Forwarded to me from the IC 3-20-10
Here is a review of the current health care legislation...
Thanks to P&G Bleckly for sending this to me. Call all representatives!
Michael Connelly, Retired Constitutional Attorney writes,
Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected. To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.
The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government.However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.
The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people, and the businesses they own.
The irony is that the Congress doesn't have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care..This legislation also provides for access, by the appointees of the Obama administration, to all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation to protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. A direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide. If you decide not to have healthcare insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment.. However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law. So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much, out of the original ten in the Bill of Rights, that are effectively nullified by this law It doesn't stop there though.
The 9th Amendment that provides: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;The 10th Amendment states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea.
This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to "be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution." If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it, without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source, the US Constitution, and Bill of Rights. There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.
Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
What part of positive real change do they not understand? Its about JOBS!
The Heritage Foundation to me:
In today's Wall Street Journal, former President Bill Clinton's pollster Doug Schoen writes: "Sen. Evan Bayh's stunning decision to retire should serve as more than a wake-up call to Democrats. It should spur a fundamental re-examination and reorientation of the party's policies, practices and approaches leading into the fall election. Let's be clear. The Democratic brand is in trouble — big trouble. ... The Democrats need to do a number of things. First and foremost, they need to recognize there is only one fundamental issue in America: jobs."
Unfortunately, the White House is not getting the message. Where Schoen urges President Barack Obama to "go back to square one" on health care, The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration is doing the exact opposite: they are set to introduce their own health care bill on Monday that is specifically designed to pass the Senate through reconciliation on a strictly partisan vote. And when the left is not continuing to shove a government takeover of health care down the throats of the American people, they are working on a second stimulus plan that repeats all of the same big government borrow-and-spend mistakes of the first.
And there is no debate: by any objective measure, President Obama's first stimulus was a complete failure. When President Obama signed the $862 billion first stimulus, the unemployment rate stood at 7.6% and the U.S. economy employed 133.5 million people. The President promised that, thanks to his stimulus, unemployment would never go higher than 8.2% and the U.S. economy would support 138.6 million jobs by December 2010. Today, unemployment is 9.7%, after rising above 10%, and the U.S. economy has lost almost 6 million jobs, leaving the White House 9 million jobs short of the 138.6 million they promised to deliver. The White House may claim their stimulus "saved" 2 million jobs, but they have zero real world evidence of this. As Heritage fellow Brian Riedl explains:
Specifically, the White House’s “proof” that the stimulus created jobs is an economic model that they programmed to assume that stimulus spending automatically creates jobs. How’s that for circular logic?
The idea that government spending creates jobs makes sense only if you never ask where the government got the money. It didn’t fall from the sky. The only way Congress can inject spending into the economy is by first taxing or borrowing it out of the economy. No new demand is created; it’s a zero-sum transfer of existing demand.
If deficit spending were the path to real-world economic growth, then the Greek economy would be booming. It's not. There is an alternative. There are some no-cost measures our federal government could take that could create the space for American entrepreneurship and private investment, resulting in real long-term job growth. Heritage fellow James Sherk identifies eight such measures, including:
Freezing all proposed tax hikes and costly regulations at least until unemployment falls below 7 percent;
Freezing spending and rescinding unspent stimulus funds;
Reforming regulations to reduce unnecessary business costs, such as repealing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
Reforming the tort system to lower costs and uncertainty facing businesses;
Removing barriers to domestic energy production;
Suspending the job-killing Davis-Bacon Act (DBA);
Passing pending free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama; and
Reducing taxes on companies' foreign earnings if they bring those earnings home.
Those wishing to score cheap political points against the conservative movement often falsely claim that conservatives hate the federal government. Nothing could be further from the truth. As The Mt. Vernon Statement, signed Tuesday by a broad coalition of conservative leaders, attests, our nation's Founding Fathers ratified a U.S. Constitution that "created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law." But while government is necessary to establish the rule of law required for any free market to function, that government must also be limited so that it does not create the uncertainties in the marketplace that undermine economic growth. The specific measures outlined above are consistent with these principles. And Doug Schoen is right - the Obama administration "needs to understand that the American people, particularly those who support the tea party movement, will only come back to Democrats if it demonstrates that it understands voters' desire to return to the kind of limited government the movement endorses.
In today's Wall Street Journal, former President Bill Clinton's pollster Doug Schoen writes: "Sen. Evan Bayh's stunning decision to retire should serve as more than a wake-up call to Democrats. It should spur a fundamental re-examination and reorientation of the party's policies, practices and approaches leading into the fall election. Let's be clear. The Democratic brand is in trouble — big trouble. ... The Democrats need to do a number of things. First and foremost, they need to recognize there is only one fundamental issue in America: jobs."
