ROFASix

Ringing the Bell for Fallen Warriors

2009-11-20T17:21:00.002Z

Wow! This story is both heartwarming and sad. A man decides honor the fallen warriors of North Texas in a way I had not seen before. It's a wonderful tradition I would love to see spread across our land!

173rd Cav - Airborne Recon sir!

2009-11-20T17:04:00.004Z

(Click Image for larger)

U.S. Soldiers from 173rd Cavalry Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron out of Fort Bragg, N.C., meet at a rally point after being air-dropped into the urban operations complex in the Nevada Test and Training Range in Nevada Nov. 18, 2009, by an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and a C-130 Hercules aircraft. The soldiers are participating in the biannual Mobility Air Forces Exercise (MAFEX), which provides realistic training for combat air force, mobility air force and U.S. Army personnel. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth, U.S. Air Force/Released)

11 Hercs in "Ground Trail"

2009-11-20T16:55:00.001Z

A row of C-130 Hercules aircraft taxi on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Nov. 18, 2009, during a Mobility Air Forces Exercise (MAFEX). The aircraft are participating in the biannual exercise, which provides realistic training for combat air force, mobility air force and U.S. Army personnel. (DoD photo by Airman 1st Class Stephanie Rubi, U.S. Air Force/Released)

The health care "reform" lie

2009-11-20T13:14:00.007Z

Health care "reform" is all a lie you know. What Congress is promising is to "fix" is what it was responsible for breaking in the first place, beginning many years ago. As proposed, health care "reform" will be fatal to the US economy and fatal to many Americans who once could count on getting medical care when they needed it. I continue to suspect that this is really about finding a way of whittling down the "baby boomer" generation as they start looking to draw their promised entitlements from Government. Of course, the system has no money. Congress has been spending that money like drunken sailors since LBJ was President. Congress has refused to address the issue for years. They didn't want the voter to notice that if they were not in Congress, what they were doing was outright theft and in the rest of America, a jail-able offense. What better way to reduce the future demand on the system than pass a bill that effectively initiates a pogrom against old people?

It was not a major surprise when the House passed the "reform" bill. With the very real prospect of the Senate passing a "health care reform" bill too, we will complete the cycle of lies about health care that we have been hearing for so long from the politicians that many of us accept them without question. You know like I do, until we get these folks out of office, this is not going to quit. For a majority in Congress, "success" is defined as passing laws, whether they are needed or affordable or not. That is the only reason they could claim to believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement ever! Can they spell H-O-A-X?

When Senator Reid and Senate Democrats announced they will file cloture on the motion to proceed regarding ObamaCare it was evident we are entering the final scene of this Congressional health care Kabuki dance. Reid will go to the floor for cloture on the motion to proceed to a House-passed tax bill, to begin the Senate debate on ObamaCare. The motion for cloture requires 60 votes and will likely occur Saturday. While several Senate Democrats say now they will not vote for the bill, remember how the system of special interest and pay-offs really works in Congress.

"Want my vote Senator Reid? Then give me a huge piece of pork for my constituents or promise to throw the party support behind some zany and probably unconstitutional bill I want to pass."

Do not be surprised if many Senators have a sudden change of heart over the bill. Cloture is a three day process - file on day one, day two is an intervening day for arm twisting and making promises and the vote occurs on day three.

Here are some of the "features" of Senate "reform" bill:
Hides the $1.8 Trillion price tag by not accounting for actual costs.
Implements major reductions in Medicare befits to seniors.
Implements major tax increases on every American to pay for the "reform."
Increases the Medicare payroll tax.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are rabidly attacking this bill. They propose "their" version of health care "reform" instead. In other words, lets have Republican rules and legislation instead of Democratic rules and regulations. In either case the end loser is the American taxpayer.

The situation was best described in, "A Republican government takeover of health care" which summed it up like this.

Unfortunately, in health care and elsewhere the conservative/Republican leadership is really the followership of the left. Proposals like this one highlight that they have no genuine understanding of what free markets are or why they are good, whether in health care or anywhere else.

Like liberals, they hold the statist view that government is morally and practically obliged to feed and nurture the population.

In modern conservative/Republican lingo, a “free market” is one that is controlled slightly less than whatever the liberals happen to want at the moment (and usually more controlled than the one the liberals used to want).

Witness that in the 1960s, the Republicans opposed Medicare — our biggest government takeoever of medicine — as inimical to a free market; today, they are fierce defenders of this entitlement program, which they proudly expanded earlier this decade to include prescription drugs.

What they do to us Saturday will be irreversible without a revolution at the ballot box in 2010. Unfortunately for all of us, there really are very few alternatives between the two main political parties in America. Until there are, we will continue to see more erosion of individual liberty and freedom and some government bureaucrat in charge of how you live and when and how you die.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Program

2009-11-20T04:02:00.002Z

I confess I am conflicted when I read about the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program the Federal Government runs. It is no secret that when you give any group preference over another, it's discriminatory. Yet, should veterans get a special break? The Feds say yes and the system has been on-going for years.

But there is a problem with it. It is explained in a recent GAO report, "Case Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain Millions of Dollars in Contracts." It is simply that the "system" has no way of verifying a company is eligible for SDVOSB status and if one cheats and gets caught, there is no penalty.

The bottom line. What we have is another "feel good" government program vulnerable to fraud and abuse, which could result in legitimate service-disabled veterans’ firms losing contracts to ineligible firms.

This GAO report looks at 10 case-study firms which received approximately $100 million from SDVOSB contracts through fraud or abuse of the program, or both. For example, contracts for Hurricane Katrina trailer maintenance were awarded to a firm whose owner was not a service-disabled veteran. GAO also found SDVOSB companies used as a pass-through for large, sometimes multinational corporations. In another case a full-time federal contract employee at MacDill Air Force Base set up a SDVOSB company that passed a $900,000 furniture contract on to a company where his wife worked, which passed the work to a furniture manufacturer that actually delivered and installed the furniture.

Both veterans and American citizens deserve better from our government.

Brit Apaches Train for Afghanistan

2009-11-20T03:49:00.003Z

Where do the UK warriors go to train up on their new MTADS system prior to deploying to Afghanistan? Arizona, of course.

Dad's Home!

2009-11-20T03:13:00.002Z

US Air Traffic Control Breaks (again!)

2009-11-20T02:48:00.005Z

It was a perfect storm so far as air traffic delays and glitches seemed to conspire to make sure that if you were flying somewhere Thursday on the US air route structure, you were either late or canceled. The FAA continues to remain a case study on how not to "upgrade" a computer system as was evidenced in, "FAA Cites Software Failure in U.S. Flight Disruptions."

But in all fairness to the FAA the problem is not only theirs, but also (big surprise) caused by your friendly politician who uses air travel funding as another area to earmark pork and get their name plates on things, such as airports, control towers, and runways. The video below addresses that. I have long advocated privatizing the US air traffic control system. The US controllers unions of course are vehemently opposed.

What I didn't know was that the Canadians have not only provided an example of how NOT to do health care "reform" but have provided an excellent example of what happens when you privatize air traffic control functions. It works in Canada, and if the video below is accurate, works well. At least, it would insure that headlines of delays and computer problems like we saw today in the US would not happen in Canada.

One thing the video does not address is the on-going move toward Global Air Traffic Management (GATM). It provides a technological insertion into our existing ATC system. But if what we saw today is any indication. The US may not be ready for GATM any time soon, while the Canadians will do just fine. The reason? The system in Canada is in the private sector and flexible, while the system in the US is dependent on Congressional appropriations, egos, and pork.

Faux message from the American Marijuana Growers Association

2009-11-20T01:58:00.003Z

A faux message from the American Marijuana Growers Association!

"Thanks for keeping it illegal. It keeps profits high, inflates costs, means all sales are untaxed, and of course it provides hundreds of jobs to agencies devoted to eliminating marijuana."

Who really wins here? Think about it.

Get your Peace Prize Here

2009-11-19T03:30:00.002Z

3 Ways to Get a DUI

2009-11-19T03:03:00.003Z

Drunks - only funny to watch, rarely fun to encounter.

United Breaks Guitars

2009-11-18T13:41:00.005Z

A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for Youtube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded,"Good luck with that one, pal."

In July, he posted his retaliatory video on Youtube. The video has since received over 6 million hits in the couple of months it has been on Youtube. Reportedly, United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted a settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Not surprisingly, his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal".

It turned out OK though. Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.

Here's the video ....

Don't miss his second music video either ... yep, same subject ... very well done. "Take that United!!"

Pirates Attack Maersk Alabama - again!

2009-11-18T13:14:00.004Z

Remember the Maersk Alabama? It was the ship Somalian pirates seized in April taking the ship's captain hostage. The situation ended when SEAL sharpshooters simultaneously took out three pirates at night. It was a clear case of self defense and appropriate accolades flowed toward the SEAL warriors who pulled off the feat.

Yet, burbling below all the kudos for the strong US response to having a US citizen taken hostage was speculation that there was great angst within the White House. The new administration was upset that this situation ended so violently. There was grumbling that the Navy had failed to follow the rules of engagement they had been given. I suspect the real source of the discomfort was that some in the administration thought this was a clear case where "capitalist exploiters of the earth" were resisting a simple Somalian attempt at redistribution of rich exploiters ill gotten wealth from those who had too much to those who had none at all. And after all, much of the media commented, Somali pirates had never harmed their hostages, beyond depriving them of their freedom until their ransom had been paid.

Last night, the ship was attacked by pirates off Somalia again according to, "Pirates attack US-flag ship again." This time though the ship had a "protection detachment" on-board who "repelled" the attackers. The owners of the ship had decided not to passively allow their ships and crews to be preyed upon. No doubt they knew that in today's world of ambiguous morality, there was a strong possibility that "next time" they might not be able to count on a armed and unequivocal response from the US. Good for them - it's called "looking out" for one's employees. It is what a responsible employer does.

Perhaps some politicians might take a lesson from that behavior? Nah ... they are too busy "spreading other people's wealth around."

Liberal "Thinking(?)"

2009-11-17T12:06:00.005Z

What happens when you sit a couple of liberals and non-liberals on Larry King? You get charges that Palin was part of the "Rove-Cheney-Bush Cabal" and comments that government should be for the common good. Where do people come up with this bizzaro thinking?

Larry King doesn't bat an eyelash at this silliness. But I sure did.

What the Picture Actually Shows

2009-11-17T11:34:00.005Z

In the post below I asked whether anyone knew if this photo (thumbnail left) was an accurate representation of the events as claimed. It turns out, as is often the case that the answer is not always straight forward.

First off, the picture showing the Joint Chief and President Obama is not from Veterans Day 2009 as claimed. It is from Memorial Day 2009. The news story about that event can be found here.

Checking Snopes.Com I discovered the photo is also going around with verbiage attached claiming the photo was from the Ft. Hood memorial service. That is not true.

Unanswered is whether the photo captures a moment where everyone else salutes or places their hand over their heart, except the President, as was captured during the campaign when only Obama did not pay respect during the national anthem?

Recognizing that Snopes is fairly liberal and will go to great lengths to not claim something is false if it deals with liberals, the link takes you to a Snopes article about the photo. But what is interesting is what is does not say. It does not answer the question why is everyone, but President Obama, saluting? The article even shows a subsequent photo where Obama does have his hand over his heart as if to suggest, "see, he did it after all!"

Bottom line is that the photo misrepresents the facts of the event pictured. Unanswered, is whether Obama, once again demonstrated his disdain for his country during the Memorial Day ceremony at the moment the photo was taken.

What Does this Picture Actually Show??

2009-11-16T20:06:00.004Z

I received this photo today accompanied by the below comment:

(Maybe Obama thought they were saluting him rather that the flag??)

Check out this latest picture from YESTERDAY, Veterans Day 11/11/09 at the Ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. I don't know whether the National Anthem is being played, or the Flag is going by, or WHAT, but EVERYBODY in the picture is either saluting or has his hand over the HEART. All except ONE.

Guess who?

I do not make this stuff up!

Does anyone know the true story of what is pictured here? Presidents have a huge staff to prevent them from making faux pas such as this photo suggests. I am skeptical, but acknowledge with this President, it is possible.

Misleading/biased news - same as a lie?

2009-11-16T14:24:00.006Z

Covering the terrorist shooting at Ft. Hood, one finds double standards and political correctness abounds in the media. It all comes together to bias what we hear and see in our news each day. Ultimately, it affects our conclusions and responses to a situation. That is the only explanation for the opinion poll this video refers. It explains 27% believe Nidal's terrorist act should be handled as a criminal case and 13% "don't know. That really means that at least 40% of the respondents are seriously uninformed about what happened at Ft. Hood.

