Chief RINO is Back

John McCain (W) seemed awful quiet over the summer, but now that the weather is cooling down over much of the country, the old man is back to add some more "Wrong" to the nation. The ever so principled McCain, took a trip to Illinois to endorse the pro-abortion, pro-planned parenthood Mark Kirk (R), for U.S. Senate. This is the same Mark Kirk who was against the Iraq War surge the John McCain championed. If Kirk had won the day, Iraq would have been lost. This is the same John McCain who twisted words during the 2008 Republican Primary and said that Mitt Romney was against the surge in Iraq, but now he endorses a guy who actually was. With guys like Kirk and McCain around, you often have to remind yourself that "this is the same guy who....". Just as Obama has shown the ability to hypnotize Americans to favor him, John McCain has done the same with the rank and file Republican voters and donors, and "conservative" media. Everyone seems to forget the political fraud that comes out of McCain time and time again.

Mark my words, McCain will continue to be the death knell of the party, and Democrats will own the nation for generations, unless a 3rd party arises or those in charge of the Republican Party wake up and throw the liberal Republicans like Kirk, and the just plain ignorant like McCain, overboard. The (R) after the name isn't going to fool enough people to win an election. The Republican Party is still badly in need of moving to the right, or we will continue to see the loss of Republican seats. If H.R. 3200 gets passed with Republican assistance, a 70-30 Democrat Majority in the Senate is on the way.

Where's Ted?

This piece by Jeffrey Lord presents Ted Kennedy in a light that perhaps the lion wasn't all bad. I can see a wee bit of the traits of an Irish heritage; a glimmer of the common man, as much as a glimmer that can be seen in a resident of "Camelot".

However, at the end of the piece, Lord, states that, "Right about now, Ronald Reagan is welcoming Ted Kennedy home. And after the pleasantries, I have no doubt Reagan is saying, "Teddy, about that health care reform, well…"

I know we humans should not judge and assume that someone is burning in Hell. But on the other hand, is it any better in the eyes of God to assume that someone who has publicly supported abortion and has committed God knows how many sinful acts, to be assumed to be residing in Heaven? And for that matter, in 2 days? Perhaps Lord stood bedside and witnessed a perfect Act of Contrition a few days ago, but short of that, at least us Catholic brethren (of which Teddy is a member) believe there is rarely an express ticket to the pearly gates. Yet so many of us recite the likely false yet comforting line that, "he/she is in Heaven now". God's mercy is infinite, but since when has it become understood, that it is extended instantly to most all?

McCain (W)

Inspiration from a death was once left to the Christ; he who died for our sins. But today, we have 24 news media, who will interview one public figure after another to express how the death of Ted Kennedy can inspire both parties, Republican and Democrat, to come together and pass a health care bill. I thought to myself, "since when are we to be inspired by a death?" When it serves a political purpose in America, of course.

There is no politician more committed to the irrelevant than John McCain. He is not an (R) or a (D), he is only a (W), from the Party of Wrong. This man seems to buy into every left-wing idea and give it credence with his high level of respect gained from when he was shot down in a plane and kept as a POW; not from any actual act as a Senator. You may think that other than he and his family's grief from the years of captivity, this would not matter much in the vast configuration of things, but just like in the case of Ted Kennedy's death, you'd be wrong. For we live in a society which debates vigorously the merit of completely opposite views, even on the definition life and death, and waits for the irrelevant emotional moment to break the tie.

Whether it was Barack Obama's race breaking the deadlock between he and Hillary, or John McCain's former POW status as the horse he rode in on to capture the Republican nomination, there is always the irrelevant emotional story which holds the nation hostage at its arrival. How fitting for Ted Kennedy to die in the middle of a stagnant healthcare debate, to provide once again, the emotional moment we Americans need to submit and give away our freedoms. What Kennedy's life story has to do with H.R. 3200, I have no idea. He received health care from the Congress Cadillac plan, and likely received whatever medical care he wished. He didn't go to Canada or Great Britain to experience their taxed system.

