Letters
Afraid for Our Country
December 21, 2009 By Michael Goodwin
We are losing the heart and soul that made America unique in human history.
I am a baby boomer, which is to say my life has coincided with turbulent and awesome times. From the Cold War to Vietnam, from Watergate to Monicagate, through the horrors of 9/11 and the stunning lifestyle advances, my generation’s era has been historic and exciting.
Yet for all the drama and change, the years only occasionally instilled in me the sensation I feel almost constantly now. I am afraid for my country.
I am afraid — actually, certain — we are losing the heart and soul that made America unique in human history. Yes, we have enemies, but the greatest danger comes from within.
Watching the freak show in Copenhagen last week, I was alternately furious and filled with dread. The world has gone absolutely bonkers and lunatics are in charge.
Mugabe and Chavez are treated with respect and the United Nations is serious about wanting to regulate our industry and transfer our wealth to kleptocrats and genocidal maniacs.
Even more frightening, our own leaders joined the circus. Marching to the beat of international drummers, they uncoupled themselves from the will of the people they were elected to serve.
President Obama, for whom I voted because I believed he was the best choice available, is a profound disappointment. I now regard his campaign as a sly bait-and-switch operation, promising one thing and delivering another. Shame on me.
Equally surprising, he has become an insufferable bore. The grace notes and charm have vanished, with peevishness and petty spite his default emotions. His rhetorical gifts now serve his loathsome habit of fear-mongering.
“Time is running out,” he says, over and again. He said it on health care, on the stimulus, in Copenhagen, on Iran.
Instead of provoking thought and inspiring ideas, the man hailed for his Ivy League nuance insists we stop thinking and do what he says. Now.
His assertion we will go bankrupt unless Congress immediately adopts the health monstrosity marks a new low. At least it did until he barged into a meeting in Copenhagen to insult the Chinese with the same do-it-now arrogance on carbon emissions.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s OK to insult the Chinese, but save it for an urgent life-and-death issue. Iran qualifies, with its plans for a nuclear arsenal, yet Obama has not pushed China on that issue with the fervor of his attacks on their dirty smokestacks.
Washington has its own freak show and it also features Big Government theocrats. One of the mainstream media myths is that the Democrat-on-Democrat attacks of late pit moderates against liberals.
Horse hockey. No person of conservative or moderate sensibility could possibly support a federal takeover of the massive health system.
That some who profess to be moderates have gone along, either out of fear or partisan loyalty or payoffs, only underscores the madness.
In fact, it is a myth the fight is over health care at all. It is a vulgar power dispute between liberals and extreme liberals, with health care a convenient portal for command-and-control of 17 percent of the economy.
It’s definitely not reform.
Notice how little Obama talks about sick people or medicine or suffering or any of the realities of illness and death. There is almost no mention of the moral dimension that supposedly animates the demand for universal coverage.
The public intuitively understands the con, which is why it prefers the flawed status quo. Voters tell pollsters by as much as 3-to-1 they think a federal takeover will cost them and the country more money and will produce more red tape instead of better care.
Yet, because power corrupts, and one-party rule corrupts absolutely, dissenters are considered heretics. Until the next election.
Meanwhile, Mother Nature delivered her verdict with yesterday’s blizzard in Washington. I am cheered by the thought that finally, hell has frozen over.
Unions feed as city bleeds
The disastrous decision by the City Council to kill a jobs-generating, $300 million development project in The Bronx was a scary sign of the rise of union power. But it’s not the only one.
Virtually every day brings fresh evidence of how unions and their captive politicians are taking New York down a destructive path.
Consider the slash-and-burn MTA service cuts, which include a plan to end free rides for hundreds of thousands of students. It’s no accident the decision, aimed at saving $400 million, comes as the agency is forced by the courts to pay raises of $300 million over two years.
At nearly 4 percent a year for each worker, the raises, first granted by a suspect arbitration process, mean the MTA’s first obligation is to a union-protection racket instead of to paying customers. To cut services while giving raises in a recession is insane.
Something similar is happening with schools. Gov. Paterson’s attempt to keep the state from running out of cash by delaying a fairly minor state-aid payment of $146 million was met with a lawsuit. The teachers union and some school boards claim he has no right to make the decision without legislative approval.
That would be the same Legislature that, when the union says jump, asks “how high.”
Paterson showed courage by also calling the lawsuit the selfish act it is.
“We’re supposed to get all the money and everybody else can just divide up the crumbs,” he said of the attitude behind the suit. “It’s clear to me they don’t care about anybody but themselves.”
The long-term impact of excessive union pandering is reflected by a Citizens Budget Commission study. Working with the Partnership for New York, it surveyed 52 large firms and found the city could save about $1.4 billion annually simply by providing the same health-insurance benefits as private firms.
Pension savings would be astronomical if the city could follow the private-market system of defined contributions instead of defined benefits.
