Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

This amendment to the California constitution (proposition 8) has just been declared unconstitutional in federal court.  The title above is the exact and complete wording of the proposition.  The California supreme court has already upheld the California state constitutionality of the proposition.  However, US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the amendment violates the United States constitution. What was his legal reasoning?: heterosexual marriage = homophobic discrimination. You can bet this is going all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Interestingly enough, the judge in this case is gay.

The federal government can do most anything

The consequences of health care as a right

If you want to see the end result of government-controlled, universal health care, just look at what is happening to the British health service.  Here is an article from the United Kingdom about the financial realities of socialized medical care:

• Restrictions on basic surgeries such as hip & knee replacements and cataract surgeries
• Dying cancer patients told to manage their own symptoms on evenings and weekends if their condition worsens
• Closing nursing homes for the elderly
• Reducing the number of acute care hospital beds available
• Cutting thousands of medical care workers
• Reducing hospital stay lengths for the terminally ill
• Admitting fewer terminally ill cancer patients
• Doctors only allowed to do surgery on a patient with prior government administration approval on a case by case basis

Can you say "death panels"?  The British Health Service budget has tripled since 1997.  Luckily, President Obama has promised that his health care plan to cover an additional 35 million people was needed to reduce our government spending deficit for the next 10 years.

Real U.S. unemployment is 16.6%

Here is an interesting article about how the federal government calculates the unemployment rate.  The official percentage does not include people who have not looked for work over the past 4 weeks.  It also does not count people working part time who want full time work.  This means that the official unemployment rate can go down when people who were looking for jobs have become discouraged and have stopped looking for awhile.  This is why new jobless claims can go up, but the official unemployment rate goes down.  In 1995, economists lobbied the government to change how it calculates unemployment, using the method that Japan, Canada, and Western Europe uses.  This new measurement is called "U-6" and is a better real world estimate of true unemployment.  The current estimate is 16.6%.

Uncontrolled government wages and benefits

The Wall Street Journal had an excellent article on the desperate financial situations of the states in this country. The article was full of fascinating and sobering facts:

1. State pensions are underfunded be $1 trillion.

2. States on average have only set aside 7.1% of retiree healthcare and non-pension benefits and 20 states have set aside no money.

3. Private payrolls have decreased 7.4%, state and local payrolls remain unchanged.

4. Local and state labor costs were $1.1 trillion in 2008, accounting for half of the spending.

5. The past social contract of government workers receiving lower wages in exchange for earlier retirement and generous pension programs is gone.

• Government wages are now an average of 34% higher than the private sector
• Benefits are 70% higher than the private sector
• Health insurance costs for public workers are 2.18 times higher than private sector workers

6. 37% of public workers are unionized compared to 7.2% in the private sector.

7. 84% of municipal workers have guaranteed pension retirement compared to 21% private sector

• Public sector pensions pay twice as much as private sector
• "Public-sector retirement costs also are high because many can retire at age 55 after 30 years of employment with pensions equal to 60% or more of final salary, which is often jacked up by lots of overtime in final working years."
• "In some states, employees can "double dip" by retiring early and then resuming their previous jobs or taking other government positions. So they get salaries and pensions at the same time."

This is just one of the legion examples proving how easy it is to spend someone else's money.

You can read proposed solutions in A. Gary Shiller's article here.

"I do think at a certain point you have made enough money."

Specifically, how much money is enough money? President Obama goes off teleprompter and quickly reveals his belief that every person's income should be limited. I wonder how he wants to limit that additional income ;)?

Proposed Tea Party theme song

I heard this song as I drove to work this morning. As I listened to the lyrics I realized it might be an edgy theme song for the tea party. Remember it from the 80s?

We're Not Gonna Take It

Oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

we've Got The Right To Choose And
there Ain't No Way We'll Lose It
this Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
we'll Fight The Powers That Be Just
don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause
you Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

oh You're So Condescending
your Gall Is Never Ending
we Don't Want Nothin', Not A Thing From You
your Life Is Trite And Jaded
boring And Confiscated
if That's Your Best, Your Best Won't Do

oh.....................
oh.....................
we're Right/yeah
we're Free/yeah
we'll Fight/yeah
you'll See/yeah

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

oh We're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore
no Way!

oh.....................
oh.....................
we're Right/yeah
we're Free/yeah
we'll Fight/yeah
you'll See/yeah

we're Not Gonna Take It
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

we're Not Gonna Take It, No!
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

just You Try And Make Us
we're Not Gonna Take It
come On
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
you're All Worthless And Weak
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore
now Drop And Give Me Twenty
we're Not Gonna Take It
oh Crinch Pin
no, We Ain't Gonna Take It
oh You And Your Uniform
we're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

-- Twisted Sister

7 worst made cars

Here's a surprise. The seven worst made cars on the road today are all made by American car companies. Six out of the seven cars are made by government motors. Why do you think American car companies can not compete with the quality of foreign car companies?

Here is the list:

1. Cadillac Escalade.
2. Chevy Aveo
3. Chevy Colorado
4. Dodge Nitro
5. Ford F-250
6. GMC Canyon
7. Jeep Wrangler

Read more about it here.

Obama - are you kidding me???

Here is a guest editorial by Alex Geschke. He is so passionate about the treatment of the banking sector by President Obama, that he wrote this essay and sent it out on Facebook.


I’m not a political activist. In fact, I do my best to avoid political discussions but I’ve now reached a tipping point.

Obama has started an aggressive campaign against the banking industry that leaves most Americans with the wrong idea about how the banking system works in this country.

Obama has repeatedly criticized big banks and continues to site “obscene” bonus levels as the primary indicator that the banking system is irresponsible.

However, the President fails to point out an important fact. There are two types of banks: 1) Investment Banks and 2) Commercial Banks. Investment Banks focus on Wall Street activities such as mergers and acquisitions, IPO’s, commodities trading, and institutional investment management. Commercial Banks by contrast focus on core economic fundamentals such as lending to business, providing treasury management services and developing infrastructure for clearing funds through the financial system.

The current economic crisis was NOT triggered by core commercial banking as Obama would allow you to believe. Causes of the current recession are many (to name a few: a housing bubble created by low interest rates and creative mortgages - no-doc applications with less than truthful borrowers - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agencies pushing sub-prime mortgage backed loan pools to Wall Street - lax regulation or oversight to the brokerage industry - the natural cycle of economics) . Previous Fed Chairman Paul Volcker (who sits on Obama's economic advisory board) was quoted in Business Week as saying commercial baking is the core of the economic system. Thus, it is very miss-leading to lump all banks together as one.

Nevertheless, Obama wants to tax all big banks to cover costs of the bailout. It is estimated that 60% of this tax revenue would come from the 10 largest banks wether they are borrowing from TARP or not.

I'm upset enough to write all this because I work for US Bank, a large commercial bank that did not get involved in sub-prime lending or exotic Wall Street investment vehicles but would still have to pay this tax. We were the first large bank to repay all of the TARP funds, we passed the "bank stress test" with the highest score, we have remained profitable throughout the recession and have continued to lend money to well-maganed businesses. Also, the US Bank Foundation donated over $20 million to various community charities and organizations in 2009 (http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/about/community_relations/commun_relations.cfm).

Good, but not good enough. US Bank would still be subject to the bank tax Obama is proposing. Why?? If US Bank didn't contribute to this mess, why should it be penalized? If it's not receiving tax payer assistance, why should it be penalized? It's reasonable to pressure firms that played a negative role or continue to pay large bonuses while utilizing bailout funds, but very un-American to punish those that acted responsibly and are not borrowing from tax payers.

At the beginning of Obama's administration I was encouraged that our country was on the path to reclaiming respect. Now I am disappointed. With roughly 200 million voters and approximately 1.5 million big bank employees Obama knows he can recklessly bash the banking industry with little downside.

So, I guess he's not a hero or the savior of America after all. He's a very ordinary politician who happens to be well spoken and lucky to be following the footsteps of George Bush.

During his camping Obama said "I don't believe in redistribution of wealth, I just believe in what is fair".
I guess I have a different definition of fair than he does.

2009 Federal spending hits $3.5 trillion

The numbers are in for the federal government spending in fiscal 2009. A record $3.5 trillion was spent in one year, racking up a $1.4 trillion deficit in one year. This deficit is $1 trillion more than 2008. This proves this is not a government revenue problem. More taxes are NOT the solution. The politicians are addicted to spending other people's money. They have an inexhaustible appetite for finding new crisis after new crisis that can only be solved by government. Can you say universal healthcare, cash for clunkers, financial industry bailouts, government motors and the stimulus bill? The value of a dollar is crashing, sky rocketing gold value. The only responsible solution is to slash the government budget in every sector and now. Hold your representatives responsible for their deficit spending behavior.

