Congressman Tim Bishop Encounters Angry Citizens at Townhall Meeting

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

This video came to me via my Facebook account -- this is DEMOCRACY IN ACTION! This is people voicing their opinions, going to their elected representatives and taking an ACTIVE part in their organic democracy. Here's the info on the video:

"Congressman Tim Bishop has been a Rubber Stamp for Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and the rest of the Washington elitists who want to tax and spend this nation to death. Some angry taxpayers had a little surprise for him at one of his "Town Hall" meetings on June 22, 2009."

My letter to the President

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

This entire health care reform debate boils my blood, several times over. I am for reform, don't get me wrong, but not Obamacare and it's societal changes from free-market principles to socialistic overtures. If we want British/Canadian style health care in America, then perhaps we should deport those interested in it to those nations.

So, I was so furious that I went to Whitehouse.gov and let the President have a few choice words. I signed up for the president's e-mail blasts, which are intended to "pump up" his base when they need to inject some additional adrenaline into the public discourse. This particular letter came from David Axelrod, the president's political advisor. Here is the letter below:

Mr. President, I recently received David Axelrod's e-mail blast entitled "This is not a game." The American people agree with that, but it seems you and your allies in the Senate are turning this into a political stunt. And based upon Senator Reid and Rep. Pelosi's statements of pushing a vote on health care reform until the August recess, you are losing your grip on a hot-button issue you have expended much political capital in getting past. In the e-mail blast, Mr. Axelrod says the following: "The President made crystal clear what's at stake in this debate." Sir, I watched your speech. You were anything BUT crystal clear. Earlier in your presidency, you said Americans will need to make sacrifices so we can all achieve success and get our nation turned around. If that is true, why did you not mention once what sacrifices will be needed out of the American people? Are you that confident that if you mention what cuts will be made; what sacrifices will be insisted upon that a majority of Americans will turn on your legislation? If this is correct, why don't we go back to the health care drawing board? Why don't we look at other means to fix our stressed health care system? These include creating a new way to regulate the health care industry, versus "competing with it" with a public option. If you want to keep health insurance companies "honest and competitive," why not regulate the industry, ensuring they are honest and work within a competitive setting. Why have the GOVERNMENT responsible for executing a health care "corporation." This is not government's role... and for a Harvard-educated man, you know this. So why do you insist upon it? Why change the way our government addresses thing... why not encourage the free-market economy to tackle this issue, but within the confines of a regulatory process. Teddy Roosevelt would give you two thumbs-up for such an endeavor. Please abandon your quasi-socialist take on reforming AMERICAS health care. You can not guarantee the "cost savings" you and your health care team have identified will, indeed, be cost savings. Because you can not project 10 years down the road what our nation will face. So why write legislation that addresses such a timeframe? The American people are fed up... they are fed up with our current healthcare dibacle. But they are even MORE fed up with the government running their lives... and healthcare, ran by the government, will intrude more than the Founding Fathers EVER envisioned. King George would be proud to see it... thus, the reason The British Crown DOESNT control our destiny.

If it's good for the goose, isn't it good for the gander?

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

Found this video on YouTube after an email on Facebook from the Silent No More group. If this healthcare legislation is going to be so awesome, why then won't Congress use it as well?

You make the call....

Obama admits to blogger he isn't familiar with healthcare legislation being drafted

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

Earlier today, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, reported on a blogger's roundtable (interview bloggers via teleconference) and the transcript that came form the roundtable. The transcript, as they found, was quite disturbing.

If you were working to pass a $1 Trillion-plus bill through the U.S. Congress, effectively altering the U.S.'s medical system forever, wouldn't you find it prudent to review every nook and crany in the bill to become familiar with it? Perhaps, to even try and sell it to the American people?

As the Heritage Foundation reported (click here for the story), the President was asked by a blogger from main the following question: "Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?"

The President's response? "“You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.”

The man is looking to completely alter our medical system and way of life forever with a socialist healthcare system, AND HE HASN'T EVEN READ THE DAMN BILL!!! How many times are we going to let politicians get away with passing legislation more expensive than the one before it, and not hold out leaders accountable for not reading the damn legislation!

If this doesn't upset, you are obviously devoid of the national discussion taking place in D.C. and at Town hall meetings nationwide. See some of the following videos for Americans angry at their politicans:

Call you Senators... tell them to read the bill. And once they have read the flawed healthcare legislation, tell them to vote an overwhelming NO on the legislation. Here's the phone numbers:

Senator Mark Udall
Washington, D.C. Office
Senate Hart Office
Building SH-317
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-5941

Denver Office
999 18th Street
North Tower, Suite 1525
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: 303-650-7820

Senator Michael Bennet
Washington, D.C. Office
702 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5852
Fax: (202) 228-5036

Pikes Peak Office
409 North Tejon St., Suite 107
Colorado Springs, 80903
Phone: (719) 328-1100
Fax: (719) 328-1129

$700 million for HORSES?!?!

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

I couldn't believe it when I read it. But sure enough, insanity continues to infiltrate the halls of Congress. Three days ago, I came across an article (linked below) from the blog HotAir about West Virginia's 3rd District Representative, Mr. Nick Rahall, offering up House Resolution 1018, otherwise known as the "Restore our American Mustangs Act." If only this was talking about Ford Mustangs, then at least we would know it was something to do with the American auto industry.

Link to blog.

The "good" Congressman (I use the good term lightly) is abdicating spending up to $700 million dollars to preserve wild horses in the country. This includes the purchase of 19 million acres of land (so it's obvious it's a land grab) to come into provision with the following statement from section one of the bill:

(1) ensure that acreage available for wild and free-roaming horses and burros is at least equal to the acreage where they were found in 1971

According to the news article, the acreage would equal to the amount listed above.

While I don't enjoy linking to any political party's site, the Republican National Committee does a good job of summarizing this. CLICK HERE.

The House recently passed this bill, and now the bill goes to the Senate. The voting on bill was pretty much down party lines. So what can you do to help?

CALL YOUR SENATORS! Tell Udall and Bennet with unemployment at 9.5 percent and projected to grow, wild horses shouldn't be a priority of getting Americans back to work. There contact information is below:

Senator Mark Udall

Washington, D.C. Office

Senate Hart Office

Building SH-317

Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: 202-224-5941

Denver Office

999 18th Street

North Tower, Suite 1525

Denver, CO 80202

Phone: 303-650-7820

Senator Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. Office

702 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, DC 20510Phone: (202) 224-5852Fax: (202) 228-5036

Pikes Peak Office409 North Tejon St., Suite 107Colorado Springs, 80903Phone: (719) 328-1100Fax: (719) 328-1129

'Something of historic proportions is happening'

The following analysis of America's current political make up came to me via e-mail that surely has made its way across the World Wide Web. It is very thoughtful analysis, and very engaging, comparing our current situation of an unaccountable government (see: Federal Reserve) as well as various other issues. Without further ado...

By Dr. David Kaiser, a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College

"I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus. Something of historic proportions is happening.. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two. We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why? We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine.. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people," who loaned our

powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not. We have spent two or more decades intentionally de- industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity...Why? We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose? Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially 1929 x ten... And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so. And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.) Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why? I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life.. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again. And that is only the beginning.. As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now. And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course. How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .... .. .. change. And the people surely got what they voted for. If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.. So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to. Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors.. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them. As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me. I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe- and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections."