Archive for September, 2009

Don’t give the battle away…

Please read this from Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Murphy.  It contains a lot of important information related to just how far the Democrats (Autocrats?) are willing to go in the fight for government-controlled healthcare.  Note that the links in the text do not work.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Last Wednesday, the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House, one of the two main committees drafting the Democrat-led health care “reform” bill, completed work on their version which includes the government-run “public option.”

Despite overflowing town halls across the country with millions of voices speaking up against the bill, the Senate now writing their own bill without a public option and even President Obama backing away from the government take-over of health care earlier this month, House Democrat Committee Chairman Henry Waxman continues to press on. The fine print maybe changing, but the over-arching goal of a government take-over remains the same.

The Blue Dog Democrats, the so-called “conservative” Democrats who are the coalition likely to define what “reform” looks like in the final version of the bill, are now being picked off one by one by Waxman and in return, allowed them to amend the legislation with more add-on’s, like insurance mandates and regulations.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned up the pressure on House Democrats this week to quickly complete work on the revised version of the health care “reform” bill, so that the Senate’s version (without the public option so thoroughly rejected by the American public) would not dominate the media cycle and direction of the debate. Pelosi is demanding passage by the end of this week.

Many believe, depending on the wording of the public option, that she doesn’t have sufficient votes to pass it.

Pelosi has indicated she will “go as far left as possible” with the House version, which includes her top priority of having a government run “public option” and an income surtax in order to help pay for the multi-trillion dollar piece of legislation. Embattled Congressman and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel is championing the tax hike in Congress as “the best way to pay for health care.”

The approach by Speaker Pelosi and liberal Democrats in the House is still the same: more mandates and government bureaucracy in a bill that millions of Americans have already strongly voiced their opposition too. I see it first hand every day in letters, calls, meetings and emails from my own constituents, as well as at a Town Hall meeting I held in Westmoreland County back in August.

It is very difficult for me to understand, as it probably is for you, how Chairman Waxman and Speaker Pelosi intend to make health care cheaper by tacking on more mandates, regulations, bureaucracy, inefficiencies and red tape. The answer is that we can’t.

In the coming days, as the debate over health care “reform” continues in Washington , you can count on me to keep fighting against any government-run “public option,” massive tax hikes, and giant increases in our national debt, which will only burden our children and grandchildren.

Observer-Reporter Editorial

The Washington Observer-Reporter wrote an editorial last week on some of my health care reform ideas outside of a government take-over. Click here to read it.

Sincerely,

Congressman Tim Murphy”

1 Comment

Values lost…

I know it’s been a few weeks since 9/11 remembrances, but please take a moment to read this.

There are lessons to be learned and re-learned here…

No Comments

What will be your legacy?

We laid my uncle to rest just about two weeks ago.  Like all of us he had his flaws,  but I can say without hesitation that his legacy is remarkable.  The sheer number of visitors and those that attended his funeral was awe-inspiring.  He was a cop, a musician, a father, a husband, a brother, a son, an uncle and a whole lot more.

To me, he was larger than life.  He had a big voice and an infectious laugh and man, could that guy sing and play guitar!  He, my dad and my other uncle would sit for hours at holidays and tell one funny story after another. They managed to keep us laughing all day.  I looked forward to those stories every time we got together.

During the funeral, his two daughters shared some memories they had of him as they were growing up.  One of those memories was of his incredible whistle.  So many recollections came flooding back.

When we were kids, I used to spend a lot of time in their neighborhood, largely because they lived just across our little town, on the same street as my Grandparents and another Aunt and Uncle.  During better weather, the neighborhood kids would often play outside for as long as we could get away with, usually well past dark.  When it was time for his girls to come in for the night, my uncle would step out the front door of their house and whistle.  Amazing.  You could hear that sound piercing the night  from any of a half-dozen streets around town.  Most of the time it had the expected effect of causing his daughters to go running home, but it had another consequence too.  It somehow managed to initiate the end of the evening’s activities for most of the other kids.  He was kind of the “last call” guy for all of us.  It’s not a huge thing, but it’s something I remember so well.

There’re so many things I can recall of him as I grew up but it’s that whistle that stands out most clearly in my memory.  I miss him, even though in later years we haven’t spent a lot of time together.

He walked in very big shoes and I’m sure I’ll never know the extent of the legacy he leaves.  Still for me, that whistle will always remind me that you don’t have to be  super-human to leave a lasting impression.

No Comments

Seriously?

This is a good use of taxpayer dollars?  How about we take the money spent for this little outing and spread that wealth around?  Wouldn’t it be the “fair” thing to do?

2 Comments

Don’t let down your guard…

Please keep writing, faxing and calling your Senators and Representatives.  We need to keep reminding them that we put them into their positions and we can take them out of those same positions.  They need to understand at the deepest level that it’s their job to represent us and our interests.  So, let them know that you don’t want their crappy “public-option” health care plan, no matter what form it takes.  Remind them that you expect them to participate in the same legislation that they plan to vote for. Make it clear that this administration doesn’t have a free hand to do whatever it wants.

Congress will be back, again trying to force a set of programs on the American public that we simply don’t need or want.  Let them know.

Proverbs 17:7 - “It isn’t proper for foolish people to brag. And it certainly isn’t proper for rulers to tell lies!” (NIV Reader’s Version)

Leviticus 19:15 - “Do not make something that is wrong appear to be right.  Treat poor people and rich people in the same way.  Do not favor one person over another. Instead judge everyone fairly.” (NIV Reader’s Version)

Proverbs 29:12 - “If rulers listen to lies, all their officials become evil” - (NIV Reader’s Edition)

1 Comment

A few axioms for your enjoyment

In no particular order…

- “Politics is the enemy of good government.”

- “Bureaucracy endures.

- “Mediocrity is normalcy.

- “Nothing simple is ever easy.”

- “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

- “There’s a reason; There’s ALWAYS a reason.”

- “Sometimes the answer is ‘No.’ “

- “If you hang around long enough, eventually you will become an expert at something.”

- “The biggest detriment to public service is the public.”

- “The second biggest detriment to public service is the service.

Have a happy Labor Day!

No Comments

This should frighten you to the core!

This has me completely aghast.  People are pledging to be servants of Barack Obama!   Cult-like devotion to a man.  So now instead of our elected officials serving us, we have idiots now pledging to serve them.  This has a very familiar feel: Think Nazi Germany, WWII. You should be VERY afraid of things like this!

Is this what we’ve come to in America?  We’re now pledging allegiance to a man?  If he had any sense of decency, Barack Obama would denounce this in a heartbeat.  It simply won’t happen though.

I’m just speechless.

Make sure you watch the whole thing.

2 Comments

New Name!

I did a post yesterday asking for help coming up with a new name for this blog.  The topics I’ve been posting about seem not to support what the title would suggest.  A few ideas were submitted and to date, I like this one best.  So, until I change my mind I’ll be sticking with “It Struck Me Funny…” as the new name.

Thanks to Susan for the idea!

No Comments

Now this is funny!

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook.  I had to let folks see it.

Check it out!   Too funny and too true!

I know, I know.  Somewhere along the line I’m gonna post something non-political and non-media-gone-bonkers…

No Comments

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes