Obamacare and the Edsel: A Tale of Two Lemons

With the government shutdown you may have missed the press (what little there was) about the problems www.healthcare.gov.  So let me ask a question, if the government after spending over a $500 million dollars with a Canadian firm, can't design and implement a web site that works, how is the world do you think they are going to provide healthcare more efficiently that private providers, whose web sites work, do now!

David Carton at The American Spectator wrote a great article that you might enjoy!

Marc

A Grand Compromise for consideration by the GOP

Offer up a bill that:

1. Eliminates the debt ceiling.  It is a false number anyway, provides no real control, is never enforced, and allows the idiots to aggravate themselves and the taxpayers with their stupidity.
2. Enact zero based budgeting effective immediately, no further automatic increases for anything.
3. Sunset all current legislation and government programs over the next five years.  All programs will have to be re-jusified every five years including welfare, food stamps, and income taxes.
4. Require every American and illegal immigrant, including those on government assistance (welfare, food stamps, AFDC, etc) pay a minimum 5% tax on all funds received from all sources.
5. Since the Democrats have yet to pass a budget, we revert to the 2006 budget levels upon passage of the bill.  
6. In future years require a firm budget to be passed prior to the start of the fiscal year.  If a new budget is not passed then the prior year budget, cut by 20%, automatically takes affect. If Congress fails to pass a budget automatic budget reductions will go into effect and no one in the House, Senate or White House (or their staffs) will be paid until the next budget cycle.  If they can't live with that, they can resign and get a real job!
7. Once a budget is set Congress & White House must live within the budget, no exceptions.  If extraordinary measures (direct attack on the US mainland by some idiotic nut cases) require a budget increase, Congress must pass a clean budget approval for the specific event.  No other amendments, special projects, ear marks or other non related attachments.
8. Stop all multi-topic bills.  One bill one topic, vote for or against.  Amendments related to the bills topic will be allowed but no none related amendments or ear marks!
9. Revoke all special provisions for Senators, Congressmen and the White House, and their staff members, starting with all Obamacare subsidies. Force them to live under the same laws, same benefits as our military.
10. Let Obamacare continue to evolve, let all delays and waivers put in place by the White House stay, except for the congressional subsidies (see 9 above).  Obamacare will fail on its on, once the low info voters realize they actually have to pay for healthcare.  Let next years congress take up the fate of Obamacare.

 Marc

Communism never works, but progressive liberals keep trying!

Bill Neinast

IN PERSPECTIVE It would be wise to read and heed History!

Twenty years ago my wife and I visited Poland.  Our focus was the area that was Prussia until after WWI.

The first night, we rented a room in a new motel near the village of Liebenau from which my ancestors migrated to Texas in 1856.  That night, someone tried to steal our rental vehicle and left it inoperable. 

While trying to navigate the antiquated telephone system the next day to get a replacement car, we met Stanley.  

Stanley was reared in the area but had migrated to California and was back home for his annual visit.  We met him through his cousin, Wanda, who was the cook in the motel and who had called him to tell him that we, the first Americans to stay in the motel, were there.

Stanely became our guide for the next three days and we got to see and learn things and meet Poles rarely enjoyed by individual visitors to a foreign country.

Our visit was just a few year after communism had fallen under its own weight in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe and new forms of government and private enterprise were emerging.  Stanley, for example, was highly critical of what communism had done to his homeland and his people.

He believed that, among other things, living under a government offering to be responsible for everyone from the cradle to the grave had destroyed the work ethic of the country.  There was no pride of workmanship and even the simplest of jobs required four or more workers when one could have done the job adequately.

In discussing the loss of the work ethic and the pride of workmanship, he pointed to several things in our motel room.  The baseboards in the bathroom did not meet in the corners.  One or more had been cut an inch or two short.

Then, pull an extension cord out of a wall socket.  The entire socket comes out of the wall, as junction boxes were either unavailable or forgotten.  We saw further evidence of that in a fairly new home in which we were visiting.  The chandelier in the living room hung from the ceiling on its electric wires.  There was no junction box or connection cover.

