Month: July 2009

Friday night videos – episode 2

I liked doing the first one so much last week that I’m doing it again this week. This will be a mix of summer reruns (that is, videos which may be a couple weeks old or more) and new stuff.

I’m going to start out with a powerful video which details a man-made natural disaster. You may say there’s no such thing but illegal immigration doesn’t just take its toll on our economy – our ecosystem takes a hit too.

 

It’s interesting when the desires of two disparate groups intersect as they have in this case – preserving the environment and securing the border. Yet the environmentalists are more likely to scream about building the high wall the narrator deems as a better deterrent.

Another item I’m strongly against is the idea of “card check”. I made mention back on Sunday that card check is coming back in a different guise, but this video from workers at a Dana plant tells about the mistruths and harassment union organizers resorted to in order to get those precious cards signed.

A news organization called the Washington News Observer caught up with former Senator and GOP Presidential candidate Fred Thompson recently, asking his opinion on how the new administration is doing. I tried to make the 4:09 video a little better sized because originally the vertical was out of proportion to horizontal.

WNO did a little better job with another leading conservative voice, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana. To him, Obama is pretty much an epic fail and I agree.

One epic fail in the making is health care. Last week I had an ad from Americans for Prosperity and this week will make two in a row on health care:

Another WNO piece features Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, who’s critical of Obamacare as well.

His state’s been hit hard by the economic downturn, so it may be the canary in the coal mine.

I don’t know if these guys who be eligible for our health care system (Lord knows everyone else will be) but the gang at Move America Forward wanted to remind us that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should stay there. This may qualify as a “classic” video since it was first released back in February.

Last but certainly not least, it’s time for another TEA Party! A sister organization to MAF, the bus trip veterans from Our Country Deserves Better are doing it again. They must own stock in some oil companies in order to use all that diesel.

So another fun week of videos and it cleaned out my inbox for the most part. I’m having such fun doing this I may make it a continuing series – Lord knows I have no shortage of content!

Shorebird of the Week – July 30, 2009

Tyler Kolodny waits on the next play at his customary third base position.

Tyler Kolodny (number 28) accepts kudos from teammate Rodolfo Cardona as L.J. Hoes looks on after crushing a home run during the June 19th game against Hagerstown.

Until last week, perhaps the most noticeable thing about this week’s Shorebird of the Week was the sheer amount of dirt he’d collect on his jersey every night – he reminded me of the Pigpen character in the old comic strip “Peanuts”.

But on the team’s most recent road trip to Greenville and Asheville Tyler Kolodny has made a mess of opposing pitching. Tyler’s been on a tear and assumed the team leadership in home runs with 9.

Aside from an 0-for-3 performance in the first game of the trip, over the last seven games of the eight game string Kolodny has gone 14-for-29 (almost a .500 average) and included in that streak was a 6 RBI performance last Friday at Greenville. The average that was hovering just over .200 a month ago is now a more solid .244 mark in 96 games.

The 21 year old California native has slowly worked his way up the ranks in his three seasons of pro ball, with Delmarva being his first full-season team. Last year at Aberdeen he hit .240/10/38 in 72 games and in 2007 he tore up the Gulf Coast League with the GCL Orioles by hitting .318/6/30 in 43 games. So the power’s been there and may yet become greater with experience and maturity.

Besides his scrappy method of play, the one thing I like about Tyler is his batting eye. Despite his somewhat low batting mark his OPS is better than average at .757 because his on-base percentage is very good. The 40 walks he’s drawn is a team-leading mark.

One disparity I found odd was his poor performance at Perdue Stadium. Tyler is hitting just .189 here and .281 on the road.

So let’s hope that, with most of the Shorebirds’ remaining schedule comprised of home games, the law of averages wins out and Tyler continues his hot hitting for the balance of the campaign.

It will give us time to warn the clubhouse attendant in Frederick to buy some extra Tide for Tyler’s uniforms next season.

Picking “Young Guns”

I wish I could cue the Bon Jovi theme song from the movie “Young Guns 2” as background music but it’s not on my computer so you’ll have to allow it to play in your head as you read.

I got a tip from the National Republican Congressional Committee late yesterday afternoon that Andy Harris was one of thirteen Congressional hopefuls “on the radar” in the NRCC’s “Young Guns” program. As the website notes:

Under the leadership of Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX), the NRCC adopted the Young Guns program as the candidate recruitment and training program for House Republicans and it is designed to assist Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives build a foundation for victory.

As part of this program, Republican candidates throughout the United States will work hard for victory next November and we will post updates on their races, their achievements and their status as a Young Gun.  

The Young Guns is not just a political program, but an ongoing movement to go on offense and strengthen the GOP welcoming your participation and support of strong Republican candidates nationwide.

I’m all for going on offense against liberals – Lord knows we need to do more of it. But I may have one objection and I’m hoping the NRCC follows through on something brought up in this article in The Hill by Aaron Blake:

Sessions said the program aims to help whichever candidates qualify for it, and he even suggested that multiple candidates from the same primary could get involved.
 
He said he would rather not have primaries, especially late ones in the weeks before the general election. But he said the committee would “avoid the temptation of using our resources in primaries” and preferred to instead send a signal with its endorsements to local donors and activists. (Emphasis mine.)

Personally, I prefer contested primaries because there should be more choices among party activists. In 2008 there were choices galore throughout the Republican spectrum and most of the votes were for solid conservatism.

Those who claim that Harris’s victory over Wayne Gilchrest in the Republican primary sealed the seat for Democrats may want to consider that the factor tipping the scale in Kratovil’s favor may have been the sour grapes of Gilchrest’s endorsement of the Democrat – a Democrat who ran as an “independent” conservative Democrat to boot. Certainly the anti-Republican mood of the electorate and the minority turnout buoyed by Barack Obama’s presence on the ballot didn’t hurt Frank either. Yet Kratovil only got a plurality of the vote, barely enough to win.

While 2010 may be a different story, my advice to the NRCC is to support the winner after the primary and not get involved with an endorsement beforehand. Andy Harris was (and is) a great candidate for Congress and this time is placing his political future on the line as he abandons state office for the Congressional run. But there’s always someone else who could do an even better job in Congress and the NRCC may be best keeping its powder dry until the moment is right to train all the guns on the Democrat.

If so, we can assure Frank Kratovil goes down in an electoral blaze of glory come 2010.

There’s one other news item to announce. You may have noticed that I deleted the Draft Charles Lollar site from the Governor’s race. Instead he’s now going to run against Steny Hoyer in the Fifth Congressional District.

Lollar learned last week that he technically ran afoul of the Maryland requirement that a person be a citizen of Maryland for five years as he didn’t change his voting registration from Georgia to Maryland (regarded as proof of state citizenship) until early 2006. Maryland’s loss could be Congress’ gain and the NRCC would be wise to scout out his qualifications.

The noose and the damage done

It’s apparent to me that my coverage of the Kratovil protest (and the health care debate in general) on Monday struck a raw nerve with a lot of people as I continue to moderate comments about it a day and a half later.

Those who already have their axe to grind with thinking Americans like me who posit the government need not expand their sphere of influence any farther into the realm of health care – or as I believe should ratchet it down several notches –  look askance at the gentleman who’s holding up the effigy of Congressman Kratovil on a noose and lump him in with everyone else who shares a similar pro-liberty viewpoint.

And then I had people on my side write and text to me that I shouldn’t have included the pictures with the man in question because it demeans the argument the protestors (who they agree with as a group) are trying to make – nooses aren’t politically correct you know. 

This post is intended to clear the air with both sides.

I stated early on in yesterday’s post “(l)et me say straight away that I wouldn’t have recommended the noose and effigy of Frank Kratovil. The ‘no Kratovil in 2010’ (sign)would have been effective enough.” I thought a noose as a means of expression tacky and over the top, but sometimes the First Amendment protects things I don’t agree with. I also guarantee that had the local TV channels or the Daily Times bothered to cover the protest the noose would have been the lead story. Lord knows that a number of things are written and placed on video about conservatives that hopefully those who are thoughtful cringe at too.

Having seen government intrusion break the healthcare marketplace I join millions of others who are dubious at best about what Obamacare will do. We don’t think it will make going to the doctor any more affordable but in contrast will limit our choices in the matter and eventually lead to rationed care.

Moreover, projections on entitlement spending by Fedzilla have been historically extremely low as the trend is to broaden the coverage base and expand items covered. For example, originally Medicare was only for the elderly but as time went on the disabled were added to the client base and prescription drug coverage was eventually included as part of Medicare decades after its first adoption.

Our complaint with Congressman Kratovil was based on his voting for the stimulus package after voting against it and, more recently, voting for cap-and-trade once provisions were placed in there to “protect Maryland farmers” (read: he wasn’t against it on principle but wanted some federal goodies he could brag about before his vote was sold. The price simply increased from thirty pieces of silver to a billion dollars.) I feel based on his campaign statements he’s even less likely to be a “no” vote on Obamacare despite his membership in the so-called “Blue Dog Democrat” coalition.

We have our chance to end Kratovil’s Congressional career next year, although I will once again state, just for the record, that I told you just how he would be! 

As for my other point: it’s not something I had classical training in, but over the years I have done my site I consider myself (when the opportunity presents itself) to be a journalist. Certainly I agreed with the cause of the protestors and I knew that showing the Kratovil effigy and noose would pretty much garner the reaction it has, one that is arguably detrimental to my side.

But above all I strive to be an accurate depictor of events. It’s why I was feverishly scribbling down some of what I heard Kevin Lawlor and the various protestors say because my idea of event coverage is to give the reader the best chance possible through the limited means I have to know what really happened. The man with the effigy led the parade so he was pretty much unavoidable in order to give a real portrait of the protest.

To me, coverage needs to be complete and a picture atop a hastily written paragraph or two wasn’t my idea of coverage based on the importance of this event. I wouldn’t feel like I did justice to this for my readers if I tried to sugarcoat things because life in general isn’t all sweetness and light. Granted, I do take some editorial license with what I choose to report because I oftentimes have more notes than I need and I’m not shy about adding my opinion either but you know this up front.

The proof of just how effective the protests will be is in the pudding, and we’ll find out once Frank Kratovil casts that fateful vote on H.R. 3200. My bet is that he’ll go along with it but here’s to hoping I’ll be pleasantly surprised and the Obamacare initiative becomes another crashing failure – right next to the smoking wreckage of our present economy that liberal big-government policies have created.

Widespread panic (about our freedom)

Yesterday in Salisbury a band of about 30 protestors braved the humidity and threat of rain to send a message to Congressman Frank Kratovil – keep Obamacare and the government out of our lives!

The protestors began their impromptu march in the library parking lot and walked the two blocks to Congressman Frank Kratovil's Salisbury regional office.

The protestors eventually arrive at Congressman Frank Kratovil's Salisbury regional office.

Let me say straight away that I wouldn’t have recommended the noose and effigy of Frank Kratovil. The “no Kratovil in 2010” (as in the first photo below) would have been effective enough. And it’s not like the signs weren’t quite creative, like the ones in the second and third photos below.

The protestors are gathered in front of Congressman Frank Kratovil's Salisbury regional office. They had the occasional honk from Main Street traffic.

I didn't like the idea of one-sided 'I am AFP' signs but this woman took advantage to write her own message. We'll see if Frank Kratovil is rich like a lottery winner after his time in Congress is over.

More good signage. If you can't read the sign on the right it says 'Let we the people see the healthcare bill first. It's called TRANSPARENCY!'

Obviously those in the protest had concerns about Obamacare. Chief among the murmurs was coverage of illegal immigrants and the lack of tort reform while the rest of us lost our option to keep private health insurance. As one observer put it, private solutions can do a better job while another complained (correctly) that “small businesses don’t know what to do” because the federal situation is in such flux.

Eventually the group was greeted by Kevin Lawlor, who is the Communications Director for Congressman Kratovil.

Kevin Lawlor, Kratovil's Communications Director, emerges from the office to speak with the gathering.

Lawlor stressed that the Congressman was “not committed” yet on the Obamacare bill and that he has “a lot of questions and concerns” about it.

Kratovil mouthpiece Kevin Lawlor does his best to answer a slew of questions concerning the upcoming Obamacare vote as well as Frank's recent vote for cap and trade.

One criticism I would have about the organization of the protest is that the questioners strayed from topic. I think they perceived the flip-flop by Kratovil on cap-and-trade (many protestors noted Frank was originally leaning against it) as a sign of him being “Nancy Pelosi’s lap dog.” But Lawlor countered by saying a lot of people were for cap-and-trade too, and that the office averaged 500 to 600 calls a day in the heat of that debate. Moreover, Frank “doesn’t think cap-and-trade will fail”, according to Kevin.

Once the questioners got around to debating the merits of the healthcare reform bill, the remark by Lawlor that “people want to see some reform” was met by the retort that several states had tried and failed at being healthcare providers. Congressman Kratovil, noted Kevin, “supports the public option but not at the expense of private insurance” and countered that the extra taxes people were concerned about were already being paid when those uninsured can’t pay for their health care.

Lawlor also claimed that Kratovil is asking the same questions we are and “trying to change” the legislation to “make it better.”

But the sentiment among those in front of Frank’s office was one of skepticism. “Leave us alone, we’ll fix it ourselves!” cried one. Another in the crowd, which was made up primarily of seasoned citizens, asked why she was forced to give up her private insurance when she became eligible for Medicare. Kevin pledged that the Congressman “will not vote for a bill that makes people leave private insurance” and further stated that Kratovil is “doing his best to let people know why he votes the way he does.”

I found one question asked by a protester had an answer both troubling and disturbing. Since I know Frank’s office reads monoblogue, perhaps they can clarify this response.

When asked about the Constitutionality of the proposal, Lawlor responded that the Congressman “doesn’t necessarily think” this conforms to the Constitution. I guess I’d like to know where a lot of other items he’s voted for manage to conform to our founding documents.

Since I’m certain this isn’t going to be a one-shot deal, the suggestions I would make to the protestors would be to stay on topic better and designate one or two spokespeople to ask questions. Granted, this turned out to be a peaceful 45 minute dialogue but a lot of energy was wasted on items which weren’t really germaine – Frank can’t change his cap-and-trade vote (although he can vote against any version coming from a House-Senate conference.) Kevin noted that he’d addressed a similar protest in Bel Air last week and another is coming up.

Now a special treat for monoblogue readers.

A different rally occurred last Wednesday down on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. District 100 Delegate candidate Melody Scalley (a definite friend of monoblogue) sent along a few photos of the Eastern Shore Declare and Defend Rally down at the Eastern Shore Community College in Melfa and described it this way:

Excellent speakers from the Eastern Shore and East Coast! Many local Eastern Shore men and women spoke about their concerns for the Eastern Shore, Virginia and our Country. Speakers from across Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and even Washington DC came to our rally to express their concerns.

My sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for this event! We are all concerned about the direction that our Government is headed and the amount of Government spending underway.

(snip)

Following the rally over 30 people enjoyed dinner at a local restaurant, prompting someone to say that we were bringing our own private business stimulus to the Eastern Shore!

She also sent along her own photos. I have to say that she’s done it very conveniently in a nice 640×480 format – thanks Melody!

A shot of the crowd looking toward the stage. Looks like a good turnout for a weeknight event.

Judging by the sign placement, I presume this is Virginia State Senator and AG candidate Bob Cuccinelli addressing the Eastern Shore Declare=

As you can tell, the digs weren't real fancy but the rhetoric was likely top-notch.

It’s worth pointing out that the Maryland part of the Eastern Shore was well represented by Andrew Langer of Campaign for Liberty and Pocomoke City mayor and General Assembly candidate Mike McDermott, along with other local and national speakers on a variety of conservative topics.

I’m also working with Melody on something that could be a first for monoblogue, so stay tuned for that.

Finally what can I say? I hope the title gets me some extra Google hits. But the mood among many freedom-loving Americans is one of panic, albeit a restrained panic thus far. It’s why these rallies have suddenly become big news as government tries to become a bigger force in our lives.

We may have gotten a late start but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight to the finish.

Health care shot over the bow

We’re still over a year from the primary, but issues and the opportunity to make points while building name recognition wait for no one. One recent example is U.S. Senate candidate Eric Wargotz opining on the pace of heath care reform. From his press release:

Dr. Eric Wargotz, a physician and candidate for U.S. Senate (R – Maryland), applauds leaders on Capitol Hill who decided to slow down on health care reform to get it right.

“As a practicing physician, I know we can’t afford Congress to rush and get it wrong. There must be time for an open, honest debate on the merits of the proposed reform. Placing strict deadlines on passage of this legislation was irresponsible and caused it to get seriously off track,” charged Wargotz.

“Now with more time and more thoughtful debate, our leaders may craft legislation that addresses the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs.”

“Real, meaningful health care reform should have three goals – lower costs; improve patient care; and reduce waiting times for critical care,” said Wargotz.

“The current legislation addresses none of these things and in many cases was going to make it much worse.”

Wargotz, outlining the keys to reform, continued. “To accomplish those three goals, reform must include:

  1. Keeping government and insurance companies out of the medical decision making process;
  2. Reforming the health insurance system;
  3. Tackling frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits by capping non-economic damages; and,
  4. Providing incentives in the health care system to attract more people to become health care professionals.”

“Health care makes up 16% of our Gross Domestic Product. Any reform of the system deserves a healthy debate in the marketplace of ideas. The wrong reforms could have devastating results for our economy and more importantly, those who the reforms are supposed to help,” summed Wargotz.

Join the discussion on health care at Dr. Wargotz’s health care web site scheduled to launch next week at www.DrWargotzOnHealthCare.org.

Let’s Make America Healthy & Strong!

It’s a sign of the times that Eric used Facebook to spread this release, as his website is still under development.

Here’s the issue I have with his statement, though. It accepts the premise that something needs to be done and only government can do it. We are ceding the playing field to those who are devoted to simply stopping the latest incursion on freedom and not speaking out about rolling back government’s heavy hand on the market. For example, why can’t reform include sunsetting the ill-advised Medicare Part D prescription drug program?

Let’s look at the Wargotz points one at a time. I certainly agree with keeping government and insurance companies out of the medical decision making process, but it’s also up to those who desire services to be wise consumers. Insurance cannot and should not pay for everything – ideally in my eyes health insurance would be more like auto insurance and cover significant loss, leaving maintenance items to the owner.

Further, the definition of “reform” that Dr. Wargotz speaks to in the second aspect of his solution is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps he means portability or simplification of regulation, which are aspects I’d favor. What I don’t support is the idea of mandatory coverage, which some include as part of reform (witness the Massachusetts solution credited to Mitt Romney.)

On point number three, Eric suggests a good step but one which doesn’t go far enough and may be somewhat misplaced. To me, tort reform also has to include a “loser pays” provision – but I’m not convinced that a federal reform is the way to go. Each state runs its own court system and that battle may be better fought in each state – after all, we have attorneys who scheme to get their suits heard in the states deemed most friendly to plaintiffs so the need for reform is greater in some state capitals than others.

Lastly are “incentives…to attract more people to become health care professionals.” You mean a good salary and benefits in a reasonably stable (if not growing with our aging population) profession aren’t enough? I don’t see the need for any federal program to bring people to the medical profession or, worse, convince them to go into a particular specialty because some bureaucrat deems there’s not enough to go around. To return to the previous point, obstetricians would be more plentiful if the threat of John Edwards channeling the unborn and winning a huge lawsuit (which, in turn, led to astoundingly high malpractice insurance premiums) was lessened or eliminated.

All in all, the candidate for Senate makes some good points; however, there’s much more he can do to make America healthy and strong by moving these ideas along a path which leads to less government and more freedom. Considering his likely general election opponent is currently under the care of our supposedly “broken” system, it may give her a better feel for what’s truly necessary. That prescription isn’t being written by Congress or Washington lobbyists.

Sunday evening reading 2

I’m going to begin this with a cautionary tale that isn’t being has now been released until tomorrow (so there’s no link). The article by writer Carter Clews is called “Barack Obama’s Soylent Green Rationing Rooms”. Since it’s now out I can save a lot of space from my original post and drop the long blockquote.

The analogy is interesting in that the movie portrayed dying as a pleasant highlight from the overcrowded New York City of the year 2022. But the society depicted in the movie could be compared to that of Zimbabwe.

Now on to more simple links.

We know that Obamacare is going to cost money, and the Heritage Foundation has calculated the impact that a 5.4% surtax on high earners could have on small businesses throughout the county as large numbers would be affected. It’s somewhat on the down-and-dirty side but imagine what would happen to the unemployment rate if even one job was lost from each affected business. It’s bad enough for many businesses that the minimum wage just went up.

