Looking Back: Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP – 2008 OpEd

Tripp Palin Johnston and His Uncle Trig Palin

Washington Times: Amid the speculation regarding John McCain’s choice to complete his presidential ticket, I offer my unsolicited suggestion for his vice president: the first woman — and youngest — governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, who is an unstereotypical and effective Republican.

During her first year in office, as reported by the Associated Press on May 10, she “distanced herself from the old guard, powerful members of the state GOP (and) stood up to the oil interests that hold great power in Alaska, and with bipartisan support in the statehouse, she won a tax increase on the oil companies’ profits.” Last December, this mother of four children, Mrs. Palin, four months’ pregnant, found she was going to have a child with Down syndrome — a condition characterized by moderate-to-severe mental retardation. A school friend of one of my sons had Down syndrome; I have also known functioning adults with the extra chromosomes of that syndrome.

However, as a longtime reporter on disability rights, I have discovered that many fetuses so diagnosed have been aborted by parents who have been advised by their doctors to end the pregnancies because of the future “imperfect quality of life” of such children.

Mrs. Palin’s first reaction to the diagnosis was to research the facts about the condition, since, as she said, “I’ve never had problems with my other pregnancies.” As a result, she and her husband, Todd, never had any doubt they would have the child.

“We’ve both been very vocal about being pro-life,” she told the Associated Press. “We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential.” In an age when DNA and other genetic-selection tests increasingly determine who is “fit” to join us human beings, we are witnessing the debate between sanctity of life vs. quality of life being more often decided in favor of death. This is a result welcomed by internationally-influential bioethicist Peter Singer. He is now a celebrated Princeton University professor, who, in July 1983, wrote in Pediatrics, the official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: “If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication, and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant.” And there are bioethicists who point to the continuing costs of rearing a “defective infant.”

By inspirational contrast, Mrs. Palin, says of her new son, Trig: “I’m looking at him right now, and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?” Three days after she gave birth, Mrs. Palin was back in her Anchorage office with her husband and Trig. “I can think of so many male candidates,” she tells the AP, “who watched families grow while they were in office. There is no reason to believe a woman can’t do it with a growing family. My baby will not be at all or in any sense neglected.” Says the governor of Alaska: “I will not shirk my duties.” Taking her stand for life as a holder of high political office is all the more valuable in the face of the termination of fetal lives as not worth continuing before they can speak for themselves. Mrs. Palin’s stand also puts a searching light on the growing “futility” doctrine in hospitals which is affecting people of all ages.

Nancy Valko, a medical ethicist and intensive-care nurse I consult on these lives-worth-living debates, has emphasized that “with the rise of the modern bioethics movement, life is no longer assumed to have the intrinsic value it once did, and ‘quality of life’ has become the overriding consideration.” Because of Mrs. Palin’s reputation as a maverick, and her initial reduction of state spending (including pork-barrel spending), life-affirming Palin connects with voters. For these reasons, she has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for Mr. McCain.

She would be a decided asset: an independent Republican governor, a woman, a defender of life against the creeping culture of death and a fresh face in national politics. She was described in “the Almanac of National Politics” as “an avid hunter and fisher with a killer smile who wears designer glasses and heels, and hair like modern sculpture.” Moreover, I doubt that she would engage in such campaigning, as Sen. McCain’s strongly implying that a Hamas terrorist saying he would like Barack Obama to be president thereby damages Mr. McCain’s opponent (though Mr. Obama has totally condemned Hamas). Still unknown is whether Mrs. Palin would be as flip-flopping as Mr. McCain on the Bush torture policy that has so blighted our reputation in the world. But we would find out: If chosen as his running mate, she would create more interest in this already largely scripted presidential campaign.

And her presence could highlight Mr. Obama’s extremist abortion views on whether certain lives are worth living — even a child born after a botched abortion.  

Governor Palin: An Extra Chromosome of Love

Trig Palin Age 3 

Gov. Palin: Trig is getting a buddy!

Technorati Tags: Life,Life Is a Gift,Children,Babies,Abortion,Parenting,Choices,Palin,Sarah Palin,Trig Palin,The Palins,Pro-Life,Down Syndrome,Love,Extra Chromosome

My Wife's Last Days -- And the Coming ObamaCare Death Panel

By Stuart Schwartz – American Thinker: We have been so absorbed by the cavalcade of government incompetence and individual hurt produced by the rollout of ObamaCare that it is easy to forget the tragedy-in-waiting should this federal healthcare takeover stay in place: the death panel, also known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This is the group of political appointees designed to allow the federal government to use a combination of medical and social criteria to determine the healthcare an individual receives.

Or, to put it as bluntly as Sarah Palin did, to determine who lives and who dies. Why am I thinking about that now? Because my wife and soul-mate of 33 years, Sharon Harrah Schwartz, died at the age of 62 in January. Her passing put an end to a slow-motion death from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She would have occupied the bottom portion of an IPAB treatment list.

Her suffering and passing was and remains wrenching for her family and friends. It was especially difficult over the last year as her illness accelerated, destroying her muscles and, consequently, her ability to speak, to eat, and ultimately to breathe. A variety of drugs and equipment kept her reasonably comfortable, while medical technology helped clear the fluids collecting in her lungs. She enjoyed, as much as possible, the last months with her family. An advanced directive, worked out in concert with ALS healthcare professionals, proscribed the treatment limits. For almost two years, her healthcare relied on a myriad of individual decisions based on relationships with both the ones she loved and with healthcare providers. The most significant one: she and I -- lovers and best friends for more than three decades -- had decided together that, barring a miracle and/or last-minute medical research breakthrough, we would allow the disease to take its course, keep her as comfortable as possible, and let God do the rest.

