How Can Two Congressmen Both Be Right on Healthcare Bill?

 Two Congressmen spoke out strongly this week about the House healthcare bill headed to reconciliation after Christmas.
The first, Our own Raul Grijalva:

Progressives have pushed strongly for a robust public option throughout this process for one reason: because all objective analyses have found it to be effective. Economic and health care experts have shown it to be the single best means to create competition in the insurance industry and to save the government hundreds of billions of dollars in the long run. The Congressional Budget Office has scored a public option as a massive benefit to taxpayers and insurance consumers, and it remains the centerpiece of my hope for substantive health care reform.

 Grijalva is convinced that his socialized option will fix all of the problems with health care in this country. Or is he? The CBO makes no such claims of "massive benefit" to taxpayers. In fact, the CBO and Grijalva can only account for savings when tax surcharges and a decrease in Medicare benefits begin two years before the plan is implemented. And economists and doctors are largely undecided on the benefits of the House plan. Grijalva seems unfazed by these realities, but others are not.

One of Grijalva's colleagues, Rep. Parker Griffin of Alabama,  has switched parties as a result of the Healthcare debate in the House. According to Griffin, the Democratic Party, having moved far to the left, "is at a crossroads."
According to Griffin, there is no longer a place in the Democratic Party for a "pro-life, pro business, pro Second Amendment person like himself." A radiation oncologist who founded a cancer treatment center, Griffith cited the Democratic health care bill as a major reason for his switch.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors, our patients and will have unintended consequences far beyond what we know today,” he said. “As a doctor and as a Republican, I plan to once again oppose this measure and hope that we can defeat this bill that is a major threat to our nation.”

So who should you believe? Griffin, a doctor who is willing to change parties over a healthcare bill he feels will destroy this country, or Grijalva, who has worked tirelessly to siphon federal dollars for healthcare clinics for illegal immigrants?

Liberal Grijalva and Pro-Life Nelson Take their stand on Health Care

Our leftista Congressman has promised not to vote for healthcare reform as it now stands in the Senate. I hope he follows through on that promise:

"Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) lays it on the line. If Senate health care legislation doesn't move significantly to the left when House and Senate negotiators meet to resolve the differences between their bills, he's a "no."

"The Senate has somehow managed to turn the House's silk purse into a sow's ear," Grijalva says in a statement. "If what the Senate is doing isn't corrected in conference with the House, I will not support the bill. Since the Senate won't use reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes, it doesn't look promising for any real change."

No, Congressman, real change will come in 2010 when overspending radicals like yourself are voted out.

On the other end of the building this morning, Ben Nelson is being offered the world on a platter for his vote on health-care. Nelson, a pro-life Democrat, is withholding his vote on Obamacare because it would allow federal funds to be used for abortion. Like a modern-day Faust, Harry Reid is offering Nelson anything he wants in order to encourage the former Nebraska governor to sell out on his principles. 

A former insurance executive considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, the 69-year-old Nelson -- one of 60 Democratic votes needed to enact the legislation over unanimous Republican opposition -- has spoken privately at least three times in the past 10 days with President Barack Obama. But whatever pressure he's facing in Washington is sure to pale with the heat he'd face at home for making an abortion-related misstep during the health care debate.

"He'd be toast," said Mary Jo Bousek, who joined  protests. "I have friends who are Republicans who voted for him because they're very pro-life."

After marathon talks, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders appeared near agreement with Nelson late Friday night to provide the crucial 60th vote. He told reporters "real progress" had been made, but offered no details and said nothing final had emerged from the talks.

 Nelson is facing a tough choice, to stand alone on principles or to cave in for funding for his district. And how would our own Grijalva respond to such pressure? 

The truth  is that Harry Reid, having already snubbed Nelson by refusing to allow a vote for his amendment banning funding for abortion, is now trying to force Nelson to give in on his core beliefs about human life in order to Kowtow to radical socialist beliefs like those of Grijalva, people with nothing at stake here except there burgeoning egos and ever-growing government pensions.
Is this what the Democratic Party has become? A gang of bullies who force constituents to tow the line or risk political destruction?
Don't be snowed by the blizzard sweeping Washington today.

Update: Guess Nelson sold out his soul to the devil:

Democratic leaders also offered Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska a deal similar to the $300 million in Medicaid aid Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana got for her support, numerous sources told Fox News.
When asked about this, Sen. Kent Conrad, a key Democratic leader involved in the negotiations with Nelson, said, "Oh, it'll be much more."

