John Kerry showed the world that we made the right choice in George W. Bush for president in 2004. Granted, Bush will never make my list as one of the "greats", but if the deal with the Iranians over their nuclear program is any indication on how Kerry would have been as president, we were much better off with Bush.
Here's what the Daily Caller said happened:" Under the agreement, Iran, in return for sanctions relief, will keep much of its nuclear infrastructure, is limited to enriching uranium to the five percent level for six months, will convert its highly enriched uranium of 20 percent to harmless oxide and will allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will be limited to only agreed-on facilities."
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/24/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-claims-victory-for-nuclear-program/#ixzz2lfGhuKN3
Basically, the world is going to ease sanctions (which Iran desperately needed), and in return, they're going to take the enriched uranium they've already taken to 20% and reduce it to a "harmless oxide". Oh, sure, they're going to let the always important IAEA in to do some cursory inspections (before they get thrown out again).
It was such a bad deal that Saudi Arabia and Israel...now there's a team if I ever heard one...have both said that the deal isn't going to stop them from unilaterally taking action against Iran. And Iran's Ayatolah Ali Khamenei told the world after the agreement was signed that "Iran has beaten the United States". Yup. They have!
This administration has proven to the rest of the world it has no spine, and no balls. It's weak in foreign policy, it's incompetent when it comes to internal policy, and it's about as transparent as administration as mud. The United States under Obama has become the laughing stock of the world. And that's a shame. When a two-bit sand-castle country like Iran can beat us in negotiations, and do so handedly, it's time for a change.
The only good part of this is, that the Senate (which has to ratify treaties) is livid over the deal, as is the House (which has no say in it). In fact, congress has rightly said they wanted to impose more sanctions on Iran, not less. You know the country is in trouble when congress shows more fortitude and guts than the president!
Obama is clearly searching for something to get people's minds off of Obamacare. The health care rollout has been one of the utter disasters we've seen from any president, topping Jimmy Carter's failed rescue attempt of the Iranian Hostages as the worst political blunder in the last 40 years. It ranks up there with the Bay of Pigs fiasco that JFK foisted on us in 1962. Except this time, Bobby Kennedy isn't around to tell the Iranians we'll kick their ass if they try anything stupid. In fact, no one is around to save us on this one.
It's time for the American people, who have been dumbed down to the point that they're more interested in the Housewives of Atlanta, or New Jersey, or wherever they are now than in what's happening in the real world (thank you National Education Association!), to realize that this guy is just bad news. He's surrounded himself with bad players, and it shows. I'm just wondering why he hasn't given Janet Reno a prestigious post yet.
Obama's hurt the Democratic Party for the time being. They'll bounce back. Just like the GOP has bounced back from the government shutdown that all but handed the House of Representatives over to the Dems in 2014. I don't think he'll do it in time for the 2014 mid term elections, but there's a chance they'll clear it up by 2016. The media has already started to ease up on Obamacare (after last week's White House meeting with liberal media reporters). People in this country have a short memory and don't remember anything past the latest news cycle. But our only chance to survive as a country is to a) have the GOP take control of the Senate next year, while building a lead in the house, which insures gridlock for Obama's last two years and b) get somebody....anybody....that can win in 2016 against the Democrats.
If not, Israel can kiss it's sweet ass goodbye!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
JFK's Legacy?
OK. I didn't write this yesterday, because I simply didn't want to get caught up in all of the "JFK has been dead 50 years" hysteria. But it bears a mention anyway. Yes, we are all sad he died, but let's face facts, shall we?
I was 6 years old and in the first grade when Kennedy was assassinated. I heard about it walking home from school and didn't believe it until I got home. For the next three days, it was wall to wall coverage, which was rare back in the 60's. There was no Fox News or CNN back then. You only had Huntley/Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. I remember that I was upset at the incident, so much so, that my parents wouldn't let me watch TV during the ordeal.
Let's look at Kennedy's legacy, shall we? He was an OK president, but certainly, not one that should be put in the same category as Washington or Lincoln. Probably not even Reagan. He did lower taxes. He did possess great oratory skills. He did say we should go to the moon. But he also screwed up big time with Bay of Pigs. He also got us involved in Vietnam (thank you very much). And beyond that, he slept around on Jackie a lot, including a mobster's girlfriend (which a lot of people think may have got him killed).
I would classify JFK as a moderate conservative in today's climate. He certainly wasn't liberal when you look at people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Not even close. But then again, not many people were back in 1960. Was he progressive for his time? Maybe. Was he great? No. Average president. No real legacy other than Bay of Pigs. So why all the fuss?
JFK was like Otis Redding or Jim Croce. People clamored to him in death more than they ever did in life. His dad got him elected president by stealing votes in Chicago. His dad was tied in with the mob, and it was his brother Bobby that kept him on the straight and narrow....so to speak. But Camelot it wasn't. More like the Playboy Mansion.
We all wanted a hero after the blandness of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and we got one in Kennedy. He became a martyred hero. And it was exactly what the country needed at that time. Had he lived, he'd probably have been a president on par with Lyndon Johnson, Eisenhower, or Clinton. OK, but nothing to write home about. Certainly not one of the worst, but far from one of the best. Instead, we get someone that lasted in office less than three years, and became a national inspiration to a generation (including Bill Clinton).
50 years later, we're no closer to learning if Oswald acted alone. We're no closer to knowing who really killed Kennedy and why. We can only speculate, and you know....we probably will never know! I'm ok with that.
His accomplishments in office weren't spectacular. His bedroom antics were. But they were hidden from the public until long after the body was cold. Hero? Sure, why not. We needed a hero. In reality though, he was just another in an every-growing line of guys that ran our country for a while. Idolize him if you must, but realize, he was just a guy.
I was 6 years old and in the first grade when Kennedy was assassinated. I heard about it walking home from school and didn't believe it until I got home. For the next three days, it was wall to wall coverage, which was rare back in the 60's. There was no Fox News or CNN back then. You only had Huntley/Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. I remember that I was upset at the incident, so much so, that my parents wouldn't let me watch TV during the ordeal.
Let's look at Kennedy's legacy, shall we? He was an OK president, but certainly, not one that should be put in the same category as Washington or Lincoln. Probably not even Reagan. He did lower taxes. He did possess great oratory skills. He did say we should go to the moon. But he also screwed up big time with Bay of Pigs. He also got us involved in Vietnam (thank you very much). And beyond that, he slept around on Jackie a lot, including a mobster's girlfriend (which a lot of people think may have got him killed).
I would classify JFK as a moderate conservative in today's climate. He certainly wasn't liberal when you look at people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Not even close. But then again, not many people were back in 1960. Was he progressive for his time? Maybe. Was he great? No. Average president. No real legacy other than Bay of Pigs. So why all the fuss?
JFK was like Otis Redding or Jim Croce. People clamored to him in death more than they ever did in life. His dad got him elected president by stealing votes in Chicago. His dad was tied in with the mob, and it was his brother Bobby that kept him on the straight and narrow....so to speak. But Camelot it wasn't. More like the Playboy Mansion.
We all wanted a hero after the blandness of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and we got one in Kennedy. He became a martyred hero. And it was exactly what the country needed at that time. Had he lived, he'd probably have been a president on par with Lyndon Johnson, Eisenhower, or Clinton. OK, but nothing to write home about. Certainly not one of the worst, but far from one of the best. Instead, we get someone that lasted in office less than three years, and became a national inspiration to a generation (including Bill Clinton).
50 years later, we're no closer to learning if Oswald acted alone. We're no closer to knowing who really killed Kennedy and why. We can only speculate, and you know....we probably will never know! I'm ok with that.
His accomplishments in office weren't spectacular. His bedroom antics were. But they were hidden from the public until long after the body was cold. Hero? Sure, why not. We needed a hero. In reality though, he was just another in an every-growing line of guys that ran our country for a while. Idolize him if you must, but realize, he was just a guy.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Obamacare Year 2 Rollout Delayed!
We haven't even gotten Obamacare rolled out, and already the Health and Human Services Department has decided to postpone next year's sign up date until after the November congressional elections. Why? Well, if you believe them, it will be so you'll have more time to study your options. Of course, if that were the case, they'd be delaying the start of Obamacare until next year to begin with. I mean, who would need more time to study options? Someone that is looking at it for the first time this year, or someone who's renewing from a year ago.
