awaken the elephants blog

Our philanthropic, Vice President, Joe Biden, came out with another statement the other day.

He’s just such a well spoken guy.

He reiterated something he said on the campaign trail: “It’s patriotic for the rich to pay more in taxes.”

Hmmm….

I just never thought to equate the two: Patriotism and Taxes. Silly me.

I was wondering, Joe, since we’re on the subject, is it also patriotic to give more to charity if you are rich?

You, sir, gave an annual average of only $369 per year to charitable causes for the past 10 years. Now that seems very unpatriotic for a man who was making upwards of $300,000 per year, doesn’t it?

And you’re asking us to pay more to the government?

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

OK, so here’s my beef…

I keep hearing Obama and Biden and Kennedy and Pelosi, and the rest of these liberal clowns tell me that we all have to contribute more for the good of all. This seems like a nice sentiment if looked at only on the surface, but once you peel away the layers, it seems to me that some of us are getting ripped off.

Why?

Well, while the “rich” (take that term very loosely) are expected to give more, there is nothing expected of the poor. They merely GET more. Do they contribute anything more to our struggling society?

The answer is “No.”

And my question is, “Why?”

I’m not speaking of the elderly or the disabled, although many disabled people are still very capable of giving something back. I’m not talking about the children or the mentally handicapped. I’m speaking of the able-bodied, young, strong Americans who either sit around and do nothing while collecting from the government,, or the 40% of Americans who don’t pay any payroll taxes although they work.

Yes, that’s right. 40% of working Americans get a check back at the end of the year which equals the amount they pay in to the government in payroll taxes every year. That figure comes directly from the IRS, not from me.

Many of these Americans, both the working and non-working, expect free health care. They want subsidized housing, free lunches for their children, free college tuition, free food stamps, free energy programs, and more. The list of programs our government supplies is endless.

What about the rest of us? What about the 60% of Americans who are forced by law to pay into the government? Well, there are some on the lower end of the scale who still might qualify for a program here or there, but generally, those who pay taxes don’t qualify for any help. They pay in, but they get nothing back.

It’s a bit like flushing your money down the toilet, isn’t it? Especially when you hear that our hard earned dollars are going to make a turtle crossing under a road in Texas and buy hybrid vehicles for our government employees.

Who wouldn’t want to contribute to things like that?

Well, my guess would be Joe Biden. He doesn’t seem to be much of a charity guy.

What could these nontaxpayers do to help contribute to our society? They could pick up litter in the streets and neighborhoods. They could volunteer to mow the grass on public land. They could help serve food in soup kitchens and homeless shelters, or babysit someone’s children who need day care. They could clean the churches and paint public buildings, read to the blind and tutor others in school.

They could earn their free housing and free meals. They could give something back.

Instead, they go to the voting booth and vote to take more from the productive workers so they will benefit.

I think it’s selfish.

I’m tired of hearing I’m selfish for not wanting to pay more taxes.

I want someone to tell the unemployed loafers that they’re selfish for expecting to get something for nothing.

Get off of your young, healthy butts and get a job or volunteer your time.

You are not entitled to anything free just because you are an American. Read the constitution…. if you can. There isn’t an amendment that gives you free stuff or tells you that you never have to work a day in your life.

You are entitled to speak freely. You are entitled to practice your religion. You are entitled to assemble peacefully and to be treated equally.

You are entitled to an opportunity.

What you choose to do with all of that is your problem, not ours.

Any questions?

lsm.
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

Let’s see….

Obama sides with the ousted leader of Honduras and the evil dictator in Iran, but doesn’t care much for the democratic, friendly leader in Israel? He kisses up to Chavez and Castro, but isn’t afraid to get leaders in Europe like Brown and Sarkozy, a little mad?

What in the world has happened to our foreign policy?

Let’s start with Honduras, a small country that most of us probably forgot was even on the map. Their leader, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted as their president in what has been called a “military coup.” That term brings up all kinds of connotations, doesn’t it, making us assume that there was gunfire and bloodshed in the streets.

Actually, the “coup” was quite civil.

The military did remove Zelaya from his position of office, but there wasn’t an ounce of gunfire. And there was a reason that these actions were taken: Zelaya was unconstitutionally serving as the leader of their country. You see their Supreme Court had recently upheld a decision that said a president in Honduras can serve only a single four year term.

Zelaya’s term was up.

And he didn’t want to go away.

In fact, he wanted to pull an FDR, and stay in office long after the constitution said he could.

