Obamacare Update: Lean, Green & Very, Very Mean!

I know it’s hard to keep up with a regime an administration that has more “focus shifts” than Lindsay Lohan has DUIs, butt you have to remember that Obamacare 1.0 was never really the “final solution” anyway. That honor has been reserved for Obamacare 2.0; and the unplanned fiasco engulfing Obamacare 1.0 just means we’ll be able to migrate to  the new Obamacare platform (bigger and better!) sooner than anyone around here ever dreamed.

2.0: we’ll need to requisition a few more computers; and data centers

Big Guy’s pretty happy about this, as he was for single payer healthcare:

“I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, is spending 14 percent, 14 percent, of its gross national product on health care, cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody...A single-payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that's what I would like to see. As all of us know, we may not get there immediately.”

before he was against it: (New Hampshire townhall, 8/11/09)

“I have not said I am a single payer supporter.”

Butt now that even BO has conceded that there’s no point in trying to convince people they love Obamacare, he’ll just wait until they get sucked into it so far that they can’t help but love it.

In an interview with The New York Times, President Obama said that he can’t turn around public opinion on Obamacare through a PR push, but instead people will begin to appreciate the law once it goes into affect.

So just sit-tight and wait awhile. Eventually you will learn to stop worrying and love “da bomb” too.  Just like Detroit did.

Once you’re caught in the vortex, there’s no escape

It is our expectation that everything else on our list of potential scandals will be dispatched with the same simplicity. We’re currently working on a plan to blame all of them on Republican obstructionism. Here’s our first trial balloon, to test the concept:

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Fox News Sunday that Keystone’s failure to move forward was somehow Republicans’ fault: “There were some political games that were played, that took it off the trail and path to completion, where Republicans put it out there as something that was put on a timetable that it could not be resolved. It caused a delay. Playing political games with something like this was a mistake.”

Or there’s this variation – a Republican/Canadian/big oil collusion:

“Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator,” Obama said. “There is no evidence that that’s true.” He then blamed Canada for not “doing more” to prevent carbon emissions from oil sands. Obama continued, “I meant what I said; I'm going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere. And there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release.”

Or something. All I know is we need to stop worrying about all these phony scandals and start worrying about Global Warming Climate Change and our collective carbon footprints.

Energy plan: no coal, no oil, no natural gas. Get a hamster.

Meanwhile, around the globe, other people are worried about the U.S.’s carbon footprint too:

Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the Gulf Arab kingdom needed to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues.

His warning comes as rising shale energy supplies in the United States cut global demand for Saudi oil.

Prince Alwaleed said demand for oil from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member states was "in continuous decline".

Gee, that sounds like a good thing for our side, right? Natural gas is greener than dirty coal and dirty oil - and we’ve got TONS of it! Not so fast there, mother-earth frackers: although Big Guy has gone on the record as being in favor of fracking:

In this year's State of the Union address, Obama spoke of gas in a fashion that presaged his more recent "you didn't build that" campaign-trail argument in favor of higher taxes and bigger government. "[I]t was public research dollars, over the course of 30 years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock," he said.

Obama's claim is untrue - the federal government spent little to research fracking and stopped altogether in 1992,

His environmentalist backers know that behind the scenes he stands with them against this unnatural carbon profiteering.

Anti-fracking protestor, putting her mouth where our money is

When President Obama's regulatory apparatus takes the side of environmentalists against the workers and consumers who must bear the consequences of his decisions, his green enforcers are usually the U.S. Department of the Interior or the Environmental Protection Agency. In the rare instance, as with the Keystone Pipeline, it is the State Department that delivers the crippling blow. But where these agencies have failed to inflict sufficient damage on one of America's fastest-growing industries, the Department of Transportation has stepped forward, cudgel in hand.

Brillig!  Read all about it yourself, as there’s no way I can do justice to the bureaucratic stonewalling made possible through the application of byzantine regulations. Simply brillig!

Your Bureaucratic Overlords have taken care of everything. You’re welcome.

So, in summary: Obamacare, on track; phony scandals, in the bag; energy policy, clean and green – like Detroit, the first American city to go 100% green.

Detroit: where moss grows on abandoned boardroom floors:

They have created vast greenbelts within the city:

And there are certified greenhouses everywhere:

              

Any questions? If so, please hold them for Jay Carney’s press briefings, as he’s the only designated hitter up today.

Oh, and please: no questions about our upcoming vacay at the $7.6 million estate on Martha’s Vineyard. At this point, what difference does it make?

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Abby L Call, Andrea Grotta, Mireille Buser, Clint Counts on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Barack Can’t Do it Alone: It Takes a Whole Village of Morons

Did you get your personal email message from Lady M yesterday too?

Dear MOTUS --

There's a lot of noise and talk and back-and-forth going on in Washington, but hardly any of it seems to be about the struggles that middle-class families face.
When I was growing up, a family like mine -- living on my hard-working father's salary at the city water plant -- could build a solid life without much debt and without relying on any form of public assistance. Today, for too many families, that American promise is no longer within reach.

 

[ed. I don’t think we want to go there, do we? Because if we do, some smart-alec is going to point out that it’s hard to realize “the American promise” on part time employment (thanks Obamacare!)]

And by-the-way, when did the “American Dream” turn into the “American Promise”? From  aspiration to entitlement in one generation? Boy, that really is  CHANGE, butt what happened to the HOPE?]

 

Barack is working to fix that, to give all families a fair shot. And he needs solid Democrats in Congress to help him.

[ed. Remember: only you can prevent stupidity]

I'm asking you to be part of the team working to elect more Democrats in Washington and across the country. Sign up today.

It's easy to get frustrated and cynical about politics.

[ed. What could cause that?]

Now that the excitement of the presidential campaign has faded, it is so tempting to wait another four years to re-engage. [ed. “excitement” – is that what we’re calling it now? It used to be called PTSD.]

Despair: the sinking feeling you get when you realize your fellow citizens just voted for  4 more years of HOPE and CHANGE

But make no mistake about it -- while some are tuning out, others are tuning in. They're doing everything they can to make their voices heard.

          

We're seeing the effects of that kind of imbalance every single day.

 
I know we can make our country a better place to live, for ourselves and our grandchildren, but Barack cannot do it alone.

[ed. Butt he’s doing a pretty good job so far.]

He needs people like you to get involved right now: http://my.democrats.org/Now

Thanks,
Michelle

P.S. -- Please don't wait for the next presidential election to get involved -- we've got to get going right now. That's the only way we'll get it done.

[ed. Don’t forget: we can’t wait. Go to the “Don’t Fund Obamacare” now, and sign the petition.]

So allow me to recap Lady M’s email blast: “I’m interrupting this non-stop campaign for a Public Service Announcement: Barack can’t do this alone; it takes a whole village full of morons.”

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and John Bellamy, Mireille Buser, James G. Needham, Jerry Massey,Paul Kuczwara, Donald P Domke on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Spies, Lies, Buys and Cries: the Week in Review.

 

“From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of double think- greetings!” -George Orwell, 1984

ICU

No, that was George Orwell in 1984, not Big Guy’s greeting at his fifth iftar dinner honoring Ramadan and all things Muslim.

This was his iftar dinner greeting:

"Throughout our history, Islam has contributed to the character of our country, and Muslim Americans, and their good works, have helped to build our nation -- and we’ve seen the results.”

Yes. Yes we have.

Butt that wasn’t this week’s key talking point; that would be this pronouncement from Big Brother Guy:

“With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop.”

Allow me to elaborate: you know all those “so-called scandals” - NSA, IRS, Fast and Furious, and Benghazi? They’re just “ginned up” “nothing burgers” distracting us from the real job of ruling governing. Spies, lies, buys and cries; that was a long time ago. What difference, at this point, does it make?

Therefore, your dear leader would like to shift your eyes away from these “distractions”

previously known as scandals and onto a new squirrel talking point critical issue: the economy.

Because for the 9th time we are teeing up to focus like a laser beam on creating JOBS!JOBS!JOBS!

Let’s get this economy out of the ditch that the Republicans drove it into.

 

Because while we’ve managed to keep the unemployment rate hovering around a very respectable 7.6 % by getting rid of so many potential workers by simply disappearing them, we’re down to just 63% of working age people supporting the other 37% of us who aren’t. In case you’re not good with numbers (like BO), that’s not a good ratio so we need to attract a few more squirrels to our feeder.

And speaking of squirrels,

I see that the squirrels in California are infested with fleas carrying bubonic plague.

Where on earth do you suppose they came from? I sure hope our Amnesty Comprehensive Immigration Bill is comprehensive enough to include fleas carrying bubonic plague. Actually,  I mean I hope it EX-cludes fleas carrying the plague from entry. Butt it probably won’t since I think we’re trying to be more inclusive. So here’s MOTUS’ health tip of the week: stay away from squirrels.

Well, I guess that pretty much covers my recap of the week: weiners, weiners and more weiners. Try to keep your eyes on all the squirrels.

Like liberty?

 Fire! Fire! Fire!

Linked By: Charlotte Crain, Sharon Cox, Joanne Pettersen, Colleen Sheehan, Kathryn Matlack on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

“See Something, Say Something.” HELLO!!!!

 

Do you remember when citizens still had a reasonable expectation of privacy (c. 1776-2007)? You know, from the Constitution?

I guess because of all the “phony scandals” talk radio has ginned up, or something, we’re getting a timeout and have lost that privilege for the time being.

