A Message from the Boss
Post Published: 21 August 2010It just isn’t true that Team Obama doesn’t know how to create jobs. They have created at least two new positions that are very challenging and extremely hectic. The two busiest people in America are President Obama’s Golf Coordinator and Michelle Obama’s Travel Agent. Whew…just thinking about those work schedules makes me start to sweat. There can’t be enough hours in the day to perform all of those duties, so I bet they have each hired a rather large support staff…so maybe Team Obama has created more than just those two jobs.
I wonder if they have been given “Czarships” yet? The Czar of Presidential Golf Outings and The Czar of FLOTUS Travel. What should taxpayers give them for salaries? Something juicy, I say…with lifetime salaries and free healthcare for their families ad infinitum. That would only be fair, and the right thing to do in Obamaworld. These new Czars should also attend cabinet meetings and help shape policy. Why not? They are as qualified as the rest of Team Obama…maybe more so, since they each would have actually held real jobs in the real world. I would place more confidence in handling the economy in a Golf Pro and a Travel Agent than anyone in Team Obama.
http://us-president.suite101.com/article.cfm/michelle-obama-excessive-vacations
The vacations wouldn’t be so annoying if they were actually solving problems. While the economy continues to crumble, the deficits grow, the national debt explodes, and unemployment increases – the President’s team keeps claiming that things are getting better. The actual proof, in every respect – unemployment claims rose a nine month high last week – tells a different story. Unfortunately and sadly, as Americans, we are used to our elitist political class stretching-the-truth, spinning, and fibbing – that is just what politicians do. We have come to accept the fact that our Liberal Elitist lapdog media will pay more attention to Michelle Obama’s “stunning one-shoulder, black and white print blouse, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier” than they will the fact that she burned through several hundred thousand tax payer dollars while on just one of her eight summer vacations.
What is truly annoying is that while America struggles, the Obama’s live-it-up. Fancy vacations, huge parties, exotic meals in faraway places. The disconnect is just staggering. These are simply shameless human beings. Were I in Obama’s shoes, I would be too embarrassed to even show my face to the public, let alone frolic on sandy beaches and golf more than I work. The position of President of the United States requires that you love this country more than you love yourself.
President Obama/Soebarkah/Soetoro: As a life-long taxpayer who has helped pay for your golf and your families vacations ‘round the world – while my family struggles – I want you to remember who you work for. YOU DO NOT WORK FOR YOURSELF. You work for me. You work for every American. I am going to tell you what no one else will tell you. As a good boss, you need to hear this from me. I know I would have heard this from the good bosses I have worked for in my life. I pass this along to you for your own good.
“Get your lazy, golf-playing, vacationing, money spending @$$ back to the office and help fix this economy. It is no longer Bush’s fault. You wanted this job. It is YOUR PROBLEM to deal with. Fire your entire economic team and get some new ideas. Listen to the other side. YOUR WAY ISN’T WORKING.”
Economic Dream Team
Post Published: 06 August 2010Team Obama appointed a bunch of very intelligent economists…but none with an ounce of common sense. These are the geniuses who came up with the stimulus programs, the bailouts, and Obamacare: Christina Romer, Turbo-Tax Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, and Peter Orzag.
Christina Romer is a graduate of USC-Berkeley. Not exactly the real world…an economist married to an economist…ooohhhh, the spicy pillow talk !!
Tim Geithner has had his own tax ‘problems’…i.e., not paying his taxes.
Larry ‘Derivatives’ Summer helped de-regulate the banking system, and now helps Obama bailout the very banks he helped to fail.
Peter Orzag wrote a book which said Fannie and Freddie’s debt would have little or no effect on government debt.
(All above statements gleaned from Wikipedia…take them with a grain of salt, if you like to actually ingest paper products, that is.)
Don’t get me wrong. These people are all highly intelligent, highly successful individuals. They definitely know more about economic principles than Saebarkah Obama, and they each know a heck of a lot more than I know. Here is what Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Steven Moore stated:”Christina Romer has been the wrongest economist in the history of Washington. The Obama-Romer $1 trillion stimulus has not created jobs or growth. Just debt.”
However, it appears that there is some sort of disconnect between reality, the advice they give Obama, and the advice his team actually implements. They haven’t gotten any return-on-investment from the trillions in stimulus. They have no clue how to create any jobs. They have added trillions to the national debt – with trillions more in future spending scheduled. It is as if Obama is shoveling our tax dollars into a great big hole, and no one has the guts to take away the shovel…until Nov 2nd, 2010, when, hopefully, the American voter steps in.
