I Have To Do What?!??!

If the Health Care bill gets passed and changes aren't made are you aware that you will be forced to buy some sort of health insurance? Forced. Not asked, requested, or suggested. Forced. How do you feel about your government forcing you to do this? There's only a few things that our government forces it's citizens to do. Among them, obeying state and federal laws or you are fined and or jailed. Rob that bank, go to jail. Get a speeding ticket, pay the fine. Pay your taxes or get fined and jailed. Can the government make another law that forces you to buy health insurance?

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is wondering the same thing. He has directed his staff to investigate the legality of requiring people to either buy the insurance or face a penalty. According to the St Petersburg Times, McCollum said he has "grave concerns" about what he called a "living tax". "There are serious questions about whether a tax of this nature is constitutional". McCollum is asking his counterparts in other states to join his investigation.

Under the Senate bill, families that don't purchase insurance could be fined the greater of $2,250 or 2 percent of their taxable income.

Regardless of what your political views are do you really want our government forcing you to do something? Something that should be your own choice. You are required by law to have car insurance if you drive a car on our highways. But it's your choice not to own a car. You can own your home free and clear and if you do not to have it insured that's your choice. If you meet the legal requirements you can own a firearm or you can choose not to. If you want to go through life and not insure your health that should be your choice. If you want to pay for your medicine and doctor or hospital visits with your own money that's your choice.

That's what is needed in this country, more choices and less requirements. Less government control over our personal lives. Yes, we need laws and rules but they should be for the protection and benefit of all.

Sure I'll pay for health coverage but I should be able to choose to do it, not forced. You wear a seat belt when you drive and a helmet when you ride a motorcycle but it should be your choice. Make the right choices for yourself and your family, be nice to people and live your own life without having to depend on Big Brother.

The 'Nuge' Believes!

This is a short blog for the day. Ted says it all.  
Ted Nugent & The 2nd Amendment

Sleep Good At Night... "Our System Worked"!

When Janet Napolitano was interviewed on CNN's Sunday show "State of the Nation," she said, “One thing I want to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here. The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action.” She was referring of course to the failure of  the would be bomber (I don't even want to print his name and add to his fame by other terrorists) following his failure to bring down a flight just outside of Detroit on Christmas Day.

That is one of her most stupid statements to date. The system obviously did not work because if  it had worked the "passengers and crew of the flight" would not have had to take any "appropriate action"!

It took almost 24 hours for Secretary Napolitano to come up with a clarification of her shockingly stupid statement. The Obama robots scrambled come up with "It was taken out of context."

Obama backed Napolitano's analysis as correct, saying that "once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it's clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions." What actions were taken other than armed law enforcement taking the terrorist into custody AFTER the plane landed and he was subdued in flight?

"Everybody played an important role here," Napolitano said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action, within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the Northwest Airlines flight." Wow! They managed to notify ALL of the flights in the air somewhere between 60-90 minutes! How many of those had already landed? How many more flights were taking off after the incident and how far had they traveled before they received the notice? What special measures could they have taken after they were airbourne and their passengers "cleared" to fly? "Watch for smoke coming from someone's underwear"?

The terror suspect didn't "attempt" to attack the plane, he DID attack it and luckily he failed to reach his objective. That my friends WAS a terrorist attack.

Don't worry Obamabots, Janet Napolitano won't leave.If she were to resign, then the Obama administration will be in deeper do-do and more embarrassed than it already is.

As bad as the total failure of the national security system was to stop the terror attack looks now, it would look even worse if the secretary of Homeland Security resigns.  There are lots of reasons why Napolitano's leaving would be bad for the administration.


For one, Napolitano's resignation would remove any deniability for the failure to stop the attacker. I do feel that some of the blame deserves to be put on security in the Netherlands and Nigeria for failing to catch the suspect's explosives. Also, Napolitano is in hot water not because of a personal scandal  but rather because the department she runs failed to recognize the suspect as a threat and stop him from being allowed to fly to the U.S. If the scandal were personal, Napolitano could leave government and take the scandal with her.

The sad truth is that our federal government seems unable to protect us from being killed or attacked in large numbers and we wind up doing it ourselves. Airline passengers  have prevented airline attacks in progress for the third time! The Shoe Bomber's attempt, last week's attack over Detroit and Flight 93, the passengers of which prevented it from being bloodier than the terrorists intended.

Napolitano won't be fired of course, because she is a Cabinet official, which is important for two political reasons. If she goes, it would be the highest-profile resignation in the administration after a year of significant departures, including the White House counsel, the communications director, and one of the biggest scammers of all, Van Jones. And the most important reason: the administration would enter a long confirmation circus in the Senate that would give Republicans a chance to openly tear apart Democrats on national security at the start of an election year. Democrats won't want that battle at the start of the midterms by getting in a national security debate.

The White House knows all of this and it will do with Napolitano what it does with Joe Biden after his media blunders....it will hide her. Napolitano is here to stay, at least until the next attack that is hopefully thwarted by alert passengers or citizens. She can handle the job. She can do it all. Why else wouldn't there be a full-time person heading up the TSA? Who's in charge of making sure Grandma is stripped searched? (Besides Grandpa, that is).

