ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, MR. PRESIDENT

"Actions speak louder than words." An old tried & true proverb said to me by my Mother over an entire childhood, and passed on by many common sense thinking families. Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) pep rally was so full of hyperbole, I lost count.

Watching the State of the Union address was as painful as last year's, and I kept hoping for another "You Lie!" outburst, because his speech was full of contradictions. Time after time we have heard: (h/t Mark Levin)

APRIL 9, 2009 – "And we will not rest until we reach a day when not one single veteran falls into homelessness"

MAY 11, 2009 – "I will not rest until the dream of health care reform is finally achieved in the United States of America"

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 – "We will not rest until we are succeeding in generating the jobs that this economy needs"

NOVEMBER 23, 2009 – "I will not rest until business are investing again, and businesses are hiring again"

JANUARY 28, 2010 - "We will not rest until we build an economy that's ready for America's future"

MARCH 5 2010 – "I’m not gonna rest & my administration is not gonna rest in our efforts to help people who are looking to find a job"

MAY 26, 2010 – "We will not rest until this well is shut, the environment is repaired and the clean up is complete"

JULY 8, 2010 – "My administration will not rest until every American who is able and ready and willing to work can find a job"

... and all the while, the only things Obama focused on like a laser was advancing his 'redistribution of wealth' agenda: Obamacare, Financial Control, Cap & Trade, Internet and Talk Radio control, a failed Stimulus, empowering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), growth of government, and ever increasing deficit spending.

It took some 35 minutes before Obama ever mentioned our looming deficit, albiet briefly with embarrassingly low-ball resolutions, while in the same speech stating a broken economy must "invest" more. His reference to a "Sputnik Moment" is laughable, when it was himself who put the kibosh on NASA.  More empty Obama speak, as he attempts to hide the truth.

We have a man in the White House who clearly does not know what he is doing, or how to fix a country on the brink of disaster. We have a man in the White House who is more comfortable on a soap box campaigning, as he has done for the last two years, dining out, vacationing, playing sports while 'Rome is burning'.

As Charles Krauthammer said in his great piece "Deaf on debt: Returning to old liberal ideas, President Obama ignores the American people":

From the moon landing to solar shingles. Is there a better example of American decline?

So much for our "Sputnik moment".

The only way we can save our great country is to stay on top of our elected representatives, hold their feet to the fire, get rid of the weak-kneed moderates, and "Focus Like a Laser" in getting a constitutional conservative in the White House in 2012!

Senator Jim DeMint has some excellent suggestions in a recent email:

Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Mr. President
by Senator Jim DeMint - January 26, 2011

Dear Fellow Conservative:

The President used his State of the Union Address last night to disguise his liberal agenda in free-market, conservative rhetoric. Yet the specific policies he promoted are part of a deliberate strategy to grow the government at the expense of our personal freedoms and jobs.

For all of the talk in the media about how the President is moving to the center, he asked Congress last night to increase the role of the federal government in almost every area of our lives.

Rather than acknowledging the failure of his stimulus program to create jobs, the President claimed it saved our economy. Even worse, he called for more stimulus spending to "win the future".

You and I know that winning the future requires less government and more freedom, not the other way around.

Our Constitution is not indifferent toward liberal and conservative policies. It enumerates the very limited powers of the federal government and reserves everything else for the states.

Instead of calling for more federal intervention in our schools, the President should have called for reforms to allow states to opt-out of the ineffective and burdensome No Child Left Behind law.

Instead of calling for more federal intervention in our nation's highway system, he should have called on Congress to devolve these decisions to the states, which can build their own roads and bridges.

Instead of calling for a freeze in spending, the President should have called for a dramatic cut in spending to limit the size of government and balance the budget.

In nearly every area, the President is pushing America in the wrong direction. Unless Americans see through the rhetoric and stop his policies, we will lose our future. It's that simple.

Americans overwhelmingly elected Republicans this past election so they would put the brakes on the President's liberal agenda. I take that mandate very seriously and will do everything I can to stop the massive spending, takeovers, and debt that are destroying our country.

That is why I am introducing legislation in the Senate today to repeal the President's unconstitutional takeover of our nation's health care system.

The health care law was rammed through Congress despite widespread opposition from the American people. Yet the President told us last night to give up on repealing it, make only minor changes, and leave this experiment in socialism in place so it can strangle the greatest health care system in the world.

Not on my watch.

I'm not going to tell my children and grandchildren that I was around for this and failed to do everything I could to stop it.

Please contact your senators and encourage them to support the full repeal of the President's health care takeover.

Listening to the President last night reminded me of how much work we have to do to save the country we love. Even though we won many victories in the past election, the world's greatest salesman of socialism remains in the White House.

Fortunately, many Americans like you are alarmed by the direction of country and are taking positive action to send new leaders to Washington who will fight to save our country.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Together, we can and we will secure America's future.

Respectfully,

Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund

GET SET FOR BIG PREMIUM HIKES

As Speaker Nancy Pelosi lectured to her flock of minions, "We have to pass the bill, so that you can find out what is in it", truer words were never spoken.  It is well known that this bill was not read by the majority of congress; members of congress had to be bribed [with our tax dollars] in order to vote for the bill; there were backroom deals we will never hear about [unless a "Deap Throat" eventually comes forward]; the public, at a joint session of congress, were, in fact, lied to by a president of the United States.

There are countless measures in this bill that are unconstitutional, the biggest being a mandate to buy health insurance, now being challenged in our courts across the country.

Now that it has been passed - against the will of the people - Americans must hold Republican's feet to the fire about the repeal of this specious bill.  Lately there has been some hemming and hawing about a repeal, and those who appear reluctant need to be singled out.

These are the type of moderates that we are trying to clean out of the Republican party, such as Mike Castle in Delaware, who voted for Cap & Trade as part of the Gang of Eight (great piece by Michelle Malkin.  Castle's primary is tomorrow, Tues Sept 14th, along with 7 other critical states, who is running against Christine O'Donnell (neck and neck). Remember to get out and vote.

Over the years we have seen our freedoms in peril, as they chip away at the edges. "It's not too late to reclaim the American Idea", Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said recently. This election we have a chance to elect true conservatives, even though the liberals and the liberal media attempts to paint them as radicals. Look who's talking! Methinks they doth protest too much.

We also have the Republican elitists working against constitutional conservatives, which makes it more difficult, but can be done. It's the old "Ruling Class" vs the "Country Class", as the American Spectator writes about, making term limits more necessary now that we have seen how public office has been so abused. These people have been in public office way too long, and have developed an "I'm royalty" attitude, rather than the privilege of serving the people, the dangers written at length by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

The brilliant Betsy McCaughey, PhD writes an excellent piece from the New York Post on why our health insurance premiums are going up [another lie by the current president], and what to look for if this bill is not repealed:

Get Set for Big Premium Hikes
by Betsy McCaughey - September 13, 2010

President Obama is boasting that his new health law provides "free" preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies. But when you open your mail, you'll find out that's untrue; all he's doing is making you pay for it in advance.

The government isn't going to force you to get a colonoscopy, but being forced to pay for one feels almost the same.

Millions of Americans are getting notices that their premiums are going up to pay for changes required under the ObamaCare law. Section 2713 of the law requires that those premiums include the full cost for such preventive services as Pap smears, mammograms and smoking-cessation programs. Obama's "free" really just means you won't have a co-pay if you decide to get that service. But it's not free -- merely prepaid. When a restaurant charges you $25 for the all-you-can-eat buffet, it can't claim dessert is "free."

Another reason premiums are soaring this fall is the rapid rise in Medicaid enrollment, now up to a record 50 million people nationwide. When Medicaid rolls expand, it's a double whammy for the rest of us; our taxes go up and so do our premiums.

Medicaid pays, on average, 86 cents for every dollar of care provided. Doctors and hospitals are shortchanged. They try to make up the difference by charging privately insured patients more. The average household paid almost $1,800 a year in added premiums to offset Medicaid costs before the recession began. Now, with Medicaid rolls up, that hidden tax increases your premium even more.

Get set for larger premium hikes in 2014. That's when most ObamaCare provisions go into effect.

Before Congress passed the health law, the Congressional Budget Office warned that individual and small-group health premiums would be 10 percent to 13 percent higher under ObamaCare. In other words, Congress members who voted for this law knew it would raise your insurance costs.

A major reason is the one-size-fits-all benefit package, which you'll have to have whether you want it and can afford it or not. It will include things many consumers haven't had to buy in the past, such as addiction treatment for heroin addicts (Sec. 1302).

Another reason is the expansion of Medicaid. Obama said he'd solve the problem of the uninsured by making insurance more affordable, but 60 percent of all those who will gain coverage in 2014 are being put on Medicaid -- which, again, will increase the hidden tax in your premium.

By 2019, 82 million people will be on Medicaid or S-CHIP, the public children's program -- that's more than 28 percent of all Americans under 65.

Obama pledged to "bend the cost curve" on health insurance. But he's bending the truth instead. When you open your mail, you can thank ObamaCare for the premium hike.


Betsy McCaughey, a former New York lieu tenant governor, is author of "The Obama Health Law: What It Says and How to Overturn It." betsy@defendyourhealthcare.us

---

Betsy McCaughey
Defend Your Healthcare
www.DefendYourHealthcare.us

WILL PRESIDENT OBAMA FACE THE FACTS?

Can you feel the momentum shifting? More and more Americans on both sides are becoming disappointed with the president and his failed policies, including the Gulf oil leak, which might have been the tipping point. Obama likes to put fancy words on his fancy redistribution of wealth, but you can't camouflage a declining economy, or a declining housing industry, or declining employment when people live it every day.

For the first time in a long time, people are frightened about the future, especially with looming tax burdens about to hit. The threat of losing tax deductions such as mortgage interest, property tax, or contributions, coupled with new taxes such as a consumption (VAT) tax and numerous other taxes makes for many sleepless nights.

You can put any kind of pretty bow on it such as "Recovery", "Reform", or "Restore", but stealing is stealing, and Obama is stealing our property, our wages, and most importantly our liberty -- all intertwined. If it looks like a tax.... if it sounds like a tax.... it IS a tax, and the way this government is spending our tax dollars, against public outcry, is highway robbery.

There was a huge jump from the end of June to early July in the polls for people who want Obamacare repealed to 60%. We cannot let this momentum fade into the sunset, especially in light of Obama's 'recess' appointment of socialist loving Donald Berwick as the new head of the CMS (one of the largest agencies in the federal government). This means we are definitely looking at the hotly denied 'Death Panels', since Berwick has stated he admires the failed British National Health Service, best known for its rationing, and rationing means death panels.

One of the most astounding aspect of Obamacare is that it creates 159 new agencies, mostly in the Department of Health and Human Services, many repetitive and all combined, a massive growth of government power. Senator Barrasso, M.D. and Senator Coburn, M.D. have introduced a new report about the strain this new law will put on America.

From Human Events, Newt Gingrich writes an interesting piece about the over-reaching Obama administration, his over-spending and the affects of Obamacare:

Will President Obama Face the Facts?
by Newt Gingrich, July 6, 2010

Three weeks ago, the White House promised America a government-spending-fueled “recovery summer.” What we’ve seen thus far, however, is big government’s true, destructive impact on the natural resiliency of the American economy: By spending too much, growing government too fast, and threatening to raise taxes, President Obama and the left-wing Democratic leadership in Congress have created a climate of fear and uncertainty amongst job creators that has decisively hurt the economy, not helped it.

Consider the jobs data for the month of June:

• 125,000 Americans lost their jobs. That means more than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs since President Obama signed the stimulus bill

• The U.S. workforce shrank by 652,000, meaning that nearly 8 people left the labor force for each private sector job created. 124,000 of those workers were simply discouraged and have given up trying to find a job. Over the past 12 months, more than 400,000 Americans gave up looking for work.

• The 83,000 private-sector jobs added in June is 209,000 jobs below the "replacement level" of 292,000 new jobs a month required to get unemployment back to 5%. In fact, for every one million Americans out of work in June, only 5,600 private sector jobs were filled.

• The average time needed to find a job rose to 35.2 weeks. This average time figure is unprecedented in the post-war era.

• The ISM non-manufacturing job index fell to a worse than expected 53.8%.

• ISM's employment index fell to 49.7% in June (below 50% means the jobs sector is declining).

(Click here for a useful graphical representation of the terrible June economic numbers from the Wall Street Journal).

Job-Killing Policies Kill Jobs

The core obstacle standing in the way of job creation in America is no longer the financial system or housing market – it is out of control big government.

As this article by Louis Woodhill makes clear, previous steep recessions have been marked by similarly steep recoveries. What makes this recession different has been the extraordinary irresponsibility of President Obama and the left wing Democrats in Congress.

Under President Obama, the national debt has increased by $2.4 trillion in less than two years. Americans look at our exploding national debt and wonder if we're going to follow in the footsteps of Greece.

Furthermore, the healthcare law signed by President Obama is so confusing that many companies cannot project the costs of hiring new employees (more on this below). Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, predicts "slower economic growth than we've had in the first and second quarter" of 2010 and cites the uncertainty caused by the President's healthcare law as a major reason why businesses are not hiring. (One wonders if Speaker Pelosi still defends the idea that it is OK to pass a major piece of legislation before knowing what is in the bill.)

Now, job creators are wondering what destructive action the Democrats will take next. The administration is cynically using the BP oil spill to advocate for a new cap-and-trade energy tax that is estimated to kill 5.1 million jobs over the next 40 years and cost the American economy $125 billion per year. That's over $1,000 per household. Also, the administration has in the past few months floated the idea of a value-added-tax, scaring job creators even more.

All this economic uncertainty, much of it caused by the actions of the government, has caused companies to hoard a record $1.8 trillion in cash reserves. Three weeks ago, I met with 24 small business owners in St. Louis and none of them said they planned to hire any new employees in the next six months. Small businesses cite government regulation and high taxes as the top two challenges facing their companies, according to a recent American Solutions Small Business survey.

