The healthcare bill is nothing more than further erosion of our liberty through a greater expansion of the federal government into our personal lives. Let’s not forget the collateral damage imposed by an even larger destructive debt burden. No one argues that Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are filled with fraud that totals over $100 billion each year (conservatively). When future projections of tax revenues and expenses for these three programs are considered, many people are not aware that we are already trillions of dollars in the hole. Stupidity is giving government bureaucrats more control over our economy when they have failed so miserably with these social programs. While having all of these expansive social safety nets can certainly make some people feel good, the perverse incentives and entitlement mentality they create are not good for the long term “psychological” strength of the country.

The absurd decision to have a civilian trial of KSM’s “crime” is not much more than a thinly veiled disguise of putting the Bush administration and the US intelligence network on trial for political purposes and some sick liberal catharsis. It doesn’t matter that it will be a media rant platform for extremists Muslims, and a symbol of weakness. The hypocrisy is astounding – liberals say they are concerned about terrorists rights in a civilian vs. a military court, but we continue to use Predator drones to bomb suspected terrorists camps in the Middle East when they haven’t yet been tried in a court of law. The disconnect in their thinking between a war and a criminal activity can’t be any clearer. To apply this disjointed logic, we should be using Predator drones to take out suspected gang member hideouts in LA or the organized crime offices in Chicago. Hmmm…maybe there is something there after all.

Cap-and-trade is feel-good legislation based on no conclusive scientific evidence; China and India can’t be any firmer in their position – they will not agree to any treaty that will force them to cut CO2 emissions. Decreasing real pollution is a worthy cause, but cap and trade, or any climate change legislation, will result in additional competitive disadvantages, and it will be economically devastating for many US industries.

The misappropriation of billions in bailouts and stimulus funding will result in more debt, bigger government, and continued corruption. Once the rhetorical window dressing of saving the world economies is stripped away, the taxpayer bailouts of well-connected financial institutions has nothing to do with free market principles and everything to do with more of the same corruption that helped create the financial meltdown. Much of the same holds true for the GM bailout which was accomplished by throwing out the rule of law and by political pay-off to unions. As an added benefit, all of the bailouts’ have unintended consequences (or intended consequences) of expanding the reach of the federal government.

There is an insidious shifting of the massive and destructive credit explosion from the private sector to the government. It is being orchestrated by swapping the massive and politically driven easy consumer credit explosion that fueled 100%+ debt-to-equity home equity loans, NINJ (no income, no job) loans, etc. with massive infusions of government credit through federal bailouts, stimulus programs, federal reserve and treasury inflationary liquidity policy, and general spending programs. The consequences of this will not be good.

The cumulative effect of allowing politicians to become more powerful than what was ever intended by our Constitution is difficult to comprehend and assess since so much of this has been a slow, and some would say deliberate, deterioration in our governing principles. While it would be easy to blame Obama and the current Democrat majority, we started down this path in the early 1900’s, sent it into hyper drive with FDR, and escalated it further with Lyndon Johnson. Republicans in recent years have not helped since they have done little to stop this deterioration; while Reagan was able to reverse the trend, Bush 1 and 2 abandoned many of the core principles of Reagan’s and the Founding Fathers’ limited government philosophy. This failure of the Republican party has not only resulted in the continued move to bigger and more intrusive government – it is also playing a major role in the destruction of the political entity that was a balance to the Democrats’ nanny-state.

All of that being said, it is heartening to see a program recently aired on television (yes – Fox News Channel) where a panel of Americans, who happen to be conservative blacks, support the principles of our Founding Fathers. They realize just how devastating big government can be since it is greatly responsible for many of the problems in the black community. Fostered by Democrat party beliefs, the black community is an example of how ineffective and destructive the government has been when it tries to socially engineer a desired result for people they believe to have been wronged. Look at any of the big cities where taxes have increased to support massive social programs – is there one city where it has been successful? The fact is, wherever government has been the savior for the common man, the common man has paid the price. All one needs to do is look to National Socialists (Nazis), Lenin and Stalin Communism, Mao Communism, or the communist dictator regimes of Africa and South America to see the millions that died in pursuit of the socialist utopia.

