Random-American

Welp, they did it.  I had previously warned it was coming, and on Friday the House of Representatives passed what has rightfully been referred to as the biggest tax increase in American history.  Did they utilize appropriate ‘transparency’ as President Obama promised and give the American people five days to review the bill before it was voted upon?  Nope.  It wasn’t submitted for review until the last minute.  The fact is, NO ONE READ THE BILL.  It was over 1000 pages long, including a 300 page amendment tacked on shortly before the vote.  Not one member of Congress has ever read the entire bill, yet it passed with a final tally of 219-212.  44 Democrats voted against it, but 8 turncoat Republicans voted for it.  I hope everyone remembers them come the next election. 

The Heritage Foundation managed to do a thorough analysis of the bill, and their findings can be found here.  A previous analysis of theirs had also pointed out that the Congressional Budget Office grossly underestimated what it would cost Americans.  Thank God for the folks at the Heritage Foundation.  If we waited for the Dem Congresscritters or the mainstream media to be open and honest with us about what’s in there, we’d be waiting til Hell freezes over.  There’s more important news ya know.   Didn’t you hear, Michael Jackson died?

Should you wish to read the entire nauseating bill, you can do so here. 

Standard.net has referred to the bill as an embarassment, and I concur.  However I tend to agree even more so with the opinion of Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner who called it a “pile of s–t.”

I know, I know…illegal aliens are just here to work…yadda, yadda…

However…

From San Francisco Examiner:

An illegal immigrant suspected of a violent robbery and assault was out of jail for a previous crime at the time of the attack because he had been admitted to a nationally recognized work training program, The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

Amanda Kiefer, who was 29 at the time, told the Times’ Michael Finnegan that she was run down by an SUV after being robbed in Pacific Heights in July, 2008. The man who allegedly robbed her, Alexander Izaguirre, jumped into the SUV before the driver ran down the woman, fracturing her skull.

It was only later Kiefer learned that Izaguirre, who had a previous conviction for selling cocaine in the Tenderloin, was out of jail at the time of the robbery because he had been admitted to Back on Track, a program designed to give low-level criminals a second chance by training them for work.

Back on Track has garnered national attention for its rehabilitative qualities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even secured a $400,000 earmark for the program in the current federal budget.

Unfortunately Izaguirre, who is an illegal immigrant, was not supposed to be eligible for the program.

So what political style do you think President Obama uses, other than the obvious hopeychangey rainbows and unicorns approach to policy?  If you wanna believe all the hopeychangey rainbows and unicorns, you go right ahead puddin’.  I’ll keep my views based in reality, thanks.  Michael Barone has an interesting take which seems pretty well on the mark to me.

From Washinton Examiner:

Dodge facts, skip details, govern Chicago-style

…

First, Obama likes to execute long-range strategies but suffers from cognitive dissonance when new facts render them inappropriate. His 2008 campaign was a largely flawless execution of a smart strategy, but he was flummoxed momentarily when the Russians invaded Georgia and when John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. On domestic policy, he has been executing his long-range strategy of vastly expanding government, but may be encountering problems as voters show unease at huge increases on spending.

His long-range strategy of propitiating America’s enemies has been undercut by North Korea’s missile launches and demonstrations in Iran against the mullah regime’s apparent election fraud. His assumption that friendly words could melt the hearts of Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been refuted by events. He limits himself to expressing “deep concern” about the election in the almost surely vain hope of persuading the mullahs to abandon their drive for nuclear weapons, while he misses his chance to encourage the one result — regime change — that could protect us and our allies from Iranian attack.   

Second, he does not seem to care much about the details of policy. He subcontracted the stimulus package to congressional appropriators, the cap-and-trade legislation to Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, and his health care program to Max Baucus. The result is incoherent public policy: indefensible pork barrel projects, a carbon emissions bill that doesn’t limit carbon emissions from politically connected industries, and a health care program priced by the Congressional Budget Office at a fiscally unfeasible $1,600,000,000,000.

He quickly announced the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay and now finds his administration begging the likes of Palau and Bermuda to take a few detainees off its hands. His acceptance of Arabist insistence that all problems in the Middle East can be solved by getting an Israeli-Palestinian settlement has put us in the absurd position of pressuring Israel not to expand settlements by a single square meter but pledging not to “meddle” in Iran.

Third, he does business Chicago-style. His first political ambition was to be mayor of Chicago, the boss of all he surveyed; he has had to settle for the broader but less complete hegemony of the presidency. From Chicago he brings the assumption that there will always be a bounteous private sector that can be plundered endlessly on behalf of political favorites. Hence the government takeover of General Motors and Chrysler to bail out the United Auto Workers, the proposal for channeling money from the private nonprofits to the government by limiting the charitable deduction for high earners, the plan for expanding government (and public employee union rolls) by instituting universal pre-kindergarten.

Global warming!  Global warming!  The debate is over!  It’s mean, nasty, horrible and we’re all gonna die!! 

Errr, wait…what?

From AZCentral:

Meteorologists are reluctant to call a month “nice.” They have their data and their science and typically do not describe the weather in such subjective terms.

Except now, because the data prove it.

“It’s probably the best June since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here most of my life,” said the National Weather Service’s Valerie Meyers, who is in her late 40s. “It’s been really nice.”

Possibly the nicest June ever.

It’s that type of thing that is fun to say but hard to quantify.

Thursday, however, was the 14th consecutive day to stay below 100 degrees. That’s the longest stretch of its kind in any June since 1913.

Owlgore and the rest of the envirokooks are sure to not be pleased.

During the presidential election, American Idol-style, Barack Obama promised that families making under $250,000 will not see “any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”  Yeah, well, we all know that was a lie.  And here’s yet more proof.

From Fox Business:

About one in eight U.S. workers who receive health benefits from an employer — more than nine million workers — could pay higher income taxes on benefits as part of a Senate proposal that aims to raise billions of dollars to finance health-care reform, according an independent analysis of the proposal.

A five-page presentation, obtained by FOX Business, was prepared by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is leading efforts by Senate Democrats to formulate funding alternatives for a reform plan. In the document, Baucus proposes “options to limit allowable tax free health benefits.”

Since World War II, when companies facing work-force shortages began offering comprehensive health-care coverage to attract and retain workers, such benefits have been tax-free to employees. Today, more than 150 million workers and their dependents receive health insurance from their current — or, if retired, former — employer.
Preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of health-care reform at $1 trillion or more over 10 years. 

And before the leftists start screaming “That’s Fox, they’re biasedddd!”, here’s more for ya…

From Washington Post:

President Obama’s top political adviser refused today to rule out the possibility that the White House might agree to a tax hike on health insurance plans that would hit middle-income Americans.

Axelrod refused to repeat Obama’s “firm pledge” he made during the campaign.  Gee, why is that?  It couldn’t possibly be because even he knows it’s complete bovine excrement, could it?

And when you conduct a poll on Obama’s healthcare reform plan, what’s the best way to ensure you get the results you want?  Stack the poll, of course.

Yet another horrible story that didn’t have to happen if our spineless politicos would secure the borders and enforce the laws.

From WABC:

Police in New Jersey say a teenager sexually assault nine girls, the oldest just 7 years old. And they fear there could be more victims out there.

The teenager lives in Lakewood.

A quiet apartment complex filled with families and young children was a hunting ground, police say, for the sexual predator. And they say his prey was little girls between the ages of 4 and 7.

The Ocean County prosecutor says it all started with one complaint Saturday. But by Tuesday, there were nine alleged victims. And 18-year-old Cirilo Chalula, an illegal Mexican immigrant, was behind bars and charged with sexual assault.

…

Eyewitness News has learned that Chalula has only been there for a few months. He was living in New York City before that, and Mexico before that. He has reportedly been in this country illegally for two years now.

The prosecutor is concerned there may be more victims out there.

I know, I know… illegal aliens are just here to work…yadda, yadda…

Awww, is all that hopeychangey rainbows and unicorns stuff starting to lose its luster?

From Rasmussen Reports:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That’s the President’s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama (see trends).

Sixty percent (60%) of Democrats Strongly Approve of the President’s performance but only 8% of Republicans share that view. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans Strongly Disapprove.

So, let’s see… we’re losing manufacturing jobs left and right, China is adding manufacturing jobs that used to be done here, we’re way beyond flat broke, but yet we’re going to give China ‘aid’ to help fight the bogus mythical alarmist eco-religion of man-made global warming?

We’re in debt up to our eyeballs, yet going to give ‘aid’ to China.  Yep, sounds about right.

From CNSNews:

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said that there was “no question” that China would receive both financial and technological assistance from the United States as part of upcoming climate change talks to be conducted in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 
“This is a developing country issue, which includes China,” Stern told reporters on Friday.  “I think there is no question that a Copenhagen agreement is going to have to include mechanisms to provide the financial flows and technological assistance to developing countries.”

