Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Monday, August 01, 2011

Guess Who?

"While it is good to see serious debate about our debt crisis, I cannot support the reported deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling. I have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, and I never will.

"This deal will reportedly cut spending by only slightly over $900 billion over 10 years. But we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit after this year alone, meaning those meager cuts will do nothing to solve our unsustainable spending problem.

"In fact, thisbill will never balance the budget. Instead, it will add untold trillions of dollars to our deficit. This also assumes the cuts are real cuts and not the same old Washington smoke and mirrors game of spending less than originally projected so you can claim the difference as a‘cut.'

"The plan also calls for the formation of a deficit commission, which will accomplish nothing outside of providing Congress and the White House with another way to abdicate responsibility.

"In my many years of public service, there have been commissions on everything from Social Security to energy policy, yet not one solution has been produced out of these commissions.

"By denying members the ability to offer amendments and only allowing an up-or-down vote that will take place in the hectic time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, this Commission essentially disenfranchises the vast majority of members from meaningfully participating in the debate over reducing spending and balancing the budget.

"Furthermore, despite the claims of the bill's proponents, there is nothing to stop the commission from recommending tax increases.

"One of the reasons why I humbly suggest that I am the most qualified Presidential candidate is my experience to see and understand the long track record of failure, disappointments, and bad recommendations made by such commissions.

"Times like these require statesmanship and steady leadership, which I and the grassroots activists who have joined my campaign believe I am uniquely qualified to provide.

"What should bother Americans most is that under cover of this debt ceiling circus, we learned from a recent GAO one-time, limited audit that the Federal Reserve secretly pumped $16 trillion into American and foreign banks over three years. All of the Fed's fat cat cronies were taken care of at the expense of the American public.

"To put that into perspective, our entire national debt is $14.5 trillion, and our annual deficit will be about $1.6 trillion, meaning the Federal Reserve created andappropriated more than our entire national debt to banks around the world in a few short years. We have been fighting in Congress these past few weeks over raising our debt ceiling by $2 trillion, an amount the Fed secretly gave away to just one big bank.

"For decades, politicians have promised future restraint in exchange for hikes in the debt limit. We are always told that we must act immediately to avoid a crisis. But time and time again, politicians reveal themselves to be untrustworthy, and we soon find ourselves in a crisis being led by the same folks who wish only to maintain the status quo.

"I believein the great American traditions of free markets, sound money, and personal Liberty. But we are moving far away from what made us the greatest nation in human history. We must cut spending and balance our budget now, before it is too late.

"Let me be clear. The cuts we must make will not be easy, and there will be difficult times in the short run. But I have the greatest confidence that if we come together as a People, work hard, and do the right things, our country will be back on track in no time and on its way to unprecedented prosperity. But, if we continue to print money and pyramid debt, we will destroy ourselves and lose the promise of America forever.

"These difficult times require a President willing to stand against runawayspending. If elected, I will veto any spending bill that contributes to an unbalanced budget, and I will balance the budget in the first year ofmy term. I will not allow the Federal Reserve to destroy the value of our money by shoveling dollars into the pockets of its banker friends.

"I remain committed to working on behalf of the American people to drastically reduce spending and implement fundamental changes that will reform government and restore our nation's prosperity."
************************
Sounds good to me!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Holy Cow!

"Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided. "

Check out the poll here.

Imagine that, a true Statesman almost beating a Statist. THAT would be real change, let me tell you.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Truth Hurts

Got the below here.
Myth
Truth
1. This is a universal health care bill.
The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance.
Per the CBO:
Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million (44%)

2. Insurance companies hate this bill
This bill is almost identical to the plan written by AHIP, the insurance company trade association, in 2009.
The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored by a former Wellpoint VP. Since Congress released the first of its health care bills on October 30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%.
3. The bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums for most Americans.
The bill will not bring down premiums significantly, and certainly not the $2,500/year that the President promised.
Annual premiums in 2016, status quo / with bill:
Small group market, single: $7,800 / $7,800
Small group market, family: $19,300 / $19,200
Large Group market, single: $7,400 / $7,300
Large group market, family: $21,100 / $21,300
Individual market, single: $5,500 / $5,800*
Individual market, family: $13,100 / $15,200*
4. The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans.
The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can’t afford to use.
A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible.
5. This plan is similar to the Massachusetts plan, which makes health care affordable.
Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care because they can’t afford it.
A 2009 study by the state of Massachusetts found that:
21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they can’t afford it, including 12% of children
18% have health insurance but can’t afford to use it

