You've just gotta shake your head sometimes... how do we fight a system where they can dole out $3.4 BILLION for votes?? Either party, both have and both will again...

I think this fits in with Glenn talking about us being personally free of debt and able to handle anything, so that there will come a point where we can just elect the people who'll make the hard choices... the choices that'll financially kill anyone tied up with Federal this and that (Like I'm willing to vote for school cuts that would hurt the PR budget I'm paid under... bring it on).

Louise and company saying 'look at all the goodies I bring home to the district' has to be repulsive to enough voters, that the idea of earmarks and pork lose their power. I dunno. Seems a tough fight.

Here's my favorite part:

Pro-Life Democrats Who Switched Vote for Health Bill Request Billions in Earmarks
FOXNews.com
The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks -- and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual, or a political payoff.

From WeSurroundRochester member Mike K, in a posting battle with a 'Coffee Party' Progressive that joined the group to 'ask us to not get violent' and to remind us that " Our initial form of government was communism. Please review the Mayflower Compact. This is where we really started and without this communal living we would not have survived."

BTW: The answer to that ill-informed view is here:  "Why the Pilgrims Abandoned Communism"

So Mike the conversation went on a bit, and Mike had this to say:


Its simple Alice.

• You think that morals are a matter of law. We think that morals are a matter of life or death regardless of law.
• You think that individual rights are granted to you FROM government. We think we grant government certain powers and reserve individual rights for ourselves. Not only that, you also believe that certain groups should have extra rights or afforded extra protection. We think that they are all already protected as individuals...we are then branded racists, homophobes, partisan wing nuts and bigots. We thank you for the third label by the way, but id change it to "principled wing nuts" in the interest of precision.
• You think that property rights shouldn't exist. We do.
• You think that being provided healthcare is a human right. We think its a privilege we earn through hard work, where we exchange the fruits of our labor for the service of a doctor.
• You think that principles are a starting point for compromise. We think that principles are a point that you don't cross, PERIOD.
• You think the wants of the many outweigh the rights of the few. 
• You think that when we are attacked our first reaction should be foreign aid and/or UN sanctions to the aggressor. We think they should be declawed with tomahawk missiles and special forces teams.
• You think that the constitution is a living document. We think its an unbreakable social contract with very specific meaning that should be followed or fought for, peaceful at first violent if, and only if, you run out of options and your individual rights went the way of the Dodo. (And they haven't yet, we have stated this for a very long time day in and day out, so stop implying we are violent and get to the next fake issue.)
• You think man determines the climate based on political science. We think physical science needs to prove its case beyond a shadow of a doubt before we change fundamental and proper ways of living through law.
• You think the family is community property. We think the community should mind their own business.
• You think the government can solve all problems. We think that, more often than not, government IS the problem.
• You and your Coffee party think that principles are open to subjective interpretation and are roadblocks to compromise to get what you want. We think that principles are a matter of natural law and relate to human nature and furthermore they are not burdens but guideposts in how we live our lives.
• You and your party think that diversity and equality imposed by law are paramount over the content of a persons character. We don't, we think that a man should be judged by his deeds and his character, and laws don't stop others from making ignorant judgments on others but instead ostracize good and decent people breeding discord and inequality.
• You think that no man should fail. We think that failure is one step in a determined and moral mans path to success. 
• You think that corporations are ruining this country. We understand that without them we wouldn't be a country.
• You think that defying a president now, after we tolerated one that did things just as stupid is a sign of our "racism". We often did yell and scream that he was doing wrong, but we thought we were alone. We don't anymore and the color of a mans skin won't stop me and everyone else from finally doing whats right, I will not apologize for my timing.
• You think we should apologize to the rest of the world. We think the rest of the world should thank us for almost everything they have including the little freedom left to many of them.
• You think that the product of a mans labor is a matter of proper and equal distibution. We think that the product of a mans labor is his to do with as he wishes, up to and including charity or 72" flat screen plasma televisions.
• You think that schools ought to teach environmentalism, we think they should teach economics. You think they should teach social studies, we think they should teach civics. You think that schools should teach diversity, we think schools should teach history.
• You think our country is a democracy. We Know that it is (unofficially "was") a constitutional republic with independent states guaranteed Republican forms of government, guaranteed. 
• You obviously think that this country was created through coercion and social/economic engineering. We know that Capitalism (the only moral economic system) and individual initiative made this country the way it is, you should be happy, its allowed you and your kind to thrive as no other parasite has for many decades, the ride will soon be over though, the host can only take so much before it collapses. Nothing in nature is free, someone must pay in the end. 
• You think that equality is best imposed through laws. We think that equality is best expressed through the protection of the individual, the smallest minority on earth.