Calling James Carville and Jim Jordan

President Obama and congressional Democrats must do a gut-check and recognize the destructive effect their policies and actions are having on job creation in America.

To understand how to move forward, President Obama should make two phone calls.

The first call should be to James Carville to ask to borrow his sign from the 1992 presidential campaign that said "It's the economy, stupid." President Obama should hang that sign in the Oval Office as a reminder that government policies can either help create jobs or help kill them, and every decision his administration makes going forward must favor job creation.

The second phone call should be to Congressman Jim Jordan.

Congressman Jordan has introduced the Economic Freedom Act, a series of bold tax cuts that would empower job creators to do what they do best. I've written about the Economic Freedom Act before and you can read details here.

The worsening economic data will provoke calls for Congress to take action to spur job creation. In choosing how to move forward, the administration can either repeat the same mistake they made last time and let Nancy Pelosi draft another big-government spending bill. Or he can learn from the failure of the stimulus and work with Congressman Jordan to pass the Economic Freedom Act.

If President Obama can summon the courage to recognize reality and change course, the left wing of the President's party will be furious, but the country will be thankful.

Bad Medicine

On Thursday, America will eclipse the 100-day mark since President Obama signed his massive, 2,700 page big government healthcare bill, and opposition continues to grow. A Rasmussen poll released this weekend shows that 60 percent of American voters want Obamacare repealed immediately, 49 percent of whom feel very strongly about it.

Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Okla.) and John Barrasso, M.D. (R-Wyo.) are releasing a report today entitled, Bad Medicine: A Check-Up on the New Federal Health Law, that details problems with the new law and the punishing effect it will have on hardworking Americans. As doctors by profession, Sen. Coburn and Sen. Barrasso bring a unique understanding to their role as legislators relative to the new health care law.

As they note in the report, it is a fact that millions of Americans will lose their current healthcare coverage as a result of the law. Additionally, taxes will be increased during a time of economic uncertainty and 16 million individuals will be forced into failing state Medicaid programs that are already strapped for manpower and funding.

The report is very thorough and compelling, and can be found here.

Making Sense of the Nonsense

While Americans attempt to understand the new law and the impact it will have on them and their families, the Center for Health Transformation is helping. The Center recently released two new wall charts that detail the increased bureaucracy that the law creates and a timeline of all the deadlines contained within the 2,700 pages of text.

Obamacare includes the creation of 159 new agencies, offices, and programs (most of which are housed within the Department of Health and Human Services) that are at times repetitive, and amount to an overall massive growth in power and scope of the federal government.

The timeline chart was created with information compiled by the Republican staff of the House Energy and Commerce committee and shows 50 square feet of nearly 500 deadlines contained in the law through 2020. The administration has already missed some of these deadlines and has a long way to go to achieve completion of such a complex implementation timeline. These two charts simply illustrate increased government involvement in our healthcare system. They can be viewed and purchased at the Center's website.

Your friend,

Newt


Read more Newt here.

OBAMA'S TRUE COSTS COMING TO LIGHT

The more time we have to truly examine the Health Care Reform Bill, the worse it gets, which is why so many Americans were up in arms about it. Just as in Obama's election, we knew the truth, but the lies were well hidden. The hope is this bill can be repealed, but the truth needs to be exposed on its dangers.

For decades universal healthcare has been a dream of liberals, and now they have it. There is so much about this government takeover of our health system that is wrong, and as Ronald Reagan warned us,

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it.

The Heritage Foundation writes more exposing data on the Health Care Reform Bill, and it only shows to go ya how many lies we were told. This information will be critical in order to keep up the pressure, because if we don't do it now, government run health care will run our lives. These exposures are why the repeal effort continues to grow.

Under the guise of liberalism, America is adopting and accepting socialism. Or are we? It's up to the voters come November 2010.

Obamacare's True Costs Coming to Light
The Heritage Foundation, June 2, 2010

Remember how President Barack Obama promised that his health care plan would reduce the deficit and put us on a path towards fiscal responsibility? Remember how Congress kept gaming the system to come up with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score that could justify those claims? Well, now that Obamacare has become (hopefully only temporarily) the law of the land, the CBO is singing a slightly different tune. Last Friday CBO Director Doug Elmendorf wrote on his blog:

The central challenge is straightforward and stark: The rising costs of health care will put tremendous pressure on the federal budget during the next few decades and beyond.

In CBO’s judgment, the health legislation enacted earlier this year does not substantially diminish that pressure. In fact, CBO estimated that the health legislation will increase the federal budgetary commitment to health care (which CBO defines as the sum of net federal outlays for health programs and tax preferences for health care) by nearly $400 billion during the 2010-2019 period. Looking further ahead, CBO estimated that the legislation would reduce the federal budgetary commitment to health care in the following decade—if the provisions of the legislation remain unchanged throughout that entire period.

And there is ample evidence that the CBO may be underestimating Obamacare's true costs. Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow James Capretta details:

Omission of the Medicare "Doc Fix." The Obama Administration and leaders in Congress chose to use all of the tax hikes and spending cuts they could find to create another new entitlement instead of paying for a fix for Medicare physician fees (the so-called “doc fix”). Under current law, those fees are set to get cut by 21 percent in June. The Obama Administration wants to undo the cut permanently, but it does not provide any offsetting savings. The result will be a spending increase of between $250 billion and $400 billion over a decade. Passing an unfinanced “doc fix” wipes out all of the supposed savings from the new legislation and greatly adds to the burden on future taxpayers.

The CLASS Act Gimmick. The new health law creates a voluntary long-term care insurance program, called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. Those who sign up for it must pay premiums for five years before becoming eligible for benefit payments. Consequently, premiums paid by enrollees build a small surplus—about $70 billion over 10 years according to CBO—which the health law’s proponents claim as deficit reduction. But these premiums will be needed in short order to pay actual claims.

Medicare Cuts. CBO and the Chief Actuary for the Medicare program have both stated that Medicare spending cuts cannot be counted twice—to pay for a new entitlement expansion and to claim that Medicare’s financial outlook has improved. But that is exactly what the proponents of the new legislation do. If the Medicare cuts and tax hikes for the hospital trust fund (about $400 billion over 10 years, according to CBO) are used solely to improve the capacity of the government to pay future Medicare claims, then the health law becomes a massive exercise in deficit spending.

Estimates of Employees Dropped from Job-Based Coverage. The new insurance arrangements in the state-based exchanges will provide massive new subsidies to low- and moderate-wage households. For instance, at 200 percent FPL, the subsidy for a family of four will reach nearly $11,000 in 2014. But CBO estimates that only 3 million Americans will move from job-based insurance into the exchanges to take advantage of the subsidies, even though there are about 130 million Americans under age 65 with incomes between 100 and 400 percent FPL. Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Cameron Smith of the American Action Forum have estimated that as many as 35 million people will be moved out of job-based coverage and into subsidization. If that is the case, the 10-year cost of the coverage expansion provisions would jump by $400 billion more.

According to one recent estimate, Obamacare will add more than $500 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years and $1.5 trillion in the decade following. No wonder support for the repeal of Obamacare continues to grow.

With Health Bill, Obama Has Sown the Seeds of a Budget Crisis

We are in a serious financial crisis. Obama seems to feel he is playing with Monopoly money, but he is now in a danger zone of economic bankruptcy. He either does not have a clue about economics, or he is deliberate in his destruction. Why this man was never vetted is the mystery of the decade. The public is not aware of his academic career, or the subjects he took, or the papers he wrote, much less his grades. I would be curious to see his college writings, and his theses, irrespective of his "books".

As Mr. Samuelson reports, a "bubget crisis" is not some accounting excercise. Many Americans have faced the same situation of using too much credit and not enough income to pay it off. It's not pretty, and extremely difficult to get out from under. But, you didn't get out from under this crisis by charging more on the creditcard. Magnify that by a ba-zillion, and this is what America is facing. Omaba is taking us in the direction of financial suicide, and the choice is either lack of knowledge, or by design as in the Cloward-Piven Strategy.

His power must be weakened, and the November elections can't get here fast enough. Congressman Paul Ryan passed along a brilliant piece by Robert Samuelson in today's Washington Post on our imminent budget crisis, and the reckless health care overhaul:


With Health Bill, Obama Has Sown the Seeds of a Budget Crisis
by Robert J. Samuelson, March 29, 2010

When historians recount the momentous events of recent weeks, they will note a curious coincidence. On March 15, Moody's Investors Service -- the bond rating agency -- published a paper warning that the exploding U.S. government debt could cause a downgrade of Treasury bonds. Just six days later, the House of Representatives passed President Obama's health-care legislation costing $900 billion or so over a decade and worsening an already-bleak budget outlook.

Should the United States someday suffer a budget crisis, it will be hard not to conclude that Obama and his allies sowed the seeds, because they ignored conspicuous warnings. A further irony will not escape historians. For two years, Obama and members of Congress have angrily blamed the shortsightedness and selfishness of bankers and rating agencies for causing the recent financial crisis. The president and his supporters, historians will note, were equally shortsighted and self-centered -- though their quest was for political glory, not financial gain.

Let's be clear. A "budget crisis" is not some minor accounting exercise. It's a wrenching political, social and economic upheaval. Large deficits and rising debt -- the accumulation of past deficits -- spook investors, leading to higher interest rates on government loans. The higher rates expand the budget deficit and further unnerve investors. To reverse this calamitous cycle, the government has to cut spending deeply or raise taxes sharply. Lower spending and higher taxes in turn depress the economy and lead to higher unemployment. Not pretty.

Greece is experiencing such a crisis. Until recently, conventional wisdom held that only developing countries -- managed ineptly -- were candidates for true budget crises. No more. Most wealthy societies with aging populations, including the United States, face big gaps between their spending promises and their tax bases. No one in Congress could be unaware of this.

Two weeks before the House vote, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of Obama's budget, including its health-care program. From 2011 to 2020, the cumulative deficit is almost $10 trillion. Adding 2009 and 2010, the total rises to $12.7 trillion. In 2020, the projected annual deficit is $1.25 trillion, equal to 5.6 percent of the economy (gross domestic product). That assumes economic recovery, with unemployment at 5 percent. Spending is almost 30 percent higher than taxes. Total debt held by the public rises from 40 percent of GDP in 2008 to 90 percent in 2020, close to its post-World War II peak.

To criticisms, Obama supporters make two arguments. First, the CBO says the plan reduces the deficit by $143 billion over a decade. Second, the legislation contains measures (an expert panel to curb Medicare spending, emphasis on "comparative effectiveness research") to control health spending. These rejoinders are self-serving and unconvincing.

Suppose the CBO estimate is correct. So? The $143 billion saving is about 1 percent of the projected $12.7 trillion deficit from 2009 to 2020. If the administration has $1 trillion or so of spending cuts and tax increases over a decade, all these monies should first cover existing deficits -- not finance new spending. Obama's behavior resembles a highly indebted family's taking an expensive round-the-world trip because it claims to have found ways to pay for it. It's self-indulgent and reckless

But the CBO estimate is misleading, because it must embody the law's many unrealistic assumptions and gimmicks. Benefits are phased in "so that the first 10 years of [higher] revenue would be used to pay for only six years of spending" increases, a former CBO director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, wrote in the New York Times on March 20. Holtz-Eakin also noted the $70 billion of premiums for a new program of long-term care that reduce present deficits but will be paid out in benefits later. Then there's the "doc fix" -- higher Medicare reimbursements under separate legislation that would cost about $200 billion over a decade.

Proposals to control health spending face restrictions that virtually ensure failure. Consider the "Independent Payment Advisory Board" aimed at Medicare. "The Board is prohibited from submitting proposals that would ration care, increase revenues or change benefits, eligibility or Medicare beneficiary cost sharing," says a summary by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. What's left? Similarly, findings from "comparative effectiveness research" -- intended to identify ineffective care -- "may not be construed as mandates, guidelines or recommendations for payment, coverage or treatment." What's the point then?

So Obama is flirting with a future budget crisis. Moody's emphasizes two warning signs: rising debt and loss of confidence that government will deal with it. Obama fulfills both. The parallels with the recent financial crisis are striking. Bankers and rating agencies engaged in wishful thinking to rationalize self-interest. Obama does the same. No one can tell when or whether a crisis will come. There is no magic tipping point. But Obama is raising the chances.

The VAT Cometh

The only way to pay for the behemoth government takeover health care bill is with taxes, taxes and more taxes. You conveniently won't hear much about the upcoming taxes until after the November 2010 mid-term elections, and of course the tax increases already implemented will not hit until early 2011 either. The big push will be the european-style socialized Value Added Tax, more commonly known as VAT.

Anyone who has traveled to Europe is familiar with this. It taxes everything, including labor and professional services, so in addition to paying the high cost of -- say -- a lawyer, their services will also be taxed! The difference between Europe and us, is VAT is their form of taxation. Obama will add VAT on top of what American tax paying citizens already pay.

Most of us talked about this coming months ago, but it's never too late to reiterate, especially since this government takeover has passed and reality will not hit right away. As more and more companies are coming out with horror stories about their new tax burdens, this must be one of the biggest parts of the November election campaigns.

Charles Krauthammer writes another brilliant and frightening piece on this Obamanation in National Review:


The VAT Cometh
This massive new entitlement needs a cash cow.
by Charles Krauthammer, March 26, 2010

As the night follows the day, the VAT cometh.

With the passage of Obamacare, which created a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind almost universal in Europe is inevitable.

We are now $8 trillion in debt. The Congressional Budget Office projects that another $12 trillion will be added over the next decade. Obamacare, when stripped of its budgetary gimmicks — the unfunded $200 billion­–plus doctor fix, the double-counting of Medicare cuts, the ten-six sleight-of-hand (counting ten years of revenue and only six years of outflows) — is, at minimum, a $2 trillion new entitlement.

It will vastly increase the debt. But even if it were deficit-neutral, Obamacare would still pre-empt and appropriate for itself the best and easiest means of reducing the existing deficit. Obamacare’s $500 billion of Medicare cuts and $600 billion in tax hikes are no longer available for deficit reduction. They are siphoned off for the new entitlement of insuring the uninsured.

This is fiscally disastrous because, as President Obama himself explained last year in unveiling his grand transformational policies, our unsustainable fiscal path requires control of entitlement spending, the most ruinous of which is out-of-control health-care costs.

Obamacare was sold on the premise that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “Health-care reform is entitlement reform. Our budget cannot take this upward spiral of cost.” But the bill enacted on Tuesday accelerates the spiral: It radically expands Medicaid (adding 15 million new recipients/dependents) and shamelessly raids Medicare by spending the $500 billion in cuts and the yield from the Medicare tax hikes on a new entitlement.

Obama knows that the debt bomb is looming, that Moody’s has warned that the Treasury’s AAA rating is in jeopardy, and that we are headed for a run on the dollar and/or hyperinflation if nothing is done.

Hence his deficit-reduction commission. It will report (surprise!) after the November elections.

What will it recommend? What can it recommend? Sure, Social Security can be trimmed by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing, and changing the indexing formula from wage growth to price inflation.

But this won’t be nearly enough. As Obama has repeatedly insisted, the real money is in health-care costs — which are now locked in place by the new Obamacare mandates.

That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion).

It’s the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it. By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent.

American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation.

Obama set out to be a consequential president, one on the order of Ronald Reagan. With the VAT, Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism. Liberals have long complained that Reagan’s strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes; then, ultimately, you have to reduce government spending.

Obama’s strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast, and then feed it. Spend first — which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.

And the VAT is the only trough in creation large enough.

As a substitute for the income tax, the VAT would be a splendid idea. Taxing consumption makes infinitely more sense than taxing work. But to feed the liberal social-democratic project, the VAT must be added on top of the income tax.

Ultimately, even that won’t be enough. As the population ages and health care becomes increasingly expensive, the only way to avoid fiscal ruin (as Britain, for example, has discovered) is health-care rationing.

It will take a while to break the American populace to that idea. In the meantime, get ready for the VAT. Or start fighting it.


— Charles Krauthammer is a nationally syndicated columnist. © 2010, The Washington Post Writers Group.

HERITAGE RESPONDS TO HEALTH CARE VOTE: REPEAL

Make no mistake, America is going through its second revolution. She has witnessed the full blown threat of government takeover, and this is not the foundation on which this country was based. This one is very different, because it's not blood in the street, but an awakened America engaged as never before at the polls, at TEA Party rallys, at town hall meetings, on the web, throwing their hat in the ring as a candidate, rounding up votes, holding meetings and seminars, sounding the alarm about backroom shenanigans, sounding off about losing education and freedom of religion in our schools, and becoming educated like never before in their lifetime. As Minority Speaker, John Boehner, said the other day, violence and threats are unacceptable.... channel it into positive change.

This is a Christian country. It was founded by Christians, founded on Christian principles. The founding documents, the Declaration of Independence were written by Christians. This country was founded explicitly on a belief in God. Ann Coulter

The passage of this horrific health care government takeover has knocked so many of us off our kilter, but we have many inspirations from which to get our strength. Many of them come from the words of our Founding Fathers, and personally, it also comes from the words of our greatest modern day president, Ronald Wilson Reagan. From wherever it comes, let it motivate you, give you peace, fight the good fight against tyranny, and never give up -- never give in.

Heritage Responds to Health Care Vote: Repeal
The Heritage Foundation, March 25, 2010

Fellow Americans,

Late Sunday night, in a narrow and partisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the most significant piece of social legislation in over seven decades. It did so in the face of overwhelming and principled opposition from the American people. Large majorities of Americans oppose this legislation because it offends the historic American dedication to the principle of self-government.

They understand that this new law will accelerate Washington's intrusion into our most personal and private decisions.

This is why opposition to this bill will only grow. Supporters of this bill argue that popular hostility will recede upon its passage. But, rather than cementing our descent into a European-style welfare state, last night’s passage of Obamacare is best seen as a historic turning point, a true catalyst for real change.

I write to reassure our supporters, the conservative movement, and the American people at large that The Heritage Foundation will do all within its power to keep this issue alive in the public square and make the intellectual case for the repeal of this act. We will bring all our resources to bear on behalf of those who believe America is and will always remain the Land of the Free.

This, rest assured, can be done. The American people are never permanently thwarted. President Obama's health care legislation can and will be repealed.

Those who supported this bill are our fellow Americans, and we do not question their good will or patriotism. In public policy, however, good intentions alone do not suffice. And let there be no mistake, our philosophical differences with supporters of this bill are profound. The reason government-run health care has been the holy grail of the left for decades is that liberals realize as much as we do that it is a giant step toward the creation of a European-style welfare state. This is an evolution Americans have always resisted because it is alien to our national character.

If there is one good thing about the past year—one in which we have witnessed unprecedented horse-trading, press stunts, midnight votes and political manipulation in both houses of the U.S. Congress—it is that the American people have come away educated as never before about the differences between these two visions for America. Americans are strongly opposed to this bill not because they have been hoodwinked but because they understand this bill both in its particulars and at an instinctive, gut level.

They understand this health care bill forces individuals and employers to buy insurance policies designed by government bureaucrats. This intrusion is intended to follow us from cradle to grave.

Instead of empowering families and individuals to make their own choices, Obamacare empowers the bureaucracy to make those decisions for them. It is this unelected bureaucracy, unanswerable to the electorate, that will determine the content of health benefits packages, including medical treatment and procedures, and how much will be paid for those services. Yesterday’s legislation brings us one step closer to fully government-run medicine, with expanded government power over the financing and delivery of medical services that is sure to ration care in the name of cost control.

You will hear the left say this new entitlement will be popular with the American people. Do not believe them for a second. Yes, 32 million people will gain the theoretical right to health insurance. But over half of that coverage comes from placing at least 16 million more Americans into Medicaid, an unpopular and overextended welfare program that already rations care.

Americans will not stand for it. The American love for liberty prevailed in our founding, and will prevail once again.

In December of 1773, to protest unjust taxation, a group of American colonists dumped tea in Boston Harbor. The punishment for that first Tea Party was a series of intrusive laws passed by Parliament that were so oppressive that they could only be described as the "Intolerable Acts."

Obamacare is today's Intolerable Act. And just as the colonists banded together to enact change after those acts were passed, so should America respond to Obamacare. This law must be repealed.

Much of the fight against this bill will be led by the individual states, a process we encourage. All told, 33 states have already taken steps to challenge various aspects of Obamacare, including its unprecedented mandate that every American purchase health insurance or face a steep penalty for noncompliance. Four additional states will have this question on the ballot in November.

On Capitol Hill, the initial battle over Obamacare will occur when Congress considers whether to fund the tens of thousands of new federal bureaucrats necessary to implement the new law. In the tradition of the Hyde amendment, which prevented federal funding for abortions through annual limitations appended to appropriations bills, conservatives should look to the appropriations process as our first line of defense. Straightforward funding limitations would prevent any Administration official or any bureaucrat from implementing the law.

