Nemo me impune lacessit

No one provokes me with impunity

____________________________________

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article 1, Section 9, Constitution of the United States

If this is the law of the land...why in a republic (little r) and as republicans, do we allow mere POLITICIANS to the right to use a "title of office" for the rest of their lives as if it were de facto a patent of nobility. Because, as republicans, this should NOT be the case...just saying...

The Vail Spot's Amazon Store

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Should We Replace Congress, and start Fresh?

Wow! Rasmussen polling shows that 57% of Americans would replace everyone in Congress and start fresh.

If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, just 25% of voters nationwide would keep the current batch of legislators.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.


I think that it's time do actually do this. Vote the rascals out! Don't vote for any particular party slate next spring in the primaries. Just vote against the incumbent and vote FOR anyone you think would be better.

Friday, August 28, 2009

A Great Column by P J O'Rourke in Weekly Standard

Follow the link for a great column by P J O'Rourke in the Weekly Standard. He says with far great eloquence than I could ever possibly muster, what someone should say to the Washington Post.

Basically the WaPo's elitist bullshit has bubbled to the fore, and Mr. O'Rourke slaps 'em down as they should be. Most of the people attending town hall meetings with their congressmen and women, are doing so straight from work and frankly, don't have the time to go home and get their "Sunday go to meeting" clothes. That's called democracy in action, not a mob.

When representatives of the people do something their constituents don't like, those people are going to give them an ear full...hopefully the congress critters will actually listen...this time...or not and pay the consequences next fall. Remember, there's an election coming, and it's going to ugly for one party or the other.

Employment Trends In Recessions



Via Instapundit...an interesting graph on the last few recessions, as well as an average of the same. It's rather disconcerting. They show that perhaps unemployment will go deeper, and last longer than any other time in the past 50 years. If this holds true, we are looking at unemployment rates that are comparable to the Depression of the late 1920's and 1930's.

Please bear with me as I learn how to publish pictures/graphs, etc. I'm rather new at this.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Mrs. Mikulski Responds to Health Care Reform Question

I asked Barbara Mikulski, one of my US Senators, as simple question:

If the proposed bills are good enough for the country, will you and your colleagues in the Senate, House, The Federal Goveremnet employees, and the Executive Branch use the "Public Option" as your dedicated health insurance?

Here is her non-Response:

Dear Dr. Vail:
Thank you for getting in touch with me about health care reform. It's great to hear from you.

Health care is one of the most important issues facing families and our economy. We need to pass comprehensive health reform that:

-reduces costs for families, business and government
-protects people's choice of doctors, hospitals and health plans
-assures affordable, quality health care for all Americans

As a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I helped write the Affordable Health Choices Act, which was passed by our committee on July 15, 2009. This bill takes a giant step forward in providing health care that is available, undeniable and affordable for all Americans. It allows you to keep what you have if you like your current coverage. It prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions. It enables people to keep their health insurance if they lose their jobs.

Families and business are facing staggering health care costs. Premiums have doubled over the last 10 years. Without reform, these costs will continue to rise. The HELP bill reduces costs by:

-reducing administrative costs
-reducing medical and medication errors
-preventing hospital readmissions
-better managing chronic diseases
-reducing fraud and abuse in the health care system
-eliminating waste through promoting effective, evidence based medicine

I understand your concerns regarding the creation of public health care option. You should know that the HELP legislation is very clear: if you like the insurance you have today, you can keep it. The creation of the public option simply offers additional choice and competition to the current system. The public option is voluntary for patients and providers, it will be self-supporting, and will compete on a level playing field because it must abide by the same rules as private health insurance plans.

This is a historic moment. Forty years ago, the United States of America landed a man on the moon. I think that's a wonderful achievement. But if we can send people into space and be able to afford to do it, we can also help people get to a doctor and be able to afford to do it.


Thanks once again for writing. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator


Just once, I'd love for one of my elected officials to actually answer, directly, in simple terms a member of the "mob" such as myself cold understand. Is that asking too much?

