No Nanny State - Molon Labe!

The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.
--Jerry Falwell

We all know we're going to see a lot more crap like this -

On October 31, 2009, the once largest aluminum plant in the world will shut down. With it goes another American industry and more American jobs. The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company in Montana will shut down its aluminum production because it cannot purchase the necessary electrical power to continue its operations.

Hmm. I wonder what's the reason for not being able to get electrical power. Surely, a place this big has made arrangements to take care of things like this.

Columbia Falls Aluminum negotiated a contract with Bonneville Power Administration in 2006 for Bonneville to supply electrical power until September 30, 2011.

See? American industry taking care of business. What could have possibly happened?

But, responding to lawsuits, the 9th US Circuit Court ruled the contract was invalid because it was incompatible with the Northwest Power Act. Therefore, the combination of the Northwest Power Act and a US Circuit Court were the final villains that caused the shutdown of Columbia Falls Aluminum.

Oh. What kind of anti-business, anti-American asshole would bring such a suit?

We need to look no further than the many environmental groups like the Sierra Club and to America's elected officials who turned their backs on American citizens and in essence themselves, for they too are citizens of this country. These officials bought into the green agenda promoted by the heavily funded environmental groups. Caving to pressure, they passed laws and the environmental groups filed lawsuits that began turning off the lights in America. The dominos stated to fall.

Read the rest of the article. You'll see how as early as 1988, the EPA was laying the groundwork for the CO2 horseshit.

I was the first to raise my hand to ask a question, "How can you defend your global warming hypothesis when you have omitted the effects of clouds which affect heat balance far more than carbon dioxide, and when your hypothesis contradicts the paper by Lee in the Journal of Applied Meteorology in 1972 that shows the atmosphere does not behave like a greenhouse?"

He answered me by saying, "You do not know what you are talking about. I know more about how the atmosphere works than you do."

Not being one to drop out of a fight, I responded, "I know many of the atmospheric scientists in this room, and many others who are not present but I do not know you. What is your background and what makes you know so much more than me?"

He answered, "I know more than you because I am a lawyer and I work for the EPA."

I hope you all have a way of providing for your own power, heat, and probably food. In the very near future, getting any of them commercially is going to be increasingly difficult and costly.

But it's for your own good, you silly, stupid citizen. Be thankful for the people we have showing us The Way.

I'm sure the 200 workers at the Columbia Falls plan are very thankful, indeed.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Corruption, Eco-fraud, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, welfare state

The 100th bank to fail this year happened today -

Partners Bank, Naples, Florida, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Stonegate Bank, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to assume all of the deposits of Partners Bank.

More green sprouts for Florida, huh?

Labels: Corruption, nanny state

Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.
--Phaedrus (Roman fabulist, 15-50 B.C.)

Pond Scum is going to save the world! The eco-freaks are talking up algae as a way to suck up evil CO2 from the air AND provide a fuel source. It's a miracle!

Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum.

Yeah. There are a couple of problems, though. First off, there's the whole "great CO2 suckers" thing. After the algae eats up the CO2, then what? If you burn it to produce heat, the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere. If you somehow squeeze the fat out of the algae, what do you do with the now CO2-riddled fat-less algae sludge? Bury it (like evil nuclear waste)? Feed it to cattle (only to be farted out as methane, and even scarier Green House Gas)?

And then there's the whole "cost" thing -

Even though algae grows like gangbusters, it currently costs up to 100 dollars to make a gallon of algal fuel-- hardly a savings.

Hey, price is no object when you're saving the world, right?

These pinheads need to do some significant research into the term, "unintended consequences". When you start dicking around trying to force-feed a solution, shit happens. Just off the top of my head, they'll need to figure out what land to set aside for this, where will they get the fresh water for the scum to live in, and how much will our taxes be increased to pay for this (see: Ethanol from corn for supporting documentation).

Hey, I'll help the cause. I nominate DC as the land mass to be used. Plenty of pond scum is already in place (sorry, that was too easy to pass up!).
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Talk about, "Passing The Buck" -

The Federal Reserve would police banks' pay policies to ensure they don't encourage employees to take reckless gambles like those that contributed to the financial crisis, according to a proposal unveiled Thursday.

So the government in general, and the Federal Reserve in particular were major, MAJOR drivers of the policies that put us in the current national financial crisis. What does any good political body do? It attempts to divert attention from its culpability, and blame someone else. In this case, it's the Evil Banks.

The Fed and their Bank Regulator bretheren were responsible for monitoring and REGULATING the business activities of the banking system. The system has gone to hell in a hand-basket, WHILE THEY WERE IN CHARGE, but they had nothing to do with the problems? Right.

It's like a parent who tells their kid not to smoke pot, but who gives them money to score some weed. As long as the kid brings mom and dad a little reefer for their troubles, things are good.

When the kid gets busted for selling the pot, the parents protest to the judge that they tried their best to raise good kids, but the little rascals just wouldn't listen. They're going to immediately add more house rules, and their weekly allowance is going to be cut in half.

A wise judge would throw the book at the parents for providing an environment that encouraged reckless behavior and lawlessness. Instead, the judge - the American people - will applaud the "decisive actions" of the parents. But the money will still flow and the drugs will still be bought, and after a time, things will be back to normal.

A nice, dysfunctional American family.
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Got Threat?

"The danger to progressive causes and the institution of journalism [ed. - Insert chortle] has become too significant to ignore," says the introduction to a memo by Media Matters founder David Brock. "At Media Matters, we believe it is of paramount importance that progressive leaders have the information necessary to understand exactly what Fox News has become. We hope this brief memorandum will assist you in reaching your own decision on how best to engage this threat."

Forget that whole, "First Amendment" thing. Forget media objectivity. Forget vigorous debate.

If you're not parading with the Obama Marching Band and Smothering Debt Society, you are an insect that must be crushed.

Tune up those instruments and play along! It feels sooooo good! Enjoy yourself now - we'll send you the bill later...
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Got Home?

Nationally, sales of existing homes jumped almost 8 percent from September last year, without adjusting for seasonal factors.

Woo Hoo! Life is good, things are peachy-keen and Viagra is no longer needed in America!

What? There's a sub-text?

Real estate agents and economists attributed the brisk sales to a temporary federal tax credit. First-time homebuyers can receive a credit of 10 percent of the sales price, up to $8,000.

Oh. Nanny, once again, was standing on the street corner handing out $100 bills and people actually accepted them?! Shocking.

It's funny, but as a taxpayer, I've now bought banks, car companies, insurance companies, private automobiles and private homes. I have yet to receive my stock certificates, car title or property title. I get the liabilities but not the assets.

What up wit dat?

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Eco-fraud, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, Media Bias, nanny state, Political Correctness, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Mike, tell us how you REALLY feel.

The Democrat governor with a Republican business card - Arnold Schwarzenegger - has signed into law AB 962. It will require, among other things, that law abiding California citizens now be fingerprinted before they buy ammunition for their self-defense weapons. It will also prohibit the purchase of ammunition from online sources.

"The purchase records will provide our police officers with yet another tool to track down and apprehend armed and dangerous criminals," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Really, Paul? How might that work? How in the fuck will this law result in the capture of one, single bad guy? They'll all know they will have to be finger printed to buy ammo. Do you REALLY think they'll do that? Really?

Bad guys will do one of three things: They will have their flunkies buy their ammo; They will steal the ammo from gun shops or homeowners, or; They'll do like I will be doing - taking my business to Nevada or Oregon.

