March 30, 2010

A New look...or another look...or something different...

My friends at the Saginaw County 10Th Circuit Court can all breath a collective sigh of relief, the cross hairs have been taken down, and you can come out of the witness protection program. Guido and associates, rest easy, your 15 minutes of fame and Internet stardom have come to an end. No longer do you need to fear the press.

The intended purpose of this blog, "The Red Door Journal" has come to an end. We fought the good fight, and can hold our heads high knowing we did what was right and just, I can't say the same for our Nemesis. He will carry with him the burden of his actions forever. Yea...

A new look is coming, I am going to experiment with things and see what strikes my fancy. I will also carry over a new look to the my other blogs as well. My recipe blog will crank up in earnest now that word has come down from high that it's time for another cookbook. I guess she doesn't remember the vast amount of work that was put into the first one. Oh wait, she didn't do anything aside from contributing a few recipes.

I want to thank so many people who will remain nameless, who offered their unbridled support and encouragement during the past three years. It made the madness more tolerable, you know who you are, so THANK YOU!

I will continue to post without restrictions what ever strikes my fancy, and rest assured I won't be going liberal anytime soon, and anyone who is will be fair game.

Again thank you and I look forward to you're visiting here from time to time. I think it's only fitting I close with a photo that reminds me so much of what we fought for; enjoy.

March 29, 2010

March 28, 2010

What to do after 3 years? How about this?



My Own Earth Hour
By Doug Powers • March 27, 2010 08:51 AM

Tonight at 8:30 p.m. EDT, my house is going to be lit up brighter than Perth, Australia when John Glenn flew over in Friendship 7. Here’s why…

Another “Earth Hour” is upon us. This is the night we’re supposed to turn off all our lights in solidarity with… darkness, or something. It’s also symbolic of a desire to “take action on global climate change.”

I tend to get a little offended at these kinds of things. For one, in my house, we celebrate Earth Hour every day. We don’t leave lights on in rooms that nobody is in. We keep the thermostat fairly low (mostly because I’m usually too hot). We carpool when possible. We don’t waste gas. We pick up trash alongside the road when we’re walking. We volunteer to clean up the riverwalk, and we plant trees because we like trees — not because we’ve fooled ourselves into believing that planting trees is helping make Streisand’s environmentally-unfriendly concert tours carbon-neutral.

As such, I tend to get a little put off when being preached to by fat cats who swim in their own heated pools, travel in private jets, heat mansions they’re not even living in for months at a time and ride in limo caravans to speeches to tell the rest of us how our Chevy Cobalts, lawn mowers, hamburgers and light bulbs are killing the planet.

Additionally, I refuse to acknowledge, symbolically or otherwise, that electricity is the problem and that civilization can be saved by turning itself into North Korea for any length of time. The harnessing of electricity is among the greatest discoveries ever. It’s helped make the world safer and more sanitary. Electricity runs the equipment that is used to make the medicine that saves lives. It runs the cameras that allow us to see evils that are being perpetuated around the world that we might not have otherwise known about — except in North Korea, where you can’t see crimes at night because Earth Hour is mandatory 365 days a year. The list goes on. We should be celebrating electricity instead of pretending it’s some sort of cancer that needs to be cut out of our lives.

Somebody on Facebook’s Earth Hour 2010 page actually wrote, “I can’t wait to turn everything off tonight!” Well why don’t you just turn everything off now then, Tesla?

After Earth Hour is over, I pledge to turn my lights off for a full eight hours or so, just like we do every night, no doubt while Al Gore’s pool filter is still whirring away and outdoor flood lights protect his property. But during Earth Hour, we’ll have so many lights on that my family will have tan lines by the time the 60 minutes is up. I realize I’ll probably get hit with an Obamacare tanning bed tax, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bündchen, have also joined the crusade to turn off our lights — just not during one of the Patriots night games at Gillette Stadium that goes through enough electricity to power my house until well into the 24th century:
I will give him a pass for this, he is still my favorite NFL Quarterback.


