doctorwifemom

Pain at the pump

2011-04-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Like the weather, everybody talks about it. The daily news makes a point of informing us of the national average price of gasoline and the daily fluctuations in the price of crude oil. When we fill up our cars, we wince at the final receipt, but we do it anyway because we have to get to work (at least those of us who still have jobs). But, like the weather, no one seems to do anything about it.

The other night I went to the gas station to fill up because it was supposed to rain the next day and I didn't want to stand in the rain in the morning filling my car with gasoline. I also wanted to take advantage of a small decrease in the pump price before it went up another 15 cents overnight. So, I pulled up to the pump, fished out my credit card and approached the pump. As I moved to the pump, my eyes went to the previous transaction still displayed on it. The total purchase was $3.00 and the amount of gasoline dispensed was 0.77 gallons. I looked again, because frankly, I thought I had misread the display. Then I realized the painful reality of the situation. I was looking at the widow's mite of gasoline transactions. Someone had put their last dollar into the gas tank and didn't even get a gallon of gas for their trouble.

Had I been there when the transaction happened, I know that I would gladly have filled their tank as I have done this before when panhandled at a gas station....but I wasn't there and I thought sadly of the plight of the person who was there before me. With a highly fuel efficient car, they could likely only have gone 20-25 miles, on a motorcycle, perhaps 45-50 miles, but someone who can only afford to put 0.77 gallons of gas in their car likely drives a beater that is not fuel efficient and may be relegated to a much shorter drive.

Our President has said that people should buy more fuel efficient cars, but if one can only afford to buy gasoline 1 gallon at a time, it is not very likely that they can pony up $40K for an electric car or a hybrid vehicle. Besides, even if they could afford the $40K electric car, I have never seen a charging station anywhere. Personally my commute one way is 27 miles, so even with an electric car I might not be able to get home even if I charged my car fully everyday....not very practical in the very large country in which we live. The reaction of the President to the high price of fuel is to appoint a committee to look into speculation.....Big woo. Let's face it, the President is sabotaging our country at every turn in order to advance his green agenda and is crippling us. The best thing we can do for our country is to work diligently against the re-election of this President and the rest of the progressive incumbents in the House and Senate.

Size does matter

2011-01-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

With the peaceful and respectful transfer of power in the House of Representatives yesterday, Nancy Pelosi (D) CA remarked that the gavel that she was passing to John Boehner (R) OH was very large.

In fact, it was larger than the gavel that she marched through DC after the passage of Obamacare. No matter that the gavel was a gift to Speaker Boehner by a friend in honor of this occasion, the gigantic gavel could be symbolic of the size of government at the start of Speaker Boehner's tenure. One can only hope that when Speaker Boehner hands the gavel off to another Speaker somewhere down the line that it is a very tiny gavel that symbolizes what he has been able to accomplish during his time as Speaker of the House.

Where would you rather live?

2010-10-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today, the Rasmussen Report published statistics on a recent poll of 1000 likely voters that indicated that 79% of those polled believe that in spite of the problems we are having, America is still the best place in the world to live. Then the pollster went on to indicate that this number is down from the same survey conducted in June, 2010 when 82% indicated that given the chance they would still stay in the USA.

On the surface, this sounds positive, but it goes without saying that there are still 21% of respondents who, given the opportunity, would choose to live somewhere else. Go to a mall and walk around this weekend. Look at the people around you. 1 in 5 of the people you encounter don't like our country and would prefer to live elsewhere. That is truly disturbing, particularly in light of the fact that there are few places on the globe that these people could freely express their dissatisfaction without personal or political repercussions. If you think our tax structure is oppressive or our health care system is broken, look around and see that in places where taxes might be lower, other aspects of life are less welcoming. If you prefer another country's health care structure, you need to be prepared for oppressive taxes and long lines to wait for that universal medical care paid for by.....guess what.....more taxes on the backs of the waning number of citizens who are still working and being productive.

Come on, people, the socialized countries in Europe are paying the dues of heavy taxation and a government dole that is out of control. Riots broke out when President Sarkozy and the French government dared to suggest that the retirement age in France should be increased from 60 to 62. While we watched the news in the run up to that vote, we saw rioters in the streets, cars burning and rampant vandalism...a lot like Detroit in the run up to Halloween. The rioters managed to cripple metropolitan areas by keeping gasoline from being sent to gas stations so transportation was hobbled. European countries are very good at "worker strikes" and it is a game played by workers and students to cripple a city or a country on a regular basis when things aren't to the liking of the "workers." Look at France and Germany who are moving away from some of their social programs in order to save their own economic hides. Where on earth would there be a better place to live than in America?

If you are one of the 79% who still believe that America is the best place on earth to live, make sure that your voice is counted on Tuesday to keep it that way. VOTE on November 2, 2010 to keep America strong and free.

Tales of the Toilet Paper Rollers

2010-05-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

In June 2008 I went to McArthur's Bakery in Kirkwood to see my good friend, Dr. Randy Tobler, do his Saturday morning radio show live. At that radio show, Dave McArthur's son, Moose, was interviewed and he expressed his desire to be a Marine. Now 2 years later, Randy was back in town to do another live broadcase at McArthur's Bakery in Chesterfield. The theme of the show was "Pimp My Platoon" and those who came to the live show were asked to bring items to use in creating care packages to send to soldiers in Afghanistan....with particular emphasis to LCpl David "Moose" McArthur, USMC and his battalion.

On Friday morning, Moose's father, Dave McArthur, was on the radio promoting the event and what he said was sobering. As he went down the list of things that soldiers in Afghanistan need to make their time in a stone age country more bearable, he mentioned toilet paper. Now, toilet paper is something that I am sure we all take for granted, but not so the Marines in Afghanistan. It seems that in the daily MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) given to each soldier is also their daily ration of toilet paper.......5 squares of single ply toilet paper (Cheryl Crow would be proud!). Everyone with whom I shared this little factoid was singularly appalled and then there were also the requisite toilet paper jokes like.....so that's why they also ask for hand sanitizer....etc.

The request, however, was not just for toilet paper on rolls, but rather folded flat toilet paper in stacks of 30 squares in a plastic zipper lock bag. This packs easily, stays dry and is easy for a soldier to carry in his gear. So last night I folded the equivalent of three double rolls of toilet paper and added it to the items that we had already gathered for this event.

When we arrived today at 7 AM, there were a couple of collection boxes that were partially filled with small bags of assorted items, however by the end of the live broadcast at 10 AM, donations had engulfed these containers, spilled all along the inside front window and when that space was filled, donations were left all over the walk in front of the bakery. It was amazing to see all of the things that had been donated to the troops in addition to several large and very generous monetary donations that were given to defray the cost of postage for all of these care packages.

When we were leaving, I noticed that a number of very big multi-roll packages of toilet paper were among the donations. Now....who will be folding all of this paper and packaging it in little plastic bags???? I went back in and asked Dave McArthur what his plan would be for this toilet paper. He said it would all need to be folded and packaged, so I volunteered to take some home and bring it back on Monday folded and bagged.

I left the event with 48 double rolls of toilet paper and have spent the afternoon clearing recorded programs from the DVR while unrolling toilet paper and folding it into little piles of 30 sheets and then stuffing them into little plastic sandwich sized bags......To date I have completed 24 of the rolls and I am on track to finish with time to spare for Monday drop-off. But what a learning experience it has been! I talked to several ladies today who also folded toilet paper last night and we shared tips on the best ways to unroll and fold.....who would have thought there were multiple techniques? But there are. There is the 30 square continuous fan fold, the 3 strips of 10 folded together, the 30 square strip wound around a CD case and then slipped off into the bag and I am sure I will learn others! In World War II there were the ladies who were Red Cross bandage rollers, but in the War on Terrorism (yes, I meant that) there are the ladies who unroll and fold toilet paper.

Health Care Reform is Necessary

2010-02-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Our health care system is in need of reform, but the reform might best be applied at the teat of the government pig rather than taking the insurance companies to task.

Today my office received the provider's newsletter from one of the Medicaid providers in Missouri. You know, the PUBLIC OPTION. The one you and I pay for with our tax dollars. In the newsletter, the provider boasted about the new programs for subscribers. Here are your tax dollars at work in Missouri:

Patients will get a $30 gift card for every 5 OB prenatal visits that they attend.
If you need a ride to get to your doctor's office, they will provide transportation.
This PUBLIC OPTION provider will pay for memberships for children to join a local 4-H club, Boys or Girls Club, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., Discovering Options or Select Caring Community Out-of-School Time Programs
Oh, and the doctor will be paid $25 for a postpartum visit, WOW!!!

Ladies and gentlemen....THIS IS THE PUBLIC OPTION AT WORK. Providers get a pittance for seeing patients, BUT patients are paid to go to the doctor, rides are provided and their children's membership dues are paid to join after school clubs and activities.....all from taxpayer dollars that are ostensibly for health care. Just ask yourself....if you have private insurance that you or your employer pay for, do you get a free ride to the doctor if you want one? Do your kids get their extracurricular activities paid for out of your health insurance premiums? Do you get gift cards for visiting the doctor? I think not, and yet, if the government gets control of your health care, this is the kind of thing that will dilute out the dollars that are there for actual health care. Since there is only so much money in the pool to spend, and if these kinds of perks are part of the public benefit, when you need a serious medical expenditure, you can bet it will be scrutinized and possibly denied because it costs too much or there are no dollars left for it. In other words, your care will be rationed.

Yes, health care may be in need of reform, but it is the public option that needs the reformation. In addition to paring the fraud and abuse, the taxpayers might also want to demand that government programs actually pay for health care and ONLY health care. No wonder Obama and his minions tout the fact that those people who have the public option LOVE it!

Goodbye 2009!!!

2009-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

As you read this, I am preparing for our annual New Year's Eve party for those who would otherwise sit at home on New Year's Eve. If you recall from last year, this is our annual geriatric party with several widows and widowers present, octogenarians abound, and this year, I believe the age range will be 18 months to 88 years!

We will eat, sit and talk, and I am sure that there will be discussions of the economy, health care, Medicare changes and the direction of the country. While I am not advocating that our party become a political free for all, I am sure that this year, unlike years before, there will be discussions of this kind.

There has been a change in the tenor of the country and the willingness of ordinary people to be engaged in political discussions and actions. This year, my husband and I stopped for lunch at a Hardee's while we were Christmas shopping. There were only about 5 people there when we arrived and took our seat to eat our meal. There were two men next to us who engaged us (total strangers) in a discussion of the wrong track that our country is taking. This happened without our saying anything to these gentlemen and without my husband and I having any conversation in that vein that would have sent them a clue that we were of a like mind. Last year at this time, I am pretty sure that this would not have happened. Or at least before engaging a perfect stranger in conversation about the government, there would at least have been an overture to let them know that the topic was "safe."

But then, last year I would not have been standing on a street corner holding up signs on Sunday afternoons. I would not have been emceeing a health care reform protest rally, and I would not have even heard of a Tea Party. 2009 has indeed been a year that finds many of us in roles and situations that seemed impossible only a year ago. I have to say that I am not sorry to see 2009 close and the possibilities of 2010 are very appealing. Those of us who have found ourselves more politically active than we could ever have imagined can relish the prospect of a chance to change the direction that the current administration has taken our country and perhaps right the ship of state, or at least block the legislative tsunami that has swept over our country.

So here's to a better and brighter 2010, or at least a New Year that begins to show us the promise of a return to the values and principles on which our country was founded.

Walking in a Bomber's Underwear

2009-12-29T16:46:00.001-08:00

After listening to all of the banter about the underwear bomb and seeing the pictures all over the internet and news of the remains of his under pants, I could not help myself, so with apologies to Felix Bernard, composer of Winter Wonderland, I offer this parody.

Walking in a Bomber's Underwear

Sleigh bells ring are you listening?

In the plane someone's blist'ring.

An absolute fright

En route to Detroit

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Gone away are his privates

Here to stay is Al Qaeda.

Now he's singing a song

As he goes along

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Back in Yemen there are lots of others.

But we pretend that he is all alone.

We'll say: Are you Jihadi?

He'll say: No man,

But I can do the job

When I'm in town.

Later on, he'll conspire

As he dreams by the fire

To face unafraid

the plans that he's made

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

In his panties he can build explosives

And pretend he has a tummy ache

He'll have lots of fun with his explosives

Until the irate travellers take him out.

When it blows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nuts get a grilling.

He'll frolic and play the Jihadi way,

Walking in a bomber's underwear.

Christmas Wish List to Congress

2009-12-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

A tip of the hat to The Water Cooler for this great post!

A Christmas Wish List from the American Taxpayer
All We Want for Christmas is…

Support and respect for our troops in harm’s way
Military tribunals for war criminals
J-O-B-S
Common sense, practical domestic policy
Respectable, consistent foreign policy
Intellectual honesty about the child in the womb of every pregnant woman
Sound environmental policy that doesn’t use fear to force an agenda
Respect for life at all stages from the developing child to the elderly
Respect for and adherence to the U.S. Constitution
Firing of radical Czars—starting with “unsafe” Kevin Jennings
Economic recovery that doesn’t involve government takeover
Health care reform that doesn’t involve fiscal and moral bankruptcy
Protection of our conscientious rights
Transparency, transparency, transparency
A responsible and humble governing body in the U.S.
An end to corruption, bullying & closed door deals
Our employees to uphold their oath of office
Respect for what “We the People” have to say
NEW FACES in certain congressional seats next year

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquent—it is a force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” - George Washington

Tales from the Sidewalk

2009-11-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

The Million Med March in St. Louis, November 21, 2009. One of 23 simultaneous rallies over the entire nation and sponsored by Docs4PatientCare and MillionMedMarch.

On Sundays the North County Patriots meet for street side demonstration from 3-4:30 PM along North Lindbergh. Today we had enough patriots that we were able to send people to both sides of the street. We had an entire family, right down to Grandma , join us for the first time. A first happened today when a lady drove up and presented our group with several gift cards from a local restaurant she had purchased for us as a Thank-you for standing for conservative values week after week in all kinds of weather!

Health Care Bill!

2009-11-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the privilege to be a part of the Million Med March that took place all across the US at noon in 23+ cities. Doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and our patients came together to protest the takeover of 17% of our gross national product under the guise of improving health care in the United States. We already have the best health care in the world and a total takeover in the name of a fix is not what we need. As one speaker pointed out, if the kitchen sink was dripping you would fix it and not remodel the entire kitchen! So should it be with health care in the USA.

There are certainly places to fix in what we currently have, but these do not require an entire gutting of the system. If there is fraud and waste in the Medicare and Medicaid system, FIX IT NOW. If there needs to be tort reform, FIX IT NOW. If Health Savings Accounts will allow young people to buy catastrophic insurance and self insure for mundane medical events, KEEP THIS OPTION! There is no precedent for the federal government forcing anyone to have insurance for anything! Yes, the federal government has a flood insurance program, but it is voluntary. If you don't have it and you sustain a loss in a flood, you are holding the bag for restoration or a new place to live. STATES require minimal automobile insurance coverage to protect the owner from the liability of damage that they cause to another. The idea of fines and jail sentences for not having health insurance is unprecedented and could be deemed unconstitutional.

And for the final affront to you and me, costs of these programs that are being forced on us by the federal government will be pushed off to the individual states to fund. The states will be responsible for the increased numbers of people who will be pushed onto Medicaid and other public programs for their health care. Guess where the states will get their money for this?? You betcha...you and I will be paying more for both our state and federal taxes and you can bet your bottom dollar (and we are getting right down to that) that we will be getting a lot less for our money. Sure you can keep your doctor if you like them......as long as they stay in practice. Sure you can keep your health plan if you like it......as long as NOTHING is changed in your plan or as long as your employer decides to provide it rather than pay a fine that might actually save them some money. After all, you aren't left in the lurch......Now there is a public option for you!

A highlight of the afternoon was the appearance of Health Care Bill who exemplified all that is wrong with the legislation that proposes to fix our health care.

Major Hasan and Obama's Moral Dilemma

2009-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the Ft. Hood shootings by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, Soldier of Allah, the military has chosen to charge this home grown terrorist with 13 counts of premeditated murder. (This should be 14 cases, as one of the slain soldiers was a pregnant woman, but in keeping with the mindset of the Obama administration the unborn don't count.) The charges leveled against Maj. Hasan carry the death penalty and he will be tried in a courts-martial. This decision is interesting as President Obama will have to sign off on the death penalty in order for it to be carried out.

This raises a dilemma for our president who is the amalgamation of all things politically correct. While he is fiddling around, Afghanistan is burning and this week he assured the people of Ft. Hood that all questions will be answered and justice will be carried out. Does he realize that in order for Major Nidal Malik Hasan to be executed, Barak Hussein Obama will have to agree to this?

According to the Manual for Courts-Martial United States 2008 Edition:
Rule 1207. Sentences requiring approval by the President:
No part of a court-martial sentence extending to death may be executed until approved by the President.

This could give our president yet another opportunity to throw America under the bus. If the military court finds Major Hasan guilty as charged and directs that he be executed, the president will have to have a mental conversation that might go something like this........"Hmmm....if I order his death I am turning on my Islamic brothers, but if I do not agree to this order I will be viewed as a turncoat by the American people....Islam ....America....Islam......our military......Islam...." It may be that the tough decisions will not be made by anyone but our President who seemingly cannot make up his mind on anything.

Rolling on the River!

2009-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

PT Cruiser clubs do it. Motorcycle clubs do it. Classic car clubs do it. Cyclists do it. What better to do on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon with the high temperature a balmy 72 degrees than to take a road trip! So that is what the a group of St. Louis conservatives did yesterday. They got in their decorated cars and loosened their shoes so that their carbon footprints could expand and they took to the St. Louis County roads to bring the message of smaller government, lower taxes, no Cap and Trade and true health care reform rather than health care takeover to the rest of the citizens who were doing their Saturday things. The route covered 50 miles of the busiest roads in the county where visibility was maximum.

More than 30 cars gathered in South County or joined in at multiple drop-in points along the way for a Rolling Tea Party. There was, as usual, good camaraderie, prizes for the best decorated vehicle, and concern for the path that this administration is taking us. We had so much fun that it wouldn't surprise me if we do this again sometime.

Thanks for all who helped put this together including My Conservative Group and representatives from Smart Girl Politics, I Heard the People Say.org and The St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. The challenge for the future is to take this to Obama country in the land of Rep. Lacy Clay to wake up some of his constituents!

Have you said Thank You to a veteran?

2009-11-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is a "thank you" to all the veterans of any age for the time and personal sacrifice that you gave from your own life for the cause of freedom. In particular, I would like to thank the Viet Nam veterans who were not thanked when they returned home and have been waiting over 30 years for proper respect. One of these veterans is my husband who volunteered (not drafted) for service in the Viet Nam war.

Another group of veterans to whom we still owe a great debt of gratitude are the dwindling number of World War II veterans who gave their all for the cause of world freedom. One of those is my uncle who is now 90. This fall, he came to visit us all the way from the other side of the country and during an evening around our kitchen table, he opened up with stories of his service in World War II that I had never before heard. My uncle told story after story of what he did during the war. Perhaps it is because he is nearing the end of his own life, or perhaps the doors were opened when he was asked to be the Grand Marshall at his local Memorial Day parade this year. And yes, this is really his old uniform, worn proudly. THANK YOU.

More fuzzy health care language from the administration

2009-10-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

Harry Reid has the questionable language in his secret health care reform plan with the "public option opt out co-op." No one knows what is in the plan and apparently won't until the CBO scores the bill. The only real bill that exists presently is HR 3200 from the house of representatives and there are moderate democrats who are not happy with this. See this from Bart Stupak (D) Michigan......

Here is a member of Congress that "gets it!"

2009-10-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Representative Mike Rogers (R) of Michigan had the following to say about HR 3200 which is the house version of the Health Care Reform bill.

Thanks Representative Rogers!!

Guess what we did in the Senate yesterday?!

2009-10-20T18:48:00.001-07:00

I love to visit Thomas, the government's website and internet record of what is going on in the House and Senate. Well, maybe I don't really LOVE to visit the site and perhaps recently it has made me a bit sick to my stomach, but like a gawker looking at an accident on the side of the road, I find myself drawn to Thomas like a moth to a flame.

With that in mind, there is a place on the site where one can click to see a summary of what happened the day before. I went there today and found the following bit of information about an important legislative act that was adopted on Monday October 19, 2009......S.Res.314 was passed on Monday by unanimous consent in the senate!!!

S.Res.314 designated the week of October 18, 2009 as "National Character Counts Week". This resolution was sponsored by none other than Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut....a Senator who exemplifies the highest of moral character. Senator Dodd was the sponsor and there were a paltry 15 co-sponsors to the resolution. I find it strange that all 100 senators weren't pig piling on to get their names associated with good character!! Or perhaps the 84 that did not co-sponsor this resolution were the honest men and women who knew that they didn't have the character they needed to be a valid co-sponsor.

Top 10 Reasons Never to Watch David Letterman Again

2009-10-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

Holier than thou attitude against Governor Mark Sanford's dalliance.

Seems to have an attitude against women.

Grumpy old man.

Now I understand the vindictive Sarah Palin smears.

Now I understand the vendetta against Sarah Palin's daughters.

Poor role model for little Harry.

What a wonderful husband he is!

Never did like that space between his front teeth.

Explains his perverted behavior in an unapologetic and "hilarious" comedy monologue.

AND......The #1 reason I will not watch David Letterman again......

He plays the victim card after admitting that he is a predatory elitist male on the ultimate power trip.

A Tale of Two Managers

2009-08-22T14:59:00.001-07:00

I just returned from one of the St. Louis Recess Rallies. I attended the Rally held outside the office of Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan on the corner of Manchester and Brentwood. This is a busy major intersection with commercial and retail property on all corners. There were media estimates of 2000 people in attendance, with a smattering of Pro-Obamacare supporters represented as well. The crowd occupied the east and west sidewalks of Brentwood and the North corner of Manchester.

Protesters from both camps parked in commercial parking around the area and this is where my story begins.
About 30 minutes into the one hour rally, the manager of the Schnucks store came out and began to ask who the persons were who were responsible for the rally. He maintained that there were no places for his customers to park. Before taking my place with the ralliers, I had gone inside the Schnucks store and bought bottled water and snacks. $10 for an hour of parking is more than generous and represents $10 of commerce that the store would not have had if I had parked elsewhere. Fact is, there were few shoppers in the store when I went in to make my purchases. He was sour and unpleasant to everyone he encountered regardless of their side on the issue. He also asked someone why this intersection was chosen for the "protest." I guess he didn't even realize that Russ Carnahan had an office in the building across the street.