Unfortunately, the White House is not getting the message. Where Schoen urges President Barack Obama to "go back to square one" on health care, The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration is doing the exact opposite: they are set to introduce their own health care bill on Monday that is specifically designed to pass the Senate through reconciliation on a strictly partisan vote. And when the left is not continuing to shove a government takeover of health care down the throats of the American people, they are working on a second stimulus plan that repeats all of the same big government borrow-and-spend mistakes of the first.
And there is no debate: by any objective measure, President Obama's first stimulus was a complete failure. When President Obama signed the $862 billion first stimulus, the unemployment rate stood at 7.6% and the U.S. economy employed 133.5 million people. The President promised that, thanks to his stimulus, unemployment would never go higher than 8.2% and the U.S. economy would support 138.6 million jobs by December 2010. Today, unemployment is 9.7%, after rising above 10%, and the U.S. economy has lost almost 6 million jobs, leaving the White House 9 million jobs short of the 138.6 million they promised to deliver. The White House may claim their stimulus "saved" 2 million jobs, but they have zero real world evidence of this. As Heritage fellow Brian Riedl explains:
Specifically, the White House’s “proof” that the stimulus created jobs is an economic model that they programmed to assume that stimulus spending automatically creates jobs. How’s that for circular logic?
The idea that government spending creates jobs makes sense only if you never ask where the government got the money. It didn’t fall from the sky. The only way Congress can inject spending into the economy is by first taxing or borrowing it out of the economy. No new demand is created; it’s a zero-sum transfer of existing demand.
If deficit spending were the path to real-world economic growth, then the Greek economy would be booming. It's not. There is an alternative. There are some no-cost measures our federal government could take that could create the space for American entrepreneurship and private investment, resulting in real long-term job growth. Heritage fellow James Sherk identifies eight such measures, including:
Freezing all proposed tax hikes and costly regulations at least until unemployment falls below 7 percent;
Freezing spending and rescinding unspent stimulus funds;
Reforming regulations to reduce unnecessary business costs, such as repealing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
Reforming the tort system to lower costs and uncertainty facing businesses;
Removing barriers to domestic energy production;
Suspending the job-killing Davis-Bacon Act (DBA);
Passing pending free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama; and
Reducing taxes on companies' foreign earnings if they bring those earnings home.
Those wishing to score cheap political points against the conservative movement often falsely claim that conservatives hate the federal government. Nothing could be further from the truth. As The Mt. Vernon Statement, signed Tuesday by a broad coalition of conservative leaders, attests, our nation's Founding Fathers ratified a U.S. Constitution that "created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law." But while government is necessary to establish the rule of law required for any free market to function, that government must also be limited so that it does not create the uncertainties in the marketplace that undermine economic growth. The specific measures outlined above are consistent with these principles. And Doug Schoen is right - the Obama administration "needs to understand that the American people, particularly those who support the tea party movement, will only come back to Democrats if it demonstrates that it understands voters' desire to return to the kind of limited government the movement endorses.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
An American Hero on point
There are some people who sit and watch events unfold. Others get into their car and drive more than 1000 miles and volunteer to help. The below was written by a friend of mine. We served together in the Michigan Army National Guard as training instructors for various leadership courses and military combat arms training programs in Battle Creek. As most of us stood watching the replays of the 9/11 events and the collaspe of the World Trade Center, Sean drove to New York and volunteered in the clean up efforts immediately afterwards. He later volunteered to serve in a Michigan Guard Infantry unit on deployment orders to Iraq. Many of our former students were assigned to that unit and he felt it his duty to go. Several of our former students, soldiers all, and fellow Michiganders, your neighbors, lost their lives in service to our country during that same deployment. I asked Sean permission to reprint his email in this blog. I know Sean as a true Patriot. A defender of American values. A soldier I would trust to watch my back if I ever found myself engaged in a "mad minute" once again. His words touched me deeply. I hope they will for you too. Good job Sean! And Thank-you!
Sent: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 9:43 am
Subject: Which Political Party wants to Claim the Victory in Iraq?
We have come a great distance as a nation thankfully because of those that have sacrificed their lives during too many wars in the past years. Countless rows of our nation's dead that lay in cemeteries across this nation and on foreign soil are our solemn reminders of lives lost and freedoms preserved throughout history. Last week I was taken back while listening to Vice President Biden pronouncing that the victory in Iraq is President Obama's crowning achievement especially when then Senator Obama voted against the Iraq War and against the the surge of troops in 2007. Either way President Obama voted, it was and never will be his victory or accomplishment for his Democratic Party nor will it be a victory for former President Bush and the Republican Party. It is obviously apparent that for one reason or another that our elected officials have decided to accept a victory that has yet to be seen. I, like most stood numb and shaken in disbelief when then President Bush suited up and landed aboard an aircraft carrier to claim major fighting had ended in Iraq and victory had been secured. While he gave the speech, my fellow service men and women were on combat patrols in Iraq receiving the blunt end of IED'd, RPG'd, being mortared and shot at with gunfire. If you have a moment, think about those words he spoke while they were and still are under fire that day and the days that followed in Iraq. Think of the limbs and blood and lives lost, the lives torn and shattered and ask yourself this question: Who gave the right to claim this wars or for that matter any wars victory to one man or one political party? Doesn't it make sense to wait 5 to 10 years down the road after we've departed to really see if victory is truly concrete? If Victory has been determined in the years after we withdraw, wouldn't it be proper to give the thanks to those families who've lost their loved ones? How about this idea: How about we give thanks to the veteran who lost his or her limb or eye or ability to remember where the refrigerator is located in their home? How about we let the mothers who lost their children in this war accept the flag of victory. Even better, how about the thousands of children who lost a mother or father in this war hold the flag of victory instead of President Bush or President Obama or any political party. Thinking about these politicians wanting to argue over who gets the credit quite simply boils my blood and adds fuel and oxygen to a fire that really truly doesn't need anymore added. The sweet taste of victory is something to be cherished and savored by those that truly have sacrificed more than most can or will ever comprehend. To be so bold and wanton to claim victory from the hands that have sacrificed much is selfish, immoral and criminal. We have come a long distance as a nation but we can't say we have come far enough when leaders of political parties want to take victory from the hands that fought and died for it in to many ways.
To those families that have lost loved ones in the war in Iraq, I apologize for our elected officials being so obviously inconsiderate and cold hearted. To my fellow service members that gave their lives, I'd like to be at the gates when you greet these greedy politicians with clenched fists and bloodstained eyes. I agonize often over the death of the members of my own unit while in Iraq and this latest act of deplorable ignorance and selfishness by our former and current Vice President only adds grief to pain and anxiety that they themselves cannot and will not ever comprehend.
I am truly sorry for this display by our elected officials, their disgusting and selfish style of leadership, and hope in time that the pain and discomfort you have endured will lessen with time.
Sean E Knudsen,
Howell, Michigan
US Army Retired
Sent: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 9:43 am
Subject: Which Political Party wants to Claim the Victory in Iraq?
We have come a great distance as a nation thankfully because of those that have sacrificed their lives during too many wars in the past years. Countless rows of our nation's dead that lay in cemeteries across this nation and on foreign soil are our solemn reminders of lives lost and freedoms preserved throughout history. Last week I was taken back while listening to Vice President Biden pronouncing that the victory in Iraq is President Obama's crowning achievement especially when then Senator Obama voted against the Iraq War and against the the surge of troops in 2007. Either way President Obama voted, it was and never will be his victory or accomplishment for his Democratic Party nor will it be a victory for former President Bush and the Republican Party. It is obviously apparent that for one reason or another that our elected officials have decided to accept a victory that has yet to be seen. I, like most stood numb and shaken in disbelief when then President Bush suited up and landed aboard an aircraft carrier to claim major fighting had ended in Iraq and victory had been secured. While he gave the speech, my fellow service men and women were on combat patrols in Iraq receiving the blunt end of IED'd, RPG'd, being mortared and shot at with gunfire. If you have a moment, think about those words he spoke while they were and still are under fire that day and the days that followed in Iraq. Think of the limbs and blood and lives lost, the lives torn and shattered and ask yourself this question: Who gave the right to claim this wars or for that matter any wars victory to one man or one political party? Doesn't it make sense to wait 5 to 10 years down the road after we've departed to really see if victory is truly concrete? If Victory has been determined in the years after we withdraw, wouldn't it be proper to give the thanks to those families who've lost their loved ones? How about this idea: How about we give thanks to the veteran who lost his or her limb or eye or ability to remember where the refrigerator is located in their home? How about we let the mothers who lost their children in this war accept the flag of victory. Even better, how about the thousands of children who lost a mother or father in this war hold the flag of victory instead of President Bush or President Obama or any political party. Thinking about these politicians wanting to argue over who gets the credit quite simply boils my blood and adds fuel and oxygen to a fire that really truly doesn't need anymore added. The sweet taste of victory is something to be cherished and savored by those that truly have sacrificed more than most can or will ever comprehend. To be so bold and wanton to claim victory from the hands that have sacrificed much is selfish, immoral and criminal. We have come a long distance as a nation but we can't say we have come far enough when leaders of political parties want to take victory from the hands that fought and died for it in to many ways.