Chiming in further on the financial side of Obamacare, Matt Kibbe at Townhall.com just calls Obama a “flip-flopper” on the tax deal. Didn’t John McCain want to tax employer-provided health benefits?

Needless to say, the mainstream media breezily dismisses the claims of right-thinking experts and others who see socialized medicine as an expensive and nettlesome boondoggle. Julia A. Seymour and Sarah Knoploh from the Business and Media Institute break down the media coverage of the topic since Obama took office and unsurprisingly find it generally one-sided in favor of socialized medicine.

Speaking of items which could affect business, “card-check” is not dead but being revived in other ways. The editorial writers at the Center for Individual Freedom make the humorous comparison to the old “Saturday Night Live” land shark skits in this article. You know how much I love Big Labor.

Turning to international affairs, blogger Hans Bader notes that the strife in Honduras has encouraged a neighbor and longtime foe of America to make his own bid for lifetime rule. It seems that Democrat presidents are a little weak on foreign affairs according to Bader. And as a twofer Hans also has his take on Obamacare.

All in all, as Rich Galen posits at Townhall.com, it was a bad week for President Obama. But it was a good week for finding interesting items that I encourage you to read.

Sunday 9 p.m. Forgot two I’d saved for this occasion. One is a New York Times travelogue on the local crab houses – I know, given the source it’s just what we need, more tourists and (gasp!) growth.

The other was written by Eastern Shore Delegate Michael Smigiel and points out the real reason Maryland’s going headlong into allowing speed cameras.

I didn’t add these originally because the links weren’t in my “Blog ideas” folder, just added to my favorites for the occasion. So here you are.

It’s tough being a blogger sometimes

First of all, I’d like to apologize for being offline so much yesterday. As it turns out my server caught some malware lodged within my domain. What I’m trying to figure out is how it got there but fortunately there seems to be no harm done thus far. I deleted the directory in question since it was a “spare” directory that I didn’t know I had until the server company told me where the malware was hiding.

I guess the Russians don’t like my site because I’m all in favor of capitalism, not criminalism. I had a lot of fun last night because all sorts of bells and whistles went off on my laptop after I opened the malware file; luckily my firewall and anti-virus have apparently saved me from a Windows lookalike site that supposedly would clean up these viruses (betcha they would have placed those nasty viruses right on here.) I did another virus scan last night just to make sure.

It got me to thinking a little bit though. Would it not be out of the realm of possibility for a left-wing extremist to attack conservative blogs similarly? (I suppose the reverse could be true as well, but I like to think we on the right play by the rules.) It’s a sign of the times about the nastiness of political discourse that such a thing could be considered.

However, it’s not necessarily even a question between left and right – it could be two bloggers who just plain don’t like each other. I can see a pair in my small community doing this, and I bet readers can think of similar Hatfield vs. McCoy type feuds wherever they read this post.

It was a bummer that I lost so much time yesterday offline. I’m not going to wax ecstatic about my readership because it wasn’t a record week but it’s been better than most lately. Losing that time almost cost me a triple-digit day in readership. Yeah, that pales in comparison to some sites but I don’t put a lot of filler in mine and it takes me plenty of time to compile one good post.

However, while I may be complaining to some extent I’m not losing sight of the big picture. While you’re reading this the chances are great that I’m actually out enjoying a nice Delmarva summer day (since I wrote this last night). I enjoy writing but there’s also work to do and in my case someone special to do things with, so don’t look for me to spend 16 hours a day (or even more than a couple) working on my site. While it may cost me a large number of readers I don’t feel like it’s time wasted either.

It’s just something to think over on this Saturday morning. I’m thinking I’ll have some Sunday evening reading since my “blog ideas” folder had plenty of that to go with the half-dozen videos I found interesting, so you can look forward to that.

Friday night videos

With apologies to the former NBC late-night show from the 1980’s, I thought this would be a good idea to put up some of the stuff I’ve seen questioning the policies of the Messiah in the White House.

While Newt Gingrich doesn’t appear in the spot, his American Solutions Group suggests a proven solution for job creation – putting more money in the economy by lowering the tax burden on businesses.

 

That definitely contrasts with the idea of burdening business owners with the cap-and-trade energy “tax” and fining them if they don’t comply with Obamacare.

And then we have satire. The mythical “PMA Group” came up with this and the message hits home with me.

The reason this is so believable is a sad truth that money and power rule the day in Washington and all 50 state capitals. It’s my contention that reducing the size of government would make politicians more honest – after all, if there’s less of a pie to stick one’s fingers in they won’t be as tempted to, while on the other hand it’s a well-known axiom that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

And of course, there’s “Obamacare”. This comes from my old friends at Our Country Deserves Better. Man, they make some pointed commercials.

I don’t happen to recall his exact title, but did you notice Dick Morris was one of those cited? Didn’t he work for the Clinton Administration, purveyor of the failed Hillarycare? That tells me a lot – I know many consider him a moderate but I’m not so sure.

And then there’s the Canadian plan. We saw this last night at the Healthcare Forum I liveblogged:

Yes, it was paid for by Americans for Prosperity. Certainly naysayers will say that this is an isolated case and most Canadians are happy with their health care. But most Canadians aren’t staring at the diagnosis this woman faced either.

However, this may be my favorite video this time around. It’s Obama vs. Obama:

He’s the master of doublespeak and obfuscation, isn’t he? And to think all that most of the stimulus money has done so far is bail out a bunch of states who couldn’t otherwise balance their budgets. Even the reviled TARP program passed under a lame-duck President Bush wasn’t that audacious.

I’ll finish with this from the Center for Indvidual Freedom – unfortunately you have to follow the link. Their “Freedom Minute” is about 3 1/2 minutes long and discusses Obamacare from the organization’s point of view.

I hope you enjoyed all of the videos. Perhaps they’re not as sexy as the videos the old NBC series used to play but in the scheme of things they’re much more important.

Shorebird of the Week – July 23, 2009

I took this photo on July 1st, which was Nathan's last bad start. Since then he's won three starts in a row, allowing just 1 run in 18-plus innings.

Note: I’m doing this a bit earlier than normal today because I’ll be liveblogging at the usual 7 p.m. announcement time.

With 16 teams in the South Atlantic League it’s tough for a Shorebird player to be selected when the league gives out weekly honors. But last week Nathan Moreau turned the trick and I decided it was high time to award him Shorebird of the Week as well.

Nathan has been on a hot streak of late, twirling shutout performances in his last two starts covering a total of 13 innings. With three victories in a row Moreau has turned around his record – which is now 4-2 – and since the All-Star break has lowered his ERA from 4.55 to a much more respectable 3.29 mark.

But Nathan still has a little work to do in keeping consistency. A look at his starts reveals that when he’s in the strike zone he’s dominant but walks can become an issue. Over the most recent three-start stretch the 22 year old Georgian has allowed but two walks – a key to his success. But other starts earlier on he allowed a walk per inning and was burned by that. It’s led to a season where the 4-2 record and 3.29 ERA is accompanied by a slightly high WHIP of 1.34, allowing 47 hits and 26 walks in 54 2/3 innings over 13 starts.

Yet the Orioles have plenty of faith in Nathan, selecting him in the 11th round of the 2008 draft. His Aberdeen numbers weren’t particularly great (1-2, 5.70 ERA in 36 1/3 innings over 10 appearances) and he had some extra work to do in spring training, not joining the Shorebirds until May 7th. But as the year progresses we’re seeing improvement with Nathan and certainly we’ll be leaning on him to anchor the staff for a second half run.

Health care summit tomorrow

Note: the Liveblogging box will reappear at 3:45 this afternoon. It didn’t work properly when I attempted to keep that as the lead item under the new Shorebird of the Week.

This will be an interesting event and I'll be there to cover it.

You may have heard the radio ads for this events over the last week or so, but tomorrow Patients First, in conjunction with the Maryland Americans for Prosperity organization, will hold a Health Care Summit at Salisbury University.

This may seem like a simple effort to get more members to join a advocacy group (and it is.) But in this case the stakes are pretty high – your well-being and ability to secure the health care of your choice and your need.

Be there or be square. All right, if you can’t be there I’m in the midst of making arrangements to live blog the event, either here or on my sister blog Red County Wicomico, or both.

Because of that, Shorebird fans will get a special treat as I move my Shorebird of the Week announcement up to noon tomorrow. I don’t think the honoree will mind.