Good Morning,

In one short piece, Susan Brown over at townhall, pulls back the curtain on the insanity that abounds: “The belief that no one owes me anything is one of the greatest gifts my hardworking, blue-collar father gave me when I was young. His words carried me through some difficult times growing up, sustained me through widowhood, years back, and helped to shape me into the person I am today.

Once upon a time in America, and not so long ago, my dad’s can-do attitude toward life was common place, until liberals and their faithful following began to understand that immense and everlasting power could be bartered by peddling handouts in exchange for votes.

If liberal politicians know anything, it’s human nature. If you give people things they did not earn from sources from which they did not contribute, those same people will soon become dependent on whatever you give them. Add to that a bit of Machiavellian trickery to redefine those handouts into rights, and voila! You have just created a permanent voting base.

In truth, liberals simply rebranded the definition of what our founders meant when they scribed the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Spinning and twisting the interpretation by suggesting “unalienable rights” are tangibles like health insurance, college educations, and food stamps rather than the intangibles our founders envisioned as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” liberals transformed the Declaration of Independence into a Declaration of Dependence. Before long, people bought into their lies, believing they had rights to certain “entitlements” simply because they breathed.

Sadly, these lies metastasized within today’s Democratic Party; chock full of liberals so extreme, Blue Dogs have all but disappeared. Now the entire Democratic Party platform revolves around the dangerous and devilishly un-American idea that individuals cannot achieve success without government intervention. They are dead wrong.

That the Democratic National Convention (DNC) would ask Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren to speak at its national convention in September tells us all we need to know about the DNC’s vision for America. Warren’s words spoken in 2011, and so echoed in recent days by President Obama, suggesting it is impossible for Americans to attain success devoid of the federal government is an indictment on how far from the American dream they have fallen.

Ms. Warren further suggests that successful job creators are obligated to an “underlying social contract” in order to “pay [it] forward for the next kid who comes along,” thereby ensuring future generations will never have the ability to stand on their own without the government.

The fact that unemployment rose to 8.3 percent last week is an indictment on President Obama, Elizabeth Warren and big government Democrats who believe rights are endowed by government. The ridiculous notion that business owners didn’t build their businesses speaks to their ineptitude and explains why unemployment numbers continue to move in the wrong direction. Obviously, Ivy League school attendance and acumen are not always mutually inclusive.

Had our founding fathers believed in entitlements over ingenuity, this “New World” would be just like the old one, which is a case study in what happens when liberals are left to themselves”.

Joel B. Pollak over at Breitbart put this little gem together. Feel free to forward it to ALL of your representatives (the cowards that they are):

As the Obama campaign and the media continue to press Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns, and to suggest–without a shred of evidence–that he is a “felon,” it is worth noting how much critical information Barack Obama has withheld from view–both as a candidate in 2008, and during his term in office. Here is a Breitbart News top ten list of things that Obama has refused to release (a complete list would fill volumes):

10. State senate papers. In the 2008 primary, Obama criticized Hillary Clinton for not releasing papers from her eight years as First Lady–but failed to produce any papers from his eight years in Springfield. “They could have been thrown out,” he said.

9. Academic transcripts. His supposed academic brilliance was a major selling point, but Obama (by his own admission) was a mediocre student. His GPA at Occidental was aB-plus at best, and his entering class at Columbia was weak. Can he prove his merit?

8. Book proposal. Obama’s literary agent claimed he was “born in Kenya”–for sixteen years. His original book proposal exists–biographer David Maraniss refers to it–and seems to have embellished other key details of his life. Yet it has never been released.

7. Medical records. In 2000, and again (briefly) in 2008, GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain released thousands of pages of his medical records. Obama, who had abused drugs and continued smoking, merely provided a one-page doctor’s note.

6. Small-dollar donors. In 2008, the McCain campaign released the names of donors who had contributed less than $200, though it was not required to do so. But the Obama campaign refused, amidst accusations it had accepted illegal foreign contributions.

5. The Khalidi tape. In 2003, Obama attended a party for his good friend, the radical Palestinian academic Rashid Khalidi. The event featured incendiary anti-Israel rhetoric. The LA Times broke the story, but has refused to release the tape–and so has Obama.

