U from the southern border.
Verify at Homeland Security Report:
http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12.
The National policy Institute estimated
that the total cost of mass deportation
would be between $206 and $230 billion
or an average cost of between $41 and
$46 billion annually over a five-year period..
Verify at:
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/PDF/deportation.PDF
13.
In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION
in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at:
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht..htm
As you see from the list below different organization spend a great deal of time and resources trying to estimate the illegal immigrants cost to American tax payers.
Many of us in Oxford grew up on small farms around the County. So we know poor and we know need. We are generous compassionate people who given a choice would not deny medial services to anyone. However, given the growing number of immigrants we must find other solutions because we are rapidly running out of checks in our check book.
(Read the numbers and some of the links are not be working or my browser can't open them.)
1.
$11 Billion to $22 Billion
is spent on welfare to illegal aliens
each year by state governments.
Verify at:
http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2.
$2.2 Billion dollars a year
is spent on food assistance programs
such as food stamps, WIC, and free
school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
3.
$2.5 Billion dollars a year
is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
4.
$12 Billion dollars a year
is spent on primary and secondary
school education for children
here illegally and they cannot
speak a word of English!
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt..0.HTML
5.
$17 Billion dollars a year
is spent for education for
the American-born children of illegal aliens,
known as anchor babies.
Verify at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
6.
$3 Million Dollars a DAY
is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
7.
30% percent of all Federal Prison
inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.CNN.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
8.
$90 Billion Dollars a year
is spent on illegal aliens for
Welfare & social services
by the American taxpayers.
Verify at:
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.HTML
9.
$200 Billion dollars a year
in suppressed American wages
are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC%20RI%20PTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
10.
The illegal aliens in the United States
have a crime rate that's two and a half times
that of aliens that are here legally.
In particular, their children are going
to make a huge additional crime
problem in the US .
Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn..com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt..01..HTML
11.
During the year of 2005,
there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens
that crossed our southern border.
Additionally, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens
crossed from Terrorist Countries.
Millions of pounds of drugs... cocaine,
meth, heroin and marijuana crossed into
the U from the southern border.
Verify at Homeland Security Report:
http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12.
The National policy Institute estimated
that the total cost of mass deportation
would be between $206 and $230 billion
or an average cost of between $41 and
$46 billion annually over a five-year period..
Verify at:
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/PDF/deportation.PDF
13.
In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION
in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at:
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht..htm
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A view from England
(I was surprised when someone sent me this article out of the English newspaper, The Telegraph. I didn't imagine that people outside this Country were clearly seeing what was happening within our government. I think Simon Heffer has hit the nail on the head.)
The End of the Road for Barack Obama?
Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer.
It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: It only happens when they go badly, and those who think they know better begin to attack those who manifestly do not. The descent of Obama's regime, characterized now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.
Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen. The economy remains troublesome. There is growth – a good last quarter suggested an annual rate of as high as six per cent, but that figure is probably not reliable – and the latest unemployment figures, last Friday, showed a leveling off. Yet 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr. Obama's own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve the economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity.
Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed a jobs Bill, costing $15 billion, which would give tax breaks to firms hiring new staff and, through state sponsorship of construction projects, create thousands of jobs too. The Senate is trying to approve a Bill that would provide a further $150 billion of tax incentives to employers. Yet there is a sense of desperation in the Administration, a sense that nothing can be as efficacious at the moment as a sticking plaster. Edward B Montgomery, deputy labor secretary in the Clinton administration, now spends his time on day trips to decaying towns that used to have a car industry, not so much advising them on how to do something else as facilitating those communities' access to federal funds. For a land without a welfare state, America starts to do an effective impersonation of a country with one. This massive state spending gives rise to accusations by Republicans, and people too angry even to be Republicans, that America is now controlled by "Leftists" and being turned into a socialist state.
"Obama's big problem," a senior Democrat told me, "is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN." The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by "progressives" who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects. The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr. Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganizing Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr. Obama's own party are.
Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism. The sound of the squealing of brakes is now audible all over the American press; but the attack is being directed not at the leader himself, but at those around him. There was much unconditional love a year or so ago of Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's Chief of Staff; oleaginous profiles of this Chicago political hack, a veteran of that unlovely team that polluted the Clinton White House, appeared in otherwise respectable journals, praising the combination of his religious devotion, his family-man image, his ruthless operating technique and his command of the vocabulary of profanity. Now, supporters of the President are blaming Mr Emanuel for the failure of the Obama project, not least for his inability to construct a deal on health care.
This went down badly with friends of Mr Emanuel, notably with Mr. Emanuel himself. His partisans, apparently taking dictation from him, have filled newspaper columns and blogs with uplifting accounts of the Wonder of Rahm: as one of them put it, "Emanuel is the only person preventing Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter". They attack other Obama "sycophants", such as David Axelrod, his campaign guru, and Valerie Jarret, a long-time friend of Mrs. Obama and a fixer from the office of Mayor Daley of Chicago who now manages – or tries to manage – the President's image. These "sycophants" have, they argue, tried to keep the President above politics, letting Congress run away with the agenda, and gainsaying Mr. Emanuel's advice to Mr. Obama to get tough with his internal opponents. This naïve act of manipulation has brought its own counter-counterattack, with an anti-Emanuel pundit drawing a comparison with our own Prime Minister and ridiculing the idea that Mr. Obama should start bullying people too.
The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr. Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can't. That was more Mr. Axelrod's fault than Mr. Emanuel's. And, to be fair to Mr. Emanuel, any advice he has been giving the President to impose his will on Congress is probably well founded. The $783 billion stimulus package of a year ago was used to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country. America's politics remain corrupt, populated by nonentities whose main concern once elected is to stay elected; it seems to be the same the whole world over. Even this self-interested use of the stimulus package appears to have failed, however. Every day, it seems, another Democrat congressman announces that he will not be fighting the mid-term elections scheduled for November 2. The health care Bill, apparently so humane in intent, is being "scrubbed" (to use the terminology of one Republican) by its opponents, to the joy of millions of middle Americans who see it as a means to waste more public money and entrench socialism. For the moment, this is a country vibrant with anger.
A thrashing of the Democrats in the mid-terms would not necessarily be the beginning of the end for Mr. Obama: Bill Clinton was re-elected two years after the Republicans swept the House and the Senate in November 1994. But Mr. Clinton was an operator in a way Mr. Obama patently is not. His lack of experience, his dependence on rhetoric rather than action, his disconnection from the lives of many millions of Americans all handicap him heavily. It is not about whose advice he is taking: it is about him grasping what is wrong with America, and finding the will to put it right. That wasted first year, however, is another boulder hanging from his neck: what is wrong needs time to put right. The country's multi-trillion dollar debt is barely being addressed; and a country engaged in costly foreign wars has a President who seems obsessed with anything but foreign policy – as a disregarded Britain is beginning to realize.
There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr. Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.
The End of the Road for Barack Obama?
Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer.
It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: It only happens when they go badly, and those who think they know better begin to attack those who manifestly do not. The descent of Obama's regime, characterized now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.
Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen. The economy remains troublesome. There is growth – a good last quarter suggested an annual rate of as high as six per cent, but that figure is probably not reliable – and the latest unemployment figures, last Friday, showed a leveling off. Yet 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr. Obama's own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve the economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity.
Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed a jobs Bill, costing $15 billion, which would give tax breaks to firms hiring new staff and, through state sponsorship of construction projects, create thousands of jobs too. The Senate is trying to approve a Bill that would provide a further $150 billion of tax incentives to employers. Yet there is a sense of desperation in the Administration, a sense that nothing can be as efficacious at the moment as a sticking plaster. Edward B Montgomery, deputy labor secretary in the Clinton administration, now spends his time on day trips to decaying towns that used to have a car industry, not so much advising them on how to do something else as facilitating those communities' access to federal funds. For a land without a welfare state, America starts to do an effective impersonation of a country with one. This massive state spending gives rise to accusations by Republicans, and people too angry even to be Republicans, that America is now controlled by "Leftists" and being turned into a socialist state.
"Obama's big problem," a senior Democrat told me, "is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN." The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by "progressives" who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects. The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr. Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganizing Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr. Obama's own party are.
Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism. The sound of the squealing of brakes is now audible all over the American press; but the attack is being directed not at the leader himself, but at those around him. There was much unconditional love a year or so ago of Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's Chief of Staff; oleaginous profiles of this Chicago political hack, a veteran of that unlovely team that polluted the Clinton White House, appeared in otherwise respectable journals, praising the combination of his religious devotion, his family-man image, his ruthless operating technique and his command of the vocabulary of profanity. Now, supporters of the President are blaming Mr Emanuel for the failure of the Obama project, not least for his inability to construct a deal on health care.
This went down badly with friends of Mr Emanuel, notably with Mr. Emanuel himself. His partisans, apparently taking dictation from him, have filled newspaper columns and blogs with uplifting accounts of the Wonder of Rahm: as one of them put it, "Emanuel is the only person preventing Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter". They attack other Obama "sycophants", such as David Axelrod, his campaign guru, and Valerie Jarret, a long-time friend of Mrs. Obama and a fixer from the office of Mayor Daley of Chicago who now manages – or tries to manage – the President's image. These "sycophants" have, they argue, tried to keep the President above politics, letting Congress run away with the agenda, and gainsaying Mr. Emanuel's advice to Mr. Obama to get tough with his internal opponents. This naïve act of manipulation has brought its own counter-counterattack, with an anti-Emanuel pundit drawing a comparison with our own Prime Minister and ridiculing the idea that Mr. Obama should start bullying people too.
The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr. Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can't. That was more Mr. Axelrod's fault than Mr. Emanuel's. And, to be fair to Mr. Emanuel, any advice he has been giving the President to impose his will on Congress is probably well founded. The $783 billion stimulus package of a year ago was used to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country. America's politics remain corrupt, populated by nonentities whose main concern once elected is to stay elected; it seems to be the same the whole world over. Even this self-interested use of the stimulus package appears to have failed, however. Every day, it seems, another Democrat congressman announces that he will not be fighting the mid-term elections scheduled for November 2. The health care Bill, apparently so humane in intent, is being "scrubbed" (to use the terminology of one Republican) by its opponents, to the joy of millions of middle Americans who see it as a means to waste more public money and entrench socialism. For the moment, this is a country vibrant with anger.
A thrashing of the Democrats in the mid-terms would not necessarily be the beginning of the end for Mr. Obama: Bill Clinton was re-elected two years after the Republicans swept the House and the Senate in November 1994. But Mr. Clinton was an operator in a way Mr. Obama patently is not. His lack of experience, his dependence on rhetoric rather than action, his disconnection from the lives of many millions of Americans all handicap him heavily. It is not about whose advice he is taking: it is about him grasping what is wrong with America, and finding the will to put it right. That wasted first year, however, is another boulder hanging from his neck: what is wrong needs time to put right. The country's multi-trillion dollar debt is barely being addressed; and a country engaged in costly foreign wars has a President who seems obsessed with anything but foreign policy – as a disregarded Britain is beginning to realize.
There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr. Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.
We are at the Brink
President Obama finally made it official yesterday: he wants Congress to ignore Senate rules - and the American people - and use a parliamentary trick called "reconciliation" to pass his health care takeover legislation. Fortunately, there's a catch: before the Senate can use reconciliation to force through Obama's tweaks, the House would have to pass the Senate health care bill.
In his remarks the president demanded that Congress cave in and vote "in the next few weeks." The key vote will now occur in the House of Representatives - perhaps as early next Saturday. (So they say.)
Speaker Pelosi will use every trick in the book to try and find the 216 votes she will need to ram through the health care bill passed "pre-Scott Brown" with 60 votes in the Senate back in December. This will be the key vote.
You remember the Senate bill... 2,700 pages of big government waste, fraud and abuse... corrupt back-room deals including the "Cornhusker Kickoff" to buy Ben Nelson's vote, the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" to buy Senator Landrieu's vote... $1 trillion in new spending that will run up the deficit…(You can suspect an even greater dollars amount as the program ramps up.)
Tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats and dozens of new federal agencies... government medical boards will decide what medical treatments will be allowed. ... This vast new entitlement program comes at a time when current entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid are already on track to bankruptcy the Country and States. I could go on but we all get the picture.
Democrats in the House will try to justify their votes for the disastrous Senate bill based on vague promises that it will be "fixed" later. But no changes could fix this disastrous bill. The bottom line of this Health Care Bill is the federal government taking charge of the health delivery system. Given their track record we should be worried.
We must make sure the individual members of the House of Representatives know beyond a shadow of doubt what their "Yes" vote will cost them. Even if the house members who say they are a "NO" vote contact them with your support.
Call and email your member of Congress, time has running out. Let them know that no matter what else they will not be able to "reconcile" their "YES" vote with us.
Yesterday, the president actually said the nation is "waiting for [Washington] to act" on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying "NO" to the health care "reform" coming out of Washington, D.C.
IF this Health Bill gets passed what will be next?
We may have seen "a sample of what's next" earlier this week. What was added to the Health Bill was the Government taking over Students Loans program… The President has said he believes every one should have access to a College education… The Government takeover of this program would have a price tag almost the size of the Health Care program.
The main stream press along with our liberal elected representatives really don't understand what all of our fuss is about… They see the purpose of government one way and we see it another. They cannot and will not look at what they are doing in any other way. That may be a good thing… There needs to be some balance in views… These are good people and good citizens… What has been lost over these last few election cycles is the balance and we cannot fix this till November… However, by November what will be needed is a swing to another "out of balance" so that some of these ("Obama, Pelosi, Reid) laws can be amended or overturned completely.
Lots of work and effort… Are we as a People up to the task and is the will of the People going to be the voice of the nation? The answer to this question has always been in our hands...
In his remarks the president demanded that Congress cave in and vote "in the next few weeks." The key vote will now occur in the House of Representatives - perhaps as early next Saturday. (So they say.)
Speaker Pelosi will use every trick in the book to try and find the 216 votes she will need to ram through the health care bill passed "pre-Scott Brown" with 60 votes in the Senate back in December. This will be the key vote.
You remember the Senate bill... 2,700 pages of big government waste, fraud and abuse... corrupt back-room deals including the "Cornhusker Kickoff" to buy Ben Nelson's vote, the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" to buy Senator Landrieu's vote... $1 trillion in new spending that will run up the deficit…(You can suspect an even greater dollars amount as the program ramps up.)
Tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats and dozens of new federal agencies... government medical boards will decide what medical treatments will be allowed. ... This vast new entitlement program comes at a time when current entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid are already on track to bankruptcy the Country and States. I could go on but we all get the picture.
Democrats in the House will try to justify their votes for the disastrous Senate bill based on vague promises that it will be "fixed" later. But no changes could fix this disastrous bill. The bottom line of this Health Care Bill is the federal government taking charge of the health delivery system. Given their track record we should be worried.
We must make sure the individual members of the House of Representatives know beyond a shadow of doubt what their "Yes" vote will cost them. Even if the house members who say they are a "NO" vote contact them with your support.
Call and email your member of Congress, time has running out. Let them know that no matter what else they will not be able to "reconcile" their "YES" vote with us.
Yesterday, the president actually said the nation is "waiting for [Washington] to act" on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying "NO" to the health care "reform" coming out of Washington, D.C.
IF this Health Bill gets passed what will be next?
We may have seen "a sample of what's next" earlier this week. What was added to the Health Bill was the Government taking over Students Loans program… The President has said he believes every one should have access to a College education… The Government takeover of this program would have a price tag almost the size of the Health Care program.
The main stream press along with our liberal elected representatives really don't understand what all of our fuss is about… They see the purpose of government one way and we see it another. They cannot and will not look at what they are doing in any other way. That may be a good thing… There needs to be some balance in views… These are good people and good citizens… What has been lost over these last few election cycles is the balance and we cannot fix this till November… However, by November what will be needed is a swing to another "out of balance" so that some of these ("Obama, Pelosi, Reid) laws can be amended or overturned completely.
Lots of work and effort… Are we as a People up to the task and is the will of the People going to be the voice of the nation? The answer to this question has always been in our hands...
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