Tomorrow, the House of Representatives begins a civil (yeah, right) debate of passage of a mostly ceremonial bill repealing the National Healthcare Reform Act, more affectionately known as Obamacare.

In a report released last Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office claimed that repealing the law would increase the federal budget deficit by a total of $145 billion from 2012 to 2019, and by $230 billion from 2012 to 2021. The preliminary report said that repealing the law would mean 32 million fewer people would have health insurance in 2019, compared with current estimates under the law. The number of uninsured would then be 54 million, rather than 23 million, in 2019.

Republicans have argued against these figures, saying they are based on budget gimmicks written into the health care law by Democrats. According to Republicans,repealing Obamacare would actually save money.

A final vote in the House set for Wednesday.

To jog your memory as to what a monstrosity of governmental bureaucracy Obamacare is, here is a brief overview of the timeline for the implementation of Obamacare, from a pdf prepared by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees on April 2, 2010.

2010

• Immediate Access to Insurance for Uninsured Individuals with a Pre-Existing Condition.
• Eliminating Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Children.
• Prohibiting Rescissions. Prohibits abusive practices whereby health plans rescind existing health insurance policies when a person gets sick as a way of avoiding covering the costs of enrollees’ health care needs.
• Covering Preventive Health Services. All new group health plans and plans in the individual market must provide first dollar coverage for preventive services.
• Extending Dependent Coverage. Requires all plans in the individual market and new employer plans that provide dependent coverage for children to continue to make that coverage available up to age 26
• Reducing the Cost of Covering Early Retirees. Creates a new temporary reinsurance program for health benefits for retirees age 55-64.
• New, Independent Appeals Process.
• Improving Consumer Assistance.
• Improving Consumer Information through the Web. Requires the Secretary of HHS to establish an Internet website through which residents of any State may identify affordable health insurance coverage options in that State.
• Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud. Requires enhanced screening procedures for health care providers to eliminate fraud and waste in the health care system.
• Rebates for the Part D “Donut Hole”. Provides a $250 rebate for all Part D enrollees who enter the donut hole.
• Improving Public Health Prevention Efforts. Creates an interagency council to promote healthy policies at the federal level.
• Strengthening the Quality Infrastructure.
• Extending Payment Protections for Rural Providers.
• Establishing a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Establishes a private, non-profit institute.
• Ensuring Medicaid Flexibility for States.
• Non-Profit Hospitals. Establishes new requirements applicable to nonprofit hospitals beginning in 2010, including periodic community needs assessments.
• Encouraging Investment in New Therapies.
• Tax Relief for Health Professionals with State Loan Repayment.
• Excluding from Income Health Benefits Provided by Indian Tribal Governments.
• Establishing a National Health Care Workforce Commission. Establishes an independent National Commission to provide comprehensive, nonbiased information and recommendations to Congress and the Administration for aligning federal health care workforce resources with national needs.
• Strengthening the Health Care Workforce. Expands and improves low-interest student loan programs, scholarships, and loan repayments for health students and professionals to increase and enhance the capacity of the workforce to meet patients’ health care needs.
• Special Deduction for Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS).
• Indoor Tanning Services Tax.  There are a lot of torqued-off women out there.
• Holding Insurance Companies Accountable for Unreasonable Rate Hikes.

2011

• Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care Coverage.
• Strengthening Community Health Centers and the Primary Care Workforce.
• Increasing Reimbursement for Primary Care.
• Increasing Training Support for Primary Care.
• Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency. Establishes a new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce health care costs and enhance the quality of care provided to individuals.
• Improving Preventive Health Coverage.
• Improving Transitional Care for Medicare Beneficiaries.
• Expanding Primary Care, Nursing, and Public Health Workforce.
• Increasing Access to Home and Community Based Services.
• Reporting Health Coverage Costs on Form W-2: Requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2.
• Standardizing the Definition of Qualified Medical Expenses. Conforms the definition of qualified medical expenses for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs to the definition used for the itemized deduction. An exception to this rule is included so that amounts paid for over-the-counter medicine with a prescription still qualify as medical expenses.
• Increased Additional Tax for Withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Account Funds for Non-Qualified Medical Expenses.
• Cafeteria Plan Changes.

2012

• Encouraging Integrated Health Systems.
• Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes.
• Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions. Directs CMS to track hospital readmission rates for certain high-volume or high-cost conditions and uses new financial incentives to encourage hospitals to undertake reforms needed to reduce preventable readmissions, which will improve care for beneficiaries and rein in unnecessary health care spending.  Can you say “here come the Death Panels”?

2013

• Payments to Primary Care Physicians. Requires that Medicaid payment rates to primary care physicians for furnishing primary care services be no less than 100% of Medicare payment rates in 2013 and 2014.
• Administrative Simplification. Health plans must adopt and implement uniform standards and business rules for the electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens and costs.
• Encouraging Provider Collaboration. Establishes a national pilot program on payment bundling
• Limiting Health Flexible Savings Account Contributions.
• Increased Threshold for Claiming Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.
• Medical device excise tax. Establishes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of a medical device by a manufacturer or importer.
• Limiting Executive Compensation.
• Fee for patient-centered outcomes research.

2014

• Reforming Health Insurance Regulations.
• Eliminating Annual Limits.
• Ensuring Coverage for Individuals Participating in Clinical Trials.
• Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Opens health insurance Exchanges in each State to individuals and small employers. This new venue will enable people to comparison shop for standardized health packages.   Local hack politicians are lining up for jobs right now.
• Providing Health Care Tax Credits. E
• Ensuring Choice through Free Choice Vouchers.
• Promoting Individual Responsibility.
• Small Business Tax Credit.
• Quality Reporting for Certain Providers.
• Health Insurance Provider Fee. Imposes an annual, non-deductible fee on the health insurance sector allocated across the industry according to market share.

2015

• Continuing Innovation and Lower Health Costs. Establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit proposals to Congress and the private sector aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, lowering health care costs, improving health outcomes for patients, promoting quality and efficiency, and expanding access to evidence-based care.
• Paying Physicians Based on Value Not Volume. Creates a physician value-based payment program to promote increased quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.

2018

• Excise tax on high cost employer-provided health plans becomes effective. Tax is on the cost of coverage in excess of $27,500 (family coverage) and $10,200 (single coverage), increased to $30,950 (family) and $11,850 (single) for retirees and employees in high risk professions.

From rasmussenreports.com:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Likely U.S. Voters want to change the law, while only 18% want it left alone. Those figures include 20% who want the law repealed and nothing done to replace it, 28% who want it repealed and then have its most popular provisions put into a new law and 27% who say leave the law in place but get rid of the unpopular provisions.

Per foxnews.com:

Prime Minister David Cameron says his government will make fundamental changes to Britain’s state-run health care system — but critics warn the reforms could undermine one of the country’s most vital institutions.

Cameron says he will save money and cut red tape by giving control over management to family practitioners rather than bureaucrats.

He said Monday that standards of care in Britain have fallen behind other European countries.

Some doctors welcome the changes, but the British Medical Association claimed the scale of the reforms could cause chaos.

The health service is Britain’s biggest employer, costs more than 100 billion pounds ($158 billion) a year — and is a political football, reformed and criticized by governments since it was established in 1948.

Of course, Dinghy Harry Reid  will not even allow repeal of Obamacare to be brought up on the Senate Floor and President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) would never sign it anyway. 

But, if the UK can tackle the problem of their failed national healthcare system, wouldn’t it make sense to repeal and replace this bureaucratic monstrosity of a bill, based on an obviously failed model, before it has the chance to ruin the greatest healthcare system in the world?

Did you hear? Focus on the Family, the nationally famous Christian Organization, has put a poster on their website in conjunction with an upcoming conference that they are holding to encourage Christians not to co-operate with the FBI!

JUST KIDDING!!!

In reality, though, a national religious organization has actually done this! The group in question in CAIR – The Council on American-Islamic Relations.

 The poster promotes an upcoming conference that encourages people not to talk to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was designed in the late 1970s or early 1980s and has been used by various groups and activists since then to whine about supposed harassment by the FBI and to protest being called in front of grand juries.

According to Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman often seen on Fox News:

I think it’s subject to misinterpretation. We decided out of extreme caution to take it down.

Yeah, right.

Hooper was forced to sheepishly admit that the poster “crosses the line,”. However, he still defended the artwork and complained that critics had created a manufactured controversy:

The entire American-Muslim community is under the microscope right now with a cottage industry of Muslim bashers. We’re used to this kind of attack by the Islamophobic hate machine and in this case there is some justification in terms of the possibility of misinterpretation of this poster.

You want some cheese with that whine, Bubba?

The California chapter of CAIR will be holding a conference on February 9th at the East Side Cultural Center in Oakland (As if the city is not racially divided enough). The title of the conference is “FBI Raids and Grand Jury Subpoenas: Know Your Rights and Defend Our Communities.” Their keynote speaker is Hatem Abudayyeh, who has been identified by CAIR as an activist and Palestinian community leader whose home was allegedly raided by federal agents in September.

Hate ’em? How…appropriate.

Who is this keynote speaker?

Per aaan.org:

Hatem Abudayyeh has been with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) since 1999, and was appointed Executive Director in 2003. The son of Palestinian immigrants who themselves were leaders in Chicago’s Arab community, Hatem was born in Chicago and coached varsity basketball and baseball as an administrative assistant at Mather High School before joining AAAN. He was elected Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII) in 2006, is a founding Advisory Board member of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), and sits on the National Coordinating Committee of the United States Palestine Community Network (USPCN).

His organization’s mission per their website:

The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area by building its capacity to be an active agent for positive social change. As a grassroots nonprofit, our strategies include community organizing, advocacy, education, providing social services, leadership development, cultural outreach and forging productive relationships with other communities.

Our vision is for a strong Arab American community whose members have the power to make decisions about actions and policies that affect their lives and have access to a range of social, political, cultural and economic opportunities in a context of equity and social justice.

According to discoverthenetworks.org, AAAN is:

•  
  • Chicago-based organization established to promote the interests of the city’s large Arab-American population
  • Supports expanded rights for illegal aliens
  • Founded by anti-Israel professor Rashid Khalidi, former director of the PLO press agency and onetime moderator of PLO advisory committee

Rashid Khalidi…hey, that name sounds familiar.  Waitasecond.  Wasn’t he a friend of President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) while he was at Columbia University?

From an americanthinker.com article posted on May 23, 2008:

According to a professor at the University of Chicago who said he has known Obama for 12 years, the Democratic presidential hopeful befriended Khalidi when the two worked together at the university. The professor spoke on condition of anonymity. Khalidi lectured at the University of Chicago until 2003 while Obama taught law there from 1993 until his election to the Senate in 2004.

Sources at the University told WND that Khalidi and Obama lived in nearby faculty residential zones and that the two families dined together a number of times. The sources said the Obama’s even babysat the Khalidi children.

Khalidi in 2000 held what was described as a successful fundraiser for Obama’s failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a fact not denied by Khalidi, who spoke to WND in February.

But, I digress…

Per Hooper, CAIR is not the only organization sponsoring the event. He also said that had no idea who was responsible for the artwork. Hooper said he was unable to provide a list of the other co-sponsors.

Unwilling, not unable.

Hooper said if anything negative is said about the FBI in this upcoming conference, it won’t come from their group.

We have a consistent policy of positive and constructive engagement with law enforcement officials.

And I’m a 22 year old Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader named Buffy.

According to a FBI spokesperson, appearing on Fox News Radio, they were aware of the poster but would not comment.

Former FBI assistant director Bill Gavin told Fox News Radio the poster is sending the wrong message to the Muslim community.

It sends out a real negative attitude to the Islamic community of what the FBI is really all about. This is just a propaganda tool to try and thwart an active investigation into criminal acts by a would-be terrorist group.

Why wouldn’t you talk to the FBI? If, in fact, there is something being done to destroy the image of Islam in the United States, then it should be stopped. We should put a positive face on Islam — not Islamic extremists.

Why, indeed.

Like a lot of Americans and Conservative political pundits, I have been giving President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), the benefit of the doubt concerning his responsibility for the passing out of blue t-shirts with the slogan TOGETHER WE THRIVE at the memorial service in Tucson, Arizona Wednesday night.

Now, thanks to a poster at my favorite Conservative website, hotair.com, it turns out that this warm and fuzzy slogan actually originated during Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign:

This is an article posted on the president’s website, Organizing for America, by John Berry IV on February 11, 2008. It’s title: TOGETHER WE THRIVE:

For too long Americans have been set one against the other, it is a side affect of a free market society. How can profits be maximized, how can I get the work done for the lowest possible costs. This continually sets one group against the other, especially in the blue collar sectors of America. It has become a part of the American Business model, whether it was indentured servants, slaves picking cotton, sharecroppers, the industrious people that built the railroads or todays migrant workers. As long as we remain divided, fighting for the scraps that America has to offer it will be one group against the other.

What I see in Obama is a chance for a revolution. A chance for every group to participate and be heard; A chance to live the American dream that has been denied to so many. Together we can and will change the world and return America to the shining beacon of Hope and Prosperity that we were and that we can be again. Only when we work together do we accomplish feats that rival any ever accomplished in the history of mankind. Diversity is our strength, that is what this campaign brings us a promise of. For many this is a scary prospect and thought, getting to know someone different from myself. We all want the same basic things for example a safe place to live, health and a quality education for our kids.

In a previous career, I was the global leader of Diversity for a global fortune 500 corporation, I have studied the affects of diverse groups working together and the results can not be denied. Together we Thrive!!!!!!!!!!!

Togetherness.  How…civil.  Together, how?  Together under the benevolent dictatorship of the Progressive movement and their Dear Leader? 

No thanks.

Speaking of civility, that seems to be the new buzzword du jour that has emerged in the aftermath of Saturday’s horrible tragedy in Tuscon.  Even though Scooter, in his well-written speech at the memorial service, admitted that harsh political rhetoric had nothing to do with the actions of the psychopath, Jared Lee Loughner, the Dems, the media, and their blogging sycophants in their Moms’ basements’ are using the word civility as a thinly veiled pseudonym for censorship. 

Translation from the Dems:  Harsh political rhetoric is acceptable, as long as we’re the ones dishing it out.  You ig’nant Conservatives just need to shut up and take it.

The arrogance, cluelessness, and hypocrisy being exhibited by the Democratic Leadership and their media minions is breath-taking.  Do they seriously expect Americans not to speak out as they attempt to radically change our country?  What do they think caused the results of the Midterm Elections?  A misunderstanding?  San Fran Nan thinks that she knows what caused the Midterm  Tsunami:

That was civil, huh?  Let’s look at a couple of other examples of the Democrats’ civility, shall we?

And then, of course, there’s Paul Krugman, who wrote these pleasantries in an op-ed posted on nytimes.com on January 9th after the mass murder in Tucson.  Check out this civility:

The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary.

And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.

And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Didn’t that just give you a warm, fuzzy feeling all over?  Don’t be fooled.  That’s nausea.

Through their disingenuous rhetoric and the classless, branded exhibition at the memorial service for the victims of psychopath Jared Lee Loughner, the Progressive Leadership of the Democratic Party has proven that their definition of civility is vastly different from that of the majority of Americans.  While  they claim to be issuing a call for reasoned political discourse, in reality, they wish to impose censored servitude.

And Americans aren’t buying what they’re selling.

Yesterday was quite a day.  It started off with former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin releasing a 7 minute video on youtube.com.  The video, which was very presidential in tone, refudiated those who blamed her for the actions of Jared Lee Loughner in the Main Street Media, or as a poster on hotair.com suggested, the Blood Libel Media.  I’m pretty sure that the Governor’s rebuff sent the 30 year olds, blogging from their Moms’ basements, running upstairs to the ‘frig to grab some more comfort food.

For those of you who have not seen Governor Palin’s speech yet, here it is:

The Left went absolutely nuts yesterday about her usage of the term Blood Libel.  This term originally referred to the anti-Semitic accusation from the Middle Ages that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood to make matzoh for Passover. 

In an article posted on wsj.com, University of Tennessee Professor Glenn Reynolds used it to reference the rush by Liberals to blame Conservatives for the mass murder committed by the psychopath, Jared Lee Loughner.  Dr. Reynolds wrote:

So as the usual talking heads begin their “have you no decency?” routine aimed at talk radio and Republican politicians, perhaps we should turn the question around. Where is the decency in blood libel?

To paraphrase Justice Cardozo (“proof of negligence in the air, so to speak, will not do”), there is no such thing as responsibility in the air. Those who try to connect Sarah Palin and other political figures with whom they disagree to the shootings in Arizona use attacks on “rhetoric” and a “climate of hate” to obscure their own dishonesty in trying to imply responsibility where none exists. But the dishonesty remains.

The Liberals immediately went into action yesterday, trying to find Jewish spokespeople who were offended by this revision of an ancient term.  However, they were few and far between.  And, several of those that they did find were involved with the Democratic Party in some form or fashion.

My, what a coincidence.

Last night, at the University of Arizona, President Barack Hussein Obama spoke at a memorial service for the victims of Saturday’s tragedy.  The 24,000 students and supporters that attended turned it into a political rally, applauding and cheering, while adorned in the Together We Thrive t-shirts with customized logos that had been draped upon every single chair in the auditorium. 