And certainly don’t shut those lights off at one of Gisele’s photo shoots — however, if we did, we might be able to extend the life of the polar ice caps by at least a decade:

My own theory for the thinking behind Earth Hour is that Al Gore and his fellow enviro-scammers have settled on going dark as the single best way to make sure nobody can see them pick-pocketing the world.

March 22, 2010

Free enterprise...the definition

For those needing help in determinging the difference between capitalism and socialism I offer the following. I've added communism and fascism to better clearify the differences.

Socialism: You have two cows. You keep one and give the other one to the government.

Communism: You give both of them to the government and they give you milk.

Fascism: The government takes both cows and sells you milk.

Capitalism: You keep one cow, sell the other one, and buy a bull.

Now ask yourself under which would you like to exist?

Game on

In this order.

Take over the seats in 2010.
Repeal the healthcare bill.
Begin the impreachment proceedings. We know who.
Vote in a conservative Republican for 2012.
Repair and undo the damages the idiots have done in Congress and WH.

March 21, 2010

Mark Steyn: This Is Even Worse Than You're Thinking

We can rally tomorrow to take back Congress, repeal the bill, and impeach the Communist in Chief's ass once we get subpeona power and are able to find out all the laws he's broken to pass this one.

For now, let's grieve over the damage that's been done in one fell blow.

If Barack Obama does nothing else in his term in office, this will make him one of the most consequential presidents in history. It's a huge transformative event in Americans' view of themselves and of the role of government. You can say, oh, well, the polls show most people opposed to it, but, if that mattered, the Dems wouldn't be doing what they're doing. Their bet is that it can't be undone, and that over time, as I've been saying for years now, governmentalized health care not only changes the relationship of the citizen to the state but the very character of the people. As I wrote in NR recently, there's plenty of evidence to support that from Britain, Canada and elsewhere.

More prosaically, it's also unaffordable. That's why one of the first things that middle-rank powers abandon once they go down this road is a global military capability. If you take the view that the US is an imperialist aggressor, congratulations: You can cease worrying. But, if you think that America has been the ultimate guarantor of the post-war global order, it's less cheery. Five years from now, just as in Canada and Europe two generations ago, we'll be getting used to announcements of defense cuts to prop up the unsustainable costs of big government at home. And, as the superpower retrenches, America's enemies will be quick to scent opportunity.

Longer wait times, fewer doctors, more bureaucracy, massive IRS expansion, explosive debt, the end of the Pax Americana, and global Armageddon. Must try to look on the bright side...


He also aims to make Republicans partners in the destruction of America, by making us endorse his cataclysmic irresponsibility -- when we take back Congress, we will be faced with two vicious choices: Raise taxes ruinously, or allow the country to repudiate its debt and go bankrupt. Because the best option -- repealing the bill -- will be impossible until a real President is installed and next-to-impossible thereafter.

March 20, 2010

Tyranny USA: Just When You Thought ObamaCare Couldn’t Get Worse… IRS Slotted to Become Obama’s Health Gestapo

They say elections have consequence, and we have found out how. We need to get ready for 2010 elections. This can be undone.




There is nothing to like about the Democrats’ health care bill, and everything to hate.

From Free Republic, IRS To Become Obama’s Health Gestapo:

File this under ‘you never thought it would happen in America.’

The Senate healthcare bill that is scheduled to be ‘deemed as passed’ by the House of Representatives Sunday afternoon, H.R. 3590, mandates the Internal Revenue Service as the enforcement arm of Barack Obama’s dictate that all Americans be covered by health insurance.

The IRS will be empowered to check every month to ensure that every American meets Obama’s dictated health insurance standards.

The IRS is also empowered to levy fines on those not in compliance. Under existing federal law, refusal to follow the rules of the IRS can lead to imprisonment–or worse.

An analysis released yesterday by Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee estimates that 16,500 IRS agents will need to be hired to meet the expanded authority granted the IRS.

The nine page .PDF document details how the IRS will become the new overlord of the American people. A new section of the IRS code, 5000A, would be created by the bill. Americans would be required to maintain insurance deemed acceptable by the secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services. Failure to do so would result in enforcement fines levied by the IRS in the hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the income of the offender. The fines would be known as the Individual Mandate Tax. The report adds that the IRS could add interest and penalties for failure to pay the IMT.

Health insurance providers would be required to file reports with the IRS on each individual they insure. The IRS would be able to share confidential taxpayer information with Health and Human Services.

According to the report, exemptions to the IMT dictate would be granted by Obama to approved groups and individuals for the following reasons: religious conscience, members of a health care sharing ministry, those below the poverty line, members of Indian tribes, incarcerated individuals and illegal aliens.

Under this bill, every American would be forced to answer to Barack Obama. If they fail to submit to his will, they will be fined, imprisoned or worse.

This is quoted text taken from the Committee on Ways and Means Republican Report’s executive summary:

The Wrong Prescription:
Democrats’ Health Overhaul
Dangerously Expands IRS
Authority

Committee on Ways and Means Republican Report
Prepared for Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Charles Boustany (RLA),
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight
March 18, 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


***Highlights of New IRS Authority***

IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage
IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage”
IRS can confiscate your tax refund
IRS audits are likely to increase
IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade
IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans
Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four)
Mcnorman’s Weblog has a breakdown, cited by line and page number and with some commentary, of what is in the bill. I’ve included only a portion of the breakdown, so visit the website to read it all. Doctors must be especially attentive, since much of this details the government’s oversight on how they will be permitted to treat and bill patients under ObamaCare/PelosiCare.

The following is just the tip of the ObamaCare iceberg… this oppressive albatross of a health care bill exceeds 2,300 pages, and only the first few hundred pages here are noted:

Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self-insure!!
Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill: THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.
Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!
Page 42 of HC Bill: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!
Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise.
Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals’ finances & a ‘National ID Health card’ will be issued!
Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for elective funds transfer.
Page 65 Sec 164: Is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community organizations: (ACORN).

[...]

Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association – The Govt will tell YOU what salary you can make.
Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan. (NO choice!)
Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part-time employees ANDtheir families. (Employees shouldn’t get excited about this as employers will be forced to reduce its work force, benefits, and wages/salaries to cover such a huge expense.)
Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option will pay 8% tax on all payroll! (See the last comment in parenthesis.)
Page 150 Lines 9-13: A business with payroll between $251K & $401K who doesn’t provide public option will pay 2-6% tax on all payroll.
Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

[...]

Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors. (Low-income and the poor are affected)
Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors: It doesn’t matter what specialty you have trained yourself in — you will all be paid the same! (Just TRY to tell me that’s not Socialism!)
Page 253 Line 10-18: The Govt sets the value of a doctor’s time, profession, judgment, etc. (Literally – the value of humans.)
Page 265 Sec 1131: The Govt mandates and controls productivity for “private” HC industries.
Page 268 Sec 1141: The federal Govt regulates the rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs.
Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer patients – welcome to rationing!
Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever the Govt deems preventable (i.e…re-admissions).
Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors: If you treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission — the Govt will penalize you.
Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. (The Govt tells doctors what and how much they can own!)
Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION on expansion. (The Govt is mandating that hospitals cannot expand.)
Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have the opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. (Can you say ACORN?)
Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: The Govt mandates establishment of=2 outcome-based measures. (HC the way they want — rationing.)
Page 341 Lines 3-9: The Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc. (Forcing people into the Govt plan)
Page 354 Sec 1177: The Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of ’special needs people!’ Unbelievable!
Page 379 Sec 1191: The Govt creates more bureaucracy via a “Tele-Health Advisory Committee.” (Can you say HC by phone?)

