Recently in Corruption Category

Do we need any more proof the Tea parties are getting short shrift from the media and being blamed for acts of violence actually committed by those on the Left.

It seems the media and the Left want to see the Tea party as nothing more than an extension of the GOP or the Religious Right, and therefore not worthy of their attention, unless it's for something negative (even if they have to make it up). They ignore that the Tea party isn't happy with the GOP either and have worked to "throw the bums out" from both the Republican and the Democrat parties. We've seen this in a number of state primaries where incumbents have been defeated by newcomers supported by their local Tea parties. If anything it can be said the Tea party isn't an extension of the GOP. Instead it's an insurgency aiming to reform the GOP and remove the RINO faction that has made it seem more like the Democrats, with profligate spending and expansion of the size of government (though to a lesser extent).

All kinds of motivations and political beliefs have been laid at the feet of the Tea parties and their supporters by the Left. Unfortunately for them they're wrong. All those supporting the Tea parties want is fiscal sanity by the government to to be left alone by that same government. How do we know that?

Because they've told us so.

John Zmirak argues (below the fold) that the primitive, Irish dominated social system and education of the nineteenth century in places like New York City was actually quite efficient at promoting proper behavior and assisting people in prudent ways, something conspicuously lacking in our fancy, therapeutic bureaucracy. (And it also did a commendable job educating incoming Jewish immigrants, giving the lie to Identity politics' claim that students must be taught by those who are of the same ethnic background as they.) We no longer, as Marvin Olasky makes perfectly clear in his wonderful book The Tragedy of American Compassion, make the distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor. That's paternalist. It might have worked, but we don't do that anymore. Instead we get situations like this in East Point, Georgia, where 30,000 people show up for Section 8 housing vochers and riot police have to come in force and scores are injured, mainly from dehydration.

As if we need any more evidence that Obama and the Congressional Democrats are paying off the public employees unions for their past support, there's this little $26 billion bribe just passed by Congress and signed by the Socialist In Chief.

Never mind that we don't have to money to pay for this. Never mind the string attached that are trying to force states accepting any of this money to bypass their own budgeting process. Never mind that the $10 billion of that money to be used for education won't help anyone because it won't be available until after the school year starts and cities and towns have already set their budgets and their personnel requirements.

It is a blatant, in-your-face bribe to the unions using our money and the Democrats in Congress don't care who knows it. It doesn't help that President Obama helped sell the lie by making claims he knew the general public wouldn't accept. For one thing there isn't a single public union contract out there that guarantees employment for life, but to hear the President tell it the $26 billion he and Congress just spent are supposed to help spendthrift states do just that. Since when are public employees supposed to be immune to the effects of a recession? Since when are we supposed to fund pay raises when many of us haven't seen a pay raise in two years, or worse, have received pay cuts?

All this little $26 billion bribe does is further illustrate the utter contempt the Democrats in Congress and the present occupant of the White House have for those of us actually paying the bills.

I don't know if you've noticed it, but I have. So has John Stossel.

What am I talking about?

A host of ever growing laws and rules that make it more difficult to be a law abiding citizen.

Something's happened to America, and it isn't good. It's become easier to get into trouble. We've become a nation of a million rules. Not the kind of bottom-up rules that people generate through voluntary associations. Those are fine. I mean imposed, top-down rules formed in the brains of meddling bureaucrats who think they know better than we how to manage our lives.

Cross them, and we are in trouble.

This problem is getting worse all the time. We hear stories about some poor sap ending up being fired or expelled or arrested for breaking some nonsensical and totally useless rule or law that no one in their right mind would ever think were necessary or desirable.

One of my pet peeves when it comes to this kind of nonsense? Zero tolerance policies.

I've written more than once how such policies are crutches for the weak willed pencil-pushers and bureaucrats too damn afraid or too lazy to apply a little common sense and make a judgment call.

Stossel also provides a few examples of zero tolerance laws that do nothing more than make the local policymakers look like imbeciles. My favorite is this one:

Ansche Hedgepeth, 12, committed this heinous crime: She left school in Washington, D.C., entered a Metrorail station to head home and ate a French fry. (Emphasis added) An undercover officer arrested her, confiscating her jacket, backpack and shoelaces. She was handcuffed and taken to the Juvenile Processing Center. Only after three hours in custody was the 12-year-old released into her mother's custody. The chief of Metro Transit Police said: "We really do believe in zero-tolerance. Anyone taken into custody has to be handcuffed for officer safety." She was sentenced to community service and now carries an arrest record. Washington's Metro has since rescinded its zero-tolerance policy.

Examples of that kind of stupidity and sloth abound. Yet Congress and the federal government continue to crank out new laws that criminalize the most trivial behavior, or in some cases non-behavior in an effort to control every aspect of our lives. And it's not just the feds, but state and local governments and institutions that have fallen into the same mindset.

How do we solve this increasingly monstrous trend?

I can think of a few remedies, including a constitutional amendment that requires that for every new law passed, an old one must be repealed. And not just any old law, but one of equal import and scope. If not for that condition we'd be seeing all kinds of new laws passed that end up being balanced by repealing trivial laws that have outlawed things like spitting on the sidewalk.

Another tactic is to file a class action suit against every trivial, wasteful, and mind-numbing piece of legislation or regulation that comes out of government at every level. Bury them in endless litigation, making it difficult, if not impossible to enforce.

One of the tactics I like best? Ridicule. Make it known far and wide the abject stupidity of any law, rule, or regulation that defies common sense and has a profound negative effect on the citizens and relieves the bureaucrats from actually having to make any decisions about anything. Let the people know of the unintended consequences of imposing such laws, rules, or regulations and let them know who it is that created them. Show them for the lazy dunces they are.

A follow up to this last tactic: Vote them out of office or fire them. People this stupid or lazy shouldn't be holding positions of authority over any of us.

The owner of a one time Chrysler dealership in the Laconia, New Hampshire area has let known his displeasure about the loss of his franchise as part of the restructuring of Chrysler Corporation after it was taken over by the government.

A former Chrysler dealership in the Lakes Region is closing up shop a year after the automaker's bankruptcy plan took effect -- and it's not going quietly.

Chrysler's bankruptcy plan included stripping its name from nearly 800 dealerships across the country -- including six in New Hampshire. It has been a struggle for many of the dealerships, and one in Belmont is closing its doors after 20 years.

The sign painted across the empty showroom windows expresses the owner's outrage.

"The sign says, 'This business is now closed because of Obama's economics.' I put that up there because it was his task force that closed -- or took away -- 789 franchises from small businesses," said Alan Silberberg, owner of Lakes Family Auto Center.

A number of successful and lucrative dealerships were forced to close their doors while lesser dealerships survived. It appears to many the selections of which dealerships to close were quite arbitrary and did not reflect the economic viability of those franchises. There have also been grumblings that some dealerships whose franchises were terminated were selected based upon their political leanings, with those owned by supporters of the GOP selected more often than those owned by Obama supporters.

Frankly, I believe it's because there were far more successful dealerships owned by Republicans than Democrats, so the burden fell more upon those franchisees in direct proportion to the balance between Republicans and Democrats...but I could be wrong.

Tea Party Derangement Syndrome is making itself more widely known in a number of ways, but it seems to be manifesting itself as claims of incipient violence against all "right-thinking people", meaning liberal Democrats.

But more often the violence is threatened or committed by members of the very groups claiming tea party supporters are the ones going to commit violence. Union members seem to be the ones most often committing acts of violence against tea party activists.

But it isn't limited to just union thugs. It seems to affect Congressmen, too.

On Thursday, April 8th, 2010, Congressman Alan Grayson, Democrat in Florida's 8th district, interrupted a district meeting of the local Orange County Republican Executive Committee. The meeting was being held at Perkins, a family restaurant.

Matthew Falconer, candidate for Orange County Mayor, quickly challenged Alan's rudeness. Grayson demanded not to be interrupted, but Falconer quickly reminded the congressman that he is in fact interrupting their meeting.

Grayson threatened Falconer by saying that he'll spend thousands of dollars making sure he doesn't get elected. Question: Is it legal or at least unethical for a sitting congressman to threaten to influence a local election? Why is Matt Falconer, running for local Mayor, even on the radar of Alan Grayson?

The answer: TPDS (not to be confused with PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Or maybe Grayson has come to believe he is entitled to his office and that anyone daring to displace him deserves nothing but contempt, derision, and ridicule.

It isn't only Grayson showing symptoms of TPDS, but a number of other CongressCritters too, including my own representative, Carol Shea-Porter.

Recently she's tried to make it seem as if she's been misunderstood, but we understand her all too well. She's shown nothing but contempt for those of us disagreeing with her and her socialist beliefs. Are we supposed to believe that she's suddenly seen the light and that we should re-elect her come November? Not likely.

I expect more incidents linked to TPDS to manifest themselves as we get closer to elections in November. I expect to see more union thugs committing acts of violence against tea party activists. I expect to see less civil discourse from Democrat incumbents towards tea party supporters. I expect the hysteria from the Left to reach deafening levels. And I expect the hateful and demeaning rhetoric aimed at tea party supporters to reach epidemic proportions.

It isn't that I don't have anything to say about the debacle that took place Sunday evening in the Capitol. Rather that it's I have too darn much to say about passage of Obama's Health Care Destruction Bill, and very little of it polite.

So instead of resorting to invective and a lot of obscenities, I figured it was a good idea to put off until tomorrow my thoughts on this socialist piece of crap foisted upon the American people against their will by other people without a shred of intelligence, integrity, or honesty.

It seems Nicholas Kristof is confused about health care reform, thinking it's all about making sure everyone has access to health care. Obviously he has not been paying attention to the debate or the proposed legislation.

Poor Nicholas. Apparently he can't tell the difference between access to health care and health insurance.

Everyone in America has had access to health care by law since the the 1980's. No one needing care can be turned away, even if they can't pay for it. ObamaCare has nothing to do with access, at least not directly.

According to the Democrats ObamaCare is all about is health insurance, something entirely different. Of course once everyone has insurance there will be an effect on health care access, just not the one they expected - there will be less of it. Doctors will be unwilling or unable to take on new patients, just like in Massachusetts under RomneyCare. So even if you have insurance there's absolutely no guarantee you'll be able to find a doctor to take you as a patient.

See the difference now, Nicholas?

While browsing the news today, I came across an interesting story on Fox. Evidently, I must be old-fashioned. I always thought debate and free thought were integral parts of the American way, and all aspects were to be considered before a decision is made. Evidently, the President disagrees.

President Obama is not worried about the "procedural" debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday. 

Now this is interesting. Rather than just note that there are others (a majority, in fact) that happen to disagree with the President's ideas on socializing improving healthcare, he simply writes off this disapproval as a "procedural" event, almost as if those who oppose don't really oppose - they're just playing the part. This, in my opinion, just shows the true arrogance of a man who clearly does not see reality. I'm sure in his world this is a cut and dried deal, just waiting to be sealed with a tally. Unfortunately, for the millions of us who can't escape reality on Capitol Hill, things may be a bit different (like, really different... Really, really different).

President Obama is not worried -- and doesn't think Americans should worry -- about the "procedural" debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday. 

