Opening Day Message: Viciously Attack Conservatives

At the start of the school year, all the teachers in the district are usually invited to hear a speaker come in and talk to us about education. Last year, we brought in a very interesting teacher consultant from a major university, who told us that the best way to make students feel safe in our classrooms is to viciously attack anyone who express a strong opinion, belief, or ideal, particularly if they are libertarian or conservative.

As it was explained to us in our opening day celebration of learning, the reason that we as teachers need to attack people expressing support for traditional marriage, or for being anti-drug, or for believing in creationism, is that these ideas and beliefs make other students feel uncomfortable. For example, let's say there is a student in the classroom who is having sex before marriage, and someone says that is immoral- well, now that student feels bad, and so the teacher needs to step in and attack that other student for making that person feel bad.

Let's say that the teacher is giving a lecture on man-made global warming, and a student says that he doesn't believe in it- that student may encourage other students to also doubt the teacher, and thus they are subversive, and need to be viciously attacked. Or let's say that another student thinks that it is wrong for the school to remove crosses and install footbaths, like they did at University of Michigan last year- well, that student will make Muslim's feel uncomfortable, and that's a no-no, so they should be silenced.

As this sermon went on, I grew more and more disgusted that this professor was actually encouraging us as teachers to attack conservatives and libertarians simply because their beliefs may make liberals and progressives feel bad or guilty. But shockingly, when I looked around the room at the faces of the other teachers, many were nodding along. As my ideas and ideals were viciously attacked by this visiting professor, I felt more and more uncomfortable and upset.

Afterwards, I talked to another teacher about how I made to feel guilty and bad by this guy, and she told me "now you know how liberals and progressives feel all the time." I guess in a way she was correct- when I talk about being a good person, doing good things, not bothering other people, letting them live their own lives, giving to charity, going to church, keeping my own property, and other things like that, I guess I am making liberals feel guilty and bad.

Somehow though, I don't think using schools to make conservatives and libertarians feel bad as some sort of perverted retribution is supposed to be their function.

List of Things Named After Obama

Out of curiosity, I went on yahoo and I typed in the search "list of places named after George W Bush." Nothing. I tried Amazon and Wikipedia- nothing. On the radio today I heard a liberal talk show host talking about how Obama was not the egotistical, self-centered, and self-loving President- that it was Bush who was all those things. This is similar to a lot of what I heard through 8 years of Bush's term of office- that he was the type of guy who thought a lot of himself and who went around the nation naming things after himself. Turns out, the liberal radio host was wrong on this, as were all the Democrats who thought it would be Republican like Bush acting like a king and building monuments to himself.

On the other hand, the lord of czars Democrat Barack Obama already has dozens of things named after him. According to wikipedia, which has a handy list of things named after Barack Obama, Obama has already had schools, streets, and mountains named after him. I suppose that it is all of the many accomplishments that he has put in place during his short 7 months as President- nationalizing auto companies and banks, increasing the unemployment rate with massive spending bills, and give-aways to politically connected individuals all around the nation.

California has two schools named after Obama's greatness- the Barack Obama Charter School in Compton and Barack Obama Academy in Oakland. In Minnesota, there is the Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary in Saint Paul. In New York there is the Barack Obama Elementary School in Hempstead, and in Plainfield New Jersey there is the Barack Obama Academy. In Opa-locka Florida you can drive down Barack Obama Avenue and in Antigua and Barbuda you can visit Mount Obama.

All of his worship for Obama would simply be amusing if it didn't signify something more. I noticed this happening early on- Second School Named After Obama - but really didn't fully understand the phenomenon until I started to really think about The Religion of the Democrats . I suggest here that this worship of Obama is because liberals think that he is the One, the one who has hidden knowledge of the way of the world, and that by following him and worshipping him, they too can be part of the new kingdom of heaven that Obama is creating here on Earth. Louis Farrakhan called Obama the Messiah last week!

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into the fact that Obama already has more buildings and streets named after him than Bush 43, Clinton 42, and Bush 41.

Congressman Peters Townhall Tuesday (Sept 1st)!

Looks like Democrat Congressman Gary Peters has finally decided to show up in his district and talk to his constituents. He didn't come to the Healthcare Rally in Birmingham or the Heathcare Townhall in Troy. He hasn't talked to his constituents when they call him on the phone, and hasn't met with them when they've requested a meeting. But it looks like he has finally decided that now he will meet with the people who sent him to Washington , after weeks of this national and important discussion raging.

According to his Congressional Website, here are the details:

CONGRESSMAN PETERS ANNOUNCES HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL
What: Health Care Town Hall Meeting
Who: Congressman Gary Peters and local residents
When: Tuesday, September 1, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Where: West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, MI, 48323
Please note: This event is for residents of Michigan's 9th congressional district only. Thank you.

Michigan's Congressional 9th District includes residents of Waterford, Pontiac, Farmington, Royal Oak, Troy, Bloomfield, Birmingham, Rochester, and other parts of Oakland County, Michigan. For a map to West Bloomfield High School, you can click here.

Everyone please come out for this event, because you know he is going to likely be busing in government employees, union members, and other special interest groups. Tell your friends and family- this is probably the only real chance you and other residents of these areas will ever have to get your voice heard on this major issue.

Healthcare Isn't a Right

At the healthcare rally in Birmingham (My Report from the Birmingham Healthcare Rally), one of the signs that I noticed a supporter of Obamacare holding up said "Healthcare is a right." Curious, I asked her what she meant by that. She told me that when everyone is born, the government should guarantee for them all the healthcare they want without them having to pay anything for it. She said that it was a right for everyone to get drugs, services, treatments, and whatever they need just whenever they want.

Curious, I asked her where this right came from. She gave me a blank look before saying "the government." That wasn't true, I pointed out- if the government had given her the right to healthcare, she wouldn't have to be fighting for it. She said that she wanted government to give her the right to get whatever healthcare she wanted without paying for it. I pointed out that that wasn't a right- that was an entitlement.

Rights, as I told her, were given to us by God, and existed before government was there, and will exist after government is gone. Before government and after government, I still have certain rights, such as the right to live, the right to live in freedom, and the right to keep and earn property. Before government existed, I asked this supporter of Obamacare, did she have free healthcare? After government is gone, will she still get free healthcare?

No, she replied, but she didn't care- she just wanted free healthcare. I told her it isn't free- she'll have to pay for it, I'll have to pay for it, and most likely with the government running it, we'll both be paying more and getting less. She replied she didn't care, healthcare was a right, and then started saying "bah-bah-bah-bah-bah" over and over until I grew bored and left (I made up that last part, but essentially that's what sheep say).

Today, I'm watching clips of various politicians from Obama to Kennedy all say over and over again with conviction that healthcare is a right. Do they really know what that means, or are they just like the lady I confronted, someone who wants something for nothing and tries to cloak their language of theft and tyranny in the language of freedom and liberty?

Support $10 for Tark

Although I am not a big fan of contributing campaign money to races outside of my area, I am a big fan of sending messages and supporting quality candidates. Via powerlineblog I heard about , Hugh Hewitt's latest winning idea- "$10 for Tark" . Support a quality candidate and signal your opposition to Obamacare with a $10 contribution to Harry Reid's opponent for the Senate in 2010- former UNLV hoopster Danny Tarkanian. But he is an impressive guy in his own right and should be a formidable candidate- read his bio before you decide to give.

Contribute to Tark here. Then email Senator Reid here, and copy Hugh (hugh@hughhewit.com). My check is on the way.

Obama's Support for the Arts- Propaganda of the State

What is the purpose of art? I'm not an art history or philosophy major, so I don't really know the answer to that, if there is truly one answer, but I can tell you this- I don't think the purpose of art is to promote the state's interests.

At one time, this was believed to be the purpose of art. Many regimes around the world felt that literature should serve the national interest or it had no inherent right to exist (source). These regimes felt that art should be used by a regime to promote their beliefs. In particular, these regimes felt that posters especially could be used as a way to blatantly present the beliefs of their political party party. These people felt that art should be used to convince the people of the beliefs of the state. The posters this regime wanted created were usually simple and got to the point, and it was intended to target the emotions of the people that looked at it (source).