The result? The bad guys will still get their ammo, crimes at businesses and home to get ammo will increase, and tax dollars will now be going - once again - to another state.

You God Damned mother fuckers have your heads so far up your asses, it is a wonder you can function without parental assistance. And you are 'God Damned', in the truest sense of the phrase. God looks negatively upon people who put other people in danger for no good reason. The 'mother fucker' part is supposition on my part.
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Arnold, you were finally showing some backbone by standing up to the unions and Democrats with the budget. You had spent all of your two terms acting as a member of the Kennedy family. You amazingly stood up for actual Constitutional principles in the last stretch of your term. I figured you were not worried about getting elected again, so you could actually LEAD and not cower.

Clearly, I was wrong. You're a Kennedy bitch. Heel, bitch. You clearly have already been trained to roll over.
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Some other bills The Kennedy Bitch approved:

-- Senate Bill 43 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, allowing Santa Clara to award a contract to design and build a proposed 49ers stadium to a firm of the team's choice - rather than to the lowest bidder as normally required under city law.

Do you THINK there may have been some unmarked bills handed around to get this approved? Why would you want to allow for anything other than the lowest bidder? You write the proposal to include required safety, quality and materials standards, and get the lowest bidder.

--Senate Bill 572, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would declare May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in California. Schools and government offices would remain open, the day would not be a holiday, but schools would be encouraged to conduct commemorative exercises to remember the life of the former San Francisco county supervisor and gay-rights pioneer.

California school tax dollars at work. Do you think that crap like this might contribute to the fact that California has the highest per-student spending, but is number 47 in results. What might help change that? Learning more math, or learning about a gay guy in San Francisco?
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I need to have another SERIOUS chat with my wife. This state is simply too far gone, and continues to make incredibly poor decisions. Seriously, it is amazing to watch - how a group of people in Sacramento can so consistently make bad choices, despite the indisputable evidence that their choices are ruining our state.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, democrats, Ethics, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Defense

This lady rocks. She is a firearms instructor that specializes in teaching women how to shoot. She has found a market niche, and is filling it. Good on ya.

A couple of months back, I noticed a problem women students were having in the range - particularly indoor ranges. They were much more jumpy and jittery than the men. Much more. I did some internet searches and came across her site.

One of her articles was talking about this. She made the observation that gun shot reports are in the lower "pitch" range. Just like mens voices. She hypothesized that this was triggering some sort of primeval "danger" response in the women, which in turn manifest itself as excess jitteriness on the range.

I needed a way to acclimate the women to the sounds prior to entering the range.

To test this, I brought a digital recorder to the range with me, and recorded about 3 minutes of gun shots. With new, female students, while we are doing some of the hands-on drills BEFORE we enter the range, I have them wear headsets with the recorded gun shots being played.

So far, it seems to be working!

I don't know if it has anything to do with getting them used to the lower pitch, or if it is just giving them a taste of what's to come. I don't care! If students are less jittery while on the firing line, I'm less likely to have someone freak-out and cause a problem.
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She had an article that was her own version of The No Buy Zone. Her focus is on anti-Second Amendment companies.

She's singin' to the choir on that one! Give it a look-see. And boycott those businesses.
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Many people know that JP Morgan Chase bought WAMU. I am/was a WAMU customer.

They are in the midst of the conversion from WAMU to Chase. Having been in banking for a million years, I understand how conversions go. Stuff NEVER goes perfectly. Never.

How you handle those screw-up tells what kind of company you're dealing with.

I went to my branch on Friday to make a deposit. I always use the ATM machines. These had been swapped out months ago and converted to the Chase machines.

I put in my card, punched in my numbers and got to the main screen. There was no "deposit" option. I figured I had pushed some wrong button, so I re-did everything. Same result.

I got in line and when I got to the teller, I was terse, but polite. I let him know what had happened. His explanation turned me verbose and rude.

He said, "Oh yeah. We JUST found out about that 45 MINUTES ago."

I proceeded to tell him - and everyone else in line - that I had just pissed away 10 minutes on their machine (they're MUCH slower now). If it was not taking deposits, why didn't they put a sign on the machine stating this?

He said, "OK. Oh, the other machine works just fine."

Thankful that I was constrained by California law from carrying a weapon (jk), I said, even louder, "Do I look like the Amazing Kreskin? Am I supposed to get brain-waves from the ATM telling me which one accepts deposits?"

I got lots of chuckles from the people in line behind me. My work here was done.
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I stopped watching the Raider game mid-way through the second quarter. At this time, they are behind 28-0, and it's not even half time. A top-notch Youth Football team could kick their asses today.

JaMarcus Russell is still their quarterback because.....?

They must already be eying the 2010 draft choices...

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, Life and Times, nanny state, Self-Defense, Self-Reliance, welfare state

The trouble with government regulation of the market is that it prohibits capitalistic acts between consenting adults.
-- Robert Nozick

Reported on Fox News this morning (I have not verified it - sounds about right, though):

The Dow Jones is up 55% in the past year.

When accounted for in Euros, it is up only 20% (the dollar is weaker against the Euro).

When accounted for in gold, it is flat...

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OK, I did some quickee math. Gold is ONLY up 48% in the past year. Pretty damned close to what Fox said.

What's this telling you? That the value of the stock market - which is denominated in dollars - has produced no actual increase in wealth. It has been effectively "discounted" by a corresponding increase in a tangible asset, gold.
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Barry, Barry, Barry..... more smoke and mirrors. He's rushing ahead, arms a-flailin' in the wind, with the creation of some uber-regulatory agency for banks. Sure, that'll fix all our ills -

With a key vote nearing, the president slams banks and business groups, saying they want only "to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Banks are evil, government is good. We've heard it before. We don't need another regulator. We need a return to sanity. We need to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act which was gutted under Billy Jeff Clinton.

Ten years of history crammed into a few paragraphs: In the late 1990's, commercial banks wanted to offer other products such as insurance and (more importantly) Investment Banking services. Glass-Steagall prevented that. The (sane) concept being that you wanted to keep the job of protecting people's insured deposits separate from the very risky business of gambling in the stock market. The law had been around since the 1930's.

Billy Jeff cut a deal with the bankers and congress: I'll drop Glass-Steagall, but I get a CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) on steroids. The Gramm/Leach/Bliley (GLBA) act was passed to meet these ends. Everyone was happy.

The charter of the CRA was expanded to force banks to either directly give money to the poor communities in their area, or....... make loans to people than did not meet the usual credit underwriting requirements of the bank (sub-prime). Income redistribution at its grandest.

The banks figured they could potentially make a couple of bucks by doing the loans - SOME of the borrowers would pay them back, plus they had the real property securing the loan.

It was working, but not in the volumes congress wanted. The final stab into our national financial heart was congress getting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to guarantee these CRA loans. By having the Freddie/Fannie guarantees, the banks could now sell these loans to investors. If the borrower went tits-up, the government would cover their losses (yes, the market has always believed Freddie and Fannie to be government agencies and this was reinforced when they were both bailed out).

There was no down-side to banks making these loans or to the investors buying them. Nanny guaranteed their performance.

Because anyone that could steam up a mirror could now "afford" a home, prices went through the roof. Supply and demand was working perfectly. Demand outstripped supply, which forced up prices.

The result is the mess we're in. Banks and investors holding non-paying loans with collateral that doesn't cover the outstanding balances. They now won't make any loans because they can't count on the value of the collateral backing a loan (or whether a business will still BE in business before the loan is paid back).

The residential real estate market crashing because of loan defaults and the sudden flood of foreclosed properties on the market. The commercial property market following the same pattern very soon. Supply and demand at work once again.

