Obama Care is more than another expensive entitlement program that will bankrupt our nation and put future generations under heavy financial risk, it changes the fundamental view of the role of government in the lives of the American people.  This legislation places the most private aspects of a citizen’s life and liberty into the hands of the government.  The over reach of the law is far more that its constitutionally challenging provisions for forced purchases of insurance and potential for rationing, it legislates a dominant position for a central authority over the well- being and eventually the actual existence of the individual.

There was no civil discourse when this law was being debated.  Mr. Obama himself, in referring to the outcry of the American people at town hall meetings with their elected representatives during the summer of 2009, said. “The people should just shut up!” Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House during the debate, proclaimed, “We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it.” The American people were called “Nazis” and “dangerous” and worse.  All the American people were doing was simply demanding that their government follow their will. The people were ignored. Now, those who committed the atrocity want us to forget what happened and simply move on all in the name of civil discourse in honor of those slain by a criminally insane individual.

The only way to properly honor the victims of the Arizona shooting is to do what they were doing at the time of that terrible event – engage in the political process and demand that our elected representatives understand what the people want and to legislate based on that understanding.

Repealing Obama Care and replacing it with free market solutions to lowering the costs of health insurance is only one legislative correction necessary.  Focusing on the run away authority of unelected agency heads and commission members, as well as the unconstitutional regulations they have been writing for the past two years is also a necessary corrective step for the 112^th Congress.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulating carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring compound of life, is pure government over reach and nothing more.  The Federal Communication Commission’s desire to lunge itself into the Internet and to more closely regulate broadcast speech is a dangerous incursion into and affront to the First Amendment.

Growth restrictive regulation on the nation’s financial industry, in a classic case of locking the barn door after the horse has gone and making sure that the innocent are punished, would be amusing if not for the potential of these regulations to impede job growth during this difficult economic time.

Controlling the availability and price of health care; oversight of the content of speech and the distribution of that content; restricting the nation’s financial industry; and a myriad of other laws, regulations and executive orders were all designed to transform our society from one based on the individual liberty and freedom to one based on central authority control and collectivism.  It is imperative for the continuation of liberty to undo this governmental abuse of the past two years.

Mr. Obama and his supporters would like to ignore the results of the November 2, 2010 Midterm election, but if the American people will not allow them to do so – they want at least to make stand all of the bad legislation and regulation they pushed through over the past two years.  We must not allow that to happen. It is time for our generation to preserve liberty for the next generation of Americans and dialing back the past two years is important and necessary.  The people should not be fooled by arguments to “move forward” and “let’s not look back” and recognize that it is our duty as citizens in a free society to correct wrong and then – only then – move forward.

Throughout our history we corrected our sins of the past from racial and gender inequalities to failed attempts at legislating morality such as prohibition.  We have never been intimidated from correcting a wrong and this time is no different.

Let’s pray together for those lost and hurt by the senseless act of violence in Arizona.  Let’s also honor them by standing together for liberty and the dominance of the individual over government in our free and God inspired nation.

Robert Allen Bonelli is the author of “Liberty Rising,” an accomplished business executive, public speaker and involved citizen.

The voice of the American people was heard this November 2^nd for the first time in the past two years.  The Republican Party regained control of the House of Representatives, picking up a historic sixty seats and possibly sixty-five or more seats as final votes are tallied.  Six Senate seats were gained by Republicans with another two seats possible as close contests are resolved, further diminishing Democratic political power.  The Grand Old Party (GOP) also gained a net eight governorships and nineteen State legislatures changed over from Democratic to Republican control.

In the final days leading up to the election and in the hours immediately following, the President began to call for compromise.  Really?  After taking the oath of office in January of 2009, Mr. Obama declared, “Elections have consequences and we won!” He then led his fellow Democrats on an eighteen month assault against Republicans in Congress and against the will of the American people, pushing his left-of-center agenda.  Just before this week’s election he said the Republicans can come along but, “They need to sit in the back.” He also publically referred to his opponents as “Enemies.”

Now he wants compromise, but the only compromise that the American people clearly want is for the President and the Democrats to move off their agenda and come to them.

This is not a time in our nation’s history when compromise is called for.  The American people did not vote for or against particular candidates, as much as they voted against Mr. Obama’s agenda.  The American people now expect their will to be followed.

Those newly elected and those re-elected need to understand that the people want smaller government and greater liberty.  The people want the size of government dramatically cut and they want the role of government in their lives reduced.  The people have no interest in being governed from the left, the center or the right – they want to govern themselves.

The people fully understand that Obamacare (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010) will drive up the cost of health care, threatens to destroy the greatest health care system in the world and will eventually bankrupt our nation.  The people want Obamacare repealed and replaced with simple, common sense health insurance reform.

The people want a focus on the economy and job creation with proven policies of lower taxes and reasonable regulation.  They want to unlock the American entrepreneurial engine.

The people are suspect of the Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) with appointed staff seizing unchecked power.  They want Congress to limit the power of this agency and of any other agency capable of potential dictatorial rule.

The people want our government to work on keeping the homeland and all citizens safe.  They want our borders secure and they want to maintain a war-footing relative to the terror threat facing our country, our citizens and the entire world.

Make little mistake about what the American people said – shouted – in this election.  The only compromise that is acceptable is for our elected representatives to give in to the will of the people.  The Republicans have been charged with assuring this and Mr. Obama and the Democrats have been put on notice to comply.

While the victory on November 2^nd was historic in its scope and in its meaning, it will be lost if the under-pinning principles of that victory are allowed to be compromised.  Now is the time for every citizen to remind Congress and the President that, “We have not yet begun to fight.”

Robert Allen Bonelli is the author of “Liberty Rising,” an accomplished business executive, public speaker and involved citizen.

On November 2, 2010, California voters will decide whether or not to legalize marijuana.

If passed, Proposition 19 would control marijuana like alcohol, allowing adults 21 years of age and over to possess up to an ounce of pot for personal consumption and grow marijuana at a private residence in a space of up to 25 square feet. The initiative would also allow local governments to tax and regulate the commercial cultivation, transport, and sale of marijuana.

In order to get a handle on the debate surrounding. Prop 19, we spoke to both supporters and opponents of the initiative.

So what do you think? Should Californians legalize marijuana?

Approximately 6 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

Go to reason.tv for HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv’s YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Moreover, I am strongly inclined to fear that they will betray us in the aftermath of November. The Republicans in Congress do have a track record, after all. If the Democrats have a propensity for adding new social programs, their opponents have a no less powerful aptitude for voting to pay for them. It was not for nothing that Bob Dole was once derided as “the tax-collector of the welfare state.”

Like a man about to embark on a second marriage, I am nonetheless inclined to let hope triumph over experience and to entertain the possibility that this time it might be different. When a Democratic pundit such as The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus charges that the Republican opposition to Obama is “irresponsible,” it really does give one hope.

The event that caused Marcus to rise up in high dudgeon was a speech that John Boehner delivered in Cleveland on Tuesday, in which he attacked the latest “stimulus” bill, called for President Obama to submit to Congress “an agressive spending reduction package,” warned against allowing tax increases to take effect that would fall heavily on small businesses, pressed for an immediate repeal of the healthcare bill provision requiring businesses to issue a 1099 every time that they spent $600 or more, and called for the President to fire Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers. Twelve times, Marcus lamented, Boehner used the phrase “job-killing” – “as in ‘job-killing tax hikes,’ ‘job-killing bills,’ ‘job-killing agenda,’ ‘job-killing federal regulations.’” This is, she charged, “bumper-sticker politics, not a real economic plan.”

Boehner’s speech was shocking, indeed. It might lead one to think that we are in the middle of an election campaign and that the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives is intent on distilling for the voters what the party that controls both houses of Congress and the Presidency has most egregiously done wrong. It might be taken to suggest that he intends to offer voters a choice, not an echo; and though Boehner’s speech was not a plan, it does suggest that he has one.

Ruth Marcus is thoughtful and often worth reading, but when it comes to economics she is completely out of her depth.

