Thoughts On Obamacare

Nobody, including every Republican in the House and Senate thinks our Health Care system is not broken. But this bill was not the answer. The oft-repeated lie that "Republicans are against this bill because they are for the status quo" is provably false. It's a strawman argument and a cheap debate trick. There has also been a hue and cry that the minority party had no solutions to offer. Republicans have been proposing plans and amendments for 15 months. Here's Newsweek:

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio...sent out a fundraising letter praising H.R. 4038, a bill he cosponsored. Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin also has a bill, H.R. 2520, which mirrors its Senate version, S. 1099, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. And Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Bob Bennett of Utah, a Republican, introduced a bipartisan bill a year ago that they've also pushed in previous years.

None of these proposals has received much attention in Congress — the Wyden/Bennett bill (S. 391) was referred to committee last year, on Feb. 5; Ryan's and Coburn's bill got the same treatment on May 20; and Boehner's H.R. 4038, which was introduced by Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, was proposed as an amendment in the form of a substitute to the Democratic bill, failing by a 176-258 nearly party-line vote (one Republican voted against it).

There was a way to do this right, with bi-partisan support, but the Dems were not interested in that way. They did not hide that fact. Read what they said about it..this was their "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to control every American's health care, do something big, something historic. Once they could not pass a bill with vast majorities in both House and Senate, they needed to pass something... anything ...to keep the administrations signature legislation alive. How cynical.

An all-Democrat-controlled government is a rare thing. Why do you think it was so urgent for them? Why do you think they used every trick and tactic in the book? Why do you think they bribed and cut deals to get their own party to vote for it? Because a dependent populace never votes to take itself off the public teat. They vote for the candy-givers. Always. This is a long-term strategy move by the Democrats. When you put your well-being in the State's hands and give away your freedom to the government, you can't easily get it back.

I have friends who say, " Every 1st world country other than the USA provides health care". I've been to a lot of "1st World" countries, too, and none of them come close to the US, in any fashion, quality of health care included. If they did, I'd move there right now. They gave up a large portion of their freedom in exchange for socialized medicine. They could afford universal health care financially in part because we picked up the bulk of their defense tab. I've noticed that none of these 1st worlders can defend themselves alone. One of the left-wing newspapers in Europe, Germany's Spiegel, even asked "U.S. Health Care: Good For America, A Burden For The World?"

Britain let the health care camel into the tent years ago. Now they've got people monitoring their garbage. Or taking the wrong testicle out. Or dying of thirst in hospitals. All anecdotal, of course, but you did watch the "Health Care Summit", didn't you? Scary stories were all the Democrats brought to the discussion. Paul Ryan brought facts.

We had the best quality health care in the world, its delivery just needed some tweaking. Now we won't ever have that kind of quality again and we've turned the delivery over to bureaucrats. Here's Investor's Business Daily on some "features" of your new plan: 20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms.

Who will pay for the additional 16,500 IRS agents tasked with enforcing and penalizing Americans for not having health care? You will. You, me, and ALL of your friends. We will pay for all of it, with no voice at the table.

If there's one promise they made during this debacle that I actually believe, it's this:

This is just the beginning.

The Senator from Minnesota

Land o' Flakes.

And the Vikings still suck, too.

Knock, Knock. Who's There?

From The Times Online:

One investor told The Wall Street Journal: “This is going to kill so many people. It’s absolutely awful.” Ira Roth, from New Jersey, said that his family had $1 million invested, and that he was in a state of panic.

Ira Roth? As in Roth IRA? In an article about hedge fund investing?

This has to be a copy editor's idea of a joke, right?

Quotes We'd Like To Read*

"Jesus was a community organizer, Rod Blagojevich was a Governor".



*(apologies to MAD magazine)

Coming Distractions

I need this kinda lifeline...every time something uncomfortable, suspicious, potentially damaging, possibly damning comes up..I'll dismiss it as a distraction.

Then, my camp followers will pick up on it and preempt me from even having to say it, thus keeping my halo centered around getting back to the work of offering Hope and Change to the American people...err, at least 52% of them.

My latest misspeak will occur in 10,9,8,7,6... Oh...sorry, Axe....he didn't speak directly to Blagojevich, as in "spoke over the phone"? Spoke via surrogates? Nice...what IS the meaning of the word "is"?

This kind of parsing is no Change from the infamous tactics of the original Man From Hope.

Grope. Change.

Head Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau (NOT the always funny, sometimes beefy one) parties on with a cardboard Hillary, showing his boss how one properly puts their hand over their heart during the National Anth...what...hey, that's not her heart!

James Carville's evil spawn guffaws it up at the table, Fred Durst in an aptly titled t-shirt plants a kiss and a frustrated female pouts akimbo. It's practically a Progressive Norman Rockwell moment.

The blow-up Nancy "Gump" Pelsoi ("I got shot with the Bo-tox)" doll was busy in the back room, apparently.

Oh, and he's sorry, too - and ready for his job in the State Department.

O.J. (Orange Jumpsuit) Simpson Guilty

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Justice rendered is justice applied.

(See, that rhymes, so it must be true!)

In other news, the search for the "real killer" is also over.

Obamanomics

So far, so good:

Jobs

Stock Market

As goes GM....

My lib friends are already talking about Obama "inheriting the Bush economy", but seriously, after two years of a stellar Pelosi-led Congressional majority - this is where we're at already?

Thanks, 52!

Automatic, Systematic, Charismatic

What then to do about Jesus of Illinois?
Miracle wonderman, hero of fools.

No riots, no army, no fighting, just slogans.

One thing I'll say for him -- Jesus is cool

We dare not leave him to his own devices.
His half-witted fans will get out of control.

But how can we stop him?
His glamour increases
By leaps every moment; he's top of the poll.

Apologies to ALW

Steven Den Beste has a few thoughts on the near future. My thinking is similar if not so pessimistic/optimistic (depending on your POV). I see an upside from this win:

• If an Obama presidency/Democrat majority takes a few scowls off young Black faces.

• If this stops a few more intelligent kids from turning to crime (or the NFL) and instead pursue medicine or science...or politics.
  

• If this example of a Black nuclear family can convince a few fathers to make families and not just babies, reversing long trends. The Huxtables writ large.
  

I do, however, think the Obama camp bought into the notion - their own notion, fueled by the partisan media - that the president is responsible for EVERYTHING. Look at how Bush was blamed for everything the past 6 years, including the weather.

If that was true, they assumed, then if we only had a president like Obama, he could FIX everything by himself.

Probably not, so perhaps we won't see the worst of his policies come to fruition - at least right away.

American Idol

Being in the music biz, shows like American Idol infuriate those of us who grew up believing that "paying your dues" , actual talent and a bit of luck was the right plan for success. You had to be able to actually sing or play your instrument at a professional level, play a lot of gigs - learning your trade in front of disinterested audiences - and meet the right people in order to impress them enough for them to bank their reputation on yours.

But that's not the new model. Now you just have to look good, over-sing with too much vibrato and faux soul, and belt it out as loudly as you can. From bedroom wanna-be to "idol" by winning a game show. First prize: fame, a record deal, a tour. Handed to people who have never done a real gig in their lives.

Life imitates Art yet again....and so......

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...President Barack Obama.

Has he got the goods, will he attempt to be my president, too? We shall see.

The Virtue of Selfishness

It's an Ayn Rand election, objectively speaking.

"The point is, though, that -- and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class -- it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as president of the United States of America.

"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama continued. "You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness."

I'm quite sure now that he's an ass. What McCain and Palin...AND EVERYBODY ELSE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD...mean by "socialistic" is taking money from one group and giving it to another group to be "fair". Giving "tax refunds" or "tax cuts" to people who do not even pay in to the system. How is that fair, Obama?

Apparently in the 1990's: "all kids went to college, everybody had decent health care, everybody bought computers for the kids, drove around in new cars, and all boats rose".

Anybody else remember it that way?

Helpin' Him Help Me

Not sure that I watched the same infomercial my blissfully ignorant fellow citizen did:




Free gas and mortgages!

Joe the Guitarist

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry endorses John McCain. I'm not really one who places much stock in celebrity endorsements, (or even ex-Secretary of State/Ted Stevens character witnesses ) who jump on a bandwagon with two weeks left in the campaign. BUT...in a Liberal dominated industry like the Music Biz, it's heartening to hear that at least one Rock Icon describes himself as a conservative.

“I’ve been a hardcore Republican my whole life,” he told the Herald. “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

I've been a Joe Perry fan since I was 13-years old. Thanks for sayin' it's so, Joe.

Shrinkage

Dr. Helen, the fabulous mate of InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds gives me a brief shout out in her discussion with Roger Simon and Bill Whittle at PJTV. About 6:00 in she mentions my Reverse John Galt idea. Watch the whole thing, it's excellent.

Thanks, Dr. Helen!

Billy Mays for HopeyChange

The amazing new politics that takes from the makers and makes more takers. Civilian Defense Troops with $500 million dollar budgets...doing what?

Here's a bunch of your fellow wretched citizens in what are supposed to be shocking "after photo" vignettes of the Bush years, when in reality they'll be treasured by those same families for generations to come as "that time before we had to become hunter/gatherers" if Proconsul Obama actually ascends.

Big party in Chi that night.Invite only. ID required.

Bring your ShamWow.

Change The World, Rearrange The World

I read a comment on a blog that claims the Mainstream Media is creating an historic event by helping Obama get elected. I think this is accurate. By overt cheerleading and gilt-by-omission, they have created a glittering, glowing image that offers "Hope" and "Change" to the huddled masses.

"Hope" of erasing the stigma of race relations in America by electing a bi-racial candidate of dubious origins and negligible accomplishments. "Change" in the attitude of Europe towards our foreign policy by affecting their own malleable standards of right and wrong. Obama never talks about Liberty. He does not express any great desire for Freedom. He wants our international social status improved. He wants more international members on the USA Facebook page.

These are goals that cannot have a price tag that is too high. The Constitution is "fatally flawed". The Courts are "imperfect vehicles for Change". We need new and better ways of imposing our will on an electorate that should have no say in the matter. We need to keep them at bay with charges of racism, should they oppose our feel-good fiats. These are the goals of every Liberal in America...at a minimum.

I remember reading that the number one reason J-school students were following that career path was to "make a difference". Not report news, not inform the public, not be the objective free press.

Make a Difference. They don't want to be a "Witness to History", they want to be Midwife.

I voted straight ticket Republican yesterday. I'll make my own difference, thanks.

The Reverse John Galt

So, if Obama actually wins this election and delivers on even half of his promises, I'm vacillating on whether to pull a reverse John Galt and plug IN to the system. I don't qualify for any government programs at the moment - as far as I know. Being a typical hard-working middle aged white person - like Obama's grandma - I was raised to earn your own way. I have not looked into getting government cheese, food stamps, utility bill assistance, etc. Never crossed my mind.

Well, I did get food stamps for about a week or two in college, (25 years ago) and was so embarrassed by that fact that I rode my bike across town to use them, not wanting my local grocer to know I was out of work and out of food. Of course, shame and embarrassment are so passe these days that food stamps are de facto currency in some areas.

So I mean to look into every government assistance program Obama/Pelosi/Reid provides or funds. Even if I don't sign up, at least I'll have an idea where my money is going to. But if I do take an occasional sip from the public teat, consider it my own way of "spreading the wealth" back around to me.

And "it's good for everybody"...right, Obama?

UPDATE: From the comments below: "I'm thinking that about one year of listening to Michelle Obama complain about an unfeeling, mean white America from the bully pulpit of the First Lady should do it".

UPDATE II: That's it...I'm off to vote early. Seriously. Straight ticket, baby.

Thanks to InstaPundit for the link. Read Mrs.InstaPundit's Galt-take here.

"W" is a big "L"

Who was the intended market for this movie?

The Bush-haters are home practicing singing songs about Obama or finding new fake names to donate under. The Bush fans don't need to see him mocked by Hollywood yet again...who gave the green light to this blue light special from a red light district director?

Here's a poll you can take to the bank. "W" is off nearly 50% from it's opening week, when the firedoglake and DailyKos mouthbreathers buttered their popcorn watching it at the mall.

Murtha Twit

Still being sued for libel for his outrageous smear against the USMC, Saucy Jack gaffes and re-gaffes. Instead of older Western Pennsylvanians being 'racist', they are simply 'rednecks'. Get that distinction?

Racists:


Rednecks:

Who Writes Your Answers, Joe?

So, a local TV anchor in Florida gets to ask Joe Biden the kind of questions that get asked of Sarah Palin all the time...tough questions, questions that need asking but are so far down the MSM list they never come up.

He punts every single answer with boilerplate talking points, but does get a tad peeved and complains "I don't know who's writing your questions", both insulting the interviewer (did Katie write hers, Charlie write his?) and suggesting the norm for Joe is knowing what questions are coming.

Here's video: