In case you didn’t have time to read the 2,400+ page health care bill (and hey, apparently even many in Congress didn’t), now you can see it – at least some of it – in chart form.

Republicans on the House Joint Economic Committee have released an illustration of the health care overhaul. Simply click on the image below for your viewing pleasure.

But before you do, you should know that according to Texas Congressman Kevin Brady, the Senior House Republican on the Committee, the chart is not comprehensive. “This portrays only about one-third of the complexity of the final bill. It’s actually worse than this.”

So with those words in mind, enjoy….

 (And be sure to zoom in and out for the full effect).  

Permalink | Comment on this post

How do those two topics relate, and how did I come across them? That's not a bad question for a reasonable person to ask. When I picked up Origami on the Edge, I thought I would be teaching my son how to make some cool monsters.

Like everything else that involves raising a child, I should have known better than to make an assumption. If I haven't learned anything else in the last six years, I've figured out that I don't know squat about kids and just when I think I've seen everything, I'm proven wrong yet again.

We went to the library this week to get books and origami was a subject we were interested in. So we came home with this book by Xander Arena: American Mensa member, custom stone craftsman, full time student, and animal groomer of all things. I think you can probably guess what I thought of the biography, so we'll leave that alone. Once I was actually reading the book to figure out how to make the monsters, which was the actual purpose of getting it, I realized there was a blog post in the making.

On the front cover is this little icon that says Green Edition. I bet you can guess where this is going. Before you assume I burn trees every day because I like to watch the shiny embers float about or club baby seals for their fur, let me say - I understand the need to conserve and protect our resources and the environment. However, those goals should not be accomplished at the expense of human life, under false pretences, at the point of a gun. The inside of the cover on the book describes why the book qualifies as 'planet friendly publishing' in a smarmy, you suck manner that makes me want to add Dover Publications to the long list of companies I don't want to give my money.

So, on to the point of this post. Why do I care about the blatant propaganda campaign in one origami book? Because it is obviously geared toward young people. You wouldn't believe how many books like this are out there. I don't believe it is coincidental any more than I believe that The Rainbow Fish is about sharing. It is a blatant campaign to teach children from a young age that humans destroy the earth and we all need to do without. Once that goal is accomplished, it's a baby step to the concept that we're all equal and should have equal things. Equality of outcome not equality of opportunity.

Why is this in a post on an art page? Because we need to be doing the same thing to promote honest, Conservative philosophy. Yes, you can find beaytifully illustrated books on American history and Liberty in the children's section. However, very few of them are the storybooks geared toward toddlers and young readers - they're picture books(just pretty, ot smart). If we don't ingrain these ideas in our kids before we pack them of to public school, we have no one to blame but ourselves when they turn into blithering fools dependent on the State for their 'needs'.

All of this brings us full circle, back to the origami book. The portion of the book that set all of this in motion is included below. You would think the description of how the artist designed the polar bear would be innocuous. Again, you would be wrong. The intro reads as follows:

"Originally, I viewed this model as simply a bear, but after reviewing photos of various sorts of bears, determined that it was definitely the arctic variety. Polar bears are presently in a bit of trouble, and I really do hope that they are able to adapt to our changing climate. Or conversely, that we slow the change...It would be a shame to lose them."

I promise to come back from my family camping trip with something positive to say about art. I'm sure a weekend in a national park will lift my spirits. I know cooking meat over an open flame will!

Just in case you'd like to know what your kids are learning on TV, check out this article by our contriubtor Greg Contiero.

I will also post this article at MachinePolitick

Permalink | Comment on this post

CNSNews.com ran an article yesterday reporting that for the first time, a US envoy will travel to Japan to attend the commemoration of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The State Department announced that Ambassador John Roos would represent the U.S. at the August 6 event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, “to express respect for all of the victims of World War II.”

Asked why the gesture was being made at this time, spokesman Philip Crowley said, “At this particular point, we thought it was the right thing to do.”

Of course, this brings up the ongoing debate of “should we have or shouldn’t we have” (I’m of the first opinion), but it’s also raising another question: Will the U.S. apologize?

I have my own very firm opinion on this as well. (Just read Flyboys by James Bradley, and you’ll understand what we stopped by ending the war.)

But my opinion aside for just a moment, some truth demands exposure.

In all the mentions – be they in the news, in discussions, etc. – of the United States’ dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what is almost always emphasized? The thousands upon thousands of innocent people killed (approximately 140,000 in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki).

But what is missing from nearly all the coverage? The fact that prior to the bombing, the U.S. dropped millions of leaflets over the cities warning residents of the upcoming bombings.

Newsbusters.com has a magnificently researched article on this very topic. You can read it here.

The articles details that after the Potsdam meeting on July 26, 1945, “Japanese citizens … were continually notified … of imminent bombings, which is certainly far more than our forces at Pearl Harbor were afforded on December 7, 1941.”

So when it comes to the question of an apology, I hardly think requesting one is even close to appropriate. And I hope our State Department clearly understands the historical facts before the August 6 memorial.

Seriously, please read Noel Sheppard’s Newsbusters.com article.

Permalink | Comment on this post

A number of people have requested to hear my segment on the Dennis Miller Show on Tuesday. So, those links are provided below.

The segment went very well, and I was honored to be welcomed on to the show. Dennis Miller is the funniest comedian I have ever seen, live or otherwise, and since I made him laugh a few times, I think it went rather well.

The only issue was where he misunderstood which Kennedy I was referring to. He thought I meant John Kennedy, when in fact I was referring to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which was heavily supported by Senator Ted Kennedy. There just wasn't enough time to clarify, with the many issues we touched upon so quickly.

No matter, though—it was a blast, and I look forward to the possibility of doing it again some day.

Link to my segment

Link to full show

(In the segment right after mine, Miller makes some amusing and complimentary comments, ones I was honored and humbled to hear. With the full-show link above, we haven't found a way to fast-forward to those. But, as always, Dennis's whole show is worth a listen!)

Permalink | Comment on this post

Congress narrows gap in cocaine sentencing rules

This former criminal defense trial lawyer saw a lot of lives ruined by crack and cocaine, but we also saw many lives ruined by long mandatory minimum sentences for possessions of small to medium amounts of crack.

Most of those latter lives ruined were those of black men, but I do not believe that the disparately lesser sentences for powder cocaine were motivated by racism.

The fact is that crack cocaine does more harm, more quickly, to more people, in smaller doses, than does powder cocaine.

Nevertheless, we welcome the best news we have heard from this Congress since its 2009 ObamaDem inception:

Congress approved a landmark change Wednesday to the mandatory sentences for cocaine possession that detractors have long alleged had racist effects.

The old law, passed in 1986, meant that a person in possession of crack cocaine would get the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times as much of the powder form of the drug. The criticism: Those arrested for crack cocaine possession are far more likely to be black than those arrested for powder cocaine.

The new provision, passed by the House in a voice vote Wednesday, reduces that ratio to 18-to-1. It also repeals a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for first-time possession of crack, making it the first time Congress has eliminated a mandatory minimum sentence since the Nixon administration, according to the Associated Press.

For many years, DeVine Law Factory opposed drug legalization and decriminalization. Now we lean toward same, for many of the same reasons did William F. Buckley and do many tea partiers and libertarians.

But we always opposed draconian mandatory minimum sentences that ruined the lives of so many young black men, many of whom would have been deterred from a life of crime by a reasonable sentence. Instead, they were sent to penitentiary crime school.

We thank the Democratic Party Congress for this change in the law.

[Cross-posted at 73Wire Law Factory]

Mike DeVine

"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson

Charlotte Observer, The Minority Report and Examiner.com archives

www.devinelawvista.com

Permalink | Comment on this post

There are 95 days left until this year's mid-term elections. Plenty of time for the "slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune" to find their targets.

However, here's some good news for those of us who are hoping to flip the House and perhaps even the Senate on November 2 (bolding and coloring mine):

On the whole, 58 percent of voters see Democrats as liberal or very liberal, while 56 percent see Republicans as conservative or very conservative; no surprise there. But voters now place themselves much closer to the Republican Party than to the Democratic Party on this left-right continuum. Indeed, the ideological gap between the Democratic Party and the mean voter is about three times as large as the separation between that voter and the Republican Party. And, startlingly, the electorate places itself a bit closer to the Tea Party movement (which is well to the right of the Republican Party) than to the Democratic Party. All this represents a major shift from five years ago, when mean voters placed themselves exactly halfway between their ideological perceptions of the Democratic and Republican parties.
...
Shifts among Independents are especially notable. A Pew survey in June 2005 found that Independents considered the Republican Party to be twice as distant from them ideologically as the Democratic Party. Today, Independents see the Democratic Party as three times farther away than the Republican Party. In 2005, 51 percent of Independents thought that the Republican Party was more conservative than they themselves were, versus only 36 percent who thought that the Democratic Party was more liberal. Today, 56 percent of Independents see the Democratic Party as more liberal than they themselves are, compared to only 39 percent who see the Republican Party as more conservative."

Good news, certainly. But let's also remember the ole adage:

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch (DCYCBTH).

Gotta stay motivated, as there's lots more work to do.

Again, ...

Days left until November 2: 95

Source: http://www.tnr.com/blog/william-galston/76631/democrats-republicans-popularity-new-demographics

Permalink | Comment on this post

One of the books I am currently reading is the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I am not a religious person by nature. Therefore, the book has afforded me some interesting insight into religion and spirituality. I do not, myself, posses faith or the belief in a creator although (unlike many atheists) I do respect the right of others to do so. I find the concept of religion interesting; particularly the wealth of cultural and iconographic influence it has bestowed upon society.

For this reason, I believe I have approached the reading of this book with an open perspective. I have no agenda or preconceived notion of what it is about. I am reading it simply for the sake of gaining perspective. Ironically, the letters from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood could just as easily be from a congressman to their aid. Perhaps it is because so many of them have spent their entire career dismantling America in much the same way that Screwtape dismantles souls.

I am not yet finished, but here are some lines I found particularly fitting to the current establishment in Washington.

"An important spiritual law is here involved. I have explained that you can weaken his prayers by diverting his attention from the Enemy Himself to his own states of mind about the Enemy. On the other hand fear becomes easier to master when the patient's mind is diverted from the thing feared to the fear itself, considered as a present and undesirable state of his own mind; and when he regards the fear as his appointed cross he will inevitably think of it as a state of mind. One can therefore formulate the general rule; in all activities of mind which favor our cause, encourage the patient to be unself-conscious and to concentrate on the object, but in all activities favourable to the Enemy bend his mind back on itself. Let an insult or a woman's body so fix his attention outward that he does not reflect 'I am now entering into the state called Anger - or the state called Lust'. Contrariwise, let the reflection 'My feelings are now growing more devout, or more charitable' so fix inward that he no longer looks beyond himself to see our Enemy or his own neighbors."

Translation: Put yourself and your 'needs' above all others. It is the mantra and the goal of the movement for 'social justice'. People are kept in a constant state of fear about their future, their status as victims, who will or won't provide for their 'needs' while being kept in a position of helplessness and dependency by the very people who claim to be helping them. It is no coincidence that those same people have simultaneously torn down the concepts of morality, the family and individual responsibility.

"Thus by inflaming the horror of the Same Old Thing we have recently made the Arts, for example, less dangerous to us than perhaps, they have ever been, 'low-brow' and 'high-brow' artists alike being now daily drawn into fresh, excesses of lasciviousness, unreason, cruelty and pride. Finally, the desire for novelty is indispensable if we are to produce Fashions or Vogues."

One need only go into the nearest gallery for an illustration of this point. The art community, which touts itself as being avant guard, independent minded, and opposed to the system has become a mere tool to the Progressive agenda. It is now our job, as Conservatives, to stand up to the status quo in the art community and take back our culture. How can we expect the next generation to understand what we are fighting for if they have no concept of Liberty or individualism? Traditionally, it has been the art community that has gone against the grain to raise awareness and promote unpopular ideas. I say we take advantage of that tradition and the means by which it has been achieved successfully in the past.

Want to help? Submit a blog post on the subject for our consideration. Send us images of your work. Find that in yourself which inspires you to stand up to the system and put it in creative form - produce a video, paint a picture, write a poem - anything to get the point across. If you need help getting started, contact me directly at frances@machinepolitick.com or feel free to use the Conservative Action Tools on my web page for ideas. The future is what we make of it.

Permalink | Comment on this post

 Non-whites and non-males also culpable in turning First Amendment on its back

Permalink | Comment on this post

As anyone who has read a few of my posts knows, I’m a huge fan of remembering those who have gone before – the patriots of our nation, from colonial days to the present, who have sacrificed themselves, whether in life or in death, for the priceless treasure of freedom.

I firmly believe it’s important that we remember these men and women, not just on patriotic holidays but every day. And I believe it’s equally important that we make a focused effort to learn about these Americans. Who were (and are) they, these champions of courage and heroism?

It’s virtually impossible to “meet” them all in one lifetime, but I’d like to issue a challenge. Military Times has created an online Hall of Valor that, to date, has 48,610 valor award citations of men and women from the U.S. military.

These citations cover every major (and multiple lesser-known) war and conflict from the Civil War to the present day, and they include some 25 honors such as the Silver Star, the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, and the Medal of Honor.

The Hall is searchable by conflict, award, military branch, name, and keyword. For example, with no specific end in mind, I clicked on ‘Coast Guard’ and scrolled down to Clifford F. Bennett, an Ordinary Seaman who was awarded the Navy Cross “for extraordinary heroism on the occasion of the explosion of the Gillespie shell-loading plant on 4 and 5 October [1918].”  According to the citation, “While the explosions were still continuing, Ordinary Seaman Bennett drove a motor car on trip after trip through a barrage of flying shell splinters, carrying out the wounded and dead and carrying in guards. Although the door of his car was blown off and the car riddled, he persisted in his work throughout the night.”

Have you ever heard of Clifford F. Bennett? Neither had I. But he was someone’s son, perhaps someone’s brother, or husband, or father. And it is acts of heroism like his that cover the pages of our nation’s history.

But how often do we make a concerted effort to remember? Not just generally but specifically?

My challenge is this: Start a journey down the Hall of Valor. Every day, meet a new hero. Come face to face with courage in the face of indescribable terror. And appreciate a bit more each day the cost at which our freedom came.

Perhaps we’ll never make it through the entire hall. But even if we don’t, it’s a journey well worth starting.

Military Times Hall of Valor

(If you know a name that should be in the Hall of Valor, you can submit the name along with supporting documentation. Just click on the link above and follow the directions.)

Permalink | Comment on this post

Permalink | Comment on this post

next 10 results