I know, I know… illegal aliens are just here to work… yadda, yadda…

From The Murfreesboro Post:

An illegal immigrant was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer after he allegedly tried to ram his vehicle into the officer who was walking early Saturday on Harrison Street, Murfreesboro (TN) Police reported.

Suspect Cesar Anturo Marquez Hernandez, 28, of 3407 Wellington Drive was charged with trying to kill Officer Brandon Benge, who was answering a domestic assault call, Detective John Singleton reported.

Benge responded to a domestic call about 3:30 a.m. on Harrison Street off Greenland Drive. He approached a man walking near a SUV and ordered him to step away from the vehicle several times.

Instead, the man identified later as Hernandez got into the SUV and started the engine with Benge ordering him to stop.

“The subject placed the vehicle in gear and accelerated at a high rate of speed and steered the vehicle at me,” Benge reported. “At that time, I fired my weapon twice into the driver’s side door. The subject continued to drive away.”

read more…

Vice-President Biden has come out to say that ‘everyone guessed wrong’ on the effects of economic stimulus.

Let me be another one to say…. that’s bovine excrement. (hat tip: Boortz)

Conservatives, Libertarians, and most objective economists have said all along that the stimulus boondoggle wouldn’t do much at all to help the economy.  The Obama administration had come out and said that unemployment wouldn’t go any higher than 8%, but they had to pass the stimulus bill NOW.  They also said the stimulus bill would “save or create 3.5 million jobs.”  That whole ’saved jobs’ thing is totally bogus anyway; there is no way anyone can accurately record the data for ’saved’ jobs. 

Here we are at 9.4% unemployment and no one really knows where it’ll end.  And it’s turning out (as many of us predicted), that whole stimulus bill was full of completely bogus projects, wasteful spending, fraud, and abuse.   (hat tip: MM)

So, are you still feelin all hopeychangey?

So, just what would the media outcry be if a Republican Senator sold off a bunch of stock just after meeting with the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman?  I think everyone with more than two functioning brain cells knows the answer to that.  Yet, if it’s a Democrat, the media are largely silent.  Bias anyone?

From Chicago Sun Times:

As U.S. stock markets plummeted last September, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, sold more than $115,000 worth of stocks and mutual-fund shares and used much of the money to invest in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The Illinois senator’s 2008 financial disclosure statement shows he sold mutual-fund shares worth $42,696 on Sept. 19, the day after then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged congressional leaders in a closed meeting to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. The same day, he bought $43,562 worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock, the disclosure shows.

Average Americans go to prison for insider trading.  Martha Stewart ring a bell?  Yet I’d be greatly surprised if anything happens here whatsoever.   Move along, nothing to see here… it’s just a Democrat politician (allegedly) doing things average folks would be sent to prison for.  No biggie. 

Global warming!  Global warming!!  Ahhhh!…  uh, wait…what?

From WGN:

The average temperature at O’Hare International Airport through Friday has been only 59.5 degrees: nearly 7 degrees below normal and the coldest since records there began 50 years ago.

Owlgore and the other eco-religionists will surely not be pleased. 

March 7, 2003:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today about the nation’s unemployment rate, which increased to 5.8 percent in February.

“President Bush’s first $1.7 trillion tax cut came with a promise — that it would create jobs and grow the economy. We all know that it has not. The rhetoric was good, but the reality couldn’t be more different. Today’s unemployment numbers show that 308,000 jobs were lost last month, the biggest one-month job loss in 18 months. Overall, President Bush has the worst record on job creation of any President in nearly 60 years. 

However, since President Obama signed the Democrat boondoggle stimulus bill into law, unemployment has skyrocketed to 9.4%.   Nancy Pelosi and the other Dems are essentially silent about this.  After bashing Bush for a 5.8% unemployment rate, the Dems’ only answers to the current unemployment rate of 9.4% is to increase stimulus spending, impose more regulation, insert more government control and punish the successful in the name of ‘fairness.’ 

The Obama administration has spent more money in their first six months than all spending since the creation of the United States combined.  Yet they still don’t think it’s enough.  They want more spending.  They want more control.  They somehow think they can spend your money better than you can.

There’s now a healthcare proposal in the Democrat-controlled House that would include $600 billion in new taxes to pay for it.  Hello?!  We’re already friggin broke.  Ah, but it’ll only be taxes on those evil, nasty, filthy, putrid rich people… so that’s ok, right?  It’s not fair that they earn more.  Afterall, it’s all about faaaairness, right?