6. This bill provide health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured.
This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured must purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies.
7. You can keep the insurance you have if you like it.
The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services.
Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.
8. The “excise tax” will encourage employers to reduce the scope of health care benefits, and they will pass the savings on to employees in the form of higher wages.
There is insufficient evidence that employers pass savings from reduced benefits on to employees.
9. This bill employs nearly every cost control idea available to bring down costs.
This bill does not bring down costs and leaves out nearly every key cost control measure, including:
Public Option ($25-$110 billion)
Medicare buy-in
Drug reimportation ($19 billion)
Medicare drug price negotiation ($300 billion)
Shorter pathway to generic biologics ($71 billion)
10. The bill will require big companies like WalMart to provide insurance for their employees
The bill was written so that most WalMart employees will qualify for subsidies, and taxpayers will pick up a large portion of the cost of their coverage.
11. The bill “bends the cost curve” on health care.
The bill ignored proven ways to cut health care costs and still leaves 24 million people uninsured, all while slightly raising total annual costs by $234 million in 2019.
“Bends the cost curve” is a misleading and trivial claim, as the US would still spend far more for care than other advanced countries.
In 2009, health care costs were 17.3% of GDP.
Annual cost of health care in 2019, status quo: $4,670.6 billion (20.8% of GDP)
Annual cost of health care in 2019, Senate bill: $4,693.5 billion (20.9% of GDP)
12. The bill will provide immediate access to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition.
Access to the “high risk pool” is limited and the pool is underfunded. It will cover few people, and will run out of money in 2011 or 2012
Only those who have been uninsured for more than six months will qualify for the high risk pool. Only 0.7% of those without insurance now will get coverage, and the CMS report estimates it will run out of funding by 2011 or 2012.
13. The bill prohibits dropping people in individual plans from coverage when they get sick.
The bill does not empower a regulatory body to keep people from being dropped when they’re sick.
There are already many states that have laws on the books prohibiting people from being dropped when they’re sick, but without an enforcement mechanism, there is little to hold the insurance companies in check.
14. The bill ensures consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to challenge new insurance plan decisions.
The “internal appeals process” is in the hands of the insurance companies themselves, and the “external” one is up to each state.Ensuring that consumers have access to “internal appeals” simply means the insurance companies have to review their own decisions. And it is the responsibility of each state to provide an “external appeals process,” as there is neither funding nor a regulatory mechanism for enforcement at the federal level.
15. This bill will stop insurance companies from hiking rates 30%-40% per year.
This bill does not limit insurance company rate hikes. Private insurers continue to be exempt from anti-trust laws, and are free to raise rates without fear of competition in many areas of the country.
16. When the bill passes, people will begin receiving benefits under this bill immediately
Most provisions in this bill, such as an end to the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults, do not take effect until 2014.
Six months from the date of passage, children could not be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing conditions, though insurance companies could charge more to cover them. Children would also be allowed to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26. There will be an elimination of lifetime coverage limits, a high risk pool for those who have been uninsured for more than 6 months, and community health centers will start receiving money.
17. The bill creates a pathway for single payer.
Bernie Sanders’ provision in the Senate bill does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, so no, it doesn’t create a pathway for single payer.
Obama told Dennis Kucinich that the Ohio Representative’s amendment is similar to Bernie Sanders’ provision in the Senate bill, and creates a pathway to single payer. Since the waiver does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, it is nearly impossible to see how it gets around the ERISA laws that stand in the way of any practical state single payer system.
18 The bill will end medical bankruptcy and provide all Americans with peace of mind.
Most people with medical bankruptcies already have insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses will continue to be a burden on the middle class.
In 2009, 1.5 million Americans declared bankruptcy
Of those, 62% were medically related
Three-quarters of those had health insurance
The Obama bill leaves 24 million without insurance
The maximum yearly out-of-pocket limit for a family
will be $11,900 (PDF) on top of premiums
A family with serious medical problems that last for a few years could easily be financially crushed by medical costs


Oh joy, sounds like you should call your representative and beg him or her to vote for this lovely pile of...nevermind.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Wow

I've been waiting for this. Cracks in the facade...

Friday, October 09, 2009

Say Wha'?

The man who snubs the Dalai Lama receives the Nobel prize for Peace?
Huh. Up IS down!
I guess keeping the Chinese happy is a form of keeping the peace. Couldn't have anything to do with that 1 trillion dollars (plus interest) we owe them, could it? Hmmmm..... After all, we gotta be sure they keep buying our toxic bonds. Oops, I meant Treasury bonds.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

LMAO!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Freedom Rules!