There is no shame in having a sickening feeling after reading this, of having flashbacks to Orwell’s 1984. This is a disgraceful 180-degree turn from our founding fathers’ vision of our country, a dismantling of the inherent freedoms we, as Americans, are to expect from our elected representatives.

The Constitution has been set aflame. Government tyranny in America is the new “hopenchange.”

March 19, 2010

Very nice work...

How appropriate in these times....

A quote from Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech:

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

It was the issue then as LBJ prepared the disastrous “Great Society”, it is the issue today as Obama pledges to transform America. We lost in 1964 and the situation we’re in today is the result of that error. We dare not lose, this time.

Keep that in mind as we go through this year.

March 16, 2010

Stunner: Census Bureau Already Way Over Budget

This is what happens when you farm out the census to community organizers. The money goes down a rathole and nobody has any explanation.
The U.S. Census is well into conducting its constitutionally mandated 2010 count but the exercise is already running over budget.

Taxpayers are footing the bill of $14.7 billion for 10 years of Census counting. That price tag supports 500 local offices and a peak staff of 1.4 million workers.

But some cost overruns have already plagued this Census, like when tens of thousands of workers fanned out between March and July of last year to verify addresses -- a process known as "address canvassing." The Census Bureau, federal auditors later found, ran 25 percent over budget for a total cost of $444 million.

"When I arrived in July, the findings of that overrun were just emerging," Census Director Robert Groves said. "There was an underestimation of just the workload -- how many houses we had to go to."

Auditors also found the Census Bureau provided training to some 15,000 workers who either worked not at all or less than a single day -- at a total cost of $5.5 million.
Since you'll be getting your form in the mail this week, here's a tip how to fill it out, although I doubt all the illegals will be calling themselves Americans.

March 14, 2010

It's Pie day...

'They Were Deadly Serious, Very Aggressive, Very Condescending'



Where's your four cents, bitch?

Welcome to Barack Obama's America, where every nickel counts. Or when adjusted for inflation, four cents.
It was every businessperson's nightmare.

Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. "They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending," says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff.

The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff's on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was ... 4 cents.

Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv's with an obligation of $202.35.

Zeff, who also owns local parking lots and is the president of the Midtown Business Association, finds the situation a bit comical.

"It's hilarious," he says, "that two people hopped in a car and came down here for just 4 cents. I think (the IRS) may have a problem with priorities."

Now he's trying to figure out how penalties and interest could climb so high on such a small debt. He says he's never been told he owes any taxes or that he's ever incurred any late-payment penalties in the four years he's owned Harv's.

In fact, he provided us with an Oct. 22, 2009, letter from the IRS that states Harv's "has filed all required returns and addressed any balances due."
Wait until Mr. Zeff realizes how much Obama's free healthcare in going to cost him.

March 9, 2010

Obama’s Latest Assault on Freedom– New Regulations Will Ban Sport Fishing

More Hope and Change…
Obama’s latest assault on your rights– He wants to ban sport fishing



Barack Obama has a message for America’s 60,000,000 anglers– We don’t need you.

The American Sportfishing Association reported back in October about the sweeping changes proposed by the Obama Administration in regards to the sport fishing industry:

A sweeping oceans and Great Lakes management policy document proposed by the Obama Administration will have a significant impact on the sportfishing industry, America’s saltwater anglers and the nation’s coastal communities. The draft policy, the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, issued on September 17, will govern federal Pacific and Atlantic Ocean waters and Great Lakes resource conservation and management and will coordinate these efforts among federal, state and local agencies. This past June, President Obama created the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to develop a draft national policy and implementation strategy for conserving and managing the United States ocean territory and the Great Lakes.

Now it looks like the Obama Administration is going to move ahead with these restrictions.

Consequently, unless anglers speak up and convince their Congressional representatives to stop this bureaucratic freight train, it appears that the task force will issue a final report for “marine spatial planning” by late March, with President Barack Obama then issuing an Executive Order to implement its recommendations — whatever they may be.

If we as anglers don't speak up we can all kiss scenes like this good by!