Enough history. Today, Barack Obama is attempting to promote art that does the same thing. Recently a blogger writing at Big Hollywood was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

The call was hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!” There were approximately 75 people participating, including many well respected street-artists, filmmakers, art galleries, music venues, musicians and music producers, writers, poets, actors, independent media outlets, marketers, and various other professionals from the creative community.

Backed by the full weight of President Barack Obama’s call to service and the institutional weight of the NEA, the conference call was billed as an opportunity for those in the art community to inspire service in four key categories, and at the top of the list were “health care” and “energy and environment.” The service was to be attached to the President’s United We Serve campaign, a nationwide federal initiative to make service a way of life for all Americans.

We were encouraged to bring the same sense of enthusiasm to these “focus areas” as we had brought to Obama’s presidential campaign, and we were encouraged to create art and art initiatives that brought awareness to these issues. Throughout the conversation, we were reminded of our ability as artists and art professionals to “shape the lives” of those around us. The now famous Obama “Hope” poster, created by artist Shepard Fairey and promoted by many of those on the phone call, and will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” song and music video were presented as shining examples of our group’s clear role in the election.

Obama has a strong arts agenda, we were told, and has been very supportive of both using and supporting the arts in creative ways to talk about the issues facing the country. We were “selected for a reason,” they told us. We had played a key role in the election and now Obama was putting out the call of service to help create change.

The machine that the NEA helped to create could potentially be wielded by the state to push policy. Through providing guidelines to the art community on what topics to discuss and providing them a step-by-step instruction to apply their art form to these issues, the “nation’s largest annual funder of the arts” is attempting to direct imagery, songs, films, and literature that could create the illusion of a national consensus. This is what Noam Chomsky calls “manufacturing consent.”

So, to summarize, our President, through a group called United We Stand, is organizing artists and giving them guidelines on what sort of art to produce. The art will promote the interests of the Democrats and try to persuade voters to support their views. This is propaganda, and as the group was informed, Obama regarded propaganda as very important, perhaps even calling it "a weapon of the first order".

This website has some good ideas on the sort of posters that Obama would like created. Check it out to get a taste of what is to come under an Obama administration. Oh, and if you haven't guessed it yet, you'll have to click on the links to find out what sort of regimes of the past saw art the same way that Obama does.

David Petraeus says a special Cherokee word to soldier in coma, soldier wakes up!

60 minutes story where Lt. Brian Brennan was severely wounded in Iraq and faced unbeatable odds but, as David Martin reports, he made a remarkable recovery with a little help from a special Cherokee word spoken by General David Petraeus.


Watch CBS Videos Online

The People vs a Person

One vivid moment that occurred last week at the Birmingham Healthcare Rally (My Report from the Birmingham Healthcare Rally) was a confrontation that I had with a supporter of Obamacare. She had a sign that said "Healthcare for the People." I asked her who 'the people' were, and she began sign about 'the people,' and how 'the people' were taken advantage of by corporations, and how 'the people' had hope only in a government of change, etc. I tried to talk about each of these points with her, but in my frustration I only was able to get out 'I am a person.'

Thinking back on this event, it really speaks to a larger debate in our society, between those people who are working on behalf of 'the people'- some mythological group of middle-class multicultural liberals- and those who are working on behalf of 'person's'- individuals who are real people who have different ideas and beliefs. To liberals and supporters of Obamacare, a person now means nothing- 'the people' instead matter, and this way of thinking is not new.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that the people were the main force in society, not individual person's. Rousseau believed that each person must give up totally all of their rights to the 'the community as a whole' in order to be more free- in other words, individuals no longer matter and what matters instead is the people. You give up your right to choose your own healthcare decisions, you give up your right to choose how you power your home, you give up your god-given right to make your own decisions on smoking, and instead, 'the people' make these decisions for you, and you are somehow then more free.

When I was confronting this lady, I was confronting someone out of the French Revolution- this lady singing to me the loud songs of fraternity and equality could very well have been ready to guillotine me for my loud protests of liberty and property. My confrontation with her was playing out a long debate between those who fight for persons and those who fight for the people. Sadly, those who fight for the people and who sing songs of equality and fraternity and wave their flags for collectivization and government control are usually the same type of people who were in control of France during the reign of terror.... and they currently run our government today.

Obama Sets Record for Deficit- 1.2 trillion more than previous record

What is the difference between living 20 years and living 80 years? What is the difference between earning $6 an hour and $24 an hour? What is the difference between eating three bites of a quarter pounder with cheese and eating the whole thing? What is the difference between a toddler bed and a king sized bed? What is the difference in an hour long trip when you drive 15 mph as opposed to 60 mph? What is the difference between a record federal deficit of $455 million and $1.6 trillion? The answer is "a lot of difference."

Barack Obama's budget is not simply "Bush spent a record amount and Obama is too." Obama's budget is not "we need to spend a little more to fight the recession." Obama's budget is not in any way, shape, or form comparable to the previous 200 year history of our nation. Bush's budget deficits, while bad, at least were comparable to Clinton's and Reagan's- you could see the natural progression and most of the deficits were attributable to one specific policy (the war in Iraq). But Obama's first year in office is indeed change- the amount of money that he is spending that our nation does not have is not comparable to anything, and is not attributed to one specific policy (that our nation could debate, discuss, and vote on). Rather, it is an undisciplined orgy of spending on pork, special projects, and who knows what else.

Some liberals shrug and pretend the deficit doesn't matter. They think money is created out of air and has no real value. When the government borrows money, there is less money to be borrowed by private companies, thus limiting growth and development in our nation. The government borrowing of money will encourage inflation, making everyone poorer. The government borrowing of money means that our children and grandchildren will be born owing money for services they are did not agree to- this destroys the principle of democracy. A large government debt is a bad thing.

And this is all without further stimulus packages, a cap and trade scheme, and Obamacare. Things are really bad, but passing any one of those could be the end of the America. Again- Democrat President Obama and the Democrat Congress have are going to set a record deficit in spending this year, quadrupling the previous record deficit of 2008. They (the White House and CBO) say that we will add $9 trillion in debt over the next 10 years- I predict that if you or your friends support and vote for Democrats in 2010 and 2012, it will be $20 trillion and the end of our nation.

Local Event Notice: Health Care Townhall in Troy on Wednesday

Michigan State Representative Marty Knollenberg just let people know that he has decided to hold a Healthcare Town Hall meeting this Wednesday (Aug 26) at 7:00 pm at the Troy High School Auditorium for residents of his district. Knollenberg is holding the townhall for the benefit of residents in his district, who have been asking him a lot of questions and like a good public official, he wants to talk to his constituents and answer their questions.

While only residents will be given first seating,anyone is welcome to come and say hello, and they may open it up if space permits. Attendees will need to bring photo ID showing they live in Troy or Clawson.

Over a week ago, Knollenberg's office delivered an invitation for US Congressman Peters to attend Wednesday's townhall, but never heard back about that, as Peters continues his boycott of his district and refuses to meet or talk to any of his constituents about any issues. A video of the event will be delivered to the congressman's office following the event.

Knollenberg's declared opponent in the next election is also organizing a group to protest this event, and is calling in paid supporters to make it appear like this townhall event is a bad thing. Please show up to talk to them and engage them in friendly and hopefully enlightening conversation, as I did at the last local healthcare rally (My Report from the Birmingham Healthcare Rally).

Contact Chetly Zarko (chetlyzarko@gmail.com) for more information and details.

Don't Extend Unemployment

Once in my life I was laid off and drew unemployment benefits. Before the crazy wacko's in the swamp say that I'm a hypocrite for speaking out against them when I took them, let me point out the way that unemployment benefits are paid. Roughly, my employer takes the money they would be giving me every paycheck and instead gives it to the government to hold, with no interest paid. When the employer has to let me go, the government then gives me the money that it took from me in the form of unemployment benefits, minus the loss that money would have made as an investment and minus the cost of administering this program. So I don't have any problem drawing on my own money for a while.

