Hit Them Where It Hurts - Updated

I have been stewing on this for a couple of days now and want to throw it out there. Right now, all of us are writing to our representatives, asking them not to vote on things like cap and trade and socialist healthcare. For the most part, they are not listening. They continue to vote as they please, not listening to a majority of their constituents. They think, because the country got drunk and had a one night stand at the polls, they have a mandate to slap us around and do as they please. I say we hit them where it hurts. I say it is time to fight back.


I propose that we all work together to not just inundate our representatives with calls, letters and protests, but we also let those businesses and business owners who support our representatives what we think. I say we speak with our pocket book and we do so even if it is not convenient to us. If a business receives enough press and pushing from the public, they will back off their support in favor of profit most any day of the week. I have begun searching for the public records of all the companies that have contributed to Claire McCaskill, Russ Carnahan and Lacy Clay. Once I have that information I will post it on my blog along with a form letter that each of you can download, fill out and email or snail mail to the company stating that as long as they support this/these representatives via campaign contributions, they will no longer get your business.

This will require a lot of work, but I think the time has come to take these kind of steps. These companies and PAC's can apply a lot of pressure and get the type of access that we cannot.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

So, what do you think? Are you with me?

UPDATED - 8/2/09
I have already begun pulling some data on the various corporate PAC's that have donated to the likes of Clay and Carnahan. I am and am not surprised by some of the companies that I am finding. I hope to soon have a list of the companies to post and will then start working on the template letters.

If you know of any other House reps I should begin looking up, please let me know via the comment section or email.

The Press Now Officially Works for Obama

I originally went to school to become a journalist. I had all the intention in the world to report the news to people in an objective fashion. I even remember early on in my classes debating with one of my professors about how it was a reporters job to report all of the attainable facts and let the public decide. My professor, of course, said that we could never do that because reporting the facts was boring and people wanted a perspective while still presenting the facts. I asked, "Isn't that what editorials are for?" to which I was told in so many words, the job of a reporter is to choose what facts they think are relevant and report on them. Since many times there are so many facts and perspectives, I as a reporter along with my editor would choose what facts should go first, second, etc. Also, we were told that when we write stories, we cannot get too complicated in the facts as we had to write for the 4th to 5th grade level.

It was not much longer after that, that I chose not to become a journalist. The idea that my editor and I would choose the facts and more importantly to choose to omit some facts was something I could not stomach. Add to that, many of the editors, even in small town middle America, are liberals with a capital L. This was all something I could not stomach and I walked away.

Even though I was greatly disappointed with the real world aspect, my education taught me something that has proven to be invaluable; I have the capability to read past what the reporter/newspaper is trying to tell me. Short of the story being about a fire in an apartment complex, there is usually some sort of spin. I know how to look for it and when a story is missing something due to a reporter or editor not giving ALL of the details.

Fast forward to early 2008, my wife donated some money to a charity and won/was given a subscription to Newsweek. While I have never been a fan, I am a news and political junkie and read it in disgust every week. Why not, it's free. Throughout the campaign, even before the primaries, I remember telling my wife that something was rotten in Denmark with the coverage of Obama. It just did not seem right. It was too one sided and there were things that just seemed off. I could not put my finger on it and chalked it up to a reporter that was probably trying to get on his good side to win an exclusive interview. As the election ramped up, the coverage did not change, in fact, it got worse. The stories on Obama were not just one sided, but as someone who was educated in the process, they seemed to be missing some of the next steps a journalist would take (this is just a little aside, but let me tell you this. Other than some "true believer" most journalists will do whatever they can to get a good story. Even if they like the person/company, etc they will sell them down the river in the blink of an eye if they think it will give them an exclusive, a book deal, a Pulitzer, etc.) and it just did not make sense.

Finally today, it all came together. Today, Newsbusters reported that the reporter that covered Obama for Newsweek, Daren Briscoe, is now officially working for the president's drug czar. If this happened in the Busch administration or even with Sarah Palin there would be outcries of a conspiracy. Liberal bloggers, CNN, MSNBC and the like would have huge reports about how this was wrong, etc. Daren Briscoe was not an editorial writer or columnist like Tony Snow, he was a reporter. At least he claimed to be a reporter. This is just another example of the press working for Obama, except for this time he is actually on the payroll

Bumperstickers and More

I think this one speaks for itself

I do not know if any of you saw this, but it is pretty damning for the pres. I will be commenting on this whole Gates debacle later.

Sarah Palin - What to do?

Let me start off by saying I am a big Sarah Palin fan. I think she is a great role model for young women. I like that she says whats on her mind and does not get uppity about it like many of the East Coast politicians who think they are smarter and better than the rest of us. That said, I think Sarah has some work that she needs to do some homework before she is ready for a possible presidential run in 2012.

What I have just said is nothing new, but here is my concern. Sarah is the embodiment of what could turn into a big issue for the Republican/Conservative movement. She has put out indicators that after being burned by the Republican party, she may be looking to start up a third party movement. The question really becomes, do we really want Sarah making a third party or even more do we want to risk Sarah being the catalyst for a second term of you better Hope I leave you some Change Barack Obama?

Honestly I fear that as things sit right now, she could cause a three way race between Obama, Romney and herself. That would spell chaos. As a fiscal conservative, I like Palin and aspects of Romney. As someone who is somewhere between conservative and moderate on social issues, I am torn. If there was a three way election today, the only thing I can guarantee is I would not vote for Obama.

Right now, I think Michael Steele and the Republican party better kiss and make up with Sarah, or it could spell real trouble come 2012.

