AGK: America’s Gotta Know

Here’s a WorldNetDaily article which chronicles an example of the rationing threat posed by any government run healthcare system, including the one currently actively being pursued in the U.S. Congress…
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122934

America is back, baby!

January 19, 2010, in this man’s humble opinion, will go down in the annals of American history as a significant milestone for the republic and all for which it stands as established by our founding fathers and the U.S. Constitution. The beginning of the end of the progressive, socialist, big government movement being made by the Obama Administration and this Congress and the start of the resurgence of the real America, entrenched in the values of small government and personal responsibility bestowed upon us by our founders.

Last night, Massachusetts, a perennial hotbed of liberal ideals, voted against big government in favor of the conservative Republican. In the special election to fill recently deceased Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, Republican Scott Brown delivered a crushing defeat to Democrat Martha Coakley, 52% to 47%, equating to a margin of about 120,000 votes. This extremely unlikely result (Martha Coakley had an over 20% lead in the polls on December 19, at which time she decided it was OK for her to take a 2 week Christmas break from public appearances) should have any intelligent congressman reeling, particularly the Democrats who are masquerading as Obama-Pelosi-Reed lap dogs.

The ramifications and reasoning are astounding:

America has spoken loudly through Massachusetts. This is a microcosm of the Tea Party sentiment which has been being conveyed across this great land since the inception of the Obama Administration and its extreme left Democrat controlled Congress last January. If such an election result can occur in this predominantly liberal minded state (Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1 and Obama won by 27% in the 2008 Presidential election), what’s going to happen in all the critical Congressional elections which will occur later this year in November? Democrats who value their jobs will definitely be rethinking their votes.

The Democrats have now lost their filibuster proof majority of 60 in the Senate. If NOT ONE Republican votes for a bill, then it cannot pass. This, for all intensive purposes, should shutdown the healthcare bill anywhere close to its current socialist form, the cap & trade bill, and the future anticipated immigration amnesty bill. If passed, this trifecta of reforms would have senselessly crippled our economy for decades and would have passed on the check to our children and theirs.

In exit polls, the overwhelming majority of voters identified the reason for their vote was the current healthcare bill. The disapproval with this bill by the huge majority of Americans is monumental and the disregard of this opinion by Congressional Democrats is staggering to say the least and unethical & even criminal to say the most. Nearly 75% of undecided party voters cast their ballot in favor of the Republican, whose simple conservative platform was small government, personal responsibility and strong defense.

Embedded in this remarkable story line are incredible ironies surrounding Ted Kennedy. Ted, the man who waited his life for a single payer government controlled healthcare system to be passed, stood on the precipice of seeing it to fruition at the time of his death in August 2009. Now, as a result of his death, this special election was held to fill the seat that he held for 47 years and that seat is taken by a conservative Republican who vows to vote against the very healthcare bill that Ted Kennedy endorsed. That’s not it, though. The true irony is the fact that Ted Kennedy’s sincere desire to provide at a cost palatable to the average American, the same outstanding healthcare that enabled him to overcome for so long the cancer to which he eventually succombed, has a much better chance of coming to fruition with the defeat of this travesty of a healthcare bill which, in reality, has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with government control. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t recognize that when he had the opportunity to influence it.

Heresay has it that the Democrat machine is working on a plan to procedurally delay the approval of Scott Brown into the Senate. This is an absolute no win for them. If they proceed with such a tactic, they will be villified by mainstream America in a way which will dwarf what they’ve seen so far. If they don’t do this, however, they will in all probability lose their precious healthcare bill, an effort that has already been openly acknowledged by the majority leadership will sacrifice the Democrat majority in both houses come November. Hey, you Democrat in Congress: it sure sucks to be you!

This is a great day to be an American! However, after the smoke clears on this monumental victory, the hard work to reverse the current progressive, socialist direction and stabilize the republic, truly begins. Do NOT get complacent!

Reference: Current House Bill H.R. 3200

Dr. Zane F. Pollard MD, a Pediatric Opthamalogist from Atlanta, has penned his recent past experiences with Medicaid, a microcosm of Obama’s envisioned public option healthcare, and his enlightened perspective of the fallout that will ensue in the medical profession if this legislation is passed by Congress in anywhere close to its current form. Here’s the entire American Thinker article…
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/obamacare_and_me.html

This article has been authenticated by Snopes as Dr. Pollard’s work…
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/pollard.asp

Well, I made it yesterday morning to the second row of Senator Arlen Specter’s Town Hall Meeting at Harrisburg Community College in my childhood hometown of Lebanon, PA. I arrived there to stand in line at about 7:15AM for a 9AM door-opening and a punctual 9:30AM start when the Senator and his entourage arrived. I can tell you from the ground, there was no appearance of a consolidated conspiracy to undermine the House’s current version HR 3200 healthcare bill. There was, however, an outpouring of passion by concerned Americans about the direction that this bill and many others which have been and are currently being pursued by Congress are taking this country. It was not the radical, organized, anti-American “Nazi”, “KKK”, so-called “astroturf” “mob” being portrayed by liberal congressional Democrats and echoed by the mainstream media. It was just average Americans, who wouldn’t even be there had they not been “awakened”, exercising their 1st Amendment constitutional rights in voicing their displeasure with the Obama Administration and this Congress. For this they are being demonized and marginalized despite their numbers, which cannot be ignored.

The response was overwhelmingly in opposition. In fact, out of 31 citizen speakers, only 1 indicated any favoritism at all to the healthcare bill in its current form and/or the path on which the federal government is leading us, in general. A professional colleague of mine, even got an opportunity to express himself (he’s the one in the red shirt, the final speaker shown in the video that follows). Here’s a news video…
http://www.necn.com/Boston/NECN-Extra/2009/08/11/Specter-faces-angry/1250003127.html

The Democrats, however, appear to be indignant and in denial to the reality that confronts them. Either that, or they are just so set in their ways that they believe they can, in partisan fashion, do whatever they want to do due to their numbers in Congress, regardless of the desires of their constituency. Post town hall statements by Specter and PA Governor Ed Rendell substantiate this fantasy…
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090812_Specter__Town_hall_protestors_
are_not_representative.html

Specter did apparently, however, take to heart the healthcare referendum recommendation made by one of the Lebanon town hall speakers…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/11/sen-specter-says-hell-pitch-fascinating-option-health-care-referendum/

I’d say congressional Democrats had better wake-up. No one can force feed such significant liberty infringing legislation upon American people who have this much animosity toward it, without suffering retribution by those same passionate Americans. My prediction is that, unless the Democrats experience a near-term epiphany and respond accordingly, they will find themselves at a significant numeric disadvantage in Congress following the Nov-2010 mid-term elections.

Healthcare or Cap-and-Trade legislation passed anywhere close to their current forms will be not only a death knell for America as we know it but, as well, the political aspirations of many career politicians. Who knows, maybe fending for themselves in the private sector is just the dose of reality they need to become productive citizens as opposed to the condescending, elite royalty of which they currently believe they are the benefactors?

Are these good things for Americans? The following are actually in the House healthcare bill currently under consideration…

1. Healthcare will be rationed. Yes, it states your annual limitation to be $5,000 per individual and $10,000 per family and covers no preventative care. A government committee, composed primarily of individuals who can be appointed by the President, will determine the treatments and benefits for which you qualify.

2. Healthcare will be provided to all non-U.S. citizens and any nonresident alien is exempt from individual taxes (ie. citizens pay for illegals’ healthcare).

3. The government will have access to your finances and direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.

4. A single payer system is the end game despite President Obama’s statements otherwise concerning “his bill”. The government is creating a healthcare exchange to bring private plans under their control. No company can sue the governments for price-fixing, which means the government has the means to eliminate all private competition with no fear of litigation. Businesses will be significantly penalized for not providing the public option.

5. The government will use community organizers like ACORN and Americorps to “inform and educate” people (ie. sign them up).

6. Individuals are “forced” to have heathcare deemed “acceptable” by the government, whether they want it or not, since they will be taxed 2.5% of their income if they don’t.

7. The government will have access to all your medical records and finances and a National ID Healthcare Card will be issued.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The infringement upon our liberties, trampling of the Constitution and imminent destruction of the finest medical delivery system in the world goes on for 1017 pages in H.R. 3200…
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf

If you prefer the abridged edition, here’s a very comprehensive summary that was developed by Liberty Counsel on 7/29/09 based upon review, revisions and adaptations of Peter Fleckenstein’s previously posted FreeRepublic.com version…
http://www.liberty.edu/media/9980/attachments/healthcare_overview_obama_072909.pdf

There’s no doubt that our healthcare system requires reform, however, what’s needed is a private-sector overhaul with government oversight, not a socialist government takeover of 1/7th of the U.S. economy.

This is what concerned citizens are bringing to light at these town hall meetings throughout the country. These individuals are not the lunatic fringe. They are patriots exercising their 1st Amendment right to free speech, which the government apparently desires to suppress. The lunatic fringe is the 500 plus so-called public servants in the legislative and executive branches of our current government that are trying to ram this atrocity down the throats of the American people.

Don’t be intimidated by the demonization of us concerned Americans that’s being done by the President, extreme liberals in Congress and their willing accomplices in the mainstream, virtually state-run, media. Make no mistake, the government bureaucracy and the consequential assault on American liberties that this bill would create will be virtually impossible to reverse at any time within our realistic futures, once enacted.

Demand that your voice be heard by contacting your congressmen and attending these town halls during the congressional recess over the next few weeks. This bill would usher in a “new” America… one in which most of us will have no desire to live. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your kids and their kids.

Be afraid, be very afraid. This is truly that important!

Well, President Obama was at it again last night with another prime time news conference, this time promoting his health scare scheme. This is his fifth news conference already, and the fourth in prime time. The monologue and follow-up question and answer session was just more of the same rhetoric, nothing of substance or specifics.

Honestly, this just reinforced by belief that the President doesn’t really understand the problem nor cares about the solution. He and the Democrat majority Congress haven’t even considered the viable market-based proposals being put forth by Conservatives that would empower personal responsibility by Americans and maintain healthcare insurance and service in the private sector. In my mind, this tells me he’s just taking advantage of a troubled economy and his current popularity to push through the largest expansion of government ever and the most significant since FDR’s New Deal in an effort to secure power indefinitely for himself and his liberal cronies by pandering to America’s non-productive entitlement sector.

Here’s the full transcript provided courtesy of the NY Times…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/us/politics/22obama.transcript.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

I find it most telling that which this President does, since, unfortunately, as a professional politician, he rarely does what he says. I, also, believe it is telling of one’s true beliefs that to which one is willing to subscribe in one’s own life and their family’s lives. With that thought, in these transcript excerpts, I believe it’s self-evident that the healthcare policy the President is proposing for “all other” Americans is not good enough for him and his family…

Opening Monologue, page 2 of transcript…

So let me be clear. This isn’t about me.

I have great health insurance, and so does every member of Congress. This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings.

Question and Answer Session, page 12 of the transcript…

Q: And what about yourself and Congress? Would you abide by the same benefit package?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, I would be happy to abide by the same benefit package. I will just be honest with you. I’m the president of the United States, so I’ve got a doctor following me every minute — (laughter) — which is why I say, this is not about me.

I’ve got the best health care in the world. I’m trying to make sure that everybody has good health care, and they don’t right now.