Voice in the Wilderness

Great article by David Karki of the North Star Writers Group.

For the story go here:

Health Care: The True Obama, Pelosi and GOP Revealed

I am not the biggest fan of Newt Gingrich but this article addresses some serious issues with the impending health care debacle.

GO HERE FOR THE ARTICLE:

Why is America’s Heartland so furious and finally making their voices heard? Answering the question of who is the Heartland is required when addressing the current emotional response to government intervention.
Heartland is defined as “the part of a region considered essential to the viability and survival of the whole, esp. a central land area relatively invulnerable to attack and capable of economic and political self-sufficiency” (dictionary.com). If we apply this definition and add the people who make this statement true, what do we have? We have the people who do the majority of the work, pay the lion’s share of taxes, and hold the core values spelled out in the founding documents. These are the people who still believe and hold dear, the truths found in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness” (Declaration of Independence) . This is one small portion of this great document. In these turbulent times it is paramount, we the people, re-read and remind ourselves of the founding values of our country. The recognition of the raping of our founding principles, by the government, defines why I believe the voices heard today are the heartland of America.
What are these people so furious about and why now? The answer is not simple, but a combination of past and present government usurpation of power and freedoms. Americans are finally waking from the trance they have been in for virtually two generations, beginning with President Wilson. The stupor was stripped away by the current administration of Obamatrons moving faster then any previous administrations. Previously administrations took small steps as they stole the rights laid out in the founding documents. They used “catastrophes and enemies” to orchestrate the theft of our freedom. By using these Americans believed it in their best interest to give up small freedoms for the greater good. Obama’s administration forgot, or simply ignored” the established method of usurping our freedoms and went straight at America. No longer content with the slow overthrow of our country they deemed this the time to go socialist. Angry, hell yes, and for good reason.
The Heartland is now the enemy of the government. Janet Napolitano’s DHS listed America’s veterans as terrorists’ risks. The House of Representatives and Senate passed Cap and Trade legislation which will destroy businesses and productivity against the wishes of the people. America currently faces health care legislation which arguably will destroy the best health care system in the world. People read the bill even though Congress could not bother to do the same. The bill is so complicated, they tell us, and only lawyers can understand its complexities. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House D) and Steny Hoyer (Majority Leader D) called citizens who protest Obamacare un-American. John Dingell (D-MI), “last seen being flummoxed by his own constituents last week. At the time, Dingell dismissed his critics as “infiltrators.” Today, they’re the equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan” (via The Weekly Standard): Arlen Spector (D) telling constituents he does not have to deign them with his presence to explain anything. Rep. David Scott (D) shouting down a constituent, a doctor for daring to question him on healthcare in a public forum”. Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D) who refuses to hold town hall meeting with her constituents and admits her decision is final on healthcare. Why should she bother talking to voters? “Asked if she will have a town hall meeting in the county during this month’s congressional recess to specifically address rural health care, Giffords said no. If a town hall meeting were held, it would probably turn into an event where people would not want to listen”, she said (Sierra Vista Herald). Let’s not forget Obama promising Mexico on August 10, 2009 his next step is tackling immigration reform. Political doublespeak for amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens currently sucking billions out of the American economy and sending it to Mexico. He must repay the illegal vote for his elevation to supreme ruler. This is a sampling of an out of touch congress which deems the Heartland of America the enemy.
The Heartland of America is furious and is finally finding its voice. It is time for the slumbering populace to wake up, read the founding documents, remind themselves of the truths of our country and fight this illegal usurpation of power by an out of control federal government. America is at a crossroads. Will the Heartland take back its country, or, is it destined for collapse? You decide.

(C) usarmyguyretired 2009

In light of the governments recent use of computer equipment and networks owned by taxpayers to track their views, Constitutional free speech is in jeopardy. Establishing an email address and giving specific directions to spy and report on neighbors, friends, associates, or anyone who speaks out against Obamacare is unconstitutional. The First Amendment protects our speech: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. President Obama’s minions setting up a tip line is therefore illegal and a constitutional violation of our rights.

Read this article by Andrew Napolitano:

On July 30, 2009 Mayor Bloomberg of New York swore in 193 AmeriCorps VISTA members. These are the vaunted volunteers of Obama’s “volunteer” Corp who are going to save us from ourselves. Funny thing about these “Volunteers”, they are not truly “volunteers”. All participants in AmeriCorps VISTA programs receive a $1,129 monthly living allowance, health benefits, and educational awards, which can be used towards existing student loans or future education expenses. Where did New York, a financially challenged city get the funds? The Stimulus of course. Federal tax dollars are enabling Mayor Bloomberg to create his own personal “army” of “volunteers”.
I also have issues with the swearing in portion. This is generally reserved for military, police, firefighter, and elected officials. So, why are “volunteers” being sworn in?
These volunteers to save New Yorkers from themselves do not all hail from The Big Apple. Only 88 of the 193 actually are from New York.. Another odd item is the “volunteers” went through a rigorous screening process prior to acceptance into the program. It seems to me if someone desired to volunteer and passed a criminal background check then they would be in like “flint”. Not so for New York. I wonder what the criteria is for “selection” as a “volunteer” to this august venture.
The article also states the “volunteers” will be dispatched in teams of three to support selected organizations. Why do you need three highly skilled “volunteers” to support an organization? Would it not make more sense to send one volunteer to more organizations or is it simply because it is harder to impress a will on someone without greater numbers?
Do any of these tactics sound familiar? Is there not some historical significance to a civilian “volunteer” force separate from sanctioned police agencies? I think this program needs intense scrutiny to be certain of their charter.

