When you next see your Congressperson or Senator, over the late Summer break, just say NO:

No, We don't want stimulus - the economy will heal better if left alone.

No, We don't want you running banks, auto companies, etc. - sell them off.

No, We don't want "cap and tax" - it's the coldest summer in memory in the NE and the forecast is for a colder and wetter (= snowier) winter than usual.

No, We don't want "health care reform": - we need and want an open, transparent, interstate, free market for health insurance and medical expenses.

No, No, No: We don't need your help, except for National Defense and preservation of the inalienable rights "discovered" (Jefferson's word) by the Constitution.

So...

Time to get past old ideas - when asked "What race do you belong to?" (as we will be asked on Census 2010 questionaires,) I always answer "Human."
Support equality of opportunity (but not of outcome - as my mother used to say, "It's not what you got, it's what you do with it.")!

President Obama will be judged, as Shelby Steele and others ask, on the quality of his character not the color of his skin. I suspect that many, if not most, will find him wanting. See Rove (WSJ, today) on abandoned (campaign and other promises).

Men (and women) are no better or bigger than their ability to give their word fairly and to keep it.

I would like to like Pres. Obama, despite my profound disagreement with many of his policy positions, since he is President, speaks well (when on teleprompter) and is young and vigorous (Sen. McCain's biggest defect was he seemed too old and tired.) But every time Pres. Obama speaks, I cringe - have we come to such a low place in history that this could possibly be happening? Pres. Eisenhower and Pres. Truman never appeared so green and inexperienced; Pres. Kennedy, even for his youth, always seemed aware of the majesty of his office and his place in history. But today...I suspect that the Republic will survive but I look forward to being able to say, "Back when Barack Obama was President..."

Charles Krauthammer actually makes the case that "death panels" exist functionally within HR3200, without even referring to the more obvious effects of restriction of services to the elderly and unfit, as assumed through clinical effectiveness research (funded in the 2nd stimulus bill) and by imposition of device formularies (following drug formularies) for life critical devices (class III).
The reality is that if there are to be real cost savings from currently Federally funded health care, they can only come from reduction in expenditures for long term care (esp. of disabled, such as veterans and mental disease patients) and end of life care (recent estimates suggest that the last 30 days of life consume as much as 60B$/year of...

While it is the case that El Al flies far fewer passengers a year today than do the sum of US airlines, consider:

a) Without their security precautions, how many passengers could El Al fly? (I've flown El Al and I can assure you that, while boarding takes longer, one has a warm feeling of being well looked after!)
b) It may get to be the case that US flag carriers will be reduced to annual El Al volumes on transoceanic flights - could this be the terrorists' goal?
c) I don't fly on US flag carriers when traveling overseas - if we all did the same, you betcha' (Palin speak), security would become far more rational and might just improve!