Military Families United has issued a statement relating to the outrageous proposal by the Obama Administration to make our military heroes pay for their health care. Take the time to read what they say, and send an email to the President.
Outrageous is the only word that applies here. The White House and President Obama pretend to be outraged about the AIG bonuses while they plan to charge wounded soldiers for the costs of treatment.
A furious Commander David K. Rehbein of the American Legion left a meeting with President Obama Monday "angered" that Obama plans to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries.
"It became apparent during our discussion today that the president intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," Commander Rehbein said. "He says he is looking to generate $540 million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."
Rehbein added that this "reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate 'to care for him who shall have borne the battle,' given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies."
WHEN it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty. 1
The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society. The Confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail and precision in history, and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered. But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable. 2
Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences—universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threatening some great national calamity. 3
In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations issued in the present happy Constitution of Government. 4
Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested. In its general principles and great outlines it was conformable to such a system of government as I had ever most esteemed, and in some States, my own native State in particular, had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public and in private. It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the Executive and Senate were not more permanent. Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see and feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress and the State legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain. 5
Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution. The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends, and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation I have acquired an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it. 6
What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love? 7
There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the general good. Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds? Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are represented. It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people. And what object or consideration more pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, and benevolence. 8
In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves; and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance. 9
Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of all nations for eight years under the administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity. 10
In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to year. His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his country's peace. This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress and by the voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation. 11
On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak with diffidence; but as something may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that if a preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth; if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious determination to support it until it shall be altered by the judgments and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it; if a respectful attention to the constitutions of the individual States and a constant caution and delicacy toward the State governments; if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the States in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions on unessential points or their personal attachments; if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denominations; if a love of science and letters and a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments; if a love of equal laws, of justice, and humanity in the interior administration; if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers for necessity, convenience, and defense; if a spirit of equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them; if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress and applauded by the legislatures of the States and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress; if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a residence of seven years chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor and interest of both nations; if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people of America and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause and remove every colorable pretense of complaint; if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been committed on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation, and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts before the Legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor and interest of the Government and its constituents demand; if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world; if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all and never been deceived; if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not obscured but exalted by experience and age; and, with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degree to comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the two Houses shall not be without effect. 12
With this great example before me, with the sense and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest, of the same American people pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy, and my mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power. 13
And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence. 14
George Washington Speech - First Inaugural Address
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.
Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.
By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.
To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.
George Washington
Investor's Business Daily can always be counted on to give you their opinion without any frills - just the way they see it. The Devil Awaits is their editorial about what they heard from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. IBD said "Like many others, and fervently hoping for the best, we eagerly awaited the new administration's bank plan. And also like others--including investors--we were largely disappointed with what we heard."
Tom Daschle has withdrawn his name as the nominee for Secretary of Health & Human Services. Now President Obama must nominate someone else. The first question that the President must answer is: Does he want the most qualified person to accomplish his goal of reforming the health care system in the United States? Or does he want to keep the far left happy? If he wants the most qualified person, he would pick Dr./Senator Frist. He is by far the most qualified person. A doctor, a legislator, an expert on health care. Why he won't get picked: He is a conservative Republican. The liberals hate him. His reforms won't match the socialized medicine Obama favors. If he wants to please the far left he will pick former Governor Howard Dean. Dr. Dean is also a medical doctor, and has administrative experience. Why he won't pick him: Rahm Emanuel hates him. He is unpredictable. He has shown no real interest in health care. So it looks like we will be stuck with a second rate choice, with no hope of meaningful health care reform.
The opinion expressed above is solely that of Paradise.
The views expressed herein are solely those of Paradise
Ever since the election, this has been a routine question in my circle of friends and political acquaintances. At first, my instincts were to simply say nothing. But then I started thinking about the question. What is wrong with the Republican Party? The Party hasn't changed. So the really simple answer is nothing is wrong with the party. The real question should be what is wrong with the politicians who call themselves Republicans?
As I read about the Republican strategy for dealing with President Obama, I can only shake my head. They don't want to oppose his legislation because he is popular??? How about opposing them because they are wrong?? Have all Republicans lost their minds? Or is it just the ones on Capitol Hill?
Today the Republicans in the House showed some courage by voting as one to oppose the stimulus. Now we will see what the Senate does. I have been disappointed lately with some of the real leaders in the Party. People like former Senator Bill Frist and former Governor Jeb Bush who have decided not to run for statewide office in their home states. I can't help but think of the damage both of these men have done to their state parties. The question that comes to mind is "If not you, then who." In Tennessee, if Frist had run, he was virtually assured a victory. By not running, for whatever reasons, he has made his party vulnerable to a strong Democratic challenger. The same is true in Florida, with Jeb Bush. These men are supposed to be leaders of the Republican Party. Sorry guys, you let your Party and your supporters down.
President George Bush has passions. You never saw it in his speeches. But I did, up close. And out of those passions — the ones I saw as majority leader working with him — will come his greatest legacy.
First is education. I helped run the platform committee for the Republican convention in 2000. The soon to be Republican nominee asked me to make K-12 education the No. 1 priority of the Republican Party. Impossible, I told him. Republicans had wanted to eliminate the Department of Education; there's no way they will make it a federal priority. "Do it," he said; we did. And as president he opened our country's eyes to the moral and economic imperative that the greatness of America cannot be maintained when we educate our children more poorly than 20 other nations. He delivered a program that focused the country on raising expectations for our children and narrowing the achievement gap by transparency and accountability.
Drug plan has worked
Second is slowing the growth of health-care cost increases and improving access to the most powerful tools of prevention and treatment. The president's prescription drug plan has meant that for the first time ever through Medicare, seniors have affordable access to life-saving drugs. Before Bush, drugs were not a part of Medicare — you were on your own. Today, they are. And the cost? Estimated savings for each of the last two years compared to what was predicted has been 20 to 30 percent! His plan, based on competition and the markets, is driving not just seniors but all people to use lower-cost generic drugs.
Third is revolutionizing foreign aid. Not only did President Bush double total foreign aid worldwide (No president has done that since Harry Truman), but he also created a new mechanism through which aid can flow. The Millennium Challenge Corp. uses 17 results-based criteria that reflect a potential recipient country's commitment to fighting corruption, governing justly, investing in its own people and economic freedom to determine where to invest American taxpayer money. A Tennessean can know that her taxpayer dollars will go only where it can truly lift people out of poverty through sustainable economic development rather than being thrown down a rat hole by some earmarking politician or bureaucrat.
Fourth is reversing the scourge of today's global disease, which has reached biblical proportions. When I came to Vanderbilt as a doctor in 1984, HIV had just been discovered in this country. We watched it kill a million people, then 5, then 10 and then 23 million people.
Our nation talked a good game, but it took George Bush to stand up and boldly commit more resources to fight HIV than had ever been committed by any country in the world against a single disease. And his leadership put it high on the agenda of every nation in the world.
When I would visit world leaders, they knew that HIV better be at the top of their speaking points because it was important to President Bush and the American people. The result: Millions of lives have been saved, tens of millions will receive treatment — all can be traced to President George W. Bush's proclamation on Jan. 29, 2003. That is the greatness of America in action.
So as we bring this chapter to a close and enthusiastically rally around our new president, let's build on the enduring foundations of educaton, health and life-saving compassion that President George W. Bush has laid.
By Bill Frist
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Bill Frist, a physician, is former Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate and a professor of medicine and business at Vanderbilt University.
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says George Bush's AIDS policy has saved millions in Africa.
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says George Bush's AIDS policy has saved millions in Africa.
(CNN) -- A legacy of President George W. Bush will be that he saved 10 million lives around the world.
His critics ignore it, but name another president about whom one can say that with such certainty. It is what historians will say a decade from now looking back. Not bad for a president who leaves office with the lowest approval rating in recent memory.
The bottom line is: George Bush is a healer.
First, a surprise proclamation came on January 29, 2003.
I was in the first row in the House chamber when three quarters through his State of the Union address, the president boldly said: "I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years ... to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean" and "lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of nature."
And lead the world we did. No president in history had made such a commitment against a single disease. Those words and the action that followed meant that instead of another 30 million people dying from HIV infections, maybe just another 20 million will.
Later that night in an interview for CNN in my Capitol office, I predicted that five years later, this commitment to fight HIV would be the single most significant thing the president said that night. It was.
