Speaking to NBC News Anchor Brian Williams former president Jimmy Carter (taking a breather between having tea with dictators and lunatics) proffered that not only was South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson’s inappropriate outburst during President Obama’s speech before a joint session of congress fueled by racism, but the wider opposition to Obama is also based on the fact that Obama is Black.

Said Carter: “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.”

During Obama’s 400th speech defending his plans to reform healthcare the president responded to charges that the proposals before congress would provide healthcare for illegal immigrants.  The President called the charges false whereupon Wilson forgot his home training (or lost his mind) and called the President a liar.

As it happens, similar words were falling from my own lips at that very same moment.  I think most people recognize that a private citizen calling the President a liar in the privacy of their living rooms is rather a different animal from elected officials doing so during a Presidential address. I would also like to believe that most thinking people recognize that boorish is not the same thing as racist.

Lest I get mail accusing me of believing that racism does not exist let me say in no uncertain terms that racism still exists in America .  I have no doubt that there are people in this country that can little articulate their dislike for this president beyond the fact that he is Black.  Similarly, there are many that forgive his failings for the same reason. Yes, race in America is alive and well. (And based on the recent behavior of Kanye West and my sweet darling Serena Williams– so is boorishness. But I digress.)

To hold, as many on the new left do, that the “overwhelming portion of” opposition to this President is based on race is to engage in an egregious act of Venetian hearing; it is to turn ones back to the very legitimate concerns of voters and taxpayers. It is a contrivance that allows the current party in power to dismiss the honest and passionate voices of opposition.

Consider first that Wilsons assertion was correct, the president was not being entirely truthful.

The administration points to section 246 of the current house bill, which excludes illegal immigrants from receiving “affordability credits” or vouchers with which to purchase health insurance. There is of course no enforcement mechanism in the bill to prevent those in this country illegally from receiving the credits.  Democrats have voted down amendments adding such mechanisms.

There is also this quote from a recent report by the Associated Press on the current bill emerging from the Senate Finance committee:  “The White House says that Obama does not want illegal immigrants to be able to buy insurance through the new purchasing exchange as they would be allowed to do under Democratic legislation in the House.” (Emphasis mine.) Word that illegal immigrants would not be covered under the House plan has apparently not trickled down to the senate finance committee, the Associated Press or Barack H. Obama.

Consider next that 8 months into this administration President Obama has quadrupled the national debt, attempted to institute unprecedented control of banking institutions, taken over a major auto manufacturer and is now attempting to force on an unwilling populace a government run health care system.  It is just possible that opposition to the President’s policies are based on principled political disagreements and not race.

I am only surprised that it took the left the better part of a year before they began to play the race game in earnest.  The new left suffers from schizophrenia as it pertains to race.  They claim to want to move past race in this country, but are reluctant to do so. Race provides them with a sense of security; they believe that through race they are able to keep their emotional and moral equilibrium.  And because the left is emotionally tied to race it is a potent political weapon the use of which power seekers and power keepers will not soon relinquish.

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Joseph C. Phillips ( www.josephcphillips.com ) is an accomplished author and speaker, addressing American Idealism, Family Values, and Character & Cultural issues. He is also a well known actor, having starred on the number one rated television program of the 1980′s (The Cosby Show), starred on the #1 rated daytime drama (General Hospital), and performed on and off Broadway. Joseph has a syndicated a popular weekly column, and has authored a compelling book, “He Talk Like A White Boy”, available at fine bookstores or at http://www.amazon.com/He-Talk-Like-White-Boy/dp/0762423994 . His community service activities include working with the Special Olympics, March of Dimes, the Red Cross, and Big Brothers. Joseph also serves as an ambassador for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. To book him as a speaker for your conference, convention or event , inquire at edeldoug@charter.net .

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WesternFront America

Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina should never have apologized the first time.

As a resident of North Carolina for nearly fifty years, and a native son of South Carolina, I qualify as a “Carolina Boy.” I am as much at home in one Carolina as the other.

If you paid attention in history class, you may have noticed that we “Sandlappers,” of South Carolina, are famous, or infamous, depending upon your viewpoint, for our hot tempers. It doesn’t take a great deal to set us off and then we tend to burn hot for rather a long time. The last time the men of South Carolina lost their collective tempers it took four years and a lot of blood, sweat, and gunpowder to quench it.

Nobody is completely sure of the source of all that passion. But never doubt it, we are a passionate people. We may speak a little slower than you folks in the cooler climes but we think and act just as fast. Our slow speech can be a little off-putting and disarming and we often use it to charm our way to a sought after goal. It has been said that if America had a natural warrior class it would be the southern male. South Carolina is proud of her son’s performance in all the wars America has seen fit to involve herself in whether within her borders or without.

When secession became imminent, back in 1861, South Carolina was the first state to vote for secession – and — South Carolina was the only Confederate state to vote unanimously for secession. You see, in South Carolina, it is 100% — or nothing. We don’t do anything half way.

I tell you this so you will not be surprised when Joe Wilson, the Congressman from South Carolina who called the President a liar, in public, does not apologize again. Many of us think his one and only apology was one too many.

