I want to take a moment to apologize for up and disappearing on all of you several months ago. I’m afraid that shortly before the Christmas holidays, things got kind of crazy around my house. I found myself having some health problems, and in the midst of doctors and tests and things, I just couldn’t handle politics.

I kept meaning to come on here and write a post, explaining where I was and that I’d be taking a short break. But honestly, I was so mentally loopy from all the pain medication and just being under the weather, that I literally just forgot!! I’m so sorry!

I feel especially bad about all my friends who were concerned about me. I’m so sorry to make you all worry! But thank you to everyone who sent me concerned emails, checking in on me to make sure I wasn’t dead, hehe. Don’t worry, I’m still here!

Despite taking my little siesta from politics, I was kind of snapped back into it with all the drama surrounding the special election in Massachusetts for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat. I’m sure like many of you, I was glued to the news Tuesday night, waiting to see which way the voters of Massachusetts would go.

Let me just say, holy crap, was I ever shocked!! I mean, obviously I had hoped that the tides would turn and people would start to wake up to what the progressives have been doing within the Democratic party, and the effect their policies have been having on our nation after only one year of the Obama administration. But I seriously didn’t think that enough people had woken up yet to really sway an election away from the Democrats in Massachusetts!! It’s Massa-freaking-chusetts!!

But wow, I seriously couldn’t be more proud of my fellow Independents in Massachusetts! I’m not excited about this election because of Scott Brown, or because he’s a Republican – I refuse to put hope in a single candidate, or even a single party.

Rather, I’m thrilled with the outcome of this election because of the Independents of Massachusetts, taking a stand against monarchistic politics, rising up and declaring their independence from anyone’s political machine. Way. To. Go! The news kept making a big deal about how Democrats out-number Republicans something like 3-to-1 in Massachusetts, but what most people need to realize, they’re ALL out-numbered by Independents like me. And that’s what made the difference: independence.

I wish more people in this country would wake up and realize that loyalty to a single party or a single candidate isn’t the answer. Any one person can – and most likely will – let you down. And worse, party loyalty I think is just a tool to drive us apart.

Rather, I think the answer should be loyalty to principles. Loyalty to standards, beliefs, convictions; loyalty to our country, to what it stands for, its history, and how very bright its future could be if we stand by the principles we were founded on and the principles so many of us still believe in today.

But that can’t happen until more of us wake up and realize that our history has been skewed by far too many people with far too many agendas. We need to wake up, we need to familiarize ourselves once again with our own true shared history, and realize the legacy that we’re risking because of our complacency. We simply cannot be the generation that ends the dream of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, Adams, Paine, and all the other brave men and women who risked their lives, honor, and sacred fortunes to give us all freedom, liberty, and the prosperity we have all enjoyed for so very long.

So let’s keep it up! Let’s keep learning, keep educating others, keep rediscovering our principles, and keep fightin’ peacefully – but purposefully – for what we believe in. Massachusetts is just the beginning. We simply cannot stop now!!

I have so much more to say over the coming days. During my little siesta I had lots of time to think and I have a lot of thoughts I’d like to share with you. Particularly some thoughts I had recently about the other side of Alinsky’s influence on Progressives and the Democrat party. After having what I thought was just a friendly political discussion with a liberal friend – which he interpreted to be an argument – I was struck with an interesting thought about the other side of Alinsky’s tactics that I don’t think many people notice. Or at least, they don’t seem to talk about. Meaning, the effect those tactics have on Democrats, on liberals; what it means to them.

But I shall save that for another day, since this is long enough and I have to get some sleep! Congratulations to Scott Brown, but you should know, sir, we’re gonna watch you like a hawk!

But most importantly, congratulations to the people of Massachusetts! Congratulations on your hard-fought, hard-won independence!!

My jaw literally dropped when I heard this. I won’t even try to introduce it, just listen to it for yourself and be prepared to use both hands to hoist that jaw of yours back up.