The key here is for a while- after a certain point, I would be drawing more out of the system then I paid in. That's okay too, up to a point, if you consider unemployment benefits as an insurance program against losing a job- some people will draw out more money, just like in healthcare, and others will pay more in- it's a gamble.

Currently, Michigan provides unemployment benefits for up to 79 weeks, or about a year and a half. I know the economy is poor, but if you were desperate enough for the money, you could find a job after one and a half year's of looking- even if the job was in the food service industry or retail industry. You might have to adjust your lifestyle, but there are jobs out there that would put a small roof over your head and food on your plate.

Michigan Democrats feel that this isn't enough time though, and want to extend unemployment benefits out to 105 weeks- over two years.

I'm no expert in economics, but let me explain how this will work. Instead of being forced to seek gainful employment in jobs that people feel are 'beneath them', and instead of changing their lifestyle to a more reasonable level, people will continue to sit on unemployment, draining the system of money without adding back into it. At a certain point, more people will draw out of the system than draw in, and the system will began to crash. And when it crashes, it will then have to be supported by tax money. That tax money will come from those employed and from businesses, and that will lead to more unemployment. More people on unemployment, for a long time, higher taxes, etc. The government, in its attempt to help out people, will create a loop on unintended consequences of bad- just like they have in Michigan.

The harder the government has worked to get Michigan out of its crisis, the more Michigan has deepened and lengthened its crisis. The only way out now is through faith- faith in people, faith in the unseen hand of the market, and faith that when challenged to get a job, people will respond by doing jobs out there that need to be done.

The Democrat's proposal also has other bad parts to it- providing benefits to people with jobs (part-time) and giving benefits to those who have lost part-time jobs. If passed, it will hurt our economy.

Extending unemployment benefits, just like nationalizing the healthcare, are the road of good intentions. My grandma always used to tell me where that road took people.

Opposing National Socialized Healthcare Movement

Over and over, I hear from supporters of Obamacare the following argument- right now there is no choice on what kind of health insurance I can get. The supporters of national socialized healthcare believe that there are no choices available. This argument is so incredibly wrong that it is either advanced by idiots or those who are liars. If you open a phone book or look online, there are dozens of healthcare providers in your area who would love your business.

The supporters of Obamacare should be saying that there are no healthcare insurance plans that they can afford. That argument is even more interesting- it would be worthwhile to ask people who make this argument what sort of car they drive, how often they go on vacation, where they eat out to dinner at, and how big their house is. If they are poor, they are already on some form of government-provided healthcare- rather, many of the people who support Obamacare have money, they just choose not to spend it on healthcare.

Let's say though that healthcare insurance was expensive, beyond what is reasonable to expect an average person or business to pay. If that is the case, how does moving healthcare system to an inefficient government with tremendous overhead and fraud lower the cost opposed to thousands of businesses who compete based on cost and who make their living in being as efficient as possible? On what basis or logic or history do people believe that having the government run the healthcare system would provide lower costs and yet still provide the quality of service that they expect?

In reality, the high cost to healthcare is a problem- but the problem lies in government regulation, fees, and limits to competition. There are solutions advanced, such as tort reform, that would lower the cost of healthcare insurance and yet still provide service. And yet there are still people out there that still want to put us on a national socialized healthcare system- a system that likely will raise the cost of healthcare insurance and lower the quality of service.

One has to wonder- are the supporters of this policy stupid, or just liars about their real goals?

Liberals See Evil Plots Around Every Corner

Last year I wrote:

listen to liberals calling in to talk shows about the problems facing our nation, and inevitably, most liberals identify the problems facing us today as conspiracies perpetrated by Big Oil, Wall Street, Big Business, etc. In fact, it's always a plot. Once you really press a liberal, they always fall back on the fact that the reason why things are not working is that there is some group out there with nefarious ends. It's not the fact that their policies fail, it's always that there is some mysterious group out there trying to screw us over. To a liberal, there is no cause and effect, there is no reason, there is no logic- there is only some evil mechanisms going on in the background.

Think about what is going on today, a year later, with this debate about health care, energy, spending, debt, nationalizing of businesses, etc. Listen to the rhetoric of the Democrats- when pressed, they see an evil plot around every corner. It's the KKK, it's fascists, it's astroturf, it's a plot by the insurance companies, it's a ploy by the Republican Party, etc. Democrats are unable to face the fact that their ideas stink, that there policies hurt society, and that they are wrong, so they instead see evil everywhere in the world but in themselves.

Yesterday I talked to a dozen supporters of Obamacare, and all of them showed this impulse to see evil plots everywhere in the world- they would ask me who was paying me (no one), they accused me of being racist (I'm not), they said I was just a tool for insurance companies (nope)- they tried a dozen different ways to pretend I was just a conspiracy, and never tried to talk about history, economics, principles, morals, ethics, or all the other things that really matter in any public policy debate.

The modern day Democratic Party, especially the far left version that people are actually putting in power when the vote Democrat, has an ideology- I discussed this before in The Religion of the Democrats. If you really want to understand why Democrats always see evil plots around every corner, I suggest you read that post.

My Report from the Birmingham Healthcare Rally

Today around the nation there were rally's held to oppose the Democrat's healthcare plan, and I attended the one in Birmingham, home of Democrat Gary Peter's. It was a great turn out, and there were quite a few notable people there- Oakland County Executive L Brooks Patterson, County Commissioner David W. Potts, Michigan Governor-hopeful Michael Bouchard, and even theplogprof. It was a good time- saying hello to friends, educating one another about various issues, and sending a message to politicians that the people are opposed to this Obamacare proposal.

There were also supporters of the healthcare plan at the rally, and like the Greeks of old or our revolutionary forefathers, I engaged these people in debate, and the crowd circled us and listened to us as we each advanced our aguments. And every time, through every twist and turn of logic that these healthcare supporters took me, I won the debate by relying on facts, statistics, history, and the core principles of our nation. And every time I won the debate, these liberals would give me the finger or yell 'f-you' at me, and I would simply say that I am trying to fight tyranny and stand up for life, liberty, and property.

My favorite debate was with a guy from England, who, over a course of several minutes, went through all of the talking points of liberals- Bush bankrupted America, spent all our money on the war, Obama needs to put our nation more in debt to dig us out of Bush's jobless recovery, etc. I really enjoyed how proud he was of having not read the bill (HR 3200)- when I started quoting from it, he started yelling that that isn't the bill he supports. I wondered what bill he does support, and he told me that one that would create a heaven on Earth, as if man could create such a thing. After a while it grew tiring to talk to this guy though- his world was a maze of conspiracies and evil capitalists- and when cornered, he quickly would turn to character-assassination- he called me a liar, another guy a stooge, another guy unintelligent, etc. Typical rules for radicals- if you can't win the argument, attack the person.

This was usually the way I won the intellectual arguments- I found it much easier to win the ethical arguments. One Obama supporter (she had an Obama hat on) told me that it wasn't personal- that all she was trying to do was make me pay for insuring more poor people and provide better coverage for those who were in need in our nation. I told her that that was personal- my property was not hers to distribute to those who she favored. Her reply was that the government already does it- she mocked me by gloating about all of the liberal projects that my tax money already funds, and mocked me by saying that now that the Democrats were the majority, they were free to take my money and redistribute it for whatever they wished. When I told her that she was proud of tyranny and gloating about taking away my liberty and property, she said "yes, we can" and turned away from the debate, as if tyranny were something to be proud of.

Recently I bought a yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag, and I brought that to the rally to wave. One lady, who was holding up a 10 foot long banner supporting healthcare (paid for by a special interest group- it had the logo on the back corner), asked me what the flag meant. I told her that my position on this issue as simple- I don't want government to get in my business, to tax me any more, and to let me live my life in freedom and liberty. She scoffed at that- she said it wasn't really a free world because of all the capitalists and private companies that ran the world, and that the only way we can truly be free is if the government runs everything. I think Stalin and Mao made those same arguments.