Most of us can now see that the stimulus was mostly doled-out as election year favors for Big Unions and other Obama supporters. The Health Care sham is so unpopular, that it will likely be over-turned before Obama even leaves office. Team Obama keeps sending out it’s cheerleaders in the news media to keep pushing the message that a recovery is happening. The problem is, nobody is buying it. Here is an example of why:
“In addition, the government revised payrolls for May and June to show 97,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/38590746
Every time they send out their minions to brag about the economic numbers they just finished fabricating, a month later, they have to revise them downward. Every time I see one of their reports, I am forced to willingly suspend my disbelief…man, where is Hillary when you need her? Obama even takes a helicopter a mere six miles to trumpet false numbers, with all the pomp-and-circumstance he can muster, and when the downward revisions come out next month, the peep from an underground muted mole will be louder.
From a dumb ole Idaho boy’s perspective, here are the problems with the economy, and the solutions, free of charge:
– Credit was too cheap and easy, for too long, and given to those who did not meet a reasonable level of credit worthiness. The normal ups and downs in the economy were pushed forward with cheap credit until it collapsed. Fault: Both Republican and Democrat administrations, Bernanke, Greenspan. Solutions: Allow the free-market to ebb and flow without so much interference from the government. Don’t push the pain forward onto grandchildren. Pay debts quickly or don’t assume the debt.
– We don’t make anything anymore. We prefer cheap junk from countries around the world, then complain because we don’t have jobs. We won’t mine our own metals, drill our own oil, cut our own renewable lumber, or even answer our own tech support calls. Fault: Clinton and NAFTA. Solution: Use the unspent stimulus money – rather than shoring up benefits for union workers and counting ants in Africa – to help manufacturing businesses develop lean-and-mean manufacturing technologies to allow US firms to compete with cheap Chinese labor. We have to build stuff, but we also have to be able to produce and sell it at competitive prices.
– Greedy financial entities handed out credit cards and home loans to anyone with a pulse, even illegal immigrants. Barney Frank assures them that the government will back the risky loans. The banks don’t get paid back, they default, taxpayers pay the bill. Fault: Democrats. Solution: Never, ever, ever listen to Barney Frank.
– Illegals pour into the country unchecked and take jobs Americans could and should be doing. Costs for education, healthcare, and law enforcement skyrocket. Fault: Republicans and Democrats. Solutions: Seal the border. Allow Work Visas. Repeal ‘anchor baby’ law. Make Sherriff Joe Arpaio Homeland Security Chief.
– The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of an extreme, brutal, quick pummeling and total destruction of the enemy, a long, drawn-out deadly and expensive 10-year police action, with no prior plan for withdrawal, is undertaken. Fault: Republicans. Solutions: Surround major cities with pork, whiskey, and nude women…the Taliban will be forced to gouge out their own eyes.
The Main reason the economy isn’t recovering very quickly:
– Those with enough money and the entrepreneurial spirit to create jobs are uncertain about their future expenses from energy, to healthcare, and taxes. Fault: Team Obama. Solutions: Denounce Socialism. Abandon cap-and-trade. Allow free market to choose Green Technologies at its own pace, and as technology allows. Insert Free Market principles into Health Care system. Abandon Tax Code, abolish the IRS, and implement Fair Tax.
Yes. I realize these are complex issues. I also know I’m just a dunce from Idaho, and I have no concept of the enormity and difficulty of these issues. But I do know one thing: Team Obama’s solutions are not working, and are actually making things worse. When the health care bills start to pour in, and the tax increases kick-in causing the economy to circle the drain even faster, hopefully Saebarkah will quickly return to Indonesia and allow the serious adults to start the healing process.
Stimulus Top Ten
Post Published: 03 August 2010This report by Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona highlights 100 Stimulus programs that are clearly a wasteful, ridiculous, and in many cases, a shameful waste of taxpayer money. To me, the term ‘stimulus’, when used in an economic sense, suggests the possibility of creating jobs and in some way, spurring the economy. Judging by these entries, someone in Washington DC has a drastically different view of the term ‘stimulus’ than I have.