But even I -- who as physician in Africa had witnessed how this virus was hollowing out societies -- did not predict the huge global impact this Bush commitment would have on generations to come.
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In my annual medical mission trips to Africa during the Bush administration, I saw the cost of treatment for HIV with life-saving antiretrovirals (ARVs) drop from $4,000 a year to $125. The number of Africans on ARVs jumped from 50,000 to 2.1 million.
And the multiplier effect of Bush making this a presidential global priority was reflected thereafter in every meeting I had as Senate majority leader with the world leaders, including those from Russia, China and India. If you were dealing with the United States, you'd better have made HIV a national priority, because we had.
And it was more than HIV. Six months ago, Tom Daschle, Mike Huckabee, John Podesta, Cindy McCain and I (yes, we five of different persuasions do work together!) went to Rwanda on a fact-finding trip.
Our visits with villagers all over the country opened our eyes to how Bush's five-year, $1.2 billion effort to combat malaria has provided 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 7 million life-saving drug therapies to vulnerable people. Yes, George Bush the healer.
Future historians will also note what today's pundits ignore: total US government development aid to Africa quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008. What's more, the Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years. You have to go back to the Truman years to match that.
And the president revolutionized the way we give aid with the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, now active in 35 countries. This $6.7 billion public-private partnership for the first time ties aid to accountability based on a country's governing well, fighting corruption and commitment to economic freedoms. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on Bush's legacy
Secondly, Bush healed abroad, but he also healed right here at home.
Before Bush acted, the nation's 43 million seniors did not have affordable access to prescription drugs (the most powerful tool a doctor has to prevent and treat disease) through the Medicare program. Today, because of George Bush, they do.
Initially, conservatives howled because the prescription drug initiative "cost too much." Liberals hated it because it involved the markets and competition. But today, 23 million seniors live healthier lives, Medicare drug spending has been 20 percent to 30 percent less than predicted for each of the past two years and seniors overwhelmingly give the program enthusiastic reviews.
And, in addition, the program is highly redistributive -- giving advantages the poorest, introducing preventive care to Medicare, encouraging electronic prescribing and introducing chronic disease management. Who says Republicans can't lead on heath reform?
Thirdly, a lot of people forget that the health of a nation's people is more dependent on behavior and education than on health services -- the doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. Infant mortality is three times higher for a woman who did not graduate from high school when compared with one who has a college degree.
And the president focused laser-like on improving K-12 education by demanding transparency and accountability, and raising expectations.
The U.S. ranks a miserable 21st in the world in science and 25th in math among 15 year-olds. President Bush made the education of our children a moral issue.
To maintain our now slipping global competitiveness, we have no choice but to radically transform the K-12 education system over the next decade. And historians will say it all began with the groundbreaking No Child Left Behind legislation of President Bush.
I've had the privilege of knowing George W. Bush personally and as president. I have seen his passions. Naturally, he will be judged in the short term for his role in waging the war on terror, keeping America safe since 9/11 and acting on his belief in promoting liberty aboard.
Over time, however, it is the foundations he laid for healing. for the most part ignored by mainstream media, that I am confident will be his enduring legacy.
Let me see if I can figure this out. Chip Saltsman, who is running for the position of RNC Chair, sent a CD around to RNC members that contained a piece of satire written and sung by a friend of Saltsman. The title of the song was "Barack the Magic Negro." It was a parody of an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on March 19, 2007. The LA Times article was written by David Ehrenstein.
Let's take a look at Mr. Ehrenstein's article. He started out by saying "As every carbon-based life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters--musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House. But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination--the 'Magic Negro.'"
Mr. Ehrenstein goes onto explain that "the Magic Negro" has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist.
Now, it is clear after reading the article that Mr. Ehrenstein is just another left wing writer so in love with the idea that blacks can't get a fair shake in the United States that they will go to any length to make their point. It is ok for Mr. Ehrenstein to insult whites as he does in his article by saying that we are all looking for a "noble, healing negro" and "thats where Obama comes in" but its not ok to poke fun at the idea that there is anything magic about Barack Obama.
Oh no, do that and you are every vile name that the liberals can throw at you. What really amuses me is that they think if they write as disgruntled Republicans, the American people will pay more attention. Well, I don't know about you, but that stopped working for me years ago. It really doesn't take long to figure out that the nastiest comments come from the real racists and destroyers of America - the left wingers who truly believe that our country doesn't deserve the success that it has had - the same group that insists on sticking a knife into the back of America at every opportunity.
I make every effort to try to understand the logic and thought process of liberal Democrats, but something has me really stumped. Why was it ok for a nut case from a foreign country to assault the current President of the United States? In fact, a group on Facebook started collecting shoes to send to the President. That was supposed to be funny??
But a conservative satirist does a parody (in song) of a liberal newspaper (the LA Times) article about "Barack the Magic Negro" and another conservative sends it around to some people, and all of a sudden all Republicans are racists, and this good decent man running for Chairman of the RNC is a racist and worse!!! I don't get it. It's ok for the NAACP to call itself "colored", its ok for the United Negro College Fund to use the word "Negro", but if we dare to laugh at the presumptuous people who think Obama is the messiah, we are racist. I guess, thank God (and yes, I do believe in God) that I will never understand these bitter, hateful liberal Democrats.
December 27, 2008 06:05 PM
The Media's Double Standards
Chip Saltsman
Liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn't utter a word about David Ehrenstein's irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March. But now, of course, they're shocked and appalled by its parody on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media's double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal.
We enthusiastically endorse Chip Saltsman for RNC Chair. His youth and vitality and technological expertise make him an ideal person to lead our party into the 21st Century. Visit Chip's website to learn more about him. Leave him a comment on his site. Take a moment to read the endorsement of Senator Bill Frist and that of Governor Mike Huckabee.
Are you interested in helping Chip Saltsman in the race for RNC Chair?
Here are three very easy ways you can help today:
1. Read what's on the blog here and leave us a comment. Chip wants to build a community of activists and that starts with listening to each of you. Tell us what's on your mind about the GOP.
2. Send emails to your friends and family promoting www.chipsaltsman.com. Contact your state Party Chairs and RNC Committee members and tell them why you are supporting Chip.
3. Begin to follow Chip on Twitter and join the Draft Chip Saltsman for Facebook group started by Indiana blogger and acitivst Kevin Tracy.
Chip Saltsman made it official today. He is running for RNC Chair. Here is the video of Chip's announcement.
Today Chip Saltsman announced that he is running for the position of Chairman of the Republican National Committee. At a news conference Chip received the endorsements of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey.
I don't believe that the Republican Party needs to be rebuilt. Instead it needs to be refocused. There are a lot of bloggers with a lot of good ideas, but I think that if we just listen to some of the brightest people in the Republican Party, we will see the way forward pretty clearly. I believe that Republican principles remain the same. We have lost people who were never really with us - independents and Reagan Democrats, for example, Hispanics and blacks, libertarians and evangelicals. Independents generally vote based on the pocketbook issues. They will come back to the Republican Party in droves when President Obama pushes through all of his social welfare programs, and taxes go up to pay for some of them. The deficit will increase, or we will all pay more. Inflation will follow, as it almost always does during a Democratic administration.
Reagan Democrats will return to the Republican Party when a President Obama supports social programs that they disagree with such as gun control, abortion rights, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research. Hispanics may be lost to the Republican Party for years to come, because a President Obama will push for full amnesty for illegal immigrants and the Republican Party has made it clear that its grassroots workers will never support amnesty. Libertarians will eventually realize that when their choice is between an Obama administration and the Republican Party, they really have no choice - they will come back to the Republican Party.
The most difficult group to analyze is the Evangelicals. They are also the most rigid of all the groups. If a candidate disagrees with them on one issue, Evangelicals will not vote for that candidate. In fact, they will not vote at all. I'm just not sure that as a Republican, pure and simple, I think that is a battle we should even fight. We just can't afford a rigid idealogy. We need the support of every diverse group. We can't be an exclusionary party any longer.
Plaxico Burress has been a mystery to me ever since his Steeler days. He is one of the most talented receivers I have ever seen and yet trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes. I remember how Pittsburghers breathed a sigh of relief when their troubled wide receiver finally left town. I think the Giants fans will soon feel the same way.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five (5) sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
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