Oh, and add to that the fact that Zelaya had charges pending against him for drug trafficking and organized crime, too.

So the military did what the military does, and they enforced the law.

Here’s where it gets interesting….

Our mighty leader, Socialist Barack Obama, immediately sided with the unlawful, ousted leader of Honduras. Yes, the same man who “didn’t want to get involved” in the reelection of Ahmadinejad because we should “let these countries work these things out themselves”, in a reversal of attitude, has decided that Zelaya should remain in power.

Who cares about the constitution in Honduras…If the current leader wants to stay in power, Obama wants to support him.

Especially when his buddies, and fellow book club members, Chavez and Castro are on board.

The little threesome once again agree on foreign policy. Anyone else find that kind of creepy? And what makes it even creepier is that the citizens of Honduras are glad Zelaya is out of office. They have held rallies and protests in the streets, hoping to gain support for the notion of a new leader. Why wouldn’t Obama support the upholding of their constitution?

You see, Zelaya was elected as a man who was “for the people”, yet, once in office, his colors began to change, and he became more of a rogue dictator.

Sound familiar?

There’s a new temporary leader in Honduras right now, a man by the name of Roberto Micheletti. He has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he tries to return to power, and the people of Honduras are supporting him.

So what did Zelaya do?

Well he went to the U.N., of course, to look for support. He not only got the support he wanted from his fellow leftists, he got a standing ovation. Now the members of the U.N. are vowing to escort Zelaya back to Honduras and try to help get him back into power to “continue his mandate.” Zelaya says he won’t run again for office, he merely wants to finish what he’s started.

Sure. That’s what they all say.

How can it be that our trusty Messiah is coming down on the side of the bad guy, once again? He’s once again showing us his true colors, isn’t he? When Iran was in an uprising, protesting on the streets and hoping to oust Ahmadinejad from power, did Obama support the protesters and fight for legal democracy in that country?

No, of course not. He “didn’t want to get involved.”

But he’s had no trouble telling Israel what to do. He’s asking them to quit building homes in their own country. He’s repeatedly on the side of the Palestinian government, a leftist organization. He’s thumbing his nose at Netanyahu, the democratic leader of Israel, who should be our greatest ally in the Middle East.

And the leader of a country we have vowed to protect.

Maybe if Castro and Chavez would support Israel, then Obama would too.

There are so many things suddenly going on in the world right now, that it’s just hard to keep them all straight, yet if you lay them all out and study them closely, a very disturbing pattern begins to emerge.

Obama supports dictators. Obama supports countries with communism, socialism, and control. He refuses to take a hard stand against any country that most of us would refer to as evil.

Yet, he chastises Israel, England, France, and some of the other, more friendly countries.

Could it be that he’s showing us his true, leftist feelings?

Could it be that he’s giving us a preview of what the next 7 1/2 years will be like?

Could it be that he is showing us exactly what kind of leader he intends to be?

Ya think?

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

Hey Average American family, got an extra $4300 per year?

If you do, then get on board the Cap and Trade bandwagon that is driving through Congress these days; You’ll be in for a left-leaning, crazy, and expensive ride.

“Cap and Trade”, “Tax and Trade”, “Tax and Tax”, “Take our money and give it to the government…”

Whatever you call it, it’s all the same. Most of us don’t understand what it all means, which of course, is exactly what the government wants. Most of the congressmen don’t understand it either because it’s another one of those bills that’s 1200 pages long, and as we all know, they don’t read lengthy bills. On top of that, a 300 page amendment was added to the bill 12 hours prior to signing, making it impossible for lawmakers to read. Our Congress once again voted for a bill that they hadn’t read.

Here’s my understanding of Cap and Trade in a nutshell:

Each company will be given a certain number of Carbon Credit permits. These companies will then be inspected for the number of emissions they produce each year. If, for example, a business has 15,000 permits, but only uses 10,000 of them in pollution emissions, that business can sell their extra 5000 to a company who is over their limit. Any company over their limit must make up the difference by buying up someone else’s unused permits.

Got it?

The theory behind this is that the government can control the number of emissions in our air at all times.

This means that they can change the rules in the middle of the game whenever they want. If they decide that 15,000 permits are too many, for example, they’ll lower it to 10,000. Suddenly, the company who uses all 10,000 no longer has permits to sell, and the company over their limit will struggle to find more permits, causing the price of them to go up. When costs continue to go up, companies are forced to do one of three things:

1. They can clean up their emissions.

2. They can pass the extra charge onto you and I by raising their prices.

3. They can fire most employees and move overseas.

Now in a utopic, liberal world, these companies would willingly clean up their emissions. They would also cut pay and bonuses to top executives because these guys make too much already.

But in the real world, companies will merely pass the bill onto you and I. Eventually, the price of almost everything we buy will escalate to reflect the costs to these companies.

And don’t think that companies won’t leave the U.S. It’s already happening. Our manufacturing jobs are now being shipped overseas to China, India, and countries where the costs are lower.

Not only will the price of electricity go up, but so will the price of gas, food, heating oil, natural gas, and most of our everyday products. This is where the $4300 comes in. The Heritage Foundation estimates that the actual cost of this Bill to each household, including everything, will be about $4300 per year.

Barack Obama stood in front of the cameras recently and gave us the simple “postage stamp” theory, claiming that most Americans will only have their utility bill raised by the equivalent of “a postage stamp per day.” Multiply that out, and we’d be paying about $160 per year. Not bad, huh?

To start.

You also must remember that the democrats are doing the math.

Once their foot is in the door, though, the government only needs a simple vote to continue to raise that price, just the way they raise the price of a postage stamp. Remember stamps? They used to be about 5 cents each. Years later, they were raised to 7 cents. Years later, to 10 cents. Recently, however, the price of a stamp is raised about every 6 months, not every 3 years.

The same will happen to Cap and Trade.

All the government wants right now is to get their foot in the door.

Have they mentioned that Cap and Trade was tried in Europe and failed? Have they told you about the number of jobs that will be lost due to this policy? Have you been told that with the passage of this bill, you will be required to have your house “inspected” before selling to assure the government you are selling a ‘green’ house? Have they mentioned that billions of our dollars will be allocated overseas to save trees and foliage in foreign countries?

On the contrary, we’ve heard that this will create millions of “clean” jobs, a “pie in the sky” number.

Where have we heard this before?

Well, in the stimulus bill, of course. Passing it was going to ensure that our unemployment rate didn’t escalate to the dreaded 9.3% estimated if we didn’t pass it.

Next month, WITH the stimulus package passed, our unemployment is expected to exceed 10%.

How’s that working for you?

Have we learned yet that the government is in the business of fudging numbers? Have we learned that Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have no problem lying to us? Have we learned that all this regulation is strangling our economy? Shouldn’t we be learning from the mistakes of Canada and Europe?

Or are we stupid?

And the answer, of course, is not that we’re stupid.

It’s that we’re left in the dark.

Barack and Nancy like it dark.

They do their best work in the dark.

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

Governor Sanford, Republican from South Carolina, stood alone at a podium and admitted to having a year-long affair with a beautiful reporter from Argentina.

The media vultures were awakened from their sleeping perches, tired of covering ho-hum stories like Climate Change legislation and Health Care Reform. The last time they were this excited was when they went to New York with Barack and Michelle on their little date night.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on this story of lust, infidelity, and betrayal.

Everyone, that is, except for Bill Clinton.

Or Barney Frank.

Or Teddy Kennedy.

Or Hillary Clinton.

Or John Edwards.

Where are these democratic leaders when you need them?

I have a sneaking suspicion that we won’t be hearing from them anytime soon, especially on the issues of infidelity or sex.

You see, as a democrat, a politician can easily survive a sex scandal, although in all fairness, some have suffered more than others. The typical explanation given as to why it’s acceptable for a democrat to engage in reproachable activity, but not a republican is because ‘republicans preach “family values” and democrats don’t.’

Huh?

What do democrats preach?

Do they preach the value of having an affair in the oval office with an intern and then covering it up with perjury? Do they preach running an illegal gay prostitution ring out of your own basement? Do they preach having an affair with a campaign aide and getting her pregnant while your wife is home getting chemotherapy? Do they preach bolting from a car which has just plunged into a river, leaving a woman to die, and trying to deny it happened?

Gosh, if that’s what they preach, who wouldn’t want to get on board with that party. I guess it’s “anything goes” with them. How fun!

As Governor Sanford made his statement about his affair, his wife, Jenny, made a very important statement of her own simply by being absent from his side. She told the world that she didn’t approve. She told the world that her children needed to see the difference between right and wrong, not a sham. She made it clear that her husband got himself into this mess, and her husband was going to have to get himself out of it.

I say, good for her.

