Previous month:
July 2009
Next month:
September 2009

Are you mad at today’s corrupt and complacent politicians, Nelson Lee Walker has the answer …

Nelson Lee Walker is not a crackpot, a wing-nut or an ideologue. He doesn’t really care who you vote for – as long as it is not an incumbent.

His approach is simple, effective, costs nothing and can produce a miraculous turnaround in our current government and serve to halt our slide into a political system and bureaucrat lifestyle that can breach our sovereignty, turn our nation toward socialism, bankrupt our nation and break faith with the senior citizens who are depending on Social Security and Medicare.

Let Nelson tell you in his own words …

Many of you have seen my bumper stickers expressing the same position …

 

Capture2-11-2009-6.51.55 PM

Capture2-11-2009-6.50.07 PM

Capture2-11-2009-6.53.10 PM

Capture2-11-2009-6.54.19 PM

Capture2-11-2009-6.56.12 PM

Capture2-16-2009-6.02.35 PM

Remember they care nothing about the Constitution, so it is up to us to take actions …

Capture2-18-2009-10.30.31 PM

flag

Be well, be safe and take care of yourself and your family first.

-- steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

FTC rule on electronic health repositories means nothing ...

Companies who offer to store your personal healthcare information are loudly touting the Federal Trade Commissions rule mandating notification of consumers when the security of their electronic health information is breached.

Unfortunately, this rule does little or nothing to promote the security of your health information stored on the company’s servers, nor does it provide any type of relief for a security breach which results in provable damages.

Once again, we caution all consumers thinking about allowing their health information to be uploaded to any third-party system.

One, all of your rights and remedies are contained in a confusing set of user agreements between you and the vendor. These unilateral agreements are written for the sole protection of the company and do little or nothing to protect you against the costs of remedying the inadvertent disclosure of your personal health information.

Two, all of your health information is at risk of an administrative summons or other legal subpoena – which you may or may not be notified has been presented and which may not provide enough time to legally contest the turnover of your healthcare information.

Three, the standard insurance application that you sign for health insurance may authorize the access and disclosure of this information – with little more than a photocopied application form.

Four, the service vendor may sell your personal information, often in aggregate form without personal identifiers, for research purposes or offer to use it to develop “targeted profiles” to be sold to advertisers.

Five, the service vendor often disclaims liability for the availability of your health information or the inability of emergency room personnel to access the data on a timely basis.

So what did the FTC final rule contain …

FTC Issues Final Breach Notification Rule for Electronic Health Information

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a final rule requiring certain Web-based businesses to notify consumers when the security of their electronic health information is breached.

Congress directed the FTC to issue the rule as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The rule applies to both vendors of personal health records – which provide online repositories that people can use to keep track of their health information – and entities that offer third-party applications for personal health records. These applications could include, for example, devices such as blood pressure cuffs or pedometers whose readings consumers can upload into their personal health records. Consumers may benefit by using these innovations, but only if they are confident that their health information is secure and confidential.

An FTC warning …

Many entities offering these types of services are not subject to the privacy and security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which applies to health care service providers such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Another study: confusing motion with action …

The Recovery Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study and report by February 2010, in consultation with the FTC, on potential privacy, security, and breach-notification requirements for vendors of personal health records and related entities that are not subject to HIPAA. In the meantime, the Act requires the Commission to issue a rule requiring these entities to notify consumers if the security of their health information is breached. The Commission announced a proposed rule in April 2009, collected public comments until June 1, and is issuing the Final Rule today.

The Final Rule requires vendors of personal health records and related entities to notify consumers following a breach involving unsecured information. In addition, if a service provider to one of these entities has a breach, it must notify the entity, which in turn must notify consumers. The Final Rule also specifies the timing, method, and content of notification, and in the case of certain breaches involving 500 or more people, requires notice to the media. Entities covered by the rule must notify the FTC, and they may use a standard form, which can be found along with additional information about the rule at www.ftc.gov/healthbreach.

Caveat Emptor: Let the Buyer Beware …

The truth of the matter is that there are very few cases when your health information will be a critical issue in the delivery of services to you … especially on an emergency basis.

First, most emergency rooms will treat you for the presenting symptoms. They will perform their own blood and diagnostic testing. Should you have a chronic underlying condition this will often be disclosed in the patient’s history taken by the nurse or doctor after admission.

Second, in routine situations, doctors obtain medical records directly from treating doctors and facilities because these documents and results may have impressions and notes which are not provided to the patient and which will only be provided to physicians. Very few doctors have the patience or the need to sort through reams of your medical records.

Third, your third-party medical records may be dangerously incomplete and lacking critical information. Also, many doctor’s may suspect records created by the patient or susceptible to modifications by the patient or other vendors.

And fourth, because of our litigious society, doctors cannot rely on any information source which will not hold up in a court of law.

Bottom line …

This is a concept that sound great in concept and which falls short in execution or usability. It appears that many of the large-scale vendors are hoping to achieve a critical mass of consumers so that, if and when, electronic recordkeeping becomes a mandated part of healthcare rules and regulations, they will be well-positioned as a vendor to the government, insurance companies and/or healthcare providers.

However, without legally enforceable privacy and security protections – backed with criminal penalties and fines – all of the vendor’s representations, or should I say, insinuations mean little or nothing. Especially when the vendor uses server facilities outside of the United States and employees people which have not been as thoroughly vetted and trained as personnel in a medical setting.

Before you say anything, consider that information on celebrities was accessed and sold to a tabloid by an employee at a major hospital. And consider that revelations of key medical information have been used for political purposes.

Be well, be safe and protect yourself and your family first.

-- steve

P.S. A final word: the Federal Trade Commission is one of the most honest, ethical and hard-working agencies in the government. Tell your elected officials that we do not want them turned into a hyper-politicalized agency by combining them with other regulators who often pursue hidden political agendas. – steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

Capture8-11-2009-9.40.40 PM

Reference Links:

FTC Issues Final Breach Notification Rule for Electronic Health Information

16 C.F.R. Part 318: Health Breach Notification Rule: Final Rule -- Issued Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- Requiring Vendors of Personal Health Records and Related Entities To Notify Consumers When the Security of Their Individually Identifiable Health Information Has Been Breached

Health Breach Notification Rule Website

Mayo Clinic backs Microsoft health records storage site, so what? |OneCitizenSpeaking

OBAMA STIMULUS: COMPROMISING YOUR HEALTH RECORDS FOR POLITICS AND PROFITS|OneCitizenSpeaking

Danger: The SINGLE most important key to protecting your health records! | One Citizen Speaking

Microsoft HealthVault: Can you trust Microsoft or any other commercial vendor with your health information? One Citizen Speaking

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

Why bother spying: another advantage ceded to our enemies?

Actionable military intelligence is next to impossible to obtain without concerted costly overt and covert operations. And the names of those captured on the battlefield may provide a significant advantage to an enemy force as it allows them to alter their plans and operations to mitigate the damage caused by and potential information provided to the enemy force during interrogation. 

So, why I might ask, are we voluntarily cooperating with the International Red Cross when it is believed that such an organization is leakier that a old rowboat?

I am limiting my comments to “high value” detainees who were complicit in the planning and execution of significant military operations against our nation … not the common enemy combatant/soldier picked up on the field of battle.

According to the New York Times …

“U.S. Shifts, Giving Names of Detainees to the Red Cross”

“In a reversal of Pentagon policy, the military for the first time is notifying the International Committee of the Red Cross of the identities of militants who were being held in secret at a camp in Iraq and another in Afghanistan run by United States Special Operations forces, according to three military officials.”

Does this not place the detention facility at a greater risk of attack to silence or retrieve a high-value target?

“The change begins to lift the veil from the American government’s most secretive remaining overseas prisons by allowing the Red Cross to track the custody of dozens of the most dangerous suspected terrorists and foreign fighters plucked off the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“It is a major advance for the organization in its long fight to gain more information about these detainees. The military had previously insisted that disclosing any details about detainees at the secretive camps could tip off other militants and jeopardize counterterrorism missions.”

I wondered what changed? And I highly doubted it was the military or the intelligence agencies who foresee the additional risks associated with disclosure of any information related to their operations.

Making us “wrong” in the eyes of the world …

How effin stupid do you have to be to concede a major propaganda coup to our enemies, both foreign and domestic? Couching this negative information in the form of “enlightened self-disclosure?” Or perhaps it goes far beyond stupidity … and into the realm of the far-left activists continuing to aid and abet their far-left cohorts in other lands?

“Detention practices will be in the spotlight this week. The Central Intelligence Agency on Monday is to release a highly critical 2004 report on the agency’s interrogation program by the C.I.A. inspector general.”

Just “effin” wonderful …

“The long awaited report provides new details about abuses that took place inside the agency’s secret prisons, including C.I.A. officers carrying out mock executions and threatening at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill. “

Oh the American public is going to feel so wonderful about this cathartic purge of the past horrors of the Bush Administration – especially if it serves to distract the American public from the far-left , and I might add, socialist  takeover of our financial and industrial institutions as well as the continual weakening of the military and the intelligence community.

Our enemies would be so pleased …

“Also, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is expected to decide in the next several days whether to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate the interrogations of suspects accused of being involved in terrorism after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

Let us assume that mistakes were made in an effort to protect our nation from the unknown … following an enemy strike which assumed the proportions of the Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941.  So compensate those who were unfairly or unjustly retained and send them on their way. Quietly with a minimal fuss.

Is the Obama Administration giving in to our enemies in order to curry favor with their far-left base? Maybe as a sop to ease the blow of the removal of a mis-named public/government option in healthcare?

“The new Pentagon policy on detainees took effect this month with no public announcement from the military or the Red Cross. It represents another shift in detention policy by the Obama administration, which has already vowed to close the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by next year and is conducting reviews of the government’s procedures for interrogating and detaining militants.”

How soon will it be before the Obama Administration confers United States Citizenship on enemy combatants and criminalizes “acts of war” so that they may be prosecuted in federal courts using highly-paid (by the American taxpayer) far-left lawyers? Lawyers who will potentially seek further information about our military operations and disclose it to our enemies?

Pseudo security from an organization that leaks like a rusty sieve?

“A spokesman for the Red Cross in Washington, Bernard Barrett, declined to comment on the new notification policy, citing the organization’s longstanding practice of refusing to talk about its discussions with the Defense Department about detention issues.”

As it should be …

The Red Cross is allowed access to almost all American military prisons and battlefield detention sites in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Special Operations camps have been excluded.

Where are the reports of real torture in foreign prisons operated by other sovereign governments? Does al Qaeda allow the Red Cross access to captured enemy combatants?

“Any improvement in I.C.R.C. notification and access is a positive development because it not only accounts for the whereabouts of a person, but hopefully will expedite notification to the family who is left anxious wondering about the fate of his or her relative,” said Sahr MuhammedAlly, a senior associate for law and security at Human Rights First, an advocacy group.

Not to mention their former associates who want to perform a damage assessment related to the capture of a high-value detainee.

Human Rights First – I remember that group …

“Michael Posner, founder and president of Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), has been at the forefront of the international human rights movement for 30 years.”

“July 7, 2009 – President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Michael H. Posner to serve in the State Department as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.”

Back to the demonization of the Bush Administration …

“The change in notifying the Red Cross stemmed largely from a new climate that emerged after Mr. Obama’s election, military officials said. The new administration set out the larger goal to revamp detention and interrogation practices that had drawn international condemnation under the Bush administration.”

Providing cover to the Administration by invoking the name of the military?

“Into this environment stepped Gen. David H. Petraeus, newly selected to lead the Central Command of American military operations in the Middle East. When he was the top commander in Iraq, General Petraeus supported ideas promoted by Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone to overhaul the detention system there, separating hard-core militants from petty criminals who could be easily radicalized, offering detainees vocational training and family visits. The United States is now adopting this approach to revamp the Afghan prison system.”

“This spring, based on a request by General Petraeus, Mr. Gates ordered a review of the Special Operations camps. Lt. Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, an Air Force officer who had served on the military’s Joint Staff in Washington, spent several weeks in Afghanistan and Iraq examining the sites. At the request of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Breedlove also accompanied Special Operations teams on some of their missions to observe how they treated prisoners at the point of capture.”

Lest we forget, the top brass serve at the pleasure of the Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama and at that level must be part military commander and part politician.

“In July, Admiral Mullen sent a confidential message to all of the military service chiefs and senior field commanders asking them to redouble their efforts to alert troops to the importance of treating detainees properly.”

This is as it should be. Prisoners should be treated in accordance with military policy and law. The abuse of prisoners should be reported, investigated and punished under military law. With little or no disclosure except to the appropriately cleared Congressional oversight committees. There is little or no value in providing the enemy with a propaganda coup that can be used for recruiting more militants or justifying the mistreatment of captured Americans or their allies.

Under public pressure, Obama was apparently forced to make the right decision?

“Admiral Mullen felt compelled to issue his message after viewing photographs documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by American military personnel in the early years of the wars, a senior military official said. “

“Mr. Obama decided in May not to make the photographs public, warning that the images could ignite attacks against American troops.”

Bending over backwards to accommodate a detainees beliefs …

“In a classified report dated June 17, General Breedlove largely praised the conditions at the camps. He found only minor problems, including a failure to provide a Koran to each detainee, and a lack of arrows or other symbols indicating which direction Muslim prisoners should face to pray toward Mecca.”

The Red Cross has been lobbying the Pentagon for years for access to those held at the Special Operations camps, or least information about who is being detained in them. General Breedlove’s recommendation gave the group’s efforts a prominent military endorsement.

Bottom line …

We are engaged in asymmetrical warfare, where the enemy operates without uniforms or rules of engagement. Where all U.S. citizens are targets – not just our military. Covert enemy operations are underway – ostensibly in the United States, Mexico, Canada and elsewhere – and we should reserve the options of maintaining operational secrecy in any and all military and intelligence operations.  It is bad enough that we place our own fighting forces at greater risk with rules of engagement designed to protect the civilian population, but to allow the continuous denigration of the United States, its military and intelligence operations, is to convey a further advantage to an enemy which respects nothing but force. Especially since they fight and place weapons among the civilian population in order to provide an innocent human shield against retaliatory strikes. These are people who make bombs and plan military operations sitting in their kitchens surrounded by their families.

One must question whether or not the United States could have won World War I or World War II with the type of intervention we see from the far-left activists? It seems that the cold war and the infiltration of Marxists  into our nation’s institutions has not stopped – and may have reached a peak with the nomination of far-left radical activists to high positions of power.

It’s high time we return to the protection of American citizens and American allies and stop providing funding, weapons, aid and comfort to our enemies. Something to consider as we approach the 2010/2012 election cycle.

Be well, be safe and take care of yourself and your family first.

-- steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

Reference Links …

U.S. Shifts, Giving Names of Detainees to the Red Cross - NYTimes.com

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

Swine Flu: WHO can you trust -- another "phony" United Nations crisis in the making?

There is no doubt in my mind that the United Nations will do or say anything to benefit their organization, increase their political influence, secure additional funding and grab the media’s attention. Somewhat like that other far-left liberal organization, the democrat party, and its Rahm Emanuel prescriptive: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste and what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you didn't think you could do before.”

In Rahm’s own words …

Enter the WHO – the UN’s World Health Organization …

According to the Associated Press …

“WHO predicts 'explosion' of swine flu cases”

“The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organization said Friday.”

“There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every three to four days for several months until peak transmission is reached, said WHO's Western Pacific director, Shin Young-soo.”

"At a certain point, there will seem to be an explosion in case numbers," Shin told a symposium of health officials and experts in Beijing. "It is certain there will be more cases and more deaths."

Are the numbers to be believed …

This is not the first time that the United Nations has been caught cooking the books. They did it with mistaken assumptions of linear population growth projections and they did it with HIV/AIDS – in both cases predicting dire consequences using their inflated numbers and requesting more money to combat the effects of these phony projections. And I need not remind you about the UN’s global climate change predictions which are beyond the pale.

Pulling back the curtains: here is how they are going to accomplish this slight-of-hand …

As reported by the Los Angeles Times …

“WHO will urge most countries to stop H1N1 testing”

“The group will recommend that nations move away from the burdensome job of confirming flu cases and just assume the virus is the culprit.”

“As the World Health Organization prepares to recommend that most countries simply assume its flu cases are due to the novel H1N1 flu virus, officials are seeing the first signs of resistance to the commonly used antiviral drug Tamiflu -- although none that are particularly disturbing yet.”

“Meanwhile, the virus is continuing its spread through the Northern Hemisphere this summer -- even though flu viruses normally don't spread well in hot weather -- and its effect is escalating in the southern half of the globe, where it is the traditional winter flu season.”

Thus, it appears, that the reported numbers, especially in underdeveloped countries will be conflated and enlarged by the cases of the normally reoccurring flu seasons that normally plague (pun intended) us all.

The story is never complete without a mention of money …

Continuing with the Associated Press  coverage …

“Delegates from Bangladesh and Myanmar appealed for help in procuring vaccines or making them more affordable for poorer countries, saying they were left vulnerable while rich nations pre-ordered most of the available stock.”

"’Developing countries like us, we have to fight this war without vaccines,’ said Mya Oo, deputy health minister of Myanmar. He urged pharmaceutical companies to consider selling the vaccines to developing countries at just above cost.”

It should be noted that the leadership of many of the underdeveloped countries is corrupt and that humanitarian aid is often diverted to the black market in exchange for hard currency or provided to the military, friends of the government and to those who are most wealthy in the country. It should also be noted that the United States, reviled by most of these countries, is often the first to step up and provide aid to the sick and suffering.

“WHO's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, said the agency was working hard on the issue, and noted that two drug makers had pledged to donate 150 million doses of vaccine to poorer countries by the end of October. He said more research was needed to determine how vaccines will be priced.”

A perspective …

“The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.”

It should be noted that most of the deaths occurred within the most vulnerable populations: infants with as yet undeveloped resistance to flu, the elderly population susceptible to pulmonary distress, those with compromised immune systems – but most of all, those who live in unsanitary conditions and  have little or no access to proper healthcare on a regular basis.

It never ceases to anger me that the United Nations will openly support atrocities, genocide and the behavior of despots while doing little or nothing to insure that humanitarian supplies actually reach their intended destination. It is one thing to waffle on-and-on about global climate change and not commit the same amount of time and attention to providing clean water, cleaner energy sources and decent living conditions for those living in countries where the leadership steals, not only their labor, but also humanitarian aid supplied by generous nations who sincerely want to be of assistance.

In fact, the United Nations, through its global warming initiatives, wants to curb energy production in the developing countries and thus condemn them to a substandard quality of life.

As you might perceive, I have no respect for the United Nations as an institution although I do applaud individual aid workers attempting the impossible: convincing a corrupt leadership to allow their citizens a measure of decency, human rights and access to better living.

-- steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

Reference Links:

The Associated Press: WHO predicts 'explosion' of swine flu cases 

WHO will urge most countries to stop H1N1 testing

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (1)

| |

Proof: Obama's hypocrisy and disinformation campaign ... (updated)

Can you trust those who claim to be telling the truth … are you going to believe Obama and his cohorts or your own eyes and ears …

 
Capture8-23-2009-9.33.13 AM  
UPDATE:

<<< THEY CAN PULL THE VIDEO -- BUT THEY CAN'T SUPRESS THE TRUTH >>>

A partial transcript of the interview can be found here.

"BLITZER: Is the president ready to accept a compromise that would remove this so-called public option from the agenda?

DOUGLASS: Well, we're certainly not going to negotiate this right here, Wolf. I mean what the president has said clearly and consistently is that he wants to make a -- make it possible for people to have choices, to have lower costs, to produce competition in the insurance market. That's the reason he talks about the public option.

That would be an option available to people who don't have insurance or who are underinsured. They could go out into the marketplace, where there are some private plans, and there would also be a low cost public plan that would help, you know, increase competition, provide choices that are simply not available today.

BLITZER: But if there's no desire in the Senate -- no opportunity to support that public option, there's a compromise proposal that's being offered, that would be cooperatives that would be created around the country.

Let me repeat the question, would that be OK with the White House?

DOUGLASS: Well, as I said, I'm not going to negotiate this with you, Wolf. I mean, as we've seen, the House has produced a bill that has a public option. One of the Senate committees has produced a bill with a public option. We understand that the Senate Finance Committee is looking at the co-op proposal that you described, which is an idea which they say would increase competition and lower costs. We haven't seen the details of what they're actually proposing. So we have to take a look at it and see what it is.

BLITZER: But you are open to that co-op proposal?

DOUGLASS: Well, you know, we have to see what it is. The president's goals are very, very clear -- it's got to lower costs, it's got to increase competition, it's got to keep the insurance companies honest, get the private insurance companies to get in there and compete for your business. That's the goal. And we'll see if this does that.

BLITZER: Did the White House make a secret deal with pharma, the pharmaceutical lobby here in Washington, that would limit how much cost reductions they would have going forward over the next 10 years?

DOUGLASS: Here is what -- what happened. The White House, the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate Finance Committee agreed that the pharmaceutical industry would contribute $80 billion over 10 years -- a very, very substantial sum of money that would lower the high cost of prescription drugs for seniors, who are paying exorbitant costs for prescription drugs. That was a crucial piece of this deal, as well as other steps that they would take to lower costs.

It's an $80 billion agreement. That's what the White House, the Senate Finance Committee and pharma have agreed to. And the final details are being worked out with the -- with the Senate Finance Committee.

BLITZER: Did pharma, in exchange, make a promise of $150 million to pay for advertising to help the president's plan go forward?

What -- what you have, Wolf, is this deal that is $80 billion. And we are very pleased, obviously, that -- that the pharmaceutical industry agrees with us, that there's an urgent need for comprehensive health insurance reform that's going to protect Americans from unfair rules, from rising costs. They agree with that. They've agreed with it from the beginning. That's why they came to us and we worked out this agreement with the pharmaceutical industry. And they're supporting health reform legislation. And that is good for the country.

BLITZER: So is part of the deal that they would support this legislation, go forward with $150 million in advertising?

DOUGLASS: You know, Wolf, part of the agreement here is that we're all going to work together to bring comprehensive health reform. I mean, clearly, the pharmaceutical industry said we are going to support comprehensive health reform. And that's what they're doing.

BLITZER: What about the concern that some, like Henry Waxman, on the House side, have raised that this would restrict the ability, for example, to import cheaper drugs from Canada, for example?

Is that part of the deal?

DOUGLASS: You know, there was -- there was a discussion about many of the proposals that have to do with the need to re-import drugs from other countries because our drug costs are so high. And one of the discussions was -- and this is (INAUDIBLE) particular part of the agreement -- but one of the discussions was well, maybe this won't be necessary, because drug prices are going to be lower under comprehensive health reform.

So drug prices are going to go down. And if drug prices are going to go down, maybe some of these olds debates that we've had in the past over how to solve the prices -- the rising price of pharmaceuticals -- won't be necessary anymore."

I suggest you read the entire interview.  It was more dramatic to view the exchange in context, but someone objected to this appearing in a "public use"  forum and requested that the piece be removed.

There is no debate over the fact that Obama has the tightest message control ever seen in the White House – perhaps why he needs pre-written TelePrompTer scripts for even news conferences.

How can they intelligently discuss Congressional legislation which has yet to be written, reconciled into a single bill and which cedes enormous undefined implementation powers to unelected secretaries and czars?

Talking points and unfinished legislation with loopholes and unintended consequences only points out the intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy of the Obama Administration and the democrat Congress.

Bottom line: can we believe Obama and his cadre of corrupt and complacent Chicago thugs who will do or say anything to control the dialogue.

Be well, be safe and take care of yourself and your family first.

-- steve

Capture

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (1)

| |

Obamacare: Obama retreats to campaign mode ...

Has anyone noticed that Barack Obama and his Administrative henchmen have retreated into campaign mode?

  • Where it doesn’t matter if you distort the truth or outright lie about what you are about and what you are doing?
  • Where you manipulate the media with staged events which heavily favor your position while squashing all attempts at dissent?
  • Where you reward your friends with whatever resources you have at your disposal while simultaneously denying any form of support to those who have opposed you in the past, are opposing you currently and who may oppose you in the future?
  • Where you use Saul Alinsky’s socialist community organizing tactics to defame or insult your opposition until they are perceived to be impotent or merely a sad joke on the same stage?
  • Where you use the tremendous technological tools of the campaign – which you have thoughtfully kept fully-manned and ready-to-go, to generate a groundswell of support from partisans who have been culled from the crowd for their fervor and fearlessness.
  • Where you manipulate the mainstream media by offering selective access designed to generate ratings and offering jobs to media workers who might need a job?

All in the name of pushing your agenda past a reluctant, skeptical and fearful populace.

The problem is President Obama …

You are no longer candidate Obama stumping for your democrat party and an elective office.

You now represent all of the people, not just the bare majority that elected you to office – not because of your outstanding ability or accomplishments – but because you were against a Bush Administration which was thoroughly demonized by the mainstream media who apparently sacrificed their journalistic ethics to support a fellow traveler.

  • You do not have a mandate to make broad and sweeping changes to America’s landscape.
  • Appointing unelected, unconfirmed czars as a shadow government.
  • Controlling the financial institutions which have a stranglehold on commercial and consumer lending.
  • Controlling broad segments of the automakers and subverting the rule of law to protect your union supporters.
  • Handing over billions of dollars to far left community activists and organizers in order to build a groundswell of support for the democrats and their entitlement policies.
  • Denigrating our allies while extending an open hand to those who would cheerfully do us harm.
  • And you certainly do not have a mandate for destroying our present healthcare system in favor of a government run apparatus which would allow you to compile the most massive database of financial, personal, employment and medical information in the history of our freedom-loving nation.

Yes, you are Black and that made the difference at the polls as 92% of the Blacks voted for you. Which I cannot understand since the democrats have grudgingly supported Blacks and Black causes – with little more than lip service and token payments to Black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the rest of the ministers and reverends supplied with “walking around money.” Yes, you have appointed Blacks to high positions, but they appear to be of the same one-minded ideological bent as did the Bush appointments. And perhaps as incompetent and uncaring.

Yes, you are a man pushing wealth re-distribution and entitlements, claiming to tax the wealthiest and most productive among us.

But the truth be told, you are a but a cheap imitation of a Chicago-style politician. There does not seem to be any greatness there as you wreak havoc on our economy, foreign affairs and our military operations. You are George Bush with just a few tweaks and a little rewording of the principles and causes.

I am pissed …

Pissed that you asked the Libyans not to fete a convicted terrorist who was complicit in blowing innocent men, women and children out of the sky; hopefully dead or stunned before they underwent that fateful plunge into the ocean. Only to see the bastard hailed and welcomed as a conquering hero.

Why did your intelligence apparatus not warn you about this in advance?   Why did they not point out the possibility that this was arranged by the Libyan government in some sort of, as yet, undisclosed trade deal?

“Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif, claimed the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, was linked to trade deals between Britain and Libya.”

“Saif al Islam Gaddafi said that Megrahi’s return was a ‘victory’ for all Libyans.”

“He made the claims in a television interview for Libyan television recorded as he accompanied Megrahi on the flight back from Scotland to Libya on Thursday.”

“A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘There is no deal. All decisions relating to Megrahi’s case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities.’” <Source>

Or is it that you have better relations with the terror states to who you have extended an open hand than you do with our allies?

In any event, I want to remind you and your administration that you are not back on the campaign trail and that you and your cohorts will be held responsible for your misstatements and untruths. We need to show the world we are not the paper tiger you portray us to be as you roam the world apologizing for all of our alleged wrongs.

You have the same opportunity to be a great President. Do not squander this opportunity by being a prototypical democrat or channeling those other two democrat paragons of virtue: former President Jimmy Carter, the father of Islamo-fascism and Bill Clinton, the father who failed to protect his family from the evildoers which he shagged anything in a skirt with large hair.

We are the people of the United States and we deserve better of our elected officials. Unfortunately, for the Administrations since President Reagan, it has been all downhill. It is time to return to our American roots.

Want to provide insurance coverage for the less fortunate, expand the physicians, facilities, diagnostic tools while engaging in more choice, competition and cost containment through tort reform?

Want to restore our foreign policy? Convince one and all that America reacts with one voice – and that for those who only respect force, it will be delivered not in some half-assed proportional strike, but in an overwhelming show of force?

Re-track those programs designed to defeat America from within before we pass the tipping point of no return.

But as a preemptive strike, I suggest we implement citizen-imposed term limits.

Capture2-11-2009-6.53.10 PM 

-- steve

Do not vote for any candidate or current politician who is willing to subvert the safety, security, sovereignty and economic strength of the United States or limit an individual's right of self-defense for their personal philosophy, power, prestige or profits.

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

In the guise of "freedom," is the system being compromised?

There is no doubt in my mind that the ACLU appears to operate in an anti-American mode, using our own laws against us to further their own far-left radical agenda.

In the present case, one wonders if the ACLU went far beyond what was claimed in the Valerie Plame case – the outing of a covert CIA operative – and has provided details of actual covert operatives to third parties?

It also remains to be seen if the Obama Administration and, in particular, Attorney General Eric Holder, will fully investigate the ACLU for what appears to be a serious violation of the laws protecting covert operatives. It also remains to be seen if AG Holder will need to recuse himself from any deliberations involving Gitmo detainees since his previous law firm was involved in representing some of these alleged enemy combatants.

The Washington Post is reporting … 

“Detainees Shown CIA Officers' Photos: Justice Dept. Looking Into Whether Attorneys Broke Law at Guantanamo”

“The Justice Department recently questioned military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay about whether photographs of CIA personnel, including covert officers, were unlawfully provided to detainees charged with organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to sources familiar with the investigation.”

Tainted tribunals and proceedings …

Considering that certain elements of our government, at the urging of our enemies, both foreign and domestic, have taken the position that the United States needs to fully investigate any allegations of “torture” or inappropriate behavior thought to be connected to the Bush Administration – is it not a reasonable assumption that some of those investigating the case will do or say anything to get their clients acquitted – perhaps to lodge multi-million dollar claims against the United States for alleged inappropriate behavior, including kidnapping, false imprisonment and torture. Wouldn’t that give our enemies another burst of encouragement and confidence?

By allegedly showing the pictures of CIA operatives to detainees, one might consider that their attorneys might have induced false memories of acts that never took place and personnel who were never present.

“Investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency's interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques.”

“If detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are tried, either in federal court or by a military commission, defense lawyers are expected to attempt to call CIA personnel to testify.”

The ACLU and their lawyers … 

“The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations.”

“Both groups have long said that they will zealously investigate the CIA's interrogation program at "black sites" worldwide as part of the defense of their clients. But government investigators are now looking into whether the defense team went too far by allegedly showing the detainees the photos of CIA officers, in some cases surreptitiously taken outside their homes.”

Human rights or anti-Bush/anti-Republican/anti-American motivation?

“If proved, the allegations would highlight how aggressively both military lawyers and their allies in the human rights community are moving to shed light on the CIA's interrogation practices and defend their clients. Defense attorneys, however, described the investigation as an attempt by the government to intimidate them into not exposing what happened to their clients.”

Who us?

“When contacted about the investigation, the ACLU declined to discuss specifics."

"’We are confident that no laws or regulations have been broken as we investigated the circumstances of the torture of our clients and as we have vigorously defended our clients' interests,’ said Anthony D. Romero, the group's executive director. ‘Rather than investigate the CIA officials who undertook the torture, they are now investigating the military lawyers who have courageously stepped up to defend these clients in these sham proceedings.’"

Again, we have a major problem in that our enemies are conflating “enhanced interrogation techniques” with torture. For those who want to compare the difference, one need only consider what is routinely practiced by the Islamo-fascists in the normal courts each and every day – severe beatings, maiming and mutilation, rape and stoning, not to mention their enhanced interrogation techniques involving electricity, hand and power tools and a variety of medieval torture instruments.

“It is unclear whether the military lawyers under investigation identified the CIA personnel in the photographs to the al-Qaeda suspects or simply asked the detainees whether they had ever seen them. It is also unclear whether the inquiry involves violations of federal statutes prohibiting the identification of covert CIA officers or violations of military commission rules governing the disclosure of classified information, including to the defendants.”

In some parts of the world this is called spying …

"It's a normal part of human rights research projects, and certainly in defense work, to compile lists of individuals who interacted with clients," Romero said.

“Tracking international CIA-chartered flights, researchers have identified hotels in Europe where CIA personnel or contractors stayed. In some cases, through hotel phone records, they have been able to identify agency employees who jeopardized their cover by dialing numbers in the United States. Working from these lists, some of which include up to 45 names, researchers photographed agency workers and obtained other photos from public records, the sources said.”

By what authority does the ACLU and other so-called tax-exempt charitable agencies use the tax-exempt donations of their members to mount an expensive, concerted and certainly dangerous anti-American intelligence operation which could severely compromise members of the United States intelligence communities and those of our allies?

Providing aid and comfort to our enemies …

I am not saying that any intelligence agency is pure and circumspect about its procedures for obtaining actionable intelligence. What I am saying is that we are at war with a enemy of many faces, one which routinely hides among innocent civilians and uses any means at hand to attack: whether it is a physical attack involving weapons or a psychological attack which uses the media to discredit the very institutions that are attempting to keep us safe from our enemies.

I have never understood the mindset of the far-left as their positions tend to be paradoxical. They claim that we should disarm the United States (of every weapon from nuclear bombs to handguns) and that our God-given right to self-preservation and self-defense should be subordinated to governmental agencies. Loudly proclaimed even while knowing that governmental authorities may not be present at the exact time and place they are needed and that crazy people do not need a motive or any particular weapon to carry out their dastardly deeds. A crazy person will use anything at hand – a car or a car bomb – to accomplish their means. And so will our enemies. Disarm the United States and watch the foreign criminal gangs take over our society. Especially since the Posse Comitatus laws keep the military from aiding in internal state matters.

Perhaps not so amazing considering that the far-left is attempting to destroy the Second Amendment which was enacted not to insure hunters their right to hunt, but to allow citizens to protect themselves from a tyrannical government.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

How did this happen?

One of the greatest questions in my mind is how the democrats allowed their political party to be radicalized to the point that would allow citizens of the United States to demonize and destroy our nation from within in order to seize political power and embark on a far-left radical agenda that smacks of the methodologies proposed by our long-standing enemies (be they Marxists, Nazis, socialists, communists, anarchists or IslamoFascists) to defeat one of the greatest and most humanitarian nations on the face of the Earth.

While our nation may not be perfect and their may be rogue elements in some of our institutions, what type of self-loathing, self-hating individual wants to subvert our nation’s laws and institutions in favor of a mythical “equality” that can never be achieved or sustained in any culture. One does not override the basics of human nature and the concept of freedom by telling an enslaved people that they are free. Freedom is something that needs to be experienced. And there are few places on this Earth where it truly exists for most people.

Sedition?

I think it is time for the American public to examine the ACLU and the far-left radical elements of the democrat party for sedition.

“Sedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws.”

Sedition is the stirring up of rebellion against the government in power. Treason is the violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or state, giving aid to enemies, or levying war against one's state. Sedition is encouraging one's fellow citizens to rebel against their state, whereas treason is actually betraying one's country by aiding and abetting another state. Sedition laws somewhat equate to terrorism and public order laws. <Source>

But the real crime may be the subversion of power and the use of our government institutions for pure political purposes. To investigate and demonize those who represent a political threat and to punish those who did not support the cause with funding and other resources.

While I dislike and distrust the mainline democrat party for allowing radical anti-America elements to seize control, there is little or nothing can be said for those on the opposite side of the aisle who went along with the complicity and corruption in order to share in the spoils. It was like the fight between the parties and their respective politicians was a staged kabuki dance designed to mislead the American public while both parties and their politicians continued to plunder the American treasury and amass even more political power.

Who can you trust?

Beats the hell out of me. I cannot see one strong, honest and ethical leader emerging from either party. Our preoccupation with celebrity and photogenic and well-spoken actors has seemingly trumped ethics and a loyalty to America and her citizens. With those pandering to outside forces that are attempting to breach our sovereignty and turn American into a banana republic governed by greedy petty tyrants.

Never before have I felt so discouraged as I see the Obama Administration repeatedly demonstrate a lack of leadership, a lack of experience and a staggering incompetence and malevolent ideology which threatens this nation’s very foundation.

And, at this point in time, I believe we need to thoroughly shock the system by sending a loud and unequivocal message …

Capture2-11-2009-6.51.55 PM

It is now time to consider citizen-imposed term limits. To prevent the decay and rot which has decimated our ship of state.

Feel free to disagree with me. Use the comment box below or send me an e-mail using the e-mail link that is under my picture.

Meanwhile, be well, be safe and take care of yourself and your family first.

-- steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

Reference Links:

Lawyers Showed Photos of Covert CIA Officers to Guantanamo Bay Detainees

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

Hey! You stupid liberals over there -- crying about Gitmo -- want to see some real torture camps ?

www.debka-net-weekly.com is reporting …

Iran's "special" prisons for breaking political opponents

“Exposed here for the first time are the seven secret prisons where opponents to the Iranian regime are subjected to murder, rape, broken bones and other abuses. The infamous Kahrizak prison on the southern outskirts of Tehran was not shut down as reported. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wanted the building demolished to the last stone to conceal the atrocities perpetrated there but he was not obeyed.”

“The commander of Iran's internal security forces Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam said Sunday, Aug. 9, that he would not deny his share in the blame for the ‘terrible things that took place in Kahrizak’ where two protesters were admittedly found dead. He claimed that two of the security officials responsible for ‘widespread prisoner abuse’ had been fired and awaited trial.”

“The prison remains open and our sources doubt those responsible for the outrages will be brought to trial. Six more jails and detentions centers operate in the Tehran area.”

Why am I not seeing this in the mainstream press? Perhaps it is being crowded off the front page by President Obama’s travels in which he claims that the United States is at fault for some of the world’s ills? Or maybe it is because the braying of the far-left, democrat liberals who think Guantanamo is the root of all evil and must be closed?

Last time I checked, murder, mayhem, maiming and rape were “normal” occurrences in the Muslim nations. Last time I check prisoners who were being detained were lucky to survive the experience. Unlike that tropical paradise known as “Gitmo” where prisoners get decent treatment.

Harsh interrogation methods, you say?

How about interrogations with hand tools, power tools, electrical devices and medieval torture instruments – where a doctor is nowhere to be found unless he is the torturer.

You stupid people – time to open your eyes and see that you are being manipulated for a malevolent cause that wants the United States economy to crater, the military to be weakened – and for the citizens to passively accept socialism with a ruling elite.

Wake up before it is too late.


-- steve

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

The last refuge for a black politician/scoundrel/minister: playing the race card!

I have heard it so many times now it ceases to even register. I am being discriminated against because I am {select one: poor, Black, Hispanic, handicapped, misunderstood}.

No you are being discriminated against because you are a {select one: racist, crook, incompetent, stupid].

From the New York Daily News … 

“Paterson plays race card”

“Gov. Paterson said Friday he knows the reason behind the ‘crescendo’ of calls for him not to seek re-election next year: it's because he's black.”

Blaming the “white-dominated media” …

“Speaking on a morning radio show hosted by Daily News columnist Errol Louis, an angry Paterson blamed the white-dominated media for pushing him to step aside next year.”

"’The whole idea is to get me not to run in the primary,’ he said. Paterson complained there are not enough ‘black’ media outlets to counteract the push.”

Is he speaking about the same “white-dominated media” that sacrificed their journalistic ethics and fell all over themselves promotion Barack Obama, a fellow black? Actively refusing to consider the fact that he was from the crooked Chicago political machine? Actively ignoring his associations with racists, domestic terrorists and others of a far-left socialistic, anti-American ilk? Or not complaining about his lack of experience and preparation for one of the world’s most important jobs? That media?

Continuing with his rant … 

“And he suggested that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only other African-American governor, also is under fire because of his race.”

"’We're not in the post-racial period,’ Paterson said.”

"’The reality is the next victim on the list, and you can see it coming, is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system.’"

Governor Paterson is an asshat if he thinks that the heavily-taxed, heavily-regulated New Yorkers care about his color. Why is he not defending himself by simply listing all of his accomplishments since taking office. Proving to his fellow New Yorkers that he is a worthy and honorable candidate.

"’My feeling is it's being orchestrated, it's a game, and people who pay attention know that,’ he said.”

Paterson must be one of the dumbest politicians in New York to not realize that the scenario is being orchestrated by the leadership of the democrat party in New York. They are the source of campaign funding, they are the source of media stories and they certainly are the source of New York’s heavily-unionized industries which translates to voter support.

"’We have a media that doesn't report the news. We have a media that wants to make the news.’"

At least he got something right. But it’s a liberal democrat-controlled mainstream media that opposes Patterson. The so-called right-wing pundits and talk radio have little or no influence on New York politics. Which is not exactly true, Rush Limbaugh was forced to move out of New York to digs in Florida to escape New York’s confiscatory tax burden which does little more than keep the city slightly below the status quo. Other wealthy people have followed suit.

So, Governor Paterson – what have you done for your citizens lately – that is other than suggesting that they are racists?

“Paterson insisted he's made tough decisions to deal with the state's budget ballooning budget deficits while at the same time increasing welfare benefits and softening the harsh Rockefeller drug laws.”

Let’s see, some of Paterson’s achievements include:

  • raising taxes;
  • increasing welfare benefits; and
  • softening drug laws.

And he doesn’t feel the love of the traditional democrats who support these policies – as their lives crash and burn as New York, as well as the rest of the country, faces an almost unprecedented economic meltdown.

They seemingly gave him a democrat pass on the extramarital affair he admitted – one involving a government worker?

“He noted the state, despite its fiscal crisis, has not had to write IOUs or have its bond ratings drastically reduced like California and is not in as bad straits as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Massachusetts.”

Once again, Paterson is attempting to misdirect the attention of New Yorker’s outside of the state. Yes, other states have problems – mostly because of liberal far-left democrats and their wealth re-distribution policies. But so what – it doesn’t make New York a better, safer, cheaper place to live.

Whoops! 

“Paterson has been heavily criticized by key Democrat allies in the Legislature, labor community and elsewhere in recent months.”

The truth emerges. The democrat power brokers don’t like you. Nothing to do with the number of black-owned media outlets.

"’What did I do that I should not run for reelection?’ he asked.”

If Paterson needs to ask this question of fellow New Yorkers, they are making the right decision by throwing his sorry ass out of office. He knows what he did or did not do. That’s why he is playing the race card. 

“Despite enjoying high approval ratings in his first several months in office last year, his popularity plummeted to as low as 18% after a series of mishaps in the late spring.”

“The latest polls show about 30% approving of the job Paterson is doing.”

Must be those racists and the  white-dominated media that’s keeping Paterson down? Can’t be the 70% of New York citizens who think he is an incompetent jerk or worse?

And it certainly can’t be the fact that Paterson was used ONLY to replace the disgraced Governor Eliot “Client Number 9” Spitzer who resigned his office. I personally do not and did not consider Paterson a viable stand-alone candidate for the governorship of New York.

Is Cuomo a fellow democrat or one of those right-wing, racists acting in league with the mainstream media?

“He also seemed to take a shot at Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a possible primary competitor, Polls show Cuomo would trounce the governor in a match-up.”

I wonder if New Yorkers saw these proposed taxes and decided to elect another politician …

  • An "Obesity tax", which would add an extra tax of over 18% on all non diet soft drinks such as regular soda, and energy drinks
  • New 4% Taxes on digital music downloads, videos and pictures downloaded or the "itax"
  • A tax increase on malt-flavored beverages, beer, and wine
  • A 4% tax on taxi rides, car rentals and limousine services
  • A tax on movie tickets
  • A new 4% 'personal services tax' on haircuts, beauty salons, health club services, and weight loss programs
  • A 4% tax placed on cable and satellite TV, pay per view movies
  • Additional fees for fishing, and camping
  • New fees on items ranging from boilers, to explosives, to jewelry, to sporting events
  • A 4 percent sales tax on clothing and shoes under $500, except for two weeks out of the year
  • Additional fees on automobile purchases, registration and driving fees.
  • The Ravitch Commission recommendations, which include tolls on the city-owned East River and Harlem River bridges (which has never been done before), and levy an annual driver's tax based on vehicle weight. <source>

Bottom line …

Do any of us, in New York or elsewhere, want a whiner who plays the race card in order to attract support and misdirect his constituents away from his record of achievement – or in Paterson’s case, the lack of achievement?

While I will leave it up to New Yorkers to deal with this incompetent whiner, it does serve as a lesson for us all. About the democrats who claim victimhood based on class, race, ethnicity, gender or any other identifiable characteristics and the media which overlooks unsuitable candidates based on their political ideology.

The best that “we the people” can do is to not elect sitting politicians and certainly not elect professional politicians with deep roots into the legacy political machines which have brought us all to the brink of disaster. I don’t give a damn about your family, your credentials, your service to the party – what I care about is that you represent the tip of a corrupt and complacent iceberg. Ready to sink the ship of state.

Be well, be safe and take care of yourself and your family first.

-- steve

_______________________________________________

OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

Capture2-11-2009-6.54.19 PM

Reference Links:

Gov. David Paterson blames calls for him to step aside on race

“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

| Comments (0)

| |

Obama: An alternate conspiracy theory that makes sense and seems to be born out by the actions of the democrat party...

Here we are … worried that the far-left liberal democrats are handing our nation over to the socialists.

  • They are enlarging the size and scope of the government bureaucracy.
  • They are creating a “shadow” government consisting of unelected and unconfirmed “czars” that seem to have the apparent power of cabinet-level government officials without any of the official responsibilities of office.
  • They are attempting to raise our taxes on everything, but they do not call these government tribute payment taxes, they call the fees, assessments and other fancy words. And they do not collect these tributes through the IRS or employee withholding where you might see them quickly add up to a significant sum. They use proxy collectors such as your local and state agencies which must bear the brunt of the criticism. They use utility companies who simply collect the tribute on a monthly basis. In fact, some utility companies have become especially cagy with this process and now create their own profits out of “thin air” by adding surcharges for a possible nuclear plant decommissioning years into the future and other such nonsense. But to be honest, they attempt to explain the charges in the small print.

My Southern California Edison bill contains entries that are almost incomprehensible …

  • transmission charges
  • distribution charges
  • nuclear decommissioning charges
  • public purpose programs charge
  • trust transfer amount
  • competition transition charge
  • franchise fees

    • By way of explanation of the TTA, here is the definition of the Trust Transfer Amount (TTA) which appears in the fine print on page 2 of 6...

    "This reflects the Fixed Transition Amount (FTA) chargeable to residential and small commercial customers pursuant to state law and a financing order issued by the CPUC. The TTA is the property of SCE Funding Limited Corporation (LLC) and is collected by SCE solely as a servicing agent for SCE Funding LLC."

    I believe that franchise fees simply relates to additional taxes and the public purpose programs charges are the social do-gooder programs that the utility promotes in their own name – rather than making mention of the ratepayer’s generosity. I am still unsure what the competition transition charge is or how it is calculated.

    Ask questions and they will point to thick volumes of rules, regulations, tariffs and schedules.

    • They are interfering with our freedom of mobility by creating crazy traffic schemes which are designed to force individuals into using government-created mass transit. That is except when they need additional revenue and lease the roads or transit system to a “favored” third-party which has demonstrated their ability to make things work by contributing large amounts of money to political parties, individual politician’s campaigns and to other designated uses required to obtain a “fair and impartial” hearing by a government official or bureaucrat.
    • They are interfering with our freedom of choice. Mandating low-flow shower heads, restricted volume flush toilets which require two flushes to do the job properly and, of course, the use of the compact florescent light bulb.
    • And they are dissing our friends and allies while courting our enemies and other assorted evildoers.

    Now they want to enlarge their revenues by taxing all energy – everywhere it is generated, everywhere it is used and everywhere it cannot be found – all to solve the non-existent crisis of global warming.

    They want to tap into your medical history, financial records, employment records – all to solve the cost-containment crisis  found in healthcare.

    They want to control the actions of public and private corporations and determine what is proper and just compensation.

    They want to re-distribute the wealth to impoverished Americans who have grown used to an entitlement culture as well as to impoverished countries for so-called “humanitarian” reasons. Not to mention extend citizenship to the illegal aliens, past and present, who make a mockery of our sovereignty by crossing our borders with impunity.

    And, whatever is not directly regulated or controlled certainly can be “monitored” by the czars dealing with other various and sundry man-made crises.

    My mistake …

    I first thought that the far-left liberal democrats were doing this to aid and abet our enemies, both foreign and domestic. To weaken the United States’ economy and reduce the size, strength and mobility of our military in order to confer an advantage to an increasingly Marxist or despotic world.

    But obviously I made a serious error in thinking that the far-left liberal democrats were working for Marxist dictators like those found in Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba or the Islamo-fascists located in and around the Middle-East.

    Well I have discovered the real enemy – and it is so plainly obvious as to make me feel ashamed that I did not see it sooner.

    It is the trial lawyers!

    I have often joked that the democrats were the party of lawyers – getting through the courts that which they could not get through the vote.

    My proof …

    Consider Obama’s healthcare initiative. First it was about reforming healthcare services and delivery. When that didn’t fly, Obama and his people simply re-branded it to be about reforming healthcare insurance. A slight-of-hand which was barely noticed by the average citizen.

    Consider that the preliminary draft of the House bill is over 1,000 pages and uses legalisms and referential language which can hardly be understood by our elected officials, their consultants, their counsel and others who attempted to read the bill in its entirety.

    According to Obama, the bill – which was drafted before the change from healthcare reform to healthcare insurance reform – has simply-stated goals.

    In Obama’s own words …

    "Choice, competition, reducing cost, those are the things I want to see accomplished in this health care bill."

    So, why I ask you is there nothing in the bill that:

    • enlarges consumer choice and fosters increased competition by demanding that insurance companies compete on a national level instead of in their own comfortable state niches?
    • reduces costs by imposing “tort reform” which restricts the astronomical costs of medical lawsuits?
    • reduces costs by reducing the amount of malpractice insurance paid by “high risk” physicians in such medical specialties as neurosurgery and obstetrics? 
    • recaptures significant amounts of money by actually penalizing those who engage in waste, fraud and abuse – and have done so for decades?
    • reduces the cost of claims processing and it’s attendant folderol by dumping arcane medical coding schemes where the codes are owned and maintained by the American Medical Association?
    • removes the overly-burdensome costs of “unionized” healthcare which mandates that salaries and benefits must be raised each and every contract period in order for the union leaders to justify their existence and to collect enough money to influence the politicians who allow the taxpayer’s treasury to be plundered.

    Could it be that each of these areas severely impacts the livelihood of the lawyers who actually create the legislation, complete with exploitive loopholes and grandfathered exceptions? Or who must be retained in order to “interpret” the legalese for laymen and their “fight” for their rights in a court of law?

    Or to provide another analogy – it is not the IRS who sponsors an overly complex tax code, but the legal and accounting profession who demand complexity in order to be gainfully employed. The government doesn’t object because administrative bureaucracy is where they make their money.

    What is the answer?

    It does not matter what the subject matter of the legislation may be, we need to demand single-purpose bills, written in plain English and which repeal all similar legislation previously passed. We need transparency and accountability – not the faux happy talk from Obama, but the real thing. Like publishing all government check data on the Internet.

    But most of all, we need representatives that will do the people’s work rather than operate in their personal and political self-interest first. And the only way we can achieve this goal is to send a message. We need honest, ethical representatives instead of the self-serving martinets like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Maxine Waters, Bobby Rush, Charlie Rangel, Chuck Schumer – and the rest of the list boggles the mind.

    And make no mistake about it, they were aided and abeted by their political friends on the other side of the aisle who shared in the spoils. They are all democans and republicrats and deserve to lose their jobs (if not incarcerated) for what they have done to America.

    Capture2-16-2009-6.02.35 PM

    The guiding principles are simple, well-written and can be found in a readable form …

    Capture2-18-2009-10.30.31 PM

    In the meantime, be safe, be well and take care of yourself and your family first.

    -- steve

    _______________________________________________

    OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …

    Capture8-20-2009-12.56.52 PM

    “Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
    "Acta non verba" -- actions not words

    “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

    “Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

    “The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

    "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

    “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

    “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

    “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

    | Comments (0)

    | |

    Previous Next