The long standing social engineering programs are eroding traditional values and familial strength. Entitlement programs, outcome-based education, affirmative action, and perverse social-based education initiatives (sex education; racial, sexual orientation, and gender diversity sensitivity; etc.) continue to increase almost unabated even though there is an occasional backlash. Again, more intrusions by big government. A similar erosion of our economic strength is also occurring. The explosion in federal regulations, or the enforcement of existing legislation, many times is nothing more than more feel good policies based on emotions and not facts or scientific rigor. It is killing U.S. businesses by putting them at a greater disadvantage in global competition.

These are just some of the assaults that we must deal with almost daily. The taxpaying citizen who understand basic economics and a little history of world governments knows the direction we are going is wrong. While we rely on our elected officials to represent out interests, this is not happening since we have allowed politicians the power to redistribute “wealth”. Not too difficult to imagine that the tyranny of the majority (the tax recipients) over the minority (the taxpayers) – some will say we are already there. This concern was recognized by Plato, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and James Madison. Either a revitalized Republican party based on limited government must emerge, or there must be the creation of a viable third party. It is up to us to support and encourage either one.

Here is what he wrote:

“As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ’09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these – and the other endorsements – his package has received are all bought and paid for.

Here are the deals:

The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5 percent to 6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill…or else!

The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.

Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP – which supposedly represents them – will make more money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group.)

The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.

Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don’t buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn’t go along with Obama’s blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.

So these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent on passing its program at any cost.”

I am so specifically disappointed in AARP that it sold their members down the river…it is their job to represent their members and this is just disgusting. Power and Money seem to rule the roost.

IBD entitled its editorial article, “Selling China The Rope To Hang Us.” Dramatic enough, but I instead entitled the link, “Treason or Stupidity at Commerce?” The first sentence in the IBD column is ominous: “On the eve of a visit by China’s No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development.” “Loosens” appears to be inaccurate, however. What President Obama has actually done is to delegate by executive order his own responsibility to the Secretary of Commerce for certifying exports of missile technology to Communist China.

Can someone please explain to me “why” the Obama administration (or any other) feels the need to allow the transfer of ANY technology and know-how, much less missile technology, to the military and government of Communist China? How exactly is our national interest served? Somebody, anybody, please enlighten me.

China sells us junk plastic toys and cheap manufactured conveniences. Our defense industry wants to sell China sophisticated technology to better aim its missiles at our children and at our soldiers in harm’s way. Is there any doubt that this same technology will eventually end up in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Venezuela, or any of our other adversaries and enemies? Isn’t our government supposed to prevent such a risk?

Our elected officials must put an end to the careless, even treasonous, giveaway of sensitive technology. Treasonous. What else would you call it? Communist China is NOT our friend, and proves every day that it is not our ally. China is an adversary, and a ruthless competitor, economically and politically. Communist China engages in espionage against the USA every day. Anyone with half an ounce of common sense (even really smart people like Bill Maher) would realize that we as a nation should NOT be providing sophisticated military technology to Communist China.

During the 1990′s, the Clinton administration and its Commerce Department was directly responsible for the intentional transfer of critical missile guidance technology. That much is undisputed. To now repeat the error, by giving export control of such crucial technology to the circus barkers in the Commerce Department, is truly insane. What drives this lunacy, other than the greed and stupidity of politicians, their appointees, and corporate beneficiaries? How much longer will We the People stand by while Washington D.C. undermines the future of our country and the safety of our children and grandchildren?

Why worry, you ask? Are we fearmongering at The Daily Patriot? Shouldn’t we just trust the new Commerce Department to do “the right thing,” despite the failure of prior officials to do likewise?

