About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

BO's Revised Priorities & Republican Principles Questioned

Right after the last presidential election - on November 9, 2008 in a message entitled "Obama Payback Will Cause Us Problems" I listed nine special interest groups BO would have to pay back because they helped him get elected.  The only question I had then was how he would prioritize the groups on the list.

 

With the union favoring Craig Becker, union lawyer for the Service Employees International Union & labor federation AFL-CIO, being one of the 15 recess appointments made over the weekend BO's priorities are taking shape right before our eyes.  Becker is now a Member of the National Labor Relations Board.

 

With healthcare transformation taking longer than thought & planned comprehensive immigration reform & union card check issues move to the top of the list  - both of which will help Socialist Democrats get reelected in November by expanding their voter base to more of the poorest, least educated, lowest skilled, & laziest people in the country.  Overtures now to these two groups, even if no legislation is passed before November, provides the promise that it will be pursued in the next Congress.  Since we are already outnumbered this strategy can only help seal the deal.

 

Taxes to pay for the healthcare transformation will also move forward as a member of our group so astutely asked me - "Are you ready for the value added tax (VAT) - it is coming."  Just so everyone knows VATs are used in over 130 countries & virtually all of them employ VATs in addition to income taxes & payroll taxes.  The American tax hit will be in the 50% range if a VAT is enacted as an add on - which it certainly will be.  Please remember that the FairTax, like the VAT is a consumption tax, but the FairTax is a replacement not an add on - all the difference in the world but don't expect any one in the media or BO's administration to tell you that.

 

Cap & Trade which has already passed the House & had some rumblings last fall in the Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee will take a back seat until, & if, BO holds a majority in Congress in 2011.

 

To wrap up the recent exchange of messages re so-called moderate Republicans, like Chris Christie, really being not much different from Socialist Democrats I received this message from a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net - "I thought you would like to know that I called Christie's office yesterday and talked to one of his aides.  She told me that he is discussing, with the State Attorney General, NJ's options for dealing with the Health Care Bill.  She said that he does indeed have an opinion, however, just not an official one at this time."  How underwhelming.


With regard to the possible Republican comeback & return to their roots one of the hardest working patriots I know re standing for something questions how far they will come back.  After you read her message below please realize that she is not in her twenties but is just a few months short of being 65 - the age of Medicare eligibility, & has never taken a dime from Social Security.

 

Doug,

 

I have agreed with you for a long time that it is not about Democrats or Republicans, but about stating your principles and then taking the actions that support those principles.

The Republicans have announced that they will campaign this fall on repealing the health care reform bill that was just signed into law.

I congratulate them for standing up for Republican principles that way. But those same Republican principles (minimal federal government, very low taxes, state supremacy, if it isn't written in the Constitution it isn't legal) also would demand the abolition of Social Security and Medicare. Will Republicans really stand up for those principles and promise to abolish the two biggest entitlements ever enacted on our freedoms: Social Security and Medicare if elected?  That would prove that they really believe in their principles!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Responses - Chris Christie Has No Opinion On Obamacare!



Below are three responses to the subject piece that add something to the discussion. I also include the above video of President Reagan, speaking as a private citizen in 1961, warning us about the dangers of socialized medicine. The current healthcare transformation we are undergoing is exactly the type of peril he was referring to.

--- Response #1 ---

signed. I know you feel like I do. I am sick and tired of so called "moderates" who define themselves that way because they position in the middle of the spectrum even as the spectrum moves ever left.

--- Response #2 ---

So far, IL has not challenged the unconstitutional provisions of Obamacare...and.....I don't see a challenge in the near future...not a surprise!


--- Response #3 ---

So I guess my question does not need to be answered. I knew the answer beforehand but just wanted to ask. Now I know SPINELESS. Thank you

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Chris Christie Has No Opinion On Obamacare!

  Last night I sent the message below to our NJ members only.  Although it is specifically meant for NJ it really applies to all states - should they join the fight taken up by over 14 other states and challenge the unconstitutional provisions of Obamacare!  You would be wise to find out if your state does not take up the fight - but then again if they don't you know why already.
 
----- Original Message Sent To NJ Members -----
Below is a message from Steve Lonegan that I am sending to NJ members only.  Any one who still thinks the Republicans are the answer to our problems should look @ this one carefully.  In the fall of 2009 I said that six months after the election we would not be able to tell if Corzine or Christie was NJ Gov - we are ahead of schedule.
 
----- Original Message From Steve Lonegan -----
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 2:26 PM
Subject: Chris Christie Has No Opinion On Obamacare!

