Steve Buyer learns about The Apollo Alliance

Who writes the bills? Who is the Apollo Alliance? A high school student asks Congressman Steve Buyer – if HR 3200 passes, and salaries for physicians are capped, what motivation does he have to enter med school?

 

Danville, IN, Town Hall with Rep. Steve Buyer (R), cont.

More questions:

Part 5:

Part 6 (SCHIP):

 

Danville, IN, Town Hall with Rep. Steve Buyer (R)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

 

Health Care Takeover… It’s the Ideology Stupid

Healthcare Take Over.. It’s the Ideology Stupid

By: Jeff Petersen

Today many around the nation are rallying together to make their voices heard in opposition to the idea of Uncle Sam taking over the health care industry. I know that many do not like to call it a take over but that is exactly what it is. The liberal left hates the idea of individual choice unless it deals with women killing their unborn babies. The liberal left loves bureaucracy. The liberal left hates freedom. The voices that are rising up today are not those of the liberal left but of working (well some may be out of a job at the moment) Americans who hold to the idea that our Constitution does not support the government taking over any part of the private sector; not the auto industry, and certainly not health care.

From 1200EST-1:00PM EST, grassroots movements around the country will be protesting at government offices across the nation. The Tea Party Patriots are one of these groups. The truth of the matter is that everyone who reads this article (maybe it will only reach 300 people) should make an effort to keep this “reform” from happening. So if you were unable (like I am) to make it to one of the protests, then call the Senators and the Representative that represent you. You can find their contact information by clicking the link contact your representative right here on my blog.

In doing some research I found that the House version of this bill actually has a provision in it that will allow community organizations (read ACORN) to survey you based on your weight, your lifestyle, and your need for health care! My dear readers, this is yet another power grab by a hungry group of statists and progressives who truly believe that Big Brother can run your life better than you can. The liberal left wants to control your healthcare; this same liberal left is in full support of allowing women to kill their unborn babies on demand and is often found on the side of supporting euthanasia. Do you want this type of person making life and DEATH decisions for you? Remember that the socialist/communist mantra is based on the good of the community not the individual. If these are the people who run healthcare you would do well to never get sick and to stay productive (helping the community).

This legislation is also very expensive. I will not address the idea that healthcare is a right in this particular article. The bill that passed the House does not even satisfy the goal of insuring every American. What will happen is we will spend the money of working men and women to the tune of at least 1.5 trillion dollars. 1,500,000,000,000 dollars.  How is spending 1.5 trillion dollars going to save people money?  If taxes must be raised to pay for this behemoth legislation how is that saving people money?  Then there is the fear that 1.5 trillion is actually what it will cost or if the bureaucracy, that is sure to rise out of this system, doesn’t drive the costs higher. That is what happened with Medicare. I am sure history won’t repeat itself.

Another thing to consider is how invasive this new legislation will be. This bill is more about ideology than it is about practicality. It is about taking away choices away from individuals and giving them to a bureaucrat. It will no longer be a question about what your doctor thinks, or even what you think. Uncle Sam will decide if you really need to have that lump looked at. You are fooling yourself if you don’t think an Excel spreadsheet will be used to figure out if you are worthy of healthcare… put age into cell A1, weight into cell C44, taxes paid in last FY in cell AA22, political affiliation in cell R1. Presto.. coverage denied.

Lastly, it is about closing down the private sector. This bill, in tandem with Cap and Trade, is designed to repress small businesses and entrepreneurs. I know it is hard to believe but the liberal left is for BIG business. Why? Because BIG business can be manipulated. This bill is a scam. It is meant to drive private insurance companies out of the private sector. It is simply a lie that the progressives do not want to take full control. Of course they do. Though most people are unaware, there is a big push by the left to cease 401ks and replace them with an upgraded social security program. The liberal left and our political elite feel that you, the working men and women of our country, need to be managed. Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves.

This is a fundamental right we have as citizens of the United States. I am calling on you to fight for our country. My children are depending on you. Call, call, fax, fax, email, write, call your Senators… your representative… Let them know.. That you, the American taxpayer, have had ENOUGH.

 

Why YOU SHOULD BE Concerned with what Happened to Palin

What Happened Once will Happen Again

By: Esther Petersen

 I got involved  in a discussion with a group of Campaign for Liberty supporters and some people from the Constitution party who were down right GLEEFUL at what happened to Palin and it got me to thinking about the extremes that were equally thrilled with her demise……the ultra-right wing and the modern day Feminist. Amazing, isn’t it, how extremes are so likely to circle back together?

 Why Conservatives and Feminists SHOULD be upset with Palin’s resignation:

 I contend, as a person who did not vote for the McCain/Palin ticket, that those in this country who do care about statesmanship SHOULD be very upset by the Palin resignation. Why? Because her resignation shows a triumph of the cruelly liberal left driving someone out of the public eye because that person dared to be the antithesis of what the liberal left media THOUGHT they should be.

 Sarah Palin is someone the status quo liberal despises because she is a woman who does not hold up women like Betty Freidan, Gene Boyer, Mary Eastwood, Margaret Sanger, or Carol Sue Weathers as the “heroic” women who changed the course of her life. No, Sarah Palin does not look to these “feminist icons” for her inspiration. Palin was not inspired to run for political office to assert the feminist ideal or because she wanted to further a feminist agenda. She ran as (gasp, horror) a pro-life, conservative woman. Because she DARED the sacrilege of opposing that most sacred feminist institution (the right to kill your baby if that is what you feel like doing), she immediately put a big bulls eye on her back and the media took aim. The onslaught began with: Who is Trig’s real mother? If Bristol is Trig’s mom, then is it possible that Todd is the father and that is why he has Down’s syndrome? Does Trig have Downs’ because his mother neglected her prenatal care? Would not Trig have been better off had she done the responsible thing and aborted him? After that, came the onslaught of her intelligence, or lack thereof: She was called “disabled”, a “redneck”, a “a bad b-list porn actress”, she has been called a MILF, she has been called a word I refuse to even type, and she has of course been called the favorite buzz word always lobbed at anyone with a conservative slant…….stupid.

 They did not just take aim on Sarah Palin; they took aim on her family as well. The children of candidates have always been protected by the unspoken political rule that the shots can be taken at the candidate and the candidate’s spouse (in recent years) but the children are off limits. Not so, with Palin’s children: Trig was called the “devil baby”, jokes were made about statutory rape concerning her second daughter, her children were NEVER granted the same “hands of policy” of all other children from political families. Even now, amid the Sanford scandal, the Sanford sons have their faces blurred every time a picture of the family comes on the screen. This is done out of respect for the children. Palin’s children received no such respect.

 I have heard Palin derided by conservatives because she did not stay home with her children, a valid point considering the religious context in which that opinion is given.  I am not saying that I completely agree with that position, but I do understand the background in theological thought for those that hold that position.   I have also heard FEMINISTS make the exact same argument which I find laughably ironic. Feminists are both angered and afraid of what she represents; a woman who does not conform to the mold the feminist agenda feels is appropriate. I find the diatribe of virulent hatred irritating on the feminist side and disturbing on the conservative side. Did Palin make mistakes? Yes, she did. She should have been as strong in her knowledge of foreign policy as she was on energy independence. Even though I believe she was mishandled by the McCain campaign due to the jealousy her popularity produced, she could have educated herself much better on her weaker issues. That being said, make no mistake that most of those early in their political life will not know every detail of every issue that faces our nation. It takes years to cultivate that, as Obama is now learning. Her second mistake was, after the election, she should have immediately stopped giving any “personal interest” stories to the likes of Greta VanSusteren, and focused her interviews solely on how current domestic and foreign policy would impact her state. She did not do either of those things and I do believe that she had a hand in her own current political situation. She will most likely never be considered a viable candidate by those who believe her sex is an immediate disqualifier, and she certainly will never be a favored candidate by the feminists because she is diametrically opposed to their agenda. Yet both of these groups should be concerned with what happened to Sarah Palin.

