PolifrogBlog

There is no free in liberty.


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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

From the smile file....A tipping point

Some wish Hank Johnson (GA-4) had been at a loss of words.

I know I am....







sigh

Brad Miller NC-13 Skulking in the shadows of dark rooms

I bumped into this video (below) earlier today.




In the video Brad Miller describes how dysfunctional government follows from government legislated from dark rooms in secrecy. "Democracy dies behind closed doors", said Brad Miller. It is truly astounding that the same man voted for ObamaCare. Hearing the Speaker of the House NancyPelosi say that "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it..." should have been a hint to Brad Miller that the darkness he described was upon us.

Instead,

The bill was passed with Brad Miller's vote and now the light of day can shine upon it. Here is a short list of what had been gestating in those dark rooms Brad Miller once feared but now finds a home in.


The light of debate would have solved these problems, yet Brad Miller was no longer standing with his morals, preferring, instead, to skulk in the shadows of darkness and secrecy.

The old Brad Miller was correct when he said "Democracies die behind closed doors.", I just never thought Brad Miller, a representative of North Carolina, would be a progenitor of that death.



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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Oh! The Pain!...Oh The Pain!.......of an acquiescent Congress and Senate


From David Poff of RedState on Obama's recess appointments notes Obama's attitude...

“I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government,” said Obama, who days ago signed historic healthcare reform despite bitter Republican opposition.

[snip]

“At a time of economic emergency, two top appointees to the Department of Treasury have been held up for nearly six months,” Obama said in a statement.

Really Mr. Obama? Isn’t it your own party’s partisanship
that brings you to this revelation? Is there any partisanship greater
than that enjoyed by you this morning?




And similarly from Joesherlock.com...

Democrat Does Not Mean Democracy: Barack Obama named 15 recess appointments Saturday, circumventing the usual Senate approval process. Obama attributed the need for recess appointments on the "unprecedented level of obstruction" in the U.S. Senate, led primarily by the chamber's Republicans.

Huh? The Senate is presently Democrat-controlled. Has been since '06.

"The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees. But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis," Obama said.

What a crock. Enough! It's time to impeach this lying pantload. Where do I sign the petition?


I concur. Obama is a rabble rousing LIAR. His childish foot stomping besmirches the presidency.

And if this any indication of his level of frustration under a friendly congress and senate, I shudder to think what our nation will be subjected to after November.





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Brad Miller NC-13 Supporting Debt Slavery

How long have we, as a nation, had, as a distinct facet of public discourse, the coming insolvency of social security? I was introduced to the coming failure of social security in the mid 80's by my government school and I have no reason to believe the conversation didn't begin earlier.

Based on pre 1940's actuarial tables and a growing population that seemed, at the time, would grow indefinitely, a functional pyramid scheme was created. It worked until the two assumptions it was based on faltered. Population growth decreased and lifespans increased. Add the unavoidable stress of increasing benefits, insolvency has been long preordained.

The program is now running in the red as it no longer brings in more than it spends. Insolvency came early.

How will our government fund social security going forward? It will borrow the money, adding to our national debt forcing our children and grandchildren to foot the interest payments and eventually the principle.

Brad Miller does not care. Apparently debt slavery does not concern him.

At a time when our national debt is slipping beyond our ability to manage...

our representative, Brad Miller, stood with our President to expand our deficit spending by starting another government expanding, deficit deepening program. Health-Care Reform, ObamaCare. After TARP, multiple stimulus packages, and the continued unfunded mandates, Brad Miller seemingly jumped at the chance to further beholden our nation's future to our debt holders.

Our bond markets seem to be the canary in the coal mine reacting to the obvious added weight of debt inherent in Obamacare.

The constituents of NC know intuitively that expanding coverage to more people, forcing Cadillac plans on every one (my choice of catastrophic insurance will be illegal), hiring 15,000 IRS agents to enforce it, setting up a bureaucracy, feeding that bureaucracy, inherent government inefficiency, and dollars wasted to political influencing will create deficits and further the slow spin-down of our economic machine.

According to USAToday
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the health care overhaul signed into law last week costs too much and expands the government's role in health care too far, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds

The citizens of NC were ignored by Brad Miller during the town-hall protests last summer. Of course, Brad Miller didn't have any town-hall meetings last summer. He preferred to see only those individuals of his choosing.

But said he didn't care what those individuals thought.


Brad Miller ignored the common sense concerns of cost that his constituents expressed., preferring, instead, to gather donations from and give attention to his newer wealthier "constituents" in Washington DC.