4. The real White House guest list. Touting its transparency, the Obama White House released its guest logs–but kept many visits secret, and moved meetings with lobbyistsoff-site. It also refused to confirm the identities of visitors like Bertha Lewis of ACORN.

3. Countless FOIA requests. The Obama administration has been described as “the worst” ever in complying with Freedom of Information Act requests for documents. It has also punished whistleblowers like David Walpin, who exposed cronyism in Americorps.

2. Health reform negotiations. Candidate Obama promised that health care reform negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN. Instead, there were back-room deals worth millions with lobbyists and legislators–the details of which are only beginning to emerge.

1. Fast and Furious documents. After months of stonewalling Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder asked President Obama to use executive privilege to conceal thousands of documents related to the deadly scandal–and Obama did just that.

In addition to the above, Obama and his campaign have lied about many facts about his past–his membership in the New Party; his extensive connections with ACORN; and his continued relationship with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, among other examples. Obama’s own memoir is filled with fabrications. And now he is lying about his opponent’s honorable record in business. He–and the media–have no shame.

Speaking of NO SHAME – Here is OBAMA’s latest ad:

IT IS A COMPLETE LIE! I know – it’s shocking.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/08/breaking-pro-obama-pac-lied-woman-had-insurance-after-husband-lost-job-at-mo-steel-plant-she-died-in-2006-video/

Michelle Malkin writes ‘Chutzpah overload in full effect’. Meet the REAL workers Obama screwed over:
http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2012/08/08/meet_the_real_workers_obama_screwed_over

Here is Romney’s latest ad: Right Scoop writes ‘Now this is a great ad. Very compelling as it ties Obama’s lack of support for the Welfare bill in 1996 to his recent gutting of the same bill. And it pits Democrat Senators who supported the bill, including Joe Biden, against Obama’:

QUICK PICKS:

• The Agriculture Department said that it expects grocery prices to rise between 3 percent and 4 percent next year.

• A proposed New York City law seeks to force some local businesses to grant employees more paid sick time. The proposed legislation would require companies with 20 or more workers to give each employee nine paid sick days a year and companies with 5 to 19 workers to offer five sick days. Ahh, New York – it might be ‘open for business’ but is working hard to put small businesses OUT OF BUSINESS.
  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/working-while-sick.html?_r=1
  

• Stop the GOP attempt to impose a national sales tax. Jim Demint on Think Tanks, Taxpayer Advocates, Journalists Expose Marketplace Fairness Act’s Flaws:
  http://www.demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=JimsBlog&ContentRecord_id=a1fe89a7-d886-459c-a605-10131a833dc0
  

• Funniest line I read – Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ‘Republicans are trying to bully the IRS’.
  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79409.html#ixzz22rqda7Io
  

• About those new lightbulbs…turns out they pose a skin cancer risk. Is ANYONE SURPRISED HERE?  
  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/08/07/eco-friendly-light-bulbs-may-be-hazardous-to-skin/#ixzz22rvkMxeI
  

• This from Mike P – Looks like Obama knows he’s losing the Military Vote – The Gov is now reminding Soldiers to watch what they Post on Facebook re the Election (actually sounds like a Threat to me)  
  http://www.army.mil/article/84850/ 
  Carl Higbie found all this out the hard way. He served as a Navy SEAL for nine years, but was forced to retire after speaking out against President Obama’s policies. Higbie was threatened with dishonorable discharge for writing the book, “Battle on the Home Front,” but instead was able to simply retire.
  http://weaselzippers.us/2012/08/06/navy-seal-forced-to-retire-for-criticizing-obamas-policies/
  

• WTH is going on in Texas? Corpus Christi has started giving warning tickets to people parking on their own property in their own yards. OOOPSIE! Then they discovered it was not actually ‘illegal’. Now they want to make it so.

• Obama’s amnesty plan will lead to 1.76 MILLION NEW WORKERS. Did you know that America had such an abundance of work opportunities? 
  http://cowboybyte.com/11001/report-obamas-amnesty-plan-will-lead-to-1-76-million-new-workers/
  

• Matthew Boyle of the Daily Caller reports that internal emails show Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was “the driving force” behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 non-union retirees from the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company, as part of the government’s bailout plan for General Motors. Union workers, on the other hand, “saw their pensions topped off and made whole.” Yes, Obama and co are in deed for the ‘middle class’.
  http://www.humanevents.com/2012/08/07/emails-show-obama-administration-involvement-in-killing-non-union-auto-pensions/
  

• Latest NYT/Quinnipiac poll: Virgina, Obama leads 49-45; Colorado, Romney, 50-45; Wisconsin, Obama, 51-45.

• 31% of Doctors are rejecting any new Medicaid participants, even though, Obamacare was supposed to expand coverage for 16 MILLION people.

• Obama campaign demonstrates its ignorance of capitalism, spewing more of the anti-employer to stir up the passions of the employees. To stay profitable and in-business sometimes companies have to fire a small group of its employees to maintain the jobs of the current, remaining employees.

• WTH? Didn’t Obama and Pelosi and all those socialized medicine Dems say Obamacare would save money? Didn’t Obama run around the country saying if you like your health plan you can keep it?

• Think you know Harry Reid? Think again:
  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/a-recent-history-of-harry-reids-political-dustups—-and-victories.php
  

• The FBI is investigating tax deals where District officials shaved $2.6 billion for influential developers. WP
  http://tinyurl.com/9lhmqb7
  

• Some voters were reportedly turned away from the polls on Michigan’s primary election day for refusing to fill out the new “citizenship” box on their ballot application. I am more than sure we will be hearing about this one all day today.
  http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/08/07/voters-turned-away-as-citizenship-box-creates-confusion-at-the-polls/
  

• TPM reports The Obama administration has enlisted the aid of actress Elizabeth Banks in their latest video targeted at women voters. In the video, Banks discusses a time in her life when she didn’t have health insurance but got care at Planned Parenthood. The video has a personal feel with Banks sharing personal information about her own experiences with birth control. Banks says that after graduating college, she was able to get birth control for her migraine headaches and heavy flow from Planned Parenthood. Banks also calls out Mitt Romney’s opposition to Planned Parenthood because they provide abortions. “For that little five percent” of Planned Parenthood’s business “that Mitt Romney decides he doesn’t agree with, he’s going to take away cancer screenings?What is he doing?” “We’re talking about working class ladies who need health care.” Banks says. “That’s it. That’sPlanned Parenthood.” The video is part of the president’s recent effort to ramp-up outreach to women voters that includes two new ads in recent weeks on women’s health issues. Wednesday afternoon, Obama will be introduced at a campaign rally in Denver by Sandra Fluke, who championed women’s right to contraception earlier this year.

• This is how sick some on the Left really are. Lolo Jones has captivated American attention for a variety of reasons. To begin, she’s a talented track and field star. Secondly, she’s an attractive 29-year-old who is an outspoken Christian and…a virgin. While many have praised her for holding true to her values and waiting until marriage to have sex, in the wake of her Olympic performance, some are now using her virtuous decision against her.   
  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/virgin-sh-critics-blame-lolo-jones-virginity-on-her-poor-olympic-performance/
  

Obama’s Attacks: An Appeal to the Stupid and Gutter-Dwellers in our Society

I’m one of the fortunate Americans, an early baby-boomer, who grew up in the saner and more civil times before the Vietnam War. Certainly, the country faced problems and challenges in the fifties and early sixties…segregation, the Cold War, polio…to name a few. However, the apparent dumbing-down and debasement of our society the last forty years is no better illustrated than by the appeals of Obama’s increasingly outrageous campaign.

Three months remain before the election, and Obama’s campaign has already reached a level of filth and dishonesty I, foolishly, never anticipated. However, Obama and his thugs are not the topic of this commentary; neither are their lapdog media. Obama and the media are what they are. But, as clever and ruthless as Obama and the media are, why do they believe their grotesquely ugly strategies will garner 50% + one of the popular vote and/or a majority of electoral votes?

Any attempt to answer that question must begin with our pathetic public education system. Students score dismally on standardized tests; they feel entitled to college educations though many lack the wherewithal to survive a couple of semesters, much less excel (ever checked the number of remedial non-credit semester hours currently delivered by institutions of higher learning?)

