Question #1 during much of the Health Care Debate was: “Why the rush?”.

I should have seen it at the time, but now, it is clear to me just how important it was for Democrats to pass Health Care Reform, in any condition. Even torn to shreds. Getting it done early in 2010 was absolutely essential.

Because that was the one chance that Democrats had of holding seats in November.

It’s a gambit that tries our souls and puts folks on both the left and right on edge. By completing the effort early in the year, Democrats have essentially taken ownership of the election, or at least taken a position that gives them a stronger political advantage. That is, stronger than they would have had if they had tried and failed to complete the work, or completed it in late summer or early fall.

The manner in which Republicans play this out over the next several months will have a greater impact than anything. Even though a majority of Americans opposed the Democrats plan, ultimately the tide will shift on the perceived benefit of those in the middle. Already, some Republicans are seeing the challenge of continuing to fight this head on.

Now, instead of fighting against a bad idea, instead of promoting a smarter model for Americans to address the real Health Care issues at hand, Republicans who go all in with [...]

In my years as a youngster I never thought that we would be seriously discussing whether Marijuana should be considered either for medicinal or recreational usage. And as a conservative, I would have never thought that we would need to spend the time debating the pros and cons without a lot of easy standard lines: “It’s a Gateway Drug”, “Kills Brain Cells”, “Highly Addictive”.

But here we are, and frankly, I’m not prepared to just discard the discussion as unimportant or too obvious to spend time on. That would be both a disservice and inconsistent with my belief that positions on policy should be reviewed and when challenged, they should be openly and honestly discussed.

I’m not a doctor, nor have I had the time to study this at such a level of depth as to call myself an “expert” on the topic. But I have discussed this with doctors I know, and I’ve looked at some of the information currently available (here, here, here and here). I’ve also been around friends that were regular users of Marijuana, and I even took one deep breath of the stuff (from a pipe) when I was younger. Yes, I inhaled. Didn’t like it. And I was a tobacco smoker at the time.

Most of us here in the Midwest tend to just laugh at California for legalizing Marijuana for medicinal use. We could have more or less predicted that dispensaries would become dealers for all who wanted, not just those that actually needed it. And as the debate is building here in Iowa [...]

As we end the President’s first year in office, we still struggle with folks on the left complaining bitterly that those of us who share a conservative ilk are out to see Obama fail. Never mind the fact that all I seem to hear during a Republican administration is a cacophony of angry vitriol, outright lies and attempts by Congress to undermine the critical work of the President, and I’ll accept the fact that there are many on the right who see nothing but red when they discuss the current resident of the White House. But my goal is strictly to see America — Americans — be successful, and that means that I want to see the President be successful as well.

But the President’s speech tonight leaves me wondering. There’s no doubt it brought a sense of euphoria to those in need, to those who continue to promote a liberal agenda. The beginning and end of the speech brought a broad stroke of hope and confidence in who we are as a nation, as any good presidential speech should.

He made some good proposals. Some of which will make Congress uncomfortable to consider. Some of which will be hard to execute. Earmark transparency. Budget freezes. Cutting programs.

He made some popular proposals. Jobs programs. Small Business Lending programs and tax credits. Tax credits on capital investments. Bank investment reforms. Additional taxation of large banks.

And he continued to press for Health Care Reform that Americans don’t want.

I will likely disagree with much of the spending [...]

Not in my wildest dreams would I believe that a US official could be so stupid as to say something like this in the face of unrelenting facts.

And intriguing enough is that it happened on CNN, whose reporting tends to be as supportive of the Obama administration as possible.

Of course, this is coming from the leader of the same department that earlier this year targeted “right-wing extremists” as high-risk for recruiting new members and conducting terrorist activities.

About the only spin one could put on this is that “…the system worked, but it’s broke”. That perspective behind a statement like this is part of the problem. Saying that everything worked like it’s supposed to but it’s not supposed to work that way just leaves one wondering how much thought is going into the design of the process that is supposed to be protecting our country.

Clearly the system is broke. To think that someone who has been identified as a terrorist risk like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could be allowed onto a passenger jet without careful screening is just insane… and there are 500,000 people on the list he was placed on a month ago! As I shared in my piece at the Des Moines Register yesterday, the entire focus [...]

We are going to try and keep it simple on this one.

The bill stinks.

Put aside the fact that it expands Medicare.

Put aside the fact that it establishes coverage mandates (you will be forced to buy health insurance somehow).

Put aside the fact that it is a colossal power grab for an industry that has been well managed by the states for a long time.

Put aside the fact that it will increase taxes.

Put aside the fact that it will dramatically increase the cost of insurance for everyone (and they sold this to us originally as being needed to stop the soaring cost of insurance!).

Put aside the fact that it will wreak havoc on the tax code, balloon the size of the IRS and increase the size of corporate tax management teams (which will increase consumer costs in all industries).

Put aside the fact that this bill is overloaded with earmarks… in a bill that was intended to bring equality in health care.

Put aside all of those issues and focus on the one true deception that will be broadcast throughout the weekend and coming weeks: that the Congressional Budget Office has determined that the bill will have a reducing impact the deficit.

The lie here is that although the Federal deficit will [...]

On The Conservative Reader Report today we will have Kim Lehman, President of Iowa Right To Life and Iowa’s Republican Committee Woman to the RNC, on our show along with Shane Vander Hart, conservative uber-blogger from Caffeinated Thoughts and guest blogger on The Des Moines Register’s political web page. Our focus today will be all about the Health Care Reform Massacre about to be perpetrated by the United States Senate. The show starts at 3:00 Central on Des Moines Local Live Internet Radio.

Today is the anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks made waves in Montgomery Alabama in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. What Rosa did that day sparked a movement resulting from pressure that had been building for almost 100 years.

African Americans, who had been freed from slavery by Abraham Lincoln, were forced to endure a century of contempt, disdain and abuse from white Americans. Our society, although founded by men who rejected the concept of social classes, was maintaining a dual class existence and legally forcing people of color to live a servile existence.

This was wrong.

By the power and grace of God, this finally changed in America as a result of the boycotts, rallies, legal wranglings, and efforts of the Federal Courts and finally Congress. Although one may believe strongly in the sovereignty of the states, clearly the rights of United States citizens was being abridged by the actions and/or inaction of many of those states, and the Federal government needed to act.

When I contemplate these events, it always amazes me that human beings can be so incredibly dysfunctional. It certainly makes greater sense to me to see an individual here or there who is so stupid that they actually think they are superior to others. But to think that large swathes of our society would actually continue to look down on others because of a history that is over two generations old, and especially in a time following the horrors of Nazi Germany, that they could continue to look upon other humans as just wild cattle that had been let loose and whose status as free men and women had to be tolerated. How could our country reach this point?

I think the answer to [...]

Today will be the third (and final) week sitting in for Tim Albrecht at The Bean Walker Live on Des Moines Local Live/Mac’s World Live. I have a number of interesting topics to share today, including the news about the possible Democratic opponent to Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Attorney General’s plans for staff cuts, oddities, and of course we’ll talk about Health Care Reform.

I’m hoping to have a local heart surgeon join us to discuss some of the costs embedded in the current system, and talk about ways we can address those costs.

This week, once again, I will be hosting the internet rafio show The Bean Walker Live at Des Moines Local Live! The show airs Tuesday from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. During the first hour we will be talking about the Iowa Gubernatorial Candidate Forum this past weekend, the situation with the Iowa state budget, and Friday’s CBO report on the benefits of Tort Reform. During the second hour, we will have Pastors Quintin Stieff and Dan Wentworth from Valley Church in West Des Moines to talk about a new program at Valley Church called “Love You Des Moines!”.

Join us!

Update! Link to podcast of today’s show!

Last Tuesday (September 29), I hosted the second half of Tim Albrecht’s program “The Bean Walker Live!” on Des Moines Local Live, and today begins 3 weeks of hosting the program in full while Tim concentrates on getting married!

On today’s show, during the first hour I will have Shane Vander Hart from Serve Our Youth Network to share about the volunteer opportunities they have and how they cooperate with local government to impact the lives of high-risk kids in the Des Moines Metro area.

During the second hour [...]