Open Mouth Insert Race Card

So a black man gets caught breaking into his own house. When the police respond to a report of a break in in progress the black man berates the police and creates a bizarre scene by screaming to by standers that they are witnessing the way black people get mistreated in this country. Police then arrest the man, not for breaking and entering seeing as it was his own house, but for disorderly conduct seeing as his behaviour in the face of legitimate authority was outrageous.

So this is the water our cool-headed and intellectually gifted president felt he should wade into while desperately trying to save a floundering cornerstone of his legacy. Wow. And I though he looked silly when he walked into the side of Air Force One.

Here's the story, kids. A country that just elected a black president named Obama while currently fighting two wars because of an Osama is NOT a bigoted country. Period. Barak may have been well intentioned, but he could not have bungled this worse. And the "it's so tough to be black" line is getting really old. This country is wide open and full of opportunity for anyone willing to make even the slightest effort. And I'm glad we aren't afraid to question people for breaking into homes even if they do happen to be black.

A Famous Man Once Said...

Oh sure, I could dazzle you with the academic research necessary to provide you with who...but this is a blue color blog and we don't go in for that fancy researching nonsense or even proper spelling. So let me just say that I once read that the downfall of Democracy will be the fact that it allows the people to vote themselves limitless benefits from limited stores of wealth. This memory came back to me as I read the linked piece. It states that the current autocracies are doing a much better job fiscally than the democracies and have, in fact, turned the democracies into debtor nations. Clearly this is not because they are more productive, just less profligate.

There is no better system for unleashing the potential of the individual than democracy. Not because of democracy itself, but because democracy allows for the least amount of interference and coercion from government. Even though a democracy can vote for less freedoms, they will rarely rise to the level of an autocratic state. That being said, the democracies are not being outproduced by the autocratic states. The democracies (even European ones) are still more productive. However, the autocratic states have the money and the democracies don't. Why? Because the democracies shell out huge amounts of money for expensive perks for their people (kind of like GM did) while the autocrats do not. A six figure bread winner who spends seven figures on fun and good times is just as broke as the most hopeless bum. It is pretty sad to watch the current batch of "leaders" find more and more expensive things to give to the people even though they have no money to buy them with. But it isn't surprising...because the people get what they want.

Kennedy Tries to Outdo His Own Stereotype

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has begun to circulate his new health bill, and its going to be a whopping bill for businesses.

Calling the bill, "American Health Choices Act" or AHCA, which is apparently based on NOT giving employer's any choices as it will force employer's to provide health insurance to employees or "face a penalty."

Why is this a bad idea? It is terrible that people don't have insurance, most personal bankruptcies come from medical care, and, let's face it, the medical/health insurance/prescription drug is busted so why not be support a bill that will increase the coverage of working Americans by putting the burden at the hub of working America, the employer?

Mostly because it won't work (more on that later). But also because the one question I've never heard answered well is, "Why?" Sure the job is place where lots of people go, so if you want to cover a lot of people quickly, that's a great place to start. But again, why is it the employer's responsibility? Ostensibly, the employer pays a wage for work. What the employee does with that money is his or her own decision. If there's not enough wage to cover all that the employee needs then the employee is faced with a hard decision, seek a higher wage or make sacrifices. And you know what? The employer faces hard decisions too. No company can do everything they want with the revenue it earns. So it too must face hard decisions. Hard decisions are OK, that's a part of life. Forcing employer's to bear the health-care burden of their employees using the sole logic of "because they're there" is not only wrong its dumb. Kennedy's proposal just hides the cost of the bill. We'll all wind up paying for it in higher prices or lost jobs, but it will be opaque.

Sure, proponents will use the massive profits of the big companies to show that they can afford health care coverage. Unfortunately, those companies already provide heath insurance for their employees. In order to be effective this bill will have to target small businesses, those same small businesses that struggle with payroll and managing cost's to keep prices competitive. Forcing this on small businesses will absolutely kill them. So this bill will never pass unless it exempts small business.

This inherent flaw will not dawn on anyone in the Legislative branch. So this bill will pass with an exemption for small businesses and nothing will change, and the waste goes on.

Since my daddy raised me to never criticize without a solution, here's mine. Rather than fine/jail/sue the employer into solving a problem of the employee, use the sound base fact that lots of people congregate around work. Allow employee's to ban together to get the best price for their health insurance. Then allow multiple work sites to ban together to get even better pricing. Rather than change the law to force employers to foot the bill, change the law to allow people to use the power of bulk shopping to gain affordable access to health insurance.

But again, can our reader out there (Hi Ma) explain why this is a problem for the employer to solve by force of law?

Gosh, no, really?

So, Obama, the political equivalent of a fresh breeze, is starting to smell a little stale. Seeing as UBlo writes all my comments in his diary then spends his days looking for inconsistencies let me state something clearly: Obama seems like a decent enough guy but he is an absolute run of the mill leader. We are seeing nothing unique beyond the superficial fact of skin color. Obama lied on the stump and he'll lie from behind the safety of his teleprompter. Of course he'll lie, he's a politician and that's what they do. If you find yourself staring starry-eyed at this guy because you've always been curious about what "worship" means, well you might as well try it on your neighbor or a farm animal you craft out of play-do. Because they would be just as worthy.

Less Than Zero

So a woman goes into an abortion clinic and delivers a baby who is then killed. And the consequences? Well, the doctor may have his license revoked and will need another doctor around when he does this kind of thing in the future. Anyone else feeling a little sick? How would this story end if it started...So a woman goes into a mall and delivers a baby who is then killed. I'm thinking it wouldn't end with just having the mall manager suffer a shadow day with another more responsible mall manager. But then what do I know? I actually think human beings count for something...even if they're unfortunate enough to be caught in a Florida doctor's office.

Two Americas

It looks like Loverboy Edwards was right. There are two Americas. There's the special rights America where paying taxes and generally following rules or laws is optional and then there's the one populated by the unfortunates who aren't politically connected. Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle are fortunate enough to live on the right side of the tracks with Mr. Obama. It seems choices that would land many of us in jail don't even give our president pause when stocking his political fishpond. Is it closed minded to expect our public servants to actually pay their taxes or follow the rules and burdens that they impose on those of us in the second America? Apparently so. There was a time not too long ago, when these types of "scandals" brought on bold typed indignation from our journalistic protectors. Maybe they're all too busy these days looking for someone who still wants to pay to read what they write, or maybe they're just happy to see their friends calling the shots, once again, in their America.

Whoops

Wait a minute...I thought everyone just wanted to be loved. Isn't that one of the core liberal beliefs that keeps criminals on the street and disruptive students in the classroom? Well now Obama is applying this silly notion to world diplomacy and the result it hardly surprising. It blew up in his face. Obama's touching offer to give Iran a back rub and let bygones be bygones is being dragged through the streets of Tehran in humiliation. It is being used by the leaders of Iran to argue that we are weak. I recall being warned that this would happen for the past eight years. It looks like unpopular decisions can often be the right ones. Ever try being a parent?