It seems that the longer the health care debate drags on, and more things about what is being proposed in HB 3200 come out, the worse things get for the average American — or at least the ones that will be footing the bill for this boondoggle.

I routinely receive enormous amounts of email from both “conservative” and “progressive” sources. The amount of misinformation being intentionally distributed, and the blatant lies being told — by both sides — is absolutely astonishing.

Congressman Joe Wilson calls our president a liar, and is vilified by the left and hailed as a hero by the right. Meanwhile he rakes in millions from people nationwide who agree our President is less than truthful.

Is nothing off limits any more in the pursuit of partisan political gain? What ever happened to civil discourse and respectful disagreement in this country anyway?

Personally, I believe George W. Bush is the worse president of my generation, except for perhaps Jimmy Carter, who I worked my butt off to help elect, and was one of the biggest disappointments of my life. However, now that their guy is in power, it’s certainly an eye opener watching how the left endures the severe and constant criticism they are receiving from all the segmented interests on the right. For eight years the left’s constant, mean-spirited carping about everything and anything Bush, was more than over the top.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, with their guy the subject of that same kind of ridicule, suddenly, the left cries foul, whines, and demonizes the right for doing the exact same things they spent the last eight years perfecting. If their hypocrisy wasn’t so depressing, it might be funny.

I will say this about Bush… I think America was better off with him at the helm on Sept. 11, 2001 than we would have been with Al Gore. While I believe W squandered the nation’s massive goodwill, with his misadventure into Iraq, which has proven to be a mistake akin to Vietnam, I also believe he and Dick Cheney are the reason America hasn’t been attacked again. I also think the only reason either our enemies — or leftist radicals — didn’t try and assassinate Bush, was because Dick Cheney would have become president — and that possibility scared them way more than they hated W.

I was pleased to see that the majority of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives had the cojones to de-fund ACORN, the activist group perhaps best known for allegations of voter registration fraud. A number of ACORN members are currently serving jail time in our state after being convicted in conjunction with the 2004 governor’s election.

It appears even some of the most liberal members of Congress with ties to ACORN were swayed by an undercover video made by filmmaker James O’Keefe and investigative journalist Hannah Giles. The pair posed as a pimp and prostitute, and exposed ACORN workers offering help and advice on illegally smuggling underage girls into the country from El Salvador, and setting up a brothel for them work in.

An analysis of federal data has determined ACORN has received more than $53 million in direct funding from the federal government since 1994, and has likely received substantially more indirectly through states and municipalities receiving federal block grants. House Republicans sent a letter to President Obama asking him to use his authority to end all funding, to and sever all government ties with, ACORN.

Considering Obama’s close relationship with ACORN, it will be telling to watch what he does, not what he says. His actions will speak much louder than any words.

As a member of the Kitsap County Planning Commission when the County’s onerous Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) was rammed down our throats, I wasn’t at all surprised that a Washington State Appeals Court has overturned the CAO.

The DCD Director of the moment, Cindy Baker, routinely ignored and/or refused to address numerous reasonable questions posed by the Planning Commissioners — but especially the ones related to “Best Available Science,” and why expanded buffers were required, when no new science had been brought forward to justify them.

The County also ignored numerous other issues brought up by Planning Commission members because Baker was under heavy pressure from then Commissioner Chris Endresen to primarily focus on meeting a deadline to get the ordinance passed.

Without going into a lot of boring detail, the majority of the Planning Commission voted 6-3 against adoption of the CAO. All of the Commissioners appointed by Endresen voted for it, and everyone else voted against, saying it needed more work — warning strongly of exactly what has happened. Yet in spite of those concerns, Endresen and current Bremerton Mayoral Candidate Patty Lent voted for the ordinance anyway, while then Commissioner, and now State Representative Jan Angel, voted against it.

This decision is the first handed down after the recent Supreme Court decision in Futurewise v. Western Washington Growth Management Board. While the Appeals Court relied on the Futurewise decision, the judges weren’t unanimous in their opinion. The County said this leaves the issue of critical areas regulation “unclear,” and is using that to justify its motion for reconsideration. The Supreme Court rendered an opinion — how much “clarity” do they need?

Considering the County’s financial position, the facts surrounding the CAO adoption process, the lame reasoning behind this action seems to me at least, to be a blatant waste of taxpayer’s money.

Criminally insane convicted murderer Phillip Arnold Paul, 57, who was committed to a state mental institution, escaped during a “field trip” to the Spokane County Interstate Fair. Eastern State Hospital officials reportedly waited more than an hour before alerting police the killer was walking around loose. Thankfully. he was captured three days later — 200 miles away.

Am I the only one asking why an insane murderer was allowed to go on a “field trip” to anywhere? He was in a mental institution, not grade school! If more than one head at DSHS doesn’t roll over this, it will be symptomatic of absolutely everything that’s wrong in Olympia.

Am I the only one who thinks filmaker Michael Moore is a pompus, hypocritical, windbag? His latest anti-capitalism film will personally net him how much money?

I have to wonder exactly who President Obama was listening to when he came to his decision to dismantle the European missile defense systems that protects our allies. I suspect it wasn’t the Joint Chiefs of Staff.