From the archives of the extreme progressive left comes this little ditty written in 2001 by SDS founding member, and DSA Vice Chair, Steve Max.

In November 2001, just 8 weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks on New York and DC, Steve Max delivered a speech to the progressive “USAction Delegation Assembly”, on the topic of taking advantage of the new crisis as an opportunity to advance a progressive agenda.

The speech reads like Ward “little Eichmanns” Churchill and Rahm “never let a good crisis go to waste” Emanuel, all rolled up into one offensive Progressive rant.

Why does any of this matter? Because Steve Max, as a co-founder of Citizen Action (which later became USAction) and the Midwest Academy, is one of the people who likely trained SEIU’s Andy Stern, Rahm Emanuel, and even President Bracak Obama, in the Alinsky method of organizing toward revolution.

Mr. Max makes a couple of worthy points in his speech, however they are lost in a sea of moral equivalence and cynical political opportunism. Just 8 weeks after the deaths of 3000+ innocent people, who’s only crime was that they were judged as “infidel” by their islamist attackers, Steve Max opines to the progressive community:

The Chinese character for crisis, they say, is a combination of two other characters standing for danger and opportunity. We are now in such a period of crisis. There is great danger but there is also opportunity to advance to a progressive program.

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The America in which I was raised always stood for freedom, and not just freedom for Americans but freedom for suffering people around the World.  When I was an exchange student in Germany in 1983, I found myself in endless debates about this, and about my President Ronald Reagan and his desire to build a missile defense system in Western Europe.   I loved the German people.  The kids were so refreshing in many ways, but their cynical views of the motives of my President shocked me.

John Loudon at Berlin Wall

I admit that I am a little unique.   As a fairly young child, I poured through every issue of Time magazine, which is like our version of the German magazine, Die Zeit.  Jimmy Carter was the President.  He talked of peace while cutting our defense spending.  I remember being very scared seeing charts and graphs comparing our defense systems including war planes, ships and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).  The American armaments were blue and the Soviets vastly superior forced were Red.  Here my story gets really odd.  I was 12 years old when I read George Orwell’s 1984.  The year was 1979.  I was so struck by what I read and the parallels to the modern Soviet Union, that I picked up a copy of the Communist Manifesto. What I read made me nearly shriek in fear.

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In this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Eline van den Broek of the Netherlands needs only about four minutes to explain why government-run healthcare in Europe is a mistake and why the problems in the U.S. healthcare system are the result of too much government, not too little.

For many people, Sunday is a day of worship. Enjoy this video, which shows a particular flavor of worship. Part of us thinks this video is too delicious to be true…but we also know it is totally plausible.

Enjoy, and have a blessed Sunday, whatever your persuasion, or lack of persuasion, on that front.

Just after 11pm EST, the House of Representatives passed the 2,000+ page Pelosi Health Care bill by a vote of 220-215. 39 Democrats were given the opportunity to vote no, in what will go down in history as the most ’structured’ roll call of all time. (1 GOP member, Rep. Cao from New Orleans voted with the Democrats.) The Senate is unlikely to take up any health care reform legislation this year. With unemployment expected to stay above 10% through at least the early part of next year, it isn’t certain the Senate will ever take it up.

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Doug Hoffman lost his race in the 23rd Congressional District of New York, a seat held by Republicans for the past 120 years. John McHugh held the seat since 1992 and won with such large margins (he was even unopposed in 2002) that when I pitched him to provide polling for his campaign, it was a challenge to even argue why he needed polling in the first place.

Dede Scozzafava was chased out of the race by conservative Tea Party activists. Her campaign may have been inept, and local GOP leaders may have erred in selecting her, but activists had no business dictating terms from afar. Despite her flaws, Scozzafava was ahead in the polls before the Tea Party brouhaha. (So much for respecting local control.) Their result was to actually shrink the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives.  (Moreover, the newly-elected Democrat Congressman Bill Owens may provide the deciding vote on passing Pelosi Care, up for debate tonight in the House.) Just as conservative Democrats voted for Speaker Pelosi, liberal Republicans like Scozzafava would have supported the Party’s leadership. A RINO is better than no R at all.  The good news is that the district is likely to support the Republican candidate in 2010 after what I suspect will be a vigorous primary.

The most laughable criticism of Scozzafava was that she showed no loyalty to conservatives by endorsing the Democrat in the race–this from Tea Partiers who showed no loyalty to the Republican Party by pushing a third party candidate in the first place.