My personal Top Ten from this report:
10.) #74 – Using Ipods for “Enhancing Education Through Technology” $1 Million
9.) #99 – Lights for a Softball Field in Euless, Texas $454,200.00
8.) #73 – Computer simulations of the Big Bang Theory (created ¼ of a job) $314,964.00
7.) #11 – Indoor parking at the capitol building in Kansas $39.7 Million +
6.) #2 – Interactive dance software $762,372.00
5.) #6 – Photograph, capture, and analyze exotic ants in India and Africa $1.9 Million
4.) #39 – Marketing video games for the elderly $1.2 Million
3.) #61 – Booze business in Colorado $5 Million
2.) #36 – Joke machine, computer generated humor $712,883.00
1.) #28 – Monkeys get high, giving cocaine to monkeys $144,541.00
These are real. The Senators Coburn and McCain have documented with hundreds of footnotes the actual cases of each of these. Read them and weep…your tax dollars at work. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Honorable mention:
#18 – Jamming for dollars, studying improvised music $762,372.00
#83 – Building over-priced luxury homes to rent to low income families $3.3 Million
#25 – Predicting the weather on other planets $298,543.00
And my favorite:
#45 – Understanding perceptions of the stimulus $193,956.00
Hopping on the Bandwagon
Post Published: 15 July 2010From our very own Times News:
“GOP lawmakers laud Idaho’s balanced budget”
The state GOP should be busy “lauding” their work in balancing the state budget. Most states are running huge, possibly unrecoverable budget deficits. The fact that Idaho managed to balance its budget in the middle of a recession is remarkable. It is fortunate that an Idaho Republican is different than a George Bush/John McCain Republican – our GOP doesn’t just talk-the-talk; they actually do what needs to be done, despite the whining from the tiny (but loud) minority party. Butch Otter deserves our thanks on this issue. Being “conservative” is more than giving speeches telling everyone how conservative you; it also requires action.
In the above article, I would like to point out the inconsistent Democrat message. The article states that Wendy Jaquet (D-Ketchum) said budget cuts to education were unavoidable; and then the article states that Keith Allred, Democrat running for governor, labels Otter as the first governor in history to cut funding to schools. So the cuts were unavoidable, but it is somehow Otter’s fault? Cheap, political pot-shots with no clear alternatives – except to borrow money or run up the debt – may be fine in California or Illinois, but Idahoans know better.
Governor Otter’s opponent in the fall election is Keith Allred. Yea, yea…he’s from Twin Falls. SO WHAT. That may add 1 or 2 “cool” points – but to an already very low score. He is the wrong type of leader for these tough times. Tax and spend, borrow and spend has been a disaster at the national level, and would be a disaster for Idaho.
Mr. Allred claimed to represent the Common Interest where he was able to successfully work with R’s, D’s and I’s across the aisle, then ran to the open arms of the Democrat party in Idaho to run his campaign. There isn’t much that is moderate about the Idaho Democrats; like their National brethren, they want to increase taxes, increase spending, and redistribute wealth (except out of Blaine County, where they want to keep all their exorbitant excesses to themselves…see previous blog, “Blaine Budget Blowout”). Why not run as an Independent? Running with The Libertarians, The Constitution Party, or even The Modern Whig Party would have shown a true “Independent” streak. Lurching to the far left, while aligning with the Democrats, especially in a year where they are universally despised, just seems to lack a base of core principles that must be present in any politician who would earn my support.
He talks about closing “special interest” loopholes, but never really defines any of them. It is sometimes necessary to offer tax incentives to get employers to locate in Idaho, especially since Idaho taxes corporate earnings, while other surrounding states do not. If giving up 1 million dollars in corporate taxes brings in 300 jobs that then contribute 10 million dollars in combined taxes, the so-called “loopholes” just may be a good idea.
He talks of lowering taxes, but then chooses careful phrases that simply mean “increasing spending”. He talks of “unleashing small businesses”, but never really says how. On his web-site, he still clings to his $80 million dollar “increased revenue forecast” nonsense. It isn’t there. It isn’t going to be there. It is called a “recession” for a reason, and his Democrat brothers in Washington DC are telling us that it is only getting worse. The other ridiculous notion of squeezing more taxes out of people by adding to the Idaho State tax Commission staff is also ludicrous. I call that “Growing Government” and despise even the thought. People are out of money, and they aren’t going to be simply handing over an extra $60 Million just because Keith said so.
