The Sky's The Limit

• The Rather Imperfect Ms. Sherrod. Shirley Sherrod has unwittingly become the new Joan d’Arc of race relations. Suddenly, this once more than casually racist (if you listen closely to her own words) woman had an epiphany and just as suddenly her past sins were, POOF, forgiven and she has been cast in a new light. This new light is the aggrieved and tragically maligned speaker whose words of redemption were taken out of context. Where we had calls for her resignation just mere days ago from the White House on down, including the NAACP, we now hear cries for canonizing this woman. And my God, let the apologies begin! Two things bother me about the who Sherrod situation: first is that as she spoke of her “transformation” from someone who provided a farmer with a lawyer of “his own kind”, the visible audience nodded their heads in agreement…and laughed heartily when she spoke of her past racism. This made me go hmmmmm… . And the second thing was that if you listen real closely, at the time starting at 23:40 of the NAACP-released video you can hear Ms. Sherrod, in her capacity as a Federal USDA employee, disparage the Bush administration and the “Republicans” for racism as it relates to their stand on health care “reform:”
  

  You know, I haven’t seen such a mean-spirited people as I’ve seen lately over this issue of health care. Some of the racism we thought was buried. Didn’t it surface? Now, we endured eight years of the Bush’s and we didn’t do the stuff these Republicans are doing because you have a black President.

  Maybe it’s just me, but Ms. Sherrod’s words are apparently in violation of the Hatch Act, which state that “a restricted employee may not (among other things) use an official title or position while engaged in political activity).” Well, she spoke as Shirley Sherrod, USDA representative, and her speech was highly political and inflammatory. Where are the consequences?

• “Cap and Tax” Takes a Holiday. It was announced today by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the Senate Democrats would no longer pursue “comprehensive” energy legislation — aka “Cap and Tax.” In place of this effort, the Dems will focus on the further beating up of BP for their accidental oil spill and increasing efficiency (whatever the hell THAT means!) I couldn’t be happier that this legislation and the effort to get it passed was abandoned. It is an economy buster, and we should oppose it in its various piecemeal incarnations that will be proposed in the future. But those of you who support this onerous pig of a bill there is still hope. Yup, there will be plenty of 2,000+ page pieces of legislation that will be floated between now and the time that the Democrats again become the minority party in both houses of Congress. And plenty of opportunities to tuck harmful, phoney-baloney amendments into, say a bill for education reform. Dear Lord, all that change, and so little time left!
• A Day That Will Live In Infamy. On January 1, 2011 we Americans will be subjected, across the board, to the largest tax increase in the nation’s history. On that date, the un-extended Bush tax cuts are scheduled to end. Contrary to the Democrats and their minion punditry are telling the masses, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts affect every segment of the taxpaying spectrum. The effects will be chilling and toxic to an already straining economy.  To give you an idea of the damage that will be done to our personal finances, it is expected that $2.6 trillion new tax dollars will be collected by the government. I just wonder what the dunderheads in Congress will do this this new windfall? Pay the debt down? Reduce the deficit? Unfortunately, these actions are highly unlikely. Don’t be surprised when they start spending these new taxes to cultivate a whole new co-dependent constituency. It makes me crazy to think that they will get all these new monies that will only perpetuate the present corruption and bad behavior. And one last thought — Isn’t it “funny” that tax cuts have a definite expiry, but entitlements and social programs have no expiration date — they just go on and on forever??

Events of earlier this week prove to me that the oath of office that Reps and Senators take is a mere formality, and that the words themselves have no actual meaning to the oath taker.

The most recent case in point is now-Senator Carte Goodwin (D-WV). Mr. Goodwin was sworn in to replace Robert Byrd on early Tuesday morning, and with his oath of office still ringing in his ears, he immediately broke his pledge in favor of siding with the Democrats on the unemployment extension legislation. Two things about the speed with which Goodwin signed-on to this bill trouble me. The first is: Did he actually read the legislation to understand exactly what he was agreeing to? And the second is: Mr. Goodwin pledged to protect and defend the Constitution but did he even pause to consider that his action may not necessarily support his oath?

I understand that Mr. Goodwin is a lawyer by trade (just what we need, ANOTHER lawyer!) and he should be aware of the constitutionality of his actions. But I dare any proponent of actions like providing or extending unemployment “benefits”, including Mr. Goodwin, to show me the words (beyond the penumbral interpretaions) that allow such actions to be taken by the Congress. Wouldn’t a newly-minted, temporary office holder like Mr. Goodwin have any second thoughts regarding his prospective vote?

However, Goodwin did the predictable thing and voted for the extension, even though it will add to the nation’s out of control budget deficit and debt.

So there we have it. Yet another example of politics winning out over the Constitution. And what makes this even more galling is the fact that Goodwin is a rent-a-senator. Sure he was duly appointed by Governor Joe Manchin of West Virginia using the proscribed legal process. But Goodwin will be a senator for a mere 6 months…and being appointed rather than elected, his votes do not necessarily represent the will of the electorate in West Virginia (as if that is ever a consideration with modern elected officials.) So, his go-along-to-get-along voting with his Democrat brethren is symptomatic of the partisan and ideological political cancer that infests our government.

And being from Massachusetts, I’m sensitive to this rent-a-senator tomfoolery, as our once appointed senator, Paul Kirk, held the office long enough last fall and winter to endorse and ultimately vote for Obamacare. Again, this vote was in direct contravention to his very recent oath of office…and an affront to all citizens of our country, most of whom opposed this onerous legislation. Unfortunately, his appointment was a bag job from the git-go, and his affirmative vote for Obamacare was assured (regardless of the gravity of his oath promise) because he was a longtime friend of Ted Kennedy, who had been the biggest senatorial proponent of universal health care.

I guess that oaths may come and oaths may go…but the laws that are passed with the caprice of partisan politics by those oath takers last FOREVER. And that’s precisely how long that we citizens must suffer their consequences.

An odd title for this essay, but I think an apt one nonetheless. Today in 2010 America, the manner in which we’re being governed is not the way it is supposed to be. We have our leaders at the federal level constantly preaching the benefits of this or that legislation is for the “middle class” or “hardworking Americans”, and that to pay for this or that social scheme that “the rich” will have to bear more of the burden.

Now, maybe I’m just proving myself to be the dolt that a few of my detractors have labeled me, but my reading of the Constitution doesn’t give the president or the Congress any authority to hurt, help or otherwise claim dominion over “the people.” Rather, the Constitution is quite clear and specific as to who and what our elected federal representatives may or may not help. And in all cases, it is the STATES…or the collected assemblage of these states, our Republic. Not people, not individuals or not social classes. But what do I know, I rely on that quaint, outmoded technique called reading comprehension to determine my opinion on the facts placed before me.

How can I prove this? Well, Article I, Section 8 “Powers of Congress” does not mention once the word individual, person, citizen, human, etc. It refers to the powers of Congress in regards to the United States. Certainly the United States is comprised of individuals, but first and foremost it is comprised of 50 independent sovereign STATES. And what’s even more clear is that no such authority or powers over individuals exist for the president as well.

The simple fact is that the only entities with any authority over the people who inhabit them are the STATES. It is only when we get to Article VI “The States” that any authority is granted in regards to ‘Citizens’ and ‘Persons’ by the Constitution. And this authority is furthermore bolstered by the Tenth Amendment. Not the federal government, the STATES!

In my opinion what has happened since the dawn of the 20th century is that individual American STATES and citizens have been snookered and tricked, and in some cases bought off with federal “entitlements”, into allowing an extra-Constitutional intrusion into our individual lives on the part of the federal government. By the rights proscribed to it by the Constitution, the Congress has no power to enact laws regarding health care, education, social programs, jobs, entitlements, etc. as they pertain to an individual citizen. They may only do these things as they pertain to the 50 states in our Union. We have allowed OUR laws to be Shanghaied by the ‘lawyerly’ class and even worse, we have allowed an almost religious sect be formed regarding the Constitution and the laws of our land. We have fostered a situation where there are law-givers and law interpreters, but the PEOPLE bear no place in the process except to obey these laws once they are thrust upon us.

But this is a gross perversion of the intent of the Founders. They wanted the United States to be a user friendly social compact. They didn’t intend to replace an all-powerful monarch, selected by heredity, with another similarly powerful monarchy, selected by our votes. But that’s precisely what has happened. Somehow, we individual citizens have let our collective guard down and have allowed our betters to interpret OUR laws using the vaguest of vague penumbral interpretations and readings. We have allowed two words in the Article I, Section 8 — “Welfare” and “Commerce” to be the ticket to legislative tyranny not seen in this country since the reign of King George.

The saddest part of all is that WE have allowed this to happen, for whatever reason. Millions of people don’t vote, millions vote for personal gain or benefit (or shall I say entitlement?), and millions more vote because they are told to do so and for whom (and perhaps million more vote who are prohibited, like felons and the dead!) And even worse, we are discouraged from discussing the Constitution in an informed manner because our educational system refuses to place much value in us being Constitutionally aware. No, our Constitutional awareness and discourse has been transmogrified into political party bickering and trying to obtain primacy over the goody giving that has become the raison d’etre of the federal government.

So for me, it’s not just enough to throw the bums out. Our problems run deeper than the group of 540 or so individuals who make up our elected federal representatives. No, our problems are systemic and run much deeper and thus need stronger medicine than a mere change of faces. Unfortunately, the change needs to occur in each of us, or in a majority of the voters who turn out each election. We need to place more emphasis and value in those individuals who promise us less, but similarly promise to hold dear and faithfully observe each provision as written in the Constitution. Until we get this tacit fealty, we are doomed. There is just no other way to express it.

But I’m also a realist, as I fear we’ve reached the tipping point in our society where more people obtain benefit from their vote — so why not vote for an utterly anti-Constitutional candidate regardless of the overall impact to our nation? We may have already entered into that democratic suicide pact with our government that cannot be stopped no more than a runaway train may be.

Unfortunately once we’ve reached that tipping point, there is exactly ZERO remaining chance that we can regain a solid Constitutional footing in the operation of our federal government. Let’s face it, only a fool would vote to slaughter and barbecue their cash cow! So, the only thing left that we can do is hold on tight and try not to be too negatively affected by the wild ride to wherever our situation as a country eventually takes us. Perhaps at some point it becomes every man and woman for themselves. Who knows?

Happy landings…

The political scene has taken another turn for the worse as a result of the über-partisanship revolving around passage of the health care “reform” legislation. Claims and counter claims are flying about from the left and the right regarding threats and violence from the “other side” in the hours before and the days after passage of this bill. However, no entity can make hay out of their claims like the Democrats and their party. Let’s just look at the spectacle for a moment and take account of the alleged carnage to date: the alleged use of bitter invective including the so-called “n-word” by protesters at the Capitol; an alleged incident where a black legislator was spat upon; a coffin left on the lawn of a Democrat rep.; windows were broken in the local office of another Democrat rep.; death threats were made to by phone to several reps. of both parties; a Republican rep.’s discovered a bullet hole in the window of his local office; and other incidents of less than acceptable deportment and decorum vis-a-vis elected officials.

I think all of these incidents reside at the intersection of reality and hyperbole. I also think that the Democrats, using their strongest politically ally in the mainstream media, have performed a bit of political alchemy on the events of earlier this week — changing the controversy of the unpopular partisan healthcare vote to ersatz-sympathy for the alleged “attacks.” See, there is quite a bit of political apprehension and guilt on the left-leaning side of the aisle. The Democrats folks knew that they, proverbially-speaking, tweaked an angry dragon’s tail with their passage of Obamacare. But they did so in order to bolster their Ideologue-In-Chief and his socialist “transformative change” agenda. So they desperately needed political cover (and since not a single Republican voted for the monstrosity they can’t take cover behind them because of that), and fast! How better to obtain this cover, and fire up their base (because we all have poor short-term political memories in the face of righteous indignations affecting “our guy” or gal) than by playing presto-chango with their vote and the alleged “violent” repercussions? How can you despise someone and their actions if they’re the hapless “victim?”

Couple theses specious and increasingly debunked claims with the fact that the alleged perpetrators of these affronts are the Tea Party protesters, then you have the basic ingredients of a spittle laden rage and tirade by the likes of Comrade Keith Olbermann et. al. that even a heaping dose of mother’s little helper can’t curtail. And so the entire width and breadth of the government controlled media are now actively involved in the debasement and derision, if not outright ridicule, of the Tea Partiers (almost as though they received specific instructions by FAX as to what to say and how to say it!) This action by the MSM would be laughable except for the fact that the Tea party folks are from all political stripes — certainly the lion’s share are right-leaning ideologically– and I know several moderate Democrats who have joined the movement out of buyer’s remorse for their 2008 vote folly. So the swiftness with which the MSM painted the alleged “violence” as right wing and associated with the TP protesters is shameful and deceptive.

But really, isn’t that their job? Aren’t the entire MSM, probably with the exceptions of FOX News, the WSJ and the indies on the internet, in the bag for the current Democrat powers-that-be and their liberal base? So why would it be unexpected or raise a single eyebrow that the MSM is off trying to do everything they can to discredit the TP crowd in the eyes of the perhaps dozens of readers and viewers that they have?

The plain truth is it isn’t unexpected. In fact, it’s entirely expected! The fact of the matter is is that if you’re persistent enough and can tolerate enough liberal dreck and pablum, you will see a pattern emerge where all the newsreaders (no, they’re not journalists!) seem to have an eerily similar story to tell. So eerily similar, in fact, that one has to wonder if it wasn’t drafted in a windowless communications office in a certain Washington landmark and FAXed to the corpus of useful media idiots for them to recite.

This is NOTHING new…it’s just the new order of American politics. American politics Democrat style. Part of the de-evolution of our society into a modern day orgy of blood sport, ad hominem attacks and ridicule. And if you add in the new administration’s Chicago political roots, you’re left with a bare-knuckled, winner-take-all implementation of the previous.

So, fasten your seatbelts for the political ride we’re about to have between now and November. By the time that the Democrat spin machine is done, we won’t know right from left or up from down. But you can bet your grandma that we WILL know one thing — that the Republicans are the problem, they are the party of NO, they are egging-on violence, they don’t have any answers, they are the party of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and they are closely aligned with the Tea Partiers. You can also be darned sure that their claims are righteous and true.

The FAXes say so…

Except when it isn’t.

This sausage allegory is what we’ve all been told about the unsavory nature of turning the crank and outputting legislation in the ever-increasingly corrupt halls of Congress. But the “process,” if you can call it that, that was used to pass the Obamacare alleged “health care reform” was decidedly un-sausage-like. In fact, it was more excretory in nature. Let me explain.

When I was a kid, I had this model of the human body, “The Visible Man”, that was a clear acrylic shell that held the various internal organs and bones which comprise the human body. Yesterday, during a quite moment of introspection I thought about that model when I was thinking about the passage of the health care bill. See, I think that the journey that the legislation took was from the stomach to the sphincter. The Democrats took every single idea to peevishly punish insurance companies and free-market businesses with regards to their relationship to the insured, their employees and health-care and swallowed them whole as competing 2,000 page purposefully-Byzantine documents full of goodies for legislators whose key support was desired.

After it passed the various committees in each chamber of the Congress, it then entered the legislative small intestine for debate and scrutiny. It was here that the cancerous enactment process came into full view, as if I had taken a knife to the guts of “Mr. Visible” to reveal every polyp, lesion and impaction in the alimentary organs. During the initial digestion, things didn’t look good for the legislation. Like a python whose eyes were too big for his digestive tract, the bill just couldn’t pass through the intestine without serious pushing and political wheeling-and-dealing. The reason it couldn’t pass was the revulsion of the American public to this scheme once they learned its contents: The contents of which were revealed by concerned Republicans for the public to see. As it stood (and stands) there is little digestible matter for the public at large to like about this scheme (and scam.)

In November, when Scott Brown from Massachusetts was elected to the Senate (in the seat vacated due to the death of Ted Kennedy) it looked as though the legislation suffered from a full-on intestinal blockage, and would never leave the small intestine. See, the newly-minted Sen. Brown made it possible for Republicans to filibuster and perhaps kill this legislation and create a fatal blockage.

Unless…

Political chicanery and hypocritical parliamentary tactics were employed to dislodge the blockage and allow for the complete digestion of this legislation. And this is what was done using an obscure technique called ‘Reconciliation,” a process normally used for the budgeting process to absorb clerical and minor revisions to bills. But reconciliation was never intended or in the past used to move along a bill the size, scope and cost of the “reform” legislation. So, reconciliation guaranteed that the “reform” legislation made its way into the colon.

In the colon is where the real fecal processes occurred. Deals were cut and arms were twisted…Ms. Pelosi proved a formidable capo di tutti capi in doing her job as First Dominatrix of the House. Certainly there are underworld figures and lesser third world strongmen who could learn volumes from the legislative techniques employed by Ms. Pelosi to advance this legislation. But here we have it, the process of alternate intimidation and goody-giving that took place in the colon made it possible for the legislative bolus to wend its way to the sphincter, and emerge as the substance that it truly is. And we all know what eventually emerges from the sphincter — a truly noxious and repellent substance to be sure.

So, today, the sphincter opened, the “stuff” of the corrupt and contemptible legislative digestion fell out and an anxious, socialist hand signed it into law. He and the crazed, hyper-partisan Democrats jubilantly declared the event “historic” and “a victory”, and they planted their flag of conquest squarely into the chest of the American citizen. They don’t have to pay for this nonsense…WE do. So, we all must live, forevermore, with the consequences. It won’t affect me or those of my generation as much as it will the children (and their children) of others. I will be saddened because the America of my youth and my father’s generation will have been marred by the graffiti of socialism. And I will have lived through a time (that I never dreamed possible) when my Constitutional rights have been eroded right before my eyes, albeit in a death by 1,000 cuts manner. However, our children and their heirs will be saddled with a financial burden and a loss of liberties that will make them lead smaller and less productive lives than past generations of Americans, and a guarantee of a lesser standing for them in this highly competitive world.

Obama and the his ideological soul mate Democrats might see this as a victory and as an historic moment, but all I know is that the rest of us are going to have to clean up the mess that’s left and live with the stink. They might have thought this was good digestion, but we all know what we’ve been left with…

I have updated the Liberty Clock to reflect the latest insult to our freedoms and liberties as contained in the Obamacare legislation passed by the House of Representatives Sunday night:

Because of the contents of this legislation and he manner in which the corrupt and contemptible House of Representatives chose to pass it I have taken the liberty (no pun intended) to add a sec0nd hand, which is set to one-half (0.5) second to midnight.

Yes, I think we’re THAT close to national social Armageddon.

In fact, I’m so convinced that the United States of America has been set on a road from which we cannot recover that I’m pulling out the panic button from times past as well:

You see yesterday our elected representatives, by a vote of 219-212, put themselves into the “rights” creation business. They stuck a proverbial finger into God’s eye…and usurped the authority to create rights that is only reserved to God. And they used a process that was not only highly flawed and corrupt, but indisputably unconstitutional. The very people sworn to uphold the Constitution blatantly ignored the spirit, intent and wording of our nation’s guiding document. In fact, they took every opportunity to stretch and disfigure their constitutional observance in the passage of this far-reaching bill.

So what are we left with? We’re left with a health care system that will be mandated and dictated by bureaucrats and politicians in Washington, DC. And as a bonus, as if we’ve needed one, the government will also take over the college student loan program. In the final analysis and for all time following, we will be left with the basic structure/rationale for additional socialistic programs and laws.

We’ll also be left with an even larger and more oppressive debt, regardless of the blue sky/rose colored glasses analyses by the CBO. I’ve heard several politicians, including my own US representative, state that the passage of Obamacare was an historic undertaking by the Congress — right up there with Social Security and Medicare. Hyperbole aside, these dunderheads might want to be more careful in their choice of comparisons. Social Security is presently in a debt hole, also known as “unfunded liability”, of $14.2 trillion and Medicare is in debt to the tune of $74.9 trillion. (And if we add the prescription drug “benefit” debt of $18.8 trillion into the mix, we get a debt trifecta of $107.9 trillion.)

Clearly, when these programs were contemplated and the legislation passed, the proponents never dreamed that they would put such a weight of debt on our country — on our children. But with time they did, growing as entitlement programs inevitably do because it is political suicide to say “NO” to an entitlement. So, what makes us think that a similar escalation won’t occur with this new health care “reform” scheme? The simple answer is of course it will! What is realistically a $1.75 trillion plan for the next 10 years will end up costing many times more than this if we use the other entitlements as templates. If I had to guess, I would estimate that the unfunded liability for this bloated health care entitlement will top $150 trillion in a mere 25 years.

Such are the unintended consequences of the myopic political decisions of ideologues and the adoption of new “rights” given to an ever-increasing in size population, whose demographics are constantly changing. This is a game changing occurrence except the game is changed by forcing America, due to crushing national debt, to sit on the sidelines and lose it’s competitive advantage in the world economy. We won’t suffer, but all generations hence will come to curse the date March 21, 2010. Because they will pay dearly for medical care that might generously be described as third world in quality and delivery.

The Democrats may celebrate their hollow “victory” from yesterday, but I am firmly convinced that today, somewhere, the Founders weep.

Okay, the campaign is just about over. Not many hours remain in this fight to be our next U.S. Senator, and the choice couldn’t be clearer.

On the one side, we have the Democrat Martha Coakley who represents the entrenched, corrupt majority party in Washington, DC (and in our home state of Massachusetts). Candidate Coakley has closely aligned herself with the contemptible and unpopular Obama legislative agenda, and she has indicated she will be a reliable 60th vote for all his cockamamie schemes. She is undoubtedly a cog in the powerful Democratic political machine.

On the other hand, we have Republican Scott Brown, an independent-minded statesman who has directly indicated that he will be the 41st vote for a successful Republican filibuster to derail the odious Obamacare legislation that is now being conferenced behind closed doors by the Democrat leaders.

Scott has run a magnificent, positive campaign that has focused on his citizen-centric political philosophy. He understands and has understood that the seat he is running for belongs to US, the people of Massachusetts. He has worked hard, criss-crossing the state –  shaking hands, meeting people and getting his message out there. He wants the job because he wants to REPRESENT us and be a voice for our concerns. And his observation during the last senatorial debate that it “isn’t the Kennedy seat, not the Democrat’s seat — it’s the people’s seat” galvanized even the most skeptical fence-sitting independents (and erstwhile Democrats) who sat on the fence until that time.

So, it’s now time to take action. It’s time to cast our precious votes. It’s time to take back our government and restore sanity and balance to the political circus in Washington. We in Massachusetts have the unique opportunity to loudly reject the far-left policies of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi troika, and to reset the thinking and the political landscape in the nation’s capital. Certainly we can accept and embrace the status quo in government and allow our Constitutional rights to be run over roughshod, or we can act as the first patriots did in our great state and chose the candidate who will act as a brake to the unpopular, socialist plans. And the candidate who will observe unwavering allegiance to the Constitution.

Please join me tomorrow as I cast my vote for Scott Brown for U.S. Senator. Scott has the demonstrated legislative record, temperament and background to be an outstanding United States senator. I believe that he will make us proud of our vote for him, and as a result we will finally get a long-overdue balance of political viewpoint in our senatorial delegation.

Get out tomorrow and vote for Scott.

GO SCOTT, GO!!!!

So, it’s come to this?

The simple act of governance and representation of the American people has become so debased and corrupted that we can now expect (what appear to be at face value) recalcitrant legislators brought into the party line with a combination of bribes, threats and/or other such motivators. Just between former senatorial holdouts Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Ben Nelson (D-NE), there were more monetary promises given to them than the combined yearly operating budgets of the entire republic before 1815! And who knows how many other sweetheart deals and goodies lie hidden, from the countless hours of “negotiations” and outright buy-offs, in the heretofore unseen pages of the senate “reform” bill? But from the two examples that I’ve provided, we know that there are ‘accommodations’ that have been made to secure passage of this measure. Accommodations using our money and increasing the debt that our grandchildren will be forced to repay.

Imagine that?

We are witnessing, first person, the degradation of our once great nation into a banana republic, complete with dispassionate oligarchs willing to place their political party allegiance über alles. So what if a particular issue that is close to the heart of the Democrat party chafes at the sensibilities of the American public at large? Like the health care “reform” being force fed to our society by 60 senators and 205 representatives in the Congress.

But why this bill…and why now?

By all accounts, the senate version of health care reform is a shell of the measure that most or all Democrat legislators want. It is not the “universal” health care goody bag that the departed Ted Kennedy pushed so hard for during his time in the oligarchy. It is rather a cobbled-together framework that turns health insurance into a function for which we do not have an adequate definition in the English language. All national opinion polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not favor the present attempt at health care reform, particularly during this time of high financial uncertainty. Because of changes to the legislation in order to achieve compromise, support has even eroded from the left side of the political spectrum — in the form of unions and ‘progressive’ political action groups. The complaint from these groups is that the legislation simply doesn’t go far enough to socialize medicine.

So, why would the Democrats, lemming-like and in lockstep, march towards the precipice of political disaster. Certainly they all know the political risks and baggage that passing an unpopular piece of legislation can bring them. Certainly they understand the contempt that many Americans feel for them based on the glimpses that we have been given into the legislative sausage-making activity. Certainly they know that they desired a top-of-the-line Mercedes and no they must settle for a used Kia with two flat tires. And certainly they know that some of them are ending their political careers (based on the current and not expected to diminish ire of the voting public) based on this single vote — a vote which will be made a major campaign issue in the mid-term elections of 2010 and 2011.

It seems like so much of a fight to get what is essentially pennies on the dollar in political return for these proved craven politicos. So, there must be some other motivation or reward that trumps even individual political careers. But what could it be?

We all know that the Holy Grail of progressive thinkers is the conversion of our nation into a socialist Utopia. Folks of this ilk think we need a ‘living’ Constitution and that in order to achieve an egalitarian Eden here in the US, we all need to buck up and compromise some of our constitutional rights. So, perhaps this legislation is test case for the progressives. It is now a baby step in the direction of that living Constitution so coveted by the socialist progressives. It might mot seem like much on the surface or on a cursory analysis, but forcing citizens to buy insurance may be the “camel’s nose in the tent” test case that emboldens the far-left political thinkers, and will make other future legislation more dangerous (from a rights and liberties standpoint) to the average American citizen.

This is a clarion wake up call for each citizen!

I sure hope that people wake up. I sure hope that the Tea Party movement indicates a ground-swell of realization that the Constitution belongs to each of us, and not to “them.” And by them I mean our president, congressmen, senators and other elected officials. They are our REPRESENTATIVES! They are supposed to act in our best interests and not in theirs. They are supposed to vote based upon our wishes, and not based on what they think is best for us. And most importantly, they are supposed to treat the Constitution with the utmost deference and respect.

However, the handling of the health care reform in the Senate illustrates just how corrupted the process of representative governance has become in our country. We citizen-idiots (or at least that’s how we’re thought of, wholesale, by our betters in Washington, DC) are just supposed to elect representative oligarchs who then are expected to cater to the whims and caprice of political parties and powerful special interests in an effort to further the political ambitions and desires of all involved. But the one thing that gets lost in all this party- and power-centric adulation and aggrandizement is the Constitution, and the fact that the purpose of this noble document is the preservation of a citizen-centric nation.

Amazingly, we are witnessing first-hand that our current crop of elected representatives don’t care a whit about the Constitution and it’s relationship to individuals. Otherwise each and every legislator would be decrying the fact that for the first time in the history of our nation, and in direct contravention of the Constitution, citizens will be mandated to procure a good or service as a basic requirement of citizenship. This is an area where we must expect that our representatives will not compromise under any circumstances…yet one which they abandon with effortlessly in order to achieve political party or individual gain.

So I ask you — Is this “Representation?”

The representatives in the Congress may have been elected under the political system allowed under the Constitution. But their actions have revealed that they do not “represent.” Rather, they rule, govern and mandate — and they do so in high dudgeon. They act as representatives in name only. Unfortunately, the sad part is that they do not try to hide their faux nobility nor do many of them hide their contempt and disdain for the people whom they purport to represent.

It is high time that we American citizens take back our nation. We need to interrupt our busy lives and reclaim our rightful place in the political process — as ever vigilant guardians of our Constitutional rights and liberties. We need to restore the citizen-centricity to the political process…and remove the importance of vocal and wealthy special interests from the political equation. We need to speak with a unified voice on this issue, and we must be heard.

And if no one listens, then it’s high time we threw the bums out! We need to remeber our outrage…and not simmer down where we forgive and forget. Because our passivity and past blind fealty to a political party will only obtain us a formerly unthinkable and (formerly) unconstitutional subservience to an ever-increasing in size and in power government. We need to do this while we are still freeborn men and women with Constitutionally-guaranteed rights (including the right to be outraged and the right to ‘unelect’ a particular representative) and before we are snookered into ceding these rights (and perhaps liberties) to fulfill a hidden progressive agenda.

I say that if the progressives want the form of government that they desire…then they have every right to invade and colonize some unsuspecting third-world nation and get things started. But in the mean time, leave my nation and my Constitution alone…and leave me alone. Because I suspect I’m not alone when I promise that in the future when my rights and liberties are put in jeopardy to satisfy some socialist desire, I will go all Ethan Allen at the ballot box on the perpetrator(s). And I bet that there are countless millions upon millions of other ‘Green Mountain Boys (and Girls)’ out there to join me!

Don’t tread on us!!

The highly “principled” Ben Nelson (D-NE) has shown that he, like Mary Landrieu before him, has a price and he’s not afraid to throw the fates of 300 million Americans under the bus to achieve his pay day. He’s not afraid to place his shameful treachery before the view of the unapproving American public. Once the lone holdout in thwarting the passage of the grotesquely surgically-altered Obamacare legislation in the Senate, after round-the-clock “negotiating” with senate Prince of Darkness Harry Reid (D-NV) over the past two days, Nelson secured ‘generous parting gifts’ for the state of Nebraska in return for his ‘YEA.’ The deal that he is purported to have struck is free Medicaid payments to Nebraska from the federal government in perpetuity!

Such a deal!! The rest of us saddled with the worst part of the deal he has caved in to get to pay for his duplicity. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

However, lost in all this deal making was the fact that there was very little compromise on Reid’s part to address the “principled” part of Nelson’s initial objection — the coverage of abortion with federal dollars and the need for inclusion of wording like the infamous Stupak amendment in the House bill. So, rather than finding Nelson to be the highly principled patriot that he claimed to be, we see him in the full light of the sun now that the rock he’s been hiding under has been upended. He’s nothing but a cheap vote and goody whore (like the good Senator Landrieu of the “Louisiana Purchase” fame!) He apparently has the ability to drop his closest held principles like a hot potato when “Mr. Green” enters the room. You know Mr. Green — he’s related to the Benjamins and the Grants, if you know what I mean.

So, now we have 60 little Democrats all lined up in a row raring to vote to pass a bill that they were never privy to in hard copy form till now, and raring to vote for it in record time for such sweeping legislation. Just the fact that Reid and Obama want such speedy passage of this legislative Frankenstein’s monster makes me sure that there is political chicanery and outright deception buried in its 2000+ pages — not to mention the 725+ page manager’s amendment drafted by Reid. Honestly, how can 100 senators give proper study and consideration to such a large piece of legislation given the aggressive time frame between which they were provided the bill (in its final form) and the date it is to be voted upon?

Fellow Americans, we sheep are having the wool pulled over our eyes by these craven partisan politicians. Even in our stong opposition to this legislative insanity (all major polls indicate that more than 55% of American oppose this legislation and less than 45% approve of it.) Shouldn’t the citizens in polls, at town meetings, at rallies and at Tea Party evens be heard and given their due deference and consideration?

According to the 60 little Democrats lined in a row the answer is an unequivocal “NO!!”

This Congress had its opportunity to put forth meaningful, bipartisan legislation to fix the key areas that help drive up the cost of health care, like tort reform and inter-state insurance policy availability. But seeing that neither of these plain view, common sense issues are integrated into this naked attempt to take over the medical industry and put it under the purview of government bureaucrats, I guess we see what the true aims and purpose of the Democrat majority in Congress and in the White House.

And they are represented in large part by and now synonymous with the “principled” Mr. Nelson of Nebraska. The man who held out, then sold out his constituents and his country for what amounts to a modern ration of 20 pieces of silver.

Enjoy your “victory” while you can, oh ye 60 Judases…because your actions have unleashed a truly vengeful genie from it’s sleeping place where it had been bottled up for so many years. Because the way I see it, any senator who votes for this flawed piece of legislation will have Hell to pay…and will face the fury of angry constituents with long memories, and they will find themselves in the future with a new, unplanned political career.

UNELECTED!!

The US Congress and our president are engaged in a full court press to achieve their Holy Grail political objective –the control of the US health care system. The president and the Senate leadership in the person of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) are pulling out all the stops…making promises and giving huge monetary considerations to fence sitting legislators and making not-so-veiled threats to those senators who oppose the legislation as it stands due to the inclusion of abortion funding, etc.

They are oh so close…they can taste victory and they are counting the millions of new and grateful voters that their naked exercise in largess redistribution will acquire. The end game is upon them, and they don’t want a few principled and stubborn senators standing in the way of their supposed celebration.

But these hardened politicians are forgetting two facts in their single-minded quest for perpetual political primacy — the opposition of the American people to their scheme and the questionable constitutionality of the forced acquisition by the government of health insurance for individual citizens. The constitutionality issue will certainly be sorted out by the courts, but this leaves the opposition of Americans to this plan. All major American pollsters show that a majority of Americans are opposed to so-called Obamacare in either of it’s congressional incarnations. In fact, the Rasmussen organization has consistently shown a plurality of Americans opposed to the health care “reform” since late July. The latest poll, done December 12-13 reveals 40% in favor and 56% opposed to Congress’ labors on health care “reform.”

This differential would be coveted by any of the incumbent vote whores as a margin of victory in an election campaign. But as a measure of the will of the American people in opposition to health care reform, they show disdain, defiance and disrespect to our wishes. See, they know what’s best for us…even over our best protestations. But it’s not so much what’s best for us, it’s what’s best for the Democrats and their future political ambitions. This is less an exercise in protecting the uninsured from catastrophic health expenses as it is floorplanning the sub rosa socialist conquest of the USA.

Right now, Obama and the Congressional leadership are willing to lose a few Democratic members in the upcoming mid term election in order to capture the gold ring known as health care reform. Again, it’s not about us, it’s all about them.

I say let them turn a deaf ear to our wishes. Let them live in a political vacuum while eying only the prize at hand. Their actions are completely within their own power and purview — they can do what’s in our interests or in theirs. But I caution them to do so at their own peril. They may think that they can bully the heretofore timid puppy called the American voter because they control the presidency, the House and the Senate. But I assure them that this year will be different: Rather than a timid puppy visiting the polling places this fall they will instead encounter a bared-fang pit bull ready to rip out their political throats!

So, ignore and defy the will of the people, but do so at your own peril. Because I feel that your legislative victory will be short-lived, but at a great cost to the Democratic party and to individuals within it. I suspect that the Republicans will repeal this legislative monstrosity at the first opportunity that they get. And the architects of this whole mess will be left on the outside looking in…wondering in awe about the will of the American people that can, at the right time, surpass petty political ambitions.