I drink Leinenkugel’s and he follows me on twitter. Conincidence? I think not!
I wonder, if he realized that I can’t vote for him, if he’d be following me?
No Runny Eggs
The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
Archive for posts by Shoebox.
May 23, 2010
May 18, 2010
Quick, Find the Punchline
The AP has a story out this morning which shows that Jeremiah Wright (I refuse to call him “Reverend” anymore) has publicly recognized that he’s seen the underside of the Obama motor coach. According to the article, after a request to lobby the White house for funds for Africa, Wright wrote:
“No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am ‘toxic’ in terms of the Obama administration,”
Apparently Jeremiah is not quite as delusional as I thought he was. While I’m sure he still doesn’t understand that it was his own idiotic and racist statements that landed him under the bus, he certainly recognizes the tread marks on his chest.
Jeremiah however, isn’t really what caught my interest in the AP story. The story goes on to tell about Muhammad Ali’s former manager, Arthur Morrison, and how, while in prison, he is apparently trying to aid children in Haiti via a charity. Read this:
Prischak (an associate of Morrison’s) told Wright in a Feb. 11 letter that he was seeking the clergyman’s help in reaching out to the U.S. Treasury Department. He said that Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, had entrusted 87 million British pounds in 1990 to Morrison and Ali to buy pharmaceuticals, milk and food for the children of Iraq.
Uday Hussein of the famed “mustard gas on Kurds” Husseins has left money for a charity to buy “pharmaceuticals” for Iraq’s children? I wonder if this fund is managed by Mr. Clemen Okon in Nigeria?
There’s obviously a punchline, if not two or three, in here somewhere. I’m just too slow to figure out what it is!
Investors Are Morons
So, I’m reading through an AP article about the DOW’s wild ride today and come across this sentence:
Investors are questioning whether steep budget cuts in countries including Greece, Spain and Portugal will hinder an economic recovery in Europe.
Do “investors” not understand that each and every dollar that is spent by any government is appropriated from the private sector somewhere?
Even after the experience of Obama’s “stimulus”, are “investors” still delusional enough to believe that government spending actually stimulates anything?
Do “investors” not understand that without dramatic changes in most government spending that nations one by one will see defaults?
Do “investors” not understand that their desire for increased government spending is simply satisfying a short term thrill for long term, significant pain?
Real investors understand each of the items I outlined. However, the bunch of government, teat sucking sycophants that operate wall street don’t. Those “investors” are morons!
May 17, 2010
Coming Soon to a State Near You…The Third World
According to the CMA Soverign Risk Monitor, California is perceived to be the eight most likely government to default on their debt. While countries like Venezuela and Argentina are worse, Iraq with it’s continuing challenges of maintaining a stable government, is actually ranked better.
Meanwhile, California is wrestling with a $19.1 B as in Billion shortfall. Arnold, am I political fish or fowl, Schwarzenegger, has decided he’s fish in this debate and has called for an end to the California welfare system. In what has become expected, trite and completely in line with leadership shown in Washington, the Democrats, who control both houses in California, have said, “nope” and are chasing a plan to increase taxes.
In what has become a rare event, I applaud Schwarzenegger for calling out reality on this topic. California has been one of the hardest hit states during this recession. Increasing taxes will not only not close the budget gap but will exacerbate the economic challenges, likely making anywhere in Michigan a more appealing place for business development. Where I disagree wtih Arnold is that he continues to attempt to be a moderate and walk both sides of the fence.
Less than a week ago, Arnold stuck his nose into Arizona’s business. He derided the recently passed immigration laws and joked that he would likely be deported under the new Arizona law.
Estimates have California with over 2 million illegal immigrants, over twice the number of the next largest illegal population estimated in Texas. While you may say, “yeah, but they have a lot of other people,” you’d be right. But, that estimate also says that over 6 out of every 100 people are illegal immigrants in CA and the is over 3 times the national average.
Depending upon the study you choose to use, illegal immigrants cost the country somewhere between $40 and $80 billion each year. While the estimates I used earlier don’t reflect the total numbers of illegals believed to be in the US, it does likely represent the distribution across the states. That estimate showed that approximately 1/3 of the illegal immigrants in the US were in California. Let’s see…1/3 of $40 billion is about $13.3B. 1/3 of $80 billion is about $27 billion.
A quick suggestion for you Arnold, if you want to deal with your budget problem deal with the problem and not the symptom. If you want to fix the budget via an overhaul of the welfare system, you should start by fixing the problem that is causing your welfare problem to be so big…Illegal Immigration. An apology to the people of the State of Arizona would be a good place to start!
May 10, 2010
Well, Which Is It?
In his commencement address, Sunday, at Hampton University, Virginia, President Obama told the students that information and acting upon that information, was the key to a successful democracy:
“What Jefferson recognized… that in the long run, their improbable experiment — called America — wouldn’t work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn’t have the best interests of all the people at heart.
“It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship.”
In what is as rare as Robert Gibbs’ ability to provide a lucid and logical explanation as to what the administration’s policy on terror man made events is, I agree with President Obama.
As you read stories of our country’s founding, you will find that even then, with the relatively rudimentary communication tools, at least as compared to today, information and debates about that information were key to the success of nearly every endeavor of the nation. Most especially one can see the import that information and debate had on the nation’s founding if you study any of the history of the creation and ratification of the Constitution.
Flash forward to today and you see information having the same place as the corner stone in democracy. While the tools for disseminating it have changed, information and the debate of information, remains the key to our democracy. One only need look at “leaders” like Hugo Chavez and how they all attempt to control the flow of information as one of their first acts, to understand how important information flow is to a free people. Can anyone imagine how a movement without structure could have the impact that the tea party is having, if it didn’t have access to and the means to distribute information in a free and rapid fashion?
Earlier in his speech, President Obama complained about
arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter.
He added:
With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.
Really? Information becomes a distraction? I guess that might be true if your goal was not debate but to dictate “truth” and “fact” as you want it to be seen. In that case, conflicting information would certainly be a “distraction.” However, in any honest assessment of an issue, debate, which nearly by definition, means disagreement is the best way to find answers. Not to go all Biblical on you this early in the week but have you never heard of iron sharpening iron?
Unfortunately, with a political life that was forged in Chicago, President Obama is used to avoiding debate and only hearing the comforting, echoing applause of support for every socialist idea he puts forth. “Information” in President Obama’s world is just one more distraction on his way to a “transformed” America.
One last thought…in light of his comments and his knock on the newest information and technology gadgets, has anyone informed the President that we are an information age economy? Oh, my mistake, I was assuming for a moment that a robust economy was something that the President would want.
May 6, 2010
Boy, This is Getting Old!
I told you so.
I told you so!
I TOLD YOU SO!
Remember back a few weeks when Henry Waxman had gotten all balled up that AT&T, Verizon and a few others had filed SEC documents noting substantial earnings hits due to the passage of Placebocare?
Remember a few days short of a few weeks ago when Henry became annoyed and called the previously mentioned companies in to testify before Congress because he was sure that their filings were in violation of something that Henry held sacred?
Remember a few days closer to now when Henry cancelled the hearings and claimed that the previously mentioned companies had requested the cancellation because they had come to their senses and were willing to no further impugn Henry’s ability to understand the law he voted for?
Remember after that, when I said this:
But, let me ask you this; which of the following two scenarios do you think is most likely?
Scenario A: Companies who paid a bunch of money to consultants and attorneys for the purpose of understanding placebocare. After getting information that said “bleed red ink NOW”, have now come to the conclusion that they really have no conclusion about the future costs of health care and they’re willing to give Congress the benefit of the doubt on Placebocare?
Or
Scenario B: Henry Waxman had no idea what actually is in Placebocare. After getting his bald head pulled tighter than a pair of lycra pants on Michael Moore, he launched his hearings to make sure people didn’t think Democrats were fools. However, following scalp relaxation therapy, Henry learned that not only were the SEC filings proper, they were required by law. Henry also was told that hearings would only serve the purpose of removing any question that the Democrats had/have no idea what is in Placebocare nor the implications of it on the American people and businesses. Henry, wanting no further embarrassment, decided the cancel the hearings.
Yeah, me too!
OK, well, now read this:
Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, show what the bill’s critics predicted, and what its champions dreaded: many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government.
…
The announcements greatly annoyed Representative Henry Waxman, who accused the companies of using the big numbers to exaggerate health care reform’s burden on employers. Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, demanded that they turn over their confidential memos, and summoned their top executives for hearings.
But Waxman didn’t simply request documents related to the write down issue. He wanted every document the companies created that discussed what the bill would do to their most uncontrollable expense: healthcare costs.
The request yielded 1,100 pages of documents from four major employers: AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and Deere (DE, Fortune 500). No sooner did the Democrats on the Energy Committee read them than they abruptly cancelled the hearings. On April 14, the Committee’s majority staff issued a memo stating that the write downs were “proper and in accordance with SEC rules.” The committee also stated that the memos took a generally sunny view of the new legislation. The documents, said the Democrats’ memo, show that “the overall impact of health reform on large employers could be beneficial.”
Don’t doubt me! I know politicians like I know every succulent tongue tingle of a Tanqueray martini, up, with olives!
‘Nuff said!
April 30, 2010
Well, There You Go Again!
Repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome is a satirical definition for insanity. Unfortunately, it is also the definition for many government endeavors…but I repeat myself.
A contributing factor to the economic freefall that we’ve experienced the past two years, is that mortgage companies and mortgage originators, were being leveraged by the Federal government to provide home loans to people who weren’t able to repay them. Under the guise of a “chicken in every pot” and a “house for every family,” banks were rated on how well they served the low income communities in terms of providing mortgages. If the banks didn’t rate well, i.e. didn’t make the loans that wouldn’t get paid back, the government could retaliate by keeping them from other programs or denying a merger request. The result was that many of these loans were those that were part of the real estate collapse which triggered our downturn.
Today’s USAtoday is reporting that the Treasury Department is now using the FDIC’s former bag of tricks.
The Treasury Department plans to rate mortgage companies on how they treat customers as part of the Obama administration’s $75 billion foreclosure relief effort. The report, which will measure how each company handles borrowers, is expected by July, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.
Oh, boy, here we go again! It doesn’t matter whether the decisions are made on solid history and financial grounds, the only measurement will be “how they handle borrowers.” In other words, if you don’t extend the loan, regardless of the financial situation or capacity of the borrower, you’re toast!
If you thought we were past the housing mess, we’re not! All we’re doing is queuing it up for another bag of crap at another future date!
April 26, 2010
Ummmmmmmmm
Just one question:
Will Sting be returning the wealth he’s amassed from selling his music on all of those highly ungreen records and CDs? Oh, maybe he’s planning on donating it to pay for his “bigger government?”
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Not Very Bright, But He’s Happy!
To say I’m an “avid” pheasant is a probably an over statement. I’m probably more in the category of “I really like it” and wished I had more time to pursue the endeavor. That said, each year for the past several, I truck off to the dead center of South Dakota for a week of chasing “ditch chickens.” When the weather is bad, it’s a lot of fun. When the weather is good, like it has been the last couple of years, there is nothing I enjoy doing more….at least not with a group of men!
In the past, I’ve been a tag a long on our trips. I can’t shoot well, I don’t own a dog, and frankly, I really had no idea how to work the fields properly. However, over the years, I’ve gotten better at working the fields but still can’t hit the broadside of a barn even though I’ve now got a semi automatic shotgun that allows me to put a lot of lead in the air in the general direction of said “ditch chickens.”
Last year I stepped up my hunting game. It was probably some form of a mid life crisis but I decided I needed a hunting dog. After searching some ads and online listings, I found a dog that had some hunting experience, whose owner needed to get him to a new home. Jake became my hunting partner last fall and after being together only three weeks, one of which included him going to the vet for his “special visit,” we went to South Dakota.
Jake and English Springer and is all nose. When he gets a scent, nothing can detract him. That’s a great trait for hunting and he proved it on our first trip. As an English Springer, Jake is also prone to not having all the synapses firing at the same time. The net is that Jake is singularly focused and successful in one area; smell and with everything else, he’s just a ditz. As long as we understand and use Jake’s strengths, we accept his shortcomings. We refer to Jake as not being very bright, but he’s happy!
On Friday, Vice President Biden was at a Pennsylvania fundraiser where he stated that the economy would soon be generating 500,000 jobs a month!
“Well, I’m here to tell you, some time in the next couple of months, we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.”
Good ol’ Joe! He’s the same Joe who recently told us that “JOBS” is a three letter word:
Joe’s also the guy who continues to tell people that the loss of 8 millions jobs was actually he and Obama being successful!
Like Jake, Joe has one purpose in life; his ignorant and gaffed filled statements give the media something to focus on other than Obama’s continued inability to execute. As such, Biden serves a useful if not, singular purpose. Also like Jake at our household, I’ve got to believe that each day Biden gets his face in the news, President Obama and other members of the White house say, “He’s not very bright but, he’s happy!”
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April 23, 2010
Hey Rosie!
And all her 911 denier friends….you know that oil rig that exploded and has now sunk in the gulf…..mostly steel! Worse yet, mostly steel, surrounded by water!
Imagine that!
April 21, 2010
Does Any Doubt Remain?
The “coincidental” timing of the SEC charges of fraud against Goldman Sachs as Obama launched his effort to further control the banking industry, left many wondering whether there wasn’t a coordinated effort between the White house and the SEC to sway public opinion on the legislation.
Well, wonder no more!
CNBC is reporting that the SEC’s own investigation and interviews have uncovered evidence that will undercut the core accusation of the SEC’s case.
The SEC accuses Goldman of breaching its fiduciary responsibility and committing fraud by not disclosing that a hedge fund was planning to short its offering of mortgage backed securities. Unfortunately for the SEC, it’s own interviews show that the company who planned to short the CDO specifically met and told the impacted companies, that it was planning to do so.
If Perry Mason were on a murder case where his defendant had been accused of murder but had someone else admitting to the murder, I’ll be he would at least follow up on the lead. Of course he would because Perry Mason had principles, fought for the truth and wasn’t persuaded by political gain.
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There He Goes Again
Formulaic – made according to a formula
He inherited the recession
Banks were greedy
Insurance companies are greedy
Tea party people caused divisions in America
Congress was responsible for the back room Placebocare deals
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Is there anything negative that President Obama has taken responsibility for?
In a sign of true leadership, President Obama is teaching those willing to learn, the fine art of blaming someone else. At a fund raiser for challenged California Senator, Barbara Boxer, President Obama laid the blame for her potential defeat squarely on……Boxer’s supporters!
“I don’t want anyone here taking this for granted,” he said at a reception at the California Science Center, the first of a trio of fundraisers Monday night for Boxer and the Democratic National Committee.
“Unless she’s got that support she might not win this thing, and I don’t think that’s an acceptable outcome. So I want everyone to work hard,” the president said.
Just like Obama’s previous deflections, Obama believes that none of the actions of the person responsible for their actions are the reason for the rejection they now face. No, Boxer’s challenges have nothing to do with her vote on health care or her unblemished support for Obama’s far left agenda. According to Obama, the sole reason Boxer might lose is a lack of support and effort from her supports.
Just keep dreamin’ those unicorn dreams Mr. President. November is rapidly approaching!
April 15, 2010
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Hearings
Right after the signing of Placebocare, several prominent companies including AT&T, Caterpillar and Verizon, noted that they were taking significant financial charges to recognize the new costs imposed by the impostor reform bill. Democrats took offense at the notion that laws that they so vigorously support i.e. Placebocare and SEC full disclosure rules, along with their own ignorance, had set themselves up to be shown as fools. Their solution? Call hearings to discredit and badger the companies giving them the black eye.
Yesterday, we hear that Henry Waxman has decided to cancel the hearings that would have had the previously mentioned companies explain themselves to Congress. Ostensibly, the cancellation was at the request of several of the companies slated to testify. According to Waxman:
“Companies like AT&T, Verizon, and a range of stakeholder associations are hopeful that the benefits of the new law will outweigh the costs,” Waxman stated.
Yeah, I guess that could have happened. But, let me ask you this; which of the following two scenarios do you think is most likely?
Scenario A: Companies who paid a bunch of money to consultants and attorneys for the purpose of understanding placebocare. After getting information that said “bleed red ink NOW”, have now come to the conclusion that they really have no conclusion about the future costs of health care and they’re willing to give Congress the benefit of the doubt on Placebocare?
Or
Scenario B: Henry Waxman had no idea what actually is in Placebocare. After getting his bald head pulled tighter than a pair of lycra pants on Michael Moore, he launched his hearings to make sure people didn’t think Democrats were fools. However, following scalp relaxation therapy, Henry learned that not only were the SEC filings proper, they were required by law. Henry also was told that hearings would only serve the purpose of removing any question that the Democrats had/have no idea what is in Placebocare nor the implications of it on the American people and businesses. Henry, wanting no further embarrassment, decided the cancel the hearings.
Yeah, me too!
April 14, 2010
April 12, 2010
It’s Not How Often But When
Last Wednesday, former Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, testified to Congress about his involvement in the financial wreck that we’re still living through.
Greenspan was question about his decisions and whether those contributed to the bubble burst. Through out his testimony, Greenspan refused to admit any responsibility or even allow that the Fed’s action may have been at least contributory to the creation of the housing and banking bubble. In fact, after being pointedly questioned about whether the Feds policy of keeping interest rates low for a historically long time, despite increasing economic activity, Greenspan deflected the accusation. Rather than the Fed, Greenspan pointed his long bony finger to Freddie MAC and Fannie MAE claiming that they were the cause of the bubble.
Without a doubt, Freddie and Fannie were major factors in the housing collapse. Without doubt, loaning into the marginal nth of home buyers drove prices up while creating even more risk in the loans that were allowing those purchases to take place. However, equally without doubt is that a key enabler for this activity was the historically low rates that Greenspan’s Fed maintained.
Had interest rates been allowed to rise, the marginal homebuyers would have been taken out of the market. Had interest rates risen, more monthly income would have gone towards interest which would have meant less for principle and in turn, less for the purchase price of the house. For Greenspan not to understand or admit the connectedness of these items saddens me as I had though him to be one of the few beltway folks who were able to rise above their own egos and actually hold to the ideal of “public service.”
At one point in his testimony, Greenspan conceded that he wasn’t always right:
In the business I was in, I was right 70% of the time, but I was wrong 30% of the time
The point that Greenspan misses is not how often you are right but rather, are you right about the important issues. In this case, he clearly wasn’t. I’d be willing to bet that if you had asked Edward John Smith how often he was correct in his business, he’d of likely told you a percentage much higher than Greenspan’s. Yeah, lots of good that did the folks on the Titanic and lots of good Greenspan’s batting average did us!
March 22, 2010
Pay No Attention to That Flashing Red Light
From Bloomberg:
Obama Paying More Than Buffett as Bonds Show U.S. Losing AAA
Yup, in short order, we the American taxpayer are paying more than Warren Buffet and his green companies for debt. Hell, we’re even paying more now than the Germans!
Haven’t the debt markets heard that the deficit problem has been solved? Yeah, you see, we’re going to pay for 30 million more people to have all the health coverage they want, none of them will pay a dime for it and yet it won’t cost the government an extra nickle. In fact, they’ve got this health thing so figured out that by paying for more people, we’re actually going to save money as a nation!
OK, to be fair, the article does say that part of the reason that the corporate debt yield is lower than the Treasury is that high credit companies don’t seem to be borrowing as much anymore. Huh, why do you suppose that is? Do they know something the Federal Government doesn’t? Yeah, probably one thing; any money they borrow they’ll eventually have to pay back without the ability to make wage slaves of their customers.
We’re so screwed!
March 21, 2010
March 19, 2010
March 17, 2010
Pulling The Plug
First, an aside:
For both of you who have been kind enough to have read my previously regular blather, I owe you an explanation.
I have not lost interest in the topics of the day or blogging. I couldn’t be more passionate about either. No, the reason you haven’t seen much from me lately is that I’ve taken a new role in KY (go Wildcats!) and have been commuting between there and my family back in Minnesota. With a new role that is all consuming and a family who would like to be all consuming, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and pen much. I hope that in the future I can rebalance work and life and get the time to get back to my avocation. OK, on to the meat….
Being involved in a loved one’s death can be an emotionally and physically trying experience. Oh, I’m not referring to the occassional parental notion to eat their young, I’m referring to the actual physical death of a loved one’s earthly body. While I haven’t experienced the death of a member of my immediate family despite several close calls, I have watched the impact as Mrs. Shoe has lost both her oldest brother and her father.
