The Violence Worker!

The Health Care Summit

Why it was called a summit is beyond me.  Obama said he wanted to listen, but presented his bill a few days before.  This was kabuki, pure and simple.  The Democrats, specifically Dear Leader, had no intention of incorporating any Substantive Republican ideas.  This was all for show anyway.  Everyone knows it.

While the Democrats tried to talk people to death, taking up about two thirds of the time, Paul Ryan pretty well demolished the Obama plan which is similar to the Senate bill.

The American people are against this bill.  The Democrats really don't give a damn about what you want, they want to "Rahm" something through anyway. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue's massive role in this election year.

Pelosi is relatively safe.  She could be caught in bed with a ten year old , both smoking a cigarette and drinking champagne, and still get re-elected.  Many of her fellow reps are far less secure.  Easy for her to say.  But her stance is not based upon what is good for the country.  She knows that once passed, even if it is extremely bad and expensive, it will most likely not be repealed.  She is prepared to lose the battle of 2010 in order to win the Socialist war.

Obama's bill is expensive.  Taxes will have to be raised on everybody in order to pay for it and he knows it. His promise to raise taxes on the middle class will have to be reneged upon.  He's already said as much when he said he was now "agnostic" on raising taxes on the middle class.  

Just throwing money at health care will not make it more affordable.  Letting the government run it will not make it cheaper or better.  Bullying insurance companies and taxing "Cadillac" plans (unless yours is a union plan) is not the answer.  Tort reform, promoting competition and other free market solutions will have a greater impact on quality and cost than anything some incompetent government bureaucracy will do.

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The Party Is Over

I think everyone understands that taxes are a necessary thing.  A government is needed for an orderly society and it costs money to run it.  Every level has their fingers in our collective wallets to provide for the services we have come to rely on.  Those services are usually expensive, many times unnecessarily so, but that is another story.

It's no secret that our cities, states and even our country is on the verge of bankruptcy.  We've spent ourselves into a corner and revenues are dwindling as needs and demands for services keep rising. keep rising.  We keep electing and re-electing people of both parties who view government treasuries as their personal money to dole out to whatever wheel squeaks the loudest.  We build huge fields of dreams hoping that once it is finished, the we, the people, will come.  And if we don't, they often try to social engineer us into coming. 

The most glaring example of this is big city transit.  All of them must be subsidized to some degree.  In most cities (like mine), the buses are way less convenient than the traffic jams the elitists (who would never use the buses themselves) tell us they are trying to cure.  In my case, it would take me almost an hour and a half with two transfers to get to my job.  The earliest it would arrive is about an hour and a half past my scheduled work time.  Who wants to travel an hour and a half each way for a ten mile trip, even if they adjust either my schedule or the bus schedule?  No one. 

This isn't specifically about big city transit subsidies, though.  It's about spending and spending and spending and then taxing and taxing and taxing at every level.  They are going to try and shove national healthcare reform down our throats at the national level even though we have no money for it and it will just make it more expensive for everyone in the long run.  It doesn't seem to matter that we can't afford it, they just intend to raise more taxes. It can be transit or an incinerator, but boondoggle is usually the result.

The city of Harrisburg, PA is broke.  They cannot raise enough money to pay their debts.

In Harrisburg, which is Pennsylvania's capital and has a population of about 47,000, a March 1 deadline is looming on a payment of $2 million out of the $68 million due this year for the financing of an incinerator plant. The facility has about $288 million in overall debt.

"Bankruptcy is inevitable," Mr. Miller says. "We are in a terrible bind." A budget passed Saturday by Harrisburg's city council didn't include any funds to cover the debt payments, according to the city clerk's office.

They admit they can't raise taxes to pay for it or people would start leaving the city.  Other cities are facing similar binds.  As the tax base weakens because of the economy governments at all levels are finding it difficult to maintain their budgets. 

San Francisco is another example.  They are facing a deficit over a billion dollars worth of deficits in the next two years.