There are better people in North Carolina than Brad Miller.
Say no to debt slavery.
Say no to Brad Miller this November.




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From the smile file

Unable to keep up with his own treadmill, Ed Schultz does a face plant.



Is there not a term for maliciously mislabeling a group or person?
Slander doesn't carry the same tone as racist.


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Monday, March 29, 2010

Brad Miller NC-13 No trust

Most of us in America have little interest in the representatives of districts outside our own. For that reason our representatives have little cause to campaign in districts outside the district they represent.

For example: Kathey Castor (representing Florida's 11th district) has no incentive to hold a fund raiser in Arizona. She doesn't represent Arizona in congress and she would likely lose money holding such an event in Arizona. If she were to campaign outside Florida, Florida's 11th would rightfully question her motives and whether she truly represents them.

Brad Miller, like all representatives, has fund raisers, but I question Brad Miller's motives when he holds a fund raiser for himself in Washington DC. I doubt many North Carolinians are willing to drive to DC to to have a breakfast in Brad Miller's support at $1000 to $5000 per head. Brad Miller has no constituents in Washington DC, yet apparently he finds it fertile enough ground for campaign contributions that he held a fund raiser in Washington DC on March 25,2010.



Brad Miller has lost his moral footing while in Washington. During his many years representing NC Brad Miller has found a new constituency of high dollar donors willing to to pay thousands of dollars for a breakfast within the beltway of Washington DC. Brad Miller is no longer responsive to the people of North Carolin and no longer cares if his constituents trust him.

Don't take my word for it, listen to Brad Miller's...






Brad Miller admits he doesn't care if NC constituents trust him and has clearly lost his way while in Washington. We need to direct him home this November.




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Brad Miller NC-13 Misreading a mandate that wasn't

Rasmussen Reports


The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.


This is no surprise.

Brad Miller as well as all those who stood with him in voting for ObamaCare willingly abdicated authority over 1/6 of their respective states' economies to the federal government.

The people recognize when their representative no longer represent their state.





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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Earth Hour at polifrog house

I continued to burn my light in support of...

man's continued conquest over the brutal darkness that nature truly is absent our advances.

Nature is beautiful from the window of an air conditioned car
Nature is beautiful when food is easily purchased
Nature is beautiful when not suffering the brutality of disease
Nature is beautiful when we are dry
Nature is beautiful when we are warm
Nature is beautiful when we are not being eaten


My lights continued to burn because I do not take for granted the gifts of our advances.




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Brad Miller NC-13 Dissn' the Contitution

I suspect that our government schools failed Brad Miller when they covered our Constitution, but how can a person have been so disengaged from society as to have missed being educated on the topic by School House Rock.





In the absence of an acceptable education Brad Miller progressed beyond the limitations of checks and balances. Brad Miller's Constitution goes like this....



...You'll be taxed and pay, against your will, but today I'm just a bill....


Brad Miller, bad for North Carolina, and
Anathema to the Constitution and the United States.






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CNN-Bending the Narrative

.

CNN's account of yesterday's Searchlight Teaparty....

Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people - we haven’t gotten a count of how many people turned out there. We heard Sarah Palin talk about everything about the campaign, to unseat Sen. Reid to what she calls ObamaCare, on the heels of that health care vote and even talking about her definition of her love of America.”




Eeww...Reality Bites



According to Newsbusted and American Patrol the traffic above was still pilling in an hour and a half after the event began.

When will CNN realize they no longer create the narrative?





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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Undoing ObamaCare

The Problem according to Yuval Levin....

Conservative and liberal experts generally agree on the nature of the problem with American health care financing: There is a shortage of incentives for efficiency in our methods of paying for coverage and care, and therefore costs are rising much too quickly, leaving too many people unable to afford insurance. We have neither a fully public nor quite a private system of insurance, and three key federal policies—the fee-for-service structure of Medicare, the disjointed financing of Medicaid, and the open-ended tax exclusion for employer-provided insurance—drive spending and costs ever upward.



Adding to the problem:

Even putting aside the fact that Social Security and Medicare are going broke and taking the rest of the government with them, these frantic forced analogies are preposterous. The new law (ObamaCare) is a ghastly mess, which began as a badly misguided technocratic pipe dream and was then degraded into ruinous incoherence by the madcap process of its enactment.



The Solution:

Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster—for our health care system, for our fiscal future, and for any notion of limited government. But it is a disaster that will not truly get underway for four years, and therefore a disaster we can avert.


This is the core of the case the program’s opponents must make to voters this year and beyond. If opponents succeed in gaining a firmer foothold in Congress in the fall, they should work to begin dismantling and delaying the program where they can: denying funding to key provisions and pushing back implementation at every opportunity.

If we are going to meet the nation’s foremost challenges—ballooning debt, exploding entitlements, out of control health care costs, and the task of keeping America strong and competitive—we must begin by making Obamacare history. We must repeal it, and then pursue real reform.







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Brad Miller NC-13 Forgot the state he represents

North Carolina sent Brad Miller to Washington to represent not just the interests of the people of North Carolina but the interests of our great state.

If Brad Miller did anything to strengthen North Carolina it has been over shadowed by the incredible pain and loss of power he inflicted on our state and its people when he threw his support behind ObamaCare.

First off, North Carolina has power reserved to by the Constitution. In fact, all states have reserved to them all powers not explicitly defined as a Federal power. (Amendment 10 of the Constitution) Up until this point North Carolina controlled health care within its boarders and could tailer that care to suit the needs of the citizens of North Carolina if it so desired. Brad Miller, though, denied our people and NC the authority to control health care within our boarders. Brad Miller denied our state the ability tailer its health care system to it's specific needs. But even worse, Brad Miller abdicated that authority to our distant and unresponsive federal government.

This is not the action of a man who represents our state. This is, rather, the action of a man who represents the interests of Washington, a Washington drunk on power and ever desirous of more. Brad Miller supports funneling powers Constitutionally reserved to North Carolina and its people away from our state to Washington. Brad Miller is an enabler of Washington's power drunken stupor and likely addicted to it himself.

The Health Care Industry represents 1/6 of the economy. Therefore, it stands to reason that 1/6 of NC economy was simply turned over to Washington by Brad Miller. 1/6th of North Carolina's economy is no longer under the control of North Carolina and its people!

Brad Miller does not represent the interests of North Carolina, but rather, the interests of Washington.

Brad Miller's lust for Washington power is greater than his love for North Carolina. Brad Miller harms North Carolina. Brad Miller harms the citizens of North Carlina.

We need to force Brad Miller home for some Washington power addiciton rehab. this November.


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I was one of those students who left college with a healthy fear of giving offense..... I was, but no longer.

Shame on Brian Kiteley. I mean, if a novelist is so bothered by pointed speech that he’d support political censorship, is it really any wonder that our institutions of higher learning have become cauldrons of conformity and anti-intellectual groupthink — or that students leave them with a healthy fear of ever giving offense?

Elsewhere in the piece was this...

It is an Orwellian world in which we live when fucking novelists want to distance themselves from those who criticize the government. Were Kiteley’s disgust over the comic purely aesthetic, I could at least entertain his point. But that isn’t the case: instead, Kiteley objects to the content, and sees Darleen’s cartoon as the online equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded movie theater.


Our depressingly close minded and single minded colleges....





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Friday, March 26, 2010

Our un-American President...

I am bumping this to the top, as questions of Obama's treatment of American allies is once again topping the news.


  1. Look to our friends in Eastern Europe. Both the Chech Republic and Poland thrown to the Russian bear. A gift to Russia.
  2. Look to Honduras: following their constitutional law and removing a man from power for unconstitutionally attempting to remove his term limits. Who does the administration support? The would-be tyrant and friend of Chavez, of course.
  3. Now this below...


A strong communist nation is good for our would and should not be contained? Could an American President have said this? Sadly, yes. The O.

Is there a communist/socialist or tyrannical nation not supported over a democratic nation by this man?

Looking...


But, of course, he can fall back on his educated cultural sensibilities (recall "merci beaucoup") and:
















Perhaps video of the photo above will better explain:



How many times did he bow? I lost count...

But what is his history in this respect? How about this video:



Perhaps he feels it is prudent to show respect. Lets see how expresses his respect for one of our closest allies:


Sigh: Perhaps President Obama is attempting to meet cultural expectations. Can he meet the expectations of his own country?(H/T Ace) :


Again. Who is this man?

Update:

In yet another move, apparently to humiliate an ally of the United States, Obama disrespects Netanyahu.

Bejamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family.

(Obama) immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands...

When the Israeli prime minister stalled, Mr Obama rose from his seat declaring: "I'm going to the residential wing to have dinner with Michelle and the girls."

As he left, Mr Netanyahu was told to consider the error of his ways. "I'm still around," Mr Obama is quoted by Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper as having said. "Let me know if there is anything new."

