Archive for the ‘ Health Care ’ Category

The Ownership of Us

Written by PeacockWatch on February 1, 2011.

The drill sergeant’s famous shout in the movies is “I own you recruit!” or even something a little more earthy stating very clearly that the recruit has lost every element of control of his life to the military. It was this image that immediately came to mind when Peacock read the opening paragraphs of Susanne M. Schafer’s AP article on January 27, 2011 titled “First lady: Army health initiative may be a model”.

Given the context of Obamacare and other clearly socialist initiatives designed to exercise greater control over our lives I don’t think I am overreacting to the following paragraph from the article quoting the First Lady.

“A lack of fitness is ‘not just a health issue but a national security issue,’ she said, and the military’s health initiatives could be a model for youngsters elsewhere.”

That comment from a First Lady gives me the creeps.

Obamacare scares me in many ways. At the outset it creates a situation in which all personal health care is eventually and inevitably forced to migrate to a government plan and federal control. In the long run, as  the private systems are, by design, driven out of business there ends up being no choice. Obamacare will be the only health care option left. Anyone who examines the numbers sees that this is the only outcome. So, we end up with Obamacare and Social Security to take care of us from cradle to grave. The nanny state promoters like the First Lady will then see it as a national security issue to make sure we all eat and exercise properly. We will be told that if we don’t stay fit we will not be healthy enough to keep the nationally run system financially viable and therefore assure that the nation is secure.

At some point down the road I am concerned that some federal executive going to scream at our descendants through the television, “You will stay fit and eat properly because I own you, it is a national security issue, and we have to keep the health care system solvent”.

Considering what has been happening since FDR dramatically accelerated socialism I don’t think this scenario is a stretch.

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Our Great Actor-in-Chief

Written by PeacockWatch on January 26, 2011.

We all recall how Barak Hussein Obama came to power.  A young, charismatic, orator, unknown to the public, gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.  He was quickly promoted by the Democratic Party, becoming a Senator in 2006, and running for the presidency in an environment when the public, conditioned by eight years of character assignation by the mainstream media, found themselves sick of George W. Bush, and the Republican Party.
To a majority of the country he appeared to be the savior, running as a moderate and railing against partisan ranker, Washington’s out-of-control spending and waste, and “change”.  The mainstream media burnished his image and virtually ignored his radical, left wing past.
In an historic election, this country elected the first black man to the highest office in the land, if not the world.  For a brief time, some were smug and patted themselves on the back.
Several days, and only several days, after his inauguration, Mr. Obama stepped out of his acting role, made a hard left-hand turn, and revealed his true colors.  This was an acting role of a lifetime, and he should have received an Oscar.  Instead, he received only a Nobel Peace Prize.  When the hangover cleared, we found that we had elected the most radical, left wing socialist in the history of our country, as the 44th President of the United States.  (How about a shout out here to the mainstream media?)
The next two years were followed a raw show of power, as only a party controlling all of the branches of government can pull off.  Cabinet appointees were not vetted by Congress, merely appointed as Czars, and moving forward the most liberal agenda since the “New Deal”.  We got larger government, more supervision over private enterprise, and less liberty for all.  His stimulus program spent trillions on things that produced no results, but did reward his political base. His crowning achievement, Obamacare, 2,700 pages of legislation that no one had read or understood, was shoved down the throat of the people, in the dark of night, against all of their protests.  It was historic.  No significant piece of legislation had been forced on the country with such narrow margins and such strong arm tactics. Yet, it fulfilled a seventy-eight year liberal dream, and cost his party the House and most of the Senate.  His approval rating plummeted.
Fresh from this self-described “shellacking”, we are now witnessing “Obama II, The Sequel”.  His new role is much the same as his old character, but it will be much more difficult to pull-off given the fact that he exposed himself after the first performance.
The trailer for his new role was previewed in his recent State-Of-The-Union Speech.  Peppered with words such as, bi-partisanship, deficit reduction, investing in education, green jobs, making America more competitive, and jobs, jobs, jobs, his inner moderate is re-emerging.  After all, he did extend the Bush tax cuts.
As all great actors, Obama has the ability to act out a role, but be someone else, to say one thing, and do exactly the opposite.  With personalities of this ilk, you cannot listen to what they say; you must look at what they do.
As a public service to those of you in our costal states, who may actually listen to Obama’s words, Peacock has decided to decode his words so you may better understand what he is saying.  It is not hard to decode.
“Investment” means more government spending and a larger deficit (if that is possible).  “Bi-partisanship” means making nice on the surface until I can find a rock to crush your skull.  “Investing in education,” means throwing more money and power to the teacher unions who have our children enslaved in public schools.  “Green Jobs” means regulating carbon and destroying the economy further by drastically raising the price of energy and destroying more jobs than are created.  “Making America more competitive,” means bigger government telling private enterprise just what technologies they should pursue, and punishing industries that do not follow that lead.  It all adds up to continuing the march to socialism, and the upcoming battles with Congress will reaffirm this.
Peacock from the beginning has held the opinion that Obama was designed by the radical left to be a one-term president  Do as much damage to the country in a short period of time and spend the rest of your life traveling the world and giving speeches to fellow travelers.  That being said, no harm in giving it the old college try.  As P.T. Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every day” (or a new voter, as the case may be).
It is an old adage, but one that is true.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

