Washington, Wonkheads and Willy-Nilly politicians simply don’t get it. Americans are tired of do-nothing political parties. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party have failed to produce a government of the people, by the people and, especially, FOR THE PEOPLE.

The latest example: Americans are tired of deficits. We tried it using credit cards and got our ass burned by big banks. Now, we don’t really appreciate Washingtonians running around building higher and higher deficits by spending money we don’t have or cutting taxes for the richest among us.

Republican Jon Kyl and Democrat (DINO) Blanche Lincoln want to cut about $250 million in estate taxes for the richest Americans. This is $250 million more than what was done during the Bush Years. Now is not the time to cut these taxes.

It’s Time to Pay the Bills

We know that America has long had a deficit that must be paid sometime. We know that the Clinton Administration left office with a budget surplus (taking in more than was being spent). We know the Bush Administration ran wild by cutting taxes and spending billions of unfunded dollars. (continued below)

An unfunded dollar is like using a credit card when you don’t have the money and really don’t know how you’re going to pay the bill when it comes due. Perhaps it’s time to do something none of us really wants to do – Pay the Bill. It will help when the tax cut for the rich comes to an end later this year, but we don’t need Senators Kyl and Lincoln giving them another cut.

People quickly talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare. It would not be morally right to do that with so many people having made plans based on those programs being available. More importantly, there are a great number of people who have been forced into factoring those programs into their future because of personal tragedies in the financial industry.

As bad as it hurts our feelings, Congress needs to increase the Medicare withholding tax by at least one percent (1%). While they’re at it, they need to increase the FICA tax by one percent (1%) as well. For those of you making $500 per week, those taxes would cost you $10. Ten bucks to help stabilize Social Security and Medicare is not a bad deal, and it would reduce the burden on our children in the future.

It’s Time to Pay for the Unfunded War

Yes, it’s important to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to stem the flow of dollars, but we need to pay for what has already been spent. Let’s increase the severance tax on oil being taken from our reserves by corporations not incorporated in the United States. This would include all three of the ones involved in the Gulf Oil Spill: BP, Halliburton and Transocean. Oh, you thought only American companies were drilling in the Gulf?

Part Two of this would be termination of Halliburton contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They can’t, or won’t, tell us where the money is going, so stop giving it to them!!!

It’s time to end the tax benefits for companies sending American jobs overseas. This should be a no-brainer. After all, why is the government subsidizing the reduction of our tax base? Let me put this a bit more plainly. We are currently spending money to lower our income. Is there a school in America that teaches the value of increased expenses and reduced income? Those of you who are Capitalism Hawks ought to be jumping on this with both feet.

Hey Washington -

We’re tired of listening to you blame one another for getting nothing done. Either get it done, or come home. Oh, wait a minute – we’re going to take care of that for you, I hope. I took part in early voting the other day and, though I really did not plan it this way, I walked away not having voted for a single incumbent.

I do not belong to the Tea Party movement. I’m just a pissed off American citizen.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

The Tea Party Express Tour motored into Little Rock April 3, 2010 to the excitement of a few hundred people gathered at the Arkansas State Capitol.

A number of those gathered were Tea Party regulars, having been in Washington on September 12, 2009 and also in Searchlight, Nevada a few days earlier. I talked to one man who was joining the caravan in Little Rock and planned to continue his travels through the rally in St. Louis on Monday, April 5.

I circled the crowd and weaved through those gathered numerous times and am quite happy to report that I saw no display of weapons. These people had peaceably gathered to express their displeasure with the way things were going in Washington D. C. That’s the way it should be.

A few political candidates were in attendance: Trevor Drown is running as an independent for U. S. Senate; Conrad Reynolds is running for the same position on the Republican ticket, as is State Senator Kim Hendren. I did not see any other candidates I recognized. If there was a theme, it’s that Blanche Lincoln needs to be voted out of office. The banner pictured here stood above a table where attendees could sign a petition to get Trevor Drown’s name on the ballot. He needs to gather 10,000 signatures. You can learn more about these candidates at Arkansas Senate Election 2010.

Singer Songwriter Diana Nagy led the crowd in singing the National Anthem, even though her voice had almost disappeared due to the several months of traveling and singing in all sorts of weather conditions. I am including a video of Diana leading this song at another rally where her voice was much better than when she visited Little Rock.

Diana was followed by Singer songwriter Lloyd Marcus, who performed his Tea Party Anthem, in almost the exact way as shown in this video taped in San Antonio in September, 2009.

I’ll be adding a few more thoughts about the Tea Party movement over the next few weeks and months. After attending the Little Rock rally, it doesn’t appear as bad as portrayed by some media outlets, nor is it as good as portrayed by others. Certainly, I saw a few things at the rally I could not support, but, honestly, I could say that about any political rally. Please support our supporters.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter is running for the United States Senate. His primary challenger is Blanche Lincoln, the current Senator who has become highly unpopular in her home state because of consistently waffling or not favoring issues of importance to her constituents.

