In the face of what some see as impending doom we remain optimistic. We gained reason to believe in this Country at our family reunion: character and backbone - the predominant theme there. After that gathering we were even more convinced that the current experiment in Washington is a transitory one, not something which will be institutionalized. It will prove to be a needed catharsis, not a tragedy.
We all know that the stars aligned perfectly for a radical element of US society; the far left for the first time in our lifetime gained traction; what Vic Hansen calls "faculty-lounge utopian rhetoric" became no longer just rhetoric.
Result - the dreams of a zealous few have at last become the nightmares of a once-complacent many. Good. Once sampled, these few will be rejected; there will be a great retching, a great heaving as these types are vomited up and out of America’s system.
We predicted earlier that historians will consider BO’s rise to power, his and his fellow extremists’ attempt to re-make American society, as a fluke. None under the oak that afternoon, notwithstanding party affiliation, harbor a distaste for American society, for America’s history or for America’s place in the free world as do the far left. These and others just like them will not accept this attempted heist by a few who believe they have superior wisdom and greater insight than most of us, who believe they have been ordained or anointed to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us.
Ronald Reagan observed, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." They’ll be reminded of that in the near term. What they thought to be a revolution, a legacy will turn out to be nothing but a spark to ignite their well-deserved end as a contributing segment of society.
They will become once again, simply a nuisance.
Robert Craven
Monday, April 12, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Americans At Hare Hill
When the Constitutional Convention finished its work Ben Franklin was asked what kind of government had been decided upon. He replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Many patriots then perceived the threat of loss, of dissolution. There was no precedence for what they had just done.
Today many of us also fear the threat to our Republic but as posed by radicals with traction in Washington. Yet perhaps we have given less credit than is due to the average American. We came upon a few just this past Easter weekend.
In the foothills of the Sierra, near where the Kings runs down to the San Joaquin Valley plain there is a special place to which generations of Yokut made their way every year in search of sustenance and shelter. So too does our family make its way each Easter season to this place, also to seek sustenance yet not by the way of the acorn and deer as did the Toihicha and Aiticha; we are gathered there for a renewal, to reflect and to share.
Fried chicken has replaced the deer, macaroni salad, the acorn; the spring water is now bottled. But just as the Yokut found an anchor at the spot we call Hare Hill so too has our family, and for six generations.
Four living generations still come to this place. Some, just yesterday it seemed seated under the grand old oak are now gone; others, scampering underfoot amongst the wild flowers, give promise.
There’s an immediate connection as we arrive and it is genuine. There is no desultory chatter, no loaded comments. Folks are eye to eye in conversation, putting the other up front and center; it’s all that warmth, care and a heart can deliver.
The Americans at Hare Hill have been dealt a hand. For most, prosperity and happiness but for others, a challenge, perhaps of the body; for a few, a recent sorrow. Yet no whining from these, no complaints as we gather.
There’s a mom, her daughter just taken from her but busy with the little ones under the oak, seeing to them and their joy, and these little ones, without knowing it delivering something to sooth her wound. There are others, recently stricken a body blow but simply inquiring into the welfare of their cousins; nothing of self absorption from them - humor and good nature, the salve of choice. And there are three of the Great Generation, one nearly silent now as he sits wrapped against the breeze, his thoughts perhaps of another time. In another time this great American flew the daring flight so that Ike might have the trigger to launch the liberation of Europe.
Strength of character is the common denominator at the reunion; it is refurbished every Easter. These are the best America has to offer. The very great and very average American was right there at Hare Hill. Just a whole lot of them, doing the best they can and doing it pretty dog gone up and walkin good - self sufficient, beholden to none, accepting life’s adventure while looking to their family’s and their country’s integrity in the bargain.
As we drove home from the Easter gathering we felt renewed, not just for ourselves and our family but for our Country. We knew then that these Americans and the many more just like them will never abandon our Founders’ ideals.
Ben, we’ll be alright.
Robert Craven
Today many of us also fear the threat to our Republic but as posed by radicals with traction in Washington. Yet perhaps we have given less credit than is due to the average American. We came upon a few just this past Easter weekend.
In the foothills of the Sierra, near where the Kings runs down to the San Joaquin Valley plain there is a special place to which generations of Yokut made their way every year in search of sustenance and shelter. So too does our family make its way each Easter season to this place, also to seek sustenance yet not by the way of the acorn and deer as did the Toihicha and Aiticha; we are gathered there for a renewal, to reflect and to share.
Fried chicken has replaced the deer, macaroni salad, the acorn; the spring water is now bottled. But just as the Yokut found an anchor at the spot we call Hare Hill so too has our family, and for six generations.
