The United States is facing some tough times.  Unemployment is still at 9.5%. We have been stuck in Afghanistan for the last 9 years with no end in sight. The poverty level has risen. States are in struggling to balance budgets while still provide services to their citizens.  In the meantime, there are 37 states with a governors race, all 435 House of Representatives seats are up for grabs and 36 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs.  In New Mexico where the poverty level has risen, the Democratic nominee for governor, Diane Denish and the lieutenant governor nominee, Brian Colon, have decided to call Susanna Martinez out as a ‘Tejana’ (Texan). Martinez was born in El Paso, but has lived for over 25 years in New Mexico.  Why does this matter? It doesn’t.  In California, a former housekeeper for Meg Whitman has come and said that Whitman knew she was in the country illegally.  Whitman said she didn’t and fired her when she found out. Gloria Allred, a strong supporter of the Democratic party, is the former housekeeper’s lawyer. Sounds fishy to me, but does it matter? No.  In  New York, Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino apparently have been both unfaithful to their wives, but does it matter to the state of New York — No. These are just a few of the “issues” that are being slung in the 2010 elections. I am sure there are many more.  Voters on both sides and in  between are tired of the out of control government spending, the intrusion of government in their lives and the failure of the parties to look past partisanship and work together for the betterment of the country.   There are many candidates riding the wave of the anti-incumbent sentiment, but will they continue that wave if they are elected.  Our country needs leaders that will stand up for the citizens of the United States as the elected leaders and forget about politics and do their job.

It seems everywhere I turn the government wants to intrude on my every day life.  New Mexico Senator Tom Udall has introduced legislation to help limit the cell phone “bill shock” that occurs when cellular customers unwittingly exceed their monthly limits for voice minutes, text messages, or data usage.  This is a waste of time.  When a person gets a cell phone a contract is signed.  If a person can’t afford a cell phone then they shouldn’t have one.  It’s that simple.  Why should the cell phone companies have to warn their customers that they are almost out of minutes when they should already know this.  Then I read in the paper about San Francisco.  They have gone after plastics bags in stores and now they are going after McDonald’s specifically Happy Meals.  Everyone knows that kids want the toys that come with the meal.  They usually eat the meal, but the toy is the main attraction.  Now the city council in San Francisco wants to ban Happy Meal toys unless there is a vegetable or fruit choice.  Well, SF City Council, there is a fruit choice. It’s called Apple Dippers.  My kids love them.  They would rather have them than fries.  While there is 10 percent unemployment nationwide and even higher in some states and people are worried about possibly losing health care coverage because of the new Obamacare restrictions, a senator from New Mexico and the San Francisco City Council decide that cell phone “bill shock” and Happy Meals are more important.  We, the citizens of the United States, can make our own decisions for the good of  our lives and that of our families.  We don’t need dopey politicians trying to make them for us.

Why is it when there are a ton of people in the post office that Baden decides to run around and be loud? He knows he is not suppose to do that and is to stand by me, but of course this afternoon he did  not do that.  It was after school and it was busy at the post office.  I have been there many times before in the morning when no one is there and Baden is an angel. He stands by me and does not run around.  Why, oh, why couldn’t he have done that today.  While standing in line, he was mostly standing next to me then when I was called to the counter he ran away.  Billy went to get him and of course Baden thought he was playing so he started running and raised his voice. He was not screaming or yelling, but actually laughing.  The clerk who wears his glasses down on his nose so it always looks like he is looking down at you said “Volume control, please.”  I said I was sorry and quickly took Baden by the hand and we were out of there.  Even though this probably did not happen, I felt like everyone’s eyes were burning into me.  I was embarrassed, but then that embarrassment turned to irritation.  I understand we are in a place of business, but to scald a child for laughing too loudly is a little much.  I often wonder if people who do this have children of their own or grandchildren.  Did they forget what it’s like to be around children?  I feel sorry for those people who choose not to see the innocence and hear the joy of a child, but instead peer over their glasses and make you feel like you are a bad parent.

As Arizona is trying to do what Washington, DC is suppose to be doing which is secure the border, our illustrious president and secretary of state have included Arizona S.B. 1070 in the Universal Periodic Review report submitted to the United Nations  Human Rights Council.  This is an outrage.  The federal government has already sued Arizona and now they are taking it to the international community.  The United Nations Human Rights Council is composed of 47 countries.  Some of the countries on the council include Cuba, China and Libya.  Libya is ranked Not Free by Freedom House (http://www.freedomhouse.org).  It was one of only nine countries to receive the worst possible score of 7 for political rights and civil liberties.  It is considered one of the “world’s most repressive societies.  China scored a 7 out of a possible 7 for political rights and a 6 out of 7 for civil liberties. It is considered not free and has increased restrictions on online writers and democracy activists among others.  Cuba also received the same scores as China and is considered not free.  These three examples are sitting on the UN Human Rights Council.  This council will be reviewing what the State Department calls “a partial snapshot of the current human rights situation in the United States, including some of the areas where problems persist in our society.”   This is one more example of the Obama administration being totally out of touch with the majority of American citizens.  The majority of American citizens are in favor of the Arizona law. The majority of American citizens don’t want the United Nations interfering in our country’s business.   Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, has sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that S.B. 1070 be removed from the report.  I doubt this letter will get much traction. The Arizona bill will still be included and it will be judged by the likes of great human rights “champions” like Cuba, Libya, China and others on the council that don’t make the mark.