But, lurking once again after months of silence is the great Democrat Party enabler, the opportunist, self-acclaimed Reagan footsoldier, Mr. Soundbite, the loser, the man who gives away the store time and time again; McCain (W). The man from the Party of Wrong, will prove once again to be the Democrat Party's knight in shining armor, to rescue the wretched usurpers of freedom once again. And once again, he will endure a little bit of whining from the conservative media, after yet another McCain "compromise", but they'll shrug and shut up soon after H.R. 3200 becomes inevitable, as they did leading up to McCain's 2008 nomination. The reliable dust bunnies in Arizona will re-elect him again and he'll remain in office until he gets sick and dies, to provide yet another irrelevant emotional reason for Americans to hold the gun to their heads once more.

And There It Is!

I saw this coming a month ago. Swine Flu mania is on the way. It's in big red letters on Drudge right now, but who knows how long it will stay there. We can all feel safe though that the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology is on the case, and has given the Obama administration high marks for preparedness to boot. Hurry up and get your shots, Obama has got 'em in mass production. The economy may become stimulated after all. The president's council says 90,000 americans could die from it. What about the 45 million without health insurance; they'll all die, right?

I won't be surprised if Obama comes home from vacation refreshed and with the brand new talking point that Obamacare must be passed to combat Swine Flu. And, I won't be surprised if the RINOs once again go along and take the bait. I better keep up with the excercising. Personally avoiding the need for Obamacare has become my life long goal now. My wish is to live until 90 and die in my sleep, but if need be, I'll spend my last days lying on a mat of some sort, reading Psalms and waiting for the clock to run out. I'll do my best before then to give as much comfort and care as I possibly can to my loved ones, friends, and neighbors in their time of need.

Who Wrote H.R. 3200?

Now that the Attorney General is going to probe the pre-Obama CIA interrogators, I am reminded of all the attorneys who were outted for authoring the "torture memos" for President Bush. It is possible that these attorneys will face prosecution for forming legal opinions, many of which were never acted on.

In the spirit of burning legal advisors at the stake, I'd like to know the names of everyone who participated in drafting House Bill 3200. Tell us who they are, so that any inhumane portions of the bill can also be grounds for prosecution. Prosecute those who made coding errors at the VA, resulting in 1,200 veterans going through months with fresh copies of the "VA Death Book" believing they had ALS (Lou Gerhig's Disease). I'm sure the coders were only trying to do good when they made clerical errors, not at all unlike the good intentions of the "torture memo" authors and authors of H.R. 3200. I'm sure there are plenty of other authors who Eric Holder doesn't like; the list could go on and on. Make sure little Barak and Eric get what they want; they deserve so much more opportunity to remake America: GM, check; Banks, check; Healthcare, working on it; CIA, check; worldwide apologies, check; Closing GITMO; check; begin to lose Afghanistan, check; begin to lose Iraq, check; nuclear Iran, almost; negotiation with Kim Jong Il, check; salary caps, check.

What If We Blow This? and Lamenting Labor Unions

A more than appropriate question from Andrew McCarthy at National Review. While most of the National Review crowd try to continue on their merry moderate way, the stand outs who really keep a firm and level headed keel are Andrew McCarthy, Victor Davis Hanson, and the humorous but sober Mark Steyn. McCarthy rebutted the NRO editorial from earlier in the week, which I commented on previously, and Steyn wasn't far behind to add his boy wonder two cents to McCarthy's Batman like calculations.

At the end of the McCarthy's column he writes,

Obama, of course, wanted health-care “reform” done — all 1,000-plus pages
of it — before the summer recess. In essence, Democrats want to repeal
individual liberty; move one-sixth of the private sector into the same
government-controlled model that has produced bankruptcy in Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid; add additional trillions to the already exploded
national debt; and they want to do it all right now — no discovery, no
settlement negotiations, no five-week trial, no delays.

Given this Democratic whirlwind, I don’t see why we owe them better than “death panels.” They are what we’re sure to get if Obamacare isn’t killed first.

And I think this is where we are now. It is time to scrap H.R. 3200. It was an overdone high octane bill surely written by life long bureaucrats with God knows what motivations. I'd like a list of everyone who was involved in writing it, so that I can charter a bus "AIG Style" and lead the ever angry mobs to demand these bad neighbors resign their posts and get out of town. Another question I have is why the SEIU states that if the "public option" isn't included in a bill, that the Democrat majority will cease. Why is the SEIU so hell bent on the passage of this legislation? Why doesn't the SEIU suck it up, and put together its own health insurance program for its members, and leave the rest of the hard working self-reliant country alone? (BTW, Isn't it sweet that Andy Stern, the SEIU Pres., thinks maybe super RINO Olympia Snowe might help pass the bill?)

This leads me to my last thought for the week. At what point is it realized by the majority of Americans that labor unions have outlived their original purpose, and when is Obama planning to "re-make" them? Unions have become a refuge for the lazy, stagnant, and uneducated who have won life's lottery of being born into a union family. In Chicago, a damn thing can't get done without caving to the extraordinary costs of union labor, yet it's healthcare costs we are supposed to cry over (union workers have infiltrated health care as well, by the way). Unions have likely caused churches to close their doors as well as other non-profits who needed their buildings repaired, but could in no way be allowed to do it without paying top dollar. They have likely caused our new architecture to look as sterile as an operating room. Show me a building with any ornate features that was built after the time of the stranglehold of the unions. If Obama really wants to re-make America, he will rid us of this tyrannical element that defines the word "workforce", for they force us to hire them to work. Unions are made up of adults who behaved like punks in high school, because they knew daddy had a leg up for them in the trade school after graduation. Where they went on to make $30+/ hour by the age of 25, to watch along with about 5 others, one guy open a manhole cover. These selfish wretched leaches; send them to the communist nations they so desire for us to become.

On the other hand, unions are also made up of the most liberal, fantasy world contingency of them all; the educator. So mired in the exhausting educational system, which truly doesn't pay what these glorified cattle herders derserve; these apple shirt wearing loafers are constantly under the whip of insane school CEO's or big city superintendents who always expect them to raise the test scores of a classroom of hoodlums whose parents instill in them only the morals of the latest R rated movie. TIME and Newsweek are quick to cover the latest 20 hour per day working school superintendent such as the wonder woman in Washington D.C., who arrogantly believe that even if the kids live in a neighborhood filled with drug dealer jobs and negligent parents, somehow the 25 hours/ week that they spend in school is going to prepare all for the Ivy League as long as you whip the teachers enough. Don't forget to cue the action shot of the superintendent and the kid pretending to read. Maybe the teacher's need unions after all. Although if I were a teacher, I'd trade the union for the right to speak religion to the kids. No, not the religion called the labor union.

Future Lifesaving Slaves

A good editorial by Hunter Baker.

With the government trying to control the practices and compensation of doctors, we may soon end up with a small number of Mother Teresas, a modest number of bitter poor performing doctors, and a large number of talented physicians and surgeons who say, "the hell with em", and leave the field all together. These ridiculous elected officials in both parties have done little to defend the very people who make healthcare possible. If I was an M.D., I would refuse to be a lifesaving slave to this pathetic bunch of couch potatoes, who have done so little to educate themselves, that they've elected socialism; the ruin of most all good things that this nation has ever had.

At some point, I think public school teachers should also say, "discipline your damn kids, or don't blame us for his/her failure". We would be better off if more kids would just shut the hell up for 4 hours a day and listen to the teacher. Instead, we feel bad for them because they are expected to sit still and listen. Well, most of a kids day doesn't require them to sit still and listen, but many do it voluntarily in front of the TV. So put away the kleenex.

Finite Resources At National Review

Andy McCarthy dissents from the high brow health reform editorial from National Review Online.

Key section:

I don't see any wisdom in taking a shot at Governor Palin at this moment when,
finding themselves unable to defend the plan against her indictment, Democrats have backed down and withdrawn their "end-of-life counseling" boards. Palin did a tremendous service here. Opinion elites didn't like what the editors imply is the "hysteria" of her "death panels" charge. Many of those same elites didn't like Ronald Reagan's jarring "evil empire" rhetoric. But "death panels" caught on with the public just like "evil empire" did because, for all their "heat rather than light" tut-tutting,
critics could never quite discredit it. ("BusHitler," by contrast, did
not catch on with the public because it was so easily
refuted.)

The editors implicitly concede that Palin is on to something. Indeed, from an Obamaesque perch, they find themselves admonishing both "Sarah Palin’s fans and her critics." With due respect, there's a right side and a wrong side on this one. Above the fray is not gonna cut it.

At the very beginning of the editorial, this quote appears: "not everything that might be in a patient's best interest can be done in a world of finite resources". Yes, we do live in a world of finite resources, but a finite amount of steel and cardiologists is not the reason why we would give the 100 year old lady a pain pill instead of a pace maker. If the 100 year old lady receives a pacemaker, it would not mean that the 60 year old heart patient down the hall gets nothing. There are a finite amount of donated organs such as livers, lungs, etc., and we accept that an ethical decision process is in place for such disbursement, but there is no excuse to deny care that comes from renewable resources like the doctors themselves and manufactured medical equipment. It seems to me that advancements in medicine are all about increasing that finite number of resources. What begins as a rare breakthrough procedure may turn into a reasonbly priced, widely used procedure over time. Treatments advance and become more readily available to a larger number of people, and then the legal system kicks in and demands access to such care.

It seems that some have bought into the notion that you CAN put a price on life; and as soon as this happens the moral bankruptcy begins. We are expected to be seen with jaw-dropping expressions when told of the $2+ trillion we Americans spend on healthcare each year. We find that the Blue-dog Democrats are mostly concerned with the unsustainable cost of the proposed health care bill, while they don't bat an eye regarding the bill's infringement on liberty. This high regard for the dollar is what fuels the large number of abortions in this nation; kids are expensive; college first, they say. A price has been put on life. And now, government leaders, so incensed with the high costs of healthcare, and obsessed with the 45 million without health insurance, want to take on the remaining 270 million of us who cover our own healthcare costs, so they can lower that price which bothers them so much? They are overcome by mere dollars and cents, but should we be surprised? One party fights hard for the right of women to abort, while the other does little to stem the tide. For many, it is the dollar before the breath, relegated to a finite life, with little faith in that which is indeed infinite.

The GOP's Last Chance for Victory

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh yesterday afternoon and he again told the audience that Republican Senators/ House Members are non-factors if Obamacare gets passed. This was after a call from a guy who commented on the Republican Senators who are negotiating over the health care bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Rush continues to dismiss the effects of the random 3 to 4 GOP Senators who Democrats commonly sway to vote Yes on legislation destined to fail. As I've written before, the stimulus that was passed in February was done courtesy of Maine's Collins and Snowe and then Republican, Arlen Specter.

It always comes down to the cloture vote, and there always seems to be a GOP Senator waiting in the wings to either vote against cloture if the President happens to be George W. Bush, or for cloture if the President is Barak Obama. The 60 vote requirement to end debate was used by the 45 Senate Democrats to block the nomination of John Bolton for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as well as to block numerous judicial nominations made by George W. Bush. Bolton was eventually given a recess appointment by Bush, but judicial seats which would have been filled with judges selected by Bush were kept open for judges to be named by Obama. The Democrat Senate prior to 2006 voted as one, and many times got their way, acting as a majority party while demanding rights for themselves as the minority party. The election of 2006 put the Senate and House in Democrat hands and the concept of rights for the minority party has since disappeared.


Today, whenever GOP defections occur, you can bet that Democrats reap the benefits in multiple ways. For example, when Collins/ Snowe/ Specter voted for the stimulus, the door was left open for Red State Democrats to vote for the bill and claim it to be a bi-partisan measure. If the 3 would have voted against it, it is likely that a small handful of those Red State Democrats would also have voted against it, which would have made the vote closer and even if it had passed, it would have 100% owned by the Democrats. GOP defections can also lead to Democrats benefitting politically from voting against their party. In the House, the cap-and-trade voted which took place earlier this summer, was supported by just 8 Republicans, and passed 217-215. Had all House Republicans voted NO, a.) the bill would not have passed, or b.) an additonal 8 Democrats who voted NO on the unpopular legislation would've had to vote YES in order for the bill to pass. If scenario (b.) had taken place, 8 additonal Democrats would now have the cap-and-trade albatross around their necks come election time. As it often goes, they were spared by Republican defectors.

A party line vote probably rarely happens in the House, but when 1000+ page freedom limiting legislation comes up for a vote, it is important for Republicans to hold firm at least in order to moderate future legislation that comes to the floor. There is no way to limit the overreach of liberal legislation if Republicans continue to provide cover to their colleagues in the Democrat Party with just the right amount of Republican YES votes.

This brings me back to H.R. 3200. If 8 random Republicans in the House vote YES on this bill, as happened with Cap and Trade, and/or if 3 random Republicans vote YES on the Senate version, conservative voters will know that we have become a nation represented by Democrat and Democrat Lite, and will clearly see that Republicans are the party of the maverick, and of the politician whose narrow plans are made not for America's future, but for their own bi-annual election cycle. The GOP will clearly be known as the party unable to hold the line in order to save the U.S. from the other party; in this case, one with a vision of a Government grown so large that whatever one might call it, be it Socialist, Facist, Communist, it will have become so strong with oversight powers that it will allow its providers to engulf the citizenry in the flames of their every whim.

If this day comes, if the citizenry have enough freedom left to fight the spread of government's cloud, it's seems only a 3rd political party can be relied upon to grow from a diet of moral principle dedicated to inalienable rights. I only advocate for this sprout if it becomes neccessary and clear that it is the only hope left for countering the failed experiments of Godless leaders and return to a land and beacon for the world which we once proclaimed God shed his grace upon.

Becoming Europe

The great Victor Davis Hanson on becoming Europe. It doesn't have to happen.

Great paragraph. (my italics)

When I talk to well-off Italians and Greeks who have substantial homes by
the sea not available to most others, one of three realities leak out: one, they
have family money made decades ago by their ancestors that includes ancestral
estates permissible before the period of supposed mandated equality of result.
In other words, theirs got theirs and then helped make laws so no one else could.

An Educated Look

A Duke Professor's take on H.R. 3200

Latest Thoughts on the Healthcare Debate

I am back from a long weekend away and aside from the latest spin on the anti-Obamacare mob, there isn't much else I've learned about the health care reform effort. One thing that is almost as certain as death and taxes, is the wishy-washy "conservative" punditry and Republican moderates who have plopped down in front of the news camera once again to denounce the latest sentence spoken by Sarah Palin and the latest raised fist by the common folk who have attended townhall meetings over the past week. Once again, when Pelosi speaks ill of average Americans, the "conservative" beltway elite is there let her statement marinate long enought to find themselves believing that even her most ridiculous lies must have some grain of truth.

So, David Brooks and even Charles Krauthammer have issued the latest obligatory scolding to the unwashed masses, in exchange for sitting next to Mark Shields and keeping jobs as the resident conservatives at the New York Times and Washington Post. Oh, the respect these fine gentlemen receive from liberals, conservatives, and the ever important independent fence sitters who make the world go round when they decide to pay attention 2 months out of every 4 years. If only more of us could extract from our blood our passions of ignorance and stay above the fray. Let me say though that Charles Krauthammer is usually right on, but even he is not immune from looking downward from the perch at the little guy.

Fresh in my memory are the heavy street tactics of the Iranian Basiji and the lack of "meddling" on Obama's part. I fear the Republicans will put forth the same effort in defending those who once made up a large portion of their base from unwarranted verbal assaults and modest physical attacks and threats from hardcore Democrat activists. Those attending these townhall meetings along with Sarah Palin have received double barrel criticism from the MSM and the great moderates will slowly begin their criticisms as well. If the healthcare bill is passed, many Americans will have nowhere left to go but a 3rd party; one of great financial poverty, but perhaps the only party left with a penny of inspiration for individual freedom.

- Sarah Palin wrote a Facebook message recently, decrying the "death panels" that would result from H.R. 3200. Where does this woman come up with such rhetoric of the reactionary? Hurry David Brooks and David Frum, tell me why she is "insane" and how she is cursed with such troubling discourse! Then tell me of the time of reason when Ted Kennedy valiantly sounded the alarm and saved the U.S. from a Supreme Court Justice who would've forced women to rely on "back alley abortions". All I keep hearing about is cost, cost, cost, getting rid of those wasteful medical tests, we spend $6,000 more per person each year on health care than other western nations, stopping tonsilectomies, giving the 100 year old lady a pain pill instead of a pacemaker, cost, cost, cost, deficits, spending too much on healthcare, red pill, blue pill, end of life counseling, panel of experts. Just where oh where does Sarah come up with such delusions?

- I read in the Wall Street Journal that as a nation we spend nearly $2 trillion per year on healthcare, but still 46,000,000 Americans are uninsured. O.K., so are these 2 numbers supposed to convince me we have a problem? According to www.census.gov, the U.S. currently has 307,147,983 (307+ million) people living within its borders. If we were to subtract 46 million from this number, we see that over 261 million are insured. This would mean that people in the U.S. spend on average $7,629 per person in healthcare costs. Using this $7,629 figure; if the entire U.S. was insured, the U.S. would be spending just over $2.35 trillion per year on healthcare. So, if I changed what I read in the Wall Street Journal to read, "the U.S. spends just over $2.35 trillion on healthcare each year and everyone is insured", how does that sound? You know the saying; "your money or your life".

- If the H.R. 3200 or any bill quite like it passes, those who are so vehemently opposed and the great majority of Americans who say they are opposed to this kind of health care reform need to hang on to the memories of these latest months. Do not forget those representatives who admitted they don't have time to read the bill, said you reminded them of KKK during debates over civil rights legislation, or made news by saying that you brought swatstikas to visit your congressman. These are the words of the overprivileged court of 535 kings and queens, many who have reigned for decades and regularly re-districted their kingdoms to keep their electoral advantage and ruling power. These are the rulers who do as they please during off-election years and take full advantage of today's short memories the election year after. These are rulers who refuse to retire their power at 80 or 90, when many of us break our backs for 40 years and pray that we might live a little while past 65 to enjoy at least some years off the clock. There are so many bright and wonderful contributors to this society yet we have a political system with a door closed to most all except the very rich and connected. We all should know that this is not how it needs to be. A campaign can likely be won these days with less money than it took to win 50 years ago. This information age can make anyone relevant overnight. All it really takes is a vigilant public; perhaps an unlikely hope and wish, yet not one out of the realm of possibility.

Protester Fashion Plates

I like this post from Michelle Malkin showing the not so well-dressed protesters of the left. It's complete with swatstika for Pelosi, and a well-dressed Michelle Obama for Boxer. I guess you can't judge a protester by his cover.

Where is Everybody?

Protests against Obamacare have been going on all week. The DNC and Democrat media has been smearing protestors all week. Yet 3 Republican Senators (Snowe, Enzi, Grassley), remain huddled in cloak rooms compromising with the Democrats to breath life back into Obama's presidency and left wing agenda. The Washington Post has a story on this, but I can't find one damn conservative media outlet aside from an article written hours ago in the American Spectator alerting us on the RINO/ Democrat seance that is happening once again.

It makes you wonder if some of the conservative media outlets just want this garbage passed. Where are they? Why aren't they on the front lines right now, letting us know what is happening in the back rooms? I know some insiders who say that a compromise has come about this morning. Yet the media messengers are hours behind. Where's Paul Revere when you need him. The Democrats telegraphed their message war late last week, while National Review, etc., were busy planning the next cruise. We whine about the MSM being so powerful, while we busy ourselves talking about Obama Joker posters, or having a Star Trek discussion (see the cutesy Jonah Goldberg side of National Review's corner)

As for elected Republicans, lets see, 55 Senators to 40 Senators in less than 4 years. I'm sure we can get down to 30 by 2010. Just KEEP COMPROMISING!!! Keep following your ridiculous election strategies. Third Party, your table is ready.

A Sweet Home Chicago Counter Rally

Yesterday, IL-Rep Jan Shakowski (D) had a lil' rally in downtown Chicago. The Democrats must pay rent on these "bi-partisan" grounds, because everytime one of their big causes start to steam up, they put on a dog and pony show in Federal Plaza. I joined a group representing the other side of the debate and we stood on the other side of the street, holding signs and shouting back and forth with the 20 or so pro-government takeover types who faced us. I'm not sure why we couldn't have just been on the same side of the street so our fabulous signs could make the news, but oh well.

It was a mostly jovial occasion, topped off by a few temperate arguments and Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" song playing on the loud speakers in honor of the president's birthday. Even some of us boring conservatives danced with our signs. Why should the other side of the street have all the fun. Pics are below.

Blue Dog Republicans

Today Rush Limbaugh gave a warning to the "Blue Dog Democrats", saying that if they vote for the health care bill, their careers are over. Rush defined blue dogs as "conservative Democrats from Blue States". One thing that Rush does not mention enough if that we also have "Blue Dog Republicans". These are Republicans in blue states who are really the great enablers for left-wing policies. These are the small handful of Republicans that vote against the large majority of their party, therfore allowing Democrats to call left-wing legislation, "bi-partisan".

Case number 1 is the Stimulus Bill. All House Republicans (over 170) voted against the bill making it a bill owned 100% by the Democrat Party. Until however, 3 out of 41 Republicans in the Senate, crossed the aisle, met for tea with Obama, and voted Yea on the stimulus bill. The 3 Senators? Specter, Collins, and Snowe; Republicans in Blue States. If these 3 had held firm (something they are incapable of doing), cloture on the stimulus may have failed and fiscal conservativism, prevailed. But instead, these unreliable 3, from really, more purple than blue states, lived up to the spineless compromising self-serving hacks that they are.

Case number 2 is the House Cap and Trade Bill. Given that the Democrat Super-majority in the Senate won't bring it up for a vote, shows how bad this bill really must be. Still though, 8 Blue Dog Republicans in the House voted for it. They are Mark Kirk (IL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Mike Castle (DE), John McHugh (NY), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Chris Smith (NJ), Dave Reichert (WA), and Leonard Lance (NJ). All from what these 8 must see as hopelessly blue states.

Being a resident of Illinois, I have seen clearly, since Election '08 what a fraud of a Republican Mark Kirk is. Watching local PBS (WTTW), I saw a campaign spot featuring Mark Kirk, and the first thing out of his mouth was that he was proud of his pro-choice record and support of planned parenthood. Since his vote on Cap-and-Trade, he has elected to run for U.S. Senate, and has voted against an ammendment stripping government funding for abortion heavy Planned Parenthood. He lived up to his PP support just like he said he was so proud to do. Before announcing his run for U.S. Senate, he sat tight until Illinois Democrat, Lisa Madigan announced she wouldn't be running. Kirk just assumed she would automatically win, and would have sat out had she run. At least now, he might get the liberal vote. It's the calculating politicians like Kirk and the Blue Dog Republicans that dumb down political representation. Kirk's a "realist" and definitely an opportunist, but he is creating a political reality for himself and Illinois Republicans that is sub-par to the core.

