Poke the Bear

Poke the Bear- A phrase of warning used to prevent oneself or others from saying or doing something that might provoke a extremely negative response from someone or something else.

 

On another web location dedicated to political discussion, someone recently replied to me that I  a bad person . Ok, I am going to say something that may in fact warrant the Poke the Bear rule...but I am not a racist, hate mongering, conservative "Tea-Bagging"  stupid B&tch ...and i will not apologize for something I believe, which is - while I don't think Obama is inherently evil, or satanic, or is Hitler. I DO think he is incredibly naive/inexperienced, to the point of being incompetent to be president. ( Which then ironically supports one of Obama's hero's quotes, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time". - A Lincoln)

Its writing like this that gets me called names...I support the Tea Party movement in that I support returning some semblance of normal to national political discussion and fiscal policy;

I think there is a need for rational health-care, and that discussion is appropriate at the state level, not federal.  And the discussion needs to focus on costs for medicines and treatment, not whose insurance to buy. But that's my opinion

 

I believe that the founders meant for US currency and all national fiscal policy to come from the United States treasury, not the Federal Reserve, which was never in the Constitution, but then I am more of a small government libertarian..

 

I think that the government has gotten people so used to entitlements that trying to dump existing ones now, like medicare and Social Security would cause massive problems in this country, yet the continued raiding of those funds for other than intended usage has exacerbated a national debt that is spiralling out of control.

Social Security was  in trouble, but was expected to make correction in 2010 and onward to allow the expenses to exceed income briefly in 2016 and then be overcome by maturing treasury notes and retain solvency until 2052. Yet because of government intervention, the plan is now going to hit the exceeds income level in 2010, 6 years early. Yet most economists don't foresee actual insolvency (broke) until 2037-41. And if the economy recovers, and revenues go up as incomes do, the fund will replenish, and remain solvent until th end of this century.

 

That's why health care law just passed worries me- its another entitlement program, with a twist in that it forces you to do something, buy a product called insurance...but we will see how a new Congress deals with that, perhaps like they did with Real ID...Remember Real ID? We were all going to get nationalized biometric id cards to prove we're Americans? It fizzled when the states figured out the costs and asked the feds to pay...A new congress de-funding the Health care Act, or portions of it, could do the same thing, using the same rules this congress used to pass it...reconciliation..deem it passed...

 

I worry that we now need to convince the Congress to take our national feeding frenzy on tax income serious, and begin to do the unthinkable, scale back the size of government. Its not just US Americans that are worried, the holders of America's debts are concerned as well.

 

And China has made it clear that they can and will use our debt as leverage if we do something to displease them...

 

I worry that Obama has not applied the right kind of pressure on Iran, who has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, and likely will if they ever get a nuclear bomb, which apparently they are working really hard at...

 

I worry that unlike my brothers and I, our children and grandchildren will live in a nation not better, but worse off than us or our parents had it. And I don't like that one bit.

 

I don't like being type cast as being a wealthy person, when what makes a person wealthy in Kansas is middle income in California...when my daughter and her husband pay $300,000 for their first home, which has 2 bedroom 1 bath and is less than 900 sq feet...and its 60 years old to boot.

 

I dont like people glaring at me from their Prius as I drive by in my mid-sized 4x4 Jeep Grand Cherokee , or why they feel the need to give me the finger after reading my bumper stickers 

I don't like a lot of whats going on, so maybe I am becoming a curmudgeon, i don't know.

 

Just don't poke the bear...

What is on my mind...

I know a lot of people are like me very upset about our elected representatives voting in ( in spite of the majority of the American people) not just Health Care , and Education Lending "reform", the stimulus, nationalizing car companies etc.

What really makes me want to scream is that they did all of this in our name knowing that the ticking bomb called national debt is now going to explode on our heads because of what they have done.

No one in Washington seems to have ever heard of the Wiemar Republic, yet anyone that understands history knows that it the first really economic study of the effects of hyperinflation, brought on by poor monetary policy. So out esteemed Congress is wistfully piling on entitlement after entitlement, knowing that Social Security will now definitely be going broke, and that Medicare is already there. Their response...well we could raise taxes on those  evil rich people...well history seems to show that hiking taxes does not create a solution to run away spending, it only adds fuel to that fire.

Is there anything good about Obama?

Maybe....

 

Pelsoi is Pe LOUSY

What Change Looks Like

Source:http://daletoons.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-change-looks-like.html

 

Who would have believed in 15 months a President could take over banking, health care, the auto industry...while simultaneously making our nation's allies worried, or enemies call us a laughingstock, AND elevate the country to not only be the worlds biggest DEBTOR, but ensure generations of Americans will live a lower standard of living? Whadda guy! schmuck! (Yiddish for dork, jerk - a dull, stupid, fatuous person)

Thomas Jefferson said--

The laws of this nation are framed to be in subordination to the supreme law of the land, the Constitution of the United States of America.  When there is a federal law enacted which establishes new offenses and punishments which institutes new powers to the federal government which previously were held by the states, that law is ripe for challenge and being ruled unconstitutional.

The basis for this statement lies in the thoughts of Thomas Jefferson, who believed “That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish (and here the Constitution spells out the crimes that Congress has power over) treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, and no other crimes, whatsoever;”

Of course the Congress (and Courts) have cobbled together so many exceptions to the Constitution, with many state based challenges being deemed frivolous and counter productive to the common good. The latest venture down this path will be the challenge to forcing people to buy insurance....

These were the sentiments of Thomas Jefferson, which a year ago I posted in another blog, some of Jefferson’s thoughts have become more poignant.

Jefferson maintained that,

· The national government is a dangerous necessity to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; it should be watched closely and circumscribed in its powers.

· The separation between church and state is the best method to keep religion free from intervention by the federal government, government free of religious disputes, and religion free from corruption by government.

· The federal government must not violate the rights of the individual.

· The federal government must not violate the rights of the states

Ford Announces Car for Obama Nation

Ford Unveils New Car For Cash-Strapped Buyers: The 1993 Taurus

Canice's Contemplation- Voice from our Past

Those of you born from the mid 1960's onward grew up hearing of a President that I absolutely idolized. He was a war hero, a writer, and for all appearances a great man. Lately its become fashionable to discredit him, because of allegations of adultery, or scandalous behavior...it was a different time, and following his assassination, his fame was immortalized.

Now we embark in a new decade in a new century with a government seemingly adrift, with executive power siezed by the legislative third of our government, and the executive office occupied not by a leader of the free people, but a national salesman, apologist and lapdog to the powerful.

Please watch this and then try to compare the President I was so fond of, perhaps the last great Democratic President...JFK

It was a different time ideed...

What he said...

On my drive to work, I listen to KSFO, yep, right in San Francisco. And one of the most conservative talk radio stations on the west coast.  And the morning host played a bit of Obama signing the Health Bill , and then  segueing to reading a speech delivered March 23 - 235 years ago… Here is the speech( most of it anyway) for thought when you compare today 23 March 2010 to 23 March 1775

“No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve.

This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty towards the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth -- to know the worst and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. …

We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. …

Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.

If we wish to be free -- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending -- if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! …

Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. ... millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! ...

Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Patrick Henry - March 23, 1775

Trust your government

Any wonder why Americans have tended to distrust the government?

My friend Slough posted a link to a story in Scientific American I found really depressing...

"The Census Bureau surveys the population every decade with detailed questionnaires but is barred by law from revealing data that could be linked to specific individuals. The Second War Powers Act of 1942 temporarily repealed that protection to assist in the roundup of Japanese-Americans for imprisonment in internment camps in California and six other states during the war. The Bureau previously has acknowledged that it provided neighborhood information on Japanese-Americans for that purpose, but it has maintained that it never provided "microdata," meaning names and specific information about them, to other agencies.

A new study of U.S. Department of Commerce documents now shows that the Census Bureau complied with an August 4, 1943, request by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau for the names and locations of all people of Japanese ancestry in the Washington, D.C., area, according to historian Margo Anderson of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and statistician William Seltzer of Fordham University in New York City."

I wonder how secure the government will keep your health information...