Of course, the reason it really was postponed was because the administration is afraid that if you have to renew by October 15th (the original date), and have problems like this year, you're going to vote against the Democrats in the Senate up for re-election. With Harry Reid's power grab taking place this week, whereby he only needs 51 votes to approve Obama's appointments, this becomes easy to see what's really going on. Reid will likely lose seats in the mid-term election, but he doesn't have that many to spare. There are 14 Democrats up for re-election next year that are going to face an uphill battle. He can only afford to lose four, and still keep majority. So, Kathleen Sebelius and her gangat HHS is doing everthing it can to try and help out, seeing they were the cause of this mess in the first place.
With 93% of the American public now against Obamacare one way or another, it's painfully apparent that the White House is in a total lockdown struggle to stop the bleeding. Obama's approval ratings are the lowest they've ever been, and some are saying that Reid's rules change in the Senate was nothing more than a way to get people talking about something other than Obamacare. In fact, if you pay attention to these things, the Dems have stopped calling it "Obamacare", and are referring to it as the "Affordable Care Act" in an effort to get some of the blame off of their guy. Sorry Barry....won't work this time.
The main problem with Obama in this mess is that his philosophy calls for him to never surrender or to admit mistakes, but instead forge ahead and double down when in trouble. We've seen it before. When people are against you, instead of changing course, plow ahead faster an more engaged. That's what he's trying to do this time. But that won't work with a skeptical public that is already so ingrained against his legacy that he can't win them over. End result? He becomes even less popular of a president than Jimmy Carter (considered by most to be the worst president since Herbert Hoover).
What's the solution? Well, the best way to fix this mess is to repeal it and start again with bi-partisan support. That's got about as much chance as happening as seeing Jesus today. What will happen? Obama and his clan will play defense for the rest of his term, unless the GOP wins control of the House next year and passes a bill to repeal Obamacare. Then the GOP force Obama to veto it (which he would), and basically destroys the Dem's chances at the White House in 2016. Is there a middle ground here? Nope. That isn't going to happen.
Of course, the reason it really was postponed was because the administration is afraid that if you have to renew by October 15th (the original date), and have problems like this year, you're going to vote against the Democrats in the Senate up for re-election. With Harry Reid's power grab taking place this week, whereby he only needs 51 votes to approve Obama's appointments, this becomes easy to see what's really going on. Reid will likely lose seats in the mid-term election, but he doesn't have that many to spare. There are 14 Democrats up for re-election next year that are going to face an uphill battle. He can only afford to lose four, and still keep majority. So, Kathleen Sebelius and her gangat HHS is doing everthing it can to try and help out, seeing they were the cause of this mess in the first place.
With 93% of the American public now against Obamacare one way or another, it's painfully apparent that the White House is in a total lockdown struggle to stop the bleeding. Obama's approval ratings are the lowest they've ever been, and some are saying that Reid's rules change in the Senate was nothing more than a way to get people talking about something other than Obamacare. In fact, if you pay attention to these things, the Dems have stopped calling it "Obamacare", and are referring to it as the "Affordable Care Act" in an effort to get some of the blame off of their guy. Sorry Barry....won't work this time.
The main problem with Obama in this mess is that his philosophy calls for him to never surrender or to admit mistakes, but instead forge ahead and double down when in trouble. We've seen it before. When people are against you, instead of changing course, plow ahead faster an more engaged. That's what he's trying to do this time. But that won't work with a skeptical public that is already so ingrained against his legacy that he can't win them over. End result? He becomes even less popular of a president than Jimmy Carter (considered by most to be the worst president since Herbert Hoover).
What's the solution? Well, the best way to fix this mess is to repeal it and start again with bi-partisan support. That's got about as much chance as happening as seeing Jesus today. What will happen? Obama and his clan will play defense for the rest of his term, unless the GOP wins control of the House next year and passes a bill to repeal Obamacare. Then the GOP force Obama to veto it (which he would), and basically destroys the Dem's chances at the White House in 2016. Is there a middle ground here? Nope. That isn't going to happen.
You Know You're In Trouble When...
Yeah, I know....I'm writing this with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy. But it fits. You know the president and his party are in trouble when:
1. You stop referring to "Obamacare" as "Obamacare", but start referring to it as "Affordable Care Act". Back in 2010, Obama was happy to call it Obamacare. He said in New Orleans that "I do care", so it's ok to call it Obamacare. Not any more. With his numbers in the toilet, the American people pissed at him for lying to them about keeping their health care policies and their doctors, when he knew they wouldn't be able to, the talking points memo has gone out to the Dems: Refer to it ONLY as ACA or the Affordable Care Act. Nancy Pellosi, that house member from another planet, told the media this past weekend, "I've always referred to it as the Affordable Care Act". Nope. Not even close Nancy! She ALWAYS referred to it as Obamacare.
2. Rick Klein of ABC News has said that no amount of congressional fixes proposed by the Democrats is going to get them out from under this mess in 2014. He rightly postulates that the Democrats voted for it (no Republican did) in 2010, and they own it. So when it crashes and burns, it only falls on one side of the political spectrum. It's probably the only time in history that the entire GOP has been happy they backed away and didn't support this at all! If this program continues to fail as it's failed in it's first 7 weeks of life, and there is no reason to believe that it won't, it will be the Democrats that are scrambling for cover come 2014. Pellosi may say publically that it's an issue that her colleagues should run on, but she can't seriously believe that. Well....maybe she can. She's always had more than a few screws missing.
3. CBS News has just released a poll stating that 93% of American (and 72% of Democrats) want Obamacare to be either scrapped entirely or substantially changed. In fact, only 3% of the country now favors keeping Obamacare exactly like it is. And they're probably all in Pellosi's district. Only 12% of Democrats say it's fine as is. That is a stunning revelation. It shows just how far Obama has fallen from his ascension to the throne at the 2008 Democratic National Convention! You don't think this is hurting his presidency? He's tried for two weeks now to talk about something....ANYTHING besides Obamacare. And what's the media screaming about? It's not the economy stupid. It's not immigration (though he's tried to re-start that dead horse), it's not a $10 an hour minimum wage. Nope. It's Obamacare. Why? Because the media has felt lied to over this whole issue. Actually, the IRS scandal, the James Rosen Affair with Eric Holder's Justice Department, Benghazi, and on and on has soured the media on their favorite son. Obama has possibly learned a very valuable lesson. Don't screw with the media. They can make or break any president...even one that they originally loved.
4. Now it comes out that next year, during the 2014 campaigns for Senate and House, millions of Americans are going to learn that their employers (most of them small employers, but some big ones are in the mix as well) are going to lose their current health care. Add another 10 million people to the already pissed group. And Obama can't do a damn thing about it.
5. As of this morning, 20 states are threatening to secede from the union if Obamacare isn't repealed. These aren't all just GOP controlled states either. Yes, Texas, Virginia, and Louisiana are among them, but this move is starting to get serious. If 20 states strewn about the country decide to leave these "United States", think of the calamity it would cause. You'd need a passport to go from Oklahoma to Arizona!
6. And While Obama's approval rating is now in the 30's in most polls, Chris Mathews of Hardball on MSNBC says he could see the approval rating dip to 20% by next year at this time. That's not called "staying the course" as the president would like to have you believe. That's called a suicide pact. And it will drag the entire party down with him.
7. When David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Steven Colbert start turning on you (as they have lately), you know you are off base. These guys treated the president with kid gloves for five years, and now, they've not only taken the gloves off....they're going after him like nobody's business. When former president George W. Bush was on with David Letterman the other night, Letterman asked the former president how it felt to see everyone going after Obama. He replied, "Better him than me!" He got a huge laugh and a round of applause.
8. Your legacy goes from putting together the nation's universal health care program to being the president that just may be the most incompetent commander in chief since Andrew Johnson! That really takes some doing because there have been some real clunkers in there (like Millard Fillmore, Jimmy Carter, and Herbert Hoover!).
Yep. Obama knows he's in trouble. Unfortunately, his ego won't let him come clean with the American people and he's still using old, worn out plays from a play-book that John F. Kennedy took to the grave with him 50 years ago. No, Obama is no Kennedy. We're learning quickly that he's no Jimmy Carter either...and that's sad.
1. You stop referring to "Obamacare" as "Obamacare", but start referring to it as "Affordable Care Act". Back in 2010, Obama was happy to call it Obamacare. He said in New Orleans that "I do care", so it's ok to call it Obamacare. Not any more. With his numbers in the toilet, the American people pissed at him for lying to them about keeping their health care policies and their doctors, when he knew they wouldn't be able to, the talking points memo has gone out to the Dems: Refer to it ONLY as ACA or the Affordable Care Act. Nancy Pellosi, that house member from another planet, told the media this past weekend, "I've always referred to it as the Affordable Care Act". Nope. Not even close Nancy! She ALWAYS referred to it as Obamacare.
2. Rick Klein of ABC News has said that no amount of congressional fixes proposed by the Democrats is going to get them out from under this mess in 2014. He rightly postulates that the Democrats voted for it (no Republican did) in 2010, and they own it. So when it crashes and burns, it only falls on one side of the political spectrum. It's probably the only time in history that the entire GOP has been happy they backed away and didn't support this at all! If this program continues to fail as it's failed in it's first 7 weeks of life, and there is no reason to believe that it won't, it will be the Democrats that are scrambling for cover come 2014. Pellosi may say publically that it's an issue that her colleagues should run on, but she can't seriously believe that. Well....maybe she can. She's always had more than a few screws missing.
3. CBS News has just released a poll stating that 93% of American (and 72% of Democrats) want Obamacare to be either scrapped entirely or substantially changed. In fact, only 3% of the country now favors keeping Obamacare exactly like it is. And they're probably all in Pellosi's district. Only 12% of Democrats say it's fine as is. That is a stunning revelation. It shows just how far Obama has fallen from his ascension to the throne at the 2008 Democratic National Convention! You don't think this is hurting his presidency? He's tried for two weeks now to talk about something....ANYTHING besides Obamacare. And what's the media screaming about? It's not the economy stupid. It's not immigration (though he's tried to re-start that dead horse), it's not a $10 an hour minimum wage. Nope. It's Obamacare. Why? Because the media has felt lied to over this whole issue. Actually, the IRS scandal, the James Rosen Affair with Eric Holder's Justice Department, Benghazi, and on and on has soured the media on their favorite son. Obama has possibly learned a very valuable lesson. Don't screw with the media. They can make or break any president...even one that they originally loved.
4. Now it comes out that next year, during the 2014 campaigns for Senate and House, millions of Americans are going to learn that their employers (most of them small employers, but some big ones are in the mix as well) are going to lose their current health care. Add another 10 million people to the already pissed group. And Obama can't do a damn thing about it.
5. As of this morning, 20 states are threatening to secede from the union if Obamacare isn't repealed. These aren't all just GOP controlled states either. Yes, Texas, Virginia, and Louisiana are among them, but this move is starting to get serious. If 20 states strewn about the country decide to leave these "United States", think of the calamity it would cause. You'd need a passport to go from Oklahoma to Arizona!
6. And While Obama's approval rating is now in the 30's in most polls, Chris Mathews of Hardball on MSNBC says he could see the approval rating dip to 20% by next year at this time. That's not called "staying the course" as the president would like to have you believe. That's called a suicide pact. And it will drag the entire party down with him.
7. When David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Steven Colbert start turning on you (as they have lately), you know you are off base. These guys treated the president with kid gloves for five years, and now, they've not only taken the gloves off....they're going after him like nobody's business. When former president George W. Bush was on with David Letterman the other night, Letterman asked the former president how it felt to see everyone going after Obama. He replied, "Better him than me!" He got a huge laugh and a round of applause.
8. Your legacy goes from putting together the nation's universal health care program to being the president that just may be the most incompetent commander in chief since Andrew Johnson! That really takes some doing because there have been some real clunkers in there (like Millard Fillmore, Jimmy Carter, and Herbert Hoover!).
Yep. Obama knows he's in trouble. Unfortunately, his ego won't let him come clean with the American people and he's still using old, worn out plays from a play-book that John F. Kennedy took to the grave with him 50 years ago. No, Obama is no Kennedy. We're learning quickly that he's no Jimmy Carter either...and that's sad.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Reid Throws Out Baby With The Bath Water
In a move that is most certainly going to come back and haunt the Democrats in the US Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) today changed the rules in the Senate regarding filibusters of presidential appointments. No longer will the Senate require 60 votes for cloture when votes of appointments (other than the Supreme Court) are before the Senate. Now, a simple majority is all that's needed. And with 55 seats in the Senate (at least until next January), Reid is assured of getting Obama appointments that have been blocked by the GOP through without a problem.
There have been 217 appointments voted on during Obama's tenure in office. 215 have passed with only 2 being denied. That's a 99% approval rate, even under the old rules. So, why the change?
The change is because the GOP have been holding up appointments to the DC Court of Appeals, regarded as the second most powerful court in the land because it rules on matters involving the White House and Federal Agencies. Currently there are four Democratic appointments and four Republican appointments on that bench.
Here's where Harry Reid, once again, is missing the forest for the trees. He's changing the rules now, but what happens if the GOP takes back the Senate in 2014, and then wins the White House in 2016? Trust me. Harry Reid will be the first one to bitch that they need to go back to the 60 vote rule. He's that immature and childish. But he'll be up the creek without the proverbial paddle because the whole thing is his doing.
If Reid were actually smart (and I really do doubt that he is), he'd stop playing politics long enough to realize that rules cut both ways in Washington. What's good for his side today will be bad for his side up the road. It's the way the country has been since it's inception. That's because the American people hate the ones in power, get tired of them, and always want a change at some point. Where that point is, who knows? But believe me, they will seek change somewhere. And the Democrats will see a major swing against them when it happens.
Politics in America is like a pendulum swinging back and forth. It goes left and the Dems get voted in. Then it swings right and the GOP gets power. Then it swings left a little farther and the Dems try something new to take more power. Then it swings back to the right a little bit further and the GOP undoes what the Dems did, and makes everything more conservative. And so on, and so forth.
My question is, how far can the pendulum swing? It's already about 11 o'clock right now. If it swings back the other way to 12:30, there's going to be a lot of screaming on the left. And they've only got themselves to blame.
These guys don't understand one thing. When you don't get anything done in DC, it's a good thing. Gridlock is the best thing that can happen to this country. When you've got a split congress, like we've got now, neither side wins, but neither side loses. Instead, the country gets to move on down the road without having new inane laws and more spending passed.
And if you think it's just going to stop with federal appointments, think again. Neither party in DC is happy with the way things are. They both want to push the boundary as far in their direction as they can...much to the chagrin of the other side. That's the weakness of a Republic (and yes, Virginia, it IS a Republic, NOT a Democracy). We're going to see the point soon where nothing gets done, both sides are afraid to cave in on every issue, and the country's politics grind to a halt. That will be the beginning of two new parties. One has already formed in the Tea Party on the right. Wait until they take over and you'll see the Dems have a more liberal version of the Democrat party on the left appear. We saw the early beginnings of it with the Occupy Wall Street movement. But it never caught on because they really didn't have a cause to rally around.
Be careful Harry! You've opened Pandora's Box, and she's pissed!
There have been 217 appointments voted on during Obama's tenure in office. 215 have passed with only 2 being denied. That's a 99% approval rate, even under the old rules. So, why the change?
The change is because the GOP have been holding up appointments to the DC Court of Appeals, regarded as the second most powerful court in the land because it rules on matters involving the White House and Federal Agencies. Currently there are four Democratic appointments and four Republican appointments on that bench.
Here's where Harry Reid, once again, is missing the forest for the trees. He's changing the rules now, but what happens if the GOP takes back the Senate in 2014, and then wins the White House in 2016? Trust me. Harry Reid will be the first one to bitch that they need to go back to the 60 vote rule. He's that immature and childish. But he'll be up the creek without the proverbial paddle because the whole thing is his doing.
If Reid were actually smart (and I really do doubt that he is), he'd stop playing politics long enough to realize that rules cut both ways in Washington. What's good for his side today will be bad for his side up the road. It's the way the country has been since it's inception. That's because the American people hate the ones in power, get tired of them, and always want a change at some point. Where that point is, who knows? But believe me, they will seek change somewhere. And the Democrats will see a major swing against them when it happens.
Politics in America is like a pendulum swinging back and forth. It goes left and the Dems get voted in. Then it swings right and the GOP gets power. Then it swings left a little farther and the Dems try something new to take more power. Then it swings back to the right a little bit further and the GOP undoes what the Dems did, and makes everything more conservative. And so on, and so forth.
My question is, how far can the pendulum swing? It's already about 11 o'clock right now. If it swings back the other way to 12:30, there's going to be a lot of screaming on the left. And they've only got themselves to blame.
These guys don't understand one thing. When you don't get anything done in DC, it's a good thing. Gridlock is the best thing that can happen to this country. When you've got a split congress, like we've got now, neither side wins, but neither side loses. Instead, the country gets to move on down the road without having new inane laws and more spending passed.
