SEIU-The "Purple People Beaters"

From Free Republic, I came across this additional video from the Russ Carnahan town hall melee outside St Louis on August 6. The video is not clear but purports to show an SEIU woman shoving a camera into the face of the person operating it.



Just who is this union-the Service Employees International Union? It is the fastest-growing union in America-and it is closely allied with President Obama, the Democratic Party and their leftist causes. These are the people who are aggressively-I mean aggressively- working to bring workers into their union through strong-arm tactics such as they recently used at the University of Miami calling for hunger strikes.

The SEIU is largely made up of service workers, janitors, care-givers, food workers etc. Among the political causes they support are government health care, the card check system (currently in Congress, which would basically eliminate secret votes for joining unions)and the mess we have in California called the In-Home Supportive Services Program, by which the state pays people who are providing in-home care for aged and ill family members. As good as that sounds, it is rife with fraud.

SEIU's president (Boss)- is Andy Stern, who has gained a lot of enemies for his inside-fighting skills and aggressive tactics. He can usually be found dressed in purple-the union's color. Make no mistake, he is a part of Obama's left-wing revolution that has taken over Washington. If this guy has his way, every working American will be in a union-like it or not.

The SEIU is a force that every American should be aware of. What we saw in St Louis on August 6 is just a harbinger of what will come to pass if we don't stand up to this government takeover and their enforcers. Obama, the Democrats and SEIU are in bed with each other like a menage-a-trois on steroids. If not, why did Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius, make a conference call to SEIU and tell them to "keep doing what you are doing" on August 7, the day after SEIU caused physical confrontations in Tampa and St Louis?

There is an old adage that thugs and bullies must be stood up to. The SEIU and its boss, Andy Stern, have shown themselves to be just that. Thus, they must be stood up to.

This is an Interview???

Check out this "interview" on MSNBC by acting host and Democratic operative Lawrence O'Donnell of Peter Schiff, an economist who is challenging Chris Dodd for the Senate, and who opposes the government health care plan. As you watch and listen to O'Donnell pummeling Mr Schiff, check out the background messages on the screen.

"Fear Factor 2010"-showing a hulking elephant with big tusks looming over a small donkey.

What do they call that-subliminal messaging?

Mr O'Donnell must be a proud graduate of the Roland Freisler School of Interviewing.

Who was Roland Freisler, you ask? He was the infamous Nazi judge who conducted the "trials" of those accused of trying to assassinate the Fuehrer in 1944. Check out his questioning techniques:



Oh, I'm sorry!! I didn't realize I was using Nazi analogies, which according to folks like Nancy Pelosi and Frank Schaeffer, is a bad thing-unless their friends at SEIU are acting like Brownshirts/Purpleshirts. A little overblown? Perhaps, but you get the idea.

Let's Play, "Name That Team!"

Who are the guys dressed in purple?

a Minnesota Vikings defense
b Members of the Service Employees International Union attacking people opposed to government health care
c The Purple People Beaters
d Take your pick (all of the above)

Still don't know? Here's some help.


Still don't know? Here's some more help.




Still don't know? Hell, either do I.

David Scott (D-GA) Loses it at Town Hall Meeting

It seems rising emotions at town hall meetings are not limited to the audiences. Watch here as Congressman David Scott (D-GA) loses it in Douglasville, GA when a questioner asks him if he is going to vote for government health care.

Interesting News Article Out of Nigeria

Pastor George Orjiy


Here's an interesting little tidbit that appeared in the Daily Sun of Lagos, Nigeria newspaper on August 6: (tip of the hat to Klein Verzet and Jihad Watch)

Boko Haram: How 3 pastors were beheaded eyewitness
From TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri
Thursday, August 6, 2009


"One of the victims of last week’s attack by the Yusufiya sect in Borno State has given a shocking account of how the Islamic extremists killed three pastors who were captured along with other victims on the second day of the insurgence. The victim was among those held hostage in Yusuf’s enclave.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Sun in Maiduguri, the eye witness who preferred anonymity disclosed that the three pastors were beheaded on the instruction of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf shortly after bringing them out of his inner chamber.