What has been amazing has been her demeanor and actions since her husband’s announcement. Jenny Sanford has been forthright and strong. She hasn’t cast her husband aside as a heathen, in fact, she admits that she loves him and wants their marriage to move past this.

But she won’t make it easy for him. If their marriage survives, it will be on her terms.

Again, I say, good for her.

And I hope for her sake that she gets whatever it is that is best for her.

As for Governor Sanford, he’s lost a lot, hasn’t he? He was touted as one of the brightest hopes for the Republican party in the presidential election of 2012. He was looked up to as a hero during the stimulus bill passage, telling the president that he could take his stimulus money and “shove it”. He’s now lost all credibility as a true, values-based conservative, and will never again be looked at the same.

It goes to show what a little power will do to a person.

Take away Governor Sanford’s title and his power, and let’s see if Maria from Argentina finds this man nearly as attractive. Take away the secrecy and the excitement of deceit and see if this affair’s steam continues to grow. Maybe Jenny, back home, will start to look better and better to the ex-governor.

There’s another issue at play in this whole mess, and that is one which may actually take down the current governor. Reports seem to indicate that state funds were used to finance his trip to Argentina, although he now claims that he will pay most of it back. What made him think that he could use these funds in the first place, and what if he hadn’t been caught? Would he still have reimbursed the taxpayers of South Carolina?

Me thinks not.

Lost in all of this is the irony that Jenny Sullivan Sanford came into her marriage a millionaire. She helped finance her husband’s rise to the top, and has been a major part of getting this man to where he is. She helped to get him the power that he used to entice another woman into his bedroom.

When asked about his political career, Jenny eloquently stated: “I’m going to do my best to work on my marriage. His career is not a concern of mine. He’ll have to worry about that. I’m going to worry about my family and the character of my children.”

Think this Republican party doesn’t include people with good family values? Look to Jenny Sanford, a woman who is holding her husband accountable, and teaching her children how NOT to act someday. Look to a woman who is standing on principle, facing her challenges head on, and telling the truth.

Maybe she learned those things from democratic women like Hillary Clinton who called her husband’s affair a “right wing conspiracy” or Elizabeth Edwards, who allowed her husband to continue his presidential bid knowing full well that he was cheating.

Or maybe not.

Maybe this Republican party of ours still has a value system, yet as in life, includes flawed individuals as members. At least we scrutinize the scoundrels, chastise them, and demote them.

The democrats, on the other hand, use a sex scandal as a promotion.

Just ask Bill, Teddy, and Barney.

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

A great, yet simple explanation of why our country can’t support illegal immigration. I found this on the internet. lsm

Here is an example of why hiring illegal aliens is not economically productive for the State of California …

You have 2 families…”Joe Legal” and “Jose Illegal”. Both families have 2 parents, 2 children and live in California.

“Joe Legal” works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes $25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted….”Jose Illegal” also works in construction, has “NO” Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash “under the table”.

Joe Legal…$25.00 per hour x 40 hours $1000.00 per week, $52,000 per year. Now take 30% away for state federal tax. Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.

Jose Illegal…$15.00 per hour x 40 hours $600.00 per week, $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes… Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage $1000.00 per month, $12,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $19,231.00

Jose Illegal has full Medical and Dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal makes too much money is not eligible for Food Stamps or welfare Joe Legal pays for food $1,000.00 per month $12,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $ 7,231.00.

Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for Food Stamps and Welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays rent of $1,000.00 per month, $12,000.00 per year. Joe Legal is now in the hole minus (-) $4,769.00.

Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month Federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays rent $500.00 per month $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $25,200.00.

Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.

Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Joe Legal’s and Jose Illegal’s children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children’s lunches while Jose Illegal’s children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal’s children have an
after school ESL program. Joe Legal’s children go home.

Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same Police and Fire Services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Don’t vote/support any politician that supports illegal aliens…

Its PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!

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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

First it was “Global Warming”.

Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize for his now famous documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” which informed us of the impending dangers of our warming climate.

Hmmm…..haven’t heard from him lately.

I assume he didn’t expect his theory to be dispelled so quickly.

This “Global Warming” myth began to reveal itself when citizens began freezing as temperatures plummeted the past few years. Anyone with a brain was no longer fooled.

So the liberal environmental movement instead tried to sell us on a concept called “Climate Change.”