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It is crunch time tonight in Congress. Speaker Pelosi is moving towards a full floor vote on the Obama/Pelosi Health Care Plan up for a vote. At the time of publishing, votes are expected around 8 or 9pm EST. I received a call early this morning that my Orthopaedic Services were in demand.  Apparently, the Speaker, the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and their staffs have been “breaking arms of anyone and everyone in sight that is on the fence about The Bill.”  These Enforcers have put Freedom, Liberty and constituent representation aside.

Do your congressmen/women have any idea what is in this 1990 page Bill, and what it means for each and every American?  So you do not have to count, it creates 118 new boards, commissions, offices and bureaus.  Supposedly, ALL of these new entities will be selflessly looking out for your “betterment.”  Somehow, ObamaCare needs all of these levels of review and personnel to provide better and more available healthcare to more Americans, and plans to work this miracle do this at a fraction of current costs.  (Oh, and they will eliminate Medicaid fraud in the meantime.)  This has little connection with reality.

There is another option.  A different reform package has been purposed by The GOP Leadership, and every member of the minority has signed on.  In fact, before this debate is over maybe a few “Blue Dog Democrats” (now with broken arms) will sign on as well. This reform package:

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Back in 1989, the Democrat House, led by Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, passed the ‘Catastrophic Health Care Act.’ The Act promised to expand coverage and benefits, financed by a surcharge on senior’s existing Medicare benefits. Passage of the Act sparked on outcry from seniors. CBSNews goes back into the archives to find footage of one of the protests.

The report forgets to mention that Congress quickly repealed the Catastrophic Act in response to the voter backlash. Something current Members of Congress might want to keep in mind.

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But, we can’t say we’re surprised. Now that House leadership has committed itself to bringing the 2,000+ page bill to a vote, every tool and lever at their disposal will be used to get to 218. There is not a small percentage of the Democrat caucus who believes a vote for this bill is very close to political suicide. And their leadership will ask them to make that sacrifice, if for no other reason than they need the ‘win.’ Kind of like the British General Staff at the Somme.

Stay tuned to Big Government throughout the day for updates.

Today, a historic debate will commence on a bill that would impose big government health care on all Americans.  Nobody knows if this bill is going to pass and many questions about the bill remain unanswered.  All those who cherish the idea of limited government and a health care system driven by free market principles are hoping that good prevails over evil.

Yesterday, the House Rules Committee passed the rule to consider H.R. 3962 (PelosiCare), the Affordable Health Care for America Act, and this debate will be covered live on C-SPAN all day long.  Today, the American people can watch the debate in the House of Representatives on legislation that would dramatically change the way health care services are delivered.

Who is the Next Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky?

The vote on final passage of the bill is going to be close and people looking to the 2010 congressional election cycle are going to watch this vote to see which Blue Dog Democrats, Democrats from conservative leaning districts, are going to be forced to Walk the Plank and vote for an unpopular bill.  Dan Perrin of Red State has an excellent review of what happed to one term former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky of Pennsylvania.  Perrin wrote “we are reminded of the case of Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-PA) who famously switched her vote to give then President Clinton his tax increase.”  She lost her re-election the next year and became the poster child for the 1994 Republican sweep of Congress.

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Today, in 1989, East German Prime Minister, Willi Stoph and his entire 44-member Cabinet were forced to resign in response to spontaneous public protests. In just two days, the landmark symbol of the Cold War would fall.

Never underestimate the power of a people with the will to win. Be sure to check Big Government on Monday, for special remembrances of that fateful day.

From Politico:

Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who developed a close friendship with President Obama when they served together in the Senate, is threatening to have the entire health care bill read on the Senate floor.

Senior Senate Democratic aides had heard Coburn was considering having potentially thousands of pages read aloud in effort to stall passage. “If he did this it would be even outrageous for a guy who’s become known as Dr. No around here,” one of them told POLITICO.

Coburn’s office confirmed that he is indeed thinking about having the bill read.
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For decades the Crescent City has played host to one of the most feared and revered political organizations in America, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Today, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office executed a search warrant on ACORN’s National Headquarters at its Canal Street address.

“We’re looking for corporate records and financial documents” states Investigator Scott Bailey; which are essentially the same things the ACORN 8 sought nearly 18 months ago. “We also wanted ACORN real estate records” states Marcel Reid, President of ACORN 8.

