How about doing your job for a change

Let's start at the beginning formation of this country.............

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Provide for the common defense? It says it right there in the Preamble of the Constitution. Basically, one of the federal government's primary roles for this country is not, health care, roads, schools, food stamps, etc. it's to defend this country from threats foreign and domestic. In fact, it's right there in each elected senator and representatives oath of office.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.]

So it seems to me that if you cannot secure our borders against potential invaders, you are negligent in your duties. Nothing else matters if you cannot do this.

It's why I'm against amnesty without first securing the border. If you cannot secure the border why bother doing anything when the problem will just continue.

But if you think I'm just a xenophobe against Hispanics, go for it. I'm just a believer that the government's primary job is to know who's coming in to this country and why.

And it's doing a horrible job.............................

Suspect in Kentucky Discovered to Have Insurgent Past

An intelligence tip initially led the FBI to Waad Ramadan Alwan, 32, in 2009. The Iraqi had claimed to be a refugee who faced persecution back home -- a story that shattered when the FBI found his fingerprints on a cordless phone base that U.S. soldiers dug up in a gravel pile south of Bayji, Iraq on Sept. 1, 2005. The phone base had been wired to unexploded bombs buried in a nearby road.

An ABC News investigation of the flawed U.S. refugee screening system, which was overhauled two years ago, showed that Alwan was mistakenly allowed into the U.S. and resettled in the leafy southern town of Bowling Green, Kentucky, a city of 60,000 which is home to Western Kentucky University and near the Army's Fort Knox and Fort Campbell. Alwan and another Iraqi refugee, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 26, were resettled in Bowling Green even though both had been detained during the war by Iraqi authorities, according to federal prosecutors.

 More............

Rick Santelli Rages Against Media Over Manipulated Unemployment Data All...

Ooops......ObamaCare So-Called Success Story Says She Can't Afford ObamaCare

Clapton / Knopfler - Can't Find My Way Home

The face of communism

The EPA..........

Philadelphia has 119 fire hydrants that cost about $2,000 each waiting in a warehouse to be installed, yet they sit high and dry because federal regulators say their fittings might taint drinking water with lead.

The City of Brotherly Love and communities across the U.S. face the specter of hundreds of millions of dollars in useless hydrants after a surprise ruling last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that requires fireplugs put in after Jan. 4 meet stricter standards for lead content, said Tom Curtis of the American Water Works Association in Denver. That means cities must scrap or retrofit inventory or buy hydrants and parts that some vendors aren’t even making yet.

Manufacturers and Curtis’s group, which represents utilities that serve about 80 percent of Americans, are urging the agency to reconsider or at least allow more time to comply. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., one of the largest hydrant makers, is seeing some customers delay or cancel orders.

“This delivers a huge cost and probably no health protection,” said Curtis, the water group’s deputy executive director. “It needs to be rethought.”

More.....

But if you think the EPA is doing everything necessary to keep the environment clean just google the word ethanol........

But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today.

As farmers rushed to find new places to plant corn, they wiped out millions of acres of conservation land, destroyed habitat and polluted water supplies, an Associated Press investigation found.

Five million acres of land set aside for conservation -- more than Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined -- have vanished on Obama's watch.

Landowners filled in wetlands. They plowed into pristine prairies, releasing carbon dioxide that had been locked in the soil.

Sprayers pumped out billions of pounds of fertilizer, some of which seeped into drinking water, contaminated rivers and worsened the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where marine life can't survive.

The consequences are so severe that environmentalists and many scientists have now rejected corn-based ethanol as bad environmental policy. But the Obama administration stands by it, highlighting its benefits to the farming industry rather than any negative impact.

More..........

More from President Master of the Obvious

"What we're also discovering is that insurance is complicated to buy"

Maybe you should have thought about that before you signed the damn law. Of course, this is the quote from a man who's never done shit in his life.


Funny, here are the other insurance policies I own.
1) Auto insurance
2) Home owner insurance
3) Life insurance
4) Disability insurance.
5) Professional liability insurance

They seemed to be fairly simple to purchase for me.

I call my agent, give them the particular deductibles, amount of coverage figures. They inform/sell me additional coverages for things like uninsured motorist, loan repayment, earthquake, sink hole, etc coverages. I say yeah or nay and we're done.

Why is health insurance so damn complicated? Maybe because the government is more involved? 

Why I should be in the White House Press Pool

"If you like your insurance, you can keep it. Period."

Of course the talking points have been coming out that this only impacts the individual mandate, likely only 5 million people out of 300 million impacted.

When is someone in the press pool going to ask the question,

"since you've delayed the employer mandate until next year, will you be willing to tell business owners who like their insurance policies that they will be able to keep them?"

I think I said that

Someone from Politico is catching on to something I pointed out three weeks ago.

