Health reformers targeting 'enemies'

The plan for a series of grass-roots demonstrations Tuesday to promote President Obama's health care agenda calls for tightly scripted events and an "escalation" of efforts against "enemies" of reform.

Organizers insist there is no comparison to rowdy summer town hall meetings and recent "tea party" protests that have challenged White House policies.

But Health Care for America Now (HCAN), which is backed by a coalition of labor unions and liberal groups including ACORN and MoveOn.org, organized the protests to target insurance companies and drafted the plan, which describes the demonstrations as part of its "insurance enemies project."
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/19/obamas-overhaul-backers-targeting-enemies/?feat=home_cube_position1

Thanks to Rebekah for shooting this one to me... I'm in Atlanta and we're on the target list, should be interesting. Anyone out there want to bet that Cry-Me-A-River-Pelosi isn't happy about THESE protesters????

Almost there...

I was a bit optimistic (to say the least) when I thought I could get through over 16 thousand emails in two days. I did have a few other things come up during those two days and it stretched into two weeks. I had this idea that most of the emails would be things I'd signed up to read, but nope, the vast majority were actual emails from real people. Wow, you guys have been so busy doing great things!

However, I'm happy to report I've read all the emails, cleaned up the inbox and found about 20 plus of you who've asked to be members of the Read My Lipstick Network.

This weekend I'll be getting caught up on that most important area! I'll be zapping you emails just as soon as I check out your sites to make sure they "fit" with this network. If you don't fit with this one, we have another one that'll probably be perfect for you... it's for conservative writers who don't always focus on political stuff.

I'm looking for some help if anyone is interested. Haven't figured out what you could do yet , but I obviously need some replacements for my friends who've moved on to other parts of the country, who're doing their best to keep families together while out of work, etc., etc.

I've gotten involved with a local tea party group. I'd been going to tea parties, but hadn't gone to meetings, etc. Talk about an on-fire group of people! Loved the fact that I was mixing with people from all sides, Democrats, Independents, Republicans, and even some who hadn't voted in forever but are now involved!

Keep calling...

Let these key political votes know you don't want a coop (government option ultimately), a trigger (which equals government 'public' option not too far down the road after passage) OR the public option:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (LA) 202-224-5834
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR) 202-224-4843
Sen. Mark Pryor (AR) 202-224-2353
Sen . Russ Feingold (WI) 202-224-5323
Sen. Joe Lieberman (CN) 202-224-4041
Sen. Jon Tester (MT) 202-224-2644
Sen.Byron Dorgan (ND)202-224-2551
Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) 202-224-6551
Sen. Bill Nelson (FL) 202-224-5274
Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) 202-224-5344
Sen. Kent Conrad (ND) 202-224-2043

This is SO much bigger than health care as I'm sure all of you already know. Saw a Rassmussen poll yesterday that said 56% were now against Obamacare. The more details that come out, the more we hear things from Obama (like his promise on Wednesday to Hispanics to make all 12 million plus illegals legal, giving them free health care...), the scarier it gets and the higher the opposition. Keep sharing the facts, don't let the Demtactic of calling you a racist because you factually oppose an idea or ideas or policies stop you, or even faze you (, I know it's not, just like to reinforce). They're pulling out the stops and, as you saw with Nancy Pelosi's ridiculous choke-up tactic, they've gone past the believable to the land of Oz.

On Pelosi choking up remembering the 70's... trying to compare lawful, peaceful opposition to where she and her friends are taking the country... this is the person who is 3rd in line to be our President. I don't even like to imagine that scenario, and I'd love to see a woman in the top slot at some point in the future... about three years in the future . Hard to believe we're less than one year into this presidency. It's going to be a tough few years and then it's going to be decades to undo all the damage.

The one good thing Obama is doing is he's waking up Americans all over the country who've never felt the need to get involved. He's awoken a sleeping giant and thus far all the giant has done is lifted its head, stretched and looked around. Wait until all of us who comprise the so-called silent majority 'giant' sit up, then stand up, then completely wake up...

If we still have legal elections in 2010 I firmly believe we'll see some changes. With ACORN shooting themselves in their own proverbial foot, we may have leveled the playing field a little. Of course, I think they're just going to reorganize under a different name of some sort. They'll get a little smarter, go a little further underground, be maybe a little harder to catch.

Hmmm... a whole lot of topics for an early Saturday morning.

RedState: House of Representatives Votes to Take Over All Student Loans

I passed along a few tidbits yesterday on this one. Here's a good write-up from RedState:

If you want an indication of just how radical the Democrats in Congress have become, consider the vote on H.R. 3221. The legislation, which I wrote about yesterday, shuts down all private lenders for higher education student loans, requires that colleges and universities adhere to a new federal bureaucracy, creates a new Green Schools Czar, and hints that any school not complying will see its students denied federal student loans.

