The Pursuit of Control

Bailouts, take overs, health care reform, instead of allowing Congress to continue to do whatever they want with the goal of getting it all done before they have to start campaigning for the 2010 elections, lets be very clear on our new set of expectations. We can call it a taxpayer bailout or a congressional reform plan. Whatever we call it, we need to remind the people in Washington who their bosses are. I’ve got a few reform ideas to begin with, but I’m open to adding more, let me know what you think.

1. Read the bill and allow the public the opportunity to read the bill.

This seems simple enough, and it would solve several problems. Our representatives in congress, according to John Conyers, aren’t intelligent enough to read the bills the way they are written now, so making this a rule might force them to shorten the bills and stop filling them with legalize and double-talk that can be interpreted to fit the needs of the bill’s sponsors while allowing them to say something different. On a side note, this would have prevented the Joe Wilson incident as well. It would also give the public the opportunity to read the bill and tell their representatives what they think about it, which is exactly what the representatives are trying to avoid, but remember, we run the show, not them.

2. One issue, one bill.

HR3221 is the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. This bill invests a bunch of money in college grants and gives a couple billion dollars to promote segregation (it gives money to black colleges and universities and minority serving universities), but the bill also cuts off funding to ACORN… huh? I understand it is faster to add it in as an amendment to an existing bill, but what if a representative wants to vote for one, but not the other. OOOHHHHH, it was intended to be like that, I get it. One bill, one issue. Writing a bill cutting off ACORN funding wouldn’t take long, just write a new bill, allow the public time to comment, and vote based on the opinions of your constituents, sounds simple enough.

3. Speak when spoken to.

Did anyone catch Sheila Jackson Lee spending taxpayer dollars to lobby against Rush Limbaugh in his efforts to become a minority owner in an NFL franchise? Don’t do this crap. You are a Representative in the United States Congress, elected by the people to perform the duties of the public. Using the floor of the House of Representatives to blatantly attack a private citizen because you do not agree with his political views is grossly negligent and there should be no place for this in our country. You are a public representative shaping the laws of our country, you are not a private citizen. If you would like to speak your mind do it on your time outside of the House.

Elaborating on the last point there, I think this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue amongst our elected officials in this country. I understand that a certain amount of ego is involved when running for any political position in most cases, but these politicians are ‘hired’ by taxpayers to do a very specific job. We have allowed them to make a mockery of the halls of Congress and take on issues that they have no business addressing. The truth is, as congress men and women, you are subject to public scrutiny, that is your job. You, though, have a moral obligation to represent the people of the country to the best of your and have no right to use the publicity available to you to attack private citizens or get involved in issues beyond the scope of your work. If you want to address those individuals and issues, you have every right to do so outside of the halls of Congress, but you should still refrain.

Today becoming elected to congress is a great stepping stone towards wealth and notoriety. It wasn’t intended to be this way. Our founders intentions were to fill Congress with those willing to make a sacrifice for the greater good. Our congress men and women were to be moral and just. They were not intended to be rewarded financially for their service, instead they were to serve to better our country. George Washington nearly went broke while serving his country, but he served with honor.

Congress, be honorable, act as though you are adults, representing the people of the greatest country our world has ever witnessed.

Please, stop the madness.

I propose some of the ‘moderate’ Republicans in the House and Senate do everyone a favor and either pull a Specter and join the Democrat party or create your own party. If you choose the latter, let me be the first to suggest a new name, the Democrapublican party. It has a ring to it, doesn’t it?! Just like my suggested founders, this new name is filled with crap.

Let’s get to those founders. Might I propose that the first members of the Democrapublican party include Olympia Snowe, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins.  Calling yourselves Republicans is ridiculous. Stop hiding behind bipartisanship when what you’re voting on is in no sense a moderate issue. Olympia and Susan, this health care takeover is simply a entitlement program aimed at making more and more people dependent on the government and redistributing wealth. Run the other way. Voting for a plan that looks anything like the bill being proposed by Max Baucus is Republican suicide… but maybe that’s what you want. Lindsey, cap and tax? Seriously?! Amnesty? Go away. The democrapublicans would love you.

In fact, if I hear another person say ‘I’m a conservative, but I voted for Obama’ I’m going to tell they them to join the Democrapublican party as well. Statements like this are ludicrous. Does anyone think before they speak? Obama is the most liberal politician to ever call the white house home and you’re saying that you’re a conservative, but you think voting for hope and change is better than ANY alternative?? Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

If these people are Republicans, then I am definitely not.

Apparently in Albany, Oregon some people find the flag of the United States of America offensive. This according to a story from KATU News about an apartment manager that threatened eviction to some residents if they refused to remove the Stars & Stripes from their apartments and even cars and motorcycles!

Forget the legal aspect to this. I don’t know what kind of legal right there is to request a resident to not fly a flag, especially on their personal vehicle that is parked in the apartment complex lot, but forget whether or not they have any legal standing, instead try to comprehend the fact that someone in Albany, Oregon doesn’t think the flag of the United States of America should be flown because it may offend some people… really let that sink in.