Stanley also introduced us to a spry octogenarian who was reared in Poland before communism and who had worked for the Germans during the WWII occupation.  He had learned to be responsible for his life and had begun a savings plan for his retirement when he began working.  He now had a comfortable retirement based on his savings and a government pension.

Later in the evening, we joined some younger men around their Stamntisch (reserved regulars table) in a local eatery.  They were commiserating about their circumstances under communism and now without it.  They relied on the government’s utopian promise of taking care of them from the cradle to the grave.  They had lived from day to day with no thought or plans for the future and were now left to exist on meager pensions. 

Finally, we visited the ruins or remnants of the Liebenau brick factory.  The unique clays in the Liebenau area when the factory was built under a free enterprise system in the 19th century made Liebenau bricks premier building materials.  That clay was depleted by the time the communist government assumed ownership, but the anti-capitalist bureaucrats kept the plant open by importing inferior clays from other regions.  As soon as the plant reverted to private ownership with the fall of communism, it could not compete with plants in areas where clay did not have to be imported and ceased operation.

So here’s the perspective.

Hold the picture painted above in front of a mirror.  What do you see?  The image reflected back could be one of Detroit.  The one looming dimly in the background could be Washington, D.C., and the whole nation.

Detroit, once the fourth largest city in the U.S. and the one with the highest per capita income in the nation, is now in bankruptcy with debts it cannot pay.  The city was brought to its begging knees by a half century of inefficient, corrupt, and illegal administration and union contracts that promised cradle to grave care.

Remember the Liebenau brick factory?  Could it be reflected in Detroit?  Although the city is broke, it still maintains a bloated city work force with twice as many municipal employees per capita as comparable cities.  It even maintains a farrier or horse shoer on the water and sewer department pay roll even though it keeps no horses.

The city’s debt of 18.5 billion dollars is tottering on a rapidly deteriorating tax base.  That sounds like the 16 trillion dollar federal debt tottering on tax payers’ pocket books that are becoming very frayed.

Do you now see the images of Detroit and the U.S. reflected in the images of Poland from 20 years ago?    

The Stupidity Continues!

Please send a copy to all taxing authorities of the "Goose that laid the Golden Eggs".  Phil Michelson wins a bit over $2,000,000 for his work in the UK at the Scottish and British Opens in the last few weeks.  After being taken to the cleaners by the UK, California, and US Phil nets a little less than $900,000.  The taxing authorities confiscated over 61% of his earnings.  Phil has options, much like John Galt, he can move or simply leave the profession.  Who could blame him!

What makes me Laugh?

A President who was raised by Communists, who has never held a job that wasn't funded by donations (community organizer) or other people's tax money, who now lives opulently off of the American public, who has become wealthy through the deeds of others on his behalf, going around the country making speeches about how to grow the economy!

The Mushy Foreign Policy of the United States under Obama

IN PERSPECTIVE

by Bill Neinast

Commentator Charles Krauthammer and Power Line blogger Attorney Paul Mirengoff characterize President Obama’s foreign policy the same way.  They call it mush.

That may be a bit harsh, as mush is defined as a soft, wet, pulpy mass.

  Conversely, there may be some basis for the observation.   What can be deciphered from the conflicting signals emanating from the administration is a mess rather than a mass.

The difficulty in discussing the Obama foreign policy is determining the content of the policy.  The bed rock of foreign affairs is to protect the country from foreign invasion or control and to protect or promote our vital interests.

Currently, the primary vital interest of the country is the preservation and protection of access to energy, particularly from the Mid East.  Today, that interest is inextricably tied to the threat of foreign control or invasion, like the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, from radical Muslims.

How much energy, i.e. oil, we have to import depends on how much of the need can be satisfied from domestic sources.  Because of significant improvements in recovery techniques in old fields and the development of new fields, experts in the oil patch believe that we can be close to self sufficiency in a few years.