For over an hour, Mr Netanyahu and his aides closeted themselves in the Roosevelt Room on the first floor of the White House to map out a response to the president's demands.

"There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage," Israel's Maariv newspaper reported. "Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea."




The true embarrassment is our imperialistic President of arrogance. Any president who disrespects a visiting head of state, an ally, in this manner is a lost soul.

Perhaps soulless doesn't cover it. Obama also ushered the Dali Lama out of the back door of the white house past the garbage.





What kind of man treats allies and friends with such disrespect. Who is Obama?

------


In Nov 2009 Obama was busy bowing to Chinese President Hu Jintao. At around the one minute mark Obam gives multiple bows and one that is quite deep...






Update: 4/12/10

Sigh...Yet another bow to Chinese President Hu Jintao.




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Brad Miller NC-13 a grade school economist

From Brad Miller's Facebook account...

“As bad as the foreclosure crisis has been, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. Unless we get a handle on foreclosures and the decline in home values, nothing else we do to fix the economy is going to work,” Rep.
Miller said.



Our country is currently suffering through the deflation of a real estate bubble. Homes became over valued and now real estate values are now trending down toward their true values.

This is painful for all of us who own real estate but is acutely painful for those who invested at the height of the bubble.

Bill Miller supports a grade school solution.....re-inflate the bubble. We have tried this for over a year now and failed.

---75 Billion was allocated to be used toward a load modification program that has an 87% failure rate according to the inspector general.

---Another program, The Federal Housing Tax Credit, attempted to reinflate the housing bubble with a first time home buyer's cash incentive of 8 grand and in the second iteration of the bill $6500 for repeat buyers. Real estate values continued to fall. Fail.




Now, it appears Brad Miller is pushing to double down on his failed grade school economics and further increase our debt.

Brad Miller is bad for North Carolina. Brad Miller is bad for the United States. Send Brad Miller back to school so the he can grow beyond grade school economics this November.




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Poorly Practicing the Art of Manufactured Fear



Frankly, the fuss about “death threats” that Hoyer, and Stupak, and Talking Points Memo were all indulging isn’t real fear or real threats. It’s political theater, and poor theater at that.


Well said....

And via RedState...


If the left burns down their own straw men, can we have them arrested for arson? That seems to be where we are headed.




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Thursday, March 25, 2010

Brad Miller NC-13 Socialist?

Spokesman for who-knows-what, Al Sharpton, cops to socialism in Obama's vision and claims we voted for it.





Next up:
According to RCP, Sen Max Baucus (audio at the link) lent his assessment of the effects of ObamaCare on income.

Sen. Max Baucus (D): "Too often, much of late, the last couple three years the mal-distribution of income in America is gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy, and the middle income class is left behind. Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America."



This is socialism. Tax the rich, who pass some costs on to the middle class, who pass some of the costs on to the poor. The only winner is the governing class as they starve the medical industry of the gov. confiscated dollars they attempt to keep for themselves. Utterly immoral.



Castro:
Not to be out done by Sharpton and Baucus, Cuba's Fidel Castro voiced his support for ObamaCare. Castro can recognize one of his own.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.



This exposes the lie that lurks behind the sneers of our legacy media every time they hear the term Socialist. What, Obama socialist? ObamaCare socialist? Controlling 1/6 of the economy socialist? Government Motors socialist? On and on. Fidel Castro and Obama share the same ground. Obama brings a smile to Castro.

More importantly, Castro just stood shoulder to shoulder with every Representative who voted for Obamacare. This put Brad Miller and Fidel Castro in the same room inviting us down the road to serfdom and toward the immorality of top down gov. control. Brad Miller and Fidel Castro are bad for North Carolina. Neither support the morality of individuality.

Just think....Brad Miller got an atta-boy fanny pat from Fidel Castro for supporting ObamaCare, a plan both Sharpton and Baucus admit is socialist.

If Brad Miller wants socialism send him to Cuba for his fanny pats in November.




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Brad Miller NC-13 supports dishonesty

From The Wall Street Journal we hear that Caterpillar Takes a Hit on Health Care...

Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it will take a $100 million charge to earnings this quarter to reflect additional taxes stemming from newly enacted U.S. health-care legislation.


Caterpillar was joined by John Deere in announcing their increased health care costs....

Farm equipment maker Deere expects after-tax expenses to rise by $150 million this year as a result of the health care reform law President Barack Obama signed this week.

These expenses are not ultimately born by the corporations. Whether it's a corporate tax, an environmental tax, a health car tax, or the cost of raw materials and labor, expenses are ultimately passed on to the consumer as increased prices for goods. Not only does this make the citizens of the US poorer,but In a global economy this makes American Corporations less competitive and when they are less competitive they provide fewer jobs. (See GM, Ford) This is yet another step in the great wind-down of America fostered by the progressive movement.


There is no free lunch nor is there free health care and running it through the gov. only exacerbates the costs. It seems that Obama believes otherwise. He even claimed that business would see a 3000% reduction in costs with the passage of his plan.


Leaving aside the ignorance in stating that something would reduce costs by over 100%, Obama lied. I realize that in a storm dishonesty one lie can seem inconsequential, but a lie is a lie and should be called out as such.

Brad Miller supported this dishonesty, this lie that ObamaCare is a cost savings, with his vote for Obamacare.

North Carolina is better than Brad Miller and his support for ObamaCare is an embarrassment for this state. Brad Miller is an embarrassment for North Carolina.

Oust Brad Miller as NC 13 from office this November.





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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Brad Miller NC-13 and immorality

Ed Morris was quoted as saying on the aptly named The Daily Vampire:

"It may even cost him his job," Morris said. "But if he can save one life, it's a moral responsibility."

in reference to Larry Kissell who voted against ObamaCare. (emphasis added)



Morris's reference to morality opens an avenue for debate. Just how moral is ObamaCare?

I will grant that ObamaCare has the patina of morality. We regularly saw individuals trotted out by the side of our President and Representatives as they argued for ObamaCare before the cameras of a sycophantic media. They served only to burnish that patina of morality.

Some nations compel their citizens to attend church at risk of state repercussions. Those nations that force their citizens to attend a regular church service often have a near 100% church attendance record. (I imagine those individuals with a doctor's note are excused thus those nations don't quite hit 100%.) This looks good compared to the church attendance records of nations that prefer to leave it a voluntary matter. The real question, though, is --is it more moral?

The obvious answer is NO. Morality can not be forced onto a people exogenously. Although it may look like morality statistically (100% church attendance), it is not a true morality and negatively affects the world. The church is cheapened, as a whole, because it becomes less about belief and more about adherence to the law.

True morality, on the other hand, springs forth from within an individual through voluntary action (40%-50% church attendance in the US) to positively affect the world. Although the percentage of regular church goers is less in the US, those members that choose to attend are more frequently true believers which, in turn, positively affect the respect of the church.

Just as mandating church attendance is moral to some nations, mandating generosity is moral to liberals.

In so doing, liberals loose sight of the fact that true generosity, the giving of dollars of love, with love is lost. The dollars they gather enter the gov. by force and as such are not dollars of love. Those dollars then work their way through the soul sucking machinery of governance. Many of those dollars are skimmed off to run the bureaucracy, while others lube the gears of political leverage and influence. The dollars that remain are soulless and without love or humanity when they finally get into the hands of those who need them. These dollars do not carry with them any sense of goodwill, but are instead dollars for the sake of statistics. Liberals can then point to all those soulless dollars as a metric of giving and as support for their idea of morality.

Government taxes are increasingly crowding charity. Dollars that may have gone to The March of Dimes or to The Red Cross or may have been used by one individual to help another are instead absorbed by government. Compare the offices of any charity to the the offices of any Government program and ask yourself if the government's overhead is moral. Compare the way dollars are received by the recipient from the gov. to the way they are received from an individual and ask yourself which is more moral. We are witnessing the death of American charity and liberals call that moral.

There is no morality in ObamaCare, only the statistical patina of morality. Legislating morality is in itself immoral and cheapens morality in America just as religion is cheapened in a nation od forced adherents.

By voting for ObamaCare, Brad Miller lent his support for immorality, soulless dollars and a cheapening of American morality.

Say NO to immorality and soulless dollars. Say NO to Brad Miller.





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Brad Miller NC-13 Voted yes to this----

"So I just got a call from my health insurance provider. My family rates are going up $200/month ... $2400/year per employee effective April 1st. Didn't take long after signing to get this s**t going.

So much for the "my plan will save Americans" $2500/year in Healthcare premiums."




All insurance companies should follow this lead if they wish to keep their businesses in the future. There is no free ride ride, free lunch, or free anything. Ultimately the cost of ObamaCare will be born on the shoulders of all employees. The fact is that the true cost of using heath-care facilities will be hidden from the users driving health-care costs higher as their demands will increase with the apparent decrease in cost. Add to this the fact that ObamaCare mandates Cadillac plans for everyone forcing the cost of the plans higher. Our president has been attempting to sell us a free ride. At one point we referred to this as selling the Brooklyn Bridge.

