Archive for Politics - page 7

In The Weekly Standard, Noemie Emery tells a story of the Rule by Experts theory of government, from it’s conception in the 1820’s to it’s latest failure, The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.  

 They had a dream. For almost a hundred years now, the famed academic-artistic-and-punditry industrial complex has dreamed of a government run by their kind of people (i.e., nature’s noblemen), whose intelligence, wit, and refined sensibilities would bring us a heaven on earth. Their keen intellects would cut through the clutter as mere mortals’ couldn’t. They would lift up the wretched, oppressed by cruel forces. Above all, they would counter the greed of the merchants, the limited views of the business community, and the ignorance of the conformist and dim middle class.”

In 2008 with the election of Barack Obama and the installation of America’s first leftist faculty lounge administration, they saw their chance of a lifetime to make vast changes to our way of life and government.  After all, this was what Obama campaingned on and promised – to fundamentally change America.  They set their sights on the perfect junction of American life and government regulation – healthcare.  And once they embarked on that particular journey, virtually everything they believed about their crown jewel would turn out to be exactly wrong.  From the very beginning, Obama and the democrats in congress thought their plan would be popular when in fact the public resented the fact that the administration’s focus was taken off economic recovery and put on healthcare.  The majority of Americans were satisfied with their healthcare arrangements but worried about the economy and the proposed plan was viewed as expensive and risky.  It only got worse from there. 

“Historians will see this health care bill as a masterfully crafted piece of legislation,” wrote Jonathan Chait… “The new law untangles the dysfunctionalities of the individual insurance market while fulfilling the political imperative of leaving the employer-provided system in place. .  .  . They put into place numerous reforms to force efficiency into a wasteful system. They found hundreds of billions of dollars in payment offsets, a monumental task in itself. And they will bring economic and financial security to tens of millions of Americans who would otherwise risk seeing their lives torn apart.”

It did none of these things. It did not fix the dysfunctions of the individual market; it destroyed it. It did not save money; it squandered billions. It did not bring peace and security to tens of millions of people; it took it away from them. The best and the brightest had made their predictions. They were wrong.

Liberal Pundits proclaimed the genius of the plan while knowing none of the details…we were told details didn’t matter.  Promises were made to the public by the highest memebers of the administration, most notably the President himself.  Promises that turned out to be nothing short of lies – it was known that the bill as being drafted would not allow many people to keep their plans or doctors.  But since that change was what most of the public feared the lies were integral to the passage of the act.

These people are (allegedly) the best and brightest among us…this was their moment in the sun.  And they failed…spectacularly.  There is a reason why cliches are cliches – because they’re true.  So when someone says they’re from the government and here to help, brace yourself – you’re about to get it good.

It hurts me to say we have a ruling class, but we do.  There are some elected and appointed officials, some members of Academia who advise them and unfortunately many journalists and members of the news media who believe that due to their superior ivy league educations, intellect and experience (however limited it may be) in government, education or journalism they are best suited to occupy the positions of power that shape and control life in America.  They believe in theory over reality and bureaucracy over democracy.  The sturdy bubble they dwell in keeps them well insulated from reality and reason.

They believe they are better than you.  They know better than you how you should live.  They know better than you what you should eat.  They know better than you where (or if) you should work, what you should drive and whether you can be trusted to defend yourself.  And…they are wrong.  About everything.

The middle class is their enemy.  Why?  Because the middle class are sufficiently comfortable to accept the status quo while having enough education and common sense to reject the blue sky promises and  ludicrous attempts at utopia building of their “betters”.  Plus they don’t need or want anyone to take care of them – they want ot be left alone which is a do gooders worst nightmare.  Your efforts to get ahead, improve your lot or provide for your family are viewed as greed or crass consumerism.  If you succeed they view that as an injustice that requires rectification.  Of course, they are entitled to their compensations.  No inequality concerns there.

While they speak in terms of social justice, income disparity and equality, in reality they are the worst kind of bigots – they think no one can get along without them.  And they are arrogant enough to believe that they can change human nature or the laws of economics with the stroke of a pen.  They think they are smarter than you and I but they lack the intelligence and common sense to know that they don’t and can’t know everything.  And that a person has the right to live their life as they see fit, fairness or not.  You see, life isn’t fair.

They want to create change, and as all good community organizers know, before people will demand radical change you have to get them good and riled up.  I think it’s working.  But I think they change they are going to get isn’t the change they were expecting.  At least I hope it isn’t.

Remember back when Bush was President and during the whole Congessional Inquiry into the Iraq WMD kerfuffle, the name of Washington socialite CIA employee Valerie Plame was published in a news article, and the the Special Prosecutor spent two years going after Scooter Libby for it finally convicting him of something like inadvertently making a false statement?  Good times… anyhoo, turns out now that some of Obama’s folks just outed the CIA Chief in Afghanistan.  Oh well…sh*t happens.  Sorry about that.  Investigation? Special Prosecutor?  Nah… it was just a clerical error.  Besides – see that “D”?  That’s for Double Standard.  Also it’s a get out of jail card so just move along.  Why?  Because shut up that’s why.

They’re just stupid that’s all

Bonus:  Here’s one of the things you’ll find if you google “Sh*t Happens:  click this link to see it happening (not literally!)

I didn’t want to have to write anything about this little puke who committed six murders in Santa Barbara.  But since all law-abiding gun owners are now apparently to blame I have to speak up.

There is already a law against murder.  If a lunatic is willing to violate that law multiple times then some silly regulation about how or when he can buy a gun legally will not deter him.  Even if you could make guns completely illegal and have every single one of them magically disappear there would still be at least 4 dead people here.  Assuming the nut would find some way to off himself.  The one, the only issue to consider here is how can we change our current system to deal with people who are known to be mentally ill and potentially dangerous, other than to clean up the mess they leave when they finally snap.  Maybe you smart people out there can think about that instead of how to deprive gun owners of their civil rights.  

…because we refuse to look.  Whenever someone does look, they find…voter fraud.

Another local independent investigation, this time in Lee County Florida, has turned up evidence that non-citizens are registering to vote and are in fact voting.  How can this happen?  Easy.  On the voter registration form, simply check “yes” box where it asks if you are a US citizen and then sign the form, attesting to the truth of the statement.  That’s it.  No proof required.

Reporters at Fort Myers, Florida TV Station WBBH decided to look in the possibility that ineligible people were voting and so contacted local election officials.  They got no help there, since county election officials apparently have no authority to attempt verification of a potential voter’s eligibility.  They don’t check – they just process the forms.  So the reporters cast their own net – a very narrow net.  They obtained, from the county government, cards that people send in when they refuse jury duty for one reason or another.  They selected the cards that gave “non-citizenship” as the reason, then crossreferenced those names with voter registration rolls and – voila!  94 non-citizens registered to vote.  In one county.

There is a note of bitter irony here also.  These people are voting yet refusing jury duty.  They are illicity claiming one of the benefits of citizenship while shirking one of the responsibilties.  Nice.

Lastly, if you say that there were “only” 94 illegal voters, remember this: this was one county in Florida.  There are 67 counties in Florida, and if the numbers are extrapolated then there were potentially 6,300 illegal voters.  And these investigators cast a very small net, using only jury duty refusal cards as a starting point – a very small percentage of the population is even contacted for jury duty.

By the way, it is a felony for an illegible person to register to vote and vote.  I’ll be waiting to see if anyone is charged or prosecuted.

Nothing to see here…move along.

Memorial Day began as a custom shortly after the Civil War when on the last Monday in May, the graves of fallen civil war soldiers were decorated with flowers, ribbons, etc.  It was known as Decoration Day.  At this time the Civil War had been the deadliest conflict in our short history;  All too soon would there be more fallen warriors of greater conflicts to be remembered alongside their civil war brothers in arms.  The term “Memorial Day” was first used in 1882, but did not become common until after WWII, and it was declared the official name of the holiday by Federal Law in 1967.

This day we remember those who fought for us – who went to fight and never returned.  May they rest in Peace.

Here follows a photo essay in solemn memory of our fallen warriors.  All photos are mine.  Click on the photo to enlarge.

The Tomb Of The Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery

Viet Nam Veterans Memorial

The Wall

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

Yorktown Battlefield, Redoubt No. 10 where the battle was won

A Famous and Fitting Quote

Remember:

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

-it’s not important who said it.  It’s true.

I have said in the past that there is no aspect of life that the California Legislature will not eventually involve themselves in.  And most likely it will be for the children.  If we can eventually bring society down into a crumbling ruin, at least we did it for the children!

AB2127 passed the Assembly on a 55-20 vote.  The bill will go on to the Senate, and if passed there will go on to the Governor’s desk for his signature or (hopefully) veto.  

Credit: Jack Ohman, Sacbee.com

The bill is designed to fight the so-called “concussion epidemic” by limiting the number of full-contact practices teams can have each week.  Hmm…let’s think about this for a minute.  How is it that amateur athlete’s learn  how to play their respective sports?  Practice.  In a physical contact sport where it is important to learn proper techniques in order to avoid injuries, how do amateur athletes learn those techniques?  Practice.  So let’s limit practice!  Problem solved! 

More Here – Reason.com: This bill turns your state into a football referee

Cross posted at Men Out Of Work Blog

Let me start by saying I am sick of bullsh*t.  What bullsh*t, you ask?  All this bullsh*t *waves hands around*.  It’s knee deep these days and getting worse.  So I am going to start calling people out on their bullsh*t.  Or call bullsh*t out on it’s bullsh*t or whatever…I’ll point out bullsh*t.

