Uncle Sam Wants to Know: How Much Do You Weigh?

Folks…it is getting scary out there. I told you this was coming, and here it is. Buried in the mass of stimulus legislation is a new regulation requiring every American have a BMI (Body Mass Index) rating by 2014. This number must be entered into a national data base, and be available on an electronic “national exchange” along with your height and weight.

The government spin on this states that BMI is the most important indicator of health issues, and that all the health care professionals taking care of you should know what it is. Your health care providers are required to make “meaningful use” of the Electronic Health Records (HERs) or face substantial fines and/or penalties.

On the surface, nothing is wrong with that. We all want to stay healthy. But you're dealing with the government here, and that type of information floating around is dangerous. Since the government is now taking an active role in health care with all sorts of insurance regs, exchanges, policy boards (re: Death Panels) determining how much treatment you can get at what age…it seems only fair that the government be able to dictate not only how much you should weigh, but also what you BMI should be. Afterall, since the taxpayer must foot the bill, it is in the public interest to make sure you are fit as a fiddle, or be denied coverage or taxed for the extra weight. Seems far fetched? It's already happening in Britain! What about weekly weigh ins? Now there's the ticket.

And with Michelle Obama going around screaming about obesity…child obesity…look for the health police to monitor what is in your refrigerator and what you serve at dinner. Listen up, folks, there is no end to how much good these people want to do.

Like I preach every week, this “good” generally goes counter to normal human behavior, and has to be “enforced”, or as they would say – “encouraged.” With do-gooder agencies going after McDonalds and Kellogg’s and other food businesses, they will see a source of infinite revenue and infinite regulations…all because they know what is good for you.

And all of that information will be swirling around the internet. Freedom loss creep is alive and well under Barack Obama, and his band of merry, progressive do-gooders. Watch out. It’s your freedom. PS: The picture at the top of the page is Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Looks like she needs a little BMI work herself.

Obama's Hope and Change War on America

President Obama has implemented some interesting policy initiatives over the past several weeks. Is this the hope and change you voted for?

1) The administrator of NASA, soon to be supervising a space program with no space program once the Shuttle program ends this year, now says he has been advised that the number one priority of NASA is outreach to Muslim nations to make them feel good about their contribution to science and math. On the other hand, maybe the Muslim nations can get us back into space. Iran has a pretty active missile program.

2) The lead lawyer in the dismissed Philadelphia Black Panther voter intimidation case…dismissed after the government won it…claimed rampant racism against whites in the Justice Department. The orders to ignore black on white racism came are not only understood, but articulated in a public way by the Justice Department higher ups. Of course, three big black brothers with billy clubs standing in front of a polling place telling white people they will just have to get used to a black man in the White House...cracker...doesn’t sound like racism to me. Maybe Obama can have another beer summit like the one he did for the abusive Harvard professor.

3) While illegals are crossing the borders in droves making Phoenix the second largest kidnapping center on North America right behind Mexico City, the Obama administration decides to sue Arizona for passing a law that mirrors Federal law relating to identification when an individual stopped while committing another crime. I have to produce ID if I am caught speeding, or doing anything else for that matter. Why should illegals be exempt? After all, maybe they just scaled the fence and wall to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo on this side of the border. Must be all of the Taco Bells over here!

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. While unemployment remains high; while terrorists are trying to blow up plains with crotch bombs; while the Russians have sleeper spies are walking among us; while the oil well keeps gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; while Iran is building nuclear bombs...Barack Obama is going golfing; taking vacations; and making a four day campaign swing to Nevada to raise money for Harry Reid. He does that while he wakes up in the morning and goes to bed night focusing on unemployment and the BP oil spill.

Like I said, is the hope and change you voted for?

McDonald v. Chicago: Guns, Obama, and the Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that gun ownership is a fundamental right of Americans. Contrary to National Rifle Association press releases and conventional wisdom, it was never a settled issue. In overturning Chicago’s ban on hand guns within its city limits, the Supremes dropped the other shoe. The first shoe was finding a similar law in Washington D.C., a federal jurisdiction, also unconstitutional. McDonald v. Chicago now extends that ruling to all cities and states.

While the ruling of this case gets the headlines, it is the dicta of the case that is absolutely stunning, and will have liberal legal eagles flapping their wings furiously for years. The S.C. could have determined this case in 10 pages or less. Instead, it has provided the country with a 207 page treatise on Constitutional law. It is brilliant. It is historical. And its conclusions should be a warning to any President or political party that is willing to play fast and loose with the Constitution in order to achieve social utopian dreams. This is the Supreme Court reasserting the rights of citizens to defend themselves against tyranny, and re-examining the compact between citizens and the state.

I am no constitutional scholar, and I found reading the opinion tedious. But the message and logic are clear. Up until the Civil War, the court stated that the rights granted citizens in the Constitution only related to laws passed by the Federal government. States could pretty much do as they pleased. It had to be that way because of slavery.

After the Civil War, the Court had a problem. The country passed the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution ending slavery and granting citizenship to African Americans. But in order to enforce it, the courts had to re-examine the relationship between constitutionally guaranteed rights, the federal government, and the state governments. In a series of cases, it changed its approach, and ruled states could not abrogate fundamental constitutionally guaranteed rights. This particularly related to the rights of former slaves to own guns. To allow southern states to outlaw former slaves from owning guns would deprive them of their right to protect themselves from not only other citizens…but also local and state governments.

Wow!! And the court goes onto to reiterate that position in this ruling. The right of Americans to bear arms is fundamental to our system and is part of the fabric of our checks and balances protection between the government and its citizens. In our American psyche, the mistrust of strong, centralized government still rings loud and true.

While the ruling of the case settles a long standing dispute, the dicta is a clear shot across the bow of Obama’s utopian vision of the world based on social justice rather than the rule of law and the Constitution. It raises the hue and cry against rampant and relentless expansion and centralization of power in Washington and into the White House itself. The progressives should take note. “Don’t tread on me” is alive and well.

This 207 page decision will be the foundational document studies in all future Constitutional law classes…and should be a primer for our politicians. It should be required reading.

The Western Reserve America Group

2009 will be studied by historians for years to come. It is a seminal year in American politics equal to 1968 in which changes in American society spontaneously bubbled up from a citizenry demanding a restatement of the relationship between the government and the governed.

The economic collapse in September, 2008, in the midst of a presidential election, propelled a true leftist progressive into office. Although Barack Obama ran on a centrist platform, he was shaped by his Indonesian childhood and his work as a community organizer in Chicago’s South Side. He meant it when he said he would fundamentally transform America, but the public didn’t understand the nature of the change he was promising.

Contrary to his promise of centrist post partisanship, he used bullying tactics to implement his policies of massive spending and debt, government bailouts of select corporations and banks, government control of all aspects of America’s energy sources, and his attempt at intrusive government interference in America’s health system.

With no central opposition leader, the center right majority of Americans reacted spontaneously to policies too well understood and not wanted. The public began to read Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and Paine. They came together in ad hoc groups of citizens called “Tea Parties” to demand accountability from an ideologically based government who chose to ignore the will of the people. Folks actually began to read the founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

They marched and protested and attended town hall meetings as their representatives derided and scorned them calling them “Astroturf” and “Nazis” and “vigilantes.” And they elected opposition candidates in Virginia and New Jersey. Finally, in a coup de grace that forced the attention of ideological left, they elected a centrist Republican to fill the Massachusetts senate seat of Ted Kennedy, the iconic progressive.

Notwithstanding, the progressive movement doubled down, and continued to dirty deal behind closed doors to enact its agenda into law in spite of overwhelming public opposition. The opposition demanding the consent of the governed for this type of legislative agenda continues.

