Red Scare

Amazing how much the world has changed in more than 20 years. Back then if a nest of Russian spies were discovered people would have been outraged, upset, even scared. Now? It seems so archaic, as if from a time long past and even sort of cool. I had to laugh, though, at the NY Post front page. Does the younger generation even still associate "Red" with Communism especially since a "Red" state such as TX means it voted for a Republican? Really, how did we go from having Red mean Communists to meaning Republicans in less than two decades? The headline also struck a personal nerve. I doubt if many under 50 would understand but when I was a redhaired child the other kids would tease me by chanting "I would rather be dead than red in the head". If public opinion is going to bring back "Red" to mean Communist rather than Republican than I am glad that my hair is slowly turning white!

Two for One

This past week, two different news items caught my attention.

First, as a Floridian, I was obviously interested in what my idiot governor, Charlie Crist, did this past week. You may think you know the story but here is an interesting timeline. Two weeks ago, Governor Crist vetoed a popular Republican bill that would have tied teachers pay to student achievements (thanks Debbie for reminding me of this). If he had passed it then teachers were planning sit ins and sick outs and all kinds of disturbances to show their anger to {gasp} being held accountable but since he vetoed the bill then the happy teachers, well, just wait a moment. For the next thing Crist did was to lie to the world.

Everybody knows that he sat there and told reporters over and over and over again that he would not run as an Independent. That he was a Republican and would stay with his party. The only problem is that his party left him in droves to support Marco Rubio; with Crist as much as 20 points behind the popular newcomer. Now Charlie had two choices. He could have dropped out and thrown his support to Rubio. Then in the next two years build a base of moderates from both sides which would put him in a good position to compete for the other Senatorial seat. It might even place him in contention as a VP or perhaps Presidential candidate in 2012. But no, Charlie isn’t that farsighted or patient, for he actually announces that he is going to run as an Independent.

No apologies to Floridians for lying, no remorse for turning his back on his party. Instead he says this change is for the people of Florida. Yeah, right, the polls showing he had a chance of winning the senate seat if he ran as an Independent had nothing to do with his reversal of position. Now back to that veto… within hours of his announcement there was an ad by the teachers union backing Crist. So we know what his price was. The only problem is that Charlie has completely alienated Republicans and his boldfaced lying has even turned off Independents. He has destroyed his relationship with Republican leaders and Democrats don’t want him either. Obama may have hugged him but rumor has it that the White House won't take his calls. After what Crist has done, he will be lucky if he one day ends up as Superintendent of Schools. But Senator? I don’t think so.

The second news item that caught my attention is truly outrageous. On Thursday, Tehran’s police chief announced that they will start arresting suntanned women and even men this time in an effort, according to RadioVoice, to cleanse “social misbehavior by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values.” How ironic that also on Thursday Iran was appointed to the UN Commission on Women’s Rights. What does that say about the UN? And I shudder to think what will happen to women around the world now.

Unbelievably, the United States (ie. Obama) did not object to Iran becoming a part of the Commission on Women’s Rights. However the government does object to Rev. Franklin Graham’s remarks criticizing the Muslim religion for their treatment of women. You see, Graham has an issue with Muslim's doing little things like stoning women, the complete lack of basic rights or now even persecuting women with a suntan. Because of Graham’s remarks he was disinvited to a Pentagon prayer event and his invitation to speak at a May 6 National Prayer Day at Capital Hill might also be rescinded. How very wrong is this world? And why aren’t U.S. women standing with Graham in outrage of all of this?

(Hmmm. Here’s a last thought – what if we were to send Charlie Crist to visit Iran. Maybe the Tehran police would then arrest the
perpetually suntanned governor and get him out of Florida politics for good?)

May Day! May Day!

Arizona; I am not sure what my position is on this state’s tough new immigration law. On one hand I agree that immigrants who are here illegally should be sent back to their mother country, especially if they are caught doing any crime. On the other hand, I have a problem with the idea of requiring people to show their papers. It sounds too much like Communist Russia where no one could move around the country without their papers. This is not America.

Arizona’s new law seems to be nothing more than putting a bandaid onto a punctured artery. It will do nothing to stem the tide of Mexicans pouring over our borders. I think what we really need to do is to analyze the underlying reasons regarding our illegal immigration problems. Only then might we find an answer to this growing problem.

For all our talk, over half of the country wants these illegal immigrants here. First there are the businessmen and women who need the cheap labor. Their argument has been that Americans wouldn’t do those jobs although now I wonder about that what with our high unemployment. Nonetheless, as long as employers hire these illegal immigrants then Mexicans will continue to cross our borders. It is as simple as supply and demand.

I’ve mentioned this before but the second reason people dislike Arizona’s new law is that the Democrat party is looking forward to this group voting next fall. Even if the Mexican’s here illegally can’t vote, there is still a huge Hispanic population who can and Democrat’s want and need their votes. Even some Conservatives are backing off from embracing the new Arizona law because they can’t afford to offend the Hispanic community.