We all recall how Barak Hussein Obama came to power.  A young, charismatic, orator, unknown to the public, gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.  He was quickly promoted by the Democratic Party, becoming a Senator in 2006, and running for the presidency in an environment when the public, conditioned by eight years of character assignation by the mainstream media, found themselves sick of George W. Bush, and the Republican Party.

To a majority of the country he appeared to be the savior, running as a moderate and railing against partisan ranker, Washington’s out-of-control spending and waste, and “change”.  The mainstream media burnished his image and virtually ignored his radical, left wing past.

In an historic election, this country elected the first black man to the highest office in the land, if not the world.  For a brief time, some were smug and patted themselves on the back.

Several days, and only several days, after his inauguration, Mr. Obama stepped out of his acting role, made a hard left-hand turn, and revealed his true colors.  This was an acting role of a lifetime, and he should have received an Oscar.  Instead, he received only a Nobel Peace Prize.  When the hangover cleared, we found that we had elected the most radical, left wing socialist in the history of our country, as the 44th President of the United States.  (How about a shout out here to the mainstream media?)

The next two years were followed a raw show of power, as only a party controlling all of the branches of government can pull off.  Cabinet appointees were not vetted by Congress, merely appointed as Czars, and moving forward the most liberal agenda since the “New Deal”.  We got larger government, more supervision over private enterprise, and less liberty for all.  His stimulus program spent trillions on things that produced no results, but did reward his political base. His crowning achievement, Obamacare, 2,700 pages of legislation that no one had read or understood, was shoved down the throat of the people, in the dark of night, against all of their protests.  It was historic.  No significant piece of legislation had been forced on the country with such narrow margins and such strong arm tactics. Yet, it fulfilled a seventy-eight year liberal dream, and cost his party the House and most of the Senate.  His approval rating plummeted.

Fresh from this self-described “shellacking”, we are now witnessing “Obama II, The Sequel”.  His new role is much the same as his old character, but it will be much more difficult to pull-off given the fact that he exposed himself after the first performance.

The trailer for his new role was previewed in his recent State-Of-The-Union Speech.  Peppered with words such as, bi-partisanship, deficit reduction, investing in education, green jobs, making America more competitive, and jobs, jobs, jobs, his inner moderate is re-emerging.  After all, he did extend the Bush tax cuts.

As all great actors, Obama has the ability to act out a role, but be someone else, to say one thing, and do exactly the opposite.  With personalities of this ilk, you cannot listen to what they say; you must look at what they do.

As a public service to those of you in our costal states, who may actually listen to Obama’s words, Peacock has decided to decode his words so you may better understand what he is saying.  It is not hard to decode.

“Investment” means more government spending and a larger deficit (if that is possible).  “Bi-partisanship” means making nice on the surface until I can find a rock to crush your skull.  “Investing in education,” means throwing more money and power to the teacher unions who have our children enslaved in public schools.  “Green Jobs” means regulating carbon and destroying the economy further by drastically raising the price of energy and destroying more jobs than are created.  “Making America more competitive,” means bigger government telling private enterprise just what technologies they should pursue, and punishing industries that do not follow that lead.  It all adds up to continuing the march to socialism, and the upcoming battles with Congress will reaffirm this.

Peacock from the beginning has held the opinion that Obama was designed by the radical left to be a one-term president  Do as much damage to the country in a short period of time and spend the rest of your life traveling the world and giving speeches to fellow travelers.  That being said, no harm in giving it the old college try.  As P.T. Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every day” (or a new voter, as the case may be).

It is an old adage, but one that is true.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

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A Revolution is an Offensive Thing

Written by PeacockWatch on November 7, 2010.