She has not yet figured out what nearly everyone by now recognizes: that the so-called “stimulus” bill passed in 2009 failed ignominiously and that no amount of “stimulus” will get us out of the difficulties we now face. Manipulating consumption patterns will do us no good, for underconsumption is not at the heart of the current crisis. If the private sector is loath to hire, it is because everything that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama have done has contributed to a profound sense of uncertainty regarding the future.

The “stimulus” bill was aimed at stabilizing public-sector employment in the states and localities, and it was accompanied by a massive increase in federal employment and a no less massive increase in size of the national debt. Businessmen are not stupid. They know that the bill will soon come due. They plan ahead – that is their forte – and they are currently planning for a time when taxes and interest rates will be much higher. In these regards, they rightly calculate, the healthcare bill will make things much, much worse, and the same can be said for the incomprehensible, 2000-page financial regulation bill recently enacted. When John Boehner speaks of “job-killing” measures, he is singing to an increasingly large choir.

Witness the remarks delivered by Intel CEO John Otellini at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum on Monday evening. High taxes, the prospect of higher taxes on corporations and investors, and out-of-control regulation threaten to strangle the recovery, turn the downturn that began in 2008 into a double-dip recession, and rob this country of its technological edge – and the only way out of the mess that we are in is to roll back the healthcare reform; cut public-sector spending at the local, state, and national levels ruthlessly; pare entitlements; and reduce taxes and regulation. Within a liberal democracy, the task of the Opposition is to identify what is defective in the policies of those in power and to rally the public in such a manner as to force a reversal of course. This is their responsibility, and Boehner and his associates seem to be intent on living up to its demands.

I am particularly heartened by Boehner’s call for the President to fire Geithner and Summers. It suggests a certain wiliness on his part. As I noted recently, in a post entitled The Rats Begin Leaving Obama’s Sinking Ship, it was reported in late September, 2009 that Geithner and Summers “had almost no say in policy decisions” and that they complained to friends in the financial community that Obama “is acting as if he has a blank check to do what he wants, while ignoring the longterm costs of his policies.” I speculated at the time that some of Obama’s economic advisors would in due course jump ship; and, as I pointed out in the post mentioned above, some have now done so. But Geithner and Summers are not among them.

What I especially like about what Boehner was up to in his attack on Geithner and Summers is that he is putting pressure on the administration at a sore point. President Obama could defend his advisors by saying that none of this was due to them and that he had disregarded their advice regarding the consequences of his policies. But that would not do him or his party any good. It would be admission of irresponsibility on their part. Alternatively, he could fire Geithner and Summers, but that would also do the President and his party harm, for it would be an admission that his economic policy is a failture. Finally, he – or his hapless Vice-President – could try to blunt Boehner’s criticism by once again attacking George W. Bush and by once again claiming that recovery is just around the corner, and this is the option now being pursued. But it, too, is a loser. “Who are you going to believe?” the Republicans can ask. “Joe Biden and Barack Obama or your own lying eyes?”

Moreover, every bit of controversy of this sort that erupts between now and the first Tuesday in November serves to nationalize the election by reminding voters of the consequences of what the Democrats in the House and Senate have done since 2008. As Michael Bennett, a Democrat who was appointed last year to represent Colorado in the Senate, confessed last Saturday, “We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet and, in my view we have nothing to show for it.”

I do hope that John Boehner keeps turning up the heat.

Fresh from their recent wins, the unions are moving into building the base of Marxist, Communist and progressive voters, as evidenced by the AFL/CIO joining a get out the vote effort run by United for Peace and Justice, an origination established to promote an agenda which is both socialist and anti-war.

The announcement the AFL-CIO move was made in People’s World a magazine for the Marxist and Communist movements in the United Sates:

The AFL-CIO executive committee voted unanimously this morning to join One Nation, Working Together, a new national coalition of labor and civil rights groups that has as its purpose to “reorder America’s priorities by investing in the nation’s most valuable resource – its people.”

The labor, civil rights, environmental, faith and other organizations that have formed the new coalition intend to replace unemployment and economic crisis faced by the country’s majority with “nothing less than a future of shared prosperity for all our people,” the AFL-CIO said in a statement after it voted to join One Nation.

“None of us alone have been able to achieve our priorities,” said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.

One Nation’s first official act as a coalition will be a march on Washington on Oct. 2, which unions say will energize an army of tens of thousands who will return to their neighborhoods, churches, schools and voting booths to prevent a Republican takeover of Congress in November and begin building a new permanent coalition to fight for a progressive agenda.

The AFL-CIO joins groups such as The NAACP, SEIU 1199, Green for All, National Council of La Raza, US Student Association, and the Center for Community Change in the One Nation, Working Together effort.

The One Nation, Working Together get out the vote movement is led by United for Peace and Justice

You can tell the objectives of an organization by its friends, according to United For Peace and Justice they seek friends who are for “social justice,” “globalization”, and who are against multi-national American corporations.

UFPJ will seek to strengthen our alliances and working relationships with other forces in the antiwar movement, as well as the movements for global economic, environmental and social justice. Our international work will be based on respect for the sovereignty of other nations and a commitment to human rights and international law. We will support and seek cooperation with our sister organizations around the world, and we will act in solidarity with progressive groups and individuals within the United States and the nations occupied by U.S. forces.

The AFL-CIO’s new partners in this get out the socialist vote effort,  the UFPJ’s Steering Committee come from Marxist, progressive, or communist groups including Code Pink, Institute of Policy Studies, Western States Legal Foundation, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Communist Party USA, Alliance for Community Trainers, American Friends Service Committee, Brooklyn For Peace, National Immigration Solidarity Network, Desis Rising Up and Moving,  and US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation just to name a few.  At least two of the groups, Solidarity and US Campaign to End The Israeli Occupation, also have a history of Antisemitic activity.

These are the people and organizations that the AFL-CIO has linked up with.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Marxists, progressives, or even Communists leading a protest to motivate their supporters to come out and vote for their favored candidates. What is wrong is when union leaders to support these groups without the full knowledge and understanding of their membership. When they join up with UFPJ, by association the AFL-CIO is endorsing the agendas of  Marxist, Communist, and progressive groups, whose objectives are social justice,” world-wide redistribution of income (taking money out of their pockets and giving it to workers of less-developed nations) and who are against the multi-national American corporations who sign their paychecks.

I would suspect that the AFL-CIO’s new bedfellows are not being shared with their rank and file, who still believe their leadership is working on solving the problems unique to their unions rather than promote themselves as power brokers for the radical left.

H/T Labor Union Report

The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor. -Ronald Reagan

Website World Net Daily (WND) has decided to drop conservative pundit and author, Ann Coulter as the keynote speaker for its “Taking America Back National Conference” next month, because of her plan to be the keynote speaker at “Homocon,” an event put together by GOProud the first genuinely conservative group for gay Republicans (Coulter’s column will still be carried by the site).

According to Joseph Farah, the Editor-in-Chief of Chief of WND, the reason for dis-inviting Ms Coulter from the WND conference (and their rejection of GOProud) is the Gay organization’s support of same-sex marriage and military service for open homosexuals.  If Farah took the time to look at GOProud’s  web site he would have seen that those issues are not the group’s priorities. GOProud describes its goals as:

GOProud is an organization that is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy.

In other words they are more conservative than most of the Republicans in office today. But it doesn’t seem that those conservative goals are not important to WND’s Joseph Farah as you can see by this exchange with Ms Coulter:

Asked by Farah why she was speaking to GOProud, Coulter said: “They hired me to give a speech, so I’m giving a speech. I do it all the time.”

Farah then asked: “Do you not understand you are legitimizing a group that is fighting for same-sex marriage and open homosexuality in the military – not to mention the idea that sodomy is just an alternate lifestyle?”