It is very easy to make “pie-in-the-sky” projections to make yourself look wise and prudent. Joe Biden is out there today saying they “created or saved” three million jobs (using 2 Trillion dollars, and no actual proof or evidence). Look – I can do it too: “If I am elected Governor, I will dispatch Storm Troopers into every house in Sun Valley and confiscate enough loot to increase funding to education, to old people, and especially to the children of Idaho”.
Separating fact from fiction is becoming increasingly difficult in our society, especially with the misplaced, ever-changing idealism that politicians spew forth. The bottom line is that Otter and Co. balanced the budget, made the necessary cuts – no matter how painful – acted like responsible adults, and got the job done without borrowing against our kids’ futures based on nonsensical, overly-optimistic projections. It may have been stylish and fashionable to join the Democrats when Obama was riding high, hope and change was in the air, and Americans were patting themselves on the back for their electoral wisdom. The fact that Mr. Allred could not see the Obama train wreck coming, and chose to hop on the bandwagon to the fiscal destruction of America, is all I need to know.
Blaine Budget Blowout
Post Published: 24 June 2010I saw an article the other day that made me do a double-take. It said the school budget for Blaine County was going to be 92.8M (million) dollars for 2011. The number caught my eye because I also remembered reading that the Twin Falls schools budget was around 45M. I asked a simple question…how many kids are in each district? I guessed Twin Falls to be about 3 times larger. The actual numbers are Twin Falls around 7,400 and Blaine County around 3,200. Then, I did a simple math calculation….divide the total budget by the number of students to see how much each district spends per student. This opened a whole can of worms…
I found a couple of things early…the information is readily available and the data is fascinating. I don’t have the inclination to write a 100 page expose here, so I am keeping this as simple as possible, and using nice round numbers. The objective is not to skewer any school district – they have the right to spend whatever amount their local citizenry will tolerate. The objective is to shine a little light on the value of a dollar.
The State of Idaho average spent per student is around $8,500 per year. Take Twin Falls at 45M divide by 7,400 students = $6,100 per year. Meridian School District averages $9,200. Coeur D’Alene averages around $8,000. Idaho Falls district 93 averages $5,200.
Blaine County 92.8M divide by 3,200 students = $29,000.
Check my math. Go ahead…I’ll wait.
I’m sure there are some very fine reasons why Blaine County spends nearly 6X what Idaho Falls spends and almost 5X what Twin Falls spends. I bet the Blaine County school district budget wonks could come up with thousands of justifications for such expenditures. I’m sure the issue is sooooo complicated that a numbskull like myself could never understand the intricacies and difficulties of such a unique area.
One thing I do know, based on a little bit of research, is that the students aren’t getting a superior education for that much money. In fact, Blaine County students produce rather average test scores, which you might find surprising based on the air of superiority one runs into when attending arts festivals and consuming European cheeses and wines amongst their parents. Twin Falls and Meridian High students score higher in Reading and Science. Coeur D’Alene, Bonneville, and Eagle High students score higher in Reading, Science, Language, and Math. Check my facts at http://www.greatschools.org/idaho/
That’s right. You can provide a better education using less dollars…despite whatever whining objections you hear from politicians. Yes – I do believe education is a priority that should be well funded and even improved. But, as you can see, the improvements are rarely justified by simply spending more money. More money, more money, more money is not the only solution…it is, however, the only solution preferred by the lazy, the corrupt, and the uninformed.
To my Blaine County readers (all 3 of you): It is time for you to stand up to your beliefs and begin living up the ideals of the Democrat Party…You have overwhelmingly voted for Obama and all Democrats for a long time. It is time for you to “share the wealth” and start redistributing your tax dollars in a MORE FAIR and equitable manner. While the rest of the School Districts in Idaho have cut their budgets, you have increased yours by 18M next year. That was wimpy – you should have increased it by 100 million dollars !! I realize Obama has convinced all of you that you can spend your way out of debt, so listen to him: You must all start spending even more…way more.
Or, how about this: Trim your budget to the Idaho State average of $8,500 per student (around 27M), and send the extra money (66M) to the general fund to be redistributed to the rest of Idaho. It is only fair and decent, and it is the right thing to do. Stop being so greedy and stop saying “no” all the time. Other school districts have a right to your money. You are living way above your means. You are consuming too much of everyone’s resources. The other school districts are harming the eco-system because they don’t have enough money for sustainable earth-friendly projects. Spending all that money only on yourselves is draconian, lacks gravitas, takes food out of the mouths of kids in Shoshone, and shows an extreme lack of compassion. You should work together with the rest of the schools in a more reasonable and equitable fashion that promotes a sense of goodwill and fosters a greater understanding and mutual respect with your peers.
Oh…shoot…that’s right, I almost forgot. Liberals only like to spend OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY…not their own. What was I thinking?? Never mind all that stuff I just wrote…
Sources:
http://www.greatschools.org/idaho/
http://www.blaineschools.org/Departments/Finance/10-11Budget.pdf
http://www.meridianschools.org/Community/AnnualBudget/Pages/AnnualBudget.aspx
http://www.cdaschools.org/district_profile
http://www3.d93.k12.id.us/district-annual-budgets.aspx
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005127754
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005131760
http://www.tfsd.k12.id.us/tfsd/Your_District/yourdistrict.html
http://www.meridianschools.org/Community/AnnualBudget/Documents/2009-2010%20Annual%20Budget[1].pdf
Oh, Canada
Post Published: 02 June 2010http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health_3
What an incredibly interesting story. Canada – Team Obama’s model of virtuosity and efficiency – has realized that “Free” Health Care is very expensive. In fact, it is so expensive, they are now “taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs…” What is the word I am looking for? I have been using it over and over and over since Team Obama proposed it…wait for it…wait….RATIONING.
Canada has finally decided that enough is enough – they are simply unable to provide what every Canadian ‘deserves’. Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, states in the article, “At some stage we’re going to hit a breaking point.” What he means is exactly what I have been saying – Free is very expensive. The healthcare portion of the Canadian Federal Budget is at around 40% now, and is expected to be 70% in 10 years. There is no way they can sustain that kind of a blowout to their budgets.
What are they proposing for solutions? Ha ha ha ha ha (stop me…can’t…stop…laughing….). They are proposing radical solutions. Crazy talk. They are madmen…
Seriously. They are proposing CUTBACKS (rationing), CURTAILING ALLOCATIONS (rationing), MEANS-TESTING (rationing), EVIDENCE-BASED MODELS (rationing), and SCALING-BACK DRUG COVERAGE (rationing).
They are also proposing a reduction in payments to drug companies, paying doctors LESS, and believe it or not, asking Canadians to Co-Pay at the time of service….ooohhhhh, the humanity.
All of the warnings that those of us against OBAMAcare have been sounding are coming true in Canada. Their system is too expensive, takes too much from their Federal Budget, causes rationing and lower quality of services, and punches their suppliers and doctors right in the nose.
Team Obama has been INSISTING for months and months that nationalizing our healthcare system is a necessity if we are to ever balance our Federal Budget. Canada has been “perfecting” their system for 25 years…and they can’t afford it. How about the U.K., Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal…would any of you Obamabots care to have a look at their Federal Budgets?? If this free system already takes up 40-70% of Canada’s Federal Budget – and the United States is running a 1.5 TRILLION budget defecit…how in the *#$* can adding an additional 40-70% BALANCE our BUDGET?? Only in the mind of a Liberal can adding + adding + adding + adding = reduction.
But, strangely enough, the article tries to leave the impression that Canadians love their Nationalized Healthcare – that it is part of their National Identity – and that they won’t tolerate much change. Newsflash Canada – your gravy train is on a collision course with reality. The rationers are gonna come a rationing.
But here is some good news: If you need a new knee or some cataract surgery or a quadruple by-pass, the United States is still open for business. Come on down and take advantage of short wait times, talented surgeons, top-notch facilities, the latest procedures and equipment, and the newest scientific advancements….but hurry…time is running out. We can only make this offer for a short time. The new management hopes to change things down here…
Get Out and Vote?
Post Published: 21 May 2010I’ve noticed recently that many of the races for local office are urging citizens to “Get Out and Vote”. The message is noble – it is urging citizens to practice their Constitutional Rights of selecting those they want to represent them in Boise. I, too, want every citizen to vote…every “informed” citizen, that is.
The most uninformed group of bandwagon voters ever to vote contributed to the election of our current Federal Administration – with the obvious horrendous results. Team Obama won a majority of the votes, and now the majority of Americans feel he has done a poor job. What that tells me is a large percentage of voters weren’t paying attention to the fact that their candidate was a far-left radical with little to no experience. WE TOLD YOU SO….those of us who were paying attention told you so.
And that brings me back to the Idaho and local Twin Falls races. What disturbs me deeply is the fact that the local Republican machine put into place the current crop of RINO’s. Were they not paying attention then, or are they not paying attention now? Which is it? One of their good ol’ boys voted with the Democrats more often than not. How did such a person escape scrutiny? Who is in charge of the local Republican machine? Why is a guy voting with the Democrats all the time not removed from his position and sent home? Is there no process for recall? Is the Republican machine just satisfied with their incumbent voting against their wishes? Are they frightened or just wishy-washy?
If the local Republican machine isn’t paying attention to their incumbent, how are their members and voters supposed to keep track? Who is informing their constituents of the voting shenanigans in Boise?
All these questions lead me to my point: Get Informed.
How in the heck are you going to vote if you have never met any of the folks running for office? I realize most folks don’t care – especially in the Primary voting season. However – this is the time to care. In Idaho, the Primary season determines the winner of the general election. The Democrats in Idaho are a good bunch of people who have been destroyed by their affiliation with the National Democrat party that has become a complete travesty, and under the current leadership, has driven an already sinking ship directly into the barrier reef at full speed ahead. They have no chance of winning any local elections, which is kind of sad, because many of the local Democrats might be more conservative than the RINO’s they may be running against.
It isn’t hard to meet the local candidates. For example, for County Commissioner, District 3, I have met both Roger Ursenbach and Jim Schouten…walked right up to them, shook hands, and asked a few questions. Both of them are well informed, knowledgeable about their duties, and well qualified. If you have never met with or talked to these guys, how will you vote? Do you just do what WAY TOO MANY voters do and pick the incumbent? Do you say to yourself, “I guess things are going pretty well…I’ll just pick the one on the top?” If you don’t know the issues, never spoken to the candidates, never heard their ideas – then what business do you have voting?
I’ve met Rex Rammel, Chick Heileson, and Lee Heider. I’ve talked with Rusty Satterwhite and Mark Goodman…walked right up to them, shook hands, and asked some questions. This is Twin Falls…not Chicago. These guys will talk to you. They are nice guys. Not one of them has bitten me.
(However, one of the incumbents was rather rude and dismissive of me in an e-mail question…rather prudish regarding a 2nd Amendment issue – actually I would characterize his response as knee-jerk and limp-wristed, but I digress).
Does all of your information come from radio ads or TV ads? If so, you ARE NOT an informed voter. Advertisements are, for lack of a better word, crap. Those ads are spin from the professional spin-meisters who get paid for spinning for the spineless. I have heard more misleading ads from the incumbents around here and it makes my stomach turn that this is how so many voters come to their decisions.
I am making NO endorsements. I am not going to do YOUR job for you. It is up to every voter to find out about the issues and the candidates for themselves. But I will say this: DO NOT vote for the incumbents because you think everything is fine. It isn’t fine.
Would I like you to vote? Yes.
Would I like you to vote blindly, knowing nothing about nothing? No. Stay home.
Headline Facade
Post Published: 17 May 2010“Tom Young submits writings to Pulitzer Prize Committee”…
What a fancy, important-sounding headline that would be…if it were true. I suppose I could send the PPC something, and then “leak” a self-written article to the local news papers and see if they would actually publish the story. With Democrats, you can guarantee that their stooge media will publish any story that seems to advance the progressive story-line.
Here is my favorite example:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042000641.html
From the article:
“President Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, and he will order its members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days, according to a senior administration official.
Although the budget cuts would amount to a minuscule portion of federal spending, they are intended to signal the president’s determination to cut spending and reform government, the official said.”
To the average reader, it looks like Obama is cutting a HUGE amount of money from the budget…$100 million dollars is a lot of money to the average reader. For Team Obama, the idea is not to actually solve the budget crisis or reduce spending…it is to place a “subliminal mind nugget” into the mind of his apologist supporters, and to give the “talking heads” a verbal weapon to use on the daily news cycle. When you read, see, or hear a headline or talking point that transmits the message, in essence, “Obama is cutting spending…good job!!”…many folks will actually swallow and digest that as “truth”. In reality, it is true. However, when it is placed into context of scale, the message is actually, “Obama is wasting more time and money trying to spin headlines than he is investing into actually solving problems.”
Watch this short – but genius – video for context: http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts/
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Here is another funny example: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1989436,00.html
The Speaker’s new cost-saving measures make an excellent sound bite…but I doubt it makes a tiny dent in the overall budget. The Speaker’s new rules conjure an image of an arsonist who sets fire to a 5-story building, and then sends in a 3rd grader with a garden hose to put out the fire – and then goes on television and takes credit for being the first on scene, and implementing comprehensive fire suppression methods. It is all a façade that supporters will overlook every time, as long as she seems to be advancing their dubious agenda. It is a sad state when liberals control media and education, and create a generation of children who are unable to identify the absolute falseness of this type of journalism. While the Obama/Reid/Pelosi management group destroys their future, our children (now up to age 26) are indoctrinated, used, and abused by their Liberal Idols. The ORP Group has borrowed and spent our children into oblivion, while simultaneously solidifying their own personal futures. The ORP Group is creating the EXACT same outcome they decry from the Wall Street Firms and big bankers…dissolving their customers’ wealth while personally enriching themselves.
A buddy of mine thinks Mrs. Pelosi heard my speech at the courthouse on Tax Day, and that she is trying really hard to address my personal concerns about her jet-setting and partying at tax-payer expense. While the jet-setting is annoying, what really disturbs me most is the quadrupling of the Federal Budget under her leadership. Is she listening – to anybody? Obviously not…just look at the bailouts, TARP, automobile companies, and health care.
But just in case she had Janet Napolitano secretly record all of the right-wing, homegrown terrorists at the Tax-Day Tea Party event in Twin Falls, Idaho, here is an ominous note to Mrs. Pelosi: “You are about to regain your position as the Minority Leader.” That ought to earn me a personal visit from Homeland Security, eh ??
Healthcare Breakdown
Post Published: 04 May 2010The above article consists of three pages of items that need to be dissected a bit further than the author(s) had the time, space, or likely the inclination for. I will attempt to fill in the rest of the information that was not included…
Let us begin with the title: “Democrats seek greater control over health insurance rates. Legislation would allow federal regulators to step in to stop premium increases when state agencies fall short.”
The argument has been made in recent months that Democrats are simply trying to “fix” the health care system. Judging by this title, Democrats want to “control” private insurance rates. (For those who aren’t paying attention – that is the very definition of Socialism). How effective has the government ever been in controlling the costs of anything? Gasoline? House prices? Education? Shall I go on? Why are Democrats so afraid of the Free Market? Why must they attempt to CONTROL everything? The ONLY OUTCOME of the government meddling in health care can be to drive prices upward.
How about the second sentence? “…when state agencies fall short” sounds an awful lot like the Federal Government usurping power from the states. Why would we allow federal regulators to take control of another function from the state government? Democrats seem to be afraid of State’s Rights on this issue, and a number of other issues….I have always wondered why?
“Congressional Democrats have begun pushing legislation giving government regulators greater authority to block big increases in health insurance premiums, kicking off what is expected to be a years-long process of revising and expanding their major healthcare overhaul.”
Just the sound of “giving government regulators greater authority” is enough to turn my stomach. What would be the goal of limiting the revenue of a private business? The only goal imaginable is to eventually drive that private business out of business. Why would Democrats want to drive health insurance companies out of business? Yea…you guessed the answer…so they can offer the competitor’s product as a monopoly. In this case, the only competitor would be Big Nanny’s Health Company funded by her Uncle Sam.
Why do you suppose the language “years-long process” was inserted? Wow…you guessed it, again! This gives the Democrats cover when the system implodes…they will always (for infinity) be able to claim that their plan is “fluid” – a work in progress – and may take hundreds of years to perfect. In the mean time, you just deal with the crappy product – because Democrats are in charge…they care the most…and they are fixing it !! These types of subliminal carrots are strategically placed throughout the news media to help Team Obama sell their message to the masses. If you tell a lie over and over, eventually it becomes the truth.
“Republican lawmakers and insurance industry leaders say the push for more regulation will not address rising medical costs, which many experts say are helping drive up premiums.”
Let’s break this down into some simple math. You sell widgets for $10 each. You buy each widget from a manufacturer for $8 each. You make $2 per widget profit. In that $2 profit, your fixed expenses are $1.75. You get to keep, and live on, .25 cents.
