Remember my post on May 19 of this year? I told everyone that that was exactly the day that the Obama Administration took its sharp left turn full throttle and began to look like Soviets. Only a handful of you believed me on the significance of that day.

I told you that three things were emerging from the administration that should scare to death any good American who knows about the old USSR menace. Those were OHFA—Obama healthcare for America, GM—Government Motors, and GPOU—Government Political Opposition Unit. 

It’s no coincidence that GPOU shares initials with GOP. GPOU is my name for those individuals in the Obama Administration whose job it is to silence or marginalize anyone who even gives a whiff of dissent from the Government’s party line. Most recently, that target has been FOX News.

GPOU operatives like David Axelrod and Anita Dunn made official the war on FOX by passing over the network for various interviews and by calling them “opponents” or the “communications arm of the Republican Party.”

To the credit of all of the major networks, when the White House tried to bar FOX from a roundtable interview of the new “Executive Pay Czar,” ABC, CNN, NBC, and CBS all threatened a boycott of the interview until FOX was allowed in as well. Stories from even the New York Times and the Washington Post have illustrated the absurdity of the War on FOX (articles below).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/10/obamas_dumb_war_with_fox_news.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/us/politics/23fox.html?_r=1

In typical far-Left ideological fashion, the First Amendment freedom of the press applies only when the press is friendly to leftist goals. Thankfully, this doesn’t look like it will stand, and the administration will unwind itself if it begins to look as though the GPOU is in full swing.

However, should leftist voices prevail and FOX is marginalized—if anything, the opposite is happening, FOX’s ratings are jumping even higher than they were before the GPOU took aim—then we will see an end to freedom.

I will close with some words from a man who, in your heart, you know was right.

“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.”

            I’d like to congratulate our president for his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, and for his astounding and earth-shattering achievements in the field of world peace.

            In that same spirit, I will now accept your praises and gifts for my outstanding achievements in the field of shaping the global political debate.

            Not buying it? Good. We’re getting somewhere.

            All that the president has really done is talk. A lot. And while talking is wonderful, it does not amount to achievement. I operate a blog—which, by the way, may have recently earned a second or third regular reader—and write for a college newspaper. I also rant to anyone who will listen. I’ve influenced a few minds, I’m sure. But if someone were to tell me that I’ve won an award for my work, I’d respond with the sentence, “Put the damn bong down, you pinhead!”

            President Obama has been in office for nine months. He has talked about closing Gitmo, but keeps pushing the deadline back. He talked about pulling us out of Iraq, but troops won’t be off the ground until at least 2012. He nixed the missile defense shield in Europe, but that was only in the planning stages anyway. No actual action was required. So I must ask, when did great oratory and lofty goals amount to actual accomplishment?

            What has the president done in the international stage? He has snubbed our allies and cozied up to our enemies, such as Hugo Chavez. All this tells me is that the president is very confused. It does not tell me that he has made strides or steps or even stumbles toward a greater, lasting peace in the world.

            Perhaps, had he accomplished something, the president might have earned the Nobel Peace Prize a couple of years into his term, but not nine months into his term.

            I am not saying that the president will never deserve recognition, but I am saying that he doesn’t deserve it yet. Let’s wait until something of substance actually gets done, then, we’ll talk. But for now, I think that the Nobel Peace Prize has just reached a point of negative value.

My regular readers know that it must be an extreme state of affairs when I am forced to utter the following:

Today, I am more proud of Canada than I am of the United States.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/23/canada-boycott-ahmadinejad-unclear-join/

Fox News reports that Canada will be boycotting the speech to be given at the UN by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Citing Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semitic views and anti-Israel policy stances, Canada says that their seats will be empty.

Well, God bless the Canadian delegation on this one. They have made a bold statement and will not allow the vitriolic sentiments directed against the only thoroughbred ally of freedom in the Middle Eastern world: Israel. Canada will stand by her friends.

Not so for the US. Apparently, in addition to the Obama Administration’s soft-line defense of Israel and willingness to talk to the Iranian regime, they feel the need to lend credence to Ahmadinejad by sitting like patient schoolchildren while the dictator rambles on—likely defending his country’s “right” to pursue nuclear weapons and denying the Holocaust. Does it really take a Canadian to have the courage to skip class that day?

America is better than this. Through the years, our truest allies have consistently been Britain and Israel, and more and more it seems that the Obama Administration is selling them both up the river in a Chamberlainian streak of mass appeasement. Rather than tell the new Hitler that he’s a worthless little scumbag, let’s all grant him everything he wants and, hopefully, he’ll just settle down. Yeah, because that theory worked so well before WWII.

Even Germany has vowed to walk out on the Iranian psychopath… er… president, should he begin to even hint at saying something, well, in-character.

So the tally is three nations: Israel, Canada, and Germany who will all stand up and send a powerful message to the international community. But America will, apparently, continue on its path of apology. This is a stupid move, Mr. President and Madame Ambassador; defending liberty and standing for freedom is what our country does. It is never something to be ashamed of or to hide.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/23/obama-world-dont-expect-america-fix/

Good job, Mr. President. Stand against one of America’s best allies. This is a dark day for America; this is the day we stood with despotism over democracy.

If the current Administration loves liberty, hates tyranny and is willing to stand up for justice, then Susan Rice and the rest of the US Delegation will all be fully absent from the rantings of this madman.

President Obama and the Democrats, in hopes of passing a new version of the healthcare bill, have altered the “public option”—a government-run healthcare plan that would essentially decimate the insurance market—and replaced it with a “trigger option.”

The new “trigger option” would create a public option system only in those areas where one insurance company has a virtual monopoly over the local industry. For example, in a region of Alabama, there is more or less only one major health insurance company, so if people want insurance, they are all but forced to go through this company. Thus, the free market has failed in these regions and government interjection would appear to help with the quasi-monopoly situation. I like this idea, to a point.

Don’t get me wrong, government intervention is almost never the way to go, but, if this “trigger” plan were to set up government health care companies and provide them with some sort of path to privatization, then we could see the shot in the arm that the healthcare industry that Americans seem to want, without the possibility of a government takeover. More specifically, rather than Congress simply making a healthcare plan, Congress would launch a healthcare company, which, after a couple of years, would be allowed to enter the private market and to “cut the cord” from its mother, the Government.

This would, however, only be effective if, as yet another option, incentive-based, privately-owned health savings accounts were brought into the picture. Because, let’s face it, not everyone wants health insurance. John Stossel recently did a piece on ABC’s 20/20 that illustrated that people who do not buy health insurance actually save money over those who do buy insurance.

Now, here’s why the vision articulated above will not see the light of day anytime soon: first, the Democrats are split over whether or not to include a government option of any sort to begin with. While most, if not all Republicans are firmly in the “no” camp, there isn’t enough agreement to move forward. Second, the Democrats will never agree to a path to privatization because they fundamentally distrust the free market. Which is a shame, because what I have here is exactly the compromise that would save this debate.

There seems to be some controversy brewing regarding the President’s upcoming address to schoolchildren tomorrow. Having read the speech (link below courtesy Yahoo! News), I can honestly say that I don’t understand the problem.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090907/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_school_speech_text

Agree with him politically or not, Barack Obama is the President of the United States. That, in itself, deserves our respect, regardless of how vehemently we may disagree with his policies.

The speech, at its most basic, calls on students to work hard and to stay in school. It reminds children that they have a duty to their Nation to work hard and to succeed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, hard work and self-reliance are pillars of conservative philosophy. So why would some criticize this speech?

The answer is simple: there are elements of the Republican Party and of the conservative movement that will fight against absolutely anything the President does, regardless of how benign the action may be. This is dangerous.

For starters, America can’t miss the Republican Party if we’re never really gone. There are times when we should simply nod and give silent support to our President. This is one such time. If we waste our energy balking at every single little move the President makes, then we sound reactionary. We are better than that.

Second, we want leaders to address schoolchildren. It’s important for kids to feel somehow connected to their government, otherwise they will grow up to think that they have no stake in America’s wellbeing.

