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.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Dede Dines Out

I have had several genuinely excellent discussions with many members of our group re the NJ Governors race that will be decided on Tuesday. Although just about every one I have discussed this with voted for Steve Lonegan in the primary they are now reluctantly supporting Republican Chris Christie over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. Most people feel it is important for Corzine not to be reelected. Carol & I also think it is equally important that Christie not be elected.

Anyone who read Paul Mulshine's Cross Country column in today's WSJ on page A17 will learn some of the details as to why Christie has been short on details since the Republican machine put him in the race last winter. Also anyone who heard Alan Keyes speak @ the Woodbridge Tea Party last Saturday learned why Christie is just the type of candidate America does not want in office - he will perpetuate more of the same statist leaning direction that the country has been heading toward for decades & four years from now there will be two more lousy candidates to vote for so that New Jerseyians once again cannot get ahead regardless of which one of them is elected. Six months from now you will not be able to tell the difference in the governance of NJ.

Most reluctant Christie supporters who I have discussed this with think that Christie winning will send Democrat congressmen & BO himself a message but such messages are always short lived & spun to whatever point necessary to minimize the result. Also, some people told me they are picking the lesser of two evils - how pitiful.

Now a much better example of an important election to learn a lesson from is found in NY's 23rd congressional district's special election to replace Republican Representative John McHugh who recently accepted the job of Secretary of the Army. The original Democrat candidate for the seat is John Owens & the original Republican candidate hand picked by the Republican machine was five-term state-level Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava who bowed out of the race today because 3rd party Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman had passed her in the polls. Now how much good would it have done for America to have Dede elected to hold the Republican seat vacated by McHugh.

How much of Republican Dede's positions do you share? - she is an abortion rights advocate who favors homosexual marriage. She is for card check, Cap & Trade, & favored bank bailouts & the Stimulus Bill - something every House Republican voted against. In past elections she has lined up with the ballot line of the Working Families Party -- a socialist outfit with ACORN connections.

Several days ago Sarah Palin endorsed Doug Hoffman, the 3rd party Conservative Party candidate. Palin was soon joined by Dick Armey, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann (R, Minnesota), Steve Forbes, The WSJ Editorial Board, Michelle Malkin, The National Review, The Club for Growth, & just yesterday former Republican NY Governor George Pataki. Even with her clear anti-American record on display Newt Gingrich endorsed Dede saying that "Republicans must embrace centrists who can capture swing districts" - a position great for Republican stats but awful for America.

Worse than even Newt's endorsement - as of October 29 the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was planning to dump $300,000 in the race promoting Dede. I just hope they committed the money & Dede dined out of the race wasting it all. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was just as pitiful when Dede was still in the race saying the voters will decide - like who else will? Steele could not endorse Doug Hoffman could he? - that would not be the politically correct thing to do for the Republican Party, but in the meantime the hell with America.

So now the people in NY's 23rd district have a real choice - something NJ voters do not have with the two major party candidates. But even New Jerseyians can start to make a difference - not in this election because either Corzine or Christie is going to win but by studying the other candidates' positions & voting for someone who deserves & earns your vote - neither Corzine or Christie do. There are excellent Gubernatorial candidates like Jason Cullen & his running mate Gloria Leustek who ran on the Lonegan line in Somerset County in the primary for Freeholder. Cullen told me that he is a perpetual candidate so in the long run a vote for him, if you think he earns it, will not be wasted.