Absolutely not.  It’s not really about fairness, it’s about control.  The control of your individual lives.  When the government is responsible for your individual healthcare, you are no longer in control of your own body.  If healthcare is a right that should be provided by the government, you no longer own yourself.  And what greater wealth is there than to own your own life and spend it how you see fit?

Wealth envy is a real illness in society today and it’s a result of the horrific poison of ‘fairness.’  Life isn’t fair, get over it.  Someone will always have more money than you.  Someone will be taller, or shorter, or thinner, or fatter, or more educated, or a better family life, or less debt, or more debt, have a nicer car, are more musically talented, are better athletes, better artists, better economic minds, better entrepeneurs, etc, ad infinitum.  If you don’t like where you’re at in your life, do something to change it.  Work more.  Move.  Get more education.  Take out loans to pay for it if you have to.  Make better decisions.  Help yourselves without waiting for big daddy gubmint to hold your hand and do it for you.  Stop resenting others for their successes, it gets you nowhere.  The only person who can change your economic position in the world is YOU, so get to it.  We all need to do more to realize that, including myself. 

We are all where we are because of decisions we’ve made throughout our individual lives.  Everyone has difficulties and cards stacked against them, whether it’s education, skills, difficult parents, people that won’t hire them for whatever reason, kids, don’t know the right people, you name it.  But to wallow in the self-pity of “it’s not fair, so I’m waiting for the government to fix it” won’t get you anywhere.  Stop finding someone to blame and start taking advantage of the opportunities that exist if you just put in the effort and make the right choices.  The Dem/Socialist utopian concept of ‘fairness’ is so blindingly myopic and asinine, they couldn’t find their own posterior in a storm of logic with both hands and a mirror.

The biggest depravity in humankind is a man with no purpose, but the essence of a second-rate mind is a person who resents the achievements of others.  “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is nothing but theft from the producers who actually earned it.  

The biggest limits to our own success are those limits that we place on ourselves through excuses.  The sooner we all realize our own innate abilities and potential, the better our whole society will be.  And we damn sure don’t need nanny state government to do it for us.

Welp, it’s official… President Obama and the Socialist Democrat party are pushing for government healthcare.  Ah, but don’t worry… ‘the rich’ will pay for it. 

From Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama wants Congress to consider taxing the wealthy instead of workers to pay for a health-care overhaul, as House Democrats discuss a plan to require health insurance for most Americans

Yeah!  Stick it to the rich!  Those evil, nasty, putrid, filthy rich that invest their personal capital, expand their companies, and actually own the businesses that create jobs and employ people.  That’ll teach em!

Just outta curiosity, when was the last time a poor person expanded their business and hired 500 people? How many poor people have ever hired you for a job?  But, I digress…

Ted Kennedy* has is also pushing a proposal to mandate that all employers pay for the healthcare of their employees, or provide extra money to the workers to pay for it.  His plan would have the federal government directly competing with other health insurance companies.  I don’t care how you slice it, that’s just flat out wrong. 

In the Senate, health committee chairman Edward Kennedy has an early draft of legislation that also includes a so-called “individual mandate,” and would require all employers to supply health insurance for workers or contribute to the cost of a plan.

Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, would also create a public health plan to compete with private insurers, a priority of Obama’s that is opposed by Republicans, and would bar insurers from limiting coverage.

*Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.

Let’s think of all those bang-up government services and programs that are working out so well, with such great efficiency…

Medicare?
Medicaid?
prescription drug program?
IRS?
Education?
Welfare?
Bailouts/stimulus?
How’s that border security and immigration comin along?

Does anyone with more than two functioning brain cells actually want the people responsible for this economic mess to be responsible for your personal health? Are you friggin kidding me?

Wasn’t the eleventy-thriventeen gajillion dollars spent on stimulus, bailouts, and Congressional budget supposed to fix the economy?…keep interest rates low and encourage investment?  Yeah, so much for that.

From AP via MyWayNews:

The Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion plan three months ago designed to push down mortgage rates and breathe life into the housing market.

But this and other big government spending programs are turning out to have the opposite effect. Rates for mortgages and U.S. Treasury debt are now marching higher as nervous bond investors fret about a resurgence of inflation.

…

“If the meltdown continues in the bond market, then mortgage yields will soon be at levels that choke off refinancing activity,” said economist Ed Yardeni, who runs his own investment firm. “Even worse, they could abort any necessary recovery in home sales and prices.”

It’s becoming painfully obvious that the people responsible for ‘fixing’ the economy have no clue what they’re doing.  I think it’s going to be a long-term painful realization too.

Obamanomics at its finest.