Well, over the next few weeks, she will be in:
Mi, In, Oh, Pa, Ny, Va, Nc, Al, Fl, Az, Nm, Mo, Ar, Ok, Tx, Ia, Sd, Mn, Mt, Co, Ut, Nv, and Id.
So what? She's on a book tour, she's bound to be all across the US. Of course. But look at just which states she's visiting, between them, these 23 states have enough Republican Delegates to carry the party nomination for President. Interesting. There's more: how do you suppose those 23 went in 2008? On the surface it's a pretty even split, especially considering Obama won: 13 states went for Obama, and 10 for McCain. Delving a bit deeper, however, one might notice that in 2008 Obama flipped 9 states that had gone for Bush in 2004. All 9 of these states are on the book tour. Now Sarah Palin might not be considering a presidential run in '12, or she might. I think she definitely needs to work on strengthening her policy credentials before she starts campaigning in earnest if she does decide to run. However, if she is contemplating a run, this book tour is a brilliant stroke, putting her in touch with exactly the type of grass roots people needed to do all of the on-the-ground work for a campaign, in a relaxed, "oh hey, howyadoin, goodtomeetcha, hope you like the book" atmosphere where Palin's natural friendliness and charisma are huge assets, a full year before such a campaign would begin in earnest. If she does decide to run, her primary opponents just might find themselves facing an energized, boots-on-the-ground, grass roots constituency eager to turn out for Sarah before they even get going, and they might find these people overrepresented in the red or traditionally red states crucial to winning the Republican nomination. Like I said, I dunno what Sarah Palin intends, but to steal a line from Artie Johnson..."Verrry interesting".
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veteran's Day
Today is my son's fifth birthday, and while that is personally important to me, let us never forget that today is Veteran's Day as well. Here's a very moving piece from Reason TV about the men served by the charity that brings WWII vets to the WWII memorial at no cost to them:
The last line of the video resonates with me. Speaking of the experience, one vet says "I can't say enough about it, and I can't say enough thanks".
No, sir, it is we who can not say enough thanks to you.
The last line of the video resonates with me. Speaking of the experience, one vet says "I can't say enough about it, and I can't say enough thanks".
No, sir, it is we who can not say enough thanks to you.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Book 'em, Dano
I know that collectivists on the left have been on a little hopey changey euphoria kick since Nancy Pelosi rammed her criminal bill through the House in the middle of the night Saturday, but I wonder how many of them have actually read it? Or (since 2000+ pages IS a bit long), even part of it? It is absolutely beyond me how anyone, ANYONE, could read this abortion of a bill and not recoil in terror at what it actually says. I could list dozens of examples, but tonight I'm gonna stick with just one.
Read this letter from the JCT (Joint Committee on Taxation). Now ponder exactly what it says there. If any American citizen or legal resident of the U.S. fails to purchase a qualified health insurance plan, they will be taxed, fined up to a quarter of a million dollars or imprisoned for five years. First of all, that's not just a mandate to get health insurance, oh no. it mandates that every American be covered by a qualified plan. What makes a plan "qualified?" I dunno. Neither does anyone else. That's to be determined by a panel of unelected government bureaucrats*. This is exactly what they did in Massachusetts, and the result has been a disaster. Every medical special interest group immediately poured millions of dollars into lobbying to get their particular specialty mandated, and the state has been nothing if not obliging. Bleeding heart economic illiterates have rushed in to make sure that the "greedy" insurance companies couldn't do things like cap costs or charge deductibles deemed "excessive". The state obliged. "Well, we can't have people being excluded from coverage for any reason" liberals wailed. So ordered, said the state. And so on. Folks, these things cost money. What has been created is an ungodly price spiral. Many insurance carriers left the state. Those that stayed have had to raise prices several times. Massachusetts now has the highest health insurance rates in the country, and all of the private carriers left have notified the state insurance commissioner that rates will be going up 29-50% next year. The average family in the Massachusetts is now paying upwards of $20,000/year for their coverage**.
So what's the significance of this? Aside from meaning that health insurance is going to get a lot more expensive, this puts paid completely to the canard that the President has been incessantly chanting for the last 6-8 months" "If you like the coverage you have, you can keep it.". No, you can't. That's a lie. A flat out, bald faced, so-full-of-shit-that-your-eyes-are-turning-brown, lie, Mr. President. The bill plainly says, and the JCT memo linked above confirms, that citizens and legal aliens (but not illegal aliens, notice that? Other portions of the bill give illegals access to medicare or qualified health plans, but the penalties and fines don't apply to them. To quote Artie Johnson as Wolfgang the German Soldier, "Verrry interesting") will be forced to purchase a health plan that covers exactly what the government wants covered, and if your current plan, the plan that "you like", doesn't qualify, you'll have to switch to one that does or face the consequences.
Which brings me to my second point. Note the consequences: taxes, fines and jail time. That's right people, if for any reason you don't purchase a qualifying plan, than it's off to the gulag for you! Are you a committed Catholic who won't buy a qualified plan because it mandates abortion coverage and that's against your moral code? Jail time! A Scientologist who just can't support psychiatric treatments being mandated? Off you go! Maybe you just can't afford the plan, even with all the subsidies sure to be offered? Throw 'em in the clink! As unthinkable as these scenarios may seem, THAT'S WHAT THE BILL ACTUALLY SAYS. It's....mindboggling, and frankly it's anathema to everything that this country has stood for for the last 233 years. The Federal government says buy this or go to jail. That's as American as borscht.
*That would be one of them tahr "death panels". Think that name's a political conceit, a ploy of Sarah Palin's to grab headlines for herself? I don't. I would bet that Jayden Capewell would disagree with you...except he was allowed to die, in the hospital, because he didn't meet the guidelines for treatment established by the Orwellian named NICE organization. OK, that's in the UK, that would never happen here, you say. Think not? Barbara Wagener thought not too. Then she was told that her state run insurance plan wouldn't cover the drugs needed to treat the cancer she was fighting....but would happily pay for her assisted suicide. I know the term "death panel" is offensive to some. I can understand that. Unfortunately, it does have one thing going for it: It's accurate.
**Massachusetts has even moved to stifle the market response to their draconian mandated coverage. One company (Full disclosure: The insurance company in question is one of the ones that I personally represent, although not in Massachusetts) went to the Insurance Commissioner of Massachusetts and said "Look, these mandated plans are getting very expensive. We'd like to sell a simpler plan, a more basic major medical plan, that doesn't meet your mandates. We'll tell people that, and even get each and every one of them who applies to sign a disclaimer stating that they A) understand that our plans do NOT meet your mandated coverage level and B) that they will thus still be liable for the fine levied on people not carrying qualifying plans ($75/month)." The Insurance Commissioner agreed, approved the plans for the state, and these plans started selling like wildfire, because they cost maybe half of what the mandated plans cost. Even with the $900/year fine, people were able to insure themselves adequately and save a huge amount of money. The Attorney General of Mass. went nuts. What? Choice? This company was offering the citizens actual choices in their health insurance? That just couldn't be allowed, oh, no, no, no, and so the AG's office started a huge 3 cornered legal fight between itself, the insurance company in question and the Insurance Commissioner's office, eventually driving that company out of the state, and depriving consumers the right to purchase a product that THEY preferred to one that the state mandated. Unbelievable.
Read this letter from the JCT (Joint Committee on Taxation). Now ponder exactly what it says there. If any American citizen or legal resident of the U.S. fails to purchase a qualified health insurance plan, they will be taxed, fined up to a quarter of a million dollars or imprisoned for five years. First of all, that's not just a mandate to get health insurance, oh no. it mandates that every American be covered by a qualified plan. What makes a plan "qualified?" I dunno. Neither does anyone else. That's to be determined by a panel of unelected government bureaucrats*. This is exactly what they did in Massachusetts, and the result has been a disaster. Every medical special interest group immediately poured millions of dollars into lobbying to get their particular specialty mandated, and the state has been nothing if not obliging. Bleeding heart economic illiterates have rushed in to make sure that the "greedy" insurance companies couldn't do things like cap costs or charge deductibles deemed "excessive". The state obliged. "Well, we can't have people being excluded from coverage for any reason" liberals wailed. So ordered, said the state. And so on. Folks, these things cost money. What has been created is an ungodly price spiral. Many insurance carriers left the state. Those that stayed have had to raise prices several times. Massachusetts now has the highest health insurance rates in the country, and all of the private carriers left have notified the state insurance commissioner that rates will be going up 29-50% next year. The average family in the Massachusetts is now paying upwards of $20,000/year for their coverage**.
So what's the significance of this? Aside from meaning that health insurance is going to get a lot more expensive, this puts paid completely to the canard that the President has been incessantly chanting for the last 6-8 months" "If you like the coverage you have, you can keep it.". No, you can't. That's a lie. A flat out, bald faced, so-full-of-shit-that-your-eyes-are-turning-brown, lie, Mr. President. The bill plainly says, and the JCT memo linked above confirms, that citizens and legal aliens (but not illegal aliens, notice that? Other portions of the bill give illegals access to medicare or qualified health plans, but the penalties and fines don't apply to them. To quote Artie Johnson as Wolfgang the German Soldier, "Verrry interesting") will be forced to purchase a health plan that covers exactly what the government wants covered, and if your current plan, the plan that "you like", doesn't qualify, you'll have to switch to one that does or face the consequences.
