The Supreme Court is going to hear arguments on the Constitutionality of ObamaCare and it's ability to force you to pay for whatever level of health insurance the government deems necessary and appropriate. It matters not if you are a 27 years old guy (under 27, don't worry, you're covered under your parents policy...still, ya slacker) and should be relatively healthy, you will be covered (paying for) your contraceptive pills, abortions and Hoveround.
Once established that your action, or inaction, affects the economy, the government is free to establish any parameter of what you spend your money on. Thinking about buying a new car? Well GM hasn't sold a lot of their crap lately and Kia is selling lot, so to make sure that the wealth is spread evenly the government should set up a lottery on car sales. In order to make sure that GM gets it's “fair share” of sales, you will be assigned to which company you can buy your car from.
If you really, really want that Kia over the “comparable” GM, then all you need to do is pay a fee/penalty of the difference of price to the company you were assigned to...unless you were assigned to buy from Kia and GM's price was higher, then all penalties are waived.
Showing posts with label Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Government. Show all posts
Friday, March 23, 2012
Sunday, February 13, 2011
And All Logic Has Now Left The Building
From our cousins across the pond:
Shed owners warned wire on windows could hurt burglars
Trespassing and burglary don't factor in. You are held accountable for some asshat cutting his hand trying to pry off the wire mesh from your shed so he can take your property.
F.E.T.E.
Shed owners warned wire on windows could hurt burglars
A spate of thefts in several towns and villages in Kent and Surrey over the past few months led to many householders taking action to protect their property.
Some have been warned by police that using wire mesh to reinforce shed windows was ''dangerous’’ and could lead to criminals claiming compensation if they ''hurt themselves’’.
Trespassing and burglary don't factor in. You are held accountable for some asshat cutting his hand trying to pry off the wire mesh from your shed so he can take your property.
F.E.T.E.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Bill Just Needs To Be Tweaked
Obamacare is basically good for the people, it only needs a few corrections...they tell us.
A 2,000 page bill that no one, including the idiot congresscritters, had a chance to read and is filled with directives like "the Secretary shall decided", which means we don't know what the hell was voted on. Now they tell us it needs a few corrections. We are going to end up with a 5,000 page bill filled with "replacing Article 5, paragraph 3" and "super-ceding Article 2, unless conforming to Article 5, paragraph 9, line 15".
It's going to give the Tax Code a run for it's money before it's corrected... and it will never be completely corrected because the brilliant congresscritters know nothing about health care or insurance.
This abomination just needs to be thrown away and rewritten from the beginning with clear rules and delineations of powers.
We're in a hole with this, digging won't get us out.
Repeal the bill!
A 2,000 page bill that no one, including the idiot congresscritters, had a chance to read and is filled with directives like "the Secretary shall decided", which means we don't know what the hell was voted on. Now they tell us it needs a few corrections. We are going to end up with a 5,000 page bill filled with "replacing Article 5, paragraph 3" and "super-ceding Article 2, unless conforming to Article 5, paragraph 9, line 15".
It's going to give the Tax Code a run for it's money before it's corrected... and it will never be completely corrected because the brilliant congresscritters know nothing about health care or insurance.
This abomination just needs to be thrown away and rewritten from the beginning with clear rules and delineations of powers.
We're in a hole with this, digging won't get us out.
Repeal the bill!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
"Only Look LIke Terrorists"
Once again the left proves that they only think about one's race making them the racists again.
From a Washington Post article by Eugene Robinson:
TSA outcry is really a call for profiling
He goes through all the explanations of why we should give up our rights and just submit to a total invasion of privacy and then at the end...the bombshell.
I hate to break it to him, but there are a hell of a lot more to profiling a person than just there race.
Did they buy their ticket with cash? Are they acting odd? There are numerous indicators that someone should receive extra scrutiny outside of just "looking like a terrorist".
Unless we get pass this idea that ONLY Arab looking guys are going to be pulled aside, we will just continue to have to endure the sideshow that screening is today.
From a Washington Post article by Eugene Robinson:
TSA outcry is really a call for profiling
He goes through all the explanations of why we should give up our rights and just submit to a total invasion of privacy and then at the end...the bombshell.
If we only search people who "look like terrorists," al-Qaeda will send people who don't fit the profile. It's no accident that most of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were from Saudi Arabia; at the time, it was easier for Saudi nationals to get U.S. visas than it was for citizens of other Arab countries. If terrorists are clever enough to hide powerful explosives in ink cartridges, then eventually they'll find a suicide bomber who looks just like you, me or Granny.
I hate to break it to him, but there are a hell of a lot more to profiling a person than just there race.
Did they buy their ticket with cash? Are they acting odd? There are numerous indicators that someone should receive extra scrutiny outside of just "looking like a terrorist".
Unless we get pass this idea that ONLY Arab looking guys are going to be pulled aside, we will just continue to have to endure the sideshow that screening is today.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tea Party Hypocrasy?
One of the canards thrown at the Tea Party crowd is that we are hypocrites because while we want small government, we don't want to lose our Social Security.
No, I don't want to lose my Social Security! I've INVESTED money in my retirement for 40 years now with government coercion. Give me the money removed from my paychecks, that is supposedly sitting in some lock box, and let me deal with it. I think I could do better than the 1.23 percent.
Even with the few working years left to me, I doubt I could come out worse.
No, I don't want to lose my Social Security! I've INVESTED money in my retirement for 40 years now with government coercion. Give me the money removed from my paychecks, that is supposedly sitting in some lock box, and let me deal with it. I think I could do better than the 1.23 percent.
Even with the few working years left to me, I doubt I could come out worse.
Monday, October 04, 2010
A Civics Test
I stumbled across this today: How Long Since You've Taken A Civics Exam?
I was a little leery going in, I haven't taken a test on anything in years, but was pleased with the results.
From the summary of this test:
And I'm one of those dumb TEA Party ignoramuses that just understand what is going on in this country.
I was a little leery going in, I haven't taken a test on anything in years, but was pleased with the results.
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %
Average score for this quiz during October: 73.7%
From the summary of this test:
Seventy-one percent of Americans failed this basic test. The overall average score was only 49%, with college graduates also failing at 57%.
And I'm one of those dumb TEA Party ignoramuses that just understand what is going on in this country.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Why Do We Bother?
Once again our elected officials ignore the Constitution, the California State Constitution in this case.
California Assembly Passes Racial Preferences Bill
By La Shawn Barber • June 4, 2010 10:09 AM
[All emphasis:mine]
New law where things got crossed? No!
Extra points for being not white or being a girl, being you know those people can't compete on their merits, and the hell with what it costs.
If you think that the lawsuit in the works over the above law would slow them down, think again.
It doesn't matter what the Supreme law of the State says, theses elitists know better and in order to get an equal outcome, they write unconstitutional laws to attempt to achieve their goals. It doesn't matter that they tried this before and it didn't work, it just led to a high percentage of minorities dropping out of college because they were not prepared to handle the load.
