Defending to the Death His Right to Say It

Lou Dobbs has accomplished quite a bit recently. Bill O'Reilly and the CNN US president defend him while Ann Coulter and liberals from organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center attack him.

Dobbs has reported from CNN since the inception of that network. At one point he concentrated on business matters, but now he has a prime time show. This program focuses on important, but little reported issues.

The birth certificate issue has gotten Dobbs in hot water with some and has led to liberal and left wing calls for his firing from CNN. Dobbs went on the record saying that he believed Obama was born in the United States, but he ran a story about the dissenters that apparently did not represent them as kooky lunatics. The outraged left fought back by trying to get CNN to fire him.

The fact is that this was not like the Dan Rather hatchet case against George W. Bush. The story focused upon those that dissented, it did not try to investigate the issue itself. Even then, so long as Dobbs and his team did not suppress vital information or lie outright, they are still well within the realm of professional journalism.

CNN has much to fear from dismissing or downgrading the sometimes prickly Dobbs. The more popular Fox News would love to have him, although fitting him into a good time slot would be an issue unless he worked for their business network. Dobbs also has a popular national radio show that could be used against CNN if they fired him.

Journalists need to step up for Dobbs. So what if his program reported on a genuine news story and stuck to basic facts? Liberals (remember their root word is supposed to be the same as liberty!) want Dobbs shoved off the air for ideological reasons, not factual, not professional, but ideological.

Fox News handled a controversy of its own when Glenn Beck referred to Obama as a racist due to his comments critical of police in the Gates arrest. He said that Obama may like white people, but also seems to have a problem with them. Fox News released a statement saying that its commentators have freedom to express their opinion "as with all commentators in the cable news arena." Could this have been a shot on behalf of Dobbs?

To his credit, Dobbs did not back off and apologize, but called his critics "limp minded, lily livered, lefty lemmings."

Now that is a man worth keeping around. Right CNN?

Rockefeller Wakes Up to Fight For Socialism

Jay Rockefeller in 1991 decided to dip his toe into the presidential pool. It must have felt cold during those heady post Gulf War days when George H. W. Bush had sky high approval ratings. Democrats dug up an Arkansas governor best known for giving a very long and boring speech at the 1988 convention. Rockefeller decided to shelve his pet proposal for socialist health care and wait for a day when he might win an election. His brief window closed and he remained in the Senate.

You don't hear much out of Rockefeller. He is indeed West Virginia's silent senator. Rockefeller had very little to say while left wingers gleefully attacked our most fundamental industry. This week he woke up and bashed his own party members, calling for the heads of committee chairmen, all because they dared to listen to their constituents and work with Republicans.

It is amazing how hard these guys fight to impose a health care plan that they and their families will never have to use. In socialized health care nations, those with government cards wait in line and those with cash are always escorted to the front. "Yes sir! Right away sir! Cash is always most welcome here, sir!" In America, private insurance is as good as cash because private companies are held accountable if they do not pay. Who is held accountable when Medicare does not pay providers on time? Who will be held accountable if socialist health care does not pay providers in the future?

Rockefeller, Obama, Kennedy, these guys do not have to care. They have cash, so there would never be any lines or any denial of coverage. They get the best available; we would get the best that the government has to offer. And that is all too often little better than mediocre.

Obama's 200 Day Downhill Ride

Bill Clinton Picks Up Two Women in North Korea

Former President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two journalists. Those journalists work for Clintons former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV network. They had been taken captive by North Korean and held as spies.

It is great that their release was secured as the charges against them were bogus at best. This was nothing more than a political ploy by the North Korean’s to gain legitimacy on the world stage. Having a former US President visit North Korea they were handed that legitimacy. This was another foreign policy mistake by the Obama administration.

This could have been handled better. The person that should have gone was former Vice President Al Gore. This should have appeased the North Korean’s somewhat, but at the same time given deniability to the Obama administration. Al Gore is their boss and he would have been simply negotiating the release of his employees and not legitimizing the rouge regime in North Korea.

The missteps and soft handedness of the Obama administration dealing with dictators that routinely kill their own people shows the administrations naivety. Obama must take a hard line with evil in the world. He should follow in the footsteps of Winston Churchill and step out of the shoes of Neville Chamberlain.

The Cost of Losing National Spirituality

America has always had a sense of duty about it. Since 1776 it has remained on a mission to fulfill its principles at home and abroad. We have always seen ourselves as a special people in world history. Left wingers have derided "American exceptionalism" since the late 1960s, first attacking this concept as they fought to unseat Lyndon Johnson from the presidency. This very belief in the superiority of our traditions has changed the world for the better.

Now the left wingers who have hated America since around 1967 finally have one of their own as president. His first gift to them was Apology Tour 2009, an act that floored our allies and gave aid and comfort to our enemies. Don't feel too sorry for them. This was the guy they wanted. Why did they think it would turn out any differently?

An America that turns away from its own guiding principles of supporting democracy and promoting capitalism has nothing. It is our principles that bring together a group of races and ethnicity. We always disagreed on how to implement our values, not so much on whether they had validity, not until now at least.

A few days ago I watched a movie called The Mephisto Waltz. The cast of characters represented a pretty typical late 1960s, early 1970s elite crowd. People in the movie lived out their existence pursuing the dreams of art and an exciting social life. The group is completely devoid of any Christian influence. Eventually you realize that many of the characters are part of a satanic cult led by an incestuous piano player. The female lead loses her husband, played by Alan Alda, to the cult in a manner of speaking. She herself turns to satanism to get him back, but of course loses her identity as a "decent person" in the process.

It is not enough to be simply "decent" as an individual or as a nation. From time to time you must speak up for, and occasionally fight for, what is right. If Americans start to accept the left wing line that we are not an exceptional nation with a God given duty on this Earth, we open ourselves up to other less benign influences. In the past hundred years we accepted the ideal that freedom in every part of the globe lay within our national interest and this inspired countless peoples to seek freedom and try to follow our model of democracy. Obama does not believe in being "leader of the free world," but insists upon apologizing for America taking those stands.

Like the song says, "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."

Picking Up a Seat in Pennsylvania and Big BrObama Wants to Know About Us

In a sign of the times, Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania's 7th District announced he would challenge Alan Specter in the US Senate primaries. The Republican turned Democrat was accused by the two term liberal Democrat and former Vice Admiral of opportunism.

We might want to speculate that Representative Sestak, coming from an overwhelmingly GOP district, might be a little concerned about his chances for re-election. Specter's plunge in popularity opened the door for Sestak's challenge. The winner of this struggle will likely face Pat Toomey who nearly upset Specter in the last primary.

Sestak's district will likely return to GOP hands next year barring some strange calamity.

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Obama wants to keep tabs of those who disagree with his radical health care plans.

"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."

Why does the White House want anonymous tipsters to turn in people who oppose socialist health care? If they want the gist of our argument, just watch John Stossell on ABC.

Please correct me if I am wrong. Did the White House website between 2001 and January 2009 ever ask for individuals to be turned in to the government for spreading their opinions against the war? If I remember right, W. allowed the worst piece of lying by Michael Moore to be shown to the troops in the field.

I suggest that Republicans flood flag@whitehouse.gov with Bible verses, apple pie recipes, long Ayn Rand quotes, anything that will clog up the works legally.

Obama's real thoughts on Socialized Health Care

Transcript, “I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

Today's Lesson On the Bill of Rights Brought to You By the City of Huntington, West Virginia

Citizens cannot be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

That comes from the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, something that the city fathers of Huntington seem to have forgotten recently.

Apparently there is a legitimate problem with structures burning, property owners collecting insurance payments, then abandoning the buildings. Huntington decided that the solution to this issue lay in violating the Constitution. They decided to pass a city ordinance requiring insurance companies to give the payments to the city so that it can make sure the structures are either repaired or demolished.

Problem is that this action is a public seizure of private property. It also violates Article 1 Section 10, which prevents governments from "impairing the Obligation of Contracts." An insurance policy is a contract between the company and the insured and the city has no right to intervene.

Cities and other local governments generally are the worst offenders of Constitutional and property rights. Their ordinances require special attention from their constituency because only rarely will their infringements upon our rights be fully reported or challenged.

WV GOP Near Top In Fund Raising

PRESS RELEASE
August 3rd, 2009

For Immediate Release
Contact: Marti Riggall
West Virginia Republican Party


WV GOP Near Top In Fund Raising
most neighboring states lag behind

Charleston, WV - August 3, 2009 - Despite erroneous reports in the media that the West Virginia Republican Party is having trouble raising money the facts are quite different. Currently the WV GOP ranks second among our neighbors in fund raising efforts per individual. "People sometimes forget we are a small state when looking at the fund raising numbers. You must compare apples to apples," said State Party Chairman Doug McKinney, "West Virginia Republicans are stepping up with contributions at a higher rate than our neighboring states."

	Total Individual Contributions to the State Party	Number of Republicans in the State	Average Contribution per Republican
Kentucky	$286,078	1,066,789	$0.27
Maryland	$128,575	909,848	$0.14
Ohio*	$540,600	3,900,000	$0.14
Pennsylvania	$479,182	3,168,414	$0.15
Virginia**	$605,505	2,500,000	$0.24
West Virginia	$83,210	347,760	$0.24
* Estimate of Republicans by Ohio GOP
** Estimate of Republicans by Virginia GOP

According to Federal Election Commission filings the West Virginia Democratic Party has only raised $56,820 as compared to the West Virginia GOP's $90,062 in the same time frame, Democrats out number Republicans in the state nearly 2 to1. Chairman McKinney remarked, "We are out fund raising the Democrats in West Virginia by 3 to 1 on an individual basis. The people know which party can turn the economy around and they are sending their money our way."

Fund raising efforts are on going and with new programs in the works. The state party is looking forward to taking the lead in individual contributions away from Kentucky in the near future.

89% of Mineral County Residents Oppose Zoning

The Question was asked: Should Mineral County put in Zoning to limit private property use? 89% Responded No, while only 5% responded Yes to zoning. The remainder were unsure. The poll was non-scientific conducted during the week of July 26th.

Obama in his own words: He wants Single Payer Socialized Medicine

Governor Manchin Makes His Move

In a move that is bound to get the attention of national news media, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has announced his intention to give every full time state worker a $500 bonus.

Most states have laid off public employees due to rash overspending on wasteful programs and unwise raises of public salaries. West Virginia adhered to a much more conservative line by doing unexciting things such as shoring up pension funds and courageously refusing to raise salaries when the economy dove into recession.

However, lottery proceeds remained good and revenue from coal continues to give the state a relatively robust bottom line. The state ended up with more revenue than projected. If the governor has his way, half will go to full time state workers and the rest goes into the emergency reserve funds.

Whether or not Governor Manchin intended this result, this action (unless it somehow backfires) will propel him into the national spotlight. As California still wonders if it can open schools this fall, West Virginia not only refused to lay off employees, but will extend bonuses. West Virginia had to make tough and courageous cost cutting decisions to get to this point, but it was certainly helped by the balanced budget requirement of our constitution and Republican fights against any raising of taxes. Responsible cuts and refusals to bow to political pressures from the teacher unions helped to get us here.

Should Obama continue with his magical mystery tour of a presidency, Manchin could emerge as a strong contender for the Democratic nomination in 2012. Incumbents, such as Ford in 1976 and Lynson Johnson in 1968, are not automatically handed renomination when they have not satisfied the voters in their own party. Manchin certainly better resembles the Democratic Party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy than those who are leading it today.

I am not saying that Manchin would be a better choice for president than a Republican who will stick to our tried and true principles, but he does make me wish that if the Democrats were fated to win the presidency in 08, they would have nominated him instead what we have now.

Blast from the Past: Mother Necessity

New Common Sense West Virginia Ad

Five Bureaucrats With the Godlike Power of Life and Death in Their Hands: Obama's Health Care Star Chamber

That is one of the features at the core of Obamist health care cost cutting, rationing health care and deciding who lives and who dies. These decisions will not rest in the hands of doctors and families, but in unelected presidential appointees in Washington DC.

This sends a chill down one's spine. Deficits spiraling out of control wrecking the country are fearsome, but they do not have the same sinister quality as a health care star chamber.

England in the 15 and 1600s established a court known as the Star Chamber. It had the power of life and death and was accountable only to the king or queen. They saw it as a necessary response to English judges' propensity towards granting writs of habeas corpus even when the accused was in jail for a good reason. It turned into, under King Charles I, an instrument of repression and was abolished later.

Think of that. This commission would have the power of life and death over every individual that happened to get sick. It would decide who does and does not get medical attention. Could this be abused? You bet! Politiicans found the IRS an easy tool to harass opponents. The IRS enabled politicians to mess with your money. Obamacare allows them to mess with your health care.

Very disturbing. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of political wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder (paraphrased from Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) You get sick, you get denied care, you die, potentially because of your political beliefs.

Obamacare puts way too much power into the hands of the Executive Branch.

The Newt Gingrich Plan to Cut Health Care Costs

If we can cut costs by focusing on simple, private sector, and commonsense solutions, we can cut insurance premiums and expand coverage to many more who want to buy it. And we don't need a federal star chamber to ration health care to the deserving and withold it from the undeserving.

I add to Gingrich's solutions a seventh step. Assure all illegal aliens that anyone over eighteen that shows up for health care will be turned over to Immigration and Naturalization as soon as they are treated.

1. Stop Paying the Crooks. First, we must dramatically reduce healthcare fraud within our current healthcare system. Outright fraud — criminal activity — accounts for as much as 10 percent of all healthcare spending. That is more than $200 billion every year. Medicare alone could account for as much as $40 billion a year. (Read about our latest CHT Press book, Stop Paying the Crooks, edited by Jim Frogue.)

2. Move from a Paper-based to an Electronic Health System. As it stands now, it is simply impossible to keep up with fraud in a paper-based system. An electronic system would free tens of billions of dollars to be spent on investing on the kind of modern system that will transform healthcare. In addition, it would dramatically increase our ability to eliminate costly medical errors and to accelerate the adoption of new solutions and breakthroughs.

3. Tax Reform. The savings realized through very deliberately and very systematically eliminating fraud could be used to provide tax incentives and vouchers that would help cover those Americans who currently can’t afford coverage. In addition, we need to expand tax incentives for insurance provided by small employers and the self-employed. Finally, elimination of capital gains taxes for investments in health-solution companies can greatly impact the creation advancement of new solutions that create better health at lower cost.

4. Create a Health-Based Health System. In essence, we must create a system that focuses on improving individual health. The best way to accomplish this is to find out what solutions are actually working today that save lives and save money and then design public policy to encourage their widespread adoption. For example, according to the Dartmouth Health Atlas, if the 6,000 hospitals in the country provided the same standard of care of the Intermountain or Mayo health clinics, Medicare alone would save 30 percent of total spending every year. We need to make best practices the minimum practice. We need the federal government and other healthcare stakeholders to consistently migrate to best practices that ensure quality, safety and better outcomes.

5. Reform Our Health Justice System. Currently, the U.S. civil justice system is the most expensive in the world — about double the average cost in virtually every other industrialized nation. But for all of the money spent, our civil justice system neither effectively compensates persons injured from medical negligence nor encourages the elimination of medical errors. Because physicians fear malpractice suits, defensive medicine (redundant, wasteful treatment designed to avoid lawsuits, not treat the patient) has become pervasive. CHT is developing a number of bold health-justice reforms including a “safe harbor” for physicians who followed clinical best practices in the treatment of a patient.

6. Invest in Scientific Research and Breakthroughs. We must accelerate and focus national efforts, re-engineer care delivery, and ultimately prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and diabetes which are financially crippling our healthcare system.