Last year, Congress passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). The bill passed in the House 388-21, including 221-0 among Democrats. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent. President Bush signed it. The legislation was a bi-partisan piece of legislation that allowed private sector involvement in student loans without a new federal bureaucracy.

This year, the Republican substitute to HR 3221 would extend ECASLA programs through 2014 and create a commission to develop a new private sector model for student lending. The amendment failed 165-265. 257 Democrats unanimously voted no.

Final passage of HR 3221 was 253-171. 4 Democrats voted no, 6 Republicans vote aye.

The Democrats have now rejected the same legislation they unanimously supported last year in favor of a new, expansive federal bureaucracy.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

FRC: We Don't Need No (Government) Education

While most of Washington is concentrating on health care, the President and the Democrats in Washington hope to inflict some major "change" on the nation's education system. Today in the House of Representatives, H.R. 3221, the "Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009," is expected to be voted on. The bill accomplishes one of President Obama's campaign promises to eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program and trade it in for a completely government-run lending plan, ultimately turning the Department of Education into a lending institution that controls all college lending programs.

Just as the Democrats are trying to overhaul the American health care system instead of addressing specific flaws, they are doing the same with student lending. This is a typical response whenever education policy is debated; liberals automatically assume the answer to the problem is more federal tax dollars and federal involvement. The comparisons to the health care debate are many. When the direct loan component was added to FFEL by President Clinton and a Democratic Congress it was described as a "government option" to "promote competition." Here we are now with a new Democratic President and the Democrats back in control and one of the first things they do on education is eliminate the private sector's role in the program.

Family Research Council:
801 G Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: 202/393-2100 or 800/225-4008
W: frc.org

Another government (i.e. Obama) takeover...

Read this one carefully and all the way through please... When I first started reading it I kind of shrugged my shoulders, a subsidy ends, could be good news... While I'm not real hot on subsidies, and maybe I'd like to find a different way to do this without them (that said without really looking into the history and details), it's another massive shift to government control of yet another area. Put this on your list of "watch and research".

Bill Would End U.S. Subsidy For Lenders of College Aid
9/17/09 The federal government would end its four-decade practice of subsidizing private lenders that make college loans under a bill the House took up Wednesday that would steer tens of billions of dollars in savings to student aid over the next decade.

Republicans and the lending industry say the bill would engineer a risky shift in higher-education finance that could prove costly to taxpayers and diminish quality of service to borrowers. But Democrats and the Obama administration say the government could save an estimated $80 billion by ending a subsidy system that they contend benefits banks rather than students... Click here to continue reading (opens new window)

First-hand account of the 9-12 Rally in D.C.

OMGoodness!

Mary Rakovich: WE SHUT DOWN DC!

Over 2 million Patriots gathered in D.C. on Saturday! (regardless of what the press says!) I was there - Incredible masses!

Ron and I were on our way in a taxi to Freedom Plaza Saturday morning about 10:00 am where the March was to begin at 11:00. Here comes waves of people! What the heck! So we got out of the taxi right there. I asked what was going on. The people marching said there were too many people and the plaza could not contain us!

It was lucky, God puts us where we need to be - I never would have made it to the Capitol with the walker (silly me) and we would not have gotten on the green. The Capitol green was barricaded and the police only let in a certain number of people. No idea how they determined it. There was tons of room still inside the barricades - not crowded at all. Maybe so it would look like less of us in photos?

We turned around and looked down Penn. Ave from the Capitol - SOLID wall of people! And it didn't stop. I cannot tell you how amazing it was/is, energizing, overwhelming - talk about HOPE & CHANGE! Many of us started crying when we saw the number of people. They announced from the stage - 1.5 million reported, 450 busses arrived Saturday alone, the freeways were backed up for 15 miles in every direction.

I am still so geeked! We got home last night about 11:00 and I slept until 10:00 this morning! Protesting is exhausting work. I was hoarse by the time we reached the Capitol and still don't have my voice back. I met so many wonderful people. It was so good to see patriots of every age - families with strollers, young people, every stripe and color! Not a race issue, not a partisan issue, an AMERICAN issue!

Our work has just begun. This has happened because so many of us were asleep. We are AWAKE and we have INSOMNIA!

There is so much inside me right now. I am tearing as I write (and listening to Glenn Beck) Overwhelmed by what we have done and what we have left to do. I am praying I can get the website to upload - there is too much to send in email. I worked for hours a couple of weeks ago on new info and could not get it to upload. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it. I have been using Filezilla (or rather trying to).

I got into this "activist thing" through Freedom Works and a workshop they had in Tampa in January. If you have not joined Freedom Works please check it out.
Link to Freedom Works
http://www.freedomworks.org/

Our Florida co-ordinator, who is a volunteer with a family and a full-time job by the way, Tom Gaitens, is fantastic. Brendan Steinhauser, the grassroots co-ordinator out of D.C. (one of the few paid positions) was the driving force in bringing the patriotic forces together. This is what we need to do. I get invites every day from a new group. We need to pull TOGETHER!

Some Links to 9.12 March Videos etc:
Time lapse of the March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPud1TeubM
Lots of great pics, vids
http://alligatorfarm.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/more-excellent-9-12-09-dc-march-videos-photos-citizen-coverage/
CSpan Coverage
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/09/12/HP/A/23055/FreedomWorks+Rally+in+DC.aspx

I love you all!
Keep up the great work Patriots!
For Freedom (it works!) and Liberty,
Mary

I'm here...

Well, sort of . I checked my email about 2 weeks ago and had well over 42,000 (yes thousand) emails. I figured at first someone was spamming me but nope, they're all legit. There are so many I can't even re-sort them so I can delete the daily updates.

I've been whittling through them, have gotten down to around 30 thousand.

Tomorrow is the day. I'm going to get through them, then I'm going to add all you folks who've sent emails asking to be a member of the Network on Monday. I cleared my calendar to tackle this one and am determined to get back on track as I consider fighting this fight for our country to be the ultimate, most important thing to include in my busy life. If we lose our country to the elements who're tearing it down right now then I won't have the life I'm leading, nor will you.

So... once again I ask for your forgiveness and forbearance in tolerating the delays through the summer.

Hey kiddies, let's pledge to serve Obama...

This is a very balanced story via video: http://connect2utah.com/content/video/?cid=48702. Maybe too balanced, maybe even a bit over the top balanced...

As a parent I would be completely bent out of shape to learn that my children were encouraged to pledge to Obama at school. In one part of the video the students watched during assembly Hollywood "stars" "pledge to be a servant to President Obama", in another a guy pledges to be of service to Obama as he kisses his upraised arms (huh? what's that all about... must be some message in the tattoos on his biceps...).

The Principal is saying she didn't watch the video before it was shown. Ummm... shouldn't someone be vetting anything and everything being shown to kids during school? I don't expect the Principal to watch everything, but I'd at least have someone in my office check out a video being shown to the entire student body.

Aside from the issue of showing this piece of propaganda to our kids, is the very overt message of service and servitude to Obama. To a man. To serve him... You can attach religious overtones to it, you can attach communistic / socialistic/ dictator-type undertones... there is absolutely no way of looking at this as anything other than scary if you are a right thinking person. And I don't mean "right" as in conservative. I mean balanced, correct, normal.

If you can get past the Obama worship pledge, maybe the inclusion of pledging to support stem cell research will tweak your worry buttons.

I'm telling you folks, they're slipping stuff in and so many are asleep at the wheel.

http://connect2utah.com/content/video/?cid=48702

Obama infiltrates the public schools...

This past week most of us have heard about the National Endowment for the Arts conference call where Obama's White House is co-opting artists to spread his message / propaganda... As an artist I was appalled to hear how the President was trying to subvert fellow artists to sell his plans for our county. (If you missed it, do a search on Patrick Courrielche.)

Now Obama and his minions are reaching down into our children's school rooms. I'm not surprised, and I know you're not either!

Folks, we better be spreading the word and waking people up out there. In some cases the moves Obama and friends are making are subtle, in other they're more overt. Put the entire package together and we're rushing, running, tumbling, toward an America we won't recognize or like on any level in a few years.

Keep your children home on Sept. 8th if your school is participating in this. Better yet, get them out of public school altogether if you possibly can. Complain. Write.

Spread the word. If you work out of your home or have the ability, volunteer to watch your friends kids that day.

Critics Decry Obama's 'Indoctrination' Plan for Students

A suggested lesson plan that calls on students to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help President Obama following his address to students nationwide is troubling and establishes the president as a "superintendent in chief," education experts told FOXNews.com.

A suggested lesson plan that calls on school kids to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help President Obama is troubling some education experts, who say it establishes the president as a "superintendent in chief" and may indoctrinate children to support him politically.
But the White House says the speech is merely "designed to encourage kids to stay in school."

Obama will deliver a national address directly to students on Tuesday, which will be the first day of classes for many children across the country. The address, to be broadcast live on the White House's Web site, was announced in a letter to school principals last week by Education Secretary Arne Duncan....

...But in advance of the address, the Department of Education has offered educators "classroom activities" to coincide with Obama's message.

Students in grades pre-K-6, for example, are encouraged to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

Teachers are also given guidance to tell students to "build background knowledge about the president of the United States by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/02/critics-decry-obamas-lesson-plan-students/