See each Representative as they are bought off for their votes here at CodeRed

So it's here. The big vote. What can you do?

Understand the key issues:
• The only way this is 'deficit neutral' or 'cuts the deficit' is by taxes and fees. This bill does NOT cut any expenses magically.... just the normal Washington answer to raise taxes. Hey, if we pay more taxes, they say the defect will be lower... wow, great plan!

• You are NOT getting anything for free. You still pay for healthcare, and add increased taxes and fees on top for many.

• Taxes and fees start right away... any possible benefits start in... drum roll.... 2014!
Are you excited to pay more for the next 4 years in some hopes that Washington will not waste that money (Just like the Social Security money paid in that Washington has misused).
Think: 10 years of taxes to get 6 years of health care. IF they don't waste the money.

• 37 States are going to fight this. Idaho is the first to make it formal in a lawsuit (Info HERE). It's also totally outside of the Constitution for the Federal government to require all citizens to purchase something to live here. That's all nice, and gives us hope... BUT, the financial key here is that this whole plan just melts down if you start having states bail on it. How can they afford this program if even ten states nullify the bill and do not pay into the Federal plan?

• What is a takeover of College Loans doing in there?

• We're no longer sleeping. We see and discuss each buyoff of a Representative. We have the audio and video of where all the bodies are buried. Unlike any other time, these facts will have a huge impact on elections. Politicians are not very web-savvy as a group... they haven't gotten messages like NY 23 or Scott Brown election.

They will.

Discuss this on WeSurroundRochester HERE

Here's a good summary of what's going on with Rep. Louise Slaughter and company:

Under the "reconciliation" process that began yesterday afternoon, the
House is supposed to approve the Senate's Christmas Eve bill and then use
"sidecar" amendments to fix the things it doesn't like. Those amendments
would then go to the Senate under rules that would let Democrats pass them
while avoiding the ordinary 60-vote threshold for passing major
legislation. This alone is an abuse of traditional Senate process.

But Nancy Pelosi, fearing she does not have enough votes, commanded New
York Democrat Louise Slaughter, Chair of the House Rules Committee, to
insert what's known as a "self-executing rule," also known as a "hereby
rule." Under this procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on
the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If
those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say
that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House - even without a
formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill. This
two-votes-in-one gambit is a brazen affront to the plain language of the
Constitution, which is intended to require democratic accountability.
Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution says that in order for a "Bill"
to "become a Law," it "shall have passed the House of Representatives and
the Senate."

If Congress can now decide that the House can vote for one bill and the
Senate can vote for another, and the final result can be some arbitrary
hybrid, then we have abandoned one of Madison's core checks and balances.
If you must resort to tricks like this to pass this unpopular bill, YOU
MUST VOTE NO!!!! 


Here is an article on FoxNews about this.


Thanks to Sil at CNY912 for sharing that!

It's easy to poke fun at the Global Warming crowd who had been (for the most part) shouting that 'Global Warming = Less Snow'... as evidenced by this quote by activist Robert Kennedy HERE) now that we've had record cold temps and snowfall this year.

Of course, careful GW Skeptics always point out that one event, or even one year doesn't make a trend.

Now the GW party line is that the larger snow is of course exactly PROOF OF Global Warming.... warmer air, makes a greater uptake of water, makes more snow.... Let's think this one through.

Pretty much any weather of any kind = Global Warming if you get $$ to keep researching by saying that.

Same thing with the Hurricanes after Katrina.... they were Global Warming induced... the end is nigh. It's been pretty calm in years since, and historically we know hurricanes ebb and flow, but that sort of sane, balance view doesn't get you grants, or sell windmills.

OK, so the point.

IF Global Warming were causing more water uptake and more snow... and we have an undisputed DROP of global temps for the past 11 or so years, wouldn't the snowfall have PEAKED 11 YEARS AGO and have been falling ever since.

And just how much more snow would one expect from a .75 degree raise in global temperature over 100 years?

Enjoy the snow. Take your kids out and build a fort. Have a good snow-day off of school with them. Then come inside and warm up next to the carbon-based fuel of your choice and relax. It's gonna be all right.