Sooner or later, the piper will be paid.  It's only getting worse despite the current administration's pronouncements to the contrary and this type of thing will make it even harder for things to rebound

Voters are as much to blame as the politicians.  They keep electing people who promise ice cream and we are just about out of stock.  The Party is just about over.

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I Want One

Today, on my way to work, I saw a bumper sticker that cracked me up. It read:

I may look harmless, but I raised a U.S. Marine!

And yes, I did.

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You Go Gov!!!

He's doing what he said he'd do!

Calling New Jersey's budget a "shambles," Gov. Chris Christie announced Thursday he is immediately freezing all state spending.

Saying New Jersey is on the verge of bankruptcy, Christie declared a fiscal emergency, announcing drastic cuts. Among them, aid to school districts that have excess surpluses.

Now THAT'S change you can believe in!

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The End Of Camelot

Last Friday, I talked about Patrick Kennedy's comment about Scott Brown winning his Daddy's Senate seat.  In and Update, I noted that Old Patches might want to take a look at his own poll numbers before he started talking about jokes.  Well it seems that little Patches took my advice and decided to retire rather than face a loss.  (OK, He probably didn't take my advice, but it's my blog, I can say that if I want!).

Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election to Congress, saying his life is "taking a new direction" just months after the death of his father and mentor, Sen. Edward Kennedy.

If by "new direction" you mean that the voters were likely to give you a new direction whether you wanted it or not.

I wish Patches well.  I sincerely hope he can overcome the demons of his addictions, but he needs to do that in the private sector and not on my dime.

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It's Not About Health

Using taxes to help influence behavior is not a new thing.  In Canada and in many other countries, it's expensive to buy alcohol and tobacco products.  The theory goes, if you make it make it cost more, people are less likely to abuse it.  It really doesn't work that way, it just becomes a cash cow for local, state/provincial and national governments.   Alcoholics still drink and and smokers still smoke.  There might be some that quit, but most continue on.  They might not buy other things or they may indeed cut back a bit (at first) but most will press on with their their drinking or tobacco habits. 

"An increase in tobacco tax rates is not only sound public health policy but a smart and predictable way to help boost the economy and generate long-term health savings for states facing deepening budget deficits," said John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

"We have irrefutable evidence that raising the tobacco tax lowers smoking rates among adults and deters millions of children from picking up their first cigarette," Seffrin said in a statement.

I'm not disputing Mr. Seffrin.  Frankly, as an ex-smoker, I hope it does make people quit and deter others from starting.  However, to a legislator, it is cash to spend and rarely does the income from a tax ever go where it is targeted - at least for long.  It will find its way into the general fund.

If they really wanted to deter smoking, they would raise the tax to 25 bucks a pack and be done with it or just ban it outright.  That way, only rich people could afford to smoke and they have enough money that they can afford their own health care.  It's pretty much a given that most smokers are in the lower income brackets. 

It's about raising revenue and though they quoted a poll saying 60% of voters would vote for it, you have to ask how many of those voters actually smoked themselves.  It seems to me like a case of a majority wolves and a minority of sheep voting on the menu.

Trying to balance budgets by raising the "sin" taxes is a really bad idea.  Eventually, you'll do two things.  One, your cash cow will eventually run out of cash and two, when they do, there will be a black marketer there to provide the goods.

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The Super Bowl And Other Oddities

I watched a Super Bowl game for the first time in decades yesterday.  This earth shattering event came about simply because I was invited to a Super Bowl party.  My host was originally from N'Awlins although there were some Colts fans there as well.  Of course we all rated the commercials.  It was a fairly diverse bunch, but most tended to think the commercials were kind of tame and some were somewhat shocked that the Tebow Ads were actually quite tame.  I found it quite telling that many liberals demanded they be pulled.  It is supposed to be a choice, right?  And they came up with the money for the ad so it wasn't like CBS was doing a public service announcement or something.  Afterwards, the most a few could do was sputter something about "domestic violence"  over the tackle scene which was clearly meant to be fun.  Ah well, some people seem to live their lives in perpetual outrage.