Four living generations still come to this place. Some, just yesterday it seemed seated under the grand old oak are now gone; others, scampering underfoot amongst the wild flowers, give promise.
There’s an immediate connection as we arrive and it is genuine. There is no desultory chatter, no loaded comments. Folks are eye to eye in conversation, putting the other up front and center; it’s all that warmth, care and a heart can deliver.
The Americans at Hare Hill have been dealt a hand. For most, prosperity and happiness but for others, a challenge, perhaps of the body; for a few, a recent sorrow. Yet no whining from these, no complaints as we gather.
There’s a mom, her daughter just taken from her but busy with the little ones under the oak, seeing to them and their joy, and these little ones, without knowing it delivering something to sooth her wound. There are others, recently stricken a body blow but simply inquiring into the welfare of their cousins; nothing of self absorption from them - humor and good nature, the salve of choice. And there are three of the Great Generation, one nearly silent now as he sits wrapped against the breeze, his thoughts perhaps of another time. In another time this great American flew the daring flight so that Ike might have the trigger to launch the liberation of Europe.
Strength of character is the common denominator at the reunion; it is refurbished every Easter. These are the best America has to offer. The very great and very average American was right there at Hare Hill. Just a whole lot of them, doing the best they can and doing it pretty dog gone up and walkin good - self sufficient, beholden to none, accepting life’s adventure while looking to their family’s and their country’s integrity in the bargain.
As we drove home from the Easter gathering we felt renewed, not just for ourselves and our family but for our Country. We knew then that these Americans and the many more just like them will never abandon our Founders’ ideals.
Ben, we’ll be alright.
Robert Craven
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Where Were The Republicans?
We all hear that perhaps 70% of Americans are opposed to BO’s plan. Perhaps, but we know plenty of lefties who think it’s just fine. Actually, "think" is not the correct word with reference to these poor souls. They don’t think in the sense most of us understand the word. It’s closer to a hot flash or a random blast of emotion, untethered.
Anyway, it’s curious that they claim (change of word) it’s just fine. If they cared about their own self interest and that of their family naturally they would oppose the plan. There’s something else afoot. Part of it is pure partisanship; they’d swallow more Kool Aid if the DNC called for it. Part of it is a sense of embarrassment; there’s no way they’re about to admit a major screw up, and those who continue to look for an admission of guilt just aren’t going to get it. Folks who’ve been taken by their own party may talk about it, but only behind closed doors.
BO has acted perfectly in character, yes, but we don’t think he has got all of us in a heap of trouble. This is not Greece. Even some of the Founders lost hope just after the Revolution. Don’t. Americans won’t let this thing stand. It’s true that BO’s operatives went for health as the vehicle to the promised land because they know that repeal is difficult - conventional wisdom is that once it’s done, it’s done. No, we will get free-market reforms that work.
But certainly the Republicans were asleep at the switch. Some say it is the party’s marriage to the insurance companies, just as others, us included, know that it is the Dem’s beholden to trial lawyers that kept any cost savings out of BO’s bill. For whatever reason, if the Republicans had acted early on they would have saved all of us a heck of a lot of trouble.
However, there is one flip side to the fact they didn’t, and, it’s not a bad one - the recent exercise means an end to the far left other than as an outlier, for generations to come. They 1) gained traction, 2) showed their stuff, and 3) it gagged most normal folk.
We’re optimistic for this Country.
Robert Craven
Anyway, it’s curious that they claim (change of word) it’s just fine. If they cared about their own self interest and that of their family naturally they would oppose the plan. There’s something else afoot. Part of it is pure partisanship; they’d swallow more Kool Aid if the DNC called for it. Part of it is a sense of embarrassment; there’s no way they’re about to admit a major screw up, and those who continue to look for an admission of guilt just aren’t going to get it. Folks who’ve been taken by their own party may talk about it, but only behind closed doors.
BO has acted perfectly in character, yes, but we don’t think he has got all of us in a heap of trouble. This is not Greece. Even some of the Founders lost hope just after the Revolution. Don’t. Americans won’t let this thing stand. It’s true that BO’s operatives went for health as the vehicle to the promised land because they know that repeal is difficult - conventional wisdom is that once it’s done, it’s done. No, we will get free-market reforms that work.
But certainly the Republicans were asleep at the switch. Some say it is the party’s marriage to the insurance companies, just as others, us included, know that it is the Dem’s beholden to trial lawyers that kept any cost savings out of BO’s bill. For whatever reason, if the Republicans had acted early on they would have saved all of us a heck of a lot of trouble.
However, there is one flip side to the fact they didn’t, and, it’s not a bad one - the recent exercise means an end to the far left other than as an outlier, for generations to come. They 1) gained traction, 2) showed their stuff, and 3) it gagged most normal folk.
We’re optimistic for this Country.
Robert Craven
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Unforgiven
Suddenly, in headline after headline and each with the flair of original discovery - "Hey, wait a minute, this thing wasn’t even about health care. What gives?"
Oh, that.
We can surely understand why the Investor’s Business Daily declared, "We've done more than 150 editorials in the past year or so documenting these problems. Democrats surely understand them. Yet, despite a recent CNN poll showing that 59% of Americans oppose ObamaCare, Congress approved it anyway. Why? Because it's not really about health care. It's the largest wealth grab in American history, masquerading as health care ‘reform,’ another step in the socialization of Americans' income in the name of ‘fairness’ and ‘spreading the wealth around,’ as Obama himself has put it."
Must have read our blog.
Many patriots are disheartened. Don't be. This whole shebang is a fluke. Time was compressed. The near-meltdown of Q4 '08 (triggered by the Dem’s refusal to reform the twins) coupled with political correctness got us an extremist for a president. The odds are tiny that we will ever see such a combination again.
Still, many reasonable observers think it’s all over for America.
Some herald the post-war UK as our destiny. As Mark Steyn notes, "the greatest empire the world had ever known would have shriveled to an economically moribund strike-bound socialist slough of despond, one in which (stop me if this sounds familiar) the government ran the hospitals, the automobile industry, and much of the housing."
True. I know. I was there when Mark was in diapers. Being a student traveler with no $ I befriended a family of four and was taken in. The Mr. worked for a coal-driven electrical generating plant. Being on strike, he and I and his wife and two daughters took the car ferry to Ireland and toured for a week (stopping precisely at 1 pm every day, pulled off the road with our gas burner, for tea). I hadn’t grown up; I still harbored the silly and glandular notions of a college kid - the same notions that our lefty friends in Marin took into adulthood. I listened to a week’s worth of complaints. It was always someone else’s fault. They had rejected Churchill, adopting the nanny state, and now things weren’t working out just as planned.
But guess what? Lo and behold, the UK righted itself. Dear Margeret had a lot to do with it. So did the people. They’d had enough.
Our correction will be more accelerated and for the single reason that in-house extremists have shown their colors in an instant. Not sneaky and not gradual, but in our face.
Big mistake.
It’s all been fast forwarded. Nothing about BO’s agenda can be called "creeping." The time of a lifetime for these misfits called for gestapo tactics. That won't work in America.
Normally, folks might opt for a ball game (while experiencing the death of 1000 cuts) but this time it scares the pants off most of them, that is, those who retain their sensory capacity. They’re not going to accept this sin.
Recall Eastwood’s The Unforgiven. Cross the line, and you’re about to become history.
Robert Craven
Oh, that.
We can surely understand why the Investor’s Business Daily declared, "We've done more than 150 editorials in the past year or so documenting these problems. Democrats surely understand them. Yet, despite a recent CNN poll showing that 59% of Americans oppose ObamaCare, Congress approved it anyway. Why? Because it's not really about health care. It's the largest wealth grab in American history, masquerading as health care ‘reform,’ another step in the socialization of Americans' income in the name of ‘fairness’ and ‘spreading the wealth around,’ as Obama himself has put it."
Must have read our blog.
Many patriots are disheartened. Don't be. This whole shebang is a fluke. Time was compressed. The near-meltdown of Q4 '08 (triggered by the Dem’s refusal to reform the twins) coupled with political correctness got us an extremist for a president. The odds are tiny that we will ever see such a combination again.
Still, many reasonable observers think it’s all over for America.
Some herald the post-war UK as our destiny. As Mark Steyn notes, "the greatest empire the world had ever known would have shriveled to an economically moribund strike-bound socialist slough of despond, one in which (stop me if this sounds familiar) the government ran the hospitals, the automobile industry, and much of the housing."
True. I know. I was there when Mark was in diapers. Being a student traveler with no $ I befriended a family of four and was taken in. The Mr. worked for a coal-driven electrical generating plant. Being on strike, he and I and his wife and two daughters took the car ferry to Ireland and toured for a week (stopping precisely at 1 pm every day, pulled off the road with our gas burner, for tea). I hadn’t grown up; I still harbored the silly and glandular notions of a college kid - the same notions that our lefty friends in Marin took into adulthood. I listened to a week’s worth of complaints. It was always someone else’s fault. They had rejected Churchill, adopting the nanny state, and now things weren’t working out just as planned.
But guess what? Lo and behold, the UK righted itself. Dear Margeret had a lot to do with it. So did the people. They’d had enough.
Our correction will be more accelerated and for the single reason that in-house extremists have shown their colors in an instant. Not sneaky and not gradual, but in our face.
Big mistake.
It’s all been fast forwarded. Nothing about BO’s agenda can be called "creeping." The time of a lifetime for these misfits called for gestapo tactics. That won't work in America.
Normally, folks might opt for a ball game (while experiencing the death of 1000 cuts) but this time it scares the pants off most of them, that is, those who retain their sensory capacity. They’re not going to accept this sin.
Recall Eastwood’s The Unforgiven. Cross the line, and you’re about to become history.
Robert Craven
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Dupes
Our lefty friends celebrate the health care heist. They’ll want to hide that from their kids, a few years down the line. As a parent, no use being made out to be the fool.
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE and perhaps the most respected business leader ever, said in a recent interview that this thing’s a disaster, and will cost all of us a fortune.
But the run-of-the-mill left? They don’t understand, not a clue what their party has done to them. They’ve been taken.
BO just said, "Hey there pal, we’re going to take a buck or two of yours and give it to someone else." But our friends here in Marin County think this is great stuff.
This is not a plan about covering the uninsured, or the poor. We already do that (Medicaid, BadgerCare, emergency care).
It’s a lie to say it pays for itself. Our lefty friends pay, via the half-trillion in new taxes.
It isn’t about making health care affordable. The bill does nothing about the cost of health care. Tort reform? Scares the left to death.
Medicare’s actuary says our costs will rise even faster than they are rising now. Thank you.
This bill is a scam. No one we know personally will experience one red cent of savings because of it. They will all pay more.
Why are the lefties in a state of delirium? Their own gov’t just said to them, "Hey, did you know that you are an incorrigible slob? No? Well, you are. From now on you troglodyte, you cannot choose to buy coverage but must buy it. Washington will design the plans. The prices will be controlled. The doctors will be told how to practice. "
OK?
Robert Craven
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE and perhaps the most respected business leader ever, said in a recent interview that this thing’s a disaster, and will cost all of us a fortune.
But the run-of-the-mill left? They don’t understand, not a clue what their party has done to them. They’ve been taken.
BO just said, "Hey there pal, we’re going to take a buck or two of yours and give it to someone else." But our friends here in Marin County think this is great stuff.
This is not a plan about covering the uninsured, or the poor. We already do that (Medicaid, BadgerCare, emergency care).
It’s a lie to say it pays for itself. Our lefty friends pay, via the half-trillion in new taxes.
It isn’t about making health care affordable. The bill does nothing about the cost of health care. Tort reform? Scares the left to death.
Medicare’s actuary says our costs will rise even faster than they are rising now. Thank you.
This bill is a scam. No one we know personally will experience one red cent of savings because of it. They will all pay more.
Why are the lefties in a state of delirium? Their own gov’t just said to them, "Hey, did you know that you are an incorrigible slob? No? Well, you are. From now on you troglodyte, you cannot choose to buy coverage but must buy it. Washington will design the plans. The prices will be controlled. The doctors will be told how to practice. "
OK?
Robert Craven
Monday, March 22, 2010
Flip Side
No sooner had we warned in our Mar/20 sketch, Rule Of Law, why the Dem’s tactic would not pass muster with the Judiciary than Nancy abandoned that tactic 12 hours later (come on Nancy, you’re no fun). That subversion of the Constitution was abandoned when it became clear that the Supreme Court would not put up with a law that had been "deemed" to have passed. So instead, BO and Pelosi relied on time-tested, gestapo, strong-arm tactics of bribes and threats to intimidate the frail to succumb. That worked.
And we cannot only blame the left. These clowns are opportunists, sure, knowing a vehicle to the promised land when they see one. But where were the Republicans, years back? Plenty of folk had a cure for our health care costs; we’ve listed most of these, past blogs. It sure would have been a lot easier if they’d have shown a little initiative.
Now What?
"Don’t worry," our lefty pals tell us. "You’ll get used to it," citing (to them) obvious precedence. But Medicare and Soc Security passed by overwhelming bi-partisan majorities. This health scam pass is lopsided in the extreme. That’s why they should worry.
Already? Pelosi’s favor ability rating at 11% yesterday? Maybe you should worry a little bit dear girl (and change your lipstick, please).
Well, no one’s about to dump their wheel chair into the Boston Harbor. But, we’ll experience the equivalent ongoing. Perhaps 2/3's of Americans will support some form of repeal, believing that a free-enterprise-fix is preferable to the dumbing-down impact of gov’t intrusion.
The first changes under the new health care law will be easy to see and not long in coming: There'll be $250 rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare drug coverage gap, and young adults moving from college to work will be able to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26. Then what? What about next year, and beyond?
As National Review editors note, this legislation "will increase taxes, increase premiums, and increase debt, while decreasing economic growth, job growth, and the quality of health care." Oh, that. And the WSJ adds, "This week's votes don't end our health-care debates. By making medical care a subsidiary of Washington, they guarantee such debates will never end. And by ramming the vote through Congress on a narrow partisan majority, and against so much popular opposition, Democrats have taken responsibility for what comes next—to insurance premiums, government spending, doctor shortages and the quality of care. They are now the rulers of American medicine."
And that folks begets optimism. Easy - the masses don’t want this deal. So we are stuck with some form of government control of a good portion of our economy, for a while. Fine, because at the same time we are rid of a flagitious collection of bottom dwellers, the likes of which, believe me, we will never see again in our lifetimes. Without them (Nov elections) we will begin to cleanse.
When BO signs this bill, he signs his and his party’s death sentence.
Heck folks, let’s celebrate!
Robert Craven
And we cannot only blame the left. These clowns are opportunists, sure, knowing a vehicle to the promised land when they see one. But where were the Republicans, years back? Plenty of folk had a cure for our health care costs; we’ve listed most of these, past blogs. It sure would have been a lot easier if they’d have shown a little initiative.
Now What?
"Don’t worry," our lefty pals tell us. "You’ll get used to it," citing (to them) obvious precedence. But Medicare and Soc Security passed by overwhelming bi-partisan majorities. This health scam pass is lopsided in the extreme. That’s why they should worry.
Already? Pelosi’s favor ability rating at 11% yesterday? Maybe you should worry a little bit dear girl (and change your lipstick, please).
Well, no one’s about to dump their wheel chair into the Boston Harbor. But, we’ll experience the equivalent ongoing. Perhaps 2/3's of Americans will support some form of repeal, believing that a free-enterprise-fix is preferable to the dumbing-down impact of gov’t intrusion.
The first changes under the new health care law will be easy to see and not long in coming: There'll be $250 rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare drug coverage gap, and young adults moving from college to work will be able to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26. Then what? What about next year, and beyond?
As National Review editors note, this legislation "will increase taxes, increase premiums, and increase debt, while decreasing economic growth, job growth, and the quality of health care." Oh, that. And the WSJ adds, "This week's votes don't end our health-care debates. By making medical care a subsidiary of Washington, they guarantee such debates will never end. And by ramming the vote through Congress on a narrow partisan majority, and against so much popular opposition, Democrats have taken responsibility for what comes next—to insurance premiums, government spending, doctor shortages and the quality of care. They are now the rulers of American medicine."
And that folks begets optimism. Easy - the masses don’t want this deal. So we are stuck with some form of government control of a good portion of our economy, for a while. Fine, because at the same time we are rid of a flagitious collection of bottom dwellers, the likes of which, believe me, we will never see again in our lifetimes. Without them (Nov elections) we will begin to cleanse.
When BO signs this bill, he signs his and his party’s death sentence.
Heck folks, let’s celebrate!
Robert Craven
Saturday, March 20, 2010
FLUKE
A majority of Americans finally understand the consequences of the proposed health bill.
We don’t mean premiums, nor coverage expanded to the 32MM currently without, nor denial due to preexisting conditions nor dropping the sick. We don’t mean BO’s buy-offs and special deals. We don’t mean that if you don’t have health insurance you could go to jail. These are not consequences; these are side-effects, offshoots, adjuncts to BO’s effort.
For the first time in my lifetime (1947 - ) the stars aligned perfectly for a radical element of US society; the far-left gained traction. No one would ever have predicted as much. Historians will consider this development a fluke.
This segment of the US population has only distaste for American society, for America’s history, for America’s place in the free world.
They are out to conduct a great leveling.
We will learn tomorrow if they succeed.
Robert Craven
We don’t mean premiums, nor coverage expanded to the 32MM currently without, nor denial due to preexisting conditions nor dropping the sick. We don’t mean BO’s buy-offs and special deals. We don’t mean that if you don’t have health insurance you could go to jail. These are not consequences; these are side-effects, offshoots, adjuncts to BO’s effort.
For the first time in my lifetime (1947 - ) the stars aligned perfectly for a radical element of US society; the far-left gained traction. No one would ever have predicted as much. Historians will consider this development a fluke.
This segment of the US population has only distaste for American society, for America’s history, for America’s place in the free world.
They are out to conduct a great leveling.
We will learn tomorrow if they succeed.
Robert Craven
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