Which brings me to my second point. Note the consequences: taxes, fines and jail time. That's right people, if for any reason you don't purchase a qualifying plan, than it's off to the gulag for you! Are you a committed Catholic who won't buy a qualified plan because it mandates abortion coverage and that's against your moral code? Jail time! A Scientologist who just can't support psychiatric treatments being mandated? Off you go! Maybe you just can't afford the plan, even with all the subsidies sure to be offered? Throw 'em in the clink! As unthinkable as these scenarios may seem, THAT'S WHAT THE BILL ACTUALLY SAYS. It's....mindboggling, and frankly it's anathema to everything that this country has stood for for the last 233 years. The Federal government says buy this or go to jail. That's as American as borscht.
*That would be one of them tahr "death panels". Think that name's a political conceit, a ploy of Sarah Palin's to grab headlines for herself? I don't. I would bet that Jayden Capewell would disagree with you...except he was allowed to die, in the hospital, because he didn't meet the guidelines for treatment established by the Orwellian named NICE organization. OK, that's in the UK, that would never happen here, you say. Think not? Barbara Wagener thought not too. Then she was told that her state run insurance plan wouldn't cover the drugs needed to treat the cancer she was fighting....but would happily pay for her assisted suicide. I know the term "death panel" is offensive to some. I can understand that. Unfortunately, it does have one thing going for it: It's accurate.
**Massachusetts has even moved to stifle the market response to their draconian mandated coverage. One company (Full disclosure: The insurance company in question is one of the ones that I personally represent, although not in Massachusetts) went to the Insurance Commissioner of Massachusetts and said "Look, these mandated plans are getting very expensive. We'd like to sell a simpler plan, a more basic major medical plan, that doesn't meet your mandates. We'll tell people that, and even get each and every one of them who applies to sign a disclaimer stating that they A) understand that our plans do NOT meet your mandated coverage level and B) that they will thus still be liable for the fine levied on people not carrying qualifying plans ($75/month)." The Insurance Commissioner agreed, approved the plans for the state, and these plans started selling like wildfire, because they cost maybe half of what the mandated plans cost. Even with the $900/year fine, people were able to insure themselves adequately and save a huge amount of money. The Attorney General of Mass. went nuts. What? Choice? This company was offering the citizens actual choices in their health insurance? That just couldn't be allowed, oh, no, no, no, and so the AG's office started a huge 3 cornered legal fight between itself, the insurance company in question and the Insurance Commissioner's office, eventually driving that company out of the state, and depriving consumers the right to purchase a product that THEY preferred to one that the state mandated. Unbelievable.
What does it mean when a parody is almost indistinguishable from the real thing?
Sometimes I think it means that you just have to laugh because the alternative is crying. The always brilliant Mona Charen writes today in NRO:
President Obama elected not to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, but my sources have smuggled out to me part of the speech he would have delivered had he been there.
Twenty years ago today, thanks to the leadership of General Secretary Gorbachev, the mutual suspicion between East and West Germany came to an end. The Cold War was a bitter time for many, particularly in my country, when paranoia and unfounded animosity toward other systems of government impeded peace and progress. Due to unfounded fear and misplaced priorities, my country sometimes supported regimes that did not deserve support. At the same time, the Eastern bloc nations also made mistakes. They were sometimes too quick to assume the worst about us without giving us the benefit of the doubt. After all, while decision makers in Washington DC may have made many dreadful decisions, I was only in grade school at the time.
Thankfully, that time is past. Now, we can move forward together to create a world in which distinctions between command and free economies are gradually erased, and in which nuclear swords will be beaten into solar plowshares.
Monday, October 12, 2009
On being a father
I haven't updated this blog in a while, and this is off topic for what I intended to be a political blog, but tonight I was ruminating on what it means to be a father, more specifically what it means to be the father of a young child. I have a teenage son, and the challenges and rewards of being his father are different, maybe some day I'll write about that (and I'll have to be careful not to use cuss words ;-) ), but tonight I'd like to ponder being the father of an almost five year old.
Strange as it may seem, I feel bad. Jimmy gives me so much, and all of it on a visceral level. Pure, unadulterated love. That's a heady wine to consume. All of it, all the time. "DADDY!" when I walk in the door, rushing to my arms to be swept up into an embrace. "Daddy, my car broke, please fix it", absolutely no doubt in his mind that I can somehow mend the cheap plastic toy, broken in his exuberance. When I'm laying lazily in bed, he hops in, "Let's play tent!" and we dive under the covers, imagining ourselves threatened by bears and tigers and the dreaded "Blair Witch" (a role I, with gleeful malice aforethought, usually assign to my wife), all the while cooking the imaginary meat from our imaginary conquests into a stew for us to share. A pillow is the fire, the TV remote the pot (and woe be to me if I attempt to serve food from the wrong pillow). Imagination rules the day, and it usually ends with giggles and hugs and lots of tickling. It is, quite simply, as close to heaven on earth as I can imagine. Better than recognition from my peers, better than a bonus at work, God help me it's better than sex with my wife (how crazy is that??!?).
So why do I feel bad? I feel bad because there are so many kids out there that don't get that from their fathers. I want to hug all the children of the world to my breast and tell them, love them, show them, that they are valuable. (You may now commence throwing rotten vegetables at me for my hubris). The child in Baltimore city that doesn't know his or her father because his or her mother is "stuck" with them after a single night of selfish pleasure. The child of a hard rock miner in Appalachia who beats his kids in a drunken rage, lashing out against his personal demons. The child in Africa who is destined to be brutally raped because she had the misfortune to be born into a society that holds the weird superstition dear that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS, and never mind that the "virgin" in question is no more than 6 years old. I bleed for all of them, because I AM THE FATHER. In a just world my righteous anger would swell to unimaginable proportions and consume the guilty in a cleansing fire.
Sadly, we don't live in a just world, we live in this world. Each night I must go to bed realizing that there are literally billions of kids who do not have a daddy, or worse, who are afraid of their "daddy".
But here's the thing. Here's the nub, the fundamental fact that so many men miss to their, their children's and society's detriment. Almost everyone likes to fuck. It's hardwired into our human genome. I have no problem with that. But...but...sometimes the fucking results in children, and if you embrace that not as a hazard of sex but as a blessing........then your life can be enriched to a degree not thought possible when the fucking was all that was on your mind. Why so many men miss that is beyond me, and it makes me sad and often angry. How stubbornly selfish do you have to be to miss the very big and wonderful forest for the ultimately inconsequential tree? I just don't understand it now, and I never will. Jimmy IS the light of my life. I work every day to cherish, to nurture that light. As far as I'm concerned, that IS my reason for being. How sad for the children who don't have that kind of dad. How unbelievably tragic for those men who willfully refuse to embrace the gift given them in their child. How unbelievably tragic. For all of us.
Strange as it may seem, I feel bad. Jimmy gives me so much, and all of it on a visceral level. Pure, unadulterated love. That's a heady wine to consume. All of it, all the time. "DADDY!" when I walk in the door, rushing to my arms to be swept up into an embrace. "Daddy, my car broke, please fix it", absolutely no doubt in his mind that I can somehow mend the cheap plastic toy, broken in his exuberance. When I'm laying lazily in bed, he hops in, "Let's play tent!" and we dive under the covers, imagining ourselves threatened by bears and tigers and the dreaded "Blair Witch" (a role I, with gleeful malice aforethought, usually assign to my wife), all the while cooking the imaginary meat from our imaginary conquests into a stew for us to share. A pillow is the fire, the TV remote the pot (and woe be to me if I attempt to serve food from the wrong pillow). Imagination rules the day, and it usually ends with giggles and hugs and lots of tickling. It is, quite simply, as close to heaven on earth as I can imagine. Better than recognition from my peers, better than a bonus at work, God help me it's better than sex with my wife (how crazy is that??!?).
So why do I feel bad? I feel bad because there are so many kids out there that don't get that from their fathers. I want to hug all the children of the world to my breast and tell them, love them, show them, that they are valuable. (You may now commence throwing rotten vegetables at me for my hubris). The child in Baltimore city that doesn't know his or her father because his or her mother is "stuck" with them after a single night of selfish pleasure. The child of a hard rock miner in Appalachia who beats his kids in a drunken rage, lashing out against his personal demons. The child in Africa who is destined to be brutally raped because she had the misfortune to be born into a society that holds the weird superstition dear that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS, and never mind that the "virgin" in question is no more than 6 years old. I bleed for all of them, because I AM THE FATHER. In a just world my righteous anger would swell to unimaginable proportions and consume the guilty in a cleansing fire.
