Monday, September 14, 2009

The following editorial appeared in our local newspaper on September 2:

Tea Party tour won't fix what ails health care
OUR VIEW: Monday's rally in Flagstaff appeared to be more about TV ratings driven by controversy than mobilizing supporters around a solution. Wednesday, September 02, 2009 At their most basic, rallies are a chance to let off steam.But whether they drive a meaningful public agenda or distract us from it depends on your point of view. Rallies, of course, come in many shades.There are pep rallies to get students excited about an upcoming football game.There are campaign rallies aimed at firing up supporters on behalf of a candidate.And then there are protest rallies designed to tell elected officials that their constituents are upset with their programs and policies.The last takes on symbolic value depending on the turnout. Attract enough people to your protest and the news media take notice, thus amplifying your message far beyond the reach of your bullhorn.A generation ago, mass protests were centered on civil rights, the Vietnam War and the environment. The Baby Boom generation was coming of political age, and when politics-as-usual didn't get the results they wanted, they took to the streets.Since then, grassroots political activism has added many more tools beyond rallies, including neighborhood organizing, mass-mail fundraising and social networking. Getting everyday citizens involved in the political process is as much about marketing as about educating them, making it difficult to determine who is acting on genuine sentiment when making a campaign contribution or planting a candidate's sign on the lawn.But the gold standard in political organizing still remains how many people you can convince to get off the couch, turn off the TV and attend a rally in person. Critics of Obama's reform platform have seized on that truism through their "tea party" metaphor: The colonists took matters into their own hands, even if it was just the dumping of a couple hundred pounds of taxed tea into Boston Harbor.Monday's tea party rally in Flagstaff turned out about 1,000 people, but it appeared to raise as many questions about this protest movement as it answered.-- For starters, the event was part of a national tour, not locally organized.-- Its timing and staging during the evening hours appeared to be calibrated toward receiving prime time coverage on sympathetic cable network talk shows. As anyone who watched the Fox Cable Network Monday night could see, the protests seemed more scripted than spontaneous.-- The message, when it did come through the slogans, lacked the coherence of an "Out, Now" or "End Racial Discrimination" or "Stop Air Pollution." Do the protesters not want the federal government involved in health care at all, or do they just want the feds to run Medicare and Medicaid better? If the latter, how?At base, we are worried that such rallies seem like wasted opportunities to advance the cause of civic literacy among people who are clearly engaged with issues and their political context. There has been no line drawn in the sand yet with health care reform as there was with the Vietnam War or the Civil Rights Act. It remains fluid and subject to negotiation. A rally strategy that takes a dogmatic approach to something as complex as national health care reform ill-serves that process while failing to motivate participants to get involved in the hard work of finding solutions.That hard work is ongoing in Congress, and our representative, Ann Kirkpatrick, is in the thick of it. After a false start in Holbrook several weeks ago that saw constituents frustrated by a one-on-one meeting format in a supermarket, she has agreed to hold a town hall forum Thursday night in the high school auditorium. Rallies and the enthusiasm they generate have their place, but not at deliberative forums designed primarily for information-sharing and constructive dialogue. Protesters who have already made up their minds can take their yelling outside for the TV crews and the passing cars. The rest of us have hard work to do.

Below is my response, which was printed on September 13:

To the editor:
First off, with or without media coverage, folks who are attending the Tea Parties are there because they share grave concerns and beliefs. Folks there on the 31st were from all parties, and the common theme was we are tired of the government trying to run our lives and do our thinking for us; we are appalled at the extremes the government is going to in order to get their way. We have come together in Flagstaff three times this year, and each time our numbers grow. And we will continue to fight against the insanity of putting our nation further and further in debt to enact these bills that are designed to wrest control from the voter and force them into programs that they are against. As for assertions that we have no alternative plan to the plans that are currently being pushed by the libs, we have repeatedly pushed for tort reform to enable doctors to care for patients without having to order tests simply to protect them from liability issues.As to fostering competition in the Insurance industry, why not open up the barriers between states to allow people who are looking for coverage to compare all available coverage?Those changes could go a long way to increase coverage and reduce the cost of health care without risking the chaotic changes that could come about as a result of the current bills being considered.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

545 vs 300,000,000

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does.You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does.You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board, because that problem was created by Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated is responsibility to a privately held bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force Congress to accept it.The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.If the Army & Marines are in Iraq, it's because they want them in Iraq.
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.There are no insoluble government problems.Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses, provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper. What you do with this article now that you have read it, is up to you.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Health Care Reform - new links

