August 4th,
2009
Dear Liberty Activist,
Members of Congress are feeling the summer
heat! And it's all thanks to you! Thank you for your assistance, which
has been critical to already swinging votes against ObamaCare.
For example, Congressman Travis Childers
(MS-CD1) told the Daily Journal in Mississippi that "I will not support
it, as it's constituted today." Congressman Gene Taylor (MS-CD4) says
"I am opposed to the current health care reform bills being debated in
Congress." Congressman Parker Griffith (AL-CD5) is already opposed. In
a recent letter to a constituent, he wrote, "I do not favor a
government-sponsored health care option."
These members all have one thing in common:
They are Blue Dog Democrats. And although Taylor did not sign the
letter of 40 Blue Dogs last month against ObamaCare, the other two
did. All three have expressed great concern about the costs of the
legislation coming in at $1.5 trillion.
And the fact is, expanding government-run
health care coverage to over 45 million more people is unaffordable.
What's more, the American people absolutely do not want the government
to be operating national rationing boards to determine who gets care,
and who does not.
And with your help, they are getting the
message.
Click
here for the list of 40 Blue Dogs who did sign the letter against
ObamaCare earlier this month, promising not to support a proposal
that was not "deficit-neutral". Again, the list has been expanded to
include email addresses, district office addresses, phone numbers, and
fax numbers.
And for those of you who do not have Excel,
here's
the .pdf version of the same list.
In today's Liberty
Action Report, a leaderless revolution is erupting in a
town near you, Congress is the real clunker, and Dave Bozeman makes the
case against intellectuals. Plus, Appointment Watch analyzes Mercedes
Marquez (HUD) and Christopher Schroder (Justice). And, the NY Post
notes that health "reform" will be coming at seniors' expense.
Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We
publish all points of view! Today, Jim and Carol Hall of Newport News,
VA write, "It was reported on the news a couple of weeks ago
that Mr. Elmendorf met with President Obama, which he had no business
doing. Why aren't we making a bigger deal out of this?"
Thank you, Jeremy. We wrote all about it in
a recent piece, "The
Deficit-Neutral Blues." And as the piece notes, is a part of a
larger narrative involving Obama losing credibility and public support
on his proposal.
To Mr. Elmendorf's credit, the CBO has not
revised its cost estimates downward in light of the meeting, but should
they, the entire non-partisan credibility of the CBO would be
obliterated.
It is a move we would most certainly
condemn.
For Liberty,
Robert Romano
ALG Senior News Editor
www.getliberty.org
P.S. Want to give limited government a
boost? Help
us out with a small donation today!
Open Source & Copyright Free
Editorial:
The Leaderless Revolution
A revolution is taking place in America that is as intangible
as the whispering wind and as ineluctable as mounting gale.
This
Clunker
"Cash for Clunkers" is so sucessful maybe the American people
should look for other "clunkers" to save themselves money.
The
Case Against Intellectuals
When Liberal talk, their wisdom knows no boundaries but when
they try and appeal to the American people many times they hit a brick
wall.
ALG
Research Appointment Watch
Americans for Limited Government's top-notch research division
highlights two Obama Nominees with colorful histories.
Too
Hot Not To Note: 'Reform' at Seniors' Expense
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann show that rationing is where the
current health care proposal is leading Americans.
Editorial:
The Leaderless Revolution 
A revolution is taking place in America.
It's as intangible as the whispering wind. Yet as ineluctable as
mounting gale. To the politicians, it's still but a passing breeze
rustling the hair at the nape of the neck. To the grassroots masses,
it's rushing torrent destined to sweep the elite from the Halls of
Power.
America is at the very incipience of a
Leaderless Revolution. One could see it at the hometown Tea Parties
disclaimed by politicians as ragtag assemblies and disdained by Barack
Obama who speciously claimed not to have even known they even occurred.
One can sense it in the polls, as one after another shows plunging
support for this president and his policies.
And one can hear it loud and clear in the
angry outpourings at "Town Hall" meetings where sputtering politicians
are driven from the podiums and forced to seek shelter behind a phalanx
of guards.
In New Hampshire, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter
tried to defend the snails' pace of socialized medicine with the absurd
claim, "Many of my constituents would love to stand in line."
Maryland's Sen. Ben Cardin, when pressed by his constituents on why
they should be forced to turn over their health care to government
bureaucrats, yammered that Americans simply can't be trusted. (And he
has now made his town meetings "by invitation only.")
In Syracuse, NY, Rep. Dan Maffei had to
call in the police to restore order at his health care town hall after
angry protestors shouted him down. And Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY1),
experiencing his own problems with outraged attendees decided just to
cancel town hall meetings altogether.
Ellen Sauerbrey – the courageous lady who
many feel won the governorship of Maryland in 1994, only to have it
snatched away by a post-election recount – recently wrote: "I have
never seen people so upset and scared. The rebellion today is a true
grassroots uprising of citizens that don't believe either party in
Washington represents them, hears them or cares what they think. More
and more I hear, 'A plague on both their houses. Throw all the bums
out'."
What the politicians need to learn is that
insulting their constituents' intelligence, denouncing them as
slackers, having them arrested, or trying to act as if they simply
don't exist is not going to solve the problem of a grassroots rebellion
on the ascent. Nor will trying to single out some contrived opponent to
belittle and besmirch, as Barack Obama did Rush Limbaugh.
The real problem the politicians face is
that there is no opposition leader. In fact, there are no leaders at
all. The hallmark of the grassroots uprising now befuddling and
deflating the Washington political elite (and their mainstream media
factotums) is that they are flying in the face of a Leaderless
Revolution soundlessly inundating the very air they breathe.
It is amorphous. It is dauntless. It is
unyielding. And it needs no person or party to state its case or fight
its cause.
Carried in a purse, a brief case, or a
backpack; wielded in the palm of the purveyor's hand; as easy as aps;
and summed up in 140 characters or less; this is the Leaderless
Revolution that Bill Gates predicted was coming at the "Speed of
Thought" on the wireless wings of the wind.
Unfortunately for the Washington
establishment, in America today – just as in Iran, Honduras, and
Moldavia -- the thought has now become an action. The words have become
deeds. They have begun to sew the wind. And the tone-deaf political
elitists are about to reap the whirlwind.
ALG Editor's Note: Americans for
Limited Government is spearheading opposition to the health care bill
in the Nation's Capitol and coordinating closely with scores of groups
throughout the country. Should you wish additional information about
these efforts, go to GetLiberty.org, or contact Robert Romano at
robert@getliberty.org.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1434
This
Clunker
ALG Editor's
Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at
GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be
reused and redistributed free of charge.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1433
The
Case Against Intellectuals
By David Bozeman
To hear liberals talk, their wisdom knows
no boundaries -- and yet they walk among us. Turn on the TV any hour
and you'll hear some smug commentator or comedian (Bill Maher's latest
pronouncement: Sarah Palin may well have a future in presidential
politics, given the stupidity of the American people) deigning to solve
the world's problems, sure that their academically acquired brainpower
makes them uniquely qualified and their pronouncements self-evident.
Intellectual snobbery festers on the
conservative side, as well (I'm talking about you, Peggy Noonan), but
it is one of the left's defining traits.
Note that no Democrat need ever defend his
IQ. Barack Obama, who had no idea that his spiritual mentor of 20 years
was spewing racist, anti-American bile, coasted to victory, in part, on
the notion of his 'dazzling' intellect. Liberals have cornered the
market on intellectual bravado -- Bill Clinton and Barack Obama won
because they are brilliant; Adalai Stevenson lost twice to Eisenhower
because he was too brilliant to connect with average voters -- while
conservatives merely reply that, yes, Sarah Palin does so read
newspapers.
Intellectual elitism feeds on itself and
its tenets spill over into mainstream thought. Those who move beyond
academia into journalism, politics and government, just by the sheer
weight of their conviction, mold public opinion, often before many are
aware of how society has been altered. It is not by accident that the
American economy is now -- as it has been, to varying degrees, for much
of the past century -- under the strict oversight of silver-tongued
bureaucrats like Henry Waxman and Ed Markey (of Cap and Trade
legislation) and Barney Frank (overseeing American finance). If
important East Coast universities are the repositories of all the
world's knowledge, then Washington, DC is where it is put into practice.
Liberals over-emphasize intellect as a
requisite for leadership. The obvious but seldom-spoken reply is that
nearly every bloody, murderous movement of the 20th Century, including,
but not limited to, Socialism, Communism, various strains of Fascism
and even Nazism were all backed, if not celebrated (or even concocted)
by the intellectual classes. While ordinary patriots must justify every
verbal faux-pas, intellectual giants such as Lillian Hellman and
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Walter Duranty (later revealed to have
been blackmailed by Soviet Russia) are celebrated, despite having
defended Stalin long after his atrocities were revealed to the world.
Norman Mailer extolled the Soviet Union, and, lest one forget, Ward
Churchill, who dismissed 9/11 victims as "little Eichmans" was a
university professor (and, granted, an extreme example). Furthermore,
nearly every 'enlightened' theory of social order that shocks modern
sensibilities was advanced by, you guessed it, the intellectual classes.
Abortion and birth control, for instance,
revered by the best and the brightest as sacred rights, were originally
touted as methods of weeding out society's 'unfit' groups and races.
Author Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) wrote
extensively on the possibilities and failures of intellectual activism:
" [Intellectuals hold] the potential of being either the most
productive or the most parasitical of all social groups." She also
wrote that," From the early 19th Century on, American intellectuals,
with rare exceptions, were the humbly obedient followers of European
philosophy, which had entered its age of decadence."
Contrary to Bill Maher's ridiculous
comment, wisdom does lie with the American people, which is why
Obama-care is teetering on the brink of defeat. One need not suffer
through the tedious details to smell a massive transfer of US health
care to European-style socialism. In fact, our founders envisioned a
nation that would thrive, not on the edicts of an intellectual class
but on the common sense of average citizens.
Nothing here is written to equate
Obama-care with any of the aforementioned atrocities. Simply,
intellectual bravado is, at best, meaningless, and, at worst, dangerous
without common sense, temperament and perspective. The great figures
who secured freedom and justice for America, while undoubtedly bright,
are revered by history for their courage, compassion and vision, among
other traits. The Obama Administration, despite all the bouquets to his
intellect, will ultimately be judged not by his silky oration but by
his impact on America. In the words of the very wise (albeit fictional)
Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."
David Bozeman is an ALG News
Contributing Writer.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1432
Appointment Watch: Marquez
and Schroeder
The mainstream media continue to ignore
President Obama's appointment of bizarre personnel to run the
government. Personnel is policy. That being the case the American
people need to know about these appointments. This week we look another
couple of Obama appointees. These are not isolated incidents or an
occasional bad apple. These folks are representative of the
appointments he is making with little or no push back from the Senate
during the confirmation process.
Mercedes
Marquez, Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
for Community Planning and Development
- Marquez is a Zen High Priestess and
former General Manager of the L.A. Housing Department.
- Even though she is an "affordable
housing" crusader she somehow still managed to reduce the number of
affordable units available in her jurisdiction.
- Marquez pioneered an inspection program
for rental property that cited tenants for among other things being a
packrat. For the privilege of being told that you may be a packrat a
tax of $35.52 was added to every rental unit.
- During the first round of "inspections"
in this program 1.9 million citations were issued.
- On June 25, 2009, the Senate confirmed
Ms. Marquez without one dissenting vote.
Christopher
Schroder, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Office
of Legal Policy
- He is another of Obama's nominees who
has a "regulate first, ask questions later" approach to governing.
- Schroeder doesn't like studying the
costs and benefits of regulations while working on them because this
slows down the regulatory process.
- He would punish people for what he deems
risky behavior even if there is no harm caused.
- Schroeder believes that voluntary
environmental programs are harmful and that overregulation is not a
problem.
- The current status of his appointment is
that it has been voted out of committee and is awaiting confirmation by
the full Senate.
These are just a sample of the people
President Obama is placing in positions of power within his
Administration. If you want more information on these three and many
others, please visit: http://www.getliberty.org/content.asp?pl=187&contentid=187
Next week we will examine two more. Those
who are interested in exclusive information before it reaches the
public, please contact Don@getliberty.org
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1431
ALG Editor's Note: The
following featured commentary was featured in the New York Post
laying out the current health care reforms effects upon senior citizens.
'REFORM' AT SENIORS' EXPENSE
By DICK MORRIS
& EILEEN MCGANN
THE
health-reform debate on Capitol Hill is skipping over the key issue:
"Universal insurance" means less care for people who have coverage now
-- especially the elderly.
And the
"compromises" now under way only make the problem worse.
Here's a point
that's no surprise except to the "reformers": People with insurance use
more health care.
President Obama
seeks to cover 50 million new people. Where are the extra doctors,
nurses and so on going to come from? Neither the administration nor
anyone on the Hill has proposed anything to add to the supply of
medical services even as they plan vastly to increase the demand.
The politicians
are playing a Washington game -- compromising on false or tangential
issues while failing to address the central one.
It doesn't
matter if you reduce or eliminate the mandate for employers to provide
coverage, if you're still insuring more people without adding medical
personnel and other resources. Same story for whether you replace the
"public option" government-run plan with government-run "co-ops."
More, all the
bills come up with cash to cover their huge costs by ordering cuts in
Medicare -- cuts that Congress could reverse only by affirmative
majority votes. Basically, the government will be paying doctors and
providers even less to treat the elderly -- at a time when countless
doctors are starting to refuse new Medicare patients.
More demand; no
added supply; Medicare cuts: It all adds up to rationing --
lower-quality medical care for most Americans, especially for the
elderly.
A doctor in
Massachusetts -- where an Obama-style plan is already in place --
recently told us that she now has to read 60 mammograms a day in the
time she once spent on 45. "It keeps me up at night," she told us,
"that I might make a mistake, I am so rushed."
For the elderly,
it means less care, period. A federal health board will sit in judgment
of medical procedures and protocols and impose guidelines on all
providers for when to withhold certain kinds of care.
For example, the
drug Avastin is widely used in America to treat advanced colon cancer.
But it costs $50,000 a year -- so Canada's national-health system
doesn't permit its use. As a result, 41 percent of colon-cancer
patients in Canada die each year, as opposed to 32 percent in the
United States. (Canada's average eight-month wait for colonoscopies,
another result of national-health rationing, also contributes to the
problem.)
Members of
Congress will be home through August to test public opinion. It's up to
us to give them an earful.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1430
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