First – some of my own bullsh*t.  I have several favorite phrases that I use when confronted with and perplexed by various bullsh*t scenarios.  I like to exclaim “it’s all bullshit!” when someone makes an inexplicably bad and/or illogical decision that goes against my interests.  Sometimes I say “Dees ees boolsheet, man!”  in the voice of Ren from Ren & Stimpy which is what I often say when confronted with an unpleasant and unexpected surprise.  Or there is “Dat’s some bullshit right there” said a la Eddie Murphy (emphasis on the Bull) which is beautifully suited to any situation.  And finally the simple exclamation “BULLSHIT!” , used like a verbal rubber stamp, as if stamping the bullsh*t label on the offending transgression.  This is done quickly and loudly as if trying to win the bullsh*t game where you must be the first to buzz in with the response.

Our quest for deciphering bullsh*t may take us on  strange paths and across some unexpected reveleations up to and including multi-level bullsh*t which is bullsh*t built upon a foundation of more bullsh*t;  6 degrees of separation bullsh*t, where you will be surprised to find out that two apparaenlty separate instances of bulllsh*t are actually part of the same larger pool of bullsh*t;  and what is referred to as “unbelievalbe bullsh*t” which is something that is such total bullsh*t that it is…well… unbelievable.

Bullsh*t slingers beware!  You have been warned!

…or both?  The New York Times ran an article on May 19th, titled “The Big Melt Accelerates”.  You see, the BIG MELT is on…and accelerating!  Women and minorities hardest hit!  OK, I added that last part.  At the top of the story are two pictures of the Muir Glacier in Alaska;  the first is taken in 1941 and shows the huge glacier, the next photo is August 2004 and shows the glacier has retreated far up the valley.  Wow…but wait.  Some cursory investigation reveals an interesting fact.  Extensive records exist about Alaska’s glaciers from about the time it was settled by Europeans in the late 18th century and the Muir Glacier and indeed Alaska’s glaciers in total have been retreating for the last 200 years, with the lion’s share of that occuring before 1900.  Steven Hayward at Powerline shows us a picture of the Muir Glacier taken in 1951 that appears identical to the Times photo from 2004 – so no or very little retreat from 1951 to 2004.  That’s some acceleration!  I didn’t want to steal the photos and chart form his post, so click over and read the whole thing there.  Definitely worth your time.

The Times then moves on to quote experts worrying about the sea level rising due to the retreat of Greenland’s ice sheet.  A few minutes on wikipedia tells me that Greenland’s ice sheet has varied over time, but most notably that:

“Scientists who probed 2 km (1.2 mi) through a Greenland glacier to recover the some of the oldest plant DNA on record said that the planet was far warmer hundreds of thousands of years ago than is generally believed. DNA of trees, plants, and insects including butterflies and spiders from beneath the southern Greenland glacier was estimated to date to 450,000 to 900,000 years ago, according to the remnants retrieved from this long-vanished boreal forest. “

Got that?  Half a million to almost a million years ago, Greenland was covered in a large arboreal forest which is NOW under 2Km of ice.  Furthermore:

“These DNA samples suggest that the temperature probably reached 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer and −17 °C (1.4 °F) in the winter. They also indicate that during the last interglacial period, 130,000–116,000 years ago, when local temperatures were on average 5 °C (9 °F) higher than now, the glaciers on Greenland did not completely melt away.”

A hundred thousand years ago (give or take) temperatures were higher than they are now and the glaciers did not melt away. I found this information in a few minutes and so could the Times reporter if he wanted to give the story a little balance.  But they don’t want balance…the science is settled, don’t you know?

Next, let’s not forget all that ice in Antarctica.  The Times experts say it is melting and “Scientists say that the melting will continue as long as the heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases. Even if carbon dioxide and temperatures stabilize, the melting and shifting of glaciers will continue for decades or centuries as they adjust to the new equilibrium.”  Have they already forgotten about the global warming researchers whose ship was trapped in the expanding and larger than normal Antarctic ice sheet last January?  The Times article closes with this paragraph:

“But a vast majority of the ice is not yet destined to melt. “We have not committed to a lot more that could be committed if we keep turning up the thermostat,” said Dr. Alley of Penn State.”

Buhhh…what does that even mean?  I do not deny that the climate may be changing – it always has!  I just don’t buy into the hysteria that The Climate Is Changing and The Government Must Do Something Now!!!  I will bluntly say that if you believe that Government Action will solve this (non) crisis then you are a fool.  Sorry if I hurt your feelings.  And if someone tells you that the solution to global warming is carbon taxes and communism, you should mock them.  Mercilessly.

OK, look at some bears now.

Grillin’ an chillin’

So close!  We’re nearly there!  Just a few more things to ban, then a few more things to mandate!  We can do it!

In its first test since a deal brought formerly opposed lawmakers on board, a bill banning single-use plastic bags in California passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday. – SacBee.com