I, for one, believe Congressman Wilson was correct. Why? Well, it seems that some of the folks over at the White House admitted, late last week, that ObamaCare would, in fact, need a verification system of some kind to keep illegal aliens from receiving free healthcare under ObamaCare. Now, here’s the problem. It seems that every time a verification system comes up in the discussions — the democrats oppose it – effectively killing it. Last we heard, no verification system had been agreed upon. So, as it stands, illegal aliens WILL receive free healthcare under the current plans for ObamaCare! Of course, that is subject to change. Yeah. Right!

In an article titled: “Tea Party Crowd Stands Behind Republican Rep. Joe Wilson” CNSNEWS.COM reports the following: “The House bill — in Title II, Subtitle C, Section 246 – states that there will be “no federal payment for undocumented aliens.” However, the legislation provides no mechanism for verifying the legal status of beneficiaries, making it difficult for insurers and medical personal to know who legally qualifies for federal subsidies under the plan.” You can read the entire article HERE.

Well, there IS another way to “fix” the problem and that is for Obama to kick his “amnesty for illegal aliens plan” through Congress and — Walla! No illegals aliens, and – they get free healthcare, too!

So – what is there for Congressman Wilson to apologize for — the truth? Wilson told reporters: “”I’ve apologized one time. The apology was accepted by the president, by the vice president, who I know. I am not apologizing again.”

Sen. James DeMint (R-S.C.) is reported to have said: “Joe apologized for saying what he did in that setting, but he proved to be right,”

Of course, the Democrats are having their usual conniption fits. They vowed to propose a resolution of disapproval this week if Wilson did not publicly apologize to Congress. Earlier this week the US House formerly rebuked Congressman Wilson. If a “rebuke” by THIS Congress were not so ridiculous it would be funny! If anything, Congress ought to be apologizing to the American people! Many of us REBUKE THEM daily!

As we have learned over the decades one can always count on the Democrats to play the “race” card at every opportunity. This incident presented a terrific opportunity for them to do so. They trotted out former President Jimmy Carter who promptly tossed the race card into the mix by reportedly saying: “I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.” Carter, apparently upset at recent demonstrators who had compared Obama to Nazi leaders, is reported to have said: “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care.” Carter went on to say: “It’s deeper than that.”

Just so we are clear here, if Jimmy Carter was still in the White House and was proposing the same healthcare program as Obama, I, as a conservative southerner, would be opposing him every bit as much as I oppose Obama! Further, if his actions and proposals resembled those of the Nazis, as the loyal opposition, I would be derelict in my duty if I DID NOT point that out to the American people!

It certainly appears the democrats are extremely delicate. They suffer from a malady known as “thin skin.” It is manifest by the easily observable fact that they can dish it out – but they can’t take it!

Mr. Carter referred to “a sincere debate” over Obamacare. Mr. Carter KNOWS the last thing Obama and the democrats want is a REAL debate. The fact is, and they are fully aware of it, they cannot win by debating their proposals on ObamaCare! A debate will only allow the American public to learn more about ObamaCare. We already know the more Americans learn of the power grabbing, socialist, program called ObamaCare the less they like it.

According to a recent article by Rasmussen Reports – “… one week after President Obama’s speech to Congress, opposition to his health care reform plan has reached a new high of 55%. The latest Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll shows that just 42% now support the plan, matching the low first reached in August

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Democrats now support the plan while 80% of Republicans are opposed. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 67% are opposed.” You can read the entire report HERE.

Many, many, questions about the constitutionality of ObamaCare are waiting for the Supreme Court to answer. When one compares ObamaCare to the Bill of Rights, one can readily see that a number of amendments are in jeopardy.

Well, we southerners were expecting this kind of reaction if Obama was elected President. More than once, long before the election, I heard southerners lamenting the fact that if they opposed a “President” Obama they would be derided as “racists.” You see, we KNEW it was coming. As a southerner, I do not hesitate to tell you that choosing between Wilson and Carter is not a difficult task. While Carter is an embarrassment to me as a southerner, I am proud to support fellow southerner Congressman Joe Wilson.

Now, I admitted that I am a Carolina boy at the beginning of this piece and proudly so. As a result, I am sure that it comes as no surprise to you that I would defend Congressman Joe Wilson. At the same time, it should not surprise you that what troubles me about the entire incident is not Congressman Wilson’s conduct, but the less than honest conduct of the President of the United States.

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© J. D. Longstreet

J. D. Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom

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WesternFront America

Representative Joe Wilson (R, SC) Speaks Truth to Power
“YOU LIE”

I was disappointed this morning to hear that South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson had apologized for calling Obama a liar during last nights health care speech. The MSM were playing this incident non-stop this morning in an attempt to discredit opponents of the socialist health care reform. Typical in modern America that the one person in the room who had the courage to speak the truth is the one that gets attacked and if some Democrats have their way, punished for telling the truth.

Our public discourse is getting more and more surreal as everyone on both sides who has studied the health care issue know for a fact that Obama lied about numerous issues. This is how I imagine things must have been in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Telling the truth is an anti-social and immoral act when it involves criticizing the naked dictator and the criminal fantasy delusions of the socialist.