You and me providing tax dollars to bailout the failing banks and their investors.
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The fix is as easy as it is unlikely: Reinstate Glass-Steagall, discontinue the CRA and have Freddie and Fannie only guarantee Conforming Loans (loans with a fixed maximum value and with a Loan-To-Value ratio of no more than 80%).

The commercial banks will be back in the business of only taking deposits and making creditworthy loans. The Investment Banks will be back in the business of only gambling on the stock market. Freddie and Fannie will be back in the business of only providing liquidity to the markets.

Of course, this will never happen. Greed and politics won't allow it. The banks would whine (and lobby) about having to divest their Investment arms and make dire predictions of imminent collapse. Congress, through the CRA, would no longer have the ability to redistribute wealth to "deserving, disadvantaged" people. Give up that kind of power?! Right.

Instead, we'll get another smothering bureaucracy that will further nationalize our banking system. Banks will be required to make crappy loans, which you and I will continue to guarantee with our tax dollars. The cost of credit to creditworthy individuals and businesses will continue to rise - when it's available at all - because banks won't make as many loans if they're not guaranteed.

The One will save us again. Give him another Peace Prize as thanks.
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Have I mentioned that you should buy some gold and silver? Real estate, too, while it's at these rock-bottom prices, and you'll be able to repay with soon-to-be hyper-inflated dollars. Tangibles. Get some tangible assets.

Just checkin'...

Labels: communism, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Paranoia will get you through times of no enemies better than enemies will get you through times of no paranoia.
-- Pete Granger

I had this big post planned to slam Barry and the Peace Prize. Comparing it to T-ball for little kids. You're getting recognized for not doing anything special. Just show up, and you're rewarded.

But what are you gonna do? These idiots can give a Peace Prize to Al Gore for bald-faced lies on Global Warming, and Barry for his "aspirations", if they want to. It's their "prize". It's just too bad that it gets so much press. With some of their latest choices, I'm guessing the "blush is off the rose" - hell, Barry just came out and said he wasn't worthy!

The word, "mockery" comes to mind...
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Is it because I'm jittery, or does it seem like there are A LOT more incidents of over-bearing government actions?

The crap I watched happening in Pittsburgh during the G20 crap was truly frightening. I'm not talking about the anarchists that were purposely flaunting certain laws and trashing shit. I'm talking about people getting snatched up off the street and being shoved into cars - without being arrested or given their rights. I'm talking about college students being trapped in stairwells and being gassed. I'm talking about people just standing on the street and cops on bicycles hosing them down with pepper spray.

WTF?

We all saw the videos of old ladies in New Orleans being roughed up and having her guns confiscated - all while the cops were "bugging out". Thousands of other guns were confiscated, and the government lied, denying that any of them existed.

Look at this shit - these people were a part of a food co-op and back in December of 2008 had all of their goods confiscated by Nanny by a SWAT team.




It sounds like the cops justified the confiscations on the grounds of some bullshit Health And Safety crap, plus they wanted them to get a retail food license. Yep, always gotta have the cut for Nanny, don't ya know...

Thompson explained the genesis of the raid was a series of visits to the family by an undercover agent for the state agriculture agency.

"He showed up (at the Stowers' residence) unannounced one day," Thompson explained, and "pretended" to be interested in purchasing food.

The family explained the co-op was private and they couldn't provide service to the stranger.

The agent then returned another day, stayed for two hours, and explained how he thought his sick mother would be helped by eggs from range-fed chickens to which the Stowers had access.

The family responded that they didn't sell food and couldn't help. When he refused to leave, the family gave him a dozen eggs to hasten his departure, Thompson explained.

Despite protests from the family, the agent left some money on a counter and departed.

On the basis of that transaction, the Stowers were accused of engaging in the retail sale of food, Thompson said.

Can you say, "entrapment"?

Why would you need a SWAT team to serve papers on a house that is a member of a food co-op? Was there EVER any indication there might be violence?

It seems like every small town in America now has a SWAT team. They get all suited up like Star Wars Storm Troopers and go kick some ass!

These people look like a couple of "old hippies" who just want to live a simple life. A group of like-minded people and farms got together to make their lives easier. That's a crime now?

They offended some bureaucrat and all hell broke loose.

These people were able to get legal representation and are suing the ass off the government, but at what cost? They had a year's worth of personal food stolen, plus the co-op has been in disarray in the interim. Nanny wins regardless of the outcome. Don't fuck with us.
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There are entire websites devoted to this topic, yet nothing seems to be changing. The MSM just rolls over and plays nice. Just off the top of my head, I can rattle off a bunch of Nanny-Run-Amuck crap -

Waco
Katrina
Ruby Ridge
The Mormon's in Texas
The BART cop shooting the kid in the back
Countless "No Knock" warrants gone bad
Asset Seizure Laws
The USA PATRIOT Act

Good Lord, what's going on here?
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Cache - food, guns, money, ammo, durable goods. Don't have "all your eggs in one basket". Stay off the ridge-line, but don't cower. Exercise your rights, but be prepared for "blow-back". They WILL hurt you if they desire, at least in the short-term. Have a plan. No, have multiple plans.

Document - your best chance for proving your innocence is by having proof of what is taking place. I was recently telling a friend about a "trick" we used in our bank branches.

We had big, obvious cameras in all of our lobbies so everyone knew we were filming everything that happened. In the back of the office was the recorder - right out in plain sight. It was recording everything that happened. What was not so obvious is that we also had a web feed to our central office.

If the office was robbed, we expected the crooks to take the tapes (or even the whole machine). It gave them a sense of assurance that they were going to get away with their crime, and it lowered the likelihood that one of our customers or employees would get hurt.

The fact that the entire incident was simultaneously recorded offsite never entered their heads...

Document what happens and make sure you have duplicates. Assume your primary source of evidence will be "lost". Paranoia isn't always a bad thing...
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[Rhetorical question...] In the past, how have the "repressive regimes" been dealt with?

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Thought Crimes, welfare state

The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.
--Malcolm X

I had a great day with my biz yesterday, but it kept me from seeing what was going on in the world. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I did a scan of the major news outlets this morning to get caught up, and here's what I found:

Michele Obama is descended from slaves.

What?! Stop The Presses! Can you believe it?! Slaves?! It must have been horrible living with that burden all these years. Didn't the slave masters know she was going to become the first-lady of the US? What WERE they thinking?!

OK, how could the New York Times spend more than 10 seconds on this? I'm surprised they didn't do a companion piece on some prominent Republican to show that he/she was a descendant from slave owners. Oh, the horror!

Maybe they could put in a half hour or so, and do a piece on something that actually matters outside of Obama's family.

Hey look! Here's something they could run with:

Beverly Gossage, Research Fellow for Show-Me Institute and founder of HSA Benefits Consulting wondered which insurance companies rejected the most claims. She found her answer in the AMA’s own 2008 National Health Insurer Report Card. The chart below appears on page 5 of the 16-page report.

Any guess which health care insurance provider had the highest claims rejection - both in terms of actual numbers and as a percentage of claims?

You got it - It's Nanny!


Click the image to see the chart. For those of you who are "click challenged" (a medical malady?) the biggest denier was Medicare. They rejected 6.85% of their claims for service, which equated to 475,000 claims.

Aetna was the only insurer that was even close, at 6.8%, but that only represented 43,000 claims.

The biggest "bitch" against the current system is that the insurance companies deny claims or don't give you insurance if you have a pre-existing condition. I'm assuming Medicare has some regulation that mandates it to accept everyone, but if you can't get care once you're on The Nanny Plan, what good is the insurance?