I really, really wasn’t going to say anything bad about Ted Kennedy after the sad news of his passing.. I contemplated posting something short, just to pass along my thoughts, prayers, and condolences to the Kennedy family for their loss. I know that losing any loved one is difficult, and even despite the political differences I had with Ted Kennedy, I still respect his humanity and the pain that his family must be going through because of his death. But in the end, I decided against it; I didn’t think I should say anything, because this is a political blog and I didn’t think he should be dragged into political issues now that he’s gone (a la the way the Democrats are now trying to invoke his memory in order to pass their massive health care bills.)

But after hearing this, I just had to say something. Because my heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to the Kopechne family too. I can’t even begin to imagine how much hearing something like this would hurt, knowing that the man responsible for their daughter’s death now laughs about the fact. I don’t think there’s anything Ed Klein could say to make this sound any better. Sorry, but I rarely ever dare to joke about something that I feel great remorse for.

But then again, I’ve never run away while someone else was dying due to my mistake. I’ve never hid in a hotel room, trying to come up with an alibi, while a young woman spent unimaginably harrowing hours struggling in an air pocket inside of my drowned automobile, before ultimately dying a horrific, drawn-out, cruel, and painful death.

Maybe you just had to be there to get the joke. I’m sure Mary Jo would have laughed too, right?

I saw a couple of pictures on one of my all-time favorite blogs, Black & Right, and I just had to repost them here, because it’s just absolutely frightening.
It’s a beautiful – and frightening – before and after. Take a look.

Here’s the before, a delightful picture of the oft-hyped SmartCar ForTwo. Awww, isn’t it all cute and teeny and precious with its shiny leftist ideological gleam? Fabulous!

All is perfect utopian sweetness and light. That is, until – like most leftist ideology – it’s smacked upside the head by cold, harsh, merciless reality:

Click to zoom

Ooooo, doesn’t look so smart now, does it?

That’s precisely why I will never, ever, ever set foot butt in a SmartCar or any similar teeny-tiny pocket hybrid.
And that’s also precisely why I absolutely love my BMW.

Now before you start accusing me of being the typical evil rich white conservative, let me quickly point something out. I’m a proud, proud owner of a 1996 BMW 318i (yes, that’s a tiny engine, but my, how she can pick up n’ go!) It was my very first car, for which I haggled $5,000 off the salesman’s asking price! Not bad, eh?
My baby still looks brand new, despite having dealt with a few significant scrapes over the years. That’s right, it has kept me and my passengers safe through multiple accidents (none of which were my fault, by the way) and it’s still running strong.

But not only is my baby Bimmer safe to drive, it can compete in fuel efficiency too: it just got 35 miles to the gallon on a recent road trip to Georgia & back. That’s pretty damn good, don’t you think?
And to think, the government would declare my darling baby a clunker! My car and I find that offensive.

If you’re still not convinced check out this frightening footage of the Smart Car being subjected to basic crash testing. It did so badly that even the normally generous Insurance Highway Safety Institute is giving you the same warning I am! I’ve never seen them issue such a warning before, and I’m a crash test junkie!

So please, take my advice: if you value your life and the lives of those who travel with you, please consider safety as well as fuel efficiency when buying your next vehicle. I firmly believe you shouldn’t have to sacrifice safety to suit some ideologue’s idea of a vehicular utopia. After all, what use is that vehicular utopia if we’re all dead?
My life and the lives of my family are of the utmost importance to me, and when their lives are in my hands when I’m behind the wheel, I like to know that should we end up in an accident, we’ll have the best chance possible of walking away unharmed. That’s why I’ll never drive or ride in a Smart Car, and why I’m sticking with my “clunker” BMW. After all, nothing says “safety” like pure Autobahn-tested driving perfection.

Sitting here in my bed, late at night, checking my email one last time on my laptop before going off to sleep, I was hit by quite a thought.
Remember back during the election, when people started bringing up concerns about Barack Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground leader, Bill Ayers? Remember how they told us we were all terribly silly for calling Bill Ayers a terrorist, despite the fact that he bombed the Pentagon & several police buildings, incited violence across the country, and was responsible for the deaths of multiple innocent people? Remember that?