Reaching that goal of self sufficiency, however, requires opening federal land for development, removing restrictions on improved methods of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), authorizing and completing the Keystone Pipeline, ending the war on coal, etc.

Each of these required actions is vehemently opposed by radical environmentalists who believe we should live and commune with nature as the earliest humans did.  As this group is a  major supporter of the class warriors, the chances of Obama crossing them is slim at best.

This means that we will have to continue to rely on oil from the Mid-east many years into the future.  This means, in turn, that we will continue to bow and kiss the rings of the Muslim potentates controlling that oil.

Dealing with the threat or possibility of a Muslim “invasion” is even trickier.    During his first months in office and before he had even a clue as to the complexities of foreign affairs, Obama made his apology throughout much of the world. 

He figuratively beat his chest and said, “We’re sorry.  We’re sorry we provided a shield for you through the years and funneled trillions of American taxpayer dollars into your coffers.  Forgive us and we will relinquish our spot as leader of the pack.”

If those speeches did anything, they established the United States as a severely weakened player on the international football field.

Heeding this new posture of the formerly strong country in North America, the Muslim Brotherhood openly took up arms against Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak was the dictator of the largest Muslim country on the planet, but he was a staunch friend of the United States and was in the forefront of maintaining peace with Israel.  Barak’s response was to throw Mubarak under the bus by suggesting that he resign and to welcome the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood through the “democratic election” of Mohammed Morsi. 

When millions of Egyptians began to protest the movements of Morsi toward a Muslim dictatorship under Sharia law, Obama’s response was to suggest negotiations.  Then when the Egyptian military comes to the aid of the protestors,   we take no action to keep the Muslim Brotherhood in check, but suggest negotiations instead.

The Suez Canal is in Egypt.  Keeping that vital link in the supply line of oil from Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries in friendly hands seems to have no apparent effect on the Obama team’s involvement.

Similarly, in Libya when the rebels attempting to overthrow Mummer Gadaffi, a recognized enemy of the United States, requested assistance, Obama suggested a no fly zone, but then “led from behind” and let France and England do the work.

Possibly the worst wiggle in our Mid-east policies, however, was Obama’s bluster of establishing a “red line” in Syria.  Threatening involvement if President Basher al-Assad used chemical weapons against those intent on deposing him.  

The use of those weapons has finally been acknowledged by Obama, but where is his promised reaction?  

So here’s the perspective.

Say what you will about President George W. Bush.  There is no question, however, that he said what he meant and did what he said.

Other countries knew exactly what the United States wanted and that it would do what its leaders said under Bush.  

Today, the rest of the world has no clue as to what we expect or whether we will do what we say.

That’s a heck of a way to run a country.

Sleep Well, the Government is Watching Over You!

Bill Neinast

IN PERSPECTIVE

As President Obama and Attorney General Holder undergo their own water boarding, the fear of drowning must be growing. 

The drips mentioned here last week have turned into torrents.  The wet rag of scandals draped over their faces are becoming increasingly hard to breadth through.

So there was an attempt to give them some relief.  To give them a short breadth of air,  information on collecting phone records was released to divert attention from the IRS, the Justice Department, and Benghazi.   

This may have given them a gasp of fresh air.  Conversely, however, opening up about Big Brother watching yet another area of personal information resulted in even more concern about the Administration’s attack on personal liberty. 

Collecting the phone data is legal.  Telephone companies have been doing it since the days of Alexander Graham Bell.  Information about what calls are made from and to what phone numbers plus the date and duration of each call is essential for business purposes.   Statements for billing and decisions on when and where more capacity may be needed are made on these stored records.

There is no need, however, to know either the subject or content of those calls.  Consequently, that information is not collect.

This was temporary storage.  When the needed information was extracted, the records were destroyed.

After 9/11, however, a new need arose.  The phone records of suspected terrorists could lead to other suspects and terrorist cells.  For this purpose, the content of the messages also became important.

This need was one of the reasons for enacting the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which significantly weakened restrictions on law enforcement agencies' gathering of intelligence within the United States.

Under this Act, various intelligence agencies under Presidents George W. Bush and Obama began to preserve the phone records permanently, or at least for a long time.  Accordingly, they required the phone companies to transfer the records to them for permanent storage.

This was necessary because who suspected terrorists were communicating with might extend backward for many years.  Who they were communicating with years ago is as important as who they are talking with today.

Having this information was essential for obtaining legal search warrants from appropriate courts to tap the lines of the suspects and begin recording their conversations.  This is the type of information that foils terrorist attacks.

The procedure described here is thus perfectly legal.  Appropriate committees of Congress were kept informed of the procedures and found no fault.

When the program became public last week, however, pandemonium reigned in the streets.  The procedure was not correctly understood by many who thought they were being spied on every time they picked up a telephone.

This concern is misplaced.  There is no invasion of privacy in storing the records that phone companies have collected for years.  There is good reason, however, to be concerned about how easy it is to misuse that data to invade the privacy of anyone coming to the attention of various political operatives.

For that reason, the leak, if that is what it was, was poorly timed.  The news came in the middle of genuine concern over IRS and Justice Department agents spying on citizens and misusing information they garnered from that spying or prying.

Low level employees of the IRS in Cincinnati who were expected to take the fall for the Administration refused to do so.  Two of them testified under oath that they were ordered directly and indirectly by officials in the Justice Department’s Washington office to target specific organizations opposing Obama and to send certain information to that office.

Simultaneously, news broke that the Justice Department cast an even wider net of spying.  The Internet messages of AP and Fox News journalists were being read in the hallowed halls of justice.

In at least one case, Attorney General Holder testified under oath that he knew nothing about the affidavit bearing his signature that Correspondent James Rosen was a possible criminal conspirator.  That affidavit was taken to three judges for the issuance of a subpoena to monitor Rosen’s internet traffic, and the third judge finally issued the subpoena.

Oh! That’s right.  Holder said he knew nothing about prosecuting reporters.  He did not say that he knew nothing about just accusing reporters of misconduct.  

White House Spokesman Jay Carey has tried to explain the difference between accusing and prosecuting.  Unfortunately for Obama and Holder, few men on the street can understand the difference.

So here’s the perspective.

Big Brother is alive, well, and growing, but there is nothing to fear.  Holder and the new IRS Administrator have been tasked to look into the activities of their departments and to correct any little bitty thing they find wrong.  

Their reports will never be seen in the White House, because “the buck” never gets there.

Benghazi is one of those bucks that never got there.  Why are there no pictures of the President in solemn concentration in the White House as Benghazi was exploding like there were of him watching bin Laden being taken out?  The answer would probably echo former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s, “What difference does it make now?”

Those who believe that the contents of their telephone conversations will never be monitored should talk with Mitt Romney.  Ask him how the information of his donations to a Defense of Marriage organization got into the Gay community.

So sleep well.  Big Brother is watching over you.

How Obama will survive the Current Scandals!

IN PERSPECTIVE

Bill Neinast

What an irony.  President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder believe that making a terrorist who wants to kill Americans think he is drowning is an abominable, illegal torture.  

Ironically, now they are being water boarded by some of their own.  The drip, drip, drip of scandals, with each drip getting a little larger has to give an impression of drowning. 

The fear of drowning currently is most pronounced for AG Holder.  The House Judiciary Committee is now investigating whether he committed perjury when he last testified before the committee.

Holder’s testimony that is now under scrutiny was the Sergeant Schultz response that he and Obama give to every suggestion of misconduct, “I know nothing, nothing.  I saw nothing, nothing.” Every bit of wrongdoing, if there is any, was done by some low grade underling way, way down the chain away from Washington.

The discussions now among media pundits are which of the drips is the most serious and damaging to the Obama legacy.  For the general public, the IRS targeting and harassing conservative groups is the preferred answer to that question.  