This illustrates something that President Obama and his party, in its zeal to use healthcare as a driving force in transforming American society, accrue power, and expand centralized government, have ignored: that the foundation of what has become the uniquely American and consequently world-class healthcare system is individual decision-making and values, resting upon a multitude of relationships that work best when left to those with a stake in it -- healthcare professionals, patients and their families. The government has a role, yes; but its role should be limited, allowing the marketplace of providers and patients to work.

At its most basic level, healthcare is individual and personal, depending upon relationships and particular values. Our faith, our love for each other and belief in the sacred responsibility of marriage underlaysleepless nights, caring for her when she could no longer care for herself, servicing the machines that alleviated some of the symptoms, the decisions that allowed just a few more months to live and love with her family and friends.

Her… our struggles with this terminal disease -- she referred to it as the “beast” in her body -- illustrate the government-sponsored agony awaiting so many families just over the horizon. Love informed our decisions in consultation with those providing treatment. I valued her life as sacred and God-given, acknowledging the debt I owed to someone who had joyfully served as wife, mother, and friend.

But looming on the horizon is a whole other set of criteria. ObamaCare has established an agenda-driven political board that will shift the loci of healthcare decisions from individual and relationship to the application of social justice concepts. Even a cursory reading (something that few, if any, of the Democrats foisting this law upon us took the time to do) of the pages and footnotes of this intrusion and the writings of its designers -- many so-called medical policy experts from academia -- makes it clear that progressive social engineering by government-appointed experts will largely determine medical treatment.

Peruse the publications and reports of the thinking of the architects of ObamaCare. Their various scoring systems, their social priorities would have put my wife at the bottom of the list for treatment. Obamacare architects perceive healthcare, as they do income, as a zero-sum game -- every dollar spent on her treatment is a dollar taken away from someone else. Never mind that this notion, like so much of ObamaCare, is a deliberate lie with no foundation in fact; healthcare, like wealth, in the United States has expanded  as new medical technologies, techniques and research have brought ever more accessible and better care.

But centralized control needs to declare medical resources finite, which in turn demands rationing, and rationing needs, of course, a government board to decide who gets treatment and when, who gets to live… and die. My wife, under a fully implemented ObamaCare, would have been among the last in line for treatment. She was a retiree (too old!) with a terminal disease (too expensive with a limited future!), a woman who had chosen to spend most of her adult life raising children (that’s not really societally valued employment, the architects might sniff) and who lived simply and lovingly, taking pride in her family and her role as a homemaker (what --no greater ambitions?)

Sharon was loved by her family, her friends and, above all, by God. We devoted a considerable portion of our energy and resources to making sure she felt loved during her last year. We could do no less, as love is a basic tenet of our faith, a Christianity that says her worth depends solely on her standing as a creation of God -- not a federal bureaucracy.  Such was the sanctity of Sharon’s life, a human life. That is the opposite of Obamacare which, if fully implemented, would likely have robbed us of much of her past year. To a centralized and progressive federal bureaucracy, Sharon’s worth was the totality of the probabilities of her contribution to the good of a theoretical community, as defined by Washington politicians and technocrats.

But for us, it was much simpler: She was God’s gift, to whom we owed our love and resources and energy until she passed from life in this world.

It is time to repeal Obamacare.

Dr. Stuart Schwartz is on the faculty of Liberty University and has been a frequent contributor to American Thinker. His wife, Sharon, passed away on January 7 at their residence in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Technorati Tags: IPAB,ObmamaCare,Death Panels,Sarah Palin,Palin Was Right,Repeal and Replace ObamaCare,Wake-Up,ACA,Fundamental Transformation,the Plan,Socialized Medicine,Obamaland,God,ALS,Rationing Panel,Big Brother,Christianity,PPACA,Healthcare

The Iditarod on 12,000 calories a day

Extreme cold in Alaska makes the race even more challenging – and dangerous

Guest essay by Paul Driessen – What’s Up With That? – Cross-Posted at Just One More Pet

This winter’s record Midwestern freeze made any outdoor activity a real challenge. It also made us appreciate modern housing, heating, transportation and hydrocarbons – and what our frontline troops have endured in the Aleutians, Korea and Afghanistan. I’ve been in minus 20-50 F weather, and it is brutal. 

The nasty weather reminded me of the Iditarod racers and spirited sled dogs I met last summer in Alaska. Trekking 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, across Sam McGee’s wilderness in the dead of winter in nine to twelve days, is not for faint-hearted humans or canines. It’s equivalent to jogging from Chicago to Tampa or from Washington, DC to Kansas City – with temperatures ranging from a “balmy” 10 or 20 degrees F (-7 to -12 C) above to a bone-rattling and deadly minus 50 (-46 C) or lower for the entire trip.

It helps explain why far more people have reached the summit of Mt. Everest than have finished the annual Iditarod race.

This difference: some 4,000 to Everest’s peak versus around 900 individual dogsledders, many of whom are the same hardy men and women racing year after year. About 2,550 dog teams of 16 dogs each have competed since Dorothy Page and Joe Redington, Sr. launched the Iditarod dogsled race in 1973.