Global Warming Fraud

Last week news broke that a computer hacker had broken into the Climate Research Unit at the University of Anglia in England. This is one of the premiere scientific research centers promoting man-made global warming. Huge numbers of emails were downloaded, documenting conversations between the most prominent climate researchers in the world. The emails revealed appalling scientific fraud. (Read the summary from the Wall Street Journal Here.) The scientists discussed destroying climate data, joining together to refuse access to raw data from climate skeptics, applauding the death of a prominent climate skeptic, discussing ways to manipulate climate data to hide any global cooling, and discussing ways to get rid of prominent skeptic scientists from journal peer-review boards so that all research supporting global warming could be published and all research questioning global warming could be prevented from being published. The Washington Times wrote an article summarizing all the fraud and deceit occurring in the climate research community. The hacked data also revealed how government funding of 10s of millions of dollars goes to support the "favorable" research outcomes of global warming so governments can use the results as a reason to regulate CO2. This provides governments with massive new powers and tax revenue; a clear conflict of interest that would not be ignored if private industry tried the same type of research manipulation. The American Thinker has a great article about this.

Addendum: Here is an article from The Register in the United Kingdom on more climate science fraud. There appears to be a complete collapse of the peer-review process that is supposed to check data to make sure it is accurate before publication in a journal. It has come to light that tree ring data used to extrapolate climate data from the past 2000 years was systematically cherry picked to only show global warming. From the article:

"At least eight papers purporting to reconstruct the historical temperature record times may need to be revisited, with significant implications for contemporary climate studies, the basis of the IPCC's assessments. A number of these involve senior climatologists at the British climate research centre CRU at the University East Anglia. In every case, peer review failed to pick up the errors."

What was the error? The research papers used core samples from just 12 trees, yes 12 trees. The so called Yamal data set had a total of 252 trees. When all 252 core samples are used in the data model, the global warming trend completely disappears. These papers were published in the journals Science and Nature, considered some of the top science journals in the world. The publishing scientists tried to keep the Yamal data set they used secret and were successful for years. Finally, the data slipped out. A mathematician in Canada used the data in an attempt to recreate the climate data. His Name? Steve McIntyre, a thorn in the global warming scientists' side for years. He discovered that in order to reproduce the strong recent global warming trend, he had to pick just certain samples out of the 252 trees. This is yet another example of scientific fraud occurring in the global warming climate research.

Sarah Palin book

It's been a long time since I written. The last month has been really hectic. Work is extra busy, we went on a Hawaii cruise, dad got re-married, and I went with Bev to her 20 year high school reunion in Hanford, Ca.

To say there is a ton of new political developments going on would be an understatement. The house passed a horrible health "deform" bill. I often visit with other doctors in the hospital. The specialists in cardiology and ENT say the proposed changes will fundamentally destroy the way they currently work. Most of them are so discouraged about it that they say they will leave medicine. The senate health bill adds tons of new taxes which will break President Obama's campaign pledge not to raise taxes on those who make less than $250, 000 per year. The plan calls for immediate new taxes for the next 10 years, while delaying the start of the "universal health care" for 3 more years. Ten years of new taxes to pay for 7 years of healthcare. This is how they got the CBO so say the plan "saves" the government money. What a power grab.

I've read through the first 30 pages of Going Rogue. I'm enjoying it a lot. So far, it's mainly dealt with Sarah Palin's childhood. Things I've learned:

She was born in Sandpoint, Idaho. Her maiden name is Heath. She has an older brother and sister and a younger sister. The family moved to Skagway, Alaska when the children were babies. Her dad took a job as a teacher in Skagway. The entire family was caught up in the running craze starting back in the 1970's (her dad ran 2 Boston Marathons, her mom won her age group in an Alaska marathon, and Sarah has run one sub 4 hour marathon).

I've been pleasantly surprised about various spiritual passages in the book. Here are some quotes from the reading so far that stuck out to me.

"One summer , I attended a youth Bible camp in Big Lake [Alaska, not Oregon] and understood for myself what Pascal was talking about. Looking around at the incredible creation that is Alaska - the majestic peaks and midnight sun, the wild waters and teeming wildlife- I could practically see and hear and feel God's spirit reflecting in everything in nature. I reasoned that if God knew what he was doing in this magnificent creation, how much more did He know about me? If He is powerful and wise enough to make all this and thought also to create a speck like me, here surely must be a plan, and He'd know more than I did about my future and my purpose. I made the conscious decision that summer to put my life in my Creator's hands and trust Him as I sought my life's path".

"I got into the habit of reading Scripture before I got out of bed every morning and making sure it was the last thing I did at night."

"As a kid, to me that meant that if I earned five dollars, I put fifty cents in the offering plate. . . Not only was doing those things personally rewarding, but God continually proved His promises true, blessing our giving with giving of His own."

Policy bans walking and biking to school

Can you believe this? Saratoga Springs school does not "allow" students to walk or bike to school. Here's a quote from the newspaper article.

"At the start of school in September, Kaddo Marino thought that she had a nonverbal agreement with school officials to allow her son to ride his bike until a new policy was resolved. But on the night before classes started, school authorities called parents to say that walking and biking to school would not be tolerated.

When the pair stuck with their plan, they were met by school administrators and a state trooper, who emphasized that biking was prohibited, Kaddo Marino said."

Mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama

Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

Song 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

Investigating man-made global warming

I have been reading a lot lately about global warming. The more I read, the more skeptical I get that increasing CO2 levels cause global warming. The hysteria is waaay over the top. Here is an excerpt from the latest blog I have been reading.

"The worst flaw in the AGW argument is the treatment of GCM computer generated outputs as data. They then use it in follow on hypotheses. For example, if temperature rises by X degrees in 50 years, then Y will be effected in such-and-such a way resulting in Z. Then the next person comes along and says, well, if Z happens, the effect on W will be a catastrophe. “I need (and deserve) more money to study the effects on W.” Hypotheses, stacked on hypotheses, stacked on more hypotheses, all based on computer outputs that are not data, using a process that does not lend to proof using the SCIENTIFIC METHOD. Look at their results, IF, MIGHT, and COULD are used throughout their news making results. And when one of the underlying hypotheses is proven incorrect, well, the public only remembers the doomsday results 2 or three iterations down the hypotheses train. The hypotheses downstream are not automatically thrown out and can even be used for more follow on hypotheses."

Conservatives outnumber Liberals in every State

Here is an interesting demographic poll done by Gallup from January 2 to June 30, 2009. 160, 236 American adults were surveyed and asked to self-identify themselves as very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, or very liberal. Here are the results.

Ronald Reagan on socialized medicine

Whole Foods Markets vs. Obamacare

There has been a huge amount of criticism about the proposal for universal health coverage. I think it's always good to provide an alternative plan to the one you're tearing down. Here's a great article by John Mackey, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Markets. He gives 8 reforms that he believes would improve health care coverage in the United States. The article is excellent. I highly recommend reading it.

Detailed Obamacare analysis

There have been so many accusations going back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans. It is difficult to separate the hyperbole from the reality. I found this excellent, detailed analysis of the house bill, H.R. 3200 "America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009”. It is written by John David Lewis, a classics professor at Duke University. He earned his PhD in classics at the University of Cambridge in 2001. Dr. Lewis asks 9 questions and then reviews the pertinent sections of the bill to answer the questions. He writes this from a non-doctor, non-attorney, general citizen point of view. I have written a summary below. You can read the entire article here.

1. Will the plan ration medical care?

• The short answer is yes. The government will control costs by limiting the medical evaluations and treatments it will reimburse.
  

2. Will the plan punish Americans who try to opt out?

• Yes, individuals without acceptable healthcare coverage as defined by the government, will be assessed a special tax that will be enforced through the IRS.

3. What constitutes acceptable coverage?

• The bill defines this coverage in detail and states that an individual's coverage must meet an actuarial value of 70% of the required coverage. This essentially makes high deductible catastrophic health insurance and medical savings accounts illegal.
  

4. Will the plan destroy private health insurance?

• Private health insurance remains legal. However, small business can pay an 8% payroll tax instead of providing health benefits. The employees would then have to be on the government plan. The 8% payroll tax is much less money than it costs for the business to provide medical benefits. Therefore, there is a strong financial incentive for business to abolish their healthcare benefits and move employees to the government plan.
  

5. Does the plan tax successful Americans more than others?

• Yes, the IRS code is modified to add a new progressive tax starting with incomes of $350, 000.
  

6. Does the plan allow government to set fees for services?

• Yes, a government official will set payment rates for all medical services. The official's authority to set prices is "unlimited".
  

7. Will the plan increase the power of government officials to scrutinize our private affairs?

• The Health Choices Commissioner will have access to any tax payer's financial information as needed to determine eligibility.
  

8. Does the plan automatically enroll Americans in the government plan?

• Anyone not specifically entered in a private plan by their employer will be enrolled in the government plan.
  

9. Does the plan exempt federal officials from court review?

• No judicial review of the payment rate or methodology is allowed under the plan.

Conservative principles I believe in

From time to time I think of succinct ways to describe the conservative political philosophy I believe in. Then I get busy with life and forget to write them down. Therefore, I'm starting this blog entry to write down the principles when they pop into mind. And by the way, many of these beliefs are not new or original with me, I just want to start my own list. I will also add quotes that I like. The principles and quotes are in no particular order at this point.

• I'm more afraid of power abuse by big government than big corporations.
• "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." —Margaret Thatcher