Oh no, he’s not a terrorist at all! Besides, those activities were years and years ago, practically eons ago! We’re sure in his heart of hearts he’s grown as an individual since then and has fully repented! (Never mind, of course, the fact that he said otherwise, but what would he know? We’re sure he just had a difficult childhood, so it’s not his fault anyway even if he did do those things, right?)

So according to the people who said such things, we were utterly silly fear-mongers for daring to call Bill Ayers a terrorist. But now these same people think they can get away with calling average Americans terrorists, thugs & mobsters, comparing them to Timothy McVeigh, and accusing them of dealing in Nazi paraphernalia, purely because they dare to show up to Town Hall meetings, to ask tough questions of their representatives, and finally voice their passionate frustrations about proposed health care reform and the out of control deficit spending going on in Washington?

Yeah, that’s fair.

Of course, not that we should be surprised anymore by the irony and outright hypocrisy of partisan politics these days, especially when it concerns the likes of Nancy Pelosi.

I saw this on the news last night and just about popped a cork:

Disgusting isn’t it?

As a point of comparison, consider this: the folks over at TheConservatives.com have put together a brilliant post illustrating the many varied differences between the Bush & Obama administrations’ reactions to dissent. Naturally, I’m no fan of President Bush, but the differences in approach are quite illuminating, if a bit disgusting. Click here to check it out.

I have to say, I’m absolutely disgusted with the way the White House, certain members of Congress, and the DNC have been handling the rather raucous reactions certain lawmakers have been getting at town hall meetings back in their districts, especially with regard to health care reform. Rather than react like adults and acknowledge the rights of free speech that make this country great – even if those who are exercising those rights disagree with you – they’re behaving more like spoiled children. Anyone who disagrees with them is met with dirty looks, accusations, and a fair bit of pouting. Obama certainly did bring change to the White House. Unfortunately it’s change in the wrong direction, toward an absolute contempt for dissent. I dare say, I doubt that’s the sort of change most voters were expecting.

But really, shouldn’t most people have known better? After all, Obama was the one who gave this edict to his supporters regarding how they should react should they ever meet someone who dares oppose the Dear Leader: “I want you to talk to ‘em whether they’re independent or they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face!”
Yeah, that’s how an adult calmly carries out a “thoughtful discussion”, the like Robert Gibbs said the orchestrated astroturf protesters were disrupting. But then again, I guess it takes one to know one when it comes to astroturfing. I suppose if you’re a Community Organizer who’s surrounded by fake, generated populist hysteria, you just don’t know how to react when someone’s actually genuine with their concerns about government overstepping its bounds. When everything you do is carefully orchestrated, when every person who asks questions at campaign stops is carefully pre-screened, perhaps you think everyone engages in the same sort of manipulation.

Surprise, surprise. Some of us out here in America actually do care enough about our country to stand up for our beliefs, even if someone isn’t paying us to do so. Myself included. I’m not getting paid a single cent to operate this blog. I don’t even accept ad revenue. And yet here I am, continuing to dedicate my time to voicing my opinions, and spending my own money to do so. And rest assured, if my health would permit me to attend a town hall or two, I’d be there giving a polite earful to my representatives as well.

In short, Mr. Obama, I’m an actual American who doesn’t need a Community Organizer to tell me what to do, what to say, and how to say it. Disagree with me all you like, but don’t you dare dismiss me, insult me, or devalue my right to voice my own opinions.

To the rest of you who are able to attend town halls with your representatives, please remember to be cordial, respectful, and polite, while of course being forceful, sincere, and honest. I realize these issues are important to us, I realize things are getting heated, but we don’t need to shout, we don’t need to scream, and we don’t need to behave like an angry mob. Leave those tactics to Acorn, because quite frankly, such tactics are beneath us. Let’s act like the adults that we are, not like the sniveling spoiled children in Washington.

I think I’m going to start some kind of new theme on this site with videos that I’ll tag as “Watch & Share”. These videos will in some way perfectly encapsulate a specific aspect of the healthcare “reform” debate and do so in an efficient, concise, and engaging way. My hope is that these videos will both educate and inspire you, so that you can then forward them to your friends and family, thereby educating as many people as possible about the true nature of the “reforms” Obama & the Democrats are currently trying to rush through Congress.

The first such video comes from VerumSerum.com, and I first heard about it thanks to the folks at No Sheeples Here (love the blog name!). It does a brilliant job of using the words of Obama himself, along with Democrat Representative Jan Schakowsky and Yale professor Dr. Jacob Hacker, to explain exactly what their proposed “public option” would really do to the health insurance market. Meaning – in their own words, mind you – it’s merely a trojan-horse system that will ultimately lead to single-payer government-run health insurance. Don’t want to take it from me? Take it from them.

Please, watch this video and share it with everyone you know. We need to find out what’s really inside this trojan horse of a plan, before we open up the doors and bring it into our lives. As every country that currently employs single-payer health coverage will tell you, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of once it’s implemented. Yeah, you heard me right: nearly every nation with a single-payer government-run system has – and still is – trying to get rid of it, but to no avail. Yup, even Sweden & the UK! The last time I was in the UK there was a huge effort in Parliament to get rid of the National Health Service. But of course, it failed, since the NHS is the largest employer in the nation, and as such, provides a massive voting bloc.
Do we really want to let this trojan horse into our lives without really understanding the true intentions behind it? Listen to the words of the Democrats themselves, the words they uttered when they thought only their allies were listening. Only then will you be able to hear their true intentions, and only then will you understand precisely what they mean by “reform”.

Please keep an eye out for future ‘Watch & Share’ videos. I’ll post them here, on Twitter, and I’ll add them to a special ‘Watch & Share’ playlist on my YouTube account. And of course, if you’d like to recommend any videos, please feel free to post a comment on the blog or email them to me at NoWayNObama AT gmail DOT com (just replace the “AT” and the “DOT” with the appropriate symbol and punctuation, thanks!)
Rest assured, we can still stop the government from taking over our right to make our own healthcare decisions. We’ve delivered crushing blows to the Democrats’ attempts already, by forcing them to delay votes past the August recess. But the fight is far from over. There’s still so much to do and there are still so many people left to educate, we simply can’t stop now.

As if there were still any doubts about the Democrats’ true intentions regarding their healthcare “reform”, I’ve found yet another article that clearly outlines a few nuggets of truth hidden throughout the latest healthcare bill to come out of Congress.

This time the article is from the NY Post of all places. They’ve discovered that – besides outlawing personal private health insurance policies – there will be an entirely new government agency whose sole purpose is to evaluate every single health insurance company and the policies they provide. This agency will then select certain specific policies which will meet some sort of arbitrary set of guidelines (and who knows what those are); these bureaucrat-approved policies will then be called “qualified plans”.

The kicker is, if you or your employer don’t select one of these government-approved qualified plans, you’ll be fined thousands of dollars via the IRS and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan against your will. So in other words, even though you’ll have the freedom to pay through the nose for a private health insurance plan, whose cost will skyrocket, you won’t have the freedom to choose a plan that fits your own needs. No, silly mindless puny human, obviously a government bureaucrat knows far more about what you need than you do! How could you be so naive…

Yet again, this flies in the face of Obama’s campaign promise that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” even after he reforms our healthcare system. Yeah, well, what if I happen to like my current plan but a government bureaucrat isn’t as fond of it as I am? I guess then Obama’s promise won’t mean squat. But hey, maybe there was fine print hidden at the end of his teleprompter that we just couldn’t see.

In all honestly, I’m absolutely thrilled with my health insurance, just like 87% of Americans who are very satisfied with theirs as well. Through my Father’s job, my family has a plan with Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield. They’ve been absolutely wonderful, even when dealing with my rather obscure and difficult to treat disease. Compared to the treatment my friends with the same disease get from their socialized medical systems in the UK, Canada, & Australia – i.e. no care at all – I think I’m much better off under the current system than I would be under ObamaCare’s medical dictatorship.
To give you some idea of the quality of my care, I have three nurse case managers, one with my Dad’s company and two with Anthem, all of whom help to track and coordinate my care so that I can get the most out of my coverage. They’ve never disputed anything that I’ve had done, and believe me, I’ve had a LOT done. My medical bills just for the past couple years have added up into the millions. Hell, a few years ago when I desperately needed five rounds of high volume liposuction to keep the disease from killing me by age 22, Anthem actually paid for all of it, even though they’d never before in the history of the company ever encountered medically necessary liposuction, let alone paid for it in full. And that’s just a small sample of the great working relationship I’ve had with Anthem – I could go on and on about all that they’ve done for me and my doctors.
So all in all, I adore my health insurance company. I love them to pieces. In fact, if it weren’t for their help, I’d be dead by now. I’d damn well like to keep Anthem as my health insurance provider. But if Obama and the Democrats have their way? Well, their good track record of taking care of me won’t matter anymore – it’ll be up to some no-name in a suit who has never met me, sitting behind a government desk, whether or not I’ll get to keep paying this company for their wonderful services. That hardly seems fair, that hardly seems free, and that hardly seems to be in keeping with everything Obama and his fellow Democrats have been saying about their true incentives for passing their healthcare “reforms”.

You know, as I was reading that NY Post article, I couldn’t help but think of something. If their healthcare plan is going to cost us a whopping $1 trillion dollars in the first year alone, only to go up by the trillions from there, couldn’t we use that money in a more effective way, without stripping those of us who have health insurance away from our current coverage?
I actually came up with an idea that I’d find more palatable, but still as radically comparable to Obama’s proposed reforms. As I’ve already explained, despite everyone claiming there are 40 million Americans uninsured in this country, the truth is the actual figure is closer to roughly 12 million or so, once you discount illegal aliens, citizens making more than $50k a year, and those who already qualify for existing government programs. How about we take that $1 trillion dollars from the first year of the Democrats’ proposed reforms and instead split that up amongst the 12 million uninsured? We could give them some sort of government coupon that would only be applicable toward purchasing health insurance, that way they couldn’t go and blow it on big screen TVs and exotic vacations. If we did that, each and every one of those 12 million uninsured Americans would receive $83,333. Don’t you think that’d buy one hell of an insurance plan? Hell, even if there really were 40 million uninsured American citizens, they’d still get a whopping $25,000!! That’d definitely be one way that Obama could actually fulfill his campaign promise of ensuring that those who are already insured won’t lose their coverage, yet we’d still be able to get the uninsured covered without creating another massive, bloated government bureaucracy whose sole purpose in existence is to siphon off our freedoms.
Oh, and it’d also help with Obama’s unnamed – yet painfully obvious – goal of drastically expanding our deficit. Hooray.

Whaddya say, Obama? Or gee, is getting people insured not your real incentive here at all? Cause honestly, my idea’s sounding a heckuva lot more appealing right now than yours is.

My friend Joey just sent me a short article written by Investors Business Daily that I sincerely believe every American absolutely must read before they make up their minds about the Democrats’ initiative to pass healthcare “reform”. It’s not an opinion piece, it’s not an editorial, it’s simply a short 1-page article referencing a direct quote from the Democrats’ new healthcare legislation. That’s all.
Please, I urge you to read it. I beg you to send it to everyone you know. If only more Americans realized just what sort of soft tyranny is contained in the first sixteen pages alone of that 1,018 page bill, the Democrats’ true motives would be uncovered and Americans would be able to salvage so much of their own personal liberty before it’s too late. I hate to sound so dramatic, but seriously, if you aren’t free to make your own choices about your own life – decisions that could mean life or death – are you truly free?

Click here right now to read the article.