What do you think?

Real Health Care Reform

I keep hearing Nancy Pelosi (NP) and Barack Obama (BO) talk about how the American people want health care reform and they have the poll numbers to back it up. Sure, everyone wants health care reform and if you have a phone poll that asks the simple question, "Do you want health care reform," most people will say yes. If you ask, "Do you want government run and regulated health care," a majority of the people would say emphatically no.

I worked in health care for several years and saw first hand some of the waste. Here are a couple of things, I believe can be done that would fix the problem.

1. Lawsuit tort reform - BO says he thinks people should have the right to sue negligent doctors. No one is going to disagree with him, but there has to be lawsuit reform. Lawyers are advertising left and right trying to get people to participate in lawsuits against doctors and hospitals. Turn on the TV some afternoon and you see several commercials in an hour asking, "Was your child born with cerebral palsy? If so, you may be able to receive compensation due to negligence on the part of your doctor." Make suing a doctor, hospital and any health care practitioner more difficult. Make the plaintiff's lawyers have to pony up the money if the lawsuit is found frivolous. Place caps on lawsuit rewards. Many times doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. are following the recommendations that the various medical organizations have put in place for testing, procedures, etc. Placing caps on lawsuits for those healthcare providers that follow the recommendations will be a win win scenario for everyone. Doctors and hospitals will be able lower their costs because insurance fees will not be nearly as high. They will not have to play the Cover Your Ass game and perform multiple tests to get the same diagnosis. I know BO has recommended a government standard for tests, etc. and I really do not have a problem with it, although it is creating a bureaucracy where none is needed since all of the medical associations have these standards. If it will mean lawsuit caps, I am all for it, but you cannot set the standards unless you are going to set caps and penalize these lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits.


2. Do a better job of going after Medicaid and Medicare fraud. On average, of all claims filed for Medicaid, 10% are fraudulently. That 10% is a low number as some states like Florida and California have seen as much as 20 - 30% depending upon the estimates. Between 3 - 20 % of Medicare spending is fraudulent. That is billions of dollars wasted yearly. Go after these people. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, well in this case spend a little money to save a lot. Think of it as a safe; you have to buy the safe to store the money in. There is a reason that the government does not go after these people. If they did, they would have to put them in jail. I am also sure we would hear cries from various groups that it targets minorities, the poor, whatever. I do not care. Get the FBI, Secret Service, the police, whomever it takes, to go after these people. If they are small time, take away their Medicaid and fine them. If they are big time, freeze their assets and put them in jail. It is as simple as it sounds.


3. Allow small businesses to group together as co-ops across state lines and have private insurance bid on their business. If you want make sure a lot of people have access to insurance, allow small businesses to get the group rates that are available. The more people that a group can bring to an insurance customer, the lower the price per person. This is simple and effective.


4. Reward companies the promote healthy living. Many companies do things to promote healthy living. Many companies that self insure, will give insurance premium discounts to those employees who are non smokers. Reward companies that offer those plans. If you start rewarding companies for offering these types of perks, they will see the rewards of lower insurance bills, have healthier more efficient employees and will be more likely to invest more money into additional health programs.

These are four plans that I have come up with on my own. NP, BO and Harry Reid are all supposed to be such smart people. Why is it that all of their ideas require the government to run everything. Apply government regulation to those that look to profitize on malpractice, go after those that are abusing the system and reward those that want to offer insurance.

Why am I here

From the title of my blog, you get the gist of my feelings. I am barely middle class, probably closer to upper lower class, but anyone, I am just mad. I look at the world around me and see it going into complete chaos.

I have two kids and I want to see them grow up in a world where they have a chance. In a world that will allow them to succeed and fail based upon their own hard work, capabilities, and pure luck. That world is being taken away from us and it makes me mad.

I go to the store with my wife and shop. We are on a budget, so we have to menu plan to ensure we do not spend more than we have. While we are not eating mac & cheese every night, we are not either prime rib either. We spend enough to give us a decent variety but are buying store brands, using coupons, etc. While we are doing that, we see people pull up in carts and use their food stamp cards to buy cookies, steaks, soda, etc. This abuse of the system makes me madder.

I have worked hard for what we have. My wife and I have sacrificed so that she can be the stay at home mom to our kids that neither of us go to have. We get buy ok and have been able to save up enough money to purchase good used cars, take decent vacations, and afford ourselves the occasional date night and Netflix movies. We do all of this, yet I turn on the news and see a story about some 350 pound woman in a foreclosed house who says she cannot pay her mortgage, her utilities and her bills because she cashed out and did a 5 year arm at a low interest and now cannot afford to refinance. You look at her living room and she has a big screen tv, digital cable, leather furniture and you can see Pizza Hut boxes in the background. This makes me mad as hell.

Since when are we supposed to give everything to those who are not smart enough to plan. Since when are we supposed to help out those who will not help themselves. Why do I have to give up my rights because some people are just too stupid to make it on their own. Everyone has the chance to get an education. It is not my fault you did not study in school. Don't give me the "I had to work to make money," speech because it is crap. I know a lot of people that had to work in high school and college and were still able to do it. These people just did not put the effor forward.

I guess, put simply, I am tired of being quiet. I am tired of sitting on the sidelines while our new president, the congress and the lawmakers slowly but surely take away our rights and money to ensure that they pay the stupid and lazy so they can continue to get re-elected. I am pissed off and am not going to be quiet anymore. That is why I am here and believe me, I am going to say things that people do not want to hear. I am going to speak the truth on behalf of us middle class workers who are getting stamped on from every angle.