“The pastors alongside one Ibo man were asked to change their faith to Islam like they did to other people taken as hostages. I think there was an argument by one of the pastors which gave the others some level of confidence to also resist accepting Islam.

“The Yusufiya men who were armed on that Tuesday afternoon were not comfortable with the pastors and they took one of them to the sect leader in his inner chamber. They came out later to the courtyard within the compound and cut their heads one after the other and thereafter, shouted allah akbar in wild celebration accompanied with several gun shots,” the eye witness disclosed.

He said the hostages numbering about 50 within the area of the execution of the pastors and another fair complexioned man which he could not identify, were gripped with fear as non could foretell the outcome of their stay at the enclave of the fundamentalists. He was however lucky to escape as he was freed in the night with others with a warning not to mix with kafrici (infidels).

Corroborating the account of the killing, a Senior pastor with Good News Church, Wulari Maiduguri Rev. Baba Gata Ibrahim told Daily Sun in an interview that a pastor in his church, Pastor George Orjih was beheaded on the instruction of the Boko Haram leader because the clergy man refused to accept Islam.
“An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,” he disclosed.

The late Pastor George Orjih was said to have arrived Maiduguri last week from Jos where he was doing his Masters programme in Theology. Described as a fearless, hardworking, and intellectually sound, his care for the welfare and well being of his family allegedly contributed to his capture and eventual death.
“He was mindful of his family and their welfare. He was really out of the house but thought to go back again. That was how he was captured by the Boko Haram before he was killed. It was the very week, in fact the following day he returned from school where he was doing his Masters in Theology that he was arrested,” the senior pastor added.

He urged the government to provide adequate security for Christian in the state.
Also delivering a sermon during the funeral rites for late Rev. Sabo Yakubu, slain COCIN Church pastor, the speaker, Rev Bulus Azi urged Christians to emulate the pastors who were killed because of their refusal to betray their faith. Quoting from the bible in Revelation 7: 9-15, the regional chairman of the church told Christians to prepare to die anytime as their calling demand."

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/aug/06/national-06-08-2009-01.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fousesquawk comment: Is a comment really necessary? Maybe CAIR would like to comment.

Kenneth Gladney-SEIU Assault Victim

On the evening of August 6, Kenneth Gladney was assaulted by union goons from the goonish Service Employees International Union (SEIU) outside a town hall meeting in a suburb of St Louis where Russ Carnahan (D-MO) tried to control who could be admitted to his event. Gladney was trying to sell "Don't tread on me" items outside when he was accosted.

Below is the statement of Gladney's attorney, David Brown:

"Kenneth was attacked on the evening of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in South St. Louis County. I was at the town hall meeting as well and witnessed the events leading up to the attack of Kenneth. Kenneth was approached by an SEIU representative as Kenneth was handing out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags to other conservatives. The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out these flags. The SEIU member used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another SEIU member yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him in the head and back. Kenneth was also brutally attacked by one other male SEIU member and an unidentified woman. The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing T-shirts with the SEIU logo.

Kenneth was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot; three others were arrested. Kenneth was admitted to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center emergency room, where he was treated for his numerous injuries. Kenneth was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out the flags. In fact, he merely asked people as they exited the town hall meeting whether they would like a flag. He in no way provoked any argument or altercation, as evidenced by the fact that three assailants were arrested."

And here is Kenneth and Mr Brown being interviewed August 7 by Fox News" Neil Cavuto:




So this is the Chicago-style of politics that President Obama has brought to Washington. The DNC said days ago that they were going to call in their supporters including the unions. They kept their promise, and now protests that heretofore had been vocal are being met with shoves, choke-holds and fisticuffs. Jimmy Hoffa would be proud.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius is also apparently pretty proud. Michelle Malkin is reporting that the day after the assault on Mr Gladney, Sibelius placed a conference call to the Beastie Boys at SEIU and told them to "keep doing what you're doing." Indeed! Keep doing what they did in Tampa and St Louis, Secretary Sibelius?

Isn't it troublesome who this administration is in bed with- the SEIU and ACORN for starters?