I, for one, am glad that America’s students will be listening to the President tomorrow. I remember a girl on my high school newspaper remarking to me about how much more she liked then-President Bush when she had a chance to hear him speak, rather than listen to analysts dissect his words. It is a fact that people feel more connected when they have the chance to listen to people like the President tell them that what they’re doing is important.

I fully support this simple decision by the President. And I hope that he—and other elected officials—takes the time to talk to American youth more often.

So apparently, everyone who asks a tough question of one of our elected Congressional Democrats is a part of some vast right-wing conspiracy. Yeah. Sure. Haven’t we been on this ride before?

What amazes me is that the Dems seem intent on claiming that those who are critical of the Obamacare proposals are right-wing nut jobs that think that the President wasn’t really born in America. Don’t see the connection? Me neither. But that doesn’t stop Liberals from calling opponents of the healthcare bill “loons” or from both sides alternating calling each other “fascists.” Constructive, no?

Here are the points I want to make:

1 – The purpose of a town hall-style meeting is for congressmen and senators to listen to the people. So how does this fit? We’ve got congressmen shouting down anyone who voices opposition at these meetings:

            http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8364201

2 – When the Dems try to draw a line connecting the town hall dissenters and the dopes that doubt the President’s citizenship, do they really think that they’re accomplishing anything? True: 25% of the GOP doubts that President Obama is a natural-born US citizen. But the following is also true: 33% of Democrats believe that George W. Bush had a hand in plotting 9/11. Seriously, folks: there are crazies on both sides. Let it go. These are the people who live in their own little world and would not listen to reason if their lives depended on it. Debate the rational people, and let the crazies twist in the wind. I’m a college student from Chicago; I know better than most that there exists a multitude of ignoramuses who will not listen to anything anyone says unless it fits their ideology.

I have a plan for the Republican Party. This is wild; you’re going to love it. Are you ready for this: we all shut up about healthcare. Seriously. Let the Dems drive themselves into the ground. They will pass a healthcare bill. With such a grotesque majority in Washington, it’s unavoidable. Americans know that Republicans hate this bill with visceral passion, as does most of America. When the Democrats spend every bit of their political capital on this bill, then we will take back America. We won’t see the Obamacare machine exist for long. It will flop within a couple of months and Democrats themselves will dismantle the machine, effectively saying, “Republicans were right.” When that happens, we will have no shortage of people shouting, “I told you so!”

So, in summary: the bill (or some version of it) will pass. But America will not live under Obamacare for any substantive length of time.

AS most of my readers know, we’re presently in a saber-rattling bout with the North Korean regime over their desire to construct nuclear weapons. For those who were unaware, the story can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_nkorea

For what it’s worth, I don’t disagree with President Obama here. We cannot allow an unstable man like Kim Jong-Il to obtain nuclear weapons capability. This would be a danger to democracy and liberty everywhere, particularly in Japan, America, and, most notably, South Korea.

In other news, Senators McCain and Lieberman have introduced a resolution demanding that America—and, of course, the president—take a harder line in defense of the people of Iran, who are calling for a free and fair election for their president. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently claimed a landslide victory in the Iranian presidential elections. Of course, he never bothered to count the votes. The story is below:

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48753851-senators-lieberman-mccain-on-iran-resolution#

All of this sounds awfully familiar. Where could we have possibly heard that Iran and North Korea would become a severe problem and an amalgamated threat to freedom before the close of the decade?

“Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction.  Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th.  But we know their true nature.  North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.

Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.  The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade.  This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens -- leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children.  This is a regime that agreed to international inspections -- then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”

Oh, that’s right. This came from President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, otherwise known as the “Axis of Evil” speech. Bush was criticized as a “warmonger” and was absolutely lambasted in the liberal media for saying the above. He was charged with foreign policy ineptitude in the court of public opinion, and the Left said that he was full of nonsense.

Now, here we are, seven years later, and those same people on both the Left and the Right are left saying everything except the one concise phrase that sums up the whole situation: “Oops. I guess Bush was right.”

Readers, a couple weeks ago, I posted a blarticle that begged the question, “Why is it that we only notice that someone was right after it’s already too late?” Here, America did just that. Former President Bush said something that nobody wanted to hear, something that nobody wanted to admit, and something that nobody wanted to face. And he turned out to be right on the money.

It is literally saddening to me, but I’m certain that within a span of a couple of months, President Obama will give his own version of the “Axis of Evil” speech. It will be watered down. There will be little or no mention of weapons of mass destruction. The language will likely not use charged words like “evil” or “axis;” that is Republican language. But the overall message will be the same: North Korea and Iran are threats to liberty and to democracy. The world will not be safe with these regimes in power. And President Obama will be hailed as a visionary for his speech. He will be called “bold,” and “incisive.” And the media will drown him in wet, sloppy kisses.

But all the while, thinking Americans will be left with three immortal words on their lips. Three words that will pain many Americans and humiliate many more.

“Bush was right.”

“Pay no attention to the Government behind the curtain…”

This has been the essence of the Democratic Party’s stance on Federally run health care for some time now. And it was also the essence of the case that President Obama tried to make while visiting our mutual hometown of Chicago, today.

For starters, thinking Americans already know that Federal labor law requires employers to offer some sort of healthcare coverage to full-time employees. So, if you’re working full-time and do not have healthcare coverage for your family, it’s your own fault for not knowing your rights as a worker.

This will not, however, stop the march of Big Government. President Obama promises that he will allow you to keep your private insurance. Sure. What the Left is failing to tell you is that the Obama Healthcare plan will be the de facto death of private insurance because employers will buy the cheapest healthcare plans for their employees. When the Government becomes that lowest bidder, all full-time employees will be on Government healthcare.

The second point that the Left ignores—and banks on your ignorance of—is the fact that it is 100% illegal for a hospital or health care provider to deny care and service to a patient based on his or her inability to pay. This is how the homeless, the illegal aliens, and the unemployed have managed to secure healthcare in spite of their lack of insurance. And make no mistake: the taxpayer foots the bill. To be clear, this writer has no problem with this law, and I’m willing to call this a responsible use of taxpayer money. But the left is exploiting the fact that so few members of the middle class, upper middle class, and upper class know about these laws. Ta-daa! The left has created an instant sympathy group—the uninsured Americans. As long as you don’t notice those pesky laws that the Left hopes you don’t know about.

What we’re seeing here is another failure in education. People need to know about the laws that already exist to protect them. If ignorance of the law is no excuse for committing a crime, then why is ignorance an excuse for a voting pattern? People need to wake up and look at the world around them before subscribing to the dishonest propaganda of the Left. When it comes to healthcare, America has been covered for some time. The Obama Healthcare Plan amounts to one thing: a power grab that will topple even more Constitutional freedoms in the false name of “saving a victim.” But, as usual, the victim that the Left is claiming to fight for doesn’t really exist.

This whole situation is like that scene from The Wizard of Oz; we have but to peer around the flashy lights, puffs of smoke, and special mirrors to see what lies behind the curtain: a Big Government that is already pulling all the strings.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-18-auto-emissions_N.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSN1943363120090519

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/18/feehery.health/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-calls-for-an-extrem_b_204903.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/19/cafferty.bush.administration/index.html

Looking at these stories IN ORDER:

• · The Government will now force car companies to build smaller, more “energy efficient” cars that Americans have proven time and again that they do not want, effectively forcing Obama’s preferred products onto the consumer.
• · The Government is on the verge of buying General Motors, thus socializing America’s largest car company. How long will it be before the Government begins imposing regulations on car companies that have the gall to oppose Government Motors?
• · The Obama Healthcare plan, which again pits the Government against the free market by “competing” with the existing private companies, will soon be underway. This will eventually kill those private companies because Government insurance will simply always cost less—unless you count the enormous bill that taxpayers will be funding until my great-grandchildren are eligible for public office (I am currently 18 years old).
• · The Government is calling for a “culture” that resists personal success in favor of “collective success” (my words, a paraphrase of the President). In other words: let’s destroy the free market in favor of a system that meets some bureaucrat’s arbitrary idea of “fairness.”
• · The Loony Left is honestly considering prosecuting Bush-era officials over simply having different policies than the current Administration. Let’s ignore the fact that Bush-era policies kept America safe for the 7 years following 9/11, and thwarted over 40 planned terrorist attacks, thereby saving thousands of lives or more.

Put it all together, and what do we get?

“Nobody panic! We have a new flu strain that we can’t figure out, and it could kill you. But do not panic!”

Such is the message of the media. Let’s ignore the obvious hypocrisy of the media’s hysteria-mongering, and look at where the “emergency” and “pandemic” directives are coming from: the CDC and Washington DC.

It is my belief that the CDC and the Obama Administration will quickly turn the Swine Flu panic into a political ploy; they will soon declare a “state of emergency” over the new flu and use this as an excuse to nationalize hospitals nationwide. Congratulations, Mr. President: you have found a way to do the abhorrent: steal liberty and curtail quality healthcare all in the name of security.

Why else would Washington be pushing this story so hard? The Democrats want a panic so that we can glide quietly from “pandemic” to “state of emergency”—for the record, the swine flu should be classified as neither—and the Government’s power-grab will appear to be the noble spirit of heroism in the form of working to control a bad situation. Leave it to the liberal media and an ultra-liberal White House to create pandemonium to move towards a power grab.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is already going public to tell Illinois citizens that “we’re all in this together.” Sure, Governor. With your record, I don’t have any reason at all to distrust you.

Listen readers, I’m not a big conspiracy theorist. I just know how to think like a miserable, mean-spirited opportunist. In other words, I get politicians. I know that fear like this is a huge, gaping opportunity for a big government power grab. Much like citizens are willing to cede rights and liberties during wartime, when fear is rampant and alarmism reigns, the liberals in power are hoping that this health “pandemic” will give them the excuse they need to federalize power over healthcare.

This is the sort of thing that we must always be on the lookout for, readers. Attacks on liberty will always come in the face of what appears to be a threat so large that citizens will be unable to defend themselves. People: we are talking about the flu. Panic will solve absolutely nothing. America can handle this, but only if we remember that we already have the best healthcare in the world. Any government action against the swine flu must be seen as a direct affront to our ability to care for ourselves and our right to choose our own healthcare systems.

UPDATE: President Obama demands emergency funding to the tune of $1.5 BILLION targeted at swine flu. It's coming people. Get ready.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123690358175013837.html

Shocked? Don’t be.

For those of you who didn’t bother to click the link above, I’ll synopsize: President Obama’s approval ratings have slipped from 65% on January 21 to 56% as of March 12, according to Rasmussen Reports. That’s a 10-point drop in two months. Ouch!

Now, I’ll ask again: Shocked? Don’t be.

There is a reason that Republicans warned America about Obama’s Carter-esque leanings during the campaign. We’ve seen this picture before: threats of nationalization, a stock market in free fall, taxes on the rise, and government promises that they can fix it all. Sure.

But, as I said, this is not new territory. In 1982—Carter just finished up his roll in the hay with Speaker O’Neil and Reagan was taking over—the unemployment rates were at approximately 10.2 percent. That’s roughly two points higher than it is now. And, prior to the 1980 election, Congress showed no signs of slowing down on the spending and accompanying tax hikes that marked Carter’s four years.

Plus, according to former Clinton advisor Dick Morris, the national deficit has reached approximately 15 percent of America’s GDP. For comparison, Japan’s national deficit never topped 10 percent during their downturn.

President Obama has proven himself good at only one thing thus far: spending our money. Most Americans are against spending projects in general, and therefore disapprove of all of the astronomical spending projects—such as the $3.6 trillion budget—that have come to symbolize the President’s agenda.

Now, realistically, 56 percent is not really something to worry about. If Obama were to change course now and to actually cut wasteful spending, as he promised to do during the campaign, he could realistically maintain solid approval ratings. But I do not see that happening.

My prediction: President Obama will continue to cater to Speaker Pelosi and her far-left cabal, and this slight dip in the polls is but mere foreshadowing of what’s to come. By the end of the year, the President’s approval ratings will be below the 45 percent mark. Possibly lower, depending on how the foreign policy situations pan out. But primarily based on economics and Democratic budgeting, the Obama administration will grind to a PR halt just as quickly as the Obamamania hype began.