In the same strip mall as the Schnucks store, there are also about 5 or 6 much smaller stores including a Mr. Goodcents Sub Sandwich Shop. They looked out the window of their shop, saw the same full parking lot and the same crowd of people milling around on the sidewalk and instead of lemons, they made lemonade! The manager sent two employees out on the sidewalks with hands full of coupons for a free beverage and chips with the purchase of a half sub sandwich. His employees handed them out to as many people as possible and when they exhausted their supply, they went back to the shop for more and returned with trays of little cut-up assorted sub sandwiches for EVERYONE to enjoy with the hope that perhaps some would come in for a bite when the rally was over!

And, they did....Conservatives are quick to reward the entrepreneurial spirit and a trickle of demonstrators began to steadily make their way to the shop for lunch. We had all talked about where we would go at 1 PM when the rally ended and this made the decision simple and easy! Sub sandwiches, chips and a drink, served by friendly, eager employees who had taken ownership of a situation and turned it into an opportunity.

If the Schnucks manager had any sense or spirit, he could have done the same with something to woo people into the store before, during or after the rally and capitalize on the crowd in front of his establishment. There was a food demonstrator in the store giving out samples of a new Nature Valley Granola snack and coupons for 75 cents off the purchase of one bag when I was in the store shopping. They were yummy and I took advantage of the coupon to buy a bag for myself. He could have sent that lady outside to give out her samples and coupons. He could have sent a cart boy or a clerk outside with a grocery cart full of assorted beverages to sell. He's the manager, he's the boss, he could have done something other than stew.

So hats off to Kyle Gilbertson, manager of Mr. Goodcents Subs and Pastas at 8820 Manchester Road St. Louis, MO 63144. One of his employees also made sure that we knew that Mr. Goodcents also caters and delivers for events and meetings, should we need something in that line and sent me home with a catering menu and price list! These are my kind of young people!

Are You Stimulated Yet??

2009-08-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Since all politics is local, it is time to ask if you are seeing the effects of the stimulus monies doled out 6 months ago. At the time of the stimulus, several state governors elected NOT to accept some of the stimulus money because of the future financial burden that acceptance would create for the state. As I recall, these people, including Sarah Palin, were roundly ridiculed for their stance. The big strings were poo-pooed by proponents of the stimulus. These were the same proponents of Cash for Clunkers, Single Payer health care, bail outs for car companies and all the other Obama proposals that create greater dependance on the government.

As people are beginning to address the impact of the stiumlus bill, it was interesting to read in The St. Louis Business Journal that Missouri will "miss out" on $133 Million for unemployment. Why??? It is because of those big strings.... and I applaud the actions of the Missouri legislature in having the foresight and also the guts to look into the future and effectively say, "Thanks but no thanks."

In May 2009, a bill was passed by the Missouri legislature that extended unemployment benefits to Missourians who lost their jobs due to family issues such as death, illness, spousal abuse, and also extended the duration of benefits to those in training programs from 26 weeks to 52 weeks, with this extension being covered by monies from the Stimulus Bill. This will not happen, however, as the US Department of Labor has determined that this legislation does not qualify for the state to receive $133 M from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AKA Porkulus Bill).

The big strings that nixed this enhancement to the Missouri unemployment law are that stimulus funded programs like this MUST CONTINE AFTER THE STIMULUS FUNDING EXPIRES IN 2 YEARS. The Missouri legislature realized that once the funding was gone, the expanded unemployment funding would have to be borne by Missouri taxpayers and businesses.
At the risk of not getting the stimulus monies, the legislators put a provision in the legislation that required that these benefits be renewed next year rather than making them permanent. So, POOF...all gone....typical of the non-stimulating "my way or the highway" position of the Obamacracy.

So Missouri is not very stimulating today in spite of the fact that there are many people in the state who would benefit from the good this stimulus money could do. To date, 71,298 Missourians have filed initial unemployment claims and the state unemployment rate is 9.3%.

I Call BS on You Can Keep Your Own Doctor and Health Plan

2009-08-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is what is really bubbling under the surface of HR3200, which is the only health care bill we are allowed to discuss (and then only if you agree).

This morning I was going to attend Senator Clarie McCaskill's Listening Tour. I sent my RSVP and received a confirmation notice. I even sent a question that I hoped would be answered. The question was respectful and, I thought, substantive. Over the weekend, we received word that the meeting has been cancelled due to "safety issues". You be the judge of this one!

The White House Wants YOU....to report "fishy" stuff

2009-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

This video says it all......

SEIU--They even turn on themselves!!!

2009-08-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

When your membership is formed of the lowest of the low, it must be very hard to corral those thuggish tendencies, even on your home turf.

Open Letter to SEIU Members and Leaders on the Violence at the Labor Notes Conference

by S.M.A.R.T.
Thursday Apr 17th, 2008 1:48 AM

As SEIU members who attended the Labor Notes conference held on April 11-13, 2008 in Dearborn, Michigan, we denounce the attempts by SEIU International to violently disrupt a fundraising banquet on Saturday, April 12 attended by nearly one thousand labor activists from around the world who gathered to discuss ways to rebuild labor’s power.

Seven busloads of SEIU staff and members (mostly from SEIU Healthcare Michigan and SEIU District 1199 WV/OH/KY) stormed the hotel to disrupt the event, allegedly to protest the scheduled keynote speech by Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association. The CNA and SEIU have been engaged in a years-long conflict over organizing jurisdiction. The dispute has resulted in CNA efforts to undermine union elections with SEIU, and accusations that SEIU has sent staff to intimidate and harass CNA leaders in their homes and workplaces.

The violent action taken by some in SEIU on this night only worsened this inter-union dispute, in which workers are the big losers. It succeeded only in alienating many of the labor leaders at the event who did not agree with the CNA’s actions in Ohio and Nevada.

When conference participants (mostly rank-and-filers from unions around the country) tried to stop protesters from disrupting the dinner, the protesters (including some SEIU staff) pushed their way through the crowd by throwing punches and shoving people to the ground. One UAW retiree who had organized strike support for American Axle workers that day was taken to the hospital with a head injury, and others suffered minor injuries. One protester rushed the stage and attempted to speak to the crowd.

Some of us saw an SEIU member, who had collapsed on the ground, being moved onto a stretcher by police and EMTs. On Sunday, SEIU's Michigan health care local posted an obituary for home healthcare member-David Smith. It informed Smith's co-workers that "he passed away....during a rally to give healthcare workers the right to organize in Ohio." It is tragic that a member died at this shameful protest.

This protest action by some in SEIU was an embarrassment to the labor movement. Rose Ann DeMoro had earlier announced she would not attend, a fact well-known by SEIU staff in attendance, some of whom later assisted protesters in their violent attempt at disruption. The action was unsuccessful at disrupting the rest of the conference, and the protester who spoke could not be understood by anyone. Most attendees were left offended and confused, and denounced the violence some protesters used against other rank-and-file workers. In the International SEIU’s Orwellian press release, International Executive Vice-President Mary Kay Henry states:

"Open debate serves an important role as we work to strengthen our movement. The Labor Notes Conference is the right time and place to discuss our differences."

But this action was clearly intended to harass and intimidate workers, not to promote discussion and debate about the future of our movement. In fact, several workshops at the conference encouraged debate and discussion of the very issues of concern within SEIU, including the escalating war between SEIU and CNA. Among the dozens of workshops held were:

Solidarity Under Attack
Running for Union Office
Contract Campaigns and Bargaining Tactics
Organizing Immigrant Workers; Organizing Right-to-Work States
Member-Driven Organizing
Neutrality Agreements and Organizing Deals
Innovative Organizing Strategies: Building Unions from the Bottom Up
Patients’ Rights, Workers’ Rights
Labor Media and New Technology
Democracy is Power

These topics and more were the subject of discussion and debate all weekend at the Labor Notes conference, with full participation by SEIU members and staff. Some SEIU members and staff were disruptive and rude in these discussions, and later participated in the violent attempt to disrupt the fundraising dinner, which honored striking American Axle workers in UAW, the New York Taxi Drivers’ Alliance, United Workers Baltimore, and John Sferazo, an ironworker who helped search for survivors at the World Trade Center.

From our own conversations with SEIU protesters at the conference, we learned that many had no idea they were protesting an international labor activists' conference. Staff appeared to lead the action (sometimes wearing bandannas to hide their identity) with workers following in tow who may or may not have understood what and who they were protesting. The organizers of this action put their own members and other rank-and-file union workers in harms way for an action that was a humiliating failure without any message.

As SEIU members, we believe it was precisely open debate and discussion that were the target of this hostile attack. SEIU International does not want workers learning how to build real power in our shops and in our union. SEU International does not want an open debate about democracy or worker empowerment. The International wants us to know that we become targets when we talk about democracy, worker power, and the future of the labor movement. They will evidently embrace the crudest tactics, using violence to make their point.

SEIU International failed to disrupt the conference, and will fail to silence us as members.

We call on Mary Kay Henry and SEIU International to denounce the use of violence, and specifically denounce the violent actions taken against us and other rank-and-file union workers at the Labor Notes conference on April 12, 2008.

We further call on SEIU International and Executive Vice-President Mary Kay Henry to demonstrate that “open debate serves an important role as we work to strengthen our movement.” An open debate has never been encouraged at an International level in SEIU to discuss these issues, which are critical to our future. If Mary Kay and our International leaders want to demonstrate their credibility, they will entertain exactly such a debate and discussion among our membership at the 2008 Convention.

We also call upon SEIU’s rank and file members to denounce the SEIU International’s use violence and to tell the International Officers of SEIU that we will not tolerate the use of our union dues to attack rank-and-file union members. We are proud to be members of SEIU and call upon our International leadership to put SEIU back on the right path as a growing, dynamic member-driven union.

Sincerely,

Brian Cruz
City College of San Francisco
SEIU 2008 International Convention Delegate
SEIU Local 1021

Joe Iosbaker
Chief Steward, University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC)
Executive Board Member
SEIU Local 73

Helen York-Jones
Chief Steward, CPMC Medical Center
SEIU 2008 International Convention Delegate
SEIU UHW-West Executive Board Vice-President
(Boycotted the fundraising banquet portion of the conference to protest CNA’s actions in Ohio and Nevada)

Zev Kvitky
President and Executive Director, SEIU Local 2007
Higher Education Workers-CA
SEIU California State Council

Maya Morris
Steward, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, CHW
SEIU 2008 International Convention Delegate
SEIU UHW-West Executive Board Vice-President
(Boycotted the fundraising banquet portion of the conference to protest CNA’s actions in Ohio and Nevada)

Randy Evans
Steward, University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) Medical Center
SEIU Local 73

Resettlement and Internment Camps??

2009-08-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

The US Army National Guard has a job posting on Monster.com looking for a Resettlement/Internment specialist. I have asked several people to independently look at the job description and tell me what this specialist will be doing. The following ideas have been proffered: replacement facility for Gitmo, disaster relief facilities over the country, or....a real interment camp for political opponents and dissidents. At first glance the last option prompts a tin foil hat response, however if you look back at the things that Obama has done during his first 200 days, it gives one pause for reflection. One thing is clear, is that Obama has been perfectly clear about what he wanted to do.

Candidate Obama clearly stated that there was a place for a civilian army that rivaled the military.

Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security issued a statement entitled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, defining right wing extremists.

* (U) Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

In the Cash for Clunkers program, when a dealer logs on to cars.gov and checks the box that states agreement with the terms of service, a dialog box opens with a sinister warning that the contents of the computer are now the property of the government....but that is after the box is checked!

The Health Care Reform bill HR3200 allows access to personal financial information in Section 1173A page 58 Lines 5-13 under the guise to being able to, in real time, determine an individual's financial responsibility at the time of service.

Whitehouse.gov has asked for us to provide information about people who are spreading disinformation, ("fishy stuff") and that information, including email addresses and contact information for the sender are retrievable including the content of these emails.

Given the above, why not an internment camp for citizens???

Play it Again, Sam--Once More With Feeling

2009-08-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

Back in October, 2008, before "The One" was ever elected, I published a post that took a position against the TARP Bailout. The TARP failure started the Whack-A-Mole frenzy in throwing money at anything that fails or looks like it is failing. The responsibility for TARP rests with then-President Bush, the Democrat-controlled Congress, and the pusillanimous responses of several Republican dinosaurs, including turncoat Arlen Specter, John McCain and his lapdog Lindsey Graham, and the wussy-sisters Snowe and Collins from the great Northeast. The first salvo of the "Dire-Emergency-Hurry-Up-and-Pass-the-Bill-or-the-World-Will-End" legislation was fired. At that point we were just seeing the tip of the impending iceberg careening toward us and, like the Titanic, there was a great deal of denial that the iceberg was even there.

In that blog post, I hesitantly mentioned the Cloward-Piven Strategy and noted that the climate in the country looked like a prime target for the picking. Now in looking back, I regret that I was not more forceful in calling out our government and not being more willing to look like a whack job in illustrating how we were walking right down the path to socialism. My post was at least 10 days prior to the election but my blog had only been in existence for a couple of months, so I am sure that it was not seen by many people (or maybe no one). Now that my blog is more "mature" I am hoping that more people will see it and perhaps, now that more water has gone under the bridge, it will be clearer to readers that we are in dire straits in this country and every concerned citizen MUST become familiar with the Cloward-Piven Strategy in order to see what has been escalating since November 5, 2008.

The Cloward-Piven Strategy was first put forth in the 1960's and the roots of the strategy have been burrowing for more than 40 years.

First proposed in 1966 and named after sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.

Now the Cloward-Piven vine is rapidly propagating like Kudzu in the south. Wrapping its tentacles and runners everywhere--banks, car companies, mortgages, health care, energy, the census, volunteerism and even our identities--to eventually engulf and destroy everything it touches. In an unprecedented political move, candidate Barack Obama did the unthinkable. He told us EXACTLY what he was going to do and then DID IT. He said that he would involve community organizers in framing his administration, that he would transform the entire country, that we needed a citizen ARMY that is the equivalent of the military, etc. We now have a battalion of Czars who are accountable to no one except the president and who are empowered to oversee all aspects of our lives. These Czars are some of the most left-leaning individuals in our country and they have a clear agenda of destroying capitalism.

No one paid any attention. The lemmings thought that his words were just campaign blather and elected him. Now we must live with buyer's remorse until we can rid ourselves of the cancer that is metastasizing all over our nation.

It is time for EVERY concerned citizen to wake up and smell the coffee before we are covered by political kudzu. The August recess is a prime time for all of us to access our legislators when they return to their districts and must face our wrath. We are being systematically stripped of our freedoms, rights and identity to be "CHANGED" to passive automatons looking to the government for everything. Soon "Give us this day our daily bread" will no longer have a theological perspective.

Green Green is Green They Say....

2009-07-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Everything is green, there are green shoots sprouting in the economy (weeds, methinks) and every bill comes with some statement about how this company or that is trying to be greener. AmerenUE is being so green that they are asking the Missouri utilities commission for an 18% rate hike for its electric customers. Now, they minimize this by saying that this represents a paltry 50 cents per DAY increase, but that is $15 per MONTH and $180 per YEAR. Those numbers don't look so paltry!

In the mail last night, I got a progress report from AmerenUE telling us all about the good things they have done to improve our electric service, such as trimming more trees, burying the most vulnerable above ground lines and inspecting their lines more often to minimize power outages and interruptions. In addition, they directed me to their energy efficiency website so that I could see how much I could save on my electric bill by running my dishwasher full and then essentially drying my dishes rather than having the dishwasher do it, or how about setting my refrigerator a little higher so that my left overs and milk go South a day or two earlier. (I suspect that my energy savings will be offset by my increase in my food bill). The best, yet, though is their big push for CFL lightbulbs. They have all sorts of information on their website extolling the energy savings of the CFL bulbs.

I fell for the CFL bulbs several years ago and put them into my lamps and in the ceiling fixtures in my closets. Now I have to squint and strain to read in the evening (helping optometrists and ophthalmologists) and when I pick out my clothes, brown, navy blue and black look almost the same...but what the heck, I am being green. The best thing, however, is that on their website in the Q and A about the CFL lightbulbs they indicate that you should consult the EPA for instructions in how to dispose of burned out CFL bulbs. I did that and followed the steps for finding out the local recyclers in my area and guess what----THERE AREN'T ANY!! There is a center that accepts the bulbs in St. Charles county, but this is for St. Charles County residents only. After listing the sites in Missouri, there is a little fine print that says that some of the centers will accept CFL's from non-residents FOR A FEE!!!

I did find out, however, that Home Depot will accept CFL's for recycling at their stores...THANK YOU, HOME DEPOT.

Then there are the questions about what to do and how to clean up a broken CFL. Again, the EPA comes to the rescue with a 6 step process for cleaning up a hazardous waste spill in your house! That is because the CFL's contain mercury. You know, that slithery silvery substance that used to be in thermometers in every school room in America. That wondrefully mysterious substance that generations of kids knew would make your nickles, dimes, quarters and half dollars shiny and new looking again! They took mercury out of the thermometers and we can't eat fish because of mercury content, but, hey...if its green we can all reintroduce mercury into our light bulbs all over the house in the name of climate change....

From the EPA's own website comes this justification:

Why the EPA, DOE and others are promoting the use of CFLs
CFLs use significantly less energy than traditional light bulbs (75% less). If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 800,000 cars. And even though CFLs contain a small amount of mercury that could ultimately end up in the environment, that amount is significantly less than the amount of mercury avoided as a result of the energy savings.

I think that our government has already been overexposed to mercury and that is why they are mad as hatters!

I. O. U.

2009-07-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

At the top of my blog there is a ticker that perpetually updates the national debt and each individual's personal share of that debt. It has been spinning there since just after the election. When I first put it up there, "my" share of the national debt was $198,000. On July 23, as I was posting I noticed that it my share had risen to $202,000. Just two days later, my share is now $203,000. Just 6 months into the Obama administration and without Crap and Tax and Health Care Control---yes, just from the bailouts and Porkulus, my share of the national debt has risen $5000. At that rate of nearly $1000 a month, and looking at the way the administration is rushing to push through every massive spending bill, by the end of the first term (and we can only hope the last) in office, EACH of us could owe an additional $48,000 to the debt. According to census information for 2006, the median family income in the US was $58,407. This would mean that at the end of the first Obama term, the average family would have to work 5 years for each member of the family to pay the debt our country owes. Obama's economic plan is truly generational theft.

This rate of spending is truly unsustainable and those that support this should soon be UNELECTABLE......and the sooner Washington gets that message the better off we will be.

Health Care Reform--What You Don't Know but Should!

2009-07-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

After hearing the POTUS with the TOTUS blather on in broad generalities about health care reform last night..."we need change , we need it now, the stars are aligned, the system is broken, I and the Congress have the best healthcare on the planet, oh, did I mention that I have the best healthcare on the planet...and I have a doctor that follows me around all of the time and, oh, by the way, you can take the cheap pill.", I received this from Smart Girl Politics about the things that are REALLY in the bill and you can make your own informed decisions. I know that it will take time to read all of this---that is why our legislators don't.... but it is worth it to arm ourselves with facts from the actual bill to combat the misinformation that we are being fed by the axis of evil...er... I meant the administration.

All 1017 pages of HR3200 can be accessed for your bathroom reading enjoyment.

Peter Fleckstein (aka Fleckman) is reading it and has been posting his findings on Twitter. Robert Wenzel from www.economicpolicyjournal.com has summarized Fleckstein's findings in his July 20, 2009 post. (Note: All comments are Fleckman's and remember that they are written for 140 character Tweets).

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benes u get
Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!
Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC Benefits 4 you. U have no choice!
PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access 2 individs finances & a National ID Healthcard will b issued!
Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 ur banks accts 4 elect. funds transfer
PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan 4 retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).
Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange 2 bring priv HC plans under Govt control.
PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs 4 priv. HC plans in the Exchange
PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration ur Healthcare!PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic approp svcs. Example - Translation 4 illegal aliens
Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps 2 sign up indiv. for Govt HC plan
PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members - U Health care WILL b rationed-
PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will b automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice
PG 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monop
PG 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what u can make.
PG 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE
PG 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay 4 HC 4 part time employees AND their families.
Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll
pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesnt prov. pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll
Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesnt have acceptable HC accrdng 2 Govt will be taxed 2.5% of inc
Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from indiv. taxes. (Americans will pay)
Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access 2 ALL Americans finan/pers recs
PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that
Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician svcs 4 Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected
Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesnt matter what specialty u have, you'll all be paid the same
PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, prof judg, etc. Literally value of humans.
PG 265 Sec 1131 Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries
PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs
PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!
Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals 4 what Govt deems preventable readmissions. (MY NOTE: THEY ALREADY DO THIS!!)
Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admiss that results in a readmiss-Govt will penalize u.
Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.
Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand
Pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have oppt to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can u say ACORN?!!
Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing
Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority 2 disqual Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing peeps in2 Govt plan
Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs ppl! WTF. My sis has down syndrome!!
Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Cmtte. Can u say HC by phone?
PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life
Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory! (MY NOTE: THIS WILL PLEASE THE ATTORNEYS!)
PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides apprvd list of end of life resources, guiding u in death
PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program 4 orders 4 end of life. The Govt has a say in how ur life ends
Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will b used frequently as patients health deteriorates
PG 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may incl an ORDER 4 end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV
Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment u will have at end of life
Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Svcs here!!?
Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment 2 a community-based org. Like ACORN?
PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt in2 ur marriage
Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Svcs including defining, creating, rationing those svcs

These comments get us less than half way into the 1017 page bill...but this is what the Administration does not want we, the commoners, the unwashed masses to find out, which is why there is such a hurry to get this through. SLOW DOWN AND READ THE FINE PRINT.

Cap and Trade from the Small Business Perspective.....the McArthur Saga Continues

2009-07-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

St. Louisans are proud of our new hometown hero---no, not Albert Pujols---Dave McArthur. Yesterday evening Dave made his national television debut on Glenn Beck's show on Fox News, but immediately afterward, he was also interviewed on Fox Business Channel's Nightly Scoreboard with David Asman. The common man did himself proud and he has become the next Mr. Smith to take on Washington.

Dave McArthur is now the person around whom a movement is beginning to coalesce. He has become a champion of small business against the Cap and Trade issue that could sound the death knell for many small businesses, particularly in the Midwest where 85% of our energy is coal based and as a result we will be paying dearly for our energy under Cap and Trade. Midwestern business will be hit hard, but so will all of the families of all economic standings every time they turn on a light, heat or cool their homes or go to the grocery store.

Cap and Trade has narrowly passed the House of Representatives and our voting block can be turned against those representatives who voted for it. 1/3 of the Senate and all of the representatives will be up for election in 2010. Every representative is potentially vulnerable in 2010 and this is the time to do some major house cleaning.

If it has been a while since you thought about the legislative process, think about this...The House of Representatives has a bill introduced. It is sent to committee for consideration, debate, and amendment. When it is in its final form, it is voted on by the committee and if passed, it moves to the floor where it is voted upon. This is how Cap and Trade rapidly moved through the House and was narrowly passed. Now Cap and Trade must go to the Senate for consideration. In the Senate, a similar process occurs and the bill goes to committee where it is again debated, marked up and it may be changed. When it is voted out of committee, it may be significantly different from the bill passed in the House. If the Senate passes a version of the bill that is different from that passed by the House of Representatives, then the bill goes to a conference committee composed of both Senators and Representatives. Here it is "perfected" and differences must be resolved before it is sent to the President for action.

This process gives all of us ample opportunity to be vocal all through the process. Senator Jim DeMint was on Laura Ingraham's radio show earlier this week and he clearly indicated that what gets the ear of a legislator is a barrage of loud voices with one point of view--this is a block of votes! A block of votes is what keeps a politician employed. A block of votes is what can also send a legislator home for good. Dave McArthur has the potential to deliver a block of votes that could send Russ Carnahan home in 2010 if Rep. Carnahan sells his constituents down the river in this Cap and Trade legislation. Those of us who scream at the TV have a new role model in Dave McArthur who got tired of talking to the TV and decided to take his point of view public where he has certainly gotten the ear of legislators and the media. BRAVO DAVE!!!!

St. Louis' Own David and Goliath Story

2009-07-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Since the passage of Cap and Trade in the US House of Representatives, St. Louisans have watched as a local David and Goliath story has been brewing. This story is about a real David who has left a mark on the local political machine. It all started when the House of Representatives rammed through the monstrous Cap and Trade bill on June 26 by a vote of 219-212.

In the brief run-up to passage of the bill, Missouri Representatives leaning toward or favoring the bill were bombarded with faxes, letters and phone calls from constituents asking them NOT to vote for the bill as Missouri (along with most of the central United States) is in the cross hairs of the cap and trade debacle due to the fact that electricity production in this part of the US is primarily coal based. The burden on the central US from cap and trade is predicted to be the most punitive and costly for the regular citizens and for businesses in this area. In the 2nd district of Missouri, Russ Carnahan (D) was one of the Cap and Trade proponents who was begged by constituents NOT to vote for the bill, but to no avail. Rep. Carnahan voted for Cap and Trade and the saga began....

The real David, Dave McArthur, of McArthur's Bakery, a family owned baking business that has been an icon in St. Louis for over 50 years stepped up to sling the first pebble. After Cap and Trade was passed, Dave wrote a letter to Rep. Carnahan expressing his displeasure and went one step further. He put notice on the marquee sign outside of his flagship bakery in South St. Louis County (in Carnahan's district) that "Russ Carnahan voted to ... close us and other ... small business." This salvo was but the first in a story that has snowballed to crescendo with Dave McArthur being enlisted to appear on Glenn Beck's TV show on Fox News on Thursday, 7/9/09.

It was only a very short time until Dave McArthur was contacted by Rep. Carnahan's staff asking that the sign come down and Dave and his brother Randy were invited to meet with Carnahan's staff. Dave told his story on a local talk radio station and garnered a large group of local supporters. Dave's brother Randy McArthur was tagged to speak at the St. Louis Independence Day Tea Party held in Washington Missouri. On 7/7/09, the story was picked up by Fox News and covered nationally. With the national coverage, the McArthur brothers have gained a national following, receiving supportive phone calls and emails from all over the country.

The much awaited meeting happened yesterday, 7/7/09 at Carnahan's district office and Rep. Carnahan did not attend....he sent his minions to meet with the McArthurs. In a rather astonishing exchange, Dave was told...."The bill is not law yet. It has to go to the Senate. In the Senate it will be perfected to be a good bill. The people that you need to talk to are your senators who will be dealing with the bill, Senator McCaskill and Senator Bond's staff." You can hear the entire discussion here at the bottom of the page, under AUDIO... 07.08 Dave McArthur.

Dave and his brother Randy are just ordinary small businessmen in St. Louis. They are not public speakers. They are little people just like Joe the Plumber who was catapulted into the limelight by asking a simple question of then candidate Obama last year. By using the bully pulpit of their marquee sign, they, too, have been thrust into the spotlight and have risen to the challenge by putting themselves and their business on the line for something that they believe in. This is true grass roots activism from the conservative perspective. You can be sure that Russ Carnahan will be watched carefully in the next weeks and months and he will be marked for ouster in 2010 by a growing group of small businessmen and constituents who are very unhappy that he has not served the interests of the people who put him in office.

Sarah Palin Declares Her Independence

2009-07-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

Today, in a bombshell of an announcement, Alaska's governor Sarah Palin declared that not only would she not run for re-election for governor in 2010, but she would not finish out her term. In fact, she announced that she would turn over the reins of Alaska's government to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell on July 26. The announcement was apparently a huge secret, the press conference was not announced far in advance, and the magnitude of the announcement sent the political wonks, Republican higher ups and Sarah Palin followers in general into a frenzy.

Her detractors gloated predictably

"It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP."

and some are waiting for the other shoe to drop ala Mark Sanford. More rational detractors opined that this was political suicide. The DNC already has pointed out that her decision is weak and the fodder for political ads is ready should she run for national office.

Her supporters say that this shows she is a real independent. They argue that her location in Alaskan isolation make any political aspirations all the more difficult to forge. The Governor has a book advance and is able to command speaking engagements which will further her ability to move her political aspirations ahead, but not while she is Governor of a distant state. Her legal expenses incurred in defending herself against frivolous charges have been a drain on the Palin personal resources and her family has borne the brunt of scathing smears from liberal detractors. All apparent reasons why she has taken the gamble of abdication.

A telling phrase from her press conference suggests that she may or may not continue to be a Republican loyalist, (payback for the trashing she received from her own party after the election was lost)

"I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all."

Perhaps she is positioning herself to be a part of an third party effort or an independent candidate.

Whatever the outcome, this is her personal Independence Day. She has rock star appeal when she appears publicly. She has a dedicated following of conservative men and women. She has secured some measure of financial security for herself and her family. She is young and still has a long political future ahead of her should she choose that path. She has paved the way for freedom to learn, write and polish her world view (that Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson felt that she did not possess). Margaret Thatcher, who is a fan of Sarah Palin, had to undergo a reformation to become more polished and properly spoken before she entered politics. Now Sarah Palin has the opportunity to do the same and whether she is a spokesperson or a fundraiser for conservative candidates or a candidate in her own right, Sarah Palin has now been set free.

The YOU SCARE ME Letter

2009-06-09T12:58:00.001-07:00

I received this letter in an email from an acquaintance who suggested that I pass it on. It speaks for itself.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Note: Lou Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989, and he is the author of the 1995 business book, Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat. Mr. Pritchett confirmed that he was indeed the author of the much-circulated "open letter." “I did write the 'you scare me' letter. I sent it to the NY Times but they never acknowledged or published it. However, it hit the internet and according to the ‘experts’ has had over 500,000 hits

Good Nurses Make Good Doctors

2009-06-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

While surfing the internet for sites with medical flavor, I was pleased to find a great site for nurses. SCRUBS is a refreshing and bright ezine where the needs of today's nurse are addressed. When I was a medical student and later a resident in obstetrics and gynecology, medicine was different th an it is practiced today. There was less technology and lots more hands on interaction with the patients. Some of the most valuable bedside lessons that I learned, however, did not happen at the hands of my professors, but rather from the nurses who spent hours at the patient's bedside. Old school nurses taught me to "read" the patient's body language as it changed in the course of their illness or labor, to talk with them in general conversation to find out more about their attitudes and personalities, and to individualize my care to the patient and try to define ways to make them compliant under hardship.

Today it is a different world in the field of health care and, in certain ways, the change has not been for the better. The role of the physician and the nurse are modified in ways that we could hardly have predicted 30 years ago. The nurse and the physician have new rules to abide by in terms of patient length of stay and appropriate testing. Much more is required of both physicians and nurses in our litiginous society. Technology has enabled both physicians and nurses to be impersonal with telemetry at the nursing station and the EMR, with its cookie cutter phrases and check marked boxes, replacing carefully written notes.

Scrubs provides information for all aspects of the nurse's life. There are health, money, humor and lifestyle features, inspirational stories and even a sassy doctor/nurse point/ counterpoint column in which a doctor and a nurse address a specific topic so that you can get inside the other's head and see where they are coming from! With Showtime's Nurse Jackie being promoted heavily in print and even on billboards, there are also an entertainment area. To check the pulse of the readership, polls are sprinkled over the site. For the nurse who is stretched too thin due to "staffing for census" or fatiqued from 12 hour shifts, this site is an oasis for rejuvenation and a reminder of why we chose the medical field in the first place.

Scrubs

License Bureau, Post Office...Healthcare???

2009-06-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

As Barack Obama rolls out his ambitious agenda for the USSA and continues to spend our way to oblivion, some have questioned whether he will have to put some of his projects on the back burner as public sentiment and buyer's remorse starts to set in. Some have said that Cap and Trade may have to go on the back burner for the time being, but that health care may be "fixed" this year.

The issue of health care in the USSA has been a topic of great debate for literally decades. My father passed away in 1989 and years before that, in the early years of my career in medicine, he gave me a bumper sticker that said "If You Like the Post Office You Will Love National Health care." The issue of health care and what is wrong with it is complicated, crosses multiple sectors of the economy and I don't have the solution. What I do have is a caution.

Friday, 4/17/09, Red State's Jeff Emanuel had a post entitled, "Who Should have the Final Say About Your Medical Care: Your Doctor, or Government Bureaucrats?" In the article a young woman in Georgia who was severely disabled from birth and required intensive home care had her benefits cut by 15% over the objections of her physician. These benefits were from federal and state medicaid. The suit has been in the courts for several years and has worked its way to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals where the ruling was overturned and the courts ruled that the physician and not the bureaucratic machine should determine the patient's care.

Rhonda Meadows, commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Community Health,
immediately appealed the ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Peach State. Her argument was that state officials, not doctors, should have final say in what treatments and care patients within their purview require. Florida and Alabama, which fall under the 11th Circuit’s jurisdiction and will have to abide by its ruling, filed an amicus brief with the Atlanta-based court.

Is this a glimpse of what government health care would look like? Those who are heavy weight on the system are cut back and left to wither and die?

Many hospitals today are employing ethicists. These ethicists are doctors who are employed to "help" families faced with end-of-life issues work through the emotional mine field of decision making . While at times, these decisions may seem clear, they become muddled when the ethicist is called in on behalf of the hospital to meet with the families because the patient's care has become long and costly...those high ticket patients whose hospitalizations have languished over long times, without an end in sight....these are patients who have become respirator dependent after a catastrophic event like a heart attack or stroke, who have had multiple complications after emergency major surgery or who have multiple comorbid conditions complicating what otherwise would have been a much simpler procedure. Many of these patients have Medicare or Medicaid and the reimbursement for their care is low. Many of these patients are patients for whom the hospital will have to eat large amounts of the bill. The growing use of the ethicist physician is in some ways a disturbing trend that could become more widely used in a government health system where rationing of resources must, by default, be used. What better group to ration but the "big ticket" patient who is burning through resources without an end in sight. The ethicist can be used to gently "help" the family see the folly of continuing the fight for an unworthy life and justify withholding of supportive measures. Where the line is to be drawn is anyone's guess, but it could well be a line that moves depending on the number of people to be served and the amount of resources available. Is a preemie's stay in the NICU justified? How about a 60 year old patient who needs coronary artery surgery? What if that same patient also is obese? What if that patient also has Type II diabetes? Where is the line drawn when a patient has a hip fracture or needs a hip replacement? What about a 300 pound woman who needs knee replacement due to wear and tear from chronic obesity? And where do organ transplants fall in the rationing plan? What about infertility treatments?

We have the best health care system in the world and we serve people from many countries who come here to have their medical care because they can't get it in a timely manner in their own countries. This has to say volumes about the present state of health care in America. Fixing it, like we have just "fixed" Chrysler and GM, will put government bureaucrats in charge of what you can get, where you can get it and when you will be able to get care. What will government single payer health care do to the access to drugs? Will we be regimented to a strict formulary where one medication fits all? As a resident, I trained in the City and County Hospitals where there was a government formulary and the number of medications available for our patients was severely limited. For example, there was one hormonal replacement medication. There was one brand of birth control pills available to patients. There were charcoal pills for post-op gas relief. If they worked, it was fine, but if not, too bad.

I hardly think that this kind of regimentation will be acceptable to the vast majority of American consumers who are accustomed to individualized treatment for most conditions and are accustomed to rapid access to expensive technology and diagnostic tests, but unless we wake up and smell the coffee, this could be your lot in life in the not too distant future.

Requiem for George Tiller

2009-05-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

I came home from church today to the news of the killing of Dr. George Tiller. I am still reeling, tonight, from this news. This violent act is to be stongly condemned. There are absolutely no circumstances under which this act can be condoned. The chasm between the pro-life and pro-abortion camps will never be narrowed by acts such as this. While I do not mourn his death, I also cannot condone his murder.

There are so many lenses through which this act can be viewed, but none shed a good light on it. It is ironic that Dr. Tiller was killed in his church during a time when he was participating in services there. It is ironic that Dr. Tiller died in a violent manner, just as countless fetuses were violently killed in his clinic with no one to stand up for them. It is sad that Dr. Tiller left this life unrepentant for the life he chose to live and the acts he chose to commit. It is reprehensible that his life ended in this way. It matters not that my views are completely opposite to his, taking of his life does nothing to further the cause of either side of this highly charged argument.

It is a sad day when violence is used to further or justify any cause.

Will The Real Barack Obama Please Stand Up?

2009-05-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

The President addressed the 2009 graduating class of Notre Dame University amidst a swirl of controversy over the appropriateness of a blatantly pro-abortion President receiving an honorary degree and then addressing the graduating class. Demonstrators arrived on the campus and were summarily arrested for trespassing on the university grounds. Students and parents boycotted their graduation and attended prayer services held on the college grounds. Graduates used their mortar boards to voice support for the President or for the Pro-life cause.

Then the POTUS took the podium, and in his inimitable suave style, delivered a speech that served absolution to American Catholics who turned their backs on the sanctity of life when they voted for candidate Obama. Then he gave a shameless plug for his own book.

But contrast this speech with Candidate Obama who, less than one year ago, glibly and arrogantly proclaimed his support for the Pro-abortion cause in a speech to Planned Parenthood.

This is the same man who "doesn't want his daughters punished with a baby." This is the same man who during the campaign gave his "Just Words" speech in which he plagiarized Deval Patrick, but regardless of whose "words" they were, they underscored the use of words, the power of mere words, and ultimately we know that talk can be cheap.

So which "words" reflect the real position of Barack Obama?? He can talk the talk, but will he/ can he walk the walk? I am reminded of a Department Chairman in years past whose business style was to engage everyone in giving input about subjects, but then he did what he wanted to do. The only thing he gained was cover for him to hide behind when people challenged him on why he did things that no one wanted.

Can you name ONE thing that President Obama has done in the name of reducing abortion in this nation???

Answer: He took some incendiary language regarding abortion off of his website.

So, while we heard flowery prose on Sunday afternoon, actions speak louder than words and Mr. Obama's actions seem to relegate those "words" to just that...."just words".

The Worm has Turned

2009-04-28T09:46:00.001-07:00

This morning, Senator Arlen Specter of PA, showed the true colors that we already knew him for and announced that he is switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic party and will seek re-election as a Democrat.

Showing himself as a cowardly, spineless RINO during the vote for the economic Stimulus package, he now has looked his political mortality in the face as those actions have spurred conservative candidate Pat Toomey to challenge him in the 2010Republican primary for his Senate seat. Toomey has already showed himself to be a strong candidate that would make Arlen run hard just to win the primary. Now he has chosen the easy way out and will run as a Democrat, dodging a primary bullet (unless a real Democrat mounts a challenge to him and makes him work for a spot in he election). Knowing just how much his defection will hurt the Republican's tenuous position in the Senate, Specter took the lowest of the low roads and turned on them when they were at their most vulnerable.

President Obama was given a note containing the Specter information during a news conference this morning. He indicated that he was pleased to have the turncoat on his side---(as he fits well with the rest of the political thugs in his administration)---and will give Arlen his full support. And of course, MO Senator Claire McCaskill, says the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves when they make a moderate Republican a vanishing species.

My perspective is more that this leaves the road open in at least one 2010 race for a real conservative who can likely beat Specter no matter what coat he wears when he runs.

Et tu Brute?

Real American Heroes--Far Too Few

2009-04-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

Over a decade ago, my daughter was applying to colleges and the mandatory essay was a sore subject in our home. The topic of "A LIVING American Hero" was required by one of the colleges and finding one was giving her fits. First the criteria of "Living" honed the list considerably. Then "American" took away the contenders from other countries. My suggestions were rebuffed as being unfamiliar, old or in some other way inappropriate for a pithy (not to mention cool) college essay...all of which was OK with me, but when turned back on her with suggestions of contemporary cultural icons, entertainers, sports figures and other more familiar individuals, she also had reasons why they were unsuited to be considered heroes. This debate went on for days with the deadline looming and finally in desperation, I suggested that if there were no REAL American Heroes in her perspective of what this entailed, then why not write the essay and entitle it "Today there are NO Real American Heroes." And then defend this position and let her opinions fly. After all, the essay is really all about your written communication skills, how you defend your position and not so much who you choose. And that was the essay she wrote! I found the essay quite revealing and apparently so did the college for which it was written as it was one of the ones who accepted her and offered her financial incentives to attend.

Today, the world has changed significantly. 9-11 gave us stories of people who literally laid down their lives to save others in the Twin Towers. All of us know, at least peripherally, young men and women who have joined the military for the cause of freedom and some of them have given mightily with their blood or their lives for that cause. But bubbling to the surface in the past months are the names of two more ordinary Americans who, I feel, are true role models for all Americans. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Captain Richard Phillips, ordinary people, who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and who responded in courageous and altruistic ways.

If you don't know who these remarkable men are, you must be living under a rock or watching too much MTV, but "Sully" Sullenberger was the captain of US Airways Flight 1549 who crash landed his plane in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all aboard his plane. Captain Sullenberger was the last to leave the plane, walking it twice to make certain that there were no other passengers left behind and later worrying that a library book was in his possession on the plane and was lost. His clear head, bravery, clarity under duress saved the lives of 151 passengers. His quiet humility was impressive after the fact. His peers, however, acknowledged that this was the sort of thing that they would have expected from a true leader like Sully.

And last week on Easter Sunday, Captain Richard Phillips from the Maersk Alabama was rescued by US Navy Seal snipers from Somali pirates who had held him for 5 days. He allowed himself to be taken hostage so that the ship and the rest of his crew could go free. When he returned from his captivity, he said that the real heroes were the US Navy Seals who pulled off the dramatic rescue. Again, he was humble and dignified and displayed grace under fire. His crew, when interviewed, again praised the Captain and freely indicated that this was the kind of leader that he was.

These are the true American heroes that walk among us every day. They are the unknown and unsung heroes until serendipity places them in a place where bravery, courage and dignity simply happen because something needs to be done. They are the heroes who don't see themselves as doing something extraordinary, but rather as folks who are just doing their jobs.

Politically, conservatives are looking for a real American hero who will rise up and take the political reins. Right now there is a great deal of searching among the known commodities and nothing is coming to the forefront. Perhaps the real hero will be someone who rises from the ranks of the common man and is "just doing his job."

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

All I Can Hear is Chirping

2009-04-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

President Obama hosts a Seder dinner at the White House and starts Pizza Wars between St. Louis and Chicago deep dish pizzerias on Friday. He will be trotting off to the Virgin Islands on Easter morning....meanwhile, during this entire time there is an American citizen being held captive by Somali pirates for nearly 4 days in a life boat and today an American tug flying an Italian flag with 16 aboard was taken by another band of pirates. The Somali pirates have threatened to kill the American Captain. They have openly mocked America saying "We are not afraid of you." Where is Obama and the administration on this issue???? Chirp...chirp....chirp...chirp

If this man dies while you are partying, (aka Nero fiddling while Rome burns), his blood is on YOUR hands. Swift and decisive action could have ended this long before this brave man a. gave himself up so that the rest of the crew would be saved and b. took matters into his own hands in a failed escape attempt. Chirp..chirp..chirp

Sorry Barry, but you can't vote "present" anymore. You are running out of Star Power and after your G20 tour, there are more and more people who are willing to see that the Emperor has no clothes. The world has seen that you were too busy to visit the Normandy beaches with French President Sarkoszy, but found plenty of time to visit several mosques and admire the name Hussein on one of the inscriptions. Your speeches belittled your country. Your wife had the audacity to touch the Queen of England and you bowed to the Saudi King. For those who were blinded by the B***S*** during your campaign, your true colors are now beginning to bleed through. Things get tough and you take a vacation.

When American citizens ANYWHERE are threatened with death and a motley band of rag tag pirates (read Islamic terrorists) with automatic weapons in a life boat are mocking YOU and YOUR ability (read willingness) to defeat them, while they are surrounded by the US Navy, for heaven's sake. it's time to man up..... that is, if you aren't truly impotent under all that veneer. Viagra, anyone????

Missourians Unite!!!

2009-04-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

There is a meeting tomorrow 4/4/09 at 2:30 PM at Pillar in the Valley 229 Chesterfield Business Parkway in Chesterfield MO with William Federer (who never disappoints!!) as one of the featured speakers. The meeting is sponsored by www.resistnet.com and www.grassfire.org and www.teamsarah.com.

I just received this email from one of the organizers and I wanted to pass this along and be sure that you pass it on to all of your local friends and neighbors.

A message from Cindy McGee to all members of Missouri for Sarah! on Team Sarah!

I wanted to remind everyone about the meeting tomorrow and hoping that some schedules have changed and will allow more of you to join us. I am very excited about the prospects for our meeting tomorrow in Chesterfield. William Federer will be speaking on the first amendment and Roland Wetzel will be speaking on how we can get involve in influencing politics and the GOP in Missouri and Washington. Of course we will be discussing things to act on now and hopefully get people involved in the Tax Day Tea Parties around out state on the 15th. We also have been contacted by an independent broadcaster who wants to record the meeting. Lots of exciting possibilities, most important is uniting and pushing back against this unprecedented march to a socialist/marxist government. We must stand and fight now. We are loosing ground with every day that passes. I know I will be seeing some of you tomorrow and look forward to seeing the rest in the future.

If any of you have the chance to attend this meeting, I am sure that you will NOT be disappointed.

Good Old American Ingenuity!

2009-03-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Last week, I wrote about Don Davis, the president of Centrue Bank in St. Louis who picked up his ball and went home after legislation passed the US House of Representatives limiting the salaries of bank executives whose banks were recipients of TARP monies (either willingly or under duress as the FDIC was encouraging banks, even those like Centrue with strong balance sheets to take TARP money to increase their capital). This afternoon Fox News reports that Rick Wagoner, CEO of GM will be stepping down immediately at the request of the Administration.

A White House official told FOX Business that Wagoner was asked by the Administration to step down as a precondition for the company to continue to get help with its restructuring.

The idea that our government can cherry pick the businesses that survive, the salaries that executives can make, and the conditions under which people can continue in their positions is, frankly, frightening! While the two aforementioned individuals also had something to do with government bailouts, it is not a far stretch to imagine that this kind of meddlesome behavior could extend to companies and people who have not been bailed out. They may simply have rubbed someone the wrong way or said the wrong thing to the wrong person. They may have espoused the wrong philosophy. They may have unknowingly made an enemy who is now exacting a twisted revenge. In the case of Wagoner, it may be that he is on the wrong side of the UAW to whom Obama owes a great debt of gratitude for his election and perhaps Wagoner has seen fit to call BS on the UAW and its monstrous pension, legacy healthcare and wasteful pay for no work clauses in the union contracts.

"This does not surprise me... Rick has seen good and bad times and it seems that a fresh face is needed,” said Mike Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 652 in Lansing, Mich. "There are a lot of smart, capable people inside GM and this will not muck up anything moving forward."

Or could it be that Obama is playing good cop, bad cop with the UAW so that by removing Wagoner they can also justify strong arming the UAW into concessions under the same threats.

A source told FOX Business that the Obama Administration is likely to set a hard deadline for GM and Chrysler to meet their restructuring goals, which include getting bondholders and the United Auto Workers union to agree to major concessions. If they don’t meet those goals by the deadline, the source said, the auto makers would likely be allowed to enter into bankruptcy protection.

So it is with some degree of pride that I read in the St. Louis Business Journal on Friday March 27, 2009, that Don Davis is giving the middle finger salute to the Administration and TARP and has already lined up a couple of partners, $10million dollars in capital, and is looking to buy a bank! He and his partners have joined forces and pooled their own money and are looking for a small bank in which they can take an ownership interest and......BEGIN LENDING!!!

"The time is perfect to buy or merge with a small bank," Davis said. "So many good people can't get capital right now. I have capital. We can raise another $5 million easily, and once you get $15 million, you can get $20 million." He said the money he and his partners have raised can be an alternative to government bailout money for a bank in need of capital.

"The advantage to buying a bank, instead of starting one....is that you can get into the business immediately. The regulators are not in the mood to hand out new bank charters. Davis' plan to buy a small bank is smart because small banks are more likely to have fewer problem loans. Dan Hogan, a banking consultant, said Davis and his partners are doing what good capitalists do----they adapt! "If you change the rules of the game, a capitalist will learn the new rules and win the game--unless you keep changing the rules."

Perhaps Rick Wagoner can do the same and like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, rally entrepreneurial individuals to take Saturn back as its own quality brand in the USA while GM goes bankrupt under its own weight and the weight of the UAW. Capitalism and American ingenuity is still alive in spite of the fact that TARP monies have put Chris Dodd and Barney Frank in charge of your bank and a tax cheat in charge of the IRS.

It's Happening---We Told You So

2009-03-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it is so much fun to say "I told you so!" Like when you are on an auto trip and your husband gets lost and you tell him to go one way and he wants to go the other way and after an hour of driving in circles, you end up where YOU said to go in the first place! There is much glee derived from the phrase!!

Sometimes, however, "I told you so" comes with sadness, regret, tragedy and even ruin. And then there are those times where "I told you so" lies somewhere in the middle.

During the run-up to the election, candidate Obama's ties to William Ayers and Reverend Wright, were poo poo'ed as being inconsequential and yet in the prism of now President Obama's sweeping plans for our government, free enterprise, charities, immigration, taxes and even basic Constitutional freedoms, we can see the fingerprints of these individuals all over them. Sadly, Obama is doing exactly as he promised and we told you so!

When candidate Obama told Joe the Plumber that his plan was to "Spread the Wealth Around", Joe was excoriated for having the unmitigated gall to question "THE ONE". We were told, that this was the way to a healthy economy during an "unprecedented" downturn. The threat of spreading the wealth and setting a boundary of $250,000 for the line dividing the rich from the rest of the unwashed masses was taken very seriously by many small businessmen and the contraction of the economy was well on the way before candidate Obama ever set foot in the Oval Office. Well before the election, small businesses started pulling back on expansion plans, unnecessary spending, and started laying off people. Smart small businesses hunkered down and went into survival mode and vowed to stay small to avoid being penalized for their success....we told you so!

Conservatives railed against wealth redistribution and warned that demonizing the earners who create the jobs, buy the goods and give to charities would take away any incentive for them to be productive. Now in a mere two months we have thrown trillions of dollars down the rat hole of unsupervised bailouts in the name of Stimulus only to see the recipients give us the middle finger salute on so many fronts that our legislators have initiated legislation to tax away the bonuses of bankers and other companies that take bailout funds. Well, yesterday in the St. Louis Business Journal, this story was featured.

Don Davis, president of Centrue Bank in St. Louis, has resigned because his income will be severely restricted by new federal limitations on bank executives. In January, Centrue accepted $32.7 million under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly called TARP. Later the federal government imposed restrictions on the bonuses of top executives at banks and other financial institutions that took TARP money. "My salary and bonus isn't going to work — TARP isn't going to allow it," Davis said in an interview Monday. Davis, for example, is paid $350,000 in base salary, but also receives 10 percent of the profits of the St. Louis branch of Centrue. In 2008, that amounted to about $750,000 for Davis. "TARP doesn't like me getting that," Davis said. Don Davis, president of Centrue Bank in St. Louis, has resigned because his income will be severely restricted by new federal limitations on bank executives.

So now we are seeing that this prophecy is coming true. Businessmen are taking their ball and bat and going home--game over. If government can determine who will be punitively taxed, what is standing between you, the ordinary guy, and them???? The answer is..."nothing". And it does NOT give me pleasure to say "I told you so."

Have You Met Thomas??

2009-03-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Part of the responsibility of a good citizen is to be informed and educated about their government. This is a task in which we have failed miserably.....so miserably, in fact, that Jay Leno, Sean Hannity and other popular entertainers and commentators have made sport of going out and interviewing the "man in the street" about current events and important government figures to highlight and laugh at the fact that the common man is ignorant of the activities of our government and the world at large. Our youth are taught a watered down version of revisionist history. Newspapers are dying daily because the media has changed from reporting news to making up the news and shaping it to suit their own agenda. People get their news from MTV and all sorts of quasi-journalists. Political correctness has diluted just about every topic that could be taught, discussed or reported. We have a populace that is ripe for the taking. So how does one learn about what is going on in the government? Well, for one thing you could become friends with Thomas.

While Thomas can, at times, be like reading the phone book, Thomas can also be quite enlightening. So who or what is Thomas?? Thomas is a subsidiary of the Library of Congress, established in 1995 by the 104th Congress to make federal legislative information easily available to the public. Over the past 14 years, Thomas has been expanded to provide information on bills, resolutions, Congressional activity, treaties, government resources and there is even an area for teachers.

Maybe it's just me, but I like to visit Thomas from time to time to see what our legislators are up to. We, obviously, hear about the bills that are associated with dollar signs followed by 9-12 zeroes, but much more telling are the smaller actions that may never bubble to the top, but say volumes about the true feelings of some our legislators. Remember we elected them...but...did we REALLY know what we were getting???

So that you don't have to do it, I went to Thomas and scrolled through some of the bills that have been introduced since January 2009 and are working their way through committees, etc. This is just a bit of what I found.

H.J.RES.4 Representative Betty McCollum MN-4 introduced 1/6/09 without co-sponsors.
Constitutional Amendment - Health Protection Amendment of 2009 - Declares that health care, including care to prevent and treat illness, is the right of all U.S. citizens and necessary to ensure the strength of the nation.
this should pave the way for nationalized healthcare

H.J.RES.5 Representative Jose Sorrano NY-16 introduced 1/6/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual
may serve as President.
this should pave the way for Obama to become imperial president for life

H.J.RES.9 Representative Gene Green TX-29 introduced 1/7/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President of the United States.
this could effectively allow the voters of New York and California with some help from Florida to elect the president and nullify the voters in the rest of the entire country.

H.J.RES.26 Representative Dennis J. Kucinich OH-10 introduced 3/2/09 with 29 co-sponsors.
Proclaiming Casimir Pulaski to be an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously.
while Casimir Pulaski may have been a very important foreign figure in the American Revolution, he has been dead since 1779! Given the current economic climate and the larger problems facing us....isn't this a waste of legislative time and effort. Pulaski already has a major state holiday in Illinois and commemorative days in Wisconsin and Indiana.

H.J.RES.29 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding the right of all citizens of the United States to a public education of equal high quality.
Common sense says that vouchers would put a huge dent in that problem.... but then there are also the horses that you can lead to water but can't make them drink. I don't think this mandates a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

H.J.RES.30 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding the right of citizens of the United States to health care of equal high quality.
he must not speak to Betty McCollum MN-4 who already introduced the same thing 2 months earlier--Get with the program Jesse.

H.J.RES.31 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to equality of rights and reproductive rights.
Article --
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. Reproductive rights for women under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State.
hmmmm, I think Jesse wants to take away states rights!!

H.J.RES.32 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States respecting the right to decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing.
so now I will get my house from the government too....let's see, healthcare, education, house...Obama is my shepherd, I shall not want....

H.J.RES.33 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment the Constitution of the United States respecting the right to a clean, safe, and sustainable environment.
by now you should see a pattern evolving......

H.J.RES.34 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to taxing the people of the United States progressively.
Article--Section 1. The Congress of the United States shall tax all persons progressively in proportion to the income which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the United States.
Read this one VERY carefully......

H.J.RES.35 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States respecting the right to full employment and balanced growth.
Article--
Section 1. Every person has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.
Section 2. Every person, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Section 3. Every person who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for themselves and their family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Section 4. Every person who works has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of their interests.
Translated entitlements galore!!! And then when they have that nice, just, favorable job and protection against unemployment, the government can tax their income progressively per H.J.RES.34!

H.J.RES.36 Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. IL-2 introduced 3/3/09 without co-sponsors.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the Electoral College and provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President by the popular vote of all citizens of the United States regardless of place of residence.
Oops--I guess he missed the fact that someone else (Gene Green TX-29) scooped him on this one too! Gosh, Jesse Jackson Jr sure had a busy day at work on 3/3/09!

So this is just a teeny bit of what you can find on Thomas. Are any of your US representatives involved in wasting legislative time? Are any of your US representatives writing inane bills? As their boss you should want to know. This is the way to keep tabs on your legislators and make sure that they are doing the job YOU would want them to do. It is also a way to peek into their cubicle and see how they waste their day..just like your boss does! If you want to be engaged and up to date on the workings of the legislature, Thomas can be your best friend.

Birth of a Blog

2009-03-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

I would like to invite all of you to visit a new conservative blog put together by a number of very interesting ladies (Mothahs) who look at the conservative landscape from a variety of viewpoints. Mother of all Conservatives is a compendium of conservative writings from these women and invited bloggers with strong views and great writing styles.

Most of these authors who are contributing to Mother of All Conservatives are contributors to their own or other blogs as well. You are missing one of the newest and freshest conservative opinion sites if you don't bookmark them and visit frequently.

Where Does It All End???

2009-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ed Barnett, Wichita Falls, Texas for this open letter to the IRS that appeared in the February 6, 2009 Letters to the Editor in the Wichita Falls, Texas Times Record News. His point is one felt by all of us and we should get ready for more, thanks to BHO and his robber band.

Dear IRS,

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog licence tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting licence tax, fishing licence tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage
surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle licence registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can’t recall but I have run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle (sic) and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest.

P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett
Wichita Falls

More Than the Camel's Nose is Under the Tent

2009-03-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

We are being bombarded by the MSM with coverage of the never ending list of government spending and bailout bills, the bloated budget that even the Senate is choking on, the bleak economic forecast, jobless statistics, health care reform, and a daily roll out of more things that cost us money but do little for most citizens. The administration is coyly keeping us off balance with this barrage, and adding new concerns before you can wrap your head around the last one.

But, beware.....because as we are being kept off balance with the things that seem BIG, there are little things being proposed under the radar screen that are just as detrimental to the good of the country. Such as HJ Res 5 introduced by Rep. Jose Serrano NY 16:

H. J. RES. 5

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

This would require ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification. Hmmm, submitted January 6, 2009. (Fast tracking could get this accomplished by 2016---just in time for BHO's third term or to set the stage for his dictatorship) Currently this resolution is in committee. Latest Major Action: 2/9/2009 Referred to House Judicial subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Does anyone find this worrisome?? Does anyone question the timing of this?? This is serious legislation proposed and sitting in the work queue in the Pelosi/Reid Legislature. Ladies and Gentlemen, keep your eyes WIDE open and look beyond the obvious bad stuff we are being fed, because more than the camel's nose is under the tent!!

NOMOBAMA? Come to A Tea Party

2009-03-07T05:54:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Bill Hennessy, who organized the St. Louis Tea Party held under the Arch on Friday, February 27, 2009. They must have hit a nerve, because the St. Louis Post Disgrace fired back with an editorial aimed at those who were a part of the Tea Party.

Bill Hennessy has promptly responded with this letter to the editor that may or may not ever see the light of day in the Post Disgrace, so I am posting it here so that it may get some press.

March 4, 2009

The Editor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

FOR PUBLICATION AS LETTER TO THE EDITOR OR GUEST EDITORIAL

Tea Party Was About People and Participation

I am not sure which Tea Party the P-D editorial is writing about in its editorial of March 4. The one I attended – and helped organize – drew people from all over the region and all over the political spectrum to express their concern and yes, sometimes, anger over the recent “stimulus” bill, the proposed housing bailout, the $410 billion earmark extravaganza, President Obama's laughable budget, and the Wall Street bailout of last year. The attendees generally worry that these bills are too large, too unfocused, and, in the case of the stimulus bill, too hurriedly passed by the Congress.

Why We Gathered

We gathered precisely because we fear what our government is doing AND has done. We worry about all of the wasteful spending – by the Obama administration, by the Congress, and yes, by the Bush Administration. Why Mr. Roth would insult us for wanting to voice our concerns is beyond me.

We object, however, to the Congress and President Obama calling a hugely expensive stimulus bill “service to those in need” when the lion's share of the bill is for pet projects in the out years. Have you told your readers that only about 20 percent of the spending will occur during President Obama's schedule for the recession?

Even more insulting about the stimulus was the irresponsible hast and secrecy in which it was passed. Members of Congress like St. Louis Congressman Russ Carnahan admit that they did not allow even 48 hours to pass for Americans to review it. Carnahan told KMOX radio that he had no idea what was in the bill that he voted on. We are objecting to a stimulus – and extended spending spree – that we believe will lead to our children and grandchildren paying for our spending spree.

Adding Insult to Injury

The focus of the editorial is about service to those in need. We honor philanthropic and charitable activity among individuals and companies. We support community organizations and even local government agencies. Many of us volunteer through our churches and community groups. And we donate generously to many, varied causes.

In the comments on-line after the editorial was posted, one Editorial Board member, Ed Roth, goes so far as to insult the attendees of the Tea Party by insinuating that our chants were about “me, me, me, me.” I would be surprised if Mr. Roth was in attendance at the Tea Party because I have no idea what that means … except that it seems pretty insulting.

A large percentage of the protesters were small business owners. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, small business owners are among the most generous group in America, On average entrepreneurs give almost 7 percent of their income to charity. More than 75 percent of all small businesses give.

The average entrepreneur with revenues of $250,000--the principal target of Mr. Obama's War on Productivity--gives $15,000 a year to charity. Compare that to Mr. Obama's charity which totaled a Scrooge-like $27,500 for 2005 and 2006 combined (New York Times, March 26, 2008). That's only 1.04 percent of Mr. Obama's $2,638,932 income in those two year.

When will the Post-Dispatch and Mr. Roth criticize Obama's stinginess?

No One Left To Give

The markets have spoken on this current and continuing wave of government spending. Since the election last November, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 30 percent of its value. Each time the president, his Secretary of the Treasury, or the Chairman of the Federal Reserve speaks, people leave the market. They are hearing the steady rhythm of big government. Some might say, a government big enough to take everything we have.

We believe that the United States Congress, the President, and misguided people like Mr. Roth are leading this nation into a morass of stagnation, stultifying taxation, and, eventually, rampant inflation. At the same time, Mr. Obama and others are working to destroy the incentive to earn by punishing the most productive people in our economy. Moreover, Mr. Obama proposes discouraging charitable giving by capping the detectability of such donations.

If these trends continue--if the people who gathered at the Arch fail in our mission--there will soon be no one left to give.

The Tea Party Is a Ten-Round Fight

Haste makes waste, and today’s editorial is an insult in which the editorial writers rushed to judgment. I invite Mr. Roth and his fellow writers to attend our next Tea Party on April 15^th when we will protest that our taxes are too high because our elected officials pass so much wasteful “pork” in their legislation.

Sincerely,

Bill Hennessy
Co-Project Servant-Leader
St.Louis Tea Party

Conservatives tend to be a "Silent Majority". Since many conservatives tend to also be libertarian in thought, the tendency is to "live and let live." Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has shown us that the policies of this new administration are a serious threat to the very roots of the freedoms on which our country was founded. An outcome of the February 27 St. Louis Tea Party (and those all over the country) is that conservatives in attendance saw that there are lots of like minded people in their own communities. It gave many people a chance to meet and stay in touch with people that they would, otherwise, never have met. It fomented the formation of small groups who have continued to network in living rooms and chat rooms, reinforced by shared emotions and passions.

And now there is another Tea Party coming. April 15, which should be just another day in your life instead of a day to see your hard earned money being dumped down a socialist rat hole, will be "celebrated" with nationwide Tea Parties to protest the tax burdens that are being planned for small businesses, those who make more than $250K, and all of the rest of us who will see any tax advantage that we might have become nullified by the proposed increased energy costs, gasoline taxes, toll roads, mileage fees, lack of detectability for home mortgage interests and charitable giving, etc., etc., etc..... Those of you who are fed up with the whirlwind spending spree that has escalated by Robama Hood and his merry band of Chicago Thugs, grab your voice and find the Tea Party in your area. At the moment, there is a Tea Party in every one of the 50 states. If there is not one in your area, you can organize your own and there is assistance available if you feel that you need it! Get educated, connected and organized...Silent majority no more!

I Expect You to Obey

2009-02-28T12:21:00.000-08:00

For several days, I have come home to find calls on my Caller ID from Wash DC (area code 202). Since I am sure that my Senators and Representatives are not calling me to ask my opinion about the Budget, Stimulus plans or the like, I have made a mental note and refreshed the Caller ID. They do not leave a message, so I am sure that if it was something important like Representative Clay asking me what I think about his Pro-Life voting record or Senator McCaskill wanting to know how she should vote on the next great bailout, that they would leave a message for me to get right back to them. So while I was curious, I was not THAT curious.

This morning, while I was getting ready to run some typical Saturday errands, the phone rang with another call from Wash DC and I decided to take it. It was from the Republican National Congressional Committee. A bright, polite and engaging young man proceeded to ask me what I wanted from them in the next Congressional election......I don't know if he was ready for what came next. OK, if you want my wish list of the perfect legislator, let me count the ways....
1. A REAL conservative---not a squishy RINO.
2. Someone who will restore the tenets of conservative policy.
3. Someone who wants tax cuts for all people and businesses.
4. Someone who favors smaller government.
5. Someone who favors lower government spending.
6. Someone who will fight against nationalized health care and the spread of entitlements.
7. Someone who will follow the precepts of the Constitution and not modify them to suit their needs.
8. Someone who will unflinchingly defend my Second Amendment Rights.
9. Someone who will close our borders and deal definitively with illegal immigration.
.....and as I drew a breath so that I could continue, he jumped right in and agreed with everything that I said and told me that was what the Republicans are going to do this election cycle. They were going to find and support real conservatives who would restore the trust of conservative Americans everywhere!

Since in the past I had given money to this cause, and because the need is dire right now, the young man wondered if I would like to increase my level of giving by a full $50-$100 over what I had done in the past? My response.... "Well, I'd love to do that, but since the Republicans frittered away a golden opportunity and the trust of their base, and started the ball rolling down this debt mountain that is now increasing at a mind numbing rate, I just don't have that kind of money anymore. In fact, I can't even begin to match the amount that I gave you in the past. How about this, I'll give you $25 and if you PROVE that you will do what the conservative base demands, then I'll give you more??? My contributions will be based on performance. I will keep my eye on who you get, what they have in their platforms and how the rest of the guys in Washington act in the coming days and months and you will get money on that basis. What do you think?"

Well, he agreed that we are all in this together, that my $25 contribution was welcome (was better than nothing at all) and that the RNC would have to earn back the trust of their constituents. He thanked me and sent me to the supervisor who would confirm my address and information.

The supervisor was another bright, polished and intelligent young man who politely confirmed my information and then asked if I wanted to make my contribution on a debit or credit card. He also had to bear the brunt of my irritation, because I let him know that I had spent the past three years on a self imposed debt reduction program and, having succeeded in ridding myself of all of my consumer debt except my mortgage and one car loan that is a 0% loan, I would not be using either of these methods. If they would send me a statement, I would be pleased to write a check and if not, they weren't getting my money. I then told him that this was what I expected from the future candidates who would be selected and supported and it was what I expected from the current representatives and senators who are presently in Washington. This is how I am supposed to conduct my personal finances and our government should do no less. My parting salvo was to share with the supervisor that I felt that my contributions to the NRA got me more results than my prior contributions to the RNC and its PAC's.

This weekend there were tea parties all over the country protesting the unbridled spending of the taxpayer's money. In St. Louis, the tea party attracted a large (800-1000 strong) gathering of participants of all ages and colors. Elderly people on fixed incomes mingled with young suburbanites, families of home schoolers and conservatives of color. The undercurrent of resistance is becoming more and more apparent and it is time that those who are representing us know that we expect them to fish or cut bait. They are on probation right now and their job is hanging in the balance.

So when the political fundraising organizations call, answer the phone! Don't dodge them. They want something so give them a piece of your mind and whether or not you give them money is totally up to you!!

A New Economic Proposal from Common Sense America

2009-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Some of the things that circulate around on the internet contain the simplest and most common sense ideas...This is could be one of those....

A NEW ECONOMIC PROPOSAL FOR THE GOVERNMENT

When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall Street, and the media, normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his Board of Directors gives him a big bonus!

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.. Therefore:
Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218, and the Senate from 100 to 50. The support staff for the lost congressional members would also be gone. Also, reduce the remaining support staff by 25%. This would be accomplished over 8 years...2 steps/2 elections, and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some yearly monetary gains would include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for legislators (267 members x 165,200)
$97,175,000 for elimination of their legislative staff (estimate $1.3 M in staff per each member of the House, and $3 M in staff per each member of the Senate) per year.
$240,294 for the 25% reduction in the remaining staff.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel earmarks each year. (Those members whose jobs are gone.) Current estimates for total government pork barrel spending is at $15B per year.

The remaining legislators would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might be even easier to keep track of what your representatives are doing. Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!

Congress did not hesitate to head home for their holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators (McCain, Clinton and Obama) that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. This alone supports a reduction in senators and congress.

Summary of opportunity:
$44,108,400 reduction of Congress members.
$282,100,000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of the reduced senate staff.
$56,675,000 for 25% reduction of remaining house member staff.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of remaining senate staff.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings.....just to start!

Big business makes these types of cuts all the time.

If Congress were required to serve 20,25 or 30 years (like all of us at our jobs) in order to collect retirement benefits, there is no telling how much we would save. Now they can get full retirement benefits after serving only ONE term.

If you are happy with how Congress spends our taxes, you just need to sit back and let the good times roll, HOWEVER, if you are NOT happy, then you know what to do......

How To Wrap Your Head Around Our Government's Spending

2009-02-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

Since I have had the Federal Debt widget running at the top of my blog (less than one month!), MY portion of the debt has grown to $198,000! As the Porkulus funds are "Spread Around" these numbers will escalate dramatically. The numbers being bandied about with Porkulus, TARP,TARP II, Automotive Bailout, Banking CRISIS Bailout, and the threat that this is "just the beginning" are numbers that are incomprehensible to most common folk. Of course, this may be the goal...make things so "out there" that people just cave because they can't wrap their heads around the concept.

With that in mind it is no wonder that there is a growing resentment bubbling under the surface and beginning to rise to the top, where common people are saying ENOUGH! Rick Santelli's rant at the Chicago Board of Trade was one salvo in the call for some kind of revolution against the nationalization of OUR tax dollars to give to people and causes that have no right to them. This little video is an attempt at pointing you to the enormity of the financial problem the Obama administraton has just put on the backs of generations of taxpayers.

Now that you have that accomplished, get active, put your mouth in action and spread the word. Go to www.Americanissuesproject.org and see how you can join the groundswell of voices letting our government that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

On February 27, 2009, there are going to be "Chicago" Tea Parties in cities all over the country sponsored by a coordinated Netroots consortium of conservative activist groups. If you want to add your voice to this effort, visit this site and RSVP to the Party! It is unfortunate that it takes the British press to actually pick up this idea and publicize it...

We Want a Divorce!

2009-02-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

We have a little local conservative group that was founded via talk radio and we have found our selves on the internet. It is fledgling at best and is just starting to hit its stride with exchange of information and ideas among people who have never met each other! That said, I wish to credit Margaret, one of the members of our group for this little internet exchange that was sent to all of the group. While it is sent in fun, there is a kernel of truth present and so I share it.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists,Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, and go our own ways.

Here is a model dissolution agreement:
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but we must come to a friendly agreement. After that it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes. We don't like re-distributive taxes so you can keep them. You will take all liberal judges and the ACLU.

Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell (you are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move them). We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan Hockey Moms, greedy CEOs, and Rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran , Palestine , and France , and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or way of life are under assault, we'll provide them job security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian Values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology,Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill. We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Saturn, Prius & Subaru Station Wagon you can find. You can give everyone healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors (that is practicing, Howard Dean) who will follow to your turf. We'll continue to believe health care is a luxury and not a right.

We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and The National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing, Kum Ba Ya, Give Peace a Chance or We Are the World.

We'll practice trickle down economics, and you can give trickle up poverty its best shot. Since it often so offends you. we'll keep our History, our Name, and our Flag.

Would you agree to this? In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR on who will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

P.S. Please take Barbara Streisand

Thought for the Day

2009-02-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." ---Samuel Adams

Keep this thought in front of your eyes as we, as the minority opposition, work our way through the next two years. While many people are rightfully irate as the Porkulus package has been stuffed down our throats, to be followed by a soup course of Auto Bail Out Deux, and a dessert of TARP II and III, followed by what will likely be a second helping of Porkulus to follow, we have to be tireless in our opposition to programs that are irresponsible and reprehensible. So keep it up and keep the pressure on whenever and wherever the chance arises.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

This young girl makes the case for Pro-Life positions better than almost any adult I have heard.

Thank you.

Americans Will Rise to the Challenge without Stimulus

2009-02-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

With the Federal legislative reconciliation committee working overtime to get the Spendulus bill ready for presentation with an apple in its mouth, American's are becoming increasingly distrustful of the package and the RAMifications of its passage. At set of 13 mini speeches that served as a press conference on Monday, President Obama blew off a question about TARP II and teased the presser scheduled for the next day by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Like the Monday night press conference, it failed to live up to its billing and Geithner was left looking like a fool without a real plan for spending $1 Trillion ADDITIONAL tax dollars.

So, do we REALLY need a SPENDULUS plan??? No, we need a STIMULUS plan.

A grassroots, netroots conservative plan has been wending its way through the blogosphere for the past week and it sounds like a better plan than anything that has been offered by any government source. The plan is simple and provides targeted, immediate stimulation of the economy with obvious immediate chances for job creation. The plan is best known at the TCOT Plan. It doesn't take thousands of pages to outline, in fact it can be put on one sheet of paper. The plan, pure and simple asks government to immediately cut the federal withholding tax in half for all taxpaying individuals and corporations and maintain this cut for the rest of 2009. With the addition of money in the pockets of individuals and corporations, people could spend more, do more, give more to charities, and afford additional education. Employees would cost less to employ, and as a result of increased spending, demand for goods and services would also increase, thus creating or re-creating lost jobs.

Since it was posted on Friday, hundreds of ordinary Americans have left comments on the internet on how this plan would impact them vs. how the Spendulus plan would impact them. Overwhelmingly, the responses are enthusiastic in support of this sort of stimulus and most of the responses suggest very common sense uses of the money to pay down debt, pay down mortgages, pay for health related issues like dental work, pay for tuition to go back to or continue in schooling and buy or maintain cars. Many people also suggested that savings was a priority once debts were reduced or eliminated. Sounds like common sense to me. Small business owners all felt that reinvestment to grow and expand would be a priority for them with increased money in their pocket. Many people also mentioned increasing support of church and charitable organizations that would result with more money in their pocket.

Tomorrow night, February 12, 2009, TCOT has challenged conservatives all over the nation to host small house parties and invite your guests to compare the TCOT Plan with the government's Spendulus plan and then talk about what you would do with the additional money in your wallet with each plan. TCOT is planning to feed this information live to media outlets during the evening time period. If you can host a house party, let them know and plan to participate in helping to take down the Obama Spendulus bill. This is the same tactic that got BHO elected with grassroots small groups working to empower ordinary people. Well, lets give them a taste of their own neighborhood organizing.

Yesterday, on our local FM Talk station, during AM drive time, a woman caller called the station and identified herself as the wife of a local small businessman who had a small printing business that he had helped to build over the past 20 years. She indicated that the business was in jeopardy now due to economic conditions. The host finally asked her to disclose the name of her husband's business and then asked the listening audience to think of them if they were looking for a company to do printing. That was the end of the topic......until today.

This morning, the same woman sent an email to the host thanking him for the gesture yesterday and letting him know that they received several orders for printing jobs yesterday as a result of the radio recognition AND a local wholesaler of printing ink GAVE them ink to help them out. THIS IS HOW AMERICA RISES TO MEET CHALLENGES.

IT'S COMING!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!

2009-02-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

It creeps, it lumbers, it expands and it is going to engulf us all! It's the massive Porkulus package and all of its appendages such as TARP II and TARP the Sequel!!! Brought to you by Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter and Susan Collins!! Please be sure to thank them.

The way has been set for the massive and growing Porkulus bill to wind its way back into the reconciliation process where it is likely that the little that has been trimmed in the Senate will be added back with more. Then the Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, who cheats on his taxes and crafted the useless TARP I, rolled out more of the same today to the sound of the Dow falling like a rock. Obviously the trust our financial institutions have in Porkulus , TARP II and TARP the Sequel is not well placed.

Point Counterpoint in Florida

2009-02-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

In October, 2008, in Homestead, Florida the world's most premature baby celebrated her 2nd birthday. Amilia Taylor was born at 21 weeks of gestation and weighed only 10 ounces. She is truly a miracle, but in a clinic outside of Miami, Florida, at 23 weeks of gestation another baby was born alive after an abortion gone wrong and was quickly exsanguinated and tossed into the trash even as she struggled for breath. Sycloria Williams went to a Miami clinic for a midtrimester abortion and after having laminaria stents placed in the cervix to dilate it, was given prostaglandin to induce contractions and sent to a clinic to await the delivery. When she rapidly progressed to deliver her baby, there were no qualified medical personnel in attendance. Her baby was liveborn and began to struggle to breathe. An unqualified attendant cut the cord and placed the baby into a plastic bag with the placenta and disposed of the body in the trash. The decomposing remains were discovered one week later. At autopsy, there was air in the infant's lungs, verifying that the infant had been breathing prior to death. While this unfortunate situation is murder, it serves to underscore the problem of abortion in the 21st century and the schizophrenic moral dilemma that it sets up.

Back in the day of Roe v. Wade, neither of these babies would have survived even with the best of medical care. Today, one woman's abortion is another's beloved child. If we can make it possible for babies of 21 to 23 weeks of gestation to survive, how is it that we can also condone the abortion/murder of fetuses at these same gestational ages?

As non-medical a source as Wikipedia contains the following information about the lower limit of fetal viability:

Viability

Human fetus, age unknown

The lower limit of viability is approximately five months gestational age, and usually later.^[35] According to The Developing Human:

Viability is defined as the ability of fetuses to survive in the extrauterine environment... There is no sharp limit of development, age, or weight at which a fetus automatically becomes viable or beyond which survival is assured, but experience has shown that it is rare for a baby to survive whose weight is less than 500 gm or whose fertilization age is less than 22 weeks. Even fetuses born between 26 and 28 weeks have difficulty surviving, mainly because the respiratory system and the central nervous system are not completely differentiated... If given expert postnatal care, some fetuses weighing less than 500 gm may survive; they are referred to as extremely low birth weight or immature infants.... Prematurity is one of the most common causes of morbidity and prenatal death.^[36]

During the past several decades, neonatal care has improved with advances in medical science, and therefore the limit of viability has have moved earlier.^[37] As of 2006, the two youngest children to survive premature birth are thought to be James Elgin Gill (born on 20 May 1987 in Ottawa, Canada, at 21 weeks and 5 days gestational age),^[38]^[39] and Amillia Taylor (born on 24 October 2006 in Miami, Florida, at 21 weeks and 6 days gestational age).^[40]^[41] Both children were born just under 20 weeks from fertilization, or a few days past the midpoint of an average full-term pregnancy. Despite their premature births, both developed into healthy children.

President Obama has said that one of his Presidential goals will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) which will effectively take away the restrictions to abortion in this country. Since he also was against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, scenes such as those involving Sycloria Williams' baby will be allowed to play out again and again without apparent repercussions. He has surrounded himself with advisors of like mind and his judicial nominees stand in lock step with him in this area.

We have given away the moral compass of our country in slow sequential concessions and baby steps so that now we are standing on the precipice and have no where else to go except to jump off to our own certain destruction....and we did it all by ourselves.

The #TCOT Plan: A Common Sense Alternative Approach to Stimulate the Economy

2009-02-08T06:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I posted an article about the #TCOT Plan and asked all of my readers to take the #TCOT Challenge. The #TCOT Plan is simple and would immediately infuse money into the economy in the hands of those who will spend it to increase sales and thus create demand again. This increased demand will then increase the number of jobs needed to meet that demand and decrease the number of unemployed workers in all areas of the job market.

The #TCOT Plan would immediately cut in half the amount of federal income tax withheld on each paycheck for the rest of 2009. It would also cut the corporate income tax in half for the same period. There you have it---instant infusion of capital into the economy for immediate use by all.

The #TCOT Challenge asks each person to look at their paycheck and see how much a 50% reduction in their federal withholding would put back into their pocket. Once you see how much you would receive per pay period, go to the comments area and LEAVE A COMMENT FOR YOUR LEGISLATORS telling them what you would do with this extra money AND whether you would prefer this plan or their bloated Stimulus package which would divert your money into some puny tax breaks that you might or might not qualify for, and a LOT of spending on projects that would either create jobs in the future or create one time jobs for projects that, once finished, are ......well..... over.

The goal of the #TCOT Challenge is to have 1000 responses by MONDAY MORNING!! Responses have been trickling in since these links went live yesterday evening, but there needs to be a tsunami of responses TODAY!! This means that you have to tell ALL of your friends and neighbors to give this a few minutes of effort TODAY. Even if your friends and neighbors are not politically engaged they are affected by the economy and , THEY WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE STIMULUS PACKAGE. The comments will be given to Senators Jim DeMint (R) and John Thune (R) to read from the floor of the Senate during debate tomorrow to show how REAL PEOPLE would use equivalent amount of money to the Stimulus package in jump starting the sagging economy.

If you can't muster the effort to take the #TCOT Challenge and stand up to those who are irresponsibly wasting your tax dollars, then BEND OVER AND GRAB YOUR ANKLES, because they are getting ready to have their way with all of us.

Arlen, Susan, Olympia--We are taking the #TCOT Challenge

2009-02-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

As the Republican turncoats in the Gang of 4, Arlen Specter (R) PA and Susan Collins (R) ME have a lot to answer for in their squishy justification for the minimally modified Compromise Spend-U-Lose bill. Lauded by Harry Reid for their magnanimous gesture of bipartisanship, these two traitors are now being asked "What were you thinking?"

Today on Fox News, Susan Collins was called upon to defend this compromise bill. She said that she was proud that the compromise cut $100 Billion from the original bill----Big freakin' deal, Susie---there is still $700+ Billion of spending in it and that is TOO MUCH. When pressed about why she would support this, she indicated that there was urgency to get this done, and if passed, it would go to conference to rectify the differences between the House and Senate versions. She went on to say that she would still vote against the bill if the reconciliation bill was too "porky." A rather lame response.

So what about Arlen??? He's up for re-election in 2010, but he is also 80 and probably doesn't care that much. That said, I would think that the people of Pennsylvania would care, after all Arlen is playing with their money. In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Specter said that the compromise bill was "the best they could do." A pretty lame response, if I do say so, made sillier when Specter went on to bad mouth the bill.

Specter said he had already noted "certain grave concerns" with the stimulus legislation and had asked President Obama why he was "wedded" to completing action on it by Feb. 13. Specter said he told Obama this was too fast "for a bill of this magnitude."
But he said that Obama had stressed the urgency of action, so while "I don't like it," Specter said, "we're responding to this timetable."
Parts of the bill "give me heartburn," Specter said.
He outlined some of the $145 billion in spending reductions made to get to the consensus bill - for example, child care was allotted $2 billion initially, but $1.4 billion in the tentative deal. Many people are unhappy with such reductions, "but absent this bill, they get zero," he noted.

And the bad point of that is........?

"There are reasons to argue that it's a bad bill," Specter said, "but I do not believe that there is any doubt that the economy would be enormously worse off without it."

So, Susan says that the compromise bill could get unacceptable during reconciliation and Arlen says that we needed to do something right now and we made this crappy bill to make Obama happy.

So why do we need to bow to this bill? Are there no other alternatives?? #TCOT, a grassroots organization arising from the internet social media and blogosphere has proposed their own alternative bill and it is a thing of beauty. The #TCOT Plan would cut ALL personal and corporate income taxes in half immediately for the 12 months of 2009.

Lost revenue over the 2009 Calendar year would be approximately $800 billion (A full $900 billion less than the current version of PORKULUS floating through the Senate). This is based on 2007 Federal personal income tax receipts of approximately 1.2 trillion, and Corporate income tax receipts of approximately $345 billion.

The plan is simple, easy and puts all of the money in the pockets of Mr. and Mrs. America to do with as they wish. Which would you prefer??? A bunch of tax money borrowed from YOU that goes to STD's and ACORN.... or...... half of your federal tax withholding put back into YOUR pocket to use as you see fit???? If you aren't sure, get out your last pay stub and look at the amount taken out for federal income tax, cut that amount in half and see how much your take home pay would increase.....easy, breezy.

Click this link to Take the #TCOT challenge whether you live in Pennsylvania, Maine or everywhere else. Leave your comments for Arlen, Susan and YOUR Senators and Representatives telling them which plan you prefer and what you would do with this extra money in your pocket. If you like #TCOT's plan, demand that they scrap the whole Stim-U-Lose bill and start over with a plan that really will really work.

Take the #TCOT Challenge now!

Kill Bill ---Time to drop the F-Bomb

2009-02-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Gird your loins---it is time to Kill the Bill with the F-bomb. It is time for the ordinary Joe and Jane to step up to the plate and become more vocal than ever in contacting all of the Senators and asking them to STOP the Spend-U-Lose bill in any form it morphs into. The fate of the Spend-U-Lose package rests with that august legislative body of our country known as the Senate. With the $820 Billion (really $1 Trillion plus if you count the interest on this "loan" from you and me) House version being touted as "simply a bad bill," but passed against the votes of 11 dissenting Democrat representatives as well as ALL of the Republicans, the Senate has the responsibility to "make it work," or fix it so that the legislature can go home for a President's day holiday (they work so hard!!!). So, rising to the occasion, the past few days have resulted in a laundry list of amendments to the house version of the bill, each pompously "debated" by senators on both sides of the aisle and then voted up when they are sponsored by Democrats and down when they are offered by the Republicans (not unexpectedly).

If you have never watched your legislature in action brought you you by the cameras of C-span, it is something you should do. You will see the pomposity, arrogance and stupidity of the people YOU have sent to Washington to represent you and spend your money. From committee hearings to floor debate it will both amaze and apall you! Since our legislature usually works banker's hours and makes sure that they never miss meals, I rarely get a chance to watch this circus played out...(I have a job that makes sure that I am in early, out late and I usually eat at my desk while I work)...but when I do, it never fails to amaze and reinforce the fact that the majority of our elected officials are worthless uses of skin.

The latest Rasmussen poll done this week reported that ONLY 37% of the population supports this messy, bloated Spend-U-Lose package. The more we the people see about this bill, the more it stinks to high heaven. Even the Democrats know that this thing stinks, because they have resorted to the used car salesman hard sell rhetoric..."This will only last for the next 2 hours, or if you don't buy this cream puff (read lemon) now, it probably won't be here tomorrow.." and if we fall for it, we do not have a buyer's remorse clause in the contract. The Dems have even have put out a call for poor Ted Kennedy, who was last seen having a seizure on Inauguration Day, to come back to cast a vote for this piece of crap.

So last night with the prediction of a Compromise bill coming down the pike and a Senate forced to "work" through the evening, I curled up to watch an episode of "Your Dollars At Work" brought to you by Harry Reid and the cast of 100! Just moments after I tuned in, the announcement was made by Sir Harry, with ruffles and flourishes, that a wonderful compromise had been crafted by a bipartisan group of sincere and gracious Senators with only the most lofty intentions in mind. This group of Heroes with supernatural powers had risen above the flotsam and jetsam of the legislative pollution to bring you this compromise bill that is $7 BILLION DOLLARS BIGGER THAN THE ORIGINAL HOUSE VERSION!!!! These wonderful ladies and gentlemen were:

Susan Collins (R) Maine
Arlen Specter (R) Pennsylvania
Ben Nelson (D) Nebraska
Joe Lieberman (I) Connecticut

Olympia Snowe (R) Maine is also expected to go along with the Compromise bill.

While the details of this bill were not there for discussion last evening, each of the crafters got some time to talk about their part in and support of this bill, and it didn't sound very different from the stinky bill that we already have come to know and hate. Details may be forthcoming over the weekend because the Senators will have to work today (WAHHHHH, WAHHH, WAHHH) and "debate" this some more.

Rebuttals against the compromise were given by selected loyal opposition with the lead off coming from Mitch McConnell (R) Kentucky as the Minority Leader. John McCain (R) Arizona gave an empassioned speech that, had he given in October and also stood against the first TARP bill, might have given him the election. John Thune (R) South Dakota gave a thoughtful and reasoned speech that fleshed out some of the points that McCain made. The most striking of the points made by these speakers is that this was NOT a Bipartisan effort when only 2 (maybe 3) turncoat Republicans will support the compromise.

Then the Senate went back to work and added a bunch of amendments to the original Spend-U-Lose package and voted against some very good amendments that would remove parts of the bill and relegate them to appropriations procedures in the future. The most laughable of these was an amendment sponsored by Senator David Vitter (R) Louisiana which would remove the $40 Billion in this package that would go to ACORN. Senator Vitter cited the role of ACORN in the sub-prime mortgage debacle that started this ball rolling and the role of ACORN in election fraud through the years. Senator Richard Durbin (D) Illinois rose and delivered the most pompous, arrogant and transparent response. He turned toward Senator Vitter and ceremoniously railed against this amendment calling on the old chestnut of Hurricane Katrina and making it seem that ACORN had single handedly saved New Orleans. How anyone can stand there and say such stupid things is WAY beyond my ability to comprehend. Then the amendment was voted down, so ACORN is still alive and well in the SPEND-U-LOSE bill.

While all of this was being played out in Washington, Joe Biden, the gaffe machine, was at a Democrat retreat where he told the attendees that there is a 30% chance that this Spend-U-Lose package WILL NOT WORK. He also warned that if it doesn't work, those who support it will be nailed as responsible in the next round of national elections. So, if this is a huge gamble for the political futures of the Democrats and squishy Republicans (not to mention WE THE PEOPLE), what's the rush? Why not step back and work this out in a way that will be best for those who provide ONGOING jobs as opposed to one time jobs that, when done, disappear? Why not strip ALL of the fat from this bill and look at the presentation of SIGNIFICANT tax cuts for small business and ordinary people who are the ones that create jobs and are being hurt by the current economic climate. Why not think about something very novel that will put money into the hands of working men and women instead of the arts, ACORN and STD testing? This is a high stakes game that is being played with unprecedented amounts of OUR money and to hear this should make EVERYONE say WHOA!!! Is this the "gird your loins" challenge that he warned of???????

So back to the task at hand. A grassroots plan has been proposed that would infuse tons of money into the hands of taxpayers right away. You want responsible, targeted, timely and transparent, this grassroots plan is exactly that. EVERY resonsible moderate Democrat and EVERY Republican should stand against the current and compromise crappy plans that are lumbering through the legislature. It is time for the F-bomb...stop this Spend-U-Lose bill with a filibuster. Voters are watching their every move and will not forget who put us in this uncomfortable position. There is still time to bombard the Senate phone lines, emails and Fax lines to let them know that Biden was right...We WILL hold them ALL responsible for CONTINUED irresponsible spending and use of our tax dollars at the voting booth in 2010 and beyond. And when they get this wrong, Biden and Obama will be at the top of the S***list as the leaders of the pack.

Debate on the Compromise will start at noon EST and you can watch it live on C-Span or stream it live on http://www.c-span.com. Then, when your head is about to explode and blood is shooting out of your eyes (should take less than 30 minutes), pick up your phone, Fax, email or pitchfork and storm the Senate with your outrage and indignation!! If you behaved as irresponsibly at YOUR job, you would get fired. Well, ladies and gentlemen, in case you forgot, WE ARE THEIR BOSS!!

If I have to spoon feed you, Senate Contact information can be found here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Denny's is a Genius!!

2009-02-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

Millions of people watched the Super Bowl last Sunday and whether you were into the game or just came along to watch the commercials, there is no doubt that you heard that today, February 3, 2009 from 6A-2P, Denny's was giving away a FREE Grand Slam breakfast to everyone who came in. This is the way to stimulate the economy---to hell with the Stim U Lose package!

My husband and I set out at 7 AM today to grab a little of the freebie breakfast and headed out to the Denny's down the street--you know the one that I pass each morning on the way to work. You know the one that would have 6 cars on the parking lot on a Tuesday at 7 AM. The lot was full to capacity and people were starting to park in places that really weren't designed for parking. We decided to go to another Denny's farther away that was located in a corporate complex, thinking perhaps it would be less well known. No luck and same thing!! So, needing to go to work, we did the honorable "spread the wealth" thing and went to a little neighborhood Mom and Pop diner and had breakfast there. By 8:30 AM, my husband was passing the first Denny's we visited and now there was a line of people spilling out the doors....and that was with a temperature of only 9 degrees outside!!!

So how does this help the economy??? Let me count the ways...
1. Millions of people dined at Denny's today who would not have done so otherwise...maybe they will come back again some time soon.
2. There were millions of cups of coffee, tea, soda, milk and juice and extra side dishes SOLD to go with those free beakfast meals.
3. The millions of diners who got free food, would, I hope, leave liberal tips for the servers who worked today during this incredible rush.
4. And lastly, those of us who could not stand around all day waiting for breakfast, but were up for dining out, went to neighborhood restaurants and spent money thus spreading the wealth around!

Tonight on the way home from work, I passed our local Denny's. At 7PM there were 10 cars on the lot! If you feed them, they will come!

Spay and Neuter---PLEASE

2009-01-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

I am a dog person and in my adult life I have had a total of 8 dogs in about 35 years. I am proud to say that I never actively sought a dog, but somehow all of them have found their way into our house and heart. Right now, our 2 adoptees include a rescued Weimaraner and an adopted puppy mill mother Rottweiler. We have had a couple of stray mutts, a Great Dane, a Lab, a Brittany Spaniel, and even a clone of the most famous mutt, Benji, the list reads like a Who's Who of dogdom. If you asked me which was my favorite, I would be hard pressed to make a choice, because just like children, each had its own unique set of good traits and with the good, comes those more challenging traits.

Today, while we were out and about, we stopped at the neighborhood pet supply store to pick up a bag of dog food. As bad fortune would have it, there was a pet adoption day going on. Before I could get into the store I had to stop and pet each of the dogs in their little crates. All of them were so wanting for affection and attention that it saddened me that some would also be going home that night to foster homes and shelters. It also saddens me that most of these animals are there as the result of irresponsible pet owners and breeders. While all of these dogs and cats will be spayed or neutered prior to being adopted, we would not have so many unwanted animals if spay and neuter was a universal practice. Most people do not go into the business of getting a pet for the purpose of breeding it, so why not be SURE that you don't end up in the puppy mill business by getting your new puppy or kitty spayed or neutered as a first order of business as a new pet owner.

Responsible pet ownership involves making sure that your pet is not contributing to the unwanted pet population, but it also involves taking the time and effort to keep your pet safe, contained and healthy. Pet ownership is a win-win situation regardless of what animal you keep as a pet. Pet ownership provides families with an opportunity to teach children lessons in responsibility that they will take with them into adulthood. Provide an unwanted pet with a safe home and food and you will be rewarded with unconditional love and undying companionship. That's a better deal than you will get with most people.

If you are looking for a real friend who only wants to please you, by all means visit your local animal shelter or pet adoption day. You will be hard pressed to leave empty handed and like Lay's potato chips, you might not be able to stop with just one!

As I am writing this, our female Rottweiler is fast asleep in a sunbeam snoring contentedly (and loudly) and her best friend, our male Weimaraner, is curled up in a ball on his own place on the couch dreaming of some critter in a hole in our backyard!

See a Need, Meet a Need

2009-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Two years ago I heard the words "you have breast cancer." The reaction to these words is, at best, like being punched in the gut. Thoughts swirl uncontrollably in your head and most of the next words the doctor says are just "blah, blah, blah, blah blah." So far, my tale has been mostly a good one but, for others the tale is much less happy and the road is full of bumps.

Being a physician as well as a cancer survivor, I feel that whatever I can do to help others in this situation should be my personal mission. One of the things that I did during my treatment was agree to participate in a study on women with breast cancer in collaboration with two universities in my state. This was not a medical study, but rather an attitudinal and sociologic study and I found the questions intriguing. Many of the questions dealt with how the cancer patient was able to function during diagnosis and treatment...days lost to jobs, availability of transportation to treatments, access to supportive family and friends, ability to just talk to someone....By the end of my interview, I was in tears, knowing how lucky I was to have all of the things I needed to get through this personal ordeal.

Last week, while stopped in traffic waiting to make a right hand turn, I was rear-ended by a woman. When we pulled into a nearby parking lot to exchange information, I could see that she was shaken and upset far out of proportion to the relatively minor accident we had. She confided to me that she was on her way to the first of her 5-hour chemotherapy sessions for advanced breast cancer. The only papers that she had in her car to write down her exchange of information were pages of her medical records and information from the oncology center. She told me that she had been so upset by the news of her diagnosis and the prospect of her impending chemotherapy that she had been vomiting all evening. Clearly this woman was a danger to those on the road in her distracted state. Then I recalled the fact that the day I was given confirmation of my own diagnosis I had nearly run a red light on the way home. I was so deep in my own thoughts and all of the "What if's" that I had put the familiar drive home on autopilot.

I know that there are transportation programs for the elderly and the indigent, but are there programs for the ordinary cancer patient who is otherwise able to provide their own transportation and doesn't want to be a burden on others??? I pondered this on the way home from the auto body shop today after getting estimates of the damage to my car. We put so much emphasis on prevention, but providing transportation for the distraught or sick patient is really another kind of prevention program. We need to not just treat the cancer--we need to be aware of the emotional effects that the diagnosis of cancer places on the patient. We also need to realize that some people deal with this diagnosis in isolation.

The American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program provides free transportation to those who need transportation for ANY reason, however, when I tried to find this in my local area, I found nothing. Apparently this program relies entirely on volunteers who make their time available to take patients to their treatments. If you are looking to give back in a tangible way to the community, this would be a program well worth investigating in your own neighborhood. If you find yourself with time on your hands and a need to fill that time, this may be the right volunteer or service opportunity for you. You would be helping the community, helping a patient in need, and providing a companion to talk to during a time when there may be a need for a sympathetic ear.

For all of the faults and criticisms of our health care system, we have one of the best systems on the planet. We can effect cures for all manner of disease states and improve the quality of life for many but I fear that we look the other way, or perhaps have no idea of the fragility and vulnerability that we as health care providers produce when we give out bad news to a patient and then send them off to "deal with it."

Keeping the List!!

2009-01-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the US House of Representatives passed HR 1, the Obama Pigs at the Trough Reinvestment Act. AKA American Reinvestment and Recovery Act or simply the Stimulus Package. The vote was 244 YEA and 188 NAY votes.

We all knew that the Democrats had enough votes to push this bill through, but thanks to a groundswell of populist clamor from a variety of netroots organizations including TCOT's Operation Melt the Phones. The 188 NAY votes were composed of ALL of the Republican representatives and 11 defecting Democrats. To see how YOUR representative voted, look here.

Please THANK your representative for upholding conservative principles of smaller government and fiscal responsibility. If your representative was a defecting Democrat, magnify your thanks 10-fold for their courage to buck the system.

And don't forget.....the Senate will be voting on this Obamanation of a bill next week, so keep those phone lines burning hot!! If we could do the same in the Senate, we could scuttle this bill---Maybe miracles really do happen. Call your Senator early and often, tell your friends to do the same, Twitter your senator, email them, pray---whatever it takes.

And don't forget to write your Thank you notes like your mom taught you.

Makin' a List and Checkin' it Twice

2009-01-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Conservatives are not letting it go unnoticed when Republicans cave in to Obama and his merry band of thugs.

Yesterday Tim Geithner, the tax evading Treasury secretary, was passed by the Senate by a vote of 60-34. In the 60 votes approving him were 10 Republicans. These Senators should be put on notice that this is an unacceptable vote.

Is your Senator on this list??? If so, call them and let them know in no uncertain terms that their vote was an unacceptable capitulation. Common folks like you and I will NEVER be rewarded for tax evasion.
1. Corker (R-TN)
2. Cornyn (R-TX)
3. Crapo (R-ID)
4. Ensign (R-NV)
5. Graham (R-SC)
6. Gregg (R-NH)
7. Hatch (R-UT)
8. Shelby (R-AL)
9. Snowe (R-ME)
10. Voinovich (R-OH)

Then keep the heat on them as another scoundrel in the person of Eric Holder (pardon the terrorists) will be coming up for vote for Attorney General in the next few days.

Doesn't Anyone Else See a Problem Here???

2009-01-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

While I would like to believe that the stimulus package that is being proposed will bring an end to the recession and make things OK again, this is not CHANGE that I can BELIEVE IN. I, like most ordinary Americans, live on a budget that has to be balanced or I am in trouble. I cannot spend my way out of debt and if I spend more than I make, someone will be calling me or sending me letters reminding me that if I don't pay up.....well, it ain't gonna be pretty. After all, isn't spending beyond what we can afford what got us where we are in the first place??? So how can continuing along a poisonous path provide a cure??

The huge stimulus package that is being proposed seems like a case of Emperor's New Clothes, with a high sounding promise of "investment" (read entitlement) and "job creation" (in government jobs), however the devil is in the details. This is a wolf in sheep's clothing! Our stimulus package contains layer upon layer of pork dripping in grease and gravy. This bill is huge...1588 pages and $850Billion of OUR money. Can anyone really wrap their head around all of that. If you would like to TRY to read this package, you can see it in all its glory here.

The Treasury is now being headed by a tax cheat who was heralded as being "too important not to be approved" because he is "the only person who can understand the TARP!!" This package, just like the TARP, is being pushed through on the premise that "something" must be done NOW!! This, in spite, of the fact that the CBO has reported that most of the stimulus money will not be spent immediately. The government wouldn't be able to spend at least one-fourth of a proposed $825 billion economic stimulus plan until after 2010, according to a report by the CBO....Hardly the IMMEDIATE, BOLD, TARGETED stimulus "they" said we need.

The TARP package, which started this whole bailout mess, was supposed to be needed immediately (or the world would end), was not used for the purpose originally intended(those toxic assets are still there and credit is still locked up), had no oversight (banks were told to use it for lending, but they used it for almost everything else except lending) and has had NO positive effect on the economy (jobs in the private sector are being lost by the tens of thousands every day, but not in the bloated government sector where catharsis is needed!). We since have given money to the Big 3 auto companies, Freddie and Fannie are getting back in line for more because the first handout wasn't sufficient and NOW we are planning to throw nearly 1 TRILLION DOLLARS (that we don't have) at the problem. DOESN'T ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM HERE?????

Today President Obama met with the Republicans of both Houses of Congress to try to sell them on support for the Stimulus Package. With his fancy words he left some of them singing "Kumbaya" and HOPING for CHANGE. He has indicated that he would pull the portion of the stimulus package for family planning after San Fran Nan Pelosi let it be known that fewer mouths to feed would benefit the economy. The cautionary tale is that for all the salivating over this bone thrown to the conservatives, this was likely manufactured and put out there for the sole purpose of being taken back under the guise of bipartisan spirit. The Congressional Republicans would be well warned that WE THE PEOPLE are watching carefully what they do. We are making a list, checking it twice and will be using this list at the polls in 2010 and beyond.

President Obama knows that he can pass this Stimulus package WITHOUT REPUBLICAN SUPPORT, but he DOES NOT KNOW IF IT WILL WORK. So let him pass it on his own and all by himself......then when it is shown to be the piece of &%$@ that it really is and fails miserably, he and his band of merry thugs can take ALL the credit for the failure rather than "spreading it around."

It President Obama would like to stimulate the economy WITH cooperation by Conservatives, he would do well to look at jettisoning the IRS and instituting either a FLAT tax or a FAIR tax. A program that Tim Geithner would probably like, too!

Getting Down to the Real Business of Being President

2009-01-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. As the inaugural celebrants are leaving, many pro-life advocates will be traveling to Washington D.C. to voice their opposition to abortion. In the past 8 years, President Bush spoke with this gathering annually and supported their cause. This year, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Obama will "celebrate" this occasion on his second day in office by issuing an executive order reversing the "Mexico City Policy."

The Mexico City Policy forbids any non-governmental agency operating overseas that performs or promotes abortions from receiving any US foreign aid.

So one of his first official acts in the first 100 days is to be sure that your tax dollars go to promote global abortions--I wonder if any of his Kenyan relatives will be recipients???

Mom's eMail Strikes Again

2009-01-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

As those of you who follow my blog already know, my 87 year old mother is a never ending source of interesting emails, some of which I have shared with you. Today, she struck again with the following open letter to America's entitlement population from a common worker.

Joe, the average worker says

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.

Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their lazy butts, doing drugs, while I work. . . .

Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? Something has to change in this country -- and soon!!!!!

Guess we could title that program - Urine or you're out

The Handshake Before the Match

2009-01-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Today is like the handshake before the athletic competition. A new president has taken over the helm and, at least, for today there should be civility and respect for the office of the President of the United States. But tomorrow the gloves come off and it is up to all conservatives to stand up (if I may be so forward as to use a phrase from the Obama playbook) BOLDLY and defend the things that we hold precious.

One of the most important battles for social conservatives during this administration will be played out over the most vulnerable of citizens---the unborn. Planned Parenthood and FOCA loom large on the horizon. We have the most Pro-abortion President and Congress in the history of our country and there is much to be lost in the next few years unless we stand together with conviction against this rising tide.

We have spent so much time in the past 8 years being PC and we have precious little to show for it other than ground lost. PC is political and ideological impotence. It is gratifying to give credit to CatholicVote.org for this powerful pro-life advertisement that is being played on national television during the Inauguration coverage.

To all of you who support FOCA and the ability to make abortion easier to obtain than it already is--think of this--Barack Obama would not be President today if his mother had taken the walk down YOUR path!

Nancy Has a New Deal for You!

2009-01-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Nancy Pelosi is, once again, the Speaker of the House in the New Deal Obama Congress. When she became speaker back in January 2007, she had an agenda for the first 100 hours that included: enacting the 9/11 Commission's recommendations; increasing the minimum wage; allowing embryonic stem cell research; negotiating lower prescriptions prices; cutting interest rates on student loans; and investing in renewable energy. Speaker Pelosi also vowed to govern a fairer and more bipartisan House of Representatives.

By May, 2007 the most notable accomplishment Speaker Pelosi could actually put into her column was increasing the minimum wage. WOW!! In an attempt to minimize their lack of legislative productivity, the Democrat leadership underscored the fact that they had produced transformation of the policy debate and the reassertion of Congressional power, especially on the Iraq war. And what about the kinder, fairer House of Representatives...One of the biggest Republican complaints was that House Democrats, who promised to be fairer and more bipartisan in the conduct of floor debate after a decade of heavy-handed Republican rule, had not delivered. A truth that some top Democrats conceded was true. At the end of 2007, Congressional approval ratings were at a low of 27%.

In January 2008 the Farm bill looked like it might be the only big-ticket bill that Congress would pass to President Bush for signature. Republicans and Democrats alike predicted even less legislative agreement ahead than in 2007. And the song and dance from the Democrats was that operating on a thin majority it was soooo hard to get things done (Sob, sob).

At the end of the 110th Congressional session, the Democratic majority had managed to work out agreements with President Bush and the Republican minority on only a few big items, including a minimum-wage increase, a plan to raise auto fuel-efficiency standards, a free-trade pact with Peru, and student-loan relief. And the congressional approval rating had fallen to a year average of 19%.

So now that the inmates have free run of the asylum, what is on the agenda for 2009? San Fran Nan is now tweaking the rules to be sure that she is Dictator of the House. Rules changes already having been rapidly put into place include eliminating the term limits for Committee Chairmen that were enacted during the Contract with America, restrictions on the motion to recommit and sweeping changes hobbling the ability to propose tax or spending cuts to legislation.

The motion to recommit has been in place for about 100 years. It is a maneuver that the minority party can use to send bills that reach the floor back to committees, where they can be endlessly debated. There are few tools that the House of Representatives has at hand to stifle legislation from moving through the process and the motion to recommit was one of these. This was used 50 times last year by the GOP to stave off tax hikes hidden in other legislation. The Democrat leadership have their knickers in a knot because they didn't use this rule nearly as often as the Republicans, (not our fault that they didn't take advantage of the tools of the trade) so now they have put a hobble on its use. The new rules would give the minority the right to a vote on sending the bill back to committee WITHOUT instructions on policy changes, or to ask for those policy changes while the bill remains on the House floor.

The most problematic change in rules that Madam Nan has produced in her new ruthless House of Representatives is in the introduction of tax and spending cuts. While BHO is willing to throw money hand over fist at our economic woes without thought of the huge deficit this will amass, the House of Representatives is also making sure that spending and tax cuts are difficult to get into legislation. The new rules will ensure that tax increases will be easier to pass, because opponents will not be allowed to offer a simple motion to strike any increase without making up for the "lost revenue." In addition, tax cuts are made more difficult, because they cannot be offset with spending cuts. The new rules will mean that the only way to push for a tax cut will be to propose a tax increase elsewhere.

So hold onto your wallets guys and dolls, the Hope and Change mantra that BHO used to win an election seems to be envisioned by the Belle of San Francisco as "I HOPE that all you have left is loose CHANGE!"

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2009-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

As we look at the economic chaos in this country and prepare to throw more and more money from the taxpayers without regard to where it will come from and how it will be repaid, it is sad to see how we foolishly replicate the mistakes of past history ad nauseum. The old saw of "history repeats itself" is so very true. I am reminded of parents who tell their children "don't make the same mistakes that I made," and are then met with eye rolling and "Whatever..." It is hard for a parent to watch their children make mistakes that are totally avoidable...not even big mistakes, just life lessons that cause pain or unhappiness when we want things to be good for them.

And so, it is with interest that I found this quotation from Marcus Tullius Cicero. It provides advice that is so very appropriate for the situation we find ourselves in today.

"The budget should be balanced,
the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced,
the arrogance of officialdom
should be tempered and controlled,
and the assistance to foreign lands
should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.
People must again learn to work,
instead of living on public assistance."

Cicero 63 BC

And, unless it has been purged from our history books in a revisionist attempt to doctor history, we should remember what happened to Rome when they ignored this advice. So, why are we rolling our eyes and saying "Whatever.."

The Republican Lesson from Horton the Elephant

2009-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dr. Seuss created Horton the Elephant, one of his memorable cast of zany characters that populated his children's books. In 1940, he wrote "Horton Hatches the Egg." In his story, Horton agrees to sit on the nest of a bird who leaves for what turns out to be a loooong time. Horton has various misadventures while he steadfastly keeps his word and stays on the nest. From that story, comes a famous (to those of us who were children of the 50's and 60's) quote,

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant's faithful 100 percent."

The Republican party should take a page from Horton's playbook in its rebuilding process. We need to CLEARLY state what our values and principles are (something we have failed to do). We need to, then, STAND UP for these values and principles WITHOUT COMPROMISE (something that we have also failed to do in a spirit of politically correctness). We need conservative leaders who will, like Horton, say what they mean and mean what they say and never waver from their position.

The New "New Deal"

2009-01-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

With only days remaining until BHO, becomes the Supreme Leader of the "Free" world, he has unveiled his own version of a stimulus package designed to spend our way out of trouble. In a major economic speech at George Mason University on Thursday, he made it clear government is the only white knight out there to save the day.

But at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle that is crippling our economy...

The more than $775 Billion package will be loaded with options including tax cuts to appease the Republicans, green jobs that would have 75% of federal buildings and 2 million American homes (where will John Q public get the money to bring his home into compliance????) magically retrofitted or rebuilt to be environmentally friendly (remember ETHANOL?) , and "shovel ready" infrastructure projects that have mayors and governors getting in line with their hands out for money for museums, water parks and sporting venues (PORK).

This stimulus package will likely only be the FIRST of the Democratic Bailouts, and the cost that has been touted publicly is at the lower end of the estimate to allow it to G--R--O--W as it passes through the legislative process (or leave room for future salvos "if at first you don't suceed...."). This is drawing flack from Obama's own party. Tom Harken has voiced the need for more spending and less tax cuts. Harry Reid has said that he "doesn't work for Barack Obama" (RIIIIIGHT!) Outcries have also been heard from the likes of Barney Frank (king of the subprime mortgages), Carl Levin (socialist) and John Kerry (self-aggrandizing snob who has to weigh in on everything lest he lapse into deserved obscurity). Don't be fooled, however, this flack is needed to give the public perception of disharmony so that when a package is finally formulated, it will be looked at as a truly bipartisan package in a true Kumbaya moment with all credit to the Messiah.

The more important flack issue, to me, is the lack of flack from the Republican legislators. The likes of Leader Boehner ("I am excited to see the tax cuts" OMG you are falling for it from the outset!), Mitch McConnell and Tom Coburn (Obama has been "straight up" with them). I recall a Department Chairman that I once worked under who was notorious for having consensus building meetings with his faculty, allowing everyone to vent their feelings. He listened intently and then did whatever he wanted to do in the first place. When called to account for what he did, he always said, "You can't say that I didn't ask you." I fear that this is how Obama will govern....Beware the smooth wordsmithing and cool demeanor.

From February 2008 until February 2009 when Obama hopes to have crafted his own Bailout package we have been throwing money at the economy with reckless abandon and blame that falls on both sides of the aisle. Since February, 2008 we have spent $168B on the Bush stimulus package, $200B on the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bailout, $122.8 B for AIG (poor babies), $700B for the TARP mortgage and banking bailout (with $17.4B carved out for the auto industry and by extension the autoworkers union) and not to be undone, the biggest effort to date......>$775B in the yet to be drafted Obama plan for a GRAND TOTAL of >$1.9TRILLION (sorry there are too many zeroes to reckon with!) that will have been spent on bailing out varied and sundry things. With more pigs lining up at the trough in hope of catching some of the money to be thrown around.

Nancy Pelosi has proposed a deadline of President's day in February for getting this package crafted, drafted and sent to the new President for signature and enactment. She has also boldly stated that if there is no package by this time there will be NO RECESS!! I guess she has no Spring book tour this year....or did she learn her lesson from the #dontgo whipping she took in August 2008?????

Today on Meet the Depressed, David Gregory had a relatively one-sided round table discussion on the bailout. There were some very telling comments coming from former House Majority Whip Rep. David Bonoir who is a member of the Obama economic transition team. When asked about how to deal with the Bush tax cuts, he totally avoided that question. He did, however, say that we

"have to get hold of this inequality in wages and economy." He went on to say that in the past 20 years the top 10% of the wage earners took 90% of the income gains and this is "skewed the wrong way."

When asked where we need to end up, Bonoir indicated that we

"need to give people the opportunity to bargain collectively at the table. At 7% unionization in this country, you are not going to get the dispersion you need." He added, "We were successful in this country after the Second World War. The most profitable time for this country were the three decades after World War II because unionization was at 35%......The Employee Freedom of Choice Act ( think Card Check) is an important part of legislation supported by President-Elect Obama and Biden, Congress and 60% of the American people...This will help to share in the benefits and bounties of the country."

Later in the show, Bonoir predicted that the Stimulus package will pass and it would probably pass even without Republican support.

Come on Republicans, grow a pair and stand up for what WE believe in. Get vocal and EXPLAIN why the government can't fix this.

I close with a quote that many of you will agree with, but the source may be surprising.

We live in a time of transition, an uneasy era which is likely to endure.....During the period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations. We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities - not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.

Jimmy Carter, in his farewell address.

The State of the Congress

2009-01-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

There is a great deal of angst being vented over the Senate and those being seated (or not) this morning. The truth be told, Roland Burris has every right to be seated even though there is a stench on his appointment and Al Franken has won (we think) the Minnesota race and defeated Norm Coleman. No matter how much we would like to do otherwise (and I sincerely would like to do otherwise), one man was appointed by the governor to fill an empty seat and the other, ostensibly, has been elected by a razor thin margin by the people of his state. There are laws that dictate how appointments should be made, qualifications for who can be appointed to fill a vacant seat in the Senate or House of Representatives and there are laws and rules for the conduct of a "fair" election. It appears that these qualifications have been met and we need to take our lumps and seat these men.

I live in Missouri, where a few years back we elected a dead man to the U.S. Senate under the campaign slogan "I'm Still With Mel." When he was elected posthumously, the empty seat was filled by his widow, Jean Carnahan, who was promised the seat to warm if her deceased husband could win the election and who was promptly unseated in the next election by Senator Jim Talent. It appears that Caroline Kennedy whose greatest qualification for being a US Senator is her name and the fund-raising capability that it brings to the New York political machine will also be seated in the highest governing body of the country.

What we need to do now, is take a hard and long look at the road ahead and make sure that qualified candidates get our unbridled support. AND, we need to make sure that they win by large margins that cannot be called into question at the end of the day. The laughing stock that has been made of the Senate by potentially seating a buffoon, an unqualified socialite and a man who was appointed by a corrupt governor giving the middle finger salute to all authority is certainly a shame. The infighting that resulted this morning and which will continue until all of this is resolved is even more a pox on the house of Obama and his Merry Band.

While it might be tempting to sit on the sidelines and let the Democrats eat each other alive (after all, with the Republicans out of the way and definitely in the majority, they only have themselves to trip over and fight with), this should be yet another rallying cry for all conservatives to come together and set the stage for a real house cleaning at the very first opportunity!! We have only ourselves to blame for the state of the Senate and the immediate future of our country, but that doesn't mean that we can't learn some very valuable mistakes and move forward in a better direction.

OMG!! My hard drive was making a weird noise and I thought that a fan needed to be replaced but when I took the cover off, I found 500 uncounted Minnesota ballots for Norm Coleman! Wonder how they walked to Missouri and got into my computer??? Oh the wonders of our political system!

The Geriatric New Year's Eve Party

2008-12-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

Tonight there will be 20 people at our house for New Year's Eve and this will continue a tradition that we have carried on for the past 12 years. We will be entertaining friends who would otherwise not go out for New Year's. We called it the Geriatric New Year's Eve Party in the past when the youngest person there was 55 and the ages went up to 90!

12 years ago we started out by asking one couple to come and spend a quiet New Years Eve with us in our new home. We then realized that their mother and father would be home that night and we asked them to join us. Then we heard of an elderly couple who had some health problems and knowing that they would also be home alone on New Year's Eve, we asked them to come to spend the evening with us. The idea spread and in our first celebration we had 12 guests who would have spent New Year's Eve at home by themselves. There was good food, good conversation, a nice generational interchange, a toast at midnight and then, pretty quickly, the party broke up and everyone headed for home.

But the following year when we were asked by a couple who had been at the first soiree what we were going to do for New Year's Eve, it became clear to us that this was really a much more important event than we had ever imagined. Our little "party" gave people who spend a great deal of time at home, a chance to get dressed up and get out. And, thus the annual New Year's Eve Party was born. Over the years, some members of the original gathering have passed on, but the widows and widowers who are left remain an important part of our guest list and they relish a chance to do something social again.

This year the age range will spread from 6 months to 87 years. We have a new widower among the guests. We have a young couple with a little baby who now have a different perspective on "partying". The guest list varies from year to year, but the constant thread that runs through the evening is the desire to bring people, who would otherwise have just another lonely night, together for fun and friendship.

So I am busily preparing food for our buffet table, but I wanted to take the time to wish all of you a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

I wish you a Blessed Christmas wherever you are and want to share one of the world's most powerful pieces of music that has come to be associated with Christmas (and one of my favorite pieces of music that I play all year long).

Christmas Eve Message

2008-12-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

As the preparations for Christmas wind down and the serenity of Christmas Eve sets in, I hope that you enjoy this message of the Season.

We All Need a Silent Night

2008-12-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

With only a few days left until Christmas, I am sure that more than a few of you are frazzled, flustered and jacked up on too little sleep and too much sugar and caffeine. The cold and snow may have made you stay inside when you REALLY had things to do and get done and the time is running out and I AM NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!! Whoa, there, pull back and take a look around you. It is cold and crisp outside and the snow is beautiful.

Perhaps what we should do is use the cold and snow as an excuse for taking back the real meaning of Christmas with some family time (yes, your family can actually spend time together and probably won't kill each other). Radio stations, satellite TV and cable TV stations have 24 hour Christmas music, Hallmark and ABC Family channels have lots of fun Christmas movies that the whole family can watch together (so what if the plots are all remarkably similar and the endings are all the same, if you never saw the movie you will never know how it ends!!)..some are even poignant and require some personal introspection. If you don't know where to find some quality Christmas music, stream it online here or here or even here. Find a family project that everyone can participate in--working a jigsaw puzzle together, playing a board game, baking and decorating cookies, making something handmade to give as a gift in the event that you never get back out of your house to finish your shopping.

Here is a nice simple Cappucino drink mix that can be made and given with a mug and some marshmallows (or just by itself) as a gift made with love. Perfect for a teacher, pastor, neighbor gift...(P.S. You can also drink this as a family when you are watching your movies or playing games.).

CAPPUCINO MIX

1 cup instant coffee creamer
1 cup hot cocoa mix (any flavor you would like)
2/3 cup instant coffee
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight container.
To serve: Mix 3 Tablespoons to 6 oz hot water or 4 Tablespoons to 8 oz of hot water.

Now that you have a better perspective, enjoy this lovely song by Amy Grant nicely choreographed by cmtrump.

PEACE AND JOY AT CHRISTMAS!

Separated at Birth

2008-12-19T19:48:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you just have to wonder........

Christine Gregoire the Governor that stole Christmas and Mr Grinch

"Mr. Bailout" Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson and
Daddy Warbucks

A Perfect Example of Why You Should Home School Your Children

2008-12-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is so wrong on so many levels.
If this was my child I would NOT post it for all the world to see.
If this was at my child's school, I would be homeschooling her at the start of the next semester.
This is a perfect example of the indoctrination by the public school system (Thank you NEA) of our young children who innocently believe that adults are honorable and that what they say is right. You know that they are serving the PC Koolaid in the school lunch program!
So bring on the SCHOOL HOLIDAY PAGEANT so that we can all enjoy this WINTER FESTIVAL!!

We Say Merry Christmas!

2008-12-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today I have the unusual luxury of a day off!! I have an agenda that is probably more jam-packed than what I would do at work--I will bake cookies, wrap presents for our adopted family so that they can be distributed next week, finally do my Christmas cards, do an insurance denial appeal report that is due tomorrow, and now writing this has risen to the top of my "To Do" List when it never was on it in the first place! So while my butter softens for the first batch of cookies, I want to share something that happened this morning.

While I had the luxury of sleeping in, my husband had an 8AM doctor's appointment so he was up at 5:30 so that he could get his AM exercise in before the appointment. Thus, I was up when it was still dark, too. At about 8:45 AM the phone rang and I assumed that it would be my husband with his report on what the doctor had to say, so I dashed to the phone and answered it only to hear the dreaded "May I speak to ...." that heralds a call from someone soliciting for something. We get a lot of these calls and more and more at this time of the year and in particular, THIS year.

This particular call turned out to be from the American Bible Society asking for money for Bibles for a mission project to the people of China. I will freely offer up for the sake of full disclosure that I have contributed to the American Bible Society in the past. So as the nice lady on the other side of the phone explained their need and how my potential donation would be used, I had already decided that I would give again and had mentally found a figure that I felt I could afford right now...one week before Christmas.

I think that the solicitor was actually surprised that I took the chance to give and didn't quibble about the suggested amount. When she had verified my address and name so that she could send me a the requisite information to mail a check (I do not make credit card charitable contributions over the phone), she concluded the conversation with "HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY."

My response to this was swift, strong, from my gut and even surprised me, but she was totally taken aback when I said, "Wait just a minute...I hope that YOU have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! If you are going to solicit for an organization that supplies the Word of God to people all over the world, there is NO reason to say anything but MERRY CHRISTMAS to anyone that you contact at this time of year! Be bold and stand strong in your faith."

After a brief pause to recover from my rant, she laughed softly, and almost with what I perceived as relief in her voice, she said, "You're right and I wish you and your family a most blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!. Thank you for correcting me."

I hope and pray that the American Bible Society is not asking their solicitors to be PC at Christmas, but frankly I cannot fathom that their donor list consists of people who do not espouse the Bible and its teachings, so why this would even be an issue is beyond me. And if you call someone who does not believe in the Christian teachings, you will have offended them long before you get to the Merry Christmas part at the end of the call and they will have likely hung up on you in the first place, so it isn't even an issue. So my most likely scenario is that this woman has been culturally lulled into drinking the PC Koolaid that makes you afraid to say Merry Christmas even to what should be a receptive audience. This is, indeed, sad. That Christians have become so spineless that we shrink from saying Merry Christmas during our own holiday even among like minded people says a lot about the strength and committment to our faith. Are we afraid to admit that we are Christians??? Are we bowing to the bullying of those who would try to erase every vestige of Christianity in our society??

II Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

So, I will continue to loudly proclaim "Merry Christmas!" when I put money in the Salvation Army kettles outside my local merchants. I only send out Christmas cards that actually use the word Christmas on the face and in the inside greeting. My return address labels on all of the bills and mail that I post during the month of December will be Christmas labels. My Christmas tree is decorated with ornaments of all kinds including several miniature Navitity scenes that all who visit can readily see. And I will continue to boldly and proudly celebrate my faith in his most wonderful time of the year. Now my butter should be softened so that I can start on my Christmas cookies, so....A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS! And may God bless you in the New Year!

The Objectivity of the Mainstream Media----NOT

2008-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

Joe Scarborough takes the MSM to task about their "investigation" of Sarah Palin and their lopsided (and biased) coverage of Barack Obama during the run up to the election. He makes takes them on and leaves them speechless and squirming!! But his point is well made and oh, so true. The point is made that Obama got a pass and was not "investigated" like Sarah Palin. Had it happened, perhaps we would know more about his connections to the Chicage cesspool that spawned him. So now we may have bought a pig in a poke (with lipstick on but still a pig)thanks to the media who acted as kingmaker.

The Conservative Way to Spread the Wealth Around

2008-12-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

The media is full of stories about increasing unemployment statistics, the failing stock market, range wars over financial bailouts for banks, industries, states and cities and all manner of terrifying news for the common man. It is no wonder that people are holding onto their wallets and being very conservative at this time of gift-giving. I talked to some friends earlier today who had been doing Christmas shopping at the several of the local malls. They commented that the malls were not very busy given the time of the year. If we don't spend, businesses aren't profitable and they can't afford to keep employees or expand services, so more people are placed under financial hardship and now there are more people who cannot spend and a vicious cycle is created. There are more people this year who might be looking at a less than happy Christmas season than in previous years.

So what might we do this year to mitigate the hard times that are upon us?

Support the little mom and pop enterprises in your community..whether it is the hardware store or the local eatery, keep it local if you can.

If you have a bit of extra money, may I suggest that you use it for a charitable cause that will aid those in need. Making this a family project will teach children that it is more blessed to give than to receive and help us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Some suggestions that are easy to do are:

Give to the US Marines Toys for Tots drive.
Adopt a family or an individual through your local church or hospital and use your resources to give someone else a memorable Christmas. The whole family can get into the spirit by shopping for the adopted family together and planning on the best gifts to give.
Contribute to an orphanage or child welfare group so that children without family ties are not forgotten at this time of year.
Support the Salvation Army by putting any money, even your spare change in the bell ringer's kettles. Even the widow's mite can be put to use. Challenge your children to save money that can be contributed to help others.
Rather than giving gifts that will be returned on December 26 or never used, donate to a charity in the name of the recipient rather than giving a gift. Many charities are seeing their donations fall alarmingly this year and are in great need in order to continue to provide their services.

If you are strapped for finances you can still give the gift of time by volunteering or giving of yourself.
You can clean a house for someone who is physically unable to do some housekeeping tasks.
You can help at a food pantry, soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
You can help to wrap presents to be distributed by any number of agencies.
You can read to someone who is visually impaired.
You can volunteer to help elementary school children in literacy programs.
You can drive an invalid to treatments, doctor appointments or therapy.
You can make meals for an elderly neighbor who cannot get out easily.
You can take a shut-in to the grocery store.
You can offer to baby sit for someone who needs to look for a job.
You can invite someone who will be alone for the holidays to join your Christmas celebration.

Getting away from the mercenary message and back to the true meaning of Christmas is something that we need and these trying times can be the impetus to return to a simpler, purer Christmas. My husband and I have chosen not to exchange gifts this year and instead have participated in several activities with the money that we would have spent on each other. In so doing, we have been blessed. We have chosen our projects together. We have set aside Saturdays to shop together for our adopted families, and other projects. We have spent entire weekends together working on the projects we have chosen and have truly enjoyed each other's company. We have more Christmas spirit than we have had in several years.

Come join us and spread the wealth around!!

Watch Out Rudolph!!!

2008-12-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

Seen in Illinois just outside of White Hall!! Needs no further words!

While We Are Sleeping.....

2008-12-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

I am a fan of contemporary Christian music and Casting Crowns is one of my very favorite groups. I blogged about one of their songs in the past. Their music and words strike deep at the heart of our world today and the need for us to make some significant adjustments in our lives. The song speaks for itself.

What To Get For The Gal Who Has Everything?

2008-12-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

It is the question raised every year when Christmas comes along. The usual lament is "I can't think of anything to give her! She has everything!!" Well, this year the Indiana Planned Parenthood has the answer.......drum roll....Planned Parenthood Gift Certificates in denominations of $25! And, are you ready for this.....they are redeemable for...... services or the recipient’s choice of birth control method!!! (Services include abortions and there are women who use abortion as their preferred method of birth control....trust me, I'm a gynecologist.) Oh, don't forget, shoppers, these great certificates can also be purchased ONLINE!

Can't you just see the scene on Christmas morning, opening the beautifully wrapped present that contains not diamonds, not Prada, not Gucci, not Chanel, not Tiffany, not Rolex, not even Timex......but Planned Parenthood! Is the sparkle in her eye a tear of joy or humiliation??? Can't you imagine the sigh of envy that goes through those gathered around when you open your gift and everyone yells, "Let's see." "What did you get?" "Hold it up so we can all see it!" This is like giving an adolescent her first bra, wrapped up for Christmas to be opened in public. Or giving Grandma a case of Depends....sure she needs it, but what were they thinking???

The male significant other proclaims proudly, "See honey, you don't have to be punished with a baby!" While his lucky lady gushes back, "Oh, Honey, you are just the best guy in the world and now I don't have to worry about replicating your blood line!"

Can't you imagine Planned Parenthood gift certificates stuffed into a stocking hung by the chimney with care? Won't that make him a knight in shining armor in your eyes?? Or if this is a gift from your in-laws, the chill cast on the rest of the festivities will make the heat generated from the hot mulled cider so much more appreciated.

Has our country really sunk to such a low point that we can actually say that in America, (or at least in Indiana), we celebrate the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem by giving the gift of Planned Parenthood services? God help us all.

Fuzzy Math Courtesy of the NEA

2008-11-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

We keep a coin jar for loose change and from time to time I roll the coins and change them into paper money to use for a treat---dinner out, a movie, whatever. I have been eying the jar for the past couple of weeks and considering that a harvest was in order. Last night I got the coin sorter and the paper rolls out and started sorting and rolling. When I was finished I had $67 in rolled coins. I counted it at least 4 times to be sure--3 rolls of quarters, 5 rolls of dimes, 4 rolls of nickels and 8 rolls of pennies---$67 every time. We decided that we would add it to the Christmas fund. My husband and I are not exchanging gifts this year, but rather are giving to underprivileged families, and we would add this to the pot.

This morning I carried my heavy sack of coins into the bank to change it into folding money. The teller was a woman of about 35, no more than that. I told her of my mission and arranged the coin rolls into like groups so that her job would be easier. She began to count the money--"3 rolls of quarters, $30, 5 rolls of dimes, $25, that's $55 and.....uh... 4 rolls of nickels at $2 each, that's $8 and ...oh gosh, I can't add... uh that's $62 and 8 rolls of pennies at 50 cents each is $4 and the total is $66."

"No," I said, "That should be $67 because $55 + $8 is $63 not $62 and then the $4 in pennies makes $67." She looked confused, so I counted it out for her and showed her, again, that it came to $67. After the second counting, she agreed that I was right and sheepishly turned to her cash drawer and counted out my money...3 $20's and 2 $1's for a total of $62. She held the money out and I didn't take it. She stared at me with a "What's wrong, now??!" look and I said, "I'm sorry but the total was $67."

She mumbled something under her breath about needing coffee and retrieved a $5 to add to the pile and counted it out again. This is a bank teller who can't add and subtract simple sums in her head and make change! This is a bank teller with responsibility for complicated transactions. This is someone who has a cash drawer with large sums of money in it that must balance at the end of the day. This was an easy transaction, just count the money and then give me the same amount of folding money in exchange. God forbid that I had taken a large check that needed to be divided among three accounts and then had some cash back, too (something that I do regularly).

My bank is a well respected bank in this state that has been around for 40+ years under its present name and existed for many years before that. I might have to consider taking my money out now, before the run on the banks so that I can be sure that I actually get all of it!

I Told You So.....

2008-11-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago I put a post in my blog about the low price of gasoline and my concern that this was just the calm before the storm. Little did I realize, however, that the storm would come so soon.

On Thanksgiving afternoon (yesterday) we stopped to fill the tank after our Thanksgiving visiting and paid $1.33 per gallon at a local Florissant, Missouri BP station. This afternoon (24 hours later) our BP station has gasoline for $1.59 per gallon. We need to keep the pressure on our legislators to be sure that we maintain the progress we have made for offshore drilling and exploration of our own oil reserves here in the USA as a critical part of energy independence.

OPEC meets in Cairo tomorrow and our "friends" will discuss whether or not to drop production...again. I hope that I am wrong, but.....I told you so.

UPDATE: 11/29/2008 8:51 AM CST Fox news is reporting that the Saudi's feel that the price of a gallon of crude should REALLY be trading at $75 per barrel......I TOLD YOU SO.....

Thank you Sarah Palin!

2008-11-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has left her mark on the 2008 Presidential election. Now that she is back in Alaska, she is still the target of the MSM in an attempt to neutralize her. The measure of her mark, however can be found at Team Sarah where members are still joining and the membership is just shy of 60,000 members today!

The grassroots effort to unify the conservative voice to be fully prepared for the 2010 election is gaining momentum through a variety of alternative media sites such as Smart Girl Politics, Team Sarah, #dontgo movement, Grizzly Groundswell and the conservative voices on Blogtalk Radio to name just a few.

As we have just finished celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving, it is worthy to reflect on the things that we have to be thankful and for the things that have made this nation great. Sarah Palin is representative of these ideas and ideals and for this we should ask why she represents such a threat to the left in this country? This should explain it:

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

With all of the bad news swirling around regarding the economy and international affairs, Americans sat down today around tables all over the country and gave thanks. Most of those tables were laden with more food than one could consume and many of the recipients of these meals had so much to eat that a nap was needed after pushing away from the table! We still live in a land of plenty and we have so much for which to give thanks.

I would personally like to thank all of the men and women in the armed forces who are away from their families today because they have VOLUNTARILY committed time out of their lives to protect the freedoms that we at home take for granted and all too often squander.

I would personally like to thank all of the families who are having a Thanksgiving meal without the presence of someone who is in the military and let you know that we are grateful for your sacrifice and for theirs.

I am thankful that I live in a country where we can vigorously disagree and yet there is no consequence (at least not yet) for dissent.

I am thankful for family and friends. In spite of all of the press about "enduring Thanksgiving with the dysfunctional family", when you need them, blood is still thicker than water!

I am thankful that I have a job and what's more, I like what I do.

I am thankful that I will have enough to be able to share what I have with others during the upcoming Christmas season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

#dontgo Movement-- But Don't Go Too Far!!!

2008-11-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today my corner Mobil station has regular unleaded gasoline for $1.39 per gallon. Gleefully people have been laughing about the falling gas pump prices. Just a few days ago, a local commentator relished the fact that when he looks at the price at the pump he is tempted to squirt some gas on the ground just for grins or offer to fill up someone else's tank, too. While I love the fact that the pump prices are back to a livable level, I am also wary that this is just the lull before the storm.

In August, with a gallon of gas going for $4 plus depending on the locale in the USA, the Democrat Congress went home in a "let them eat cake" moment that left the ordinary citizenry twisting in the wind over fuel prices and the rogue Republican congress stayed behind in the darkened chambers and publicized their month long "sit in" demonstration via the social media. From this the #dontgo movement was born as a grassroots means of spreading the word about the need for drilling in the US and offshore as a bridge to make us less dependent on and ultimately independent of foreign oil. Between the #dontgo movement and Americansolutions.com the mantra of "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" became the rallying cry for the common guy who needs to have gasoline to get to work every day.

In Early September when Hurricane Ike hit the Texas Gulf Coast, I recall sitting at my home computer on the weekend monitoring the petroleum chat rooms. I sat like a fly on the wall as men in the petroleum industry wove tales of gas shortages and further skyrocketing pump prices if the worst damage projected would happen to the oil rigs in the Gulf and the pipelines that take oil and gasoline to the rest of the country had to be shut done for any period of time. While the worst case scenario did not materialize for the Midwest, there were some tight times in Atlanta and along the Eastern seaboard.

The ban on offshore drilling was allowed to expire in late September and the prices have been in free fall ever since. But this is not the time to take our eyes off of the ball because we are still totally dependent on foreign oil. Now is the time to DEMAND that the small gains that have been made continue to be enforced and put into play. NOW IS THE TIME FOR DRILLING AND EXPLORATION. We can't afford to sit on our laurels (affordable gasoline) and tell ourselves that the problem is solved.... because it isn't.

Earlier this month, in a reaction to the continued fall in crude oil prices, OPEC cut production by 1.5 million barrels per day in an attempt to stave off further fall in price. In spite of this, oil prices have further dropped so that today the price is hovering around $50 per barrel. Since the first reduction did not have its intended effect, Iran and Venezuela are both calling for a further reduction in output when OPEC meets on November 29 in Cairo.

There are other ways that OPEC can ratchet up the pressure against us if they so desire...and remember... we are NOT their favorite people. Oil is traded in US dollars. For the past 3-4 years there have been murmurings about changing the currency for petroleum trade to the Euro. While it has not yet happened, this could have devastating consequences for us. Today, November 24, 2008, one Euro is equal to $1.2885 US dollars. If the oil trade currency were to change overnight, today's $50 barrel of oil would cost us $64.43 tomorrow. We are at the mercy of the oil producing nations and they have a MONOPOLY on the situation. So there are a number of ways to combine forces to squeeze us back into a very uncomfortable place with oil and heap that onto our economic woes.

It is also clear to the world that our President-elect is not a fan of ANY drilling or petroleum based ventures. He is a fan of green jobs, an area that still has much to be developed so that it does not turn into the corn/ethanol disaster we have already endured. He also favors alternative energy (BUT NOT NUCLEAR), but if we had to depend on alternative energy overnight we could not because the development and implementation phase would take years! Add to this the fact that we are in a time of transition in our leadership that makes us highly vulnerable to external whims. There is no time like the present to continue the mantra of "Drill Here Drill NOW!" to provide a bridge to the future.

While the #dontgo movement has morphed into the #dontgo Revolution and broadened its horizons to unite the conservative voters on a variety of issues and American Solutions.com is a little quieter than it has been in the past 4 months, the theme of energy independence resonates with ordinary people. American Solutions.com continues to have active buttons on its website to tell President-elect Obama that drilling in the USA is still vitally important as a bridge to the future of energy independence. It is an issue that MUST be kept in the forefront and articulated clearly so that the most lowly of us KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE DO NOT pursue our own supplies of oil and natural gas. We are a nation of easily shifting focus and short attention span. We tire of hearing about the same things over and over and if the pressure is off, we move on to something else rather than continuing to work on the problem. In this situation, we cannot take our eyes off of the prize and we need to keep moving the ball forward lest we suddenly find ourselves blindsided back into energy HELL!

A Woman's Place is in the Conservative Movement

2008-11-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

On November 5, conservatives burned with resolution regarding the need to rebrand and reimage the Republican party or at the very least the conservative message. Recently the discussion has become less heated as many of us have stepped back to consider what needs to be done. In spite of taking some time for reflection and pragmatism, others have been less than silent. Suggestions as to what the Republican party should do have been free flowing. Many pundits see the need to moderate the Republican party and make Republicans more like Democrats. The RINO has been held up as the gold standard for the party suggesting that there should be a large squishy party that stands for nothing and is willing to give up positions in the name of kumbaya. Kathleen Parker wrote a recent column suggesting that GOD is the problem with the Republican party and the sooner that GOD is out of the way, the sooner the Republican party can get on with the business at hand. Mort Kondracke posited that the problem is that the conservatives listen to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham and this is the root of their problem.

On the other hand, the Dontgo Movement has been revitalized and repositioned to be a grassroots conservative voice in the alternative media, Team Sarah has continued to recruit members with nearly 60,000 women willing to continue to speak out for conservative causes and a newly formulated coalition of conservative women bloggers, Smart Girl Politics, has formed with an active face in the blogosphere and social media. These outlets are designed to take back the real conservative message of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and the socially conservative message that is needed to take back our government from the hands of a socialist DINO. Robert Robb has a cogent column on what this will entail that should be a jumping off point for all conservative movements.

These conservative grassroots/ netroots organizations have the task of organizing and connecting all manner of social, fiscal and religious conservatives together in a cohesive network with a unified message that can begin to compete with the network that the Democrats so successfully wrought to achieve their November victory. While "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party" as the old typing test says, it may be even more important that "all good women come to the aid of their party."

It is well known in the field of health care that women are their most important focus group. Women have babies and choose a medical caregiver and a hospital or birthing center for this event. They are usually the one who chooses a pediatrician and this choice usually comes from interactions with other moms or with their obstetrician or midwife. Later when it is time for hubby to be dragged kicking and screaming to an internist or specialist, it is usually the wife who does the nagging, the dragging and the choosing. If your child goes to something other than the local public school, it is likely that mom is a driving force in the selection of a private school, and if, God forbid, as Joy Behar says, you are a knuckle dragging idiot who home schools their children, then it is likely that mom bears the brunt of the lesson planning, teaching, homework and time management in order to make it happen. (And just so that I don't get hate mail, this is in no way an indictment against those dads who have taken on role reversal for any one of a variety of excellent reasons--my husband is one of you!)

As women, we hold the future of our children and grandchildren in our hands and it is our responsibility to give them a bright and secure future. We have the chance to teach them the values and factual history that they are no longer learning in school. We should be members of the PTA and school board to fight for the things that are missing in our public schools. We should be engaged in our communities to be sure that we are electing officials who speak for our beliefs and values. We are the ones who should be working for conservative candidates, and especially for strong conservative women candidates. We are usually the volunteers that work in charities and on the boards of non-profit organizations that support conservative causes. The internet has made our world very small and communication very easy. It is high time that we use these mass media tools to educate and energize conservative women everywhere.

The power of a coalition of smart, articulate and educated women cannot be underestimated. We need to engage conservative women from all walks of life into a force with which to be reckoned. We need to be sure that conservative women are as politically articulate (or perhaps even more so) as conservative men. We need to walk hand in hand with our conservative men, just as we walk with them hand in hand in our families. We are the spouses and mothers of our military men and women who hold the home together while loved ones serve far away. We recently learned that conservative women are hated for their clarity of position, but that should only bolster our resolve. Let's face it, women are dedicated, focused, altruistic and capable of great acts of strength, that is why we are mothers. These are characteristics that we bring to the conservative table, too.

We are entering the frenetic Christmas season and one of my favorite Christmas jokes will soon begin circulating through the email channels.

Do you know what would have happened if it had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men?

They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole and brought practical gifts.

This is what conservative women are made of and what the conservative movement needs for the future!

A Cautionary Tale

2008-11-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today the housing market is down, the government is bailing out banks and considering extending this courtesy to a host of other industries. Wealthy AIG executives take a taxpayer bailout and then flaunt it with bonuses and extravagant trips. The consumer is the fall guy and prices are rising at retail outlets everywhere. The financial pundits are calling for a bleak Christmas shopping season and Black Friday may actually be awash in red ink this year. The pundits are calling for rough economic times ahead. There is talk of soon increasing credit card interest rates to 27-30%. Our government is printing money to keep up with our windfall spending and economic IOU's and promises to everyone.

Young people today do not remember the 4 year term of President Carter when home interest rates were 20%, there were gas lines everywhere and energy conservation included wearing a sweater and turning down the thermostat! The history taught in our public schools is a watered down revisionist version of what happened, so it is no wonder that young adults today have a disconnect between the past and the present. If you never learned history, then you cannot learn from the mistakes of the past.

In March 2003, Brian Trumbone wrote an article for StockandNews.com that I would offer as a cautionary tale for today's economic turmoil. In this article he described the conditions of the Weimar Republic in the decades between the end of World War I and World War II.

On January 11, 1923, French and Belgain troops (against the advice of the British) occupied the Ruhr, a region which furnished 4/5's of Germany's coal and steel production. The miners refused to work for the enemy and the Germans simply printed more money with which to pay them not to, allowing inflation to spiral completely out of control. The economy was strangled and the free fall in the mark was incredible. Following is the historic slide in the value of the German mark.

July 1914 4.2 marks to the dollar.
January 1919 8.9 marks to the dollar.
July 1919 14.0 marks to the dollar.
January 1920 64.8 marks to the dollar.
July 1920 39.5 marks to the dollar.
January 1921 64.9 marks to the dollar.
July 1921 76.7 marks to the dollar.
January 1922 1919.8 marks to the dollar.
July 1922 493.2 marks to the dollar.
January 1923 17,972 marks to the dollar.
July 1923 353,412 marks to the dollar.
August 1923 4, 620,455 marks to the dollar.
September 1923 98,860,000 marks to the dollar.
October 1923 25,260,208,000 marks to the dollar.
November 1923 4,200,000,000,000 marks to the dollar. YES TRILLION!
By late 1923, the German government required 1,783 printing presses running around the clock to print money.

Germans wheeled shopping carts filled with literally trillions of marks to pay for a single loaf of bread. Employees asked to be paid their wages each morning so that they could shop at noon before merchants posted the afternoon price rises.

Spiraling inflation also wiped out people on fixed income along with the small savings they had put aside for retirement.

"Annuities, pensions, proceeds of insurance policies, savings accounts in the banks, income from bonds and mortgages--every form of revenue which had been arranged for at some time in the past, and which often represented the economy, foresight and personal planning of many years--now turned to nothing. The middle class was pauperized and demoralized."

William Shirer in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, adds: "What good were the standards and practices of such a society, which encouraged savings and investment and solemnly promised a safe return from them and then defaulted? Was this not a fraud upon the people?" But not everyone suffered in Germany.

Again, Shirer:"Big industrialists and landlords goaded the government to deliberately let the mark tumble in order to free the State of its public debts, to escape from paying reparations and to sabotage the French in the Ruhr. The destruction of the currency enabled German heavy industry to wipe out its indebtedness by refunding its obligations in worthless marks. The fall of the mark wiped out war debts and thus, left Germany financially unencumbered for a new war. The masses of the people only knew that a large bank account could not buy a straggly bunch of carrots, a few ounces of sugar. In their misery the Republic was made the scapegoat for all that had happened.

At the height of the currency crisis, an interested spectator commented: "The government calmly goes on printing these scraps of paper because, if it stopped, that would be the end of the government. Because once the printing presses stopped--and that is the prerequisite for the stabilization of the mark--the swindle would at once be brought to light. Believe me, our misery will increase. The scoundrel will get by. The reason: because the State itself has become the biggest swindler and crook. A robbers State!? If the horrified people notice that they can starve on billions, they must arrive at this conclusion: We will no longer submit to a State which is built on the swindling idea of the majority. We want a dictatorship." Thus spoke Adolf Hitler.

Bait and Switch

2008-11-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

Bait and Switch is a commonly used, but ILLEGAL, tactic in the merchandising arena in which an item is advertised at an appealing price but when the customer comes to the store they are informed that either the item is not in stock or is not really what the consumer wants and they are steered to a more expensive item. This is a fraudulent advertising tactic that is punishable by U.S. law.

Have we just witnessed political bait and switch from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson?? Today he announced that the whopping $700 billion bailout that was forced on us in the name of financial Armageddon and was to be used to buy up "toxic" mortgages to loosen up the banking loan industry will not be used for this and instead, there are new and different ways to use this money to invest in banks and to grease the skids for the credit card and auto and student loan arenas. I am outraged that we have been duped by our government and you should be too.

And to heap burning coals onto our heads, the auto industry that has been tenuous for years is looking for another handout (er...loan) to keep them from going under and AIG is getting a second handout and all on YOUR dollar. Are the airlines waiting in the wings--You betcha! Who else might be waiting in the wings with hands outstretched??? Just as our welfare system allows abuse by people who scam the system and are really not "entitled", we have just launched a huge system of industrial welfare and the corporate vultures are circling for whatever money they can get from the government gravy train.

Our elected officials must be told that this current situation is INTOLERABLE! Don't sit back and allow your hard earned money to be tossed down a rat hole and squandered by fat cats who have NO RIGHT to it. You worked hard for your money and have every right to say how it will be spent!!

Thank You

2008-11-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today is Veteran's Day and I want to say "Thank you" to all veterans. Thank you for leaving the comforts of home to go to a hostile land where you may have had to live in primitive and dangerous conditions. Thank you for leaving your family for months at a time to fight to defend our freedom. Thank you for your bravery in the face of danger in far away places. Thank you for giving of your self so that people back home could be free to take your name in vain. Thank you for defending the cause of freedom in places that have not known freedom. Thank you for the sacrifice of jobs and your personal security so that those at home may be secure. Thank you for the sacrifice of your life and health so that others can enjoy the gift of freedom and democracy. Thank you for the times that you have missed precious times in the lives of your families- births, first words and steps, graduations, marriages and deaths-- while serving a greater cause.

There is another group on this day that I would also like to thank. Thank you to all of the families who have given so graciously of your loved ones. Some of them have been on loan to the country and the world, and others have been permanently given to the cause of freedom and justice for all. You have spent times alone and waited patiently for loved ones to return, sometimes in futility.

Whether you are a veteran of combat or a veteran of military service in peace time, I honor you and the sacrifice of years from your life so that a greater cause may be served. THANK YOU.

Restructuring the Conservative Movement

2008-11-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

No sooner than the President-elect was announced than pundits everywhere were talking about the tatters of the Republican party and the need for some serious regrouping in order for the party to survive. Over the past week, I have also heard a growing number of voices that have been lobbying for the idea of a real third party. I have even read a thought or two about a secessionist movement. It is obvious that many people are thinking about what to do and brainstorming about all sorts of possibilities, some realistic and some....not so much.

Yesterday's Saturday political talk shows were filled with mention of a resurgence of the young fresh conservative faces such as Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence to name just a few. Today, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence graced Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and were quite impressive in laying out some preliminary guidelines for needed action.

Even as the election returns were still coming in, some pundits were making a case for the Republican party to move toward the squishy center and this has been promoted by any number of people in the past few post-election days. This is, however, not the way to make the Republican party or the conservative movement viable. To reimagine the Republican party into a conservative democratic party is not tenable. This is part of the reason why John McCain lost. Before he added Sarah Palin to the ticket his support was luke warm, but after adding her to the ticket, there was a rush of support that went in the direction of McCain. In fact, it is likely that many Republicans cast a vote for Sarah Palin rather than a vote for John McCain. If he had added someone else to the ticket, I feel that his loss would have been even more dramatic. As my husband proclaimed this summer as he winced at the thought of voting for John McCain, "If I wanted to vote for a Democrat, I would have voted for the Democrat." It is time, now, to rid the party of all of the old RINO's that pollute the Republican party and this includes some of the old and venerable names in Republicandom--Lindsey Graham, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel to name just a few....in fact some of these individuals may find themselves in positions in the Obama presidency. These men and women are not truly conservative and have shown it time and time again by pandering to the other side of the aisle and giving up ground to them in the name of bipartisanship. We saw it in the wake of judicial nominees in the Gang of 14 and even this summer during the rogue Republican congress when the old RINO's got on the bandwagon at the the last minute and formed a moderate coalition to work with the vacationing Democrats. It is time to sweep out the old and replace them with new fresh faces who embody true conservative principles.

Getting young conservatives out in the front lines will energize the Republican base. These are the internet and social media savvy conservatives that we need. During the Rogue Republican congress this August, the #dontgo movement was mounted by the social media and Twitter became the home for communication from the darkened House floor to the people around the country. During the entire August recess, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence and a number of other Republicans held forth in the darkened House chambers to make their case for drilling offshore and throughout the country where oil reserves were thought to exist as a bridge solution for $4-$5 per gallon gasoline and diesel fuel, exorbitantly expensive aviation fuel and heating oil. While Nancy Pelosi was on her book tour, and her fellow Democrats were on vacation, the Rogue Republicans stayed behind to make the case that something had to be done to gain energy independence from foreign oil. Daily briefings were made public via Twitter, conservative bloggers, cell phone cameras and internet audio and video media who staunchly stayed on top of the situation and spread the word even though the TV cameras, air conditioning and MSM coverage were turned off during this time.

The #dontgo movement caught on and was picked up by some of the conservative radio talkers and a groundswell of ordinary citizens began flooding the offices of the vacationing Democrats and some of the moderate Republicans who had gone home with phone calls, letters and email ordering them to return and get something done about the high cost of fuel. The same sort of conservative groundswell resulted with the response to legislation for amnesty for illegal immigrants and it was squelched in favor of better and tighter enforcement of laws already on the books and tightening of our borders. Conservative groundswell also had a role in the recall of Harriet Miers' nomination for Supreme Court Justice by the Bush Administration. We know that our voices, when mounted together can be heard.

Team Sarah which was a coalition of women from all walks of life who supported Sarah Palin entered the election with about 44,000 committed members and since then as added another 10,000 members since the defeat of the McCain ticket. The One Million woman townhall internet teleconference that was held by Team Sarah on November 1 was awesome. Next week, the #dontgo movement will be reborn into a new conservative rebuilding effort with emphasis on sweeping out the stale Republican leadership and tying all of the loose ends together into a conservative answer to moveon.org.

Conservatives need to be cohesive and organized. We need to be disciplined and principled. We need to tie all of the splinter groups together and make use of the social media. We need to appeal to young people in a stronger way. We need to be sure that we stay aligned with the ideas that we should have espoused all along--smaller government, personal responsibility, lower taxes, fiscal responsibility, etc. While the black vote went overwhelmingly for Obama, we know from YouTube and the blogosphere that there were some very outspoken black Republican voters. We need to reach out to those conservative Latino and black voters where we have common ground and be sure that they realize that our tent is big enough for conservatives of any bent.

I am looking forward to seeing the new Republican party rising out of the ashes of the 2008 election defeat as a stronger, more vibrant, more cohesive and more vocal party that can stand up successfully in the 2010 mid-term election and stave off further Congressional losses and put themselves into a strong position for the 2012 Presidential election! If we all band together and work for the next two years to educate and energize potential voters, this could happen.

My Daughter Made Me Proud

2008-11-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

My daughter works in marketing and like many young adults, she has been a relatively detached voter in the two prior Bush elections. She digests things quietly and many times during her formative years, my husband and I seriously wondered what actually got through to her. As a young adult she is conservative both socially and fiscally. As a young professional woman she is successful. Yet she has always held that a single vote is meaningless and has not had much use for politics overall. My husband and I have tried to dispel this idea, but she never seemed to buy into it. So I was a bit surprised when she admitted that she and her boyfriend had been engaged in such a spirited political discussion that they missed the exit on the interstate when they were traveling to join us for lunch on Sunday. (This in spite of the fact that they both voted for McCain/Palin!) Then yesterday, she called me in the afternoon to tell me, sarcastically, that I could sleep well knowing that she had just finished voting for McCain/Palin! She also made some snide comment about how silly I was to place so much emphasis on voting.

And yet, yesterday evening, she called while she was on the way home from a meeting to see if there was any news about the election yet!

This morning, I received an email from her with the following message: Are you sad.....?

My response was that while I was a bit sad, the election provided true conservatives with some very important challenges for the future.

I seriously thought that would be the end of the discussion, as it usually is. But I received a response email with one of the most astounding and cogent responses from her:

What was done right = MARKETING.

What was done wrong = MARKETING.

I believe that this election was won by the best marketer.

I do have to say that I'm more interested in politics now because of this election. People seem to be so energized by him that I'd really like to watch and track the actual change that takes place vs. what he said he would do (even though he didn't say much other than "change").

So thanks to this election my conservative daughter is now energized with respect to politics. She gets it now, and knows that her profession played a profound role in this election. She also recognizes that words alone don't produce change. If she ever decides to switch jobs, I think that she could find a place in the conservative political arena.