Whatever America does, Mexicans will continue to rush our borders as long as their country cannot provide the jobs and economic security which is found in America. It is truly outrageous that the United States is one of the richest countries in the world and yet there is a third world country on our southern border. We have spent millions of dollars to help prop up democracies throughout the world, why can’t we do the same with our own neighbor? Mexico may not want our interference, but too bad. Until they can control their own country and bring economic prosperity to their citizens so that they aren’t forced to come to here then we have every right to butt in.

No laws or walls will stem the tide of Mexicans crossing our borders for jobs and a better life. But if we can help Mexico provide those goals in their own country then there would be no need for Mexicans to come here, legally or illegally. Why aren’t wealthy liberals or groups of Hispanics raising funds to start schools, provide doctors, help Mexicans start their own businesses in their own country? Why can’t we offer loans for new factories and advantageous deals for trading across the border? Yes I know that the reason we can’t do the latter is that Mexico’s government is very corrupt and run by drug cartels. But we have to start somewhere, somehow, to encourage economic growth in Mexico, other than through drugs.

Until Mexicans can obtain jobs, economic security and better health care in their own country then they will continue to walk across the border regardless of our laws. The ultimate benefits in America are simply too tempting.

In the meantime, however, Hispanics will be making a huge mistake with their upcoming May Day protest in cities throughout America. Individual Mexicans cleaning your house or small groups working on your farm or factory don’t seem threatening or problematic. Sure there are parts of town controlled by Hispanics where there are frequent robberies, gun shots and murders, and all signs and conversations are in Spanish as most don’t even speak English. But you ignore that part of town and stay away from those streets after dark. Thus non-Hispanics tolerated the growing influx of Mexicans as long as they didn’t disrupt their life or appear threatening. This will all change come May 1st.

Once again, our big screen TVs will be filled with images of angry Hispanics. Signs in Spanish will be waved along with the Mexican flag. The demonstrations may start of calm buy you know they will eventually deteriorate into angry, perhaps even violent protests. Americans, of every background other than Hispanic, will suddenly feel threatened and upset by this display. I don’t think this protest will help the Hispanic cause at all.
We see ourselves as a good country, a country that helps our neighbors, a country that has basically been willing to look the other way as Mexicans migrate here and flood our schools and hospitals and take menial jobs. We bend over backwards to enable Mexicans with our dual language approach which irritates many Americans. But now? These protests may seem very ungrateful and extremely disrespectful to this country which has done so much for our neighbor. And seeing what amounts to a foreign demonstration in the United States will make Democrats uncomfortable and Republicans downright angry. This is a huge mistake which will only inflame the already volatile situation.

The Idiocy of Youthful Idealism

Lately I’ve been listening to some young people discuss President Obama. They sounded so idealistic and enthusiastic about our President. It makes me want to slap them silly until they get some sense and see what really is happening in our country. Now some of you might say that I am acting like an old grump complaining about the youth of today and forgetting what it was like to be young. Not true. When I was in my 20s I was as politically conservative as I am today and even helped to campaign for Reagan.

As for today’s youngest voters, first, they should be applauded for actually voting. Too many of their generation opt out entirely from the election process. So even if they voted stupidly, er, for Obama, these 20 somethings should at least be proud that they did vote. And yes, I know, if they had stayed at home then that would mean fewer votes for Obama. However, the win margin was so great that even without their votes Obama would have still won so I can afford to be magnanimous and congratulate them for voting. Actually it is this kind of sneaky thinking that doesn’t yet occur to young people. Unfortunately politicians are masters of this type of attitude and behavior and President Obama is the Grand Master of it all.

Obama cloaks himself in secrecy, lies and doubletalk and is surrounded by people almost as good as he in manipulating others; Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel just to name a few. Between them, they are creating a legacy that at first glance appears to be one of helping anyone with middle and lower incomes at the expense of those with higher incomes. They are making his campaign promise come true - to share the wealth, which sounds great to everyone except the wealthy and of course businessmen who make profits and everyone on Wall Street. But these “fat cats” as Obama calls them can afford to be hit up for some money to help others, right? Oh my, there are so many things wrong with this that I get dizzy trying to think where to start. How do you begin to explain to young people who are still enamored with Obama and believe that all capitalists are immoral and making a profit is bad that they are wrong and the path Obama is taking our country is reprehensible?

I might be saved from having to explain anything if I just wait and let them discover it for themselves. In fact, I think they are about to be in for some big shocks. None have seen past the razzle dazzle promoted by President Obama and his team to take the time to understand what he proposes actually means. Take the national health care bill, for example. I heard one young women gush over our President and how this was why she voted for him, because he cares about the poor and those without health care. It was her next sentence that got to me for she then added that she can’t afford to get that health insurance but she feels relieved to know it is there for when she can afford it. Excuse me? Didn’t she read the small print? Didn't she listen to any of the nearly daily speeches the president made about health care? Obviously not.

This woman didn’t have a clue how this national health care was going to work. Yes I agree that it is a nice gesture to now have health care for everyone. But she must not have read the small print – health care insurance will not be an option - it will be a requirement in this country. Once this bill goes into effect, if she still can’t afford the offered health care insurance then she probably won't be able to afford the tax Obama will impose on people without any health insurance. I am sure as hell that she will not be happy when she does her income taxes and realizes that she will be hit with a hefty tax instead. It is infuriating that this young woman and the millions like her can’t see the unfairness of this new bill and it may take our Supreme Court to decide if it is even legal to require our citizens to buy health insurance. And yet until the reality of this bill hits this young adult, they will still think Obama walks on water.

Another young Obama enthusiast recently discussed how the President has kept his taxes down. He was actually referring to Obama’s decision to keep President Bush’s lower taxes but I knew it would be useless to point this out to him. I know that he, too, will be in for a shock come the first tax day after Obama has removed Bush’s lower taxe rates and the young man will see how much he now owes in taxes thanks to our current President. But no one that age would listen to me if I said that the current lower taxes are due to President Bush since they can't see past their hatred of him.

As much as these young people love Obama they despise Bush. I have a theory about that. These young adults were children and teens during 9-11. It was a scary time for everyone and must have been even more upsetting for children. It would be only natural for them to look up to our new president and during those early days President Bush did seem nearly heroic. The image of him standing next to the construction workers at the sight of the fallen towers shouting that we will be heard was exhilarating as were the early days of the Afghanistan war. But then the war dragged on and on and the initial heat of revenge cooled off as we found ourselves in a long drawn out war. Between the war, the 2004 election and the economy Bush went from hero to zero in the eyes of the young. And no one can be as judgmental and cruel as a young person who becomes disillusioned with an adult they had once admired. I should know. I was once a young Republican for Nixon.

For the time being, other than this article, I am going to keep quiet when I hear further outrageous remarks from the young people. Besides, I am not sure there is anything I could say that would change their mind. Only time and experience can make them understand what is really happening. I just hope we have the time for them to get the experience which would open their eyes to what Obama is doing to America.

Seeing is Not Believing

Everyone knows that the politically correct police have been slowly changing our language to fit their liberal perspective. What you may not realize is that they are also manipulating images to show only what they want us to see. The goal is to make people identify specific images of their choosing with specific topics. As I look for images for my blog I have noticed this disturbing trend as I see more and more biased and politically correct images.

Take for instance last week’s blog about Easter where I googled “Christian images” to find pictures for my blog. Google image results will provide eighteen images, including photographs, cartoons, symbols and there will be multiple pages. The first page of Christian images had four pictures of a cross, one picture of doves and one had hands in prayer. So one-third of the first page of pictures included standard Christian images. Yet there was not one picture of Jesus or even a Bible. There were two pictures of what was supposedly the largest church in America but it looked rather sterile and isolated. The rest of the pictures included various sayings and a couple of images were for something called the Christian café.

Finally on the second page I saw a picture with Jesus in it along with more pictures of crosses, and sayings and pictures about peace and doves. But then there were two cartoons - one about “Christian Taliban” and another entitled “Free Christians”. The worst, though, was the picture titled “Porn Again Christians”. It went downhill as the the third page had a image a naked man being arrested, two more of shirtless muscled men, one of a decapitated man on an exam table and a pie chart titled “Christian Oppression”.

OK you get the point. The 54 pictures shown for Christianity had one, maybe two, pictures of Jesus, none of the bible, one angel and none of any of the other people or stories from the bible. Yet there were multiple pictures of nude or semi nude men, one about porn and many discussing the “oppression” and problems about Christianity. You can’t help but notice how terribly slanted the choices were for Christianity images. But what about Muslims? How would Google treat these images?

A search of Muslim images first resulted in a lot of pictures of women in burkas although in contrast there were a few pictures of Muslim beauty pageant winners. There were also pictures of Muslim symbols and a couple of shots of men in prayer. In the first few pages there were a number of pictures of protesters holding various banners. Were they protesting the strict sharia laws or perhaps all the terrorist attacks on innocent citizens? Of course not. Under the title of “Muslim Outrage” were protester holding banners which read things like “Behead those who insult Islam”. Unlike the search for Christianity which showed multiple negative attacks on the religion I found only one in the first few pages of the Muslim images search. This result was a form with the title of “”Hate Muslims? So do we!” But this turned out to be a joke and not a serious attack on the religion such as the ones on Christianity. In the first few pages I didn’t see any negative cartoons or banners or pictures against Muslims or the religion. I wonder if people are afraid to ridicule or denigrate Islam whereas there is no such restraint against Christianity. Or is it simply politically correct to defend Muslims and Islam while it is equally politically correct to abuse Christianity?

Most of my blogs, however, are about Republicans and Democrats, and I need appropriate pictures to go with these articles. So what images does Google provide for these topics? About a third of the first page for both Republican and Democrat searches showed elephants and donkeys, respectively. But the third picture for Republican is a takeoff of the progress of man from monkey to human called “Some Noted Republican Presidents”. I next saw a picture of a typical American family in which all of them are holding rifles or guns. There was an images included a picture of a Jesus holding a gun with the question “What would Jesus do?” and another of a militant Jesus. Oddly enough, the Democrat first page also contained a picture of Jesus, this one looking sad and was a pitch for a song called “Jesus was a Democrat”.

The stunning difference of the two Google searches became clear with the second page of images. The Democrat page continued with more pictures of donkeys, a number of uplifting pictures of patriotic symbols such as the White House and the flag plus serious pictures of famous Democrats. The first picture on the second page of the Republican search shows a strange cartoon of a man in drag, complete with fishnet stockings and heels and for some unknown reason there was a cat up his ass and he was telling a pollster that he was a Republican. Was that supposed to be funny? The second picture is a real snapshot of a man holding a banner which read “I’m a Republican and Ashamed of the GOP”. The rest of the pictures on this page continued to have derogatory and/or obscene pictures about Republicans with a few scattered pictures of elephants, including a cover of Time magazine showing the rear end of an elephant.

Nice, huh? Can you imagine some twelve year old writing a paper for school on Democrats and Republicans and coming across these images? Are Democrats and liberals so insecure, so fearful of Republicans and conservatives that they have to rig the world to tilt it in their favor? Political correctness and the liberal view of the world has taken over not just the words we say (or can not say) but they are also taking over the images associated with these words. Yet has anyone noticed? Has anyone objected to the unfairness found in these images?

"Seeing is believing" we use to say. But now you can't even trust the images you see. I fear for the day that these politically correct words and images become so commonplace that we can no longer recognize that they are even biased.

Looking Through A Glass Darkly

I am worried about what is happening to my country and so, after a long break, I decided to bring out my rarely used crystal ball to see what the future might hold. Now was that a mistake! Talk about scary things. Perhaps I am over-reacting but my dusty crystal ball is showing me a dangerous future and it is not your grandchildren’s future but what might happen in just the next month and year. So what near future am I seeing in my crystal ball?

First I am seeing Republican politicians speaking to nearly deserted arenas this summer. Why? Where are all the people? I asked my crystal ball to show me what happened more recently so that I might understand this future. It takes me to the Easter break, when the Tea Party Express makes its third trip around the country. Although defeated over the health care bill, tea party goers were invigorated and perhaps because they were defeated, conservatives were more determined than ever to replace the members of the House and vote in more conservative politicians. Yes they were angry but they wanted to channel that anger into positive energy going forward. But then my crystal ball returns me to the empty arenas of this summer and that is when I realized that the rooms were empty due to the fact that there were no Tea Party participants to cheer on the conservative candidates. So I looked deeper into the ball and shuddered at what I saw.

It started after the health care bill was passed when a few liberal politicians claimed that they were called names. No one questioned their claims, although there was no proof, not a single unfocused footage in spite of the camera men and regular folks filming the event. Then more and more politicians complained and yes there was now proof as they played voice messages from angry people, some who crossed the line of acceptable behavior. And once one angry person denigrated the President then it was obvious to the liberals that these conservatives were all racists and bigots. (Republicans had equally violent and upsetting calls but the government’s opinion was that they pretty much asked for it due to how they voted.)

Starting with a few name calls it snowballed into all liberal politicians saying they were afraid of the violent, racist conservatives. Obviously these name callers had to be a part of the Tea Party since the Tea Party participants admitted to being angry. Not only were they angry but everyone knew that the Tea Party was started by Republican law makers or maybe it was by big bad businesses or the evil banks or even the KKK. Regardless, there was just no way that normal people would band together in defiance against liberals, since liberals were trying to help the people. OK so maybe the Democrats were not trying to help those people, you know, people who were tax payers or wealthy or even middle class suburbanites. But those people should understand that they are getting more than their fair share and should want to be helping everyone else. Those people have never protested in the past, they always just worked a bit harder and had a bit less but now they must be insane if they actually are rebelling against the government.

My crystal ball even showed me a headline from today when the Tea Party released a statement saying that they were a peaceful group who denounces all forms of violence including racial attacks. But will that help? Probably not, because the media won't bother to cover it and the few that do, well liberals who hear it will just think the statement is untrue and that these conservatives are all liars anyway. And unfortunately, my crystal ball shows me that there will be one person at a Tea Party rally this spring who does yell out a racial slur at a politician which will support the liberals’ views that the entire Tea Party, and by default all conservatives, are racist.

It won’t take long for leading Democrats to jump from denouncing the Tea Party as being racist to stating that it encourages hate crimes and that their participants are the real terrorists in this country! From there, Obama will enact the Homeland Security Act and label the Tea Party and its participants as being threats to our national safety and therefore must be disbanded. Hence the empty rooms when Republican candidates give speeches this summer; as the conservatives are afraid to come out in public for fear that they could be arrested for terrorist activities if they simply cheer on a conservative candidate or disagree with a liberal politician.

It is strange, isn’t it how liberals were furious at George Bush and all the Homeland Security laws that he enacted which limited our rights for the sake of protecting us against terrorists. And yet Obama has not done one thing to liberalize those laws. Perhaps he wants them in place. Perhaps liberals don’t mind limiting freedom of speech, freedom to gather, freedom to worship and all our other freedoms – if it is withdrawn from the right kind of people, those people. And the media continues to see only one side of it. If conservatives were branded terrorists and treated as such, would the media say anything? Or would they remain quiet since it would be happening to those kinds of people and not to the good kind; the liberals, the poor, or even illegal immigrants. If violence occurs to Republican or conservatives, well, they deserve it for not thinking correctly. But if violence occurs to Democrats or liberals, well then those people must be the real terrorists and stopped at all costs. And it will cost us everything…

By now you must be thinking my crystal ball is cracked to prophesize such things. This is America. It could never ever happen here, right? Admittedly, I was going a bit far but trying to make a point of what could happen. Then, in the last paragraph I was going to write something about real terrorism and Al Queda but I wasn’t sure how to spell it. In fact I still am not sure of the spelling because when I got online to The Drudge Report, to my horror, at the top was a link to the following headline VIDEO: Clyburn says Republicans 'aiding and abetting terrorism' against Dems.... Perhaps my silly crystal ball isn’t that silly after all.

The Day After

I am watching President Obama sign the new health care bill into law. How do I feel about this? It scares me. Taxpayers will have more taxes and lesser health care in order that unemployed or poor people can have health insurance, many of them for free. I worry what this will do to small businesses. I hear that businesses that do offer health care have determined that it would be cheaper to pay the penalty and not help out their employees. And I really am concerned about the added power they want to give to the IRS. The IRS is already out of control at times and now the government want to expand that department? And no way will it help the deficit, of course it will make it worse!

Obama is now talking, people are applauding and standing for an ovation. But why? Because they forced members of their own party into voting the party line? They had to bribe, strong arm, and as they admitted, do whatever it takes to get their own Democrat Congressmen and women to vote “Yes”. It just shows how flawed this bill is, if even with all the maneuvering by Obama, Pelosi, Rahm et al, there were still some Democrats who stood by their values and voted “no”. Good for them.

So now what? There is talk now about Republicans being “ugly losers”. I can understand why, people are very upset with what just happened. They can’t understand how a President with a 41% favorably rating, a Speaker of the House with an 11% favorable rating and a Senate Majority Leader with only a 9% favorable rating could come together and decide how to spend our money. I would say it is simply unimaginable except for the fact that it happened.

Yet I don’t think we should be ugly losers. Instead we should fight harder, fight smarter on the next bills, primarily immigration, and cap and trade initiatives. We must stop both of them. We must go across the country explaining why these are bad for the U.S., for us. No name calling or any other tactic along those lines which would only make us look bad and give sympathy to them. We need to publicly be nice and polite but behind the walls we need to fight as hard as Pelosi did and stop being so nice and polite. The country simply can’t afford another loss, another step towards redistribution of the wealth.

I bet that Obama will next try to bring in all the illegal immigrants. He has to. He needs those new citizens as potential new voters. Democrat voters, of course, who would then be bused to the voting polls in November 2012 to make sure that Obama is re-elected, even though the tax paying population is turning against him. (Obama has already shown he could care less about his party and Democrat politicians up for re-election this year. If he cared about them he wouldn’t have forced them to vote Yes on the health care bill knowing full well that their people hate the bill and will vote them out in November.) Anyway, we must stop any new bill to ease illegal immigration. If we couldn’t afford all those poor illegal immigrants before, just imagine the cost since they would all get on the federal insurance plans! We need to close the gates now because if I were a Mexican I would get my ass in this country ASAP in the hopes of some mass legalization thus allowing me to use the United States wonderful health care system, for free, of course.

Tea parties are great but we need more than that. We need stronger voices. We need Nancy Reagan. We need both Bushes and their spouses. We need Sarah Palin to do more than comment on Fox News. I just heard that McCain, who has always had a more liberal view of immigration and was hoping to put together a joint bill, has just said that there will be no more bipartisan efforts. What little goodwill there was has totally evaporated in light of the shenanigans by the Democrat party to ensure their recent victory. And then we need young voices.

Over the past week there have been a few younger Congressmen who have slowly risen to, perhaps not the top, but they have risen above the crowds. Other than Scott Brown I can’t tell you their names. But they know who they are and they need to start making the rounds on Sunday mornings and standing up for our causes. Speaking of which, most people are at church Sunday mornings but if you think of it tape Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. He is hosting the first one-on-one of the Republican candidate’s for Florida’s open Senate seat between Florida Governor Crist and Marco Rubio. At the start of the Republican primary Crist was a shoe in. Now? Rubio, a second generation Cuban, very conservative, young tea party goer now has a solid majority of 56% vs. Crist’s 34%. That is what we need to do.

I heard some democrat say that people will forget about this by November. Perhaps. But that might be why the symbol for Republicans is an elephant. We don’t forget. And we won’t let anyone else forget. As for the health care bill, we will do anything and everything we can do to delay, if not stop, it. A recent poll showed that 49% wanted their states to sue the government; primarily challenging that the health care bill is unconstitutional. Make sure yours is one of those states and that yours is one of the voices protesting, challenging and making sure people know the truth. This is my voice - where is yours?

A Show of Raw Power

People I talk to are truly scared that the passage of this bill would change America, many of them fearing it is an irrevocable giant step towards socialism. However, if the news that the Democrats have the votes for the health care bill upsets you, here are some things to think about.

For the past six months, ever since summer really, it feels as if the whole country has been paralyzed because of the health care bill. Republicans should actually be grateful. All this attention and effort on just one bill has meant that nothing else is getting done in Congress.

If Obama wins on Sunday and the health care bill is passed, it won’t mean that everything will go his way from then on; far from it. I keep thinking of the phrase “political capital”. Obviously with all the arm twisting and bribing, Obama and Pelosi will have used up all of their political capital. If a Congressman ends up voting for this bill I wonder how receptive they will be to future liberal causes, and threats.

For example, there is my own first term Congresswoman, a Democrat who voted No on the first health care bill. If I am being bombarded by telephone ads from both left and right to call her I can only imagine what her life is like right now. Well, no actually I can’t imagine what it would be like to be browbeaten not only by my Speaker, dozens of Democrat leaders but also confronted by my President in his Oval Office, and all of them threatening to annihilate me in November if I don’t support my party.

Then there is the “pep rally” planned this afternoon for all Democrat Representatives plus Obama, now that he has cancelled his trips. Some analysts are comparing what is happening to the Stockholm syndrome which is when hostages begin to sympathize with their captors. I think it is more along the lines of mass hysteria. Remember the pictures of the crowds cheering Hitler over and over again?

I really can’t see my Congresswoman continuing to stand up to so much raw power. And that is what it is. Absolute raw ugly power against, in many cases, first term idealistic Congressmen and women. But once Obama and Pelosi have used this tactic they will have nothing left in their bag of tricks for the rest of the year, which is why I doubt that any other very liberal bill gets passed this year.

We all know that Obama came into office promising a laundry list of far left changes. He has now spent his first year on just one issue – health care. Once that is passed he will try to quickly move on to other issues, immigration is already next on his list, but I believe that he will find each vote to be a painful reminder of the damage he and Pelosi have done in order to pass the health care bill.

First, the passage of the health bill will result in dozens of law suits questioning the legality of forcing people to get insurance. Already over half the states are planning to fight this bill. There is also the “fixes” which Democrat Senators promised the House will be added but they might find it difficult to pass when faced with Republican opposition. The bill already isn’t supposed to force health care on us until 2014 and between now and then Congress will be swamped with law suits and delaying tactics making it difficult to implement this bill or to move on to any other bill.

I also think that what is happening is similar to any action movie. The good guys always take a real beating and then at the end they pull themselves together and finally succeed in defeating the bad guys. I have a feeling that as in any action flick, if the health care bill is passed then the people, the soccer Moms and racecar Dads, the elderly widows and the young family man, the single women and the mother of four, Republicans, Independents and Tea Party people of any and every color, age and creed will pull together in a tidal wave of anger, frustration and purpose to block anything else proposed by Obama and to win this November. And like any good movie, in the end the good guys will win.

Hasn't Got A Prayer

How hypocritical of the President to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast after not only shunning the National Day of Prayer last May but also never once stepping inside a church since his election! I still might have given him the benefit of the doubt if he had spoken a short prayer, as past Presidents have done. But no, this is President Obama, who with teleprompter in place gives, not a prayer, but a lecture.

I thought it telling that he began his lecture by stating that all Americans “of all faiths and no faith… share a recognition, one as old as time, that a willingness to believe, an openness to grace, a commitment to prayer can bring sustenance to our lives." Excuse me? How could someone of no faith have a commitment to prayer? And why are they even being mentioned at this National Prayer Breakfast? Let the unfaithful have their own day of unprayers, oh wait, they do, it’s called Earth Day.

After this past year in office, no one should be surprised that President Obama took a bi-partisan prayer meeting and used it as a platform to give yet another diatribe. During his speech, Obama seemed to be scolding his listeners as he once again came across as the superior, condescending professor who is frustrated that his “students” continue to dare to disagree with him. It was telling that the President and his group in DC concluded a few weeks ago that the problem with the health care bill wasn’t the bill itself but rather that they didn’t communicate the benefits of it to the public in spite of all the press conferences, townhall meetings and speeches on health care. Running underneath these conclusions is the darker belief that the American people are just too stupid to understand the bill or to appreciate why it is good for them. This would explain why Speaker of the House Pelosi arrogantly stated that she will do whatever is necessary to pass the health care bill because she knows what is best for us.

During his National Prayer Breakfast lecture Obama continuously scolded the listeners and asked for “a return to civility”. This reminded me of Rodney King’s plea of “can we all get along” but in Obama’s case it really means that the bad conservatives need to get along with the wonderful democrats who are doing God’s work, such as the health care plan. And it was hard to miss Obama’s meaning when he “urged leaders to be empowered by faith, to step outside their comfort zone to bridge divisions and unite around their common goals.” What common goal? Or perhaps I should ask whose common goals? He further talks about the “erosion of civility” which “poisons the well of public opinion” and “makes politics an all or nothing sport” and that our crisis, such as health care become “contests for power”. Duh. Politics is a contest for power and the only time someone complains about it is when they find themselves on the losing end!

Barack Obama also took a slight detour in his lecture and provided some interesting insight into the man we call our President. During his civility lesson 101 he stated ".. surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith or for that matter my citizenship.” Oh my. The birthers are a small fringe group and yet liberals seem to love to talk about them; although not sure if mentioning them during a lecture on civility and on everybody getting along is really appropriate. As for questioning Obama’s faith, well, of course we will, in fact he has made it easy for us. As I stated earlier, he skipped the National Day of Prayer last year and has yet to attend church since his Sundays with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. So President Obama has given us cause to question his faith. Granted, I might be accused of being a similar hypocrite as I am a Christian who also hasn’t set foot in a church in years. Then again, I am not the President of the USA, who appears to turn his “faith” on and off as the situation requires.

Within all this talk of civility was another plea – to not question his motives. “Challenging each other’s ideas can renew our democracy but when we challenge each other’s motives it becomes harder to see what we hold in common.” Does he truly not get it? Americans thrive on challenging not just ideas and policies but the motives behind them. There has never been anything wrong in asking a politician “why is he doing something”. You can’t truly understand a person unless you understand his or her motive.

I wonder, though, if having his motives questioned has been a new and uncomfortable position for the president. He is no longer surrounded by people of similar motives nor is he the darling of the media any more. People actually are daring to question him. How uncivil! Instead of blindly agreeing, they are questioning his motives, his faith, and wondering if his goals are our goals.

Obama's decline in public opinion is due to the public beginning to realize that Obama’s actions are not matching up to his words. And you don’t resolve this by talking even more. Obama may give a great speech but we’ve stopped listening to what he says and are watching what he does instead. So yes we are starting to question him, no matter how uncivil it might seem.

Tenaciously Optimistic

I heard a phrase the other day which immediately resonated in me. I don’t remember where I heard it but the phrase was “tenaciously optimistic”. Isn’t that great? We all know people who never seem happy; who complain about every little thing that happens to them. On the other hand, there are those few people who truly have had terrible adversities in their life and yet they still seem happy. They are tenaciously optimistic. They know that when life throws you a curve ball it would be easy to feel sorry for yourself or become bitter but instead they work to remain hopeful and cling to their belief that life is to be enjoyed. I should know. I also think that this phrase describes the attitudes of our best politicians and leaders, not just here but world wide.

Think of Winston Churchill who never gave up during WWII. One of his many quotes that he is famous for is: ... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. Wow. Now that is the epitome of being tenaciously optimistic! Churchill had faith that they would win but he knew they would have to work hard to achieve that win; in other words they needed to be tenaciously optimistic.

Our most revered Presidents are also those who were tenaciously optimistic. Roosevelt inspired Americans with his upbeat view during the Great Depression and then WWII. In fact, Roosevelt applied this sentiment in his personal life. He could have been bitter after being struck by polio and losing the ability to walk. Instead he fought to be happy. So did Kennedy who also had serious illnesses and a debilitating back problem. Like Roosevelt, he overcame his personal problems with humor and confidence that he could do anything.

Perhaps the President who most exemplified tenacious optimism was President Reagan. He was elected during a terrible recession, interest rates greater than 20%, unemployment well over 10% and an energy crisis. Yet during his campaign he exuded optimism and hope that things would be better. And the American people responded and swept him into office twice. How could you not admire a man who as he was being wheeled into surgery after being shot during an assassination attempt quipped to his wife “Honey, I forgot to duck.” Reagan knew that humor is frequently used as a means to deflect adversities.

Obama was also tenaciously optimistic. He would have to be as he was the first African American to be on the Democratic ticket for President. Few African Americans ever thought there would be a black president in their lifetime but not Obama. He even turned his tenacious optimism into his campaign slogan “Yes We Can”. And he did.

I mention this because I heard someone, I think it was the Republican House Minority Whip, say that the two Republicans who just became governors of Virginia and NJ were “sunny Republicans”. The pundits discussed how these two Republicans each ran a campaign of hope and ideas of how to improve life for the citizens of their state. On the other hand, the Democratic candidates ran angrier campaigns attacking their opponent and playing the blame game. Voters have shown over and over that they don’t respond to those kinds of campaigns. We don’t want leaders to blame other people, we want them to explain how they will improve the situation. And once again voters responded to the tenacious optimism of the Republican candidates of Virginia and New Jersey.

Something else has occurred to me. As previously mentioned, when running for President, Obama was enthusiastically hopeful with his “Yes We Can” motto. But since becoming President he seems to have lost that ebullience and hopefulness. Instead every time he gives a speech it is about doom and gloom, how bad things are and continuously blaming President Bush for all the problems. In looking back, Clinton had a lot of problems but if not exactly cheerful, he did have this cocky self assurance. Carter, however, was like an old time Southern Baptist pastor preaching of fire and brimstone unless people changed. He lasted one painful term and yet never learned for he is still preaching doom and gloom.

All the pundits are analyzing the election results from last night. What does it portend for Obama and his agenda? How will it affect the health care bill? What does it mean for the Republican party? Personally, I think the message is an old one. That voters are tired of being told how awful life is, they know that things are tough all over. They don’t need politicians telling them how bad it is or blaming the other party and voters definitely don’t want politicians telling them that they need to sacrifice (ie. pay higher taxes) in order to help others. And they also respond badly to threats – that if they don’t do something then life will be horrible in the future (think climate change).

Voters want those “sunny Republicans”. They want to hear that life is good and is only going to get better. They want solutions but not solutions that makes life tougher for themselves. They want leaders who are confident and hopeful in a better future. Leaders who won’t promise easy fixes since most of the time the voters end up paying for that. Instead these leaders will tell you how they will work to improve your family’s life. These leaders are tenaciously optimistic; finding joy and pride in America even during the darkest hours and exuding hopefulness that we can work together to create a shining future.

Going Tharn

In Richard Adam’s magical book Watership Down he describes the rabbit’s freezing when caught in the headlights of an approaching car as going tharn. I think a lot of moderates, both Democrats and Republicans, have gone tharn in the light of what is happening in Washington. The recent acts by Obama and his administration have been so unbelievable with one major change after another that many people who initially voted for the man have just frozen and gone tharn. For some it is simply too hard to comprehend how quickly our country is being changed. I can now almost understand how Nazi Germany came to be. The good Germans and Jews simply went tharn in disbelief.

Thank God that Conservatives have not been immobilized by the menace to our country which is emanating from Obama and his cronies. Instead, they have answered swiftly with the most damning response of all – true grass roots rebellion. I think it has shaken the far left liberals to see how quickly large groups of citizens are gathering to express their outrage at what Obama is doing to our country. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the way this fury has spread like fire around the country. What people forget is that yes, Obama won, but look at the map of red vs. blue counties. Once you get outside of the urban big cities you find the rest of the country is red. And it is getting redder every day that Obama has been in office.

But a funny thing is starting to happen. Remember those moderates who had gone tharn, frozen in disbelief at what they had done? Well, Obama is playing his hand too cockily. His Chicago strong arm tactics, his determination to silence anyone who is against him and his utter disrespect of our history is starting to backfire on him. Middle of the road Democrats who have been standing in place are beginning to jump – and to the right. Moderate Democrats are now saying “wait a minute” to adding trillions more in debt with his budget. They are beginning to think the government went too far when Obama fired GM’s CEO. That Obama’s international behavior, chumming up to our enemies while insulting our friends is no longer campaign gimmicks but a terrifying reality. They are finding their voice and are beginning to stand up and say “slow down” and even “no” to their President.

And what has been Obama’s reaction when these middle of the road Democrats start to voice their concerns? Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio was one of those moderates who voted against Obama’s stimulus package. And Obama’s response according to today’s article by Karl Rove was “ ‘Don't think we're not keeping score, brother.’ That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.” Wow.

Sure you could say it’s his own fault for voting him in but I can’t help but feel sorry for Rep. DeFazio and the other moderate Democrats. They had been so excited that one of their own won the presidency. And not just anyone but they had voted for a very charismatic man who was also the first African American running for the office. How very thrilling the inauguration must have been for they really believed that Obama would bring hope back to Washington. But then suddenly so many things went wrong and Obama’s actions became more and more dangerous to our country.

Until finally these moderates found that they could no longer support their President. How difficult that decision was. It must be incredibly hard to stand up to a President from your own party. But perhaps they thought that maybe by not voting for his bill this new President might realize he is going too far and too fast for a large part of his constituency. Perhaps they thought that their no vote would be a signal to the President to slow down a little bit. Instead their President threatens them! Wow. Talk about a wake up call!

So Conservatives, in addition to your tea parties, show your support for these moderate Democrats. For it is no longer a Republican vs. Democrat thing. No, this is something deeper, something more akin to liberty vs. tyranny. Send Peter DeFazio a note telling him that you appreciate the stand he has taken. Tell the moderate Democrats that Obama has made his biggest mistake yet when he threatened you and that we will stand with you against the President and his minions like MoveOn.org when they come after you. And you know they will for it is already happening.

Now maybe it is in the human spirit but I like to think that one of the uniquely American traits is that we don’t react well to being threatened. Sure we may have gone tharn initially but that is due to our innate goodness and naivety. We simply can’t believe this is happening. But once we shake off that frozen feeling instead of backing down to threats we fight them. Our country is filled with story after story of average men and women who have stood up to tyrants. Hell, America was born because of rebels like that. A lot may have changed in the past 250 years but thank God that is still true. For if it is not, if we no longer have the integrity and guts to stand up for what is good then you might as well start to write our country’s obituary.

Short Retort

I watched a clip of Obama’s train ride to DC and he said something which I honestly didn’t understand. At one of the whistle stops (I love that phrase and all it evokes!) President Elect Obama promised that “We will continue fighting for you every day.” In fact he repeated this line at additional whistle stops.

Uhm, excuse me? He won. He will be President and his party will control both the Senate and the House. So who exactly will he be fighting? Who is this enemy for “to fight” is to suppose that there is an opponent that needs to be fought. And yes, my greatest fear is that as Pogo said back in the 60’s “I have met the enemy and he is us.”