It’s the cardinal rule of marketing management: Under-promise and over-deliver. If the sign at “Pirates of the Caribbean” says the wait is 45 minutes, and your kids are floating along on the ride in half that time, Disneyland really is the Happiest Place on Earth.

So it’s little wonder that the glaring contrast between the White House’s perpetually optimistic talk about its health care plan — “Try it! You’ll like it!” — and the messy realities of its rollout has sent President Barack Obama’s job approval ratings to all-time lows, and for the first time left the public with a negative view of his honesty in some surveys.

 

From the start, the plan was more complex and unpredictable than Obama liked to acknowledge, reliant as it was on the profit-driven market forces of the private insurance industry, individually regulated in all 50 states. And his strategy for selling it was always based on an unspoken assumption that the public could not tolerate such unpleasant truths.

To be fair, the all-out partisan war to pass the bill, and then to defend it in the courts and Congress, was hardly the time for the president to warn, “This might not work right away, folks.”

But it is nevertheless Obama’s own months of upbeat predictions that have now left a chastened president grappling to restore his credibility, as he did on Thursday by announcing he would allow insurers to extend by a year the substandard plans they recently cancelled to comply with the new law’s demands for fuller coverage.

And it remains to be seen whether that attempted fix (which is voluntary) will satisfy the millions of Americans at risk of losing their current coverage — or stave off demands from restive Democrats in Congress for a legislative remedy. “I am confident that by — by the time we look back on this next year, that people are going to say this is working well, and it’s helping a lot of people,” Obama predicted.

Maybe so. But if not, Obama’s latest claim will be just one more unmet expectation to be thrown back in the face of a leader who likes to tell his own worried aides when things are going badly, “I got this.” Except when he doesn’t.

More.....

Vetting the president

I've made the point on this blog that liberals do their candidates no favors but refusing to properly vet their candidates and/or their programs.

Seriously, let's face it, had the media properly vetted Obama, they probably would have ended up with the Billary as president.

And as much as I could stand the Clinton's it would have been a 1000% improvement over a president whop had never run anything in his life; let alone the entire free world.

And if the media had vetted Obamacare, they would have put enough pressure on the administration to ensure that this thing would have been rolled out correctly.

Instead we are bordering on a health care system that is FUBAR.

Byron York with the analysis..........

The journalist Jonathan Cohn, an ardent supporter of Obamacare, recently wrote in The New Republic that problems with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act should be "an opportunity to have a serious conversation about the law's tradeoffs — the one that should have happened a while ago."

Cohn is right that there was no serious conversation about those tradeoffs back when Congress was considering the law's passage in 2009 and 2010. But why was that? It was because President Obama and his Democratic allies could not speak seriously — and honestly — about those tradeoffs and still pass their bill.

So instead, Obama assured Americans they could keep health care policies they liked. And it wasn't just Obama. "One of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in August 2009. "If you like what you have, you can keep it," said then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in October of the same year.

Now they're looking at losing power for an entire generation.

More.....

Obamacare Navigator Fraud Rampant, Not "Isolated Incident"

Good luck with that

So the president is going to give permission to "bad apple" insurance companies to sell those "substandard" policies.



So tomorrow, you'll be able to call your insurance company and get that lowly policy.

NOT SO FAST!

Read my post from a couple of days ago. This isn't like restocking snicker bars on a store shelf.

Hopefully, the media will get that.

Atlas Shrugged... and left town

You can add Tina Turner to this list of people who are taking their ball and going home...........

Apparently for some U.S. citizens it's true—you can't go home again!

The Treasury Department published the names of 560 Americans who renounced their citizenship or are long-term residents who gave back their green cards during the third quarter of 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to tax lawyer Andrew Mitchel who tracks the data, these expatriations reached a record high of 2,369 for the year. The prior highest number of published expatriates was in 2011, said Mitchel.

How's this for a parting gift? Taxpayers who renounce their citizenship or turn in their green card can be subject to an exit tax. People who renounced last year might have avoided higher taxes on income and estates—including those on long-term capital gains—which took effect in 2013.

"The reality is that the U.S. tax system gives dual citizens a good reason to walk away from their U.S. citizenship or permanent-resident status," said Jeffrey Neiman, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "It's a painful process but easier than staying in compliance with the law."

More....

What food stamps can buy for you

2 - 2 liter bottles of Coca Cola
2 bags of pretzels
2 pkgs of Chewy Sweet Tarts
2 Five hour energy's
2 packs of Marlboro Black

In other words, the Breakfast of Champions.

For the record, the woman in front of me did pay cash for the Marlboro's but consider that she might have used that cash to buy that delicious start to the day and not had the cash available to purchase the smokes.

But watching this woman had me thinking about all those Obamunists who are complaining that they are subsidizing other people's health care.

