FLORENCE– Last night in the University of North Alabama’s Norton Auditorium, Parker Griffith boldly declared to a crowd of 1200 that he opposed and would vote against HR 3200.

“I don’t want to repeat Cap & Trade.” said Congressman Griffith referring to Waxman’s committee adding 300 pages to the Cap & Trade bill while simultaneously not giving the Representatives time to read the bill. “I hope it dies in the Senate.”

“Congressman Waxman promised me that the healthcare bill would be on our desks for at least 48 hours. The bill hit on Thursday and they wanted it voted on that Friday. Waxman has lost all his credibility.”

Griffith declared, “All insurance companies must compete across State lines.” He also said that insurance companies ought not be able to disapprove for pre-exisiting conditions. Griffith strongly supported small businesses having the opportunity to pool their resources together in order to get competitive bids from insurance companies to pass on to their employees.

Click here for slideshow

Problems with the Bill
Speaking directly concerning language in the bill, the Congressman had this to say: “It’s not a good idea to take money from Medicare for the public option. Medicare isn’t overfunded in Alabama. We can’t take money from Medicaid. The money will have to come from somewhere else or Medicaid will have to die.”

“There’s no tort-reform in the bill. When I asked Waxman why tort reform was missing he said ‘We don’t have time to talk about it.’” This despite the bill being 1018 pages long going into the committee.

“Healthcare is too important to have an arbitrary date and try to ram it through. I appreciate that people here in District 5 are willing to think about it.”

Union Thuggary Not Welcomed with Southern Hospitality
Despite multiple warnings sent out by the Florence Tea Party that MoveOn.org and union thugs would be in attendance, there was only three of them bold enough to make any real noise after being booed straight off the bat when they cheered for HR 3200.

The only time that the town hall got even remotely violent was when the Labor Union rep had his turn at the mic. He quickly resorted to yelling that Labor helped Griffith get in office and started threatening political action.

Every un-American idea he espoused was booed, including his claim that the economy went down the drain in 2001-2 because the oil and energy industry was deregulated. Instead of ginning up support for his cause, the auditorium erupted in applause when he screeched that Griffith voted against the Stimulus bill.

“Rising interest rates, inflation and loss of jobs will kill the family unit faster than anything else. The Senate removed E-verify from the Stimulus bill. We didn’t know if we would be stimulating Americans or illegals. That is why I voted against the Stimulus bill.”

Later when this union thug heckled a Conservative’s time at the mic, the Conservative reminded him that “you’re in the minority here tonight.” which was met with wild applause.

Parker Griffith, Superman!
“I will do what i think is best for the Fifth District. It’s more complicated than one or two votes. Make no mistake: I will take on leadership of my party and of the Republican party and anyone else who wants to harm District 5.”

Griffith reiterated this position during a later question. When asked by community organizer Christie Carden, “If you are re-elected, would you vote for Pelosi for Speaker of the House?” Griffith immediately responded with NO!

The Congressman astonishingly argued in favor of supply-side economics as being a large part of the solution to the problem. “We have a shortage of physicians. Thirty-five percent of our physicians are trained overseas because they can’t get into medical programs here. Of those accepted, only two percent choose primary care.”

MONTGOMERY– It’s three weeks into the August recess, and Alabama’s 2nd District Representative Congressman Bobby Bright is nowhere to be found. The Democrat Representative has not held a Montgomery town hall forum regarding the massive, looming universal health care legislation. So the citizens have decided to hold one for him.

At high noon on Friday, August 28th, a town hall forum will be held in Montgomery on the south side of the Capitol building. The forum’s focus will be on the HR 3200 universal health care bill and runaway government spending.. Several hundred are expected to attend. Congressman Bright has been invited, but has yet to RSVP for the event.

“We the people of the 2nd District have been calling his office every single day since Congress broke for recess,” says Eric Gerritson, Wetumpka resident and an organizer of the Wetumpka April 15th Tax Day TEA Party, among other events. “Jenny Johnston, and my wife, Becky, and I have spoken to his staff. Jenny had a friend hand carry a letter to his office on Aug 14th inviting him to come but he will not respond to us.”

Johnston says, “After three weeks in his home district, Bobby Bright is still missing in action. And his official website lists no upcoming town halls and no schedule of the Congressman’s availability.”

“Do we still have a representative democracy?” asks Johnston. “You can’t represent a district if you refuse to speak to its people. We have legitimate concerns about health care and government spending. We deserve to speak to our Congressman.”

“In the health care bill as it stands today, we’re staring down the barrel of the third trillion dollar piece of legislation in 2009,” observes Gerritson. “Where is the money? And where is Bobby Bright?”

Concerned Alabamians of the second district will have a town hall forum with or without their Congressman on Friday, August 28th at noon on the south side of the Capitol building. Eric Gerritson will be moderating the microphone. All are welcome to attend and speak.

This is a guest post from Dale Jackson, The Most Dangerous Man in North Alabama.

This is from a listener who attempted to go into our Congressman Parker Griffith’s secret/unpublicized/unannounced meeting in Decatur at Parkway Medical Center

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Les Phillip

DECATUR–Les Phillip held the second in a series of at least three town halls in Alabama’s 5th Congressional District this evening as Rep Parker Griffith (D-AL) rested at home after returning from his fact-finding mission in Israel. Ed Henry, running for Alabama House District 9, also fielded questions from the audience.

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So I made it out to the event tonight which was much different than I imagined. There weren’t as many folks as I thought would be there and it was held in a pavilion which I didn’t piece together was an open building in a park. Yes, I know, I’m a dumbass.

I did alright with the camera. The first thing I did was white balance which is probably the only thing that saved my butt. The sun was going down and Les was on the dark end of the pavilion which was not the ideal photographic environment. I couldn’t figure out why my pictures were coming out so dark until I remembered the compensation setting so I only got like two good snaps. In all, I took 11 images while taking furious notes. My next task is to write up the event for News Platoon so I can use my images.

I will definitely need to play with the camera more to figure out how to use it, but I think I’ve made a good investment. Right now, I still think I do better with all the auto stuff turned off. We’ll see about turing that stuff on in the future if it will make my life easier.

I still want the D60.

Also, I think iPhoto is the best piece of software invented, ever.

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Our Dear Leader Supreme Dictator for Life His Royal Majesty Lord Barack Hussien Obama The Most Merciful said that he was ready to drop the public option from the healthcare bill and the American people are supposed to see this as compromise. But Sen. Richard Shelby correctly assessed that this move was “a step away from the government takeover of the health care system.” Translation: removing the public option is no compromise.

Senator Shelby is absolutely right. The way that Liberals view compromise is thusly: I win, you lose, then you lose some more. (Chapter Title from Confrontational Politics)

Barry has learned a thing or two from the insurance business. It’s called dangling a carrot.

For instance, if you are in a wreck, there is something in your auto policy called Pain & Suffering. If you think that this misleading title is the title of the clause of your policy that pays for your medical bills, you would be wrong. Pain & Suffering in this context is compensation, typically no less than three but up to five times the cost of medical expenses. The idea is that you lost more than the money it took to get you fixed up; you also lost time and income from your job, etc. So Pain & Suffering is designed to step in and compensate you for what you lost, even potentially giving you a little bit more than what you had to start with so you can get back on your feet again and “get on with the business of living.”

So how does this work in practice? First, the insurance company doesn’t tell you about this clause of the policy because it’s nothing but a black hole for them. Instead, they try to get you to settle the claim as fast as possible because once you sign on the dotted line, they are no longer obligated to pay out.

So let’s say that you’ve just been enlightened by my column here but got into a wreck after reading my words. You then call up your insurance company and ask about Pain & Suffering. Your adjuster will say something like this: “Awe shucks! Yeah, I forgot to mention that. Does $500 sound good to you?” And this is where you screw up. Your adjuster is hanging a carrot out for you to be content with. In reality, your medical bills were $1000, so you’re entitled to no less than $3K and potentially as much as $5K. So you ask for the $5K and your adjuster gets all flabbergasted saying “That’s impossible. Are you out of your mind?” That’s when you say, “Alright then. I’ll have my lawyer sue for $7K.” If you insurance company sticks to their stonewalling strategies, they wind up and pay out more money than they had to compensating not only you but your lawyer.

Now let’s apply that logic to what the White House has done.

The White House has fought hand and tooth to not even tell you about the Pain & Suffering that’s due you. In fact, Barry has on ever occasion possible attempted to sell the American public on this bill of goods that “50 million Americans are uninsured” and that’s where the real problem is. If only we insured the uninsured we’d have clean water, clean air and rainbow powered cities. But of course that’s not how it works. If you insure all these people, they all eventually get sick and ultimately die.

Now we all know that there are Liberals on the Hill like ex-Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm who think that “Elderly people who are terminally ill have a duty to die and get out of the way instead of trying to prolong their lives by artificial means.” Obama has said as much himself when he suggested that it would be better for all if the elderly took pain killers instead of opting for expensive procedures and drugs.

The fact of the matter is, HR 3200, the Kennedy Bill, or any other piece of legislation that comes from the Obama Administration on health care is bunk. Obama doesn’t want to reform a damned thing. What he wants to do is be able to play God and decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Treatment will be based on how much political power you have.

Obama wanted this plan approved by Congress and on his desk by the August recess. Instead, what happened was the American people read the bill and have told the President and his goons under no uncertain terms to go to hell. So Barry sent thugs constituents from SEIU, ACORN and various government agencies and officials to scare and beat people into submission. That hasn’t worked. Barry then tired running a snitch website and we as America have rallied around the Fourth Amendment and again told Barry “NO” and again Barry doesn’t listen. So now he’s offered a compromise: I’ll give up on part of my plan if you’ll let me have the rest of it..

The answer is NO! NO! NO! NO! just like the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when George Bailey shakes hands with Potter after Potter tries to persuade George to give up the Building and Loan to work under contract for Potter. Removing the public option is just a way for Obama and the rest of his administration (Nacy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary Rodham Rodham, etc.) to advance their agenda. They aren’t given up anything.

Right now they have to leave the table empty-handed. This so-called “compromise” is nothing more than a dangling a carrot. Don’t fall for it like Senator Shelby when he says, “we ought to look at it. I think it’s a far cry from the original proposals.” NO IT’S NOT! If Senator Shelby had stopped talking when he said this is “[one] step away from the government takeover of the health care system”, then he too would see what a fallacy it is to play ball under these new terms. There is no reason we have to dance to Obama’s tune.

Folks, this fight is nearly won. The Obama isn’t retreating just yet, he’s falling back and regrouping. Obama has done nothing but lie since he’s gotten into office. This is just more of the same. Call your reps in both houses and tell them to VOTE NO on healthcare reform.

Concerned Citizens for Lawrence County President Thomas Beach

MOULTON–Both Les Phillip (R Congressional District 5) and Paul Bussman (R State Senate District 4) received unanimous endorsements by the Concerned Citizens of Lawrence County today. The endorsements came after the conclusion of a pancake breakfast attended by a group of about fifty concerned citizens.

“I have a strong panel.” said Thomas Beach, President of Concerned Citizens of Lawrence County (CCLC), commenting on the panel’s unity.

Asked for the justification for the panel’s endorsements, Beach had this to say:

Les Phillip
“Les Phillip understands what made this country great–the Constitution was not created to grant power but rather to keep the government off our backs. Les is a small business owner who has given up his time to make things right for North Alabama. He continues to uphold his oath to defend and protect the Constitution.”

Paul Bussman
Paul Bussman is the Paul Revere of our time. Instead of yelling “The British are coming! The British are coming!” Paul warns “The Statists are coming!”

The panel did not endorse Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks who is also running for the District 5 Congressional seat on the Republican ticket.

During remarks made at the breakfast, Phillip said, “We haven’t failed because we have acted according to the Constitution. America’s problems come from not following the Constitution.”

Bussman campaigned on infrastructure. “If we don’t provide the infrastructure for businesses who are looking for a place to locate, we don’t get a second chance. They have businesses to run and write us off.

“It doesn’t make any sense to spend two hours in the car every day when we can have jobs right here in Lawrence County five minutes away. Time spent commuting to and from work is time that isn’t spent with our families.”

CCLC is planning larger event some time later this year.