I wonder if the mainstream news media will ask Secretary Sibelius why she told the SEIU to keep "doing what they are doing" the day after an assault in St Louis and pushing and shoving in Tampa. I wonder if people like Rick Sanchez, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow will express any concern about what happened to Mr Gladney. Probably not. After all, he was just another one of those right-wing white racists who were reacting to the election of a black president. What, you say? Mr Gladney is black?

Silly me.

The "Birther" Issue

About thirty years ago, I was returning from a trip by car to Tijuana with my wife, father-in-law and infant daughter. As we stopped at the border, a uniformed lady inspector asked us where we were born. She asked me first, to which I replied, "Los Angeles". She then asked my wife, who replied, "Mexico, but I'm a US citizen." She then asked my father-in-law, who said, "Mexico" and produced his green card. At this point, the lady was looking a little perplexed. Looking at our infant daughter in the car seat, she asked, "Where was the baby born?". "Thailand", replied my wife producing our daughter's American passport, at which the point, the inspector showed an expression of utter frustration-and waived us through.

That experience is brought back to me with the controversy of Barack Obama's birth, which is a result of his somewhat exotic parentage-for lack of a better expression. Lately, we have seen a resurgence of the controversy surrounding Obama's birth, which was first raised during the presidential campaign.

Let me say here and now that I am satisfied that Obama was born in Hawaii, so I am not a so-called "Birther". I also think that this is a losing issue among Obama opponents, which not only is a waste of time and effort, but one that discredits those who are Obama critics.

That raises the question; why doesn't the President simply produce an original birth certificate and end the controversy once and for all?

Why should he?

You see, Obama and the Democrats have a winning issue here. How easy it is to let the Birthers do their thing and compare them to the 9-11 Truthers, the Flat Earth Society, the UFO folks, and every other kook fringe out there-and in the process, tell the public that this is what Republicans and conservatives are all about. I wouldn't produce my birth certificate either.

Of course, this goes against the grain of Obama's pledge to be the "transparent president", which he is anything but. It is noted that his college records are also kept under lock and key-much like Bill Clinton's health records were.

So as long as the Birthers publicly question Obama's birthplace, he and his party can sit back and laugh. My advice for the Birthers is to let it go. Obama is the president. Even if he came out tomorrow and said, "Yes, I was born in Kenya", the next question is-so what? Do you think this Congress is going to move to take away his presidency by impeachment?

Let's move on to the issues. They are much more important.

The New Tact: If You're Against ObamaCare, You Are a Birther, Racist and......

Just this past week, we have seen the liberal playbook in action. Not only are they calling out the goons from ACORN and the labor unions to show up at town hall meetings and go after the anti-government health care folks, they are stigmatizing those who oppose said government health care.

President Obama led off the new tact himself this week when he referred to the protesters, in a speech, as the ones who created the mess, saying that they should stop talking and "get out of the way". Sit down and shut up in other words.

According to Nancy Pelosi, protesters are showing up flying the Nazi flag. (Actually, some posters are equating the swastika with government health care, but what are details to Pelosi?)

Then there is New York Times columnist and Princeton professor Paul (the Worm) Krugman, a walking poster boy for how ridiculous the Nobel Prize has become, who wrote a column this week in the Times drawing a link between the protesters and "Birthers", as well as those who "have racial fears about having a black president". You see, all those folks who have turned out to oppose government health care are just a bunch of racists and folks who believe Obama was really born in Kenya. Talk like that will get you a Nobel Prize (for economics) and a teaching gig at Princeton.)

But last night on MSNBC, left-wing hostess (and Tim Geithner look-a-like *) Rachel Maddow had one of her regulars on-left-wing writer Frank Schaeffer. This character wrote a book called "Crazy for God", which blasted his conservative, Calvinist preacher-father. (Mr Schaeffer Jr. doesn't like what he calls "conservative Christians".) In answer to Maddow's question about references to Nazism by protesters having the possibility of leading to violence, Schaeffer took the ball and ran two football fields with it. As his voice became angrier and his eyes widened, Schaeffer told a somberly-concerned Maddow that mentioning Hitler was like "leaving a loaded gun" on the table and encouraging someone to pick it up. He then went on to give a litany of all the conservative boogey-men he could think of, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dick Armey, the killers of Dr Tiller, anti-abortionists, insurance companies, opponents of Sonia Sotomayor, Fox News, the guy who killed Martin Luther King, "angry middle-aged white men", "bad Americans".....

Hey! Don't take my word for it. Watch it yourself.



You might also note that in Maddow's accompanying video clip of the melee in Tampa this week, she inadvertently showed the scene where one of the union goons (straight out of Central Casting, no less) puts a choke-hold on an anti-government health care protester who wanted to be admitted into the town hall meeting. (Watch the guy in the green shirt as "Sluggo" pushes him into a corner with a choke-hold.)

To sum up, Maddow and Schaeffer's thesis was that right-wing, racist protesters were using Nazi/Hitler references to suggest in "coded messages" that someone should go out and kill President Obama, which is a ridiculous and totally false suggestion. But this is what passes for journalism on MSNBC.

(* Why do I call Maddow a Tim Geithner look-a-like? Don't take my word for it. See for yourself.)


(I think Geithner is the one wearing a tie.)

So it appears that the Administration, the Democratic Party, and their servants in the news media are going after Americans who don't support their health care take-over. We are racists. We are "Birthers". We are "bad Americans".

And to President Obama, thank your, Sir, for "bringing us together".

Is Jordan Really Palestine?

Jordan- How much was "Palestine"?


I am posting an article by Sarah Honig, which appeared in the Jerusalem Post on August 6, 2009. I cannot attest for the historical facts, and the Jerusalem Post may not be an unbiased periodical when it comes to the issue of Israel. Yet, I find many of Honig's points intriguing because I have often asked myself why nobody is screaming for Jordan, a relatively new nation, to give back land to the Palestinian people.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another Tack: (Trans) Jordan is Palestine


"If anyone can lay claim to consummate mastery of the thriving art of history-forging, it's the Jordanians. Their entire state, nationhood and very identity are counterfeit. Had the international community not been sympathetically predisposed to lap up the lie, Jordan obviously couldn't pull it off. Its wholesale fabrication hinges on a world that contentedly collaborates in hoodwinking itself.


Faisal I ibn al-Hussein, Abdullah I’s brother and Hussein ibn Ali’s son, was ruler of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 1921 to 1933.

So deceit blithely marches on.

Its latest installment is the artificially concocted kingdom's decision to strip untold numbers of Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship. Those who were Jordanian for decades suddenly aren't. It's like the infamous Soviet encyclopedias' loose-leaf pages, which were removed and replaced with the latest authoritative versions of what once was.

The past is ever-malleable in the service of current agendas.

According to Jordanian Interior Minister Nayef al-Kadi, the aim is to preempt the possibility of anyone resurrecting reminders that Jordan is part and parcel of what's called Palestine. It's indeed the largest chunk thereof. That being the case, Palestinians - whether born east or west of the Jordan River - are Jordan's natural citizens (regardless of whatever name it or they adopt). Kadi, under his monarch's orders, is now out to underscore the falsehood that "Jordan is not Palestine just as Palestine is not Jordan."

Thereby no future peace deal could rubber-stamp Jordanian domicile for so-called Palestinians. Instead they'd be driven to overrun Israel and turn it into the third Arab state in the original jurisdiction of the post-World War I British Mandate over Palestine.



Otherwise Jordan would forfeit all proceeds from the gargantuan deception it labored so hard to market to a world eager to be deceived - i.e., the synthetic Jordanian and Palestinian ethnicities, along with the notion that these recent-vintage nationalities are dissimilar from each other and deserve self-determination in separate homelands: Jordan and Palestine.

This cock-and-bull contention begat the image of the stateless Palestinians - aggrieved indigenous inhabitants striving desperately to throw off the yoke of foreign (Jewish) occupation.

Until 1948 Palestine was synonymous with the Hebrew Eretz Yisrael. The "Palestinian" epithet was largely reserved for Jews and used by them. Local Arabs preferred allegiance to Greater Syria or Iraq.

Golda Meir used to quip: "I am a Palestinian, but don't like the name. Palestine is a name the Romans gave Eretz Yisrael with the express purpose of infuriating defeated Jews... Why should we use a spiteful name meant to humiliate us?... Christendom inherited the name from Rome and the British chose to call the land they mandated Palestine. Local Arabs picked it up as their nation's supposed ancient name, though they couldn't even pronounce it correctly, and turned it into Filastin, a fictional entity."

Palestine/Filastin never had an independent existence, cultural uniqueness, linguistic distinctiveness or religious idiosyncrasy to differentiate it from the surrounding Arab milieu.
Moreover, the British Mandate in Palestine extended over both banks of the Jordan. In 1921, 78 percent of what the League of Nations designated as "the national home of the Jewish people" was ripped off and presented as a gift to Abdullah, son of Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, Mecca's Hashemite emir (also self-proclaimed caliph of all Muslims). Hussein later (1924) lost control of Islam's holiest city and surrounding Hejaz to a rival clan, the Saudis. Had he won, we'd be speaking today of Hashemite Arabia. As is, we're saddled with Hashemite Jordan.

Out to recompense their Hashemite lackeys, the Brits enthroned Abdullah's younger brother Faisal as king of Greater Syria. After the French expelled Faisal, London manufactured for him a make-believe realm called Iraq. His grandson Faisal II was deposed, executed and his corpse dragged through Baghdad's streets in 1958, but England's unnatural Iraqi fusion remains and continues to disturb the world.

Abdullah sought the title of emir of Palestine. Britain made him settle for Transjordan. No Transjordanian nation appears in human chronicles. It was conceived on Palestinian soil by Perfidious Albion. That was the first division of Palestine.

In 1950, Transjordan annexed the "West Bank" (the name they gave the territory occupied after the Arab invasion of new-born Israel in 1948) and became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Its leaders, including the late King Hussein, stressed over and over in numerous pronouncements that "Jordan and Palestine are one and the same." So did Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian Covenant, in fact, covets all of Jordan - precisely because it's Palestine.

Yet eventually it became expedient, PR-wise, to claim that Palestine exists exclusively west of the mini-river, justifying the campaign for a second Palestinian Arab state.

Fearing that his Palestinian subjects would topple their imported Hashemite rulers, Hussein kicked out the PLO in Black September 1970. Too bad. Had he failed, Arafat would have taken Amman over and nobody could today deny that Palestine is divided among Jews and Arabs, with the Arabs owning nearly four-fifths thereof.

Now Hussein's son Abdullah II seeks to rewrite history once more in the well-trodden Jordanian tradition. His father dropped the claim to what he branded the West Bank but didn't revive the ludicrous moniker of Transjordan. After 17 years of annexation (1950-67), the Jordan trademark gained global acceptance. It rang authentic. Why then return to the obvious fake?

Jordan's population, though, is overwhelmingly Palestinian. The only exceptions are the Beduin who accompanied Abdullah I from Hejaz. Like the Hashemites, they're foreigners. Now these outsiders design to delegitimize the natives. Expectedly, governments and human rights NGOs worldwide are silent.

Jordan was born of fraud, which it's fated thereafter to prop up via unremitting retroactive repairs to the past - even the distant past. Not too many years back Jordan TV aired a documentary on Jerusalem portraying ancient Jebusites as Arabs."


Of course, were the Hebrews not the People of the Book, those Jerusalem-area Canaanites known as Jebusites would have never made their exceedingly fleeting appearance on the pages of history, or on JTV.


Faisal I ibn al-Hussein, Abdullah I’s brother and Hussein ibn Ali’s son, was ruler of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 1921 to 1933.

For anyone who forgot the brief biblical references, the Jebusites were the folks from whom King David conquered a wee hamlet he later turned into his capital. The books of Judges and Ezra indicate they intermarried and assimilated among the Israelites.

Posthumously Arabizing these Jebusites presumably establishes an Arab claim to Zion. JTV concomitantly magnified the Jebusites' contribution to mankind to proportions that would have doubtlessly astounded them. JTV outrightly expunged Jews from Jerusalem's annals, save for one abrupt but indispensable appearance in the Judenrein city. Villainous Jews arrived suddenly out of nowhere and stayed just long enough to crucify Jesus, described as "a Palestinian Arab prophet."