In the case of Mrs. Shoe’s oldest brother, he had a long, debilitating battle with mesothelioma. I saw as this large, robust specimen of a man was reduced to something approaching a 98 pound weakling size as the cancer took its toll. I also watched as his family, including Mrs. Shoe, dealt with the inevitable while hoping and praying for the miraculous. I don’t remember exactly the time frame but, I believe it was about three years that the family dealt with the continuous deterioration and in many cases, the hopelessness of the disease, before he passed.
In the other case, of Mrs. Shoe’s father, while he too had a debilitating disease, emphysema, no one really considered the likelihood of his death much until we got the call. Mrs. Shoe’s dad had contracted pneumonia while on vacation. While in the hospital, his doctor put him on a ventilator to allow his lungs to heal. Unfortunately, what was intended to heal, ultimately led to his death. It turned out that Dad’s lungs, once relieved of the daily effort of providing for the body, never wanted to work on their own again. After a few days, dad slipped into a coma and the family was left with the decision of waiting, hoping, praying or “pulling the plug.”
Of the two experiences, I’m hard pressed to determine which is preferable. On the one hand, a long drawn out illness allows the family to adjust. On the other hand, the adjustment is continual and you go through some real emotional roller coasters as you get a bit of hope only to be dashed by a new, negative prognosis.
When looking at an “end of life decision,” the good is you only have to make the decision once. The bad is that you have to make the decision at all.
At this point you may ask, “Why the morose litany Shoebox?”
It is now clear that no matter how the Democrats ultimately vote on Placebocare they are watching the death of the Barack Obama Presidency and likely, the Democrat party as we know it. All the polls are showing a solid majority of Americans against Placebocare. Moreover, the anti Placebocare is not just a passing fancy. The folks who are against it are against it vehemently. When you look at the state by state and district by district polling, there is no way that the Democrats will maintain the House and it is becoming more likely that they could lose the Senate.
If the Democrats pass Placebocare they may placate their base. By doing so they may be able to give Obama a “victory” which might allow him to at least appear like he is in charge until November or more appropriately, January of next year.
If the Democrats don’t pass the Placebocare, President Obama immediately becomes a lame duck President. The Senators up for election and the entire Democrat caucus of the House will immediately go into self preservation mode. The result will be that no legislation proposed by Obama, other than supporting a proclamation for Mother’s Day, will get any support from either House and President Obama will be politically neutered.
In the final analysis, for President Obama and the Democrat party the end will be the same, they will die politically. The only question in my mind is whether the Democrats will pass Placebocare and watch Obama and the party waste away to a 98 pound weakling before succumbing or whether the Democrats will have the courage to “pull the plug” and save us all the interim agony?
March 5, 2010
American Jihadists
If you hear the word “jihad,” what comes to mind? Outside of an immediate thought of “Islam,” how about one of this:
A crusade or struggle characterized by the participants willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the benefit of said crusade or struggle.
It’s now apparent that the Democrat leadership of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry, dancing on another 36,000 job deaths, Reid, have decided to do anything and everything they can to pass Placebocare. Which version or what is actually contained in Placebocare doesn’t even matter to them anymore. They will enact any version or combination of the government takeover of health care that they can find enough votes or contrivance of procedures to get it passed.
The vehicle that is getting the most focus for enacting Placebocare is via reconciliation. For the life of me I can’t figure out how they use reconciliation as there isn’t a bill that both Houses are working on. In my mind, the only way to get Placebocare passed, as things stand today, is to convince the House to pass the Senate bill just as it stands.
Whether the Democrats attempt reconciliation, pass the Senate bill or use some other mechanism, the implications on their November prospects are the same; Horrible! Note the following quotes and polls:
“What the President is really asking House Democrats to do is hold hands, jump off a cliff and hope Harry Reid catches them,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference said. “And, Harry Reid will have no incentive to catch them because by the time he gets to the reconciliation bill, the President will have already signed the health care bill into law.”
“It was another emphatic denunciation by [Democratic Rep. Stephanie] Herseth Sandlin of the reconciliation process, a controversial technique allowing Democratic leadership in the Senate to bypass an otherwise required 60-vote super majority. And it also was a clear rejection of the Senate version of health-care reform, approved when Democrats still had the 60 votes needed for a super majority.” (Kevin Woster, “Herseth Sandlin says no to Senate health bill, reconciliation,” Rapid City Journal, 03/04/10)
“House Democrats have said they don’t trust the Senate to actto make changes to the Senate bill, which the House would likely have to pass before they’re able to take up a new bill to make changes to that original legislation.” (Michael O’Brien, “Stabenow: House and Dems hammering out final health bill details,” The Hill, 03/04/10)
“… 48 percent saying lawmakers should work on an entirely new bill and a quarter saying Congress should stop all work on health care reform.” (Paul Steinhauser, “CNN Poll: Health care provisions popular but overall bills unpopular,” CNN, 02/24/10)
Even Howard Dean, no shrinking violet when it comes to larger government and bureaucratic controls, recognizes that budget gimmickry of Placebocare will cause the Democrats pain not only in 2010 but also in the 2012 election:
“The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who’s running for office to dry — including the president, in 2012, because it makes him defend a plan that isn’t in effect essentially yet,” Dean said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press Radio Show.