To those families that have lost loved ones in the war in Iraq, I apologize for our elected officials being so obviously inconsiderate and cold hearted. To my fellow service members that gave their lives, I'd like to be at the gates when you greet these greedy politicians with clenched fists and bloodstained eyes. I agonize often over the death of the members of my own unit while in Iraq and this latest act of deplorable ignorance and selfishness by our former and current Vice President only adds grief to pain and anxiety that they themselves cannot and will not ever comprehend.
I am truly sorry for this display by our elected officials, their disgusting and selfish style of leadership, and hope in time that the pain and discomfort you have endured will lessen with time.
Sean E Knudsen,
Howell, Michigan
US Army Retired
Friday, January 22, 2010
South Lyon Small Business Owners
I thought about how best to use this Blog in my fight for public office. I think it is best I use it as a journal of my activities, meetings, free thoughts (rather than well thought out comments in hopes to sway voters), and off-the-cuff remarks. If you are, or represent my opponents, use whatever I write to your best advantage.
FRIDAY-late: I enjoyed meeting many of the merchants in my visit to the South Lyon business district today. The number one emotion expressed is "frustration". They are frustrated about business taxes, jobs, slow sales, and unresponsive professional politicians.
I visited with many of my brothers and sisters in the VFW hall in South Lyon, too. As a fellow veteran, life member of the VFW, I felt welcomed and at ease. As I introduced myself and passed out my campaign information I reminded my fellow veterans that not one of my political opponents is a veteran. Why? Apparently, getting their hands dirty, working in the sand and mud, in the rain, snow, under stress, in excessive heat and cold climate is a bit more than they can handle.
I stopped in a subdivision on the way home and spoke with a few residents. One gentleman spoke with me at length. He claimed to be a former Democrat, has resided in Michigan his entire life. Like many Michiganders, he is out of work, upset over medical bills, and three months behind in his mortgage payment. I listened. I felt frustrated for him. He needs help now. Not tomorrow, next week, or next year, now! He did not need to hear any "Vote for me and I will make your problems dissappear" political slogans or promises. I do not know if he will vote for me in the August 3rd primary. Nonetheless, he hardened my resolve to vote (speak) for him.
"Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man (or woman) who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself (or herself) sharing the stress and the danger." TR 1894
FRIDAY-late: I enjoyed meeting many of the merchants in my visit to the South Lyon business district today. The number one emotion expressed is "frustration". They are frustrated about business taxes, jobs, slow sales, and unresponsive professional politicians.
I visited with many of my brothers and sisters in the VFW hall in South Lyon, too. As a fellow veteran, life member of the VFW, I felt welcomed and at ease. As I introduced myself and passed out my campaign information I reminded my fellow veterans that not one of my political opponents is a veteran. Why? Apparently, getting their hands dirty, working in the sand and mud, in the rain, snow, under stress, in excessive heat and cold climate is a bit more than they can handle.
I stopped in a subdivision on the way home and spoke with a few residents. One gentleman spoke with me at length. He claimed to be a former Democrat, has resided in Michigan his entire life. Like many Michiganders, he is out of work, upset over medical bills, and three months behind in his mortgage payment. I listened. I felt frustrated for him. He needs help now. Not tomorrow, next week, or next year, now! He did not need to hear any "Vote for me and I will make your problems dissappear" political slogans or promises. I do not know if he will vote for me in the August 3rd primary. Nonetheless, he hardened my resolve to vote (speak) for him.
"Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man (or woman) who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself (or herself) sharing the stress and the danger." TR 1894
Kerry Bentivolio for Michigan Senate 2010
Dear Concerned Citizen,
Welcome and thank you for visiting my blog. It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to campaign for the fifteenth Michigan Senate District in western Oakland County this year. Through this site, I hope to provide you with valuable information about our campaign, messages, plans, and our hopes to revitalize our great state of Michigan.
The 15th District covers a large area in western Oakland County, encompassing my hometown of Milford and the surrounding communities of Novi, South Lyon, New Hudson, Wixom, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield, Orchard Lake, White Lake, Commerce, Highland, Rose Township, Holly, and the northern part of Northville.
It is a vast community, with people from every walk of life and every political party. We represent the economic, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity that makes this country the greatest country in the world. We are a concerned people - we are concerned about our children, our neighbors, our jobs, our family's health, education, and taxes. We are concerned about our personal future and the future of Michigan. Times are tough and there are important and difficult choices we need to make together to bring both you and Michigan back to prosperity. We cannot afford to conduct business as usual.
This blog, along with my website, will serve as the official notice to the 'good ole boy' political network in Lansing. Your time has come. It is time for a new and fresh look at what we, the Michigan patriots, want in our state's future. It is time for creative, balanced problem solving and a change in the way Michigan does business. Join me, follow me, or get the hell out the way. We will make it happen. With you, or without you, Michigan's success is our only option.
Most Sincerely Yours,
Kerry Bentivolio
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