Colin Goddard – Another Misguided Coward!

November 19th, 2009

On November 19 2009, Colin Goddard send the following note via the Brady Campaign: ”

Surviving near-death experiences often yields new perspectives in life. My eyes were opened after I was shot and almost killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

No matter how hard it is to discuss that day, it is worth it if it brings greater awareness to some of the issues surrounding school shootings in this country.

With my story I try to convey the reality of the situation I faced in my classroom, as well as the reality that our nation’s gun laws are woefully inadequate.

Did you know, in most states, people can walk into gun shows and purchase firearms — from Glocks to AK-47s — from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check? This is legal and a currently glaring loophole within America’s background check system.

I’ve learned that the Columbine shooters obtained their guns through this same loophole in the law.”

Unfortunately, Colin is another misguided coward.  Colin, the guns did not shoot you, Cho did.  The root cause of the attack lays with Cho, and not with the tools his chose to execute his crimes.  How come you do not come out against evil people in our society? How come you fail to take responsiblity for your life? By your own account, when Cho started his vicious attack you and your class mates all called 911.  How did that work out for you? Were the police there in time to stop that heinous  crime?  What did you do when your friends were being butchered?  We all know the answers to those questions.

Colin, you are a coward and a liar!

You failed to take responsibility for your life, you failed to take action, you failed in every respect.  A free man takes action, a real man confronts the problem head on.  Free men proactively defend their lives and the lives of those they care about.  If just a few people were armed that day, if just a few people decided to take decisive action, Cho’s deadly rampage would have ended in seconds and most likely that many people would have not become victims.  Facts clearly support this.  In Israel, where a large number of the population carries concealed weapons, EVERY shooting and stabbing terror attack in the last decade ended in a tens of seconds with the terrorist being terminated by a law abiding citizen(s).  Don’t believe it – do your research, check the real facts.  Another interesting fact is that in the past decade, violent crime in the US has dropped by over 30%, all while gun ownership has gone up to an estimated 300 million firearms in the USA.  Based on the Brady’s (and apparently your) logic, how is it conceivable that we have more guns than ever but violent crimes keeps on declining?  BTW, many of those weapons are those evil “assault weapons”, some are even equipped with “barrel shrouds” and “pistol grips that allow one to shoot from the hip”…  Don’t believe the statistics, check them out for yourself; they are based on the annual FBI crime report.  Go ahead, make my day – but I warn you, you may not be able to handle the truth!

Now Colin, we already established you to being a coward, but you are also a liar.  There is no gun show loophole.  Private firearm sales done between people are called Person to Person Purchases (PPP).  Federal law clearly requires the seller to establish the buyer’s eligibility to purchase a firearm during such a transaction.  Don’t believe me, I dare you to read the law.  A PPP sale without that is a violation of Federal Law!  So, there is no loophole, and the vast majority of people follow the law, just like the vast majority of dealers perform legal firearm sales.

Now, I sympathize with your pain, and I admire your wish to do something for future people.  Instead of being a coward and a liar, study the facts and make smart decisions.  Obviously,  calling 911 did nothing for you.  The Brady Campaign will do nothing for you either.  They will continue to do everything in their power to further victimize  American citizens.  The Brady Campaign only focuses on creating new victims.  The Brady Campaign has never proposed a single piece of legislation to strengthen the ability of citizens to protect themselves, nor have they ever proposed legislation that reduced the ability of criminals to commit crime.

Wake up to reality Colin Goddard, take responsibility for your life as a real free man and stop being a coward.

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“Change” – Did We Really Get Any?

October 31st, 2009

When the current administration took office together with a democratically controlled Congress they promised “change”.  Let’s recap what kind of change they promised and just what we got:

1) They promised to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, they FAILED.

2) They promised to repeal the Patriot act, they FAILED.

3) They promised transparency in government, but new bills are secret AGAINST congressional rules. They FAILED to bring transparency.

4) The administration appointed czars (?!?) to circumvent congressional oversight, they FAILED to bring transparency.

5) They promised to fix the underlying issues with the housing market, but they FAILED to change the framework of laws that brought us here in the first place.  Not a single root cause was corrected.

6) They promised to keep unemployment below 8%, it is now closed to 10% – they FAILED.

Here is what the Administration and Congress did succeed in doing:

1) They increased the national debt by over a trillion dollar.

2) They increased the size of government.

3) They have single handedly crushed the fundamental principals of self correcting capital markets.

4) They now allow people with incurable infectious diseases into the United States.

So – got the change you wanted???