With the heated, negative perception of Placebocare, even amongst the Democrats themselves, a reasonable question would be, “Why, if the results are surely political death, would Obama, Pelosi and Reid push for the passage of Placebocare?” The answer is very straight forward; the Democrat leadership is perfectly willing to commit political suicide for themselves and all those around them, if they are able to move their crusade forward. Obama, Pelosi and Reid are American jihadists.
If you believe that my use of the term “jihadist” is nothing but hyperbole, you haven’t been paying attention. Look at the words of Nancy Pelosi. Numerous publications including the WSJ, have reported Pelosi telling members of her caucus that she is willing to lose seats if they can pass Placebocare. More to the point, were the Democrats to lose the number of seats that they are now estimated to lose, Pelosi herself would certainly lose the Speaker position.
One of the confounding challenges of combating Islamic jihadists is that they don’t fear their own death. In fact, Islamic jihadists are told that they will garner a great reward in the afterlife if they sacrifice their physical bodies. In like manner, the Democrats are willing to sacrifice their political lives to ensure the securing a key victory in their crusade. President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been working hard to ensure the House jihadists that they too will receive great rewards should they lose their political life.
In the end, whether Placebocare succeeds or fails in the House will depend on one thing; will the House members choose the life they know or will they choose the rewards promised them in their political afterlife?
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March 1, 2010
The Definition of Bipartisan
Nancy Pelosi wants the Placebocare bill passed. She wants it passed so badly that she has lost any ability to think rationally about anything other than passing the bill. As an example of Nancy’s irrationality, listen to this quote from CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday:
“They’ve had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard.” “Bipartisanship is a two-way street. A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes. Republicans have left their imprint.”
Bipartisan huh? You mean like the amendments to prevent Placebocare from paying for abortions that were shot down? That bipartisan?
Or maybe Pelosi means the amendments to add tort reform that were shot down. Maybe that’s the bipartisan she refers to?
Oh wait, I know. I’ll bet Nancy is referring to the bipartisan nature in the way Congress agreed to have the Placebocare plans impact themselves just like any other American. Maybe that’s Nancy’s view of the bipartisan impact there has been on the bill?
If Pelosi’s definition of “bipartisanship” is the one that should be used rather than Websters, we’ll need to rewrite a few sections of history.
From now on, it will be understood that Germany’s invasion of Poland during WWII was actually a bipartisan effort. From now on it will be understood that West Germany influenced the erection of the Berlin wall enough to make it a bipartisan effort. Of course, it will forever more go with out saying that the US and its allies were wrong for using military force in Kuwait as the Iraqi occupation was bipartisan.
Representative John Kline spoke at the Republican convention I attended on Saturday. To paraphrase Kline, he said that there was only one good thing coming out of Congress and that was that Pelosi was not going to be Speaker after this term. That’s the kind of bipartisanship I can get behind!
If Placebocare passes via the reconcilliation path, it will need to originate in the House. There is a lot of speculation as to whether Pelosi can whip the required number of votes to pass Placebocare out of the House. While whether she does or not is yet to be seen, two things are certain, there will be no Republican votes passing it out of the House and there will be Democrat votes voting against it. I doubt this is what she had in mind but Ms. Pelosi, the only thing bipartisan about the vote on Placebocare will be in those who oppose it. I hope the bipartisan vote prevails!
February 23, 2010
Talking to Four Year Olds – Dessert Edition
Regardless of the age, kids don’t understand the importance of healthy eating habits. From early on, and yet today, Thing 1 and Thing 2 are “compartment” eaters. The Things eat all of one item, say their vegetable, then the meat, then the starch. If we sat their dessert on the table along with the rest of their meal, there is no doubt that they would eat that first.
The House Democrats had a plan to reform health care. The Senate Democrats had a plan to reform health care. While the plans varied on some details, we heard vociferous denials and objections from various Democrat leaders, including President Barack Obama, that there was no plan to “take over” health care. They claimed time and again, that they just wanted to repair, fix or reduce the cost of it.
Today President Obama finally announced his plan for reforming health care. Remember that neither the House or Senate plans were his and that every attempt to get him to explain the details of either of those plans was met with some variation of “he hasn’t released his plan.”
President Obama’s plan contains basically one item; price controls. Pay no attention to anything else that he says about incorporating parts of the Senate, House or even Republican plans, they are moot. With the simple act of controlling and dictating prices, President Obama will absorb national health care into the Federal government.
By controlling the pricing structure, President Obama will force all of the other concessions that he wants: Not including pre existing conditions; you won’t get that price increase. Not reducing payments to physicians; you won’t get that price increase. Using procedures that aren’t deemed acceptable; you won’t get that price increase. Paying too much for people that have high cost health care; you won’t get the price increase etc. etc. etc.
When asked about the large loans provided to the auto manufacturers and the subsequent rules imposed on them by their Czar, President Obama claimed “I don’t want to run the auto companies.” Saying that limiting premium increases is not controlling the insurance industry and in turn the medical industry, is just as disingenuous as his statement about the auto industry.
While we’ve taught our boys that they need to work the process, eat a good meal and they get dessert, President Obama has never learned this lesson. Rather than eat a balanced meal, President Obama thinks his political life only exists to eat dessert. I hope he has a good dental plan!
February 19, 2010
A Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was Global Warming. Al Gore and others made up a bunch of data and went on evangelical tours to convince people that “The End Is Near!” Increased hurricanes, increased tornadoes, melting glaciers, rising ocean levels, extinction of polar bears, destruction of food crops were just some of the horrific results that we were supposed to experience if we didn’t act immediately to move our economy back to one that reflected something from the 18th Century. We were told this was urgent! We were told we only had ten years to change our ways or go beyond the point of no return.
We didn’t change.
Some time passed, actually most of the ten year urgent zone, and something odd was noticed. Hurricanes and tornadoes didn’t increase, their occurrence rates stayed flat or even reduced. Polar bears didn’t disappear, they actually increased in numbers. Worse of all, temperatures were no longer increasing, they were flat or (HORRORS!) in some cases, even decreasing. How could any of this be? None of this was supposed to happen with “Global Warming!”
The warming zealots condescendingly chided us for asking “what happened to the warming,” and explained that “Global warming was only part of the equation.” As they fully understood the complexities climatic interactions, they told us that “warming was only a part of the equation. Actually,” they continued, “cooling can also be part of the equation. While our concern was originally focused on warming, the real issue is “Climate Change” which includes any variation in climate that we can use to fool you into believing our desire to control your actions!”
And so, the term “Climate Change” was born not as a definition of reality but as a result of sleight of hand where just like a magician, they didn’t want you to pay attention to the real issue and the real action of the trick.
For months there has been concern about what would/will happen if China, the largest holder and buyer of US treasuries, decided they were full and didn’t want to obtain any more. This past week, the US held another treasury auction. We found out at that auction that indeed, China is now full. Not only did China not buy many treasury offerings, they became and net seller of treasuries in December of ’09.
If indeed China is full of treasuries or worse, if China is net selling treasuries, the financing of President Obama’s massive deficits will become a big challenge. If US debt is not absorbed in the open market and no change is made in the debt required due to the huge spending budgets, the solutions become ugly. Dramatically higher interest rates and force inflation are just two of the prettier ways of dealing with the situation. Other options are far less attractive.
One would think that the Obama administration would be paying attention to the change in China’s attitude. One would think that if Obama were really serious about his newly announced appreciation for fiscal conservatism, he would be using this event as an indicator of our need for change. He would point at it and say “we’re at the end of our borrowing limits, we need to change now!”
One would think.
When asked what if anything, the change in China’s treasury appetite meant, Top White House adviser Lawrence Summers said:
The truth is that these numbers fluctuate and that there’s a wide range of holders of Treasury debt.
Like “Global Warming” before it, President Obama’s concern for “budget deficits” appear to be transforming underthe inconvenient and untimely facts that face it. As “Global Warming” became “Climate Change”, a “debt crisis” is now just “portfolio diversity” according to Larry Summers.
Yeah, right. Now, let me tell you the one about the three bears!
February 17, 2010
Pot, Meet Kettle
It’s not often that I fisk an entire article but this one was so blatant it deserved a response.
Frank: Partisanship is out of control in Congress
Even the title is laughable. Other than Nancy Pelosi, I can’t think of anyone in Congress who is as arrogant, belittling, as drunk on their own power or as partisan as Barney Frank!
At a book signing at the University of Massachusetts, Frank commented on Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement:
“I don’t understand how you make things better from the outside. I share the frustration, but I would have hoped he would have stayed around and voted to change the filibuster rule,” Frank said.
Really? You can’t think of one way that it would be better to be on the outside than on the inside? Other than the obvious point that Frank being out would definitely lower the partisanship, how about if you were a Representative who actually had a conscience, a Representative who did not think driving the country into an inescapable black hole of debt? What if you thought that the far left of your party had become so partisan that they had severed themselves from all sense of reality? What if you were tired of being counted amongst those who were responsible for the destruction of the United States? What if you thought that your party leadership were part of the problem? What if you actually paid attention to your constituents and heard the anger, frustration and concern? If you were that person, wouldn’t you think that going to your constituents with a clean slate and removing your personal desires from the equation might be a good thing?
But partisanship was a theme to which he returned again and again, saying he believes a clear shift began under Republican Newt Gingrich’s tenure as House speaker in the second half of the 1990s.
Before that, he said, Democrats and Republicans could disagree but remain cordial and work toward compromise. Now, though, the pressure to please the party’s base to win primary elections has spawned a Congress in which the sides are “very ideologically differentiated,” he said.
“Compromise” has been a word that means we continually slide to the left. On days that Republicans are called “ideologues,” we slide just a bit to the left. On days that Republicans cosponsor legislation with Democrats, we run wildly to the left. While there may be some legitimate argument that the United States has moved left socially, moving left fiscally means a complete disregard for basic economics.
We are now “very ideologically differentiated” because fiscally, we are at a dire point. The Left wants to abandon any fiscal discipline of any kind. They want to spend with the belief that examples of economic stagnation of Europe and the demise of the Soviet Union’s economy were a result of not having people who were enlightened enough to create money out of thin air as the current Left believes they can. The Right, whether they actually believe it or it is now fashionable, want to stop the country from committing financial Harri Kari. The reason that people like Frank see this as partisanship is that the Left is incapable of seeing any issue in the terms of black and white or right and wrong. The core of the Left ideology is that everybody’s opinion is as valid as the next person. There is no right or wrong, just opinions. This thinking leaves them claiming that all issues should be negotiated and compromised. I don’t think anyone with a correct brain would believe that what Hitler did to the Jews was able to be compromised about. What the Left is looking to do the US financially has the potential to have consequences every bit as horrific.