“We sent letters to the entire ACORN Board of Directors nearly a year ago, stating that it was either provide this information through the ACORN 8’s Writ of Mandamus (request for books and records) or we were going to go to the Police” continues Reid.

“It could not have happened at a better time” states Michael McCray, National Spokesman for the ACORN 8. “We believe that ACORN is trying to flee this jurisdiction. Since Louisiana seems to be the only government agency that is seriously investigating ACORN.”

“If ACORN hopes to survive then the know nothing, see nothing, do nothing board of directors must by replaced by individuals with the strength and capabilities to fulfill their fiduciary obligations and the courage to reign in corruption within ACORN’s senior management ranks” continues Reid.

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Story filed by the Pelican Institute’s Steve Beatty:

Amid the paperwork associated with a search warrant served on ACORN’s New Orleans headquarters Friday is a one-sentence acknowledgement by the embattled activist group’s attorneys that it is has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

“Regarding the federal grand jury subpoenas, ACORN does not object to the provision of information and documents to the federal government…” reads a letter from Abbe David Lowell of the Washington law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery. 

The letter was included in court filings from ACORN explaining the legal basis for why they weren’t complying with a subpoena issued by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, which seeks a wide range of accounting information regarding the group’s many affiliated agencies. 

Lowell disclosed the federal investigation as he was writing to a New Orleans lawyer representing ACORN’s local outside accountants. The accounting firm of Duplantier, Hrapmann, Hogan & Maher was served with a subpoena from Caldwell, and, apparently, at least two from federal officials. In the letter, Lowell said ACORN was asserting accountant-client privilege, which is recognized in Louisiana, but not at the federal level.

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After holding the first successful “House Call” yesterday, Republican Congressmen Steve King (R-IA) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN) are pleased to announce a second rally in the nations capitol tomorrow.

Second “House Call” Event Planned For Tomorrow.

King Calls on American People to Come to Washington and Kill PelosiCare

Congressman Steve King today made the following statement urging American citizens to descend on Washington to kill ‘Pelosi Care’.

“Nancy Pelosi and Washington liberals cannot ignore what transpired yesterday in Washington. Americans from every state stormed Capitol Hill. They took over the Hill. And they loudly chanted ‘Kill this bill!’ “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care. We need the help of every American willing to stand up for freedom and liberty. I urge all Americans who oppose this bill to come to Washington tomorrow morning and join us to stop this bill.”

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“Make It So!” Jean-Luc Picard, the intrepid, clever and compassionate leader of the USS Enterprise, often issued this directive to his loyal crew to execute a plan, to save the ship, themselves, or entire worlds.  And, the Enterprise crew got it done.  Consider President Barack Obama, worlds to appease, a nation to cajole, and a Congress with more plans to assimilate than the Borg. With jobless numbers at 10.2%, Obama is likely wondering: what went wrong?

Picard’s introspective and analytical nature bluntly assessed his actions, refusing excuses, with a plan to improve his performance.  Obama may spend time on the White House holodeck, envisioning “what if” scenarios, but an assessment of the year since his election, shows that few of Obama’s campaign promises have come to fruition.

The deficit of $459 billion, which President Obama inherited from George Bush has grown to $1.4 trillion, while the economy has shrunk.  The 3.5-million-jobs-created campaign promise has been watered down to claim 600,000 jobs “saved” .

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From the House Ways and Means Republicans:

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

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Photo from Big Government Contributor Kevin Kane

In a fast-breaking development comes word that agents of the Attorney’s General office in Louisiana have raided ACORN’s offices in New Orleans. ACORN’s New Orleans was, for decades, the headquarters of the national community organizing association. News of the raid comes from Marcel Reid and her colleagues at ACORN 8, an association of former ACORN leaders and board members. Many of the individuals involved with ACORN 8 were fired from ACORN for demanding a forensic audit following an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke.

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Our President blames the Bush Administration. Many on Wall Street are now blaming Obama. Democrats blame Republicans. Republicans blame Democrats.  Who really is at fault for our economic troubles?

The answer is rather simple.

Government and those that proclaim it can solve so many of our problems – regardless of their party.

In 1959, in an interview with Mike Wallace, Ayn Rand posited that:

“A free economy will not break down. All depressions are caused by government interference and the cure that is always offered . . . is more of the same poisons that caused the disasters.”

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