And if you think it's just going to stop with federal appointments, think again. Neither party in DC is happy with the way things are. They both want to push the boundary as far in their direction as they can...much to the chagrin of the other side. That's the weakness of a Republic (and yes, Virginia, it IS a Republic, NOT a Democracy). We're going to see the point soon where nothing gets done, both sides are afraid to cave in on every issue, and the country's politics grind to a halt. That will be the beginning of two new parties. One has already formed in the Tea Party on the right. Wait until they take over and you'll see the Dems have a more liberal version of the Democrat party on the left appear. We saw the early beginnings of it with the Occupy Wall Street movement. But it never caught on because they really didn't have a cause to rally around.
Be careful Harry! You've opened Pandora's Box, and she's pissed!
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
And Now For Something Completely Different
OK...today we take a timeout from Obamacare's horrendous rollout, the mis-steps of politicians, and the government falling off the cliff for a little personal rant.
Yesterday, I switched ISP's from Cox Communications to CenturyLink. Why? Because Cox sent my bill in which they bumped up the cost of their service by $7 a month! That's an outrageous increase, over 10%!
This was the third increase in 2 1/2 years that I had been with Cox. I was actually getting ready to have them give me a quote for bundling my TV service and my internet service. But when I got the bill for my internet, I lost it. I went to the local CenturyLink kiosk at the mall, explaned the situation, and told them, "It's yours if you want to work with me". They did. I'm paying less than half what the clowns at Cox wanted for a month. And the service is every bit as good as Cox's. Oh....they SAY they were voted the best ISP in Arizona (where I live), and they SAY "you get what you pay for", which is true in some cases, but not all...but they can't say they're the best deal out there. When I lived in Ohio and had Buckeye Express, I never had a rate increase in the 15 years I was with them. Why? Simple.
What really pisses me off about this is there was no real reason for the increase. Internet bandwidth cost continues to decrease, not increase. It's costing Cox less today than it was three years ago to provide the service. So why the increase? Cox will tell you they are increasing the speed of the internet. That's not the case. I have speed test data from 2 years ago, 1 year ago and last week, showing the same speed.
The REAL reason Cox is increasing the rates is because they're losing so many subscribers on the TV side, which is their bread and butter, and they're trying to make up for it by jacking the rates on their internet service. See, more and more people, usually younger people, are giving up cable and satellite TV for Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and Netflix. If you go head and get all three of those services, and spend $100 on a Roku, you're going to spend a total of $340 a year on your television, and you're not going to miss a damn thing you're watching now. Cox is charging upwards of $100 a month for a decent tier of cable channels, and HD and DVR. Is it any wonder why kids are switching? Why pay $1,200 when you can get the same thing for less than a third the price?
What also grinds me is that when I called to cancel, the smug idiot customer service rep told me that "If you only called and told us you were going to quit, we would have worked with you and not made you pay the $7 additional fee". Well, if you can not charge me the fee if I call to complain, you can certainly save all of us the time and trouble and not charge it to me in the first place. That's unethical in my book. And damn unprofessional, but it happens a lot with the TV folks. I just did the same thing with DirecTV. I told them their rates were too high and I needed to switch to Dish even though their service sucks. They lowered my bill by $20 a month, gave me an equipment upgrade to the latest/greatest version, and gave me Showtime free for 3 months. Just for asking. I hate doing business with companies that do that, but they're the ones that have said "the squeaky wheel is going to save money".
Lesson with all of this is simple. Call your cable company, your internet provider, your TV programming service and complain that the rates are too high. Then tell them you're going to cancel them if they don't work with you. I think it sucks having to do business that way, but it sucks having to pay for everyone else that IS calling and getting the deal! Do it now!
Tomorrw, we go back to screaming about the government! End of rant.
Yesterday, I switched ISP's from Cox Communications to CenturyLink. Why? Because Cox sent my bill in which they bumped up the cost of their service by $7 a month! That's an outrageous increase, over 10%!
This was the third increase in 2 1/2 years that I had been with Cox. I was actually getting ready to have them give me a quote for bundling my TV service and my internet service. But when I got the bill for my internet, I lost it. I went to the local CenturyLink kiosk at the mall, explaned the situation, and told them, "It's yours if you want to work with me". They did. I'm paying less than half what the clowns at Cox wanted for a month. And the service is every bit as good as Cox's. Oh....they SAY they were voted the best ISP in Arizona (where I live), and they SAY "you get what you pay for", which is true in some cases, but not all...but they can't say they're the best deal out there. When I lived in Ohio and had Buckeye Express, I never had a rate increase in the 15 years I was with them. Why? Simple.
What really pisses me off about this is there was no real reason for the increase. Internet bandwidth cost continues to decrease, not increase. It's costing Cox less today than it was three years ago to provide the service. So why the increase? Cox will tell you they are increasing the speed of the internet. That's not the case. I have speed test data from 2 years ago, 1 year ago and last week, showing the same speed.
The REAL reason Cox is increasing the rates is because they're losing so many subscribers on the TV side, which is their bread and butter, and they're trying to make up for it by jacking the rates on their internet service. See, more and more people, usually younger people, are giving up cable and satellite TV for Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and Netflix. If you go head and get all three of those services, and spend $100 on a Roku, you're going to spend a total of $340 a year on your television, and you're not going to miss a damn thing you're watching now. Cox is charging upwards of $100 a month for a decent tier of cable channels, and HD and DVR. Is it any wonder why kids are switching? Why pay $1,200 when you can get the same thing for less than a third the price?
What also grinds me is that when I called to cancel, the smug idiot customer service rep told me that "If you only called and told us you were going to quit, we would have worked with you and not made you pay the $7 additional fee". Well, if you can not charge me the fee if I call to complain, you can certainly save all of us the time and trouble and not charge it to me in the first place. That's unethical in my book. And damn unprofessional, but it happens a lot with the TV folks. I just did the same thing with DirecTV. I told them their rates were too high and I needed to switch to Dish even though their service sucks. They lowered my bill by $20 a month, gave me an equipment upgrade to the latest/greatest version, and gave me Showtime free for 3 months. Just for asking. I hate doing business with companies that do that, but they're the ones that have said "the squeaky wheel is going to save money".
Lesson with all of this is simple. Call your cable company, your internet provider, your TV programming service and complain that the rates are too high. Then tell them you're going to cancel them if they don't work with you. I think it sucks having to do business that way, but it sucks having to pay for everyone else that IS calling and getting the deal! Do it now!
Tomorrw, we go back to screaming about the government! End of rant.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The "Killer" Legacy
What was Obama thinking when he pushed and shoved, cajoled and cave, wheeled and dealed to get Obamacare through some five years ago? Well, he thought he was building a legacy like Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He thought he was setting himself up to be the greatest president in the progressive movement by providing the final lynchpin in the liberal playbook....socialized medicine. Oh, he didn't get it all the way there, but he made sure that the insurance companies would fall apart under his plan in five to ten years, leaving the federal government as the only "single payer" health insurer around. How wrong he was.
What has been a reality was this legacy of Obama's has turned into his Elba. As Napoleon was exiled to Elba at the end of his reign, Obama has been banished to being a cheerleader for a failed foray into socialized medicine. And with it, the legacy of being the "great failure" as president. If only he would have listened to his critics instead of bashing them.
Obama didn't want to deal with Republicans when it came to Obamacare. Remember that back then, the Democrats had both the Senate and the House. And all he had to do was wheel and deal his way to get the majority votes in each of the houses for it to pass. He dodged some landmines along the way...the Supreme Court, which went waaaay out to left field to call the "penalty" of not participating in the individual mandate a tax (which Obama himself had fought against calling during the fight). He won a re-election campaign he should have lost had the GOP actually put someone who hadn't been the architect for Obamacare up against him. And now, the chickens have come home to roost.
You can't blame the GOP for sitting on the sidelines and throwing out the cat calls on this one. They've tried over 100 times to have Obamacare repealed. They're going to try the courts one more time, saying that all of the changes in the law need congressional approval and can't be done by the White House....that gives him too much authority. How that will play out is anyone's guess.
But it doesn't need to play out at all. Obamacare isn't going to be a viable alternative. It needs so much fixing that Obama can't do it by administrative fiat alone. No, he's going to need congresses help on this one. And he can't do it while the GOP controls the House. And he won't be able to do it if the GOP takes over the Senate in 2014. He better smell the coffee brewing and start realizing that he isn't going to be able to dictate his way out of this one. He is about three steps away from ruining the insurance industry himself, and putting most Americans squarely against him.
63% of Americans surveyed feel Obama has mis-handled the Obamacare rollout. 70% feel that the health care system under his plan is broken and needs to be gutted and start over from scratch. What's amazing is that 61% of those people are also very strong in their feelings. Over half the country feels Obama has lied to them (duh!?) and don't trust him with anything he says anymore. His approval rating has hit 39%, the lowest in his presidency.
Great legacy, isn't it?
What has been a reality was this legacy of Obama's has turned into his Elba. As Napoleon was exiled to Elba at the end of his reign, Obama has been banished to being a cheerleader for a failed foray into socialized medicine. And with it, the legacy of being the "great failure" as president. If only he would have listened to his critics instead of bashing them.
Obama didn't want to deal with Republicans when it came to Obamacare. Remember that back then, the Democrats had both the Senate and the House. And all he had to do was wheel and deal his way to get the majority votes in each of the houses for it to pass. He dodged some landmines along the way...the Supreme Court, which went waaaay out to left field to call the "penalty" of not participating in the individual mandate a tax (which Obama himself had fought against calling during the fight). He won a re-election campaign he should have lost had the GOP actually put someone who hadn't been the architect for Obamacare up against him. And now, the chickens have come home to roost.
You can't blame the GOP for sitting on the sidelines and throwing out the cat calls on this one. They've tried over 100 times to have Obamacare repealed. They're going to try the courts one more time, saying that all of the changes in the law need congressional approval and can't be done by the White House....that gives him too much authority. How that will play out is anyone's guess.
But it doesn't need to play out at all. Obamacare isn't going to be a viable alternative. It needs so much fixing that Obama can't do it by administrative fiat alone. No, he's going to need congresses help on this one. And he can't do it while the GOP controls the House. And he won't be able to do it if the GOP takes over the Senate in 2014. He better smell the coffee brewing and start realizing that he isn't going to be able to dictate his way out of this one. He is about three steps away from ruining the insurance industry himself, and putting most Americans squarely against him.
63% of Americans surveyed feel Obama has mis-handled the Obamacare rollout. 70% feel that the health care system under his plan is broken and needs to be gutted and start over from scratch. What's amazing is that 61% of those people are also very strong in their feelings. Over half the country feels Obama has lied to them (duh!?) and don't trust him with anything he says anymore. His approval rating has hit 39%, the lowest in his presidency.
Great legacy, isn't it?
Monday, November 18, 2013
Is Obamacare Worth Saving?
Don't think Obama is taking the historically crappy rollout of his signature legislation seriously? How about this for an opener: The Insurance Commissioner for the District of Columbia, was fired by DC's mayor. Why? Because he said that Obama's "fix" of Obamacare is going to do nothing but screw up the entire insurance industry and he didn't want to have anything to do with the "fix".
In the end analysis, Obama has three choices and none of them are very appealing to him. First, he can try to ride out the storm, which is what he'll probably do. It'll be a terrible mistake filled with problems, but he'll be able to stick to his guns. Kinda like the captain of a ship, who's lost most of his crew to a sinking, but is determined to save the ship. The problem with this approach is that the problems Obamacare are facing are just going to mount. No amount of administration "fixes" are going to help. See, somewhere up the road, someone is going to get smart and take the whole thing to the Supreme Court saying Obama has overstepped his jurisdiction. Only Congress can write and change laws. What Obama is doing is really unconstitutional and he's opening himself up to even more problems if it goes before a judge somewhere (or the Supreme Court) and he loses. That's like that sinking ship taking a direct torpedo hit.
The second choice is to punt. If Obama decides he wants to try and save Congress, he needs to get Obamacare of the table as fast as humanly possible. Otherwise the GOP will widen it's hold in the house and most likely take over the Senate. Remember, there is only a five seat difference, and there are 14 senators up for re-election that are deemed very vulnerable. If all of those seats were to fall, which isn't likely, it would give the GOP a 9 seat majority in the senate...just 8 votes short of a veto-proof majority. This option is actually Obama's best choice. He may never be facing another election, but if his party doesn't bode well in 2014, there won't be an Obama legacy. And 2016, even if Hillary gets the nod, becomes a GOP possibility. Hell, I could probably run against Hillary in that scenario and win.
The last choice Obama has is to allow Congress to try and "fix" Obamacare like they are inevitably going to do. The problem here is that there are going to be a lot of Republicans licking their chops to get some of their changes through. Things like opening up the exchanges to selling across state lines, and tort reform. Both of which are strongly opposed by the Dems because of the high volume of donations they get from special interest groups.
Let's face it. None of these options is very good if you're Obama and all you have to hang your entire presidency on is this law. It's been a trainwreck from the beginning, and that's just the start. If it continues into next year, you're going to see sticker shock hit new levels. People aren't only going to balk at signing up because of the premiums. They are going to balk at the co-pays (sometimes up two or three times over what people are used to paying), and deductables that go up two or three times. Then you're going to see the people really start bitching. And Obama, who has already started calling the insurance companies the bad guys for HIS broken promise, is going to look like the four year old kid who's mother won't buy him a candy bar in the supermarket.
What's a president to do? Well, he could have listened to the GOP in the first place. Would have made it a whole lot easier. The GOP may not be good at governing in Washington, but their powers of looking into the future are really pretty amazing!
In the end analysis, Obama has three choices and none of them are very appealing to him. First, he can try to ride out the storm, which is what he'll probably do. It'll be a terrible mistake filled with problems, but he'll be able to stick to his guns. Kinda like the captain of a ship, who's lost most of his crew to a sinking, but is determined to save the ship. The problem with this approach is that the problems Obamacare are facing are just going to mount. No amount of administration "fixes" are going to help. See, somewhere up the road, someone is going to get smart and take the whole thing to the Supreme Court saying Obama has overstepped his jurisdiction. Only Congress can write and change laws. What Obama is doing is really unconstitutional and he's opening himself up to even more problems if it goes before a judge somewhere (or the Supreme Court) and he loses. That's like that sinking ship taking a direct torpedo hit.
The second choice is to punt. If Obama decides he wants to try and save Congress, he needs to get Obamacare of the table as fast as humanly possible. Otherwise the GOP will widen it's hold in the house and most likely take over the Senate. Remember, there is only a five seat difference, and there are 14 senators up for re-election that are deemed very vulnerable. If all of those seats were to fall, which isn't likely, it would give the GOP a 9 seat majority in the senate...just 8 votes short of a veto-proof majority. This option is actually Obama's best choice. He may never be facing another election, but if his party doesn't bode well in 2014, there won't be an Obama legacy. And 2016, even if Hillary gets the nod, becomes a GOP possibility. Hell, I could probably run against Hillary in that scenario and win.
The last choice Obama has is to allow Congress to try and "fix" Obamacare like they are inevitably going to do. The problem here is that there are going to be a lot of Republicans licking their chops to get some of their changes through. Things like opening up the exchanges to selling across state lines, and tort reform. Both of which are strongly opposed by the Dems because of the high volume of donations they get from special interest groups.
Let's face it. None of these options is very good if you're Obama and all you have to hang your entire presidency on is this law. It's been a trainwreck from the beginning, and that's just the start. If it continues into next year, you're going to see sticker shock hit new levels. People aren't only going to balk at signing up because of the premiums. They are going to balk at the co-pays (sometimes up two or three times over what people are used to paying), and deductables that go up two or three times. Then you're going to see the people really start bitching. And Obama, who has already started calling the insurance companies the bad guys for HIS broken promise, is going to look like the four year old kid who's mother won't buy him a candy bar in the supermarket.
What's a president to do? Well, he could have listened to the GOP in the first place. Would have made it a whole lot easier. The GOP may not be good at governing in Washington, but their powers of looking into the future are really pretty amazing!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
The Verdict Is In For The TSA
In case you missed it because you were stuck in long lines at the airport, a new study has been released regarding the TSA...those bureaucrats in blue that are tasked with frisking old ladies and kids so that our skies remain safe. And the results aren't that promising for the Transportation Security Administration.
The study, just released, reached the conclusion that many of us have felt all along. After 12 years of pat downs and metal detectors, the TSA has done about as well as chance at finding weapons, bombs, and other terrorist devices. That means you could stick a four year old with a lollipop at the head of the line and he or she would have just as much success in stopping a terrorist as spending the billions of dollars we've spent hiring, training, and deploying this army of security officers.
It's a slap in the face for the federal government. You'll remember, the TSA was started by then-president George W. Bush after 9/11. It was designed to make air traffic safer in the US and the American people went along with it. Since that time, the program has been upgraded, expanded, and has grown, like every other federal government program in existence to the point that now it is a behemoth. TSA now employs (as of 1/11) over 58,000 agents around the country. That's larger than many cities!
I hate like hell having to side with someone like Rand Paul. I'm not a libertarian by any stretch, but I do believe the federal government is out of control and needs to be reigned in. To have a program such as the TSA hanging around costing us billions (and yes, Virginia, you do pay for them every time you fly!) and untold hours of standing in line. It's time that the federal government puts a halt to this program and calls it what it is, a failure. But you and I know better, don't we?