Header

Governor Christie in the Crosshairs on Obamacare

"It's a 2,500-page bill. We would like to act in a way that is informed. And from my perspective, given the transition and that I haven't been living with this issue for a year, I want to make sure I get fully informed by my attorney general and by my commissioner of health, which I've asked for them to give me advice. When they do, then I'll consider whether or not we need to take any legal action." -Governor Christie

Amazingly, that was Governor Christie's response when asked if his administration would join the fight taken up by over 14 other states and challenge the unconstitutional provisions of Obamacare!

After 8 long months of contentious debate, it's hard to believe that Governor Christie is uninformed about two of the worst provisions of Washington's government takeover of health care - the individual mandate and the burdensome Medicaid mandate that would cost New Jersey taxpayers billions of dollars.

Now, he claims he needs advice from two supporters of the government takeover in his cabinet before making up his mind -- his newly appointed Commissioner of Health & Senior Services, Poonam Alaigh, and his Attorney General Paula Dow.

AFP recently opposed Alaigh's nomination. We have shown that Dr. Alaigh is an Obamacare supporter who refused to be forthcoming with us on her views on these very issues when she repeatedly refused to respond to our health care survey. Alaigh was also a donor to the Senate campaign of Congressman Frank Pallone, one of the co-sponsors of the House health care bill.

Paula Dow is also a supporter of left-wing causes, whose first action as Attorney General was to support Governor Corzine's 'one gun a month' rationing law.

You and I cannot allow Governor Christie to not defend our rights because he is taking "advice" from Obamacare supporters in his cabinet! You and I have fought too hard and too long to let that happen.

Governor Christie needs to hear from you now. Click here to sign our petition - demand that the Governor direct his Attorney General to join these lawsuits and protect our rights!




On to Victory,

Steve Lonegan
State Director

 
 
 

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Archive Messages Described Past, Present, But Hopefully Not The Future

Many of you told me of the video where Sharpton said that the 2008 election began the transforming of the country the way that BO had promised - "...the American public overwhelmingly voted for Socialism when they elected Obama...he has delivered what he promised... I don't understand Republicans saying this (healthcare reform) is against the will of the American people..."

Now long time members of this e-mail club know that the type of remarks Sharpton made above were the very theme that our messages warned about re BO from the start of his announced candidacy in 2007 - below are just three excerpts from messages in 2007 that I compiled from the archives in a matter of minutes proving the point. If you received & read the messages over the years @ least you can't say that you didn't know what was going on - past, present, but hopefully not the future.

Is it possible that the rest of the American people were too stupid & disengaged to know what they were doing & we have to bear the brunt of it if they were - I'll let you be the judge of that?

9/21/07 - Senators who are Presidential candidates who did not vote to support General Petraeus are Hillary Clinton & Chris Dodd. Joe Biden did not vote. But the worst case was Barack Hussein Obama who was not only in the building @ the time of the vote but had just been on the floor of the Senate minutes before the vote - Obama did not vote thereby keeping his empty suit record @ a perfect zero, which is exactly what he is.

8/17/07 - To me there is enough smoke here to make me think that we cannot afford to take the chance to find out what Barack Hussein Obama's plans are for our country once he is in the highest office in the nation.

6/28/07 - Anyone who did not think that America is a tremendously hated country with far too many enemies, both foreign & domestic, will not understand what the immigration reform bill that was defeated in the Senate earlier today was really all about. Our most insidious domestic enemies, whether they are fifth column Socialists in both chambers of Congress, or financiers like George Soros, clearly revealed with their support of the immigration reform bill that they have an agenda for America's future that is markedly different from the country that we grew up in.

With Microsoft pleading to this very Senate earlier in the year that they alone have 3,000 high technology jobs in America that are unfilled because they cannot get enough H-1B visas (a visa category set aside for professionals & the highly educated) why in the world did we have to fight, threaten, & struggle with our incessant calls & e-mails to some of these Senators virtually begging them not to pass a bill that offered amnesty & opened up 70 different welfare programs to the most uneducated & low skilled people who stole their way into America in the first place? Think there was no hidden agenda here that goes against every fiber of your American way of life.

Although 18 Senators changed their cloture vote to "nay" which is what killed the immigration reform bill today (round two) I am more interested in the ones that voted in our best interest the first time around & wanted to kill the bill right out of the box since it was so wrong. Those who kept it alive earlier in the week with their vote, & then changed their minds today, could very easily have another agenda in mind that just didn't materialize as the events & amendments unfolded.

I present below a list of Senators that come up for reelection in 2008 &/or are running for President in 2008. All of these Senators voted originally to keep the immigration reform bill alive (i.e., not in your best interest). I also show how they voted the second time today on the immigration reform bill - many of them are two time losers. Remember the names on this list when you cast your vote in November 2008 - no one on this list is a friend of America as we know her.

Biden (D-DE) - Running for President & voted wrong both times

Brownback (R-KS) - Running for President - second vote OK

Clinton (D-NY) - Running for President & voted wrong both times

Dodd (D-CT) - Running for President & voted wrong both times

Kerry (D-MA) - Probably not running for President again - voted wrong both times

McCain (R-AZ) - Running for President - voted wrong both times

Obama - (D-IL) - Running for President - voted wrong both times

Monday, March 22, 2010

Responses - Government Control Of Your Body, Your Money, & Your Life

Well not only last night around midnight but all day today comments & responses (four of which are below that are representative) to the weekend healthcare reform events & subject message kept coming in.  Our Founders warned us of enemies - both foreign & domestic & obviously the more insidious of the two are the domestic.  Whatever you do don't give up - that is what the Socialist leeches are counting on.  Keep trying - it is just too important not to as indicated by this comment from our midwest member - "We are sick at heart, but are not giving up...we plan to continue to fight for the America we know and love!."
 
---Response #1---
 
I posted this on my Facebook and have already received several responses. Where did you get this so I can offer the source if asked? Was it on his website?
 
---Response #2---
 
you must be sick to your stomach over this weekend's events.  The way in which the bill was passed was just as bad as the bill itself.  I cannot believe that, in the face of such public outcry, and for the rest of the world to see, Obama and his Speaker would go to such lengths to fulfill his ego.  This is an accomplishment?  Can't wait to see you at Philly, let us know when you are returning!  Luv
 
---Response #3---
 
Just what we don't need...more government control, especially under the control of the IRS.
Nancy Pelousy wasn't lying, this is a jobs bill, however it's creating more federal government jobs.
If our Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General have any backbone they will join the other twenty-one states lining up to sue the federal government.
Well Governor Christie, Lt. Governor Guadagno and Attorney General Dow? It's time to show what you're made of.
 
---Response #4---
 
Please note that funds for Medicare will be cut by at least $500 billion. This will force many more Doctors to refuse Medicare patients.

Government Control Of Your Body, Your Money, & Your Life

Well the healthcare reform vote in the House was barely over when I received a call of distress from my dearest friend in SC as well as many messages such as "For the second time in my life I am ashamed of my country. The first time was the day the Community Organizer Socialist was elected."  Thanks to everyone, especially those who receive these messages & participated in town hall meetings & tea parties, who tirelessly tried to stop the passage of BO's healthcare reform plan - rest assured this is not over.  America still has a chance to exist as we grew up in her.
 
During the presidential campaign & most certainly over the past 14 months I have presented all of the information you needed & every argument possible against passage of BO's healthcare reform plan - the plan that passed is just the start of what BO has in mind for America.  Below is an excellent summary, as of Saturday night, presented to me by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen that includes most of the points from our messages.
 
For those of you who believed all of this was only about healthcare, please look @ how many of the points below pertain to crippling the American economy & thwarting job creation thereby making our trusting unsuspecting people who don't know what to do more dependent than ever on government - just as BO planned all along.
 
---Frelinghuysen Summary---
Here is a partial list of the tax increases in the Pelosi health care bill:
  • If you don't buy health insurance (as dictated acceptable by a new federal czar), you will be fined up to 2.5% of your income even if you pay all of your medical expenses yourself. If your company does not provide "acceptable" health insurance to all workers, the company will be fined up to $2,000 per employee. (This proposal alone may require the hiring of 16,500 new IRS employees.  See attached data sheet from the House Committee on Ways and Means);
  • An additional Medicare tax on self-employment income and wages.  This removes the current cap on wages subject to this tax and it will effectively move the top income tax rate from 35% to 43.4% within a couple of years;
  • For certain taxpayers, the bill increases the Medicare FICA tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent and for the first time, this tax will be extended beyond wages to include interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties, home sales and rents.  This new tax will be particularly damaging to New Jersey's seniors, many of whom depend on their interest, dividends and annuities to cover their monthly expenses and potential nursing home costs;
  • There is a 2.9% tax on all medical "devices", which basically means everything used in a doctor's office or hospital. Including gowns, syringes, wheelchairs and the like.  This will increase health care costs for everyone who does not get free government insurance;
  • The deduction for medical expenses is currently limited to those expenses that exceed 7.5% or your income. This will be raised to a threshold of 10% of your income. This means that fewer people will get any tax relief from medical expenses they pay for themselves;
  • There are various taxes on anything a person might do to pay for their own medical expenses. Things like Health Savings Accounts, Cafeteria Plans, and Flexible Savings Accounts are ways for people to save their OWN money for their OWN medical care on a pre-tax basis. Under the bill, they will be limited and taxed;
  • A 10% tax on tanning services;
  • A tax on self-insured health plans. This is another penalty on those who try to pay for their own health care;
  • A new tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers, an important employer in New Jersey. This will raise the price of medicines for everyone who does not get them from the government for free;
  • A new tax on "Cadillac" health plans. This is a tax of up to 55% on any health insurance that costs over about $800 per month including employee and employer contributions. This tax does not apply if you are a union member or your plan is from AARP or Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan;
  • There is a new tax on all "for-profit" health insurance companies (except for a few favored ones).  This will also raise the costs of premiums for everyone not getting free care from the government.

Combined, these new taxes will cause medical costs to go up and private sector job creation to go down, increase budget deficits and national debt, and force physicians to stop seeing Medicare and Medicaid patients. It will cause fewer people to pay for their own care, and more to seek government care.

In the end, the Pelosi health care proposal adds up to more taxes, more spending, and more deficits.  This is a bill American cannot afford.

Highlights of New IRS Authority

Under H.R. 3590 – the Senate-passed health bill
(Source: House Ways and Means Committee Minority)

  • IRS agents verify if you have "acceptable" health care coverage;
  • IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased "minimum essential coverage";
  • IRS can confiscate your tax refund;
    IRS audits are likely to increase;
  • IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade;
  • IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans;
  • Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four).

    SPECIAL EXEMPTION: The Senate-passed bill prohibits the IRS from imposing these taxes and penalties on illegal immigrants.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Doctors' Opinions, Common Sense, & The Next Lame Duck Congress

During recent discussions regarding healthcare reform I have suggested to several people that they ask their own doctors' opinion. Last night Bill O'Reilly gave some figures in this regard that are far more statistically accurate concerning the Medical Community's feelings than just a random check like I suggested.

Bill reported that 46.3% of primary-care physicians, those who work in the critical fields of family and internal medicine, not only feel that they would want to quit but that they might be cast out of medicine if BO's healthcare reform plan passes into law. These physicians said that they would either want to leave medicine or that they would be forced out by the changes to the system. You can read the entire New England Journal of Medicine survey conducted by the Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas. They found that a majority of physicians said healthcare reform would cause the quality of American medical care to deteriorate and it could be the "final straw" that sends a sizeable number of doctors out of medicine.

Now 49% of Americans who support BO's healthcare reform plan give their reason as it will provide coverage to the 30 million Americans (it was 47 million before you strip out illegals which BO has reluctantly done & people covered by Medicare) without healthcare insurance. I presented the following breakdown to members of our group of the uninsured on September 30, 2007 as follows in a posting I entitled "From 'Apathy To Dependence' Through Universal Health Care" - "A good percentage of the current push for universal healthcare comes from the notion that we have 47 million people in America who don't have healthcare insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a left leaning non-profit group frequently quoted by the media, puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. Ten million of the remaining approximate 36 million are not U.S. citizens @ all (they predominantly use the very costly emergency room treatments @ our expense for free medical care), 8.3 million uninsured people make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year, 8.74 million make more than $75,000 a year, & 9 million did, in fact, have health coverage through Medicare. So out of the so-called 47 million uninsured Americans, 10 million aren't American, 9 million are insured, & 17 million are young and healthy & choose not to have insurance. If the federal government wants to get into this why not just have a program to help the 8.2 million to 13.9 million people who really could use the help?" This is still the question today but then again we know the answer don't we?

As we all know Pelosi has her House ready to pass the Senate healthcare bill the minute 216 votes can be had by "deeming" the Senate bill passed by a House rule without an actual vote on the bill - pretty insulting isn't it especially for a third grader studying the Constitution if there is such a student any more?

Unemployment stats show that 6 million people have been unemployed longer than 27 weeks & that there are six job applicants for every job available & yet BO persists in pursuing Universal Healthcare when there are only 8.2 to 13.9 million out of 300 million Americans who do not have healthcare insurance. Couple this with the aforementioned Pelosi plan to pass the healthcare bill & common sense tells you there is something here that is not right for our country.

In his news conference today committed statist & left wing Congressman Dennis Kucinich let it slip after a ride on Air Force One when he said "we must get control of private health insurance companies."

We have to work very hard to forestall this current healthcare reform push but the barrage will continue until the new Congress takes their oath in January 2011 - especially including the lame duck session between November & January when we are most vulnerable.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Human Capital Protectionism In NJ

Below is a letter that a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net sent to several NJ elected reps including Governor Chris Christie recommending the rejection of a bill (A2478/S1730) introduced by State Senator Donald Norcross (D., Camden) that would require all public employees in New Jersey to live in the state.  The proposal would cover all state, county & municipal workers as well as authorities, boards, agencies & commissions, & colleges.  Although the referenced bill is limited to NJ those of you living outside NJ could see the same sort of trickery that is certainly not based on any economic principle but rather is pure politics of the worst kind because it limits free market competition @ the expense of the people it proclaims to benefit - the NJ taxpayer.

"If you want a paycheck from NJ taxpayers, you should live here and pay your taxes here," Norcross said in a news release that shows that protectionism is not limited just to restricting imported goods but also human capital - our most valuable resource. 

---Letter To Governor et. al.---

In this time of unprecedented budget issues, A2478/S1730, requiring public officers and employees to reside In state, is an excursion in folly based more on misdirected passion than on logic or common sense. It must be stopped.

There is no benefit to the state by artificially limiting the pool of labor from which it can draw. The very contrary is true. This bill excludes a universe of valuable workers for no demonstrably sound reason. Our state capital, Trenton, which has the largest concentration of state jobs, happens to be in a border area to Eastern Pennsylvania. This bill will deter highly qualified applicants from that area from considering New Jersey state employment. Even worse, current employees, who never lived in New Jersey, are told by this bill to move in two and a half years or be terminated. Many will elect to take unemployment benefits, causing further pressure on an already unfunded state obligation.

I personally have no stake in this bill except as a concerned taxpayer. But I know several highly qualified, dedicated and loyal state employees who would be affected by it. There is no empirical study that shows a nexus between state residency and job performance. These economic times are not moments to indulge in this sort of whimsy. The Legislature and Governor would do well to focus on more substantive issues and abandon  A2478/S1730. 

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Finding Out About Healthcare Reform The Hard Way

In a bad sign for America I have noticed that BO has ever so subtly started to promote both Cap & Trade & Comprehensive Immigration Reform - I feel he would only be doing this if he thought that his obsession for Universal Healthcare passage was assured.
 
Now everyone I know & talk to in SC is working against BO's healthcare reform plan.  Both the Senate bill & the House bill that the Dems are trying to reconcile in Conference Committee one way or the other are each over 2000 pages long & it is extremely doubtful that any Member of Congress has read either one of these bills let alone understands all of the ramifications.  But House Speaker Pelosi tells us the hard way to most definitely find out what is in the bill in this 5 second video sent to us by a subscriber of ReturnToExcellence.net.

Monday, March 8, 2010

All You Need To Know About Creating Jobs

Due to the arithmetic involved the unemployment rate was unchanged @ 9.7% in February but the more substantive statistic in our jobloss recovery was that 36,000 more jobs were lost in the month.  Many people are calling on BO & Congress to switch from working on Healthcare reform & start working on creating jobs.  I am asking them to stop working on both & just get the hell out of the way.
 
The way to maximize the creation of value producing jobs that increases our standard of living is for the government to stop its constant intervention & interference in the economy & unleash entrepreneurs & innovators in a true free enterprise system - which is far from what we have had in a long time.  BO's policies not only don't maximize the chance for creating such jobs, they don't even minimize it - they virtually eliminate the possibility of any such jobs being produced.  And of course this is by design.
 
To understand how value producing jobs are created think of the world economy as a ladder - a metaphor recently presented to me by Professor Robert Carbaugh of Central Washington University.  The U.S. is currently on the top rung & developing nations with low tech labor intensive jobs are on the bottom rungs.  The other countries are in between.  All countries try to climb to the next rung.  This works well if the topmost countries create new industries & products, thus adding another rung to the ladder like when we replaced horse drawn carriages that used buggy whips with cars.  Older industries can move overseas while new jobs are generated @ home.  It is when innovation stalls @ the highest rung that the portion of Americans near the bottom of the income distribution must compete with workers in developing countries.  This is what we are facing today as far too many Americans are poorly educated with skills so limited that no employer can use them.  It is only through constant brainwashing that the government will take care of you that would allow some one to become so ill-prepared to support themselves that they are now competing with third world people who make pennies a day. 
 
Now the government intervention & interference I referred to is not limited to America's government because there is really no such thing as a fair & level playing field in the global economy of international trade.  Virtually every country in the world uses tariffs, quotas, quota licenses, tariff rate quotas, export quotas, domestic content requirements, subsidies, export subsidies, dumping - sporadic, predatory, & persistent, government procurement policies, & social regulations such as the average fuel economy standards of cars to protect their workers.  Of course the workers needing the most protection are the lowest skilled least educated people.  Accordingly, as politicians try to buy votes to get re-elected there is no free & unfettered trade - protectionism of the weak in one form or another reigns @ the expense of the American consumer.
 
All of this falls in line with BO's plans for completing the socialism of America & people's dependence on his government.  By pretending to be concerned about American workers he can talk up any program he wants that in reality will not help but most Americans are too ignorant to realize what is happening to them or our country.
 
To BO his success as President depends on the very misunderstanding he claims & pretends to protect.  His policies will lead to more stagnation, no value producing jobs, & certainly more government dependence that will reward those statists in power with an anti-American agenda that preys on the populist movement through class warfare & economic illiteracy.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Easter Ends BO's Latest But Not Last Holiday Schedule

Subscribers to ReturnToExcellence.net & the members of this e-mail club were smart enough to know that even after the election in January of Scott Brown to the Senate as the so-called "41st vote" that BO would not give up on what he regards as his legacy - namely passing Universal Healthcare.  Two January messages in  particular proved this by stating "his (BO's) top priority remains the same - Universal Healthcare" & "Pelosi has signaled that Universal Healthcare - BO's highest priority - is not dead saying that she 'will climb the wall, catapult over the wall, or helicopter over the wall to get it passed into law.'"  How sad for America.
 
Thanks only to the participants of Town Hall Meetings & Tea Parties - several of which many of you attended - we have been able to hold off passage of BO's plan but another chapter will be coming to a head shortly.  After the initial stalling last year BO wanted a healthcare reform bill on his desk to sign before July 4, then the August recess, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, & Christmas & now he rounds out his current holiday schedule by calling for congressional passage before Easter.  If we hold him off again watch out for Memorial Day.
 
Now people in our group also know why BO is obsessed with getting his Universal Healthcare reform legacy in place - something that FDR, Truman, LBJ, Carter, & Clinton could not do.  Clinton had moved to the right @ this similar point - BO hasn't & won't.  So BO is working from this ideological position & obviously does not care about the will of the people or even what is best for them.
 
Why else would he be unconcerned about the tens of trillions of dollars of Medicare unfunded liabilities or the estimate by Medicare's chief actuary that as many as 20% of Medicare providers will either go out of business or will stop seeing Medicare patients when the proposed $500 billion in Medicare cuts go into effect - if these cuts never go into effect just add $500 billon to the deficit in a lose-lose for America.  Even without the Public Option rationing is guaranteed - how do you add (through unconstitutional mandates) 30 million people to the healthcare roles without a large increase in doctors without rationing?  Every incentive in BO's plan is for people not to want to become a doctor.  If this is not enough for you wade through the blog postings for more.
 
Over the past year I have documented the onslaught of BO's planned destruction & it will not end even when the cows come home.  As you all know I have conducted many "call Washington" projects & I hate them all.  Leadership means that our elected reps know what the right thing to do is & they don't need people theoretically less informed jamming their switchboards reminding them not to sell the country down the river.  If you can muster the conviction once again & of course if this is important to you please determine your own course of action to make your voice heard to both your congressman & senators.  Just let me know if you need help with who to call.  Thanks to a member of our group - a young mother of a two year old - who gave me the list of the wavering congressman.  I will be glad to share it with you if you like.
 
In the meantime below is a message I received from one of the many doctors in our group pointing out among other things the disaster of the Massachusetts mandatory healthcare plan that was the brainchild of the despicable Mitt Romney who masquerades as a conservative & gets away with it by the pitiful Republican Party.  Submitting to BO's plans without another round of fight only guarantees the same result for America as the sorry Massachusetts example.
 
Doug.....there was an editorial in the WSJ on Monday that described well what is coming our way.  Mass. has "required" insurance.  You get what you pay for.  The government does not have the money to cover what they offer so the level/amount of care has to go down.  The government is already "killing" private practice.  Your chart is no longer a tool for the doctor to treat the patient.....The privacy of your chart has been severely violated.  It is open to the insurance industry to review and just recently, Medicare is now auditing hospital and office charts to check for "correct coding".  In English this means that the chart must contain components outlined by the government or the doctor could by fined.  How is that....You intimidate the doctors into submission by cutting fees.  From March 1st thru the 10th Medicare is holding all claims because Congress has refused to fix the physician fee schedule (mind you this has gone on for years).  What other industry would tolerate a 10 day freeze with no monies coming in?  The picture is not pretty.  Our only hope is for the public (groups like yours) to wake up and speak up.  Have a good day.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Clarifications - School Boards & AMA

Comments to the last five messages continue coming in almost too fast & too many to keep up with.  I post the best ones that are representative & add something to the discussion - many of which are heated like the two clarifications below. 

 

The first is from the writer of last night's Response #1 who said "society forgets that we get the government and the school boards that we elect" & the second is from one of our many doctors who addresses the AMA issue & particularly the previous comment - "Now here's a union worth taking a look at - the AMA!!!  The largest union in the country, yet no one touches the good old docs!"

 

--School Board Clarification---

 

Doug:

 

As a caveat to my response that we get the government we elect.  I noticed in Tuesday's Courier News, with the exception of Plainfield, there were no opponents running in the local school board elections.  How DARE anyone complain about the quality of education in their towns while doing nothing to advance their own agenda!   Once again, the age old maxim that "talk is cheap" is validated.  We/U.S. get the government and school boards we elect.

 

---AMA Clarification---

 

Doug,
 
I just spent 1/2 hour writing a response to the AMA point above and decided to delete it.  I will just say 2 things.  The AMA is not a union.  It is a professional association.  It is illegal for doctors to unionize because we are separate entities and that would constitute an attempt to form a monopoly.  Also, the "good old docs" have been touched plenty by Medicare and insurance companies since the 80s with reduced reimbursements.  My favorite example is cataract surgery.  I finished my residency in 1987.  The Medicare fee for a cataract extraction and lens implant was $1,800.00.  Today, I get approximately $740.00.  What is that adjusted for inflation?
   
I think someone that brags about home schooling their children should get their facts straight before making remarks of this nature. 

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

More Responses - The First Generation Of Mismanaged Children

Not since the illegal immigration issue of June 2007 have I received such an overwhelming # of responses to an issue as the subject one.  Below are the two best responses I received since last night.  If you have not participated please make your views known - this is how we all learn & is the part I love the most.  I truly believe that the difference between our e-mail club & blog postings from the rest is the commentary added to the messages - not just getting an interesting e-mail & mindlessly hitting the forward button sending the message to everyone on your distribution list.  Had I done that with the original Leno video I think a few eyebrows may have been raised or many would have had a few chuckles but never would we have had the intellectual discussion & such varied points of view expressed.  Our group has been stirred up providing ideas that will educate & help the far too many Americans who think that the first man to walk on the moon was Louie Armstrong.
 
---Response #1---
 

Hi Doug:

 

I read the very enlightening responses.  Unfortunately, I cannot view videos on my computer due to a software bug.  However, I have a response to the responses.  Too often society forgets that we get the government and the school boards that we elect.  With that said, it is difficult for me to understand how any of the respondents can blame anyone but themselves.  I believe the contemporary word is "change".  Remember, we/US over-whelming voted for it.

Please do not mistake me for a contrarian or rebel rouser.  I am only looking at the landscape, both forward and backwards and reporting what I see. 

Recently, at a family gathering the conversation became heated. One of the relatives was into his second year of unemployment and cheerful about the prospect of future extensions.  This provoked ire from another relative who had his own business and was being penalized an addition $2400 to fill the coffers of the unemployment fund.  The relative in his own business was a carpenter and hasn't had a decent paying job in months.  The hostilities were flying back and forth in between mouthfuls of ham and mashed potatoes.  I thought my nose was going to be bloodied when I simply said we get the government we elect and their policies both the good & the bad.

---Response #2---

Thanks for the discussion, Doug – this has been so interesting, and oh, how I welcome some honest-to-good debate and discussion amongst intelligent people!

I have yet another spectrum to pose to your readers:

…more on the role of parents and/or family for that matter … the school and teachers cannot instill good work ethic in our children.  Yes, they can "lead by example" – but what about mom and dad?  Or grandma and grandpa?  Or whoever is the head of the family?  Take a look around, I see seniors returning back to work, bagging groceries – some, yes for financial reasons – others?  Their work was their life, or a way of life.  Where are the 16-year-olds?  Back when I was in high school (and no I'm not THAT old, but old enough), we could not WAIT to turn 16 and get a job, so we could earn money.  McDonald's was a right of passage – EVERYONE did their time working the food line!  And now, even McDonald's – the seniors are there too.  I do not in any way begrudge the seniors the opportunity to work if that is how they want to fill their days – but why are kids not encouraged to get a job and learn how things work?  They are walking (or driving) around with prepaid credit cards and cell phones paid by mom and dad (who, much to my astonishment, are paying text messaging bills monthly in the HUNDREDS of dollars) – and I just have one question?  What is going to happen when someday these same children are handed a bill to pay for these luxury items??  How will they know to survive in the workplace once they graduate from college if they have never struggled as a teen working for minimum wage but VERY happy to have their own paycheck? 

The teachers cannot teach children how to succeed in society – from a common sense standpoint.  That has to come from home, and right now – parents today are getting a failing grade in properly preparing their children to be viable, contributing members of society.  THAT has to change long before we try to make changes to the educational system that should be a continuation of what is taught at home, not a substitution for what SHOULD be instilled at home.

Thanks for the great discussion!

P.S. I recently had a discussion with a mom at the pool who told me her oldest son was going into teaching.  He graduated from a private Catholic high school and presumed the rest of the world had the same dedication he had towards learning.  He was absolutely shocked when he went into student teaching, in an affluent suburb – not inner city school – and the kids talked back to the teachers, and when he gave an assignment, came in the next day and only about 25% of the class had done the homework.  They laughed at him at the suggestion of consequences for not turning in the homework.  But he tried to stick with it.  He called her last week and told her he is changing his major.  He said you could not pay him enough money to go to work and face that environment every day.  He asked her, "what has happened to the hunger for learning?"

Monday, March 1, 2010

Responses - The First Generation Of Mismanaged Children

Well I have to admit that I never thought the Jay Leno humorous video would bring the interest & passion that it has but of course it was not as humorous as it was sad for our country.  Below are three more responses that I received - the first one in my opinion sums up the root cause of our educational problem because it comes directly from a teacher who I have the world of respect for.  My comments are in red to the other two.
 
---Response #1---
 
I taught school in the 60s....it was a whole different ball game back then, with the parents and teachers working together. I had great backup from both my principal and the parents.  When I went back to teach in the 80s, it was nothing like my first experience....and I can very well understand what the writer is saying.  How sad for our children! 
 
---Response #2 ---
 
Well the teachers do pretty darn good in this township, I'd like to see their convention held in the summer not during the school months.  I don't blame the teachers too much for what they are teaching, but I do blame the politicians, and head of program curriculum, and now the far left groups injecting the values in the class rooms, and the teaching of global warming before all the science is in.  That's where the blame lies along with parents that have to work to pay for the teachers perks, so I have to blame who is connected to the education system - all of them not just one group - they are all to blame. Remember it's for the children ,, or is it really?
 
But who started the slide - it was the parents.  When I got in trouble in school my parents were called in to see the teacher & no one even wanted to know my side - the teacher was thought to be right.  I just knew I was going to get it when we got home.  This has changed - now we start with the teacher being wrong & the children can do no wrong.  What teacher of any quality would put up with this?  It is the same for the military in Afghanistan or our Border Guards having no backing but putting their lives on the line every day - by comparison the teachers have it easier than this but who in their right mind would want to become a teacher today regardless of how good they seem to have it monetarily.  After a while the teachers thought we need a strong union & then the leeches came in for tenure & the result we have is people graduating with honors that can't read, write, or measure.
 
All of the groups you mention are involved in the educational problem but the root cause of all of our educational problems is the lack of interest & involvement of the parents.  We are going down the rat hole as clearly shown by the product of people demonstrated in Leno's video.  Who would hire them? & for what?  How could the parents let this happen to their children no matter who else is involved?
 
---Response #3---
 
No I am not going to blame the parents first, nor the teachers first.  I blame the do-gooders of society.  "Government" and everyone else just went along like a steam roller, DIFUS, court system, anyone that has the authority to put the parents in jail and strip them of their values, allowing children to sue the parents.  DIFUS black listing parents for just a phone call and enormous court costs.  Who was it that stripped the children of the authority figure, who you ask? -  The progressive movement one nut and bolt one nail at a time it was the do-gooders.  If any teachers read this they should know, look back and look for the changes, it was an onslaught of do-gooders, the progressives finally pried the nail holding the board tight to the floor and they kept pulling and pulling that board to where we are today.  Parents now need a sledge hammer to put the board back in place.
 
We can talk about one amorphous group after another to blame to no avail but to me we have to ask how could the people shown in the Leno video exist if they had the parents you & I had who were civically involved in our country?  Lose touch with that & anything can happen.  Its the people who let Socialism & the road to the destruction of America happen - the children are not mature so that leaves the adult parents many of whom may be part of the groups you mention.  How could the parents let this happen to their children considering love of them & country no matter who else is involved?