Canice's Contemplation

Those Obama/Joker/Socialism posters don't seem so absurd anymore to a lot of people i know.

 

Hospitals expected to become insolvent due to Medicare cuts – 20%

Expected number of patients with reduced care due to Medicare reductions -33 million

Medicaid new patients - 15 million

 Health care bill increases in aid to build new medical and nursing schools- $0

 Health care bill monies to stimulate hospital/ health clinic construction - $0

Source : CBO review of bill

 

Reality is the legislation about to become law was a big gift to politicians, and their cronies. Bet that somebody makes big money on this, its the Chicago way...

Real cost reform would be to work on treatment costs, not what some company will reimburse. Only then can health care be affordable, for everyone.

What we are looking at is a massive program that, if they had actually learned from the examples proponents cited, incurred massive cost increases because they never really deal with costs of treatment.

Litigation, hospitals for profit, private medical clinic surcharges, Medicare/Medicaid fraud all drive costs. I know its been said before, but costs are the problem.

Now we the people are supposed to go along with this crap? I don't think so...

 

Let YOUR representative know A vote yes today...

Is a no vote from you in November!

http://novemberiscoming.com/

 

 

Health Care Bill Cost structure

Minimal cost until after the 2012 election, then $50 Billion added cost per year (average) on top of what was perviously spent,  for next 6 years to $923 billion. Adjusted for historical inflation, project realistic outcome looks like it exceeds a trillion dollars per year in 2020 and beyond.

Interesting time these are......

Obama Agenda

From Obama's election night speech, 2008:

"... I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation.."

 

How has that been carried forward?

If nobody is reading my blog, why bother?

I write to vent my feelings on things in general, and appreciate the feedback from reader, even when it is opposed to my views.

Lately i think people have burned out on reading and responding. Spring is in the air and thoughts turn to tending the garden, playing sports, fishing, whatever..maybe they are all on twitter?

I remain focused on national politics to the point it is consuming my time, and without the benefit of discuss with you my readers, i doubt I am having any impact on creating discussion, causing deliberative thought, or in engaging in serious debate...all parts of critical thinking.

Problem analysis has been a key focus of my employment for more than the past quarter of century, particularly looking at legislation and statues for fiscal impact. So i think when I write how something may play out in the political arena, I have a better than average record on getting it correct.

Yet every blog I write pointing out the potential impact of things, I get minimal response, usually negative, usually discussing side issues unrelated to the fiscal impact.

So here it is Saturday March 20, my analysis of things in general in the news.

1 - When Obama care passes, will immediately change how health insurance manages care, and will minimally impact health care because it does not address health care costs directly associated with care- hospitals, doctors and medications.

2 - Associated fees and taxes will have a ripple effect in the economy, with large industries likely to further outsource what few American jobs they have to factories in Mexico and elsewhere. Smaller enterprises will likely freeze hiring and not replace workers that have retired or been laid off.

3 - Business will further constrain new orders for equipment, seeking to conserve cash to pay increased costs for mandated health insurance coverage.

Points 2 and 3 have already been implemented by many, including my employer. We have lost a lot of employees and have a hiring freeze, and replacement of equipment or adding new technologies has been essentially halted unless its to replace a critical system. Example: our enterprise email exchange servers are failing, and instead of replacement, we are buying additional service plans, and considering migration from Microsoft Outlook to a internet based email, like Yahoo or Gmail. (Outlook in via our company intranet, a closed system)

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Just some thoughts I had today

Medicare -  medicare is sort of a insurance. Its sibling Medicaid is completely crap. I don't base this on any experience, but from what I hear from my mom, a retired hospital administrator, and a friend who is a manager in the Dept of Health Care Services, which was created when Medicare came into being to monitor and coordinate payments between companies, and the federal govt. So far they aren't doing so hot, as several public hospitals in California are (or have) going bankruptcy waiting to be paid...

Which brings me to think that if the hospitals were being run by the feds, would they even be in operation? I mean its only because they can bill people directly that they collect. I am not talking about private hospitals that can reject non-emergency cases, I mean what if they had to take anybody and everybody? 

Which brings me to my HMO-- I used to go to the nearby hospital for all my lab work, easy in and out. Then one day I noticed that even in the early am (6 am) there were long lines waiting for the lab. Its wasn't long before the wait was so long, they started handing out appointments for non-emergency (me). Why? Because since the public hospital had been closed due to cost over runs and no county taxes to keep it open, the load had shifted, and the government had told my HMO they HAD to take people in an emergency- you know, like a cold, flu, headache, whatever. So my HMO raised their rates, and built a clinic nearby, so people like me could continue to get care while the hospital now is essentially a public hospital subsidized by the members of the HMO...

So I wonder how this is going to work when the federal gov is running all health care...what happens to my HMO, does it become Department of Health and Human Services supplemental plan Bronze coverage? I gather they are getting these ideas from Massachusetts, where the premiums look kind of high to me.

So I hear all the grumbling going on the radio, and i wonder. i wonder how a complete take over of national health insurance has a friggin thing to do with making insurance available for people that don't have it and need it. I wonder how a government can compel me to buy something I may not want to  buy.

As i write this my heart is starting to pound, which means I need to stop, because I am getting upset... which I have already expressed in emails to my Senators, Tweddle Barb and Diane Finewine, and my Congressional rep, who was elected because her husband had been a good Congressman before he died...

I want to SCREAM - Student Loans in Health Care Bill

I waited a day to get more news on this...and to see if Congress was serious. Appears they are. Can this be for real? The Democrats are folding student-loan reform into the health bill so it can be enacted without 60 votes in the Senate

Under an agreement finalized (behind close doors) the government backed student loans of the the past are now going to become Federal Direct Loans, a newly added part of the Health Care Bill.

"Many House Democrats reacted enthusiastically on Friday to the word that a proposed overhaul of student loan programs would be included with major health care legislation in an expedited budget package to be offered in Congress."

There’s some pretty determined statism going on in Washington, if they think it’s right to use parliamentary maneuvers to ram major changes through that the people don’t want or without a broad public debate . Or else they’re saying to themselves that we’re too stupid to want government to do the right things. Or maybe, like Nancy Pelosi, they’re thinking that we’ll like what they’re cooking as soon as we get a taste of it, which goes back to us being viewed as too stupid to know whats good for us.

{This is where I stopped writing to SCREAM}

 

 

 

When i went to college, there were scholarships, grants, work study and loans, I had a partial scholarship, no grants, I did work and needed loans to supplement my education costs. I applied for the loans, and I paid them back after graduation. Since then the programs have become more complex, with some needs based direct lending, so fully funded by the government, and other variations. My loans were through a bank that no longer exists, Crocker Bank. I agreed to pay them a fixed interest commencing 6 months after graduation. As I recall the federal government was the guarantor who would make sure the bank didn't lose any money if i never worked and paid it back.

But now, the system will be different, with all student loans being funded not by private (and according to Obama evil) banks, but by you and me the taxpayers. This morning i heard several financial shows discuss the impact on the tax rate.

One commentator said that all these programs combined will need the "rich" to pay 240% more in taxes, and for the "upper middle class" to pay nearly 80% in income tax. Why the hell would i want to work to pay 80% taxes?? If I made $120,000 a year, why would I want to keep working to take home less than $24,000 a year? POOP ON THAT.

I have no problem with banks loaning money to students, or the government backing those loans, I don't even really object to government regulating the interest rates...but this interference and take over of the free market by the government has got to stop. I don't want our country to end up like Greece...broke and in chaos.

 

Obama Care

Fifty-seven percent (57%) believe that passage of the proposed health care legislation will hurt the economy. Just 25% believe it will help. Forty-two percent (42%) favor the President’s health care plan while 53% are opposed.

 

I read this on the Rasmussen Poll, and got to thinking. If 57% think the Obama plan will hurt the economy, and 53% oppose the plan, does that mean 4% think it will hurt the economy, but he should go for it anyway? What the...?

This sucks - lately I am really rooting for Congress to go back to being stalemated all the time, so they can't screw up the country...

 

Dan Rather (on MSNBC no less) Says Obama Ineffective

Chris Matthews had to sit there and bit his tongue on his show. Dan Rather was on showing how compromised Obama is and how ineffective he is as a leader telling Matthews Republicans are going to attack these issues during the election. Dan Rather said Obama couldn’t sell watermelons [on the side of the road with state troopers flagging in cars.] It’s strange when Dan Rather actually hits the nail on the head. Strange and funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO-xqiG9LOc

(due to copyright, no embed available)

Obama FlipFlop - KSM Trial moved to...MILITARY Tribunal?

Washington - President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.

The president’s advisers feel increasingly ...that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some alleged terrorists in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States.

The TV ad where the theme is "Gotta go, gotta go, Gotta go right now..." fits the Obama administration on so many levels I don't know where to begin...

 

MSNBC balanced or UN balanced?

I heard about this and it didn't surprise me, but watching it is wow...the left has gone off the deep end...but thats my opinion...what do you think?

(PS I know Mark, he's on the radio here in Sacramento, a very normal and nice man.)

 

Lloyd Marcus wrote this on his blog:

"As a black proud Tea Party patriot, I am extremely offended by MSNBC TV show host Dylan Ratigan’s baseless accusation that the Tea Party Movement (my white brother and sister fellow patriots) embraces Nazis and racists. Ratigan’s attack epitomizes the liberal media’s commitment to protect Obama and his radical agenda at all costs. They have a genuine disdain for freedom, capitalism and We The People. No tactic is too low. ....

So there you have it Mr. Ratigan. ...

You sir are an evil man willing to demean the character of millions of true patriots to prop up your American idol, Barack Hussein Obama. Accusations of the tea parties being racist are absurd. And yet, the liberal media is relentless in their attempts to sell their shameful lie. Liberals such as Ratigan could care less about the devastating effect fueling the flames of racial hatred is having on American race relations. "

http://www.lloydmarcus.com/

 

Obama agenda and the future

Many bloggers have, in my opinion,  have gone overboard with how screwed America is under Obama. I personally think try as he might, and he is trying (mostly through incompetence) to run this country into the ground, America is more than a bunch of chuckleheads in Washington. Sure, they have likely prolonged the economic agony we are collectively in with their stupid policies, and the pain will get worse. But i have a LOT of faith in Americans, because through all the crap each of us as endured, collectively and as individuals, we continue to be Americans (or at least people that like staying here).

I don't profess any great admiration for talk radio show hosts, least of all conservative mouthpiece Sean Hannity who denigrates Libertarians at every turn, but he is right about something he said this week, in my opinion.

Whomever we elect in the fall must be elected not on party, but on principle, and MADE ACCOUNTABLE, reminded by us at every vote they represent us the people. And it wouldn't hurt if they repealed everything BO passed so far...

Now I am going to have a real good cry...

 

Obama: I am going to ram SOME health care legislation through...

Barack:

You won the election. Why are you organizing? Maybe I should ask, WHAT are you organizing?

And whats up with this:

Obama names brother of undecided House Dem to Appeals Court...
'Whatever it takes to get healthcare done,' said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs...

I think that must be the Chicago way, you know, bribery, payoffs, generally being a a$$wipe ego maniac psuedo dictator...(oops, I got angry- actually I am EXTREMELY frustrated.

I have very seldom agreed with talk radio, but this time I think they are spot on. BO has an overblown  egocentric view of himself, and thus far has not done anything that would indicate that his view of himself is based on anything other than a great belief in his own BS, and the shallow praise of those around him...hmmmmm, like most dictators. Nero comes to mind, I dont know why?

But I take heart at comments like "Every election in America this fall will be a referendum on this issue," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. Wall Street shrugged off Obama's statement. "It doesn't really seem like there's any change here. ," said Steve Shubitz, a healthcare analyst at Edward Jones. "There really wasn't much new in there, meaning nothing incrementally more damaging to the health insurance companies," he said.

"My opinion it's still just political maneuvering on healthcare ... I'd be surprised if anything does get done," said Wayne Schmidt of Minnesota-based Gradient Investments.

I hope these guys are right...because Pelosi care will make the Post Office look like a smoothly run well managed enterprise.......