Saturday, July 13, 2013

“You can keep your healthcare.” Lie to Me: a continuing series.

“I won’t lie to you. I expect to be judged by results” – President Barack Obama, February 10, 2009

obama-you-lie

Who do you think said the following?

Unlike most previous social-policy milestones, this law was jammed through Congress over the opposition of all Republicans, some Democrats and most of the public. The financial crisis had delivered the Democrats such large majorities in 2008 that they could accomplish longstanding ideological goals that had nothing to do with that crisis. Nor did Obama himself have a mandate for the law, having campaigned against some of its most controversial features — for instance, the individual mandate and the new taxes on health insurance — during his 2008 presidential run.

  1. The New Hampshire Union Leader
  2. The President of one of America’s largest unions

You might have picked number 2, given the almost teenaged angst felt by unions with regard to Obamacare lately, butt it’s actually from New Hampshire’s Union Leader, as conservative as NH gets these days. The point is, it could have been any one of the country’s leading union leaders, as they are waking up to the fact that, like everybody else, they’ve been lied to!

ObamaLyingtoAMerica_Pix…since 2008

How does it feel to realize you’ve been lied to just like all the other rubes and shlubs out there who haven’t funneled millions of dollars into Big Guy’s election coffers? That’s not fair.

They really have no one to thank other than themselves. It’s one thing for Congress not to read the bill they passed. It’s quite another for Big Union leaders who supported the bill before they found out what was in it because, unlike Congress, they actually have to live with it.

Apparently the leaders have been too busy worrying about  their individual retirement accounts to actually sit down and read the bill until recently – I’m talking about the Big Union Leaders here; Congress still hasn’t read it, they’re too busy not reading the Amnesty Bill. In any event, imagine Big Union’s surprise when they found out what was actually in there! They were shocked - shocked! - to find out that there are increased costs for their members.

In fact, they’ve gone so far as to say Obamacare will break the back of the middle class. Hold the phone! Did I hear that right? Obamacare will destroy the middle class? I thought that was the job of the greedy 1%.

Nope, apparently it’s Obamacare:

The leaders of three major U.S. unions, including the highly influential Teamsters, have sent a scathing open letter to Democratic leaders in Congress, warning that unless changes are made, President Obama’s health care reform plan will “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”

And if that’s not bad enough, they went on to say that Obamacare will:

“destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans,”

Again I ask: isn’t that what the R-words and the greedy 1% are supposed to do? I’m so confused.

Before the unions resorted to a harsh letter, they tried being proactive. Upon finding out exactly how much money this was likely to take out of their members pockets, they first lobbied hard for unions to get more:

Union leaders say many of the law's requirements will drive up the costs for their health-care plans and make unionized workers less competitive.

To offset that, the nation's largest labor groups want their lower-paid members to be able to get federal insurance subsidies while remaining on their plans. In the law, these subsidies were designed only for low-income workers without employer coverage as a way to help them buy private insurance.

Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage.

Then, as often happens in cases of teenaged angst when the answer to your fondest HOPE turns out to be a definite  “no,” they began asking some existential questions:

The Sheet Metal Workers International Association helped push for passage of the health law. Mr. Beall said he still believes everyone should have health insurance, but worries the law is undermining the union's ability to offer coverage.

"If we're not offering our members insurance and pension, why would you want to be union?" he asked.

before devolving into the inevitable angst driven whining:

“[Our] members and allied employers have worked hard for the healthcare they have, and President Obama must move now to guarantee that his signature law will not cost them their coverage,”

We don’t want a handout. Our members want to keep the healthcare they currently have. Let me repeat — our members want to keep the healthcare they currently have. We just want them to be treated fairly.

Odd, that’s the same thing Republicans have been saying - not just about their healthcare, butt about the businesses that I guess they didn’t really build on their own, too.

I simply don’t know what to do to help the unions at this point; you could say they dug their own grave. Perhaps this little prayer will help, in the future:

In America, first they lied to the Republicans, butt I said nothing because I wasn’t a Republican.

Obama lies #1,2,3,4,5,6,7:

Then they lied to the Independents, and I said nothing because I wasn’t an Independent.

“No more illegal wiretapping of American citizens.” “That’s not who we are.”

Then they lied to the moderate Democrats and again, I said nothing for I was not a moderate Democrat.

“Obama promises to cut the deficit in half.”

So when they finally lied to me, the most faithful of all Progressive Liberal Democrats…

“If you like the healthcare plan you have, you can keep it.”

there was nobody left to feel sorry for me.

