socialism

Earlier this week, I caught a part of Glenn Beck’s program. My hectic schedule prevented me from taking the time to watch in detail, but I got the general gist of it. Glenn’s guest was Rabbi Daniel Lapin, well-known to many conservatives in the San Francisco Bay Area for his weekly radio program on the wonderful KSFO (Sunday, 1pm – 4pm Pacific).

Some of the points they raised could be regarded as pure coincidence, such as the striking resemblance of the Tower of Babel to the new European Union building, or the EU motto “Many tongues, one family”. However, I’m not a great believer in coincidence. Recurring similarities usually warrant further investigation. Is it coincidence that nearly all terrorist attacks are conducted by muslims, or that all socialist states have failed? I don’t want to turn this article into a full re-cap of the program, so the link to the full transcript on the FNC site is here for you to read.

The crux of the program revolved around the fact that the Tower of Babel was built of bricks… identical, totally interchangeable and devoid of uniqueness. I have heard many analogies for the structure of the socialist society, but this is probably one of the best. A hierarchy (replace the King with a socialist government) and a population of molded, identical, brainwashed citizens.

The rights of the individual are becoming increasingly endangered. The current behavior of the TSA is testament to that. Procedures that would have disgusted us as members of the free world, had they occurred in nazi Germany or a communist state, are now commonplace at airports across the country. How much further can they go to destroy the sanctity of the individual? Which brings me to some very relevant television from the 1960s.

‘The Prisoner’ was a series about a British agent who resigned (we assume on a point of conscience) and is quickly abducted and relocated to ‘The Village’, a benign-looking community where the inhabitants are known by numbers. During those Cold War years, we quickly believe that it is either a camp for security risks or an interrogation center operated by the enemy. As the series progresses, we see a far deeper message unfolding.

Citizens with no names, the standard salutation on parting company “Be seeing you” (accompanied by a finger-and-thumb circular gesture from the eye), which is a reminder that cameras are everywhere (possibly an appropriate greeting for the TSA?), and the overriding concern of the town’s appointed supervisor (appointed by whom is left to speculation) to make the individualistic Number Six conform… these are all factors that have more relevance today than they did forty years ago.

It transpires that it is not a tale of East versus West, but of the individual against the state. A community comprised of bricks, each one numbered and never questioning… except for the stone-like Number Six (“I’m not a number, I’m a free man!”).

This isn’t a personal nostalgia trip into the television archives. This is a warning that we are at that very point where we give up all rights as individuals. When that series was made some forty years ago, how many of you (if born) would have believed that the modern day activities of the TSA could ever happen in America? Or that terrorists could be given financial compensation by the taxpayer?

For some, the brainwashed lefties, it is too late. Their individuality and free thought has been erased permanently. Unless we stop this madness now, your children will suffer the same fate. The Constitution and the principles of individual liberty and freedom under God must replace the Marxist teachings, historical revisionism and fake climate science that infest the classrooms. We must watch the activities of the Soroses of this world closely and fight every little move towards their new world order.

Whether it be implemented through hard-line socialism or soft-shoe communitarianism, question any change and how it affects your God-given Rights. Would you rather be a brick or a stone?

(Editor Dee is in for Skip today)

So much for the British stiff-upper-lip, gentlemanly behavior and London’s ‘wartime spirit’, that pulled this once Great Britain through the darkest of times. One of the stereotypical traits of the Englishman, which some found endearing, others darn frustrating, was their reserve. Indeed, ‘The Equalizer’ could force a New York street gang to give up with just the sound of his well-formed syllables.

The scenes of violence and destruction at the heart of London yesterday would have been unthought of not so many years ago. There have been protests aplenty… union pickets sometimes stepping over the line between law and disorder, or students ‘squatting’ in high rise office buildings…. even prisoners perching on the roof of their cell blocks. This, however, is something quite new.

Historically, most of the protests that turned nasty were due to the fact that anti-protesters arrived on the scene. No surprise that this sort of face-to-face confrontation would become explosive, with the poor police officers taking a beating as they try to hold the two parties from each other’s throats.

There was no second protest yesterday, the violence that ensued was aimed at the police and the establishment, in the form of the governing Conservative Party’s headquarters. Why this uncontrollable anger towards the government? An even better question… who was behind it?

Europe is not a happy place these days, including Britain which can be included as part of the continent… or not, depending on which Brits you ask. Neither is America happy. A worldwide recession, high unemployment, a drop in living standards, uncertainty of the future… they all fuel unrest and discontent.

Greece was the first to fall victim to riots, in response to the government’s cuts in spending and tax increases. More recently, France had its share of violent protests as the country was outraged by having to work until the ripe old age of 62! Yesterday, students in London (although I believe some were ‘plants’ by ultra-left organizations unknown… what was Glenn Beck saying last night about a certain gentleman instigating revolts?) reacting to increased tuition fees.

The ironic thing about this whole situation in Europe is that the ‘austerity measures’ being imposed are the result of the collapsing socialist welfare society, the nanny-state that these leftist protesters, and their predecessors, created. If you build a wall that is unsound, should you not thank the person that demolishes it before permanent, irreversible damage is done? These people are holding that person responsible for trying to avert calamity. Rather than admit their mistakes and come to the realization that socialism cannot work, they react like young children, throwing a tantrum when they find that the cookie jar is not bottomless.