According to Doug Ross@Journal A little-publicized Department of Defense Directive (Number 1404.10) establishes a “DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” and rescinds a prior directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel.
This happened only three days after Obama took the oath of office. A quote directly from the directive from Doug’s site, “Members of the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce shall be organized, trained, cleared, equipped, and ready to deploy in support of combat operations by the military; contingencies; emergency operations; humanitarian missions; disaster relief; restoration of order; drug interdiction; and stability operations of the Department of Defense in accordance with DoDD 3000.05…”

Read the complete Press Release from Mayor Bloomberg’s office before it disappears HERE.

This is not what our founding fathers had in mind. It is time to be afraid, very afraid.

“It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there’s someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.” –novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

As negotiations in the Senate broke Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said the group is considering about a dozen options to cover the estimated $1 trillion cost of its package, including reductions in Medicare spending and additional tax increases. Cutting Medicare? I seriously doubt it. Additional tax increases are on the way.

Health care is now the “top priority” of this administration. That is after the Stimulus Package was a top priority, getting the economy back on track was a top priority, getting the housing market under control was a top priority, climate change was a top priority…how many top priorities can an administration have? With all of these priorities, it is little wonder that we get shoddy, unread legislation rammed through Congress under the guise of change? In short, these bills contain massive tax increases, penalties for initiative and payoffs for groups that helped to sweep the Democrats into their current overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress.

As the Democrat controlled Congress continues driving this country down the statist path like a rocket sled, it is interesting to remember President Obama’s call for “sacrifice.” With government controlling banking, insurance, automakers, a large part of medicine through Medicare and Medicaid, and our pensions through the Social Security Administration, we are again being asked to sacrifice for the greater good of society. A government administered health care program being the latest grab for power. Aside from the fact that there is no way to pay for it without massive tax increases, we now learn that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has stated that the plan will not result in appreciable savings for the next ten years. But the activities taking place under the broad scope of health care reform are not truly “reform.” Rather, Congress seeks to transform the private sector into the government sector.

Government’s track record on controlling costs is laughable. Can anyone name a government run program that has not wildly exceeded cost estimates? Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are rife with fraud and accountability issues and there is no end in sight. Their budgets have expanded at geometric rates. There is no way I trust the government to be able to control costs of an expanded system. Surely another czar will be assigned to oversee health care, another usurpation of Constitutional authority. That person will be another political lackey with ties to the industry he or she is supposed to regulate. That always works well.

Here is a silly idea, let the states deal with it. Our Founders envisioned bottom up government, not the federal government forcing its will on the states. Up until the 20th century, the authority to regulate health care resided with the states. In 1906, Congress used the authority of Article I of the Constitution to “regulate Commerce…among the several States” by adopting the Pure Food and Drug Act. It has since been expanded and amended to give the federal government authority to regulate drugs and medical devices. As the concept of “interstate commerce” grew, the federal antitrust laws were held to cover health insurance in the 1940s and medical professionals in the 1970s. In 1974 Congress adopted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), asserting federal control over employee health benefits. And in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) expanded federal control over health insurance and extended it to cover health data privacy and security. (http://content.healthaffairs.org article by Timothy S. Jost)
Perhaps Congress should stop viewing health care as an issue of interstate commerce and let the states play a larger role in determining how to meet the needs of their residents. The federal role would be limited to the FDA retaining its authority over drugs and medical devices, with the federal government ensuring that unfit doctors are not allowed to migrate from state to state, but let the states be responsible for employee health benefits.
If Congress wants to control health care cost and make the Nation’s health care system more cost-effective, why have they not addressed the issue of tort reform? Why is there nothing in the bill about controlling frivolous law suits or making the loser pay court costs? Heck, politicians cannot even decide how many uninsured Americans we have now. Estimates range from 8-48 million. Maybe we should throw the “underinsured” into the calculation so we can bring the numbers closer to 100 million and have a real health care crisis. Better yet, why doesn’t Congress adopt the same health care system that it will be imposing on the electorate? That would go a long way to assuage the fears of the vast majority non-believers.

What are YOU Worth?

