For the readers of Democraticdiva.com

I came to Democraticdiva.com to debate. I ask questions because I want clarification. It seems that the hostess, Donna, did not like my questions…

First she ignored me (here). Then she half-answered my questions (here).  Then she started calling names (here). Then she starts making fun of my screen name and continued to avoid the question (here). More avoidance of the questions (here). Then she tells me to DIE and starts slandering (here). Then she goes to my blog, writes a post on her page declaring me a troll (here).

Then she bans me from posting. So much for letting me defend myself. So if you are there and thinking that I have run-off, this is not true, I was banned and cannot post.

So for the record – yes, I do like Ron Paul. I like him because he stands for the same general principles that I do, most notably, the Constitution. I wouldn’t call myself a fanboy though. A Ron Paul fanboy is one who says they will vote for RP in 2012 even though RP says he will not run. I am into RP because of his principles, not because Ron Paul is Ron Paul. There are many other people out there that I believe have the same principles as RP and I will give them a nod when the time comes.

Also on record – I believe in rules and logic. I am not a birther, I just want the rules to be followed. Since Obama does not want transparency (just get us the long form birth certificate) then I have reason to doubt his validity. I think this is logical and fair. If he can provide that (and he can, he just has to ask) then there is nothing else to discuss. Period.

And lastly, I am far from a troll. I just ask questions. If asking questions is troll behavior, then we are all trolls.

Thanks.

The Destruction of the First Amendment

The Constitution. The highest law in America.
First Amendment: Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“I declare this to be an unlawful assembly. I order all those assembled to disperse.”

Can someone please tell me what law is overriding the Constitution that is not allowing these people to peacefully assemble?

This really disgusts me. I wish they would have just stood their ground and got arrested and taken it to court on Constitutional law grounds.

Ron Paul Finally Gets to Talk

Finally, someone gives Ron Paul the respect that he deserves. All people on this clip seem to be educated and willing to accept truths that Paul speaks. The only thing that I would change about Ron Paul’s speech is him dogging out “Conservatives.” Ron Paul himself is a conservative (or a traditionalist) so he can’t be tossing that word to the negative like he did. I think what he meant was the Republicans of today. Or maybe not? Enjoy in either case!

Federal Reserve Hearings to be held September 25, 2009

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=24999

Your hard work in this historic movement to Audit the Fed continues to pay off!

Thanks to the thousands of Campaign for Liberty members who have tirelessly dedicated themselves to spreading the word, gathering petitions, and putting continuous pressure on Congress by calling, writing, and faxing, Congressman Ron Paul informed C4L today that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has officially agreed to hold hearings on HR 1207! The hearings are tentatively scheduled for Friday, September 25 at 9:00 am.

Your efforts have resulted in Washington’s most secretive institution having to defend itself before the media, the American people, and now at a House hearing specifically focused on transparency.

This exciting victory is only one more achievement in a battle that we must see through until the end.

Contact your representative and senators and urge them to cosponsor HR 1207/S 604 if they have not yet done so. If they signed on, tell them it is imperative that Audit the Fed receive a standalone, up or down vote on its own merits. Full transparency in our nation’s monetary system is too important to be a minor footnote in yet another massive Washington bill, and C4L will vigorously oppose any attempts to include HR 1207 in a regulatory reform package that increases the Fed’s power over our economy and lives.

Less than a year ago, a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Now, we have the support of seventy five percent of the American people, almost two thirds of the House of Representatives, nearly a quarter of the Senate, and an official hearing before the House Financial Services Committee!

There will be more exciting information to follow soon, but I wanted you to know right away. Now is the time to turn the heat up even more.

Together, we will finish this fight! 

Now we will see if Barney will actually do anything about this or play his normal games.

America’s Socialized Health Care

Health-care systems in most developed nations are in financial trouble. Health benefits are being cut back because of exploding costs. Degenerative illnesses such as diabetes and cancer are at epidemic levels in spite of new drugs and treatments. While doctors, politicians, and insurers blame each other, they rarely mention the real problem.

Skyrocketing costs are due to the structure of health care in all these nations. All are mainly socialized, including America’s. This means they operate as top-down bureaucracies, out of touch with people’s real needs. Almost no market forces are allowed to operate for rational decision-making and cost control.

Flag Yourself for Suspicious Activity

Flag yourself.

I did.

Show that you do not agree with what is going on.

Dog Refuses Handouts from Obama

If an animal is not accepting handouts from Obama, why are you?

Bailouts in a Sheep’s Clothing

Yay for bailouts!

Healthcare Plan Based on Economic Fantasy

As the healthcare debate rages on, there is one reality that even the proponents of this hostile takeover of healthcare by government cannot ignore — and that is money. The government simply does not have the money for a new, expansive, public healthcare plan. The country is in a deep recession that will deepen even further with the coming collapse of the commercial real estate market. The last thing we need is for government to increase and expand taxes to pay for another damaging, wasteful program. Foreigners are becoming less enthusiastic about buying our debt, and creating another open-ended welfare program when we cannot pay for what is already in place, will not help. Champions of socialized medicine want to tax the rich, tax businesses that already cannot afford to provide health plans to employees, and tax people who don’t want to participate in the government’s scheme by buying an approved healthcare plan. Presumably, all these taxes are to induce compliance. This is not freedom, nor will it improve healthcare.

There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy, and in the end, drives prices up.

The non-partisan CBO estimates that the healthcare plan will cost almost a trillion dollars over the next ten years. But government crystal balls always massively underestimate costs. It is not hard to imagine the final cost being two or three times the estimates, even though the estimates are bad enough.

It is still surreal that in a free country we are talking only about HOW government should fix healthcare, rather than WHY government should fix healthcare. This should be between doctors and patients. But this has been the discussion since the 60’s and the inception of Medicare and Medicaid, when government first began intervening to keep costs down and make sure everyone had access. The result of Medicaid/Medicare price controls and regulatory burden has been to drive more doctors out of the system — making it more difficult for the poor and the elderly to receive quality care! Seemingly, there are no failed government programs, only underfunded ones. If we refuse to acknowledge common sense economics, the prescription will always be the same: more government.

Make no mistake, government control and micromanagement of healthcare will hurt, not help healthcare in this country. However, if for a moment, we allowed the assumption that it really would accomplish all they claim, paying for it would still plunge the country into poverty. This solves nothing. The government, like any household struggling with bills to pay, should prioritize its budget. If the administration is serious about supporting healthcare without contributing to our skyrocketing deficits, they should fulfill promises to reduce our overseas commitments and use some of those savings to take care of Americans at home instead of killing foreigners abroad.

The leadership in Washington persists in a fantasy world of unlimited money to spend on unlimited programs and wars to garner unlimited control. But there is a fast-approaching limit to our ability to borrow, steal, and print. Acknowledging this reality is not mean-spirited or cruel. On the contrary, it could be the only thing that saves us from complete and total economic meltdown.

(link)

Healthcare is a Good, Not a Right

From: Ron Paul

Political philosopher Richard Weaver famously and correctly stated that ideas have consequences. Take for example ideas about rights versus goods. Natural law states that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A good is something you work for and earn. It might be a need, like food, but more “goods” seem to be becoming “rights” in our culture, and this has troubling consequences. It might seem harmless enough to decide that people have a right to things like education, employment, housing or healthcare. But if we look a little further into the consequences, we can see that the workings of the community and economy are thrown wildly off balance when people accept those ideas.

First of all, other people must pay for things like healthcare. Those people have bills to pay and families to support, just as you do. If there is a “right” to healthcare, you must force the providers of those goods, or others, to serve you.

Obviously, if healthcare providers were suddenly considered outright slaves to healthcare consumers, our medical schools would quickly empty. As the government continues to convince us that healthcare is a right instead of a good, it also very generously agrees to step in as middle man. Politicians can be very good at making it sound as if healthcare will be free for everybody. Nothing could be further from the truth. The administration doesn’t want you to think too much about how hospitals will be funded, or how you will somehow get something for nothing in the healthcare arena. We are asked to just trust the politicians. Somehow it will all work out.

Universal Healthcare never quite works out the way the people are led to believe before implementing it. Citizens in countries with nationalized healthcare never would have accepted this system had they known upfront about the rationing of care and the long lines.

As bureaucrats take over medicine, costs go up and quality goes down because doctors spend more and more of their time on paperwork and less time helping patients. As costs skyrocket, as they always do when inefficient bureaucrats take the reins, government will need to confiscate more and more money from an already foundering economy to somehow pay the bills. As we have seen many times, the more money and power that government has, the more power it will abuse. The frightening aspect of all this is that cutting costs, which they will inevitably do, could very well mean denying vital services. And since participation will be mandatory, no legal alternatives will be available.

The government will be paying the bills, forcing doctors and hospitals to dance more and more to the government’s tune. Having to subject our health to this bureaucratic insanity and mismanagement is possibly the biggest danger we face. The great irony is that in turning the good of healthcare into a right, your life and liberty are put in jeopardy.

Instead of further removing healthcare from the market, we should return to a true free market in healthcare, one that empowers individuals, not bureaucrats, with control of healthcare dollars. My bill HR 1495 the Comprehensive Healthcare Reform Act provides tax credits and medical savings accounts designed to do just that.