Something that sticks in my mind that Skip said a while ago (although there are many!) was regarding the mind set of Europeans. He explained that Europeans had always had an authority figure to watch over them and make decisions for them, whether a monarch, squire or government. This has evolved into a system where the individual has become so dependent on the state that any sign of a reversal, whereby the drone has to start thinking and doing for himself, throws him into a panic.

‘Austerity measures’… Conjures up pictures of starving people lining up for a crust of bread, or kids with no shoes on their feet. The ones who will be impacted the most by these measures, in Britain anyway, will be the ones that have been draining the life out of the hard-working people… those that have been ‘playing the system’ for possibly their entire lives, with no intention of ever working while their abundant benefits keep rolling in. On the subject of the student fees, who ever said that higher education was a right that should be paid for by every taxpayer?

There are no starving people and the work-shy still manage to frequent the bars, strangely far more often than the hard-working, hard-taxed members of society. Sure, everyone is feeling the pinch, but given the options available under the circumstances, that is to be expected.

Compare the reactions of the Europeans to those of Americans over the last year or so. Think back to the Tea Party protests across the country. Some of those folks had lost their jobs, their homes, their savings… and possibly lost the money they had to put their children through university. Were they angry? Darned right they were! But, they were never violent.

This epitomizes the difference between socialists protesting at the collapse of their Utopian, unworkable system and conservatives speaking out at the attempted introduction of this vile philosophy.

The new Congress will have to make some tough decisions to put the country back on track… and some will be painful. Just remember, as you flinch when you get that shot in the arm… don’t blame the Doctor, blame the virus that caused you to have it.

(Editor Dee is in for Skip today)

As an ex-ACORN insider and ex-radical who used Democrat donor lists to raise money for ACORN alter-ego Project Vote and designed the ACORN 2005, 2006 and 2007 Political Operations Year End PowerPoint presentations, I know that President Obama (for whom I now regretfully admit I proudly voted) was an ACORN guy for many years and realize that he became the instrument for the implementation of its stealth socialism agenda.

National Journal rated Obama the most "liberal" United States Senator, even more "liberal" than avowed socialist Bernard Sanders of Vermont (for whom then Senator Obama campaigned), because he earned it.

In her sensational New York Times no. 1 bestseller, "Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies," published in 2009, intrepid Michelle Malkin generously gave me "special thanks" for daring to expose ACORN corruption and wrote about it and the New York Times cover up of the Obama/ACORN relationship in detail at pages 244-49. (Since that material was added after the manuscript had been sent to the printer, I did not make the index.)

Stealth socialism in vogue

It's not surprising that on May 3, 2010 Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliot released "The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists" and on May 15, 2010 former Speaker Newt Gingrich released a book titled "To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular Socialist Machine." Of course they are right about Obama's radical ties and "secular socialist machine." (I'm looking forward to Laura Ingraham's "The Obama Diaries," out on or about July 13, 2010, but I bet President Obama isn't.)

Even though on October 21, 2008 The New York Times killed the Obama/ACORN expose on which I been reporter Stephanie Strom's source and I decided to blow the whistle myself and appeared on Laura Ingraham's radio show before the end of the month, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News apparently did not learn about it until March of 2009 (the month in which attorney Heather Heidelbaugh, for whom I voluntarily became a witness in the Pennsylvania ACORN, testified before a Congressional committee about ACORN voter registration fraud and the New York Times cover up), it was inevitable that the truth about Obama, ACORN and "stealth socialism" finally would become generally known as the socialist agenda was implemented. After all, the idea was for Obama to deliver as President on that "fundamental change" that he promised as a presidential hopeful.

After an appealing generality becomes an examinable specific and the cost calculations are done, putting lipstick on a pig doesn't fool nearly as many people. For example, Obamacare is a massive wealth redistribution program and--no surprise--not long after it was enacted, an Obama Administration official acknowledged it and we learned that Obamacare would be much more expensive than it had been officially estimated before it was passed.

Defining stealth socialism

Graham L. Strachan explained the "stealth socialism" path this way:

"Why did the Western media persist in calling the social system in the Communist bloc ‘Communism’ instead of Socialism? They did it to manufacture a false reality: to protect the reputation of another form of Socialism which existed in the West....so-called ‘Democratic Socialism’, socialism by stealth, socialism achieved through the ‘permeation’ of existing political institutions by members of organisation such as the Fabian Society, in order to influence the policies adopted by those institutions towards socialism.

"Democratic Socialism itself was based on a lie: that Socialism could be implemented peacefully through the ballot box. The implication was that if the voters didn’t like it they could vote it out again. That was a hoax. Since Socialism does not permit private ownership of property, it cannot be ‘democratic’ in the sense of allowing a choice of political Parties. This is not a matter of ideology, but of logistics. It would be impossible to have a two Party system of genuine democracy, for example, under which the state nationalised all property including business when the Socialists were voted into power, then sold it all back to the people again when they were voted out. The intention of Democratic Socialism was (and still is) to be democratic just long enough to gain power. Then it will declare the ‘end of history’ and entrench itself forever, enforcing its politically correct speech and thought on everybody, and being just as tyrannical as its Marxist revolutionary counterparts."

How to make a socialist the ACORN way

As an ACORN insider my indoctrination as a socialist was a slow but steady progression from radical liberalism to embracing the stealth socialist methods that had made ACORN a powerful force in American electoral politics. Two years ago, in the mist of a heated presidential election year, I noticed a Facebook page of Socialism 2008. The graffiti-like picture beckoned young Socialists to Chicago, Illinois on June 19th, 2008.  I RSVPed for the event on Facebook without fully understanding what had just taken place. The line between radical, liberal Democrat and socialist was almost invisible at this point.

Working for ACORN/Project Vote facilitated my crossing the “socialist”threshold and I had become what insiders termed "one of the true believers.” True believers were instrumental in the survival of ACORN and the process of making an employee a true believer began on the very first day.

Inside ACORN offices across the country, young, idealistic liberals were being ingrained with the Saul Alinsky style of Organizing. Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was never mentioned by name, but Alinsky's tactics were used on employees and ACORN members.

ACORN's strategy of stealth socialism was aimed at gaining power through duplicity and somewhat assimilating into society. Alinsky, the "father of community organizing," taught that the path to power necessitated the use of people who would serve as pawns.

"Organizing for power was Alinsky's political end, not political party influence. When he asked his new students why they wanted to organize, they would invariably respond with 'selfless bromides about wanting to help others,' according to Ryan Lizza writing in The New Republic. Alinsky would then "scream back at them that there was a one-word answer: "You want to organize for power!'"

Saul Alinsky almost single-handedly invented the modern art of community organizing...

He was a master teacher of others, and left a legion of trained disciples and organizations, including Obama and Clinton."

Every ACORN employee was given a copy of the ACORN Organizing Model, bylaws and various information on running campaigns, but the real education was in how ACORN operated behind the scenes. Like Alinsky, ACORN openly organized to build power, but ACORN's ace in the hole was the black community.

Community organizers became the “information police” for minorities in dozens of cities. As the official representative for its members, ACORN was able to frame the debate in ways that aligned with its People's Platform.  The platform is based on the socialist idea of sharing the wealth. Members were asked, even coerced, to attend rallies and protests for issues ACORN had decided would lead to power.

As students exited schools with a “liberal arts” education and a desire to help, ACORN stood ready with the social justice flag in one hand and a cigarette lighter and American flag in the other. Attending such events like Socialism 2008 was the culmination of two years of looking the other way and accepting a little bad in order to save the “movement.” Some leave ACORN at this point but the ones who stay are trusted just a little more.

The Road from radical terrorists to professors and community organizers

With greater access comes greater understanding of the true subversive nature of ACORN. As stated last summer in my article "Liberal Fallout Zones":

"Poverty is big business and a predicate for class warfare intended to perpetuate political power in the masters of that big business. In the current climate special interest groups are writing bills and influencing votes amid a huge liberal spending binge."

That spending binge is more like a bender now because ACORN, recognizing the past mistakes of other radical groups like Weather Underground and Students for a Democratic Society decided the best way to gain power as was to pass unnoticed in mainstream America. Radicals like Frances Fox Piven and her husband Richard A. Cloward retreated into the world of Academia where they penned papers on Socialism peppered with Alinsky tactics and a new name:

The Cloward-Piven strategy

On May 2, 1966, Columbia's Professor of Social Work Richard A. Cloward, and his then research associate Frances Fox Piven, wrote a pivotal article in The Nation, articulating "a strategy to end poverty."

In what became known as the Cloward-Piven strategy, the article argued a revolutionary approach to mobilizing the poor in the form of class warfare against capitalist forces viewed as exploiting labor and oppressing the poor.

David Horowitz, a long-time student of leftist political movements in the United States, characterized the Cloward-Piven strategy as seeking "to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse."

Cloward and Piven argued a "guaranteed annual income" should be established as an entitlement for the poor, a right the poor could assert and demand to be paid."

Other radicals like ACORN founder Wade Rathke and former Project Vote executive director, Zach Polett formed organizations and began implementing their socialist agenda while using the poor and minority communities as a defense if anyone dared question their actions. According to its website, ACORN planted its seed in American politics long ago and continues to play an “insider's game” to maintain it.

“Finally, ACORN® began playing the insiders' game in American politics. Congressional lobbying is practiced by ACORN® staff. Leaders and members became a central part of the insiders' games, too. Members elected to office or serving on APACs acquired experience and skill applying power from the inside of the political process. Instead of confronting opponents in actions (something ACORN® will never stop doing), members could trade and negotiate from inside positions of power. ACORN®'s work on the savings and loan bailout provided effective means of developing and applying power for low- and moderate- income people. ACORN® members won appointment to the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to help determine the management of the billions of dollars of assets the government seized. The payoff to these activities came, and still comes, when substantial numbers of ACORN® members developed the ability to move inside the political sphere that has for so long been closed to low- and moderate-income people.”

Wade Rathke and Zach Polett learned the path to power quickly and utilized their influence to pass the 1996 National Voter Registration Act  (the "Motor Voter" bill). Polett, seated below to the far left in a dark suit and tie, had officially brought the Arkansas based ACORN to Washington.

Interestingly, on the same page with their tales of insider dealing,  ACORN discusses how the network of unions, non-profits and corporations were created for the express purpose of pushing ACORN's socialist agenda.

“The national lobbying arm of ACORN® is only one example of the diversification within ACORN® that was basic to its success. The ACORN® Housing Corporation worked to create affordable housing in conjunction with banks and state and local government. The United Labor Unions, now Locals 100 and 880 of the Service Employees International Union, became labor organizing arms of ACORN® which organize people where they work. ACORN® Services, Inc. and the canvassing operations enhanced ACORN®'s ability to create the financial resources needed to grow. The Arkansas Institute for Social Justice became the means for developing leadership skills and political talents among the ACORN® members. What was once a relatively simple organization of community groups has became a diversified system of institutions capable of applying specialized skills to solving the kinds of problems ACORN® encounters in its work.”

