Maybe this is the problem...I wonder how many others are as ignorant of the Constitution?

Confronted by an angry blogger with a camera Thursday, an Illinois congressman said in front of several constituents that he doesn't care whether the new health care law violates the Constitution, as some critics have claimed.

Blogger AllahPundit from the conservative Web site HotAir.com asked Rep. Phil Hare which part of the Constitution authorizes the government to mandate that all Americans buy a private product such as health insurance. The Illinois Democrat replied, "I don't worry about the Constitution on this."
...
Hare cringed in disgust and said, "Oh please. What I care more about, I care more about the people dying every day who don't have health care."

"You care more about that than the U.S. Constitution that you swore to uphold?" AllahPundit shouted back.

"I believe it says we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Hare countered.

When an observer pointed out that those words come from the Declaration of Independence, Hare said, "Doesn't matter to me. Either one."

I have never visited the website HotAir.com, and I don't endorse anything on that site. But this pundit has uncovered a major issue. Maybe this is the problem with all of this health care nonsense all along. Perhaps our lawmakers don't even know what the constitution says. Obviously Representative Hare (D-Illinois) has never read it, let alone the Declaration of Independence. I'm guessing he was in the lunchroom or perhaps absent the day his teacher covered those two documents in Civics class. Maybe we should have a crash course for all the lawmakers so they know what they have sworn to defend.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

 If you don't know what's in it...HOW CAN YOU DEFEND IT?

John Forsythe, actor, dead, cancer, 92

John Forsythe, the handsome, smooth-voiced actor who made his fortune as the scheming oil tycoon in TV's "Dynasty" and the voice of the leader of "Charlie's Angels" has died after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 92.
Forsythe died late Thursday at his home in Santa Ynez from complications of pneumonia, publicist Harlan Boll said Friday.
"He died as he lived his life, with dignity and grace," daughter Brooke Forsythe said.

Who could ask for more? Goodbye Charlie.

The more it changes, the more it stays the same

Health care reform made the public mad, and it made lobbyists rich.

Though President Obama promised during the 2008 campaign to curb the influence of special interests, slap a leash on lobbyists and "put the interests of Main Street in front of K Street and Wall Street," the past year hasn't exactly live up to that standard.

Special interest spending on Capitol Hill broke records in 2009, topping $3.47 billion. And almost half of the president's recess appointments last weekend were tied to or work for so-called special interests.

Thanks for the change...How is this different than before?

Democrats Accused of Trying to 'Intimidate' Firms for Airing Health Care Concerns

The CEOs of some of the country's biggest companies are being summoned to Washington to defend claims that the health care reform law would cost them millions -- a move Republicans say amounts to intimidation.

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Friday fired off letters to the heads of Caterpillar, Verizon, AT&T and Deere after they and other firms reported that the health care overhaul would dig deep into their bottom lines.

Waxman, in his letters, called these estimates a "matter of concern" and said they "appear to conflict with independent analyses" showing the law would lead to a decrease in premium costs for large companies.

Waxman called the CEOs to Washington to testify at an April 21 hearing and requested full documentation from the firms detailing how they arrived at their estimates.

I'm not buying the Republican angle that this amounts so bullying. But when the CEOs sit down before congress and they are then bullied, well you can say I was wrong. 

Mr. Waxman, they arrived at their "estimates" by consulting people within their company, who are concerned with their company's BOTTOM LINE. Not by some independent analyses liberal think tank or university study by people who have never worked for a multi-billion dollar company. You sir, should call all the major insurance providers to Washington DC as well, to ask them if this bill will RAISE insurance premiums or LOWER insurance premiums. I think you will be surprised to find out your INDEPENDENT ANALYSES were wrong again.

Seriously, did you really believe the experts on this one over the businesses in your district that have been faxing and emailing and calling your office telling not to do this? That's some first class leadership there sir.

Not by political ideology

I just saw an interesting map on CNN at lunch time.

It was a map of the new proposed drilling areas, Obama opened today.

Did you catch that? He intends to protect some areas while opening other areas. Protect areas vital to tourism and the environment.  

Not by political ideology.

But wait...right....there....

So he is opening up the Artic Ocean north of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, which is entirely surrounded by red states. He is also opening the coasts of basically south easterly from Delaware down through Florida, all but Delaware...RED STATES.

But they are protecting the states north of Delaware all the way to Maine and the left coast of California, Oregon and Washington...all BLUE STATES.

While I more or less agree we need to drill offshore, I'm not sure about his numbers. We have 2% of the world's oil reserves, but use 20% of the world's oil. Which is down from his campaign numbers of 2% and 25%. Even

So to review, this new policy is not by political ideology. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

America's Quiet Anger

By James P. Gannon, The American Spectator
There is a quiet anger boiling in America.

It is the anger of millions of hard-working citizens who pay their bills, send in their income taxes, maintain their homes and repay their mortgage loans -- and see their government reward those who do not.

It is the anger of small town and Middle American folks who have never been to Manhattan, who put their savings in a community bank and borrow from a local credit union, who watch Washington lawmakers and presidents of both parties hand billions in taxpayer bailouts to the reckless Wall Street titans who brought down the economy in 2008.

It is the salted wound of the millions who see that ruling Democrats in Congress are not listening to them but are willfully ignoring public opinion and the verdict of recent elections in passing a huge new health care entitlement when the existing entitlements of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are already going broke.

They are tired of being told they are too stupid to understand the country's complex problems, too rooted in the past to find solutions, too selfish to share what they have worked for with everyone else who wants it.

Count me among these people.

What a weird slideshow...

Being an editor at Yahoo News is hard work.

Picture an editor sitting in front of his computer wondering what he should run to get page clicks....

"Oh sweet, pictures from the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice awards...I gotta run these, but there are only 20 or so... hmmmm, what would go good with that....oh sure, the suicide bombing in Moscow.

WTH Yahoo?

 

Oh sure, now I see why your run those together, my mistake.

Check out this music video created entirely out of Google street view images

Frpm Rainn Wilson and the good folk at SoulPancake.

Not like Canada? Try again

WASHINGTON – Better beat the crowd and find a doctor.

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain.

Yet recently published reports predict a shortfall of roughly 40,000 primary care doctors over the next decade, a field losing out to the better pay, better hours and higher profile of many other specialties. Provisions in the new law aim to start reversing that tide, from bonus payments for certain physicians to expanded community health centers that will pick up some of the slack.

And how do they propose to fix that? Handouts of course.

So they said health care would not be rationed, they may have been telling the truth there. They won't have to ration the care, if there aren't enough appointment slots to see all the patients. Care will be rationed by default if you can't see a doctor. But don't you worry, the government will be "giving incentives" to doctors to be primary care physicians. Awesome. Hand outs upon hand outs.

Miracle under scrutiny in John Paul beatification

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican this week marks the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death amid some doubts that the miracle needed for his saint-making cause will stand up to scrutiny and questions about his record combatting pedophile priests.

The inexplicable cure of a young French nun from Parkinson's disease had initially seemed like the perfect case for a miracle as the Vatican fast-tracked John Paul's beatification. The nun, who suffered from the same disease that ravaged John Paul for years, had prayed to him for relief and one morning two months after John Paul died, woke up completely, inexplicably cured.

But according to some experts and critics perhaps the nun did not have the disease in the first place. Some of the other criteria also do not hold up on initial examination. A team is investigating the circumstances.