In an effort to better educate myself on potential alternatives to government run health care, I am doing research to determine what proposed solutions are already out there. I came across a couple of interesting articles this morning, and I am posting links here and on the right side panel as well:
First is from the Council for Affordable Health Insurance's Issues and Answers, Sept. 2009
http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/n156GuaranteedAccess.pdf
Next is an article from the Wall Street Journal, entitled 'McCain is right on interstate Health Insurance, October 1, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282743245193057.html
Both articles go into detail about how interstate health insurance can help make coverage affordable for all who do not currently have coverage, and how 'high risk pools' would be paid for.
I am also doing research on Medical Malpractice Reform to see what facts are currently out there, and to get a better idea of how savings would be realized as a result of implementation of reforms, so stay tuned.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Antidote for Anger


Much has been said recently about how angry Conservatives have become, disrupting town hall meetings, shouting at Health Care forums, organizing rallies to loudly voice their opposition to Cap and Trade, the ever-growing deficit, out of control spending, ever-growing government, outrage over the ‘Czars’ that surround our President… I could go on and on, but you get it.
A couple of thoughts about anger: I have heard that anger is fear turned outward, so we must identify what we are afraid of. Usually, fear occurs when we are afraid 1) we will lose something we have, or 2) we won’t get something we want. I think we all know what we’re afraid of, so the next step is to determine what we can do to overcome the fear. Here’s my antidote: ACTION!
So… you’re thinking, ‘What can I do?”. And I understand if you think that nothing you do or say will make a difference. I, too, have felt overwhelmed when I see the magnitude of events that have occurred over the past years, especially since last year’s election. But I think the election did more to galvanize many of us than we realize.
So what action have I taken? Well, back in November of last year I started this blog, partially because I needed to take stock of what I believed in, what I stand for, and what I am dead set against. But also, I wanted to reach out to others who share my beliefs to support and encourage others to get into action. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we need to decide what to do and how to do it.
Another thing I have done is to become a Precinct Committeewoman for our local Precinct. Each precinct has a number of positions open, and this is the most grass-roots thing you can do to become an active citizen of your county. Each precinct committee seat gives your county chair person a vote at the state level for your party. Without the bodies, your chair person has no voice at the state level. Our county had only 8 precinct committeemen at the beginning of this year… now we have over 50, thanks to our county chairman really putting out the effort to recruit new PC’s.
I have also been writing to my elected representatives to let them know how I feel about proposed legislation, and I am also actively writing letters to the editor of our local newspaper to espouse our positions on issues in the news and editorials.
I attend the meetings of our local Republican Women’s group each month where we have elected representatives, candidates for office, and others in to talk to us about issues, pending legislation, etc. I listen carefully, and do what I can to support those who I believe in.If you have watched the videos posted earlier of the August 31 TEA Party Express rally, you may remember the speech given by State Senator Russell Pearce, R-Mesa. Senator Pearce made a very strong case for being engaged in your local community. I know… believe me I know how busy we all are! I am busier now than when I still went to work 4 days a week! But I’m really not going to let the ‘Progressives’ (Progressives? Give me a break!) take over while we sleep and walk around with blinders on. I don’t think it’s too late to correct our course, but we don’t dare wait any longer to ACT! I hope you'll join me...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

August 31 Flagstaff TEA party video

Okay, as promised, we have video of the August 31 TEA party held in Flagstaff, Az. It runs 3+ hours, so we have broken it up into 8 parts:
Video Part 1
Video Part 2
Video Part 3
Video Part 4
Video Part 5
Video Part 6
Video Part 7
Video Part 8

Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

August 31 Flagstaff Tea Party

Whew! I finally got the pictures uploaded and edited... over 40 of them! I won't be posting them all here, but this will give you an idea of the event.
We arrived early... before 5pm, and there were already over 100 people there. By the time the event began, the number had grown to over 1000, and they were enthusiastic, smiling even while many carried signs describing their dissatisfaction and disgust with the skull-duggery going on in our Nation's Capitol.
Several current and past office holders were on hand, both Republicans and Democrats, to urge us to keep fighting to have our voices heard by those in Washington DC:
State Treasurer Dean Martin, former Coconino County Sheriff Joe Richards, and State Senator Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, were on hand to encourage us to speak out against big government, skyrocketing deficit spending, and legislation designed to destroy our Republic.


By the way, there was a valiant little band of Health Care supporters waving signs across the road from our rally... you have to look really hard to see them! I think their numbers swelled to about 8 at one time...

I'll leave you with this image... several people in the crowd were waving the flag flown in distress mode, which is an indication that we really are serious about our concerns for the direction our government is taking, and unless we let them know that we will take action, they will continue to take us down as a nation... America, stand up and fight!
Video to follow...


































August 31 Tea Party Rally

Just a quick note to say I have a bunch of pictures to post from last night's Tea Party rally... it was a raging success with over a thousand in attendance! Also, as soon as it's edited, the video my husband took will be available here as well, so stay tuned!