Who is the Real Messiah?

Thinks Americans are Blocking Him from Being "Messiah"

Ahmadinejad reportedly claims he has documented evidence that the U.S. is blocking the return of Mahdi, the Imam believed by Muslims to be the savior.

“We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world,” Ahmadinejad said during a speech on Monday, according to Al Arabiya.

"They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

Thinks Republicans are Blocking Him from Becoming Messiah

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has sharp criticism for Republicans, taking them to task for opposing economic stimulus efforts and health care reform while supporting tax cuts and spending that have ballooned the deficit.
Obama said Tuesday in a Washington speech proposing new job-creation measures: "It's a sight to see."
He said Republicans are "waxing political about fiscal responsibility while opposing our efforts to reduce deficits by getting health care costs under control." And he said that the stimulus package earlier this year was passed "largely without the help of an opposition party which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that led to the crisis, decided to hand it over to others to solve."

"Many even see in Obama a messiah-like figure, a great soul, and some affectionately call him Mahatma Obama."
-- Dinesh Sharma

"We just like to say his name. We are considering taking it as a mantra."
-- Chicago Sun-Times

"A Lightworker -- An Attuned Being with Powerful Luminosity and High-Vibration Integrity who will actually help usher in a New Way of Being"
-- Mark Morford

“I cried all night. I’m going to be crying for the next four years,” he said. “What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation’s political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance.”
-- Jesse Jackson, Jr.

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
-- Barack Obama

"Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?"
-- Daily Kos

"He communicates God-like energy..."
-- Steve Davis (Charleston, SC)

"Not just an ordinary human being but indeed an Advanced Soul"
-- Commentator Chicago Sun Times

"I'll do whatever he says to do. I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear." -- Halle Berry
I specifically find this disheartening, dB


"A quantum leap in American consciousness"
-- Deepak Chopra

"He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians. . . . the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century."
-- Gary Hart

"Barack Obama is our collective representation of our purest hopes, our highest visions and our deepest knowings . . . He's our product out of the all-knowing quantum field of intelligence."
-- Eve Konstantine

"This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament." "I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event."
-- Chris Matthews

"[Obama is ] creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom . . . [He is] the man for this time."
-- Toni Morrison

"Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. . . . He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh . . . Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves."
-- Ezra Klein

"Obama has the capacity to summon heroic forces from the spiritual depths of ordinary citizens and to unleash therefrom a symphonic chorus of unique creative acts whose common purpose is to tame the soul and alleviate the great challenges facing mankind."
-- Gerald Campbell

"We're here to evolve to a higher plane . . . he is an evolved leader . . . [he] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth."
-- Oprah Winfrey

“I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let’s say, blessed and highly favored. That’s not routine. There’s something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God’s plan."
-- Bill Rush

Grijalva Announces Support For Proposed Budget Cuts, Says White House Must Account Honestly For Health Care Costs (A Parody)

Wednesday November 25, 2009 (Maybe in Bizarro World)

Washington, DC – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today announced his support for a balanced budget proposal, calling it a matter of both moral and financial responsibility. The proposal would create a one percent tax increase on low-income earners, increasing incrementally to five percent for the top bracket.

“If President Obama intends to insure all Americans, it’s time he told the country how he’s going to afford it,” Grijalva said. “Health insurance is not free, and if the White House wants to pay for this with borrowed money, it should keep in mind that every dollar is precious as we try to rebuild our economy.”

Grijalva said his support for a balanced budget did not indicate a change in his overall objection to government intervention into all that is good in America. The president’s widely reported but not yet officially announced plan to force all Americans to have health insurance, when the U.S. has already been screwed by overspending by th Obama administration, is a mistake whether or not a balanced budget is passed, he said. “We have no clear agenda here, and Americans are dying to get rid of a government that has no credibility with its own people,” Grijalva said. “This is an immoral, aimless and unjust legislation, and it should end now.”

However, he added, “If the president is determined to continue this counterproductive campaign, he should be honest and transparent with American voters about how much it will cost us. President Bush spent hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on Iraq and Afghanistan that went unacknowledged in standard budget calculations, and President Obama has a chance to let voters see how truly expensive our liberal policies are in comparison.”

Sen. Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has proposed a similar surtax, giving supporters hope that an agreement can be reached quickly between both chambers of Congress. “A mega spending increase for health care would come as our country is fighting to improve struggling schools and create badly needed jobs,” Grijalva said. “With or without these additional government programs, we must keep our priorities and our budgets straight as we move forward.”

This is a copy of Grijalva's recent press release about spending on Afghanistan with maybe five words changed. How can our representative be in favor of cutting spending when it comes to our defense (Grijalva has argued in favor of the war on terror to constituents, but now is pulling that support?), yet not bat an eye as he votes for billions in domestic waste for "stimulus" spending that goes to unions and ACORN?  

Thanksgiving: A Rejection of Socialism, Thanks for Individualism!

 Contrary to Popular belief, The first Thanksgiving was not about pilgrims thanking the Indians for saving their lives, it was the triumph of the system of Capitalism over Socialism as an understanding of the natural order "under God." Richard M. Ebeling of Northwestern University explains it in the words of Governor Bradford, fouder of the colony at Plymoth:

In the New World, they wanted to erect a New Jerusalem that would not only be religiously devout, but be built on a new foundation of communal sharing and social altruism. Their goal was the communism of Plato’s Republic, in which all would work and share in common, knowing neither private property nor self-interested acquisitiveness.

What resulted is recorded in the diary of Governor William Bradford, the head of the colony. The colonists collectively cleared and worked land, but they brought forth neither the bountiful harvest they hoped for, nor did it create a spirit of shared and cheerful brotherhood.

The less industrious members of the colony came late to their work in the fields, and were slow and easy in their labors. Knowing that they and their families were to receive an equal share of whatever the group produced, they saw little reason to be more diligent in their efforts. The harder working among the colonists became resentful that their efforts would be redistributed to the more malingering members of the colony. Soon they, too, were coming late to work and were less energetic in the fields.

As Governor Bradford explained in his old English (though with the spelling modernized):

"For the young men that were able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children, without recompense. The strong, or men of parts, had no more division of food, clothes, etc. then he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labor, and food, clothes, etc. with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignant and disrespect unto them. And for men’s wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc. they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could husbands brook it."

Because of the disincentives and resentments that spread among the population, crops were sparse and the rationed equal shares from the collective harvest were not enough to ward off starvation and death. Two years of communism in practice had left alive only a fraction of the original number of the Plymouth colonists.

Realizing that another season like those that had just passed would mean the extinction of the entire community, the elders of the colony decided to try something radically different: the introduction of private property rights and the right of the individual families to keep the fruits of their own labor.

As Governor Bradford put it:

"And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end . . . This had a very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted then otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little-ones with them to set corn, which before would a ledge weakness, and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression."

The Plymouth Colony experienced a great bounty of food. Private ownership meant that there was now a close link between work and reward. Industry became the order of the day as the men and women in each family went to the fields on their separate private farms. When the harvest time came, not only did many families produce enough for their own needs, but they had surpluses that they could freely exchange with their neighbors for mutual benefit and improvement.

In Governor Bradford’s words:

"By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God. And the effect of their planting was well seen, for all had, one way or other, pretty well to bring the year about, and some of the abler sort and more industrious had to spare, and sell to others, so as any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day."

The desire to “spread the wealth” and for government to plan and regulate people’s lives is as old as the utopian fantasy in Plato’s Republic. The Pilgrim Fathers tried and soon realized its bankruptcy and failure as a way for men to live together in society.

They, instead, accepted man as he is: hardworking, productive, and innovative when allowed the liberty to follow his own interests in improving his own circumstances and that of his family. And even more, out of his industry result the quantities of useful goods that enable men to trade to their mutual benefit.

Something for Americans to think about as we contemplate the road to the disaster of Socialism that Obama and followers like Grijalva in Congress are leading us down. 

Saturday Night Live Reality Check

This week's SNL opened with a barb to Obama's trip to China in light of the U.S. increasing debt-dependence on China. It's hilarious and disturbingly truthful:


Our own Raul Grijalva continues to encourage the kind of deficit spending that will someday get his district handed to China as payment for the billions in debt we owe them.

Health Care Plan to Cover Spaying of Pets

 

Democrats in the House and the Senate have reached agreement on covering all spaying and neutering of pets as part of the Health Care bill. According to Nancy Pelosi, "When we talk about Universal Health Care, we mean for everyone, even our pets." The provision will affect approximately 200 million pets who currently do not have health insurance through their owners. Raul Grijalva held a press conference praising the plan. "Providing a public option for pets is a no-brainer. It will keep costs down and prevent pet insurance companies from gouging consumers."