This is no surprise.  Every tax paying American has to deal with, and probably fears, the IRS.  Seeing and hearing that the agency is not always fair and even handed should be of concern.

The media, however, has a different dog in the hunt.  Most of the pundits are most concerned about the Attorney General trampling on the 1st Amendment rights of a free press.  If reporters are designated potential criminals for printing material leaked from within the administration, the function of the press as a watch dog for governmental misconduct is severely curtailed.

The concern for those two blots on the Obama legacy must be a blessing for Hillary Clinton.  Interest in the IRS and Justice scandals has moved the spot light off the Benghazi tragedy.  Everyone seems to have forgotten about determining the level of responsibility for the lack of security, the failure/refusal of a rescue attempt, and the cover up.

With those issues off the front burner, the Clintons can breath a short sigh of  relief that questions about Hillary’s qualifications to be the next president are left for another day.

To shove questions about his legacy into the same shadow that Hillary is now enjoying, Obama is saying, “Let’s change the subject.”  Now he wants to talk about ending the “war” on terror and closing what he considers to be a blight on our appearance, the confinement of prisoners of war at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or Gitmo.

He may come to regret that tactic.  His remarks on this subject prompted a lengthy review of his concern about Gitmo by Time magazine.  A lead article in the magazine’s June 10 issue is entitled “Why GItMO Will Never Close,” and contains this:

“At last count, military medical personnel at Gitmo were force-feeding 35 of the more than 100 inmates who refuse to eat.  Twice a day those men are strapped into restraining chairs as tubes that run up their noses and down their throats fill their stomachs with a compound called Ensure, a supplement used by everyone from athletes to dieters.  The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has called force-feeding a violation of international law, and the World Medical Association, of which the U.S. is a member, declared in 1991 that the practice is ‘never ethically acceptable‘ unless a prisoner consents or is unable to make a rational choice.  (The WMA calls it ‘ethical to allow a determined hunger striker to die.)” 

The accompanying photos of the contraption into which the prisoners are strapped and the implements used to force the Ensure into their bodies are not pleasant to view.

As mentioned previously, Obama and Holder believe that making a prisoner feel like he is drowning is torture.  They apparently believe, however, that keeping a prisoner alive when he wants to die and doing so by strapping him down and forcing instruments into his body is in keeping with the highest standards of international law.

So here’s the perspective.

President Obama’s legacy is being written every day.  The revelations of the last few weeks of misconduct in the Justice and State Departments and the IRS are rapidly tarnishing that legacy.

Nonetheless, recent polls indicate that 45% of the population still believe that he is doing a good job in the office.

That is almost 50% of the population and gives credence to Rush Limbaugh’s coining of the phrase “no-info or lo-info voters.   

Obama's Queeg Moment

Exceptional piece this morning from the American Spectator site by HAL G. P Colebatch!  Enjoy

Marc

His Queeg Moment

By HAL G.P. COLEBATCH on 1.29.13 @ 6:07AM

A perspective on our president from Down Under.

In Herman Wouk’s classic World War II novel, The Caine Mutiny, there is a moment when a group of the ship’s officers are getting away from the increasingly eccentric Captain Queeq by relaxing ashore.

Suddenly the malcontent Lieutenant Keefer asks the others: “Does it occur to you that Captain Queeg may be insane?

In fact Queeg is not insane, at least not at that time. He is simply grappling, more and more disastrously, with a job too big for him. Come the crisis of a typhoon, he becomes paralyzed and nearly sinks the ship by failing to give the obvious orders. At the subsequent court-martial he appears quite normal until he breaks down under the pressure of cross-examination. Before this, the officers have searched the regulations for guidance, but the regulations refer only to a captain who is clearly and unmistakably insane, not one who is merely guilty of eccentricity and bad judgment. At a lower level of responsibility, Queeg might have performed adequately, but with Keefer’s question, the remaining respect for Queeg’s office has gone.

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