When was the last time you saw a president, especially a Democrat, shrink government? Who wants to be seen, in a still-crappy economy, throwing 58,000 people out of work? Where will they go? What other jobs require the skills they've been trained for? Answer? None. These are not your top echelon CEO's from Fortune 500 companies here. These are basically high school educated people who do real well telling people to remove their shoes and belts, and pull their laptops out of the cases and put it into the bins, and that you can't bring any more than 3 ounces of liquid through, and only if it's in a plastic bag and it's in the bin. No, sorry to say, even though the TSA has now been proven to be a sham, it won't be going away anytime soon.
But we should have known better than to do something like the TSA back when Bush was president. Islamic terrorists weren't going to try and use the airlines much after 9/11. Oh yeah, there was the Christmas Day bomber that was going to blow up a plane over Detroit (real smart....blow it up over Dearborn....the largest Islamic community in America!). But he still got on the plane, didn't he? I mean, he wasn't stopped by security at any checkpoint. It was only a passenger that noticed him trying to light his shoes that stopped him. Let's face it...this guys wasn't a Rhodes Scholar to begin with!
Terrorists have moved on to other things. Even if TSA was there in force, if the Islamic terror groups wanted to use airplanes as a weapon again, I'm sure they'd figure out a way around TSA. They're looking at other things....like shipping containers in ports, or malls, or athletic stadiums, where they can injure and kill many times the 3,000 plus people that died on 9/11. No, the terrorists aren't any more afraid of the TSA than you or I are. And we are the only ones that are paying the price.
Let's do ourselves a favor. Either we adopt the Israeli strategy for airport security (and be prepared for intensive screening because those guys don't mess around), or dump it all together. Why waste money and manpower doing something so soft as what TSA does in the airports now.
I wonder how many bridges and roadways could have been fixed under Obama's original stimulus plan had they hired the 58,000 TSA agents to repair the bridges and roads? My guess is, we'd have a really nice highway system...and still no one would have blown up an airplane!
The study, just released, reached the conclusion that many of us have felt all along. After 12 years of pat downs and metal detectors, the TSA has done about as well as chance at finding weapons, bombs, and other terrorist devices. That means you could stick a four year old with a lollipop at the head of the line and he or she would have just as much success in stopping a terrorist as spending the billions of dollars we've spent hiring, training, and deploying this army of security officers.
It's a slap in the face for the federal government. You'll remember, the TSA was started by then-president George W. Bush after 9/11. It was designed to make air traffic safer in the US and the American people went along with it. Since that time, the program has been upgraded, expanded, and has grown, like every other federal government program in existence to the point that now it is a behemoth. TSA now employs (as of 1/11) over 58,000 agents around the country. That's larger than many cities!
I hate like hell having to side with someone like Rand Paul. I'm not a libertarian by any stretch, but I do believe the federal government is out of control and needs to be reigned in. To have a program such as the TSA hanging around costing us billions (and yes, Virginia, you do pay for them every time you fly!) and untold hours of standing in line. It's time that the federal government puts a halt to this program and calls it what it is, a failure. But you and I know better, don't we?
When was the last time you saw a president, especially a Democrat, shrink government? Who wants to be seen, in a still-crappy economy, throwing 58,000 people out of work? Where will they go? What other jobs require the skills they've been trained for? Answer? None. These are not your top echelon CEO's from Fortune 500 companies here. These are basically high school educated people who do real well telling people to remove their shoes and belts, and pull their laptops out of the cases and put it into the bins, and that you can't bring any more than 3 ounces of liquid through, and only if it's in a plastic bag and it's in the bin. No, sorry to say, even though the TSA has now been proven to be a sham, it won't be going away anytime soon.
But we should have known better than to do something like the TSA back when Bush was president. Islamic terrorists weren't going to try and use the airlines much after 9/11. Oh yeah, there was the Christmas Day bomber that was going to blow up a plane over Detroit (real smart....blow it up over Dearborn....the largest Islamic community in America!). But he still got on the plane, didn't he? I mean, he wasn't stopped by security at any checkpoint. It was only a passenger that noticed him trying to light his shoes that stopped him. Let's face it...this guys wasn't a Rhodes Scholar to begin with!
Terrorists have moved on to other things. Even if TSA was there in force, if the Islamic terror groups wanted to use airplanes as a weapon again, I'm sure they'd figure out a way around TSA. They're looking at other things....like shipping containers in ports, or malls, or athletic stadiums, where they can injure and kill many times the 3,000 plus people that died on 9/11. No, the terrorists aren't any more afraid of the TSA than you or I are. And we are the only ones that are paying the price.
Let's do ourselves a favor. Either we adopt the Israeli strategy for airport security (and be prepared for intensive screening because those guys don't mess around), or dump it all together. Why waste money and manpower doing something so soft as what TSA does in the airports now.
I wonder how many bridges and roadways could have been fixed under Obama's original stimulus plan had they hired the 58,000 TSA agents to repair the bridges and roads? My guess is, we'd have a really nice highway system...and still no one would have blown up an airplane!
Numbers Just Aren't On Obama's Side
So the new numbers are out for the enrollees in Obamacare. 106,000 people signed up (but have yet to actually pay for a plan...so that number will undoubtedly be smaller!) since the big rollout on October 1st. But that's not the number that has Democrats worried. There are a myriad of numbers that are more embarrassing to the president's party than that!
How about the number of 27,000? That's how many people actually signed up on the federally run website. How about 14? That's the number of Democrat senators that are up for re-election this next November, and are worried beyond belief that the health care overhaul that they supported (almost at gunpoint), more than half are expected to lose their seats....and with it the Democrat majority in the senate. How about 39? That's the percentage of Americans who approve of the job Obama is doing in office, his lowest rating since he was elected.
Yeah, the numbers don't look good. I could go on. Oh, numbers like 10%. That's the percent of people that think Obamacare is actually fine just as it is. And 84% That's the percentage of people that are calling for either scrapping the plan altogether, or major changes. Here's why that won't happen:
Mary Landreau (D), the senator from Louisiana, who is really scared of losing her seat next year, is proposing that the government actually make Obama's "promise" law. Include in the Affordable Care Act, "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it....and if you like your doctor, you can keep him/her". That spells trouble for Obamacare. If you start changing the laws to let what are known as sub-plans (plans that don't meet Obama's minimum standards) included in ACA, then you are forcing the law to collapse. If that law were to pass (and it has a veto proof majority in both houses of congress, even though Obama says he'd not sign such a law), any insurance plan would qualify for admission as "acceptable" under ACA. That means all of the crappy plans that Obamacare was supposed to weed out...the ones that didn't include contraception... the ones that didn't include maternity care...the ones that didn't include mammogram screenings... they all go by the wayside. There is no reason for anyone to buy such a plan if they don't want it. And that means that those that do are in a smaller pool. And that means that the cost of those plans that do include it just went through the ceiling.
That was the only carrot Obamacare had in it's large stick to younger people in the country. Making them pay for the higher premiums for the older people, who use more healthcare, was totally unacceptable. Only by making the older people pay for maternity (even if they were passed menopause), and birth control (again...passed menopause), could you keep costs down for the younger people. Without this carrot in the package, the whole thing blows up.
What if someone only wanted cancer insurance, but nothing else? It would have to be included if they had it before Obamacare and liked it.
Scrapping the plan now is an even worse idea. Those five million Americans who have already lost their insurance plan, are in a black hole. They have nothing at this point. Their insurance plan is gone. It's vapor. It doesn't exist anymore. If Obamacare is scrapped, he's just succeeded in adding an additional five million people to the rolls of the uninsured. Because if Obamacare is scrapped or falls apart at this point, your 25 year old daughter that's living with you because she can't find a job, can no longer be on your insurance. And your son that has a pre-existing condition can be disqualified from getting coverage, because pre-existing conditions will come back. Take the law away, and you've also got an insurance industry that would be in total chaos for years to come.
Obamacare has been, and continues to be a terrible solution to a problem that needed addressing. But it was rammed through congress amid all of the GOP screaming that this was going to happen. Well, it's happening. Don't be surprised. The GOP is terrible at being the majority party, but they're really good at foretelling the future of what happens when you leave the Dems in charge.
So what's the answer? If Obama were smart, and rumor has it that he is (though you'd never know it by this fiasco), he'd do what he does everytime he has bad news to tell....he'd punt it past the next election. Delay Obamacare at least through 2014 and let the next president worry about it. If the GOP ends up winning the White House and congress, it's toast anyway. Hell, if the GOP were to win veto-proof majorities in both houses, it's toast in January of 2015. The answer is, you have to take the individual mandate out. You have to open up the insurance market to a national audience (not just state by state), and you have to involve tort reform. The Dems won't like that last one a bit because they get a ton of money from the lawyers that make their living suing healthcare providers. But it has to be done.
Make some really needed changes to health care laws, and stop the socialist crap that doesn't work. Didn't we learn that from Europe over the last year? My hunch is, Obama isn't as smart as everyone thinks he is, and he isn't very good with numbers. Hello black hole!
How about the number of 27,000? That's how many people actually signed up on the federally run website. How about 14? That's the number of Democrat senators that are up for re-election this next November, and are worried beyond belief that the health care overhaul that they supported (almost at gunpoint), more than half are expected to lose their seats....and with it the Democrat majority in the senate. How about 39? That's the percentage of Americans who approve of the job Obama is doing in office, his lowest rating since he was elected.
Yeah, the numbers don't look good. I could go on. Oh, numbers like 10%. That's the percent of people that think Obamacare is actually fine just as it is. And 84% That's the percentage of people that are calling for either scrapping the plan altogether, or major changes. Here's why that won't happen:
Mary Landreau (D), the senator from Louisiana, who is really scared of losing her seat next year, is proposing that the government actually make Obama's "promise" law. Include in the Affordable Care Act, "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it....and if you like your doctor, you can keep him/her". That spells trouble for Obamacare. If you start changing the laws to let what are known as sub-plans (plans that don't meet Obama's minimum standards) included in ACA, then you are forcing the law to collapse. If that law were to pass (and it has a veto proof majority in both houses of congress, even though Obama says he'd not sign such a law), any insurance plan would qualify for admission as "acceptable" under ACA. That means all of the crappy plans that Obamacare was supposed to weed out...the ones that didn't include contraception... the ones that didn't include maternity care...the ones that didn't include mammogram screenings... they all go by the wayside. There is no reason for anyone to buy such a plan if they don't want it. And that means that those that do are in a smaller pool. And that means that the cost of those plans that do include it just went through the ceiling.
That was the only carrot Obamacare had in it's large stick to younger people in the country. Making them pay for the higher premiums for the older people, who use more healthcare, was totally unacceptable. Only by making the older people pay for maternity (even if they were passed menopause), and birth control (again...passed menopause), could you keep costs down for the younger people. Without this carrot in the package, the whole thing blows up.
What if someone only wanted cancer insurance, but nothing else? It would have to be included if they had it before Obamacare and liked it.
Scrapping the plan now is an even worse idea. Those five million Americans who have already lost their insurance plan, are in a black hole. They have nothing at this point. Their insurance plan is gone. It's vapor. It doesn't exist anymore. If Obamacare is scrapped, he's just succeeded in adding an additional five million people to the rolls of the uninsured. Because if Obamacare is scrapped or falls apart at this point, your 25 year old daughter that's living with you because she can't find a job, can no longer be on your insurance. And your son that has a pre-existing condition can be disqualified from getting coverage, because pre-existing conditions will come back. Take the law away, and you've also got an insurance industry that would be in total chaos for years to come.
Obamacare has been, and continues to be a terrible solution to a problem that needed addressing. But it was rammed through congress amid all of the GOP screaming that this was going to happen. Well, it's happening. Don't be surprised. The GOP is terrible at being the majority party, but they're really good at foretelling the future of what happens when you leave the Dems in charge.
So what's the answer? If Obama were smart, and rumor has it that he is (though you'd never know it by this fiasco), he'd do what he does everytime he has bad news to tell....he'd punt it past the next election. Delay Obamacare at least through 2014 and let the next president worry about it. If the GOP ends up winning the White House and congress, it's toast anyway. Hell, if the GOP were to win veto-proof majorities in both houses, it's toast in January of 2015. The answer is, you have to take the individual mandate out. You have to open up the insurance market to a national audience (not just state by state), and you have to involve tort reform. The Dems won't like that last one a bit because they get a ton of money from the lawyers that make their living suing healthcare providers. But it has to be done.
Make some really needed changes to health care laws, and stop the socialist crap that doesn't work. Didn't we learn that from Europe over the last year? My hunch is, Obama isn't as smart as everyone thinks he is, and he isn't very good with numbers. Hello black hole!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
What Does The GOP Have To Do To Derail Obamacare?
The answer is simple. Nothing. I've often thought that this law is so heavy, so restrictive, so omnipresent that all the GOP really has to do is let it collapse under it's own weight. It's well on it's way of doing that, and there really isn't anything the Dems or Obama himself can do to stop it. Ever tried to stop a runaway train?
The GOP has passed umpteen bills in the house hell-bent on de-funding, derailing, postponing or just plain stopping Obamacare from taking place. That is 180 degrees the wrong thing to do. The GOP can honestly and earnestly say that not one member of their party voted for this fiasco. So, why would you expend so much time, and energy trying to stop it? You know the old saying...when an idiot is arguing with you, get out of the way and let him be himself? Well, when a bill is going to upset the American people (and you've already told them that), let the damn thing go into effect, and get out of the way.
The worst thing the Republicans could do right now is stop this train wreck. They shut down the government for 17 days saying unless Obama delayed ACA (Affordable Care Act), they'd shut down the government. Remember all the crap Ted Cruz took for that? Well, he was right to get crap for it. What a stupid idea. As it turns out, the GOP is going to be able to make hay from the shutdown after all. There is no way the website is going to be up and running by December 1st, which means there's no way that everybody that NEEDS to buy insurance can before January 1st. Now, Democrats are crying that they need to delay the rollout. If the GOP was smart, they'd fight it. Here's why:
A) If the Dems delay the rollout of Obamacare, they give the GOP the win in the shutdown. The GOP demanded an Obamacare delay to avoid the shutdown, and the Dems (rightfully) said no. However, if the Dems allow it to be delayed any longer now, then the whole 17 day shutdown was for naught.
B) Let's say that the Dems get the delay a lot of them are seeking. No longer are Americans going to be feeling the pain of Obamacare in 2014 prior to the mid-term elections. This takes a HUGE campaign issue off the table for the GOP. If Obamacare is out there, and is in full force, there are going to be angry people ready to repeal it at the polls. The GOP can easily take the Senate and expand their House lead if that happens. If there's a delay, you've lost some of that momentum.
C) Time and logistics are on the GOP's side. The more people that get cancellation letters in the mail, the more the media talks about it, the longer it goes on, the less people are talking about anything else. It's the same reason Obama wanted to talk about anything except the economy in 2012. That's why he's out on the campaign trail right now railing for bills he knows has no chance in hell of passing. Immigration, a minimum wage increase, etc. It's all for show. Get people talking about anything except Obamacare.
D) Not only will Obama's numbers continue to crumble if this monstrosity continues to unravel, but it also will dampen the 2016 presidential race. Do you remember who Barack Obama ran against in 2008? It wasn't John McCain. It was George W. Bush. And the GOP will be smart when Hillary Clinton is anointed the Democratic nominee to not run against her, but run against another 4 years of Obama. Her numbers will follow his in that light. It's not the economy stupid this time....it's your right to choose your doctor.
So the main question is, will the GOP have the gonads to try and delay any delay of Obamacare? They should simply force the Senate to either repeal the bill entirely or label it dead because the bill said that it would start on 1/1/14. If it doesn't, the bill has been violated and should be ruled null and void (like a lot of the other parts of the bill). Therefore, either take away Obama's only achievement as president, or nullify it because he didn't follow it.
My guess is, the GOP doesn't have the balls to do any of that. They'll delay it until after the 2014 elections and give the Dems another victory. So close, and yet so far!
The GOP has passed umpteen bills in the house hell-bent on de-funding, derailing, postponing or just plain stopping Obamacare from taking place. That is 180 degrees the wrong thing to do. The GOP can honestly and earnestly say that not one member of their party voted for this fiasco. So, why would you expend so much time, and energy trying to stop it? You know the old saying...when an idiot is arguing with you, get out of the way and let him be himself? Well, when a bill is going to upset the American people (and you've already told them that), let the damn thing go into effect, and get out of the way.
The worst thing the Republicans could do right now is stop this train wreck. They shut down the government for 17 days saying unless Obama delayed ACA (Affordable Care Act), they'd shut down the government. Remember all the crap Ted Cruz took for that? Well, he was right to get crap for it. What a stupid idea. As it turns out, the GOP is going to be able to make hay from the shutdown after all. There is no way the website is going to be up and running by December 1st, which means there's no way that everybody that NEEDS to buy insurance can before January 1st. Now, Democrats are crying that they need to delay the rollout. If the GOP was smart, they'd fight it. Here's why:
A) If the Dems delay the rollout of Obamacare, they give the GOP the win in the shutdown. The GOP demanded an Obamacare delay to avoid the shutdown, and the Dems (rightfully) said no. However, if the Dems allow it to be delayed any longer now, then the whole 17 day shutdown was for naught.
B) Let's say that the Dems get the delay a lot of them are seeking. No longer are Americans going to be feeling the pain of Obamacare in 2014 prior to the mid-term elections. This takes a HUGE campaign issue off the table for the GOP. If Obamacare is out there, and is in full force, there are going to be angry people ready to repeal it at the polls. The GOP can easily take the Senate and expand their House lead if that happens. If there's a delay, you've lost some of that momentum.
C) Time and logistics are on the GOP's side. The more people that get cancellation letters in the mail, the more the media talks about it, the longer it goes on, the less people are talking about anything else. It's the same reason Obama wanted to talk about anything except the economy in 2012. That's why he's out on the campaign trail right now railing for bills he knows has no chance in hell of passing. Immigration, a minimum wage increase, etc. It's all for show. Get people talking about anything except Obamacare.
D) Not only will Obama's numbers continue to crumble if this monstrosity continues to unravel, but it also will dampen the 2016 presidential race. Do you remember who Barack Obama ran against in 2008? It wasn't John McCain. It was George W. Bush. And the GOP will be smart when Hillary Clinton is anointed the Democratic nominee to not run against her, but run against another 4 years of Obama. Her numbers will follow his in that light. It's not the economy stupid this time....it's your right to choose your doctor.
So the main question is, will the GOP have the gonads to try and delay any delay of Obamacare? They should simply force the Senate to either repeal the bill entirely or label it dead because the bill said that it would start on 1/1/14. If it doesn't, the bill has been violated and should be ruled null and void (like a lot of the other parts of the bill). Therefore, either take away Obama's only achievement as president, or nullify it because he didn't follow it.
My guess is, the GOP doesn't have the balls to do any of that. They'll delay it until after the 2014 elections and give the Dems another victory. So close, and yet so far!
Monday, November 11, 2013
This Is NO Way To Run A Government!
Let's take a quick look back at the past few months of the Obama Administration. They got nailed over a year ago for incompetent bungling of the attacks of the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. That, by the way, still has yet to be resolved, even after the president swore to the American public that he would "get to the bottom of this, and punish those guilty of the attacks." To date, no one has been indicted, no one has been punished, even the people that were on the ground and survived have been silenced and kept from testifying to Congress. All to save Hillary Clinton's chances at running for president in 2016.
Next up, we look at the IRS scandal. The IRS targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups when it came to tax-exempt status, holding it up for, in some cases, years. Lois Learner, the lady that was in charge of the mess, was put on paid administrative leave for over 6 months (big punishment), and then retired. I'd kinda like that punishment, thank you very much! No one of consequence has been punished, indicted, and certainly convicted for this.
Eric Holder skated when he approved the Justice Department's wire-tapping and email tapping of Fox News' James Rosen because why? Rosen had a source that was feeding him information. Rosen, wasn't doing anything illegal or immoral. Hell, he was doing his job. So, why was Holder going after him? Because he needed to find the leak and it was a good way to do it. Eric Holder should be in jail, not running the Justice Department.
That brings us up to the botched rollout of Obamacare. Kathleen Sebelious has screwed the pooch on this one. And in the words of columnist George Will, "The Obama administration will look back at this rollout as the 'good ol' days' of Obamacare." He's right. Sebelious should be fired for her incompetence when it comes to rolling out something that wasn't ready for late night, much less primetime. The health care overhaul is a debacle and there is no other way to describe it. Obama keeps saying he's sorry for the mess, and they're going to get it right. Of course, he's the guy that also said if you like your health care plan you can keep it. Period. And if you like your doctor, you can keep him/her. Period. Wrong on both accounts.
This is the way to run the government? This isn't a way to run a friggin' lemonade stand. What we are witnessing is the collapse of liberal belief. We are seeing the bill coming due for decades of cradle to grave care and big government in America. The bill is something we can't pay, and the people that have run up the bill are pointing fingers at each other trying to foist the blame anywhere but themselves. Liberals are really good at that. But what I find funny, is now they've started to eat their young. It can't continue but it's fun to watch.
Liberal unions that supported Obamacare, and without who's support it would have failed, have now found themselves caught up in its tentacles. Oh, sure. Obama is going to try and dance his way out of this one, but the damage will be done. What about all of those state employees (who are union members) that for years negotiated away pay raises in lieu of extra retirement and insurance benefits? Now they are finding the cities and states they worked for are bankrupt and can't come close to paying what they owe. Again....caught in their own web.
And still, the same Americans who thought "Obama money" was going to buy them a new car, or a new kitchen have their hand out looking for freebies. Isn't it time to wake up and realize there are no freebies? Or are these people so damn stupid that they just want to take and take and don't think the day of reckoning will come?
Liberalism is based on a house of cards. It's like socialism or communism. It works well for a little while, but it soon collapses on itself because there is no way to keep it going. It's like the pyramid scheme that everybody buys into, but then they run out of people. American liberals have run out of people. The crash is coming and it ain't going to be fun to watch!
What's the solution? Someone in DC has got to grow a pair and make cuts. They won't be popular cuts, but they're going to have to happen. Otherwise, change our country's name to "Detroit" and welcome the Chinese as our new leaders. It'll be painful. It'll be more painful if we don't remember who it was that put us in this mess in the first place!
Next up, we look at the IRS scandal. The IRS targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups when it came to tax-exempt status, holding it up for, in some cases, years. Lois Learner, the lady that was in charge of the mess, was put on paid administrative leave for over 6 months (big punishment), and then retired. I'd kinda like that punishment, thank you very much! No one of consequence has been punished, indicted, and certainly convicted for this.
Eric Holder skated when he approved the Justice Department's wire-tapping and email tapping of Fox News' James Rosen because why? Rosen had a source that was feeding him information. Rosen, wasn't doing anything illegal or immoral. Hell, he was doing his job. So, why was Holder going after him? Because he needed to find the leak and it was a good way to do it. Eric Holder should be in jail, not running the Justice Department.
That brings us up to the botched rollout of Obamacare. Kathleen Sebelious has screwed the pooch on this one. And in the words of columnist George Will, "The Obama administration will look back at this rollout as the 'good ol' days' of Obamacare." He's right. Sebelious should be fired for her incompetence when it comes to rolling out something that wasn't ready for late night, much less primetime. The health care overhaul is a debacle and there is no other way to describe it. Obama keeps saying he's sorry for the mess, and they're going to get it right. Of course, he's the guy that also said if you like your health care plan you can keep it. Period. And if you like your doctor, you can keep him/her. Period. Wrong on both accounts.
This is the way to run the government? This isn't a way to run a friggin' lemonade stand. What we are witnessing is the collapse of liberal belief. We are seeing the bill coming due for decades of cradle to grave care and big government in America. The bill is something we can't pay, and the people that have run up the bill are pointing fingers at each other trying to foist the blame anywhere but themselves. Liberals are really good at that. But what I find funny, is now they've started to eat their young. It can't continue but it's fun to watch.
Liberal unions that supported Obamacare, and without who's support it would have failed, have now found themselves caught up in its tentacles. Oh, sure. Obama is going to try and dance his way out of this one, but the damage will be done. What about all of those state employees (who are union members) that for years negotiated away pay raises in lieu of extra retirement and insurance benefits? Now they are finding the cities and states they worked for are bankrupt and can't come close to paying what they owe. Again....caught in their own web.
And still, the same Americans who thought "Obama money" was going to buy them a new car, or a new kitchen have their hand out looking for freebies. Isn't it time to wake up and realize there are no freebies? Or are these people so damn stupid that they just want to take and take and don't think the day of reckoning will come?
Liberalism is based on a house of cards. It's like socialism or communism. It works well for a little while, but it soon collapses on itself because there is no way to keep it going. It's like the pyramid scheme that everybody buys into, but then they run out of people. American liberals have run out of people. The crash is coming and it ain't going to be fun to watch!
What's the solution? Someone in DC has got to grow a pair and make cuts. They won't be popular cuts, but they're going to have to happen. Otherwise, change our country's name to "Detroit" and welcome the Chinese as our new leaders. It'll be painful. It'll be more painful if we don't remember who it was that put us in this mess in the first place!
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