A man named James Hanson from NASA tried to help the environmentalists fudge a few numbers so that we’d all think this phenomenon was real. James “mistakenly” used some warmer temperature readings from September 2008, and substituted them into his “climate change” formula for October 2008. Since September is typically warmer than October, the results came out alarmingly high. NASA made the big announcement that the planet was definitely warming.

Interesting, but James is a scientist, a mathematician, a man who is working at NASA. You would think that he would do what all of us learned in Chemistry 101: Double check. Verify, verify, verify.

This isn’t the only time old James got the numbers wrong, though. He also wrongly reported that the years of 1990, 1995, and 1997 were the warmest of the century, causing us all to shudder. This myth was dispelled, however, when a young investigator discovered and reported that 1934 was the second warmest year of the century. The fourth and fifth warmest were 1921 and 1931, respectively.

That changed everything, didn’t it?

But there’s more. Hansen’s group was asked to keep track of temperatures throughout the U.S. They installed stations in rural areas, hoping to get more accurate readings than those in the inner cities, where there is a high concentration of concrete to throw the numbers off.

Sounds logical, right?

Well, the rural sensors were placed in areas next to hot concrete, blowing exhaust fans, hot asphalt, and attached to steel polls that completely threw off the reliability of their findings.

In all, 80% of the stations had issues with their accuracy.

Yet these numbers were used to convince all of us that this world is warming.

So why would Hansen continuously skew the numbers in favor of climate change?

Hansen is a declared “independent” who supported Gore, in fact, he was the listed science adviser to Gore’s documentary. He supported Kerry’s bid for the presidency, and received a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Foundation (yes, John Kerry’s wife’s foundation.)

Was he getting paid off?

Well, we can’t be sure. What we do know is that Hansen’s department at NASA was just awarded $1Billion in the Stimulus package. I’m not sure how that will stimulate the economy, but……

$1Billion was given to a man who can’t seem to get his numbers right.

Interestingly, people in the United States have begun to debunk the climate change myth all on their own. Most have lived long enough to see trends in weather, some years are cold, some are warm. In fact, the latest polls show more and more Americans jumping off the “global warming” bandwagon.

Common sense is beginning to take over.

Here’s another fun fact: The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has silenced one of its own research experts because his opinions are not “favorable to their cause.” Alan Carlin, a senior researcher who got his PHD from MIT and has been an employee for 38 years, issued an internal, fundamental critique of the EPA.

His boss refused to submit his findings to the EPA or to the general public for political reasons.

Beautiful.

So our government is going to regulate our SUV’s and tax our electricity, claiming that it’s in the “best interest of our planet”, and at the same time, suppress information that would contradict the necessity to do these things?

Where’s the mainstream media?

With more and more people questioning global warming and climate change, how will the government continue to get the public’s support for their policies?

Can you say “Pollution”?

Yup, that’s right. Pollution is now back in the news. It reared its ugly head in the 1970’s, and its now the topic de jour. We recently saw a map of the cities and areas of the country where people were at higher risk for cancer because of the poor air quality. Who released this information? The EPA , of course, the same agency that is suppressing Dr. Carlin’s findings.

The movement began with global warming, turned into climate change, and has now morphed into pollution control. Liberals don’t care what we call it, they care that we fear it. They care that we allow them to regulate it.

It’s a way of taxing us. Of controlling us. Of getting more money and more power.

These tax and spend liberals are in control of us.

Meanwhile, we’ll be sliding around on our snowy roads in some little “green” cars because we were too dumb to say anything or do anything about it.

Silence isn’t always golden.

Sometimes it’s fatal.

lsm
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go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

Last week I found myself embarrassed to be a woman.

Actually, I’m embarrassed to be a woman every time some insecure “women’s lib” idiot decides to speak for people like me. I don’t need any extra help making my way through this world, thank you very much. I earned my grades and my way into college, just like the guys did. I don’t need to be labeled a “victim” in order to survive. I embrace my role as the softer sex, seeing it as a badge of honor; after all, what would children do without some soft arms to fall into when their little world gets overwhelming?

What would our culture be like if we were all like men?

Barbara Boxer embarrasses me. Women like her make me angry. This Senator from California is on her own little power trip, but in doing so, she takes many of us along with her.

Senator Boxer sat at a Senate committee meeting on Environment and Public Works, questioning Brigadier General Michael Walsh, an honorable man who has served our country in the military for years, including a stint commanding a unit in Baghdad, Iraq.

She had just asked him a question, and in response, Michael Walsh answered, “Ma’am……” At this point, a very irritated Boxer shot back, “Do me a favor,” she said. “Could you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘Ma’am’? It’s just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it, thank you.”

I worked so hard to get that title?

Are you kidding me?

Can you say Arrogant? Obnoxious? Entitled? Idiotic? Demeaning?

How about “Disrespectful”? Barbara’s little tirade was incredibly disrespectful to a man who had clearly EARNED his title. Brigadier General Michael Walsh actually FOUGHT for his title, quite the opposite of Boxer who’s greatest claim to fame is sitting around a room with a bunch of other losers and occasionally voted on an impending bill.

Oh, and then going to lunch.

He put his life on the line so that Ms. Boxer could have the freedoms that she has today.

In the military, the words “Ma’am” and “Sir” show respect and are used when addressing a person you look up to. If you listen to his exchanges with the male senators, the Brigadier General refers to each of them as “Sir”, the equivalent counterpart to “Ma’am.” None chastised him.

Scary, isn’t it, that people like Ms. Boxer have the power to change our lives. They have the power to vote on how much money we’ll be able to keep from our paychecks each week, and whether or not we have to live with crappy government health care. They get to decide whether or not you and I have to pay for illegals to get that same health care. Their vote determines if we’ll have bigger electrical bills, or what types of cars we must drive. They tell us if and where we can smoke, how much we’ll pay for gas, what kind of education our children will receive, and whether or not our children will be forced to fight in a war.

Do you suppose some of this power goes to their heads?

Ya think?

An old, retired Senator once said that being in the Senate was like being a member of “the best country club in the world.”

What does that tell you? A “country club”? We put the future of our nation into the hands of the “country club” crowd?

Barbara Boxer is an embarrassment to her profession, if you can call it that. The term “government by the people” means that the power to change government is supposed to be in the hands of you and I. Ms. Boxer is not supposed to be an egomaniac, merely a representative of the people in her state. You’d think she would be a bit humbled by the fact that the state she represents, California, is a mess, and that the average person is working their tail off to try to keep it afloat.

That ain’t happening.

Senators promise their constituents the moon during election time, get into office, and vote however the heck they want. The power overcomes them. They then look down their noses at everyone who they deem “beneath them”.

This includes just about everyone.

Throw the woman out. Throw the rest of them out, too. Get rid of the entitled attitude in our government. Quit allowing these powerful liberal women, like Boxer, Maxine Waters, Janine Garafolo, Pelosi, Lindsay Lohan, Katie Couric, and every anchorwoman at CNBC, to represent the rest of us who see the world in a much different light, one without a big, old chip on our shoulder.

We can be women without being arrogant.

We can get jobs without being entitled.

We can be soft and loving and nurturing without being apologetic.

We are different from men.

Get over it, Ms. Boxer.

Get over it.

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

Sometimes the average American looks at the government deficit and asks themselves, “Where does all the money go?”

It looks like we found part of the answer.

New York City, the place that has proposed taxing salty foods, soda, sugary products, and everything else under the sun because they are out of cash, is paying approximately 700 teachers each year to sit and do nothing.

That’s right, folks. Teachers are getting paid to play scrabble or cribbage, listen to music, or even just sit and stare at the wall. They are put in offices called “rubber rooms” which are named after the padded cells in mental facilities.

Here’s the best part: These teachers, some of whom spend anywhere from months to many years in these offices, are considered unfit for the classroom due to a variety of issues. Some have been accused of misconduct with the students. Some have sexual allegations against them. Some claim that they have been wrongly accused of whistleblowing by school administrators.

All are awaiting a hearing.

All get summer vacation off. All get Christmas vacation off. All get school vacation days off.

Oh, and one more thing….

All are getting full pay. The average salary ranges in the vicinity of $70,000 per year.

This means the city of New York is paying out approximately $65 Million per year for 700 teachers to idly sit around, and the New York state government has the audacity, yes, the audacity, to go to the taxpayers of their state and ask for more money.

Don’t think that this is only happening in NYC. This government waste is occurring in just about every state, although in some states, the teachers are lucky enough to just stay home and get paid.

Some of the New York teachers sneak out during the day and hang out at the bar across the street from one of the “rubber rooms.” Some surf the internet for hours. Some paint lovely pictures. Some read. Some write their memoirs, get real estate licenses, or sleep.

Why don’t we make them do some actual work? Maybe they could correct papers, do filing for the school district, organize papers for the working teachers, haul library books, clean the classrooms after hours….SOMETHING!

Well, they aren’t allowed to do those things. Their contract with the teachers’ union doesn’t allow them to do outside work when they are awaiting a hearing. Because of the contract they signed with the union, they are completely protected from actual work and have a guarantee of being paid full salary. The hearings are only conducted 5 days a week, and there are a limited number of cases that can be heard each day, so it usually takes years for a case to be heard.

We are suddenly finding out just how powerful these unions are, aren’t we? Who did the government protect in the GM deal? Was it the average citizen who had their money invested in the “safe” blue chip stock of this company? No, it was the unions who ruled the power at the end of the day.

Folks, it’s all about the votes. Washington liberals kowtow to these unions at every turn.

Here’s where my anger comes in…..

What about the rest of us? What about those of us who pay property taxes which pay for these teachers’ salaries? Who’s protecting us?

Who’s making sure that the money WE earned and are forced to give to our government is being spent properly?

And, of course, the answer is “no one.”

Our government cares about power, not protecting you and me. The democratic party in charge has a “little deal” with the teachers’ union, you see. If the union will continue to fund the democratic candidates during election time, then the elected officials will continue to stroke the backs of the teachers’ unions.

It’s as simple as that.

You stroke my back, I’ll stroke yours.

One problem. No one is stroking the back of the people who are actually paying for these teachers, the taxpayer.

So what’s a person to do?…..

It’s time to demand some accountability in this government of ours.

It’s time for us to demand a little back rub.

Better yet, a full body massage.

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

OK, so here’s a new one.

On June 24th, ABC, the “unbiased” news organization who just wants to fairly cover the news of the day, is moving its anchor desk into the White House.

The Messiah’s White House.

I wonder if Michelle will become the new woman anchor? Or maybe she could be the “garden lady”, a sort of Martha Stewart type who shows us how to grow basil. Hey, she could be the network’s official athletic trainer, showing the world how to get their biceps to look like hers.

Better yet, she could demonstrate how to remove dog do-do from the Oval Office antique rugs.

I’d tune in for that one.

So Chairman Obama finally has his own TV network. In all fairness, right now it’s only a one night gig, but I’m sure if the ratings are high, we’ll see this kind of thing happening all the time.

The world now runs on ratings.

It seems that Obama hasn’t been able to push his federalized healthcare policy through the regular channels, like going to Congress and letting them vote on it or giving a speech to the citizens of this country and letting them decide about their own medical policies.

That’s just so, you know, “not cool”.

No, he’s going to have his own infomercial from the White House which will brainwash as many viewers as possible, telling them that we need some “change” in our current health care industry.

There’s that word again.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) led by Michael Steele, had a few choice words over what is happening before our very eyes between our media and this administration. They challenged ABC, asking them to broadcast both sides of this very important issue so that the audience can get an idea of what they are signing on to.

ABC refused.

They then asked if they could buy some air time so they could give the other side.

The answer was “no.”

It seems that ABC has this all covered, claiming that there will be a townhall format where people will be allowed to ask questions about this plan. Here’s the problem: ABC gets to select everyone who is in attendance. My gut tells me that they will also preselect the questions to be asked.

After all, the answers need to be fed into the teleprompter ahead of time.

What is going on here? When did the media start PUBLICLY showing their bias for the democratic party? Was it when they refused to have a debate on Fox News? Was it when “nice guy” Charlie Gibson decided to rip Sarah Palin to shreds, chastising her for not understanding the Bush Doctrine? Was it when Chris Matthews announced the infamous tingle up his leg to the world?

Was it when the White House press corp stood to attention when the Messiah entered the room, although they never did so for Bush or Clinton?

Barack knows that he has these biased reporters on his side. He stood up and joked about it at a Journalists’ Dinner at the White House recently, claiming that Brian Williams was “in bed” with him. He also chuckled when he announced that those in attendance had gotten him elected.

The audience roared with laughter, all the while snickering with delight at their part in making this Manchurian candidate.

It’s all just so “cute” to watch, isn’t it?

OK, so maybe “cute” isn’t the right word. For those of us with a brain, it’s more like “disgusting”, “revolting”, “pathetic”, and “scary.”

You see, we WANT a mainstream media that works the way it’s suppose to; we want them to challenge the administration, to be the eyes and ears of the White House, reporting what they find directly to the people.

That’s their job.

Not sleeping with the president, not moving their desks into his house, not helping him to look good, not helping to elect him, not demoralizing his opponents, not providing cover-up for his blunders.