 Feminists should be worried that the existence of Sarah Palin’s active uterus was an immediate deterrent for so many people. They should be concerned that references such as I outlined above were acceptable forms of description for a woman who dared to enter the political realm. Any self-respecting feminist should find the myriad of comments made concerning Sarah Palin’s looks to be in no way conducive to a furthering of the stated feminist goal as outlined in this statement, “is not a problem with certain angry and difficult women, it is a program for liberation and a vision of justice for all. – Batzell”. If the feminist or liberal does not like Palin based on her political stances, fine, the problem, from a feminist view point, is that Palin was attacked far more on the peripheral of her looks than she was on her record or policies. When is the last time you witnessed this kind of an attack on a male candidate?

 Conservatives, you stand to lose the most with the kind of attacks that the Palin family has endured since October of 2008. I have already listed many of the attacks the family received so I will not go through them again. I will ask: where were the bloggers and the press when Bidens’s daughter was in a picture that seemed to suggest she was doing crack? What if that had been Bristol in the photograph? Where are the “all meant in good humorous fun” jokes concerning Michelle Obama’s looks and the statutory rape of one of her daughters? The press was no where to be seen with Ashley Biden and there would have been an outcry had it been Michelle and Malia Ann sitting in the stands of the Yankees game that night. Conservatives, the question you have to ask yourself is this: What if Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, or Ron Paul were able to garner enough support to make a true run at the White House? Because we were not loud enough in opposition, and in some cases joined in on the complete war on the Palin family in the press, would those families now be forced to endure the same level of virulence and slander just for being willing to stand in the gap? What if a man or woman out there is willing stand up and run for Congress, Senate, Governor, ect. on a staunchly pro-constitution/pro-family platform? The door has been opened for the media to declare an open season on YOUR family because you DARE to think outside their conventional little box. Allowing the media to get away with their never ending onslaught of Sarah Palin has given them the green light to continue their attacks on ALL conservative people, and it will not end. Those who participate in the Tea Parties have already been called a vulgar name with no ramifications, so the media WILL continue that onslaught. Any conservative woman who dares to speak her opinion in opposition to the feminist platform will be opening up both herself and her family to obscene and frightening hatred.  Many “so called” feminists have sat silent in the onslaught of Palin based solely on her sex because they simply did not agree with her opinions and policies.   Many conservative men have shown that they are willing to sit on their collective hands and allow a courageous woman to be attacked in this vicious manner because it simply is not her place to speak out. In sitting on those hands or simply remaining silent, however, you also open the door for YOUR family to be slandered, should you ever decide to do more than just complain about the state of your country. When we, as conservatives, remained silent on the Palin attacks, we hurt ourselves.

 Again, I did not vote for the McCain/Palin ticket as I am not a fan of John McCain. It is the “Palin deserved what she got” mentality I am hearing among conservatives that I find truly disturbing. I am glad that she was willing to speak to many of the issues that concern me. It is a shame that more Conservatives are not stepping up to the plate. But does the fault for that really lie with Palin or with the Conservatives who are content to complain about the state of the country rather than do something about it?”

 

Ask not what your country can do for you…

Remember that famous quote from John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address? That famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country,” has been repeated by many different people over the past 48 years in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes. But it seems that we have forgotten it, and are only asking what our country or our government can do for us.

During this past election cycle, I got in a conversation with someone who was planning on voting for Obama and basically an entire Democrat and/or liberal ticket. She asked me why I was going to vote Republican, because “what have the Republicans ever given you?” I’ve thought about that question a lot in the past several months, and found it to give insight into the reason why government is so big, why they take so much from us in taxes, and why they are elected into office again and again, despite their massive failures. [Massive failures? Yes! Pres. Johnson declared “War on Poverty” in the 60s, and it’s only gotten worse. Yet we continue to throw good money after bad, in the apparent insane hopes that maybe this time history won’t repeat itself. And that’s just one example.]

This woman didn’t realize it, but she was selling her vote to the highest bidder — to whomever was able to convince her that s/he was going to give her the most. In one way, that’s not too different from what everyone does — everyone votes for the person that s/he thinks is the best. The difference comes in the way someone determines who will be the best candidate for the job. It’s an easy thing to vote for someone who promises you to “give” you what you want (even if, like so many campaign promises, the promise is forgotten the day after the election). It’s much harder — requires more discipline, more maturity, more circumspection, more thought — to vote for someone who does not promise you the moon.

But it is important to remember, that “the government” cannot give unless it first takes. They take our money in the form of taxes, then they take a percentage of our money off the top for bureaucracy, then they give us back a smaller portion of our money in the form of “benefits” and services. Some taxation is necessary, and some benefits and services are needful; but it’s time to say enough already!!!

We have to step up and let our voice be heard. A reader named Craig sent the link to this news story about various Representatives and Senators going apoplectic about proposed budget cuts, because the cuts were going to affect their districts. One of the items was a Presidential helicopter that Obama says is not necessary. Although $800,000,000 is a drop in the bucket, compared to the monstrosity of the “stimulus” package, it is still eight hundred million dollars of your money and my money that will be spent unnecessarily unless it is ultimately cut. And it will be spent because people voted, not for what they could do for their country, but what their country could do for them. Unfortunately, that comes at a very steep price, because as I said before, the government cannot give anything that it does not first take away.

 

Ripley, MS, TEA Party

Earlier, Chuck gave his perspective on the TEA Party he helped organize [in seven days] in Ripley, Mississippi. Here is the video of the rally, with speaker Les Riley.

 

A Call to Conservatives

The government has gotten too much control away from the people — we are fast becoming an oligarchy and we don’t even know it. When they speak of right-wing groups being dangerous because we want states’ rights, they may be correct. But it is not because we are wrong, but because we are right. The only thing that has kept the federal government at bay this long is that our states were more independent. Now, our states’ rights are being eroded on a daily basis, and no one seems to be noticing or caring — and the people who do care are now being labeled dangerous conspirators. We are not dangerous to the government created and restrained by the Constitution, but rather to the government that has thrown off the restraints of the Constitution, which serve to keep us a free people — free not from outside enemies, but from inside enemies, and from the government itself.

We have forgotten the famous (and truthful) quotes of past leaders — “That government is best which governs least”; “America is great because she is good. When America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great”; “Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We are fast heading towards a government with absolute power, and it is guaranteed to be absolutely corrupt. May God have mercy on this country.

 

Five things you should be angry about TODAY

FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD BE ANGRY ABOUT TODAY

 

1. Obama plans to make our veterans pay for their own healthcare if they are wounded in battle.  This is not to save money.  How can anyone with a straight face actually say that Obama is trying to be fiscally conservative?  This is about opening the door to nationalized health care.
2. Congress is threatening to single out a corporation and tax bonuses that they were entitled to according to signed contracts.  Contracts are the fundamental building blocks to a free market system.
3. Obama and Congress (Republicans and Democrats) are acting outraged by AIG bonuses.  Senator Dodd actually amended stimulus bill so these bonuses would be protected.  Hilariously enough he is acting the most outraged!  They are trying to outrage the public against corporations so people will be open to the idea of nationalizing business.
4. AIG bailout.  We are angry about 150 million dollars being paid out to executives but fail to be angry about our bailout money going to foreign banks… to the tune of 50 BILLION.  I am glad the CURRENT administration has such good oversight.
5. The current administration does not see any issues with ACORN taking part in the 2010 Census.  Why would anyone think that there might be a conflict of interest?!