More Shenanigans and Some Alternatives

I was appalled to read this article this morning at the DC Republican Examiner. It's called "Impeachment Time: Obama Grants Eminent Domain Rights to China to Secure Debt". This was, as the article states, confirmed by sources at the US Embassy in Beijing, although we don't know the position of said sources. More confirmation is needed, but if this is true, it is very bad for America. Updated to add: This eminent domain rights story may not be true. You can read an updated blogpost at Atlas Shrugs here.

Additional information onObama's plans for America can be found at Larry Kudlow's CNBC Blog in a post titled "Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and More". President Obama is going against common sense and economic reality in his handling of the economic crisis, which would be better resolved by him doing nothing than what he is doing. Even better, though, would be tax cuts. That would truly get the economy moving again. I've noticed that Obama and the Democrats repeatedly say that the Republicans are just being obstructionist and need to offer alternatives. This is a lie because the Republicans have repeatedly offered alternatives, like tax cuts and targeted infrastructure projects, but have been ignored. Who are the real obstructionists?

Three other articles you should read and consider:

"Obama the Rhetorical Magician" by Rich Lowry

"The Politics of Fear" by Jonah Goldberg

"If Obama Turns America into Europe..." by Claudia Rosett

There are places to learn about an alternative way to Obama's vision of America. I provide the following websites for your perusal.

The Basics Project, particularly the Constitutional Literacy page

The American Conservative Union Foundation

The Patriot Post

The Heritage Foundation

Republican National Committee (the Platform is here)

There are various pages within these websites that discuss issues, provide historical documents, or give the platforms. See what you think.

More of the Same

In all of the hoopla over the so-called stimulus bill, has anyone noticed that Congress is getting ready to vote on another half-trillion dollar spending bill? I didn't think so. Here is an article about it from Human Events titled "Another Huge Spending Bill Planned for Next Week" by Connie Hair. Republican House leaders are requesting, apparently in vain, that the bill be posted online immediately so that the American people can see what is in it. And presumably so that members of the House can also see what's in it. Didn't President Obama promise openess and transparency? Where is it?

Other evidence of the lack of transparency in this government is listed in Alan Caruba's "It Smells Like Facism" on his Warning Signs blog. He mentions HR-45 which is a Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009, an expectation that the EPA will regulate carbon dioxide, and a proposal to reintroduce the so-called Fairness Doctrine. This is all being done relatively quietly. Why?

Here's an article about another example from the D.C.Examiner titled "The RAT Hiding Deep Inside the Stimulus Bill" by Byron York. It discusses serious changes in the way "allegations of fraud and corruption are investigated — or not investigated — throughout the federal government." Hmmm. Then there is the healthcare item hidden in the "stimulus" bill. You can read about it at The American Spectator in "The Hidden Healthcare Horror" by Lawrence A. Hunter and at Bloomberg in "Ruin Your Health with the Obama Stimulus Plan" by Betsy McCaughey.

The above is just the tip of the iceberg. You can read the stimulus bill itself here. It's searchable text.

There are more issues that we aren't hearing enough about. Why aren't some investigative reporters in the mainstream media (MSM) digging into this: "RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT HUSSEIN: 'A $550 Billion Electronic Run on the Banks' "? I'd like to see some evidence one way or the other about this. Go to the "News" section of Thought You Should Know for more news articles on various topics that you won't hear much, if anything, about in the MSM.

Thankfully, some of the American citizens are beginning to wake up to the attempt to expand federal government's interference in our lives and to shrink our freedom. One example is CNBC's Rick Santelli and his famous rant in the Chicago pit. See also Lawrence Kudlow's article "Subsidize Bad Behavior?" at GOPUSA. You should be able to watch Mr. Santelli's video in the right sidebar. If not, see it here. Other evidence that Americans are starting to be fed up with the Fed's attempted takeover can be found at Michelle Malkin's blog. See "Rebel Yell: Taxpayers Revolt Against Gimme-Mania" and "Tea Party U.S.A.: The Movement Grows". These are not heartless, selfish people, although I am sure some will attempt to portray them that way. These are people who understand the Constitution and freedom and reject the Obama government's attempts to violate both. Private charity is the way to go to help those who need help. It is wrong, wrong, wrong to legislate away our choices in any matter.

There are those, including Obama, who would use Republican errors in the past of continuing government's unnecessary spending as an excuse for their own spending. What's that old saying? "Two wrongs don't make a right." American needs to pull itself together and get back to the Constitution. You will greatly miss your freedom when it is gone. Read "Want 'Hope and Change'? Buy a Goat" by Oleg Atbashian at Pajamas Media. I hope you will follow the above links and give some thought to what they are saying.

Edited to Add: See this JB Williams piece at Capitol Hill Coffee House titled "Obama's Failing Economic Recovery Plan". (hat tip JR)

We Can Learn a Lot from the Classics

I just read a marvelous essay over at American Thinker. It's called "How Democracies Become Tyrannies" by Ed Kaitz. This should be read by every American.

Mr. Kaitz's essay refers to scenes from Plato's Republic to show how, indeed, democracies become tyrannies, all with the permission, even encouragement, of its citizens. Here are two paragraphs from Mr. Kaitz's essay:

The answers to these questions were famously addressed in a few pages tucked within the greatest masterpiece of the classical world: Plato's Republic. On the surface, and to most reviewers of Plato's writings, the Republic is a dialogue on justice and on what constitutes the just society. But to careful readers the deeper theme of the Republic is the nature of education and the relationship between education and the survival of the state. In fact, the Republic is essentially the story of how a man (Socrates) condemned to death for "corrupting" the youth of Athens gives to posterity the most precious gift of all: the love of wisdom.

In the Republic, two young men, Glaucon and Adeimantus, accompany the much older Socrates on a journey of discovery into the nature of the individual soul and its connection to the harmony of the state. During the course of their adventure, as the two disciples demonstrate greater maturity and self-control, they are gradually exposed to deeper and more complex teachings regarding the relationship between virtue, self-sufficiency, and happiness. In short, the boys begin to realize that justice and happiness in a community rests upon the moral condition of its citizens. This is what Socrates meant when he said: "The state is man writ large."

The essay bears reading, as does Plato's Republic.

Updated to Add: There are two other articles referencing classics that would be a good read for you also. One that also references Plato's Republic is "How Republics Die: Plato's Cautionary Tale" by Mark J. Boone. Another, referencing Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, is "'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years" by Stephen Moore.

Environmentalism and the Economy

Conservatives support good stewardship of our earth. We depend on the earth's resources for everything we do and to trash the earth or to waste the resources is wrong and foolish and short-sighted. However, there are radical environmentalists who insist that humans are nothing more than just another species of animal and that preserving the earth should take precedence over everything else, including human life and well-being. This is a very wrongheaded view of things.

We have watched as Al Gore and his supporters have preached global warming and have blamed man for it. They have claimed that the earth is in dire straits because of global warming. They have also proclaimed that the debate is over and some have even threatened to charge those who disagree with them with serious crimes. Additionally, those who disagree with these global warming theories face loss of funding and loss of jobs.

In spite of all this noise, the earth has actually been cooling since 1998. More and more scientists are fed up with the false information being put out by Al Gore and his comrades and are speaking out, providing much data that proves the errors in the global warming theories. I have to wonder how some scientists have become so politicized. They, of all people, should support the truth and search for the truth.

Perhaps much of the problem comes from science jobs and funding being politicized and so scientists play along with the currently politically popular theories in order to get jobs and funding. This happens with evolution, as well as with global warming. On top of all that, there are people who, because of their indoctrination at school, have so bought into evolution and, lately, global warming, that they attempt to intimidate those who disagree with them into silence, shouting them down and accusing them of being ignorant. Actually, we aren't ignorant at all. We just have the good sense to search beyond mainstream media and the popular science magazines to find the facts and to not swallow whole some idea just because it's taught in school. It's certainly true that there are crazies out there supporting any and all viewpoints, but their writings are also not where we turn for facts. I realize that no one supporting either evolution or global warming will admit that those who disagree with them have any legitimate sources of information, but we do. There are scientists and journalists out there with the integrity to dig for facts and to publish them.

What brings all this to my attention right now is that our current administration is ready to push harsh environmental regulations on the auto industry, regulations that will cost so much to implement as quickly as demanded that they will likely kill the auto industry. This after the government handed over billions to save the auto industry. Kind of schizophrenic, isn't it?

Environmentalism, in going beyond good stewardship and common sense, will ruin our economy and damage our national security. Why do I say this? Because the environmental regulations being demanded will cost more to implement than our nation can afford and because wind, solar, biofuels, and other alternate sources of energy are nowhere near well-developed enough to provide this nation with all of its energy (and they may never be), yet environmentalists want to prevent us from drilling for our own oil and natural gas, using our coal, and building nuclear plants. This leaves us dependent on foreign nations, some of whom are enemies and none of whom will put our interests over their own, which is where national security issues come into play.

Forget utopia, we're headed for dystopia if these laws and regulations are allowed to be put into effect.

As usual, I will provide you with a list of articles to read and contemplate. There are many more out there, of course. This is just a sampling.

"Tear Down the Amazon Rainforest Idol" at World Net Daily (which also links to an article in The New York Times (!) titled "New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests" by Elizabeth Rosenthal )

"Lefty, It's Cold Outside" by Deroy Murdock (It's good to know that not everyone on the Left is fooled!)

"The Rise of Self-Defeating Industrial Policy" by Rich Lowry

"California's Carbon-Tax Lesson for America" by Edward John Craig (on the Planet Gore blog at National Review Online )

"Who is the 'They' Now in California?" by Victor Davis Hanson (This piece talks about more than just the environment, although that is in there, too.)

"Anthropogenic Global Warming: The Greatest Fraud in History?" by James Lewis

"Mileage Standards: Not the Way to Energy Independence" by Brian Douglas

"All Seriousness Aside" by Paul Chesser

"His Winter of Discontent" by William Tucker

That will give you sufficient reading for now. In addition, several of the above articles have interesting links in them.

Whether we are talking about "stimulus" bills or environmental regulation bills, it is so important that we stop the panicked rushing about and think these things through carefully, gathering actual facts to use in making the decisions.