Six months ago, public school teachers in Milwaukee were demanding free Viagra® as part of their contract. Today, I spotted an advertisement that seems to take into account that unconventional demand. It’s aimed at those teachers as well as other Wisconsin public union employees upset over their loss of collective bargaining rights and the prospect of having to make larger contributions into their own health care and retirement plans. Screenshots for that ad appear below:
Here’s to hoping the folks protesting against Republican Gov. Scott Walker today in Madison get a chance to see this ad [Note: It's a parody, Viagra® folks, so don't get your panties in a wad about it].
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As evidenced by two recent reports, a chasm exists between the ways state government officials nationwide view federal control of education and health care:
On Feb. 2, the Heritage Foundation published an article in which they highlighted the fact that the majority of states (see graphic at right) have succumbed to pressure to adopt national academic standards; and
Two days earlier, a federal judge sided with attorneys general representing 26 states who had filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a., “ObamaCare”).
According to a Wall Street Journalarticle published today, several polls show the majority of Americans believe ObamaCare should be repealed. That sentiment, I believe, stems from the widely-held belief that a person’s doctor is better equipped to make health care-related decisions than some federal government bureaucrat.
Without feeling the need to locate poll results to back it up my contention, I think most parents of school-age children in this country would agree that people closest to their children are better equipped to meet their education needs than some distant, unelected Department of Education bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.
In his Jan. 31 ruling on ObamaCare, which I wrote about here, Judge Roger Vinson wrote, “…this case is not about whether the Act is wise or unwise legislation. It is about the Constitutional role of the federal government.”
Conversely, Heritage outlines the unconstitutional pitfalls associated with federal control of education in the video, “The Dangers of National Standards in Education.” The video includes interviews with Governors Rick Perry (R-Texas) and Nikki Haley (R-S.C.), Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Missouri education activist Gretchen Logue and others who spoke to Heritage about the dangerous consequences of Race to the Top-style programs.
In short, we must restore federalism (i.e., allowing states to set education standards and determine how funds are spent) to our system of public education.
In the video below, Governor Perry offers more reasons why we should shun Race to the Top.
If you want to keep local control over public schools in your area, CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE NATION’S CAPITOL and in your state and local elected bodies and let them know how you feel, and make sure they know you’ll be watching their votes and actions regarding education.
FYI: If you enjoy this blog and want to keep reading stories like the one above, show your support by using the “Support Bob” tool at right. Thanks in advance for your support!
The White House granted waivers allowing 111 organizations to escape the unfair, unConstitutional, job-killing aspects of President Barack Obama’s health care reform (a.k.a., “ObamaCare”). The Fox News Channel video below explains.
To read other BMW posts mentioning ObamaCare, click here.
The U.S. Postal Service’s just-released 2009 Annual Report contains some hard-to-swallow numbers about the agency’s efficiency, effectiveness and long-term viability. Most disturbing among them is the number reflecting net losses during fiscal year 2010: $8.5 billion.
The USPS only lost $3.8 billion the previous year despite, according to a Nov. 16, 2009, news release, implementing cost-cutting efforts that resulted in $6 billion in cost savings and a $4 billion reduction in required payments for retiree health benefits.
Makes one wonder how well government-run health care (a.k.a., “ObamaCare”) will work — or not work as the case will likely be.
Eighty-seven percent of 1,400 physicians said they are not well represented in the halls of power (a.k.a., government), and that’s not all, according to recently-released results of The Great American Physician Survey 2010. More troubling, however, is that nearly half think primary care physicians will eventually be extinct, replaced by cheaper non-physician providers.
Something else I found troubling among the survey results was that 48.3 percent of physicians plan to vote for Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections while 45.3 percent plan to vote for Republicans and 6.4 percent for third-party candidates.
These survey results come 11 months after thousands of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, many of whom are not “political animals,” attended “Million Med March” events in cities across the country. They come as the first troubling aspects of ObamaCare begin to take effect.