Along came a socialist

In late 2006 the atmosphere in the office changed and it appeared that the senior staff were energized. Efforts to function as a real office were implemented. Project Vote began using a donor database instead of a box and attempts were made to reconcile the accounting records. In anticipation of what ACORN began calling a “once in a generation opportunity.” John Podesta from the Center for American Progress gave a speech called “Preparing for Power: The Next Cycle?" in December of that year.

After two years with ACORN I understood how they operated and took the close relationship with the Democrat party for granted. The relationship between Democrats and ACORN was that the party needed ACORN to retain their seats and ACORN needed them to pass their agenda items. ACORN's belief that indeed, all politics is local, allowed them to place people strategically in positions that would allow a run for higher office.

In 2007 when Zach Polett bragged about supervising Barack Obama and that “ACORN produces leaders,” his purpose was to energize the employees so that we would go out there and deliver. ACORN's voter registration goals and budget were unmatched and the stakes were high.

When Obama's campaign called the Project Vote offices in late 2007, I could barely contain my excitement as I relayed the information to my supervisors. After receiving the Obama 2007 2nd quarter donor list from Karyn Gillette, I had another look away moment. Were we violating FEC rules by targeting Obama's maxed out donors? Did I really want Obama to win this way? Believing that the bigger goal was helping people by implementing the ACORN agenda, I put my doubts aside and worked on pulling donors from the list (which included ALL Obama donors, not just the bigger donors required to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission).

From October 2005 until 2008, I did fundraising work with ACORN and used political donor lists. All Democrat: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Democratic National Committee. When I appeared as a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor" last year, I said that ACORN had served for years as an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party, but Bill O'Reilly didn't discuss that with me. Ignoring it is exactly what the stealth socialists want.

I once asked Marcel Reid, former ACORN national board member and President of DC ACORN, how it was possible for ACORN to push its agenda and she replied “We never use the word Socialism.” ACORN's appeal was to simply implement a Socialist agenda without ever saying the word. When Wade Rathke was interviewed by Megyn Kelly of Fox News, Kelly asked Rathke whether he would describe himself as a socialist, and Wade answered no. Kelly proceeded to point out that the ACORN People's Platform sounded socialism. Rathke weakly tried to defend ACORN against the Socialist label by pretending the "share the wealth" philosophy was not in the ACORN Platform. You can watch the video here.

Eventually Rathke conceded that the share the wealth language was indeed present, but cited some language about the right to be rich and free.

The People's Platform (or ACORN's socialist wish list)

ACORN People's Platform can be found http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=720 " href="http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=720">here and it defines what rich and free meant, and it certainly is not capitalism!

"Our riches shall be the blooming of our communities, the bounty of a sure livelihood, the beauty of homes for our families with sickness driven from the door, the benefit of our taxes rather than their burden, and the best of our energy, land, and natural resources for all people.

"Our freedom is the force of democracy, not the farce of federal fat and personal profit. In our freedom, only the people shall rule. Corporations shall have their role; producing jobs, providing products, paying taxes. No more, no less. They shall obey our wishes, respond to our needs, serve our communities. Our country shall be the citizens' wealth and our wealth shall build our country.

"Government shall have its role: public servant to our good, fast follower to our sure steps. No more, no less. Our government shall shout with the public voice and no longer to a private whisper. In our government, the common concerns shall be the collective cause."

Marcel Reid's explanation described "stealth socialism." Aggressive tactics like ACORN's protests and rallies were to gain the credibility that would allow the acceptance of a radical socialist agenda. While Reid was president of DC ACORN they proposed a plan to redistribute wealth in the Washington, DC metro area. This plan was proudly presented to the organization at the 2006 ACORN Year End, Year Beginning meeting in New Orleans. The excerpt below is from page 191 of the 2006 ACORN YEYB Annual Report (click to enlarge).

DC ACORN readily admits that "this proposal would essentially be a redistribution of wealth across the board," but stealth socialism is so effective that even conservative watchdogs have been fooled by the ever changing names of the ACORN empire.

Obama's agenda mirrors the ACORN People's Platform as evidenced by a review of the healthcare and energy sections of  the platform. On healthcare, the ACORN's socialist people's platform wants to "require the federal government to provide for the health care needs of recent immigrants. ACORN's position on Energy shows shades of Cap and Trade with goals like:

Prevent any single corporation or conglomerate from owning major interest in more than one of the following resources: oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, solar energy, and coal; or more than one of the following categories: source, refinery, shipping, or outlet."

Pay no attention to the white liberal behind the curtain

The "Liberals" who elected Obama President may have a "tower of Babel" moment as gay rights, civil rights, immigration rights, environmental extremists, pro-choicers and all the other special interests that supported the Obama presidential campaign strive to push America further to the left and shed all inhibitions. As with ACORN itself, it seems impossible that the coalition that put Obama in the White House and gave Democrats huge majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives will continue to work smoothly together now that Obama and the Congressional Democrats are in control and America is learning what Obama really meant by the seductive-sounding "hope and change." ACORN needed the cloak of stealth socialism to maintain its hold on the poor. ACORN's image is synonymous with blacks and other minorities and the race card has become the last bastion of its "hope."

During its greatest crisis, ACORN replaced its white leader with a black woman in order to hide behind Bertha Lewis's skin color. What they didn't want the public to see were the white liberal leaders behind the scenes who have been staying in Executive suites and partying in the mountains.

ACORN Political Operations Retreat November 2007 (among the pictured are senior staff Patrick Winogrond, Jessica Angus, Nathan Henderson-James, Kimberly Olson, Amy Busefink and Johanna Sharrard)

Restoring the balance

Stealth socialism allowed ACORN to set the stage for Obama's "regime" as they called it internally. Wade Rathke was willing to fall on his sword in 2008 to protect Obama, and to attain what nearly 40 years organizing the country towards socialism promised. After the embezzlement scandal, ACORN board members and staff assembled at meetings across the country and as insiders revealed, and I testified about, "fighting Capitalism" was listed as one of the things "great about ACORN."

Obama has shown himself to be unrelenting in his quest to pass healthcare, take over American industries and weaken our national security. America can't afford to be fooled by increasingly obvious tactics of the Far Left. It's time for the great majority of Americans to turn the tables back on the Far Left by getting involved and organized and voting out incumbents who vote against the traditional American way. We need a morning in America, but it's always darkest before the dawn.

You can follow Anita on her blog or on Twitter.

Most of you who are regular readers of this column are aware that my hardworking editor Dee lives in the UK. Living in a socialist environment has given her a unique perspective on the ills of this failed and failing system. The same system (or worse) that the DeMarxists would see instituted here. Unfortunately for them they have run smack dab into the American people. We do not want your socialism. We will not permit you to take our country and freedoms from us.

What follows is Dee’s reply to a critic of the US, excerpted from a chat forum from the island of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency off of the coast of France. I thought that it would prove instructional. I love the English people, but they have been so inculcated with leftist dogma and institutionalized welfare that all vestiges of independent thinking outside the socialist envelope is lacking along with the spirit of independence. Dee has taken them on and as a Brit she is in a unique position to tell it the way it is.

Forum post in reply to a critic of the USA, 05/19/10, whynotguernsey.com :

Let’s take your points in turn here. First, socialism. Socialism never has and never will work in any country. It’s been tried many times, always with the same result – financial and social disaster. A free economy is the only tried and trusted system. Ok, you get the propaganda a la Michael Moore and Cuba. Have you seen the everyday hospitals that the ordinary folks get treatment in? Socialism means greater state control and big government which swallows up the hard-earned money of the people through taxes.

It would be great to have a university education without the debt to repay….. uh, but who’s going to pay for it? The government I guess – that means us, the taxpayers. I can’t recall anything in the Bill of Rights about further education being a right given by God. If it was, and health care, then surely the three things that all humans need to survive should be free too? Who can survive without air, food and water? Only one of these is free (at the moment, although the left are trying to change this with cap and tax).

No one is refused emergency treatment in the US, insured or not. True, insurance is expensive. That’s the fault of the system which allows huge lawsuits by slip-and-fall lawyers. 60% of a physician’s overheads is legal insurance. The GOP has promised tort reform along with interstate insurance policies to cut these costs. Obama, instead, is dismantling the best medical services in the world in favor of a NHS style one-size-fits-all system. It would be a punishable offense not to purchase health cover from the government. Still sound so good?

Oh, that increasing US debt you mentioned is partly due to the staggering cost of his health reforms, I believe it was one trillion at the last count. Medicare, which provides a wonderful service for seniors, will be cut to help cover the cost of his new scheme. It’ll probably finish up like the UK, where a senior might not be worth the cost of treatment.

While the national debt is rising (naturally, under a socialist), the country can still afford to contribute 25% of the IMF fund, money now being used to bail out EU countries, and possibly Britain (again) soon. To say that the US is one of the poorest countries when it is still the world’s largest economy is a total contradiction.

To quote you: “Teaching something as fact, when it is not proven is wrong. It is ultimately brainwashing, and should be illegal.” Do you agree, then, that global warming should not be taught in schools? It is certainly not proven, in fact the evidence gets flimsier as time goes on.

As for California, as much as I love it, it is a financial and social disaster, thanks to the liberals that have controlled it for so long. Again, it is a victim of socialist policies – unrestrained spending, high state taxes that have forced businesses to other states and too much regulation and bureaucracy in Sacramento. Is it any surprise that there is a backlash from the people?

The difference between the US and Britain is that the US was founded by the people, with government as their servants. This current administration is taking a route towards Euro-socialism, where they believe that rights are granted by government. That won’t wash in the US, as the current mid-term elections are proving. At least they have seen the danger before it sinks into the abyss completely.

When the US economy is rebounding, the UK will still be increasing everyone’s taxes to cover a failed health system, an ineffective police force (now that its teeth have been taken away completely) and development of cleaner, eco-friendly power sources. Well, that’s what the BP ad said, while they screwed up the entire Gulf coast.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

I have the distinct impression that Arizona just may be the rock which starts the avalanche. I sincerely hope it does… while we’re battling the forces of socialism that are trying to steal our country.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer

Confronting this evil, wherever it infests our society and our body politic, is now the prime focus of the many millions of patriots who are now actively involved in local issues and in upcoming national races. Instinctively and speedily, Patriots have understood that organizing at the grass roots has been a house to house, friend to friend and neighbor to neighbor strategy, resulting in a bottom up ‘organization’ which lends its strength and energy upwards to Conservative Patriot candidates and incumbent politicians we support.

Along with our support they also get our input… we demand it. Too long have we listened to incumbents’ electioneering spiels, telling us what upstanding moderate Republicans they were only to have them instantly revert to type and go off loose-cannoneering without regard for the wishes of the people who were keeping them in office.

The messages we have been sending over and over, stand up for our principles, stand up for the Conservative values that make this country unique and rare among nations, have taken root. There is a massive shift to the right going on in the national political mind and it’s got the DeMarxists frantic. With polls falling around the country and local and regional contests in doubt, where only a year ago they would have been called safe Democrat districts, the indications are dire. One commentator said that if Obama’s approval drops near 40%, as it could, there will be Democrats heading for the lifeboats.

It’s a classic over-reach by the liberals. They’ve done it before, also with negative results but that’s never stopped them before either. No, but what has their attention is an aroused and very conscious populace who are clearly having a profound effect on the political landscape and who are learning very quickly to control the political message.

It’s a message that is resonating across this land. Freedom is our heritage and birthright. There’s something about the American psyche that universally holds these freedoms foremost in our hearts and minds… so unlike the serf-like behavior of the Europeans. Our ancestors fought to make and keep us free. We will fight for freedom with their memories in mind to remind ourselves that freedom is never cheap… or easy.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

This is a true story.

My little 1st grader got home, just as Mom was pulling out and plugging in the vacuum.

Me: "Hey, Baby, how was your day?"

7-Year-Old Baby: "Great, Mom. Today was Earth Day."

Me: [shouting over vacuum]: "Okaaay, great. Your snack's on the table. I'll be right with you." [VRRROOOOOM!!!!]

..

Pardon me, PC-ers. Hell. It's not even about PC anymore. In today's American progressive body politic, we are openly being bullied into adopting a lifestyle not many of us would have chosen for our own. No one even thinks about who funds the junk science anymore, or who the researchers, hungry for cash to keep themselves employed in this freaking economy, are really working for -- science or the state?

Enviro-statism has wormed its way into every crevice of society, without even being legislated through Congress. It was Ban ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the UN, who said that these sort of progressive ideas needed to be "embedded into the culture."

Right.

So, now we have children coming home throughout the year, mumbling about recycling, badgering us about our light-bulb usage, showing us their colored recycling diagrams alongside their completed math handouts. We have "Environmental Stimulus Cash Back!" stickers posted on every appliance at Sears (where we just got our new energy-efficient dishwasher). We have recycled milk jugs, our spouses filling out energy consumption reports, our corporations reporting on how they protect the environment via corporate citizenship.

All without passing a single Environmental piece of legislation through Congress.

Some would say, "Without firing a shot."

Do many of us consider the depth of environmental "embedding" into our culture? Do many of us try to trace back or apply true meaning to the policies that are manifest in our daily lives? No.

Too many of us are trying to survive, keep our jobs, feed our children. The time we do have, the time we try to carve out of our meager existence here in America, we try to have fun and remove ourselves from the obvious: that nearly everything we do is politicized.

Where is our "life"?

Well, I know the depth of the embedding .. I know how the progressive agenda is trying to put "meaning" into my life, so to counter that, today, in honor of Earth Day, I will do this: make ferocious love to my husband and do it like there is no tomorrow, in remembrance of God creating man to be stewards and lord of all the Earth and of all the creatures and slimy things.

I will remember the naturalness of our bodies, and how they fit together and were intended to procreate.

I will remember how marriage and procreation glorify God.

I will remember that "children are the embodiment of the marital embrace," as my husband has whispered to me during our lovemaking, and celebrate how children, the fruit of our lovemaking, are a blessing, not a burden or a punishment.

I will remember that we come from the Earth, to be lord over the earth, not its slave, and that the Earth is a gift from God, but that the Earth is not God. Nor is the almighty dollar nor that guy in office.

I will remember that my life is a gift from God, and that lives of my husband and children are gifts from God, and are a gift to me in my lifetime, and are an expression of His love for me.

I will remember that my husband is a gift to me, a most precious gift, from God.

And I will reward my husband, with my body, and show him how much I love and appreciate that he is a conservative, God-fearing man who loves his wife, kids, friends and country.

Today, when he gets home, I will show him that no single man has it better than him, and that for all his sacred honor and the noble life I know he would give in a moment to protect me, our kids, and our country, I will be Me, Every Woman and No Other Woman to him.

This is the prerogative and duty of every conservative woman out there.

The femni-Nazi, pro-abortion whores who belittle the Conservative Woman and the Conservative Mother, they have no holds over us, girls. We will love our men and steal our families back from the brink of hell, which is Progressivism, even if it means doing it with our own bodies, just as the men we love would sacrifice their bodies so that we may live.

Our bodies.

They've been to hell and back and we can handle it. Especially while giving joy to the ones we love most, and having fun while doing it.  

What we can give, the pleasure we can bestow, it's almost nothing, yet everything at the same time.

..

So.. after the vacuuming:

Me: Okay, Baby, tell me what happened today.

7-year-old-Baby: Mom, we're having a very special day..

Me: You mean Earth Day?

7-year-old-Baby: No, Mom .. we have a very special day coming up.

Me: What's that?

7-year-old-Baby: Mother's Day! Today we started making our cards for you!

What a damn, cool teacher.