Not becoming an agency of the state. That only happens in places like Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, right? That only happens in those evil places with evil dictators, men who need total control and insist on spinning the news so they always come out looking good.

Not in places like the United States, right?

Not to men like the Messiah, right?

Hmmm…..

that’s all, just hmmm…….

lsm
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Go to Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com

As 77 year old Senator Teddy Kennedy recovers from his latest round of chemotherapy for a malignant brain tumor, he is busy at work drafting health care legislation that will ensure other individuals his age will be denied the same cancer treatment in the future.

Nice, huh?

Oh, I’m sure his own family will always get special treatment, as will the families of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. They have nothing to worry about. Even his ex-wife will have no trouble.

It’s just the rest of us who, in Tom Daschle’s words, “need to understand what it’s like to get old.”

Teddy’s treatment cannot save his life, although it might postpone the inevitable. In countries with socialized health care like England and Canada, Teddy would be considered a “bad” statistic, one who is not worthy of further treatment because it is not “cost effective.”

Women in England with breast cancer are denied life-saving drugs because they are too costly. People die waiting for a brain tumor diagnosis because MRI’s are so rare.

I wonder how expensive Teddy’s treatments are?

The Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, wrote a letter to Senator Kennedy telling him that his new Health Care Bill will cost us $1 Trillion by the year 2019.

A billion, a trillion…what’s the difference, right?

But there’s more. Right now it is estimated that there are 47 uninsured people (not necessarily citizens) in the United States. This Trillion dollars that they are talking about will only insure 16 million of them. That means there will still be 31 million who are uninsured in 2019, the same number of uninsured that we had back in the year 2000.

And that doesn’t include the flock of illegals who will be storming our borders once they hear about our free health care plan.

You know who else it doesn’t include? Well, it doesn’t include people like you and me who will be forced into the nationalized health care system because our employers have dropped their private insurance. You see, Teddy and Barack want to put a stiff tax on health care, causing it to become unaffordable for the average company, forcing them to drop coverage for their employees. These employees will then get to experience the joys of public health care.

Just like the Canadians do.

They will get to wait for days in an emergency room. They’ll experience the joy of waiting months for an MRI. They’ll see what it’s like to be denied a new hip or a new diabetes treatment because they are too old.

Are we crazy? Are we just, plain nuts?

Are we going to allow our government to destroy the best health care in the entire world because of 16 million people, some of whom are not even citizens of our country? Couldn’t we help to get these people some health care another way?

Or do we have to listen to Teddy and Barack?

There’s another issue with this new health care bill that is going to be a problem. You see, once we add millions of people into the system, there will not be enough doctors to go around. Waiting times will increase. The amount of time spent with a patient will decrease. Doctors will be spread too thin, not able to accurately diagnose patients because they haven’t spent enough time with them.

Most current doctors are advising their own children to avoid the field of medicine.

So what are we going to do when the supply of doctors goes down, yet the demand for health care goes up?

Well, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa has a solution. He is proposing that we pay full tuition for any young student who will become a doctor but promises not to specialize. He feels that too many kids get “greedy”, wanting the extra money that comes with specializing, and we need to stop kids from excelling beyond the general practitioner level.

Why do the dems always want everyone besides themselves to stop succeeding?

Here’s a newsflash, Senator Harkin: We Don’t Have Any Money!! Our country is broke. In California, they are cutting police officers and allowing inmates to go free because of budget problems, but you want to pay full tuition for kids to go to 8 years of college?

Didn’t your mother ever tell you that “money doesn’t grow on trees”?

One more thing of note: Remember when Barack promised everyone in the United States “the same health care that Congress gets”?

He was lying. Congress will NOT be on the same plan as the rest of us. Congress will continue to get special treatment, allowing them to “cut” in line and get better care.

I guess Barack and Teddy are a little nervous that they don’t have the votes to screw up our health care system so they’ve enticed ABC to come to the White House and help them out with a little Infomercial. They are hoping to “educate”, aka “brainwash”, people into thinking that this nationalized health care is a good idea.

It must be nice to have your own news service to help you get the word out.

I don’t recall any infomercials on the Iraq War when Bush was in power.

Don’t let Teddy and Barack and ABC fool you, folks. This is ONE BAD DEAL.

We will all age someday, and every one of us will need health care when we get older.

We have only two options: Fight now or cry later.

lsm
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Go To Home Page: www.awakentheelephants.com