For politicians like these blue dogs, it isn't about priciple or doing what ought to be done. It isn't about seeing the world as it should and could be. It is about seeing the world for what it is and assuming that what is now, will still be later, and it is about maintaining the political status quo as the safest route to a meaningless victory, and a fast road to hell. For what good is it anymore to have these Blue Dog Republicans, clogging up primaries with the uncertain promise that they are the best bet for the general election. They assumed victory to John McCain back in February '08. He was the best bet to beat Hillary Clinton; the polls said so. Only Hillary didn't become the opponent. Nice theory, too bad the variables were changed. It is these calculating predictions leading to political concessions, that will continue to doom the GOP. It's voters would be wise to imagine the possibilities at all times, and not settle on what seems to be the sure shot, too far in advance. The Blue Dogs for both partys would be wise to do the same.

Obama Promises Healthcare by the End of the Year, With or Without Republican Support. Ain't He Talked to the Maine Gals Yet?

Today, Pres. Obama spoke in his favorite city of hardship, Elkhart, Indiana, where he promised a healthcare bill by the end of the year, with or without Republican support. I imagine he will be getting a call from the Great Maine Compromisers or Chiefs of Giveaways, (Collins (R) and Snowe (R) in 3...2...1... When's the next sports party at the White House? A World Series Party will probably get the Maine gals to the Obama rumpus room with bells on, soon. Too bad old Arlen already sold out and probably won't get an invite too.

It's the Liberty Stupid

As I wrote a few weeks back, the message on health care should not be all about the money. A bill of bad ideas and assaults on liberty should not be accepted whether it cost $1 trillion or $1.

If you had a teenager who wanted a tattoo and asked you for the money to get one, you could say, "no that is too expensive", when your main concern isn't the $100 cost, but that your child will be making a lasting decision and may be harmed by the procedure. So, the kid gets a job and saves the money to pay for one himself. Now what? Is all concern out the window since your wallet won't be tapped?

Mark Steyn, one of my favorite writers, picks up on this reasoning in his latest article. He also mentions that the war over Hillarycare was won only fiscally, and that the battle on the government's grasping at freedom by taking full control of healthcare had not been waged. Therefore, the attempts at government control of health care are back again and will continue until Americans see this war as an issue of freedom and not solely economic.
Mark Steyn

Also, Jed Babbin provides suggestions on what to ask during these August townhalls.
Jed Babbin

I've heard some of the audio clips of townhall meetings filled with concerned, angry, and informed citizens. What it tells me is that these Congress mainstays have had it too easy for too long. They have operated and lived off of political connections, special interest groups and bundled campaign donations. Even in this information age, the one with the most money to buy soundbite heavy commercials, still ends up the victor. McCain/ Feingold may have tried to take the money out of politics, but the big money givers have found the loop holes leaving only the small honest donors under control.

Politicians have shown great concern for those flavors of the election cycle, such as soccer moms, the hispanic vote, the youth vote, senior citizens, and evangelicals; and have received big dollars from environmentalists, gay rights advocates, unions, and a plethora of other lobbying groups. Well, now the rest of us are here to say, "here comes the individual, baby". We don't fit into a neat little control group, comforted with mere incomplete sentences, talking points, or a living and breathing constitution. Questions will be asked and explanations will be required. Either earn your keep, or find a new job. Once the mainstream media earns the mis-trust they are so warranted and their laughable double standards and partiality to Democrats becomes apparent to more Americans, perhaps voters will take advantage of all the data and information available to them and take a little time to come to an educated conclusion on who they should vote in. When that time comes, the big dollars ain't gonna get 'em thru the chamber door anymore.