Friday, February 28, 2014

The Democratic Party's War on the Middle Class



Whenever I hear a Democrat profess his or her shared values to that of the American middle-class, I laugh out loud.  What values do these people hold that could be comparable to the average citizen?  If anything, Democrats have declared war on the middle class, and I'm not just talking about Obamacare.


Americans still revere our Constitution and founding principles.  One of those being, the executive will faithfully uphold and defend the laws of the land.  The Obama administration has openly flouted his Article II mandate.  Hell, he creates laws without the consent of our elected representatives, and ignores those he dislikes.  Worse, Democrats cheered this power grab on the House floor during his majesty’s state of the union speech.  I don’t believe the middle class voted for a dictatorship.  I know I didn’t.


It’s not only the president and his democratic flunkies in Congress that have bastardized our founding principles, so have federal judges.  One trampled over, what is clearly a states’ issue, Virginia’s law on gay marriage.  The justice confused the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution in her ruling.  I have to ask, what in the hell are they teaching these kids in law school?  Is there an accredited class entitled: ‘I’m the judge, and I’ll do whatever I damn well please’?  I’m sure they found precedent during FDR’s bastardization of our federalist system.

On top of states’ homogenization by federal mandates and harassment, small business owners, the engine that propels the middle class, are learning the fruits of their labor are on consignment.  You don’t own your business.  According to federal judges, they’ll decide what your business model will be and to whom you service.  And if you’re a Christian, well you can check your values at the pneumatic doors.







Then we have illegal aliens and the minimum wage, the Democratic Party’s latest cause de jour.  Both are an assault on the middle class.  Illegal immigrants take jobs away from citizens, while at the same time depressing wages.  The minimum wage is an inflationary job killer.  Both are barriers to teenagers and young adults, who wish to get a foothold in the market and learn a trade and social skills in the work place.  Ann Coulter recently published an article addressing the nonsensical assertions of the statist. I have linked it below.

The middle class is the backbone of a successful and prosperous country.  Yet, there are always those who wish to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.  Empires have fallen on the same principles and policies as the Democratic Party’s.  Can anyone say Rome?




Read the following:



NC Substitute Teachers Lose Hours Because of Obamacare..







I wonder how many of these teachers voted for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.



H/T:  NC Renegade


Only 6% are Satisfied with Obamacare



According to a CBS/New York Times poll, only 6% of the American people are satisfied with Obamacare.  Yet, democrats refuse to repeal this monstrosity.  They believe they can fix it.  How can anyone trust the same yahoos that didn’t read the bill to begin with, to fix a bad law?  That’s doubling down on stupid.  And yet, the voters elected Barack Obama, again.  Go figure.












The Earth Revolves Around the Sun? Who Knew!






Is this study for real?  I thought this was a universal truth.  Not one built on consensus.









Texas Gov. Rick Perry: The Tone From This President Is Troubling









I've found Obama's tone and policies troubling since the beginning.

Senator Kay Hagan Weathers Obamacare Storm




North Carolina’s embarrassment proclaimed her candidacy for another senatorial term.  Unlike her god, Barack Hussein Obama, she couldn’t turn around and walk away from the press.  A fearless reporter dogged her on her numerous reassurances that the citizens of the Tar Heel State could keep their doctors, hospitals, and insurance if they liked it.  Of course, that turned out to be the lie of the year, dare I the century.  Here is our intrepid senator weathering the Obamacare storm:










I seriously doubt this reporter works for the Charlotte Observer.






Sen. Harry Reid's Obamacare Lullabies




The party of the people, that’s what the democrats tells us.  They are the self-proclaimed champions of the common man, the trodden, and dispossessed.  Why, we are nothing without their comforting, warm embrace.  And if you disagree, if you complain about the harm their policies have wrought upon you and your family, well you’re just a liar.  After all, according to Senator Harry Reid, democratic policies are not horror stories, but bedtime lullabies. 







The only way some Americans have lower premiums is if they have been shoved onto Medicaid or are receiving a taxpayer subsidy.  And this kind of debt is unsustainable.








Bill Clinton Hijacks Ukrainian Cause





I’m convinced politicians are sociopaths, especially democrats.  Bill Clinton is a perfect example.  This man harps on the Ukrainian president for privatizing his office, when he did the same thing in the White House.  Does anyone remember the Chinese tea parties?  Charlie Tree anyone?  Oh yeah, he sold missile technology to the Chicoms in lieu of campaign donations.  Let’s not forget how he turned the Lincoln bedroom into a Motel 6? Anyone remember that?  And the list goes on and on.

Bill Clinton proclaims that democrats should take back this country.  Take it back from whom, the millions of illegal aliens the Democratic Party caters too?  We all know citizenship means nothing to these people.  And that applies to both illegal aliens and the democrats.

Hell, I wouldn’t doubt Bubba secretly admires King Obama for flouting our laws.  The bureaucratic state unloads thousands of rules and regulations without the consent of our elected representatives.  The federal courts run roughshod over states and Congress in their quest to advance the liberal agenda.  And Christian principles are shamed and cloistered.


The Ukrainian peoples’ distress is the same as America’s Tea Party.  It is laughable for statist like Bill Clinton to hijack their cause as a vehicle to advance the Democratic Party’s totalitarian agenda.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Is Washington D.C. Our Moscow?



What is happening in the Ukraine should concern the citizens of these United States.  And I’m not just talking about the geopolitical consequences of Russian hegemony in Eastern Europe.  No, I’m talking about the governing styles of an ex-Soviet KGB agent and the paternalistic, or should I say maternalistic, policies of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.  Their styles are different, but the end game is the same: subjugation and deference by and for the ruling class.





Both men have an objective to silence opposition and control the populace.  The only difference is Putin is comfortable being a man, while Obama embraces his softer, pink side.  Both are narcissistic vipers ready to strike.


Will America become the next Ukraine?  I say Washington D.C. is our Moscow.  States are treated as mere satellites.  We have a corrupt political oligarchy that confers power onto itself, while allowing bureaucratic apparatchiks impose rules and regulations that make it impossible for businesses to operate and at the same time turning citizens into criminals. 

The federal government has turned States into beggars with easy money, which isn't hard to do since they have a printing press.   Moscow has used the same strategy on the Ukraine, as reported by The Independent:


 Russia tied Ukraine to a $15bn bailout deal in December, which is parcelled out by the month to maximise leverage, and periodically suspended whenever the opposition looked like getting the upper hand. But Russia’s real aim was to provide just enough money to support the old semi-authoritarian system (helping Viktor Yanukovych pay the police) and keep Ukrainian society post-Soviet, that is, still dependent on government.
 

The comparisons don’t stop there.  See if you can recognize our future in the following excerpt by ABCNews:


GAS FOLLIES: Ukraine's state gas company, Naftogaz, charges customers only about 20 percent of what it pays for imported Russian gas. That means the government spends about 7.5 percent of the entire economy's output each year on a massive home heating subsidy aimed at keeping voters happy. That results in large budget deficits that the government must borrow to cover.
The International Monetary Fund tried to help Ukraine through its post-crisis troubles, with loan packages in 2008 and 2010. Each time, the IMF turned off the money tap after Ukraine refused to follow policy requirements including raising gas prices or cutting back sufficiently on generous government salaries and pensions.
CORRUPTION: A recent World Bank study of the economy cited "pervasive" corruption as a major factor holding back the economy. At street level, businesses are subjected to arbitrary treatment by officials and demands for bribes. Higher up, there is widespread public skepticism over the fortunes amassed by the connected, known as oligarchs. In particular, attention has focused on the career of Yanukovych's son Oleksandr, a dentist who according to Forbes Ukraine has amassed a $510 million fortune through various business enterprises.
Ukraine ranked 144 out of 175 countries in the 2013 corruption perception index compiled by Transparency International, an anti-corruption group, behind Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, and Iran.
RED TAPE: Business advocates say owners sometimes prefer paying bribes to obeying regulations and taxes that are so complicated and burdensome that they would be out of business if they complied. The country's complex business tax laws require 390 hours a year to comply with and take 54.9 percent of profits. That put Ukraine 164th out of 189 countries in ease of paying taxes in a World Bank survey.
BROKEN FINANCES: Ukraine's finances now are in such bad shape that it will have trouble paying its debts this year without outside help. With continuing deficits, it faces borrowing needs of between $7 billion and $10 billion this year. Its poor prospects mean it's unlikely to be able to borrow more on bond markets.



Is there a Ukraine-style protest on the streets of Washington D.C. in our future?  Don't be surprised when it happens.




Photo H/T:  Maggie's Farm

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Illegal Aliens Living in the Shadows? I Don't Think So!



Sometimes I believe we live in a parallel universe.  There is Washington D.C. reality, and then we have the rest of the country.  Nothing better illustrates this than the illegal alien controversy.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard both republican and democratic politicians demand we bring these people out of the shadows.  I’m here to tell you they aren’t living in the shadows.  As a matter of fact, they are shamelessly in our face about it.




You can go to any given business, and you’ll see an illegal alien working there.  Many cater to illegals.  Go to a Lowes or a Home Depot.  Ever notice Spanish signs littering the hallways?  Go to a public school and you’ll see their children.  Hell, they’re demanding in-state college tuition and taxpayer funded assistance.  Does that sound like a people living in the shadows to you?




 What we have are a bunch of gutless wonders roaming the halls of Congress.  One of them is Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina.

CARY — Facing criticism within her own party, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers on Wednesday doubled down on her push to give legal status to millions of immigrants living illegally in the country.
The Dunn Republican is making immigration overhaul a top priority even as it becomes a flashpoint in her re-election campaign and the prospect of a deal appears to fade on Capitol Hill.
“If I can do anything in Washington, I’d like to solve this problem,” the second-term lawmaker told a forum of immigration advocates in Cary.
Ellmers offered a broad outline of a plan that puts the emphasis foremost on securing the nation’s borders, while also including legal status for the roughly 11 million people living in the United States illegally.
It is not the equivalent of citizenship, Ellmers cautioned, but a lesser status that she did not define. To gain legal status, she said, immigrants would have to verify their identity, pay a penalty and admit wrongdoing.
“We have to put forward a process where they can achieve that goal,” she said. “I don’t know what that is going to look like.”
The notion of self-deportation is not workable, she asserted.
“It is not practical, it is not common sense, to assume that 11 or 12 … million people are simply going to pick up and leave our country,” Ellmers said. “It is not possible because they have built their lives here, they have built their families here.”



There is a practical way.  But it would mean bucking the Washington D.C. establishment.  First of all, we must abolish birth right citizenship.  Second, illegal alien children will not have access to a public school education.  That means reversing rogue rulings by the federal judiciary.  Thirdly, States must have the ability to enforce immigration laws. But most importantly, States must punish businesses that hire and house them.  Take away their incentives and they will leave.  Enact another Simpson-Mazzoli and the third-world invasion continues.






Senator Kay Hagan Voted to Cut Medicare



Senator Kay Hagan doesn’t have a high regard for voters in North Carolina.  She is blaming the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare for following the laws that she and her fellow democrats voted for in Obamacare.  National Review reported the following:

In 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) promised North Carolinians who depend on Medicare that she was going to “protect Medicare” and that they would “not see a drop in their Medicare coverage.”

But in 2010 Kay Hagan voted to slash Medicare Advantage to pay for ObamaCare. (H.R. 4872, CQ Vote #72: Motion agreed to 56-42: R 0-40; D 54-2; I 2-0, 3/24/10, Hagan Voted Yea)

In North Carolina 463,159 seniors depend on Medicare Advantage plans (28% of all Medicare enrollees).

According to America’s Health Insurance Plans, in North Carolina, seniors on Medicare Advantage plans experienced cost increases and benefit cuts of an estimated $50-60 per month as a result of this year’s 6 percent cut to the program due to ObamaCare.

Now, as North Carolina seniors are being crushed under the weight of ObamaCare and as her own poll numbers plummet, Kay Hagan admits in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid that she cut Medicare for seniors after promising North Carolinians that they wouldn’t “see a drop in their Medicare coverage” 
Hagan’s letter reads: “We write to raise serious concerns about the Medicare Advantage (MA) 2015 rate notice and the impact further cuts may have on the millions of individuals enrolled in the program,” the senators write. “We are strongly committed to preserving the high quality health plan choices and benefits that our constituents receive through the MA program. Given the impact that payment policies could have on our constituents, we ask that you prioritize beneficiaries’ experience and minimize disruption in maintaining payment levels for 2015.”


Senator Hagan can run from her record, but she can’t hide.  And I don’t believe North Carolinians have to be reminded of this disaster known as Obamacare.  What we need is someone in the Senate who will actually read the bills before passing them.  There is no excuse for what this woman has done.


Sunday, February 16, 2014

David Webb Confronts NC Liberals: "Is the Tea Party Racist?"




These are the "Moral Monday" protestors that gather in Raleigh, NC.  As you can see, they're not too bright.

Legal Scholars React to Obama's Presidential Power Grab




Barack Obama is the president Richard Nixon wanted to be.  That is a damning statement.

Sen. Ted Cruz Outs Democrats' Vichy-Style Collaborators



Transparency in government, that’s what all politicians, politicos, and Democratic Party leg humpers, a.k.a. mainstream media, profess to want.  But do they?  Senator Ted Cruz outed these hypocrites.   The Tea Party favorite forced his party’s leadership to put up or shut up on raising the debt ceiling.  It was a lonely, humiliating walk.  A walk that proved the Republican establishment is a bunch of enablers; collaborators in a Vichy-style mode.


                                                      
Of course, the consultant class was upset.  Here is one ranting about the futility of it all:

Chip Saltsman, a Republican strategist who managed Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign, predicted Cruz would have a difficult challenge trying to explain his procedural moves in the Senate to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.
 “At the end of the day Ted Cruz made McConnell have a 60-vote limit and the debt ceiling still passed. It’s not like he stopped the debt limit from being passed,” he said.


It’s not that difficult Chipster.  He simply outed the RINO’s.  He exposed the two-faced, lying backstabbers for what they are.  Now go back to your job, managing the next loser that your ilk is famously renowned for.




What’s even worse than having republican strategist castigate tea partiers for wanting vote transparency, we also have Democratic Party activist giving us tips on how to win future elections.  Here is the renowned Obama leg humper, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post lamenting the fate of RINO’s:

Watching the chaos from the side of the chamber was the man who caused it: Cruz, his hands in his pants pockets and a satisfied grin on his face. The Texas Republican strolled to the clerk’s table to check on the vote count and was met with a look of disgust from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). And the feeling was widespread: Moments after Cruz walked into the Republican cloakroom, four senators emerged from it and changed their votes to “aye.”
 Cruz reemerged from the cloakroom, chewing gum, his hands again in his pockets. He smirked as his colleagues finally overcame his filibuster after a ­59-minute struggle.
Cruz’s ego trip had come at a high cost. He had forced McConnell, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and other Republicans to cast votes that could cause them to lose primaries to weaker general-election candidates, and he had risked getting his party blamed for a default.

First of all, the federal government wouldn’t default on its debt.  There is plenty of money coming into that Washington D.C. cesspool.  Not extending the debt ceiling would have forced the federal government to prioritize its spending.  They would actually have to address wasteful spending.  Extending the debt ceiling only enables the irresponsible whom believe Christmas is 365 days a year.

Second of all, why are people like Dana Milbank so worried about republican primaries?  Why are he and his ilk so concerned about RINO electoral success? It’s quite simple.  They need Vichy-style collaborators to help perfume and mask the stench of Democratic failed policies, crony capitalism, and outright corruption.  They need the Republican establishment to whip us in line and put us in our place.
   
                                                                                          

In the meantime, conservatives in Iowa and New Hampshire are preparing a hero’s welcome for Senator Ted Cruz.  Go figure.





Senator Kay Hagan Declares War on American People



We already know the Democratic Party’s 2014 midterm strategy.  They are anxious to deflect their economic and health care failures by advancing a myth.  They would have us believe that Republicans have declared a war on women.  This strategy may have brought a measure of success during the presidential election.  But midterms are different.  Teat squawkers and the low information crowd usually stay at home.  The diehard politicos participate in these elections.  And the Tea Party is revved up and ready to go.



Senator Kay Hagan, a vulnerable democrat in the state of North Carolina, is already using this nonsense.  She has voted for 96% of the Obama administrations agenda.  Yet, she is considered a moderate.  That is an indication of how far left the Democratic Party has become.  Here is her quote:

“You know what my opponents want to do? They want to personally get involved in the health care decisions, especially of women,” Hagan said. “Every one of my opponents to date has said that the state has the authority to ban contraception. I can guarantee you, that’s what women will not want to have to hear.”

Republicans want to personally get involved in our health care decisions, especially women?  Wow!  Somebody should check Senator Kay Hagan’s jock strap to see if she’s sporting a pair.  It takes a huge set of balls to make a declaration like that.  Do we need to remind her that she was the one who voted for Obamacare?  She was the one who voted for a law that demands we pay for coverages none of us need.  She is responsible for millions of Americans losing their insurance, paying for higher deductibles and premiums, and the loss of access to our doctors and hospitals.  And yet, it is the Republicans who want to make health care decisions for women?




Senator Kay Hagan has not only declared a war on women, she has declared a war on the American people.  But let’s explore this declaration even further, this time the perps are the Democratic Party.  Townhall.com outlined 5 ways liberal have declared war on women. They are as follows:  

  
  1.  The party of infanticide
  2.     Excusing horrible liberal behavior to women
  3.   Demeaning stay at home moms
  4.   Savage attacks on conservative women
  5.    Helping criminals by disarming women



See you in November, Senator Hagan.
  