The highlight of the afternoon came as I was engaged by a supporter of the single-payer system (that's what her sign said), and told me that my view didn't matter at all, and that I should just pay for the increased healthcare and be happy about it. I told her that I was a person who had rights, and she laughed at me, and several of her friends came and told me that I was in the minority now. I started to grow angry, so I began to yell louder and louder that I was a person, that I was endowed by God with rights that no one could take away, and that those rights were life, liberty, and property. These Obamacare supportes laughed at me, and said that I was in the minority, and I began to yell louder and louder yet- the rights were God-given and include my right to live free and to keep and earn property. Liberals may laugh about these things, but I still believe in the Declaration of Independence and the ideas it espouses- revolutionary ideas that say to fight tyranny such as this proposal.

Don't get me wrong- the overwhelming number of people at this healthcare rally were patriots who were waving flags asking to be treated fairly, asking to not pay for government programs with debt, suggesting positive solutions like tort reform or increased competition, and voicing concerns about the constitutionality of the Obamacare program. They were grandmothers and young children, teachers and car workers, and when spoken to, they were good people who frequently had a good grasp of history and economics. They understand that this healthcare proposal is bad, and they were against it, and the only thing that they are hoping that will change is that they want our leaders, our Representatives and Senators, to hear them and their concerns.

UPDATE I: theblogprof has some great pictures from the event up as well, click here to see his post. I'm visable in one of the pictures.

UPDATE II: Welcome readers from Instapundit and Moonbattery!

UPDATE III: Welcome readers from American Power!

Fuzzy Logic Analyzes the Healthcare Bill

Fuzzy Logic has attempted something that our own Congressman and Senators are terrified to do- read the actual health care bill and try to understand it. I don't think Fuzzy Logic is a team of lawyers, so perhaps the analysis isn't perfect, but the stunning nature of HR 3200 should be driving everyone to the Healthcare Rally's today (where people rally to save healthcare in America from the Obamanation it may become). I haven't read the bill yet, but I find the Fuzzy's Notes: HR 3200, Pages 1-95 more insightful than the platitudes from President Obama, so here is some of that analysis (read the whole post for all of it):

The only way you can make your own choice about having employer-based, rather than the government-run, health insurance is if you have it when the bill is enacted. This is the "grandfathered health insurance coverage" (pg 16). So in a way, BO actually got that part right. The part he left out is that if you don't have insurance when the bill is enacted, you're screwed (go straight to government-run health care, do not pass go, be sure to pay as you pass go). Also, if you do get "grandfathered" in with your own employer-based insurance, your future dependents cannot be added to that (also page 16), so you'll either have to pay for two policies, deductibles, etc. or switch yourself to the same coverage as your poor, doomed children.

So it looks like our generation will indeed live better than any other generation in the world- all those who follow will be on the government-run healthcare. And all of those young people who voted for Obama in such large numbers will also no longer have the hope of a good health insurance plan- they'll be forced to take the government-run healthcare.

The Commissioner will be very powerful. And it'll be his or her job to ensure "adequate enrollment" in the government option by whatever means are necessary, up to and including changing the regulations, taxes, "incentives" for staying out of the government option, and whatever else the Commissioner "deems appropriate."

Obama has created already a bunch of czars and commissioners, unelected people with extensive power and few checks, to rule us. This administration now wants to create an even more powerful one- the High Commissioner of Health- to control our health. Unelected. Unaccountable. Tyrants.

The president will appoint the Commissioner. Of course. That's not why I mention it. The interesting little detail here is what is not said (as is always the case with politicians in general and with BO in particular). There is no term limit (there is for the Committee--3 years), so I guess it's a lifetime appointment. That's good. Covers all the bases when BO is booted out of office in 2012; he'll still have his man (or woman) running health care. That's encouraging.

Hear that? Lifetime appointments for government czars to run large segments of our economy. That's Democrat-control of our lives, forever. Keep voting Democrat if you like that sort of stuff.

Sec. 1173a gives the government access to your financial records, including your bank and other assets (this section starts on pg. 57). Not surprising as they will need to determine eligibility, but this SHOULD be freaking out people on the Left who were so against Bush's "invasion of privacy." BO won't be in office forever, and once he goes (2012 at this rate), you can almost bet the ranch that a republican will win the Office (and access to all your private information.). Think I'm kidding? Read the bill yourself. It's all right there. And no, as I've explained above, you are not exempt. No one is. That's what the bill is about.

Do you want the government agents having access to your bank accounts? After another couple rules of Obama and Pelsoi running things, it probably won't matter much because your bank account will be empty, but I know of a couple people out there hiding some gold in safety deposit boxes- what do you think the government is going to do when it knows for a fact that you have that in your safety deposit box?

There's a 1-3+ year description (terribly written like the rest of this bill) that qualifies groups (individuals and various size businesses) for the government-run health care plan. They've got it all in here, too. Medicaid, Medicare, Veteran's benefits, and the military and their dependents. So I guess all these plans will be dissolved at some point. Single-payer all the way.

It's a sad world when the government screws over veterans and retirees to move them to a crappy healthcare plan that Congress won't even get on. I'm going to point out right now that I voted straight ticket Republican last election, so none of this is my fault.

The plans unveiled. The basic plan is well, basic. It's the government's idea of "basic" and "necessary" and is subject to change based on recommendations by the aforementioned Committee or because the Commissioner had a bad (or good) day. Hmph! This plan is tier-priced, based on income--the more you make, the more you pay. Lovely. At least socialized medicine in most other countries provides shoddy care to its populace for free, but we get to pay for shoddy care. Yay. Only the premium-plus offers dental and optical, if the Commissioner approves, that is (pg 86).

Oh yes, this plan is bad. My years of experience in designing and recommending public policy lead me to suggest that this is poorly written garbage unworthy of being even considered by respective public officials, must less being advanced by Presidents and Congressman. If the Democrats wanted to help lower costs or expand government provided welfare insurance, they could have done so- but instead they put together this healthcare bill. No one, not a single person in our nation, should support this bill once you actually read it. It is not American- it does not protect life, liberty, and property.

Bloomfield Hills Schools Sticking with Leftist Curriculum

Last year in my post Bloomfield Hills Schools adopts Leftist Curriculum I wrote about how Eastover Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills was going to be adopting a curriculum called "Sustainability Education". The school board passed this curriculum change with little discussion about its merits and considerable mocking of those who disagreed with their liberal agenda.

According to the Bloomfield Hills website, this curriculum will take existing lessons and and slant them with a union and environmental agenda. Instead of having students focus on learning math, science, history, and reading, the common threat of this curriculum will be on sustainability.

Topics will include how the United States has destroyed third world nations by demanding food from them in exchange for money, how to limit choice and make housing more affordable by focusing on sustainable communities, driving energy prices up with government force used to sponsor so-called renewable energy, the limiting of development of natural resources, police powers used to limit the expansion of homes and business in the name of 'land use and urban revitalization', and indoctrination on the need to focus on green building and green design instead of profitability or beauty.

Students will be taught that they should deny their own needs because they are bad people and their bodies are bad and their world is bad (liberal view of the world), and by doing this they will make the future world a heaven on earth for all of those who follow them. The goal is to create meaning out of experiences and create a sense of community, and not learn skills and knowledge that would come in handy with competing with students in China and India.

Read the website yourself- I'm loosely quoting from the bottom section of the district's Instructional Initiatives page. If this kind of thing upsets you, Bloomfield Hills Superintendent is named Steven A. Gaynor, his phone number is 248.341.5407, and his email address is sgaynor@bloomfield.org. I'm sure he'd love to hear your thoughts and questions about this curriculum, and about how you feel it will prepare these innocent students for the future.

This is Michigan- Will it be America?

This is Michigan. Our state is considering giving up our historic lighthouses to PETA to turn into Fish Empathy Re-Education Centers. Our state is desperate to bring in murderers and felons from all over the country to fill our jails, which are emptied because we can't afford to keep prisoners in them. And companies that want to bring businesses here face years of legal challenges and regulations before they can even think of providing jobs and income to the residents of our state. This is what happens when Democrats run a state for many years- and I expect this will be what happens after the Democrats run our nation for a couple years.

According to the Detroit News, PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals) wants to buy a historic piece of property owned by all Michigan taxpayers and turn it into a politicized propaganda center. For all the talk about the left wanting to preserve areas in their natural state, it the usual leftwing hypocrisy that PETA wants to take a historic landmark and change it. They have applied to buy the lighthouse in Grand Haven and renovate it into a Fish Empathy Center- this group wants to remind all the decent people relaxing on the pier fishing and all those people whose job is to fish that they are evil murderers and should feel awful about their lives. Hopefully, liberal employees working for a liberal government will make the correct choice and not sell this property to a liberal special interest group.

Also in the Detroit News is a story about California rejecting Michigan's attempt to bring it's felons and murders to our state because our state charges too much for this service. Michigan, plagued by years of Democratic control which brings skyrocketing state spending and yet cuts in vital services like prisons and roads, was desperate to make the Great Lakes State into a penal colony to bring in much needed money to the residents of our state. Michigan already brings garbage in from Canada for a couple bucks a load, so the authorities here, desperate to save jobs that they have spent years destroying with high taxes and extensive regulations, thought it would be good for the bankrupt California to send it's prisoners here. Sadly, Michigan charges too much, and so California said no. Michigan is still in the running to house terrorists from Gitmo, as the federal government does not care about cost.

Lastly, a good explanation of how Michigan found itself in such dire straits is found in the Detroit News story about how a mining company has been battling through years of red tape and bureaucratic annoyances and now has just battled past special interest groups corrupting our legal system. Apparently a mining company wants to bring jobs and income to residents of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan by having them mine needed metals and minerals that make our world a better place to live in. This company has complied with all of the many regulations, fees, and red tape that the state of Michigan put in place to stop it from developing our world and progressing our society, but then this company was sued by multiple (unnamed in the article) environmental groups. They were hoping to find a liberal judge who was filled with empathy for their cause, but sadly got a couple of judges who ruled that there arguments had no legal merit. The mines have not been built yet though, so there is still many chances for people to corrupt the system to destroy legitimate business interests in our Democratic-run state.

Breakroom Conversations with Teachers

The school year is going to begin again soon, and as although I am excited to go back to doing what I love doing, I also can look forward to spending more time around liberal teachers, who dominate the education of your children, and listening to all of their theories and ideas of how the world works. It would be humorous if they weren't actively passing these ideas on to your children. For example, I'm not sure if I ever told you about the typical conversations that go on during lunch breaks with teachers. Before becoming a full-time teacher, I substitute taught for a couple years, and so had a lot of time to observe teachers during lunch breaks.

One usual topic of conversation is students who have misbehaved. According to liberal teachers, the student is not usually at fault for any misbehavior they engage in. Whereas conservative teachers would talk about discipline, leadership, and management strategies, liberals conversations about misbehaving students revolve around ethnicity, status, income level, physical features, and blame.

To these liberal teachers, the student’s bad behavior is not their fault- they are not responsible for their own actions. Instead, their poor behavior, poor test grades, etc is instead to be blamed on other teachers, society, or the testing conditions- but never the student.

The student may have some demented conservative teacher who has been preaching things like self-responsibility and discipline, and then when they go into the safe liberal teachers classroom, they act out their frustrations with the conservative teacher by hitting other students or talking back to the liberal teacher. It isn't the student's fault, and it isn't the liberal teacher's lack of management- it is the conservative teacher's fault.

In breakroom, liberal teachers talk about how it is society's fault that the student is not doing well. When liberals look at people, they break them down by race, sex, condition, sexual preference, religion, and economic status and go from there. I've heard teachers say that the reason why Johny can't read is because Johny is black, and our society does not do enough to help out black students, and we need to offer more intervention programs focuses on black students at our school, and until we do so, Johny isn't going to learn how to read. They will say this even though Johny is the only black student in school who can't read, and that Johny is also a bad kid who refuses to do his own work or help himself. I'm thinking that it is Johny's fault he can't read, but liberals want to take the responsibility out of his hands and instead blame society.

Once I heard a teacher say that the reason why Ron did so poorly on tests is because he was from a Christian family and because of this wasn't able to reason well. He didn't do well in biology class because he must have been rejecting biology because it wasn't in the bible, she would laugh, and the others would laugh too. Oh, how much fun it is for liberal teachers to mock Christians behind their backs- those silly believers!

Perhaps the favorite way for students to take responsibility away from students is to blame testing conditions for any poor tests that students take. It is never the student's fault- someone else in the room must have distracted them, the teacher must not have given the student enough time, the room must have been too cold, etc. It wasn't that the student was weak minded and lacked discipline in focus- nope, it's not their fault. They don't need to change who they are- they are fine, super people, just the way they are- weak, dumb, unruly, super happy people. And, these liberal teachers add to me in breakroom, I should not be trying to change them from who they are by forcing them to be smarter, stronger, more focused people- I'm such a mean teacher, they say.

Yes, I am looking forward to going back to teaching again, but not looking forward to more breakroom discussions that remove personal responsibility from students and blame society. It is conversations like that that make me eat my sandwich in my room.

Keith Butler Talks to Local Republicans

Michigan National Committeeman Keith Butler met with a group of young Republicans tonight, and had some interesting comments on what is going on in Washington DC. Butler is a former candidate for US Senate (he lost the primary) and is a noted speaker and a good conservative.

First, he wanted to make sure that Republicans don't rest on their laurels now that Obama says he is dropping the public option. Even though the public option may be removed from the bill, the rest of the bill is pretty bad public policy too. Butler reminded everyone that one of the worst parts of the bill is that the ideas proposed in it will be harmful to small businesses in our nation.

As to the future of the Republican Party, according to Butler the information is looking good for conservatives. Americans want divided government again- they are not happy with the Democratic party dictating everything (in my post Obama Wins, Democrats Control I predicted this). If the Democrats continue on their current course and Republicans stay conservative, the Republicans can win big in 2010 and restore some of this balance again.

The problem is that although people have realized that when the bought the Democratic Party they put a down payment on the destruction of our nation, they are not yet buying what the Republican Party is selling, mostly because the last time Republicans were in power they went all soft and voted for big government, pork, earmarks, and tried to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. Butler says (and I agree with him) that the way to victory for the GOP is to stick to our principles- small government, low taxes, less regulation, strong military, and family values.

The main issue in voters minds is going to be the economy. If the unemployment rate stays above 8%, voters will likely punish Democrats. I'm not hoping it stays that high, but I am hoping that voters realize that when they voted for Democrats, they voted to turn America into Michigan (an economic disaster). The Democrats won the election last time because the Republicans set up a situation where a man like Obama could win, and they took advantage- the GOP needs to now take advantage of the disaster that is the Democratic Party control of our country.

The good thing about the losses last election, according to Butler, is that now the GOP is desperate for voters, and is now going hard after voters of different ethnicity's, industries, and geographic areas that they didn't used to go after. Now the GOP is going after these groups, and that is a good thing- all Americans need to hear the message of the core principles and have a chance to vote for good politicians who believe in life, liberty, and property.

Explaining What Happened in a Spiritual Way

As you look around and wonder 'what happened', I think I may be able to offer some answers. For a long time, America prospered- we grew from a small group of states huddled on the Atlantic seaboard to a sprawling nation of unrivaled power and riches. And in this time of plenty, we began to forget how we got here.

For it is when America reached from shining sea to shining sea, and became very prosperous, and people began to build finer and finer homes, and food grew richer and plentiful, and our banking reserve grew great, we became proud as a nation and forgot our roots. Today, an entire party, the party currently in power of our nation, is proud of having forgotten the roots of our nation.

It was our Founding Fathers who led the patriots of our great nation in a revolt against the most powerful nation in the world and somehow won. It was those great men who wrote the Declaration of Independence and our first state constitutions, establishing truly great principles on which to build our nation. Read your history books- America is the only nation that had a revolution so amazingly successful.

It was our Framers who led our nation through those first years, who set in place the traditions, rules, and governments that would lead our nation to greatness. They wrote the Constitution and they set down the foundations for our branches of government.

The first several generations here in America worked hard- and I mean really worked hard. They saved, they scrimped, they fought, and they toiled. Until you do some family research, you do not understand how hard our ancestors had it, to build America from scattered farms hugging the ocean to a nation of railroads and airlines spanning a continent. Even our grandfathers and grandmothers worked hard and fought for every inch of success.