I have two very rambunctious boys.  They can be good and sit still, but when confronted with a huge tree house inside of a McDonald’s they get a little wild.  Today this scenario happened,  a huge tree house inside a McDonald’s.  We went to breakfast with my mom before we started our drive home.  When we got there, there was nobody else sitting in the play area.  Then an older couple came in and sat down. I thought it was odd that they would pick the play area to sit and have breakfast.  While the boys ran around, they gave us dirty looks.  When I took Baden to the bathroom they watched me walk all the way there.    It was rather uncomfortable.  As we were getting ready to leave, we walked past them and the man said “good”. I took this to mean good they are leaving. I don’t normally confront people, but this time I turned around and said do you have a problem.  They looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces.  The woman said no I don’t have a problem. I said well obviously you do because from the time you got in here you have been watching us.  I know my boys were running around and yelling, but you are sitting in the kids area.  If you don’t want to be around kids, sit somewhere else.  I turned around and walked out.  I was so mad.  First of all, the boys would be enduring a 6.5 hour ride in the car.  They needed to be able to run around before we got in the car. Second of all, they were sitting in the kids area where normally there are a lot more kids than just my boys.  They should be thankful it wasn’t a whole slew of kids.  My mom told me I surprised her when I turned around and said something, but she said sometimes you just have to speak up.  You are so right, Mom.

According to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the White House is going to sue Arizona over it’s impending immigration law that will go into effect in July.  Remember that when asked in a congressional hearing if he had read the law, Eric Holder said no.  Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, also had not read the law. I seriously doubt that BO (that’s the president) has read the law.  Why oh why spend our money on suing a state that is only doing what the federal government should be doing and that’s enforcing immigration laws.  I have read and watched debates about the Arizona law. BO said if you go out for ice cream you could possibly be stopped by police and asked for your papers.  How silly.  If you are doing something wrong that warrants being stopped by police then you may be asked for papers if the police have reasonable suspicion that you may be in the country illegally.  Some New Mexicans are afraid they may be stopped in Arizona because New Mexico gives drivers licenses to whoever wants them.  New Mexicans believe they may have to carry a passport to Arizona.  This is really getting out of control.  First, the president, the attorney general and homeland security secretary don’t read the law but decry it.  Then they decide to sue Arizona.  There are a lot more important things to do.  Let me think… the economy, the oil spill in the Gulf (that’s another blog post), the war in Afghanistan just to name a few.  Let’s get this country back on track and forget about the state that is only trying to do what the federal government should have been doing all along.

Thursday was Tax Day.  A perfect day to protest and show the government how unhappy we are.  But some people just don’t get it.  One is President Obama or as I affectionately call him BO.  At a Democratic fundraiser in Miami on Thursday night, he told supporters he is amused by the protesters’ complaints about taxes because, contrary to their claims, he’s cut taxes. “You would think they’d be saying thank you,” the president said.  Yeah, right.   The Tea Party protests across the nation were not all about taxes and it was about taking control of our country.  The government spending is out of control.  The recently passed health care reform bill is not reform.  BO has shunned one of our greatest allies, Israel.  Government is becoming more pervasive in our lives.  We don’t need government to tell us what to do.  The United States has always been a nation of go getters.  We were founded on the premise that everyone has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Everyone in this country has the opportunity to make their lives better without the help of the government. Unfortunately there are many in this country that feel they deserve a handout.  I have heard stories from my grandparents who grew up during the Depression.  They didn’t get handouts.  They had to make due with what they had and they did.  There was no complaining and there was no feeling that the government was going to pay their bills.  This is what the Tea Party is all about.  As Americans. we have sat on the sidelines way too long and let Washington do whatever they wanted.  We cannot afford to do that any longer.  There are radicals in the White House.  They want to control every aspect of our lives.  We cannot stand by and let this happen.  The Tea Parties are not going away and they certainly won’t be telling BO thank you.

