What is wrong with the truth?

There are a lot of reasons to be suspicious and angry at the White House and the majority party. They rammed the "stimulus" bills through with no political opposition support, claiming there was no time for discussion because the sky was falling. As it plays out, only a fraction of the billions has actually been spent (most going to banks), but the banks are not lending the money to Americans to "stimulate" the economy (gee, I thought that is what we were told), but instead using it as accounting counterweight to the overvalued assets on their books, the same toxic assets they created themselves with irresponsible lending. Now, the White House is telling us that the healthcare reform legislation must be passed immediately or the sky will fall again. They poo-poo the idea of actually reading the 1,000-page documents or carefully explaining the details to the citizens who they propose to saddle with the unimaginable longterm debt. The White House wants universal healthcare, a single payer system. Obama neatly dances around that characterization because it is the hallwork of socialism, but the written and video evidence of him both supporting and promising it in the past confirms his true agenda. But, rather than actually explaining the details of this breathless legislation, the White House instead attacks their critics and calls their dissent "un-American". That is not how honest people behave. They should be tripping over themselves to explain every detail of the bills. Aren't they proud of their work? That they are deliberately NOT explaining the details makes my radar rise. They claim there is no time for discussion and that this opportunity must be grabbed now or lost forever. That is how a timeshare salesman works. I am suspicious about an author of ideas who is not willing to have those ideas examined and debated, who calls questioners "un-American", and claims support that does not exist (see AARP's denial of its support). If these bills cannot withstand scrutiny, then they are not worthy of passage. I want the truth. The White House behaves like I can't handle it.

Why settlements?

I don't understand why the American media continues to refer to portions of Israel as settlements. When Israel's enemies attacked the country, it fought back and won the war. Part of its winnings was land. Nothing different there, it's how every country in the world wound up having its present dimensions. The American media makes it sound like Israel is only borrowing the land until the rightful owners come back for it. By that logic, California, Texas, and Arizona are settlements too. And, the media continuing to refer to terrorists as freedom fighters or militant activists whenever possible is equally deceptive.

Universal healthcare

President Obama and the Democrats want universal health coverage for Americans. They claim that medical costs are destroying the economy. Interesting, because I thought it was the toxic assets held by banks, high unemployment, and loss of retirement funds on Wall Street. Medical costs did not contribute to any of those. Universal health coverage is simply another way to produce more revenue for the government through taxing the middle class and small business that can be used for any purpose by the government. In truth, if you really wanted to actually decrease medical costs, you would work on the insane costs and arbitrary rewards of our malpractice system, and the hidden cost of defensive medicine: tests and procedures that doctors order for no good reason other than to protect themselves from lawsuits. How much unnecessary medical cost is incurred with an eye, not on medicine, but on the law? When a surgeon pays $200K a year for malpractice insurance before he opens his doors, it is the patients who pay through higher doctor fees to cover the insurance. Tort reform would yield tens of billions in savings, yet there is no mention of it in any of the Democratic bills under review because they are hugely dependent on huge donations from trial lawyers. Seriously, this healthcare or health insurance reform nonsense is nothing more than a money grab by the administration and the most serious attempt at controlling its citizenry in memory.