THAT IS SO NOT FAIR!!

pissed offMidterms: they could be interesting.

h/t for videos EndAllDisease.com

Linked By: Mireille Buser, Larry Wallenmeyer, Rachel Bjorklund, Dennis Denton, Alice Pruneau Suszynski, Colleen Sheehan on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Friday, July 12, 2013

Salt of the Earth; or “Lie to Me” – A Continuing Series

polls_believe_the_lie_1634_77659_poll_xlarge

In case you’re still shocked by the prosecutorial malfeasance in this country - most recently on display in Sanford, Florida – perhaps I can help. It is partially related to our dwindling interest in “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

Today we’re focusing on the “truth” part; apparently we’re to take it with a grain of salt from now on.

morton salt girlOur Morton Salt Girl

In order to continue we must concede to this basic truth: your government lies to you. Shocking, I know, butt true. They don’t lie with maliciousness, or at least they never use to; they just thought they knew what was best for us. They still do – think they know better than us - butt I’m no longer comfortable addressing the “with malice” part. I leave you to sort that part out on your own.

truth-and-lies-jpg

As proof of the ongoing campaign of lies I submit this recent revelation: after years of harping at us, the truth about salt has finally been revealed. As it turns out, salt is NOT bad for you!

imagesCA9HPMOZWho knew?

In fact, it’s too little salt that could kill you. Sacré bleu!? Aside from real scientists and skeptics who could have seen that coming?

“The scientific question is whether this temporary phenomenon translates to chronic problems: if we eat too much salt for years, does it raise our blood pressure, cause hypertension, then strokes, and then kill us prematurely? The answer is no.”

Interestingly, these “new” facts still did not stop the CDC from warning Americans that they eat too much of the stuff. 

314733_391762987558348_1861575766_nsalt3NaCl – the evil element

I offer this updated public service announcement as a cautionary tale that sometimes it’s more dangerous to follow the progressive butt non-scientific “precautionary principal” than to ignore it. To wit, note the harm that may be inflicted by following the advice of the FDA, the NHA, the AMA, the entire medical community for the past 30 years and Mayor Nanny Bloomberg regarding salt (emphasis added):

A paper published in the American Journal of Hypertension warns that once average daily consumption dips to below 6.25g, the risk of heart attacks and strokes starts to increase once more. Restricting salt consumption increases levels of cholesterol and triglycerides -- both of them harmful fats which cause heart disease -- and also leads to insulin resistance (the early stages of type-2 diabetes). Diets low in salt also increase the levels of fat and hormones in the blood that are known to increase the risk of heart disease.

So I bring this previously “settled science” issue regarding salt to your attention not only because the “scientific consensus” has been proved completely wrong butt because continuing to follow the here-to-fore incontrovertible truth - that was closed to questioning by skeptics and “deniers” - may be harmful to your health. I thought you would want to know.

imagesCA9HPMOZScreenshot Studio capture #1227

Just not the same thing, really

It turns out, just like all other “settled science” projects, the “salt will kill you” meme was a lie. Just like other progressive incontrovertible “facts” like “Keynesian economics ended the Great Depression” and “carbon dioxide is a pollutant that causes Global Warming.”  Although I understand that sometimes ideology is more important than facts.

When_Facts_Don_t_Matter_98224730_thumbnail

It does give you pause to wonder if the “fat is bad for you” and “exercise is good for you” pronouncements are going to turn out to be bad for us as well.

                mo eats the profitmo moves em

So I leave you with Dewey From Detroit’s observations from 2008 on the value of skepticism in the modern world:

Skeptics are the pariahs of the 21st century: unwilling to quietly sign on to all the prevailing beliefs and theories so carefully thought out by the A-list illuminati. They’ve come to be lumped together with the old-school pariahs – the cynics – who indeed took a somewhat grim (although not altogether unfounded) view of human nature. It’s a bum wrap: skepticism is simply a method of obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and continual testing. In short, rational thinking – a habit, along with scientific method, very much out of style, but still quite valuable. (snip)

(Special interest groups and politicians’) like-mindedness on many issues such as politics and the environment, has created a symbiotic relationship in which the MSM vets stories, data, and studies provided by a labyrinth of government agencies, university studies and think tanks. People who do not sign on to the proscribed script (skeptics and cynics) are given, at best, token time to state their position before they are derided for their mean spiritedness and hit over the head with the “preponderance of evidence” argument. In the process, the repeated retelling of “facts”, myths and stories turn into immutable truths. Before you know it, the debate is over.

salt and lightw

Please, turn on the lights and pass the salt.