Rick Swenson has entered the race 33 times and won it five times, logging more than 82,000 miles in training and racing. DeeDee Jonrowe has started 27 races and finished 25, including 2003 when she began three weeks after finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer! (Go here for still more Iditarod trivia.)

“The coldest I’ve ever been in during the Iditarod was minus 60, and I actually camped out on the trail that night with the dogs,” Rick Casillo told me. “It’s by far the coldest I have ever been. I went to sleep after taking care of the dogs, woke up two hours later and was starting to get hypothermic. I had to get out of my bag and get moving fast. When you’re dealing with temperatures like that, there is no room for error. You have to plan and execute each step perfectly.” Jack London’s “To build a fire” comes to mind.

Rick and his wife Jennifer operate Battle Dawgs Racing, Aurora Heli-Expeditions and the Knik River Lodge west of Palmer. But Battle Dawgs is not just their dog kennel. By partnering with Alaska’s Healing Hearts, they’ve made it a wounded veterans rehabilitation program that enables military personnel and their families and loved ones to experience wild Alaska, restore their souls, and meet kindred spirits through hunting, fishing, mushing, flying, hiking and snowmobiling.

James Hastings, director of operations for AHH and a retired U.S. Army veteran, says their goal with Battle Dawgs is to have a year-round camp with cabins and facilities that can accommodate warriors in wheel chairs. Adds Jennifer, an Air Force veteran and reservist, aircraft mechanic and chopper pilot: “For a wounded veteran, the true battle often begins when they get home.” That’s why the dogs are important. “The healing capabilities of canines are legendary,” Rick says. “You can’t spend time with these men and women, and not want to help out by offering them some life changing experiences.”

Some of warriors will actually be members of Rick’s “pit crew” during dog races. One will be on his sled for the “ceremonial” portion of the 2014 Iditarod, from Anchorage to Eagle River, where the teams regroup and start the actual race. Few can imagine what goes into this race.

Pre-season racing is like pre-season football, Rick says. “You use it to gauge younger dogs and give them valuable racing experience. I’m looking for attitude, recovery time, eating habits, drive and desire. These dogs are all born to run, but I need dogs that can do these runs over and over, willingly and happily.” Usually he spots these characteristics by opening day, but sometimes there are surprises.

“The toughest situation I was ever in was easily in 2007 when I was going up the Alaska Range from Rainey Pass,” Rick recalls. “The temperature was minus 30, with 40 mph winds – making it feel like minus 71 – and we were climbing in a complete whiteout. My goggles froze up solid and were useless. I was forced to take them off. Minutes later, frostbite set in on my nose, cheeks and eyelids. Sometimes I had to walk in front of the team to find the trail. All of a sudden, an 18-month-old dog started demanding to be up front, leading. Normally I would never rely on a young dog in a situation like that, but Grisman was jumping five feet in the air, howling to go. So I gave him a chance. Once I put Gris in lead, he never balked once. Not only did he take us up and over the range. He continued to be one of best dogs in that race and went on to be the best dog I have ever run.”

That experience underscores what are perhaps the six most important factors in Iditarod racing. (1) Bond and trust. “If you don’t have the dogs’ trust, you have nothing,” Rick emphasizes. (2) Mental and physical toughness, for dogs and musher alike. By the end of the race, each musher is tired, battered and cut up – attesting to the difficulty of the trail and weather, and to the need to just keep going, no matter what. (3) Logistics. More on that in a minute. (4-6) “Dog care, dog care, dog care. As the dogs go, you go.”

For UPS and Amazon, logistics are vital. “Brown” even has a jingle about logistics, and Amazon.com hires numerous veterans because of their logistical skills. But for the military and Iditarod racers, logistics mean the difference between success and failure, life or death. “We’re on our own out there,” Rick told me. “No cell phones, no communications. Careful planning and preparation are critical.”

Each dog burns 12,000 calories a day during the Iditarod, Rick points out. That’s what Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps reportedly consumes on racing days. Rick’s dogs eat a combination of beef, horse, fish and chicken; beef fat and turkey and chicken skins; tripe and high-grade dry dog food; salmon oil and natural supplements. They wear booties to protect their feet from the cold and bruising.

Mushers are required to carry a sleeping bag, ax, snow shoes, extra dog booties, a veterinary care book, a dog food cooker and sufficient food for the dogs, in their sleds at all times. So they are hauling about 60 pounds of food and gear in sleds similar to what Inupiaq and Yup’ik Natives used for centuries. For each musher, some 3,000 pairs of booties and 2,000 pounds of food and personal gear are divided up and airlifted by volunteer flyers two weeks before the race to each of 20 check points along the route.

“We cover 125 to 150 miles a day. Our average runs are 60 miles, followed by a four-to-five-hour break to eat, rest, massage and care for the dogs – and then we do it again, and again, until we reach Nome,” Rick explains. Mushers are also required to shut down completely for two 8-hour and one 24-hour rest periods. Tough hills, rocks, swollen creeks, high winds, frigid temperatures, storms, whiteout conditions, accidents and injuries to dogs or mushers, and other adventures can slow that pace down. But somehow they need to make it to the next check point, where volunteer veterinarians examine the dogs and they can replenish their supplies. More volunteers fly any injured dogs from the nearest checkpoint back to Eagle River, where Hiland Mountain Correctional Center inmates care for them until the mushers finish the race.

