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...

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!

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!

Alternatives to proposed changes to health care

I belong to an online forum of members of my H.S. graduating class. Recently, we have had several lively discussions going regarding potential changes to our health care system. Today, one of the members posted this, and I think it has a lot of good points which I would like to see considered by our legislators. So I am posting it here, then I plan to send it on to my elected representatives. If you agree, feel free to cut and paste into an e-mail you can forward on to your representatives... let's show them we are doing more than rejecting their proposals!

Let's solve the uninsured problem first, assuming it is as big a problem as some would have us believe?. Why don't we leave private health care and private health insurance alone? Most people have a health plan. Most people who have it like it. For those who do not, they can seek redress in the marketplace or by way of minor changes to health insurance regulation.
Why not require health insurance and require it to be reported on tax returns. For those who have qualifying insurance, great, no problem, life goes on. Qualifying insurance would have to have certain coverage and certain deductibles. For those who do not have a qualifying plan, they would pay for Medicaid through an additional tax via a means tested sliding scale. For those who do not have insurance but can afford it ( e.g. pre-existing condition), they would pay something close to market rates. For those who do not have insurance because they can't afford it, they would pay for Medicaid based upon their reported income. Obviously, some would pay nothing, others would pay something. Their care might not be the same as private insurance, they might have longer waits, but they would have some reasonable coverage. Some uninsured might even decide to buy there own private insurance. For those who oppose healthcare on religious grounds, there may be an exception. However, however, faith only goes so far when you are suffering a bleeding head wound.
There would be penalties for those who show up demanding care who do not have insurance and did not sign up for Medicare, including illegal aliens. All would be treated but would be thereafter dealt with. Illegal aliens would likely be deported. Others might face criminal penalties.
Obviously, the number of people on Medicaid would increase and the costs would increase. Everyone might need to pay an increased tax (maybe .5%) to cover the increased cost. However, this would be way less than the trillions of dollars some are asking for.
This seems to make a lot more sense than changing our entire system. Thereafter, we can look at ways to control health care costs from a market approach rather than government controlled approach. Funny, if people are required to pay for care, they might make lifestyle changes that reduce their exposure to disease.

Charles Krauthammer

A fellow conservative sent this to me, and I felt it was appropriate to post it here:

Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News. He is an M.D. and he is paralyzed from the neck down. Be forewarned on what is happening. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand, but 1st. You would do well to read and pass this along to EVERYBODY that loves his country. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country. The ramifications are staggering for us and our children Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant intellectual, seasoned and articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.
Summary of his comments:
1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's behind the mask. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL HEALTH CARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada. God forbid.
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate and coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is re-elected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We're pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we doen't have. This could lead to hyper-inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bail outs didn't work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.

Special guest

Yesterday was our 'Independence Month' BBQ, and our special guest speaker was Senator John McCain. Nice to hear from someone who spends his time at the front, fighting the good fight. They're few and hard to come by!

We were also looking for more folks to become Precinct Committe men or women... hope we got some new recruits!

Good food, good turnout, and we didn't get drenched like we have the past couple of years!