Through some unknown means, Progressives have an institutional memory and a long term plan which they have been steadily working at for the past one hundred years.  They have had grand achievements along the way: a progressive income tax, Social Security, Welfare, Aid for Dependant Children, Medicare and Medicaid, and their latest achievement, government run healthcare.  Yet, for the most part, it has been the constant stream of little things that has paved the way for the big things.  Similar to the constant drip, drip, drip of water upon rock, great canyons can be formed over long periods of time.
Conservatives, on the other hand, by definition, really have no forward looking goals.  They are stuck with a life role of perpetual defense, defending the Constitution and the thinking of our Founding Fathers, defending the status quo.  They have no real plan other than defending the line of scrimmage.  Independents, and many in their own party, push for more accommodation, more “reaching across the isle”, so they give up a yard here and a yard there, and oops, the other team has scored a touchdown.  They have no plan, only the dogged task of trying to defend.  They ARE the Party of NO.
This lopsided game, played over a hundred years, has yielded a country and government that would not be recognized by our Founding Fathers.  It has taken us to the precipice of socialism and a failing, if not failed country.  It has placed us on the path taken by so many countries before us, and all have ended up in the same miserable place.  Misery surely loves company, so Europe has welcomed President Obama with open arms.
The Republicans have now taken back the House and picked up six seats in the Senate, a tidal wave by historic standards.  The voters have said that they want a reduction in spending and in the size of government, but they did not vote so much for Republicans as much as they did against the Obama agenda of European style socialism.  Yet, Americans are an inpatient lot, and the Republicans will fail without a radical change in their playbook.
It took a hundred years to get here, and our country will not be restored overnight.  Further, it will not be restored using the same defensive strategies that Conservatives have employed for the past one hundred years.  In short, the historic roles must be reversed.  The Republicans must become the Progressive party and go on the offense.  Such a move would force the Democrats into the role of conservatives, i.e., attempting to preserve the gains they have made and thereby blunting their offense.
The Republican Party must unite and articulate what they stand for, and what their objectives are.  At the same time, they must inculcate in the party the same institutional memory and long term game plan that the Progressives have been so good at over the last century.  As sure as the sun rises, they will be thrown again out of the majority, but in power or out, they must keep working at their plan, being ready to strike when opportunity presents itself. As the Progressives are fond of saying, they must “keep their eyes on the prize”.  There are no short term fixes to the problems we have created over a long period of time.
What might these objectives look like?  Here, in no particular order, are Peacock’s top ten priorities.
I. Tax Reform
II. Social Security Reform
III. Healthcare Repeal and Reform
IV. Shrink the actual size of the Federal Government
V. Reclamation of power by the states
VI. Election Reform
VII. Elimination of government unions and collective bargaining
VIII. Foreign Policy coherence and consistency
IX. Immigration Reform and secure borders
X. Statuary limits upon spending
Peacock will be exploring each of these objectives in depth in future articles.

Through some unknown means, Progressives have an institutional memory and a long term plan which they have been steadily working at for the past one hundred years.  They have had grand achievements along the way: a progressive income tax, Social Security, Welfare, Aid for Dependent Children, Medicare and Medicaid, and their latest achievement, government run healthcare.  Yet, for the most part, it has been the constant stream of little things that has paved the way for the big things.  Similar to the constant drip, drip, drip of water upon rock, great canyons can be formed over long periods of time.

Conservatives, on the other hand, by definition, really have no forward looking goals.  They are stuck with a life role of perpetual defense, defending the Constitution and the thinking of our Founding Fathers, defending the status quo.  They have no real plan other than defending the line of scrimmage.  Independents, and many in their own party, push for more accommodation, more “reaching across the isle”, so they give up a yard here and a yard there, and oops, the other team has scored a touchdown.  They have no plan, only the dogged task of trying to defend.  They ARE the Party of NO.

This lopsided game, played over a hundred years, has yielded a country and government that would not be recognized by our Founding Fathers.  It has taken us to the precipice of socialism and a failing, if not failed country.  It has placed us on the path taken by so many countries before us, and all have ended up in the same miserable place.  Misery surely loves company, so Europe has welcomed President Obama with open arms.

The Republicans have now taken back the House and picked up six seats in the Senate, a tidal wave by historic standards.  The voters have said that they want a reduction in spending and in the size of government, but they did not vote so much for Republicans as much as they did against the Obama agenda of European style socialism.  Yet, Americans are an inpatient lot, and the Republicans will fail without a radical change in their playbook.

It took a hundred years to get here, and our country will not be restored overnight.  Further, it will not be restored using the same defensive strategies that Conservatives have employed for the past one hundred years.  In short, the historic roles must be reversed.  The Republicans must become the Progressive party and go on the offense.  Such a move would force the Democrats into the role of conservatives, i.e., attempting to preserve the gains they have made and thereby blunting their offense.

The Republican Party must unite and articulate what they stand for, and what their objectives are.  At the same time, they must inculcate in the party the same institutional memory and long term game plan that the Progressives have been so good at over the last century.  As sure as the sun rises, they will be thrown again out of the majority, but in power or out, they must keep working at their plan, being ready to strike when opportunity presents itself. As the Progressives are fond of saying, they must “keep their eyes on the prize”.  There are no short term fixes to the problems we have created over a long period of time.