Consider this.

For all those people who smoke, chew tobacco, are obese, own guns, you get to pay for their healthcare despite the horrible choices that results in their "preexisting" condition.

Isn't it great!

Delaying obamacare isn't possible

One of the things I've been telling friends family & clients is that it really isn't possible to delay the Obamacare mandates.

Why?

Let's use the automobile business as an example. Let's assume that you're releasing a new model effective January 1. Unfortunately, the transmission supplier says they can't deliver transmissions until one month before you're to begin delivery of the new model.

You really can't go back to last year's model and retool all of your factories to kick out new cars; it's too impractical.

For sure, insurance is not the auto business. First, insurance companies don't have the complexities of production runs. At the same time, an auto company has the benefit of delaying release of a product because no one needs that product. Insurance isn't something you can bring 200,000 people on line when 20,000 will have some medical issue beginning January, 2014.

They just can't go back to their customers and say "Hey, remember those policies you used to have? We're going to bring those back". There's way too many complicated actuarial processes, lined up service providers, support staff training, etc. for an insurance company to bring back all those policies in one month when they effectively killed all that off with the Obamacare regulations a year ago.

It cannot be done. It would be like starting a whole new health insurance provider and new policies in one month.

While I find it funny that the Obamunists may finally get their comeuppance, I do believe that we are looking at a first class medical crisis.

Megan McCardle has the time line of the insurance dominoes falling here. You should read the entire thing. It's right out of a Stephen King hospital movie.

Millions of people are facing those cancellation letters. Ideally, we could just say, never mind -- let these people simply stay on their current policies. But here's maybe the biggest irony in this whole mess. The Obama administration may not be ready for Obamacare but the insurance industry is. The health insurance companies spent the last many months rolling their old policies off the books and replacing them with the 2014 Obamacare compliant products -- Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum….

I suppose it might be possible to get insurance commissioners to waive their requirements but even if they did how could the insurance industry reprogram systems in less than a month that took months to program in the first place, contact the millions impacted, explain their new options (they could still try to get one of the new policies with a subsidy), and get their approval?

More...

Life in "Progress" City - Chicago edition

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit worthiness of Chicago's bond debt because of its public pension problems.

Fitch dropped the rating from AA- to A- on $8 billion in general obligation bonds, backed by property taxes.

It also dropped the rating on $497 million in sales tax bonds — paid for by both the city's local sales tax and its share of the state sales tax. And the rating was downgraded on $200 million in commercial paper notes, financed by a general obligation pledge from any available city fund.

Friday's downgrade stems from "the lack of meaningful solutions" to the city's pension situation. City and fire pension programs have no more than 30 percent of the money needed to cover obligations.

The downgrade makes it more expensive to borrow money.

Johnathan Martin meets his "bully"

Yesterday, I turned on the Ravens/Bengals game just in time to watch Michael Oher (of Blind Side Fame) drive a Bengal defensive tackle five yards down the field and pancake him into the turf.

I couldn't help but think how humiliating it might have been to dominated so thoroughly. Then, what really came to mind was that football is the ultimate game of bullying. Moving a guy who's trying to move you is the ultimate form of humiliation or "bullying" to coin today's vernacular.

I'm sure that when that particular play started, that Bengals DL would have like nothing more than to do the same to Oher and stand over him like Mohammed Ali stood over top of Sonny Liston.... the ultimate humiliation.

How many times in high school and college did Johnathan Martin pancake a well undersized defensive lineman and either talked trash or mocked him. My guess is quite a few.

Now he gets to the NFL where the guys are just as big and tougher to dominate. Your teammates ride, harass and haze you as training for the Big Show. If you can't stand up to the guys on your side how are you ever going to take on guys like Reggie White?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not an apologist for Richie Incognito. The fact that that guy has managed to not be suspended for steroid use is a testament to the NFL's horrible drug testing policy. The guy is a walking bottle of Anabol. He would never be on a team I ran.

None the less, the NFL isn't for the faint of heart. I once met a guy who signed on the the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent wide receiver. He told me that the first pass he caught, Kenny Easley hit him, drove him into the turf and buried him helmet right into the based of his spine.

When he got up, Easley told him the next time he would be in two pieces.

He told me that he handed the ball to a coach and said "screw this, I've got a degree".

That's life in the NFL. It's a game where bully meets bully.

Unfortunately, for Johnathan Martin, he was so used to bullying everyone else in his career, he never new what it was like to be on the other end.

A wager opportunity for a liberal

If you are a lefty, you gotta love two things.

1) New York elects a socialist/marxist/communist as their mayor.

2) Making a conservative, like me, eat his words and enrich you by taking $1,000 out of my pocket.

So let's combine the two and make it happen.

I'll let you pick any objective (ie measurable) quality of life index. It could be school performance, unemployment, tax rates, crime rates, income distribution, etc. You pick the measurement.

At the end of Bill DeBlasio's four year term, if that measurment is better, I'll deliver 10 crisp $100.00 bills to you, to a place and time of your choice.

If you lose, you bring the same to me.

Now is the chance you've been waiting for, making some conservative pay for a couple of months of your new Obamacare policy.

Of course, I do have some history on my side. I remember Ed Koch, David Dinkins and bums sleeping in Times Square.

None the less, show me you have some guts and let's get it on.

Dear Millenial

This is an absolute must read for everyone..............

You Millenials voted for Obama by a margin of 28 percent, which will make it a lot easier for me to accept the benefits you will be paying for. We warned you that liberalism was a scam designed to take the fruits of your labor and transfer it to us, the older, established generation. Oh, and also to the couch-dwelling, Democrat-voting losers who live off of food stamps and order junk from QVC with their Obamaphones.
You didn’t listen to us. Maybe you’ll listen to pain.
I have been told that being hard on you Millennials will turn you against conservatism, that I should offer you a positive, hopeful message that avoids the touchy problem of your manifest stupidity.

No. There’s no sugar-coating it – your votes for Democrats have ensured that you are the first generation in American history that will fail to exceed what their parents attained. Embracing liberalism was a stupid thing to do, done for the stupidest of reasons, and I will now let you subsidize my affluent lifestyle without a shred of guilt. 

Force your kids and grandkids to read this whole thing.

The best education I received in my life was from the school of hard knocks. Millenials are about to get a Masters Degree from there.
 

Why I'll never vote for another school levy

Liberalism = Projection

Don't take my word for it.

Here's a liberal's word.....................

I realize now that my prejudices against conservatives were, in many ways, just as uncompromising as the prejudices I’d often projected onto them. They were just people. Not issues. Not votes. People whose daughters go to school with my daughters, whose dogs run away and come back and run away again, whose hands found my shoulders and who didn’t judge, the night I wept over a friend who had taken her own life.

 More....

Gordon loses his PCP

Obamacare hits home.

The Lovely Mrs. Gekko has been on my back to get a physical. Which at 50 I know that means a colonoscopy, prostate checks and the like.

I've been putting it off all summer but Friday I decided to call and set up my appointment only to find out that my doc moved on to the VA a year ago (BTW thank you for letting me know).

I liked my doc because he was my age so any inflictions I might have he could relate to. But I knew the last time I saw him, he wasn't going to be up for all this new crap.

He wanted to practice medicine, he wasn't a business man. For kicks, I'm sure he'd rather be checking out X-rays than receivable agings.

What's interesting is that his remaining partners are not taking on new clients but they referred me to a Dr Bahti. I'm not a racist but I am a linguist. I insist on being able to understand what my doc is telling me.

So now I have to go through the manual to see who is approved under my wife's plan, see that they are taking new patients and get in for an appointment.

Our industrious president would call this an opportunity to shop. I'm calling it out as a pain in the ass.

Who did she vote for? #818

Meet Paula Howard. Why is Paula in the news?

A Florida woman was arrested by authorities Thursday for allegedly acting as a madam for her three teen daughters — two of whom are minors.

Paula Howard was caught in a sting operation offering either one of her girls — ages 16, 16 and 18 — to have sex with a detective in exchange for money, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

So in the last election, did Paula support Obama or Romney?

 

More.......

oooops

I guess he thought the tooth fairy picked up the plan

Another disillusioned liberal...................

My old plan was as bare-bones as they came, so I assumed that even though the new plan would cost more, my coverage would improve under Obamacare, at least marginally.

It did not.

Under my old plan, my maximum out-of-pocket expense was $4,900. Under the new plan, I’m on the hook for up to $6,350. Copays for my doctor visits will double. For urgent-care visits, they will quadruple. Though slightly cheaper plans exist if I decide to shop around on the exchange, I will lose my dental coverage should I switch.

Needless to say, I am not pleased.  

Most young, middle-class Americans I know are happy that millions of previously uninsured people will receive free or heavily subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

We just didn’t realize that, unless we had health insurance at work, we’d be the ones paying for it.

Dude, I feel your pain............ Actually I don't because because I didn't vote for these assholes. Oh and thank you Matthew for paying for my colonoscopy.

More.....

Who did she vote for? #10101

Did this voter support Romney or Obama in the last election?

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

So you plan to retire with a nice cushy state of Illinois public pension?

In the words of Lee Corso........ "not so fast!"

This is scarier than waking up with The Billary...........

All Five Systems Bankrupt

TRS, SERS,SURS, JRS, and GARS are all insolvent. None of them can possibly meet their pension obligations. With 10-year treasuries yielding a scant 2.5%, plan assumptions of 8% are preposterously high on a sustained basis.

