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GIVING HIM THE BUSINESS
Re: Robert M. Goldberg’s What I Saw at the Health Care Revolution:

What I saw at a recent “town hall” meeting of my long-time-serving congressman was the same display of anger and concern about government takeover of our lives. There was also a lot of agitation about how the Democrats and the president have ridiculed and spoken maliciously of Americans who disagree with whatever Obamacare is.

There were lots of boos, sometimes prolonged, but very few heckles. At times, the congressman combatively fell back on the tired old Democrat-Obama “blame Bush and Republicans” mantra. At times, too many times, it seemed to me he was not really there to listen, but simply to insist that the president and Congress do know best, not we who hire them.

In fact, early in that Monday-morning meeting — which had to be moved outside of the building because the small room would not accommodate all who wanted to attend — the congressman declared, “I’ve been in this business for 33 years.” To wit, a late-20-ish-early-30-ish man behind me yelled back, “It’s not a business, it’s service.”

Therein lies, I think, the growing compound fracture between Congress, the presidency and the rest of America: The two former do not understand that they serve us.

For what it’s worth, too, most of the crowd seemed to reject the incredible and accelerated overreach we’ve seen with the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress. And more than a few Baby Boomers, or those just behind or just in front in age, with whom I chatted said they think there’s coming a time when things may spill or may have to spill into the streets — if the Congress does not honor what Americans are saying now.

Finally, in an exchange with the congressman, I mentioned that many of us are upset about how the president and Congress are attempting to ramrod healthcare “reform” through legislation. He immediately said that such attempts at reform weren’t new, that it’d been started over 20 years ago, blah-blah-blah.

I countered that he knew, that we all knew, that had the House passed H.R. 3200 or whatever before the current August recess, he and I and the crowd would not be attending his “town hall.” As I recall, he did not answer.

Nor did he respond when I suggested that there appears to be no government program, of any sort, about which Congress has ever overestimated the real costs.

Oh, yes, when queried about whether we could have the same healthcare option Congress has or if he would use what could be available to the hoi polloi, he flippantly avoided any answer by saying that everyone would have a choice.

Yes, we will: It’ll be at the ballot boxes in 2010 and 2012.
— C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia 

PALINISM BY PROXY
Re: Quin Hillyer’s Death Panels by Proxy:

Forgive me, Quin. I’m having a chuckle at your expense. First, I confess, I read the blog before responding. You sure know how to stir the coals. And while I’m not a journalist, allow me to offer a little friendly advice: don’t begin such a fine article by attempting to frame an intellectual discussion with what could even conceivably pass for an ad hominem attack of a polarizing personality like Sarah Palin. Given the times we live in and the nature of the debate, it isn’t worth it when the alternatives would suffice. Just sayin’!

Ooga booga!
— Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

In responding to Quin Hillyer’s piece, a number of readers took exception with his comments about Sarah Palin. Why? Sarah Palin by characterizing Obama’s end of life counseling as “death panels” opened and enlivened the debate. That Hillyer and other conservatives are not comfortable with Palin’s use of the term “death panels” is irrelevant. This is not a fight about semantics it is a battle against Obama and the Democrats’ scheme to take over health care thus making it less efficient, less effective, costlier and deadlier.

Like many conservatives, I was pleased with her selection as McCain’s running mate, angered at her treatment by the national press and their political masters and mystified by her resignation (one wonders if she were a man would she still have a chance in politics after that bizarre decision).

If Sarah Palin has a future in national politics beyond being an inspiring figure or political lightening rod she’s going to have to prove to many a doubting Thomas that she has the intestinal fortitude to handle the rough and tumble world of politics and the hateful bitterness of our leftist adversaries and their stooges in the media. On this issue the jury is still out. But one thing is certain she and Hillyer are right about Obama’s plan for America’s health care — it’s a bad deal for everyone.
— Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

INGLORIOUS FOOLS
Re: James Bowman’s  Tarantino’s Band of Bastards:

Remember how the western movie gradually slipped from some grounding in the facts of the era, back when people could still remember the era portrayed (say, the silent era through the thirties), then moved into studies of character and action that were often vague about place and time (up through the fifties and into the television western), then wound up coming to an end with movies where anything could happen with utter disregard for history and geography, the “spaghetti” westerns and the end of it all in Blazing Saddles?

I suppose World War II movies are now moving into Stage Three. The veterans who fought and the people who lived through it — they’re leaving us. The people who made the first round of movies, during and after the war — also gone. Now the crowd who think they can set something there and have anything happen — they’re making these things.

Meanwhile, one can only come up with a simple rule-of-thumb: if anything in the movie promos brings up the name “Tarantino,” stay away. Especially if the title is misspelled.
— Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

Unfortunately, Tarantino’s mockery of the real horror of Hitler’s attempt to annihilate the Jews goes a long way to diminishing the real horror and to give aid and comfort to Holocaust deniers and those whose lives are informed by virulent and not-so-virulent anti-Semitism. That the mostly Jewish hierarchy in the film-making world bankrolls his glorification of pointless violence and perversion of real history is shameful and disgusting.
— Laney Bormel
Parkton, Maryland

SPINNING SERVICE
Re: Matthew Vadum’s Obama’s Plan to Desecrate 9/11:

Incredible spin… in reality liberal, conservative and apolitical community organizations support the concept of a National Day of Service on September 11th.

Having a National Day of Service will not alter the historical significance or meaning of that horrific day. It is a way for citizens to become involved in their communities and to continue the rebuilding process.
— Arnie

Many thanks Matthew Vadum for the article. More bad news of our current affairs, but news indeed.

Having just got back from New York City yesterday, seeing Ground Zero Saturday for myself, this article is disturbing. Disturbing because our POTUS and his underhanded, anti-American effort to reshape our thinking, our lives is disgusting. Really, there is no word which can adequately describe my disdain for our current “CHANGE” in government. I, along with so many others, am sickened by obvious power hungry leadership. How long must this continue in our beloved free U.S.A? Is there any way true American’s can join and impeach or dismiss him from office? There are so many offensives staring him in the face, yet he remains. It continues to be a sad day.

Oh, and yes, I am not a racist. Sunday I worshiped at Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn, NY with a multitude of various races and cultural backgrounds. It was refreshing to be a part of a group of people where color did not matter. It was inspiring to worship God together in a FREE country. It is apparent
our current government leadership is on a course to abolish so many freedoms and hide behind the racist card. Just want to express, as far as I’m concerned, he’s barking up the wrong tree. Many of us are not racist.

We need more individuals like you to help get America back. Is there a way to get it back? Is it through conservative media? I am one small voice who is truly tired of our politically liberal and immoral mess we’ve allowed ourselves to be submerged.

With sincere thanks. I encourage you to keep printing truth.
–Dorinda

For seven years I held a 9/11 memorial service at the fairgrounds to commemorate the first responders that serve us 24/7 and our veterans. The community eventually did not support it with the turnout needed to make it financially stable. Apathy, I guess. I would like to say the President and his minions will desecrate that day if they turn the only reason for making it a national day of remembrance into anything other than a day to give thanks to our first responders — that is not often done in this nation. A time when we can say thank you to the firemen, policemen, veterans, search and rescue folk, ambulance attendants, and all those others that are there for us 24/7. We need to remind the nation that this day be saved for that purpose only and let Obama have his day of service another time and not rape the meaning of 9/11 for his own uses and those of the people that would turn our nation and freedoms into a farce by reducing the Constitution to a pile of shredded paper and ideals.
Judith Mathat
Placerville, California

BRINGING DOWN THE HYPOCRISY
Re: Ken Blackwell & Ken Klukowski’s Freedom of Conscience for Pro-Life Taxpayers:

Is this not the very same Left, who wish to force right to life doctors to performing abortions, that has assured that every citizen has the right to be a conscientious objector whenever the country needs protection from enemies foreign or domestic? Consistency on all matters may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but this hypocrisy is mind boggling.

Our Dear Leader’s health care plan is teetering. Let’s all give it a good hard push from the right and bring it down for good.
— I.M. Kessel

STILL INALIENABLE
Re: Peter Ferrara’s Catch Me If You Can:

Catching up on my reading, and came across your article, Mr. Ferrara.

There is no set of circumstances, such as that presented by the proponents of nationalized healthcare, which can serve as a legitimate basis for such an extension of power over the American people.

If one believes in a right which requires the power of taxation to exist, as is the case with the advocates of nationalized healthcare, you’re a statist, which is the foundation of tyranny. For this reason, we challenged a king’s claim that he had a right to rule over us, and formed the whole basis for the American Revolution. And, it is the reason why the megalomaniacs in Congress and the White House lie and dissemble in their attempt to control us.

As Jefferson put it, rights are inalienable, that is, incapable of being transferred or surrendered. They existed long before they were acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence, or enumerated in the Bill of Rights, and they do not depend upon the capriciousness of our leaders, or the confiscation of another man’s property under the pretense of taxation.

If only of the American people understood more of what is being planned for them.
— Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

PLAYING BY THEIR OWN RULES
Re: Daniel J. Flynn’s Ted Kennedy’s Last Will and Testament:

It appears always that the Democrats, as well as their liberal and leftist allies, never seem to grasp that the rules apply to them. So does Ted Kennedy’s opportunistic request surprise anyone? C’mon.
— C. Kenna Amos Jr.

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