Frank goes on to blame the partisanship in the electorate on where people choose to get their information:
He believes that’s also evident in the electorate, in which the most ardent liberals and conservatives are getting their news from such different sources that they often seem to be discussing completely different topics.
“People are almost in a parallel universe. They are not getting a common set of facts and most of the people they talk to are those who agree with them,” Frank said.
Barney, Barney, Barney, facts, by their very definition are, well, facts. There can not be more than one set of facts in a situation. “Barney says” is not fact. While it may (highly unlikely) contain facts, it is not all fact.
If Barney wants to complain about us getting information from the people we know who we agree with, perhaps Barney should look at the legislative process. If Barney listened to his own words, he would be much more open to opposing health care reform, shrinking or disbanding FREDDIE and FANNIE and avoiding additional spending of any kind!
Barney Frank is the worst kind of hypocrite. Not only does he not see his own failings, he actually views his failings as being the answer to the problem he sees as existing.
Much as been made of President Obama’s ego and his apparent lack of appreciation for reality. President Obama is Aristotle to Frank’s Peter Pan when it comes to living in reality. Who knows, with the election of Scott Brown, anything now seems possible!
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February 16, 2010
But Who Are The Partisans?
If not the biggest surprise in fact, certainly the Evan Bayh retirement announcement will likely go down as the biggest surprise in timing. Bayh announced his retirement with just four days remaining until the the filing deadline for the primary. As an aside, if you’d like to know how things go if no one files, see Steve’s post here.
In his statement, Senator Bayh pointed to the level of partisanship in Congress as the reason he would not seek another term:
After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned. For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples’ business is not being done.
It would seem logical that Bayh is blaming Republicans for partisanship. That’s what all the left pundits, well, those who haven’t eviscerated him for giving them only 4 days, will say. But, consider some seemingly random bits of information.
A bit later in Bay’s statement, he specifically called out examples of partisanship:
Just last week, a major piece of legislation to create jobs — the public’s top priority — fell apart amid complaints from both the left and right.
By accounts from all political persuasions, it was Harry Reid who pulled this bill.
Also from his statement:
Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down a bipartisan commission to deal with one of the greatest threats facing our nation: our exploding deficits and debt. The measure would have passed, but seven members who had endorsed the idea instead voted “no” for short-term political reasons.
Some may say that the second statement is pointed at Republicans. Those “somes” however, would be missing the fact that there were just as many Democrats as Republicans who voted against this commission, 23 of each to be exact. As with so many other issues during Obama’s first year, the Democrats had more than enough votes to pass the legislation but couldn’t get the job done. Perhaps more interesting, President Obama himself who now talks constantly about the need to cut the deficit, didn’t endorse this commission until the day before the vote.
As much as the two items in Bayh’s statement make me wonder what he is thinking, there are other items, acts of his during the past few days, that raise far more questions for me.
First, according to a couple of sources, Bayh told his staff of his decision last Friday. All accounts have Bayh informing President Obama of his decision early Monday morning. According to numerous reports, Bayh did not tell the Majority Leader, Harry Reid, until late Monday morning after the news had been leaked to the press.
Why would Bayh not tell President Obama about his decision until Monday morning? If he thought Obama had the right policies and just hadn’t been able to explain the situation to the American people, would Bayh have at least gotten his counsel before he made his decision.
Perhaps even more puzzling is why Bayh would wait until after news had leaked to inform Harry Reid. I would think that Reid would have a bunch of questions for Bayh in an attempt to figure out what Bayh’s announcment might mean on strategy for legislation that Reid may choose to pursue this year.
The second issue is the timing of Bayh’s announcement. Bayh announced with so few days left prior to the primary that one of two things are happening. Either, he or the State’s Democrat leaders have a hand picked person waiting with the prerequisite number of signatures to get on the ballot or, this process will bypass the the primaries and leave the decision of who will run to the Democrat leadership of the state. In either event, it would appear that Bayh has orchestrated this to keep the far left organizations from having much influence on the choice of the candidate.
On the surface, it may appear that Bayh is pointing to Republican partisanship as the reason he is leaving the Senate, However, after looking at his statements, and examining his acts, I’m not so sure. While there are likely some Republicans that Bayh may point to, it seems more likely that Bayh’s comments are pointed to the extreme left of his own party.
It is the extreme left of his party that shut Republicans out of the stimulus bill. It was the extreme left of his party that shut the Republicans out of health care reform. The policies of the extreme left, led by Obama, Reid and Pelosi, have left us buried in debt with only the benevolence of the Chinese keeping us from bankruptcy. Finally, it is the extremely partisan politics and policies of President Obama, representing the far left, that has turned vast numbers of Americans against the Democrats and may have earned Bayh a defeat even had he decided to stay.
If I were to quote Evan Bayh’s thoughts, they would be those of the immortal Pogo:
We have met the enemy and the enemy is us
Update 8:29 – If you think my theory was cracked, take a look at this little out take from CNN’s report on Bayh’s retirement:
“He hates the Senate, hates the left bloggers,” a friend and longtime adviser to Bayh said. “They are getting their wish, pure Democrats in the minority.”
OK, admittedly, getting support for my theories from CNN may not exactly elevate my argument but you get your friends where you get your friends!
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