Sadly, we don't live in a just world, we live in this world. Each night I must go to bed realizing that there are literally billions of kids who do not have a daddy, or worse, who are afraid of their "daddy".
But here's the thing. Here's the nub, the fundamental fact that so many men miss to their, their children's and society's detriment. Almost everyone likes to fuck. It's hardwired into our human genome. I have no problem with that. But...but...sometimes the fucking results in children, and if you embrace that not as a hazard of sex but as a blessing........then your life can be enriched to a degree not thought possible when the fucking was all that was on your mind. Why so many men miss that is beyond me, and it makes me sad and often angry. How stubbornly selfish do you have to be to miss the very big and wonderful forest for the ultimately inconsequential tree? I just don't understand it now, and I never will. Jimmy IS the light of my life. I work every day to cherish, to nurture that light. As far as I'm concerned, that IS my reason for being. How sad for the children who don't have that kind of dad. How unbelievably tragic for those men who willfully refuse to embrace the gift given them in their child. How unbelievably tragic. For all of us.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Report on Senator Ben Cardin's health care town hall, 8/10/09
(Apologies for the poor picture quality, all I had was my cell phone)
Tonight I went to Senator Cardin's town hall meeting at my alma mater, Towson University. The meeting was scheduled for 7, I showed up at 5 as I wanted to get far enough up in the line to get into the 500 seat auditorium. It was a good thing I did, too. I was maybe 100-150 people back from the door, and people closed up fast behind me. The turnout was generous, I estimate maybe 1500-2000 people showed up. The door to the Fine Arts building was on a rise, people not in line were standing down below, lining the road and waving signs and flags.
I thought the turnout was very good considering the temperature was 95 with a heat index of over 100 at 5PM. I brought a gallon jug of water and drank a little over half of it in line. Most of the people in the line around me were against Obamacare, but a few union members were just one or two spots behind me. They were cordial, but talking to them was like talking to brick walls. Example:
Me: "Government health plans have caused tremendous financial problems in every state where they have been implemented: Tennessee, Maine, Hawaii, Massachusetts.."
Union Woman: "Do you know why South Carolina is bankrupt?"
Me: " (!?) No...."
UW (triumphantly): "Not from health care!"
Me: "Oh kay....."
Meanwhile, a couple of their companions in their bright yellow union shirts were going down the line handing out fliers saying "All we're asking for is an honest, respectful conversation in there. That's what Democracy is all about." The fliers warned of "TEABAGGERS and DITTOHEADS" and went on in that vein. At least they were honest and respectful, right?
Those of us in line were told that we would not be allowed to bring signs into the meeting, and this was enforced upon all participants, pro and con, which was fair. One thing did bother me a bit. We were told by a security guard that we could put our signs over next to the building and pick them up on the way out. A number of people did so, and shortly thereafter, a different security guard went over to the signs and ripped them all up and threw them in a trashcan. I questioned him about his actions, stating that we had been told to put them there to pick up on the way out. He was mildly confrontational about my questioning him: "That's littering! It's a crime!" His whole attitude radiated disapproval over the signs. I told him that we had been told that we could leave them there to pick up later, to which he responded: "Do you want me to get a cop to tell you it's littering?". I answered in the affirmative, and he went away 'to get a cop' but never returned. *shrug* Petty Napoleon. No big deal, they were just signs.
At about 6 the doors opened and we went into the auditorium. I have to give the Cardin camp credit, they let the first 500 people in, they didn't pre-admit a large group of supporters to pack the house the way some Congresscritters are reported to be doing. It was a packed house.
I got a seat in the front row, right side, but later a lady came down and told me the seat I was in was supposed to have been reserved for her as she was staff. She moved me to a seat marked "Reserved for elected officials", front row center stage. I never knew it was so easy to get elected! I sat next to Bill Frank, the Republican delegate from Maryland's 42nd Legislative District.
At 7 Senator Cardin came out. Before he was introduced, he has a young mother tell a sob story about how she had a special needs child, and it took her 2 months to get her health insurance through MHIP. Senator Cardin took the stage and spoke for about 20-25 minutes, running through a slide show of Democratic talking points about Obamacare. The reform on the table, he said will provide coverage for 47 million uninsured people, require preventative coverage for everyone with no co-pays, cover mental health treatment the same as physical ailments, mandate low deductibles, eliminate yearly or lifetime maximums on insurance plans, allow you to keep your coverage if you liked it, not requiring you to go on the public plan, eliminate exclusions for pre-existing conditions, cap the ability of insurance companies to raise their rates and it would cost considerably less than our current system. I think there was something in there about everyone getting a pony that poops candy too, I'm not real sure, I just know that he promised everything to everybody at a much lower cost. Oh, and that meant taxes wouldn't go up either.
The crowd was....skeptical. Nobody started any chants to drown out the Senator, although the crowd was quite vocal in it's expression of disbelief with some of the more outrageous claims. Their numbers probably mirrored those outside, 3/4s opposed, 1/4 supporting. I have to give Senator Cardin credit for soldiering on, he kept to his prepared notes (although I believe he truncated them a bit, he clicked through the last few slides of the power point presentation really fast) and promised to answer questions as soon as he finished his remarks. People queued behind the mics to ask their questions, and Cardin stood up on stage and answered them. Unfortunately, his answers were not......helpful. Hell, I'd like to say that at times he flat out lied, but I don't want to cast unjust pejoratives at the man. Still, I find it hard to reconcile what he said with what I know to be the truth. Example: Asked if the plan would cover illegal aliens he said "Absolutely not". Fine, except earlier he has touted Obamacare as being needed to cover "every one" of the 47 million uninsured, and 20% of those people are illegal immigrants (as per the Census Bureau report that that number is based on). Example: Asked what section of the Constitution provided the legal basis for government takeover of the health care industry in America, he replied "Article 1", which is....questionable at best. (Article 1 Section 8 does enumerate the powers of Congress, but health care isn't in there and I would counter that the 10th Amendment clearly puts the kibosh on claims that it is within Congress' powers. I know, I know, I'm out of the mainstream on this one, and the SCOUS doesn't agree with me either, but damnit, I'm right!) Example: When it was my turn, I asked him how he would ensure that my employer wouldn't drop the health plan that I like (the one he had repeatedly promised that I'd get to keep) if my employer determined that it was more cost effective to drop the plan and put me on the public option. His answer was "We've done studies that reveal that it would be most unlikely for an employer to do that". Huh? The Lewin Group has released a study determining the exact opposite, and plain common sense backs them up. If it's cheaper for a business to shunt it's employees to a public option, why wouldn't they?? It doesn't make sense! Example: One person asked the Senator "Could you please answer my question with a simple yes or no Senator? Are you willing to put yourself and your family on the same plan that you want for the rest of us?" Senator Cardin: "I'm 65, I'm covered by Medicare. So you see, I personally am already covered by a public option." He then droned in that vein on for about 30 seconds while the crowd called for him to answer yes or no. He didn't.
And so it went. Lots of talking points, not much of substance (to be fair, no final bill has gotten to the floor, but Cardin never manned up and said "This is what I want: Point 1, point 2, point 3, etc..". Lots of dodging the specifics in favor of platitudes. He did put himself out there on the firing line, and he didn't stack the deck, so props to him for that.) When the meeting was over, I went outside. Amazingly, there were still hundreds of people lining the street with their signs and flags. People were driving down the street, past the demonstrators, then making a u-turn and driving back, honking and waving their signs. It was like a scene straight out of American Graffiti. The union folks had gone home, all that was left were little islands of pro-Obamacare supporters in a sea of their opponents. It was, however, all very civil. The pro-Obamacare folks were standing in knots, talking amongst themselves and sometimes civilly debating their opposite numbers. The anti-Obamacare folks were waving the Gadson flag, cheering, driving and honking. The atmosphere was very similar to that at a homecoming rally, everyone cheerful and determined. The temperature had dropped, there was a very real feeling of solidarity amongst the people left, and standing amongst them, one really could feel that the people there were truly and honestly reveling in being a living example of grass roots democracy in action. Petitions were being signed, informative fliers were being distributed, numbers were being exchanged, promises were being made and, for at least one fleeting moment on a hot August evening, ordinary citizens of the United States of America were turning out to Make Their Feelings Known.
Sign taped to a guardrail outside the event.
Honking and yelling in support of representative democracy.
One of the islands of pro-Obamacare folks in the sea of opposition
This is the lighted sign in the back of a pickup that was circling back and forth. Ehrlich is Bob Ehrlich, the former Republican governor of Maryland. When he was elected in 2002, the state was facing a large budget shortfall. In four years he erased that deficit and when he was voted out in the anti-Bush fervor of 2006, he left a huge rainy day fund behind. His successor, Democrat Martin O'Malley, promptly spent that fund on wasteful entitlements and Maryland is once again in the red. This truck got large cheers each and every time it circled around.
President Obama and the DNC have gone to great lengths to tag people who oppose their takeover of the health care system as an unhinged angry mob. That's a label that many are happy to sport.
Again, I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. You'd think a $300 cell phone would be able to take hi-res images, but apparently not. To sum up this post, what we saw in Towson today was true grass roots activism. The citizens of America don't like what's being forced down their throats. Good on them for finally, FINALLY, waking up and smelling the obamanation before them. If they (we) continue to care, we might actually make a difference. Keep up the good work people, the fight for our rights, the fight for our lives, has just begun.
UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
The PBS show Inside Washington featured a clip of me questioning Senator Cardin at the town hall meeting. You can view the clip here, the moderator goes to me at about 6:30. Notice that I am classified as "not wacky". High praise indeed.
Tonight I went to Senator Cardin's town hall meeting at my alma mater, Towson University. The meeting was scheduled for 7, I showed up at 5 as I wanted to get far enough up in the line to get into the 500 seat auditorium. It was a good thing I did, too. I was maybe 100-150 people back from the door, and people closed up fast behind me. The turnout was generous, I estimate maybe 1500-2000 people showed up. The door to the Fine Arts building was on a rise, people not in line were standing down below, lining the road and waving signs and flags.
I thought the turnout was very good considering the temperature was 95 with a heat index of over 100 at 5PM. I brought a gallon jug of water and drank a little over half of it in line. Most of the people in the line around me were against Obamacare, but a few union members were just one or two spots behind me. They were cordial, but talking to them was like talking to brick walls. Example:
Me: "Government health plans have caused tremendous financial problems in every state where they have been implemented: Tennessee, Maine, Hawaii, Massachusetts.."
Union Woman: "Do you know why South Carolina is bankrupt?"
Me: " (!?) No...."
UW (triumphantly): "Not from health care!"
Me: "Oh kay....."
Meanwhile, a couple of their companions in their bright yellow union shirts were going down the line handing out fliers saying "All we're asking for is an honest, respectful conversation in there. That's what Democracy is all about." The fliers warned of "TEABAGGERS and DITTOHEADS" and went on in that vein. At least they were honest and respectful, right?
Those of us in line were told that we would not be allowed to bring signs into the meeting, and this was enforced upon all participants, pro and con, which was fair. One thing did bother me a bit. We were told by a security guard that we could put our signs over next to the building and pick them up on the way out. A number of people did so, and shortly thereafter, a different security guard went over to the signs and ripped them all up and threw them in a trashcan. I questioned him about his actions, stating that we had been told to put them there to pick up on the way out. He was mildly confrontational about my questioning him: "That's littering! It's a crime!" His whole attitude radiated disapproval over the signs. I told him that we had been told that we could leave them there to pick up later, to which he responded: "Do you want me to get a cop to tell you it's littering?". I answered in the affirmative, and he went away 'to get a cop' but never returned. *shrug* Petty Napoleon. No big deal, they were just signs.
At about 6 the doors opened and we went into the auditorium. I have to give the Cardin camp credit, they let the first 500 people in, they didn't pre-admit a large group of supporters to pack the house the way some Congresscritters are reported to be doing. It was a packed house.
I got a seat in the front row, right side, but later a lady came down and told me the seat I was in was supposed to have been reserved for her as she was staff. She moved me to a seat marked "Reserved for elected officials", front row center stage. I never knew it was so easy to get elected! I sat next to Bill Frank, the Republican delegate from Maryland's 42nd Legislative District.
At 7 Senator Cardin came out. Before he was introduced, he has a young mother tell a sob story about how she had a special needs child, and it took her 2 months to get her health insurance through MHIP. Senator Cardin took the stage and spoke for about 20-25 minutes, running through a slide show of Democratic talking points about Obamacare. The reform on the table, he said will provide coverage for 47 million uninsured people, require preventative coverage for everyone with no co-pays, cover mental health treatment the same as physical ailments, mandate low deductibles, eliminate yearly or lifetime maximums on insurance plans, allow you to keep your coverage if you liked it, not requiring you to go on the public plan, eliminate exclusions for pre-existing conditions, cap the ability of insurance companies to raise their rates and it would cost considerably less than our current system. I think there was something in there about everyone getting a pony that poops candy too, I'm not real sure, I just know that he promised everything to everybody at a much lower cost. Oh, and that meant taxes wouldn't go up either.