Millions of craft/skill-related jobs go unfilled; many of the kids and their over-providing parents deem such employment below their class and expectations. Ego can be a terrible thing.

Many public school teachers are too inept, incapable or selfish to effectively perform their duty: preparing little Johnny/Janie for a real world where his/her precious self-esteem is of no importance to anyone except themselves. I’ll not address the fact many high school graduates can barely read and write. Thank you, teachers’ unions.

And, the world of higher education…with exceptions, a self-indulgent world becoming increasingly unresponsive to the needs of commerce. Tuition continues to go up and up; students go more and more in debt pursuing minimally productive majors, many of little use except in government employment. To paraphrase an old Randy Newman song, “they go in dumb, come out dumb too.”

Have you seen any college graduates-on-the-street interviews? They struggle with the always challenging question, “Who is the Vice-President?” as if asked to explain the mind-numbing principles of quantum physics. Thank you, politically-correct, insular, overpaid and tenured college and university faculty and administrators.

The motion picture industry, entertainment media and internet produce hours of programming exposing…I’ll go ahead and say it…the most low-life behaviors the producers can find, dipping into an increasingly deep cesspool of human depravity.

The social media are a forum for borderline deviates to create a million “15 minutes of fame”…every day. No behavior, words or thoughts are too foul or profane for U-tube, Facebook and Twitter. In fact, the more outrageous, bizarre or sickening…the better.

Basic societal decency has broken down. Flash mobs trash and rob business establishments…because they can get away with it. Dozens of pedestrians casually walk past sick or injured human beings taking no notice nor offering assistance; doctors and nurses may pass by too, fearful of helping because they may be sued by the victims, enticed to do so by an ever-growing gang of mass-marketed civil litigators.

In major cities across the land people are murdered by the dozens each weekend; no one seems to care. It’s gone on for years with no end in sight. Elderly men and women are assaulted. Small children are robbed of their toys and backpacks. Car hijackings and home invasions result in deaths and horrific injuries…for a few dollars. Clerking at convenience stores is more dangerous than serving in Afghanistan.

Have we found answers to the question? Are the indications not clear?

Perhaps, half of the electorate hasn’t the brain capacity to see through Obama’s fallacies of fact? Do they not have the character, moral underpinning and common decency to recognize and despise Obama’s hateful, divisive strategies and tactics? Do they even care?

The election in November will not only offer a choice between two vastly different political and economic philosophies; it will provide evidence, one way or the other, of the type people we, as Americans, have become.

Rodney Page

Author, “Powers Not Delegated”…a conservative political thriller

…What Could Have Been and Might Still Be

Quiz ANSWER KEY:

1.     Thomas Jefferson, Louisiana Purchase

2.     The attack on Fort Sumnter.

3.     William Henry Harrison, Warren Harding, FDR

Bonus: Abraham Lincoln, JFK, William McKinley, James Garfield

4.     New York City, Albany

5.     Reduced the national speed limit to 55mph

6.     Rosewood

7.     Alaska

8.     Stephen F. Austin

9.     LBJ

10.             Colt Revolver

11.             Richmond, VA

12.             Harry Truman

13.             USS Constitution (Old Ironsides)

14.             Theodore Roosevelt

15.             Bill Clinton, Andrew Johnson

16.             George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt

17.             Reconstruction Era

18.             Abolition

19.             Dow Jones dropped more that 500 points losing nearly a quarter of its value

20.             semi-automatic rifles

LOCAL:

US Senate Candidate Wendy Long calls on Gillibrand to seek new waivers for NY Job Creators whose religious freedom is being violated by OCare’s Abortion/Sterilization/Contraception Mandate. (Expect to hear crickets from the Gillibrand team):
http://www.wendylongfornewyork.com/u_s_senate_candidate_wendy_long_calls_on_senator_gillibrand_to_seek_new_waivers_for

Seems Cuomo is now on the ‘stricter gun law’ band wagon:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/cuomo_now_gunning_for_Wmg86bg52AISuUmErHji8O

Enjoy your day,

Lisa