Remember this chart?  It was from the 2008 Presidential campaign.  I can’t tell you how many Obama supporters calmly and patiently explained to me that I would be silly to vote for McCain over Obama because I would get a bigger tax cut under Obama.  And I calmly and patiently explained to them that by taxing top earners so significantly, they’d have to cut jobs at their companies.  I also pointed out that in order to fund all of Obama’s socialist pie-in-the-sky ideas, the money would have to come from somewhere, and that I was 100% certain that we’d see that $250k bar drop.

Within a couple of weeks of the inauguration, Obama raised taxes on the poorest people in our country, those who have the highest majority of smokers in their demographic. The cost increase on a pack of nicotine sticks was the highest in US history.

But lots of people don’t see that as a *real* tax, because smokers can choose to quit and probably should for their health.

But even those tobacco-taxes-aren’t-real-taxes people should be worried now.  In an interview out today, President Obama said:

The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table… So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions.

What I can’t do is to set the thing up where a whole bunch of things are off the table…Some would say we can’t look at entitlements. There are going to be some that say we can’t look at taxes, and pretty soon, you just can’t solve the problem.

The real problem has to do with the fact that there is a just a mismatch between the amount of money coming in and the amount of money going out. And that is going to require some big, tough choices that, so far, the political system has been unable to deal with.

I have a suggestion Mr. President.  How about we spend less money?  Why does Nancy Pelosi need $1000 per week for booze and delicacies on her private cross-country jet rides?  That’s $1000 per week for food and booze, mind you, not the cost of the travel itself. And I’m sure the turtles didn’t really need a $3,400,000 tunnel to cross the road.  What about the $800,000 for repaving a back-up runway at an unused airport?

President Obama, please don’t raise my taxes to fund those ridiculous projects.  I don’t know how much more of your “help” I can afford.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

One of our founding fathers is credited with penning those prophetic words over 200 years ago.  Tonight, the Pelosi health care bill passed the House of Representative.  If this “health care reform” passes the senate and is signed by the president, American citizens will be under even more government oppression than they already are.  We will have lost the freedom to choose for ourselves what we feel is best for our own lives regarding health care.

The democrats say they want freedom of choice- the freedom for same sex couples to marry, the freedom for a woman to end the life of the child in her womb… yet they deny Americans the choice of health care?  They increase my taxes to pay for the health care of others that may not even want it?  They take my hard earned money and apply it as they see fit, denying me the opportunity to spend it on a little poor child’s Christmas presents?  I love Angel tree programs.  I always do what I can to help.  This year might be the last year, as my taxes sky rocket to support massive government entitlement programs.

Please tell the children that I’m sorry.

From the Ways and Means Republicans-

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.  Who do these people think they are?  I am not a recalcitrant child; I’m a real live grown-up, capable of making my own decisions on whether or not I want to pay for health care for myself and my family.  I happen to think that it’s beneficial to my family to carry health insurance, so I choose to do so.  But I don’t assume that that’s the best choice for everyone.  Healthy, single people fresh out of school at introductory level jobs, struggling to pay rent and student loans probably don’t need health insurance.  I’m not so arrogant that I assume that my decisions are the right ones for everyone else.  Every person and every situation is unique.

The House of Representatives will be voting today on health care legislation.  In defiance of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s promise that the legislation would be available to the public for 72 hours prior to a vote.

There is still time to call the Representatives leaning yes on a bill that will severely limit our freedom and liberty and tell them to vote no.  Refuse to be silent.  Make a stand.  It’s more important now than ever.

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been completely enthralled with watching what’s been happening in Upstate New York.  The 23rd district of New York has no one representing it in the US House of Representatives.  Which is why there’s going to be a special election on Tuesday, November 3rd.  As is usual with any election, there is a Democrat and a Republican running for the seat.  Only this time, both of those candidates were liberals.  Enter Doug Hoffman, a lifelong Republican who was sick of the closet liberals hiding in the GOP closet.  He entered the race as an Independent, for the Conservative Party.

Everyone knows that third party candidates don’t stand a chance of winning elections, right?  Right?  Maybe not.  Mr. Hoffman picked up steam quickly, even though the odds were stacked against him.  He was operating on a shoestring budget, and the Republican machine (specifically Newt Gingrich and the National Republican Congressional Committee) endorsed Ms. Scozzafava, the Republican candidate.

This has been fascinating to watch, because it’s the first time that we’re seeing Tea Party Principles being put into practice.  MSNBC can dismiss us with crude name-calling comments.  The Speaker of the House, the 2nd in line for the Presidency, can call the movement AstroTurf, not real grassroots activism.  The President himself can tell us to get out of his way.  The media can completely ignore a 9/12 March on Washington, which was attended by at least 8 people.  Or maybe over a million.  Counting is hard!

The race in New York is proof that us liberty loving Americans are not in the minority.  We are not Democrat haters who only care about having Republicans in office.  We are simply sick of our elected officials trying to run our lives for us.  They do not give us our rights, God does that.  The government can only protect those rights.  Doug Hoffman is an ordinary man, but he understands that the Constitutional principles of limited government.  After all, a government that can give you everything can also take it all away.  When Doug Hoffman began getting substantial numbers in the polls, it showed Washington that Conservatism is not a fringe movement.  It is a snowball, and baby, it has just begun to roll down the hill.

The Washington Elite are getting scared.  I think the liberals hiding in our GOP closet are the most terrified, and they should be.  Dede Scozzafava has certainly been acting like a scared mess of a person.  She called the cops on a reporter that had the audacity to ask her about some of her liberal positions.  She set up a ridiculous press conference in front of one of Hoffman’s campaign offices, which ended up as a horrendous photo-op that did her no favors.

Yesterday, October 31st, she finally picked up her toys and went home. She officially withdrew herself from the election, saying,

It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my Party will emerge stronger and our District and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations.

You know, I actually grew a little bit of respect for the lady.  She seemed to understand that due to some of her liberal positions, many of the Republicans voting in the election would be forced to choose between her or the more conservative Doug Hoffman.  She took one for the team when her numbers kept slipping, removing herself from the race and almost ensuring a win for Hoffman.

That respect lasted almost 24 hours, right up until  she endorsed the Democratic candidate Bill Owens.

Halloween is over.  I guess Dede Scozzafava has finally taken off her Republican costume.

Nancy Pelosi used to be a fan of disruptive protesters.  In 2006, she believed that nothing was more American than exercising your first amendment rights.  She said so herself.

Why the change of heart Ms. P?  Do you really think it’s reasonable for a different set of rules to apply to people that disagree with you?  Where’s the equality in that?

Last week, President Obama told those of us that disagree with his plans to take us into the dark age of medicine to get out of his way.

In an op-ed today, Speaker of the House Pelosi called those with dissenting opinions “Un-American.”

The leader of the free world is a bully, and the 3rd in line for that position is a name caller.  How did this happen?  Let’s hope that we don’t get to the point of wedgies and swirlies.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the Tea Party protests being held across the country.  They are energizing rallies of liberty loving Americans who have the audacity to question the thousands of pages of bills that are being  rammed through congress like a freight train.  A freight train that is going to end up costing American taxpayers trillions of dollars.

Protesters want to know: Where is that money coming from, if not from the taxpayers?  Why should the money I pay in taxes go to fund other people’s new cars or abortions?

We have the gall to question elected officials (who work for us) on their doublespeak.  Please tell me, President Obama, were you lying last month when you said, “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.  Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.” or in 2003 when you said, “A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

People are attending townhall meetings with their representatives, and asking questions like, “Medicaid is broke, Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke and you want us to believe that a government that can’t even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our U.S. economy?”

People want to know.  There is a grassroots movement taking the country by storm, while being no more forceful than to ask tough questions, and maybe even sometimes ask those questions in a raised tone of voice.  There have been thousands of these protests over the last six months, attended by millions of Americans.  Guess how many arrests have been made for violence or obscenity at the Tea Party protests.  Zero.  Wow, what a group of wing nuts!

So how is our government and the media responding to these peaceful protests of upset Americans?  By dismissing them.  Insulting them. LYING about them.

Rachel Maddow says we’re “tea-baggers” a term I’m unfortunately newly familiar with.

Nancy Pelosi insists that protesters are “carrying swastikas and symbols like that to townhall meetings.”

Barbara Boxer told Chris Matthews the the protesters are nothing but angry and noisy “well-dressed middle-class people in pinks and limes… [the] Brooks Brothers Brigade.”  She also told him (and his 8 viewers), “You in the media have to take a look at what’s going on here.  This is all planned.  It’s to hurt our president and it’s to change the congress.”  I don’t know which is a more ridiculous notion: That the Tea Party movement was planned to hurt the president, or that MSNBC is considered “media” to some.

And the Democratic National Committee released a one minute ad yesterday that calls Tea Party protesters “right-wing extremists,” claims that we’ve “lost the confidence of Americans,” and “Now desperate republicans and their well funded allies are organizing angry mobs…their goal: to destroy President Obama.”

There are so many things to say about those comments that I’m not sure where to begin.  How about the insult that Senator Boxer gave to liberal protesters?  It’s probably not the best campaign move to insult those that put you in office.  I can only assume that by saying the Tea Party protesters are too well dressed, she’s comparing them to liberal protesters.  And if the Tea Party/conservative protesters are too well dressed (in Brooks Brothers, no less!), then the liberal protesters must be slobs.

What about Ms. Pelosi?  Swastikas?  Really?  If you’re going to lie, at least make up something remotely believable.

Rachel Maddow- thank you so much for expanding my vocabulary to include tea-bagging.  I’m really not sure how I could’ve lived the rest the my life without knowing what that classy term meant.  Maybe you could learn some new vocabulary from the Tea Partiers too.  Like liberty.  Look it up, it’s a word worth knowing.

And as for hoping to destroy President Obama?  Nope. Not the plan.  Destroy his agenda to double or triple our energy costs, lead us to a single payer health care system, and generally spread the wealth around?  Yeah.  That’s worth bringing down.  I will stand up to anyone that tries to steal my liberty and freedom.  Given the explosion of peaceful protests recently, I’m not standing alone.

Maybe all that Botox has seeped into her brain. It would certainly explain the selective memory she seems to be suffering from.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news in the past few weeks, the issue of torture has become a hot button topic. It turns out that evil US soldiers were *gasp* pouring water over terrorists’ head in Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in order to gain information about our enemies.

A few weeks ago, Speaker of the House Pelosi (aka The Wicked Witch of Washington), very firmly assured anyone that would listen that as of 2002, she had absolutely no idea that this enhanced interrogation method (or any other) was being used on terrorists detained at Gitmo.

That is until the CIA released documents clearly stating that she had, in fact, been briefed on the situation. So what did the Speaker have to say about that? She backpedaled and said that she had not been briefed on the interrogation tactics until 2003.

Rep. Jane Harmon (D-CA) was also briefed in 2003. Harmon didn’t think it was right to throw water on America-hating terrorists heads, so she drafted a letter to the CIA’s general counsel to express “profound” concerns with waterboarding. (Side note- I also have profound concerns with waterboarding, particularly that it probably isn’t as effective as pulling out fingernails or being repeatedly hit with a stun gun. These people hate America and want to see us all dead; why the heck wouldn’t we do our best to get information from them about possible-and preventable-future attacks?)

According to the Pelosi confidant, the newly elected minority leader was told about the briefing, and that Harman was drafting a protest letter. Pelosi told Sheehy (a Pelosi aide) to tell Harman that she agreed with the letter, the Pelosi insider said. But she did not ask to be listed as a signatory on the letter, the source said, and there is no reference to her in it (This somehow reminds me of junior high, when I told Jessica to tell Ben to tell Matt that I thought it he was cute).

Since this information has come to light, the crazy Pelosi camp has stated that she didn’t protest directly out of respect for “appropriate” legislative channels.

I don’t know about you, but if I come face to face with something atrociously misaligned with my morals, I say something. I write letters. I blog about it. I make my voice heard, and let people know that something is happening that I do not agree with. I don’t glibly spout off whatever the political ideal of the moment is. Following 9/11, people were scared, and wanted to be kept safe, even if the cost was getting a few POW’s a little bit wet. After more than seven years of safety, Americans are forgetting what it’s like to be afraid, and pandering Pelosi has no problem saying what she thinks people want to hear in order to get re-elected.

Nancy Pelosi is either A) A liar-how many times has she had to eat her words at this point? or B) A lunatic-and a raving one at that. My guess? A little from both column A and B.

Nancy claims that we lose 500 million American jobs each month we don’t pass her $1 trillion pork barrel spending boondoggle. That’s pretty hard to do in a country with just over 300 million men, women, and children.