The crowd was....skeptical. Nobody started any chants to drown out the Senator, although the crowd was quite vocal in it's expression of disbelief with some of the more outrageous claims. Their numbers probably mirrored those outside, 3/4s opposed, 1/4 supporting. I have to give Senator Cardin credit for soldiering on, he kept to his prepared notes (although I believe he truncated them a bit, he clicked through the last few slides of the power point presentation really fast) and promised to answer questions as soon as he finished his remarks. People queued behind the mics to ask their questions, and Cardin stood up on stage and answered them. Unfortunately, his answers were not......helpful. Hell, I'd like to say that at times he flat out lied, but I don't want to cast unjust pejoratives at the man. Still, I find it hard to reconcile what he said with what I know to be the truth. Example: Asked if the plan would cover illegal aliens he said "Absolutely not". Fine, except earlier he has touted Obamacare as being needed to cover "every one" of the 47 million uninsured, and 20% of those people are illegal immigrants (as per the Census Bureau report that that number is based on). Example: Asked what section of the Constitution provided the legal basis for government takeover of the health care industry in America, he replied "Article 1", which is....questionable at best. (Article 1 Section 8 does enumerate the powers of Congress, but health care isn't in there and I would counter that the 10th Amendment clearly puts the kibosh on claims that it is within Congress' powers. I know, I know, I'm out of the mainstream on this one, and the SCOUS doesn't agree with me either, but damnit, I'm right!) Example: When it was my turn, I asked him how he would ensure that my employer wouldn't drop the health plan that I like (the one he had repeatedly promised that I'd get to keep) if my employer determined that it was more cost effective to drop the plan and put me on the public option. His answer was "We've done studies that reveal that it would be most unlikely for an employer to do that". Huh? The Lewin Group has released a study determining the exact opposite, and plain common sense backs them up. If it's cheaper for a business to shunt it's employees to a public option, why wouldn't they?? It doesn't make sense! Example: One person asked the Senator "Could you please answer my question with a simple yes or no Senator? Are you willing to put yourself and your family on the same plan that you want for the rest of us?" Senator Cardin: "I'm 65, I'm covered by Medicare. So you see, I personally am already covered by a public option." He then droned in that vein on for about 30 seconds while the crowd called for him to answer yes or no. He didn't.
And so it went. Lots of talking points, not much of substance (to be fair, no final bill has gotten to the floor, but Cardin never manned up and said "This is what I want: Point 1, point 2, point 3, etc..". Lots of dodging the specifics in favor of platitudes. He did put himself out there on the firing line, and he didn't stack the deck, so props to him for that.) When the meeting was over, I went outside. Amazingly, there were still hundreds of people lining the street with their signs and flags. People were driving down the street, past the demonstrators, then making a u-turn and driving back, honking and waving their signs. It was like a scene straight out of American Graffiti. The union folks had gone home, all that was left were little islands of pro-Obamacare supporters in a sea of their opponents. It was, however, all very civil. The pro-Obamacare folks were standing in knots, talking amongst themselves and sometimes civilly debating their opposite numbers. The anti-Obamacare folks were waving the Gadson flag, cheering, driving and honking. The atmosphere was very similar to that at a homecoming rally, everyone cheerful and determined. The temperature had dropped, there was a very real feeling of solidarity amongst the people left, and standing amongst them, one really could feel that the people there were truly and honestly reveling in being a living example of grass roots democracy in action. Petitions were being signed, informative fliers were being distributed, numbers were being exchanged, promises were being made and, for at least one fleeting moment on a hot August evening, ordinary citizens of the United States of America were turning out to Make Their Feelings Known.
Sign taped to a guardrail outside the event.
Honking and yelling in support of representative democracy.
One of the islands of pro-Obamacare folks in the sea of opposition
This is the lighted sign in the back of a pickup that was circling back and forth. Ehrlich is Bob Ehrlich, the former Republican governor of Maryland. When he was elected in 2002, the state was facing a large budget shortfall. In four years he erased that deficit and when he was voted out in the anti-Bush fervor of 2006, he left a huge rainy day fund behind. His successor, Democrat Martin O'Malley, promptly spent that fund on wasteful entitlements and Maryland is once again in the red. This truck got large cheers each and every time it circled around.
President Obama and the DNC have gone to great lengths to tag people who oppose their takeover of the health care system as an unhinged angry mob. That's a label that many are happy to sport.
Again, I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. You'd think a $300 cell phone would be able to take hi-res images, but apparently not. To sum up this post, what we saw in Towson today was true grass roots activism. The citizens of America don't like what's being forced down their throats. Good on them for finally, FINALLY, waking up and smelling the obamanation before them. If they (we) continue to care, we might actually make a difference. Keep up the good work people, the fight for our rights, the fight for our lives, has just begun.
UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
The PBS show Inside Washington featured a clip of me questioning Senator Cardin at the town hall meeting. You can view the clip here, the moderator goes to me at about 6:30. Notice that I am classified as "not wacky". High praise indeed.
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