President Obama’s third and ultimate choice for Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, has a checkered history involving illegal campaign donations from none other than the same influence-peddling Chinese lobbyists involved in the Clinton Chinagate scandal. So is Mr. Locke a trustworthy gatekeeper of our national secrets? Or will he, too, damage our national security as he allows Commerce to again cater to corporate interests?

Surely there is more to learn about Gary Locke before entrusting him with our nation’s security. Surely, there is also need for concern about his future decisions at Commerce based upon his past decisions and alliances. But the bigger issue here is whether or not any Commerce Department should be trusted, given its certain conflict of interest in regards to the sale of strategic technology. Perhaps it is more appropriate for President Obama to instead delegate such decision-making and analysis to the Defense Department and/or the CIA.

Friends and Fellow Patriots,

The original IBD article is actually two pages in length. Read them. Find other perspectives on the issue. Read those. Then do something! Pass the information along to a friend, but take action yourself! I will be calling, faxing, and/or emailing my elected Representatives, despite my skepticism of whether my Senators would ever oppose the efforts of the Commerce Department to sell ANY missile technology to the Chinese Government. Here are links to the Senators and Congressman that represent South Orange County, California: Senator Boxer, Senator Feinstein, Congressman Campbell

Otherwise, you can locate your own representatives by using Google, Yahoo, or Bing, or better yet, start on this US government website.

Let me know what you think. Let me know what you’ve done about it. Your comments are welcome below.

(Thanks to my friend, Jim Dockstader, for his prompt feedback to my original post. He was the inspiration behind additional research, citations, and streamlining.)

Mark Roknich
Editor
The Daily Patriot

The old story is that miners used to bring canaries into the coal mines because they were especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide… when the canary was singing… the canary was breathing! If it died… it meant that the air was unfit and that the miners had better make a quick exit.

The canary was the early warning system for the miners, and I am beginning to wonder whether the Nobel Committee is the early warning system for what we will see here from our president.

Four American presidents have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The first one was awarded in 1906 to Teddy Roosevelt (a Republican). He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War and was known for quoting a favorite proverb “speak softly and carry a big stick…” Roosevelt believed he was a steward of the people, and was known for creating the “Antiquities Act” which allowed him to set aside significant parts of the West as national treasures…

The next U.S. President to win the prize was Woodrow Wilson (1919). Think: World War I and the creation of the League of Nations. In 2002, Jimmy Carter was the only other U.S. President to win. These two were both Democrats… and arguably each did more to weaken our Nation and its standing in the world than any other U.S. Presidents, before or since.

Woodrow Wilson was the father of the Income Tax, the Draft, and The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He was a white supremacist and an apologist for slavery… and a driver for the League of Nations (the precursor to the UN) which was one of the greatest failures of an organization and one which wanted a pacifist view regarding Hitler. Wilson actually won re-election to his second term on the platform that he “kept us out of the war.” His legacy was a deep weakening of the United States on the international stage, due to his insistence at driving the Treaty at Versailles, and his failure to force the American Congress to accept his League of Nations…

Jimmy Carter won the prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peace…”. While that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy… his legacy actually includes being the father of 21.5% interest rates and 18% inflation, oil shortages due to “Windfall Profit Taxes,” 444 days of Iranian control of Sovereign American Land, and the giveaway of the Panama Canal… (all in 4 short years!).

And now our newest Democratic President…

Barack Obama won the prize for… hmmm… hope? He is the father of TBD… (since he hasn’t done anything yet… )

The Committee has shown a propensity to choose a unique caliber of American President in the past… So, the question truly is: what can we really hope for from our newly minted Nobel Peace prize winner?

If the Committee has been serving as the “Canary in the Coal Mine”… then we had better start running for the exits before the air runs out and we are all reliving the results of the two previous Democrat “winners.”

Obama has put Jennings in the position of a “safe school czar”, a man who has a background that should have prevented his consideration. If that doesn’t insult our intelligence, I don’t know what will. And yet, there is very little outrage in the media, Congress, or anywhere. Our insulated and untouchable elected officials don’t seem to understand why people feel so angry. What should politicians expect when the government takes a larger and larger part of the taxpayers earnings, becomes more intrusive, and dumps lies and filth through our public schools? Most people who have just a modicum of independence, ambition, and sense of individual responsibility hate to feel like they are irrelevant, but yet that is what is happening.

Yes, people are angry because they hate being used.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas

From the Washington Times, Monday, September 28, 2009:

EDITORIAL: At the President’s Pleasure

Mr. Jennings has made extremely radical statements promoting homosexuality in schools and about his utter contempt for religion that render him unsuitable for a prestigious White House appointment. His job in the Obama administration is to ensure student safety, and this scandal directly calls into question his ability to perform that job. Mr. Jennings and Obama administration officials refuse to answer any questions about this newly discovered evidence. A lot of Americans want answers about this guy and how he was approved for a job in the White House.

Today it was reported that the Health and Human Services Department is investigating Humana Health Insurance because it sent out a mailer critical to the Obama Health Care plan and how it may affect those who are eligible for Medicare. Since when is it illegal to put out an advertisement that speaks the truth about what is occurring and is in support of your business?

Humana serves over 11 million policy holders in the United States and is a leading advocate of developing a simple ID card that the user can take to any doctor so that their medical information is easily transportable. Such a system will provide one of the benchmarks that Obama says will help make insurance more affordable.

It seems odd to me that a company that is driving towards the same goal of portability through open market capitalism is now the target of the US Government. I guess there is too much risk in the idea that private business is already doing the heavy lifting.

One has to ask, is Humana being investigated because it is doing by natural market forces the things that Obama says “must” be done by the Government because business won’t do it… or, is it that they dare to be critical of the government message and thus they must be stopped? Either way, it appears that our infamous Federal Government is overstepping its bounds again… and it must stop.

This decision to hand over the census count to ACORN clearly appeared to be both political payback for the Obama win (potentially BILLIONS in payoffs to them through the January Stimulus bill) as well as an opportunity to enhance and further entrench the liberal bent to the national political scene. These two issues, while disturbing to me, were to be expected as this is right out of the Democrat playbook.

What has shocked me is the fact that the Census Bureau has actually grown a “spine” and has rejected the President and his Rahm/Pelosi/Reed Management team. I applaud the decision and it has caused me to think that there are actually folks who remain in our Government that recognize that our Nation is larger than the political party in power, and that if there is a way to stop what is clearly gaming of the system, there will be folks who will put their nation ahead of their personal protections.

It is obvious that ACORN is rotten and should not be a part of the fabric of our national government. With the manipulation of the registration process as well as confirming that there are likely thousands of illegal registration documents prepared and submitted, the leadership of ACORN should be held criminally accountable for the fraud that they have perpetuated.

Lastly, it is clear that while this issue has become something around which the Census Bureau has developed a spine, it is our responsibility as tax payers to hold our electeds accountable for their decision to encourage or allow ACORN the freedom to manipulate the process and receive billions of dollars.

It is time to demand an answer from every elected official who has voted any funds for, or spoke in support of, ACORN. Further, we must ask them why they continue to support this organization.

Why are people so concerned about the treatment of the Gitmo detainees and their due process when we have Obama-approved Predator drones flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan firing Hellcat missiles into suspected terrorist hideouts (operative word is “suspected”)? I don’t think there was a lot of due process for those on the receiving end, but this is an inconvenient fact that makes the treatment of Gitmo detainees look tame – unless you believe that death is preferable to prison. Are these “suspects” that much different than the people we captured and brought to Cuba? We know collateral damage occurs (translated – innocent bystanders killed), but this gets less coverage than our lengthy discourse on what is torture – some of which would only be considered hazing at many college fraternities – since it is no longer the Bush administration that is in office. Is this not blatant hypocrisy? The Pelosi, Obama, Cheney drama is a real treat as the facts slowly trickle out.