If someone is not academically ready to go to University, that is what City Colleges are for. If you can complete 2 years at a CC and you've got the grades, then is the time to continue your education. Plus it saves a ton of money for all sides.
Nuff said
California Assembly Passes Racial Preferences Bill
By La Shawn Barber • June 4, 2010 10:09 AM
[All emphasis:mine]
California legislators and the governor should carry a copy of the state constitution in their pockets and refer to it when writing and signing bills. It’s a useful guide, laying out what the people have a right to do and what the government shall not do. For example, Article I, Section 31 reads in part:
“The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
New law where things got crossed? No!
Thirteen years ago, 54 percent of voters passed Proposition 209, which added this language to the state’s constitution. But politicians act as though it doesn’t exist. Last October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who swore to uphold the constitution, signed into law a bill that directs state departments to award government contracts to the lowest responsible bidder subcontracting 15 percent of the work to minority-owned businesses and five percent to female-owned businesses. The contractor who fails to do so will be rejected, even if he’s the lowest bidder.
Extra points for being not white or being a girl, being you know those people can't compete on their merits, and the hell with what it costs.
If you think that the lawsuit in the works over the above law would slow them down, think again.
The latest attempt to circumvent the law came yesterday, as the California Assembly passed a bill that would allow the (taxpayer-supported) University of California and California State University systems to consider skin color in admissions.
It doesn't matter what the Supreme law of the State says, theses elitists know better and in order to get an equal outcome, they write unconstitutional laws to attempt to achieve their goals. It doesn't matter that they tried this before and it didn't work, it just led to a high percentage of minorities dropping out of college because they were not prepared to handle the load.
If someone is not academically ready to go to University, that is what City Colleges are for. If you can complete 2 years at a CC and you've got the grades, then is the time to continue your education. Plus it saves a ton of money for all sides.
Even if racial preferences accomplished what social engineers and the professional civil rights industry hoped, they are discriminatory. Preferring one individual over another based on race means the other individual is passed over based on race. Has anyone read the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act lately?
As I’ve said so many times, I could recite it while comatose, the civil rights movement’s goal was to dismantle government-sanctioned and government-mandated racial discrimination. Blacks fought to be treated fairly as individuals protected by law, and not judged based on group membership. How things got turned around, where some blacks started demanding special treatment, is another topic for another post.
Nuff said
Saturday, May 01, 2010
A Quote
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."— Ayn Rand
I have got to read this book!!!
I have got to read this book!!!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
My Poor, Poor State
I really do like living in California. It's a beautiful place and I've lived here my whole life, so even living in L.A. with it's overcrowding doesn't bother me too much, it's normal for me. However the politics and government of the state/county/city has me wanting to escape at the first opportunity.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
The More Things Change.....
Bathroom Books - My library of magazines and books that sit in the bathroom to occupy 10 minutes that would be wasted. One of them is "Let's Be Heard" by Bob Grant. The lead page to the third section has this:
This was written in 1996, but sounds like it could have been penned yesterday.
WHOSE GOVERNMENT IS THIS, ANYWAY?
The career politicians and bureaucrats, along with the pundits of the left, are currently wailing and keening over what the depict as dangerous "antigovernment" sentiment at loose in the land, but they're way off base. Most people believe strongly in our form of government. We just don't like how it has been perverted and contorted out of shape over the past few decades.
Our dissatisfaction has two main, related causes.
First, government does too many things we don't want it to do. In fact, the general drift of government activism has been to do things that help small minorities and special interests at the expense of the majority.
Second, every time the government does anything, it ends up costing us too much money. The costs nearly always outweigh the benefits.
In other words, the people who pay for government are the people whom government seems least interested in serving. You could even say that we pay government to do things that damage us. But we're not angry at government--just at some of the bozos who run it.
This was written in 1996, but sounds like it could have been penned yesterday.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009: The Year In Review: Betrayal Edition
Below is a pure cut and paste (I even stole the picture)of my friend's Blackiswhite's year end post. I post it here so that I have it preserved for posterity and I may stumble across it years from now.
2009: The Year In Review: Betrayal Edition
December 31, 2009 by Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere
Once again, we’re at that time of year when everyone examines the year that was with their clever lists, and wry observations. being neither clever or wry, I’ll simply point out where we weren’t a year ago, before the Dawn of the Age of the HopeyChangeyness (now with Skittles-crapping unicorns.)
A year ago, the government wasn’t the owner of two previously privately held auto companies, the largest insurer in the nation, or a large mortgage bank.
A year ago, our President wasn’t buddy-buddy with Chavez or Castro.
A year ago, we didn’t have a tax-cheat as Treasury Secretary.
A year ago, we didn’t have an Executive Order authorizing the immigration and placement of thousands of Palestinians in the U.S.
A year ago, U.S. taxpayers weren’t funding and facilitating abortions in other countries.
A year ago, five percent fewer federal employees made over $100,000.00 a year. It must be nice to get a raise in the worst recession in my memory…especially when you already have the job security of a federal employee.
A year ago, we had a President who wasn’t on record as thinking that the Constitution is “fundamentally flawed”.
A year ago, we had a President who did not bow deeply to the Saudi King and the Japanese Emperor.
A year ago, we had a President who did not avoid the Senate’s advise and consent role by appointing czars in places where they had never been before.
A year ago, we had a President who did not go out of his way to insult average Americans by casting aspersions on their values and the values of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
A year ago, we did not have a Supreme Court Justice who completely and utterly disqualified themselves before appointment with repeated statements calling their integrity and impartiality into question.
A year ago, we did not have government officials threatening private investors who were trying to protect their legal rights in bankruptcy.
A year ago, we did not have a presidentially appointed self-admitted Communist in government.
A year ago, a government official would not have dreamt of quoting Mao in public as a favorite philosopher.
A year ago, our elected representatives would not have dared to ask constituents for ID before answering their questions, or used union goons and police to silence and remove constituents from public meetings.
A year ago, the conventional wisdom would have laughed at the notion that we need hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending that stimulates nothing in order to turn the rising tide of unemployment.
A year ago, the government did not deign to set compensation levels for employees of privately held companies.
A year ago, the idea of government health care for all was the punchline of a Hillary Clinton joke.
A year ago, we didn’t have a President who has informed a whole sector of the energy industry that he wants to put them out of business.
A year ago, the EPA was not threatening to regulate carbon dioxide emissions if Congress doesn’t.
A year ago, INTERPOL could not operate on American soil without regard to the American Constitution and American due process.
A year ago, we didn’t have an attorney general who believed it was appropriate or necessary to try foreign terrorists in Article III courts.
A year ago, we had a President and administration that recognized that we were already in a war on terrorism, because the terrorists had already declared war on us.
A year ago, a statement to the nation about a terrorist act committed against Americans by the President was a duty, and not an annoyance.
A year ago, carbon dioxide was good because it helps plants grow, and not a pollutant requiring taxes by Congress that will be paid by energy consumers.
A year ago, in was understood that the government cannot force me to buy a government-approved health care plan with the threat of exorbitant fines and/or jail time.