The reality of our President's lies are becoming apparent more quickly than I anticipated. Obama claimed we would see a 3000% reduction in costs. He lied.

Brad Miller voted for ObamaCare. Brad Miller supported Obama's lies with that vote. Brad Miller sported a poor understanding of economics when he voted for ObamaCare. Brad Miller supported Obama's hucksterism when he voted for ObamaCare. Brad Miller supported kickbacks when he voted for ObamaCare.

Brad Miller should no longer be the representative of NC-13.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Census 2010

I was an enumerator in 1990. I found the experience an interesting exposure to government waste. Although the census is done to count people, the questions I was required to ask were far more intrusive than I had expected. If fact, I was often uncomfortable asking for information of such personal nature. The constitution calls for a counting only.

My experience with the individuals I questioned was enlightening as well. In not one case was I denied the information I requested and in no case was my knock on the door unexpected. Often the folks I questioned were illiterate and and expecting me expecting me for that reason. I had never seen illiteracy face to face before and they could not hide behind an assumption of literacy. I could feel their embarrassment. Lastly if an individual refused to answer I was expected to make a guess. I found that last bit interesting, but the information was often in plane sight.

There have been some changes since then. The questions have become even more intrusive. I was not fingerprinted in 1990 nor do I recall the need for a background check. Fingerprinting as well as background checks are required for today's enumerators. Why? Although, I would be willing to allow a background check I would not take a job in in which my employer treated me like a criminal before so much as hiring me.

Lastly I find this guy interesting...






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Monday, March 22, 2010

Episode 125, The Inner Light





I just finished watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Too many hours were lost to this show during my college years. I look back at all the other more enriching opportunities I could have chosen over watching TV and wince. I have to admit, though, that a few of those hours were worth the cost.

The Inner Light was one of most moving episodes I have seen and has managed to stick with me over the years. I consider it my favorite. A little bing-fu indicates I am not alone in this. Like negative space in paintings, moments of silence can reveal volumes of information. Silence was used well, as was time, family, and simple human relationships within a dieing society that only wished to be remembered. During his virtual time on Kataan, Picard as Kamin lived a full life including fathering two children, research, and learning to play a flute. Once back on the Enterprise the flute became the only tangible evidence of a virtual life he come to accept and love.





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Ending Brad Miller's stint as North Carolina's Representative

It is time the new Greatest Generation says no to Gov. expansion and the cancer that is any representative that supported ObamaCare.

From Wiki...

The 2010 congressional elections in North Carolina will be held on November 2, 2010 to determine who will represent the state of North Carolina in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections, where needed, will be on May 4th, and the second primaries, if needed, will be on June 22nd. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 112th Congress from January 2011 until January 2013.


Bill Randell may be a possible replacement.


Update:

I thought I would mention the reason behind my future posts on Brad Miller.

I live in NC district 13. Brad Miller is my representative. Before the vote on "nationalizing" the US health insurance industry I emailed his office requesting a "NO" (I'd prefer a NAY but I suspect a NAY would have been too great a reference to our American History of individualism for Brad Miller) In the email I mentioned I had been a silent voter all my life, but a NO vote would bring me out as an active anti Brad Miller campaigner.

I intend to make good on my word.



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The great spin down

When the consumer abdicates the power of consumerism to the government the end user becomes a cost of doing business.

What does this mean?

One of the greatest strengths inherent in being an American is the ability to vote with our dollars, Simply put, business do what they do to get our dollars. If they don't provide the service they don't get the dollars. Businesses do what they do well, they do it efficiently, or they fail. This simple concept is such an ingrained concept it has become taken for granted and, frankly, a bore to describe. But, all the same, it is an the source of miracles and has created one of the world's greatest most efficient economic powers the history has ever known.

Yesterday our socialist democrats have decided it best to kill one sixth of that miracle. They have taken from Americans our power to vote with our dollar when purchasing health care. In their distorted world view,they feel they should be the source of all dollars in the medical sector of our economy. The transaction is no longer defined as being between the provider and the end user, and instead has been redefined as between Gov. and provider. One sixth of the economy (health care) is now in business to make the Gov happy in an effort to get Gov. dollars.

This forces the health-care end user out of the transaction and relegates them to the powerless status of a business cost. That is, you and me---business costs.

Remember...Servents are a business cost.

Economic spin-down




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Sunday, March 21, 2010

A Sad....Sad....Day

Progressives like to focus on the trees when there is a forest.

From Mark Steyn


It's a huge transformative event in Americans' view of themselves and of the role of government. You can say, oh, well, the polls show most people opposed to it, but, if that mattered, the Dems wouldn't be doing what they're doing. Their bet is that it can't be undone, and that over time, as I've been saying for years now, governmentalized health care not only changes the relationship of the citizen to the tate but the very character of the people. As I wrote in NR recently, there's plenty of evidence to support that from Britain, Canada and elsewhere.

More prosaically, it's also unaffordable. That's why one of the first things that middle-rank powers abandon once they go down this road is a global military capability. If you take the view that the US is an imperialist aggressor, congratulations: You can cease worrying. But, if you think that America has been the ultimate guarantor of the post-war global order, it's less cheery. Five years from now, just as in Canada and Europe two generations ago, we'll be getting used to announcements of defense cuts to prop up the unsustainable costs of big government at home. And, as the superpower retrenches, America's enemies will be quick to scent opportunity.


Longer wait times, fewer doctors, more bureaucracy, massive IRS expansion, explosive debt, the end of the Pax Americana, and global Armageddon. Must try to look on the bright side...









I have often wondered what Europe would look like today had the US military not had their back. Our military allowed unbridled growth in their social state by giving Europe the choice of not spending on a military. They built their social state on the backs of US tax payers. Now I wonder what our country may have looked like had Europe not been able to so easily go socialist.





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The Chart.......

I am admittedly working to wrap my thoughts around this...

Nathan over at Nathan's Economic Edge has a chart he refers to as The most Important Chart of the Century in his post entitled the same.

It shows the amount of return on debt through the change in GDP over the change Debt.


Saturday, March 20, 2010

Warm Weather, Projects, and Weekends

During our family ride to the west our home in tow began to show a little ware. Little cracks began to develop in the glassed skin. The breaks in the glassing would let moisture in and the cracks would spread. Our temporary fix, which was only intended to get us home, was tape. Fortunately I had packed some aluminum foil tape normally used by HVAC installers. I broke the tape out while we were caming in Ten X campground just outside the Grand Canyon.


Over time the number of patches increased until a pattern developed. It seemed a single sheet of luan n the roof was the primary offender. Finally by spring - yes the tape remained on the roof for around 9 months - I got around to fixing the bad spots. Initially the plan was to fix them as soon as we were home, but I realized only time would bring out all the bad spots that remained hidden. So, the tape remained in place through sun, rain, melting snow, cold, and heat and in all that time none of the patches failed. Good stuff. I strongly recommend carrying some with you on any trip. The stuff can save a faltering road trip.

I began by scraping the tape off and wiping the sticky residue off with a paper towel dipped in gasoline. (I'd rather not hear from you risk ninny's). With the tape off I could see that the patches had completely arrested any water damage, but I still needed to see what was under the epoxy and paint. I began to pick at a spot with the scraper I had used to get the tape off. I found that in most cases the damage seemed to be caused by knots in the luan. I used luan to skin the camper. At other times the problems seemed to be a result of the filler used by the luan manufacturer. In two cases a bad spot developed over a void in the luan.

Tonight I mixed a batch of epoxy and filled in all the wounds. It was too dark for pics, though.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Toyota Previa

Arrogant, Ignorant, Incompatant....Pelosi

Paying for health-care on the backs of our youth

Beauty in all forms....


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Obama interview: Winging it...

Obama, during the interview on FOX with Bret Baier said:




Huh? What earthquake in Hawaii?

Under pressure.





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The Slaughter Rule..

may have been proposed to make reconciliation look normal by contrast. Distraction..





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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

One more for the smile file....









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Slaughter House-Rule Ruse

We should not forget that once this thing hits the president's desk and gets signed it becomes law. The same bill will have been passed by the Senate, the House, and signed by the President. I believe it will stop there and no reconciliation will occur. The reconciliation aspect of this is a ruse just to get the bill on the president's desk. Really, why go farther? This is a Hail Mary.


This would not even be under discussion if the votes were there for the Health-Care. The votes are not there! Health-care should be dead. Ou representatives are actually attempting to pass the bill anyway.

Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution that “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States.”


This indicates to me that the proposed legislation should pass through both houses in the same form before going to the President.

The Slaughter rule slaughters that.

First of all, the bill is not passed, but only deemed passed.