Yet, TRS went another $3.5 billion in the hole in spite of a 12.8% annual return.

What the hell is TRS going to do in the face of a stock market plunge, a bond market plunge, or both?

GARS, the General Assembly Retirement System is only 17.4% funded. Is it any wonder that state legislators are pressing for more tax hikes?
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

First, TRS only has $0.40 in the bank for every dollar it should have today to make necessary pension payouts in the future. That means the high investment returns in 2013 were earned on less than half of the assets that TRS should have

TRS acknowledged this in a recent press release:

"Despite these strong returns, TRS cannot invest its way out of the funding hole we are in,” Ingram added. “This increase in the System’s unfunded liability, even with good investment results, is another wake-up call to state officials and our members that TRS long-term finances continue to head in the wrong direction."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

First, TRS only has $0.40 in the bank for every dollar it should have today to make necessary pension payouts in the future. That means the high investment returns in 2013 were earned on less than half of the assets that TRS should have

TRS acknowledged this in a recent press release:

"Despite these strong returns, TRS cannot invest its way out of the funding hole we are in,” Ingram added. “This increase in the System’s unfunded liability, even with good investment results, is another wake-up call to state officials and our members that TRS long-term finances continue to head in the wrong direction."
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

In spite of a 12.8% annual return, with an 8% return assumption, the Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS) fell another $3.5 billion in the hole. TRS pension underfunding grew to $55.73 billion as of June 30, 2013.
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/illinois-teachers-retirement-fund-is-40.html#VPhtSHoRC5a73koI.99

Where's Linda Douglas today

A new definition of Capitalism

bullying

Ouch.... Richard Cohen's not going to want to listen to his voicemails

Because the Obamunists will clearly be on attack with this column......

Where is Casey Stengel when we need him? In 1962, as the manager of the brand new and determinedly hapless New York Mets — 40 wins, 120 losses — he looked up and down his bench one dismal day and wondered, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” That phrase kept coming at me recently as I watched the impressively inept performance of the Obama administration in both foreign and domestic policy. On a given day, this administration makes the ’62 Mets look good. 

This is a surprise — at least to me. If Barack Obama has an image, it is of the infinitely cool, cerebral leader. The man can give a rousing speech, but he is, at heart, a planner and a plodder. Both of his presidential campaigns were exercises in micromanagement — digital all the way. Obama was the better candidate, but he had, by far, the better organization. 

Yet this same man has lately so mishandled both domestic and foreign policy that he is in mortal peril of altering his image. This unsettling and uncharacteristic incompetence became shockingly clear when Obama failed to come to grips with the Syrian civil war. I did not agree with the president’s do-nothing policy, but at least it was both a policy and intellectually coherent. What followed, though, was both intellectually incoherent and pathetically inconsistent — a “red line” that came out of nowhere and then mysteriously evaporated and a missile strike that was threatened and then abandoned. It was a policy so wavering that if Obama were driving, he would be forced to take a breathalyzer. 

The debacle of the Affordable Care Act’s Web site raised similar questions about confidence. This was supposed to be Obama’s Big Deal. The president has other accomplishments — navigating out of the Great Recession was no minor feat — but restoring the status quo does not get your face on Mount Rushmore. It takes achievement, a program — something new and wonderful. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to be it.

I guess we're all racists now.


 More......

You have a choice, but it has to be the right choice

Sally Kohn, like most liberals in the crosshairs today, are espousing the following meme on the healthcare debacle. Sure we lied to you about keeping your existing healthcare because you now get extra special insurance above and beyond what you liked before.........

Conservatives are expressing shock and outrage that the Obama administration knew that many people in the individual insurance market would not be able to keep their plans once the Affordable Care Act took effect. Such shock is not surprising; overblown outrage is the stock and trade of conservative politics these days.

But here's what conservatives won't tell you, lest it undermine their theatrics: Many insurance plans are shutting down because they don't meet the higher bar of quality benefits required under Obamacare, and of those people who lose access to their plans, many will pay less and all will have better and more comprehensive options.

So of course, you may have liked your previous insurance but you now how mental health coverage you didn't have before. Pediatric dentistry, prenatal care, and birth control are also new coverages your too stupid to know you have. Even though you're a 50 year old without kids.

 George Will kick this in the nuts right here............

Morning Joe montage shows White House denying knowledge of various scandals

Obama League Management

Years ago, I worked for a large auditing firm. As part of any audit engagement, the CPA firm will issue a management letter to the company's management and audit committee.

On one particular audit, we were going to be issuing a particularly negative management letter to the company. Troublesome, because they pay your fee and if they don't like it, you won't be inivited back to do the next audit.