The hard training and careful preparation pay off. Rick has entered and finished four Iditarod races and is now preparing for his fifth. He’s also competed in many other dogsled races. This year he plans to run at a slower pace that requires less exertion and less rest – and results in less fatigue and healthier dogs that can chew up miles. That’s a bit different from a musher who “ran” all 188 miles to Rohn with minimal breaks in the first race of the 2013-14 season. It will be fascinating to watch all the mushers’ strategies in action.

They’re all straining, sweating and freezing for the $50,000 first place prize – and smaller cash prizes for the next 30 top finishers, plus the joys and thrills of just being in this premier race. But competing in the Iditarod costs $30,000 or more in fees, supplies, dog care, preparation, training and prelims.

So follow Rick Casillo on BattleDawgsRacing.com and all the mushers, preparations, history and thrills of this amazing race at Iditarod.com. Buy some gear and DVDs. Support your favorite mushers and dogs with donations or by volunteering. And watch the race on television. It starts March 1 – and now you know enough to really understand and appreciate “the last great race,” the Iditarod.

_______________

Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power Black Death (Kindle), and a huge fan of Rick Casillo, Battle Dawgs and all they do.

Related: 

Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters, Palin and Alaskan Tourism 

Iditarod Dog Found 7-Days After Disappearing From Team 

Pet Detectives Capture Iditarod Dog on the Lam in East King Co. for 6 Weeks 

Iditarod Dog Saved With Mouth-To-Snout CPR 

Alaskan Breeds Only True American Breeds Study Shows…

Technorati Tags: Iditarod,Dogs,Alaska,Todd Palin,The Palins,Dog Races

Obamacare Is A Disaster & A Train Wreck… Sarah Palin Delivers Passionate Response

Video: Gov. Sarah Palin dropped by 'The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson'

"If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" - Barack Obama [video supermix]

Video: "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" - Barack Obama

NewsBusters: To counter accusations that the President lied when he repeatedly told Americans they can keep their health insurance plans if they liked them, the administration has claimed that he was referring to the millions of people covered by their employers.

An article from Forbes Thursday thoroughly refutes this claiming that Obama officials back in 2010 predicted that 93 million Americans would have their plans cancelled as a result of ObamaCare including a vast amount of those with employer-sponsored plans:

If you read the Affordable Care Act when it was passed, you knew that it was dishonest for President Obama to claim that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan,” as he did—and continues to do—on countless occasions. And we now know that the administration knew this all along. It turns out that in an obscure report buried in a June 2010 edition of the Federal Register, administration officials predicted massive disruption of the private insurance market. [...]

[T]he administration’s commentary in the Federal Register did not only refer to the individual market, but also the market for employer-sponsored health insurance.

Section 1251 of the Affordable Care Act contains what’s called a “grandfather” provision that, in theory, allows people to keep their existing plans if they like them. But subsequent regulations from the Obama administration interpreted that provision so narrowly as to prevent most plans from gaining this protection.

“The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” wrote the administration on page 34552. All in all, more than half of employer-sponsored plans will lose their “grandfather status” and get canceled. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 156 million Americans—more than half the population—was covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2013.

As we found out from Lisa Myers' report Monday, the administration predicted that between 47 and 60 percent of individually-purchased policies would be cancelled under ObamaCare.

Forbes did the math to calculate a total:

51 percent of the employer-based market plus 53.5 percent of the non-group market (the middle of the administration’s range) amounts to 93 million Americans.

What this means is that not only did Obama lie when he repeatedly told Americans that they can keep their plans if they like them, he also lied in Boston on Wednesday when he said he was referring to the majority of Americans coverered by their employers.

Will media report this?

Stay tuned?

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters - (HT Twitchy)

Sarah Palin - Facebook:  President Obama flew in to Boston yesterday to deliver another “ShamWow”-style infomercial for Obamacare, and it went about as well as his entourage’s snarled traffic debacle in Beantown.

As millions of Americans are being kicked off their desired insurance plans and seeing their premiums skyrocket, the President had a lot of 'splaining to do today. For starters we anticipated a Presidential apology for lying to Americans repeatedly when he promised things like, “If you like your current health care plan, you can keep it.” Make no mistake, he knew he was lying when he said that. And make no further mistake, after five years of false Obama claims, no one should actually expect contrition on this administration’s part.

Bloomberg reports that in June of 2010, the administration knew millions would be kicked off existing healthcare plans due to Obamacare; but President Obama continued to knowingly deceive the American people with repeated claims that if we liked our current plan we could keep it.

So, finally busted, did the President apologize? Was remorse and sympathy shown for Americans who now can’t afford health insurance thanks to Obamacare? Nope. He instead informed us that Americans who receive cancellation notices have been on “substandard” plans supplied by “bad apple” insurers. That’s right. Obama didn’t lie to you when he said, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” Why? Because, you sillies, you DIDN’T REALLY like the plan you chose for yourselves! No arguing. Barack Obama knows best and he’ll tell you whether you actually liked your insurance plan or not. If you’re an elderly bachelor, your old plan was clearly “substandard” because it didn’t offer maternity care. What’s that you say? You don’t need maternity care? Well, according to the President today, he says you do, and any insurance plan that doesn’t offer it is a “junk” plan provided by a “bad apple” insurer.