This is the question each of us must ask if government mandated health care becomes reality. Is our life and productivity worth the expense to keep us alive in the event we become sick enough to require medical intervention? Who will determine our net value? No longer will the decisions belong to the family and medical caregivers. The federal government will decide who lives and who dies. Holy smokes, the final decision belongs to Big Brother.
So, how will the decision to save or terminate our lives be made if this absurdity actually becomes the law of the land? The present leadership intends to set up an advisory board of “experts” who will make a determination on health care procedures made available to each person. Who will be on the board you ask? Political appointees who favor rationed health care. Appointed by Obama’s administration to determine which procedures are necessary and which are too costly. If this does not alarm a person, knowing a partisan government appointee is making their health care decisions then nothing is beyond the government’s reach.
Will we be able to maintain our current health care insurance if we so desire? President Obama’s claim is a person can keep their plan. According to Obama, “Now, you’ll always hear folks say that the free market can do it better, government can’t run anything,” and “I say, well, if that’s the case, nobody is going to choose the public option.” He noted, “I think that the insurance companies will still thrive” (The Hill, 6/25). This is a blatant lie exposed by the actual law working its way through Congressional committee. From Investors Business Daily :
When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of “Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage,” the “Limitation On New Enrollment” section of the bill clearly states:
“Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

It is clear the government never intended to allow people who desired to keep their current coverage to do so. The intention is to funnel everyone into government care whether we like it or not. As stated by the writer of the above article this is only on page 16 of the 1018 page document. There is also a stipulation in the bill which terminates an insurance company’s right to enact new policies five years after the date the law goes into effect. This will effectively kill private health insurance. What else will we find that contradicts the government’s claims as we continue to dissect the proposal? Oh yes, Congress will not have time to read this bill either.
Let’s venture back to the original question. What are you worth under the proposed new health care plan? Let’s assume you co-own a small mom and pop appliance store in a small rural town. Both of you are close to 60 years old and hopefully will soon apply to receive those long-awaited social security benefits. Your net worth does not place you or the business in an upper income tax bracket. The one which pays the lion’s share of income taxes which keep the bloated federal government alive.

2009 Individual Federal Income Brackets and Tax Rates
Recall all the deductions from last year and select the appropriate bracket. The lion’s share comes from the 33% and higher brackets. If you do not fall into this bracket then the government will have no reason to expend large sums of medical dollars to extend or even save your life. The government will also see a dramatic cost savings in the event you die and cannot tap into social security benefits. Those funds do not transfer to an heir in the event of your death; they simply go into the coffers of the federal government. So, how much are you really worth to the federal government. In actuality, you are probably worth more in death than life. Do you still desire the federal government to take over your health care? If yes, Big Brother already owns you, lock, stock, and barrel.
The federal government desires to own us from cradle to grave. Government controlled health care is one more aspect of this endeavor. We cannot allow this catastrophe to overtake us without a fight. Stand up and be counted!!! Fight back.
3 percenter

“Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
John Adams, letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Thus is the opening line of the Constitution of the United States.

If we look at the words of this famous sentence, the intent of our Founding Fathers was clear. Our founders broke down the responsibility of the legislative branch in Section One, delineating the powers of Congress. Try as I might, I cannot find one word about the establishment of a national health care program mandated by the federal government.

In fact, as we look back over the last several months and how the ruling oligarchy has attempted to deal with the problems that they have created, it is easy to see how far we have strayed from not only the powers expressly granted by the Constitution, but also the words of wisdom and insight in the conduct of government affairs.

Think about the late night legislative sessions and subsequent votes on thousand page documents sending billions of taxpayer dollars to God knows where. Or the fact, admitted by representatives that they voted on bills they had not read. Alexander Hamilton had a thought on this very thing:
“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.”
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 62, 1788
And guess what, Hamilton was right. The massive spending bill (also known as the Stimulus Package) contained payouts to multiple “special interest” groups who were responsible for the election of our current president. Depending on which media outlet one gets their “news” from, somewhere between seven and thirty percent of the stimulus money has been spent. Quite a disparity between the two numbers, but the bottom line is that the money is not stimulating anything but the groups to which it was allocated.

And has anyone learned from this mistake? Definitely not. We are awaiting another assault on our liberty, the right to choose if and where we get our medical insurance. In another massive document being generated by the House of Representatives, we await government intervention in the most personal of matters. Will we have the ability to choose our own doctors? The Democrats in Congress state that we will have the right to choose, but buried in the text is a stipulation found on page 16 of 1,018, heading “Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage,” the bill states: “Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law. In other words, you can keep your current coverage unless you change jobs after this bill becomes law.

We are moving past socialism toward a Bismarck-style statist regime, a “third way.” Private health insurance and our freedom to choose our own doctors will die by attrition and government will gain even more power, creating an increased dependence on the welfare state. This is exactly the type of government our Founders sought to avoid. Yet we the people sit idle. Democracy is not committing suicide, it is being murdered.

Great article on HezekiahWyman.com

Let’s say there’s an American revolution—who leaves first? Once the feds “start imposing just huge taxes,” Schiff says, the states that have to pay more in than they’re getting back out will pull their stars off the flag. Schiff lists Texas and California as potential pull-out candidates, whereas “Florida probably wants to stay because of all the Social Security money.”

This is absolutely mind-boggling. How anyone thinks this will lead to an efficient and more user friendly health care is astounding.