Below is a reminder of what doctors and others who attended the St. Louis rally in November 2009 shared as concerns about ObamaCare (a.k.a., the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act):
Vote wisely Nov. 2. Elect people to Congress who will vote to repeal ObamaCare.
If you’re still not convinced that ObamaCare is bad for Americans, pay attention to what transpired Saturday in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Communists, Marxists, progressives, socialists and others of the liberal stripe gathered in the nation’s capitol for “One Nation Working Together,” an astroturf-intensive rally described by its organizers as an event promoting job creation, diversity and tolerance. In reality, however, the event was organized simply as a counter-protest to Glenn Beck’s truly-grassroots rally, “Restoring Honor,” held Aug. 28.
What does the rally have to do with ObamaCare? Follow the two-step process outlined below, and I think you’ll understand:
Step 1 – Watch the video below, paying special attention to the pro-socialism and pro-communism messages printed on signs and banners being carried by the liberals in attendance.
Step 2 – Watch the two videos below, both of which were shot by me during the 2009 Healthcare-Now.org National Strategy Conference Nov. 14, 2009, in St. Louis. In case you’re not familiar with that organization, it’s comprised of single-payer health care advocates who think ObamaCare doesn’t go far enough toward putting government in control of the nation’s health care system.
The first video features Tim Carpenter, a man who managed the unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) who, at the time this video was shot, was serving as the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, an ultra-liberal group pushing for the single-payer health care option.
The second video features Michael Lighty, the former national director of the Democratic Socialists of America who now serves as public policy director of the ultra-liberal California Nurses Association.
Now, if you’re still not convinced that putting radical like Carpenter and Lighty in charge of the nation’s health care system, you should read the nine posts below which wrote after gaining admission to and sitting through the opening session of the single-payer conference:
Now, you should understand why ObamaCare is bad for Americans.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It strikes me as sad and hilarious that the photo (below left) that appeared on the front page of the “One Nation” web site the night of the rally was not from the rally, but of the crowd that gathered to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous “I have a dream” speech at the National Mall Aug. 28, 1963 (below right). Surely, they weren’t trying to give the impression that they had attracted a crowd larger than MLK, were they?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since launching this blog almost four years ago, I’ve written and published several posts about a dangerous piece of legislation known as the Law of the Sea Treaty. Today, I share the update below about the recent passage of the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act of 2009 by the U.S. House and the status of L.O.S.T. Written by three patriots at the Boogai.net, this piece deserves your attention and needs to be shared:
By Carmen Reynolds, Paul McKain and Karen Schoen
“It’s too late; it’ll just have to be stopped in the Senate,” Tom, the young male answering the phone in U.S. Rep. John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) Washington D.C., office, said about HR 3534 (CLEAR Act). This is the globalist bill designed to give away our land, oceans, adjacent land masses and Great Lakes to an international body and makes us pay $900 million per year until 2040.
HR 3534 is a thinly-disguised permanent roadblock to American energy which drives American companies out of the Gulf, delays future drilling, increases dependency on foreign oil, implements climate change legislation and youth education programs; but most important, it mandates membership in the Law of the Sea Treaty without the required two-thirds vote to ratify it in the U.S. Senate. Read more at LOST below
The House passed the CLEAR Act (HR 3534) 209-193, July 30, 2010. This bill was originally introduced July 8, 2009, but was resurrected by the recent Deep Water Horizon oil spill crisis. According to www.govtrack.us, a debate may be taking place on a companion bill in the Senate, rather than on this particular bill. This bill was read for the second time Aug. 4, 2010, and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders, Calendar No. 510. No official Senate Bill number exists as of yet. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3534
Some have said this bill would be a long shot to be approved in the Senate or it will take a while to surface. Similar assessments were made about the health-care bill. Past precedent reflects how a 2,200+-page bill can be created, printed, members held hostage, and that same bill voted on within hours to facilitate holiday recess.
This bill assesses a Conservation Fee of $2 per barrel of oil and 20 cents per million BTUs of natural gas for all leases on Federal onshore and offshore lands (Section 802). This will jettison America’s energy prices for oil and gas through the roof! Click here to read the rest of this important story.