But don’t worry, the President also promised that only “rich” people making $250,000 or more will see their premium costs rise. This lie is so appalling and so easily debunked that the brazenness with which he made it is simply breathtaking. But who will hold him accountable for it? Media, you know I love you... so let me help you save your hide with the American public by suggesting you fact-check that.

Despite the Obamacare rollout disaster and the broken government website (which HHS Secretary Sebelius admitted is a “debacle” in her testimony before Congress today), the President gleefully highlighted the few people signing up for Obamacare as indicative of his socialized medicine’s “success.” He neglected to mention that the government is forcing Americans to sign up for his program or pay fines that will increase each year we fail to do so.

For sheer chutzpah, the President closed his speech by praising America’s “rugged individualism.” Because nothing says “rugged individualism” like heavy-handed big government forcing individuals to buy a product they don’t want and arrogantly telling them they didn’t really like the product they wisely chose for themselves and could afford.

Thanks for the infomercial, Mr. President. I don’t know anyone who wants your “ShamWow” product, but the IRS will make sure we call that toll free number or go online to order it right now…. well, just as soon as your impossibly broken $600 million website is fixed and your phones lines aren’t busy.

Happy with this, America? Make your voices heard. 2014 is just around the corner.

Video: Rep. Marsha Blackburn: Obama could take away your right to buy cheap shoes

10/31/13 - Rep. Marsh Blackburn (R-TN) warned on Thursday that President Barack Obama could soon take away the freedom to purchase cheap shoes if his health care reform law was allowed to stand. At a House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, the Tennessee Republican had grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because the Affordable Care Act had forced insurers to upgrade some policies that did not meet new minimum government standards.

"Some people like to drive a Ford, not a Ferrari," Blackburn had quipped at the hearing. "And some people like to drink out of a red Solo cup, not a crystal stem. You're taking away their choice." In an appearance on the Fox News Channel on Thursday, host Martha MacCallum concluded that the point about the Solo cup was the "bigger picture" about the health care law.

"I will always go to the mat and fight for freedom, free people, free markets," Blackburn insisted. "And I think for the federal government to come in and take away the choice that people have had in the health care market and say, 'Hey, we don't like what you've been buying, we're going to make you buy this.'"

"What's the next thing going to be? You can't buy that Solo cup? You can't buy an inexpensive blouse? You can't buy a pair of shoes that cost less than another pair?"

She added: "So do they think that the federal government is going to become the determiner of the cost and set prices of everything that you can buy at a quality that they say is worthy? Come on! This is absolutely ridiculous. I am not going to sit here and let them get by with this."

- Sarah Palin  - Facebook

P.S. Take a look at this article by Fox’s Eric Bolling: Why the Healthcare.gov website failure matters big-time

Excerpt: As Eric asks, “If they can’t get a basic website up and running in three years… How on God’s green Earth are they going to administer health care to 300 million Americans? So, with billions upon billions of health related communications clearing through the government medicine portal annually, our very health will be hanging in the balance…Therefore, you must conclude: The Obama administration has our lives in their hands… Ask yourself… Do you trust President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Kathleen Sebelius and Jay Carney with your life? I certainly do not!  Video: Glenn Beck: Day 30 And Heathcare.gov Still Isn't Working…

The Lies Continue On ObamaCare 

Sebelius, ObamaCare and More Spin…

Sharyl Attkisson told on Obamacare enrollment figures: ‘There aren’t any’

Governor Palin: An Extra Chromosome of Love

Governor Palin promoted Down Syndrome Awareness Month by posting the following photos and comments  on her Facebook page yesterday:

Sarah Palin

I’m grateful for those with a heart of love for those who have that extra chromosome; we refer to it as “an extra chromosome of love!” And adding to Bristol’s collection of pictures on her blog during Down Syndrome Awareness Month, here’s one of our boys.

I'm grateful for those with a heart of love for those who have that extra chromosome; we refer to it as "an extra chromosome of love!" And adding to Bristol's collection of pictures on her blog during Down Syndrome Awareness Month, here's one of our boys.

Trig Palin and his nephew, Tripp Palin Johnston, Bristol’s son

Governor Palin with son Trig and Hubby Todd as Todd got ready for the 2013 Iron Dog Race last February

Here’s the link to Bristol’s blog post: Patheos

Supreme Court Unexpectedly Upheld Regulatory Elimination of Down Syndrome

Technorati Tags: The Palins,Bristol Palin,Sarah Palin,Down Syndrome,Love,Choices,Extra Chromosome,Special Needs,Joy,Supreme Court,ACA,Affordable Care Act,Death Panels,ObamaCare,Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Tea Party vs. Progressives on ObamaCare

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton - Cross-Posted at Right Wing News, Gateway Pundit and Ask Marion 

You can blend in or blend out — the Tea Party chooses to take a stand and blend out. Leading the fray is Ted Cruz. Sarah Palin has written a kick butt article on Cruz Control. Take a moment and smell the tea:

More and more Americans are waking up to the nightmare of ObamaCare as its rollout continues.

Hardworking families are losing their employer-provided health care coverage. Businesses are cutting back their employees’ hours to skirt ObamaCare's mandates. Americans barely scrapping by are discovering that ObamaCare has made health care completely unaffordable. Those who aren’t part of a protected special interest group have been left in the cold.