Democratic Hypocrisy

From the Boston Herald...When Mitt Romney (R Mass) was governor of Massachusetts, the Democratic party (then as now) dominated the legislature. When it looked like John Kerry would win the Presidency in 2004, the legislature changed the law wherein the Governor would appoint a temporary Senator, to fill the seat until the expiration of that term.

Fearing that Romney would appoint a Republican, the legislature mandated that an election would be held in 120 to 150 days for the open seat. NOW, with the death of Edward Kennedy, his desire was that the legislature once again, hypocritically change the law back to the previous succession. Talk about hypocrisy in action.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. You can't change, and change again merely because it suits your needs of the moment. This is wrong and Massachusetts should sleep in the bed they've made. This is a naked power play by the national Democraticc party who doesn't like how things are going on their failing health care siezure impending in Congress, and who need that 60th vote in order to give genuine legitimacy to a cause that the majority of the country now think is wrong.

Jules Crittenden has an excellent post of this...read the whole thing

http://www.julescrittenden.com/2009/08/27/dems-in-mourning/#more-16823

Heard that somewhere...

Which Way Home

"Which Way Home", a documentary on children ILLEGALLY attempting to enter the US is now showing on HBOHD...I don't know, but I don't have hell of a lot of sympathy for children who are breaking the law to enter this country. Not only that, the Mexican government has formed a group, called Grupos Beta, to HELP people enter the US by providing food water and directions as to the easiest crossing points.

First of all, I think it's well past time that we secure first the southern border, then the northern. Without secure borders, we will continue to have major problems with illegals coming here for work.

Secondly, we need to vigorously prosecute those who HIRE illegals. In this time of high unemployment, and economic unease, giving employment to people who are here against the laws of this country is insane. If we prosecute those companies and individuals who hire them, the jobs will dry up rapidly and the problem will solve itself.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

NEVER FORGET!

As a US Marine, first, last and always, I don't know how you can look at those photographs and NOT become mad as hell. Right now I'm so pissed, I could grab my rifle and head to the middle east.

I don't know how anyone can look at the pictures of the guy jumping, or the people in the windows and NOT become enraged. Saudi Arabia, our "ally" is the major funding of Al Qaeda. Not a minor source, but the major source. Several Saudi princes, directly and indirectly have been funding these people from the start. They smile at us and mouth platitudes, all the while attempting to destroy us.

I guess that's why I have so much contempt for the far left, they think that we deserve this, that this is our fault. What they don't realize is that they're nothing more than "useful idiots" of yesteryear. They're the 2nd ones who will be lined up against the wall. Only because they will have "helped" defeat us...and one never shoots one's erstwhile allies first, only 2nd.

Unfortunately, the only way to defeat Al Qaeda, is to destroy/eliminate the source of their funding. This will be very difficult as they major source is and erstwhile ally of ours...something to ponder about.



http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/swf/blueangels/blueangels.swf

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Is Health Care Reform Unconstitutional

David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey in today's Washington Post present excellent arguments why all of the proposals now before either the House of Representatives, or, before the US Senate are unconstitutional.

Follow the link and....READ THE WHOLE THING!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Deficit tops $2,000,000,000,000.00 (thats 2 trillion dollars)


The Office of Management and Budget, part of the Executive Branch, states that the deficit will to $2,000 billion dollars.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Run Health Care like the Post Office

Just received this email from the RNC...outside the blatant pitch for money, here it is:

Barack Obama recently said, "I think private insurers should be able to compete...I mean. If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

The President is acknowledging what Republicans have been saying all along: That the private sector does a better job offering choices and delivering services to customers in a competitive and cost effective manner than a government-run monopoly.
But Obama and liberal Democrats in Congress are pushing for a government-run health care scheme that is inefficient, limits choices and hemorrhages taxpayer money like the Post Office.

Two weeks ago, the Post Office was called a "high risk" federal agency by the Government Accountability Office. The Post Office will have a $7 billion operating loss this year. So what makes the President, Nancy Pelosi and their left-wing allies think that government bureaucracy can run health care better than the private sector?

Your generous support of the RNC is critical to laying the foundation Republicans need to defeat the Democrats and stop their leftward push to control every facet and detail of our lives.

No matter how the President and his liberal allies try to spin it, they cannot escape the fact that his government-run health care plan would increase costs, increase taxes, increase the deficit and reduce health care choice and quality.


Other than the pitch for money, I agree with the basic sentiment of the email. We, as a nation can't expect anything our Government does, be done efficiently. The US (much less state) government can't DO ANYTHING EFFICIENTLY. Now, how would we want our health care to be run along the same lines as either the USPS, or G-d forbid, the VA!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hitler Was A Socialist

The following is reproduced, with premission, from an online paper by:

John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.)

The Demand for Explanation

Now that more than 60 years have passed since the military defeat of Nazi Germany, one might have thought that the name of its leader would be all but forgotten. This is far from the case, however. Even in the popular press, references to Hitler are incessant and the trickle of TV documentaries on the Germany of his era would seem to be unceasing. Hitler even featured on the cover of a 1995 Time magazine.

This finds its counterpart in the academic literature too. Scholarly works on Hitler's deeds continue to emerge many years after his death (e.g. Feuchtwanger, 1995) and in a survey of the history of Western civilization, Lipson (1993) named Hitlerism and the nuclear bomb as the two great evils of the 20th century. Stalin's tyranny lasted longer, Pol Pot killed a higher proportion of his country's population and Hitler was not the first Fascist but the name of Hitler nonetheless hangs over the entire 20th century as something inescapably and inexplicably malign. It seems doubtful that even the whole of the 21st century will erase from the minds of thinking people the still largely unfulfilled need to understand how and why Hitler became so influential and wrought so much evil.

The fact that so many young Germans (particular from the formerly Communist East) today still salute his name and perpetuate much of his politics is also an amazement and a deep concern to many and what can only be called the resurgence of Nazism among many young Germans at the close of the 20th century and onwards would seem to generate a continuing and pressing need to understand the Hitler phenomenon.

So what was it that made Hitler so influential? What was it that made him (as pre-war histories such as Roberts, 1938, attest) the most popular man in the Germany of his day? Why does he still have many admirers now in the Germany on which he inflicted such disasters? What was (is?) his appeal? And why, of all things, are the young products of an East German Communist upbringing still so susceptible to his message?

Follow the link for a complete paper.

http://ray-dox.blogspot.com/2006/08/this-article-is-published-on-internet.html

federal government to take over all of health care

On MSNBC, Rep Anthony Weiner (D-NY), a supporter of Mr. Obama's health care plans, finally state's the ultimate goal of "health care reform." Ed Morrissy of Hotair.com has the link to the interview by Joe Scarborough on Morning Cup of Joe.

During the interview, Weiner actually states several times the goal is to eliminate private health care. When you tie this into the fact that the creation of Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation, the board that will decide whether or not you deserve health care once you reach a certain age, or if you have a terminal illness (this board was created under the "stimulus" bill signed into law last spring).

(copy & paste this http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff081909.php3)

This admission, along with what Rep Barney Frank (D MA) said last spring, is a naked attempt of the government to directly control 15% of the economy. I'm not wholey certain that this is constitutional. Under the 10th Amendment, I have come to the conclusion that this is something that should be reserved to the states, as in TennCare (Tennessee), and MassCare (Massachussetts), both of which are in severe financial straights. Neither of which actually reduce costs. In fact, In Mass, costs have risen almost exponentially.

This is what we have to look forward to, higher costs, immense deficits without end, and eventually bankruptcy as a nation. The alternatives are tax rates above 50% of gross income, something which will wipe out our way of life. Now is the time to put a stop to the madness and get some fiscal responsibility out of Washington.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Sarbanes, Again, Dodges the Question

My Congressman, John Sarbanes, (D MD3) once again dodeges the simple question I asked. Here is my reply to his longwinded non-answer:

Mr. Sarbanes,
You have yet again dodged my question. If your health care plan is so good, WHY is Congress, all their employees, all federal employees, and employees of the Executive branch specifically exempted from coverage? If you want to screw around with health care, then YOU MUST ACCEPT FOR YOUR FAMILY THE SAME PLAN YOU ARE FOISTING ON THE REST OF AMERICA.