Instead, it’s locked into exorbitant and outdated plans. Taxpayers this year alone are paying $10.4 billion for the health insurance of employees and retirees and pensions for current workers.
In short, the problem is bad and getting worse. Each and every day.
Michael Goodwin is a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor.
“You Scare” letter to the President
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 The writer of this article appears to have pretty decent credentials. He makes some wonderful points.
Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America ‘s true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world’s highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as “partnering.” Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama:
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America ‘ crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector. You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Lou Pritchett
TRUE – CHECK: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big surprise. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. It’s happening right now.
How’s this for apocalyptic literature? ..current events.
From: bud Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Prov. 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
How’s this for apocalyptic literature? This was written by a pastor’s wife in biblical prose as a commentary of current events. It is brilliant.
And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America, having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as “The One.”
He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, “I am sent to save you.” My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. I shall save you with hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who proceeded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed. And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what “The One” would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed. And “The One” said ” We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!”
And the people said, “Hallelujah! Change is good!”
Then He said, “We are going to tax the rich fat-cats.” And the people said “Sock it to them!” “And redistribute their wealth.” And the people said, “Show us the money!” And the he said, “redistribution of wealth is good for everybody.”
And Joe the plumber asked, “Are you kidding me? You’re going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??” And “The One” ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe’s personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, “Isn’t that Marxist policy?” And she was banished from the kingdom!
Then a citizen asked, “With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will deal with radical terrorists?” And “The One” said, “Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!” And the people said, “Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!”
Then “The One” said “I shall give 95% of you lower taxes.” And one, lone voice said, “But 40% of us don’t pay ANY taxes.” So “The One” said, “Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!” And the people said, “Hallelujah! Show us the money!”
Then “The One” said, “I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!” And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed. And He said, “I shall mandate employer-funded health care for every worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics.” And the people said, “Give me some of that!” Then he said, “I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.” And the people said, “Where’s my rebate check?”
Then “The One” said, “I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!” And the people said, “Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don’t care for that part about higher electric rates.” So “The One” said, Not to worry.. If your rebate isn’t enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with the ACORN and you troubles are over!”
Then He said, “Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let’s grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing…” And the people said, “Hallelujah!” and they made him King!
And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff.
The bank banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support..
Then “The One” said, “I am the “the One”- The Messiah – and I’m here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!” But our foreign trading partners said unto Him. “Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more…” And the world said, “Wait a minute. That is unfair!!” And the world said, “Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!”
And the people cried out, “Alas, alas!! What have we done?” But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon The One and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change “The One” had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed then and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.
And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, “give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!” But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.
You may think this a fairy tale, but it’s not. It’s happening RIGHT NOW.
The Obama White House a Year From Today |
|
| Here is the news. Dec. 10, 2010. One year into the future. What a difference a year makes.
— President Obama got tough today, issuing a stern warning to the government of Iran, which now has developed 10 nuclear warheads. “Develop anymore,” warned Obama, “and the U.S. will lead a motion before the United Nations calling for public censure.” Sources say that the White House is “actively considering” sanctions. — Speaking of Iran, Venezuala is now fully at war with Columbia and we are likely to be drawn in soon. It is no secret that Dictator Chavez is being supplied and supported by Iran and Russia and that they are in turn waging a proxy war against us, just as it has long been Venezuala’s intent to war with us by attacking our ally Coumbia. In a recent press conference, when questioned on this matter especially with regard to how we ignored for so long Chavez’s ramping up, the new Press Secretary simply stated “that’s just silly”. What’s really silly is that before Gibbs was replaced he used that same word 8762 times. — The president told a member of the press today that he is much closer to fully implementing his decision to send 30,000 troops to Afganistan since the Sept. 9, 2009, recommendation submitted by Gen. McChrystal that called for 60,000. He noted however that considering we’ve had more casualties in this last year than the entire duration of the war (attributable primarily due to telegraphing our every move to the enemy), he is now considering moving up the withdrawl date to January. — New healthcare guidelines announced today suggest that no medical procedure of any kind is warranted for persons over the age of 65. In a government study, death rates did not significantly increase for those who had no government healthcare compared to those who did. The HHS secretary predicted the findings could save trillions of dollars in wasted taxpayer money. Obama