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

Butt don’t worry, because Microsoft says it does not participate:

A Microsoft spokesperson would not say whether the company has received such requests from the government. But when asked whether Microsoft would divulge passwords, salts, or algorithms, the spokesperson replied: "No, we don't, and we can't see a circumstance in which we would provide it."

Really? Except maybe this one?

According to an article published on Thursday by the British newspaper, internal National Security Agency memos show that Microsoft actually helped the federal government find a way to decrypt messages sent over select platforms, including Outlook.com Web chat, Hotmail email service, and Skype.

Google, in responding to the story, said likewise:

"We take the privacy and security of our users very seriously."

And you can take that to the bank, because Google’s official motto is “Don’t Be Evil.”

Don’t read too much into the fact that they previously caved to China’s demands for censorship,

and have reversed themselves on the issue of personal privacy.

That doesn’t mean that they would ever dream of caving into their own government’s demand for snooping.

And that goes for Yahoo too,

"If we are required to provide information, we do so only in the strictest interpretation of what is required by law,"

And we all know who “the law” is around here now.

And I think you can expect dittos from the rest of the gang, despite the fact they pled the Fifth and refused to comment,:

Apple, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast did not respond to queries about whether they have received requests for users' passwords and how they would respond to them.

We can’t say for sure if any of these companies have cooperated with the NSA, as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court operates in near total secrecy. Even Congress can’t get their hands on the data they are holding:

Congressman Issa displays all the information from his document request that wasn’t redacted.

So how’s that for irony!? The only entity guaranteed total, absolute, secured privacy of their data is…your federal government! Which used to be “we the people” - you know, us - butt now it’s them!

That’s right! And if you dare leak any of their secrets, well, you may just end up living in the Moscow Airport.

Just what part of “creeping tyranny” do you people not understand?

Construction of new $1.2 billion NSA surveillance data center in Lehi, Utah - 15 times the size of a NFL stadium - nears completion

Send in the Drones…

Don’t bother, they’re here.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Rockee Andrew, Mireille Buser, Abby L Call, Kathleen Franklin Avant, Colleen Sheehan, Clint Counts on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Obama’s America 2013: “The trick…is not minding that it hurts.”

I’ve been to movies that didn’t run as long as Big Guy’s Galesburg Address.

And like many movies, this turned out to be one of those unfortunate sequels that really didn’t need to be made. You know, like Transformers 2, 3, and 4? And probably 1.

We are the Transformers: we’ve come to destroy

It was like a campaign speech in search of a campaign. And a crowd:

Like most sequels, it contained a lot of retreaded ideas that you would have sworn had already been milked for all they were worth the first, second and third time around. Butt because people always go with the familiar, they keep repackaging those old worn out ideas and reselling them as new.

So in case you missed the speech, don’t worry: you’ve already heard it: starting with a run down of everything Big Guy’s already done for you.

This was followed by a list of all the things he wants to do for you, butt can't, because of the villains in this sequel: Washington. Let me be clear, not Big Guy; although he’s “in” Washington, he’s not “of” Washington. We’re talking about the Republicans in the do-nothing Congress, who are fighting him on every front.

“With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop.”

Got that? There will be no more gambling going on in this establishment.

Then he wrapped up by listing for the umpteenth time some of those things the do-nothing Congress is preventing him from “investing” your money in: education, high-tech manufacturing, green energy, high speed trains and broadband. Things like his U.S. Housing and Urban League “Strong Cities, Strong Communities” initiative which apparently launched in Detroit.

Detroit: inspiration for the “Strong Cities, Strong Communities” initiative.

And he spoke of the good deeds he would do if only the do-nothing Congress would get out of the way so he could clean up this mess. For example, by passing amnesty comprehensive immigration reform in order to create more jobs. And he advised the crowd that if the do-nothing Congress refuses to invest in his new Transformer 5 sequel, he’ll don the superhero suit himself and smite them with his mighty pen: that’s right,“executive action.” 

So take that, you  lazy–no-good-elected representatives. We have a mandate. We’re on a mission from…well, okay, not God, butt we’re definitely on a mission, and we’re not going to let that old Constitution stop us!

What is that saying again, about doing the same thing over and over again butt expecting a different result? Yeah, I think we’ve nailed that.

Maybe what we really need in Washington are some new villains because the old ones are getting kind of boring. And maybe some new “heroes” too.

Hey! I know! How about a remake Lawrence of Arabia? Only this time T.E. Laurence could be played by a black Muslim instead of Peter O’Toole?  If we must rewrite history in order to level the playing field, give everyone a fair shot and a fair shake, so be it.

Omar Sharif as T.E. Laurence and Peter O’Toole as Sherif Ali. What do you think? 

“The trick…is not minding that it hurts.” – Lawrence of Arabia

 

Linked By: American Digest, and Denise Magewick-Schlotz, Mireille Buser, Kathleen Franklin Avant on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network