A year ago, it wasn’t the priority of one political party to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of community activists that have engaged in voter fraud and other criminal enterprises…time and again.
A year ago, the government didn’t fire watchdogs who caught influential friends of the government with their sticky fingers in the government till.
A year ago, we had a President and Leader of the Free World who didn’t sit on his hands and “bear witness” to the brutal repression and murder of people resisting a totalitarian regime that is determined to destabilize the region it is in.
A year ago, we had a President who did not support a leader attempting a coup by vilifying the people who lawfully prevented it.
A year ago, we did not face a government that grows fat and belligerent on our tax dollar, while constantly threatening to take more of our money and freedom from us.
A year ago, we didn’t have a President that accused our soldiers of perpetrating war crimes for political gain, or declared police guilty of acting stupidly while admitting in the same breath that he didn’t have all the facts.
A year ago, dissent was the highest form of patriotism; now it’s racist!
2009: The Year In Review: Betrayal Edition
December 31, 2009 by Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere
Once again, we’re at that time of year when everyone examines the year that was with their clever lists, and wry observations. being neither clever or wry, I’ll simply point out where we weren’t a year ago, before the Dawn of the Age of the HopeyChangeyness (now with Skittles-crapping unicorns.)
A year ago, the government wasn’t the owner of two previously privately held auto companies, the largest insurer in the nation, or a large mortgage bank.
A year ago, our President wasn’t buddy-buddy with Chavez or Castro.
A year ago, we didn’t have a tax-cheat as Treasury Secretary.
A year ago, we didn’t have an Executive Order authorizing the immigration and placement of thousands of Palestinians in the U.S.
A year ago, U.S. taxpayers weren’t funding and facilitating abortions in other countries.
A year ago, five percent fewer federal employees made over $100,000.00 a year. It must be nice to get a raise in the worst recession in my memory…especially when you already have the job security of a federal employee.
A year ago, we had a President who wasn’t on record as thinking that the Constitution is “fundamentally flawed”.
A year ago, we had a President who did not bow deeply to the Saudi King and the Japanese Emperor.
A year ago, we had a President who did not avoid the Senate’s advise and consent role by appointing czars in places where they had never been before.
A year ago, we had a President who did not go out of his way to insult average Americans by casting aspersions on their values and the values of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
A year ago, we did not have a Supreme Court Justice who completely and utterly disqualified themselves before appointment with repeated statements calling their integrity and impartiality into question.
A year ago, we did not have government officials threatening private investors who were trying to protect their legal rights in bankruptcy.
A year ago, we did not have a presidentially appointed self-admitted Communist in government.
A year ago, a government official would not have dreamt of quoting Mao in public as a favorite philosopher.
A year ago, our elected representatives would not have dared to ask constituents for ID before answering their questions, or used union goons and police to silence and remove constituents from public meetings.
A year ago, the conventional wisdom would have laughed at the notion that we need hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending that stimulates nothing in order to turn the rising tide of unemployment.
A year ago, the government did not deign to set compensation levels for employees of privately held companies.
A year ago, the idea of government health care for all was the punchline of a Hillary Clinton joke.
A year ago, we didn’t have a President who has informed a whole sector of the energy industry that he wants to put them out of business.
A year ago, the EPA was not threatening to regulate carbon dioxide emissions if Congress doesn’t.
A year ago, INTERPOL could not operate on American soil without regard to the American Constitution and American due process.
A year ago, we didn’t have an attorney general who believed it was appropriate or necessary to try foreign terrorists in Article III courts.
A year ago, we had a President and administration that recognized that we were already in a war on terrorism, because the terrorists had already declared war on us.
A year ago, a statement to the nation about a terrorist act committed against Americans by the President was a duty, and not an annoyance.
A year ago, carbon dioxide was good because it helps plants grow, and not a pollutant requiring taxes by Congress that will be paid by energy consumers.
A year ago, in was understood that the government cannot force me to buy a government-approved health care plan with the threat of exorbitant fines and/or jail time.
A year ago, it wasn’t the priority of one political party to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of community activists that have engaged in voter fraud and other criminal enterprises…time and again.
A year ago, the government didn’t fire watchdogs who caught influential friends of the government with their sticky fingers in the government till.
A year ago, we had a President and Leader of the Free World who didn’t sit on his hands and “bear witness” to the brutal repression and murder of people resisting a totalitarian regime that is determined to destabilize the region it is in.
A year ago, we had a President who did not support a leader attempting a coup by vilifying the people who lawfully prevented it.
A year ago, we did not face a government that grows fat and belligerent on our tax dollar, while constantly threatening to take more of our money and freedom from us.
A year ago, we didn’t have a President that accused our soldiers of perpetrating war crimes for political gain, or declared police guilty of acting stupidly while admitting in the same breath that he didn’t have all the facts.
A year ago, dissent was the highest form of patriotism; now it’s racist!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Bookmark
Ran across this at Human Events and wanted to have it marked so if/when I cruise by here again I'll run into it.
Want to know what the Founder's thoughts were on the 2nd Amendment, what is a militia, how much they trusted government? Read this:
From the Horses' Mouths: The 'Politically Correct' View of Our Founders
by Bob Heinritz
11/24/2009
A teaser:
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
Samuel Adams, during Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution Ratification Convention (1788).
Want to know what the Founder's thoughts were on the 2nd Amendment, what is a militia, how much they trusted government? Read this:
From the Horses' Mouths: The 'Politically Correct' View of Our Founders
by Bob Heinritz
11/24/2009
A teaser:
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
Samuel Adams, during Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution Ratification Convention (1788).
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A Good Return For Our Money
Another blogger pointed out this PSA to show that Barney Frank backed ACORN. It's a blink and you missed it shot, but it is in there, and there is enough documentation and records from the Senate floor, and from committee hearings to prove where the dog got his fleas, so I'm not going to quibble.
ACORN Grassroots Democracy Campaign
The part that got me was at 8:25...they, over the last 10 years have given out $15 billion in benefits to people...out of the $85 billion they have received in grants.
Math time: $15 billion/$85 billion = 17.65% goes to the people they are helping and 82.35% goes to the organization.
Sound like the "Cash for Clunkers" program, such a deal $1.22 billion paid out to get "bad" cars off the road....but $1.66 billion for the government to handle the paperwork.
Why, oh why do I not trust the government to handle any program in a cost effective way?
ACORN Grassroots Democracy Campaign
The part that got me was at 8:25...they, over the last 10 years have given out $15 billion in benefits to people...out of the $85 billion they have received in grants.
Math time: $15 billion/$85 billion = 17.65% goes to the people they are helping and 82.35% goes to the organization.
Sound like the "Cash for Clunkers" program, such a deal $1.22 billion paid out to get "bad" cars off the road....but $1.66 billion for the government to handle the paperwork.
Why, oh why do I not trust the government to handle any program in a cost effective way?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
9/11/09...A Day After
I was just too melancholy yesterday to post anything. I really didn't get enough sleep the day before and I watched the ceremonies at the Twin Towers and Pentagon in the morning waiting for my shift to end.
Eight years later and I still get that sick feeling in my gut reliving Sept 11, 2001. It's not pleasant, but I refuse to take the PC recommended solution and just let it pass, or like Obambi and his ilk would like to do, turn it into another "Earth Day"..."A day of Service......and remembrance".
NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET!
They want me to atone for something I feel no guilt about. I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!, I can acknowledge minor flaws of my country, however, they refuse to recognize the major flaws of their "religion".
I AM PROUD OF MY COUNTRY! No other has contributed so much to try to better the world as we have, and we do it willingly and not asking for thanks, and the world has certainly kept that part of the bargain.
I'm not going to embed this video, you go watch it if you think you can. A man, Kevin Cosgrove who went to work and found and found himself stuck on the 105th floor.
Kevin Cosgrove - 9/11
On another side of my life...Before going into work, I was checking my Email and looking to see what my friends had posted during the day, when there was a huge double boom that rattled the windows of my house. The animals quickly showed up for reassurance, while my heart was trying to slow down.
It was the Space Shuttle landing at Edwards AFB. Typically, I had forgotten they were still up there and had forgotten they were suppose to land a few days ago, except the weather in that hurricane prone area sucked (again), so they HAD to land here.
It was a great reminder of what achievements this country is capable of when it wants to. It was a beautiful picture perfect landing, perhaps the prettiest I've ever watched, but then again, I felt a downward feeling when they started talking about it being close to the end of our meager shuttle program.
We have been to the Moon, but once again, we are on the edge abandoning exploration to expand our horizons so that we can "be fiscally responsible" by supporting people that don't like, if not hate, the advantages our country provides to anyone and everyone that is willing to get behind the ideals set down back in 1787 in our Constitution.
Right now I'm watching the Tea Party gathering in Washington D.C., Hundreds of thousands of people that are just fed up with the politicians. Please notice that this event takes place on a Saturday as these are people with jobs, and unlike working for a Union or being a "grass root" unemployed lefty that got $20 to hold up a pre-printed sign and shout back what the "community organizer" is spewing through the bullhorn...these people are unpaid, and most likely laid out a bit of their own cash to attend...and they'll most likely be back to work on Monday.
I can't say it often enough:
GOD BLESS AMERICA, LAND THAT I LOVE
Friday, September 04, 2009
We're All Flakes In California
A lady who owns a bakery in California has two minutes to address her congresscritter:
And the Congresswoman ignored her and moved on to the next question.
And the Congresswoman ignored her and moved on to the next question.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
THE RECLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE
This is borrowed from BlackisWhite's blog Taxes, Stupidity, and Death
THE RECLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE
WHEN IN THE GENERATIONS SUCCEEDING the one that pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to usher in the birth of the world’s only truly free nation, Liberty’s Progeny incrementally ceded their birthright to the government conceived and designed to serve a free people, and not be its servant, this generation is awakening to the terrible mistake that we, and our ancestors allowed to happen. Charged with the terrible knowledge that comes with opened eyes, we now take up the long abdicated duty to rouse our fellow citizens and actively wrest the power and the liberties that have been progressively talked, cajoled, threatened, wheedled, and extorted from us, not only by those who ostensibly served us, but by their supporters and enablers who, by accident or design, saw fit to usurp and disdain such freedoms, that they might be withheld, and where impossible to withhold, might be condemned, until a corrosive contempt for these liberties, wrapped in velvet gloves, might so suffocate the circulation of them that this nation, conceived in liberty and the providence of a wise and benevolent creator, might indeed perish from the earth, plunging the rightful heirs of a proud and noble heritage in the the darkened waters of chaos, despair, and evil that surround them, a dank deluge that even today, other human beings actively seek to escape from in the inspiring embrace of this blessed and free country.
We, the awakened and aware, freely accept the charge that the architects of this republic passed on to us over two centuries before, in the hope that all who partook in the blessings made possible by nation they created would somberly undertake the duties of citizens, and so appropriately train themselves in virtue, and educate themselves in the workings of the precepts and ideals set forth in their foundational documents that they would possess enough wisdom to recognize that not all threats to our freedom would come from without our ranks, the knowledge to recognize that not every chain and shackle menacing us will immediately appear to be what it actually is, and the humilitynot to assume that the ingenuity and innovation that has been the hallmark of American success has been the product of man alone.
To this end, we hereby identify and reclaim our independence from the tools used to slowly enslave a free people and usurp the freedoms that we could not be persuaded to freely give up, or voluntarily suppress the free exercise of on our own:
1. We reclaim our independence from the tyranny of ‘Political Correctness’.
The Constitution does not now, nor has it ever guaranteed a right to be free from being offended. Early successes in causing the disruption of free speech by insisting on the use of words or terms stripped of their meaning or altered by redefinition and deliberate use of ephemism, in order to avoid offending more delicate sensibilities lead to its use to deliberately avoid, delay, or prevent the free exchange and communication of ideas because we allowed ourselves to be more afraid of offending someone or being branded with a label chosen to imply that there was a problem with the offending speaker, rather than the intended recipient.
No more.
Words have meaning and names have power. But truth overcomes, when it is given the opportunity to exist unfettered by the artificial restraints that those who fear it would place upon it. The Founding Fathers knew this, which is why they favored the “marketplace of ideas” approach. And we now ratify and affirm this concept, having borne witness to the damage and impaired decision making that results when we remain silent and let others avoid any real discussion of topics, events, and ideas out of the fear that we might offend someone.
2. We reclaim our independence from your victimhood.
For too long, we have stood by silently, and allowed some to increasingly balkanize this country with sob stories of how one thing or another makes them a victim, and therefore they deserve some special deference, special preference, and recognition that they are special. We watched for too long, with growing alarm, as the hyphenated-Americans increasingly failed to take it upon themselves to overcome their victim status, yet continually expect to be rewarded for it as they brandished their victimhood like a cudgel, ready to bludgeon any who dared to question their entitlements and almost rapacious appetites to expand them.
No more.
One of the many unique blessings that this country has to offer is the presence of second and third and fourth chances. Others know this, and rather than think that the good things available to those who work for them were something that they were simply entitled to by virtue of their sob story, real or imagined, they decided to man up, and overcome. That doesn’t happen through accepting help and deciding to continually demand more. We are a generous people, but there are limits. Decide of your own accord to know the satisfaction of making your own destiny, rather than subsistence on the labor of others. You might be surprised at what you accomplish, or how that might come to benefit your fellow citizen in ways that you cannot even imagine.
3. We reclaim our independence from the myth of a compelling interest in diversity at the cost of excellence.
The latest affront to the ‘American Exceptionalism’ that our current President feels the need to apologize for in foreign capitols is the recent notion of a “compelling interest in diversity in our government, our institutions, and our culture”. This is the bastard child of Political Correctness and victimhood, which would not have been possible without the misapprehension of the concept of equality as enshrined in our law, the correct interpretation being that citizens of this country have equality of opportunity and equality in stature in the eyes of the laws that govern us. Once the “right” of offense took hold and started keeping company with victimhood, those benefiting from the employment of both decided that equality really meant that everyone had a right to be to be surrounded in all walks of life by people who looked just like them, whether those people were qualified to fulfill those roles or not.
No more.
Americans rose to prominence in the world in no small part due to the idea of merit and the pursuit of excellence. This was embodied in our government and institutions as much as in the private sector. Civil Service exams for public sector jobs ensured not only that people could do the work required of them, but that the best qualified were hired to do the job. Now, the standard in many fire departments, police departments, government agencies, and university staffs is not excellence, but the color of skin, gender, or sexual preference. The identity has eclipsed ability and we are all the poorer for it. Prepare for a change.
4. We reclaim our independence from the contempt of our citizenship.
For too long, we have silently permitted others to use the appeal of emotion to exact our acquiescence in their actively allowing people who have violated our laws to come here to live and work among us without asking permission to do so, or obeying our laws in doing so. We have allowed others to cajole us into allowing these persons to use our resources, and take benefits intended for citizens, without them being required to become citizens or apply for residence. We have been too long silent as others continually advocate for the application of the protections that are conferred upon us as our birthright to those who are not citizens and have tried to kill citizens, or have expressed a deep-seated desire to do so.
No more.
No sane person so despises something of value that is theirs by virtue of “the accident of birth” that they simply would give it away to others who want it and yet show contempt for those who have it by stealing it from them. Likewise, no sane person so dishonors a gift purchased with the blood of others that they will give it to those who only desire to kill or enslave them. No longer will we be silent as others confer all the benefits and protections of citizenship upon those who disrespect it, or would steal such benefits and protections without assuming the responsibility to pay for them, or worse yet, murder us because we have them.
5. We reclaim our independence from the “Freedom from religion” that has erroneously been read into the Constitution.
From the institution of Thanksgiving, to the architecture of our public buildings and monuments, the opening of government proceedings, down to the acknowledgement on our currency, this country has very deep and undeniable judeo-christian roots, and has been governed by leaders who unashamedly proclaimed their according personal beliefs while in office. It has influenced our laws and been the bedrock of every ideal that has allowed this nation to grow and prosper. This heritage has been the target of a decades long campaign to shove God out of the public square and exile him from congress with our elected officials by people who have refused the notion of a higher authority, because their own beliefs and desires are in contravention to those expressed by that higher authority.
No more.
Assaulting our national heritage with such dubious legal notions such as a separation of church and state that forbids any mention of God or expression of religion on or in state-owned property, and dismantling existing law with the fallacious statement “You can’t legislate morality” does violence to our history and demonstrates weak logic and understanding of what law is. The Founding Fathers’ intent with the Establishment Clause was the prevention of any one church gaining the favor and sanction of the Federal Government. A ban on ANY expression of religion or belief in God was never their intention, and the evidence of that is still surrounding us to this day. The current state of the law is based on a false premise that can be easily dismissed by a simple walk around the monuments and buildings in the District of Columbia, and taking out you wallet to pay for an ice cream cone. As for the “You can’t legislate morality” canard, this is also false. The law is, in its most simple essence, an expression of morality, codified. The question that then arises is whose morality should be expressed in the law? Those of people who can point to no particular belief system that has certain valuable virtues at its core, or those that can?
6. We reclaim independence from the cynical attempts to use shame to stop us from speaking out.
We have all felt this. The accusations that we are poor Christians because we refuse to give the government power not granted to it in the Constitution and go along with the currently contemplated healthcare reform bill. The charges that we hate the Earth and our children, because we oppose the highest single tax increase ever, combined with the deleterious effect on American jobs that would result in the passage of the Cap and Tax bill, which owes its existence to the myth of man-made global warming and the fact that it feeds the Federal Government its two favorite entrees: money and power. The charges that we are bad, greedy, selfish people for not supporting the idea that government and welfare entitlements are the way to improve the lives of Americans who are struggling, whatever the reason. The charges of “Racism” whenever we raise a provocative question or level a criticism at a person, policy, or idea that might happen to involve a person or persons who are not Caucasian.
No more.
Charges like “racist” and “racism” made without objective, quantitative support, and only the subjective justification of emotion will be ignored. The race card is maxed out, and the bank is no longer willing to extend the credit line. As for attacking our faith, or our practice thereof, we will no longer be held to account by people who do not understand the faith they would use as a weapon against believers, when the wielder subscribes to no belief system at all. Those who rely only on themselves for the regulation of their conduct and ethics no longer get to condemn those who answer to a higher authority. Not any more. We reclaim control of the shame that you have opted out of, and we will no longer allow you to use it to make us answer to you.
7. We reclaim independence from the notion that the Federal Government is the solution to every problem and the answer to every question.
For too long, we stood by and allowed debate and action on all matters, predicated upon on a destructive and dangerous idea: That the Federal Government is the only way to meet a need, fix a problem, or prevent a problem. In time it became a security blanket, and we became a nation of thumbsuckers, eager to give the federal Government more power and more money, if only it would keep us safe from life and the living of it as free people, until we no longer looked to it for protection from others who would have our liberties or destroy them; we looked to it for protection from the consequences of our own actions.
No more.
We were so fixated in seeking the federal government’s assistance with every aspect of our daily lives, no one within or without the Federal Government ever exercised restraint and said “No. The Consitution does not give the Federal Government the authority to do that.” And now that people are alert to the fact that the Federal Government is poised on the cusp of the largest power grab it has ever made with the healh care bill, some of us are finally saying “No. You do not have the authority.” The stakes have never been more obvious. Met with the anger of constituents who are actually paying attention, elected officials are employing various means to intimidate these citizens who are expressing their disgust and anger that a government that serves them would ever feel so entitled to our money and our data in the passage of something so clearly opposed by those who wold have to live under it, these servants have resorted to insulting their constituents, calling them shills in the pay of their political opponents, calling them stupid and saying that they simply did not understand the printed words on the pages of the bill, brazenly lying to them outright about what they have proposed and are considering, and filling audiences at public meetings with rent-a-mobs from the SEIU, ACORN, and others, so that they will face a friendly audience that is also hostile to the voters opposed to this latest demonstration of government off its leash. The days of promising good governance but delivering graft, corruption, and self serving sinecures are over. We do not care about your party; both have proven themselves reckless and dishonest. We demand that you act responsibly, that you do the people’s business, not your own, and we demand that you act within the confines of the Constitution. No more will we simply accept legislation that exceeds the authority strictly enumerated in the Constitution. No more will we accept interpretations of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause that are so tortured and stretched beyond reason or recognition as to be unrecognizable to anyone who has read the Constitution. No longer will we accept legislation from the bench that relies not on interpretation of the Constitution, but mystical divination of mysterious penumbras that only a few ‘right-minded’ jurists can see. Those days are over, and you can return usurped powers to the states and the individual citizens in whom the Constitution rightfully places them, or you can have them stripped from you.
We, those who have come together in virtual congress to reclaim our independence from those who have by various means obtained it from us, realize that this probably wasn’t the HOPE! and CHANGE! that those persons had in mind, but nevertheless, the time has come.
Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere
Free Citizen of the United States of America,
August 29, 2009
THE RECLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE
WHEN IN THE GENERATIONS SUCCEEDING the one that pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to usher in the birth of the world’s only truly free nation, Liberty’s Progeny incrementally ceded their birthright to the government conceived and designed to serve a free people, and not be its servant, this generation is awakening to the terrible mistake that we, and our ancestors allowed to happen. Charged with the terrible knowledge that comes with opened eyes, we now take up the long abdicated duty to rouse our fellow citizens and actively wrest the power and the liberties that have been progressively talked, cajoled, threatened, wheedled, and extorted from us, not only by those who ostensibly served us, but by their supporters and enablers who, by accident or design, saw fit to usurp and disdain such freedoms, that they might be withheld, and where impossible to withhold, might be condemned, until a corrosive contempt for these liberties, wrapped in velvet gloves, might so suffocate the circulation of them that this nation, conceived in liberty and the providence of a wise and benevolent creator, might indeed perish from the earth, plunging the rightful heirs of a proud and noble heritage in the the darkened waters of chaos, despair, and evil that surround them, a dank deluge that even today, other human beings actively seek to escape from in the inspiring embrace of this blessed and free country.
We, the awakened and aware, freely accept the charge that the architects of this republic passed on to us over two centuries before, in the hope that all who partook in the blessings made possible by nation they created would somberly undertake the duties of citizens, and so appropriately train themselves in virtue, and educate themselves in the workings of the precepts and ideals set forth in their foundational documents that they would possess enough wisdom to recognize that not all threats to our freedom would come from without our ranks, the knowledge to recognize that not every chain and shackle menacing us will immediately appear to be what it actually is, and the humilitynot to assume that the ingenuity and innovation that has been the hallmark of American success has been the product of man alone.
To this end, we hereby identify and reclaim our independence from the tools used to slowly enslave a free people and usurp the freedoms that we could not be persuaded to freely give up, or voluntarily suppress the free exercise of on our own:
1. We reclaim our independence from the tyranny of ‘Political Correctness’.
The Constitution does not now, nor has it ever guaranteed a right to be free from being offended. Early successes in causing the disruption of free speech by insisting on the use of words or terms stripped of their meaning or altered by redefinition and deliberate use of ephemism, in order to avoid offending more delicate sensibilities lead to its use to deliberately avoid, delay, or prevent the free exchange and communication of ideas because we allowed ourselves to be more afraid of offending someone or being branded with a label chosen to imply that there was a problem with the offending speaker, rather than the intended recipient.
No more.
Words have meaning and names have power. But truth overcomes, when it is given the opportunity to exist unfettered by the artificial restraints that those who fear it would place upon it. The Founding Fathers knew this, which is why they favored the “marketplace of ideas” approach. And we now ratify and affirm this concept, having borne witness to the damage and impaired decision making that results when we remain silent and let others avoid any real discussion of topics, events, and ideas out of the fear that we might offend someone.
2. We reclaim our independence from your victimhood.
For too long, we have stood by silently, and allowed some to increasingly balkanize this country with sob stories of how one thing or another makes them a victim, and therefore they deserve some special deference, special preference, and recognition that they are special. We watched for too long, with growing alarm, as the hyphenated-Americans increasingly failed to take it upon themselves to overcome their victim status, yet continually expect to be rewarded for it as they brandished their victimhood like a cudgel, ready to bludgeon any who dared to question their entitlements and almost rapacious appetites to expand them.
No more.
One of the many unique blessings that this country has to offer is the presence of second and third and fourth chances. Others know this, and rather than think that the good things available to those who work for them were something that they were simply entitled to by virtue of their sob story, real or imagined, they decided to man up, and overcome. That doesn’t happen through accepting help and deciding to continually demand more. We are a generous people, but there are limits. Decide of your own accord to know the satisfaction of making your own destiny, rather than subsistence on the labor of others. You might be surprised at what you accomplish, or how that might come to benefit your fellow citizen in ways that you cannot even imagine.
3. We reclaim our independence from the myth of a compelling interest in diversity at the cost of excellence.
The latest affront to the ‘American Exceptionalism’ that our current President feels the need to apologize for in foreign capitols is the recent notion of a “compelling interest in diversity in our government, our institutions, and our culture”. This is the bastard child of Political Correctness and victimhood, which would not have been possible without the misapprehension of the concept of equality as enshrined in our law, the correct interpretation being that citizens of this country have equality of opportunity and equality in stature in the eyes of the laws that govern us. Once the “right” of offense took hold and started keeping company with victimhood, those benefiting from the employment of both decided that equality really meant that everyone had a right to be to be surrounded in all walks of life by people who looked just like them, whether those people were qualified to fulfill those roles or not.
No more.
Americans rose to prominence in the world in no small part due to the idea of merit and the pursuit of excellence. This was embodied in our government and institutions as much as in the private sector. Civil Service exams for public sector jobs ensured not only that people could do the work required of them, but that the best qualified were hired to do the job. Now, the standard in many fire departments, police departments, government agencies, and university staffs is not excellence, but the color of skin, gender, or sexual preference. The identity has eclipsed ability and we are all the poorer for it. Prepare for a change.
4. We reclaim our independence from the contempt of our citizenship.
For too long, we have silently permitted others to use the appeal of emotion to exact our acquiescence in their actively allowing people who have violated our laws to come here to live and work among us without asking permission to do so, or obeying our laws in doing so. We have allowed others to cajole us into allowing these persons to use our resources, and take benefits intended for citizens, without them being required to become citizens or apply for residence. We have been too long silent as others continually advocate for the application of the protections that are conferred upon us as our birthright to those who are not citizens and have tried to kill citizens, or have expressed a deep-seated desire to do so.
No more.
No sane person so despises something of value that is theirs by virtue of “the accident of birth” that they simply would give it away to others who want it and yet show contempt for those who have it by stealing it from them. Likewise, no sane person so dishonors a gift purchased with the blood of others that they will give it to those who only desire to kill or enslave them. No longer will we be silent as others confer all the benefits and protections of citizenship upon those who disrespect it, or would steal such benefits and protections without assuming the responsibility to pay for them, or worse yet, murder us because we have them.
5. We reclaim our independence from the “Freedom from religion” that has erroneously been read into the Constitution.
From the institution of Thanksgiving, to the architecture of our public buildings and monuments, the opening of government proceedings, down to the acknowledgement on our currency, this country has very deep and undeniable judeo-christian roots, and has been governed by leaders who unashamedly proclaimed their according personal beliefs while in office. It has influenced our laws and been the bedrock of every ideal that has allowed this nation to grow and prosper. This heritage has been the target of a decades long campaign to shove God out of the public square and exile him from congress with our elected officials by people who have refused the notion of a higher authority, because their own beliefs and desires are in contravention to those expressed by that higher authority.
No more.
Assaulting our national heritage with such dubious legal notions such as a separation of church and state that forbids any mention of God or expression of religion on or in state-owned property, and dismantling existing law with the fallacious statement “You can’t legislate morality” does violence to our history and demonstrates weak logic and understanding of what law is. The Founding Fathers’ intent with the Establishment Clause was the prevention of any one church gaining the favor and sanction of the Federal Government. A ban on ANY expression of religion or belief in God was never their intention, and the evidence of that is still surrounding us to this day. The current state of the law is based on a false premise that can be easily dismissed by a simple walk around the monuments and buildings in the District of Columbia, and taking out you wallet to pay for an ice cream cone. As for the “You can’t legislate morality” canard, this is also false. The law is, in its most simple essence, an expression of morality, codified. The question that then arises is whose morality should be expressed in the law? Those of people who can point to no particular belief system that has certain valuable virtues at its core, or those that can?
6. We reclaim independence from the cynical attempts to use shame to stop us from speaking out.
We have all felt this. The accusations that we are poor Christians because we refuse to give the government power not granted to it in the Constitution and go along with the currently contemplated healthcare reform bill. The charges that we hate the Earth and our children, because we oppose the highest single tax increase ever, combined with the deleterious effect on American jobs that would result in the passage of the Cap and Tax bill, which owes its existence to the myth of man-made global warming and the fact that it feeds the Federal Government its two favorite entrees: money and power. The charges that we are bad, greedy, selfish people for not supporting the idea that government and welfare entitlements are the way to improve the lives of Americans who are struggling, whatever the reason. The charges of “Racism” whenever we raise a provocative question or level a criticism at a person, policy, or idea that might happen to involve a person or persons who are not Caucasian.
No more.
Charges like “racist” and “racism” made without objective, quantitative support, and only the subjective justification of emotion will be ignored. The race card is maxed out, and the bank is no longer willing to extend the credit line. As for attacking our faith, or our practice thereof, we will no longer be held to account by people who do not understand the faith they would use as a weapon against believers, when the wielder subscribes to no belief system at all. Those who rely only on themselves for the regulation of their conduct and ethics no longer get to condemn those who answer to a higher authority. Not any more. We reclaim control of the shame that you have opted out of, and we will no longer allow you to use it to make us answer to you.
7. We reclaim independence from the notion that the Federal Government is the solution to every problem and the answer to every question.
For too long, we stood by and allowed debate and action on all matters, predicated upon on a destructive and dangerous idea: That the Federal Government is the only way to meet a need, fix a problem, or prevent a problem. In time it became a security blanket, and we became a nation of thumbsuckers, eager to give the federal Government more power and more money, if only it would keep us safe from life and the living of it as free people, until we no longer looked to it for protection from others who would have our liberties or destroy them; we looked to it for protection from the consequences of our own actions.
No more.
We were so fixated in seeking the federal government’s assistance with every aspect of our daily lives, no one within or without the Federal Government ever exercised restraint and said “No. The Consitution does not give the Federal Government the authority to do that.” And now that people are alert to the fact that the Federal Government is poised on the cusp of the largest power grab it has ever made with the healh care bill, some of us are finally saying “No. You do not have the authority.” The stakes have never been more obvious. Met with the anger of constituents who are actually paying attention, elected officials are employing various means to intimidate these citizens who are expressing their disgust and anger that a government that serves them would ever feel so entitled to our money and our data in the passage of something so clearly opposed by those who wold have to live under it, these servants have resorted to insulting their constituents, calling them shills in the pay of their political opponents, calling them stupid and saying that they simply did not understand the printed words on the pages of the bill, brazenly lying to them outright about what they have proposed and are considering, and filling audiences at public meetings with rent-a-mobs from the SEIU, ACORN, and others, so that they will face a friendly audience that is also hostile to the voters opposed to this latest demonstration of government off its leash. The days of promising good governance but delivering graft, corruption, and self serving sinecures are over. We do not care about your party; both have proven themselves reckless and dishonest. We demand that you act responsibly, that you do the people’s business, not your own, and we demand that you act within the confines of the Constitution. No more will we simply accept legislation that exceeds the authority strictly enumerated in the Constitution. No more will we accept interpretations of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause that are so tortured and stretched beyond reason or recognition as to be unrecognizable to anyone who has read the Constitution. No longer will we accept legislation from the bench that relies not on interpretation of the Constitution, but mystical divination of mysterious penumbras that only a few ‘right-minded’ jurists can see. Those days are over, and you can return usurped powers to the states and the individual citizens in whom the Constitution rightfully places them, or you can have them stripped from you.
We, those who have come together in virtual congress to reclaim our independence from those who have by various means obtained it from us, realize that this probably wasn’t the HOPE! and CHANGE! that those persons had in mind, but nevertheless, the time has come.
Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere
Free Citizen of the United States of America,
August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Everything the Government Runs is Bankrupt!
(I tried to post this yesterday, but FoxNews can't get their embeds or links written correctly and it wasn't up on YouTube yet.)
Judge Napolitano explaining why government cannot be allowed to take over health care.
That is going to be posted on the wall above my desk along with:
Need a good sign for a rally you're going to try this one.
Judge Napolitano explaining why government cannot be allowed to take over health care.
When government wants to save money, it shut down like Chicago's City Hall did yesterday.
When private enterprise wants to make more money, it works overtime.
That is going to be posted on the wall above my desk along with:
I have never been given a job by a poor person
Need a good sign for a rally you're going to try this one.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Going Postal
So government thinks it can take over Health Care and provide more service and reduce costs.
Lets look at a simple government entity with a simple goal. Taking a product and making it move from point "A" to point "B". The government has been doing this for over 200 years, and they use to do it for free.
In my lifetime the cost of a 1st class stamp has gone up 106% while wages have gone up about 30 some-odd percent, yet they still have an expected shortfall of 7 billion dollars this year.
This is your government at work. They do not worry about overhead or unprofitable details, they know they get bailed out even if they screw it up...year after year, after year....
When e-mail ate into the amount of units they had to handle, did they reduce staff? No, they promote unnecessary people to management because the Union says they can't unload someone just because the position isn't necessary any longer, or hell really wasn't needed to begin with.
Now the government wants to run Health Care?
It always works out so good. People whose income counts on taxing people who really produce something. In other words, they require me to make money so the taxes that I pay can pay their salary.
The two biggest employers in the world are:
1) The Chinese Army @ 2.3 million
2) Indian State Railways @ 1.5 million
Followed by the NHS of Britain @ 1.3 million people
Let me insert one of those obnoxious staticsical thingys in here:
(click to biggify)
Even though;
Of course the fact that the U.S. is sitting there proudly at the top of the lists...there is something wrong with our system and it must be made to fall in line with the countries below us.
It's only fair.
There is no way way you can convince me that the government is here to help me as far as my personal life. It is written into the bill that computer models are going to decided what treatment is "recommended" to be most cost effective.
If this gets through and you want recourse that your provider didn't do the right thing at the proper time.....
SORRY, YOU CAN'T SUE THE GOVERNMENT, THEY MADE THEMSELVES EXEMPT.
Lets look at a simple government entity with a simple goal. Taking a product and making it move from point "A" to point "B". The government has been doing this for over 200 years, and they use to do it for free.
In my lifetime the cost of a 1st class stamp has gone up 106% while wages have gone up about 30 some-odd percent, yet they still have an expected shortfall of 7 billion dollars this year.
This is your government at work. They do not worry about overhead or unprofitable details, they know they get bailed out even if they screw it up...year after year, after year....
When e-mail ate into the amount of units they had to handle, did they reduce staff? No, they promote unnecessary people to management because the Union says they can't unload someone just because the position isn't necessary any longer, or hell really wasn't needed to begin with.
Now the government wants to run Health Care?
It always works out so good. People whose income counts on taxing people who really produce something. In other words, they require me to make money so the taxes that I pay can pay their salary.
The two biggest employers in the world are:
1) The Chinese Army @ 2.3 million
2) Indian State Railways @ 1.5 million
Followed by the NHS of Britain @ 1.3 million people
Let me insert one of those obnoxious staticsical thingys in here:
(click to biggify)
Even though;
Cancer survival rates in Britain are among the lowest in Europe, according to the most comprehensive analysis of the issue yet produced
England is on a par with Poland despite the NHS spending three times more on health care.
Of course the fact that the U.S. is sitting there proudly at the top of the lists...there is something wrong with our system and it must be made to fall in line with the countries below us.
It's only fair.
There is no way way you can convince me that the government is here to help me as far as my personal life. It is written into the bill that computer models are going to decided what treatment is "recommended" to be most cost effective.
If this gets through and you want recourse that your provider didn't do the right thing at the proper time.....
SORRY, YOU CAN'T SUE THE GOVERNMENT, THEY MADE THEMSELVES EXEMPT.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Pure Patriotism: A Book Reveiw
Pure Patriotism
by Clayton Thibodeau
98 pgs.
I was contacted by the author about 3 weeks ago and offered a copy of his book "Pure Patriotism" for review. I assured him that I was a fast reader and would enjoy reading it and giving my opinion.
About now I'm sure he's written me off as a flake, but I just finished the book today.
This is not a big book in the number of pages (98), but it is a big book on thoughts and beliefs. If you are like me, you won't want to just sit down and read through this book, you will read a section (or maybe two) and mark your place, set it aside and spend some time thinking through what you've read and how it applies to your life.
The book is not "Conservative" or "Liberal", it is an overview of what patriotism towards the United States entails and he points out the pitfalls of not adhering to the basic principles that were given to us by our founders.
Like me, Clayton's deepest concern is career politicians (royalty) and the lack of interest and action by us, the people of this great country. We were given such an immense gift, but through inattention and laziness are slowly watching our freedoms be stripped slowly away.
A book I will be glad to see on my bookshelf and will pull out just to open to a page and reread and rethink the topics.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Death of the F-22?
I woke up early this morning (3AM) so I could IM with my son in Korea. He did have two E-mails waiting for me when I got up:
How Chris ended up in the Army is beyond me. For as long as I can remember, he was always about aircraft. When the F-22 first came out I hated it...it was going to replace my beloved F-15, Chris just couldn't understand my attachment to "archaic" technology.
I was convinced (grudgingly) he was right when we saw the Raptor fly at Edwards Air Force Base at an Air Show with AFJROTC. In 20 years of Air Shows, I'd never seen a jet that maneuvered like that, and coupled with the stealth technology and the "super cruise", I was sold.
We knew that we had maintained air superiority for the next 20+ years. Of course the gov't doesn't see it that way. His second Email had some conflicting news articles:
Time to Scrap the F-22 Raptor
and
We Cannot Afford to Lose the F-22
To me this is the typical short sightedness the gov't usually displays, just like the kerfuffle over body armor at the start of the Iraqi war. The gov't decides we can cut the military budget by getting rid of something "not needed" right now, then screaming to high heavens that they "Shocked!, Shocked!!! I tell you!!!" that the needed equipment isn't there when required.
The Russians have 2 versions of Next Generation jets in production right now, and the WILL sell versions of it to get cash, not to mention the Chinese getting one and reverse designing it.
In about 10 years, our jets are going to be blown out of the sky, and congress and everyone who is saying we can't afford it now is going to be the first screaming about "How come someone didn't see this coming?" and this won't be just about old body armor or Humvees that aren't upgraded, this will mean major battles lost being the guys we're fighting have better planes than we do.
Air superiority is not something we can just ignore for years and then crank out a bunch of planes when we need them. In 10 years when the should have been there...the company that made them, the people that knew how to put them together, and the pilots that know how to fly them are gone.
The F-35 is a fine plane...for what it was designed to do. Land attack missions. which is fine if you're fighting the Taliban, but when we have to face the new Russian designed planes and their knockoffs, we're going to lose a lot of 35's.
I just read that Gates is canceling the F-22 program. Really??? He said that we are just going to use the F-35 and because the 35 is based a lot off of the 22, we don't need to put that much more into the program. And other countries want to buy the 22 but Congress has put it into law and kept it that we can't sell it to other countries. A lot of other countries want to wait out for the 35 now. If we are going to export that and not the F-22... I just don't get it. But whatever.
How Chris ended up in the Army is beyond me. For as long as I can remember, he was always about aircraft. When the F-22 first came out I hated it...it was going to replace my beloved F-15, Chris just couldn't understand my attachment to "archaic" technology.
I was convinced (grudgingly) he was right when we saw the Raptor fly at Edwards Air Force Base at an Air Show with AFJROTC. In 20 years of Air Shows, I'd never seen a jet that maneuvered like that, and coupled with the stealth technology and the "super cruise", I was sold.
We knew that we had maintained air superiority for the next 20+ years. Of course the gov't doesn't see it that way. His second Email had some conflicting news articles:
Time to Scrap the F-22 Raptor
and
We Cannot Afford to Lose the F-22
To me this is the typical short sightedness the gov't usually displays, just like the kerfuffle over body armor at the start of the Iraqi war. The gov't decides we can cut the military budget by getting rid of something "not needed" right now, then screaming to high heavens that they "Shocked!, Shocked!!! I tell you!!!" that the needed equipment isn't there when required.
The Russians have 2 versions of Next Generation jets in production right now, and the WILL sell versions of it to get cash, not to mention the Chinese getting one and reverse designing it.
In about 10 years, our jets are going to be blown out of the sky, and congress and everyone who is saying we can't afford it now is going to be the first screaming about "How come someone didn't see this coming?" and this won't be just about old body armor or Humvees that aren't upgraded, this will mean major battles lost being the guys we're fighting have better planes than we do.
Air superiority is not something we can just ignore for years and then crank out a bunch of planes when we need them. In 10 years when the should have been there...the company that made them, the people that knew how to put them together, and the pilots that know how to fly them are gone.
The F-35 is a fine plane...for what it was designed to do. Land attack missions. which is fine if you're fighting the Taliban, but when we have to face the new Russian designed planes and their knockoffs, we're going to lose a lot of 35's.
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