While Obama’s strived to raise his oratory to a lofty level, the atmosphere seemed surreal and awkwardly inappropriate with shouts of “We love you” when the president took the podium.

The speech itself was very appropriate and measured, running three times longer than George W. Bush’s speech memorializing those lost in the Virgina Tech Massacre.

Some excerpts from the president’s speech:

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.

So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

He then spoke about all the victims, wrapping up by paying special tribute to Christina Taylor Green, the precious little 9-year-old who was killed by the psychopath:

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.”

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.

Yesterday, Sarah Palin delivered a well-written speech about an unspeakable tragedy. Yesterday, President Obama also delivered a well-written speech about an unspeakable tragedy.  The most noticeable differences in the speeches were the individuals giving them and the settings in which they were given.

And the second difference was the most notable difference of all.

Four days later, America’s attention is still riveted on the aftermath of Saturday’s massacre in Tuscon Arizona, at the psychopathic hands of Jared Lee Loughner.

Liberals truly believed that their classless use of the tragedy to attack Sarah Palin and the resurgent Conservative movement was going to resonate in the hearts of average Americans.

They were wrong.

According to a CBS poll released yesterday, (yes, CBS) 57% of Americas aren’t buying what the Liberals are selling. The respondents said that “harsh political tone” was not responsible for the massacre.  Americans recognize that Conservatism and Sarah Palin were not to blame for the actions of Jared Lee Loughner. In fact, Americans are taking steps to protect themselves and their families.

That does not seem to matter to the Libs, though.

Rep. Brad Sherman of California said on Fox News:

Whether [political rhetoric] caused what happened in Tucson or not, it’ll cause the next tragedy.

Former President Bill “Bubba” Clinton told the BBC:

No one intends to do anything that encourages this sort of behavior. We just have to be sensitive.

I think this is an occasion for us to reaffirm that our political differences shouldn’t degenerate into demonization.

The third-ranking Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, told the Charleston Post and Courier on Sunday that the Tuscon massacre should get the country thinking about what’s acceptable to say publicly and when people should keep their mouths shut.

Clyburn said he thinks vitriol in public discourse led to Saturday’s tragedy.

The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free speech, Clyburn said. He wants standards put in place to guarantee balanced media coverage with a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, in addition to calling on elected officials and media pundits to use ‘better judgment.’

Free speech is as free speech does. You cannot yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.

Clyburn cited a comment made by Sharron Angle, who said the frustrated public may consider turning to ‘Second Amendment remedies’ for political disputes unless Congress changed course.

According to Clyburn, that’s why the Loughner committed his heinous actions:

He saw a Second Amendment remedy and that’s what occurred here and there is no way not to make that connection.

So, the citizens of South Carolina pay you to be this stupid?  Un-buh-lievable.

Hold on.  The stupidity continues…

MSNBC Host Chris Matthews knows exactly why Loughner committed mass murder last Saturday. It was the fault of Conservative Talk Radio Hosts Mark Levin and Michael Savage:

Every time you listen to them, they are furious. Furious at the left. With anger that just builds and builds in their voice and by the time they go to commercial they are just in some rage every night with some ugly talk. Ugly sounding talk and it never changes.

Then why aren’t more of their listeners committing murder, Chrissie?

However, Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wins the Crassness Award.  He plans on making money off the Tuscon Massacre.  Here’s the fundraising letter that he sent out:

Given the recent tragedy in Arizona, as well as the start of the new Congress, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few words with political friends in Vermont and throughout the country. I also want to thank the very many supporters who have begun contributing online to my 2012 reelection campaign at http://www.bernie.org. There is no question but that the Republican Party, big money corporate interests and right-wing organizations will vigorously oppose me. Your financial support now and in the future is much appreciated.

Stay classy, Bernie.

So, how are average Americans reacting to all this?  Well…

Per bloomberg.com:

One-day sales of handguns in Arizona jumped 60 percent to 263 on Jan. 10 compared with 164 the corresponding Monday a year ago, the second-biggest increase of any state in the country, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data.

Handgun sales rose 65 percent to 395 in Ohio; 16 percent to 672 in California; 38 percent to 348 in Illinois; and 33 percent to 206 in New York, the FBI data show. Sales increased nationally about 5 percent, to 7,906 guns.