also issued a statement calling the potential savings “unprecedented”. — In a suprise announcement yesterday, it was disclosed that President Obama has officially handed over ownership of California to China and that Governor Swartzenager will stay in office although his title will now be changed to “Premier”. Shortly thereafter in a seperate press release, the President lauded about how he has reduced the national debt to now only 18 trillion. He also stated that the massive trade deficit has been reduced by .034%. Yes you’ve read this correctly. —The unemployment rate decreased slightly this month to 23.1 percent. The Obama White House welcomed the news and said that it was further evidence of a recovering economy. — Home values increased slightly this month to 43.2 percent of pre 2008 numbers. The Obama White House welcomed the news and said that it was further evidence of a recovering housing market. — White House records now show that the Obama administration has created 311 million new jobs since the passage of its Stimulus Program. This amounts to 5 million jobs more than the entire population of the country? —The trials of KSM and his associates in NYC are not going well. With daily chicanery from their defense attorneys causing delay after delay and unending riots causing chaos, somethings got to give. The new Attorney General, who recently voiced his frustration over “what the hell Holder was thinking”, is seriously contemplating transferring them back to Gitmo. In the meantime billionaire Mayor Bloomberg, sometimes referred to as the King of NY, says that if something isn’t done to stop the ensuing fiancial crisis, he may have to take that title for real and buy the city to save it from bankruptcy. — On a more upbeat note, an independent Washington DC think tank study has just concluded that the polar bear population has increased again for the 12th straight year. — After being soundly trounced in the recent elections, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have finally made public appearances. They have both indicated that they will spend the coming months publishing a book. Although it’s certainly likely they’ll be able to find someone to publish it, it’s not so clear that they’ll be able to sell enough copies to cover the cost of production. No matter to us, it’s highly unlikely they’ll qualify under Obama’s new Personal Bailout Program. — Jon Stewart of the daily show announced this morning that Al Gore has finally agreed to make an appearance on his show. Stewart won the Nobel prize a couple months ago after such a successful comedy routine in which he had the whole world laughing about “Gore’s Global Warming hoax coming undone by the very Internet he invented”. Reportedly Gore agreed to appear in order to promote his book he wrote while in prison titled “No matter how much the world warms, jail cells are still cold”. — Speaking of actors, it was announced yesterday that a remake of Rainman is being released. Instead of Dustin Hoffman playing the part, former Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner will be playing himself. — New reports from ICE indicate that the illegal immigration problem has been drastically improved. With the combination of the US dollar now being worth no more than the Mexican Peso, and the fact that inflation is ever increasing, millions have left on their own. As for the ones that remain, many of them are either in prison or in MS13 gangs, primarily concentrated in and around Los Angeles, where martial law was declared a few months back. Between them killing off each other, and the new and improved Chinese LAPD, their numbers are starting to dwindle. — A school district in Colorado and one in Florida were told to up the number of gay students in its classrooms or see an end to all government-funded programs including school lunches. The U.S. Justice Department has made the districts test cases for enforcing the new version of the Hate Crimes Bill. — Although gas prices have doubled in the last several months, there remains a moratorium on domestic drilling. The White House insists they cannot address drilling and other energy production matters until resolving the still stalled Cap N Trade bill. Unfortunately, after the discovery of another 26,000 fraudulent global warming emails bringing the total to well over 100,000, the bill has suffered major delays. — Speaking of climate, we are now officially in the throes of the coldest winter in recent memory. Industry all across the Northern U.S. are realing from the cold. In a joint statement from the Manufacturers Association it was stated that while they are complying with the new EPA rules they don’t have enough money left to afford to heat their facilities. — The Fox News Channel was issued a warning from the FCC for publicly revealing the religion of the killer in the Boynton Beach bombing episode. FCC Chairman Mohammed Isamaren reminded the media that “bigotry of any kind is intolerable in our society and religious bigotry is the most reprehensible of all.” — Putin is once again the Czar of Russia and a couple of days ago it was learned that the KGB has been fully restored. The only question that remains is how badly they will exploit our lack of missle defense in allied European neighbors. — Iraq and Syria formally announced their new alliance. The basic details are; that the Syrians will return all WMD materials Saddam turned over to them to hide before the U.S.-Iraq war, in exchange for Bagdads’ assurances that it will protect Damascus from Israel. You may recall that a couple months ago Israel bombed Syria again destroying another one of their non-existent chemical weapon plants. In other news: Sarah Palin finished the 400th day of her book tour, signing copies for 25,000 fans in Kokomo, Ind., who waited hours in the rain for a chance to meet the former governor. Brett Favre announced his re-retirement from the NFL, again. Michael Moore, who has become so fat that he had to make special arrangements for transportation, has officially renounced his citizenship and relocated to Cuba, and his departure wasn’t without fanfare. Massive parades complete with live musical performances and fireworks were held at various locations. Moore didn’t attend however, apparently too bitter to enjoy himself over the fact that the revamped healthcare system won’t cover his obesity problems. After both loosing their jobs due to their network bankruptcies, Keith Olberman and Christopher “tickle up the leg” Matthews finally came out the closet and decided to leave the country. They have moved to one of the most liberal provinces in Canada and plan to be wed later this year. NBC announced that the new Jay Leno Show will debut next week in the 3 a.m. EST time slot and the old Jay Leno show will now aire in Dave Letterman’s old slot. Charlie Weis, head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, denied rumors that his 4-8 record had put his job in jeopardy. Said Weis, “I think people can see that we could easily have won 6 of those games and then we would be sitting here with a record of 10-2. But 4-8 is not good enough. It is not good enough for Notre Dame and it is not good enough for me.” |
|
