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July 04, 2009

Fourth Of July (And Vacation Thoughts)

Charleston (96) I spent this past week down in South Carolina.  While visiting Fort Moultrie, I viewed this sight.  It got me thinking along several lines.

Very recently, a local Louisville church got in a little hot water over having a Saturday "gun" service.  Some were quoted as saying "I find it extremely distressing that faith and guns in any way go together", and "The only weapon we need is a peaceful heart".

I wondered about this, after I viewed the above, and continued to walk about Fort Moultrie.  Although the fort is more famous for it's use by confederates to attack Fort Sumter, Fort Moutrie dates itself as far back as 1776.  Back at the beginnings of the Revolutionary War, 9 British warships attacked the Fortress.  The fort and it's men saved Charleston from the British attack.

After the Revolutionary War came the Constitution of the United States, containing the 1st amendment clause (freedom of religion) and the 2nd amendment (right to bear arms).  Both came after men with guns and cannons secured our independence.

So, do both items in the picture above really belong there?  Do cannons and church steeples really go together?  If the only weapon we had in the 18th century was a peaceful heart, we wouldn't be sitting in the United States of America today.  Therefore, I think they do. 

The subtitle of the Courier-Journal story says it all: "Pastor links religious freedom in U.S. to right to bear arms".  I strongly agree.  All our freedoms were purchased through the use of weapons.

Happy Independence Day.  Revel in your freedoms today.

-Colonel Steve

July 02, 2009

One Reason NOT To "Pre-pay" Taxes

Lots of folks I speak to like to overpay their federal and state taxes through the year.  That way, come April 15th, they get a tax refund from Uncle Sam and their state capitol.

Now comes a good reason NOT to pre-pay those taxes.  California is now issuing IOU's to pay for, among other things, tax refunds.  Those receiving these IOU's might get a small window in time to cash out these IOU's at some California banks.  However, with California's debt woes, this might not last long.

I wonder if California residents will overpay their state taxes for 2009?.

-Colonel Steve

July 01, 2009

We Think We'll Get Better Health Care?

We think we'll get cheaper and better health care when the government takes over?  As John Stossel notes, no way!  Making it cheaper just means it'll be rationed, as the Canadians have noticed.  But cheer up, at least one part of the medical world won't have to ration care.

We saw this in Canada, where we did find one area of medicine that offers easy access to cutting-edge technology -- CT scan, endoscopy, thoracoscopy, laparoscopy, etc. It was open 24/7. Patients didn't have to wait.

But you have to bark or meow to get that kind of treatment. Animal care is the one area of medicine that hasn't been taken over by the government. Dogs can get a CT scan in one day. For people, the waiting list is a month.

At least my golden retrievers will get better care than I will. 

-Colonel Steve

Senator Spector Goes Full Circle

Senator Arlen Spector's switch to the Democratic party, in order to keep his Senate seat, may end up costing him his seat anyway.  As Ed Morrissey of Hotair.com notes:

Arlen Specter has had a bad year, hasn’t he?  The Senate veteran got a Republican primary challenger in Pat Toomey, who immediately jumped out to a 20-point lead over the incumbent.  Specter tried getting the national GOP to push Toomey out of the race, and when that failed, he jumped ship to the Democrats.  Specter expected to get a cushy deal that would preserve his seniority, but his new colleagues rejected Harry Reid’s deal with Specter and made the Pennsylvanian a back-bencher.  Now, it looks as though Specter will have to fight in a primary anyway.

Wow! I would say "poor guy", but really, I don't quite feel that way.

-Colonel Steve

June 27, 2009

Cap And Trade Sellouts

Base on the yea and nay voting lists I have seen, it looks like our 4 Kentucky Republicans voted correctly on Cap and Trade.  Our 2 Kentucky Democrats sadly voted incorrectly on the legislative cramdown.  Even more reason that those of us in the Kentucky 3rd district help vote out in 2010 our representative.

Michelle Malkin lists the 8 RINO's who voted for the Cap and Trade legislation in the house yesterday.  Those were:

  • Mary Bono Mack, California
  • Mike Castle, Delaware
  • Mark Kirk, Illinois
  • John McHugh, New York
  • Frank LoBiondo, New Jersey
  • Leonard Lance, New Jersey
  • Dave Reichert, Washington
  • Chris Smith, New Jersey

Good news.....Here are the 44 Democrats that voted no:

Altmire
Arcuri
Barrow
Berry
Boren
Bright
Carney
Childers
Costa
Costello
Dahlkemper
Davis (AL)
Davis (TN)
DeFazio
Donnelly (IN)
Edwards (TX)
Ellsworth
Foster
Griffith
Herseth Sandlin
Holden
Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Kissell
Kucinich
Marshall
Massa
Matheson
McIntyre
Melancon
Minnick
Mitchell
Mollohan
Nye
Ortiz
Pomeroy
Rahall
Rodriguez
Ross
Salazar
Stark
Tanner
Taylor
Visclosky
Wilson (OH)


-Colonel Steve

June 25, 2009

Guess Who Won't Be Enrolled?

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, John Fund makes two points:

1) Several ideas are being floated as to how to raise the funds to pay for nationalized health care.  They all deal with taxes on things like those making over $100,000 (what happened to the campaign's $250,000), or those whose benefits are above a certain cap would be taxed.  However, one groups health benefits will not be taxed.....unions!

2) Also, there will be folks who will be excluded from being in the universal health care.  They'll be allowed to keep their Cadillac/Lexus/Mercedes version.  Those folks will be.....drum roll....members of Congress.

There's a reason the Obama health care plan is being rushed through Congress this summer -- because the American people would likely never support it if given time to absorb and understand such fine print. If the union carve-out isn't sufficient to excite public anger, wait till you hear about the version of the Obama plan prepared by Senator Edward Kennedy, which would specifically exempt Members of Congress from many of its provisions.

As the U.S. Office of Personnel Management notes, Members of Congress "enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country." According to page 114 of the Kennedy bill, a similar array of choices would not be available to other Americans in the future. Instead, they would be shunted into health insurance plans under the straightjacket of whatever the government decides is a "basic" plan.

The goal would be to restrict care for the general public in order to control costs, while making sure Congress gets the gold-plated attention it's accustomed to. Ultimately, the rest of us would be asked to trade a private insurance company as gatekeeper for a government gatekeeper. The difference, of course, is that most of us can fire our insurance gatekeeper. Just try to do that once the government fills that role.

On this 2nd point, I'm with Rush Limbaugh on this one.

So the question that needs to be asked, the only question, really, you need to call your senator and your member of Congress and you need to ask them very simply:  Are you going to opt out and forego your current health care plan in order to join the health are plan provided for most Americans by the Obama government?  And what do you think the answer you're going to get is?  The answer's:  Hell, no, I'm not giving up my health care plan, but we can't provide this kind of health coverage for every American.  So members of Congress and the Obama Administration will not be subjected to the health care plan they are going to come up with. 

Folks,I implore you -- and I don't do this often, I seldom do this. But Iwant you to ask your senators and your member of Congress, point-blank: "Are you going to opt out on the healthcare plan you have to join the public option health plan you are going to write for the rest of us?" Don't accept anything other than a yes or no answer.  They'll try to obfuscate.  "Well, you know, our plan is only for five or six hundred people.  It's much easier to manage. We're talking about 47 million uninsured Americans," blah, blah, blah.

No.  If it's a good plan, it's a good plan.  If they're going to come up with the best plan for us, it's the best plan for them.  They work for us.  It's very simple: Are you going to opt out on your great healthcare plan and join the public option you're going to write?  That's the only question that needs to be asked about any of this. 


Call them.  Over and over again, if that's what it takes.  Tell them that if this healthcare is not good enough for them, it's not good enough for us.  And if they vote for it with those clauses in there, we'll be voting them out of there.

-Colonel Steve

June 20, 2009

"Senator" Barbara Boxer

I think the dear senator needs to get a clue from someone really in the military as to what "Ma'am" and "Sir" really means.  Then she might not mind that term anymore.

-Colonel Steve