This is the first part in a series of videos that so excellently explains the true political situation in the world today I had to share. I don't know if anyone actually ever watches these videos, because I hardly ever get any comments on them, but I have to try anyway to share what I find to be so important. It is about educating yourself. If I can help by offering up opportunities to further that education, I will. I know you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink, and I try to live by that principle. If you are here because you are looking for unschooling info, you can't do better than to learn more about freedom and liberty. It goes far beyond the choice not to send our kids to school.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Thought You Oughta Know

Support H.R. 1207 and S. 604! Contact your representatives today!! Wake up, America.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Yikes!

Still think Obama is doing what is best for us all? Oh, and remember the federal deficit is at least three times the pennies on the table. Can you say insolvent?

Sunday, January 04, 2009

I.O.U.S.A

Please, please, please, pretty please, please with sugar on top watch this video. Is it any more obvious that I am begging you to educate yourself about our current financial situation here in the US? This video is just the tip of the iceberg on what you can learn, but it is an excellent overview of what we are facing as a nation. If you have children or grandchildren, you should be very, very afraid of the world we and our government are leaving them, IF we continue down the road we are on right now. I am not without hope, but it is going to take a massive waking up of our citizens, and a radical call to action to solve. I am simply doing my part to shake you out of your slumber and ask you to open your eyes and LOOK. I am also living within my means and showing my children that you do not spend what you do not have, period. In other words,you do not act like the government. You do not mortgage your future to the rest of the world, while going around pushing your agenda on them like you actually have the power, ultimately, to do so. OK, off my soap box. It is in your hands now.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Republic vs. Democracy

Found this out on the internets and thought I would share:

SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You are forced by the government to give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and rations your milk.

FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both because they might damage a turtle habitat. They take one away to study it's environmental impact, pay seven people to milk the other (six lean on overpriced shovels while one does the work), and then throw the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, you hire people to milk the cows, the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You outsource the labor of milking them to Korea, and hire Mexican truckers to transport the milk.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buys your bull.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

A SWISS CORPORATION You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION You have two cows. Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the sh#t out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy...

A DEMOCRACY You have two cows, you vote for government benefits to help you take care of the cows. Your taxes continue to go up to pay for the benefits. (largely because of the Bureaucracy example above) Your country goes broke and you lose all your cows.

A REPUBLIC You have two cows. You recognize that the above mentioned capitalism is the best policy, and you protect the rights of the individual against the threat of all these other philosophies.

Hmmm...pretty obvious which one I would choose. Good thing we actually have a Republic. Now, to start acting like it!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics



This is a the first part of a 20/20 John Stossel special on the government. Enjoy! Or maybe I should say, brace yourselves!

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Eureka!!

Here you go, Papa, the answer to our dilemma the other day:

From the website of VotePact.org:

The Problem:
Most voters don’t vote for—often don’t even consider voting
for—third parties because they view voting for a third party as helping the
establishment party they most dislike. Disenchanted Democrats continue to vote
for Democrats because they don’t want Republicans; disenchanted Republicans
continue to vote for Republicans because they don’t want Democrats.

—The Solution:
Disenchanted Republicans should pair up with
disenchanted Democrats and both vote for third party or independent candidates
they more genuinely want. This way they siphon off votes by twos from each of
the establishment parties. This liberates the voters to vote their actual
preference from among those on the ballot, rather than to just pick the “least
bad” of the two majors. They could each vote for different candidates, or they
could vote for the same candidate. If the later, it could offer an enterprising
candidate a path to actual electoral success.


So, I am officially on the lookout for a disenchanted Republican voter in the state of New York who would rather vote for someone else besides John McCain, but feels they need to vote for him to be sure the other guy does not win. I would like to form a vote pact with you for BOTH of us to vote third party, according to our conscious and principles. If I had not been woken up by Ron Paul this year, I would assuredly be voting for Obama, so your pact with me would be preventing a vote for him. How about it? Anyone?

If I don't find someone to have a vote pact with, I might vote for NOBODY. No, not not vote. Actually cast a ballot for nobody, a blank ballot. Imagine this: 100,000,000 voters fill the voting booths on election day, but the major candidates only receive 70,000,00 votes all together. What happened to those other 30,000,000 votes? They went to NOBODY! That would send a message, wouldn't it

Spread the word about this, people! I know some of you just have to be facing a vote of the lesser of two evils. Don't vote for evil, find someone to make a Votepact with. I'm just happy I found a way to not "waste my vote" AND vote my principles! So, who's game?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I'm FED up!!!

Key moment: One of the guys mentions that none of the presidential candidates is even talking about the chaos in the economy the past few days. Wrong!!! Ok, so he is not technically a candidate, but Ron Paul actually warned us about the events that have come to pass these past few months. Are we all so deaf, dumb and blind? AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! All those pretty sounding plans of McBamas' gotta be bought with something, don't you know? How can we have a government, when we don't have any money. If we don't have any money, how can we have a government?

I hope you all have your finances in order and your future poverty plan in place. Where will you live when you can't pay your mortgage or rent? Can you grow your own food? Do you have any skills that can create actual useful items? How will you fit into the informal economy? Because there won't be a formal one soon enough.... How long before the foreign banks who finance our government call in the debt?

Good luck to you all.

Oh! Here's a good idea!

Friday, June 13, 2008

It Ain't Over, People

Ron Paul might have officially halted his campaign for the President of the United States this year, but his campaign for true liberty for all Americans is just beginning. I am proud to be a part of. Read his letter to supporters, here, and ask yourself, do I believe in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? If the answer is yes, please join us! The r3VOLution has just begun!!

If you want to know what I mean when I say Liberty, check this video out. It makes it VERY clear.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Revolution

In honor of the release of Ron Paul's new book, I am offering a free, brand spanking new copy of the book to one of my readers. If you would like to be the recipient of this wonderful summation of the principles of true liberty and freedom for Americans, please comment to this post and tell why you would like the book. I'll choose one of you lucky patriots based on who inspires me most. Oh yeah, you have until Sunday evening to comment for the book.

In the meantime, check out what Ron himself has to say about this important day:

Today is an exciting day for our campaign and our movement: my new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, is officially released.
Although a short book, it is the product of many years of thought and action. It is a defense of the principles to which you and I have devoted our lives.
My friends are calling it "Ron Paul's legacy."
These principles - individual liberty, sound money, the Constitution, and the foreign policy of the Founding Fathers - have had no home in American politics for a very long time. With The Revolution: A Manifesto, I'm letting the establishment know we're not going away.
Finally, Americans can hear and judge these great American principles for themselves, instead of through an unfriendly media filter. And they can learn once and for all that they need not be satisfied with the phony choices the system offers them every four years. Another way really is possible.
Two days ago I did a book signing in New York at the Borders on Wall Street. All 530 copies had been sold before I even arrived.
They had underestimated you again.
Imagine the attention our cause and our principles could attract with a fantastic opening day today, with people marching into bookstores across the country for their copies. If it should become a publishing phenomenon, The Revolution: A Manifesto can fuel our revolution for a long time to come. You can make that happen.
I hope you enjoy this book, which was a real labor of love for me. Please spread the word.
And may the future be ours.
For liberty,
Ron Paul

Oh, and I'll be back soon with something not political, with pictures, for those of you who just can't take one more post about Ron Paul! ;-)

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Don't Tell Me...

...there is no such thing as voter fraud. I was reading on the Daily Dose to see what was going on with the PA primary on Tuesday and a commenter posted that she had just seen Ron Paul LOSE over 100 votes:

Armstrong County in Pennsylvania:
Ron Paul was at 71% in Armstrong County, then mysteriously lost 114 votes and went down to 15%.

Vote tally with 13% reporting:
McCain - 118
Paul - 524

Vote tally with 48% reporting:
McCain - 2,063
Paul - 409

Reminds me of a video I saw recently:


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

What is going on here?!? God save us all.

BTW, the video is satire, in case you didn't notice. Too close to reality for my comfort!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Freedom is the Answer

So, here is how it went, Pat. :-)

We got there too late to hear Ron Paul speak, but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed listening to the other speakers and walking around talking to the other rally attendees. There are no really good videos of the event, but the one below was pretty cool. Watch it and you'll understand the title of this post.


The girls had fun collecting stickers and buttons and stuff people were giving away to "ron paul" themselves, as A calls it when she shows her political colors. She mentioned several times that she wished she was 18 so she could vote.

We only stayed for a couple of hours, as E had had enough. I'm glad we went, but it was a bit frustrating feeling like we were preaching to the choir. No major news coverage, of course. It was really nice to feel a part of something so important and exciting as the r3volution. I only hope it grows and more and more people wake up to what is happening to our freedoms here in America, and join us before it is too late to do anything about it.

I hope the organizers of the next event, the Revolution March, do a better job promoting it. There needs to be more people there!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

WW - Let's March!




Government of the people, by the people, for the people.


That is what our Constitution guarantees us. No longer do our elected representatives care about that "goddamned piece of paper" (George W Bush).


Please watch the video above and then ask yourself what it means to be an American. If your answer is to be Free, you need to be a part of this march. Our freedoms are being erroded daily by the very same people who are sworn to uphold and defend that piece of paper.


Are you going to stand by and just allow this to happen? I, for one, say "Hell, NO!"


Will you join me?


p.s. you'd have a free place to stay near DC!