To do less is to be hypocritical. When you can answer this that you personally will accept this plan for your family, then I will do so for mine.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Vail
Pikesville, MD 21208


“Pray that you will never have to bear all that you are able to endure.”
Jewish Proverb


In a message dated 8/14/2009 9:35:52 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, md03ima@mail.house.gov writes:

August 13, 2009

Dear Dr. Vail:

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about the "public option" health plan proposed in health reform legislation being considered in the Congress. As a member of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I have been fully engaged in this debate since the beginning of the year and I appreciate the opportunity to address this issue.
First, I want to be clear that this proposal is not a radical attempt to eliminate private health insurance in favor of a government run system. If you like your doctor and your current plan, you can absolutely keep them if this proposal becomes law. Members of Congress will receive no special treatment under the bill and will be afforded the opportunity to retain the health plan they share with two million other federal workers if they choose to do so.
For those who do not have health insurance, are looking to change plans, or are worried that they will lose their coverage because of their job, there will be a new framework in place to give you options. The bill creates a health care exchange where individuals can choose from multiple plans and benefit from access to the kind of group rates that only large employers can offer now. This approach will also make health insurance more "portable" and give Americans the assurance that they can continue to receive health care if they change jobs, are laid off, or simply don't like the plan offered through their employer.
Along with the many plans offered in the exchange by familiar private insurers, there will also be a public health plan option that will offer some long-overdue competition for the private health insurance industry that currently has a stranglehold on the system. Enhanced competition in the health care market will reduce cost, promote innovation and provide recourse for those who are currently without coverage. The "public option" makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, it has been wildly mischaracterized as a "government takeover." This has been flatly refuted by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which projects that the public plan will draw approximately twelve million participants by 2019. That's large enough to help influence best practices and push private insurers to provide consumers with quality service, but at 4% of the total population of our country, it's about as far from a "government takeover" as you can get.
It is natural to feel anxious about these reform efforts because health care policy touches every American family in a very personal way. That is why this dialogue is important. But I believe we have a good bill. It is a measured approach that will preserve what works about the current system and fix what doesn't.
The proposed reform will ensure that you get what you pay for when you commit your hard earned money to pay premiums every month. For example, the bill will prohibit insurance companies from increasing your rates for pre-existing conditions, gender, or occupation. It will cap annual out of pocket expenses and do away with lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will pay to cover. It guarantees affordable oral, hearing, and vision care for children. And it will do away with co-pays or deductibles for preventive care.
I hope this information is useful to you as the Congress continues to make progress on health care legislation. I believe it is possible to make intelligent reforms to our health care system that expand coverage and improve quality of care. I also believe there are many areas where we can reduce cost by eliminating wasted and making our system more efficient. The status quo is unsustainable for our economy and I am convinced that long term security will be elusive until we find out health care system. If you have access to the Internet and would like additional information about the health care reform bill, please visit the Energy and Commerce website at www.energycommerce.house.gov. If you have specific questions, feel free to contact my office at 410-832-8890.

Sincerely,
John Sarbanes
Member of Congress


As you can see, he just doesn't want to answer. Nor, interestingly enough is he going to hold any town halls. He is only going to hold "virtual" or teleconferences. I guess that he is afraid of actually talking to his constiuents. Imagine that, a public servant who doesn't want to face his voters.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Is Dissent Still Patriotic?

Is Dissent still patriotic? David Harsanyi asks that very question and quotes Pen Jillette. While I often disagree with Mr. Jillette, I will as an old USMC slogan says:

"First to Go, Last to Know, We will defend to the death your right to be misinformed"

In otherwords, I don't have to agree with what you say, but you do have the right to say it. Here is the link to the youtube page for Mr. Jillette:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqJ_Yp3tw74

Needless to say, I was rather surprised to hear what he had to say. It wasn't at all what I expected. I too have evolved my political views over the past 30 years, from a rebellious, knee jerk Republican, (in 1970's NW Fla, being Republican WAS rebellious--it was until Reagan a staunch Dem area) to a Libertariann outlook has been a gradual process, that has speeded up in the past few years (but I digress).

I firmly believe that it is your right to dissent from the ruling party. Comments?

Pelosi/Left "Desperately Seeking Nazi's"

Now CNN and other news organizations have jumped into the fray...CNN has been showing a poster of Mr. Obama with a photo shopped Hitler 'tache. To quote the Wall Street Journal,

"to illustrate the supposed extremism of ObamaCare critics"

Q: Do you think there’s a legitimate grassroots movement going on here?
Pelosi: I think they’re AstroTurf. You be the judge. They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care.


After all, if you're not a supporter of Mr. Obama, you have to be an extremist, and therefore must be a NAZI. That's forgetting that the basic tenets of National SOCIALISM are inimical to conservatives. After all any party that's called "National Socialist Workers Party" ain't gonna support limited government intervention in either the economy, or anything else for that matter. But first and foremost, to label anyone who is in opposition to the Democratic Party in general and Mr. Obama in particular, as a NAZI and an extremist, is in itself, hypocritical.

Additionally, if you look at the "posters" themselves, you easily see that they are from Lyndon LaRouchePac...who is a perpetual candidate for the presidency and a serious idiot, but under the 1st Amendment, we DO have the right to be idiots when we feel like it. Come on CNN, MSNBC, et al, if you did a little fact checking, you'd see this stuff yourselves!

Friday, August 07, 2009

SEI Workers Assault Man Protesting Health Care Reform

Follow the link for video of the actual assault, and copies of letters from the attorney for the victim. Here's the letter from the victim's attorney, via the link:

"August 7, 2009
Dear Mr. Hennessy:
I am Kenneth Gladney’s attorney. Kenneth was attacked on the evening of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in South St. Louis County. I was at the town hall meeting as well and witnessed the events leading up to the attack of Kenneth. Kenneth was approached by an SEIU representative as Kenneth was handing out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags to other conservatives. The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out these flags. The SEIU member used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another SEIU member yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him in the head and back. Kenneth was also brutally attacked by one other male SEIU member and an unidentified woman. The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing T-shirts with the SEIU logo.

Kenneth was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot; three others were arrested. Kenneth was admitted to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center emergency room, where he was treated for his numerous injuries. Kenneth was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out the flags. In fact, he merely asked people as they exited the town hall meeting whether they would like a flag. He in no way provoked any argument or altercation, as evidenced by the fact that three assailants were arrested.
We hope that Kenneth fully recovers from his injuries; however, he is in great pain at this time. We will be pursuing legal action at our discretion. This was a truly senseless hate crime carried out by racist union thugs. Regretfully, Representative Carnahan’s statements blaming Kenneth for being a disruptive force are wholly untrue and slanderous. We would like to think that an elected official in Representative Carnahan’s position would gather accurate information before carelessly rushing to judgment.

Kenneth supports conservative ideals, although he subscribes to no particular political party. We are calling on the SEIU, Representative Carnahan, and President Obama to condemn the racist actions of these union thugs. In the days to come, we will be investigating whether these thugs are working at the behest of Representative Carnahan and how strong their alliances to various organizations–such as ACORN–may be.

We hope the St. Louis Tea Party and tea party organizations around the country will protest Representative Carnahan’s offices and also protest SEIU offices in every major city across the U.S. These Democratic strong-arm tactics must end now.

Regards,
Attorney David B. Brown
"

SEI fully supports the proposed health care reform. So much so, that paid representatives have begun to assault those who oppose it. Of particular note, the victim, is registered as an independent, and...is black. His assailants, 1 was black (he threw the 1st punch & called him a vile racial epithet), two were white males, and the remaining perpetrator was a white woman. video at the link

Of particular note, is the one photograph that give an excellent definition of what a mob is.

UPDATE: Via Gatewaypundit:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-party-protesters-attacked-1-man.html

A Quote by the Founder of the Democratic Party

Here's a quote from the founder of the Democratic Party:

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." Thomas Jefferson

Think about it, if our government becomes large enough to "give" us everything we need, it's certainly large enough to deny the same to those who don't support it. Isn't that tyranny? That is where we are heading.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The People Spreading Disinformation about Obamacare

Here is a brief list of those who would like to eliminate choice in American health care:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) at a Health Care for America Now rally: “And next to me was a guy from the insurance company who argued against the public health insurance option, saying it wouldn’t let private insurance compete. That a public option will put the private insurance industry out of business and lead to single-payer. My single-payer friends, he was right. The man was right.”

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told Single Payer Action: “I think that if we get a good public option it could lead to single-payer and that is the best way to reach single-payer. Saying you’ll do nothing till you get single-payer is a sure way never to get it. … I think the best way we’re going to get single-payer, the only way, is to have a public option and demonstrate the strength of its power.”

Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein at the Democratic National Convention last year: “They have a sneaky strategy, the point of which is to put in place something that over time the natural incentives within its own market will move it to single-payer.”

Noble Prize winning New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: “[T]he only reason not to do [single-payer] is that politically it’s hard to do in one step…You’d have to convince people completely give up the insurance they have, whereas something that lets people keep the insurance they have but then offers the option of a public plan, that may evolve into single-payer.”

Snitching for the Government

Here is a copy of a letter I just sent to flag@whitehouse.gov. That's the email address started by the Obama administration for you neighbor's to report you to the government for opposing the healthcare bill.

I believe that this program to investigate for political purposes is against the law. Also, didn't the national socialists (note the name...it's not a right wing organization) use something similar? Report your neighbors to the Gestapo so they can be thrown into a concentration camp! Is that what is coming next? Will you begin to prosecute those who don't agree with your policies? Isn't this exactly what Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuela? Didn't the Soviet Union do this? Doesn't Communist China do this? None of the groups are conservatives, they are all left wing organizations. Is this the direction Mr. Obama desires to go?

What you are doing is wrong, and potentially evil. When Richard Nixon attempted to do a small sliver of this, he was crucified by the press and by history. Why are you doing this? What is your purpose? I suppose that I am exposing myself to prosecution for lodging my protests against this plan you are attempting to implement.

Not all that long ago, your party stated that dissent was the highest form of patriotism, when did that change? Oh, I get it...it's ok to protest anything presented by the Republican Party, but it's evil and small minded to dissent from the politically correct Democratic Party.


I am deeply disappointed in this sort of thing. I would have never thought that this could happen in America.

Drudge Report Video Shows Mr Obama's real agenda

Drudge Report has found a video of Mr. Obama at an AFL-CIO meeting, stating unequivacally that he,

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

I'd say that pretty much says it all. The Democratic objective is to eliminate private health insurance and burocraatize our health care system. There's a video of Rep. Barney Frank saying pretty much the same thing. When I find it, I'll add the link as well.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

10 Questions to ask your Congressman this August

From Hugh Hewitt, 10 questions to ask your congressman this August:

1. Do you guarantee that I get to keep the plan I have and the doctor I have?
2. Will the law require Members of Congress and federal employees to be enrolled in the "government option/public plan," and if not, why not?
3. Will seniors be guaranteed joint replacements, stents, and the chemotherapy they need, or will they be forced to accept less-costly and less-effective alternatives?
4. If seniors will be allowed the expensive but most effective treatments, how will costs be controlled?
5. Will seniors have to wait longer for their treatments than they do now?
6. Will doctors see their payment schedules drop?
7. If their payments fall and they make less money, won't there be fewer doctors practicing medicine?
8. Doesn't Canada have long lines for important surgeries?
9. How will making our system more like Canada's not mean longer lines and longer waits here?
10. Have you read the bill well enough to be interviewed about it on the radio by a conservative talk show host?

Follow the link for Hugh's answers to the questions. I didn't want to steal his entire post, but thought the questions themselves merited replication here. I encourage everyone to ask these of their congressmen and women. I asked mine Question 2, and got a multi-paragraph answer I posted previously.

Monday, August 03, 2009

In His Own Words

Breibart has a video of Mr. Obama and his closest advisors admitting that the present reform is their attempt to eliminate private health insurance. Follow the link in the title and see the video for yourself.