JTV even treated us to recipes from the Jebusite kitchen. These would have altogether floored the long-lost Jebusites, as it appears that their favorite ingredients were tomatoes and chili peppers, which, alas, only reached the Old World 2,500 years later, when Spaniards brought them back from America.

Perhaps, however, the enterprising Jebusites beat Columbus there, thus establishing an Arab claim to the Western Hemisphere. Any claim that Jordan isn't Palestine is just as unimpeachable."

- Sarah Honig
Jerusalem Post
August 6, 2009
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Fousesquawk comment: As stated, I cannot attest for all the historical details. I would welcome comment refuting what Honig says. Is it possible that all those pro-Palestinian protesters should be shouting, "From Amman to the sea-Palestine will be free"? Or perhaps, "From the river to Amman, Palestine will...." No, of course not. That wouldn't rhyme, would it?

The Health Care Issue-From a Personal Perspective

What is to become of them?



When I listen to the issues surrounding the health care debate, I look back at the last eight years of my mother's life and how the system dealt with her. I think her experience with the health care system is relevant to today's arguments.

My mother died this past May from complications due to pneumonia. She was 88. Her death ended eight years of chronic illness and suffering. Prior to December 2001, my mother was leading a healthy and independent life in North Carolina. That all ended when she suffered a sudden stroke.

As soon as the stroke happened, I flew to Greensboro, North Carolina, where she was hospitalized. The stroke had hit the left side of her brain leaving her right side greatly impaired. For five weeks, she remained in the hospital as doctors dealt with a host of side issues. Along the way, she received physical and speech therapy, and I was given training how to assist a person who was wheel-chair bound-as she now was.

As far as her insurance was concerned, she had Medicare, as well as a secondary insurance company that she got as part of her employment when she was working. There were some co-pays, but nothing that was too expensive. (I took over all of her financial and legal affairs).

After her release from the hospital, it was agreed that since she could no longer live alone, my wife and I would take her back home with us to California. For the next three years, Mom lived at home with us in various states of wellness or sickness. Generally, it was one medical issue after another. By now, she was able to get around in a walker, but her life had changed so drastically.

After three years, my wife and I decided that we could no longer give Mom the amount of care she required. We decided on a board and care home in the area. These are single-family homes, privately run, with room for about 6 residents. The care-givers are usually not licensed nurses, but the patients don't require constant nursing care. They are a cheaper alternative to a nursing home and usually more pleasant as well. They are generally not covered by insurance, so they are out-of-pocket. My wife and I helped share the expense of the board and care.

There were several occasions when my mother had to go into the hospital, after which she was entitled to go to a skilled nursing facility for 2-4 weeks for rehabilitation. Between Medicare and her secondary insurance, everything was covered. Over the years, there were also MRIs, cat scans and doctor visits on a constant basis. When she was about 85, she had a pacemaker inserted. She also had laser eye surgery. Her numerous prescription drugs involved some out of pocket expense, but most of the cost was covered.

In the next few years, Mom's savings dwindled (she was living on Social Security and her investments). It was the board and care cost that was the biggest expense. At a certain point, she qualified for MediCal, the California branch of Medicaid. Once I got her enlisted in MediCal, virtually everything was covered-even dental.

I think that during those eight years, I gained quite an insight into the life of the sick and elderly. It is not a pretty picture. We saw many of my Mom's housemates pass away and shared their families' grief. It is all too clear to me that the bulk of medical costs are spent in the last years of life.

What I am coming to is this: In my mother's case, the system worked pretty well (with the exception of the California dental plan system). With Medicare, for all its failings, they served my mother well as did her secondary health insurance. My mother never went broke from out-of pocket medical expenses or prescription drugs. I know what I am talking about because I handled everything for her.

I can't help wondering how this new government plan would have served my mother. Would she have received MRIs, cat scans and a pacemaker? Or would she have been told to "take a pill instead of having the operation", as President Obama himself suggested? As it was, my mother never had an operation because she didn't want one, nor would she probably have survived one. But it was never a case of somebody else deciding it was not cost effective.

So was it cost effective to give Mom a pacemaker? Probably not. Nor was it probably cost effective to give her an MRI or a cat scan. But when we, as a society or as a government, start making those determinations, we lose our soul as a people. At that point, we are on the road to euthanasia, which is what they are doing today in The Netherlands. It is also what the Nazis did in the late 1930s with their mentally ill and handicapped people, whom they dubbed, "useless eaters" and "life unworthy of life". This they did before they ever sent the first Jew into a gas chamber. This pre-dated the Holocaust.

The present health care system may, indeed, need reform as well as health care insurance. I, however, am not willing to throw away the system that my mother lived under for this great unknown that is buried in over 1,000 pages of the Obama health plan.

When you look at the scenes of angry people at these town hall meetings, you notice that they are not young troublemakers. They are middle-aged and elderly. They know what is at stake for them personally. That is why they are so emotional. Our government should be listening to them instead of calling them, "thugs".

Final Thought on the North Korean Incident

Now that the two American journalists are back home (thankfully), I think there are a few questions that should be asked and answered.

First of all, I think that since their arrests became an international and diplomatic incident, I think it is fair to ask Ms Ling and Ms Lee exactly what they were doing or attempting to do when they were captured. Also, I think it needs to be cleared up exactly where they were at the time. In other words, were they in North Korean territory or merely on the China side of the border-which would make their capture by North Korea a violation of international law.

Secondly, I think someone should ask Al Gore what his role was or the role of his company, which employs the two ladies, in sending them to North Korea.

Finally, I think-in the spirit of transparency- President Obama or one of his spokespersons should tell the American people just what our country gave up to win the ladies' freedom. Was it a concession on the nuclear weapons dispute? Was there an apology? Promise of aid? Or was it perhaps simply to provide Kim Jong Il with a diplomatic photo op with a high-level American personage, like Bill Clinton, to make it appear America was prostrating itself and giving legitimacy to North Korea?

Are those questions too much to ask? Absolutely not.

Will the mainstream media ask them? Probably not.

Here Come the Union Goons- Tampa and St Louis

The Democrats are making good on their promise to counter noisy anti-health care citizens at town hall meetings by bringing in their own supporters. As is so often the case, their supporters are not common folks, but people like union goons, ACORN and other assorted thugs.

This week, at a town hall meeting in Tampa, Cathy Castor (D-Fl) brought in her own supporters, and predictably, things went from words to physical action once they tried (and succeeded) in closing the doors to some of the opponents).






This is the description of the video from Real Clear Politics:

"From the YouTube description: As Rep. Kathy Castor was introduced, the reaction was overwhelmingly against her, with boos and chants of "You work for us." And in the lobby, the counter of Planned Parenthood representatives shouting, "Healthcare Now." Shortly thereafter, violence erupted, where there were 2-3 big goons came out and started pushing those in line, and roughing up one in the corner (see top left screen) as well as another being put in a choke hold.

Directly in front of the gentleman in the plaid type shirt, is one of them in a flower print. (eleven o'clock from the camera phone in the scene.) To right of the phone, another in a white shirt. Keep your eye on him, as he then goes for the choke hold on one of the people. Deep in the corner of your upper left screen, there's a gentleman in a green shirt, whose is getting roughed up, as these two are pushing others. A police officer enters the seen, (Dark blue uniform, short, and a black officer.) You still see the gentleman getting roughed up. The cop not doing anything. They then let the guy go, as they slam the door shut. Later in the video, you see the officer conversing with the gentleman who got roughed. After a brief description from myself, the cop walks away."

-Real Clear Politics



Now we move to St Louis (August 6) where Democrat Congressman Russ Carnahan tried to stack his audience with beefy members of the Service Employees International Union (in purple shirts). After Carnahan left, scuffles broke out on the street, the cops were called in, and 6 arrests were made including one St Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. It's not possible from the video to tell who threw the first punches, but one of the union guys is shown being handcuffed. Here are videos:


Restricted entry


Scuffles outside after the event

(Look for the union label-in purple shirts.)



Up until this week, what we had witnessed was ordinary citizens at town hall meetings loudly voicing their displeasure with their representative's support of the health plan in Congress. Once the unions and other Democrat-supporting organizations send in their goons to provide muscle and intimidate people, it becomes physical. Coincidence? I don't think so.