The more I think about it, the more I realize it isn’t even fair to call what the Democrats are trying to achieve “socialized medicine” or “universal healthcare”. No, this goes so far beyond that it’s not even funny. At least in the UK, for instance, you’re still free to buy private medical insurance, even though you’ll pay through the nose for it (I’ve heard anywhere from 4- to 6- times as much as we pay here.) No, what they’re trying to accomplish goes beyond mere government-run, single-payer healthcare; this is a medical dictatorship.

Really? Really?! Senator Al Franken – someone who is in desperate need of an update on his persona as a clown – actually wastes his time addressing the next nominee for our great nation’s Supreme Court by asking her about Perry Freaking Mason?!
It’s a circus, an absolute circus. The Democrats aren’t even bothering with the pretense of appearing fair, even-handed, and bipartisan; they’re flat out making love to this woman in public, praising her nonstop (I swear, I heard one senator this morning repeat the word “good” about five times in five minutes while describing her), or they’re flat out clowning around. It’s disgusting!

Perry Mason… I’d love, love to hear what Minnesotans have to say about their new Senator now. Who wants to bet he’ll be a one-term wonder?

I’m so sick and tired of this whole Sonia Sotomayor mess. I tried to listen to the questioning again this morning, but after a few mind-numbing hours, I just couldn’t take it anymore. Each and every time she said “suprene court” instead of “surPREME court”, I just about wanted to scream. I say if you can’t even pronounce the court you’re being nominated for, you shouldn’t actually sit on it, don’t you think?
I’m sure she’s a lovely woman and all, but I just can’t get past the idiocy displayed by some of these senators, and her absolute nerve in expecting us to believe her each and every time she flat out contradicts herself with regard to her many, many controversial past statements. Either she lied by misrepresenting herself over a 15+ year period of time, or she’s perjuring herself now in changing her story. Neither option is very appetizing, but it has to be one or the other. Honestly now, which one do you think is more likely, hmm?

And sure enough, I knew this would happen, but her repudiations of her past comments are ticking off certain liberals who used to just love her to pieces. Check it out. Big surprise. What’s that old saying? If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll soon end up being nothing to nobody.
Just tell the truth, Sonia, whatever it is. Isn’t that the honorable thing to do?

As quoted in an interview with the New York Times (you know, that bastion of right-wing conservatism), here’s what Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to say about the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade:

“Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, New York Times

Wow. All I can say is, wow. It’s astonishing to me that someone finally had the nerve to actually say in all honesty the real reason behind the founding of most abortion rights groups. But the mere fact that Ginsburg is showing any semblance of support for such reasons, that’s truly frightening.
What were those reasons? One need look no further than Margaret Sanger and the organization she began, Planned Parenthood. Sanger has been praised by the left for ages, including Hillary Clinton who spoke of Sanger several times throughout the most recent presidential campaign. But what the Left often neglects to mention while heaping these praises upon her memory is that Sanger was a staunch believer in Eugenics, the idea that society could shape and plan the breeding of their own children so as to eliminate either unwanted genetic traits or diseases, or entire unwanted races. That’s precisely what Ginsburg is referring to in that quote, when she speaks of population control, particularly in “populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

What are those populations that Eugenicists didn’t want to have too many of? Of course they include the handicapped, physically or mentally. But what most people tend to forget about, is that minorities were – and still are – included in the list of unwanted aspects of our population.
With that in mind, is it any surprise that although African American babies make up 20% of live births in this nation, that they account for 36% of all abortions? Furthermore, over 80% of Planned Parenthood offices are located in predominantly African American neighborhoods! Margaret Sanger spoke repeatedly and specifically that abortion would be a tool not only of controlling and limiting the African American population, but that it could be used to utterly “exterminate the Negro population.” Given that, can we really dismiss such statistics as mere coincidence? In my opinion, no.

I’m astounded that Justice Ginsburg had the nerve to actually come out and say that abortion is a form of targeted, specific population control, and that such feelings about population influenced the outcome of Roe v. Wade. Perhaps her statement will lead others to understand the true intentions of those who championed abortion in the beginning, those who made it so commonplace as it is today. Perhaps then people will better understand exactly what it is we’re dealing with and why such intentions are so terribly, terribly dangerous.