Wow, I didn’t realize taking Tylenol aided in regulating one’s heartbeat! Is there anything Tylenol can’t do? Do Advil, Ibuprofen and their generic brand counterparts also correct irregular heartbeats? If so, they really should update their labels! New commercials, stat!

Perhaps it is unfair of me to use my biology degree and basic understanding of physiology against Dr. Obama, er, I mean President Obama. Then again, he has a Surgeon General and an entire Health and Human Services agency who I am sure would be happy to clue him in on matters of cardiology, or at least refer him to someone who does (that is, if they’re “into” referrals).

At the very least, he could do a quick search of “pacemaker” on WebMD or some other medical website to easily ascertain that pain relievers are only necessary during post-op following the insertion of a pacemaker not for the actual function of regulating a heartbeat. Yes, my doctor friends abhor medical websites, but Obama could at least consult one to figure out the difference between pain killers and major medical procedures.

Obama likes to equate himself to Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps he should acquaint himself with Lincoln’s famous quip in paraphrasing Proverbs 17:28, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” Obama should heed this sound counsel, most especially when discussing matters he knows absolutely nothing about, like pacemakers, tonsillectomies and amputations. (All three videos are below.)

Perhaps Obama refuses to understand basic cardiology since cardiologists are … wait for it … specialists! What’s so terrible about specialists? According to Obama, specialists are the arch-enemy of the general practitioner.

Silly me. I thought GPs worked with specialists, offering referrals so patients could receive expert help for specific medical conditions that are well past the “preventative treatment” phase. Let’s say a GP discovered preliminary symptoms related to heart disease during a routine office visit. He or she may refer a patient to a (gasp!) cardiologist for specific heart health care. The cardiologist, upon further examination of the patient, orders a stress test and, as a result, performs angioplasty. Are we to expect GPs to begin performing angioplasties? Imagine your primary care physician’s waiting room then!

Darn those young medical students, buried in heaps of student loan debt, who apparently hold their noses up to the common folk by furthering their education and completing multi-year residencies concentrating on specific medical conditions that require specific medical expertise. Darn them all for inserting pacemakers to people who would apparently be just fine with a pain killer. Darn them all for causing angioplasties to occur in hospital operating rooms rather than in Exam Room #4.

Obama, put away your toy stethoscope and end the silly photo-ops. Doctors don’t wear white coats outside the office, unless of course, you supply them.

Americans are not idiots. We are not so easily fooled. We are tired of the shenanigans and we are growing weary of your incompetence. The American people elected a Commander-in-Chief not a Doctor-in-Chief. Why don’t you concentrate on the war in Afghanistan and let doctors stick to medicine.

Paging real doctors! Paging real doctors! Oh, here’s one. HotAir has a piece on a doctor who refused to attend the photo-op at the White House. Good for him. He speaks out about the invitation to “discuss” current health care proposals. I suppose by “discuss” Obama really means, “I talk, you listen” because there wasn’t a lot of “discussing” going on, merely an empty speech accompanied by a few props clad in white coats. If only Nurse Ratched had made an appearance.

For those of you who don’t remember what Obama said about pacemakers, tonsillectomies and amputations, here’s a trip down memory lane.

Obama doesn’t have time to talk to General McKiernan in Afghanistan (his own appointee) regarding his request for more troops, economic and political aid but he can drop everything to fly 4000 miles to participate in a 45 minute presentation. (Watch Obama’s presentation on HotAir here.)

Did Obama really think he could trump the last 9 months of his “Apologizing for America World Tour” by making a 45 minute appeal to grant an Olympics bid to a city that’s so “great” it’s called Second City? Even in his attempt, he couldn’t keep himself from telling the IOC that America basically needed the Olympics to restore its good name. In response to a question, he actually said:

“Over the last several years sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost. One of the legacies of this Olympic Games would be the restoration of that understanding of what the United States is all about and a recognition of how we are linked to the world.”

In short, help us get our groove back, IOC!

In this particular scenario, Michelle Obama is the worse of the two offenders. You’ve seen the audacious quote from her speech to the Chicago 2016 bid team (bold italics, mine):

“As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days, so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home.”

Michelle Obama says participating in this presentation is a “sacrifice” but doesn’t exactly explain what’s so sacrificial about packing designer clothes, flying on a private jumbo jet or getting away for a few days with Oprah Winfrey on the taxpayer’s dime. I would call that an extraordinary get-away unlike any I’d ever experienced! “Sacrificial” wouldn’t even make the list of 1,000,000 adjectives!

Michelle Obama wouldn’t know “sacrifice” if it looked her in the face, wearing fatigues, waving an American flag, surrounded by little boys and girls going without their Mommy and Daddy while they fight in an ongoing war in two countries.

If she thinks this trip is a sacrifice then she is out of touch with the American people. So much, in fact, it’s almost painful. Is she ignorant of the climbing unemployment rate? Is she callous to the situation of our military families? Does she know the sacrifices made every day by everyday Americans to put food on the table, to send their kids to school, to make ends meet while she and her husband spend, spend, spend? She should just get it over with and say to the deployed military personnel, military families, unemployed Americans and the fiscally strained, “Let them eat cake.”

HotAir grabbed CNN’s shock and dismay as the IOC makes the announcement. As the anchor grasps for words, I find myself hoping the jaw-dropping is repeated in newsrooms around American in 2010 when the out-of-touch Democrats get booted from Washington.

As @Doc_O said on Twitter, “Cheer up, Axelrod! Obama failed to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016, but he’ll bring the Republicans to Washington in 2010.” I sure hope so, as long as they’re conservative Republicans and not RINOs in the form of McCain, Graham or Snowe.

What can we learn from this?

Obama will spend, spend, spend. Michelle will go on lavish overseas trips and spend, spend, spend. The taxpayers will continue to pay for the spending sprees. What we’ll receive in return: Zero. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Wait, that’s not exactly right. We’ll “get” something all right: a huge deficit unlike any we’ve ever seen coupled with skyrocketing inflation. Yes, Bush ran up the deficit in 8 years. It only took Obama 8 months to triple it.

As Obama flies back to America I hope he’s thinking about his next two losses: government-run health care and the hoax of cap-and-tax.

In the meantime, someone hand Valerie Jarrett a Kleenex.

You see, Jimmy Carter isn’t making headlines anymore by showing up for photo ops with the most recent Habitat for Humanity house. (Before you get all up in arms, please know I worked with Habitat for Humanity while in college. He should stick to that.)

Jimmy Carter hasn’t penned a new book on Israel ‘Apartheid’. (The New York Times didn’t give it a rave review but Osama Bin Laden seemed to endorse it. Ed Morrissey has a great follow-up question at HotAir.)

Jimmy Carter isn’t sharing a Presidential photo-op in the Oval Office and probably won’t for the next several years and this might be his way of begging for an invite.

No, Jimmy Carter, who makes us remember words like malaise, craves relevancy. I imagine many former Presidents, who never enjoyed a life outside politics, clamor for ways to enjoy the limelight of mindless followers. Maybe the desperation to be heard becomes unbearable when everyone recognizes you’re a windbag and doesn’t seek your advice or counsel like they used to.

Just like Obama’s health care speech to the joint sessions of Congress on Wednesday, Carter’s “malaise speech” of 1979 resulted in a temporary bump in the ratings. However, the ratings didn’t stick. As PBS accounts:

Perhaps appreciating the president’s astonishing frankness, the public rewarded him with higher approval ratings in the days that followed. But then, as historian Douglas Brinkley notes, “it boomeranged on him. The op-ed pieces started spinning out, ‘Why don’t you fix something? There’s nothing wrong with the American people. We’re a great people. Maybe the problem’s in the White House, maybe we need new leadership to guide us.’”

President Obama has just experienced his first boomerang reaction on one of his largest agenda items: government health care. According to Scott Rasmussen, prior to his speech Wednesday night, Obama’s health care plan had an approval rating of 44%. After the speech, it climbed to its highest peak of 51%. Then … boomerang … it’s down to 42%.

In order to combat these ratings, the House voted to censure Joe Wilson for blurting out, “You Lie!” during Obama’s speech Wednesday when he was caught, er, lying. (See my earlier post “A South Carolinian’s Response to Joe Wilson” for more on the subject.)

Just in case that ridiculous side show wasn’t enough to convince Americans that those in opposition to the current health care proposals have such little decorum when speaking up about their desire to (gasp!) live longer (if only we’d go silently), Jimmy Carter decides he’d like to enter the ring with the most incendiary remarks:
1) He says those opposed to Obama’s health care plan are racist.
2) He says people from the South are racist.
3) He says people all around the country are racist.
4) In short, everyone who disagrees with President Obama is racist.