Robin Meade on HLN has stated at least six times since I have been writing this post that Wilson’s apology to the President won’t be enough to satisfy some people’s anger. Dear Leader must not be criticized and anyone who dares to must be publicly beaten down, humiliated and punished.

Lies can come both in the form of sins of commission and omission. Obama’s speech was full of lies, half truths and carefully omitted facts. Here are a few of them which you can look up yourself should you care to check the facts:

* “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally” – This is the statement that sparked Representative Wilson’s outburst is at best a half truth as some 20 million illegals are already receiving free health care from our system through entrance through the Emergency Room. Nothing in the plan will stop this so the government and what is left of our independent health care provider system will continue to pay for health care for illegal aliens at the expense of the taxpayer and citizens who actually pay for health care insurance. Mysteriously these same illegals who aren’t officially recognized as even being here, who often don’t pay taxes and can’t be found by the government and sent home are going to be required to purchase private health care insurance…right.

* “First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.” – No not REQUIRES but since most corporations that currently provide health care for their employees spend around 15% of total employee compensation on health care cost the proposed 8% penalty for not providing health care will cause a cascading failure of the private insurance companies as more and more big corporations dump their employee health care plans and force their employees onto the government plan. Make no mistake about it both big business and big government want to force you onto a government health care plan.

* “But thanks to the bold and decisive action we have taken since January, I can stand here with confidence and say that we have pulled this economy back from the brink.” National unemployment is at 10% and is still rising, the dollar has been devalued, the Chinese are demanding we stop just printing money ie counterfeiting our own currency, and our government is both flat broke and astoundingly enough spending money it doesn’t have at a rate and amount that surpasses all the previous expenditures made by every American administration since the founding of our now foundering Republic.

* “…insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies – because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.” A Hoover Institution study disputes that European style national health care reduces cancer related deaths,

“ Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality in Canada is 9 percent higher than in the United States, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher, and colon cancer among men is about 10 percent higher. Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate, and colon cancer:

• Nine out of ten middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to fewer than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a Pap smear, compared to fewer than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a prostatespecific antigen (PSA) test, compared to fewer than one in six Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with fewer than one in twenty Canadians (5 percent).” – From Hoover Institute Study

* “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.” This is at best a half truth. You don’t need Death Panels in a socialized medical system, the resultant rationing will help clear out that expensive group of patients without any human or humane interference.

* “That’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance – just as most states require you to carry auto insurance” Remember those illegals we won’t be paying for and who will buy their own health insurance? Those same illegals who are not buying auto insurance…just watch your local news or call you auto insurance provider and ask them how much uninsured motorist are costing you.

* “I have insisted that like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects. But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits, excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers.” The same way that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid pay for themselves? The same way the quasi-government Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are solvent? The same way the the US Post office breaks even? Aren’t all of these systems in the red or destined to soon be in the red without constant infusions of government/tax payers funds?

* “Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable.” Wait won’t forcing private insurers to provide coverage to high cost people with pre-existing conditions while encouraging healthy people to drop their good but expensive private plans and sign up for the low cost government option guarantee the collapse of our private insurance companies? Haven’t we demonstrated that the big corporations will rapidly drop their private insurance plans and force their employees onto the government option?

* “First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period. ” This is such a blatant and arrogant lie that it should have had the entire country on their feet shouting “Liar Liar”. Since when have any of the new socialist initiatives implemented by the Obama administration and our socialist congress been paid for?

* “we’ve estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system – a system that is currently full of waste and abuse…Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan.” By all means figure out how to cut the existing waste and corruption in Medicare and Medicaid and then when we see how well that works out we will get back to you on handing over 1/6 of our economy into your care. By the way have you ever noticed in what areas of the country that Medicare and Medicaid fraud are the worst? Is not the greatest corruption of these systems found in the urban areas that count as Obama’s strongest supporters?

* “We should work together to address any legitimate concerns you may have.” This from the man who refused to meet with Republican legislators or to consider any of the currently circulating Republican plans to address the health care issue. The key is that none of our concerns are seen as legitimate by this President and his radical administration. So legitimate is a liars weasel word.

Perhaps the most frightening lines of Obama’s speech were, “Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.” and his thinly veiled threat, “But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are.

If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.”

So here is the iron fist in the velvet glove. Your “legitimate concerns” (you have none) will be considered but don’t dare waste his time or play any games. Stop bickering didn’t you hear the sound of the whip cracking on your backs you silly contentious slaves…I mean taxpaying citizens.

When treason prospers none dare call it treason and when liars prosper none dare speak the truth.

Our Dear Leader has spoken, now the only issue that remains is to decide how we can most quickly implement his will. Now is the season for action alright, it is time to impeach this fascist impostor before he does any more damage to our country and failing that we must throw out enough of his socialist enablers during the 2010 election to stop more of this rush to national suicide.

Text of Obama’s Health Care Address

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Originally posted at Light in the Forest © Jesse James

 

WesternFront America