So much for that

Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address called for “a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

Reading through the headlines and news for this week, we shake our heads at how far away from that principle.

ObamaCare Update

Seems like someone has actually been checking what the politicians are saying to see if it’s true or not. Surprise surprise, it’s not. According to an article in the Associated Press, health insurance companies make less money than Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo. So much for the picture politicians are painting that the “insurance industry fat cats living large while people die.”

In the meantime, the House version of the bill has hit the floor with a resounding THUD. Weighing in at 1,990 pages and 400,000 words, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this latest piece of dung will cost taxpayers $1,055,000,000,000, or $530,150,753.77 per page. We’re feeling sick just thinking about it. Now Nancy Pelosi, at Obama’s urging, will try to cram this through by Thanksgiving. Which makes us wonder: The Founding Fathers spent just shy of 4 months (116 days) debating the wording of the Constitution, which, if printed out today, takes about 9 pages. This works out to roughly 13 days per page. If the Congress would apply the same measure to this current bill, it would take 25,870 days — almost 70 years — to go over this bill. We think they should.

Some highlights from the bill:

• So-Called ‘Death Panel’ Measure Survives in House Health Bill
• House to Unveil Plan With Public Option, Millionaire Tax

Afghanistan

Last week, we reported how Obama is living the high life while the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating. The situation continues:

• President Obama has went golfing as often in 9 months as George W. Bush did in 2 years
• Obama names 110 White House visitors, including Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, George Clooney
• Democratic donors rewarded with White House perks
• 14 Americans killed in 2 Afghan helicopter crashes
• Morale dips for American Marines in Afghanistan
• U.S. troops hope Afghanistan sacrifices not in vain
• U.S. official resigns over Afghan war – washingtonpost.com

Talking this past weekend to two brothers who are active duty soldiers, we found that both of them are getting out after their current tour is up. Both of them are mid-rank NCOs, both have served multiple tours overseas, and both will get out with just shy of 10 years in service. These are the people who the army needs to stay in so that they may pass their knowledge, experience, and leadership on to the next generation of U.S. fighting men. So why are they getting out? Both cited Obama as commander in chief as one of the major reasons. And seeing how Obama is handling his responsibilities as Commander in Chief, we can’t blame them.

Can we really afford this?

Our spending is through the roof, we have massive debt, the U.S. Treasury is printing money like mad, and President Obama thinks this is a good time to offer millions of dollars to Muslim countries so he could fulfill his promise to the Islamic world that he made in a speech in Cairo in June. Hey, what about some of the promises he made to us while he was on the campaign trail? Like how he was going to have the most open and transparent administration in history, and how every bill would be available online for 4 days before it was voted on?

Speaking of spending money we don’t have, how about “free” cellphones and airtime to “income eligible customers”? Welfare, foodstamps, and cellphones? Crazy, right? Well, it’s not just an idea in some politician’s head. It’s real: SafeLink Wireless

We’ll never run out of money, we’ll just print more

Some people are working overtime with their calculators. While the White House tries to spin each of these as wrong, when has the government ever been right about doing the math with anything financial?

• $160,000 Per Stimulus Job
• Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands
• Cash for Clunkers costs taxpayers $24,000 per car

Regarding that last one… we recommend reading our previous post about how the government could have spent that cash more wisely. Who was right? Oh yeah… we were. Again.

Illegal Immigration

What a mess. While your taxpayer dollars are being used to house detained migrants in converted hotels, the U.S. Department of Justice is telling Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he’s no longer allowed to do illegal immigrant sweeps. According to them, that’s the job of Homeland Security. Sheriff Joe — who’s known for housing arrested illegals in “tent cities”, making them wear pink underwear, and feeds them bologna sandwiches — is thumbing his nose at the DOJ as he launches immigration sweep. With illegal immigrant crime in Phoenix running rampant, we can’t blame him for doing his job.

Gee, we hadn’t noticed

• Barney Frank said Democrats are “trying on every front to increase the role of government.”
• Hillary Clinton told Pakistani leaders “We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move”

At least they’re finally telling the truth!

Obama’s Chicago

Obama made a big deal about how he was a community organizer in Chicago. Okay, super. Let’s look at some of the recent headlines from the Windy City, and see if this is where we want America going:

• People Afraid To Come Out Of Their Homes
• Number Of Women Buying Handguns Increasing
• Rats! City to Pay for Informing on Tax Cheats
• 1 In 7 Girls At Robeson High School Got Pregnant
• Chicago City Government Closed For Business Monday, Due To Budget Constraints
• City seeks to solve $520M budget gap
• Chicago’s Bloody Weekend: Shooting Violence Off The Charts

Bang-up job, Barry!