When you’re living on a fixed income, having to pay hundreds of dollars more each month for health care will cut into your ability to pay for basic necessities like food, electricity, or gas (which has increased 90% under Obama). Open your eyes, America. When the full reality of ObamaCare strikes home, we’ll thank God that principled leaders like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee took a stand to stop it in its tracks.

But the permanent political class is handwringing and howling that if there’s a government shutdown the media will blame Republicans for it. Here’s a little newsflash, GOP establishment: Whenever anything bad happens, the media blames Republicans for it. That’s not an excuse to roll over and play dead. It’s a call to follow the advice I give my daughters: Woman up, stand your ground, and fight like a girl!

While Democratic Senate Minority Leader and major weasel, Harry Reid, is calling the Tea Party anarchists and telling the Republicans to sit down, shut up and take ObamaCare like good little Marxists, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are moving forward fighting all the way and threatening a filibuster:

“The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for three years,” Reid said. “Democrats stand ready to work with reasonable people who want to improve it, but Republican attempts to take an entire law hostage simply to appease the Tea Party anarchists are outrageous, irresponsible and futile.”

Wait… did he just say resistance is futile? So the Dems are admitting they’re the Borg? Reid can go back to whatever alien planet or hole he calls home and stuff it.

He’s not alone though - witness the Progressive Republicans on the right who are attacking Cruz at every opportunity:

Fox News host Chris Wallace said on Sunday that top Republicans had sent him opposition research throughout the week on Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Many top Republicans are upset that Cruz is threatening to filibuster if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reinserts funding for ObamaCare, after the House stripped the money from a recently passed continuing resolution bill, Wallace said.

“This has been one of the strangest weeks I’ve ever had in Washington,” Wallace said. “As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

Fox's Wallace Stunned: GOP Establishment Leaders Sent Me Opposition Research on Ted Cruz

Palin Fires at Fox News: 'Keep It TRULY Fair & Balanced,' Name Cruz Critics

We the people are standing with Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and we will remember those who betray us on both sides of the aisle. In closing, take to heart Sarah Palin’s words:

The message only grows stronger. The grassroots is bigger than any one person. We the People will rise up, and we will make our voices heard. Right now, Ted Cruz is speaking for us in this ObamaCare fight. God bless him for it.

Hang in there, Ted and Mike. You have millions of supporters among ordinary hardworking Americans. We support you because you don’t shy away from the fray. May your colleagues in the Senate gain the wisdom to support your excellent efforts so that you can see that the view is better from inside the bus than under it.

Video:  Palin on Cruz Control…

The only ones that should be viewing the underside of the bus are the Progressive Left. Death to ObamaCare.

Video:  Ted Cruz, Mark Levin explain process of defunding ObamaCare - 9/20/13

House votes 230-189 to Fund Government, Defund ObamaCare

Senator Jim DeMint Heritage Action Keynote Address – Defund ObamaCare Rally

Americans petition Congress to Defund ObamaCare

House Speaker John Boehner has a message for President Barack Obama: You’ll negotiate with Russia and not Republicans? [video] – Updated

Truckers Threatening to ‘Shut Down Washington, D.C.’ for Three Days Straight

Technorati Tags: Progressives,Progressivism,Tea Party,Constitution,Freedom,Defund ObamaCare,ObamaCare,Affordable Care Act,ACA,GOP,Budget,saving America,standing-up,Ted Cruz,Sarah Palin,Mike Lee,Cruz,Mark Levin,Palin,Levin,Chris Wallace,Fox,GOP Establishment

Senator Jim DeMint Heritage Action Keynote Address - Defund ObamaCare Rally

Jim DeMint addresses a capacity crowd at the Heritage Foundation’s Action for America, Defund ObamaCare Rally

Full Video: Jim DeMint’s Keynote Address at Heritage’s Action for America Defund ObamaCare Rally

A Time For Choosing: Take action, call your members of Congress and demand they vote to defund ObamaCare immediately. Remind them it’s easy to fully fund the government, while NOT spending a dime on this disastrous “heath care” bill.

Click here to learn more about what the Heritage Foundation is doing to stop ObamaCare.

Texas Attorney General [and gubernatorial candidate] Greg Abbott has called ObamaCare an “unconstitutional tax,” and “not right for Texas.”

Democrat Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi infamously said about ObamaCare that, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Congresswoman Pelosi was right, and now Texas and the rest of America are beginning to see the consequences – from rising healthcare costs to businesses being forced to lay off employees.

Greg Abbott knew this was a bad law from the beginning. So on the day ObamaCare was signed into law, he filed a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The Supreme Court agreed with General Abbott that Congress illegally tried to seize the states’ Medicaid systems. Although, the Supreme Court upheld other onerous parts of ObamaCare, General Abbott has not given up the fight. He continues to challenge this unworkable law and the unprecedented tax it imposes on Americans.

We must stop this law that Sarah Palin has called “downright evil” and democrat Max Baucus, one of the law’s creators, has called “a train-wreck” from moving forward and further harming the American people.

Video courtesy SarahNet

Governor Sarah Palin: Don’t Fund Obamacare!, Update: Senator Cruz Responds: 

Forced enrollment in Obama's "Unaffordable Care Act" is weeks away. This beast must be stopped -- by not funding it. Today, Todd and I joined with many of our fellow citizens to urge those in the U.S. Senate to not fund Obamacare.

We The People must continue to make our voices heard and hold those elected to serve this great nation accountable. Those in the Senate and those seeking to serve ther...e must stand strong against this devastating program before it reveals its true face now recognized by both sides of the aisle as the bureaucratic and economic beast that will deny our families, our businesses, and our sick the ability to access health care.

The time for rhetoric and ceremonial votes in Congress is over. The time to take serious action to stop Obamacare is now. Join us in urging Senators -- Don't Fund Obamacare! Just remember -- if you fund it, you own it!

- Sarah Palin

P.S.: Click here to join us in signing this petition: http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/

h/t to Gary P Jackson and of course to SaraPac  -  Cross-Posted at AskMarion

Technorati Tags: Jim DeMint,Heritage,Heritage Foundation,ObamaCare,politics,Defund ObamaCare,Palin,Sarah Palin,SarahPac,DeMint,healthcare,Obamaland,speeches,C-SPAN,rallies

Defunding Obamacare Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio Engage in a Colloquy, Plus Paul and Palin

Video:  Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio Engage in a Colloquy on Defunding Obamacare

Video: Rand Paul stands with Mike Lee on defunding Obamacare

Video:  Sarah Palin w/ Hannity on Defunding Obamacare: If You're Gonna Go Down, Go Down Swinging - 7/30/13 

Cross-Posted at AskMarion

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,defund ObamaCare,Ted Cruz,Mike Lee,Marco Rubio,Palin,Rand Paul,Sarah Palin,healthcare,standing-up,Hannity,Affordable Care Act

Obama, Democrats Promised "Death Panels" Would Not Exist In Obamacare - Sarah Palin on Hannity

Video: Obama, Democrats Promised "Death Panels" Would Not Exist In Obamacare - Sarah Palin on Hannity  - My My My… Seems Sarah was right all along!! 

Technorati Tags: death panels,Howard Dean,Sarah Palin,rationed healthcare,ObamaCare,wake-up America,Hannity,Palin,Obamaland

World's oldest man and oldest person ever dies in Japan at age 116

Oct. 15, 2012: Jiroemon Kimura smiles after he was presented with the certificate of the world's oldest living man from Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday at his home in the city, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. (AP)

FoxNews/AP: TOKYO –  Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living person and the oldest man ever, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 116.

Kimura, of Kyotango, Japan, was born April 19, 1897. Officials in Kyotango said he died in a local hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment for pneumonia.

According to Guinness, Kimura was the first man in history to have lived to 116 years old.

Kimura became the oldest man ever on Dec. 28, 2012, at the age of 115 years, 253 days, breaking the record set by Christian Mortensen, a Danish immigrant to the United States, whose life spanned from 1882-1998.

The title of oldest living person is now held by another Japanese, 115-year-old Misao Okawa, of Osaka. Okawa was born March 5, 1898.

"Jiroemon Kimura was an exceptional person," said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records. "As the only man to have ever lived for 116 years — and the oldest man whose age has been fully authenticated — he has a truly special place in world history."

Kyotango officials said Kimura's funeral would be held Friday.

"Mr. Kimura was and will always be a treasure to our town, to our country and to our world," said Mayor Yasushi Nakayama.

The new oldest living man, according to the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group, is James McCoubrey, an American who was born in Canada on Sept. 13, 1901. Now 111 years old, he is the 32nd oldest living person according to GRG's list, which shows all those older than him are women.

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Go Granny Go!!

Humana Given Gag Order Letter by Government for Telling Seniors the Truth About ObamaCare Cuts

ObamaCare for Seniors: Sorry, You're Just Not Worth It  

The 'kill granny' bill

Useless Eaters 

2050: 1.1 Million Over 100 Years Old; Their Aging Brains

“Death Panel” Three Years Later

Obama Embraces ‘Death Panel’ Concept in Medicare Rule

Meet Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel: Deny Coverage to Elderly an Disabled for the Greater Good – But don’t forget… Sarah Palin was crazy…

Complete Lives System by Ezekial Emanuel

Soylent Green Anyone???

Death Panels are HERE 

Remember 'The Girls' - Views by Ann Hood

Waltz Into Old Age

Checkout: ObamaCare Survival Guide and Ageless

Technorati Tags: Gerontology,aging,seniors,oldest person,pneumonia,Guinness,death panels,Ezekial Emanual,Complete Lives System,Centenarians,socialized medicine,rationed healthcare,rationing for seniors,Soylent Green,granny,Japan,elderly

RUSH: Palin Was Right - There Are Indeed Death Panels In ObamaCare (audio)

Audio: RUSH: Sarah Palin Was Right 'There Are Indeed Death Panels In ObamaCare' 

Former governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is blasting HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for becoming a one-woman death panel. Sebelius is denying a young girl a lifesaving lung transplant — forcing the girl’s family to look to the courts for help.

Palin blasted Sebelius on Twitter and Facebook.

In her Facebook post, Palin said recalled how much criticism she received for decrying “death panels” in Obamacare:

The government will bend the rules left and right to harass targeted taxpayers, conservative patriots, selected journalists, etc., but it will strictly exercise inconsistent and subjective rules to deny a child a shot at life. And they called us liars when we spoke of “death panels” – faceless bureaucrats coming between you and your doctor to make life and death decisions about a loved one’s survival. It doesn’t sound so far fetched anymore, does it?

A federal judge has intervened to give hope to a young girl who needs a lung transplant as doctors have only given her weeks to live. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius received national condemnation after she refused to get involved to help the girl.

Sarah Murnaghan has been hospitalized for three months with end-stage cystic fibrosis. She is not giving up hope. She wants to be a singer, but needs a lung transplant to live. Her parents have been with her constantly while she waits at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Sarah’s parents asked a federal judge to intervene and order the Obama administration to alter longstanding organ-donation rules so she can get the lung transplant she desperately needs. A report shows the judge has given them hope that she can be put on the adult list.

*Unfortunately because of the delays the dying girl's condition worsens as she awaits lung transplant

**Since this was originally written, the same judge has acted on behalf of a second girl in the same hospital also needing a lung transplant has sued and has been added to the list.

Death Panel a la Sebelius… “Some people live. Some people die.”

Related… Who is HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius?:

Sebelius’ Controversial Fundraising Efforts Raise Concerns, Allegedly Chase Away Potential Donors 

Sebelius: Decrease in Human Beings Will Cover Cost of Contraception Mandate 

Comments More Print Reprints About the Obamacare ‘train wreck’ 

Sebelius Spends Your Taxes On Community Organizations 

Obamacare Architects Rockefeller and Sebelius: Our Bill is Confusing Beyond Comprehension 

ObamaCare: 1,000+ Pages of Socialized Health-Care Rules? Obama’s Private Army? And the Road to Socialism Through Health-Care By Reagan

*Here is Ultra Left Wing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ Spin on the abortion mandates within ObamaCare. (Remember, Sebilius was an ardent supporter of murdered partial birth abortionist, Tiller and her extreme record on abortion has sadly been ignored (or hidden) by the media.) 

Obama Embraces 'Death Panel' Concept in Medicare Rule 

Death Panels are HERE

Technorati Tags: death panels,ObamaCare,Sarah Palin,Palin,Rush Limbaugh,wake-up America,stand-up America,Kathleen Sebelius

Incredible: The Official in Charge of the IRS Office Responsible for Targeting Conservative Groups Now Heads the Agency’s Obamacare Office

Incredible… It Just Keeps Getting Worse: The Official in Charge of the IRS Office Responsible for Targeting  Conservative Groups Now Heads the Agency’s Obamacare Office

TheBlaze/TV:

Well, this can’t be good.

It appears that the official who oversaw the Internal Revenue Service office responsible for targeting conservative groups has moved on from that post and now heads the agency’s Obamacare division.

From ABC News:

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

Grant said Thursday he would resign as commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division on June 3, TheBlaze reported. He was appointed to the post just eight days ago.

Here’s a May 8 press release announcing his extremely short-lived promotion.

Grant, Kay Named to IRS Leadership Posts

But here’s something ​really ​interesting: Ingram received more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012, slightly before and well after her office started targeting conservatives, the Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott reports.

“Ingram received a $7,000 bonus in 2009,” the Examiner report adds, “then a $34,440 bonus in 2010, $35,400 in 2011 and $26,550 last year for a total of $103,390. Her annual salary went from $172,500 to $177,000 during the same period.”

News that the IRS official heading the agency’s Obamacare office used to run the division responsible for conservative discrimination comes on the heels of House Speaker John Boehner calling for a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“Fully repealing ObamaCare will help us build a stronger, healthier economy, and will clear the way for patient-centered reforms that lower health care costs and protect jobs,” Boehner said shortly after the House passed a “repeal Obamacare” measure.

“Obamacare empowers the agency that just violated the public’s trust by secretly targeting conservative groups,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-In.) added. “Even by Washington’s standards, that’s unacceptable.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell summed up his reaction to the Ingram revelation: “stunning, just stunning.”

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image C-SPAN. This post has been updated.

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IRS official who oversaw unit targeting Tea Party now heads ObamaCare office

IRS official in charge during tea party targeting is now directing the agency's health care unit

‘Scandalous Hat Trick’: Sarah Palin Shreds Obama & His Scandal-Embroiled White House

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Obama Fires IRS Commissioner as Scandal Grows

The President’s Non-Answer is an Admission that the White House Knew What the IRS was Doing

Confused by Obama’s Incredibly Brief IRS Statement? Here’s Krauthammer’s Take

Pelosi on IRS: It’s Bush’s Fault – Really??

Obama Administration Under Siege From 3 Huge Scandals: Here’s Why It Could All Come Crashing Down

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Mocks Obama Team’s “I Know Nothing” Response to Scandals with “Sgt. Schultz” Clip!

IRS, Benghazi, and the AP: What do all three scandals have in common?

Why the IRS Scandal Should Lead to Obama’s Impeachment

IRS apologizes for targeting tea party groups

Obama is Putin or Chavez, Not Nixon

Benghazi, IRS Create Perfect Storm Threatening Obama's Credibility

Beck Ties Together Benghazi, IRS, & AP Scandals: ‘Fundamental Transformation’

Will Progressives Underwrite Obama’s Impeachment… You Be the Judge

You Cannot Love and Honor What You Don’t Know or Miss

Technorati Tags: defund ObamaCare,IRS,smoke and mirrors,lies,ObamaCare,Big Brother,ObamaCare surprises,manipulation of the public,The Blaze,truth,Sarah Hall Ingram,destorying America,saving America,fraudsters,fundamental transformation of America,pray for America,Perfect Storm