None the less, as we were working on the audit, I made a comment to one of the controllers that "everything was OK". My supervisor pulled me aside, and told me "Look, when you talk to these people, they need to get the message that nothing is OK. They're going to get a bad letter from us and the last thing we want is push back from the company telling us that they were blindsided. In the future, whenever you talk to these people, pick out something that is a problem. If you can't think of one, tell them the coffee sucks."

Basically, what he was telling me is to set people up for bad news. Start building the foundation for it so people aren't so surprised. You'll get less shit in the end.

It's also a spin off of the "under promise, over deliver" business mantra that you learn in, usually, your second day on a job........... any job.


So how is it that the Obamaunists so screwed up this healthcare roll out?  Did they just expect that people would get these insurance cancellations and say "oh gee Wally"?

Did they expect that the media would continue to carry their lagoon of water for them and just fail to report all this? Sort of, if a tree makes a sound and no one's around to report it, it didn't happen?

I'd call it Bush league. But idiots (ie liberals) would think I was referring to the last president.

Which brings me to what the president knows and when did he learn it? Literally. Maybe the media needs to ask the question of the inventory of knowledge this guy actually has. He's the Sargent Schultz of presidents.

Seriously, this guy has no idea what's happening in his own government unless it's reported on an ESPN crawler under a football game?


Heathcare.gov debacle - didn't know
Benghazi - Didn't know
NSA Spying - Didn't know
IRS targeting - Didn't know
Fast and Furious - Didn't know

The list goes on and on.

WTF does this guy do during the day? It's clearly not getting briefings from his underlings.

Now if you or I were running a company, any company, say, Lowes and we failed to tell the board that the earnings report would be 98% below estimates and the Board had to learn about it through the Wall Street Journal, how long would we keep our job?

I'm still wondering when the media is going to get the smelling salts and start really reporting the lack of management skills this administration has.

Bring us Bush League.

Megyn Kelly Snaps at Dem Guest Over Obamacare: Don't Go to Your 'Happy P...

Reporter Audrey Hudson: Feds Took Private Notes in Clear Sign of Intimid...

It's not insurance, it's a co-op

Why Obamacare will ultimately fail. Because it's really not an insurance business model. It's more of a Co-op.

Here's a great piece explaining it here............

Experts say that young, healthy people must enroll in ObamaCare’s health exchanges to cover the cost of insuring sicker, older people. It’s a simple math equation: Charge everyone roughly the same rate for access to basically the same product. The people who use it less will subsidize the people who use it more.

The problem with this plan is that it hoses young, relatively poor people like me right when we least need high bills for services they’re not using. And it helps older, relatively rich people who should be able to afford the care they need. If America’s downtrodden and struggling young people are smart, they’ll opt out. Then it’ll be up to the federal government to fine them enough to make up for the shortfall.

First, let’s look at the math. As Nick Gillespie and Veronique de Rugy have pointed out for Reason magazine, the concept of today’s older generation as impoverished is simply wrong. 

In fact, today’s seniors are far wealthier than today’s young adults.

Looking at rates of homeownership, 83% of elderly households own a home. Meanwhile, 36% of millennials are still living under their parents’ roof. Those over 65 years of age have much lower poverty rates than most other demographic groups. Households headed by people 65 or older have 22 times the wealth of households headed by people under 35.

For a while, whenever I would see a buddy of mine (an executive of a Fortune 500 company), I would buy him a beer and thank him for subsidizing my healthcare.

But I totally had it screwed up, I should be going to night clubs and thanking all those young thirty year old baristas for subsidizing my healthcare.

More.......

Brit Hume Challenges Juan Williams: 'Whose Idea of Better Coverage, the ...

You know as much flack as poor Juan got on this, I think I need to step in for the poor guy.

You see, I went to the Kaiser Foundation site to see what my insurance premium would be under Obamacare and I found that the premium would be $4000/year (333.33/month). Now that it a steep increase from what my premium was prior to going on my wife's coverage ($129/month).

But see, prior to Obamacare, I had no abortion or birth control coverage. For sure, as a 50 year old guy, I'm not thinking I'll need it anytime in the future. But who knows? If I somehow end up with an unplanned pregnancy, I'm sure the bills will be astronomical.

So is that extra coverage worth a $200 a month increase with a $1000 increased deductible?

According to guys like Juan, it must be because the government says so.

Conservatism - Saving liberals from themselves

So liberals are always looking out for the little guys.

How much of that equation went into the total mismanagment of Detroit's fiscal mess?

Now retirees, who have few options later in life can expect...........


A key claim made by attorneys representing the city's unions, retirees and pension funds is that Orr and his team were intent on filing for bankruptcy and did not make best efforts to negotiate with them prior to the bankruptcy filing. They also claim that plans to cut pensions would violate the Michigan Constitution.

On Friday, city financial consultant Kenneth Buckfire said he did not have to recommend to Orr that pensions for the city's retirees be cut as a way to help Detroit navigate through debts and liabilities that total $18.5 billion.

Buckfire said it was clear that the city did not have the funds to pay the unsecured pension payouts without cutting them.

"It was a function of the mathematics," said Buckfire, who said he did not think it was necessary for him or anyone else to recommend pension cuts to Orr.

"Are you saying it was so self-evident that no one had to say it?" asked Claude Montgomery, attorney for a committee of retirees that was created by Rhodes.

"Yes," Buckfire answered.

Buckfire, a Detroit native and investment banker with restructuring experience, later told the court the city plans to pay unsecured creditors, including the city's pensioners, 16 cents on the dollar. There are about 23,500 city retirees.

More..........

Where's Halliburton when you need them?

Maybe they can finish the projects the Obamunists seem to have a hard time closing..................

CGI Federal Inc., the mastermind behind healthcare.gov, is assisting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the distribution of $1.7 billion in relief for Hurricane Sandy.

In a memo obtained by FreedomWorks titled, “Minutes of the 295th meeting of the members of the Housing Trust Fund Corporation held on May 9, 2013, at 8:30 a.m.,” CGI Federal is tasked with implementing the Disaster Housing Assistance Program. Additionally, they are asked to aid in the implementation of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program, an assistance program that had recently obtained $1.7 billion.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/26/company-behind-obamacare-website-in-charge-of-nearly-2-billion-in-sandy-relief/#ixzz2iyRUma9L

What's going on at CBS?

Until three weeks ago, I probably hadn't watched a 60 minutes in 10 years. But they've actually had a couple of good segments.

Tonight was a segment on Benghazi, I told the Lovely Mrs. Gekko that CBS must be trying to attract a republican or two to their viewership.

It was a good segment until I realized a couple of things. One, their wasn't anything unearthed that Brett Baier, of Fox News hadn't reported on over six months ago. Two, there was absolutely no attempt to get a reaction from the administration or the State Dept. on the lack of security.

We didn't even get one of those "We attempted to get a statement from the State dept. but they declined" comments.

In fact, there was no mention of the people responsible for the security in Benghazi at all in the piece.

Was this segment CBS's attempt to say "hey, remember, we covered this a long time ago"?

Probably.

CBS: ObamaCare System Threatened From High Medicaid Enrollment In Many S...

If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep your plan

A one sided love affair

Probably the largest disconnect I see with liberal media is their constant love for lefty pols when history proves time and time again, the love isn't mutual.

Let's face it. When the communist come marching in the first heads to be lopped off are your friendly journalists.

So it really comes as no surprise to me that the assaults on journalists by the Obamaunists look more and more like storm trooper attacks...........

A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August — leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed.

In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter.

A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates that the August raid allowed law enforcement to search for firearms inside her home.

The document notes that her husband, Paul Flanagan, was found guilty in 1986 to resisting arrest in Prince George’s County. The warrant called for police to search the residence they share and seize all weapons and ammunition because he is prohibited under the law from possessing firearms.

But without Hudson’s knowledge, the agents also confiscated a batch of documents that contained information about sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, she said.

Outraged over the seizure, Hudson is now speaking out. She said no subpoena for the notes was presented during the raid and argues the confiscation was outside of the search warrant’s parameter.

“They took my notes without my knowledge and without legal authority to do so,” Hudson said this week. “The search warrant they presented said nothing about walking out of here with a single sheet of paper.”

So my message to all the journalists out there. This is what you campaigned for.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/25/exclusive-feds-confiscate-investigative-reporters-confidential-files-during-raid/#ixzz2ikb9xIbZ

 

See a pattern here

During the aftermath of the Benghazi murder of four Americans, the only person/people to receive punishment are

1)  The people who actually murdered our people?
2)  Representatives of the State Department who were involved in the cover up of the asssinations?
3)  The people responsible for providing the necessary security for a diplomat in a war zone?
4)  Some guy who posted an unrelated Youtube video?

Using the same logic, who gets hosed in the Obamacare fiasco

1)  The government employees charged with overseeing its implementation?
2)  The contractors who totally screwed up the job?
3)  The employees who failed to tell the president the project was a fiasco?
4)  The telephone operator communicating with the public.

When Sean Hannity called the Obamacare hotline, not only did he not get the answer he wanted, but he also got a woman fired. Luckily for her, Hannity had the money to help her out.

The Fox News and radio host called the hotline on Monday and spoke on-air with employee Erling Davis about promised improvements to the Obamacare website. Hannity brought Davis back onto the show on Thursday, and she revealed that she had been let go after their conversation.

So much for being a champion for the little guy.

More.....

Good enoough for thee but not for me.....