“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American,” Carter told “NBC Nightly News.” “I live in the South, and I’ve seen the South come a long way, and I’ve seen the rest of the country that shares the South’s attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans.”

“That racism inclination still exists, and I think it’s bubbled up to the surface because of belief among many white people — not just in the South but around the country — that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It’s an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply,” Carter said.

Michael Steele, who is the first African-American to chair the Republican National Committee, denied Wednesday that race is fueling protests. “President Carter is flat-out wrong,” Steele said in a statement. “This isn’t about race. It is about policy.”

Jimmy Carter has just called our nation racist.

You dissent? You’re a racist!
You want to live longer by receiving medical treatment even after the age of 65? You’re a racist!
You’re concerned that after George W. Bush increased the deficit in 8 years that Obama has tripled it in a mere 8 months? You’re a racist!
You want your health care to be determined by your doctor? You’re a racist!
You gathered with fellow citizens in local towns throughout the country and in DC to express your outrage over DC corruption and massive spending? You’re a racist!

You think all life is precious, you’d defend anyone’s right to life or liberty, you vote for politicians not because of their skin color but because of their principles, you show no preference for one ethnicity over another … but if you oppose government health care, you’re a racist? Yeah, that’s certainly logical. Umm, no.

No, Jimmy. No, Obama. Americans are not racist because they disagree with you on policy. In fact, we see through racist claims for what they are – a final grasp to claim victory of an argument you are not winning. It’s like a 2nd grader who is thrown out at 2nd base during a casual game of kickball. He knows he’s lost the argument so he says, “You’re stupid!” He’s still out. But now he’s shown more of his character: a 2nd grade, prepubescent, immature, unsportsmanlike, temper-tantrum inability to play by the rules and suffer the consequences of not running fast enough.

I perked up watching Charles Krauthammer’s take on the racism charges last night on Special Report with Bret Baier. National Review has the transcript. Here it is in part, and as usual, I nod my head in total agreement.

You know, the accusation of racism is a sign of desperation by people who know they are losing the national debate, and they want to hurl the ultimate charge in American politics.

This is dealing from the bottom of the deck, and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you call somebody a racist, the debate is over. You don’t continue.

Accusations of racism are the last refuge of the liberal scoundrel.

(As for Maureen Dowd, imagining a word [“boy”] that wasn’t said): Well, in my previous profession, I saw a lot of people who heard words that weren’t said. They were called patients. Many of them were actually helped with medication.

The reason she won’t be — and others who are hurling the [racism] accusation — is because it is a deliberate attempt to change the subject and discredit the opposition with an unprovable — and unproven — ad hominem.

That, dear Jimmy, and for that matter, Maureen Dowd, is why no one is listening to you. They might hear you, but they aren’t listening. There is a difference.

UPDATE: According to Jake Tapper of ABC News, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Obama does not agree with Jimmy Carter that opposition is rooted in racism. Obama could put these ridiculous racism charges to rest by giving a speech on how ridiculous it is. You have to wonder why he isn’t. It’s not as if he has an aversion to TV cameras.

Despite the fact that bills have been written, amendments have been voted on and alternative bills have been penned by Republicans (though not acknowledged they exist by Democrats), Obama now says he wants to have this speech so he can talk about what he wants in a plan. That’s a little late, is it not? Could it possibly be an effort to increase his ratings or those of the health care proposals?

Here we have a President who is a day late and a dollar short (well, at least a trillion dollars short). He has been talking for weeks about “his health care plan” but the truth of the matter is, he doesn’t have a health care plan. Three House committees have a plan. The Senate is working on a plan behind closed doors. There is talk about a trigger that sets government-run health care in motion but Barack Obama does not have a health care plan. That’s why he wasn’t referring to one in his speech. Notice that?

Nothing Obama says has found its way to a written bill.

• He is lying when he says people who like their current health care plan can keep it.
• He is lying when he says he will not sign it if it adds one dime to our national deficit. (How quickly he forgets the CBO.)
• He is lying when he says the uninsured total 47 million. Oh, wait. Tonight, he changed that to 30 million. It’s a step in the right direction but he’s still over by about 16 million.
• He is lying when he said Medicare will not be cut.

You don’t want to take my word for it? Even the Obama-drooling Associated Press covered Obama’s non-truths by calling them oversimplifications and omissions. For a list of Obama’s words versus the facts, check out Gateway Pundit’s page. (I send you there because the AP might doctor their post later.)

Sarah Palin has already weighed in on her Facebook Page:

Our objections to the Democrats’ health care proposals are not mere “bickering” or “games.” They are not an attempt to “score short term political points.” And it’s hard to listen to the President lecture us not to use “scare tactics” when in the next breath he says that “more will die” if his proposals do not pass.

In his speech the President directly responded to concerns I’ve raised about unelected bureaucrats being given power to make decisions affecting life or death health care matters. He called these concerns “bogus,” “irresponsible,” and “a lie” — so much for civility. After all the name-calling, though, what he did not do is respond to the arguments we’ve made, arguments even some of his own supporters have agreed have merit.

I know he’s lying. The AP knows he’s lying. Joe Wilson knows he’s lying. Joe Wilson (R-SC) called Obama out on it. Here is Joe in his own words, err, word.

Some have said Representative Joe Wilson betrayed the decorum that the congressional chamber requires. You could say the same of Obama who said he was coming after those who distorted “the plan” although as President, he does have the floor. You could say Nancy Pelosi betrayed the decorum of her position as Speaker of the House by saying those attending town halls were wearing swastikas (they weren’t). You could say Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer (House Majority Leader) betrayed the decorum of their positions by calling government-run health care protesters un-American. You could say this Administration betrays the decorum of its role when asking the American people to forward emails and conversations that seem “fishy” to flag@whitehouse.gov.

I watched the video again. There were resounding boos coming from the Republicans and I thought there would be more boos. Perhaps Joe Wilson thought there would be, too, placing his “Lie!” in harmony with the booing. Was it the right time and place? Probably not. At this point in Obama’s takeover Presidency, do I care? Absolutely not.

You tell me. Do you prefer the guy who tells it the way he wants you to see it or the guy who tells it the way it is? You may not like his approach, but I refuse to tell the man to apologize. Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Carol Fowler (yes, the ridiculous Carol Fowler) can all take a hike. I’m originally from South Carolina. We like to spar but more than that, when we see an injustice, we speak out and intervene. I’ll never forget my first week working in Massachusetts. A man in line at Dunkin’ Donuts asked his son what kind of doughnut he wanted. The son replied, “Ummm” at which point the man turned to his son and reamed him out in front of everyone, including the son’s friend, because the young boy needed more than 1 second to choose a doughnut. This man was yelling and out of control. How can the boy make a decision with a dad that is embarrassingly raking him over the coals? I stepped in and asked the man to lower his voice. He turned to me and said, “It’s none of your business.” I responded in my Dixie Carter/Julia Sugarbaker pronounce-the-fool-out-of-words-when-angry accent, “Sir, the volume of your voice has made it everyone’s business. I suggest you treat your son with a little more dignity. You are in in a public venue.” People started clapping. I was proud. Then I wondered what in the world I had done and if I was going to arrive at work unscathed. Yes, we South Carolinians may stick our foot in our mouth every once in awhile but I’d rather do that than sit idly by with all the decorum in the world while our health care system is turned to mush. Not on my watch. No way, no how, no sir.

Ace of Spades covers it like this:

Personally, I think it was a bad idea but quite frankly I was taken aback by how many outright lies Obama was spewing tonight. Combine that with the number of insulting partisan attacks (even for him), I can’t blame Wilson too much for not being able to take it any more.

I’d suggest anyone terribly offended by Wilson’s spontaneous outburst take a second and consider how despicable it is for Obama to continue to attack the previous administration and distort its record. Is that appropriate behavior for a President speaking to a joint session of Congress?

You want respect? Try giving it occasionally.

Consider this from Obama’s speech.

Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

So Obama calls Palin a liar (not by name but everyone knows who he’s talking about) but we are supposed to get our panties in a bunch because Wilson yelled it out? At least Wilson had the guts to do it to in the same room.

Joe Wilson told more truths in his one word than Obama did in all of his. That makes him a real truther. (Insider’s Note: Whenever referring to whack jobs who think 9/11 is an inside job, I use quotations around the word “truther” because it’s too much of an oxymoron to take seriously.)

Hot Air has the update that reminds me that when a member of the GOP finds his or her spine, it doesn’t last for long. Joe Wilson has since apologized.

