Wordless Wednesday (almost)

(She grabs my finger every time I feed her.  I love her with every inch of my being!)

Business as usual

You can draw your own conclusions from this video.  This video is simply one piece of evidence in a large attache’ compiled against our king.  I understand that both sides do their best to take care of their own.  Both sides include sinful amounts of pork into their bills.  The quid pro quo system has ruled D.C. for a very long time, and as the K street crowd continues to influence public policy and influence individual politicians, America as a whole continues to lose.

It makes me wonder if the government will mail out a free jar of Vaseline to all Americans or if that too will be mandated under the new fix-all fiasco of Obamacare.  So just as Bush used the term or phrase or zeitgeist of terrorism and fear to rule the land and shove ridiculous legislation like the unconstitutional Patriot Act down the throat of John Q. Public, Obama is using the term or phrase or zeitgeist of the economy and recession to shove ridiculous legislation like Obamacare 2009 and the continued entitlement mentality down the throat of John Q. Public.

The entire Washington D.C. crowd makes me sick at my stomach.  The continued America naivete’ in electing and worshiping with blind fervor any feel good politician, whether it be the first black president or the first Latino governor or the first anything, is completely mind-boggling to me.  Just because you are the first doesn’t make you the best!  Of course the mentality of supporting because your mom and dad support or supporting because your favorite celebrity or band supports or supporting because Fox news supports explains a lot of why the country is in the state it is in.  The monotony of uninformed decision making by the public and the government is very sad and carries with it immense consequences that will soon come to fruition.  So whether good or bad one thing Obama didnt lie about was change.

current music:  Rage Against The Machine – Evil Empire

Yeah, but he is soooo cool and hip!

My comments appear in orange.

Take the red pill, Mr. President

By: David Freddoso
Commentary Staff Writer
07/23/09 6:56 AM EDT

“If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that’s going to make you well?” — President Obama

In last night’s press conference, President Obama seemed to be reliving that famous scene from The Matrix. (Yet another reason why he is so cool, because he totally gets popular culture.) The main character is offered a choice between a red pill that makes him see reality for what it is, and a blue pill that allows him to continue living in a pleasant world of illusions.  (Also known as the world of entitlement for the non-dreiven at the cost of everyone else.)

Last night, President Obama appeared to have taken the blue pill before his press conference. How else could he convince himself, the Congressional Budget Office’s numbers notwithstanding, that his health care reform bill will not increase both health care costs and the federal deficit? (Common sense tells us of course it will but does it matter?  He is the first black president.  He was on SNL.  He is so cool.) How else can he continue to make the argument that a massive expansion of government spending on health care will solve rather than exacerbate the current problems? (Isn’t that what most government officials do?  They have to have some purpose because if they didn’t have any responsibilities for regulating our every move and decision they would be forced to only be able to enact the authorities given to them by the constitution, and that’s just ludicrous.) How can he repeatedly express such absolute certainty that such a measure will easily pay for itself several times over in the long run? Why can he not at least acknowledge the possibility that it will become a costly and useless trillion-dollar boondoggle that follows in the footsteps of his stimulus package? (Because he is arrogant perhaps?)

With his example of the red and blue pills, and another about whether a child’s hypothetical tonsils should be removed, President Obama unwittingly presents the real problem with his plan for reform. Here is a well-meaning government official (don’t forget a cool individual) who so fails to grasp the problem in health care that he can present such absurd oversimplifications and suggest that this sort of thing is the real problem — doctors simply lack the common sense to make obvious medical decisions. (Is it possible that his lack of experience really should have been questioned more?  Then most politicians fail to grasp the REAL problem at the root of most societal concerns.  It is hard for them to see through the dollars flying their way from lobbyists and other quid pro quo crowds.) President Obama wants us to solve this problem by putting himself and other government officials in charge of rescuing medicine from the medical profession. (GOD HELP US!  When will this country learn that it is the governments fault we  are in this damn state to begin with?  When will this country learn that government IS the problem and not the solution?  AHHHH!) If medical doctors with a decade of schooling cannot distinguish between good cures and ineffective ones that must be discontinued, then by gosh, we’re lucky that the good folks from the government can.  (Of course they can!  They can fix anything.  Oh yee of little faith.)

President Obama thus frames the issue as a false choice between doing nothing at all and handing over to Washington complicated, case-by-case medical decisions that cannot possibly be legislated or dictated by government.

This transfer of medical authority to the bureaucracy is intended to curb costs. (Psh!) Unfortunately, there is exactly one thing that government can do to control costs in health care: it can insist on paying below cost. (Or it can just STAY THE HELL OUT !) This shifts the cost burden to private insurance companies, which in turn pass along higher premiums to their patients. This is what government-run Medicare does today for many treatments, including cancer. Government will do more of this kind of “saving” when it assumes greater responsibility for funding citizens’ health care, particularly if a government-option health care plan is established.  (Yeah but the government cares for us and Obama is so cool.)

The Mayo Clinic which President Obama praised in his speech last night is the same Mayo Clinic whose president signed onto a letter to Congress yesterday, expressing fears that a government-option health care plan Obama wants to establish will do more of this cost-shifting.  (Yet another case of government officials saying what sounds right without doing the NECESSARY fact checking or research first.) The letter states:

Under the current Medicare system, a majority of doctors and hospitals that care for Medicare patients are paid substantially less than it costs to treat them. Many providers are therefore already approaching a point where they can not afford to see Medicare patients. Expansion of a Medicare-type plan without a method to define, measure, and pay for healthy outcomes for patients will move many doctors and hospitals across this threshold, and ultimately hurt the patients who seek our care. We should not put more Americans into the current unsustainable system.

President Obama brushed off this concern last night near the end of his press conference, citing a hopeful but very vague blog post on Mayo’s website that went up a day before the letter was sent. In addition to ignoring budgetary and medical concerns, he repeated his dubious promise that his plan will not force millions of Americans out of health insurance plans they already have and like. He had no comforting words to convince anyone of the wisdom of creating two new taxes on employers — one of them a tax that punishes small businesses with a higher tax rate if they create more jobs — in the middle of a recession. (Of course he didn’t because he has no possible way of explaining that.  Nobody can explain that.  Truthfully at least.)
The one thing President Obama did not do last night was address directly any of the concerns that Americans have about his pending reform proposals. (Of course he didn’t because that would require specificity and we all know politicians speak as vague as possible and refuse to answer questions directly so that they always have an out or they can always use the “you took me out of context” argument. Not to mention that he doesn’t have any answers.  All he has a Utopian idea completely detached from reality.  But it makes the masses feel good and that is how he will continue to sell it.) With this sort of rhetorical detachment from reality, it is not surprising that public support for his vision of health care reform is gradually eroding.  (I’m surprised.  Really I am.  How can his support be eroding?  He is the nations first black president, he was on Conan and he is so damn cool.  People are stupid if they don’t support Obama.)

President Obama needs to take the red pill, even if it does cost twice as much.  (Yeah he might take it, but he will still find a way to charge those sinful, lying , cheating, and immoral wealthy people.  You know the people that create all the jobs in this country and pay 75% of the taxes?  Yeah, them.)

Psh, and I thought Bush was bad.

current music:  Harry Nilsson – Jump Inot the Fire

We gotta take the power back!

“For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.” Karl Marx

Well as everyone (like 5 people) who reads this blog knows, I am adamantly opposed to our current president.  I accept the historical and cultural significance of the first bi-racial president, oops, I meant first black president, and what that means for our country and our ability to overcome differences etc. yada yada yada.  But all that withstanding, I don’t care.  Am I seriously the only person who clearly sees a socialist agenda being enacted here?  And I don’t mean that in a facetious way at all.  I mean it isn’t hard to see that what he is doing and what he believes the way the government is run is truly socialism.  Just for clarification sake, let’s define socialism.

so·cial·ism

Pronunciation:  \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\

Function:  noun

Date:  1837

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Let’s take these definitions into account and see if there are any correlations with the current political ideologies of this president or any legislation that has been passed that would reinforce the claims of socialism.

• The government decides to continue the Bush bailout plan and essentially takes over certain financial firms by lending them money which the government took from the people in the form of taxes.
• Obama takes over two major automotive firms in the US and demands the firing of the CEO of GM and installs his chosen CEO.  This in addition to the government taking a 60+% ownership in the company.  Now the president is running the company from the White House and is toying with the idea of regulating pay scales within the company and every large corporation in the country.

(So he controls the financial sector and the automotive sector, check.)

• Now he wants to force every person in the country to fall into line with what his government feels is the best way to run the national healthcare system, from the White House.

(So in the midst of a recession, spurred on by printing money out of thin air which doubled the national debt which has lead to inflation, etc., he wants to force small businesses to carry insurance plans for all employees or they will be fined the amount equal to a plan, among many other stipulations.  So instead of carrying plans for their employees, they will be forced to shut their doors and make those previously employed without healthcare employees UNEMPLOYED without healthcare.  Good plan.  There is nothing better to spark an economy than unemployed individuals without any money.)

• Cap-and-trade will force companies to undergo huge burdens of trying to conform to unrealistic regulations while taxing the hell out of the population.  In the end the winners will be China, who has not signed on to the unrealistic Kyoto Accord, and whose production sector is rapidly growing due to ridiculous restrictions and corporate taxes here in America.

So as a recap of only a FEW of the policies enacted in his first 5 months, Obama and the government has gained control of the financial sector even more than before when they, and to be fair, previous presidents, only controlled it with the Federal Reserve.  They have gained control over the automotive industry and soon other means of production such as petrochemical, energy, electricity, etc.  And they will soon run healthcare as well.  So there really isn’t anything else to run ourselves except for maybe our own personal finances and I am sure they will come for that next to ensure that we are giving the government all that we are supposed to be giving them.  Oh and as far as I can tell we are still free to go to the restroom whenever we choose.

So if you think that when people throw around the word socialism to describe King Obama and his disciples they are just trying to play “partisan politics” or enact an emotion, or be facetious, I urge you to research for yourself and see if it isn’t more true than you thought.  Am I wrong here?  Did I miss something?

So yeah when I make t-shirts with Obama’s face on them and the word Socialist underneath half of the idea behind it is to invoke emotion, but the other half is to force people to ask the question, is he a socialist?  A RESOUNDING YES, is my answer!

Sidebar:

As I scan the net everyday looking for news that is as unfiltered as news possibly can be I often find articles with some pretty funny comments.  Well today I ran across a comment from some guy named “Laclede.”  I thought his comment was pretty interesting.  Whether they are his original thoughts or not is uncertain, but either way, I agree.  The comment was made in response to a story about a townhall meeting that Maryland Senator Ben Cardin held to promote His Majesty’s new healthcare reform ideas.

current music:  Change – The Clouds Are Ghosts

Long time, no see

Okay I apologize to my very small handful of subscribers for the long hiatus.  So in an attempt to not be like Daina and only blog 3 times a year, here is a new post.

I have been super busy at work and very tired when I get home which are the reasons for the amount of time between posts.  Over the past couple of weeks Bella has really started to come out of her collicy stage.  Thank the Lord!  She is much better and she sleeps through the night every night!  She has really cut back on the crying during the day too. There is definitely more sitting and chilling time than there is sitting and screaming time.  She is discovering her hands and they are in her mouth all of the time.  She smiles a lot and she is on the cusp of laughing.  We cant wait!  The following is a video I took a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is that I am super happy we don’t have any that to endure anymore.

The next order of business is some congratulations for my good friend Jason.  His band The Clouds Are Ghosts are on their way to becoming international superstars of rock and roll.  Okay, well maybe not just yet, but they are in the final stages of their debut album and they just booked a show at Monkey Town in Brooklyn on October 8th of this year!  He has been sending me sample songs for the last few months now and I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the album.   The only reader I know of close enough to catch that show is Kathy, so I would suggest going, having dinner, and enjoying the show.  Maybe I could fly up for just the weekend, see the show, see Kathy, Stuart and Jason and visit NYC for the first time.  Sounds good to me!

Well here are is a song that Jason sent me a few months ago to hold me over until the full length release and I must add the disclaimer that they may or may not have changed after more mixing and producing.  Either way I really like them and I can’t wait for my copy of the album.

If you mixed Maynard Keenan and Grace Slick with the musical stylings of Muse mixed with Radiohead you would get The Clouds Are Ghosts. Enjoy: