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Health Care Reform Without GOP?

Health Care Reform Without GOP?

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healthcare-reformTom Harkin, Senator from Iowa, proclaimed Wednesday that Congress can proceed and pass Health Care Reform without the help of Republicans, or rather, despite Republican opposition. While a more detailed examination of the bill that passed its first major hurdle in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will be forthcoming here, it seems to be worth the time to examine Harkin's statement as it strikes as a bellweather for our nation's future. This is more than a review of the strictly partisan victory Democrats have achieved in Congress, with the 60 votes needed in the Senate to defeat most Republican efforts at stopping or at least slowing actions by Democrats that might normally be nuanced with even the threat of filibuster. It is about even more than the arrogance of those who hold sway in the Federal Legislature, Administration and perhaps in the next few years, the Judiciary. It's about why a bi-partisan effort is sometimes, perhaps often, critical for real success. Understanding this concept is essential to good government. Failing to understand it is what leads to the chaos we currently think of as government. Neither of the major parties has [...]
Hay Fields in Vermont

Hay Fields in Vermont

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sick-kidAh, Vermont--"The Anything Goes State". I know it used to be known as "The Green Mountain State", but its new moniker is much more appropriate. I saw this article a couple of weeks ago in The Wall Street Journal and forgot to comment. Apparently, according to the Journal, dairy farmers in Vermont are being offered $135 an acre if they will harvest their hay before June 2 or after July 17 in order to allow birds that nest in hay fields, like meadow larks and bob-o-links, an opportunity to build nests and hatch and raise their young undisturbed by haybines and balers. I wish I were making this up, but I'm not. I grew up on the other side of Lake Champlain from Vermont on a dairy farm. Hay for dairy cattle has little nutritional value before June 2 or after July 17. In order for a farmer to maximize dairy production through the use of high quality feed, they must [...]

The Learning Curve

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Last week I opined that our Rookie President and his administration were in over their heads–that basically they were, in effect, clueless.  Last week end President Obama apparently agreed with me, suggesting that distributing the alleged stimulus was not as...
Health Care Reform Without GOP?

President Obama, Day #…..

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july2009Ah, who cares? As disappointed as I was about the outcome of the last general election, I thought I'd take a few months off from writing and spend it observing this new global (dare I say, Intergalactic?) phenomenon that is our new President. Today is July 6, and I fear that he is almost exactly what I thought he would be last summer, that is to say, pathetic. Having said this, I have to confess that the reason I took some time from writing was that I wanted to be objective in my assessment of this man (as opposed to self-styled Deity). So many conservatives have been lambasted precisely because they wouldn't give President Obama a chance. Not that he needed one, but we DO have to be fair. And I was secretly praying that his rhetoric was merely that and he was pandering to his ultra-liberal base and that, being a man of reason and logic, he was a closet conservative and would instinctively do the right thing. No such luck! I've waited five and a half months for him to do something, anything, good for the country. So far, here's what President Obama has accomplished:
  • He's spent $1.2 trillion (that's $1,200,000,000,000) of succeeding generations' money on absolutely nothing of any consequence
  • He's flown around the world numerous times at taxpayer's expense, all the while chiding the taxpayers to tighten up their belts and pay for his largesse
  • He's been on television almost every day whining about the failed policies of "the last eight years" and gathering support for his socialist agenda.
That's it. He's talked, and talked and talked some more. One gets the sense that talking is all the man knows how to do, and, after reading his resume, that's all he's ever done. At least he's consistent. Meanwhile, here in middle America, our country is suffering [...]
Health Care Reform Without GOP?

How Independent Are We?

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declaration-of-independenceTwo hundred and thirty-three years ago, the men of the Second Continental Congress made a bold gesture as they sought to uncleave themselves from their ties with Great Britain. A gesture intended to convey that they were serious about the war that was already raging on the American Continent. A gesture intended to tell the world, and perhaps garner the support of other countries, that the American Colonies could not and would not continue to live under the yolk of a tyrannical King and Parliament. A gesture that could cost them all, and indeed did cost some, their lives and their properties. The Declaration of Independence was written primarily to formalize the decision to separate the colonies from British rule. It also sought to communicate the importance of concepts of liberty that were lacking in the current arrangement with the Britsh Monarchy. Subjected to Britain's control though they were, equal to other British Subjects living in the homeland they were not. Even in attempts to seek the kind of autonomy eventually considered standard within the British Empire were at that time brushed aside... self-government was not in the best interest of Britain at that time. Many know that the original Jeffersonian draft of the Declaration included a statement that could not be agreed upon by the 13 "free and independent states"... that is, regarding slavery. Incredible that the words "...all men are created equal..." would remain in a document that could not hold the words:
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivatng [sic] and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce." (Washington State University Web Site: Original Draft of The Declaration of Independence)
But these and more words were removed by a Congress that was unwilling to do the right thing, as it would have an impact on the economy of some southern states. So our beginnings were not perfect. We moved forward tolerating [...]
Energy Leninism? Or Just Plain Leninism?

Energy Leninism? Or Just Plain Leninism?

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leninAs goes Energy, so goes the country.
“The worse, the better,” Vladimir Lenin is said to have observed. What Lenin meant was that the worse social conditions became in Russia, the more likely he and the Bolsheviks could foment a communist revolution. President Barrack Obama’s White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently updated Lenin’s maxim, saying, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.”Last Friday, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives took those maxims to heart when they pushed through their 1,200-page American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act by a vote 219 to 212. The bill is supposed to address the twin crises of economic recession and climate change by creating millions of new “green” jobs. Instead of an old-fashioned Soviet-style five-year plan, ACES can be thought of as 50-year plan to radically transform how Americans produce and use energy.
…Well, look, Ron Bailey, this entire administration seems to me to emulate the tactics of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, in all things, not just energy… and in my view we’ve not seen nearly the worst of it yet. (A Depressing thought as we come to July 4th, isn’t it?) So why should Energy be any different? Energy, after all, is the key to our country and it’s prosperity. Which of course was why I raised such holy hell when the first thing Obama did upon being sworn in was to reverse President Bush’s sign off on offshore drilling. That action is the major reason oil prices have better than doubled in the last 6 months. The question that Ron asks, though, seems to me pertinent:
Will Americans tolerate such sweeping interventions into their lives and workplaces? … The 1994 mid-term election became a referendum on [...]
Tax and Trade Alert!

Tax and Trade Alert!

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stockxpertcom-id9516682-size0-us-capital.jpgAs you probably already know, the US House of Representatives approved the Cap and Trade bill last Friday (HR2454). I'm still reeling over that. Although I am disappointed that so many Representatives in Congress voted for this blatent tax, I'm not surprised. I'm never surprised when the powerful in Washington find a new way to separate me from my money, regardless of the method or intermediaries. There are those who believe that by taxing corporations or the rich, the impact on the rest of society is nil. But it never is. Although not always obvious, these taxes still get paid by you and me in the prices we pay for products and services. Corporations do not absorb millions of dollars in taxation from a mysterious pool of unspent profit. They factor those taxes into their revenue models to ensure they maintain the profit level expected by their owners (shareholders). We all end up paying those taxes. And in the case of taxing energy consumption, there is no motivation provided to improve the consumption model or method of generating energy... the price simply goes up. The Heritage Foundation has provided an analysis of the impact of the bill on jobs and families, including estimates of gross state product losses, job losses and average family expense increases. This is not good for America. Now is the time to contact your Senator. Updates to the bill should appear in the sidebar under "Cap And Trade Updates". Frustrating are [...]
Health Care Reform Without GOP?

We Forgive You. Now Git.

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governorsanford-officialportraitI'm saddened, frustrated , and absolutely disappointed. The story of Mark Sanford was a roller coaster that dumped me off a cliff at the end. Allow me to take you through this sequentially. I've spent the past 36 hours dramatically changing my thoughts about how I might speak to the unusual story of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's mysterious disappearance. Mark was the head of the Republican Governor's Association (now headed by Haley Barbour), and considered a potential candidate for the 2012 Presidential nomination. First I thought, after hearing that he had been missing for several days after driving off in a bodyguard's SUV, that this guy was a little weird. I could, at that point, conceive of only one type of circumstance that might explain this behavior, and that would be some kind of kidnapping or other threat by an outside party. Barring such a circumstance, I figured running for President didn't sound like something that could be on his calendar... disappearing on purpose and intentionally avoiding everyone with no explanation just didn't sound like an event that would instill anyone's confidence. The good news, I thought, is that he certainly hadn't disappeared because of an extramarital affair. No one would draw this much attention just so they could spend time with an alternate squeeze. Later on I heard he was hiking in the Appalachian Trail. Clearing his head, evidently. According to his staff, this was not unusual, so my thoughts about the man didn't change much, just continuing to seem very odd and unlikely to be a kidnapping but rather just some eccentricity. South Carolina officials were [...]
Health Care Reform Without GOP?

In Support Of Liberty

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where-is-their-voteToday many are wearing green to show visible support for those in Iran who are protesting the apparently stolen election. Our web site is normally white and red... we've put on green today to stand by those who treasure liberty. It is interesting to note that while many in the US are advocating an overthrow of the current clerically over-ruled government system in Iran, reports seem to indicate that Iranians as a whole are perhaps not interested in an outright change in the system, just fairness in this election. Iran's history, especially with the United States, demands care in how our leaders address the situation. More on that later. Political ambitions in the Islamic Kingdom aside, we here at TCR support Liberty whereever she is needed, and support the call for open and fair elections in Iran. To the Iranians leadship we say, make it right!
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