Posted by Two-if-by-Sea on 02/01/09

For anyone who was keeping track on Obama's slippery stance on community service, here's part of his latest statement on the issue: 

"Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year."

source of quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/service/

Posted 02/02/09 Justin DeWind Grand Rapids, MI

Interesting, so it is a transaction between the government and an individual in which they get "$4000" for services rendered. On the surface it seems completely fair and I will bet most people won't see past the huge problems with it. A) It is a tax credit. It is NOT a tax cut. Which means it is a welfare system that distributes the money to whomever serves the government. B) The federal government is taking an even larger role in the education system. The dangers of this are self-evident. :) Point A is the most dangerous part of it. It is a form of legal plunder that takes money from productive members of society and gives to those who serve the government. Yuck.

Posted 02/02/09 Heather D Port Byron, IL

Dewind, Great points. This "tax credit" is the equivalent of $40 an hour for 100 hours of "community service". The majority of Americans do not spend $4,000 a year in taxes, so in order to get these people "their" money, they would have to take the money from those who pay in excess of $4,000 a year in taxes. (Also interesting to note that most Americans do NOT make $40 an hour...) The gov continues to rewrite the definitions of words. Community Service is meant to be a voluntary act of which, nothing is expected in return. Furthermore, it would seem to be more palatable to be involved in this "program" seeing as how the majority of college students could never hope to earn $40 an hour in any job they might secure while going to school. Money can be a great intoxicator. Obama would probably find success in this scheme, knowing that people will abandon all principles when the price is right. Then, once the youth have voluntarily given up their freedom, his full plan for compulsory service can be implemented.

Posted 02/02/09 Heather D Port Byron, IL

Let me clarify my earlier statement. The majority of Americans don't pay $4,000 a year in Federal income taxes. We all know that once all of the taxes are added in, we pay far more than that. But the "tax credit" would be on Federal income taxes, and that would require the taking of money from the rich and redistributing it to the less "fortunate".

Posted 02/02/09 Justin DeWind Grand Rapids, MI

I think people have to look at history and realize that governments do not blatantly (usually) do immoral things right in front of their citizens. It will always be wrapped deceptively in something that appeals to the greed or philanthropy of man. It requires a degree of cynicism and distrust of government at ALL times to see through these kinds of bills. Unfortunately once people elect a person into office they stop looking at what they do and entrust them with everything.

Posted by Two-if-by-Sea on 09/27/09

I just read an AP article stating that Obama wants to increase the amount of time every student spends in school, either by increasing the length of the school day or the school year. Ironically, I don't have time to research this subject matter more to make a better blog, because I have too much school work to do already! (However, I'm in college, and out of the public school system). Given my age (19), this subject hits close to home, and I needed to vent against it without jumping up and screaming in the library, so I decided to make this quick entry.

The fact of the matter is that I sincerely doubt anyone will ever be able to convince me that the time one spends outside of school is not some of the most important time of one's life. In my eyes, the happiness, the freedom, the life lessons, etc. are all far too important to give up.

But most importantly: The Federal government has absolutely no businesss in this matter in the first place! This seems like just another attempt from the statists to further control everyone's life.

Yes, other schools have better test scores, but rankings and scores aren't always accurate representations of who's better off. America, so long as we can make it through the Obama years, is still the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world, and I would argue that this comes largely from the practical knowledge Americans gain out of school.

At any rate, that's all I have time to write, and I'm sure you can find a better source of information on this matte elsewhere online. I just needed to vent a little.

Posted 09/28/09 Remember Gadsden Stillwater, NJ

I agree, this is absolutely none of the Federal government's business! The teacher's unions, however, would love this! Just imagine the "mandatory" pay increases of the already bloated teachers salaries! BTW, the whole "summer's off from school" tradition started way back when everyone, including *gasp* children, needed to work on the farm during the growing season.

Posted by Two-if-by-Sea on 06/22/09

         Okay, this isn't exactly the most serious piece I've ever written, but I think it's interesting and may make a good point. This past Spring, I was sifting through Comcast OnDemand, and found two versions of the movie "The Blob"- the original 1958 version, and the 1988 remake. The 1958 version is an old favorite of mine, so I decided to check out the 1988 version for comparitive purposes. I didn't get very far into the movie- I thought it was awful compared to the original -but I did get far enough into it to notice one crucial difference between the remake and the original.

        In both movies, an old man in the woods is attacked by the Blob, which sticks to his arm, and is then taken to get help by teenagers that find him. In the orignal film, they bring him to the town doctor, who is about to leave town on business. The doctor immediately forgets his previous plans and brings the old man into his office for treatment. The doctor sifts through books, and calls friends to attempt to diagnose the problem with the man's arm. He is clearly dedicated to helping the old man and the idea of payment is never even mentioned.

         In the remake, the teenagers bring the old man to the town hospital, but when they rush him to the front desk, they are greeted by an indifferent secretary who simply asks if the man has health insurance. The two teenagers become very upset and irritated at this point. The old man is eventually led into a room, and apparently forgotten. The doctor is uncaringly sitting at his desk doing paperwork. 

        If each movie can be considered a reflection of the time it was produced in, a case may be made against government interference in healthcare. In the 1958 version, the doctor is apparently providing healthcare because he feels that it is his duty to do so, not because he is looking to make lots of money. In the 1988 version, the hospital is clearly only giving healthcare to make money, and it does not deem human well-being important. If one remembers Ron Paul's discussion on healthcare in "The Revolution: A Manifesto," this difference makes perfect sense. Ron Paul writes that when he became a doctor (in the fifties), it was standard for doctors to give free healthcare to those who needed it, but couldn't afford it. He then goes on to say that this benevolence ended when the government increased regulation on the healthcare industry (in the sixties), making free healthcare too expensive to give.

        So there you have it- the same story, with two different scenes (which doesn't really matter to the story, because the Blob does what it does best in both cases). Now, I don't really like it when people make art into things that it's not. But I really do think that each movie is accurately reflecting its own time period, and I think that government interference may be resonating even through the movies we watch. Really though, I just wrote this article for a little fun. Beware of the Blob! [And government :)]

Posted 06/22/09 TimWhite Cheshire, CT

OT, but I've been donating for years and drove from CT to NH to help with Op Live Free or Die last winter... and when we lost the primary, I thought we would lose steam. Though not the fight! I'll never give up. Anyway, I just saw this article and it brought a tear to my eye... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/22/ron-paul-the-worlds-most_n_21 7971.html The HuffPo is reporting that RP is about the only member of Congress who gets foreign interviews. I wonder... from the perspective of the rest of the world... is RP de facto speaking on behalf of the GOP? (Personally I can't stand most of them... even though I'm one of them) He may be acting as the counterpunch to the internationalist / Obama / Bush agenda... the counterpunch that hasn't existed for 100 years. It would be truly amazing if RPs words are heard by people abroad... impact their worldview... have those sentiments conveyed to other world leaders... who then share that with Obama... to the point where Obama relents and actually does the right thing in foreign affairs. Hard as though it is to believe... liberty may be winning! I love Ron Paul!

Posted 06/22/09 gwydion75 Sunland, CA

Tim. Stop spamming other people's articles with OT cut&pastes and write your own article. You're making us look like a broken shambles of spamming nitwits.

Posted 06/22/09 TimWhite Cheshire, CT

sorry... about six mos ago I tried to figure out how to use the website, but it wasn't very user-friendly... I'll take another shot at figuring it out.

Posted 06/22/09 MRoCkEd , CT

You can manage your blog here: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php And nice post, Two-if-by-sea.

Posted 06/22/09 Glenn Cumming, GA

Two-if-by-Sea, got a good chuckle. The Blob is the U.S. Government! And it's doing what it does best: consuming the rest of us.

Posted 06/23/09 MPMolloy Philadelphia, PA

I've used the Blob as an analogy for Government, out of it's container, it consumes everything in it's sight as is never satisfied.

Posted 06/23/09 BruceLayne Lexington, KY

It's all a matter of cinematic credibility. American audiences could be expected to suspend disbelief enough to accept some weird alien goo that consumes everything, but no American is going to believe that an emergency room patient is going to be treated quickly, with compassion, and without a lot of insurance hassles. That's just completely beyond belief. I had a gall bladder attack last Thursday. Painful stuff, but they secured an insurance card and $100 co-pay before any of the medical procedures. I don't mind paying for good health care. What I resent is paying double, with over half going to insurance company profits, and paying the clerical staff to manage a mountain of paperwork for the insurance companies and government bureaucracies that have insinuated themselves into our health care system. I'd like to see an alternative hospital health care system that didn't participate in insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, that accepted cash for small procedures and billed for larger procedures. They could work under the free market model, where customers paid for what they wanted (good health care) and didn't pay for what wasn't useful to them (insurance forms, government forms, haggling with insurance and government claims adjusters, and insurance company profits). As a great side benefit, they'd be focused on us as the customers paying the bills.