Earth Day, ladies and gents. Go celebrate your earthy selves, maybe try to make an earthy baby to add to the conservative population to kick these Progressives the hell out of office in future, and steal back our American democracy they want to steal away from us for all perpetuity.

Tonight, log off of Twitter, close your browser, shut down the computer, and put down your cell phone with all those cool apps. 

Tonight, make love, not political war.

Let's thank and remember God, first and foremost, for our ability to do so.

While we still can, before the size of our family is "embedded" away.

... proof that he will use all means available to him to force America to bend to his will.

Today, while political posturing and procedural pish-posh occurs on the Hill and sacrificially America throws herself into full-throttle opposition against the socialist healthcare vote, Obama issued an Executive Order to "reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion" .. to ease nervous Stupakers who would otherwise vote against Obama's massive government take-over of 1/6th of the economy. 

To get those outstanding democratic (wimp) votes in line, in other words.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release                           March 21, 2010

STATEMENT FROM COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR DAN PFEIFFER

Today, the President announced that he will be issuing an executive order after the passage of the health insurance reform law that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion. 

While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation's restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented. 

The President has said from the start that this health insurance reform should not be the forum to upset longstanding precedent.  The health care legislation and this executive order are consistent with this principle. 

The President is grateful for the tireless efforts of leaders on both sides of this issue to craft a consensus approach that allows the bill to move forward.

The draft of the proposed Executive Order -- again, that's all there is at this point, just a promise of an EO which is WHOLELY UNENFORCEABLE -- is at the end of this post, included for posterity, on this the day that America fights for her independence.

I'm no constitutional lawyer, but anyone who's been watching the gestapo-like rule of Obama since last year will know -- sense, even -- how and when Obama uses trickery for political gain. This is just another example. 

2 points on why this is a LIE:

1st: Among Obama's Executive Orders (EOs) and Memorandii issued during his first days in office was a memorandum restoring the funding of the UN Population (Abortions R Us) Fund. Get that? Among his first presidential actions in the beginning of 2009. Abortion. 

Do you seriously believe Obama is intent on restricting  federal funding for abortions?

 

2nd: Toward the end of 2009, while America was preparing for Christmas and their well-deserved vacations, and in the dead of night, Obama signed an EO amending EO 12425 which excluded INTERPOL from certain immunities and "dignitary" protections. Okay? An EO amending an EO. 

It is impoosible that Obama would not issue another EO amending this No Fed-Funding for Abortions EO?

So, this guy holds no water. 

Boehner says so. So does Andrew McCarthy from National Review Online, a lawyer who prosecuted the '93 WTC bombings and publicly called out Holder on the Obama Administration's decision to hold the 911 trails in NYC.  

This Promissory EO is more political posturing, similar to Obama's photo-op at Dover.

**

A text of the pending executive order follows:

Executive Order

ENSURING ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (approved March ­­__, 2010), I hereby order as follows:

Section 1.  Policy.

Following the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“the Act”), it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a longstanding Federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment.   The purpose of this Executive Order is to establish a comprehensive, government-wide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors—Federal officials, state officials (including insurance regulators) and health care providers—are aware of their responsibilities, new and old.

The Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to the newly-created health insurance exchanges.  Under the Act, longstanding Federal laws to protect conscience (such as the Church Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §300a-7, and the Weldon Amendment, Pub. L. No. 111-8, §508(d)(1) (2009)) remain intact and new protections prohibit discrimination against health care facilities and health care providers because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.

Numerous executive agencies have a role in ensuring that these restrictions are enforced, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

 

Section 2.  Strict Compliance with Prohibitions on Abortion Funding in Health Insurance Exchanges. The Act specifically prohibits the use of tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments to pay for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) in the health insurance exchanges that will be operational in 2014.  The Act also imposes strict payment and accounting requirements to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services in exchange plans (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) and requires state health insurance commissioners to ensure that exchange plan funds are segregated by insurance companies in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, OMB funds management circulars, and accounting guidance provided by the Government Accountability Office.

I hereby direct the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS to develop, within 180 days of the date of this Executive Order, a model set of segregation guidelines for state health insurance commissioners to use when determining whether exchange plans are complying with the Act's segregation requirements, established in Section 1303 of the Act, for enrollees receiving Federal financial assistance.  The guidelines shall also offer technical information that states should follow to conduct independent regular audits of insurance companies that participate in the health insurance exchanges.  In developing these model guidelines, the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS shall consult with executive agencies and offices that have relevant expertise in accounting principles, including, but not limited to, the Department of the Treasury, and with the Government Accountability Office.  Upon completion of those model guidelines, the Secretary of HHS should promptly initiate a rulemaking to issue regulations, which will have the force of law, to interpret the Act's segregation requirements, and shall provide guidance to state health insurance commissioners on how to comply with the model guidelines.

Section 3.  Community Health Center Program.

The Act establishes a new Community Health Center (CHC) Fund within HHS, which provides additional Federal funds for the community health center program.  Existing law prohibits these centers from using federal funds to provide abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), as a result of both the Hyde Amendment and longstanding regulations containing the Hyde language.  Under the Act, the Hyde language shall apply to the authorization and appropriations of funds for Community Health Centers under section 10503 and all other relevant provisions.  I hereby direct the Secretary of HHS to ensure that program administrators and recipients of Federal funds are aware of and comply with the limitations on abortion services imposed on CHCs by existing law.  Such actions should include, but are not limited to, updating Grant Policy Statements that accompany CHC grants and issuing new interpretive rules.

Section 4.  General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this Executive Order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:  (i) authority granted by law or presidential directive to an agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This Executive Order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This Executive Order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE

 

It can’t be the American people…WE didn’t ask that the most virulently dangerous terrorists on earth be brought to American soil, so that they could be defended at the bar of our courts by Marxist ACLU attorneys and given rights that should be reserved only for citizens of this country. Eric Holder and associates have a lot to answer for.

Meanwhile, the Osama–whoops slip of the tongue that– the Obama mis-administration is busy with a purely Soviet-style purge in our government, that far outshines anything that Bill and Hill did at the advent of their ‘most ethical administration in history’, beginning with the firing of the White House travel office employees.

Mr Fair-and-Open is going back FIVE YEARS to purge Republican and Conservative appointees, to replace them with good little Trotskyite apparatchiks like Anita Dunn, another fatality of the people of this country actually listening to what these Politburo types say and then holding them to it.

Obama can’t make a decision or WON’T make a decision to reinforce our forces in harms way, but he sure seems to be able to make every wrong decision possible regarding this country, its people and its rapidly failing economy. We have political correctness operating in high gear throughout the highest command of our military…this HAS to be a top down attitude. Not ALL of our military…the  attitude of the chain of command down at the level of the combat commands is a little different, thank God. But no less affected by it, because they cannot help BUT be affected by a weak and cowardly Commander-in-Chief.

The question is, as I’m sure many millions of Americans have secretly asked themselves, just who or what is Obama working for…who is it that’s yanking this guys chain? Can it be that he’s REALLY that stupid, inept and naive? It is as suspicious as all get out that his Muslim outreach program just happens to encompass bringing internationally known terrorists into our courtrooms, where they will be able to make a mockery of our system and allow a grandstanding display to encourage others like them around the world. Meanwhile, rabid leftist attorneys, who already having done much to destroy our Constitution and our system of jurisprudence, attempt to get them off on one technicality or another that they may again be able to go forth and murder more Americans. Any one or two of these factors could be written off as coincidental. Taken as a totality, it’s mind boggling.

We were warned for years about the evils of socialism and communism and it’s here. We have an awful lot to do to save our country. We must be strong of faith and will. We must join with our families, friends and neighbors, together with all like-minded patriots, to defeat this monstrous evil once and for all.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

Awhile back, I posted a memo forwarded to me from a friend on Wall Street, wherein one of his firm's senior analysts saw the nation being a bunch of boiled frogs as the Obama adminstration gradually remade the nation in a socialist image.

Of course, the whole "boiled frog" plan was dependent on one thing.

The frog not seeing the thermostat getting turned up. 

Unfortunately for the wee-wees in the White House, the frog noticed.

Now the Obama team is left trying to argue:   

a) The frog really didn't see the thermostat being turned up

b) The frog shouldn't complain about the heat of the water

c) The water really isn't as hot as he thinks it is

d) The frog is a fool and listening to people who want it to freeze to death

e) Hot water is really good for the frog

  Needless to say, the frogs aren't in a buyin mood

HEALTH CARE - SO EASY A CAVE MAN CAN DO IT

1 - Restrict punitive damages in malpractice suits to $750,000.2 - Enact a federal coding standard... require all medical insurance companies to use the same system. If the industry won't standardize itself, this is an appropriate role for the federal government.3 - Repeal all laws that restrict which companies can operate in certain states.4 - Prohibit employers (including government) from providing health insurance for employees. Instead, require them to provide a cash amount consistent to what they are currently paying for the policy today.

This allows all insurance companies to operate anywhere, with no protected territories.This eliminates unnecessary overhead due to proprietary legacy billing systems.This eliminates the motive for trial lawyers to jack claims to get rich. Trial lawyers can't sue someone for 85 bazillion dollars for having a sponge sewn up inside them. Consequently, malpractice insurance is cheaper.Employers no longer have the overhead associated with administering a health care benefit.Each person/family can now go out and buy their own policy.

5 - Abolish Medicaid and Medicare.6 - Establish a reasonable income limit (use current Medicaid eligibility guidelines + 20%) and give the poor a voucher to go buy their own policy.

Cost to enact? The government will need a small bureaucracy to administer the voucher program. This would best be handled at the state or county level and should be funded federally with some of the money that we no longer spend on Medicaid or Medicare.

Benefits: Former state dependents (Medicaid recipients), now become empowered consumers. They probably can't add more cash to the amount of their voucher to buy an upscale policy. Many of them will become ruthless price hawks, trying to get the most coverage for that money.

A basic flaw our current system is that my health insurance does not work for me. They work for my employer. If they don't give me the service I want, I have no recourse. Under the plan I listed above, every insurance company will be responsible to every customer. They will be forced to compete in a market that they had previously not. If Single Mom has Allstate health insurance, and Geico offers free dental, don't you think she'll switch? If Busy Businessman is getting hassled trying to get his claims paid by Nationwide, don't you think he'll find a hassle free company? It's self policing.

Stigma - Do you know how hard it is to find a dentist that takes Medicaid? Some folks are also embarrassed having to tell someone that they are on government assistance. This plan removes that stigma. No health care provider will know how you paid for your insurance.

Some government oversight is in place because insurance companies will have to justify rate increases (affects the cost of vouchers) to Congress.