Dismantling America

Thomas Sowell : Dismantling America - Townhall.com

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?
Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?

Does any of this sound like America?

How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.

How much of America would be left if the federal government continued on this path? President Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more than two centuries.

We already have local police forces all across the country and military forces for national defense, as well as the FBI for federal crimes and the National Guard for local emergencies. What would be the role of a national police force created by Barack Obama, with all its leaders appointed by him? It would seem more like the brown shirts of dictators than like anything American.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Funnies - from Australia I like their perspective & observations!

HUMOR FROM BEYOND THE U.S. BORDER - COMPLIMENTS OF THAT GREAT LAND DOWN UNDER ...

A very clear explanation of the VAT: It's a NEW TAX to Finance Much Bigger Government

CLICK THE VIDEO BELOW --

Health Bill Includes $507 Billion in New Taxes and Fees

Finance Committee Health Bill Includes $507 Billion in New Taxes and Fees
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
By Matt Cover
http://ow.ly/ugCn
MP3 http://ow.ly/ugGc


In this Sept. 29, 2009 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nev., right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., left, and newly-named Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, center, listen. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
(CNSNews.com) – The health-care bill that the Senate Finance Committee will vote on today will cost a total of $829 billion over 10 years, with $507 billion of that cost being covered by new federal taxes and fees, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

On Oct. 7, the CBO released a report on the budget impact of the “chairman’s mark” summary of the bill that the Finance Committee is set to vote on today. Based on the document it was given, the CBO found that the bill would reduce the federal budget deficit by $81 billion over 10 years. That estimate was based on the calculation that, if enacted, the bill would bring in $480 billion in new tax revenues and $27 billion in fees.

These new taxes and fees include:

-- $201 billion in new taxes on high-premium health care plans.

-- $83 billion in new taxes paid by workers who will receive less employer-sponsored coverage or lose that coverage altogether but will be compensated with higher wages or monetary benefits, which are taxable.

-- $23 billion in penalty fees paid by employers who do not comply with the federal insurance mandate.

-- $4 billion in penalty fees paid by individuals who don’t have health insurance.

-- $16 billion in new income and Medicare payroll tax revenue due to changes in Medicare.

-- $180 billion in other tax revenues items calculated by the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

According to the JCT, this $180 billion in new taxes would include: A new tax on prescription drug makers that would account for $22.2 billion over 10 years; a new tax on medical device manufacturers that would bring in $38.6 billion; and a new annual tax on insurance companies would net the government $60.4 billion.

Also, a provision that raises the threshold at which medical expenses become tax deductible, from 7.5 percent of income to 10 percent of income, would reportedly yield the government $15.2 billion in new revenue from sick and disabled Americans with high out-of-pocket medical costs.

It would also include $5.4 billion derived from changing the definition of a deductible medical expense for health savings accounts; $14.6 billion from limiting to $2,500 the tax-deductible amount in flexible spending arrangements between employers and employees; $17.1 billion in revenue from expanded requirements (and potential penalties) on corporate reporting of taxable payments to other parties; and $5.4 billion from sponsors of Medicare Part D plans who are no longer able to deduct subsidies paid by the government to those plans.

The overall bill would cost $829 billion, according to the CBO, the cost of which apparently would be covered by a combination of savings, taxes, and penalties. The CBO said that the Baucus bill (currently in summary form, not final legislative language) would probably achieve $404 billion in spending cuts and other savings, largely through cuts to Medicare payments to physicians and to the Medicare Advantage insurance programs. The costs would come primarily from generous federal health insurance subsidies and entitlement expansions.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix Arizona Interview on CNN

Notice how the reporter cannot accept the FACT from the sheriff, that 20% of those in prison in Maricopa County (Phoenix AZ) are here illegally.

BIG names LEAVING the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

THE CONSERVATIVE RETURN: Why the GOP needs to return at the state level

Why An Obama-World Is Dangerous

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Kevin McCullough

- FOXNews.com

- October 07, 2009
Why Obama-World Is Dangerous

In President Obama's utopia he is fine with the idea of "American Exceptionalism" being challenged or even turned upside down. To Obama, an America that stands tall in contrast to others seems arrogant. To our enemies, an America that seems ashamed of herself seems weak.

Although he's 48-years-old President Obama is, in many ways, still just a lost boy. He seeks to live, not in the real world, but in a utopia. His insistence on living in this world -- though it may appear attractive to the uneducated, neglected and naive -- is dangerous and impacts every American.

As the first pundit in America to predict Mr. Obama's political rise and electoral success, it is with great regret that I say the following: President Obama is not a strong leader. His willingness to cede most of his domestic agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cost him dearly in his first year. And his unwillingness to admit that the world is at a crossroads is a demonstration of his paralysis as a leader on the most important questions of our time.

His rejection by the International Olympic Committee last week in Copenhagen was a stinging rebuke. And it confirmed not only his global impotence but also his inability to successfully push through projects he supports. It also revealed that the president has been relying on nothing more than his personality to win the day.

President Obama believes his good press far too often, relies too much on support from his trusted advisers -- instead of being open to genuine critical analysis -- and seems to feel that the American people are too "unevolved" to understand his political message and methods. All of these realities are just pushing the president further into an altered state. They're shaping his worldview and it's having a disastrous impact on the lives of average Americans.

Take the latest jobs report, for example. The report finds that the American people are suffering under an unemployment rate that is almost at 10 percent. And that's not all --the more realistic, unofficial unemployment rate puts the figure at about 17 percent. Why? Because many Americans have simply stopped looking for a job. A proven strategy to grow the economy and jump start a hiring trend would be to keep tax incentives for small business from disappearing in 2010. And the president shouldn't stop there he should add to them and allow the free market to work its magic. Working to expand a robust economy is the only answer to serious unemployment. But the president seems to believe that if he just has the right czar, in the right position, then job losses can be controlled. In the president's utopia, employment and the number of jobs available are fixed and finite, and "saving them" is better than or, at minimum, equal to "creating them."

Then there's health care. New poll numbers from Rasmussen find that the majority of the American people support health care reform but they do not, under any circumstances, support a government controlled "public option" -- or takeover -- of the industry. But President Obama doesn't seem to grasp the expressed will of the people who elected him. In the president's utopia it is *doctors,* not trial lawyers, that are being selfish and charging people for procedures they don't need just to "make a buck." In the world you and I live in, we know that doctors run the risk of a massive lawsuit every time they deliver bad news to a patient.

In Afghanistan, President Obama has deliberated for over a month about about whether to expand our footprint there by no more than 40,000 troops. While the military commanders he put in place to do the job beg him for more troops 43 more soldiers have died. Mr. Obama met with General McChrystal for less than an hour on Air Force One when he was in Copenhagen (but for only the second time since commissioning McChrystal to the theater), while Vice President Biden continues to whisper in his ear that things in the region are not working. In President Obama's utopia he wishes that war did not exist, but he has yet to realize that the threat from not dealing with it could be the worst scenario of all.

On Iran, President Obama has issued a stern assessment of the rogue nation's nuclear ambitions. In President Obama's utopia, stern words should be enough. They should cause a reasonable world leader to be so concerned that they will pick up the phone and iron out the differences by the afternoon. Yet even after the IAEA's meetings on Iran, even after the president issued another stern deadline, the administration has begun to backtrack. In President Obama's utopia, the United States is not superior to other nations. That's why we are powerless when we try to suggest what they should do. In fact, in President Obama's utopia, if we simply give up our weapons he believes the bad guys will give up theirs.

When it comes to the economy, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" sounds good. In a perfect world, such purity of goodness would be a place where we'd all like to live. But it would also be a place no one on this planet would recognize. In President Obama's utopia, the socialists and the communists DO have it right. Maybe this is why, in his memoirs, the president writes about how delighted he was to hang out with them in college. But the depravity of the human race has always been -- and will always be -- the fatal flaw in socialist and communist theory.

Finally, there is America's image in the world. In President Obama's utopia he is fine with the idea of "American Exceptionalism" being challenged or even turned upside down. Yet in reality no country has suffered more loss of its own, for the welfare of others, in history. To Obama, an America that stands tall in contrast to others seems arrogant. To our enemies, an America that seems ashamed of herself seems weak.

President Obama is not a strong decision maker -- most law professors aren't. They are too accustomed to arguing issues from all sides. The president is also a man who envisions a world that will never exist. It is his inability to recognize this flawed vision that makes our country more vulnerable, more hopeless and one with a bleak future, at least in the short run. It is, in a word, dangerous.

A letter to AARP Executive Director, Mr. Rand

RE: AARP Executive Director Mr. Rand

Dear Mr. Rand,
Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it's abdication of our values. Your letter specifically stated that we can count on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours. Your offer of being kept up to date on important issues through DIVIDED WE FAIL presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace. We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But, when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent. This is the philosophy which spawned our 200 years of government.

Once upon a time, we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We also looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy. The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain. Clearly a conflict of interest there!

We do not understand the AARP posture, feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces whom we expected to map out our senior years and leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations which offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This Presidential Administration scares the living daylights out of us. Not just for ourselves, but for our proud and bloodstained heritage, but even more importantly for our children and grandchildren. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a nonfiction scare tactic. I have never in my life endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now I find myself listening to them. I don't have to agree with them to appreciate the fear which birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the Socialist mindset in power. Perhaps I became American by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but in my adulthood I CHOOSE to embrace it and nurture the freedoms it represents as well as the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our 'house', invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn their language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.
I DON'T choose to welcome them. I DON'T choose to support them. I DON'T choose to educate them. I DON'T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing.
American home invaders get arrested. Please explain to me why foreign lawbreakers can enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not get? Why do some immigrants have to processed to be welcomed and others only have to break & enter to be welcomed?

We travel for a living. Walt hauls horses all over this great country, averaging over 10,000 miles a month when he is out there. He meets more people than a politician on caffeine overdose. Of all the many good folks he enjoyed on this last 10,000 miles, this trip yielded only ONE supporter of the current administration. One of us is out of touch with mainstream America. Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than one which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage them to do the same. With several hundred in my address book, I have every faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

I am MAD as hell, and I'm NOT going to take it anymore!

Obama Meter- scoll down and review the details of how it's tracked and rated.

Obama Meter - updated 09.08.29