Bill Halter can win. He was instrumental in helping set up a free health clinic for Arkansans in association with the initiative begun by Keith Olbermann. He led the fight for the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery which is the only lottery in the United States that provides 100% of its funds to college scholarships.

Arkansas students with a 2.5 GPA who attend an Arkansas college can apply for $5,000 per year in scholarship funds.

Since his announcement on March 1, support has flowed to him from many directions, not the least of which are Arkansas supporters who have given an average $30 contribution. The number of these contributions generated over $1 million dollars in a short amount of time. The national media has taken notice (see below).

The Ed Show Interview

The Rachel Maddow Interview

Arkansas Free Health Care Clinic

Bill Halter Announcement

Learn More About Bill Halter

Bill Halter on Facebook

Bill Halter on Twitter

Bill Halter on MySpace

See more about the Arkansas Senate Election in 2010

Senator Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas) joined a Republican coalition to defeat public option amendments offered in the Senate Finance Committee. Having long been considered by the main media as a fence-sitter on offering a public option to Americans suffering under the current health care system, she finally showed her colors on the issue, and the color is green.

A few weeks ago the Huffington Post reported that Senator Lincoln was the top recipient of campaign contributions from the health care industry this year among senators. Blue Cross Blue Shield, the dominant health care insurer in Arkansas, is among her top contributors.

Responses posted on the Green Party Watch website are indicative of why Lincoln may lost her Senate race in 2010. Susan wrote, "That almost makes me want to move to Arkansas to vote against Blanche Lincoln. What a sellout to the insurance industry." Dave said, "Wow, if I lived in Arkansas I’d totally start a ‘move to Arkansas to vote against Blanche Lincoln’ campaign. And Lynn said, "I AM from Arkansas and WON’T be voting for her next election."

In February of 2009 Michael D. Tanner, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, testified before the Arkansas House Insurance and Commerce Committee. He said, "I understand the frustration that Arkansans feel with the problems facing our health care system. In particular, Arkansans are worried about cost and access. Simply put, health care and health insurance cost too much, and too many people, including roughly 486,000 Arkansans, 17 percent of your state’s population, lack health insurance. And the two problems are deeply entwined; cost is the number one reason why people go without health insurance."

Tanner also stated, "…the average cost of a family insurance plan in Arkansas tops $9,900…" According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2001, Arkansas had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $22,750 which ranked 50th in the United States (including the District of Columbia) and was 75% of the national average, $30,413. According to data released by the US Census Bureau, in 2000, the median household income was $30,293 compared to the national average of $42,148. In 2001, the median income for a family of four was $47,838 compared to the national average of $63,278. For the period 1999 to 2001, the average poverty rate was 16.3% which placed it 48th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranked lowest to highest.

With a median income of $30,293, is there any question why Arkansans cannot afford the average cost of a family health insurance plan of $9,900? That’s at the median level. What about the 49+% of Arkansans whose income is below the median.

At a time when Arkansas needs a Senator to stand up for them, Blanche Lincoln chose to support her contributors rather than her constituents.

More About Senator Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

Blanche Lincoln Feet to the Fire

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Blanche Lincoln Rakes in Health Care Dollars – Huffington Post 09/04/2009 – The senior Arkansas senator is also the top recipient of campaign contributions from the health industry among senators this year. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Lincoln has received $325,350 in contributions from the health industry, as of June 30. The large amount in contributions underlies a constantly shifting position by the senator on health care reform.

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

Previously, Arkansas Republicrat Senator Blanche Lincoln said, "We want to keep what works in the private industry and make it better." That was a conference call on June 18, 2009. Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Max Baucus (see article Single Payer Health Insurance for America).

Uncle Brice is pleased to have been joined in exposing Lincoln by the likes of John Amato of Crooks and Liars and Greg Sargent of the Washington Post Plum Line. The Blue America PAC has also weighed in on Arkansas’ bought-and-paid-for senior Senator.

Back in June Lincoln said, "One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do."

Here comes that ol’ saying: what a difference a few days make. Okay, so that ain’t really what the old saying is. I had to change it a bit because it took Senator Lincoln a little bit longer than a day to figure out she should say something else. And while I ain’t especially happy with what she said, it is a move toward saying what people want to hear, "Health care reform must build upon what works and improve inefficiencies. Individuals should be able to choose from a range of quality health insurance plans. Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals as those of a public plan."

Blue America PAC Videos for Blanche Lincoln

More About Senator Blanche Lincoln

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

"We want to keep what works in the private industry and make it better," Senator Blanche Lincoln said in a conference call on June 18, 2009. Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Max Baucus (see article Single Payer Health Insurance for America).

