By Theodore King

On January 28th, the United States Senate voted 60 to 39 for S.J. Res 45 to raise the debt by 1.9 trillion dollars. Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming was absent for this vote, and Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts had not yet taken "the people's not Ted Kennedy's" Senate seat. Senators Coburn and Inhofe voted no on the raising of the debt ceiling. No Republican voted yes. Then there was a vote on the Reid Amendment 3305 to the debt ceiling vote for "pay as you go," which requires Congress to find money in the budget to pay for additional spending. Mike Enzi, who apparently was preoccupied during the debt ceiling vote, showed up the same day to vote with his Republican colleagues against the amendment, which was approved 60 to 40. Two days earlier, the Senate rejected three amendments by Senator Coburn to restrain spending. A fourth amendment to rescind $120 billion in federal spending by consolidating duplicated government programs passed 94 to 0. Senators Brownback and Sessions had amendments of their own to restrain spending, and they were rejected.

On February 4th, the House of Representatives voted on H. Res 1065 to raise the debt ceiling of the treasury by an additional 1.9 trillion dollars, taking the debt above 14 trillion dollars. The vote was 217 to 212. Congressman Dan Boren voted to raise the debt limit while Cole, Fallin, Lucas, and Sullivan voted no. No Republican voted for this raise of the debt. Then there was a second vote, this time in the House, on H.J. Res. 45 to establish "pay as you go." That vote was 233 yes and 187 no. Congressman Boren voted for "pay as you go" as well. No other member of the Oklahoma delegation and no Republican voted for this bill. Dan Boren, by his debt ceiling vote, has proved himself to be a willing accomplice in that crime. Congressman Boren was more circumspect when the vote on health-care "reform" came along.

On Sunday, March 21st, Congress passed H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health-care bill otherwise known as "Obamacare," by a vote of 219 to 212. No member of the Oklahoma delegation and no Republican voted for this end of America bill. It was signed into law by the President on March 23rd. Some of the numbers regarding this new law are that it is supposed to cost up to 1.2 trillion in the first ten years and will create 118 federal agencies and will need 16,000 new IRS agents to enforce the new $569.2 billion in taxes.

As of six in the evening on Saturday, April 17th, 2010, the national debt was: 12 trillion, 546 billion, 464 million, and 496,157 dollars. Your and my share of that burden is now $40,562.24 per citizen. We will never pay this off.

In an attempt to peel off a few allegedly pro-life Democrats, President Obama signed an Executive Order barring abortion funding in the health-care reform bill. An Executive Order can be rescinded tomorrow or by any future, pro-abortion President. The Executive Order does not bar abortions provided by insurance companies providing the mandatory health care. In other words, abortion funding will still be in this law once it goes into effect. The only way to rescind abortion funding is through the legislative process in Congress. The Executive Order was designed to give those aforementioned Democrats cover.

Senator Coburn has publicly vowed to go after those members of the House who receive some pork for their home districts or took a high appointment in the government after their vote for health care. Senator Coburn warned on March 18th, "If you think you can cut a deal now and it [does] not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that isn't going to happen...and be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House." It will be interesting to see what he and others uncover in the coming months.

Here is an interesting Web site you might want to check out by Americans for Prosperity: http://www.novemberiscoming.com

I know a doctor of internal medicine in Chicago who came to this country from Romania. She lived under the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, who ran Romania with a cult of personality and an iron fist. In Chicago, she has been reminded of the bad, old days in Romania when she sees mural sized artwork on the sides of office buildings dedicated to Barack Obama. Last year, she ended her residency at Cook County Hospital and started her practice. I can imagine how dismayed she is, now that we have national health-care "reform." She did not come to America for this.

On Friday, March 19th, I received an e-mail from the Mary Fallin for Governor campaign. Now, I support Randy Brogdon for Governor, so you might expect me to be biased on this one. This e-mail came out on the weekend of the final vote on the health-care "reform" bill. There was not a word in it on her position as a member of Congress on the issue, the most important vote she would cast in her brief career as a member of Congress. Instead, the purpose of the e-mail was to get me to join her facebook page! I really don't believe Mary Fallin is ready for prime time.

One part of this terrible, intrusive health-care bill had nothing to do with health care. It was an amendment the Obama administration wanted that bars banks from making student loans. This was a concern to me because I know of a few private colleges in the country that will not take federal, student loans. One of these schools is Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, which I attended almost 20 years ago. Another is a newer school down the road from Christendom, Patrick Henry College. I spoke on the phone with Bill Kellaris, Director of Financial Aid at Patrick Henry, and he told me the new federal change will have no effect on Patrick Henry College and schools that do not take any kind of federal, financial aid. The change in the law affects only federal student loans known as Title IV federal education programs. Banks will no longer participate in federal programs like the Stafford Student Loans. Prior to this new law, banks issued student loans that were backed by the federal government. Now, the federal government will directly issue those loans.

Someone who should be rejected as a nominee for the next President is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who implemented a similar government takeover of health care while Governor of his state. If Romney is the nominee in two years, he can boast that he enacted Obamacare before Obama did! Wouldn't that be a point of pride for the GOP? Here's an original idea for the Republicans -- nominate someone new. No more Bush, Dole, McCain, Huckabee, Romney, or even Palin. Nominate someone who has never run for president. And I don't mean the son of a former President! Now that would be an original idea for a party that has always gone for the next candidate in line.

Bad and unconstitutional ideas never work out in the end. Take Social Security. It was reported in late March by The New York Times that the Social Security Administration is due to become insolvent this year! In other words, it will pay out more than the revenue it brings in. This is due to happen now, rather than in 2016 when it was projected by the Congressional Budget Office to happen because more people are now unemployed and, therefore, not paying into the system. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people born in 1946 are considered the first wave of the so-called baby boom generation born after World War II. This first wave of boomers will turn 65 next year and, therefore, be entitled to payments from a system now insolvent.

There is some good news. In late March, KFAQ 1170 AM in Tulsa dropped its afternoon John Gibson radio program, and so this will be my final John Gibson, the false messenger of the right, update. John Gibson, the former Fox News Channel host, regularly smears all Ron Paul supporters as "9/11 Truthers" and has expressed his desire to purge all Ron Paul supporters, including Ron Paul, from the GOP. He was a supporter of John McCain's presidential bid before McCain had the nomination locked up. He now supports John McCain's re-election bid over former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth because he sees McCain as a moderating influence on the GOP. He also wanted Republicans to go easy on Judge Sonya Sotomayer in her confirmation hearing for the U.S. Supreme Court because she is Hispanic. KFAQ was an important station for him, as demonstrated by the fact that he was a weekly guest on its morning show and was a speaker at the first April 15th Tea Party in Tulsa last year. With the cancellation of his show on KFAQ, it is quite likely his show will eventually be canceled entirely. Good riddance.

I was in Guthrie recently, attending the Oklahoma Libertarian Party convention and promoting my book, The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. The night before, I stayed with some friends in Oklahoma City. My hosts took me to dinner at the Cattlemen's Steakhouse at the stockyards, which has great steaks and a smoking room. On our way to dinner, we passed a billboard along I-35 that isn't advertising anything and doesn't show a Web address or phone number. All that appears on the billboard in red, white, and blue colors is a message in white letters on a blue background followed by a red period. The message read is: THE END IS NEAR.

Visualize Federal Collapse -- me

Theodore J. King is an Oklahoma native who graduated from Northeastern State University in 1996. He spent a summer at the Republican National Committee in 1994, worked at the National Right to Work Committee, and spent time working on the Hill in Washington D.C. In 1999, he was a temporary employee with Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas and later worked for the Media Research Center in Alexandria, Virginia. He served as our Washington D.C. correspondent for our From Washington page before returning to Oklahoma in 2001, and continues his reports with The Federal Page. He recently authored a book, The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State, which is now available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million and iUniverse. You may contact him at: theodoreking@juno.com