Has it really come to this? What kind of people live in this country? If you live in the United States and the flag that represents this country is offensive to you… MOVE! No one is forcing you to live here. If you don’t respect the symbols of the United States of America, go somewhere else, but to think that the flag is offensive to some people that live here is scary.

The level of stupidity this person exhibited is utterly shocking! The story says that the apartment management wouldn’t comment on the request to remove the flags, but I’m sure that someone, at this point, has come to their senses and realizes the mistake they made in hiring the person decided to tell residents they couldn’t fly their US flags. Well, I’m hoping that is the case… I’m really, really hoping that is the case.

To be fair, the apartment manager didn’t discrimate against the US flag, the complex said that no flags are to be flown, regardless of their symbolic significance, as if that makes it a reasonable request.

Wow.

UPDATE: According to KVAL News, Barb Holcomb, the apartment complex employee that put the flag ban in place, has since lifted that ban due to legal concerns. The articles says that Holcomb didn’t believe she had the right to ban the flags, though the ACLU told KVAL News that there wasn’t any law preventing the apartment complex from banning the flags… big surprise. The best part comes at the very end of the article when Holcomb describes the individual that went to the media regarding the ban:

“He’s just a romping, stomping patriot,” Holcomb said.

Dear President Obama,

I know that you and your friends in Washington aren’t familiar with the concept, but you should all try telling the truth.  I don’t mean tell the truth sometimes, when it fits your agenda, I mean all the time, just be honest.

You say you want competition in the healthcare industry, but before you were president you said that you support a single payer healthcare system and the rumors are you are pushing a public option plan behind closed doors.

You promised to be the most transparent administration in this country’s history, yet you surround yourself with ’special advisors’ that aren’t subjected to senate approval and that have, at best, questionable backgrounds.

You said illegal aliens wouldn’t receive health care coverage in the proposed healthcare reform bill, but the bill says the stipulation denying them benefits won’t be enforced.

You said Afghanistan is the war we should be fighting, but you won’t do what it takes to win it. In fact you won’t even let some testify in front of Congress so that the American people might hear what they have to say.

You said the stimulus bill is working to save jobs, yet we continue to hemorrhage jobs every month and some say we are heading for a terrible ‘double-dip’ recession.

President Obama, I know that those on both sides of the aisle have difficulties in telling the public what they really think, but not many are as shameless in their lies as you. Your approval rating has dipped below 50%. It seems like every time you get up and speak about healthcare reform another lie is uncovered, another point drops off of your approval rating and more and more people change the channel. Despite your efforts to mask your true beliefs we’ve all seen them. They can be found in the words of Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones and Valerie Jarrett and they can be found in speeches you’ve made to unions and community organizations.

President Obama, the truth can set you free, and whether you decide to grow up and be honest with the American people or not, in 2012, the truth will set us free.

In typical Nancy Pelosi fashion, when asked about the possibility of a value-added tax on PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show” Pelosi said “I would say, put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny it deserves.”

Is this really surprising? Has Nancy Pelosi ever met a tax she didn’t like? No. This is expected, what made this a true Nancy Pelosi moment was her rationalization for the VAT.

Nancy said companies that import cars are at an advantage because they don’t have the burden of healthcare and pension costs built into their vehicles, their respective VAT’s pay for those things for them.

Nancy’s argument only comes close to making sense if all of the auto workers in the US were moved to some sort of public option and their pensions were entirely government funded, so what is Nancy really saying?

This doesn’t have anything to do with a VAT. This has everything to do with bloated, out of control union deals that drive up the cost of vehicles. The argument for a VAT is simply ridiculous and will end up driving up costs on everything from a new car to a gallon of milk. It’s irresponsible and ignorant to say that a VAT would make our auto industry more competitive and would in some way be better for the American people.

This is just a backwards way of taxing the American people while being able to not calling it a tax on the middle-class. Instead it would simply drive up the cost of goods and services and wouldn’t ever show up on your sales receipt.

No wonder congressional approval is plummeting!

Pelosi makes some other interesting comments in the entirely too long interview, if you’re looking for a headache watch this:

http://charlierose.http.internapcdn.net/charlierose/100509LOW.wmv

Welcome to The Pursuit of Control. Our goal in developing this blog is to tell the world how the majority of Americans really think. We believe in the principles put in place by those that founded the United States of America. We’re opposed to big government, 1000 page bills in congress and out of control spending, no matter what the party affiliation.

The Declaration of Independence declares life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness inalienable rights of man, granted not by the government, but by our creator.

Today our government is trying to redefine those rights. Their desperate and shameless pursuit of control is destroying the United States of America that our founding fathers worked so hard to create.

The endless parade of new spending does nothing but create a population dependent on the state. Teaching a man to pursue happiness will go much further than providing happiness in the form of government entitlements.

Lets stand up. Voice your opinion, let your politicians know how you feel. Find common ground with your neighbors, friends and co-workers and work together towards a common goal of returning our country to a government that is by the people and for the people.

Should we fail to protect our rights our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness will be overtaken by lies, lawmakers and the pursuit of control.