So, let's get this straight. The debate against your plans is just a "procedural" event; yet, your primary plan for passing this measure is bypassing the traditional voting method? Logic seems to be telling me that if there are only routine "devils-advocate" debates against you, why not put it up for a real vote, and enjoy near-unanimity? Oh, wait. They can't do that, because the debate is real. I'm sorry, but when your voting tactics are raising legal questions, one of your own floors' whip is in disagreement with your methods, a 12-point margin is calling your plan an outright "Bad Idea", and you have to come eerily close to buying votes, it may just be time to give it up.

 

---TNJ

In response to this story about the federal useless Dept. of Education purchasing Remington 870 shotguns (in a barrel length that would be illegal for me), Derek Crane tries his own bit of doggerel:

Gun-free zones for thee.
12 Gauge shotguns for me.

What do you think? I like it.

I reminded of a wonderful op-ed by Walter William years ago about the proliferation of SWAT-type teams in DC. And this was before Sept. 11. He mentioned that there were dozens of them, including a team for the Dept. of Commerce. Dept. of Commerce?

It's like Say's law, supply creates its own demand. With all these guys trained in the military for killing, it's not an easy prospect for them to re-join the civilian world. Better to hang out with other gung-ho types with all the tats and bulging biceps and handle guns.

Does anyone stop to think whom they're ready to shoot now?

More red meat for Chan: Gerald Warner in the London Telegraph calls the establishment of a review by the United Nations-established IPCC "a whitewash," following the scandal of the released e-mails, which may have been an inside job or an outside hacker.

Instead, they [the IPCC] have opted for a very obvious whitewash, discredited from the day of its launch, that will provoke hilarity and increased skepticism when it reports. After that, there will be no road back. We should be grateful that the arrogance and over-confidence engendered by their longstanding immunity from challenge (but not any more) prompted the AGW [anthropogenic global warming] fraudsters to create so inadequate a smokescreen.

As Nixon found out, it's the cover-up that nails you to the wall.

A car in Washington, DC, abandoned in a traffic lane near a busy intersection close to an embassy remains there a week until public notice prompts the police to act. Harumph! And people pay taxes for this?

HT: Outside the Beltway

Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson's book on the Duke Lacrosse rape allegation and the ensuing madness on the left-wing campus never was the success it ought to have been. Great book, with a few minor typographical or grammatical errors.

The disgusting woman who started it all, Crystal Magnum, a real piece of backyard poop, is in the news. Again.

Even members of the MSM can learn the lessons of ClimateGate. One reporter from northern California even changed his mind about AGW after seeing the overwhelming evidence of scientific fraud committed in the name of "climate science".

A few years ago, I accepted global warming theory with few doubts. I wrote several columns for this paper condemning what I thought were unfair attacks by skeptics and defending the climate scientists.

Boy, was I naive.

Since the Climategate emails and documents revealed active collusion to thwart skeptics and even outright fraud, I've been trying to correct the record of my earlier foolishness. In one of those columns, I even wrote: "And see Real Climate (www.realclimate.org) for global warming science without the political spin."

In fact, Real Climate was and is nothing more than the house organ of global warming activists, concerned more with politics than with science.

When the self-blinded finally come to see the light, the transformation is amazing to behold. Even if this fellow at some point decides we are at fault for (the presently reversing) global warming, at least it's likely he will come to this conclusion based upon real science and not the political pandering that has been masquerading as science.

There is hope, as illustrated by this one reporter.

It has become quite apparent that our so-called representatives in both chambers of Congress have ceased to represent us and instead have gone off in a radical direction that will, in the end, cripple America with crushing debt, destroy an imperfect but working health care system that rivals that of any place else on the planet, erode even more of our rights, and create economic roadblocks that will do nothing but further weaken our ability to compete in the world's marketplace. It is the nightmare of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged come to life. With all of this in mind, is it any surprise a large majority of Americans are so angry with Congress and their Leftist Overlord?

We're trying in every way legally and officially possible to make clear that we don't want the radical meal we're being forced to eat. We fervently do not want to "fundamentally transform" America. But there is such a huge disconnect from our world to our representatives'. It's as if we are ghosts whom they can't see or hear! When someone refuses to listen, going so far as to ignore you, don't you shout louder? Doesn't it anger you? When you're attacked and belittled because you have to shout to be heard and you're still ignored, doesn't that infuriate you? These people miss that we passionately don't want what they want. The more they refuse to hear us, the more we try to make them. We are not going away.

We're justly and increasingly angry because our reps not only refuse to hear us, but they also chastise us for wanting to be heard. How else would they expect us to react when we feel so helpless and hopeless? No matter what we want, say, or do, our government is going to force us to eat a meal we never ordered. In addition, we keep saying, "no, we don't want this," but they keep putting affirmations in our mouths and proceeding with their radical agenda anyway. We are not enjoying the governmental rape of our country. We said "no," and "no" means "no" in every language. Why doesn't this matter? Every poll reflects the president's rapidly declining approval rating -- for good reason. And still, Robert Gibbs flippantly dismisses it. How are "we the people" supposed to feel? Certainly we do not feel happy, or even just mildly upset, about being disregarded. Far-left ideologues who supposedly espouse "compassionate" causes have no compassion for how we feel, nor do they have a clue that we are an angry mob of their own creation.

I certainly feel angry, particularly with my Congressional Representative, Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH1), who has shown a penchant for dismissing any of her 'constituents' who do not ascribe to her particular political beliefs. On more than one occasion she is alleged to have referred to those of us non-Democrats living in her Congressional District as not being her constituents. That's funny as I thought everyone living in her district was her constituent, whether we agreed with her politics or not. So much for being our representative. Instead she represents only her own points of view and the hell with the rest of us. (I have a feeling Ms. Shea-Porter will have a very rude awakening come next November when she's booted, bag and baggage, from her seat.)

Obama's falling poll numbers certainly indicate a lot of our anger, particularly when his approval rating after a little over 11 months in office is worse than George W. Bush's after eight years.

Yet there's another twist that might make we angry Americans even angrier: Pelosi and Reid's move to short-circuit the normal conference process, where differences between House and Senate versions of a given bill are hammered out. Instead, reconciling the differences between the two health care reform bills will likely be done behind closed doors, out of the public eye, with little input from members of either house. In other words, the fix will be in.

When Democrats took over Congress in 2007, they increasingly did not send bills through the regular conference process. "We have to defer to the bigger picture," explained Rep. Henry Waxman of California. So the children's health insurance bill passed by the House that year was largely dumped in favor of the Senate's version. House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel and other Democrats complained the House had been "cut off at the knees" but ultimately supported the bill. Legislation on lobbying reform and the 2007 energy bill were handled the same way -- without appointing an actual conference.

Rather than appoint members to a public conference committee, those measures were "ping-ponged" -- i.e. changes to reconcile the two versions were transmitted by messenger between the two houses as the final product was crafted behind closed doors solely by the leadership. Many Democrats grumbled at the secrecy. "We need to get back to the point where we use conference committees . . . and have serious dialogue," said Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama at the time.

But serious dialogue isn't what Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are interested in right now. Look for the traditional conference committee to be replaced by a "ping-pong" game in which health care is finalized behind closed doors with little public scrutiny before the bill is rushed to the floor of each chamber for a final vote.

Is there any wonder why things like the TEA party movement have been growing? Is there any wonder why confrontations between members of Congress and the public have been becoming more heated and less polite? Why are the Democrats so surprised when far too many of them have been ignoring their constituents back home, ignoring their wishes, ignoring their phone calls, letters, and e-mails, and following the lead of Pelosi and Reid, neither of whom has the best interests of the American people at heart. Instead they have their own Leftist Utopia-driven agenda that has nothing to do with what the American people want or need.

And the anger grows.....

I heard Martin Gross, our present-day Jeremiah, on Michael Medved's show on this podcast. Five stars. Today I heard him on this G. Gordon Liddy podcast. Simply marvelous--you really have to listen to it. I mean I might even transcribe it; Mr. Gross goes on such tremendous riffs. Taped on December 4 and lasting 21:53, the podcast reveals what I've always thought but have been too timid to say: Obama is not only uninformed, not being a disciplined book reader, he's unintelligent.

Mr. Gross, a preeminent number cruncher and a old-time Democrat like Ronald Reagan, calls the current President "a master of deception [who] lies all the time." I know most politicians are liars, but this guy is on a Mt. Olympus-level of deceit. He also says, "The Democratic party has become the party of treason....The Democratic party has left us, and has left the United States in its loyalties, not consciously...[here he gets cut off at the end by a hard break]" Strong stuff, but increasingly an appropriate tonic, in light of how Democrats are treating the War on Terror with civilian trials, ridiculous mini-buildups lasting a year, not using the word victory at West Point (The cadets must have been groaning in their seats listening to the Community Organizer.), and not even calling the truth of Islamic terror by its true name, Islamic terror. I mean the Democratic primary was a joke on the whole topic, never once using the words "Islamic terror" in all their televised debates.

Gross, whose 1992 book received beaucoups media attention, is relegated now almost exclusively to the conservative and Christian talk radio circuit--my how times have changed!-- with an even more important book in 2009--National Suicide. (He says Christians, because of their belief in personal responsibility, have been marvelously receptive to his message.) His take on the vastly different levels of media exposure is that the media has changed. Boy, have they ever. All pretense of being disinterested purveyors of news and views has long gone by the wayside.

The Shallow Stream Media is not to be trusted, but Martin Gross is. What he has to say is jarring. Sometimes that's the way the truth is.

After the hacked and leaked e-mails and data files from the University of East Anglia's CRU became public, the hew and cry from both sides of the AGW debate rose to a level I've not witnessed before. The leaked information illuminated the fraudulent, dishonest, and in some cases, illegal activities of some of the 'premier' global warming researchers, both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. Cover ups, destruction and willful denial of publicly financed research data to those requesting it under both the UK and US Freedom of Information laws, and collusion to 'jigger' data to eliminate evidence that show climate models are wrong and to bolster preconceived ideas about human-caused climate change.

The AGW skeptics, including yours truly, can point to the files to show that scientific integrity has been lost, that all AGW alarmist doom-and-gloom predictions are based upon fraudulent, cherry-picked data and algorithms designed to produce a predetermined outcome regardless of the data fed into them.

That in itself might be a major news story, but the deafening silence from the MSM implies the fix is still in. Other than Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and a few other news outlets, there has been little, if anything from the major media. About the only exception has been the New York Times, and that surprised me (though it appears they tried to downplay the significance of the leaked data). The rest of the media are acting like nothing's changed, still publishing iffy reports laying out "We're all gonna DIE if we don't impoverish ourselves NOW!!" scenarios. But readers/listeners/watchers aren't buying it, making comment after comment about Climategate and lambasting the media for acting like it doesn't exist.

But what disturbs me more than lack of attention by the MSM and the governments of the UK and the US are the comments posted by the faithful AlGoristas, bending over backwards to explain away the leaked e-mails, data, and jiggered computer code. Reading the comments to the WSJ article linked above, it is quite apparent that quite a few of those trying to debunk the leaked information have an ax to grind, their reasoning having absolutely nothing to do with the AGW fraud exposed. They blame the WSJ (as if reporting about the hacked and leaked data was somehow 'just not done'). They blame George Bush (I haven't quite figured that one out). They blame a nameless conspiracy bent on the destruction of the human race (I haven't figured out the logic of that one, either). Others seem to be lamenting the fact they won't receive the financial gains they expected due to AGW carbon credits/alternative energy schemes/complete control over the energy production portion of the economy. And yet others claim the multi-megabytes of e-mails, data, and computer code is all a hoax, created to discredit the researchers and their sainted AlGore. Never mind that the folks at the University of East Anglia say it appears the files posted onto the 'net are genuine. That will not deter the true believers.