Federally tracked gun sales, which are drawn from sales in gun stores that require a federal background check, also jumped following the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, in which 32 people were killed.

“Whenever there is a huge event, especially when it’s close to home, people do tend to run out and buy something to protect their family,” said Don Gallardo, a manager at Arizona Shooter’s World in Phoenix, who said that the number of people signing up for the store’s concealed weapons class doubled over the weekend. Gallardo said he expects handgun sales to climb steadily throughout the week.

Americans are not fooled by political rhetoric anymore.  If those they elected refuse to acknowledge the reality of a national tragedy and, instead, use it in an attempt to achieve political goals, they do so at the risk of losing any chance that they had for re-election.  As proven by the Midterm Elections, Americans are thinking for themselves.

The first thing I saw this morning, as I was surfing the cable channels, was the Today Show on NBC, airing some stupid attempt to make Sarah Palin responsible for the mass murder committed by Jared Lee Loughner in Tuscon, Arizona last Saturday.

Gimme a break.  I’ve had it up to here with this garbage.

Somehow, the Liberals are trying to link a campaign map with targeted cities on it to the acts of a psychopath.    And what’s even slimier is the fact that some of the good ol’ boys in the G.O.P. are using the Tuscon massacre as an opportunity to take their shots at her also.

Former Minnesota Tim Governor Tim Pawlenty backed Palin up…sort of:

There’s no indication at present that those cross hairs, Fox News, any particular commentator or show or set of remarks or person was a motivating factor in his thoughts.

When the Times asked him if he would have produced a similar map, Gov. Pawlenty said:

I wouldn’t have done it.

I’m sure Gov. Palin thanks you for your support, Governor.  Yikes.

Former White House Spokesman for George W. Bush and political pundit Ari Fleischer said:

At a time like this, what the nation wants more than anything else is for people to rise above the nonsense and the politics and to be gracious. There’s nothing like letting people see your heart, your emotion. Facebook and Twitter don’t convey emotion.

Ari, I guess you missed this e-mail that Gov. Palin sent Glenn Beck over the weekend that he read on his show yesterday:

Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence.

Not all of the Republicans have jumped on the Bash Palin Bandwagon. 

The former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), yesterday placed the blame on the media for pointing fingers at Palin and the Tea Party over their use of “targets” on Democrats.

This attack on Sarah Palin is outrageous. Give me a break. I’ve made my living in politics, and the word ‘targeting’ is not a new word in the political lexicon. That’s just something that is a normal term in how you are going to prioritize your political efforts.

I’ve never heard the Tea Party preaching violence; I’ve heard them preaching participation.

The London Daily Mail hit the nail squarely on the head when they wrote:

In short, did the killer Jared Loughner – who has a history of mental instability and has made a series of bizarre postings on the internet – go out looking to kill because political voices told him to?

Could the inflammatory ­language used by some Right-wing politicians – in ­particular, Sarah Palin – have encouraged the killer to act as he did?

That’s the question at the heart of a febrile political blame game that started even before the most basic details had emerged about the background and possible motivation of the gunman. Already it has drawn in politicians, commentators, police and even the families of the victims.

Gabrielle Giffords was a Democrat and much – but not all – of the badly spelt, incoherent YouTube jumble that passed for the politics of her attacker was broadly ‘Right-wing’.

As a result, many liberal ­commentators and establishment figures have leapt at the opportunity to blame conservative politicians.

The rush to make political capital out of a mass shooting shows just how nasty U.S. ­politics has become. Under Barack Obama, America is more polarised than it has been for 40 years.

The Dems are ignoring their own history of violent rhetoric.  At a Philadelphia fundraiser on July 14th, 2008, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama said:

If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl.  I’ve seen Eagles fans.

As far as I know, a riot did not ensue in Philadelphia after those comments by Obama.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) released a statement defending a campaign ad last year in his which he shoots a bullet through the Democratic cap-and-trade bill.

The act of a deranged madman who commits a horrific act should not and cannot be confused with a metaphor about a piece of legislation. I have never targeted an individual, and I never would.

Neither would Gov. Palin, Joe.  However, that did not stop your party, their Media Minions, and even some of the Republican Elite in attempting to make political hay out of the Tuscon Massacre before they even knew the background and ideology of Jared Lee Loughner.

All these political opportunists knew was that this was their opportunity to get back at Palin and the rest of the resurgent Conservative movement, including Tea Party members, for throwing their fellow professional politicians out of office. 

The fact that Americans were killed, including precious little 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, did not matter to the ideologically-driven politicians, media pundits, or basement-dwelling bloggers. 

And more’s the pity. 

Yesterday, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, opened fire on a public meeting in Tuscon, Arizona, shooting U. S. Representative Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords in the head, while shooting at least 18 others, killing six of the crowd. Killed in the massacre were Federal Judge John M. Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, Gabby’s Local Director of Community Outreach, 3 70 year olds, and pretty, little 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who had been attending the event with neighbors. She was born on September 11, 2001.

Who is this monster?

Loughner was a former military recruit who was obsessed with mind control.

On YouTube, he posted a weird video with a rambling anti-government message, that authorities are still analyzing.  The video has been pulled.  As far as anybody knows, at this point, Loughner still is not cooperating with investigators.

Prima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said the killer had been in trouble with the law before and had even tried to kill someone before.

According to Dupnik, there had been “difficulties” at Pima Community College where Loughner attended. One student said that Loughner would often act “wildly inappropriate” in a poetry class that they had together.

Classmate Don Coorough told ABC News, referring to a discussion about abortions:

One day he started making comments about terrorism and laughing about killing the baby. The rest of us were looking at him in shock… I thought this young man was troubled.

Another classmate, Lydian Ali, said:

A girl had written a poem about an abortion. It was very emotional and she was teary eyed and he said something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomber.

On his MySpace page, which has also been pulled from the internet, he told his friends:

Please don’t be mad at me…I can not rest.

The psychopath was thrown to the ground by two people in the small crowd that had formed around Gabby while she was speaking. When he was taken into custody, a 9mm Glock handgun with an extended clip was recovered.

Authorities are seeking a second man as a “person of interest” who might have been at the scene with the gunman. However, He is not a suspect in the shooting.

Former U.S. surgeon general Richard Carmona, a family friend of Giffords’s, informed reporters Saturday night that she could need further surgery.

According to Carmona:

This is a very devastating wound.

Gabby, a Blue Dog Democrat, barely won reelection to a third term in November. She was sworn into office Wednesday and was hosting her first “Congress on Your Corner” event of the new Congress.

Per Steven Rayle, a Tucson doctor at the event, Loughner shot Gabby once in the face.

According to Dr. Rayle, after she was shot, the crowd tried to escape but were trapped by a table and a concrete post. The killer then started firing into the crowd.

There was nowhere easy to run. People that were there were just sitting ducks. I don’t think he was even aiming. He was just firing at whatever.

This massacre marks the first attempt on the life of a sitting member of Congress since the 1978 murder of Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.) who was investigating the Peoples Temple cult compound in Jonestown, Guyana. After his murder, psychotic leader Jim Jones made close to 1,000 cultists, including 280 children, commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced grape Kool-aid.

As soon as word spread about the massacre, Liberals began to try to make political hay by blaming the tea party movement.

They began an internet war by linking to Gov. Sarah Palin’s telling supporters via Twitter, “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD,” and Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s advocating “second-amendment remedies” to some of the nation’s problems.

Prominent left-wing bloggers accused Palin, and the resurgence of Conservatism in America of encouraging extremism and being responsible for the massacre that killed 9-year-old Christina and the others.  Gov. Palin responded by calling for “peace” on her Facebook page.

For Liberals to so readily attempt to use an unspeakable tragedy  in order to further their personal and ideological ambitions is beyond classless.  There should be apologies posted all over the internet today from the Liberal so-called pundits posting from their Moms’ basements. 

However, I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for them.

May God send His Holy Spirit to comfort the families of those killed and wounded in this horrible moment in American history and hold them in the hollow of His hand.  Amen.

According to President Barack Hussein Obama’s (mm mmm mmmm) new Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, rumors that he urged Scooter to give Press Secretary Robert (Baghdad Bob) Gibbs the boot from the White House are completely false.

The London Telegraph ran a blog post, linked on the Drudge Report, which referred to a CNN report which said that Daley did not want Gibbs to stay in the White House as a chief adviser.

However, according to a statement released by Daley, Gibbs’s name

…never, ever came up once in any discussion I had with the president or staff about me coming to the White House.

In my view, he has done a great job as press secretary for President Obama, and I look forward to working with him as he continues to help provide advice to the president and our team over the next two years.

Baghdad Bob announced earlier this week that he is stepping down from the podium sometime in February, but he will continue to advise, advocate, and generally be his same ol’ blindly sycophantic self for Obama.

Gibbsy is not the only one that is having trouble with Daley:

Per politico.com, Scooter’s choice of William Daley to be his new chief of staff has the Far Left ideologues whining like they’ve just heard a Rush Limbaugh monologue.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka voiced his reservations about Daley:

The president is of course entitled to choose a chief of staff in whom he has complete confidence. We are hopeful that the new chief of staff’s priority is to achieve the strong economy that working people desperately need.

MoveOn.org chief Justin Ruben wasn’t too thrilled, either:

The announcement that William Daley, who has close ties to the Big Banks and Big Business, will now lead the White House staff is troubling and sends the wrong message to the American people.

However, at least some in the Far Left seem to be resigned to the appointment. Neera Tanden, CEO for the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, and until recently, a senior advisor for health reform inside the Obama White House, said:

There’s a recognition that the president determines his agenda.

The Far Left had better recognize that Obama is loyal to no one except himself and his political cronies from Chicago. And he’ll throw them under the bus, too, without a second thought.

Let’s look at the case of Baghdad Bob Gibbs. 

Do any of you actually believe that Gibbs is stepping down of his own accord?  If you do, I have some commemorative Elvis plates, that the King once ate a peanut butter and ‘nanner sandwich off of, to sell you.

Gibbs style as Press Secretary has been about as soothing as a Gilbert Gottfried monologue.  He’s been abrasive, condescending, and elusive in his answers to simple questions put forth to him by the press.  He has done a horrible job in a position once handled so well by the late, great Tony Snow.

Obama cannot afford to have such a buffoon speaking to the press for him, if he is going to run for a second term.  And I’m sure that William Daley relayed that vital piece of information to him.

Just like Rahmbo before him, Bill Daley knows how to play the game of Chicago-style, cutthroat politics.  The problem is, I’m afraid that ol’ Billy Boy will find himself in the same position that Emmanuel did, surrounded by Far Left bureaucratic and academic pinheads, who are not driven by party loyalty and political necessity, but rather, by an Uber-Liberal ideology and an overwhelming desire to turn America into a Socialist Paradise. 

Scooter learned about Chicago-style politics in 1992, when he went to work for Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a firm specializing in civil rights law and other forms of public advocacy.   Working there provided him with the opportunity to make many contacts in the Chicago Political Machine.   And, of course, the Daley family was a very essential part of that machine.

In fact, according to Lee Cary, in his article posted at americanthinker.com, the Daleys, Tony Rezko, and Obama’s BFF, Valerie Jarrett, had quite a lucrative partnership  with that law firm after Scooter became a Illinois State Senator:

In 1997, [Obama’s former law firm mentor Allison] Davis and Rezko formed New Kenwood L.L.C. and set out to build a seven-story apartment building for seniors called Cottage View Terrace. At the time, Davis was a member of the Chicago Plan Commission, having been appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Richard the 2nd.

Several local elected officials, representing both city and state, wrote letters-of-support citing the need for senior citizen housing. State Senator Obama’s letter was dated October 28, 1998. He still worked as an attorney at Davis’ former firm, renamed Miner Barnhill & Galland. (Judson H. Miner had been Corporate Counsel for the City of Chicago from 1986-1989.) The firm’s clients included companies owned by Davis and Rezko.

New Kenwood L.L.C. hired the law firm of Daley & George –the Daley being the current Mayor Daley’s brother, Michael Daley — to assist in securing city-of-Chicago issued bonds. (Brother Michael is not to be confused with brother John Daley, the Cook County Board finance committee chairman and 11th Ward committeeman. Or, brother William “Bill,” Daley, who [at the time of this article] is contemplating a run for Illinois governor.)

The city owned the two-acre vacant lot targeted for the proposed project. It had once been the site of a gas station and needed an environmental cleanup. Davis and Rezko bought the land for $1, and spent $100,000 for the cleanup.

Here’s what the Chicago Sun Times (June 13, 2007) reported about the project:

“The $14.6 million Cottage View Terrace was funded entirely by city, state and federal taxpayers. The projected included $855,000 in development fees for New Kenwood…In addition to the development fees, a separate Davis-owned company stood to make another $900,000 through federal tax credits.”

In conclusion, the appointment of William Daley, while meant to portray Obama as moving to the middle, is, in reality, nothing more than a continuation of Chicago-style politics at the White House.

Nothing to see here…move along.