Obama's first 100 days

We're beginning to see how ineffective President Obama has been in his first months in office. As I warned earlier, he comes to the presidency as an inexperienced rookie with no significant accomplishments in his life and never having held a major executive position where he was personally responsible for an outcome. Yes, we've had Senators elected President, but none who spent one-half of their very few elected years simply running for the office. The American media has given him a free pass and continues to do so. None of the European nations are supporting Obama's economic stimulus bail-out strategy and none are honoring his requests for more troop support in Afghanistan, yet our newspapers trumpet how he and his wife are "dazzling" Europe, but conveniently omit that he is getting absolutely nothing he wants at the G20 summit. And our enemies are equally unimpressed. Obama tried to make a deal with the Russians, behind the backs of our NATO allies, but Russia rejected it and then made it public showing its contempt to Obama, and signaling our allies of our questionable trustworthiness. Obama's televised address to Iran only confirmed that he will do nothing to keep them from acquiring a nuclear bomb. And his warnings to North Korea did nothing to deter that nation from test launching a long range missile. Finally, his recent proclamation that he was seeking a nuclear weapons-free world was pure fantasy and utter rubbish, and our allies and enemies know it. But don't look to our media to headline these failures and shortcomings. They are cheering him on. They like the style and symbolism he brings. But style and symbolism are only that. It won him an election but it is totally irrelevant to the realities of the world that require actual ideas and actions. Putting our economic and nuclear futures in the hands of a novice "leader" because he looks good and makes us feel good will have future generations shaking their heads and wondering, "What in the hell were they thinking?".

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout

It is actually very simple how we now find ourselves bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A little history first: As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed $388 billion in high-risk mortgages and was the primary customer of all sub-prime mortgage pools (loans made to high-risk customers). If real estate prices continued to rise, then the high-risk was reduced, but when those prices began to fall, then the risk went off the charts. Both were also enmeshed in accounting scandals on an unimaginable scale. For the first time in history, a reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee in 2005 that would have required both companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets and establish strict regulations. But the bill never made it into law. The Democrats opposed it on a tight party-line vote and would not even allow the Senate to vote on the matter. And so the abuse and the losses continued. Republican presidential candidate John McCain was one of the three sponsors of that historic reform bill that would have averted the mess we now find ourselves in and must pay for through our taxes. And we now know that Democrat Barack Obama opposed the reform bill (as did Hillary Clinton) and that Mr Obama subsequently received $125,000 in campaign contributions from the PAC's of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Clinton received about $75,000. Not surprisingly, Mr McCain received nothing from either PAC. I think the answer as to who is to blame for our current crisis is pretty clear.

Global cooling

Established in 1792, the Old Farmers Almanac is North America's oldest continuously publishing periodical. Boasting nearly 20 million readers, the little yellow magazine still comes with a hole in the corner so it can hang in outhouses. Based on the same time-honored complex calculations it uses to predict weather, the Almanac says that a study on solar activity and corresponding records on ocean temperatures and climate indicate a cooler, not warmer, climate for the world for the next 50 years. Meteorologist and climatologist Joe D'Aleo says that sunspot cycles and their effects on oceans correlate with climate changes and that all the indicators are for a cooling off of world temperatures. Global warming has always been a fraudulent premise intended to induce hysteria and ultimately to line the pockets of its proponents. Now, hopefully, the house of cards it is built on can begin to crumble. Mother Earth is much more resilient than the Al Gores of the world would have you believe.

Oil as a political pawn

Did you know that there are 90 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) that accounts for an estimated 22% of the unexplored resources on Earth? Did you know that there is pending legislation in Congress that would open the Arctic Energy Slope to energy exploration and would be limited to a 0.01% development footprint? Did you know that the bill would grant coastal states the authority to keep exploration 100 miles away from their coast, that they would share in the revenues received, and that additional revenues would be invested in long-term alternative energy trust funds to promote renewable and cleaner energy sources? And did you know that there has never been an oil spill or disaster (even through the fiercest ocean storms imaginable) related to offshore drilling? In sum, this legislation would drive down the price of gasoline, enrich the coffers of struggling coastal states, and would actually fund additional development of alternative energy sources. And did you know Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to even allow the House to vote up or down on the legislation before adjourning for a 5-week recess? Remember the strategy of the Democrats: do everything possible to block anything that might boost our economy, talk only of gloom and doom, and hope that the masses will somehow be unaware that the Dems are the ones stifling economic reform and blindly buy into their "hope and change" presidential candidate. They don't care one bit about how their obstructiveness affects the pocket books of Americans. They will do anything to get elected. As Speaker Pelosi begins her 5-week vacation without even allowing a vote on the legislation, many Americans will now have to decide if they can even afford a vacation.