As the old saying goes, don't confuse the issue with facts. The Warmists will not be denied despite evidence saying their beliefs are based upon falsified data and computer climate models that are little more than means of manipulating other data to 'prove' AGW regardless of what the data really says.

I rarely watch TV except to watch football, that violent collision sport.

But on one of my stops on the 'Net I read this on Neal's "Nuze" (the humorous video demonstrates the lie that the congressman utters over and over) and then did a google search to find this from Bill O'Reilly's TV show. My goodness!

Isn't this Alan Grayson (D-Orlando, Florida) the guy who called the lack of health insurance coverage a holocaust or something hysterical like that?

How he hides in his office, lies to a Fox news reporter shows a pusillanimity that reminds me of the classic American Commonwealth by British nobleman James Bryce who famously pointed out that the best men in America don't go into politics. That book is like a runner-up to De Tocqueville's classic Democracy in America.

Is this snakepit lawyer the best Orlando can vomit forth to serve in Washington?

Now that Obama has gotten his way in regards to Honduras and the return of Chavez protege Zelaya to the presidency, I have to wonder what he will do should Zelaya impose a Chavez-like socialist dictatorship, abolish the Congress, eliminate freedom of speech, muzzle the press, tear up the Honduran constitution, and 'disappear' his political opponents?

I have no doubt our own Chavez fan will praise Zelaya's actions and make some kind of noise about "correcting past American wrongs" by allowing a representative democracy to fall into the hands of his socialist brethren.

This was stolen shamelessly in its entirety from Maggie's Farm. It was too good to just link it. (The only changes made were in formatting and one or two minor spelling error corrections.)

I do not think it's so much because people want freedom and choice (although they do) as it is because people have no confidence in government entitlement programs (which the Dem plans are all about, ultimately). Why?

Social Security - bankrupt
Postal Service - bankrupt
Welfare - had devastating unintended consequences for which the nation still pays and from which the nation continues to suffer (eg huge rates - up to 70% - of single motherhood among beneficiaries)
Medicare - bankrupt
Medicaid - bankrupting the states
Government-run (ie union-controlled) schools: are people thrilled with them?
Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac - bankrupt
The "stimulus" - a failure, but it did create 25,000 new government jobs!

The future tax consequences of the above are daunting to people, and the idea of adding another trillion or so frightens the heck out of people who are thinking about their own well-being, their kids' futures - and also about the nation's.

The sad thing is that most of what people complain about in health care can be easily solved without giant government controls and bureaucracies:

1. Permit interstate competition among insurance companies so people can have a wide range of choices of types of policies including cheap major medical which is what makes sense for most people, and explain the basic fact that medical care has to be paid for, and even saved for, same as car repairs and house repairs and vacations (and legal costs). That is what grown-ups do. You can get major medical for a family for the price of a big-screen TV.
2. Portability of insurance - so you own it (that is complicated tho for companies that self-insure)
3. A law that says you cannot be canceled if you get sick
4. State "pools" for the uninsurable, same as for uninsurable drivers. We already have (bankrupt) Medicaid for the poor.

How easy and non-controversial would those changes be? Abundant, high quality, and fairly expensive medical care is one of the great blessings and privileges of a prosperous society, and thus an important economic engine. Why kill it? People want these things.

Do Americans want to be grown-ups, or children? It's our call.

The Barrister also suggests we contact our Senators and House Representatives and let them know our views on the Democrat health care reform plans. I have already done so and my congresscritter, Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH1), has made it quite clear she doesn't give a damn what I think. The same is true of one of our two senators, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). But that doesn't mean I won't stop contacting their offices (I use snail-mail rather than e-mail because it's too easy to hit the Delete key), and let them know my thoughts on various issues and legislation.