“If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”

Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice

I knew that the health care bill would pass the House. There wouldn’t have been a vote today if the democrats didn’t have the votes.  Nancy Pelosi and her gang have shown their arrogance.  This vote shows that the house leaders don’t listen to their constituents or to the American public in general.  I am happy to say that my representative, Jim Matheson (D-Utah) did vote no on the bill.  He did listen to his constituents.  There is no argument that there is a need for health care reform, however, this bill that will likely be signed by President Obama on Tuesday will hurt this country.  It will bankrupt this country.  I thought it was ironic that this morning as Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders came to the Capitol building with the gavel that was used when Medicare was passed.  Now Medicare is broke.  It is insolvent.  The health care bill passed tonight will cut  Medicare to pay for all of the new enrollments on Medicaid.  They are robbing Peter to pay Paul.  The White House, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid think that the American people will eventually warm to this bill, but I think they may have a rude awakening come election time in November.  They may think we are stupid and are sheep, but when all of the details of this bill are brought to light there will be an even bigger uprising.  As I have said before get involved. Let your representatives know how you feel on the issues and use your power at the ballot box.   This fight is not over!

I just tried to call my representative in the House of Representatives.  Jim Matheson (D-Utah) voted no in November, but now has not said which way he will vote.  This really irritates me.  Nothing has changed from the bill in November to the one that will be voted on Sunday.  I tried calling his office, but the phone lines are busy.  If I still lived in the DC area, I would be downtown at his office.  But I no longer live there so I did the next best thing and that is send an email to let him know that if he votes yes on the health care bill, I will not vote for him in November.  Jim Matheson is in a tricky spot. He is a lone Democrat in a very red state.  The majority of Americans, 55%, do not support this bill.  We the people need our voices to be heard.  We cannot sit back and let Washington make choices for us and our families.  There is no doubt that our health care system needs reform, however, this bill is not the way to go.  We are already over $12 trillion dollars in debt and it goes up everyday.  We cannot afford this bill.  Let your voice be heard.  You can send a message to your elected representatives through Citizens Against Government Waste at  http://www.cagw.org

Some facts about the health care bill:

Myth: This legislation won’t cut Medicare.

Reductions in Medicare outlays finance about half of the legislation’s $1 trillion in new entitlement spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office verifies that the legislation would reduce Medicare benefits. President Obama’s top Medicare actuary verifies that it would reduce access to care for Medicare beneficiaries.

Of course, Congress needs to restrain Medicare spending. Otherwise, income-tax rates would have to double by midcentury. But the solution is to make Medicare more efficient, not to use price controls and bureaucratic rationing.

Myth: The legislation would contain health care costs.

The Obama plan would increase health care costs for the simple reason that it would put millions more patients, plus doctors and insurers, in a position where they are spending the taxpayers’ money. That never produces frugality.

Its command-and-control approaches to cost containment have failed over and over in Medicare and Medicaid because they don’t change the incentives that encourage cost growth.

The only provision that would change incentives is the president’s proposed tax on the sick and others with high-cost health plans. But he appears ready to abandon that, anyway.

Stanford health economist Alain Enthoven writes, “The American people are being deceived.” The Senate bill would “do little or nothing to curb [health care] expenditures.”

Myth: This legislation is a moral imperative.

The Obama plan would impose additional taxes on the sick — in part, to subsidize abortions — and would threaten people with jail time if they do not purchase health insurance. Where’s the morality in that?

Myth: This legislation is about saving lives.

Congress could save more lives with less money by creating smaller programs that fight high blood pressure, diabetes and other specific ailments.

By expanding health insurance instead, Democrats are implicitly showing that saving lives isn’t the primary goal.

Myth: This legislation would stop abusive insurance practices.

The Obama plan would encourage abusive insurance practices. Research by Obama adviser David Cutler shows that the plan’s price controls would force insurers who provide quality care for the sick into bankruptcy. Insurers would therefore use countless and covert means to deny care and avoid, mistreat and dump the sick.

Along the way, the legislation would shower private insurance companies with half a trillion dollars in government subsidies.

Myth: The public wants this legislation.

Polls that ask whether respondents like the legislation’s supposed benefits (e.g., reduced insurance premiums for the sick) without asking about the corresponding costs (higher premiums for the healthy, insurers denying care to the sick) are meaningless.

The public has consistently expressed its intense opposition to the Obama plan for eight solid months. Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen note that “four-fifths of those who oppose the plan strongly oppose it … while only half of those who support the plan do so strongly.” A small, radical, left-wing minority is foisting this legislation on an unwilling public.

Myth: This isn’t a government takeover of health care.

This legislation would force all Americans to purchase health insurance coverage. Government would control what kind of insurance you purchase, where you purchase it, how much you pay and what kind of medical care you receive. Our health care sector would be “private” in name only.

Once government controls those decisions, there will be nothing left to socialize. Make no mistake — this is a vote on socialized medicine.

Michael F. Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and coauthor of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.