The Western Reserve America Group is an organization of war horse conservative political activists who watched what was happening and concluded that although the immediate political battles were interesting, something had fundamentally changed in our society over the past 30 years. This change took place under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

WRAG believes that our society has lost its understanding of the fragility of freedom, the importance of responsibility for one’s self, and that common sense should not be lost in the din of political rhetoric or legalities. This is the result of the failure of our schools to embrace these principles; an emphasis on the collective by media outlets; government programs and taxation policies which teach government reliance and punish individual effort; government trade and environmental policies which make it difficult for folks to get good manufacturing jobs; and the massive intrusion of the digital age on American life destroying our sense of well being and privacy. Big Brother is watching, and has the means to do it.

WRAG hopes to restore Freedom, Responsibility and Common Sense into American life both through outreach into our education system and issue oriented political activism to promote a measured conservative approach to the debates of today.

The Western Reserve America Group is based in Youngstown, Ohio, the first major settlement in the old Connecticut Western Reserve. It is a microcosm of the problems caused by intrusive government, and a bastion of self reliance in the face of adversity. Although it is considered to be a Democratic stronghold, the citizens aren’t San Francisco liberals. These are hardworking, fiercely independent folks rooted in our industrial past. They are survivors. This is something shared by both the Democrats and Republicans in our area. Youngstown is currently poised to lead Ohio out of the recession…due to our firm belief in freedom, responsibility, and common sense.

The Government is Watching...YOU!!!

Freedom Loss Creep is scary because it happens so slowly you don’t realize what you have lost until it is gone. Then it is too late. But since Obama’s inauguration, it has morphed into a Freedom Loss Sprint. It is happening so fast, our minds can’t comprehend it or accept it. But it’s happening folks, and you should be concerned.

Tucked in the financial reform legislation is another new government agency whose job it is to monitor risk. The “how’s” and the “why’s” and the “what for’s” of this super agency are still being debated. It may end up as part of the FDIC, or part of the Federal Reserve, or simply a new stand alone mega-agency. But this is going to be a bad dude.

This agency will have the power and authority to monitor every financial transaction in the United States. It will have access to your brokerage accounts, and monitor what you are trading or in what you are investing. Ostensibly, it will then use some computer model to see if anything “risky” is developing and warn appropriate authorities so they can make adjustments to policy.

Of course, they say, they really aren’t interested in what you are doing individually. Just what the collective result is…so they say. Do you want the government watching every single transaction you make?

In the past year, here is what America has turned into.

1) Under the new health care legislation, the government is forming a super agency to monitor all of your medical activity. It will be kept on file in a central computer…to keep you safe. And to make sure you aren’t getting too much medical care.

2) Under the new health care legislation, the government is expanding the role of the Internal Service to monitor your health insurance policies, or lack thereof, just to make sure the fit what the government says you should own…or that you have one in the first place…just to be fair. Of course, if you don’t have a policy, you will be fined.

3) Under the proposed legislation from the Federal Communications Commission, the government would monitor every piece of communication over the internet in order to make sure it is being used “fairly”. The Supreme Court threw that one out.

4) Under the proposed new power grid, the government will monitor exactly how much energy your house is using, and will more likely than not either turn it off or tax it if the government feels you are using too much…just to be fair.

5) The EPA has unilaterally announced that Carbon Dioxide is a deadly gas, and can be regulated by fiat. Just wait to see what happens with that one. A taste of things to come: just wait until you have to buy a light bulb in 2012…then have to dispose of it. There will be separate containers for the trash guys to pick up your broken light bulbs which will be filled with mercury…to save the planet.

6) And now the government wants to monitor and collect data on your financial transactions…to prevent another meltdown.

Is this the kind of America you want to live in?

Socialist Taxes

Today is tax day. The Tea Party people are out in full force and the airwaves are filled with chatter about taxes. Most years the statistics are of passing interest. This year, as the Obama administration increases the national debt exponentially, they are frightening, and we should be concerned. The United States, as we know it, cannot survive if we continue on this path to destruction. Obama said he wanted to “fundamentally change” America. He is, into a European Social Democracy built on a cradle to grave welfare state.

President Obama talks about fundamental fairness. Let’s take a look at some of the figures and you tell me if these are fundamentally fair.

1) Over 50% of wage earning Americans pay NO federal income tax. What they do pay is the Social Security and Medicare tax. And even then many complain. When the Bush administration gave tax “rebates” to stimulate the economy, even those who didn’t pay one penny in taxes got a tax rebate check (translate: handout) because “it wouldn’t be fair.” What’s fair about that?

2) The top 1% of wage earners in the United States paid 40% of all collected federal income tax. The top 10% of wage earners pay 75% of federal income tax. What does that translate to in income? If you earn over $400,000.00/year, you are in the top 1% of wage earners. If you make over $160,000.00/year, you are in the top 10% of wage earners. If you make over $66,000.00/year, you are in the top 25% of wage earners. And if you bring home over $33,000.00/year…you are in the top 50% of wage earners. Does that make you feel wealthy?

3) 20% of all Americans depend on the government for 75% of their income. The next 25% depend on the government for 40% of their income. 40% of all Americans receive more in government benefits than in taxes they pay.

The statistics can go on and on. I'm sure there are many who are snickering and laughing. After all, as long as they are on the receiving end instead of the paying end, what’s it to them? How long do you think a house divided this way can stand?

But even Obama’s economists have concluded that you could increase the top tax rate in the United States to 98%...taking all the wealthy make…and still not make a dent in the deficit as it currently is being incurred by the Obama administration. They are predicting an economic Armageddon.

What is scary is Obama doesn’t seem to care about any of this. So here is the question, how hard would you work if the government would take, let’s say, 60% of every dollar you make? Not very!!! And that means less jobs, and more government reliance.

As Margaret Thatcher said, the trouble with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money. And make no mistake about it, Obama is a socialist, which is why he doesn’t care. He is a socialist, and he is doing exactly what he promised, fundamentally changing America. How’s that change working out for you?

Tiger Overload

This week I have reached the saturation point with Tiger Woods. Enough, already!! When all the flap started about his peccadilloes several months ago, I concluded that none of this was anybody’s business except for the Woods family. While Mrs. Woods chasing Tiger with a golf club down the driveway as he drove away is a great story, this has gone on way too long.

If Tiger Woods wants to have sex with porn stars or anyone else with a bosom and two legs, that’s up to him. Do I approve? No. But more power to him if it makes him happy. He has the money, and had earned to the right to do what he wants without the public judging him. I have written many times before, the standard for what is acceptable sexual behavior by our celebrities and politicians was established by Bill Clinton. Anything less than oral sex in the Oval Office with a barely legal intern is apparently okay. At least Tiger didn’t do that.

By the same token, Tiger’s Mea Culpa tour was just plain stupid and bordered on somewhat disgusting. It’s bad enough we had to endure Obama apology tour, how much of Tiger’s remorse did we have to be subjected to. If you want to go to a sex addict clinic, please don’t tell me. That just encourages CNN to give detailed treatment description with what is clearly too much information. And if you want to throw in a substance abuse clinic, I don’t really need to know that. Most of the people I know are on Prozac and don’t have near the money you have. I should have those sorts of problems.

The Nike commercial is simply stupid, if not bordering on bad taste. The commercial is set up in a way to allow for an infinite number of parodies as is evidenced by You Tube. One thing America has is imagination, and it is being used here.

To use long dead Dad’s voice lecturing you on behavior is ghoulish at best and creepy at worst. I suspect that Tiger’s upbringing was so golf centered, watching everything he did for a possible career, he never had a “rebellious” period. Daddy croaking removed the impediment to sowing his wild oats. How much fun could he have had as a young man? Dude, now’s the time to do it while you have the strength! You're the best damn golfer in history, do what you want. As a seventy year old client once told me, he used to think that sex was the best thing on earth. Now he would settle for a good bowel movement.

Between John Edwards and Mark Sanford and Tiger Woods, it’s clear to me that America has an insatiable appetite for sex scandal stories notwithstanding their relevance to anything in our lives. America…get over it!!! People screw around. Live with it!!