Linked By: Kathleen Franklin Avant, Abby L Call, Robert Bob Jones, Mireille Buser, Becky Dailey Lawrence-Becka, Charlotte Crain on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Thursday, July 11, 2013

White House Official formally requests reporters look into legality of Obamacare delay.

Have you seen this willfully snarky Weasel Zipper post?

“White House Propaganda Minister Jay Carney Calls Critics Of Obamacare’s Delays ‘Willfully Ignorant’…”

And if anyone knows what it’s like to be “willfully ignorant” it’s Jay Carney.

“People who suggest that there’s anything unusual about the delaying of a deadline in the implementation of a complex and comprehensive law are deliberately sticking their heads in the sand or are just willfully ignorant about past precedent. It’s not serious.”

Goodness, what did Jay-Jay ever do the Zip to warrant such dismissive, even derisive, ridicule? What he didn’t mention though, was that later in the briefing Jay-Jay went on to chastise a Fox Reporter for asking a question about whether Big Guy had the authority to change parts of the Obamacare law, telling him to “read the Federal Register:”

"The ability to postpone the deadline is clear," said Carney.

"I invite you to read the Federal Register," he said. "I know that'd be a lot to ask.

"You'll have to ask me?" the reporter said.

"Yes," said Carney, smirking. "Exactly."

Yes, exactly. It’s always best when Jay-Jay can answer reporters’ questions with a question of his own. Makes for a much more informative press briefing if the reporter has done his homework.

jay clownieJay-Jay, you willfully-ignorant slut. 

That would be asking a lot, given the standards previously established by Congress. After all, they were the ones who couldn’t be bothered to “read the damn bill”  before passing Obamacare, so how can anyone expect the media to read the Federal Register to see if Big Guy is upholding the Constitution?  Actually, I think the Fox reporters were among the few people who did read the Obamacare bill before Congress passed it; so maybe that’s why they were the only people who knew what was in it before it was passed.

Anyway, other big doings yesterday: the 2012 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal presentations in the East Room.

173365746PM159_George Lucas, head Star Wars geek and Obama king maker waits to get his reward medal

As you see, we had to press our military aids into service again. Good thing it wasn’t raining; it would have been hard to hold both the umbrella and the medal for BO.

rainy day people bo_USA-SYRIA-TURKEY

Lady M also attended, as there were celebrities getting awards. For the occasion she wore a re-thread from the DNC:

mo jilly

It’s casual tilt to the left at the shoulders is still as stunning and surprising today as ever:

nationl-medal-of-arts

Both coming and going:

      512x173241895

Not unlike Obamacare.

Linked By: Clarice Feldman, Kathleen Franklin Avant, Charles Jones on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Out of Broccoli. Loccoli!

Have you ever owned a dress or a suit that’s so inexorably associated with the loathsome event you wore it to that you just wanted to burn it when you got home?  Yeah, who hasn’t, right?

I sure would’ve pegged the Goldilocks dress from the humiliating Copenhagen IOA rejection of the WONs pitch for the 2016 Olympics as a candidate for the bonfire of the vanities.

yelllow bomb in copenhagen Maybe you don’t understand the concept of humiliation when it’s never your fault

Given all the hype (Oh O Oh!):

“Wow! If you think Lady M created a buzz here in Copenhagen, you should see the Oprah adulation. It’s scary to think what will happen when Big Guy gets in later tonight. The best Brazil could do was Pele.”

- combined with MO’s tear-inducing personal story and pitch, the IOA’s rejection of Chicago in round one of the Olympics selection was just an embarrassment. The professional home team was skunked by a bunch of amateurs from Rio de Janeiro!

 jesus_in_rio[3]No O-Lympics for Chicago

Not only that, butt as you may recall, the food wasn’t very good in Copenhagen either:

copenhagenjpg_thumb[6]

“Lunch was a bust: smorgasbord. Again. They do love fishy little things on bread with pickles over here. Oprah was not pleased either.”

Speaking of food, that brings me back to the latest sighting of the “golden frock of humiliation” - at the annual “Kids State Dinner”at the Big White yesterday.

173181189Lost the mini-me, added new sooper-strength containment system:

mo's backsideMichelle Obama Second Annual Kids State Dinner N_IGy_fXayWx

In case you lose track of all our celebratory events, the “Kids State Dinner” is actually an annual luncheon held to celebrate the winners of Lady M’s healthy recipe contest for 8-12 year olds. Because 8-12 year olds know more about good nutrition than almost anyone except Lady M and her Sooper-Chef, Sammy Kass.