All this is a reminder that we have become a "sound-bite" culture. More and more of us base our opinions on snippets of data we hear and see during each day. With multitasking, divided attention, and rarely enough time to sit down and think through a news story and turn that data into information. As a result, we form poorly formed opinions and attitudes based upon misleading inputs. It is why our forefathers built in and articulated the 1st Amendment. They foresaw what could happen.

That is why what this video addresses is disturbing. As individuals we can be so easily mislead by those soundbites we capture and hear during our individual news collection cycle each day.

It's not a new phenomenon by any means. One well known National Socialist propagandist, Joeseph Goebbels, observed:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

He also said:

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

Think about that as you watch the video.

Predicting Major Nidal Hasan's Future

2009-11-16T14:13:00.004Z

I like it, I support it. Make it so! Succinct and to the point, eh?

Sex, lies, income redistribution and cell phones

2009-11-16T03:35:00.002Z

This story, "Fla. man arrested for calling 911, asking for sex," got it's 5 minutes of airtime a couple of days ago nationally because it was bizarre and ostensibly dealt with sex. The story tells of a 29-yr-old unemployed, oft-arrested man in Tampa, Florida who had run out of minutes on his cell phone so he called the 911 operator looking for sex. Calls to emergency services didn't count against his airtime. It didn't get him laid, just arrested and charged with making a "false 911 call." (I bet he beats that charge ... it was hardly false was it?)

End of the story you say? Oh, no.

The real story is more interesting. You see, you and I pay for this guy's cell phone since Congress decided to support low income and other needy persons with "free" cell phones. The service, described here, usually offers 68 minutes of airtime a month and unlimited calls to emergency services. Each carrier gets $10 a month from the government for about $3 in services it provides. Such a deal for the cell phone companies eh? It was certainly a coup for the lobbyists who got it packaged and sold within Congress. And oh yeah, you didn't get a vote did you?

It's just another example of where special interests live off the backs of the poor working stiffs who are trying to make ends meet. Government pats itself on the back for taking "care of the needy." The cell phone companies see a profit of 233% for each dollar it spends and the only guy who ends up getting stiffed? Yep, the little guy who had his income redistributed because he had some. It was never supposed to be like this in America was it?

Taliban Attack at Wanat, Afghanistan

2009-11-16T02:17:00.007Z

Normally I tend to not post videos like this. It is from the US media and begins with footage from the Taliban moving to attack a US outpost. But what is compelling about the video is the mission our warriors are being asked to do and how we are having them execute it. Equally, it is compelling to look at the terrain and the physical siting we are placing our soldiers. The first place reminds me of a little place I studied as a young military officer, it was called Dien Bien Phu. The other reminds me of another place called, Khe Sanh. Neither was worth dying for, nor are these holes in the ground places in Afghanistan.

As you watch this video you will find your self wondering, where is the "arc light," where is the artillery TOT, the claymores, napalm, the fougasse defenses? Where are the AC-130H Spectre and AC-130U Spooky gunships, the tac air?

While the Apaches provide wonderful support in this video, they seem too little and too late and their station time is often too limited. Is this how we normally respond to broken arrow situations in Afghanistan or was this the worst of the worst situations? Are we actually leaving our troops tactically exposed without overlapping and mutual support? It appears to be the case. How chilling to discover that our Army has forgotten so much so fast!

I have asked before, why the hell we are in Afghanistan. This video drives that question all over again. But it drives another too. How are we doing "it?" What are the tactics, techniques and procedures our guys are using there?

This video drives more questions that I cannot answer, not having been on the ground there. But so much of how we are using our warriors one sees in this video is too reminiscent of a time and a war I did know intimately. And that gentlemen, is simply unsettling.

Our warriors today deserve to be treated better than we were. We owe them that, to include building on the COIN TTP that we learned and used to win my war, before the politicians gave it all away and wasted all that we had accomplished.

Let us not let that happen again, let them not dismiss all our blood and sacrifice as superfluous. It is one more thing we must never forget, nor ever forgive.

Modern Liberalism and the Passion of the Right

2009-11-15T19:06:00.016Z

Charles Blow wrote in an OpEd in the NY Time the other day:

In 354 days, the dead will rise. Or so believe Republicans. They believe that their suffering and forbearance in the face of an overzealous, hyperliberal left will culminate in a 2010 resurrection of the battered Republican brand.

He then goes on to show using polling data that there are a lot of people who are fed up with the uber-progressive socialist agenda that has been touted by administration and the far left elements of Congress. He then assumes this translates to a gain for the Republicans.

Mr. Blow doesn't really get it. Looking at his NY Times blog, I see why. He is a very typical modern liberal who would look funny at me if I told him I was a proponent of "classic liberalism." Our forefathers were classic liberals. Today's modern liberals have purloined the name liberal and perverted it into something classic liberals would recognize as tyranny.

I'm not picking on Mr. Blow. He is typical of the shallow political thinking by many who worry about providing the downtrodden opportunities and doing the right thing. In that, they are little different from many Americans of all political leanings. The difference is in how these liberals think those goals should be attained. Today's modern liberals rarely stop and realize how their modern liberalism is little different from most of the truly horrific political movements in our history where human kind suffered at the hands of some zealots touting their "ism."

Modern liberalism is little different from National Socialism, Marxism, Communism and all of their minor variations from the Ba'ath in Iraq and Syria to those of Chavez in Venezuela and Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front. All share one common trait. They squeeze the life out of the individual and like most democracies subjugate and terrorize the minority. Let's be clear here. The modern liberalism of the current administration and that of the progressive wing of Congress is little different from those movements. The only thing missing is the jackboots and the brown shirts. Yet, watching some Youtube videos recently, that is emerging too. How chilling.

Our forefathers abhorred the thought the United States might become a democracy and set up the US Constitution as it was to counter that. Modern liberals, often infused with a progressive agenda from their progressive Ivy League educations, don't grasp that not everyone wants the "safety net of the state" and that the working man is happiest if central planning takes all the hard choices away from them.

Therein lies the big disconnect and why Mr. Blow and other modern liberals probably have little to worry about in the next election. The mistakes of the left leaning progressives in government don't automatically translate into gains for Republicans. Remember that childhood ditty, "Fool me once - shame on you, Fool me twice - shame on me?" I promise you the electorate does. They remember the Bush administration that had dynamic principles on a good day, and none at all on others, and a Republican majority Congress spending like drunken sailors without regard for fiscal or constitutional limits on their actions. The electorate has not forgotten. That was part of the "change" they thought they were voting for and would get with a new President named Obama. They refused to believe that he would not evolve into a centrist like Bill Clinton did after romancing the left wing of the Democrats before the election. The rest of us are awakened to discover the new thugs in Congress and the administration are little different from the ones they replaced.

There is hope, but only a little. The grass roots tea parties provide some indications that the American people are fed up and "mad as Hell and not going to take it anymore." What is unseen yet whether than can contribute to real change at the local, state and federal levels.

Mr. Blow should have been asking is whether this passion for change and hope we are seeing against these traditional back-room political parties can actually translate into a revolution at the ballot box. I would like to think so, but it is only likely if the Republicans do something radical or the independents get organized as a political party.

Today, both look unlikely. Republicans might stand a chance if they can find candidates who have a track record and personal philosophy of integrity, ethics and honor. But those are traits rarely found in the US Congress. They are characteristics now missing from both parties where hypocrisy, special interests, back room deals and political dynasties rule.

For the members of the ruling classes, government is a means to enrich themselves, their families, and their strap-hangers. It is not a new phenomena in US government actually, but has grown a little each year so politics in the US becomes so similar to those in Russia or Italy that "political advisers" move easily from the US to those places and back.

Can the independents get organized and create a viable political movement? Probably not. The Democratic and Republican Parties at the state and federal levels make a third party run for office extremely difficult. While we detest who we have now in office, unless we see some viable alternative, little will change. There will be no revolution at the ballot box and our progressive intelligentsia in government and education will continue to spout their leftist drivel while the little people are just trying to keep their head above water, find jobs and something to eat.

It was never supposed to be like this, but the apocalypse depicted in the new movie '2012' may already have begun. But instead of the earth erupting and land marks imploding because of some catastrophe, we will see economies tank, unemployment continue to rise, and the green back valueless on the word market ... all because of politicians who neither understood their history, the philosophy of all that made this country great, nor the oath they swore when they took office to "support and defend" the Constitution.

For that we all suffer, but remain complicit in it ... after all, we kept electing these dweebs, didn't we?

Oregon Completes Californication Process

2009-11-15T15:17:00.000Z

Years ago Oregon knew it was at great risk of losing it's way of life, the basic goodness that seemed so typical of Oregonians when I went to school there. A popular bumper sticker all of us had read, "Don't Californicate Oregon." Of course it started anyhow. California offered such a hostile tax environment, was anti-business, and huge on income redistribution the only people who could afford to live there were either obscenely wealthy or indigent and living off those who didn't know how much money they "really made" or how many houses they owned. Those in between those two end states started looking for an alternative as soon as it hit them that the price was too high to raise a family and grow old gracefully.

So the natural thing happened. Californians started moving north. Beautiful unspoiled and relatively unsettled Oregon welcomed the economic prosperity that those moving north brought with them as they cashed the fabulous equity out of their homes. What Oregon never counted on was these people also brought their politics. The former Californian imports never grasped that it was their politics that caused California to become what it became.

My last trip back there to play golf made me realize that Oregon has become just like it's sick sister down south. Individual freedom's Oregonians once assumed would always be there were whittled away under the guise of "common good, environmentally responsible, common welfare" and all the other progressive buzzwords liberals like to use. And of course it was all for the "planet, children, society." It is what happened in California, and now we can see that same cancer infecting the rest of the USA.

Given all that, it is hard not to be a little amused by "First U.S. marijuana cafe opens in Portland." Congratulations Oregon ... you've done it and completed the Californication process. Why don't you just petition to become a part of California now? You might as well.

When the DA is the Sociopath

2009-11-15T14:57:00.000Z

Reading "Crusading Calif. D.A. Retires, Leaves Painful Wake" I found it so weird that I actually agreed with Senn Penn on something. This time it was Penn's opposition to the reign of terror by Ed Jagels in the 1980s.

As a District Attorney, Ed Jagels ruined lives with abandon, fabricated incriminating evidence, and even today feels it was the exactly the right thing to do. He was a man of no decency and evidently no sense of justice.

Frankly, they put the wrong people behind bars. DA Ed Jagels is the one who should have been prosecuted and convicted for his crimes against society. But he gets a pass today. What a shame that there was so much injustice, so much misery caused by a man who thrived on self righteous power.

And no one said a peep at the time ... all were too cowered by the system and that claims the crazy DA made against his innocent victims he took such relish in destroying.

Implications of Dodging the A-Bomb on Japan Question

2009-11-15T14:43:00.000Z

Yesterday I wrote a little about what anyone with a basic knowledge of WWII would have said about the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended WWII. I blamed our President's response on a lack of education, something that no one ever says of the anointed one. His reaction and response were so irrational, that is the only possible explanation.

But others see something far more serious as they look at the implications of that incident. If true, it is right to be very afraid right now.

Death Panels in Health Care Bill

2009-11-15T14:29:00.002Z

The NY Times has an OpEd piece today by a Democratic Congressman entitled, "My Near Death Panel Experience," which is an attempt to debunk the "death panel" idea that caused such a furor at Congress member's town hall meetings.

Using the classic techniques of a skilled magician of diverting the audience's attention, what is most interesting is what he does not say. I have no doubt what the Congressman writes is true, there is no provision for "death panels" in the bill. After the stink they faced on that subject in their districts, I betcha that provision was either eliminated or as is more often the case, renamed something that sounds pretty innocuous.

All this does not change the fact that Congress is on a slippery slope to pass such a "reform" bill to "fix" something that government interference pretty much broke in the first place. And we know what happens when "gummint" fixes anything. We also know the country is broke. It was close before, but between the Bush and Obama administration's fiscal malfeasance of eviscerating the value of the dollar and creating huge debt, we are now most likely fiscally terminal. So what do we do to fix it? We pass a bill that will cost over a trillion dollars.

After you get over the feeling of incredulity, you start feeling nauseous, don't you? It makes no sense you say?

Not so, it makes perfect sense "why" gummint is gonna "fix" health care. The rationale is not only devious, but brilliantly played by the puppet masters in the administration. It's all about fixing the black hole of the entitlement programs as baby boomers start demanding what was promised to them for the last 60+ years.

What makes is so insidious is that they don't need "death panels" to do it. We simply create a Canadian/Euro version of a government directed health care system and the rationing system that must be implemented to stay within budget. More here on the "why" of health care reform.