Our health care system requires reform, and we have long advocated measures to improve our system. We can and should strengthen the ability of American families to choose the coverage they want, rather than giving that power to Congress and its agency bureaucrats. We can also spur competition and choice to bring efficiency and lower costs to the health system, in place of the bill’s deadening regulation and damaging price controls. And, above all, we should foster state innovation rather than Washington-based central planning.

But such reforms can only be considered once this tragedy of arrogance has been fully and completely repealed.

Fortunately, there are no permanent victories or defeats in Washington. For millions of Americans and for Heritage, Round One of this fight is over. Today, The Heritage Foundation is answering the bell for Round Two. Join our fight; become a part of our mission. Help us educate our lawmakers, as well as those who aspire to become tomorrow’s lawmakers. Together we can make the persuasive case for repeal of this Intolerable Act and thereby return us to our American destiny.

Onward!

Sincerely,
Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D., President, The Heritage Foundation

FIVE REASONS NOT TO DESPAIR

We have much to be grateful for, and more importantly, a need to fight on for the all important November 2010 elections. They are only a short 7 months away, and as Erick Erickson of Red State said, the time for fence sitting is over. It's time to choose and campaign with all we've got, and keep our chin up. Proud to be an American.

Rich Lowry writes a great piece on five reasons not to despair in National Review:

Five Reasons Not to Despair
Democrats have won a battle, not the war.
by Rich Lowry, March 22, 2010

If your heart didn’t sink when the Senate bill went over the top in the House last night and Democrats began chanting “Yes, we can” on the floor, you’re either not a conservative or inured to all disappointment. Conservatives will be temped to despair in the weeks ahead, as the magnitude of this defeat and its potential consequences sink in. But there are good reasons not to despair. Here are five:

Public opinion. Democrats were never able to convince the public of the merits of their reform — despite having the highest-profile platforms in American politics, including a president who wore out his teleprompter-festooned bully pulpit for a solid year. Liberals comforted themselves by saying that the bill gained popularity at the end. But look at the Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling on Obamacare. In September 2009, 39 percent thought it was a good idea, 41 percent a bad idea. In January, it was 33 a good idea, 46 a bad idea. The latest poll had it at 36–48 — basically flat from the beginning of the year. Fox News polling had the bill at 38 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval in mid-September 2009, then at 34–57 in December, and 35–55 in its latest survey — again, essentially flat. The public has displayed an irreducible reservoir of common sense throughout the debate, which will be something crucial to draw on during the fights to come.

Structured so can it be overturned. The classic play in entitlement politics is to hook people on the benefits, making repeal impossible and growth inevitable. Obamacare is built so the major benefits, the subsidies, don’t kick in for years. This is part of the fiscal ruse — if the benefits kicked in immediately, Democrats would have exceeded their politically dictated ceiling of $1 trillion in official costs over the first ten years. The delay means there’s time to reverse key aspects of the bill before they take effect.

There’s no doubt that this will be difficult. Democrats have created a fact on the ground in the form of the bill, which puts the power of inertia on their side. Republicans will have to defeat an incumbent president in 2012, never easy. And they will have to offer alternative policy ideas that carry the day. If the odds are against them, all of this is still within the realm of the possible. One way to look at it is that Obama and Nancy Pelosi won the debate within the Democratic caucus over whether to pass a maximalist bill. But they haven’t yet won the debate in the country, which will rumble on.

A moment of clarity. Democrats generally win national elections by posing as moderates. In 2006, congressional Democrats sounded like a reasonable alternative to a corrupt Republican party that was losing a major war. In 2008, Obama usually portrayed himself as a moderate post-partisan; if the nature of Obama’s governance had been blatantly forecast back then, he might not have won, despite the financial crisis, the unpopularity of Bush, and the weakness of McCain’s campaign.

It’s a long time until 2012, but the health-care bill and the way it passed will make it much harder for the president to obscure his ideological commitments. There’s even less reason than before for anyone to misunderstand what Obama and his Democratic party are fundamentally about.

The truth will out. Obama has been saying things about his bill that are untrue: It won’t make premiums go down; it won’t control costs; it won’t allow everyone who likes their current insurance arrangements to keep them. These false representations may well make the bill more unpopular rather than less after passage.

Democrats learned with the stimulus that it’s not much fun to defend a law that they vastly oversold prior to passage. They’ll have exactly the same experience with health-care reform. The legislation on which they’ve staked so much will not withstand its first contact with reality.

The GOP has been better than expected. I remember listening to a Republican congressional leader answer questions about health care at an off-the-record event back in early 2009, and feeling profoundly depressed. He sounded as if he’d already given up. It’s been a very pleasant surprise how Republicans rose to the occasion over the last year. The bill sank in public opinion mostly of its own weight, but Republicans were relentless in their critiques and held together to oppose it. If Mitch McConnell hadn’t held his caucus together, Scott Brown wouldn’t have become the 41st vote and almost brought the bill down. At the health-care summit, Republicans offered an alternative vision for an entirely different direction in reform and found a star to articulate it in Paul Ryan. They couldn’t stop the large Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate from passing the bill, but the way they performed provides hope for the ongoing debate.

None of the above means we should minimize what happened yesterday. It’s a severe blow. But if we are to recover, we can’t despair.


— Rich Lowry is editor of National Review.

WHERE THE CLICHÉ 'PYRRHIC VICTORY' COMES FROM

As we pick ourselves up from a gut-wrenching weekend, a battle has been won by Obama and company, but not the war on liberty. This is a new day, and there is no room for compromises. Bi-partisan should be removed from our language, because there is no such thing. The Libs would never compromise in any way, and neither should conservatives anymore. RINOs must be weeded out and defeated. We need to be bold. We need to be agressive. We need not compromise -- and lose. (Thank you Mark Levin for your inspiration)

This weekend was a hard bite to swallow, but we should be inspired. Liberals have finally exposed themselves for what they truly are, and we move ahead from there. There is no holding back and making nice. It's time to say goodbye to the wishy-washy likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. We don't have the time. The Democrats have to be removed in the next election, and, God willing, kept out forever after revealing their true colours this past 15 nightmarish months.

We have new heros with which to rejoice and support, such as the ever eloquent Paul Ryan, and the artful Eric Cantor, and John Thune, not to mention my personal favorite, Jim DeMint. We have up and coming patriots such as Marco Rubio and Chuck DeVore. There's a lot to be thankful for and so many of them gave moving, passionate speeches prior to the vote.

Today, in addition to this administration's marxist re-distribution of wealth, we can add the re-distribution of health.

Tony Gallardo writes a great piece in American Thinker about Obama's Pyrrhic Victory, and it surely is:

Where the Cliché 'Pyrrhic Victory' Comes From
by Tony Gallardo, March 23, 2010

Let me get this out of the way first; congratulations, Mr. President!! You won! Just as you won the presidency in 2008, and were so quick to tell Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, early in your administration.