But getting back to NY's 23rd - it has been in Republican hands for nearly 120 consecutive years. Don't think that the Conservative Party candidate is a shoe-in though. As a sign of the sliding times in America eight-term Republican John McHugh, the man who moved over to the Department of the Army just a few months ago, was elected in November 2008 with a grade of "D" by the National Tax Payers Union with only a 30% favorable rating. Now just how will Dede's supporters votes be distributed between the statist & the conservative? On Tuesday night watch the results of this race closely - it will let you know if there is any hope in the immediate future.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thomas Sowell - Dismantling America

Below is part of a column by Thomas Sowell I received re BO's dismantling of America piece by piece.  On October 22 I noted "just when it looked like the 'public option' was dead it is being resurrected" & sure enough this donkey is going to try to fly.  Cap & Trade was reintroduced last Friday with the Kerry-Boxer Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works release of revised legislation.  BO's onslaught against America is relentless & tiresome for those who carry the burden of fighting to keep American values - like those who attend town hall meetings & tea parties.  If you are represented in the House &/or Senate by a wavering on-the-fence politician re either healthcare reform or Cap & Trade better make the most of letting your views known to them.  Dr. Sowell explains why below.

---Thomas Sowell - Dismantling America---

How far the President will go depends of course on how much resistance he meets. But the direction in which he is trying to go tells us more than all his rhetoric or media spin.

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.

Jeremiah Wright said it with words: "God damn America!" Bill Ayers said it with bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their contempt for the rights of other people.

Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?

Nothing is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people in government-- people who reject American values, resent Americans in general and successful Americans in particular, as well as resenting America's influence in the world.

Any miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the administration's enemies list.

Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year-- each bill more than a thousand pages long-- too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question-- and the biggest question for this generation.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Woodbridge Tea Party Report

Yesterday the subject Tea Party was held in the rain.  Attendance was between 150 to 200 people.  As many of you know I was invited to speak on the FairTax @ the Tea Party.  My sincere thanks to all of the members of our e-mail club who showed up & passed out FairTax Pocket Cards & answered questions from the attendees who I found to be very knowledgeable about the FairTax to begin with.  Above are two photos of Alan Keyes & me - each during our respective speeches.
 
During my speech I mentioned that Alan Keyes, the guest of honor, was a very big supporter of the FairTax & he confirmed that during his electrifying speech.
 
The organizer of the Tea Party was Jim Poesl, Independent candidate in NJ's 19th District For Assembly, who also is a big FairTax supporter.  Carol explained to Jim the work being done in Missouri & SC re state level FairTax legislation & Jim was very receptive to the idea for NJ so he is an important candidate for FairTax NJ to win elective office.
 
I have gotten to know these people after working closely with them on both the Perth Amboy & Woodbridge Tea Parties.  Any one living in NJ's 19th should take a good look & consider voting for Jim Poesl.  Like Steve Lonegan he is working his heart out for NJ - I can explain it best by saying that he is an Alan Keyes conservative.  There are six candidates running for two Assembly seats & Jim hopes that he & Republican Richard Piatkowski, who organized the Perth Amboy Tea Party & also is a man of substance, win.
 
I bring this up to people who do not live in NJ because it is important for all of us to find candidates who live & will govern by the principles that our country was founded on.  This was also one of Dr. Keyes main points in his speech.  Neither of the two main party candidates for governor of NJ fit this bill & I can't imagine any one @ the Tea Party voting for either one of them.
 
BTW, all of this is so thoroughly bred in him that when Jim Poesl spells his name he says P, O, E, S as in Steve, L as in Lonegan.
 

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Patriotic Impassioned Speech

Thanks to our Midwest Member for passing along the below video for Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers' patriotic impassioned speech on healthcare reform. Even if healthcare reform was not such a hot topic the points made in this video are inspiring all by themselves & apply to everything America undertakes.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

BO's Disincentive Programs

As the healthcare reform struggle continues I have received many messages from members of our group such as "Hi Doug - I was wondering if you knew where I can read a copy of the actual healthcare reform bill?  I'm trying to find some info out for someone and I'm having a hard time locating it" to which I replied "you are having problems because there are five versions working their way through Congress - some in the House & some in the Senate.  The Baucus Senate Finance Committee version is the one currently getting the most attention but it will surely change before this is all over."
 
Now after campaigning for almost two years in 2007 & 2008 on openness, transparency, & the benefits of disinfectant on Washington via the sunlight of day (such as hearings & debate on healthcare reform being aired on CSPAN) BO has continued his onslaught against America in rapid fire fashion, opacity, & the cover of darkness (amendments added @ 3 AM & voted on the next day) so it is no wonder that people ask the type of question indicated above on many issues.
 
The aforementioned onslaught is expanding rapidly & AFP reports that the Federal Communications Commission will decide on Thursday whether to move forward with so-called "net neutrality" regulations, which is an attempt by the government to take over the Internet.  BO said on the campaign trail: "I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to net neutrality" so we won't get a break from this type of destruction for another three years unless the results of the mid-term elections in 2010 are stunning.  As long as the Internet is free, we can use it to communicate, educate, and organize through e-mail clubs like this one & blogs like ReturnToExcellence.net - if you read these messages you certainly cannot say that you do not know the issues & knowing the truth about the issues is exactly what BO does not want you to know.  By government owning and controlling the Internet they can interfere with the transmission of information - like they do every day in shredding the first amendment.  There is a lot @ stake this Thursday & you can bet there is much more to come that you will not like.
 
But getting back to healthcare reform, just when it looked like the "public option" was dead it is being resurrected although the Baucus bill concentrates on Plan B in this regard which is "co-opts" or "insurance exchanges" where people can buy healthcare insurance when their employers do not offer it (which will be all of the time after the penalties are assessed).  An example of how dastardly this idea is can be illustrated by the example of a single individual who makes about $20,000 per year & would be mandated (with enforcement by financial penalties) to pay $600 per year for an average middle of the road policy.  Now if this individual would be promoted & get a raise to about $26,000 per year not only would he have his effective & possibly his marginal income tax rate rise but his annual mandated healthcare insurance premium for the same policy would increase to $2,300 from $600 because his subsidy would decrease because of his increased salary.  The same type of reduced subsidy applies to families as well as individuals so as anyone excels in their work they have the double disincentive of increasing income tax rates & reduced healthcare insurance subsidies under the Baucus bill.
 
This is no accident & really is what BO has in mind as his ultimate goal for all of his programs - not just healthcare reform - namely to make everyone totally dependent on government thereby reversing the principles on which this nation was founded.  Sustainable economic growth can only be realized if people are creating things of value that other people want - none of BO's programs do this.  Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of America knows that America was founded on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, & free enterprise.  Just ask yourself to identify one of BO's programs that is not intended to reverse these principles & when you cannot you see what an enemy of America we have as our President.
 
Donald Marsh writes "The American standard of living depends primarily on their own entrepreneurship, industry, innovation, & motivation."  All of BO's programs destroy this idea, as illustrated in the simple healthcare example above, & replace it with a higher income tax wage rate disincentive that is nothing more than the increasing value of leisure time that is already all too prevalent in America today.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Responses - Healthcare Rights For Illegals Under Case Law

As expected, yesterday the Senate Finance Committee passed their Healthcare Reform Bill, voting 14 to 9 with Republican Olympia Snowe joining the Democrats on the Committee in the majority supporting a bill that is not even written.  Below are three responses I received to the original subject message that I tied together to make a not so obvious point re this Healthcare debacle facing our nation .  My comments are in red.
 
---Response # 1---
 
Illegal immigrants are already eligible for emergency care through the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), signed by President Reagan in 1986.  No one can be turned away currently by a hospital - private physician's office, yes, but not a hospital ER.  They treat people every day, legal citizens , visitors and illegals, who have no health care coverage.
 
The writer is oh so correct - according to Wikipedia EMTALA requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions.  Although EMTALA technically applies to "participating hospitals" defined as those that accept payment from government agencies or programs in practical terms EMTALA applies to virtually all hospitals in the U.S., with the exception of the Shriners Hospitals for Children, Indian Health Service hospitals, and Veterans Affairs hospitals. The combined payments of Medicare and Medicaid, $602 billion in 2004, or roughly 44% of all medical expenditures in the U.S., make not participating in EMTALA impractical for nearly all hospitals. EMTALA's provisions apply to all patients, and not just to Medicare patients.
 
More than half of all emergency room care in the U.S. now goes uncompensated. Hospitals write off such care as charity or bad debt for tax purposes. Increasing financial pressures on hospitals in the period since EMTALA's passage have caused consolidations and closures, so the number of emergency rooms are decreasing despite increasing demand for emergency care. There is also debate about the extent to which EMTALA has led to cost-shifting and higher rates for insured or paying hospital patients, thereby contributing to the high overall rate of medical inflation in the U.S.
 
It should be obvious that BO's Universal Healthcare program will only exacerbate all of these conditions reported by Wikipedia & more to our detriment.
 
---Response # 2---
 
You may not like this but a health bill WILL be passed, and as time goes on if Democrats are still in power, benefits will be extended.
 
Any elected representative, knows what he has to do to stay elected.  Endorse the health bill.
 
WHY
 
No one is saying it - I thought I did in the original message , but Latinos are the fastest growing population in the USA, and they normally vote (f they vote) for Democrats
 
If a Representative does not have large numbers of Latinos in his or her district, then they can vote against it.  If they do, then it would be a death sentence for them to be re-elected.  They would lose
because of the Latino vote.
 
You might not agree - I told the co-founding member of this e-mail club in 2004 that Republicans may very well never win another national election because statists simply outnumber traditional Americans, but Latinos can tilt elections in years to come, especially in large population states.
 
But, if the economy declines a lot, then they might vote for Republicans - I have to see it to believe it.  Jobs are the key issue - unless government dependent welfare programs remain the incentive for statists to gravitate to.
 
---Response # 3---
 

Doug,

 

Good to hear from you & what a great editorial.

BO's Administration is unraveling…in a few months he will be recognized as a joke.  The first part of the original message only re the Nobel prize.  Healthcare reform will take longer since it does not go into full effect until after the 2012 Presidential election.

 

On a slightly different subject, a friend of mine who you know said something very profound.  New Jersey's problems are the fault of the Republican Party.  The Republicans cannot effect change.  Take State Senator Kip Batman - he is on record as being undecided re same sex marriage legislation currently pending in Trenton.  Tell me, how can an elected Republican be undecided about same sex marriage?  The problems w/this state & by extension the Country is the Republican Party not the Democrat Party.  The great SC Senator Jim DeMint said that he would rather have 30 senators like himself in a party than 70 senators like Arlen Specter.  With only 30 such senators you will lose every vote in the short term but you will have a real solid base to rebuild & that is what America needs if it is to have any chance @ all to continue to exist as a free land.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Healthcare Rights For Illegals Under Case Law

It is an understatement to say that I have received an enormous amount of comments on the events of the past several days re BO's Nobel Prize & Universal Healthcare.

With re to the Nobel "This guy is in office less then two weeks before the deadline and he gets the Nobel prize. And exactly for what?" was one of the themes & "I'm waiting to see his statue in the park! I will not put into writing what I am thinking" sums up the comments along with "BREAKING NEWS: This just in - BO wins the Heisman Trophy after watching a college football game" - this really makes a mockery of the Nobel Prize & should let even the least discerning of us realize that there is more @ play here than just presenting awards.

But all of this is merely a distraction to the real intended destruction to our way of life beginning on Tuesday when the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on a healthcare reform bill that has not even been written. The best comment received on Universal Healthcare connects our message posted on the blog on October 7 (where I pointed out how BO is watering down the work of over 60 local law enforcement agencies that have taken the time & effort to obtain ICE certification to enforce the federal immigration laws) with the case law re illegal immigrant criminals' rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Specifically, the great libertarian Andrew Napolitano factually states that the Supreme Court case law has ruled that the Constitution refers to "persons" not "citizens" in determining to whom the 14th Amendment would grant whatever healthcare rights apply after passage of the much discussed law. Accordingly, BO wants to pass Universal Healthcare with or without illegals mentioned fully knowing that the Supreme Court will rule, based on precedent, that illegals are covered meaning that he will have paved the way for Universal Reelection by placating the fastest growing segment of the American population @ your expense. If this is important to you please continue or start to speak up to your elected representatives now because it is a long way to November 2010 when you get another official chance to let your voice be heard.

---Healthcare Rights For Illegals Under Case Law---

OK, before we all get crazy with anger today, let me make it worse. Did anybody see O'Reilly last night? Judge Napolitano unloaded a bombshell. Constitutionally speaking, it doesn't matter what "language" gets loaded in the final HC bill to prevent illegals from getting covered. Any government plan, public option, co-op, whatever, will have illegals covered. He says there is lots of case law, if it gets to the higher courts, to support equal protection under the law. Obama knows it, which is why he will concede any language possible to satisfy the Republicans, because he knows under legal challenge, he will get his way, and then be able to blame it on the courts. That is why he keeps quoting the "49 million". If any form of government subsidy, gets in there, you and I will be paying for them. Just another welfare entitlement program for people who are not even citizens. Guess Joe Wilson really was correct.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Why We Should Remove Our Fighting Forces From Harms Way

The current story of Afghanistan military commander General McChrystal - BO's hand picked commander for the job a few months ago - not being able to speak to BO about his request for 40,000 additional troops has taken some of the press away from the universal healthcare issue that is still being planned to be jammed down our throats.
 
Much less reported on or noticed than either of the aforementioned two stories concerns BO's undermining of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) 287(g) program relating to local law enforcement officers throughout the country enforcing federal immigration laws after receiving proper training.  There are over 60 such local programs that have been certified by ICE & all of these are being forced by BO before October 15 to no longer identify suspected illegal alien criminals on the streets & arrest them.  Please see my report entitled "Immigration Laws & The Problems With Their Enforcement" that describes the entire 287(g) program - the report is posted on ReturnToExcellence.net under "Classics" on the left hand side of the blog. 
 
A great deal of BO's effort to water down the 287(g) program is directed toward Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio (the inspiration for writing the aforementioned report in 2006), who has jailed about 30,000 illegals since February 2007.  Now why would the American President be against this type of effort?  The world is upside down with this guy - but it is by design.
 
Sheriff Arpaio's jail includes fenced in tents to hold illegal alien criminals.  One of the rules of the prison is that the deputies only answer questions from the prisoners in English.  Further, Sheriff Arpaio offers optional English courses that most of the inmates take.  Each day's instruction starts by the class singing God Bless America in English.  Several of the inmates have been interviewed - all had very positive feelings re the opportunity they had come across to better their lives. 
 
What decent person could be against this?  A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said that BO was hoping that Sheriff Arpaio would withdraw from the program altogether rather than work with the watered down version but no such luck.  Sheriff Arpaio plans to use what remains of the 287(g) regulations plus the laws of Maricopa County to his advantage to protect the people who elected him to provide their safety.
 
But if BO does not intend to fight the war in Afghanistan to win or to protect our borders through the Border Patrol, ICE agents, or 287(g) certified local enforcement officers why should we have the dedicated people in our military or these agencies put their lives on the line every day in a useless political scam?  If this is the case Carol believes we should remove our military from harms way & also remove our domestic fighting forces from enforcing immigration laws so that all civilians have the same chance @ being injured or killed as our brave fighting men & women do now.  This may be the wake up call needed by the American citizenry for them to realize they made the mistake of their lives in November 2008 when they elected a President who is the biggest enemy our country has known since the King of England in 1776.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Huckabee Video From FBN

Many of you asked me if I saw Mike Huckabee on FBN last week discuss the FairTax. One person even sent me a You-Tube video of the segment which I present below.

Please contrast the quality & integrity of Governor Huckabee's presentation in the video with those issues BO is trying to push through Congress that will destroy America as we know her.

Just imagine if Governor Huckabee had won the presidency instead of BO. We would be talking about enacting the FairTax instead of all that is being proposed today. What a difference! That is how close we came in 2008. Click this link to see the video (it may begin with a short commercial).