What happens when the wholesaler tells you widgets now cost $9 each? If you sell them for $10, you only make $1 in profit…but since your fixed expenses are $1.75…you are now losing money. Your only choices are to find another supplier to sell to you at $8 each, or raise your retail price to $11.00.
What if ALL the suppliers now charge $9 per widget, and Uncle Sam tells you can only retail your widget for $10 in order to be “fair” to your customers? Yep…you are officially out of business. The same thing happens to the “evil” insurance companies. (Yes, some are evil, and the free market would drive them out of business faster than Big Nanny…if she would allow some competition amongst the states.) The hospitals keep driving up costs (and they have their reasons). The hospital is the “supplier” in the above example. The “retailer” is the insurance company.
One of the main reasons the supplier (hospital) keeps raising rates is that as Americans, we are so unhealthy. If we would reduce demand, prices would go down. Stop going to the hospital for a case of sniffles. Stop taking drugs. Stop drinking and driving. Stop having unprotected sex and cranking out 8-10 kids. Stop drinking a 12-pack of high fructose corn syrup and eating 3 bags of cookies and 4 bags of potato chips every day. Stop smoking. Stop weighing 450 lbs. I hate to be rude (insensitive), but we are causing most of this problem because of our poor individual habits and choices. What is most annoying is that the people making the poor lifestyle choices are most often the people least likely to pay for services rendered. In essence, those who choose to be healthy must now pick up the tab for those who do not. In a world consumed by “fairness” can someone please tell me how it is fair that I must pay extra so another can pay less.
My liberal friends would argue that to a large degree, the healthy are already supplementing the health care costs for the unhealthy via the constant increases in the price of health care – someone, eventually, has to pay the bills. Good drivers must pay more in insurance premiums due to the bad drivers. Good people must pay to incarcerate bad people. Good students lose instruction time to unruly students. Those who push “tolerance” and “fairness” upon the rest of us often do a disservice to the majority of those they pretend to help. I grow weary of the tax-fattened parasites who live to suck the blood from society, at little or no expense to themselves. I grow wearier of the political class who enable them.
Chicago, Chicago (Not My Kinda Town)
Post Published: 26 April 2010In the above referenced article, I found a couple of interesting (insert fancy word for “when stuff doesn’t make sense). The article is about a couple of state representatives in Illinois who are pleading with the Governor of Illinois, The Mayor of Chicago, and the Chicago Superintendant of Police to bring in the National Guard to patrol the streets of Chicago. It seems crime is so out of control in that city, the police are not even remotely effective in combating or reducing crime.
This statement particularly caught my eye: “So far this year, 113 people have been killed across Chicago, the same number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined in the same period.”
I have to ask, if we stick National Guard troops into a major American city…what could possibly be the outcome? Are the gang members and drug lords and crime bosses going to behave like Al Qaeda and the Taliban? Are these criminals going to behave like terrorists? Do our military personnel have to wait to be shot at before returning fire with high powered rifles in city streets? Would this be the beginning of “Martial Law”…is this when the United States Military is finally used against its own citizenry?
How do these questions apply to the same calls to put National Guard members along our southern border with Mexico? In the middle of the desert, the likelihood of stray bullets killing kids sleeping in their bedrooms decreases exponentially, as well as the fact that no innocent civilians are walking down their neighborhood street. In the middle of the desert, it is much easier to separate those who are supposed to be there from those who are not. The military, in this example, is NOT used against American citizens.
What I find most interesting is that this city is, has, and always will be run by the Democrat machine. This is Obama’s city. This is the place he learned politicking. This is where he learned from Rev. Wright and Bill Ayres and the rest of the “community” of organizers. This is the city to which the Olympic Committee said, “Uh, no thanks.” This is the model city to which Democrats aspire: Big Unions, broken budgets, corrupt politicians galore, staggering crime, out-of-control debt (the school system by itself in the city of Chicago has a deficit of $475 million), Blagojevich, and a central control system where the Mayor has more power than any single human should have.
“No help is too much help” (Representative) Ford said. “This is not just about the murders. It’s about the crime. It’s about people being stabbed, robbed and in the hospital on life support.”
“Is this a drastic call to action? Of course it is,” (Representative) Fritchey said. “Is it warranted when we are losing residents to gun violence at such an alarming rate”?
On a final note: Illinois and Chicago have the most strict gun control policies in the United States.