It seems our politicians are more interested in scoring political points by attacking Bush policies than giving workable alternatives or being objective. When the Somali pirates captured the American ship captain, and his life was “threatened”, the Navy Seals killed the pirates. It is interesting to note that while this plague of pirates off the Somali coast has been costly, they have not been killing their hostages – but it was okay for Obama to give the kill order with no due process. What would have happened if Bush was still in office and he gave the kill order?

You would think this debate would make us appear weak, but I think people who are objective understand that the Obama administration, once confronted with the reality of the world post 9/11, realizes it is much easier to pontificate about appropriate actions in the abstract than deal with reality. As long as we keep in place the deterrents to terrorist attacks, I am not certain Al Qaeda or the Taliban will look at the new administration as weak, irrespective of the sideshow on Capitol Hill.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas

You may recall early last summer, there were quite a few foreign leaders (from countries with the some of the largest global economies) who were relieved that their economy was at long last delinked from the US economy. They commented with certainty that even if the US economy went into a downturn, it didn’t matter anymore to them since the US was no longer the dominant industrial driver. Much to their chagrin, when our economy began to slow, it was clearly apparent they were mistaken. To the extent that the US is responsible for close to 25% of the world’s GDP (IMF and World Bank 2007; 27% in 1990), I guess this shouldn’t have been a surprise. Now we hear from many of these same people a kind of delight in the potential demise of the US as a leading world economic power. While we can’t say it is impossible, no one is too convincing about who is going to replace the US as the driver for the recovery. Many of the countries that are so critical of how the US has conducted itself in the affairs of finance and commerce(and rightfully so in many cases) are in much worse shape. It is difficult to listen to the Putin’s, Wen’s, and Chavez’s of the world when they have such glaring socio-economic imbalances that you can safely say are far worse than anything we see in the US. These countries should be thinking, “what the hell are we going to do without the US to boost world demand?”. The US had 29% of world GDP in 1970. While the explosive credit debacle may be partially responsible for recent US and global economic expansion (in real dollars), sound economic fundamentals have been primarily responsible for past US GDP expansion.

The prosperity we have experienced throughout the last 150 years, with its inevitable ups and downs, has been based on something that may not be so easily achieved by others. There are layers upon layers of cultural and economic developments that are uniquely insinuated throughout our country, and no matter how far we may stray from these fundamentals, there has always been a recalibration that brings us back. The work ethic, individual responsibility, limited government, regulated capitalism, and the ability to align so many people in the proverbial melting pot are reasons for the success of the US. While other countries have attempted to replicate some or all of this, they have never been able to sustain it. The question is, are we moving too far in another direction to where we cannot recover?

Finally, there are many reasons to worry about the future when we hear so much that is negative, and prognostications are so pessimistic. Not to take away from the seriousness of the situation, but could there be ulterior motives of those that encourage this sense of doom and gloom? The fact is that the Kennedy’s, Rothschild’s, Rockefeller’s, Howard Hughes and other families all made massive fortunes during the Great Depression. When I see some of these people who still have huge sums of capital parked safely (and sometimes clandestinely) somewhere being so pessimistic in a public forum, it makes me wonder if their motives are pure. I have talked with more than one private equity person that told me directly they have 100’s of millions of $’s (and in one case more than 1 billion) available and are waiting for the bottom to fall completely out so they can but things on the cheap. From a political perspective, the Great Depression allowed the Federal Government to make significant strides in expanding its power while encroaching on individual liberties. As we witness the current approach from DC to resolve the crisis, the move to a more powerful and invasive Federal Government is obvious. So when I hear politicians or financiers talk down the economy, it makes me wonder.

As for when will there be a reversal of the downward spiral, only a few contrarians will get this right. I think everyone would agree that once the herd starts to move one direction, the momentum builds quite rapidly. A change in direction is never realized by the majority until the evidence is overwhelming.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas