Lady Liberty Defended

Calling out the President Pays Off - for both sides

2009-09-12T13:00:00.006-04:00

When Representative Joe Wilson spoke out loud at the President's health care speech in front of a joint session of Congress, he was roundly criticized and apologized for his outburst. (haven't you ever been so caught up in something that you inadvertently spoke out loud?) It was widely reported that his opponent had garnered $250,000 in contributions due to the hate speech. It is now reported to be over $1MILLION. Apparently, there are a number of people who valued Rep. Wilson's honesty. He's brought in over $750,000 in contributions. Fitting.

John Stossell

2009-09-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

I think that perhaps John Stossell is now America's most trusted news man. Here he talks about the health care "reform"...

The View from Ground Zero

2009-09-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

By way of David Hardy comes this from Scott L. Bach, Esq.

9-11 Never Forget

2009-09-11T08:46:00.003-04:00

Once upon a time, before September 11th, 2001, our country was at peace with other countries and religions despite their previous attacks. We were mighty but scaling down our military and using them almost solely at the behest of the United Nations. All was quiet and peaceful in Manhattan. Then...

We were attacked. 20 radical Islamic Arab men, mostly from Saudi Arabia and all members of Al Queda hijacked 4 airliners and crashed 3 of them into targets selected by their leader. One of those targets was the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

I was sort of piddling about on my computer at the time and semi-watching Fox News Channel when suddenly Patti Ann Brown was saying something about a terrible accident at the WTC. Of course it was no accident. As I watched this incident unfold I learned that there were still Americans who would step up and make the difficult decisions that showed they were unbowed by this tragedy. Even in the air, against terrible odds, men and women deciphered their intentions and fought back against the hijackers on Flight 93, certainly saving other lives and perhaps our national treasures. Brave people called their loved ones to say goodbye. Others made terrible decisions about the end of their lives. Hundreds of brave men and women in the New York Fire and Police Departments rushed to save them and many lost their lives as well. The skies were empty of commercial aircraft, only the defenders of freedom flew. The nation wept and then we got down to the business of destroying our enemies.

Struck by the many images of patriotism, selfless service, and a country united against this attack we moved to attack our enemies where they lived. Moved to capture their leaders. Moved to bring them to justice. We have succeeded, in part.

We have forced their leaders to hide. We have removed despots who gave them aid and comfort, and we have isolated the sponsors of other terrorists. But we are no longer united. There are among us a number of quislings who would make peace to save our soldiers. There are many who volunteer to be soldiers to kill our enemies. There is a fifth column who would have us abandon the righteous to the evil ones.

Today, a friend told me that we are wrong to be in Iraq because we aren't fighting a people but an idea. I think he understates it. It is an idea, yes, but it is the idea that evil is benign, that we should acquiesce to evil, that we should allow evil to rule us and to make our decisions for us. This is wrong. We must resist evil. We must help others to resist evil. We can never surrender.

There's been talk of making September 11 a day of service. Service is just fine but we have some folks who ask us to choose them to serve us and they don't. These politicians are now trying to make us do what they want rather than represent us. Perhaps THEY should make 9-12 a day of service...

Frankly, I think it is reprehensible to try to co-opt a day which should be devoted to memorializing those lost on 9-11-2001.

More remembrances...

How did the President's Health Care Plan do?

2009-09-10T15:00:00.002-04:00

Newt's Ten Questions

Newt Gingrich's ten point check list for whether the president has been listening to the American people or just pushing a leftist agenda:

1. In his proposals for reform, does the President include litigation reform, which 84% of Americans believe will help reduce costs and which is the number one goal of doctors in any health reform?

2. Does he include a section onsaving money by stopping payments to crooks who are bilking the taxpayers for $70-120 billion each year in Medicare and Medicaid fraud? For 88 percent of Americans, this is the first place they would look to find savings in our health care system. Is President Obama willing to look there?

3. Does his speech reject higher taxes, which the vast majority of Americans believe will make the current economy even worse and increase unemployment even more?

4. Does it reject all government rationing of health services which the American people have vocally opposed at town hall meetings across the country?

5. Does it reject any government run, bureaucratic health plan?

6. Is President Obama open to four or five bipartisan bills which could pass with big bipartisan majorities? Or does he insist on a single omnibus bill of 1000-plus pages like the one that failed when Mrs. Clinton tried to pass it in 1993-1994?

7. Is he for sustaining the Senate rule of 60 votes to ensure a bill that has wide, bipartisan support? Or is he prepared to destroy long-standing Senate tradition and ram through a radical bill with 51 votes?

8. Does President Obama give any indication he is for increasing the power, information and choice of the individual and their doctor or is he giving more power to the government?

9. Does he focus on health, wellness, prevention, early detection and health management to avoid or control the severity of chronic diseases? Or does he spend his time talking only about acute care?

10. Does his plan invest in science and technology in order to increase innovation and accelerate the discovery and adoption of new discoveries and breakthroughs in diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes?

Republican Demagoguery? Yeah, right...

2009-09-10T08:00:00.002-04:00

Another of Nancy Pelosi's incorruptible, this one also on the House Ways and Means Committee (along with tax cheat Charlie Rangel), has been found out. He will tax the crap out of you but cheat to his own benefit. Typical.

For those interested in a clip of the "you lied" comment

2009-09-10T07:59:00.000-04:00

at the President's speech before the both houses of Congress last night...

I do NOT want a government health care "reform" bill...

2009-09-09T22:00:00.001-04:00

This just really ticks me off. We don't need this bill for 11,000,000 people who don't have insurance, many because they don't WANT it. We sure don't need to fund it for illegal aliens!

Today the Dem/S have tried to scare us, to bribe us, to assauge our fears, to confuse us, to do a bait and switch, in short everything to get us to get out of their faces and let them do this. I won't get out of their face. I don't think it is right for this country, for my state or for my family to do this.

The POTUS is going to give a speech to urge us to support this bill. Some say it is to browbeat Congress to move ahead in spite of our opinions. Some say it is to protect his own image.

EXCERPTS OF THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS TONIGHT:

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can't get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can't afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

***

During that time, we have seen Washington at its best and its worst.

We have seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform. Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work, and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week. That has never happened before. Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors' groups and even drug companies – many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about eighty percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.

But what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government. Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.

Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.

The plan I'm announcing tonight would meet three basic goals:

It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don't. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government. It's a plan that asks everyone to take responsibility for meeting this challenge – not just government and insurance companies, but employers and individuals. And it's a plan that incorporates ideas from Senators and Congressmen; from Democrats and Republicans – and yes, from some of my opponents in both the primary and general election.

***

Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan:

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies – because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.

That's what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan – more security and stability.

Now, if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage. We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange – a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It's how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it's time to give every American the same opportunity that we've given ourselves.

***

This is the plan I'm proposing. It's a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight – Democrats and Republicans. And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open.

But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.

That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans counting on us to succeed – the ones who suffer silently, and the ones who shared their stories with us at town hall meetings, in emails, and in letters.

It is because of this President and his party taking from the producers of this country and giving to the non-productive while skimming for their own (like Pelosi ensuring her husband's business interests get their tax breaks and wage exceptions in the stimulus bill) that have precipitated the growing deficit (at record rates), the families going bankrupt, the closing of businesses, etc. He tries to scare us by saying that Americans will die as a result. What he fails to mention is that the "reasonable" Senator Max Bacus from Montana wants to tax and fine those same families and businesses into oblivion to pay for a plan he doesn't even forsee as having a "public option".

We need to drop the hammer on our reps to stop this and drop the ballot box on their heads and vote them out of office ASAP. They have forgotten they work for us. They are not our parents to tell us HOW to think or WHAT we should want. They are there to represent us. They aren't there to take our money at the point of a gun but to make sure nobody foreign or domestic ever does that.

After watching the speech and pondering for a bit, I have to say that I am unmoved. I, too, think the President is lying. He simply can't be so stupid as to say the things he said and believe them to be true.

Infanticide IS the result of government run health care

2009-09-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

When you have the government involved you have rules other than "do no harm". When you have rules you have limits. Limits = rationing. Rationing means people needing health care don't get it. You've probably read of numerous cancer patients in the UK's system being rationed to death, but so are infants. Yes, infanticide, once the mark of a primitive society, is going to be a feature of U.S. health care just as it now is a feature of UK health care.

This is just another reason why we MUST oppose the government intrusion in our health care decisions. Do you want YOUR child, grandchild or great-grandchild murdered by the government? Willing to stand by and let it happen?

Representative Baron Hill of Indiana doesn't work for his constituents either...

2009-09-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

Was anybody really surprised when Rep. Baron Hill (9th district, Indiana) said that this was HIS town hall and repeated himself DESPITE obvious attendee disgust with the comment? Here's another "representative" who has forgotten that he works for his constituents not the other way around.

Police vs. the Citizens, An Extreme Example?

2009-09-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

Is it something from a television drama? A hard-boiled detective novel? No, it happened in Jericho, Arkansas.

JERICHO, Ark. (AP) - It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.
The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Follow the link to read the rest of the story.

Now, maybe it is just me, but it seems that there is more of this "us vs. them" dynamic in government/citizen relations. While this may be an extreme example, we see this sort of abuse of the citizen by government at all levels. Even right here in Augusta County we've seen 1000s turn out and over 10,000 sign a petition (out of a population of approximately 71,500) opposing increases in property taxes be ignored and ridiculed by the members of the Board of Supervisors. The city of New London, Connecticut began a modern movement of condemnation of private property to be turned over to other private interests in order to increase the tax base and it was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. We have a congressional Representative (Slaughter of NY) who feels it is beneath her "dignity" to meet in a town hall with her constituents (ostensibly the folks who elect her). Representative Charlie Rangel writes tax law but can't pay his taxes, can't even report his assets, as required by law. The Secretary of the Treasury couldn't pay his taxes. These are just a few examples of the arrogant attitude of our "representatives" in government at all levels. Why? Because we re-elect them. Because we don't force their prosecution. Because we don't speak up.

Van Jones - Commie, Truther, Racist

2009-09-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

There are so MANY communists, racists, radicals, liars and cheats in the Obama administration and in the Congress that this unelected/unconfirmed community activist inside the government doesn't excite me all that much. Isn't this what you expected from the Obama administration? It is EXACTLY what I expected. You put a rep from the Chicago mob into office and bring him from a racist, socialist "church" you're going to get this.

SO, after all this the man resigned. None of the main-stream media wanted to cover it. Made no difference. Truther Jones had to resign. It is unfortunate that there are MORE of his kind in the administration. 30 some "czars", maybe more, are making policy unreviewed by Congress. Not executing policy for a Cabinet Officer, but making policy Cabinet Officer(s) execute. Bass ackwards. Wrong. These people need to be gone.

I said I wouldn't buy Chrysler or GM, apparently others aren't either...

2009-09-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

Clunkers boosts Ford sales; Chrysler sales fall

DETROIT (AP) - The popular Cash for Clunkers program boosted Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales in August by 17.2 percent over last year, but shortages of smaller vehicles weighed on rival Chrysler Group LLC.

The program, which ended on Aug. 24, drew hordes of buyers into quiet showrooms by offering up to $4,500 toward new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The hefty rebates gave automakers and dealers a much-needed lift, spurring 690,114 new sales, many of them during August, at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion.

Other automakers are expected to release U.S. sales figures later Tuesday. Combined, the results are likely to mark the first year-over-year monthly sales gain since October 2007.

Ford sold 181,826 cars and light trucks compared with 115,117 in August 2008, when high gas prices and growing economic uncertainty kept people away from showrooms.

Two of Ford's vehicles—the Focus and Escape—were among the top selling cars under the clunkers program. Sales of the Focus rose 56 percent while those of the Escape crossover vehicle climbed 49 percent.

Meanwhile, low supplies of fuel-efficient vehicles at Chrysler kept the automaker from benefiting more from the clunkers program, whose rebates encouraged customers to buy gas sippers in exchange for guzzlers with gas mileage of 18 mpg or less.

Chrysler sales fell 15 percent to 93,222 units.

Reid: Teddy's death "going to help us"

2009-09-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Reid: Teddy's death "going to help us"

The Reno Gazette-Journal has a sit-down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who addresses the Ted Kennedy question in, um, an interesting way.

Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy's death affect things?

A: I think it's going to help us. He hasn't been around for some time. We're going to have a new chairman of that committee, it'll be, I don't know for sure, but I think Sen. (Chris) Dodd, (D-Conn.). He has a right to take it. Either him or (U.S. Sen. Tom) Harkin, (D-Iowa), whichever one wants it can have it. I think he (Kennedy) will be a help. He's an inspiration for us. That was the issue of his life and he didn't get it done.

Nothing in here is particularly new — Kennedy will help the cause, Dodd gets to carry the banner, Kennedy's work remains undone. But the straight-shooting Reid does have a gift for saying non-controversial things in the most controversial way possible.

Senator Reid has learned well from the Chicago boys...

2009-09-06T13:00:00.001-04:00

SHERMAN FREDERICK: Enough is enough, Harry - Stop the childish bullying

Apparently he's trying to force favorable coverage. I just heard that there are some developments...

Van Jones Resigns...

2009-09-06T11:26:00.000-04:00

Yep, Van Jones resigns because we "lied". Now it is time to get the rest of the commies out of the White House...

How Liberals Think

2009-09-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

You might want to watch this. It might clue you in on how the "other" side thinks. Of course if you are a liberal, and semi-open to hearing how you're perceived, you might learn something as well.

Will Obama and Emmanuel create a crisis to push through health "care" reform?

2009-09-05T14:31:00.000-04:00

The "lyin" of the Senate, Teddy "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy's death didn't give them enough oooomph to push forward on health care. Ignoring the poletariat like Rep. Slaughter isn't working. Will they need a good "crisis" to push their agenda? Will they try to create one? Look for it.

Did you miss Glenn Beck last week?

2009-09-05T13:00:00.002-04:00

If you missed Glenn Beck's show last week, you might want to see his recap.

This is Virginia? Officer Cheeks declares this isn't American anymore...

2009-09-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Charlie Rangel, Elitist Tax Cheat

2009-09-04T13:00:00.008-04:00

Read OOPS! CHARLIE FORGOT THIS $1M HOUSE
REALTY BITES TAX-THEM-NOT-ME RANGEL and The Absent-Minded Chairman
Charlie Rangel wins the personal lottery. This scofflaw is the man who chairs the committee that writes the tax law. He should be prosecuted and thrown out of Congress.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income -- including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.

The documents also show the embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- who is being probed by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period.

and

When normal people happen to "find" their own money, it might mean a twenty left in a winter coat, or discovering change beneath the sofa cushions. But if you're Charlie Rangel, it means doubling your net worth.

Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee "amended" his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress's ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel's net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

He is a crook, pure and simple and he's trying to force YOU to pay more in taxes.

Astroturf vs. Grass Roots

2009-09-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Representative Diane Watson

2009-09-03T08:00:00.016-04:00

Representative Dian Watson has been in the news lately. She's been calling anyone who opposes the President a racist.

She's praised Fidel Castro as the most intelligent leader she's ever met (and presumably more intelligent than President Obama).

Cindy Sheehan Protesting OBAMA's War

2009-09-03T08:00:00.013-04:00

Yeah, I was surprised but it appears that Cindy Sheehan, lately shill for the Dem/S anti-Bush hate campaign, was protesting at Martha's Vineyard.

After spending weeks dogging George W. Bush's presidential vacations, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan is now trying to make life uncomfortable for President Barack Obama.
Sheehan used to pitch a peace camp near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, becoming a symbol of the anti-war movement after her son Casey died in action in Iraq.

On Thursday, she and a band of anti-war protesters turned up outside the media center used by journalists covering Obama's vacation on the well-heeled east coast resort island of Martha's Vineyard.

"The reason I am here is because ... even though the facade has changed in Washington DC, the policies are still the same," Sheehan told a handful of journalists, against a backdrop of her "Camp Casey" banner.

She told US peace activists to wake up and protest Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and complained that despite the president's anti-war stance, US troops remained in Iraq.

I noted that there was a "band" accompanying her. Now that was a surprise, too! I thought there was a monolithic support by the crazy wackos of our fearless leader.

I do believe that she now understands how she was USED by the Dem/S as shown here...

Government Health Care - Just Say No

2009-09-02T13:04:00.000-04:00

I just got back from the dentist. I pay for it myself. Out of pocket. Yes, I'm a military retiree. Doesn't matter. I've been paying for my dental work since returning to the U.S.A. in 1981 LONG before I retired. Why? Because the military health care system (government health care) didn't pay for it. Because I nearly lost my teeth due to rationed health care while stationed in Korea. Yep, rationed care to military members.

It isn't as if they had recourse. The draft was gone. Dentists don't join and so they didn't have many dentists to spread around. Those I did see were increasingly like the doctors we got, foreign born, foreign trained and in the service to get on the fast track to U.S. citizenship. There still weren't enough to go around. I had to make 4 appointments to actually go to 1 where both the dentist and I were present at the same time.

No, I am NOT a fan of government health care in any shape, manner or form. I've seen Medicare and Medicaid, seen the active duty health care and the Veteran's Administration's approximation of the lifetime care promise. I don't believe the government will do it for us. Only my private, privately paid for, dentist and dental hygienist saved my teeth.