They did this so that you and I could be happy, successful, and grow up in a better world. They did this so that we would be rich and powerful. And we forgot them. We turned our backs on them. We ignored their words of advice. And now we pretend that we are better than them, that we know more than them, that we are smarter than our ancestors and Founding Fathers. We are filled with pride as a nation.

We have forgotten how we got here, and many have decided to follow other ideas, other philosophies, and to go down paths that we were not supposed to go down. This change is for the best, they cry as they lead us in worship of false gods and ideals.

This is why we are where we are today.

Inspired by Deuteronomy 8, lines 11-20.

I Predicted This Chilling of Free Speech

Let's go back in time a little bit, to last year. During the campaign for President, Obama tried to block television stations from airing an advertisement that correctly linked the Democrat to the terrorist Bill Ayers. He did this by having his thugs warning station managers not to air the advertisement and even went so far as to suggest that the Justice Department would step in if these stations exercised their free speech. The Obama campaign also compelled advertisers to pressure stations that continued to air the anti-Obama commercial. Click here for details.

At that time, I wrote "This is change I can believe in- the change from a free state to an unfree one, led by Democrats trying to chill free speech in the name of fairness and diversity." This is the situation we face today, only now the Democrats more firmly control the power of the state and the media, and are able to put even more pressure on television stations and advertisers to toe the correct party line on issues of great importance like health care, energy, and spending.

If you or someone you know voted Democrat or plans to vote Democrat in the future, this is the change that was voted for- I predicted it and I don't expect this chilling of free speech to stop any time soon.

Maybe Obama will Come Get me Some day?

In my post Come and Get Me Obama! from last week I wrote "If Obama or any of his thugs want to contact me about my posts, my email address is aconservativeteacher@gmail.com". As I explained, I was read to face the consequences of speaking out against tyranny. Perhaps I was a little too flippant about this issue- it appears that the White House is keeping any emails that are sent to it, and even the White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton confirms (through his non-denial) that these emails are being deleted.

In other words, if any of you did follow the White House's request and email them my information and my posts, then they may indeed be coming after me at some point in the future (after they take away my guns, liberty, and property, which they intend to). Don't believe me? Watch this interview between Burton and Fox's Megyn Kelly:

Thank you to the Motor City Times for this tip.

UPDATE: The White House is keeping lists of email address, as evidenced in another situation where the White House sent out propaganda about health care to thousands of people, many of whom never asked to receive emails from the White House or signed up for any sort of email list. Fox News is doing real journalism, trying to find this 'distribution list' that the White House is using to get it's message out, and trying to find out how people got on this list. If a private business acted in such a manner, it would be facing multiple lawsuits, but the White House thugs apparently can act above the law. Read this report for more details.

One Step Further

The last line in the article from the Detroit News called GOP backs away from end-of-life counseling is "supporters (Democrats) say the current House proposal (for taxpayer funded end of life counseling to save money) just goes one step further". I wonder- what does this Democrat proposal take us one step closer to?

Does having my taxpayer money go to counsel people to draw up a will take us a step further towards protecting property? Does having my taxpayer money go toward telling people to quit being a burden on society take us another step further towards a society more filled with freedom and choice? Does having my taxpayer money go towards telling people to just die already protect life better?

Where exactly are the Democrats taking our country, one step at at time? Call up your Congressman and ask him- if this health care proposal is just one step further, what are we walking towards as a nation? Increased life, liberty, and property, or something else?

Simplifying the Healthcare Debate

This current healthcare debate is not at all difficult to understand- it is a standard debate between freedom and tyranny. In one corner, there are conservatives and Republicans who are advocating a capitalist health care system where market forces are unleashed and people can freely choose what insurance they get and what treatments they want to receive. In other other corner, there are communists and Democrats who are advocating a state-run health care system where the state makes more decisions and puts in place bureaucrats who will make decisions about what sort of insurance or treatments that people get.

The details of this debate are not that important. If this seems as if it is simplifying the situation, then it is- the situation is simple. The only way to cut costs and make health insurance more affordable is to make it more capitalist and more free. If the system is made more communist and less free, than costs will go up and insurance will be less affordable. The current failures in the system stem from the state, and thus the state is the problem, not the solution.

At the center of this health care debate are several deeper ideas. One idea that is debated is the nature of the system. Is it the best in the world, covering almost everyone who wants to be covered, and providing unmatched service and quality? Or is it a broken system, in a crisis, needing a radical change? What is the reality of the situation?

Another idea at the center of this debate is whether people will turn down medical treatments and willingly not seek out more and more expensive cures and drugs in an 'enlightened' attempt to keep costs down for all society. Listening to liberals and Democrats talk about health care, they reject the nature of man and pretend that man can transcend to heaven and will willingly give up freedom, liberty, wants, and desires in order to keep the costs on the system down. Many liberals feel that society's needs come before individual's needs, just like Hitler did (that's a quote from Hitler). But this is not reality- the absolute truth is that man operates on the principle of enlightened self-interest, and will not willingly surrender freedom, property, and choices, and so the power of the state will be used to make him do these things unwillingly.

Think about what the Democrats in Congress want to do with the healthcare system. Do they want to free it, remove barriers to commerce, limit lawsuits from lawyers on businessman, let trade operate freely across borders, and lessen regulations and rules on doctors and insurance companies? Or do they wish to shackle commerce, control it, limit it, and regulate it? James Madison said that commercial shackles are unjust, oppressive, and impolitic, and I agree with him- the Democrats agenda is not the agenda for America, and the details to their bills only reinforce this central fact.

After the Democrats pass Obama's healthcare plan and Pelosi's cap and trade scheme, ask yourself whether you can still freely make your own decisions any more. Do you control your won destiny anymore? Do you command yourself- do you decide what you want to do and what you don't want to do? Or does someone else command you now- does someone else make decisions for you? Democrats, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and all the others are working to make you less free- Pythagoras wrote that no man is free who cannot command himself.

This healthcare argument may seem complicated and overwhelming, but don't let it be. Trust yourself. Trust your morals, knowledge, and logic. You know in your heart and mind that Obama is wrong, that the Democrats plan for our country is wrong, and that liberalism doesn't work. Don't get confused by details or sucked into claims of racism, nazism, or personal attacks. Just stick to the truth, and you'll come through this okay.

This post drew for inspiration on a powerpoint presentation put together by the Constructive Curmudgeon called The Moral Basis of Capitalism. Thank you.

Oakland County (MI) Board of Commissioners Meeting Report

My wife just got back from the latest Oakland County (Michigan) Board of Commissioners meeting and told me all about it. If there is anything our President has taught us, it is that the people at county and township meetings could be Senator or President soon enough, so understanding how they think and act is important.

The first issue that occupied a lot of discussion and political maneuvering at the meeting was a resolution that was introduced by the Democrats in the County Commission would have Oakland County (the most influential county in Michigan) publicly declare its support for two bills in the Michigan House of Representatives (HR 4785 and HR 4786) and direct the Oakland County lobbyist to work to get these bills passed.

As I understand it, these bills are sponsored by Democrats in the House (who are in the majority), and would expand unemployment benefits to cover those individuals who work part-time, and once those benefits are exhausted, would further pay for job retraining.

In the past, salaried full-time employees were comforted to know that there employer was being forced to put money aside for them in case they ever lost their job. Employers account for this cost, and adjust their business plans accordingly- some firms hire less employees knowing that they have to pay for this unemployment insurance and other firms try to seek out the best competitive advantage by going to states or countries that demand less unemployment insurance.

Michigan has decided to ignore this fact of life and instead use the power of the state to force employers to save money to pay for part-time employees once they are let go from their jobs due to the employer not having enough money to run his company.

Oakland County has anywhere from 800 to over a thousand part-time employees, and if these bills were to be passed, they would now have to pay for unemployment insurance for these employees. Knowing this, they would hire considerably less employees- not only because they would have to pay a fee to do so, but also because the county would have to protect itself if it had to lay off people. No estimates were given as to how many jobs Oakland County government would destroy if the State of Michigan passed this bill, but it is a given that many jobs will be lost.

The Democrats support this resolution because, according to them, the benefit expansion is "free." My taxpayer money and yours was given to the states in the form of a bribe to encourage them to expand unemployment benefits and welfare programs in the form of a 'stimulus bill,' and now Democrats want to leverage that money. This reasoning is poor though- the stimulus money is only given once, and the expansion of unemployment will be forever.

Democrats talked about how this expansion of welfare benefits would save houses and keep people spending money and keeping the economy going. This is another case of poor reasoning- the amount of money one is going to earn from unemployment benefits from a part-time job is not going to be enough to save a house, and taking taxpayer money and redirecting it through government agencies to another person to spend is not going to improve the economy.

One Democratic commissioner went so far as to say that employers should be happy to pay the extra money like he was, as he owned a business and gladly would foot the bill for increased welfare payments. I'm going to contact this guy and see if he will send me the check directly so I can pass it on to a good charity, but I suspect that like most Democrats, he is only generous with your money and not his own.

For all of the politics, posturing, anecdotes, and quibbling about details that went on for hours, I never heard the following phrases- "personal responsibility," "founding fathers," "constitution," "core principles," or "limited government." Democrats firmly believe that the purpose of government is to redistribute wealth from those who earned it to those who have not, and Republicans get sucked into this mindset and also start to discuss resolutions such as these on unfavorable ground.

The reason why Republicans voted not to support this resolution and why you should also oppose it is that it is not the role of government to force employers to save money for your possible job loss. That is your own business, and should be your own responsibility. By making you give up that liberty and freedom, by using the power of the state to take responsibility away from you, our society is less free and less responsible, and ultimately suffers. The reason why this resolution should have been defeated is because our Founding Fathers would not have supported resolutions such as this one, would not have believed that a crisis should be used to radically remake America this way, but would have thought long and hard about the core principles that make America great.

This resolution does not in any way improve the protections of my liberty and property, and actually works against these, and thus should have been rejected. In this case, it wasn't (the resolution passed because a couple Republicans surrendered the moral and logical ground and didn't want to pay 'a political price'), but in the future, remember what you read here and do the right thing- think to yourself "what would Jefferson do" and then vote. Our nation will be better because of it.

For further questions or comments about this issue, contact anyone on the Board of Commissioners who you would like to.

Kenneth Feinberg, Head of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront and Pay Czar

June 11, 2009, Democratic President Barack Obama installed Washington DC lobbyist and Democratic donor Kenneth Feinberg as compensation czar. Although it is unclear from where he gains the legal authority to do so, from his government offices in the Treasury building, Mr. Feinberg will set the salaries and bonuses of 175 top executives at seven of the nation’s largest companies. He is planning on working day and night to savagely use the power of the US government to personally attack the livelihoods of the top employees in these critical firms, apparently in the name of some nebulous concept of fairness.

Mr. Feinberg has decided, again on questionably legal and constitutional authority, that he personally gets to now decide the pay for the top 25 executives at the American International Group, Citibank, Chrysler, Chrysler Credit, General Motors, GMAC and Bank of America. In addition, he has decided that for 80 other financial institutions that have received federal assistance, he personally will develop the overall compensation structure, but right now has decided that he and his minions don't have time to decide the exact level of pay for the employees in these companies.

As Sweetness and Light puts it, this is yet another blow to whatever is left of freedom in this country. Under the Obama administration, the list of czars is getting quite long, as he has decided that best way to rule our nation is to appoint roving officials with no authority yet little constraints on power.

A quick search of Open Secrets turns revealed that Mr. Feinberg is anything but unbiased- over the years he has donated massive amounts of money to mostly Democratic candidates (with an occasional moderate or independent sprinkled in). Last election cycle her particularly liked Obama- he donated $7200 to him, although he hedged his bets and also donated $8700 to Hillary Clinton and $6900 to John Kerry. He also gave significant large amounts of money to individual Democratic Senators and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Feinberg is a long-time Democratic operative and actually spent 5 years as Democratic Senator Kennedy's chief of staff. This long partisan association indubitably qualifies him for service in Obama's house of thugs and cronies.

Few have even dreamed up the idea federal officials who would have the power to tell private companies that they are paying their own employees too much money. Probably the closest modern day comparison to Kenneth Feinberg in terms of job description is Robert Ley, who was head of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF). In this capacity, his job was to set the wages and salaries of the employees in the top firms in Germany. It tried to level the playing field for workers and preferred companies that the state controlled. He also was a longtime political operative who worked for the administration to control the salaries of executives for the good of the state. Robert Ley, who was a Nazi, died in 1945 while awaiting trial for war crimes.

Book Review: Citizen of the Galaxy

Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein, is a good little book- not too long (250 pages), a quick and easy read, and a fairly good story. It isn't going to blow you away, and the ending isn't that great, but it is a good book with some fairly good parts to it.

Like most Heinlein books, I feel that it sheds a good light on conservative characters, especially those who embrace libertarian ideals. His hero's embrace personal responsibility and hard work. They demand to read things before they sign them. They have skills in many different areas. And they are common people who look down on those more sophisticated people who would enslave them for their own petty goals.

The hero of the book is Thorby, who is a slave at the start of the book. He is adopted by a one-legged beggar named Baslim, who is more than he seems to be. The best part of the book is this beginning section, as Thorby learns how to beg and yet still have honor in the streets of slave-trading Saragon. Thorby though is soon forced to flee, and then he becomes a member of a trading group sailing between the planets. Lastly, Thorby finally learns his past, and the book ends with a nice finish.

The book is about doing the right thing- the main character does the right thing, even when it is hard, and even though other people don't. But he knows that justice is dealing fairly with everyone, not picking and choosing winners and losers, and not worrying about how others are dealing with you. Books like this one are good weekend reads, because they are enjoyable and have a message that your science-fiction son or daughter should be absorbing.

Come and Get Me Obama!

Over the weekend, my dad told me that I better tone down my attacks on Obama or one day I might disappear. I laughed at that- but then today I read that the White House, on their official blog, requested that people notify Obama's thugs of any sites or people who are saying bad things about the administration’s health care proposals. Via the Belmont Club.

This isn't paranoia- the link is http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things. I quote:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov

What do you suppose the White House is going to do with the information that these informants bring to the administration? Do you think that the White House is going to contact everyone who disagrees with them on websites or over email and have a reasonable chat with them, debating the merits of the proposal and the criticisms leveled? Or do you think that Obama will begin to use the power of the executive branch to start to keep tabs on these people, have the IRS look into their financial dealings, and maybe even run some background checks on them like they did with Joe the Plumber?

Just in case anyone is wondering, the contact information for the White House office is flag@whitehouse.gov. Since the White House can't keep track of all of my blog posts, here are a couple of them that I think are particularly good- feel free to pass them on to Obama and let him know that I am not scared of his thugs- Obama creates disaster in the making, Obama's Health Care Plan Attacks Life, Liberty, and Property, Obama Says 'Just Die Already', Obama's Brother Tried to Rape 13-Year Old Girl, Denied Visa in Britain, Obama's Aunt Still Living in US and Defended by Democratic Donor Attorney, and many others.

If Obama or any of his thugs want to contact me about my posts, my email address is aconservativeteacher@gmail.com. Happy reading!

Obama Administration to Bribe States to Impose Liberal UN Agenda in Schools

Via Education Watch International comes this story- Obama Administration To Impose Liberal UN Curriculum. Yes, it was only a matter of time until Obama realized that he could use your money to brainwash children into buying his view of the world.

According to the Department of Education, the Obama White House will direct $4.35 billion in taxpayer money to be used as bribes to get states to give up to the executive branch of the United States their constitutional power of education. Once the White House is then personally directing the education of all students in our country, it will make teachers and schools adopt an "internationally benchmarked education standard"- ie, schools will be forced to teach subjects in a way that the UN wants them taught.

Before you think this is just being hyper-sensitive, read the fine print. All 50 states will now be teaching that the UN is great- after all, the UDHR states that all "education shall . . . further the activities of the United Nations."

The standards will also include the UN's Earth Charter, which says that all education must include a focus on "sustainability education." What is this "sustainability education" that your tax dollars are now going to be used for? The Charter explains that "sustainability education" entails the "promotion of the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations" (Art. 10:a), nuclear disarmament (Art. 16:d), gay marriage (Art. 12:a), legalized abortion (Art. 7:e), adoption of an "international legally binding instrument on environment" (The way Forward), and indoctrination in pantheism (Art. 14d and Art. 16:f).

Yes, that's right, Obama is going to use money that you earned from your own labor to bribe states to teach communism, pacifism, anti-family values, and paganism.

Dems Allege GOP is Orchestrating Health Care Reform Protests

The Detroit News has a story in the paper today called "Dems allege GOP is orchestrating health care reform protests." It is a fascinating look into the bizarro world that we live in, where up is down and good is evil.

According to the story, grassroots protests all around the nation are shutting down Democrat's attempts to hold townhall meetings. These Democrats are upset that citizens are showing up and expressing their displeasure at the awful bill that they have created, and so these Democrats close their eyes and yell that everyone who is against them is a bad person sent there in a giant conspiracy theory.

Apparently Democrats all over the nation are alleging, without any evidence, that Republicans are orchestrating these protests. Republicans, who couldn't even orchestrate election victories last year, are now so good at bringing together independents and citizens that they are getting thousands of different groups of people all over the nation to show up at random times and events and all have the same message- that this health care reform proposal is so bad that it just isn't bad, it is shouting angry upset bad. Yeah, right.

The real story is that the Democrats produced a bad piece of legislation, and the system still works- citizens can show up to protest it. I hope the system works- Democrats might just ignore the people and shut down town meetings and vote whichever way the special interests who have bought them want them to vote.

The funniest part to me of the story the Detroit News runs is the part where Democrat President Obama, who rather than creating good legislation or conducting good diplomacy, has time to send out an email to his special interest group urging them to show up at meetings and support the health care bill. He alleges that citizens are taking to the airwaves and going to these meetings to block it, and urges his special interest groups to do that and more, because what the citizens are doing is wrong.

Let me repeat that- the highest Democrat in the land is trying to orchestrate health care reform protests. Hello pot, I'm the kettle, and you're black!

Great Thinkers

My nana says that in order to be a learned person, you need to make sure that you have read the wisdom of the past. It's a good saying, and I think that it is a shame that students today read so little of the wisdom of those who have come before them. It leads to a society that thinks that it knows everything, that thinks it is the center of the world, and that elects people into office who know little of history or the ideas of the past. These kinds of people do things that everyone knows failed in the past, and rather than stand on the shoulders of giants and make our society better, they jump off the giants back into the muck and make our society worse.

So whose writings do I consider worthwhile reading? One of my readers wrote me and pointed out a list of the 25 greatest thinkers that every college student should read, and it's a good list. College students- or even high school students- should be familiar with these thinkers and have read some of their material at some point in their schooling. Go through the list yourself- have you read these great thinkers?


Western Philosophers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, and Niccolo Machiavelli. Eastern Thinkers like Confucius, Avicenna, Laozi, Siddhartha Gautama, or D.T. Suzuki.

Statesman like Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, Ataturk, Mao Zedong, and Nelson Mandela. Writers and Artists like Mark Twain, George Orwell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Albert Camus, Khalil Gibran, Kurt Vonnegut, Gunter Grass, Marcel Proust, Issac Asimov, and Arthur Rimbaud.

If you don't recognize any of these writers, and I confess that there are a couple on here that I have not read, check out the article in its entirely. It discusses who the person is and what contributions they made to society.

Lastly, put this information to use. In your own life, try to read these works and draw on the thought and ideas that they present. Listen to others talk, and challenge them when their ideas are deficient or lacking in deep thought. Be a jerk and demand that people display their knowledge of past great thinkers, especially those who would lead you and pretend to rule you. Stand on the shoulders of giants and make our society better.

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Provides Hope Still to America

Yesterday my sister and I were talking about the future of our nation- it is a debate that we have often. She feels that America is now lost- that our culture, prosperity, and greatness has been squandered forever by Democratic corruption and excesses. I think that although the Democrats have delivered hard blows to America (especially lately), and weakened our culture, companies, and moral compass, we can still recover.

I point to Reagan as evidence- after the disastrous regime of Carter, Reagan put us on the path to 20 more years of continued economic success, moral revival, and judicial restraint. My sister also points to Reagan- that even the best Presidents now can only check the decline of our nation, and that for every Reagan, there is a Clinton and an Obama doing double damage.

It's a good argument to join, mostly because it we as a party and nation must cling still to hope- and not the phony kind of hope that comes from Obama's mouth, where he mouths empty promises and promises you the moon, but real hope, that kind of hope that springs from the soul and the mind and feels solid and real. You're not going to swoon and faint over this kind of hope, but your soul will be hardened for the long hard journey ahead.

But as we argued, I kept thinking back to Lincoln's second inaugural address, which I recently read on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial on my trip to Washington DC. I've already mentioned this before- see the post Deep Thoughts on DC Trip- LaHood, Palaces, Rainbows, Washington, and Lincoln for more. The part in particular that I kept coming back to was this:

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

America is not perfect- we have sinned in the past. Sometimes the sins were understandable, other times we were forced to do so, and other times I am sure we sinned and I just don't know what they were, but it is true that our county has done wrong in the past. Perhaps Obama's win and the Democrats destruction of our country's economic, military, political, moral, and cultural might is the price we need to pay. Perhaps the election of Obama, fueled possibly in some small measure by guilt about many things, is the price we must now pay.

I don't know, but I do still think that right and reason will prevail over the wrong and insanity that the Democratic Party now espouses, I still feel that Republicans and conservatives will win elections once again and overturn all of the bad laws and judgements the Democrats are promoting, and I really hope that our nation can once again be that great shining city on a hill.

Obama creates disaster in the making

Thomas Sowell put out another brilliant article today, and the title of my post is the title of the headline. Democratic President of the United States Barack Obama is actively and personally trying to create a potential disaster for our nation, and Sowell writes about it in clear and powerful language. Here are some selected parts, although you should read the whole article here:

When that person is the president of the United States, the potential for disaster is virtually unlimited. Many people are rightly worried about what this administration's reckless spending will do to the economy in our time and to our children and grandchildren, to whom a staggering national debt will be passed on. But if the worst that Barack Obama does is ruin the economy, I will breathe a sigh of relief. He is heading this country toward disaster on many fronts...

Sowell goes on to talk about the country heading towards disaster by Obama and the Democrats putting in place and rhetoric encouraging and helping Iran to become nuclear, but he could have talked about Obama destroying our manufacturing capabilities with the energy limit-and-tax bill, or the Democrats policy of nationalizing key industries and then running them into the ground, or the Democrats and Obama taking over health care of you and you family so that they can encourage aborting your babies and killing off your grandparents. These are all disasters in the making, but Sowell goes another direction:

Nothing has torn more countries apart from inside like racial and ethnic polarization.

Sowell is right- identity politics is a corrupting influence on a country and will rip countries to pieces. Whether they be poor (Rwanda) or okay (Czechoslovakia), what tore apart these nations was identify politics. Making judgements and decisions based on race, color, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or religion- America was founded on not doing this, and we now have elected a President who is going to try hard to encourage these very things. Sowell ends his essay with these powerful lines:

This is a president on a mission to remake American society in every aspect, by whatever means are necessary and available. That requires taking all kinds of decisions out of the hands of ordinary Americans and transferring them to Washington elites-- and ultimately the number one elite, Barack Obama himself.

Like so many before him who have ruined countries around the world, Obama has a greatly inflated idea of his own capabilities and the capabilities of what can be accomplished by rhetoric or even by political power. Often this has been accompanied by an ignorance of history, including the history of how many people before him have tried similar things with disastrous results.Moreover, ignorance by itself is not nearly as bad as charging full steam ahead, pretending to know.

While the mainstream media in America will never call him on this, these repeated demonstrations of his amateurism and immaturity will not go unnoticed by this country's enemies around the world. And it is the American people who will pay the price.

America will pay the price for electing this Democrat.