They are now ramming down our throats “health care reform”, which will cost the American people Billions of dollars we don’t have, and reduce our quality of health to that of a third world nation. Health care is NOT a constitutional right! Health care is NOT a god given right! Stealing from hard working Americans in the name of compassion is wrong! Do you want compassion? Get the entitled class off welfare and get them out to work so they carve their own destiny.

The proposed socialized-nationalized government ran health bill will not be budget natural. How can millions of people get coverage for without someone else paying for it? The only way that would happen, is if the Fed is instructed to print money – and we all know the effect that would have. Just a few weeks ago Obama you said in a speech to the Congress that the Health care reform would be “budget neutral”. Today, Representative Pelosi announced that it would be funded with new taxes. I guess this isn’t the first and last time Obama lied.

It’s time the Congress and the Administration start eliminating the national deficit!  They did not inherit the $1.4 Billion deficit – they created almost half of it. Blaming the previous Administration is childish and inappropriate of a public servant.

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Shame On AARP

October 2nd, 2009

I used to think that AARP was a good thing – boy was I wrong!  Last year, AARP showed it’s true face in California when it went on an all out offensive on Prop 98, the Eminent Domain ballot measure.  They spent millions of dollars to steal property rights from American citizens so their members can enjoy living like parasites off other people’s backs.

Now, AARP is spending big money nationally on the proposed SOCIALIZED GOVERNMENT MANAGED HEALTH CARE proposals that are floating around congress.  Of course, they support it because they want to steal more money from the American people to pay for their members that didn’t bother saving for retirement.

So you can imagine how amused I was to read the following in their October Bulletin: “Older Americans are speaking out in polls and public forums across the country – voicing their angry suspicions that health care reforms would cut Medicare benefits or increase their costs to help pay for covering the uninsured.”

I must say I got a real kick out of that opener for their propaganda article on page 12 of the Bulletin, since they state that their members are upset that they would have to pay for someone else.  So let me get this, when the American people pay for retirees – that’s ok! When American people’s property rights are taken away and given to retirees – that’s fine too! But god forbid make the retirees pay for the uninsured – then they scream bloody murder.  That is what I call hypocrites!

This propaganda article goes on to repeat the lies spread by the administration and the proponents of the SOCIALIZED GOVERNMENT MANAGED HEALTH CARE:

1) They claim that savings could be had by “doing things differently”.  If savings could be had by just doing things differently, why don’t we implement those changes BEFORE we insure the uninsured?  I vote we try those saving measures for 5 years to determine if they really work.

2) They perpetuate the lie that more insured would increase competition.  That is an outright lie.  Anyone who took economics knows that there is no competition in oligopolies, especially ones that have a captive audience.  Ironically, the congress complains about lack of competition – which they created by pushing most players out of the field by creating barriers to entry via a web of legislation.  So in effect, the congress is complaining about a problem they created.

3) The article states that Medicare is projected to run out of money around 2017.  Shouldn’t that be the biggest red flag?  The administration and the congress is mismanaging Medicare into the ground and that is just for people over 65.  Now AARP wants the government to run everyone’s health care?  But it’s not just Medicare that they are running into the ground – but also Social Security.  One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.  If this isn’t insanity – what is?

4) The aricle talks about how AARP members want their kids and grand kids to have great benefits too.  What the articles forgot is that AARP members want to enslave their kids and grandkids to pay for something they didn’t both planning for.

AARP is bad news for hard working Americans.

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Government Ran Socialized Healthcare

August 1st, 2009

Points for thought:

  1. If the proposed government ran health care was a great as the congress and the president claim, how come they refused to be a part of it?
  2. How come Pelosi wants to keep her taxpayer funded health care?
  3. How come Senator Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd won’t seek health care using the system they propose?
  4. Social Security has been bankrupt by the Congress.  If they can’t responsibly manage a trust fund, how can they manage the health needs of 350 million people?

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Please help Obama with basic math!

April 17th, 2009

On April 16th, 2009 in in a press conference in Mexico, President Obama claimed that: “More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States.”

Let’s look at the facts from: CBS News report,   Fox News report ,  and another source.  Some, please help the President with math.  Does anyone else think that it’s odd that our President took responsibility for Mexican internal issues, but not a single word was said about the continuous invasion of the U.S. by Mexican nationals? How come we have to protect their border and enforce their laws, but they refuse to prevent their nationals from breaking our laws?

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The “Too Big To Fail” Myth

March 28th, 2009

Since the 2008 economic crisis began, we keep on hearing that some companies are “too big to fail” and that “we must keep them afloat or bad things will happen.”  Those who perpetuate this myth tell us of the lost jobs, and economic repercussions that will follow if we allow a large company to collapse.  These claims are  unsubstantiated, and in reality have a more disastrous impact on the market than anyone would like to admit.  Let’s consider the points:

1) When a company becomes “too big” how do we determine that it’s “too big to fail?” No one really knows!  what are the repercussions of the failure of a company that is “too big” – no one knows either.

2) Those who perpetuate this myth, make a false assumption that when a corporation fails, its assests, and people never get a job again.  They also assume that the entire company is dissolved as a whole.  This has never been the case in reality.

3) When the people (via the government) institute a policy of “too big to fail” we create moral hazard in the economy which will have disastrous ramifications in the future.  We are essentially creating a situation in which large corporations have the ability to run amok out of the knowledge that at the end of the road, the government will always bail them out.  This will cause modern day corporate board of directors and executives to further better themselves and do disservice to their shareholders.  Such a thing can strike a death blow to the concept of free markets.

4) In recent decades, we have seen many huge corporations “disappear” with little ramifications.  Why? the truthful answer they don’t want you to know is that when a corporation that is “too big to fail” fails, other corporations and groups get in line to buy the profitable parts of that corporations.  Most of the assets and people of the original corporation change employer and the few that lose their jobs move on to other jobs. In reality this is the correct and most efficient method of economic correction in which losses are written off, inefficient staff is let go, and everyone moves on.

If we would have let AIG, GM, Ford, Chrysler and others fail, they would have been bought and trasformed within days! Let’s look at some examples:

1) Bear Stearns was sold to JP Morgan.

2) Merril Lynch was sold to Bank of America.

3) Lehman Brothers was broken up and sold to various corporations.

As can be seen, the facts do not substantiate the claim that the concept of “too big to fail” exist.  It is more likely that this myth is perpetuated by politicians that pray upon the opportunity to induce panic with the public, which in turn is used to further their personal political agenda.

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Brady continues the victimization of America

February 20th, 2009

This week, the Brady Campaign urged Americans to call President Obama and ask him to prevent law abiding citizens from legally carrying firearms in national parks.

Let’s analyze this: visitors go out to enjoy our national parks.  National parks have wildlife – the kind that can easily kill people.  Also, in most national parks, you can travel for hours or days without seeing another person.  In case of trouble, emergency services can be impossible to reach.  Wouldn’t unarmed people be easy targets in national parks? So how is a law abiding citizen to protect himself?

The Brady Campaign believes you do not have the right to protect yourself.  The Brady Campaign believes you should expect to be a victim when enjoying a National Park.  The true colors of the Brady Campaign are clearly exposed by their actions; they aren’t interested in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals – they want to keep guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.

Mr. Jim Brady was shot by John Hinckley.  Instead of going after John Hinckley, Jim Brady decided that the gun was the source of all evil.  Jim Brady decided to villainize an object.  A gun isn’t good or bad – a gun is neutral.   The people who choose to use it however, have free will, and the capacity to choose between good and bad.  Jim Bardy is a coward, he is unable to cope with going after the root cause for his injuries so he decided to go on a crusade to victimize all American people.  Way to go Jim Brady!

If you still think guns are the cause of crime and violence maybe you should read John Lott’s: The Bias Against Guns.

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The Pork Bill – H.R. 1

February 16th, 2009

H.R. 1, passed 02/13/2009 is one the biggest Trojan Horse ever passed by Congress, and generations to come will have to pay its price tag.  How can a several hundred page legislation  with the largest price tag in mankind’s history be properly vetted in just a few weeks?  Do the Senators and Representatives really know what they voted on? During the weeks leading up to the ratification of H.R. 1 we learned much of the pork deeply hidden in this legislation. The people of America should not pay for special interests!  President Obama stated just a few days ago that he “does not know if this plan would work.” Is it is appropriate for the people of America to gamble their future on a long shot plan? A plan should be thorough and effective. This plan increases entitlements. Entitlements do not stimulate a strong economy, rather – they are a burden on free society. Increasing entitlements perpetuates poverty and dependence amongst the weak sectors. This plan creates temporary jobs that have no long term prospects. A successful plan creates self sustaining sectors which provide employment for future generations. Temporary jobs only dig us into a bigger hole. This Congress (and Administration) promised “change” and bi-partisanship. This plan is partisan and goes against the principals that were sold to the American people during the election campaign.  Debt and greed got us into this mess – how would additional debt get us out? The only thing this bill seems to stimulate is the growth of the Federal government.

Has no one noticed the back door introduction of socialized health care: SEC. 3011. IMMEDIATE FUNDING TO STRENGTHEN THE HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

This bill does absolutely nothing to change the legislative heritage left by Carter, Clinton, and many radical leftist legislators that created the housing snowball that got us to where we are at today.  As a reminder, Clinton ushered out the Glass-Steagall Act, which for decades had separated commercial and investment banking, and signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act – which exempted all derivatives, including the now-notorious credit-default swaps, from federal regulation. His administration also loosened housing rules, which added pressure on banks to lend in low-income neighborhoods.  Absolutely nothing has been done to change the way Fannie and Freddy provide loans, absolutely nothing has been done to prevent the securitization and abstraction of loans.  Absolutely nothing has been done to reign in Acorn and its intimidation tactics against banks that provide responsible loans, after all – Acorn helped steal Ohio.

Please encourage everyone you know to vote these irresponsible Senators out of office:

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)		 Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)		 Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Please encourage everyone you know to vote these irresponsible Representatives out of office:

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Adler (NJ)
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Baird
Baldwin
Barrow
Bean
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boccieri
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson (IN)
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Childers
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Dahlkemper
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis (TN)
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Driehaus
Edwards (MD)
Edwards (TX)
Ellison
Ellsworth
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Foster
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Giffords
Gonzalez
Gordon (TN)
Grayson
Green, Al
Green, Gene		 Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Halvorson
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Heinrich
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Himes
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick (MI)
Kilroy
Kind
Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Kissell
Klein (FL)
Kosmas
Kratovil
Kucinich
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Luján
Lynch
Maffei
Maloney
Markey (CO)
Markey (MA)
Marshall
Massa
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McMahon
McNerney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murtha
Nadler (NY)
Napolitano		 Neal (MA)
Nye
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Perriello
Peters
Pingree (ME)
Polis (CO)
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Richardson
Rodriguez
Ross
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Salazar
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schauer
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis (CA)
Space
Speier
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Tauscher
Teague
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Titus
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch
Wexler
Wilson (OH)
Woolsey
Wu
Yarmuth

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Brady Campaign – Oh Really?

February 14th, 2009

The Brady Campain, one of the most dispicable political organizations in the U.S. is continuing their path to create a society of victims.  Let’s put it this way, if the Brady Campaign only wanted to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, than how come  100% of their legislative efforts are directly geared towards law abiding citizens? Just ponder that for a while…

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H.R. 1424: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

October 4th, 2008

H.R. 1424, also known as the “bailout plan” is the greatest economic mistake of the 20th and 21st centuries, and is a dangerous step back in American society.  Nowhere in time did we ever make such a dangerous move towards killing the capitalistic nature of this great country and moving toward socialism.

Don’t any of our representatives study recent history?  Let’s look at socialist USSR, and how they ended up collapsing.  How about socialist China? Socialism took it down, now that its government is encouraging a gradual shift to capitalism – they are flourishing.  How about Cuba?  There isn’t a single case in recent history in which forced socialism works.  Socialism takes away the basic human right to prosper by personal effort, initiative, and risk, and brings government into our lives in a dangerous way.  Governments need to be enablers and stay out of our lives, not control and dictate any and every aspect.

H.R. 1424 is a mistake for the following reasons:

1) It will increase the national deficit by over 800 billion dollars.  That is 800 billion dollars the American people do not have.  This is de facto enslavement of this and future generation. What happened to living within our means?

2) This bill will force a significant increase in federal taxation.  As every economist will tell you, more taxes means slower growth.  Slower growth means higher burden and the path to disaster is paved.

3) Our politicians signed us up for 800 billion dollar debt in just one week! This is the worst type of reactionary legislation.  The legislature has a history of screwing up nearly every reactionary legislation they came up with (look up the “Patriot Act” if you want a good example.)

4) After the Great Depression (1929) the Federal government created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which had similar goals to that of H.R. 1424.  The RFC was later shut down amongst allegations of corruption, favoritism, and bureaucracy.  Think it won’t happen this time – think again!  The first attempt to pass the bailout plan failed in the House with good cause.  In order to pass it in its second incarnation (H.R. 1424) the Senate laced it with Pork money providing tax breaks and incentives such as: wooden arrow maker, race tracks, rum makers in the American Virgin Islands to name a few.  This bill just passed the house, and it is already filled with corruption and favoritism.

5) This crisis wasn’t created by any single person, corporation, or legislator.  It is a culmination of greed by hundreds of thousands of people, corporations, and legislators.  The American public can be split down the middle to those that recklessly jumped on the bandwagon, and those that were responsible and did not.  Why are we punishing those that were responsible by enslaving them with the debt of those that ran wild? What kind of a moral message are we sending?

6) Many claim that “something needs to be done” and that “free market capitalism failed.”  They are correct on the first account, and wrong on the second.  Something does need to be done, we should let the market correct it self – that is how free markets work.  Someone once said “Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell.”  And that is exactly the essence of how a free market should operate.  When people in a free market become reckless – they pay the price.  It is a self correcting mechanism.  It helps maintain moral hazard, ethics, and proper cost/risk/benefit approach to business.  If we privatize gains and socialize losses – we destroy the foundation for the success of capitalism.

Let’s remind our elected officials that they are public servants, let’s reminds them that they were put in office to serve our interests, rather than pad their pockets with kickbacks, let’s remind them that pork money and corporate favoritism is wrong, let’s oust them from office.  KiloXray recommends you vote the following senators and house representatives out of office to help remind them what there were put in place for.

——————————————————————-

Here is a link to the full text of H.R. 1424.

Here is a link to the official House voting record for H.R. 1424.

Here is a link to official Senate voting record for H.R. 1424.

——————————————————————-

PLEASE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE THESE RECKLESS SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES OUT OF OFFICE!

House representatives that supported H.R. 1424:

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Alexander
Allen
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Bachus
Baird
Baldwin
Barrett (SC)
Bean
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boozman
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boustany
Boyd (FL)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Braley (IA)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Buchanan
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carson
Castle
Clarke
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Cohen
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Cooper
Costa
Cramer
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Tom
DeGette
DeLauro
Dent
Dicks
Dingell
Donnelly
Doyle
Dreier
Edwards (MD)
Edwards (TX)
Ehlers
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Everett
Fallin
Farr
Fattah
Ferguson		 Fossella
Foster
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gonzalez
Gordon
Granger
Green, Al
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herger
Higgins
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inglis (SC)
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (NY)
Kirk
Klein (FL)
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mahoney (FL)
Maloney (NY)
Markey
Marshall
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McCrery
McGovern
McHugh
McKeon
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey		 Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peterson (PA)
Pickering
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Reyes
Reynolds
Richardson
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schmidt
Schwartz
Sessions
Sestak
Shadegg
Shays
Shuster
Simpson
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Space
Speier
Spratt
Sullivan
Sutton
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tierney
Towns
Tsongas
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Wamp
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Wexler
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (OH)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Yarmuth

PLEASE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE THESE RECKLESS SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES OUT OF OFFICE!

Senators that supported H.R. 1424:

Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coburn (R-OK)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)		 Domenici (R-NM)
Durbin (D-IL)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)		 McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)

PLEASE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE THESE RECKLESS SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES OUT OF OFFICE!

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Fixing Healthcare in the US – KiloXray style

August 30th, 2008

Health care won’t be easy to fix.  Most politicians offer great single-step ideas that have absolutely no financial merit.  In order to fix health care, we have to address some of the core issues.  It’s time to abandon the “patch it up” approach – those do not work.

We have the best health care system in the world – why?  because we are capitalist pigs!  In the U.S. health care professionals have an incentive to do fundamental research, invent new procedures, and improve just about anything they can.   It is no surprise that:

  • The rest of the world comes here to learn anything we will teach them.
  • People who with the most difficult conditions come here to get treatment.
  • We are the number one source of new drugs.  Medicines are developed here and sold world wide.

In reality, we have a health care problem because we subsidize health care for the rest of the world. Yes, the world is getting healthier at our expense!

Here is how we can fix it step by step:

1) Let’s start with the pharmaceuticals.  When pharmaceuticals apply for drug approval with foreign FDAs, as a part of the drug approval process in that country – the drug’s selling price is negotiated. If a price is not agreed upon, the drug does not achieve FDA approval in that country.   This practice is forbidden in the U.S. As a result, the pharmaceuticals have to agree to very low prices world wide, and we here in the U.S. have to pay the difference.  Since this has become an unfair situation for us, we have to force the FDA to set price limits just like other countries do.  If we do that, the pharmaceuticals will have to price their drugs more evenly across nations and have other countries pay their fair share in drug development.  Under normal circumstances,  I would object to such government intervention, but in this case it is needed since foreign governments are exercising a de facto tariff on the U.S.

2) Price quote mandate. Medical care is one of the only trades in the U.S. in which you get service with no price estimate before hand.   When was the last time you went to the doctor and got a price quote before seeing the doctor?  They will outright refuse!  This prevents competition since we are a captive audience.  Doctors are in collusion by making this “standard practice”.  Congress should immediately enact legislation that forces every doctor/clinic/hospital to provide a written quote for every visit – allowing consumers to make educated decisions.

3) No cash, no insurance – no service! We have to stop paying for people with no coverage.  In reality, many people don’t carry insurance because they know the state and federal governments will pick up the tab.  Clinics and hospitals have to be profitable organizations for them to be viable in the long run.   While I do not want to force insurance on everyone, if you don’t have insurance – you must be willing to pay cash.

More to come…

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Obama’s Nomination speech at the DNC – FAIL!

August 28th, 2008

Tonight, Barak Obama delivered his much choreographed nomination speech in the Bronco’s stadium in front of 80,000 enthused worshipers watching the return of the Messiah.

Obama spoke very well. He is well articulated, very charismatic, and always a person of presence.  Unfortunately, beyond that – did he really deliver a worthwhile message?

For starters, he immediately went on the offensive and attacked McCain.  He then went to play on the public’s fears stating that McCain is nothing but a continuation of “President Bush’s failed leadership” (his words.)  Is that going to be his platform – a platform of fear and intimidation? Going on such a strong offensive from the start of his speech is a significant indicator suggesting that is his only tactic for victory.  Such an offensive maneuver suggests he knows that he doesn’t have substance to solidify his platform, so he chose the next best thing – attack!

After a long assault on McCain he decided to present his platform, and here are the core points I noticed:

  1. He will fight for the blue collar worker that was laid off because his/her factory was shut down.  He mentioned this blue collar worked over and over again. So let me get this, a factory is no longer financially viable – but Obama will keep it open.  Who will pay for that?
  2. We will all get health care at the same quality senators do, including those of us who don’t currently have health care.  Those of us who currently have health care will pay less.  So we will all get more but pay less, who will pay for that?
  3. Obama will pay teachers more, and improve our education system.  First, why is education a federal responsibility? The states should be in charge of education – not the Federal government, that is what federalism is all about!  So, we will have higher paid teachers, look at the California education system that spends billions of dollars a year on education but is on the top three worst in the nation. How will paying teachers more help? Some of the least funded education systems in the world are some of the best – money doesn’t solve everything. Once again – who will pay for these pay increases?
  4. Obama promised affordable college education for everyone – who will pay for that?
  5. 95% of us will pay less taxes – yippee!!! I think I belong to that 95%, so I will pay less taxes. Now, if there is less tax revenue, how are we going to pay for items 1-4?
  6. Abortion – one topic he actually made some sense on!
  7. 2nd amendment: this is where his true colors show.  Once again, he tried to “remind us” all that the second amendment was written for “hunting” and that “we should keep those AK47s out of criminal’s hands.” Well Obama – the 2A was written to protect  “we the people” against a tyrannous government.  Not a single word in the second amendment mentions hunting, or sporting, or target hunting.  Obama -  if the 2A is for hunting, then the first amendment is for pen-pals only. Obama, 2A shouldn’t be changed to keep those evil AK47s out of criminal’s hands, all that needs to be done is enforce the rules that are already on the books! This part of his speech demonstrated the DNP’s ever going attempt to rewrite the constitution whenever convenient.

So,  Obama promised everything, to everyone, for less money – how will that work? Speeches like that demonstrate how gullible people really are – just say what they want to hear and they will worship the ground you walk on!

Obama – your nomination speech receives a FAIL!

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Boot Mayor Sanders

May 4th, 2008

Election is coming up it’s a good opportunity to remind our elected officials they are public servants. This upcoming June we should do this by booting San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders out of office.

Why boot Sanders? Let’s start:

1) City finances. The mayor has been all talk but next to no action. He told us he inherited the mess and it’s not his fault – while true, as mayor he is expected to clean up. If he can’t clean up – he should leave. We have a city with a huge deficit, but he failed to balance the budget without committing us to super expensive loans. Why is it that he can’t understand that when budget is short – you reduce expenses!

2) Homosexual daughter fiasco. Mayor Sanders told us before he got elected that marriage is between a man and a woman – and that was his stand as our representative. Halfway through his term, he flipped on his position. Was the change due to public interest? Was it due to a change of heart within the San Diego community? Absolutely not – it was because he has a Homosexual daughter. Now, why should any of us care about Mayor Sanders’ daughter? Why would this personal matter cause him to change the position of the San Diego community? What’s next? His wife runs into financial problems, so Sanders will choose to declare that the City of San Diego supports bankruptcies? There is nothing wrong with his daughter’s sexual orientation, but city policy should not be based on Mayor Sanders’ family issues.

2) Sunroad building fiasco. Mayor Sanders failed the newspaper test on this one. His actions are those of someone guilty of corrupt involvement. This is coming from the person that came into the position promising to “clean up” the city and it’s government agencies.

3) Favoritism with Police/Fire Departments. We have a deficit – but he gives his Police and Fire department buddies generous raises. Some may get the feeling that Sanders is nothing but a Police and Fire Union puppet mayor.

4) “F-U Steve”. In a mayoral debate, Mayor Sanders couldn’t help himself to greet Steve Francis good-bye in any other way than “F-U Steve”. If he can’t control himself in public, what’s he like behind closed doors? What’s he like in the office?

5) Perpetual cry-baby. Mayor Sanders continuously complains about the fact the Steve Francis is self funded. At least Steve doesn’t take money from special interest groups.  If Mayor Sanders had real achievements to show for, he wouldn’t care about Steve’s campaign funding.  But since Mayor Sanders doesn’t have much to show for his term in office, he has to portray himself as the poor underdog.

Bottom line: His ethical standards are suspect, he failed to take aggressive action to repair our corrupt city government, he can’t control himself, and he acts like a Police and Fire Department Union crony.

Let’s put in someone new, like Steve Francis. What do we know about Steve Francis – very little. But the fact is that we need to remind our public servants who is in control, and whenever they get out of control – we need to exercise our civil rights, rattle their cage and vote them out of office. This is probably the most effective way to motivate our public servants to do their job – serve the public.

Steve Francis’ page: http://www.steveformayor.com/

Eric Bidwall is 25 years old, has dread locks and wears T-shirts for mayoral debates. Everyone considers him a novelty candidate, but then again, they said an actor can’t be the governor of California and the president of the US: http://revolutionarymayor.com/

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New page added – Government Watch

March 23rd, 2008

Our elected officials love to shoot themselves in the foot and abuse the power we have given them. Since so many of us tend to forget it, I will update it periodically with reports of such events.

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The Scam of Universal Health Insurance

March 1st, 2008

Lots of talk in recent months about universal health insurance a.k.a socialized health care, especially from politicians that love to dazzle us all with “affordable health insurance for everyone”, and “once everyone buys in costs must go down”. Well, talk is cheap, and most of the politicians never took economics 101. Let’s consider the problem more in depth.

First, everyone loves to blame the insurance companies for our health system’s faults. It’s a lot of fun blaming them – because they are an easy target. Well, health insurance companies are just like any other insurance company – they are a co-op for health services with the premise that people join it voluntarily, and the total costs (i.e. medical expenses) will be covered by the premiums paid by the members with some sort of profit margin. Now, everyone loves to blame the insurance companies for making huge profits. Is that really the case? Most insurance companies are publicly traded corporations – that means their books are wide open for everyone to review. Can anyone show me even one health insurance company that make outrageous profits? If insurance companies were that profitable – everyone would be investing in them. That clearly isn’t the case.

To understand the health care problem we need to look at the root cause. Health insurance isn’t the root cause -they are just a symptom of the disease. long ago, when health insurance became popular, the health insurance companies did the right thing for their customers – they negotiated rates with doctors with the idea that a large customer base would enable them to have leverage. This is at the core of free market. Since doctors found themselves in a spot they didn’t like, they changed the way they did business. Since “fair rates” are negotiated on the health provider’s cost, the doctors started increasing their costs in order to maintain the level of profitability they wanted. They started building modern clinics, with all the services and amenities of a 5-star hotel (or malls), and they started increasing their staffing levels. As an example, when I go to see my doctor, I walk in, to be greeted by the clinic’s receptionist (5-10 person team) for the initial check-in. After the administrative check-in is complete, I walk over to the doctor’s office only to be greeted by the doctor’s two receptionists. After being checked-in by the doctor’s receptionists, I wait to be called. I am called in by the doctor’s nurse #1 – she takes me to the exam room. Then nurse #2 comes in to take my vitals. It is only after I go through at least 4 support personnel that I get to see the doctor. These folks are just the people I interact with. I can’t even start to count the number of back office support people which I never see.

The direct result of all of this – is that we have to pay for the doctor’s entire team. Since the doctors managed to build a small empire around them, their profitibility level is maintained at the levels they originaly wanted them. Doctors will tell us that this support staff is need to be able to see a patient every 10-15 minutes, but doctors forget the law of diminishing returns, and their current staffing levels are way past the point of diminishing returns – but they don’t care as long as their financial objectives are met.

Another interesting observation related to this is the fact that politicians love to talk about how our collective buying power will create economies of scale, and how free market will help us make better choices. First, we can never achieve economies of scale when it comes to medical services – if you don’t understand why, open your Economics 101 book. This industry does not have the ability to create economies of scale. Now, to address free market; when was the last time any of us was able to compare prices when going to get medical services? One of the requirements for free market to work is the prerequisite that people have knowledge and choice. To demonstrate this point, call up 3 local doctors, and tell them that your knee hurts and ask how much it would cost to see them. Let me know what you find out. Doctor’s intentionally keep their costs a closely guarded secret – so we have no choice and the proposed socialized health care system will not address this.

Now, if we go to socialized health care let’s consider what will happen. We will all be obligated to have health insurance – right? Perfect (for doctors)! We will hand our collective rear ends to the health providers because now, we will be a captive audience – another concept politicians don’t understand. If everyone has to come to you for services – what incentive do you have to reduce your costs? Since health care is an oligopoly we know the outcome would not be a competitive market place. Economists have known that for a long time – why can’t politicians understand that?

In addition, we all know that you can’t make something from nothing – right? If everyone must have health insurance, someone must pay for it. So let’s make the government pay for it – right? Who funds the government? We do – what a revelation! The outcome would be that those that don’t want to pay for it – won’t be paying anyway, and those of us that have been paying for it – will pay more. So now we will have a situation in which we increase the burden of our social leaches on the those of us who are productive members of society. Since when is social justice defined as burdening the socially responsible and rewarding the social leaches?

Some of our beloved politicians like to point to how great socialized health care works so abroad. What they don’t tell you that other countries had to nationalize the medical profession – yes, doctors and their staffs are government employees! Do you think doctors here will agree to become government employees? Do you think the medical industry will agree to be nationalized?

Another thing politicians don’t tell us about the allegedly successful forign socialized health care is the fact that those systems are consistently overloaded. Need outpatient surgery? Get in line! And the line could be lone, very long. Need emergency surgery? Get in line as well. Is there a chance you won’t make it while you wait in line – tough, you still need to wait in line. Before you fall for the socialized health trap – talk to someone that needed health care in a country that has such a system to get a first hand account on how it really works.

Last but not least, socialized systems are inheretly flawed. They are flawed because by equalizing everyone – they supress basic human nature to exceed and succeed. There is a reason why people from all over the world flock to the United States for medical care – we have the best doctors. Why do we have the best doctors? Because they have the incentive to succeed. Turn them into government employees, and watch our medical system decline to the mediocrity of other countries.

The health care issue is a difficult one, and no magic bullets exist to fix the problem. Fixing the system can only be done by tackling all aspects of the problem. The aspects include medical health providers cost structure, liability insurance (I didn’t address this topic), health insurance, and last but not least – us. Don’t fall for politicians that promise you free health care by taxing someone else – for that someone will be you!

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R.I.P. Tatiana

February 26th, 2008

At first, the December 25 2007 attack by Tatiana on the sounded like another vicious attack of a wild animal on innocent zoo patrons, but now a different story emerges.

Tatiana the Siberian Tiger

Carlos Sousa Jr., Amritpal “Paul” and Kulbir Dhaliwal, seem like any other teenagers, but their actions after the mayhem just don’t add up. Sometimes behavior is the best indicator of guilt, and in this case the behavior of the survivors doesn’t add up. If they have nothing to hide, why are they refusing public comment? why are they refusing to cooperate with police investigation? If this was a random attack by an aggressive animal what reason would they have to hold anything back? On a side note, it seems like when someone hires Mark Geragos – they can’t be innocent!

The result, one beautiful Siberian Tiger dead!

R.I.P. Tantiana

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A Tribute for Flower the Mercat

February 26th, 2008

In the age of trash “reality TV” there is one reality show actually worth watching. The show is never scripted, the actors don’t talk much, but there is always action and drama. I am talking about Animal Planet’s Meerkat Manor.

Recently, the show has lost its lead character; Flower of the Whisker tribe. Flower was a worthy leader, a tenacious warrior, and a dedicated mother, that could have taught many Homo sapiens a lot about leadership.

This is a small tribute to Flower, who was killed by a Cape Cobra protecting her pups and leading her tribe on a suicide mission to evict the deadly invader. While her loss was unfortunate, her actions were typical of her personality, and we would expect no less of her. We salute you Flower!

 

Flower the Mercat

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Hello world!

February 26th, 2008

Just installed Wordpress to make web page edits easier.  Let’s see how well this system works!

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