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

I know the Congressional thing to do was to apologize. The South Carolinian thing to do would be to say, “You’re daggum right I spoke up. We were all booing him and I thought there would be continued boos to drown me out but there weren’t. I know it came across as disrespectful to some but saying illegal immigrants aren’t covered when they are in the bills that are written is disrespectful to every American. Once President Obama apologies for lying to the American people, I’ll apologize for calling him out on it during the Speech.” Now that is a non-apology apology I could gladly endorse.

UPDATE: Joe Wilson, a former immigration attorney, makes it clear that he is for LEGAL immigration and would like to take Obama up on a civil discourse on not including ILLEGAL immigrants in the health care bill. We’ll won’t hold our breath on that conversation occurring. Here’s the full clip, but I stopped it after they asked him who he liked in the Clemson-Georgia Tech Game tonight. He didn’t answer so I’ll field it. Clemson, of course.

UPDATE II: It is very satisfying to know that I’m on the same wavelength as Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh.

(If you’re new to the topic of Van Jones,  you can watch TV commentator Glenn Beck play Van Jones in his own words here, here and here or you can read about him here, here and here. Regular viewer of NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN? Subscriber to the NY Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe? Then you probably haven’t heard about Van Jones. A story within the story is the lack of media coverage.)

Van Jones is now among a list of people who Obama had close to him but then threw under his bus. It’s getting fairly crowded under there. First, he called his own Grandmother “a typical white woman” in his big speech on race.  Her non-working husband wouldn’t drive her to work even though she was being harassed on the bus. Apparently, this request made her a racist. Now, maybe she was, but that story of Obama’s isn’t enough to paint her as one.  What’s worse is he used the statement against his Grandmother to paint a wide brush stroke of all white people. Some healer of racial divide Obama is. Thumpety-thump.

Then there’s the convicted real estate felon Tony Rezko whose wife bought a plot of land next to the Obama’s Chicago residence and 6 months later sold them a portion of it. It was widely known at the time that Rezko was being federally investigated but that didn’t stop the Obamas. When Rezko was found guilty of 16 charges of corruption, Obama famously explained, “This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew.” I don’t know about you but it’s interesting how Obama called the timing of his real estate deal “bone-headed” but not the deal itself. Imagine that: Obama comes out of a shady dealing in Chicago unscathed. Thumpety-thump.

Next up, Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s big race speech was fueled by his need to defend his association with a preacher of hate. In his speech, he said he could no more disown him than the black community. Mere weeks later, as damaging video began to make its rounds (no, not undercover video but video sold right out of Wright’s church), Obama said Jeremiah Wright was like an old uncle who says crazy things sometimes. Thumpety-thump.

Van Jones had to know that if he became a political liability to Obama, the wheels on Obama’s bus were going to go thumpety-thump over him as well. If Valerie Jarrett receives the appropriate heat from having recruited Van Jones, Obama will dump her, too. Keep in mind, the only person Obama is loyal to is Obama.

Obama doesn’t have any governing experience and it shows with his need to have so many high-level advisors beyond the traditional Cabinet posts. Van Jones is just one czar. There are many others. See the list here. Their radical thinking will continue to be exposed. For instance, if your name is John Holdren or Cass Sunstein, I want you to go the way of Van Jones: resigning in the middle of the night as the wheels on Obama’s bus go thumpety-thump.

One last note for Van Jones: DLTDHYOTWO.

Here is a sample of the instructions for K-6:

As students listen to the speech, teachers could ask students to think about the following:

• What is the president trying to tell me?
• What is the president asking me to do?
• What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?

Teachers are then encouraged to “extend the learning” by having students:

• Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at a later date (just like Obama and your parent’s money – okay, I added that).

Here is a sample of the instructions for Grades 7-12:

Before the speech, teachers could ask students to think about the following:

• How will he inspire us? (That’s rather presumptuous, no?)
• Do you remember any other historic moment when the president spoke to the nation? (GWB and a megaphone, anyone?)
• What impact did it have?

After the speech, teachers are encouraged to hold a guided discussion that includes:

• Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything? (First they wondered HOW he’d be inspiring. Now they wonder if he WAS inspiring. They must have received a copy of the speech in between these questions.)
• What do you believe are the challenges of your generation? (Besides the debt you owe due to the Spender-in-Chief’s policies?)
• How can you be a part of addressing these challenges? (Pay your taxes. Or don’t and become Treasury Secretary.)

The DOE must have received a lot of flack because they’ve made an update to the instructions for K-6. Instead of writing letters to themselves as to how they can help the President, now they’re asked to write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Hmm, the focus went from him to them.

Jim Geraghty, of National Review, captured both versions here.  When I read the original one, the idea of writing a letter to yourself explaining how you can help the President struck me as rather odd. First of all, a letter to one’s self is called a diary entry. Tell that to a 5th grade football player. He’ll be all over that assignment. Second, why is a federal agency suggesting teachers encourage young people who can’t vote for him (yet) to think about how they can help the President? They didn’t say “help the country” or “help your classmate” but “help the President.” Help the President. Doesn’t he have enough advisors for that?

What kind of responses are they hoping to receive?

If given such an assignment, this is what my kid would write:

• “The President inspires me to know the history of socialism in order to recognize it when it rears its ugly head.”
• “The President inspires me to submit a term paper and then emphatically deny its contents during my presentation on it.”
• “The President inspires me to take lunch money from my friend and give it to my classmates.” (Especially if my friend’s name is Joe and his dad’s a plumber.)
• “The President inspires me to throw grandma under the bus whenever convenient. My pastor, too. And my real estate friend. Oh, and don’t forget Cambridge police officers.”
• “The President inspires me to have a beer with people to resolve my differences, or at least use it for a photo op.”
• “The President inspires me to find ways to work ‘wee weed up’ into as many conversations as possible.”
  
• “The President inspires me to not give up on identifying the 57 United States, even though I’ve only found 50 so far.”

Here is how my kid’s classmates would respond:

• “The President inspires me to say, ‘Let me be clear’ or ‘Make no mistake’ before I tell a lie.”
  
• “The President inspires me to take other people’s money.” – School Bully
• “The President inspires me to register to vote so that I can vote for the other person.” – High School Senior

You might think it’s a little over the top to be criticizing the President’s speech to the nation’s public school children before the speech is given. What kind of harm can it do? I’m not concerned about President Obama telling our nation’s kids to study and work hard. If a boy or girl needs that extra inspiration from the President to be a good student, then they’ll get that boost. (According to the DOE, they’ll get more homework, too.) I’m not concerned about tender minds becoming democrats. I’m concerned about them becoming loyalists, or Obamabots. Obamabots are the worst. They never question anything. Ever. Don’t kid yourself. It’s not just a speech. There are “before” activities and “after” activities which lead to a Day of Obama.

As I said on Twitter, JFK’s words have been restructured yet again: Ask not what Obama can do “for the children” but what the children can do for Obama.

Besides the teachers (like the one in this video) who go above and beyond to “extend the learning” for those young, malleable minds, I’m curious as to who wouldn’t have a problem with this type of assignment? Probably the parents of these kids:

UPDATE: Students are asked to do a little homework prior to the big speech and read about Barack Obama. The two books, including excerpts, available here.

Here is what we know:

1. Barack Obama campaigned on transparency. Specifically, having bills posted online for at least 5 days prior to his signature on a bill so that all Americans “know what their government is doing.” To date, this campaign promise has not materialized. If you think I made up this promise, watch the clip below:

2. There isn’t a single bill the President is referring to in his town hall meetings. The House had several committees writing versions of the bill. I downloaded mine while streaming CSPAN during the House Energy and Commerce Committee mark-up meetings but you can view a version here, thanks to govtrack.us. As soon as the 1000+ page bill was introduced, it was immediately followed by a 300 page amendment by the same health care proponents that authored the first 1000+ pages. The only requirement of the 300 page amendment and the dozens of amendments that followed (both for and against) had to be made available to committee members for at least 2 hours. As I listened to the committee mark-up session, it was pretty clear that each Representative and their staff had just a handful of hours to read everything I’ve just mentioned.

The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee has a 615 page bill that you can download here as well as an outline by the House Ways and Means Committee (thanks to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post).

I’m a pretty fast reader. Granted, it isn’t what I would consider heavy reading, but I read the 2,444 pages of the Twilight series in 5 days, while not on vacation. It took me a little longer than that to read this bill, especially since it’s not exactly a page-turner. Okay, so vampires don’t exist but neither do the government agencies referenced in the House bill, unless it’s signed into law. I did my share of heavy reading in grad school and I’d like to think I honed my speed-reading skills. However, in reading these pieces of legislation, I stopped in my tracks more often than not, flabbergasted by what these bills contain.

3. Just what narcissistic politicians need: to create their own in-crowds. In Congress, those revolving in-crowds are called Gangs (how proud their Moms and Dads would be). There is a Gang of 6 in the Senate. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the end-of-life provision had been removed from their bi-partisan effort. Kent Conrad (D-ND) confirmed this on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (transcript here). We can’t see what they’re working on and they won’t have cameras in the room when the bill goes to conference so how can we know what we’re for and what we’re against? That pretty much explains why Rasmussen found 54% of Americans surveyed said they’d prefer nothing over the current proposals. Can you say lack of trust?

4. Now it’s been floated out there by Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, and the President himself that there may not be a single-payer option on the table. White House spokespeople are saying Sebelius misspoke on the Sunday morning talk shows, but they aren’t saying why Obama recently said it is not the most important part of health care reform (now health insurance reform) but only “a slice.” (What exactly does that mean? Interesting visual, but a slice is still part of the pie, is it not?) Liberal democrats have reacted saying the bill better have single-payer or they’re not voting for it. Now they’re talking about cooperatives. You could also call a coop a slippery slope. A very steep slippery slope that will quickly lead to a government-run system.

5. Don’t be misled by the word “option.” Even Kathleen Sebelius is using free-market words like “choice and competition” but free-market words do not a free-market make. Let’s use the example of federal student loans. I’ll keep it simple. Federal student loans are either backed directly by the federal government or by private banks. It is up to each school to determine which type of program they would like to participate in for their students. If the government-backed program, students have to use the government, obviously. If the private bank program, students (not the school) get to choose which bank: large and national, small and local or a non-bank lending organization. A year ago, 80% of schools chose the private bank program. Each bank had different benefits and students chose which benefits they liked best. It was a win-win situation, for the student. Then came October and many banks and lending organizations pulled out of the student loan program. As a result, a few schools switched to the government-backed program but they are still in the minority. Now, the Obama Administration wants to rid the federal loan program of the bank-backed version entirely. (Hillary held the same position.) I use this illustration to say: the government does not participate in competition. When it cannot win, it simply eliminates the competition through legislative means. How will health care be any different than the student loan program, except in its vast reach to every American?

6. Several Congressional members are on record for saying they did not read the Stimulus bill, the Omnibus spending bill, the Economic Recovery bill, the Cap and Trade bill (which passed the House when 8 members of the GOP voted for it) or even this Health Care bill. Why, then, are members of Congress surprised with the public’s lack of trust? Why are they confused when the public chants “Read the Bill”?

Why do Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer call opponents of the current Health Care bill “un-American” when Pelosi told the anti-war protesters of Code Pink who interrupted one of her meetings in 2006 that “there is nothing more articulate, more eloquent, to a member of Congress than the voice of his or her constituent.” She goes on to say she likes dissenters. Listen to it here. Did Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer think they could quiet the American people by referring to us as un-American? If their goal was to douse the enthusiasm against the bill or to assuage the doubts we the people have towards our government’s ability to run anything well, it’s obvious they have only managed to add fuel to the fire.

Well, don’t let the disarray distract you, or cause you to celebrate too early. Stay involved in what’s happening and don’t let up, either in pressure or in hope. Continue to call, fax and e-mail your Senators and Representatives. During this August recess, find out if they are holding a town hall meeting and if not, demand one. Otherwise, see if locals in your area are hosting a town hall without the elected official. A group in Oklahoma did just that, with an empty chair and a placard “sitting in” for the missing official. Record it. Place it on Youtube. Send me the link and I’ll publish it here and on Twitter.

Before you attend a town hall meeting on health care, check out these tactics being propogated to “fight against right-wing disrupters.” But don’t worry, we’re on to their real tactics. Click here for the American Thinker article that lays out the current tactics employed by the Obama Administration. Turn it into a game. Shout the number of the tactic when you see it in action. Or, if you’re the creative type, turn it into a Bingo card or, even better, get your friends involved and see who can reach 100 points first, then 500, then 1000!

There are good ideas out there about how to insure pre-existing conditions, what to do about taking your health insurance with you when you change jobs and how to reduce unnecessary tests and costs through tort reform. These are worthwhile discussions, but we’ll never get serious about them if we ignore the obvious and specific issues and instead turn to the government for our well-being. Wow. Government and our well-being. I can’t picture those words making much sense next to each other, can you?