The White House and Congress want to put Nanny in charge of the whole shooting match? Are they insane?!

Why wouldn't the Times have this information plastered all over their front page? Yeah, yeah, we all know the answer. Michele Obama's family tree is much more important to the health and welfare of the nation...
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Having lived in the Land Of Fruit And Nuts (that'd be California) for my entire life, I've written a number of times that all the rest of the nation needs to do is look at us for what's going to happen to the country in the future.

We've long been trail blazers in socialism. Basically, all you need to do is ask for money from the state, and you'll get it. That goes double if you can insert, "for the children" or "under-privileged" into your proposal.

Well, it seems as though things aren't working out so well. For some reason, when you tax and abuse the Producers for the sole benefit of the Looters, the Producers tend to leave.

Big time -

Now, incredibly, California, which has been a natural target for immigration throughout its history, is losing people. Between 2004 and 2008, half a million residents upped sticks and headed elsewhere. By 2010, California could lose a congressman because its population will have fallen so much – an astonishing prospect for a state that is currently the biggest single political entity in America.

It's getting so bad, even the Looters are FINALLY getting cut off from the teat-sucking:

Outside the Forum in Inglewood, near downtown Los Angeles, California has already failed. The scene is reminiscent of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, as crowds of impoverished citizens stand or lie aimlessly on the hot tarmac of the centre's car park. It is 10am, and most have already been here for hours. They have come for free healthcare: a travelling medical and dental clinic has set up shop in the Forum (which usually hosts rock concerts) and thousands of the poor, the uninsured and the down-on-their-luck have driven for miles to be here.

The bottom line is, it's bad here. It's failing because this state has bent over backwards to wipe the ass of anyone who asks. These policies have made it painfully clear that is can be more profitable to NOT work. Nanny will take care of all your needs, regardless of your education or skill - or most importantly, regardless of your motivation. You don't need to have any.

Why would the tax-paying Producers stick around?

Some other reasons this shit-hole of a state is failing?

At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years.
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California's schools are ranked 47th out of 50 in the nation. Its government-issued bonds have been ranked just above "junk".
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If it was an independent country it would be in the G8. And if it were a company, it would likely be declared bankrupt.
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California's attorney-general, Jerry Brown, recently sued one county government for not paying enough attention to global warming when it came to urban planning.

Sound like the direction any country you know is heading?

So, where did this very extensively researched article come from? The LA Times? SF Chronicle? San Jose Mercury News? Oakland Tribune (OK, that was thrown in there for chuckles)?

No. It was The Observer/Guardian in England. For some reason, THEY have the time to do an article about what is likely to happen to the entire US unless we change our spending and taxing ways.

Apparently, no one in America wants to hear news like that.
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Buy gold and silver while you can still afford it. Seriously.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
--Ayn Rand

I've just been crazy-busy, and it will continue this week (muy importante meeting/presentation on Wednesday), so posts may be a bit light.

Here's a quickee, "You must be shittin' me" item.

So, Senator Baucus has put together his flavor for the Universal Health Care scam. Instead of providing the entire thing like the House did, he only provided a summary. Without the specifics, it's much more difficult to pick something apart. Smart guy.

Still, someone sent the senator a question about being thrown in prison because of his bill.

Under the health care bill being considered in the Senate Finance Committee, Americans who fail to pay a penalty for not buying insurance could be charged up to $25,000 by the Internal Revenue Service or face up to a year in jail, according to congressional analysts.

Let that sink in: If you don't get health care insurance, you will go to prison. You are being threatened at the point of a gun to participate in a socialist scam.

Unlike Social Security, which is stolen from you by your employer on behalf of Nanny, this requires your active participation. People will not take this, and will fight back. Violently.

I will actively cheer the people that shoot back.
----------

I don't know if any of you watched the Raiders/Broncos game. It is always a sell-out, and the most raucous game of the year. You can taste the hatred in the air.

It's awesome!

This year, it wasn't even sold out. I'm guessing 20% of the seats were unsold. By half-time, the stadium was half full.

Our "quarterback" (in quotes on purpose) - JaMarcus Russell is a total loss. He was booed after each of his series in the first half. In the second half, he was booed as he came on to the field. Then the chants of, "Russell Sucks!" took over.

They did nothing to fix the situation. Russell was playing horribly - again - and it was clear that the Vote Of Non-Confidence from the crowd made matters even worse. This guy is Jello, not an NFL quarterback.

Put him in a pretty pink skirt, sit his ass on the bench, and go win some football games.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Corruption, democrats, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants.
--Mao Tse-Tung

I've been in a bit of a funk lately with so much of what's going on in the news. The video of the kids singing the praises of Barry. The video being shown to kids all around the nation on the evils of capitalism. Barry being lovingly embraced by all of the world's socialist rulers. It was a bit much.

What disturbed me the most was a side-show to the G20 conference. It turns out, this ended up being the center-stage for the little get-together -

Struggling with a contentious issue, world leaders have reached basic agreement on limiting the bonuses of bankers whose risky behavior contributed to the global financial meltdown, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday at a summit of the world's largest economies.

I read that line in utter disbelief. Can we really be joining forces with other countries in the world to regulate the income of a group of people? Can this really be happening?

Apparently so -

The treasury secretary said the G-20 countries had reached a consensus on the "basic outline" of a proposal to limit bankers' compensation by the end of this year. He said it would involve setting separate standards in each of the countries and would be overseen [by] the Financial Stability Board, an international group of central bankers and regulators.

Hmmm. The Financial Stability Board. That sounds like one of the many global organizations that were established in the (supposedly) fictional Atlas Shrugged.

Are they really going to let some entity other than a bank's Board of Directors set the pay of their employees? It is horrific enough to think of our own government doing this, but being dictated to by some quasi-New World Order organization is too much to comprehend.
----------

I needed some "hopeful" reading material.

Barry keeps popping off that he is a big capitalist - he just loves that shit. But everything he does is the exact opposite. He doesn't encourage individualism and entrepreneurship, he rewards the collective.

If he wants to get all "worldly" on us, maybe he should meet this international group of folks.

They are 10 entrepreneurs that turned hard work into billions. Daddy didn't give them a big pile of money. These folks earned every damned dime they have.

In fact, of the Forbes list of the 900+ billionaires in the world, two-thirds of them made their riches on their own. No silver spoon involved.

Here's another list (albeit with some repeats from the other list).

Black or white or Asian or Hispanic. Men or women. College educated or drop-outs.

If you allow and encourage people to take advantage of the gifts they were born with, the cream will rise to the top. This "coddle the down-trodden" bullshit IS KILLING US!
----------

Remember: That list was for billionaires. Our country has millions of millionaires.

I was watching the new Jay Leno show last night, and Rush was on it. I was surprised, but he and Jay got into it pretty heavily. Jay was basically asking, "How much is enough?" with regards to salaries (I'm guessing he would change his tune if Barry suddenly targeted the entertainment industry).

Rush made the precisely correct statement - It's not a zero-sum game. Just because someone is making tons of money doesn't mean it's coming out of the pocket of someone else. In fact, just the opposite is true.

If I buy something for $X, add value and sell it for $X + $10, my supplier and I BOTH make money - neither at the detriment of anyone else. This false thesis that people get rich off of the backs of others is bullshit.

Yes, there are unscrupulous people. In business, in religion, in academia and in politics. Especially in politics. But you don't shut down an entire economic structure because of a few bad apples. You destroy the rotted fruit.

That is a roll of government, although the market usually does a better job of it all by itself.
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So, what is your gift? What skill do you possess that you can leverage to make you buckets-o-money? The people on the Forbes list provided a product or service that lots of people wanted. They packaged it in such a way that they beat their competition - very few of them actually created something new. They produced a better product or service than what was being offered by the competition, and were rewarded for their efforts.

I've always preached that making lots of money is not an ends by itself. It simply gives you the freedom to do what you want. The more money you have, the more choices you have.

You had better get moving, though, on your earth-shattering idea. Barry and Timmy may be targeting your market niche next.
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An Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia, “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?”

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
--Oscar Wilde

A buddy and I were talking yesterday about what's going on in the economy. We were talking about some different strategies for buffering ourselves for what's coming down the line. The difficulty is in knowing exactly what's coming - and when.

We discussed everything from the purchase of real property to going big into precious metals. The idea being putting our money in places where we would have something tangible to hold on to if/when we get a financial SHTF, but not being totally screwed if by some miracle, the economy makes a real, significant rebound.

From where I sit, I simply cannot see a way around the US being battered mercilessly by both inflation and taxation.

From AIER - The American Institute For Economic Research

Over the next 10 years, federal spending is projected to remain at historically high levels, revenues are projected to rise from their current post-World War II lows to near postwar highs, and ongoing federal deficits are projected to add $10 trillion to the federal debt. This according to the latest analysis from White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The AIER analysis is based upon projections by the White House, so I personally consider this to be a Best Case Scenario. In delving into the White House numbers, I see that they've only budgeted a bit over $600 billion (over 10 years) for Universal Health Care. Of course it will be considerably more than that. The recent "affordable" Senate version had a price tag of "less than $900 billion" according to Senator Baucus.

Reality will probably be triple that number. At least. And we're going to have to pay for it somehow.

On the spending side, outlays are now at 25 percent of GDP, the highest since World War II. This percentage is projected to fall as the economy rebounds and the financial crisis passes, leveling off at 23 percent of GDP, which again would be unusually high in historical terms.

One source of higher outlays will be rising interest payments on the ballooning federal debt. By 2019, the government is projected to spend more on interest payments than on national defense.

Where will THAT money come from? Does anyone who has lived in America for longer than 60 seconds believe that one, single Federal program will be cut to pay for the increased debt payments? Really?!

And then there are us Boomers -

Moreover, these projections stop in 2019, before the full wave of baby-boom retirements hits Social Security and Medicare. So the longer-term budget outlook is actually even worse. Barring some unexpected improvement or a stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth, it would appear that some combination of higher taxes, reduced spending, or increased inflating (printing more money) is inevitable.

I guess some, "stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth" could hit, but I'm not betting on it.

In the 1980's and 1990's there was a "buzz" with computers and the Internet. We could see progress. Chips kept getting smaller, faster and cheaper. Memory got bigger and cheaper. We went from 1200 baud to T-1 speeds seemingly overnight. There was reason for optimism because all of the changes were truly innovative. It wasn't a re-branding of old ideas.

What do we have before us now? Giving more free shit away to more people. Jobs will be all "green" - even though everywhere it's been force-fed in the past, it's failed. We have the government attempting to control the economy, instead of letting the capitalists do their thing.

Why innovate when the fruits of your labors will be taken from you?
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Fed Head Bernanke is now laying the groundwork for the excuses. The excuses for why the economy just won't respond to his ministrations -

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.

The Federal Open Market Committee, at the conclusion tomorrow of a two-day meeting, will probably maintain its assessment that “tight” bank credit is impeding growth, said economists including former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley. Lending contracted for five straight weeks through Sept. 9, a drop that in part reflects Fed orders to banks to raise more capital and toughen lending standards, analysts say.

If you dig deeper into the article, the real reason for the tightened lending standards is uncovered - the soon-to-go-tits-up commercial real estate market.

Falling values of commercial real estate are also a problem for banks, with an “uncertain degree of losses” to come, said Ryding, a former Fed researcher. Loans made for commercial property will probably sour and lenders will need to raise more capital to cover credit losses, Mike Mayo, a banking analyst at CLSA Ltd., said today at a conference in Hong Kong.

Banks are preparing for the massive hit that's coming. To put it into perspective, the FDIC has $10 billion or so in cash. Some are predicting it will cost them in the range of $400-$500 billion (to a worst-case estimate of $800 billion) before this financial system hemorrhaging is complete.

How do we NOT raise taxes or feed inflation by printing more money?
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As I've written before, I hope TS doesn't HTF before late October/early November. If things can hold together until then, my family should be in a good position to plop ourselves down on a semi-rural piece of property with very little debt.

It will allow us to significantly reduce our monthly outlays. That, in turn, reduces the amount of reportable income that is necessary to justify our lifestyle to Nanny (should they come snooping around).

One of the reasons we're taking this path is that we can't see a down-side to it. If the economy is somehow able to rebound, we're sitting even prettier. If it tanks as I believe, we could slide under most of Barry's (and his successors) tax tiers to help us to NOT fund this bastardization of America.

As God is my witness, I hope Barry, Ben and Tim's plan works. But, I don't see a snowball's chance in hell of it happening, and I'm not willing to bet my family's future on "hope".

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

As the ostrich when pursued hideth his head, but forgetteth his body; so the fears of a coward expose him to danger.
-- Akhenaton, King of Egypt, 14th century BC

I purposefully didn't watch Barry and his PR machine running around to all the networks selling his snake oil. I hear his lies enough so that I don't need to hear them again on all stations.

I didn't even watch Fox, although I figured they'd at last ask him some real questions regarding the health care debacle-in-waiting.

I found out this morning that Barry purposefully snubbed Fox. They were the only major broadcast or cable network that was not given an interview with Barry. Univision got an interview, for goodness sake. I must say, I was shocked.

There isn't even a pretense that the Administration is doing something newsworthy. It's all about the propaganda -

The president's week-long media blitz has left no other network behind. The president has appeared on CBS's "60 Minutes," Bloomberg and CNBC and will appear on five public affairs talk shows on Sunday: ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," CBS's "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union" and Univision's "Al Punto, con Jorge Ramos." And he's doing CBS' "Late Night with David Letterman" on Monday.

When Fox bitched about it, here was the White House's response -

"We figured Fox would rather show 'So You Think You Can Dance' than broadcast an honest discussion about health insurance reform," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told ABC News.

You gotta be shittin' me. What 'honest discussion'? They chose "news" outlets that would play nice. Aside from disgusting me, it sure says a lot about Barry. He doesn't have enough confidence in his ability to publicly justify ObamaCare - sans Teleprompters - and the associated costs. Why are none of the "news" outlets pointing THAT out?

Fucking coward.
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Don't shoot the messenger (that'd be me).

As much as it pains me to say, Congress needs to re-instate funding to ACORN - at least until they can follow the Constitution to stop sending them money.

Back in March, I railed against Congress when they were passing laws specifically targeting the employees of AIG. It's called a, "bill of attainder", and it's un-Constitutional.

A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. Bills of attainder are forbidden by Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the United States Constitution.

The House overwhelmingly passed the Defund ACORN Act. Could there be a more obvious example of a law targeting a specific group of persons?

IMO, ACORN needs to be de-funded because of the apparent criminal and Un-American activity that is prevalent throughout the organization. But only after they have been proven to have broken the terms that are placed upon them as a condition of receiving federal funds.

The Constitution is sacrosanct. We cannot bypass it simply because we detest a person, place or organization. Even the left-wing, commie, America-hating groups are protected by it.
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OT: Before the start of the NFL season, I predicted that the Raider quarterback, Jamarcus Russell would only last 4 regular season games. He has all of the "tools" to be a great quarterback, except one: He has no heart.

This dude is 6'5", 260 pounds. At quarterback. But he plays like a frilly-pantie clad school girl (no offense meant to frilly-pantie clad school girls!).

He needs to go elsewhere if the Raiders want any chance of having a winning season this year.

My morning radio show had the best line: Al Davis needs to trade him for a 14th round draft choice and a bag of footballs.

Ouch.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, welfare state

You can't create a monster, then whine when it stomps on a few buildings.
--Lisa Simpson

Stuff like this just drives me bat-shit crazy.

A relatively small and peaceful group of about 500 protesters, most demanding new jobs programs, marched through city streets in the first full day of demonstrations targeting the Group of 20 economic summit later this week.

Translation: Give us more "make-work" jobs.

It seems like the normally compliant American Socialists are beginning to break ranks with Barry. They're beginning to see that he's a Global Socialist, not just an American one. That means he'll ship your job off to some God-forsaken armpit in the world if it suits his political ends.

Protestors were also critical of comments made by President Barack Obama in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, downplaying the effectiveness of mass protest on abstract issues such as global capitalism.

"You have revealed the real Obama!" Clarence Thomas, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union told the crowd. He said the president's remarks were "very, very disrespectful" to the civil rights and other social movements.

Well, boo-friggin'-hoo. How do you like the "change", huh sport? Barry's got too many special interest groups he must "service" and you piddly little union members just got the shaft. Welcome to our world.

Take care of yourself - don't expect Barry to hand you some crumbs whenever you ask. We're running out of crumbs.
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Speaking of making millions of dollars (like that transition there?!), I was watching a show on CNBC called, "How I made my first million" or something like that. Very interesting show.

I was most drawn to the woman who co-founded Bert's Bees. They started off making hand-dipped beeswax candles and other labor-intensive stuff. She came up with some recipes for personal care stuff, and realized that the way to make some decent money was by automating.

They dropped all of the handmade stuff, and sales (and profits) went through the roof. She decided she didn't want to work behind a desk, and sold her portion of the business. For a cool $167 million.

Nice.

A unique "catch" (made from beeswax). Perceived high quality (beeswax has that 'organic' feel to it, which many people perceive to be better). Shelf and transportation stable (sitting in a warehouse won't destroy the product). Consumable (multiple sales when you use up your last purchase). Automated manufacturing without sacrificing quality (cheaper per-unit production).

Yeah, I'm making lists... If I could bottle grouchiness, I could make a mint.... ;-)
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Raider's won. Must replace the floor tiles where I hit my head after passing out. How did they manage NOT to choke?

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, Media Bias, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

I'm only grouchy and moody on days that end with Y.
--Unknown

I just had a "lively" exchange on the role of government over at Pearl's place. The broad topic was about when private industry and government are in the same "business," private industry ALWAYS does a better job.

Hell yeah!

Still, I took issue with one paragraph she posted -

Here is where I am. Everyone wants people to get the medical treatment they need - EVERYONE. You have to be a rotten SOB to deny medical care - seriously. Thats why in this country you can walk into any hospital and get treatment. Yeah, we roll like that here in the USA.

My issue was that I don't believe health care is a right.

Health care, like any other service, requires the skills of another person and the assets of another organization. You don't have a right to require that they divest themselves of their skills and assets.

Meadowlark (of whom I'm a big fan!) took issue with me taking issue (click Pearl's link above to see the exchange)!

In my eyes, it all boils down to morality. I don't want the federal government imposing its definition of morality on my pocketbook.

As an example, in my discussion with Meadowlark, I noted that in the eyes of the federal government, a poor child needing health care is exactly equal to a heroin addict that has chosen to pump himself full of drugs. Both of them get exactly the same level of care, because Nanny says so.

I think that is immoral.

In yesterday's post, I grumbled about being pissed off because Nanny is giving away 10% of our national supply of Swine Flu production.

Why are they even involved in this in the first place? Shouldn't this be handled at the local hospital, or perhaps at the state level? The Feds have no Constitutional right to be doing this (only the brute force power), but in one fell swoop, they not only do so, then some bureaucrat in DC decides it's the "moral thing" to give a huge chunk of it away.

WTF?

Where's it going to go? Who's going to get it? Who decides who gets it? How much is this going to cost us for the vaccine AND its administration? If one single American dies because he or she could not get a dose, who will be held responsible?

If we want to encourage compassion, maybe Barry could squeeze in a public service announcement between his ObamaCare speeches, and ask American's to give to their favorite charity to send some vaccine abroad.

Ahhh, but then he loses the power and prestige of spending YOUR money for you. His compassion is coming out of your hide.
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Perhaps I AM a mean, grumpy SOB. I don't care. I've been a silent partner to this disgusting abuse of federal power for much too long. No more.

I know we're too far gone to get this to change - at least in my lifetime - but that doesn't mean I have to quietly go along for the ride. Maybe my kid's kids can reminisce about, "that old grumpy SOB, Grandpa Other Mike", and have things different for their lives.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.
--James Madison

Yep, today back in 1787, the first cut of the Constitution was signed by 39 freshly-minted Americans. It would take a few more years to get the whole thing re-worked and then ratified by all of the 13 former colonies, but it all started today.

I'm guessing they'd all be pretty disgusted to see what's become of their work of art today.
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I poached this from Gun Rights 4 Us. Spot on.

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I haven't had the time to dig into the newest iteration of ObamaCare put forth by the Senate, but this caught my eye - let's tax innovation!

This new tax will eventually be passed through to patients, increasing health-care costs. It will also harm innovation, taking a big bite out of the research and development that leads to medical advancements. The core of the industry (excluding a few conglomerates like Johnson & Johnson) spent about $9.6 billion on product development in 2007, according to Ernst and Young. The Baucus tax is nearly half that, and also exceeds $3.7 billion, the total venture capital invested in device makers that same year.

Let's turn our country into a third-world shit-hole, one tax at a time.
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A green shoot?

Housing starts climbed 1.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000 in August from the previous month on an increase in multifamily home construction, the Commerce Department said Thursday. But single-family homes, which accounted for about 80% of all housing starts, fell 3% to 479,000.

I don't think so. What's this information tell us?

More people need multi-family living quarters - apartments and the like - and fewer need their own homes, or can afford one.

Plus, the builders know that the banks are holding millions (literally) of homes on their books from the gush of foreclosures. There is going to be a glut of homes available for a very long time. Unless the builders can put something together for less than what's on the market now, I don't see how they can stay afloat.

I don't know that I'd want to buy a new home built by a contractor with razor-thin margins...
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Clear this up for me: The US government works for us, right?

The United States will donate 10% of its supply of vaccine against pandemic H1N1 influenza virus to developing countries that do not have the resources to procure it on their own, a White House spokesman said today. The U.S. has ordered 195 million doses of the vaccine, which means it will make nearly 20 million doses available to the World Health Organization for distribution.

So, we have 300+ million people in the US. Nanny has ordered 195 million doses - enough for 2/3 of the people that are paying for it. We're going to give away 10% of our stash, so we're now closer to only having 50% of the needed doses.

How do those bastards in DC figure on explaining any deaths of US citizens that could not get a dose?

I don't want my taxes paying for a flu shot for an American citizen - they can pay for their own shot - let alone paying for someone in another country.

