While watching the news this morning it occurred to me how often the health care debate was talked about. In fact, every 10 minutes or so something was said about the so-called health care "reform" bill making its way through the Senate right now. One issue that has really been in the news lately is the artificial deadline that Harry Reid (D- Nevada) has imposed upon his colleagues of passing the bill before Christmas. I find that to be very interesting since Christmas is supposed to be about giving gifts to others, not taking from them. This bill does nothing but take much needed health care from millions of people through rationing and Medicare cuts and, the devastating blow - from our pockets as taxpayers when we so desperately need tax relief. This bill is a travesty on our American system of legislation. In poll after poll, the health care bill ranks far below the economy and creation of jobs, yet our elected officials seems hellbent on passing health care reform that doesn't go into effect for four more years, rather than focusing on the immediate needs of the people - the shrinking economy. This baffles me, because I thought that the reason that we elect leaders is so they can express the will of the masses and are beholden to the constituency that elects them. This is obviously NOT the case in Washington today. The Senators on the left side of the aisle cannot seem to agree on this bill as a group, not to mention that the entire right side of the aisle and Joe Lieberman (D - Connecticut) have nothing but absolute distaste for it. Of course, they do not have a majority so their opinions and votes do not matter at all. The Democratic party leadership is determined to pass it in spite of the 40 Republican Senators disagreement, which represent half of the country's opinions as well.
Looking at the different issues with this bill, one that comes to the forefront for me is the inclusion of federally funded abortions. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) is opposing his party because of this section of the bill. He is a Pro-Life Democrat from a conservative state and he does not believe that the Federal government should be paying for abortions, like many in America also believe. I am one of those unashamed, pro-lifers and I am in total agreement. It is NOT the choice of the politicians to take my tax dollars and pay for someone else to commit murder! I would not personally pay for an abortion, therefore my taxes should not do so either. I will not accept that blood on my hands. This is a sticking point for Nelson and well, it should be. Even Pelosi allowed the Stupak Amendment to pass in the House. And all this time I thought Reid was the more mentally balanced of the two. This provision should not be allowed in this bill and it is abhorrent that our elected officials are fighting to keep it there. For this reason alone, they should lose their seat in the Senate during the next election.
Another ridiculous section of this bill deals with the over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Will someone please explain to me how you can drastically cut Medicare and add millions more people to the plan and not have to ration care? Currently, physicians receive the lowest reimbursement rate for Medicare patients than they do from any private insurance company. A physician cannot build a practice on Medicare and expect to make ends meet. If Medicare is cut more, the reimbursement rate will plummet and physicians will be forced to deny Medicare patients access to their practice. This will, in turn, force Medicare patients to choose from fewer physicians which will amount to rationing of care. The math simply does not add up - more patients + fewer physicians = limited access (rationing). But, once again Congress is determined to pass these cuts even though this scenario is inevitable. This is how they intend to fund the reform bill, on the backs of our senior citizens. These cuts also apply to Tricare, which is the insurance provided to retired military and their families. In actuality, this bill will be paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of those who have served this Nation. What a wonderful Christmas present to give!?
The debate in the Senate has gotten ugly too. Reid is threatening to take away Lieberman's committee chairmanship if he does not vote for this bill and the Republicans are not even being allowed to speak their mind on the Senate floor. Just yesterday, John McCain (R-Arizona) scolded the newest member of the Senate, Al Franken (D - Minnesota) for refusing to allow his colleague Joe Lieberman an extra one to two minutes to complete his statement. This is dirty politics, plain and simple. I guarantee if that had been Mary Landrieu (D- Louisiana)asking for a few more minutes, he would not have been opposed. I realize that the Democrats control Congress with a majority, but there are many states and millions of people that elected the Republicans as their representation and those voices should be heard equally. To ignore them is to ignore millions of Americans and that is simply unacceptable.
I hope that this bill fails miserably in the Senate and that the American people receive a Christmas present they deserve - a legislature that LISTENS to their concerns and follows the wishes of the people. That would be a present worthy of the sacrifices made by so many to keep this nation free and maintain it as the Democratic Republic that our Founders gave us. This "health care reform" bill is the first step towards socialism and that step cannot and should not be taken. We are the last great bastion of capitalism and our system must be preserved. Perhaps, they should consider the words of a great statesman and President. Their duty is simple: to "preserve for our children, this, the last, best hope of man on earth".
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Civil Rights?
Today begins the trial of 3 Navy Seals charged with mistreating a prisoner of war, aka terrorist. The arraignment will take place in Norfolk, Virginia on the largest naval base in the world. A protest has been planned by supporters of the Navy SEALs and will take place today outside the courthouse during the arraignment. These three men, Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe, are all accused of punching a terrorist in the mouth while he was detained. The terrorist, Ahmed Hashim Abed, is suspected of participating in the murder of four Blackwater employees in Iraq in 2004. Just to refresh your memory - these four men were civilian contractors helping with security operations in Fallujah when their convoy was attacked by Iraqi gunmen with small arms and grenades. The four men were killed or injured and the Iraqis dragged their bodies through the streets, burned them and hung their burned bodies from a bridge in Fallujah. This was an absolutely disgusting and appalling act committed by Islamic extremists and constituted (in my mind) an act of terror. As a result, Abed was added to the "Most Wanted" list of terrorists. After trying to capture him for five years, three brave Navy SEALs approached his camp under cover of darkness, captured him and successfully detained him: all without firing a shot. Apparently, Abed received a bloody lip in the process and filed charges against these men. There is no corroborating evidence from any other servicemen who came in contact with Abed, but the Navy is bringing them up on charges anyway. Fast forward to the present - these men are being court-martialed and face possible dishonorable discharge and incarceration time. They will be pleading "not guilty".
This is ludicrous! Our Navy is charging three of their own elite special operations men with punching a terrorist with NO evidence to support the terrorist's claim. The bravest amongst us are being forced to defend THEIR actions while arresting a TERRORIST! This is nothing but a knee-jerk reaction spurred on by the "mistreatment" of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and should not be allowed to happen. Many people lament the length and cost of our War on Terror and complain that we need to get our soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but never consider the cost of early withdrawal from these areas. Our leaders have tied the hands of our soldiers behind their backs with ridiculous and unnecessary rules of engagement and procedures for detention and interrogation all designed to protect the rights of the terrorists. Let me say that again: our nation's leaders are more concerned with protecting the civil rights of the TERRORISTS that we are fighting. What is wrong with this picture?
Yesterday marks the 68th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor where 2,402 people were killed, 1,282 were wounded, 15 Navy ships were badly damaged or sunk and 188 aircraft were destroyed in an attack that lasted just a few hours. Following this attack, President Roosevelt spoke to the nation and declared that December 7, 1941 was "a day that will live in infamy". We officially entered World War II by declaring war on Japan and began launching our own attacks on their ships and aircraft and eventually organized and executed the "Doolittle Raid" which struck at the heart of Japan. After four years of brutal war against the Japanese, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima effectively ending the war with Japan. This history lesson is meant to refresh your memory and remind you that we did not expect our soldiers to fight the Japanese and the Nazis with one hand tied behind their backs like they are expected to do now. Imagine if we had used "kid gloves" throughout World War II; would we be saluting a Nazi flag today? Perhaps. If the war had not been fought in such an effective and determined manner the outcome might have been very different. This was a war fought against an extremist ideology, Nazism; not unlike the war we are currently engaged in against Islamic extremism. Thank God our President and Congress were not afraid of trampling on the non-existent civil rights of the men we were fighting against.
The Global War on Terror is being fought with a lack of concern for our fighting forces and a unwarranted emphasis on the manner in which it is fought, i.e. protecting the "feelings" of the terrorists we are fighting against. This latest trial is just another example of this misguided method of fighting a war. McCabe, Huertas and Keefe should be hailed as heroes, not brought to trial for allegedly punching a Most Wanted murderer while attempting to capture him so that he may be brought to Justice for the heinous atrocities he committed against American citizens. I believe that this war would be much closer to completion if we were not so preoccupied with the civil rights of our enemies. Another example of this can be seen in the decision by the Obama administration to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in a civilian court in New York City. Once again, a lack of emphasis on the rights of the victims and the assignation of American citizen's rights to terrorists.
What about the rights of the American men and women killed by terrorists? The 3,000 dead in the attacks of September 11th, the 17 dead in the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, the many dead in the embassy attacks of the last decade, the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines killed while fighting in the War on Terror, Daniel Pearl, the four Blackwater employees, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Bartelona and Michael Teague, and the countless others murdered by Islamic terrorists? Their rights were certainly not even considered by their murderers. The families of these men and women are entitled to justice for their loved ones and their rights should be paramount to the rights of the terrorists guilty of murder. Here's hoping that justice will be meted out with a firm hand and the guilty will be properly punished.
This is ludicrous! Our Navy is charging three of their own elite special operations men with punching a terrorist with NO evidence to support the terrorist's claim. The bravest amongst us are being forced to defend THEIR actions while arresting a TERRORIST! This is nothing but a knee-jerk reaction spurred on by the "mistreatment" of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and should not be allowed to happen. Many people lament the length and cost of our War on Terror and complain that we need to get our soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but never consider the cost of early withdrawal from these areas. Our leaders have tied the hands of our soldiers behind their backs with ridiculous and unnecessary rules of engagement and procedures for detention and interrogation all designed to protect the rights of the terrorists. Let me say that again: our nation's leaders are more concerned with protecting the civil rights of the TERRORISTS that we are fighting. What is wrong with this picture?
Yesterday marks the 68th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor where 2,402 people were killed, 1,282 were wounded, 15 Navy ships were badly damaged or sunk and 188 aircraft were destroyed in an attack that lasted just a few hours. Following this attack, President Roosevelt spoke to the nation and declared that December 7, 1941 was "a day that will live in infamy". We officially entered World War II by declaring war on Japan and began launching our own attacks on their ships and aircraft and eventually organized and executed the "Doolittle Raid" which struck at the heart of Japan. After four years of brutal war against the Japanese, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima effectively ending the war with Japan. This history lesson is meant to refresh your memory and remind you that we did not expect our soldiers to fight the Japanese and the Nazis with one hand tied behind their backs like they are expected to do now. Imagine if we had used "kid gloves" throughout World War II; would we be saluting a Nazi flag today? Perhaps. If the war had not been fought in such an effective and determined manner the outcome might have been very different. This was a war fought against an extremist ideology, Nazism; not unlike the war we are currently engaged in against Islamic extremism. Thank God our President and Congress were not afraid of trampling on the non-existent civil rights of the men we were fighting against.
The Global War on Terror is being fought with a lack of concern for our fighting forces and a unwarranted emphasis on the manner in which it is fought, i.e. protecting the "feelings" of the terrorists we are fighting against. This latest trial is just another example of this misguided method of fighting a war. McCabe, Huertas and Keefe should be hailed as heroes, not brought to trial for allegedly punching a Most Wanted murderer while attempting to capture him so that he may be brought to Justice for the heinous atrocities he committed against American citizens. I believe that this war would be much closer to completion if we were not so preoccupied with the civil rights of our enemies. Another example of this can be seen in the decision by the Obama administration to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in a civilian court in New York City. Once again, a lack of emphasis on the rights of the victims and the assignation of American citizen's rights to terrorists.
What about the rights of the American men and women killed by terrorists? The 3,000 dead in the attacks of September 11th, the 17 dead in the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, the many dead in the embassy attacks of the last decade, the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines killed while fighting in the War on Terror, Daniel Pearl, the four Blackwater employees, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Bartelona and Michael Teague, and the countless others murdered by Islamic terrorists? Their rights were certainly not even considered by their murderers. The families of these men and women are entitled to justice for their loved ones and their rights should be paramount to the rights of the terrorists guilty of murder. Here's hoping that justice will be meted out with a firm hand and the guilty will be properly punished.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Be Back Soon....
Sorry it has been a while since I wrote on this blog. Time has not been my friend lately. I hope to post later this evening or tomorrow. Please check back then. Thanks for understanding and thank you for reading my blog.
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