I guess that makes you a winner.

Let me tell you a story.

There was a king in ancient Greece named Pyrrhus, who was renowned as a great man and a great general. He was ruthless and fought ferociously to completely vanquish his enemies. In 280 B.C. he defeated the Romans, and he defeated them again the next year.

These victories were so costly that he lost most of his own forces and he was reported to have said "One more such victory and we are lost."

His victories were so costly that he was forever weakened and never won again.

Mr. President, savor your victory while you can, because I believe you have set in motion a collection of actions and reactions that will further divide the citizens of this great country and set them against each other.

There will be lawsuits, higher taxes, cost shifting from Medicare to the newly entitled, higher deficits, more intervention into the private sector and a weakened economy.

There will be decreased prosperity.

There will be continued unrest across America for years.

This victory comes with a high price. The cost is greater than the benefit.

As Pyrrhus discovered, you may have won, but you and the Democrats in Congress lose.

This will be your legacy.

"We the people" have two choices. We can give up and allow our selves to be treated like farm animals; managed, controlled, and subjected to a humiliating existence, or we can begin a long term fight to regain our representative form of government.

Let us hope there are enough of us to effect the latter.

Call To Arms: Join Jon Voight In DC Saturday To Stop ObamaCare

"Transformers" 2007

Jon Voight to join TEA Partiers in Washington DC this Saturday, March 20th at 12 noon EST on the Capitol steps. Pack an overnight bag and join him, along with Rep. Michele Bachmann to fight against the ACORN brass-knuckle bullies and a tyrannical administration.

Join in and tell them to vote NO on government run healthcare, NO to reconciliation, and NO to the unconstitutional "Deem & Pass". (Sounds like Demon Pass)

ResistNet has travel and transportation arrangements to DC. Check it out here and here.

If you can't make it, there's still time to call or fax them here. Or, you can call the toll free DC phone number: 1-877-SOBUSOB

It doesn't matter how we do it, it matters that we do it, before they destroy our country. God bless America

SHAME ON PELOSI'S "DEEM and PASS" TRICKERY

As Pelosi and Obama attempt to override our Constitution, we can let them know that's not okay. It seems they feel their word is the final word, and like it or not, they will do whatever it takes to make you their serf.

We fought to rid this country of dictatorial rule at the sacrifice of millions and millions of precious lives. It's Taxation Without Representation all over again. Let's keep up the fight to maintain our Constitution, and Eagle Forum has a "TAKE ACTION" helpful way. Phyllis Schlafly also writes on the shame of this administration:


Shame on Pelosi's "Deem and Pass" Trickery
by Phyllis Schlafly, March 17, 2010

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) shameful scheme to "deem" the Senate Obamacare bill into law without a vote violates Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution.

As we mentioned in our action alert two days ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is plotting to use a parliamentary procedure to prevent a recorded vote on the Senate Obamacare bill in the House because she lacks the necessary 216 votes needed to pass it. This shameful tactic to simply "deem" the Senate bill as passed by bringing the 2,309-page "fixer" bill to a House vote has been dubbed as the "Slaughter Solution," aptly named after liberal House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY).

The "Slaughter Solution" violates Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution which states:

"Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives
and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law,
be presented to the President of the United States."

• The Slaughter Solution attempts to allow the House to pass the Senate bill, plus a bill amending it, with a single vote.
• The Senators would then vote only on the amendatory bill, but this means that no single bill will have passed both houses in the same form.
• As the Supreme Court wrote in Clinton v. City of NY (1998), a bill containing the "exact text" must be approved by one house and the other house must approve "precisely the same text."
• What the House is aiming to do is attach a new bill to an existing bill in order to create the illusion that only half of this bill is receiving a vote.
• Arthur Fergenson, a constitutional law expert and the lawyer who litigated Buckley v. Valeo-the case which enshrined campaign spending as a form of constitutionally protected speech-attests that a bill must be the same item, not a collection of multiple bills.
• The bill receiving a vote in one chamber must be the identical piece of legislation that receives a vote in the other chamber in order to become law.
• If the Senate bill does not receive a direct vote in the House, then it is understood that the "fixer" bill is only being agreed to because it contains changes, adjustments, or fixes to an existing piece of legislation.
• The Senate has never voted on this exact package, or pairing of Obamacare bills. This means that if President Obama were to sign such a package, the presumed law would be a nullity.
• Thus, a vote for the Slaughter Solution rule is a vote for the Senate Obamacare bill.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) described this shameful tactic on the House floor:

"Democrats are trying to use a sneaky snake oil gimmick. Let's have an up-or-down vote on this bill and not hide behind some procedural mumbo jumbo!"

Rep. Poe described this stealth move perfectly-as an attempt to give vulnerable Democrats cover and the excuse that they did not actually vote in favor of Obamacare becoming the law of the land. Rather, they are trying to make the claim that they only voted for the "fixer" bill, not for the highly objectionable, corrupt, bribery, and extortion-ridden Senate bill.

The House Democrat Leadership is committed to using this underhanded approach in order to get the Senate health care bill to Obama's desk for signing and to become law before he leaves for his vacation to Indonesia at 1:00pm Eastern on Sunday, March 21st.

Tell your Representative that a vote for the Slaughter Solution rule is a vote for Obamacare--just vote NO!

TAKE ACTION!

1. The House GOP Leadership plans to force a vote on a resolution tomorrow, Thursday, March 18th, to block the Slaughter Solution. Recent convert to the Republican Party, Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL), will introduce the resolution. Please continue to make your phone calls and urge the target Democrat representatives to support the GOP's resolution!
2. Continue targeting these 32 undecided Democrats. This is the most accurate and most frequently updated target list that exists in Washington, D.C. Be sure to refresh the page frequently for the most accurate tally. Your phone calls and emails are so important, and they ARE working! Your activism is the reason the floor vote has not yet been called! Keep up the good work-we need you in this fight to save America! And, don't forget about the district offices.

A VERY SPECIAL CALL TO PRAYER FROM PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY

This is a short piece and a prayer from the brilliant Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum that I wanted to share with you. At this time when Congress is attempting to destroy our foundation and despair creeps in, time to take a break, count our blessings and get a grip on the knowledge that we have come from dark days like this before.

God bless all you Patriots, and God bless America.


A Very Special Call to Prayer from Phyllis Schlafly
March 16, 2010

Dear Eagle Forum Members Nationwide,

In the midst of our current battle against the looming government-takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy, I would like to take a few moments to recall an inspiring story from my days fighting against the feminists' Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Unlike our present battle, all "the powers that be" were against us back then - both houses of Congress, three Presidents (Nixon, Ford, and Carter), all of the First Ladies, all the Hollywood celebrities, 99% of the media, and even a large percentage of the American public.

The day of the most crucial vote on ERA in the Illinois Legislature was very dramatic. We had done all we could to line up the votes, but we knew we were two votes short. As the votes lighted up on the electronic board, we all held our breath in anxiety. Then, a great shout went up from the gallery - "We won!"

ABC put then-president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) Eleanor Smeal in front of a news camera and asked her, "What happened?!" She replied, "Something very powerful was against us, and I don't mean people."