But then, I don't have much say in the matter. Neither do you.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.
--Fox Mulder

I read - slack-jawed - article after article yesterday that Uncle Ben Bernanke says the recession is over. WTF?

"I've seen some agreement among the forecasting community that we are in a recovery," Bernanke said, "But the general view of most forecasters is that the pace of growth in 2010 will be moderate."

This disingenuous SOB is playing it cutsie - he qualified his statements by saying that it may only be a "technical recovery". If we have one single quarter with growth, we are technically out of the recession.

Let's see, is there any chance we might have an "up" quarter? Maybe one artificially 'stimulated' by, oh, I don't know, handing out $3 billion to people to buy cars? Hmmmmm?

The problem is, this was an artificial 'blip' - the stimulus brought people that would have bought cars in 3, 6, 9 or twelve months down the road, and front-loaded them into this past quarter.

What's going to happen in 3 to 12 months with the auto industry? All of those people already have their cars, so the auto manufacturers are going to take a shot to the nuts.

Since it "technically" takes 3 consecutive quarters of contraction before the next recession officially begins, Barry and Company have bought themselves at least a year of respite from the financial press.
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Gold and Silver continue to climb (which actually surprised me, as I expected some profit-taking to temporarily drop prices).

Gold ended yesterday at $1,008 and silver ended OVER $17.
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A buddy of mine sent me a link to a recent interview with Gerald Celente. He's the top dog over at Trends Research. He's one of the few folks out there that have been screaming that we're going to take it in the shorts unless we stop artificially messing with the markets.

This interview is a bit long but is well worth the time.



This thing isn't over until jobs steadily rise - not just end up being better than the number of job losses the government predicts. Until people are working, economic growth will be hampered since they have no money to spend. It's really a vicious circle.
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OT: My wife had made a comment about the ObamaCare scam - she didn't understand why a law being passed in 2009 would not start until 2013. You understand why that date was picked, right?

Barry and Company can claim a victory for getting it going, but nothing will happen to our economy as a result of the law. Barry can restore his reputation, get re-elected, etc. No one that voted for it has to be burdened at election time - in 2010 and 2012 - by what happens to the country when it goes into place.

By the time the shit starts hitting the health care fan in 2013, they'll all be comfortably re-elected. It's a great plan.

If the Repubs were smart, they'd throw a fit saying that if it's so good, it should start right NOW. Get right on it to keep poor babies from dying. Barry's a man of action!

At least they would then have a couple of years of this thing killing the country and seeing it reflected at the polls.

But they're NOT smart, so they'll just play along...

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda

You lie!
-- SC Representative Joe Wilson to Barack Obama

Barry did his health care speech last night. I could not listen to it live. I had the same problem when Dubya would talk. I knew that if his lips were moving, he was lying to me, one way or the other. I knew that it would cost me either money or freedom, or both.

It's the same with Barry.

The TV and radio were both playing clips of the speech, and I had it in my head to discuss his comment that marginalized Americans who are exercising their right to petition the government for a redress of grievances as "bickering".

I spent a part of this morning reading the transcripts of the health care speech. I wanted to see what he said, not be influenced by how he said it.

The transcripts took me down another path.
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What is a 'right'? I found a definition that most matches with my beliefs on FreeRepublic.com -

A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others. The concept of a right carries with it an implicit, unstated footnote: you may exercise your rights as long as you do not violate the same rights of another—within this context, rights are an absolute.

I like that. You can do as you wish as long as it doesn't stop another person from exercising the same right. For example, I don't get to exercise my right to keep and bear arms, then use my guns to stop someone else from doing the same.

This concept of exercising rights while not infringing on the rights of another goes deeper, though. Your ability to exercise your rights cannot place a burden on another individual.

Simply because you want to exercise your first amendment right to free speech, does not give you the right to require a newspaper to spend their money on paper, ink, presses and manpower to print your words.

If you want your words in print, you must bear the burden of getting them printed.

Again, FreeRepublic said it very well -

A right must be exercised through your own initiative and action. It is not a claim on others. A right is not actualized and implemented by the actions of others. This means you do not have the right to the time in another person’s life. You do not have a right to other people’s money. You do not have the right to another person’s property. If you wish to acquire some money from another person, you must earn it—then you have a right to it. If you wish to gain some benefit from the time of another person’s life, you must gain it through the voluntary cooperation of that individual—not through coercion. If you wish to possess some item of property of another individual, you must buy it on terms acceptable to the owner—not gain it through theft.

The only legitimate claim or burden placed upon another is through taxes paid to the government to enforce your rights. Using the example from above, the government is not in place to provide you with printing presses. They are there to ensure you can operate your presses.
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fascism - a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

So, I read through Barry's speech, and I was horrified. Plain as day - with no qualification or excuse - he is conferring a right to a select few individuals, and requiring that I pay for it.

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those -- especially the young and the healthy -- who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits. If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek -- especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions -- just can't be achieved.

In one fell swoop, he is granting a right to health care. It's actually more than that - he's requiring you have health care insurance if you live in the United States. Most importantly, it will be a crime if you don't have health care insurance.

In the good old days, before a new right could be granted, the congress and the states had to agree to it. It used to be called the 'amendment process' as detailed in Article 5 of the Constitution.

Now, we just pass a law, and it's called, 'progress'.

Suppressing dissent. Regimenting industry and commerce. Aggressive nationalization.

Sounds like fascism to me. What else could it be called?
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Look at what he's saying, and the implications -

If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits.

He's using a federal law that prohibits a hospital from refusing treatment to anyone that shows up on their doorstep, as rationale for requiring we all continue to pay for this treatment, but in a different way, and somehow it will be less expensive.

How about you allow private hospitals to turn people away, or to at least transfer them to the county hospitals that were established for the indigent?

But far and away, this was the single most frightening aspect of his 'vision' -

If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.

I thought he was all about 'competition'. Why not just be right out front and say you are nationalizing all business in America?

There are a million things that go into a company business plan. Price, product, quality, location. A huge component is employees.

A business makes a decision on how to least expensively produce its product or service. It may decide that it doesn't give a damn who fills the jobs it has. Quality and customer service are irrelevant - it just wants to produce the most products for the lowest cost and charge the highest prices it can get. The market will decide if their business plan is correct - they'll either buy the product or not.

Another business may wish to pay a salary of 150% of the market, offer flexible scheduling, a great 401k plan, but no other fringe benefits. They may believe they can retain the best employees for their particular business with that model. Their employees can decide to spend the higher wages on health care insurance or on crack cocaine. Or leave and take a job with a company that DOES offer benefits. It's their choice. Again, the market will decide if their business plan is correct.

Barry's plan takes those options away. If a business is mandated to offer benefits, IT is now placed at a competitive disadvantage. It will either have to cut salaries, cut employees, cut retirement benefits or cut quality to stay competitive. Or go out of business.

Is Barry going to tell them what to cut as well - or allow them to make any cuts at all?
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I'm telling you, if this passes, there will be one way, and one way only to survive: Get out of the tax paying business.

The 'public option' will destroy the private insurers. Despite Barry's assurances that not a single tax dollar will be spent on the plan, do even the most parched Koolaid drinkers believe that?

Pretty soon, Nanny HealthCo will be the only game in town, and your tax dollars will be paying for it.

The end result will be crappy, rationed health care for all. If you're going to get the same care whether you pay for it or not, why pay?
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An Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it...

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.

Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, debate, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Most of what we object to as misconduct in children is a natural rebellion against the intrusion of an unimaginative adult despotism in their lives.
--Floyd Dell

Busy last couple of days.

Saturday, I was supposed to brew up some beer with one of my brothers and another friend. Instead, my buddy bailed on me [some weak story about a romantic weekend with his wife up in Tahoe - yeah right! ;-) ] and my brother and I did some emergency repairs to my backyard sprinkler system.

We got lucky and found two plumbers to speak with at Home Depot while we were looking for a part, and got it done very cheaply.

My brother also crawled up on my roof and sprayed WD-40 up under some eves. I have a HORRIBLE pigeon problem, and one of my next door neighbors told me he started with the WD-40 and hasn't had a problem since.

So far, not a pigeon to be seen!

I then went over to my brother's house to help him install a new stove, oven and range hood. It took us a good 6 hours or so, but it looks very nice.
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This whole weekend, we seemed to talk about Barry's speech happening today, and the health care scam.

The health care thing has gotten so divisive - I'm not sure I know what Barry is trying to fix. Tell me if there are any issues other than these:

• The poor need to have access to health care.
  
• Regular working folks need to have access WITH pre-existing conditions.
  
• Gotta bring the cost of the insurance down.

Easy peezy.

Item one is already in place. Let them choose either their local county hospital (THAT is why they are built in the first place), or allow them access to Medicaid. Have congress pass a law to change the eligibility standards for Medicaid. The program is ALREADY IN PLACE!

Good health is important to everyone. If you can't afford to pay for medical care right now, Medicaid can make it possible for you to get the care that you need so that you can get healthy – and stay healthy.

Medicaid is available only to certain low-income individuals and families who fit into an eligibility group that is recognized by federal and state law. Medicaid does not pay money to you; instead, it sends payments directly to your health care providers. Depending on your state's rules, you may also be asked to pay a small part of the cost (co-payment) for some medical services.

While they're at it, pass a simple law that says -

It is illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

To allow insurance companies to spread their risk across a greater customer base, the prohibition against insurance companies offering their product across state lines is hereby rescinded.

With those three things - Medicaid, no pre-existing conditions and opening up the entire country to insurance companies (as is the case with life and auto insurance already) the problem is fixed.

If they really want to make a substantial change, they can introduce tort reform so that doctors aren't encouraged to cover their asses by testing you for every damned possible ailment under the sun so they don't get sued. The problem with health care costs isn't with "greedy insurance companies", it's with greedy trial lawyers.

Guess who has the better paid lobbyists?
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Hooch update: After sitting for 10 days in my freezerator, the hooch has cleared up considerably -
While not perfectly gin-clear, it is getting there. There is still just a hint of haze from suspended yeast, but it's much better than the grapefruit juice clarity from right after the fermentation. I transferred the liquid to a secondary container and will let it sit for another week or so.

I'll then put 1/3 of it on the rest of the blackberries I foraged to make a fruit brandy/wine of sorts. One-third will be left as-is to be used as a mixer for "girlie" drinks, and the last one-third will be used for experimentation. I'm just going to leave it at that.
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I read the speech Barry will be giving today. In general, I like the message. Stay in school, work hard and you'll achieve your dreams. Good stuff. He slid in some inferences to health care and other crap, but in general, it was OK.

(Did you notice all of the product placement ads included with the speech? Ipod, Xbox, Google, etc? I wonder if they had to pay for the mentions like they do when their products are shown or mentioned in movies.....).

I read the speech out loud to my brother and his kids. We had a little discussion afterwards about volunteerism and service to your community. My brother and I disagreed quite sharply.

My brother feels it is appropriate for schools to have a requirement that kids perform some sort of community service before they graduate (BTW, Mrs. TheOtherMikeS agrees with him). He feels it shows them what volunteerism is all about.

I have a HUGE problem with it. I have a problem with any required service to the state or at the direction of the state, for free people. It is nothing less than indentured servitude. It plants the seed that it is OK for the state to tell you what to do with your time.

I'd be OK with a civics class where volunteering got you extra credit, but not as part of the requirement to graduate.

The idea of civics is to want to make your community a better place to live. It isn't to make it a place conceived in the mind of some bureaucrat. Until people see with their own eyes that unless THEY do something for their community, it will rot, no real change will be made. If Nanny continually "rides to the rescue," people have no incentive to improve their community.

We're not teaching civics, we're teaching dependence on the state.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism...
-- Angelina Grimke

In a recent post (Propaganda and Indoctrination), commenter John B made reference to a movie about how easy it was to move kids towards totalitarianism. Fellow commenter Jimbo noted that it was called, The Wave.

In 1967, at the Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, World History teacher Ron Jones was asked about the Holocaust by a student. "Could it happen here?". According to the press release accompanying the latest retelling of the events that followed, "Jones came up with an unusual answer. He decided to have a two week experiment in dictatorship. His idea was to explain fascism to his class through a game, nothing more. He never intended what resulted, where his class would be turned into a Fascist environment. Where students gave up their freedom for the prospect of being superior to their neighbors.

Each day, the teacher added one more seemingly innocuous aspect to the experiment. Rousing music. Propaganda ("Power Through Discipline" written on the chalkboard) and physical manifestations of conformity (sitting bolt upright in your seat with your hands folded over the small of your back - try it). A Group salute (The Wave).

The first sign of concern came when some students had taken it upon themselves to report others who did not conform. After just four days, things got out of hand. Jones feared for the safety of a few students who refused to participate. To his dismay and alarm, the experiment was so blindly embraced by the students, that he cut the project short. "Initially I just wanted to show my students how powerful the pressure to belong can be, but the exercise got out of control. A momentum began to build that I couldn't slow, or even deter. I became frightened by the day-to-day happenings in class, and was forced to call it off," recalls Jones.

Don't tell me that I shouldn't be worried when the Dear Leader is the star attraction in an event where his minions (The Department of Education) provide the teachers with the tools to move everyone in the same direction - No "dissenters" allowed.

The Dear Leader apologists are saying, "What could possibly be wrong with the president talking about staying in school or doing "service"?

Nothing. Maybe. But that's not what this is about. If the sole purpose is the school/volunteer gig, then why is this STILL in the DOE "Menu of Classroom Activities" -

Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama. Teachers could motivate students by asking the following questions:

Who is the President of the United States?
What do you think it takes to be president?
To whom do you think the president is going to be speaking?
Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
What do you think he will say to you?

What does the office of the president of the US have to do with this subject? Nothing. It could be presented by an astronaut, or a pro ball player or a rock star. If some rock star were giving the pep talk, would the DOE have provided a list of questions as well?

Who is the most famous rock star in the US?
What does it take to snort a line of coke as thick as a number two pencil?
Do you think you'll be able to comprehend the thoughts of his alcohol-addled brain?
Do you think he'll share his drugs with YOU?

Is his talk about school and volunteerism, or is it about idol-ism of government? Is it about setting the framework that, Nanny Is Good - The Dear Leader Says So. Set the expectation that The Dear Leader is your friend - he's speaking directly to you.

This little Kiddie Fireside Chat is less about volunteering, and more about doing as you're told. Also from the "Menu" -

Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?

WTF? Isn't the idea of America that THEY listen to US? HAVE THESE BASTARDS EVER READ ANY AMERICAN HISTORY!!
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Here is the two-part movie. Pay particular attention at the beginning of the movie (a dramatization of what happened in the classroom) with regards to the economic and social environment of the time.

Part 1



Part 2


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A question: In the schools that show the speech, but allow kids the option of not watching it, how will they be treated by their peers and teachers?

I think history has already given us that answer...

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, democrats, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, nanny state, Political Correctness, Propaganda, Thought Crimes, welfare state