The following chain-email seems to be doing the rounds quite a bit today. And I think it sums the situation up perfectly:
A message to the Administration:
The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 – you’ve had 234 years to get it right; it’s broke.
Social Security was established in 1935 – you’ve had 74 years to get it right; it’s broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 – you’ve had 71 years to get it right; it’s broke.
The “War on Poverty” started in 1964 – you’ve had 45 years to get it right. $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor”; it hasn’t worked and our entire country is broke.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 – you’ve had 44 years to get it right; they’re both broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970 – you’ve had 39 years to get it right; it’s broke.
Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive political payoffs called TARP, the “Stimulus,” the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009…. none show any signs of working, although ACORN appears to have found a new source: the American taxpayer.
And finally, to set a new record: “Cash for Clunkers” was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took cars (that were the best some people could afford) and replaced them with high-priced and less-affordable cars, mostly Japanese. A good percentage of the profits went out of the country. And the American taxpayers take the hit for Congress’s generosity in burning three billion more of our dollars on failed experiments.
So, with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that “services” you shove down our throats are failing faster and deeper, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system- 20% of our entire economy???
With all due respect, Are you crazy? Or do you think the American people are?
From Americans for Tax Reform:
A word search of Sen. Harry Reid’s 2,074-page Senate healthcare bill (H.R. 3590) reveals that the term “tax” is used 183 times, “taxable” is used 164 times, and “excise tax” is used 8 times.
Other terms of interest are as follows:
Senate Healthcare Bill (H.R. 3590)
Term Number of uses
“Tax” 183 times
“Taxable” 164 times
“Excise tax” 8 times
“Taxes” 17 times
“Fee” 152 times
“Penalty” 115 times
“Require” 166 times
“Must” 45 times
“Shall” 3,607 times
I thought we were going to get free health care?
President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid: Are You Listening?
From Gallup.com:
More Americans now say it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government’s responsibility.
In 2006, the survey found a 69%/28% split in favor of it being the federal government’s responsibility, or more than 2-1, the apex for statists on health care. In 2007 the gap narrowed to 64-33, and when Obama got elected a year ago, it had drifted to 54-41 — still better than Obama’s eventual margin of victory.
But somehow Gallup can’t connect the dots to figure out why people have changed what their thinking:
The reason behind this shift is unknown. Certainly the federal government’s role in the nation’s healthcare system has been widely and vigorously debated over the last several months, including much focus on the “public option.” These data suggest that one result of the debate has been a net decrease in Americans’ agreement that ensuring all Americans have healthcare coverage is an appropriate role for the federal government.
Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com has a good answer:
They’re ignoring the obvious, probably not deliberately but because they didn’t ask enough follow-up questions to determine it. People have begun seeing what the bill would be to deliver that kind of system — and not just in dollars and cents. It has costs in choice, in access, in options for care that only became clear when Democrats rushed to impose such a system on the US. Before 2008, the question existed almost entirely as an academic one, and people gave a response based on broad concepts and lazy thinking.
Also, Gallup ignores another significant factor. In late 2007, the economy and unemployment did not look bad at all, and deficit spending was too high but not historically out of the norms of post-war America. By 2008 that economic picture and deficit problem looked much worse, and in 2009 people have begun to realize that top-down government programs are the problem, not the solution.
So I will ask again: President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid: Are You Listening?
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- Harry Reid
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- Nancy Pelosi
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- Barack Obama
From Fox News:
The uneasy relationship between the Obama White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has steadily eroded over the past several months, with the business group’s opposition to health care and climate change legislation triggering an all-fronts backlash from the administration.
The administration is now trying to neutralize the Chamber by doing an end-run around the group and dealing directly with its members.
Does anyone notice a pattern here?
If you agree with and tow the line for the administration by not speaking out against any of the economy destroying policies of the Obama White House (cap and trade, takeover of the U.S. health care system), then you are the enemy.
Sounds like someone was never told “No” when he was little. Now we have the biggest spoiled baby for our leader.
Great.
The “flag” service was introduced Aug. 4, with a White House blog post saying: “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said at a briefing shortly after the service launched: “We’re not collecting names from those e-mails. … All we’re asking people to do is if they’re confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we’re happy to help clear that up for you. Nobody is keeping anybody’s names.”
Unfortunately, Gibbs was wrong about the white house keeping names. By law they are required to keep records of every email that they receive (or send).
Sen. John Cornyn said of the emails: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable. Anyone with access to the flag@whitehouse.gov account has access to the names and email addresses that are collected in that account. … How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy?”
So anyone who disseminates “fishy” information needs to be “set straight” by the White House? THAT sounds fishy.
The program was terminated a few weeks later due to the furor it caused, but not before it generated a lot of “interesting” pictures:
