Good for the Gander OR our goose is Cooked!

[OK] Senator Tom Coburn is a physician who until recently still went home to Oklahoma to deliver babies. He believes Congress should weigh the dangers of a nationalized health system much more seriously than it has.

In the tradition of someone using a 2x4 to win the attention of a mule, yesterday he successfully pressed the Senate Health Committee to approve his idea of requiring Members of Congress themselves to enroll in whatever "public plan" is passed to compete with private insurance companies.
"Let's demonstrate leadership -- and confidence in the system -- by requiring that every member of Congress go into it," Mr. Coburn told his colleagues as they were marking up the health care proposal championed by Senator Ted Kennedy.

His idea wasn't exactly greeted warmly by many public plan supporters. Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, responded: "I don't know why we should require ourselves to participate in a plan that no one else needs to participate in. This bill goes to great lengths to show that the choice is there for everybody."

But Mr. Coburn disagreed, saying his reading of the 1,000-page health care bill convinced him that everyone would end up being forced into the public plan as private insurance carriers were squeezed out of the market by mandates and regulations. Therefore, if Congress decides a government-run health plan is good enough for the American people, it should be willing to put itself under its care umbrella.

By a 12 to 11 margin, the Senate Health Committee agreed.
Senator Chris Dodd, the committee's acting chairman, and Senator Kennedy were absent from the committee but sent in proxy votes in favor.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski was the only other Democrat to back the measure. Every Republican save for New Hampshire's Judd Gregg voted in favor of the Coburn mandate.

Obviously, many members of Congress -- who are used to a generous and flexible set of health benefits -- have no intention of letting the Coburn mandate become law.

They will undoubtedly try to strip it from the bill at some point, in a conference committee between the two houses if necessary. But for now it is embedded in the bill and any overt attempt to remove it would be met with howls of public outrage.
--John Fund, WSJ

Be interesting to know how many hours Hillary Clinton sat in an ER waiting room to get her broken elbow tended!

America - 1776 ~ 2009!

Happy Birthday America! God Bless America!

Statue of Liberty Crown opens TODAY for first time since September 11 attacks!

Who's on First!

JC OUT, Mary Fallin, IN! Randy Brogdon, IN! Players for the Governors chair are changing and settling in on the Republican side of the aisle.

The Dems have Jari Askins IN and Edmondson a possibility?
Recent polls show a return of a Republican to the Guvs office is favored.

Possibly more musical chairs as voters await US Sen. Tom Coburns' decision on seeking re-election, which is supposed to be forthcoming. Some are saying he's NOT running which would open the door for return of 1). Former Gov. Frank Keating; 2). Possibly JC Watts, but not probable!; 3). Who knows.

And, several mentioned/announced for Lt. Gov.....1). Todd Lamb, IN; 2). John Wright, IN; 3). Colby Schwartz, IN.

On the Dems side...1). Ken Corn.

There are other names floating around but we'll let them 'float' until they stick a bit.

The political landscape does change and FAST!
Stay tuned.!

This Memorial Day, let us remember those gave in any way along with those who made the ultimate sacrifice to make our election process free and secure.

This item also posted: http://comanchecountyrepublicanparty.blogspot.com/

VOTERS will 'have it their way' in 2010!

Oklahoma voters will have a chance to 'have it their way' when the 2010 ballot comes out. Thanks to Republicans in the State Legislator, numerous State Questions will be decided by voters after some vetos by Dim Gov. Henry.

The list will probably expand but currently ready to go to the people:

*Limiting the term of all state wide officials. Currently the Legislators and the Governor are only ones term limited. Term Limits are very popular with the people! If passed by the people, office of Auditor & Inspector, Attorney General, Lt. Governor, State Labor Commissioner and other state wide officials would be termed.
*Require voter ID at the polls. Also popular with the people!
*Re-organizing the state reapportionment commission.
*Raise per-pupil spending to the regional average. This was originated and petition circulated by teacher UNION.

We appreciate Republicans in the Legislature bypassing our lame duck Governor on several issues and presenting it to the people.
We hope they will press forward to do something about *abstracts - outdated and costly method used now ONLY in Oklahoma;
*5% annual property tax hike - a travesty and not even enforced uniformly across the state. Lt. Gov. Jari Askins prevented the people from voting on this issue last session;

AND, bills currently being considered that would make it easier for the people of Oklahoma to exercise their right to INITIATIVE PETITION. Bills currently making the rounds would extend amount of time to collect signatures; streamline the challenge process; reduce number of signatures required!

The people of Oklahoma are most fortunate that we have the right to circulate initiative petition. Not all states have this option. It serves as recourse when the State Legislature is NOT responsive to the citizens. As a veteran of two state-wide petition drives, I can tell you these changes are NEEDED!
The peoples right to petition should NOT BE HAMPERED by 'special interest' or the Legislature!

Join us in contacting your Legislator for passage of this bill(s).

btw....this early 'heads-up' gives voters plenty of time to get up-to-speed on these issues! Be an informed voter! Your quality of life depends on it!

GREAT LOSS!

A Time Saving Idea! Voter ID

by Russell Turner

Recently the governor of Oklahoma vetoed a bill that would have required voters to produce a photo ID when they went to vote. If the governor feels there is no need to produce an ID when voting, maybe he should use his influence and remove the requirement of a photo ID in other parts of our society.

Maybe we should tell banks to no longer require an ID when someone comes into the bank and wants to cash a check or take out a loan. I am sure that most banks would simply take the word of anyone who would come into their bank and ask for cash. Another good starting point would be to allow people who drive a car to simply tell the police officers who they are when they are stopped for a traffic violation. I am sure that the police officers would be glad to accept the word of anyone that they might stop on the roads. Another place to save some time would be in the local airport. Surely no one would ever think of doing anything improper while flying on an airplane.

The above scenarios in my opinion would be absurd. All of us want the protection of our banks checking the ID of someone that might assume our identity and clean out our bank account. We rely upon law enforcement to make our society safe; it is essential for the officers to check IDs while doing their job. Whenever I fly in an airplane, I want the people that provide security to know who is traveling on the same plane as I am. If you go to the local pharmacy you will have to show a photo ID just to buy some cold remedy. The list can go on and on. The point that I want to make is simple; some things are worth a little time and inconvenience.

The integrity of our election system is just as important as the other things I mentioned earlier. All of us should demand that the voters who put politicians into office are who they say they are. After the veto, the House passed Senate Bill 692, which will send the voter ID requirement to a vote of the people. I just hope that the people of Oklahoma will be willing to spend more time than our governor and insure honest elections for future generations.

Russell Turner is Chairman of the County Commissioners of Adair County and writes a weekly column for several area newspapers.

Shovel Ready!