Coulter responded: “That’s silly, I speak to a lot of groups and do not endorse them. I speak at Harvard and I certainly don’t endorse their views. I’ve spoken to Democratic groups and liberal Republican groups that loooove abortion. The main thing I do is speak on college campuses, which is about the equivalent of speaking at an al-Qaida conference. I’m sure I agree with GOProud more than I do with at least half of my college audiences. But in any event, giving a speech is not an endorsement of every position held by the people I’m speaking to. I was going to speak for you guys, I think you’re nuts on the birther thing (though I like you otherwise!).“

World Net Daily’s support of intolerance (one of their key columnists is the passionately anti-semitic Holocaust denier Pat Buchanan) and wacko positions such as their infamous promotion of the discredited birther story, puts them on the outside fringe of the conservative movement. Sadly their extreme positions provide fodder for liberal propaganda.

Ann Coulter believes a desire for publicity was behind WND’s move, in an email to the Daily Caller she made the following points:

1) Farah is doing this for PUBLICITY and publicity alone;

2) This was an email exchange between friends [the exchange above] and even though I didn’t expressly say “OFF THE RECORD” and I believe everything I said, he’s a swine for using my private emails politely answering him. Why would he do such a despicable thing? … for PUBLICITY.

3) But now that he has, I will say that he could give less than two sh-ts about the conservative movement — as demonstrated by his promotion of the birther nonsense (long ago disproved by my newspaper, human events, also sweetness & light, American Spectator and National Review etc, etc etc). He’s the only allegedly serious conservative pushing the birther thing…for ONE reason: to get hits on his website.

4) His group hadn’t come up for the money to book me for a speech, anyway, so he’s not canceling me from anything.

Also, FYI; my fellow evangelicals — and I know lots and lots of ‘em — – all think it’s great that I’m doing this. (of course, they know I’m not changing my mind on gay marriage even though I like gays). This is total b.s. for PUBLICITY by a publicity whore. Attack Ann Coulter, get publicity. liberals figured that out a long time ago, so he’s a little late to the party.

If we are for taking away the power of the Federal Government as it tries to control our lives and freedoms,as I believe is at the heart of the conservative movement, then we must join hands with groups that agree with that position.  GOProud is such an organization.

Thankfully most conservatives are more tolerant than WND. Conservative Blogger John Hawkins of Right Wing News has become a sponsor of the conference:

Today, I want to make an announcement: Right Wing News is the first sponsor of Homocon. We’re going to be supporting the event, promoting it, and encouraging Republicans in New York to attend. Thanks to GOProud for giving us the opportunity and thanks to Ann Coulter for creating what’s sure to be a memorable event that people will want to attend.

I am not surprised at John’s tolerance, he believes the key to restoring America to greatness is to vote the  progressive Democrats out of office. Ann Coulter, GOProud and John Hawkins are strong allies in that effort. WND on the other hand, support of haters such as Pat Buchanan, and its refusal to give up on the discredited birther nonsense, and its intolerance of Gay Republican’s is nothing but a road block for the conservative movement and ammunition for the progressives.

The man who delighted in claiming Republicans want the sick to die to save the taxpayers money, was so proud of his obnoxiousness that he started a website to celebrate himself, www.congressmanwithguts.com.

No sooner did his self promotion tour get off the ground before his mouth got some more attention, calling one of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s aids a “K Street whore.”  After 24 hours of defending the outrageously out-of-bounds slur, and after pretty candid criticism from his fellow Democrats, Mr. Manners finally apologized.

Unfortunately, Republicans have not been successful in landing a top tier candidate to challenge Grayson who is representing a traditionally Republican district.  Beating him should not be hard but the top three recruits for the race have taken a pass.  Probably to avoid having to climb down into the gutter with Grayson.

Fortunately, some Orange County Florida residents have found another way for us to channel our discuss – while mocking Grayson.  They’ve launched a website, www.MyCongressmanIsNuts.com.

Do yourself a favor – no do us all a favor – and visit it.  And while you are there, make a contribution.  The site is devoted to raising money for an independent expenditure campaign to defeat Alan Grayson.

Assuming Republicans land a decent candidate, they can focus on introducing themselves to Central Florida and the good folks behind MyCongressmanIsNuts can help remind voters of the 8th District what a moron they have representing them in Congress.