Mostly, the ads were lame.  Almost as lame as the half time show,  Don't get me wrong, I was/am a big fan of The Who.  Their "Who's Next" album was arguably one of the 25 best albums of the seventies.  But watching Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend up there struggling to get through a 13 minute medley was painful for them and the audience.  Daltry just wasn't even trying to go for the high notes and Townshend will probably need physical therapy  for the rest of his life just for his right arm.  Gone are the days of the knee-sliding, guitar-smashing antics.  I was half surprised they did as well as they did.

As I mentioned, the ads were lame.  Go Daddy (full disclosure: I buy my domain names through them) ads were among the worst.  I don't remember who had the ads with the underwear people in the office.  All I know is at the end of that one, I wanted to wash the memories of it out of my brain with some fluorosulfuric acid.  Makes ya just a little nostalgic for the Bud Bowl doesn't it?

I don't know what team was out there playing against the Colts in the first quarter, but I don't think they were the same team that showed up for the other three quarters.  I don't know what was said in the quick huddle between quarters, but what ever it was, the Saints took it to heart.  It was a great game.  I was kinda sorta for the Saints as the underdog.

Someday, my beloved Lions will be there.  I'm hoping it will be before I leave this earth.  They better hurry up.  I'll be 57 in April.  I figger if all goes as planned, that gives them at least another 30 years or so.

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The Rush To Socialism

According to a recent Gallup poll, 53% of Democrats have a "positive view" of Socialism and America as a whole is only at 36%.  Looking at the whole page, it doesn't appear that they defined the term and if you look at the results of some of the other parts of the same poll, it seems a bit convoluted with most people (to include Democrats) having a highly favorable view of entrepreneurs  and small business.  That would be in direct opposition to how Socialism is generally defined which is the state controls the means of production and distribution.

Despite the apparent contradictions in the responses, I still wonder why so many people would have a positive view of Socialism.  What is it about Socialism that is so appealing?  Can someone explain this to me?  What is the draw?  Is it simply just to get back at those "rich guys"?

Most people in this country do not want government controlling healthcare.  They don't want a single-payer and they don't want the so-called public option which is nothing more than a foot in the door to a single-payer system.  It doesn't seem to matter to the Socialists in Congress and the White House.  They will continue to push for it. 

They explain the lack of support for government run healthcare on several reasons, but the main reason is simply that they view the average citizen to be too stupid to know what's good for them.  They truly believe they are smarter than the electorate in general. They also like to blame Fox News for deceiving us all (or something like that).

Socialism does not work.  It's never been successful anywhere.  The ideologues like to point to such things as Medicare and Social Security as being success and how we've come to depend upon them.  Yes, we've come to depend upon them, but only because they became the only game in town.  The government abhors competition.  When it was suggested that people be given a choice in how they wanted to invest in their retirement, the Socialists went nuts.  The Democrats opened that piggy bank long ago and continue to loot it and today the system is about to go broke. 

This country was not built on Socialism.  Freedom and liberty  built tjhis country, not serfdom to an all powerful federal government.  We need to shine the light on what Socialism really is and that is a giant step toward Communism.  Communism is a system of government that is responsible for killing and jailing more people than National Socialism ever did.  It's an evil that should forever be relegated to the proverbial dustbin  of history.

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Who's The Joke? (UPDATED)

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Debauchery) is claiming that the newly minted Senator Scott Brown's candidacy is a joke.

"Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday.

It's called self-parody.  This drug and alcohol addled Representative from Rhode Island and son of a murdering, drunken, womanizer telling us someone else is a joke?  The real joke is the one perpetuated over the years that somehow the notoriously corrupt and crooked Kennedy family is some kind of American royalty.  

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UPDATE:  It seems that old Patty might want to pay attention to his own upcoming election and rethink who might be the joke.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the numbers.

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The Glory Days of SAC

Here’s a 3-part film on the legacy of the Strategic Air Command produced around 1963.    The film is 3 reels and the following reels will automatically open when its previous reel has ended.  Total time is about 20 minutes.  You can read some information about the film and its discovery here.