This year we once again honored 54 winners; 1 from each state. (I know what you’re thinking: “What happened to the winners from the other states MOTUS?” Depending on how you count Big Guy’s “57 states and one left to go” plus Alaska and Hawaii that Big Guy’s handlers “couldn’t justify” we’re missing either 3 or 6. As I noted last year, states that raise too much red meat were disqualified due to their wanton disregard for Lady M’s health initiatives.)

Last year’s winning entries included yummy sauerkraut sloppy Joes and baked kale chips - a huge hit:

kale chips mmm mmm mmm_thumb[5]Mmm, mmm, mmm! Thanks Lady M!

This year’s winners promised more of the same, only better. Like “Bring it On, Brussels Sprout Wrap,” “Nummy No-Noodle Lasagna,” and - my personal favorite - “Stone Curry with Brown Rice.” Although I think that last one might be taking the locavore farm to table movement a bit too far. I’ll grant you, it sounds sustainable, butt beyond that I’m not sure how nutritious it is. If you want to try it though, it’s in this handy little book of recipes helpfully provided by Lady M’s little people; and helpfully funded by you - Big Guy’s little people! So give yourselves a round of applause.

I haven’t personally tried any of the recipes yet, butt Little Mo has and he highly recommends this year’s winning entry from Alabama:

little mo and broccoliMmm, mmm, mmm! That’s good broccoli!

P.S. In case you missed the big news last night: We went over the 4,500,000 visitor mark! Thank you everybody and congratulations to Robin H who was 4,500,000!

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Lynn Morrison Mehal, Sandy Peterson on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Mama’s, don’t let your babies grow up to be narcissists.

Well now, this is awkward:

Screenshot Studio capture #1213

If that’s not a case of the pot calling the kettle black, metaphorically speaking, I don’t know what is:

am2Amanda Bynes, mug shot 2013

Who, you might reasonably ask, is Amanda Bynes, and what right does she have to judge the Wons’ pulchritude? Well, she’s a celebrity; a former child star, 6 time Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award winner. She “retired” from acting 3 years ago due to a lack of continuing job opportunities.

I scanned all of the Prezzy tweets over the last few days to see if there was anything that could explain Amanda’s unwarranted outburst:

Screenshot Studio capture #1215Screenshot Studio capture #1216

They were pretty much business as usual, so unless she’s anti-Muslim, anti-citizens-in-waiting® or one of those flat-earthers there must be some other explanation for her hate-tweet.

Since I don’t think Amanda has ever even met Big Guy and Lady M, it can’t be that. Although I’m reasonably certain she voted for BO, as she felt he owed her one and called in her chits when she got into a little brush up with the law last year. I guess she ran into a police cruiser, butt forgot to stop. That could happen to anyone.

Amanda-Bynes-Obama-Tweet

Since Big Guy didn’t bother to get back to her, I’m assuming that’s what she’s still mad about. Either that, or she blames BO’s economy for her lack of Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! opportunities.

Seriously, what’s wrong with these little tweets? They have it all, butt still don’t think they’ve gotten a fair shot, and expect Big Guy to use his special powers to set things right; make sure they get a fair shake.

Just look at Bynes, she had it all - a former adorable child actress who starred in several hit TV series before moving on to do several hit movies. Her young life seemed ideal, just like her gal-pal’s, Lindsay Lohan:

 

1348163349_amanda-lindsayAmanda and Lindsay in 2004, age 16

And here they are today, 9 long, apparently hard, years later, age 27:

bynes-mug-shotlindsay-lohan-at-lax-1

That’s just sad. How do you explain it? How do you go from this sweet young girl:

Screenshot Studio capture #1217 - Copy

to this hot mess:

Screenshot Studio capture #1222

Or from this adorable young thing:

Screenshot Studio capture #1218

to this fat-lipped nightmare who tweets obsessively about other people being ugly?

Screenshot Studio capture #1219

I did mention that Amanda and Lindsay are only 27 didn’t I?

Let me take a stab at explaining this seemingly endemic cycle of fame and breakdown among performers. It begins with an early immersion in our superficial cult of celebrity, which soon comes to dominate all aspects of the person’s life and crowds out the capacity for clear analytical thinking. Warning signs include, butt are not limited to, the following:

  • A fascination with style over substance - an obsession with the superficial which places far greater emphasis on how a thing looks rather with how it actually functions.

Obamacare-Chartpjm-7-28-10

  • Narcissistic behavior – an unshakeable belief in your own fabulosity, all evidence to the contrary. Complete disregard for how your behavior effects others.

bo nose22

  • Over exposure – caused by the media’s fascination with celebrities of their own making.

090320_obamamags_collier

These symptoms are usually followed by irrational behavior that includes the overuse of drugs, alcohol and cosmetic surgery.

Things may go along quite well for awhile, until – seemingly out of the blue – everything starts to fall apart.

strongly app-diss gap7/9/13 daily tracking poll: the reds and greens seem to be going in the wrong direction!

This is often followed by a series of multiple arrests, incarcerations and rehabbing. History has shown that as a rule nothing can stop the, by-now, former celebrity’s death spiral. Sad.

There are several take-a-ways from today’s object lesson: 1) lip-plumping cosmetic surgery is not your friend, 2) never, ever, toke and tweet, 3) narcissists are made, not born, 4) beware of letting narcissists into your life, as they will not make it better, and 5) beware of malignant narcissists in particular, as their affliction may prove lethal to bystanders.

 11-11-10-MB-malignant-narcissistYou’ll know it when you smell it

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Janet Jackson, Abby L Call on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Monday, July 8, 2013

Obamacare Income Verification: We Just-a Waived it!

If you’ve been around awhile you know that we’ve already used up a generation’s worth of great slogans: “ Yes We Can,” “Hope and Change,” “Change You Can Believe In,” and -  my personal favorite - “Forward!”

             yes we canbarack-obama-yes-we-can-blue-campaign-poster  

         obamaobama-hope-and-change-2008

                        Obama-Forward-620x332

In addition to those blockbusters, we’ve sailed with a whole slew of minor slogans that served their purpose, butt rather quickly ran their course. Like “Win the Future” (WTF?), “Kinetic Military Action,” (KMA...WTF?) “We Do Big Things,”  and “Bin Laden’s Dead, GM is Alive.”

gm detroitGM may be alive, butt Detroit is on life support

Race to Green which was part of the "Better Buildings Initiative," which may or may not have been part of the Win the Future and “Startup America campaign for Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!,and finally, a great 2012 campaign slogan: “An Economy Built to Last”(!???)

DetroitRuinofCityExcept in Detroit, where it didn’t

And I’m sure you’ve enjoyed all these slogans as much as I have.

Now, though, in conjunction with the post Independence Day Friday document dump – and because “Change” is still one of our operating slogans -  it looks like we’re going to adapt it to reflect a new reality; something else we’re really good at.

Butt first, let’s review the major information contained in Friday’s dump:

New regulations published Friday scaled back the federal government’s role in determining whether information submitted to new health marketplace is accurate.

After encountering “legislative and operational barriers,” the federal government will not require the District and the 16 states that are running their own marketplaces to verify a consumer’s statement that they do not receive health insurance from their employer.

“The exchange may accept the applicant’s attestation regarding enrollment in eligible employer-sponsored plan . . . without further verification,” according to the final rule.

We call this the “Don’t Ask Because We Don’t Know How To Tell” policy, butt that’s not the new slogan; after much debate and back and forth with the gang, this is what we came up with. What do you think?

CHANGE EASIER SAID THAN DONE copy 

You see, it appears that the Big Brains around here reached the conclusion that they just don’t have the manpower, knowhow or equipment to actually go through the trouble of verifying people’s income as mandated, so they “just-a waived it!” (h/t Father Sarducci)

“It's all-a politics.”

That’s right; they waived the provision that requires people to verify that they qualify. They decided it would be too hard to make them prove it so we’re going to put the American people on the honor system. Just like with the Amnesty plan – “you tell us how long you’ve been here and what you owe in back taxes.” What could go wrong?

I can see how normally you might think that a major punt like this might indicate a systemic level of incompetence seldom seen outside of government. Butt in Captain Sebelius’ and her HHS crew’s defense,

SEBELIUS-eyeAye’ matey!

how would you like to be responsible for implementing the requirements stipulated in  2,700 pages of the Affordable Care Act legislation and 20,000+ pages of administrative rules (so far)? Sometimes things really are too hard to do! Or as this Dilbert principle succinctly puts it: “If a job’s worth doing, its too hard,” which has the potential for future campaign slogans so I think I’ll keep it in my hard drive.

So I believe you see our dilemma: if it were easy,

easy-button

a caveman could do it.

And we don’t have any cavemen around here, just really, really big-brains:

            Obama-Jarrett--e1345502117650SEBELIUS-OBAMA-PELOSI-PETE%20SOUZA-CROP

And they’re all much better at the big picture part of “transforming America” than they are with the implementation. That’s what we have little people for. Who apparently let us down.

dogbert

So I’m just thinking: the next time we get a really big idea about how to “fundamentally transform America” perhaps we should pause and reflect on this for a moment:

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CHANGE EASIER CHANTED THAN DONE

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Melissa Kunstadter, Abby L Call, Mireille Buser on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

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