US Solider defends the Constitution

This US Solider takes his oath to defend the Constitution to heart, both on the battlefield and in the political arena. This is how it should be.

Half Million Credit Cards put at Risk by Security Breach

Network Solutions which owns the Monster Commerce webstore sites notified its merchants when they logged in on Monday that an unauthorized code may have been used to transfer data on approximately 4,343 of their more than 10,000 merchant websites to servers outside the company. The unauthorized code may have captured data on transactions by approximately 573,928 credit card holders.

The breach occurred on cards processed between March 12, 2009 and June 8, 2009. Network Solutions is working with law enforcement on the issue. As a courtesy to Network Solutions customers they are giving each of their merchants affected the option to provide free credit monitoring to their customers through Trans Union. This is at the discretion of the individual merchants.

Those merchants processing orders using Paypal as a payment method are unaffected. As more online merchants switch to Paypal for a payment method they are reducing the risk exposure to both their customers and themselves.

The Russians Would Like to Know Who Runs American Foreign Policy: So Would We!

The rank incompetence of Obama's foreign policy exploded once again in the Maximum Duce's face. This time the object of his policy has a point.

Obama took to Russia with him the language of apology and conciliation, part of the "America is evil" world tour that left him to embrace opponents and ditch old friends. That country, led by Vladimir Putin through a puppet president (no one seems to acknowledge that fact anymore) seemed to accept Obama at face value, just like everyone else.

The next interesting statement came from the Vice President. Joe Biden told an American newspaper (apparently not knowing that Russians read them) that Russia's economic weakness would present Americans with an opportunity to get more national security concessions out of them.

Russians, understandably, reacted with anger and confusion. Which statement reflected real American policy?

As usual, Joe Biden is right in his assessment. The Russians are right in saying that it reflects more of a Dick Cheney style hard nosed approach than Obama's airy apologies. Russians also tend historically to respect blunt hard diplomacy much more than airy platitudes. However, Mr. Vice President, truths need not be told simply to make yourself look intelligent. Russia knows what shape it is in. It does not need you to remind them. This certainly will not help relations.

As usual, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gets the job of sewer cleaner. When Obama, Biden, or the various czars leave a pile of crap, she must don the gloves and clean it up. She called Russia a "world power" on the Sunday shows, but no one believes that she has any input on anything.

The Bush approach lay in occasional expressions of vague concern with, very likely, blunt expressions in private. Russia understands the language and methods of power betterthan most. They are much better off when they respect your country because they only like those whom they find subordinate. Obama's schizophrenic foreign policy complex has undermined whatever his goals are yet again.

Give and Take

Obama's selection for the Supreme Court, likely forever after known as "the wise Latina woman" (time will tell if that will be a statement of admiration or derision) will be confirmed. Republican senators opened their guns on her and pushed her into a series of non statements, but she did not slip enough to warrant her rejection. There is also the idea that with a left wing president and a left leaning congressional leadership, she may be as good as we get even though, objectively speaking, she is awful.

Sotomayor's imminent confirmation also reflects the reality that is shaping up this summer. Obama and other leftists had two priorities in this non election year, health care deform and climate legislation. The costs of both upon Americans would be staggering. Climate legislation, also known as cap and trade, or the National Energy Tax, barely passed the House. With the opposition of Robert Byrd and other Democrats from states that stand to suffer from this bill, cap and trade may not yet be DOA, but with enough pressure from voters, it could be soon. Health care deform, with its horrible high cost and amazingly complex bureaucracy, might not even make it out of the House of Representatives. Majorities in both houses came from traditionally conservative districts voting Democratic so the margin for error for these incumbents going into 2010 is razor thin.

Sotomayor, thus represents a victory for Obama, but one that conservative Democrats will tout as an example of support for the president when they could not vote with him on his priorities. Bush saw the same dynamic when he could not pass controversial legislation on Social Security. Republicans worked that much harder to get his judicial nominees confirmed.

We still need voters to express their disgust over these major and costly initiatives that left wingers want to ram down our throats. Victory, however, is in sight if we keep the pressure up.