Senator Lincoln continues to support the Republican party by opposing the will of the American people who overwhelmingly favor a public option for America’s health care system.

"One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do," she said. Lincoln prefers private insurance cooperatives who, out of the goodness of their hearts, would cut costs for the American people.

She was right about one thing. "We can’t sustain spending the amount of money we do on health care right now."

Ed Schultz of MSNBC is a big supporter of a Single Payer Public Option, and so are many of his blog supporters. Mary Farber of Illinois said, "We all need to keep the pressure on the 10 senators who are in bed with the insurance companies. Here are the 10 Democrats that are reluctant to embrace the public plan option:

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND),
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

They make me sick. Without people like Big Eddie S. we would have zero chance. President Obama better not cave in. We all need to get involved and take to the streets—whatever it takes, do not let that gang of 40 keep us from public insurance option. The bottom line, we want true health care reform." (Source: Ed Says Blog)

More About Senator Blanche Lincoln

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Blue America’s new Campaign For Health Care Choice: Targeting Blanche Lincoln on the Public Option: "We are going to target Blanche Lincoln first with TV ads, with the help of Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films, and expose her actions to her constituents in Arkansas. This will be the first play because she is up for re-election in 2010 and has already received the second most money from the HIC of any Senator."

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln joined with Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Olympia Snowe of Maine to introduce SHOP as their solution to the health care crisis in America.

SHOP is the Small Business Health Options Program and, according to Senator Lincoln’s May 5, 2009 press release is "designed to make health insurance more available and affordable for the nation’s small business employees and the self-employed".

"The majority of uninsured Americans are self-employed individuals and employees of small businesses," Lincoln said. "Small businesses are the number one source for jobs in Arkansas, yet only 29 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer health insurance coverage because it is simply too expensive. Of Arkansas’s total uninsured population, more than 56 percent, or approximately 295,000 Arkansans, are employed by a firm with 100 or fewer employees. Addressing the needs of small businesses will be critical in upcoming health reform legislation. SHOP is a pragmatic model that allows us to begin to address the needs of the millions of working uninsured Americans whose top priority is access to quality and affordable health care for their families."

SHOP is designed to:

• Allow small businesses and the self-employed to band together and spread the risk over a large number of participants in order to obtain lower premiums
• Provide tax credits for small business owners and the self-employed to offset contributions to employee premiums
• Ban health status rating in order to protect small businesses and the self-employed from large rate increases simply because one employee gets sick

What They Didn’t Think About

Almost half (48.7%) of uninsured individuals are between ages 19 and 34. Other statistics show these to be the healthiest americans and see paying premiums as a waste of money. That’s understandable because these are the folks who, if they have a job, are earning lower wages and dealing with setting up life away from mom and dad: buying a car, paying rent or buying a house, having children, etc. Nothing in SHOP offers an incentive to these people to buy health insurance.

The following chart based on information from the Kaiser Foundation shows what Americans are upset about or, at least, part of what upsets Americans about health insurance. During the Bush Administration (2001 – 2008) people with family coverage saw their cost of employer-provided health insurance increase from $149.00 per month to $280.00 per month, an 88% increase. Those with single coverage saw their premium increase from $30 a month to $60 a month, a 100% increase.

Now let’s do some simple math. An 88% increase spread over 8 years averages 11% per year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report titled, May 2008 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, the average wage in Arkansas is $33,930.00, or $2,827.50 per month. (continued below chart)

Yep, you gotta figure in the gasoline cost of gettin to work. If you only bought 15 gallons of gas per week you went from paying $89.51 in January 2001 to paying $200.72 in January 2008. Your wages went up $485.37 but we gotta subtract your health insurance premium increase of $165.00 so your disposable before-tax income was $320.37…but we gotta subtract that $200.72 you’re not paying to drive back and forth to work, leaving you $119.65 before taxes.

Think about these young, lower-salaried workers who are not earning that average Arkansas wage of $33,930. Their 2% annual raises would generate even less income but the price they would pay for health insurance and gasoline would be the same as everyone else. Oops, I think they went in the hole. Now, Senator Lincoln, how do you entice these folks to buy health insurance because you are giving their employer a break?

Let’s Talk About Employer Breaks

The chart below shows that the employee with family coverage is only paying 27% of the health insurance premium at $280.00 per month. Well, I called in my cipherer, Jethro Bodine and he said the total health insurance premium would be $1,037.00, leaving the employer to pay $757.00 each month, or $9,084.00 out of that $2,000.00 tax credit.

I sorta hate to say this, Senator Lincoln, but I think you and your Senate buddies need to hire Jethro to do your cipherin for you. I think you folks have been spending $9,000 for every $2,000 income for too long and have started believing other folks can do it just because you do. (continued below the chart)

Dear Senator Lincoln, et al, you said competition among insurance companies would lower the premiums…and I gotta admit, I got a great big ol’ belly laugh out of that. But I’ll defer to you if you can answer this question. How’s that been working out for every body else? And, how’s that been working out for gas prices, you know, what with Shell competing with Texaco and Exxon and whoever else is "competing" for our gasoline dollars?

It’s time to quit fancy-footin around this issue and get on with a single-payer system. Expand Medicare to take in these uninsured and divert some of that war money into the Medicare program. You can even negotiate some drug prices for Medicare while you’re at it.

Many of you regular readers will remember that I predicted something like this in my article, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Has Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln secretly joined the Republican Party or just completely sold out to the Banking industry? I heard Senator Dick Durbin talking to Chris Matthews on MSNBC the other day saying he felt the bankers owned the United States Senate. My first question was, "Where’d they get the dang money to buy a senator?" Then I remembered how they took money from the federal government and absolutely refused to tell anyone what they were doing with it. Now I know.

Senator Durbin appeared on the ED Show on MSNBC to express his concerns before the vote.

President Obama told us plain and simple that he planned to do something to help people keep their homes. The aforementioned Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois jumped right on the bandwagon and offered a piece of legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to renegotiate mortgages for homeowners if their bank refused to do so. The idea is two-fold. First, the homeowner gets to keep their home and keep making payments. Second, there’s nothing like a foreclosed home on the block to send property values slithering like an oiled-up college coed on a water slide. (Note to Dan Rather: see, I can come up with ridiculous sayins on my own just like you did during the selection of 2000.)

Now here’s something you might not know. Those self-same judges can already do that for yachts, vacation homes, boats and speculative real estate investors. They just can’t do it for individual homeowners for their primary residence. It seems, on face value, that Senator Durbin’s legislation would be a win-win situation because it would remove a toxic asset from the bank’s unbalanced sheet, protect neighbor’s property values and keep the troubled family with a roof over their head.

Who would oppose such a win-win-win proposal? The stupid bankers! That’s who. Now we all know that bankers and big business have owned the Republican Party hook, line and sinker for as long as I can remember. Individual American homeowners could take solace in the fact that the Grand OLD Party can’t do much more than argue with one another now-a-days, and the Democrats would help them out; after all, the president wanted this to happen.

The Bankers Won

On April 30, 2009 this legislation was voted on and defeated in the Senate when 11 Democrats joined the 40 Republicans to oppose it. Senators Blance Lincoln and Mark Pryor from Arkansas joined the Republicans. So I decided to investigate a few things. Maybe this would not help anyone in Arkansas and Lincoln and Pryor didn’t care about helping anyone else in America.

The Congressional Record showed that the Durbin Amendment would save 7,297 homes in Arkansas from foreclosure. It also showed that neighboring property values in Arkansas would be spared a loss of $85,016,000. That’s over $85 million in property value that would be protected. Now, you and I know that school districts get a lot of funding from property taxes. Reduce the taxable property by $85 million and you can’t help but reduce the money going to the schools.

Since Senator Pryor ain’t running for reelection anytime soon, I was limited in my study to Senator Lincoln’s fundraising for her 2010 campaign. There it was. A March 2, 2009 contribution from the American Bankers Association Political Action Committee. A February 24 contribution from the Bank of America Political Action Committee. A March 3 contribution from the Mortgage Bankers Association Political Action Committee. And there were more contributions from investment firm PACs, and individuals who worked in the banking and investment industries. The biggest Arkansas contributor was Stephens Investments with something like $34,000 in money given to the Senator.

Am I saying Senator Lincoln sold out her constituents? I’m saying it looks like it. I don’t know what was on her mind at the time she voted. All I can judge her by is her action.

But I will tell you this. Health Care Reform will be considered at a later date and the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast majority of Senator Lincoln’s Political Action Committee contributors are from the medical and insurance industries.

The 2010 election in Arkansas could come down to a Republican who proudly wears the button on their lapel and Senator Lincoln who wears her Republican lapel under her Democratic hat.

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

Take a look at what others are saying:

Arkansas Blog: The shape of things to come – WASHINGTON – Marking President Obama’s 100th day in office, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) helped the Democrats pass a $3.5 trillion budget resolution today – despite announcements from the U.S. Department of Commerce this morning …

DownWithTyranny!: Estate Tax: Blanche Lincoln And Jon Kyl Attempt … – No senator, no matter which party he or– in the case of Blanche Lincoln– she belongs to, should be re-elected if they oppose this amendment on Thursday. Yesterday evening almost the whole Senate agreed to shut off the filibuster and …

Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln Reverses EFCA Support, But … – Wal-Mart Watch is a nationwide campaign to reveal the harmful impact of walmart on american families and demand reform of their business practices.