America Has Given Up Its Beer!

I have something that has been bothering me quite some time. With all of our American owned businesses either moving their operations to foreign land or, even worse, selling out to a foreign company, it weighs on me more and more that pretty soon there won't be any American owned or American made products left. And that is so sad. We used to make products and start businesses here because it was part of the "American Dream". Of course the companies and stockholders wanted to make a profit but they also had pride in what they made. A high quality product at a fair price. But now it seems that the only goal of most companies is to see who they can sell themselves to at the highest price possible. Sure the American owners of these companies are getting filthy rich but they are also selling the rest of us out. Once they make their millions they could care less about what happens to their product or where its made.

To make my point, try and go one whole day without using any product that is made in another country. Most of you won't even be able to leave your home and start the day without using something not made in the U.S. Look at the labels on the pillows and sheets you just were using. Made in the USA? I doubt it. And the clothes and shoes you are getting ready to wear for the day...where were they made? How about the coffee maker and toaster you normally use?
Your blow-dryer, hair curler, razor, toothbrush, brush and comb? OK, let's say you made it out of the house without using anything foreign made. What type of car are you driving? An American made car you say? That's a good start but where were most of the small parts and electronics made? Mexico or Canada. But, hey, I'll let you have credit for that since at least the profits stay on American soil. Forget the telephone, computer, printer, television, radio, MP3 player, iPod, cell phone, etc. All foreign made. I could go on and on but you get the point. Most everything we use is either foreign made or, if it is made here, foreign owned. And forget having a beer for lunch!

Which brings me to my real point of writing this. Almost all the beer you drink is not made by an American owned brewery! Yes, all that beer at a baseball or football game is foreign owned. Even with names like, "American Ale" or "Red, White and Blue" and with a beautifully adorned label of an American eagle, they are foreign owned. Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Pabst, Stroh's, all sold out to foreign companies. And I quit buying them! It is my "last straw", my first foothold in my stance against buying foreign owned or made products.

OK, I can hear you now, screaming that I don't practice what I preach. Of course, like everyone else I am forced to buy and use foreign made/owned products. But when there are options to buy entirely, or mostly made US products I try to choose them. I buy only American "made" cars, while knowing that some of the parts are not made here. I do read labels and try to buy American made clothes (almost impossible). I do pick the product that is American made if I have the choice. And when it comes to beer, I have a choice. If you thought the beer you are drinking was American owned because you grew up knowing that it was, you better do some research. Almost ALL of the beer you drink is foreign owned. Just Google the brand you drink and you will find it's true owner. In a blog written by Travis Daub for ForeignPolicy.com, he writes:

Coors, Miller, and now Anheuser-Busch are all owned by foreign conglomerates. So where can a patriotic guy find an all-American brew these days? Believe it or not, Pabst Brewing Company is now the largest American-owned brewer. But Pabst doesn't even brew its own beer anymore. All 29 Pabst beers, from Schlitz, to Lone Star to Colt 45 to the legendary Pabst Blue Ribbon are outsourced to SAB Miller, based in South Africa. Next on the list comes Boston Beer Company, which counterintuitively bottles its famous Sam Adams lager in Pennsylvania. Third is D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc., known far and wide as America's oldest brewery, operating in Pottsville, PA since 1829. Here's the full list of America's top American-owned breweries according to the Brewer's Association: 1. Pabst Brewing Co. 2. Boston Beer Co. 3. D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc. 4. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. 5. New Belgium Brewing Co. Inc. 6. High Falls Brewing Co. 7. Spoetzl Brewery 8. Widmer Brothers Brewing Group 9. Redhook Ale Brewery 10. Pyramid Breweries Inc

So, you see, they are all gone. And let me say that I would remove Pabst from that list! They may still be an American owned beer company but they outsource ALL of their beer to Miller, a South African owned company. My list would start with the Boston Beer Co. and Yuengling and stop! I consider them the only two mostly nationwide beer companies. Yes, there are dozens and dozens of smaller breweries as mentioned in Daub's list including all the micro-brewers in the US, but I consider Boston Beer & Yuengling the two largest and oldest of them all. And that's the only beer I buy!

You're starting to yell at me again aren't you? I said "buy". If I'm at a function or offered a beer at someone's house and it's not "American owned" I don't offend the host by not drinking it nor do I go off on a torrent about it being a foreign owned beer hiding behind an American made label. I accept it and drink it but I usually will politely ask if they have any "American beer". Once they smile and say that their beer is an American beer I give them a 25-word or less synopsis of why it is not. Of course they usually wander off with an attempt at a smile and they don't seem to offer me another beer the rest of the evening.

So there you have it. Another American product that sold out. I'm really afraid to go to the grocery now and read the label of an apple pie.....

Let's Control Our Gas Prices!

Be sure to check out my Facebook group page, "Don't Buy Gas From Exxon/Mobil". I'm not a huge fan of facebook but it is a method to get my views off my chest and my messages out there. Not that anyone really cares what I think. But it gives me satisfaction and sometimes makes me appear to glow. I won't go into detail here about the group but the name just about says it all. Join if you agree and pass it along to your friends and family. If you disagree I think Exxon will send you a free $1000 gift card. Your choice.