Saturday, February 15, 2014

NC Conservatives Welcome Catherine Engelbrecht




The Civitas Institute is sponsoring their annual Conservative Leadership Council in Raleigh, NC.   This year’s event will be held on the 28th and 29th of March.  As usual, they have a number of outstanding speakers scheduled.  One particular speaker has made headlines for her activism.  Catherine Englebrecht appeared before a congressional hearing to testify about the misconduct and harassment by federal agencies and a U.S. congressman.  She also appeared on national television describing the efforts of the federal government to punish her for having the audacity to be a civic minded citizen.







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Democrats continuously declare there is a war on women.  I would have to agree.  It is being waged by Barack Obama, his administration and the Democratic Party. 

North Carolina conservatives welcome Catherine Englebrecht.  After all, this state has a history of embracing patriotic women.  One only has to remember the Edenton and Wilmington Tea Party of the revolutionary period.  Their reception by the powers-that-be is reminiscent of Congressman Connelly’s conduct in the aforementioned hearing.



News of the Edenton Tea Party quickly reached Britain.  During the 1770s, political resistance was common.  But an organized women’s movement was not.  So, the Edenton Tea Party shocked the Western world.  From England, in January 1775, Arthur Iredell wrote his brother, James Iredell, describing England’s reaction to the Edenton Tea Party.  According to Arthur Iredell, the incident was not taken seriously because it was led by women.  He sarcastically remarked, “The only security on our side … is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.”  The Edenton women were also satirized in a political cartoon published in London in March 1775.  Even though the Edenton Tea Party was ridiculed in England, it was praised in the colonies.  The women of Edenton represented American frustrations with English monarchical rule and the need for American separation and independence.




I believe the States are in need of separation and independence from an overbearing federal government.  Just like the U.S. Constitution meant it to be.




Senator Kay Hagan Spins NC Obamacare Signup Numbers



Senator Kay Hagan stated in an interview, North Carolina ranks near the top in Obamacare signups.  Here is her spin:

“The people in North Carolina have the fifth-highest signup on the exchanges, after Florida, New York, California and Texas, it’s North Carolina, so they’re very interested in this,” Hagan said. “We want to show that the Affordable Care Act is something whose time has come. It’s going to really change how the cost of health care will not have these huge increases that we’ve been seeing every year.”


But here is what she conveniently omitted, as reported by Katherine Restrepo of the John Locke Foundation:


According to the Obama administration, 3.3 million individuals have gone shopping for an Obamacare plan in the individual health insurance market.  It turns out, however, that more than 89% of these individuals already had insurance.  They just couldn't keep their old plans because they did not comply with the law's standards for health coverage.  Even if they liked them.  Insurers refer to this scenario as "churning." 

Here's North Carolina's breakdown:

·  160,000 individuals have selected a marketplace plan from either BCBS or Coventry Health Care of the Carolinas
·  25% are ages 18-34
·  30% are ages 55-64  
·  72% are silver plans
·  90% qualify for a premium assistance subsidy 

When glancing over some of these statistics, it looks like North Carolina's enrollment process fares much better than other states'.  After all, the state currently ranks top five in enrollment numbers.  Obamacare stalwarts will say that the law is proving to be a success, since 90% of enrollees qualify for taxpayer subsidies that will make their quality health plans affordable -- even "free."

But if you're a skeptic of the law, continue to be one.  Let's unravel the spin:
  
A large reason why North Carolina leads the pack in enrollment is really because legislatorsrightly rejected Obamacare's optional Medicaid expansion.  Many individuals who would otherwise have been covered under the law's Medicaid expansion will instead have access to private health plans offered on the exchange at minimal to no cost.  Low-income individuals living above 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) will be one of the few populations who actually benefit from the law.  This population contributes to so many enrollees (90%) qualifying for financial assistance.  The national average is 82%.

How significant are the subsidy amounts for others?  According to the Weekly Standard, they're not so hefty:

Obamacare's taxpayer-funded subsidies are substantial for the near-poor and some of the near-elderly, but they do virtually nothing for most of the young or the middle class. Obamacare's neglect of these two rather significant groups opens up a huge political vulnerability. A 2017 Project study of Obamacare's subsidies in the 50 largest American counties shows that a typical 26-year-old man who makes $35,000 would get no Obamacare subsidy whatsoever for the cheapest-priced "bronze" plan. Nor would a 36-year-old woman who is making that same $35,000.

Circling back to the enrollment numbers, McKinsey & Company reports that North Carolina has only met 56% of its target.  And this 160,000 number still remains inflated, as an individual is not considered a true enrollee until his health insurance premium has been paid.  Insurers now report that 20% of individuals have yet to pay or are waiting for their payment to accurately process, due to the defective healthcare.gov website.


That’s nothing to brag about Senator Kay Hagan.