Secondly, there is an issue of sequence. The Senate bill being passed by the House would only be deemed passed if it is altered in reconciliation. If until that time it has not been deemed passed by the house, how, then, can it be presented to the president for signing.

Third, Slaughter has claimed that this procedure has been in use since the 30's. Perhaps. But, an unconstitutional maneuver, however old or frequently used, is still unconstitutional.

It seems this is a maneuver that has been tolerated being used on inconsequential bills for decades. It goes to show that no unconstitutional action by our federal gov. should ever be tolerated.

Do the words of our constitution mean nothing?

Perhaps our representatives need some non government run schooling. So I propose we send them a cartoon to learn our form of governance from. School House Rock...






From NRO the corner:

Democratic leaders should be asking themselves just how they have gotten to the point that their strategy is to amend a law that doesn’t exist yet by passing a bill without voting on it. Surely it’s time to start over.


We should not forget that once this thing hits the president's desk and gets signed it becomes law. I believe it will stop there and no reconciliation will occur. The reconciliation aspect of this is a ruse just to get the bill on the president's desk.


Representative Pence must have seen School House Rock





Title updated
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Obama: Reduce you health-care premiums by 3000%




I often shop Home Depot and Lowes for my work. I get a thrill when I find markdowns of 50% or greater. I have never seen a 100% price cut, as that would make the product free. 100% is a floor. Any reductions greater than 100% would indicate getting the product plus money.

Reductions of 3000% in health-care premiums?

Liar. That's right. I said it. Liar!
And at best an idiot but articulate mouth piece.




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Toyota extinguishes the torches

I believe the attack on Toyota is falling apart faster than I could have imagined.

Between the article done by Car and Driver and the video by Popular Mechanics (both below) on the ability of the brakes to over power the engine....











....and this slew of quotes compiled at HotAir the torches may soon be extinguished.


“We’re seeing the same pattern again today. Initial reports of a problem, followed by dozens of new reports ‘comingto light’ as people seek to blame their earlier accidents on sudden acceleration.

“Again, mysterious car components are at issue, this time, speculation of software or electronics going haywire. But if the problem is software, it is manifesting itself a lot like the Audi sudden acceleration did.

“The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota ’sudden acceleration’ fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.

“In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89—and I’m leaving out the son those age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as
a passenger.

“These ‘electronic defects’ apparently discriminate against the elderly, just as the sudden acceleration of Audis and GM autos did before them.”


-----


“Prius owner Jim Sikes made national headlines last week with claims that his car’s accelerator got stuck as he sped up to pass a car while traveling on California’s I-8 highway outside of San Diego, and that he was unable to stop the car.

“‘As I was going, I was trying the brakes … and it just kept speeding up,’ he said.

“Sikes story is at odds with the findings of the investigation, according to Toyota and to a draft congressional memo obtained by CNN.

“‘While a final report is not yet complete, there are strong indications that the driver’s account of the event is inconsistent with the findings of the preliminary analysis,’ Toyota said in a prepared statement.”




These are no longer the days of model rocket ignited gas tank fires.

Lastly, I hope the representatives who took part in the public skewering of Toyota not only lose face but lose power. As I said here in January, our representatives seem to think political capital can still be gained from 70's and 80's style corporate bashing.

Our current run of representatives embarrass me.






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Monday, March 15, 2010

An argument for the Iraq war vindicated


Opec fears that its grip on the global supply of oil is being threatened by the rising output of Iraq’s oilfields and the prospect of billions of dollars of multinational investment in the world’s leading untapped oil resource.

Shortly after the start of the Iraq war I was in Europe. While visiting a friend of my wife's in Neuchatel Switzerland talk inevitably turned toward Iraq. He claimed the US was there just to the oil. Of course this is a different argument than saying the US would not have interest in Iraq if not for the oil. Yes, I could agree Iraq would be of little strategic interest without oil.

But after a little more questioning I verified that he was arguing that the US wanted to control the oil for its own use. This is an argument that I generally reserved for the stupid. My friend was not stupid and I wondered where he was coming from, as the US did not have a history of acquiring territory through war even though many opportunities had presented themselves over the years. The US could militarily "take" any country at any time but didn't. Lastly such action would not be tolerated by the people of the US.

He didn't budge, though and I decided he was arguing from a European perspective of history colored by the experiences of colonialism and world war.

I argued, on the other hand, that one of the side benefits of the war in Iraq was that more oil would be freed to flow into the world markets thereby driving down the cost of oil for all. I would never have predicted it would take so long to be proven correct.




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