What might these objectives look like?  Here, in no particular order, are Peacock’s top ten priorities.

I. Tax Reform

II. Social Security Reform

III. Healthcare Repeal and Reform

IV. Shrink the actual size of the Federal Government

V. Reclamation of power by the states

VI. Election Reform

VII. Elimination of government unions and collective bargaining

VIII. Foreign Policy coherence and consistency

IX. Immigration Reform and secure borders

X. Statuary limits upon spending

Peacock will be exploring each of these objectives in depth in future articles.

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Obama Doesn’t Get It! Or Does He?

Written by PeacockWatch on June 23, 2010.

Clearly the “Rolling Stones” article about General McChrystal makes it clear that the general has little to no respect for his commander in chief or for most of his staff. I guess that is to be expected. You have to show respect before you can receive respect and it is clear that the man in charge of our entire United States military has no respect for military people. If he did he wouldn’t be enforcing rules of engagement that end up getting more of our military killed than is necessary. Perhaps our commander in chief doesn’t understand what President Lincoln understood when he was looking for a general who would brutally execute the Civil War in the short term in order to bring it to a quicker, more merciful end.
But then perhaps he doesn’t understand a lot of things.
He doesn’t understand that raising taxes stifles business.
He doesn’t understand that nationalized health care and the health care regulations he is forcing down our throats stifles, and even ends, businesses because they can’t afford the extra cost.
He doesn’t understand that environmental regulations that force oil companies to drill in more dangerous waters can result in greater hazard to the environment.
He doesn’t understand that taking from the rich to give to the poor makes the rich give up and makes the poor lazy.
He doesn’t understand that BP doesn’t give a damn about his criticism or his puny financial penalties. They are a British company that can declare bankruptcy in its U.S. branch, expand its operations in other parts of the world and probably improve its financial position in the process.
He doesn’t understand that shutting down all oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico makes our Jihadist enemies stronger while it puts Americans out of work.
He doesn’t understand that our porous borders make America vulnerable to terrorist attack and weakens our economy as American business pays more tax to support the illegal alien burden.
He doesn’t understand that all of these things combine to weaken America economically, militarily, and in the eyes of all in the world which has in the past seen America as the dominant power in economics, capitalism, democracy and personal success.
If he doesn’t get it then he is by far the most inept President and Commander-in-Chief that this country has ever had.
Then again, maybe he does get it. Maybe his actions are designed to level the playing field and make our country just one of the world pack.
If he doesn’t get it then he is incredibly dangerous. If he does get it he is beyond incredibly dangerous.

The “Rolling Stones” article about General McChrystal makes it clear that the general has little to no respect for his Commander-in-Chief or for most of his staff. I guess that is to be expected. You have to show respect before you can receive respect and it is clear that the man in charge of our entire United States military has no respect for military people. If he did he wouldn’t be enforcing rules of engagement that end up getting more of our military killed than is necessary. Perhaps our Commander-in-Chief doesn’t understand what President Lincoln understood when he was looking for a general who would brutally execute the Civil War in the short term in order to bring it to a quicker, more merciful end.

Perhaps he doesn’t understand a lot of things.

He doesn’t understand that raising taxes stifles business.

He doesn’t understand that nationalized health care and the health care regulations he is forcing down our throats stifle, and even end, businesses because they can’t afford the extra cost.

He doesn’t understand that environmental regulations that force oil companies to drill in more dangerous waters can result in greater hazard to the environment.

He doesn’t understand that taking from the rich to give to the poor makes the rich give up and makes the poor lazy.

He doesn’t understand that BP doesn’t give a damn about his criticism or his puny financial penalties. They are a British company that can declare bankruptcy in its U.S. branch, expand its operations in other parts of the world and probably improve its financial position in the process.

He doesn’t understand that shutting down all oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico makes our Jihadist enemies stronger while it puts Americans out of work.

He doesn’t understand that our porous borders make America vulnerable to terrorist attack and weaken our economy as American business pays more tax to support the illegal alien burden.

He doesn’t understand that all of these things combine to weaken America economically, militarily, and in the eyes of all in the world who have in the past seen America as the dominant power in economics, capitalism, democracy and personal success.

If he doesn’t get it then he is by far the most inept President and Commander-in-Chief that this country has ever had.

Then again, maybe he does get it. Maybe his actions are designed to level the playing field and make our country just one of the world pack.

If he doesn’t get it then he is incredibly dangerous. If he does get it he is beyond incredibly dangerous.

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