Eleanor Smeal didn't know what it was, but we did. We knew that we had the truth on our side and that the good Lord had brought us the votes from the two Chicago legislators who had never voted with us before.

And so, in the remaining days and hours before the most crucial vote the U.S. Congress will ever cast, I ask you to pray that Our Lord intercedes in this battle for the future of our nation and that the truth, once again, prevails.

Faithfully,

Phyllis Schlafly

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint."

-Isaiah 40:31

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Recent Action Alerts:

Your calls are working! Keep 'em coming!

OBAMACARE AT ANY COST

As Americans watch the shenanigans of Democrats, the shock and awe of the latest cheap maneuver may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Imagine the horror of the Founding Fathers if they witnessed a Speaker of the House tell the American people she will "deem" a bill to have passed, because she can't get the votes. Hearing the outrage across the wires, it is mind boggling more people have not protested. Where is the press on this? The Constitution Be Damned, as Red State wrote. With the no votes piling up, tyranny is right at our doorstep.

What's being done by these radicals is worse than unconstitutional. If they get away with "deeming" a bill passed, where does it stop? Deeming Cap & Trade, deeming Illegal Amnesty, deeming youth camps, deeming the next president, deeming him King? God help us.

Here and here is a list of the 64 Congressmen who voted for the Stupak Amendment, the 30 potential swing votes, the ONE Republican yes vote, and a few other potential votes who originally voted yes.

The link to Washington Post's article by Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen is an excellent piece describing the fantasy in which the Democrats are living, as Obama continues to chase that big white whale. The Heritage Foundation writes about the blind ambition of these Democrats:

Obamacare at Any Cost
The Heritage Foundation, March 12, 2010

Yesterday the White House circulated a memo by pollster Joel Benenson. It was designed to create momentum for Obamacare by convincing wayward House Democrats that support for the President's plan has been building since the State of the Union. As with everything else that comes out of the White House on health care these days, the memo is nothing but pure fantasy.

This Tuesday, Gallup released its latest poll showing that by a 48%-45% margin Americans would tell their representative in Congress to vote against President Obama's health plan. Compare that to the last time Gallup asked the question in January, Americans supported the President's plan 49%-46%. That's a net six point loss in support for the President's plan since the State of the Union. That is momentum. Against Obamacare.

And Gallup isn't alone. The Associated Press released a poll this week showing that 68% of Americans believe the President and Congressional Democrats shouldn't pass their health care plan without Republican support. "Nothing has been more disconcerting than to watch Democratic politicians and their media supporters deceive themselves into believing that the public favors the Democrats' current health-care plan," Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen add in today's Washington Post, "A solid majority of Americans opposes the massive health-reform plan."

Yesterday was particularly tough for the President's plan. First, the White House underwhelmed the Democratic Caucus in a presentation of the new (still unwritten) reconciliation bill. Then, the Senate Parliamentarian killed the Democrats favored procedural path for passage by signaling he would rule that President Obama must sign the original Senate bill into law before the Senate could act on the President's new reconciliation package. Finally, the Associated Press reported that House leaders have abandoned all hope of finding language to satisfy Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-MI) concerns that the Senate bill funds abortion. By the end of the day, the leftist firedoglake site had dropped its count of committed House Democrats for passage to 189 (Speaker Pelosi needs 216 for passage).

With the loss of Stupak and his 7-12 member caucus opposed to taxpayer-funded-abortions, Speaker Pelosi will have to find the remaining dozen plus votes from the ranks of cost conscious Blue Dog Democrats. For example, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) who voted against the House bill in the fall explained at the time: "According to the Congressional Budget Office, the House health care bill will actually increase federal health care spending over the long term, while proposals being considered by the Senate would have a net decrease." But according to a new CBO score of the Senate bill passed on Christmas Eve (the one with the Cornhusker Kickback), it actually increases health care spending. And the reconciliation bill only make things worse, since, among other increased spending measures, President Obama "fixed" the Cornhusker Kickback not by eliminating the new spending, but by extending it to all 50 states.

With no votes piling up, and "yes" votes materializing, the Democratic plans to shove Obamacare down the throats of the American people are becoming more and more desperate. This Monday, the House Budget Committee will begin markup on the new reconciliation bill even though actual legislative text does not exist for it yet. The Democrats plan to pass a shell of a bill through the appropriate committees so that the Rules Committee can then substitute the bill that is being drafted completely behind closed doors by the White House and Senate and Democrat leaders.

Politico reports that despite the Parliamentarian's initial verbal ruling, they will press on with their Slaughter Rule plan to pass the Senate bill without voting on it. NRO's Yuval Levin quips: "Democratic leaders should be asking themselves just how they have gotten to the point that their strategy is to amend a law that doesn’t exist yet by passing a bill without voting on it."

But President Obama's progressive base is way past rational thought when it comes to health care. They want it passed at any cost. And as George Will pointed out yesterday, the very essence of progressivism sublimates the democratic process to the rule of experts in Washington. No one can say if this bill will finally pass, but if it does, it is abundantly clear that our republican form of government will be permanently damaged by it.

OBAMACARE PASSAGE TIMELINE ANNOUNCED

Time to melt the phone/fax/emails on ObamaCare. He's counting on our silence. You can use their services, or use their template & phone numbers to send your own. From Grassfire:



From the Desk of:
Steve Elliott, Grassfire Nation

ObamaCare vote in the House on March 18... Final Senate vote on March 26... But that plan hinges on one thing. See below.

Today, President Obama launched his last-minute campaign-style push to get enough partisan phone calls and faxes flooding Capitol Hill.

Here's what the President said:

"We need to see where people stand. And we need all of you to help us win that vote. So I need you to knock on doors. Talk to your neighbors. Pick up the phone... [W]e need you to make your voices heard all the way in Washington, D.C."

That means President Obama's strategy depends on one thing...

...Our SILENCE!

Obama knows public opinion is against him (the polls consistently show that a majority of Americans oppose ObamaCare). If a representative sampling of Americans contacted members of Congress, then most phone calls,
faxes and emails would OPPOSE ObamaCare and their fast-track timeline would be derailed.

So he is counting on our silence while resorting to campaign-style efforts to rally his troops -- the far left ideologues from his presidential run and groups like MoveOn.

As I shared with you a few days ago, that strategy appears to be working. Here's what a trusted contact on Capitol Hill reported:

"We just left [a member of Congress'] office and while we were waiting, their phones were going crazy demanding... support for health care... Get everyone you can to call or fax or email."

This contact also said the odds of ObamaCare passing have risen dramatically in the past week. And now the targeted House vote is just 10 days away.

I know many in the Grassfire Nation have stepped forward and sent many, many faxes. If you can send faxes again, please consider doing so.

If you have never sent faxes to your members of Congress, NOW IS THE TIME.

You can use our FaxFire system to send this message right now to your two Senators, your Rep AND the President -- and MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Go here
to schedule your faxes.

(As always, we provide all the information for you to send your own faxes if you prefer. Just click the above link.)