As the Friday deadline approaches for Senate and House committees to determine if staffers will be swept into Obamacare like personal office aides of members, sources tell Secrets that several Democratic staffs will likely be kept out of the troubled health care system.

Such a move to shield thousands of aides would be a blow to efforts to have all of Capitol Hill enrolled into the system the president and congressional Democrats created.

Said a top Senate GOP staffer: “If Obamacare is so awesome, why the hell aren't Democratic committee chairmen giving their staff the gift of losing the insurance they have and be dumped into Obamacare like the rest of us?”

Under the rules governing Obamacare, the personal office staffs of House and Senate members have to shift from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to Obamacare. They will continue receiving their federal contribution so that out of pocket expenses won't surge, though there is an effort to take that away.

More.....

When the good guys have guns too

Two soldiers have been shot and one suspect following a rampage at a Navy base in Millington, Tenn., according to multiple reports.

The U.S. Navy tweeted the following: 
#BREAKING: #USNavy can confirm shooting on Navy property; Naval Support Activity Midsouth in #Millington on lock-down.

Moments later, the Navy again tweeted: #USNavy confirms #Millington suspect in custody. 2 Soldiers injured - not life threatening.

The base remains on lockdown as a precaution, Navy officials said.

The Associated Press reported that a Navy recruiter who had been relieved of duty was quickly taken into custody following the shooting.

Naval Support Activity Mid-South has more than 7,500 military, civilian and contract personnel working on the base, according to the facility’s official website.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/24/shots-fired-navy-base-tenn-report/#ixzz2ijp6WitG
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Clue phone for Kathleen

According to Kathleen............

“The majority of people calling for me to resign I would say are people who I don't work for, and who do not want this program to work in the first place,”

Kathleen, let me offer this novel idea for a liberal......you're not working for the people who you do work for..........the American people.

More......

"If you like your insurance you'll get to keep it"

Except when you can't.........

The Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama in 2010 and since then he has repeated one reassuring phrase: "If you like your insurance plan you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you. It hasn't happened yet. It won't happen in the future."

But it is happening. The president's health care law raises the standards for insurance policies, which many consider to be a good thing. But hundreds of thousands of Americans whose policies don't meet the new standards are being told that their health plans are being cancelled.

Natalie Willes is a sleep consultant who helps parents in Los Angeles train their newborns to sleep. She buys her own health insurance. 

"I was completely happy with the insurance I had before," Willes said.


So she was surprised when she tried to renew her policy. What did she find out?

"That my insurance was going to be completely different, and they were going to be replaced with 10 new plans that were going to fall under the regulations of the Affordable Care Act," she said.

Her insurer, Kaiser Permanente, is terminating policies for 160,000 people in California and presenting them with new plans that comply with the healthcare law.

More...........

Harf Loses Her Cool With Matt Lee in State Press Conference

Carol Costello: Obama's People Can Be 'Nasty,' Willing to 'Threaten Your...

In other words, the Village People are not welcome

University students in America have been told not to wear "offensive" halloween costumes including cowboys, indians and anything involving a sombrero.

Students at the University of Colorado Boulder have also been told to avoid "white trash" costumes and anything that portrays a particular culture as "over-sexualised"- which the university says includes dressing up as a geisha or a "squaw" (indigenous woman).

They are also asked not to host parties with offensive themes including those with “ghetto” or "hillbilly" themes or those associated with "crime or sex work."

In the letter sent by a university official students are asked to consider the impact that their costumes could have.

Christina Gonzales, the dean of students, wrote: "Making the choice to dress up as someone from another culture, either with the intention of being humorous or without the intention of being disrespectful, can lead to inaccurate and hurtful portrayals of other people's cultures.

More............

Obamacare 2.0

Apparently, the Obamunists just released a download version of the Obamacare software.........

Responding to widespread criticism regarding its health care website, the federal government today unveiled its new, improved Obamacare program, which allows Americans to purchase health insurance after installing a software bundle contained on 35 floppy disks. “I have heard the complaints about the existing website, and I can assure you that with this revised system, finding the right health care option for you and your family is as easy as loading 35 floppy disks sequentially into your disk drive and following the onscreen prompts,” President Obama told reporters this morning, explaining that the nearly three dozen 3.5-inch diskettes contain all the data needed for individuals to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace, while noting that the updated Obamacare software is mouse-compatible and requires a 386 Pentium processor with at least 8 MB of system RAM to function properly. 

More...........

Ohio hires Obamacare programmers

These guys don't even have a calendar on hand........

MSNBC: Obama Admin Is Lying About ObamaCare Enrollment Data

What food stamps can buy for you?

So you're destitute and hungry. What says fulfilling that hunger pang like a cool refreshing Coca Cola.

But shit, why settle for that high fructose corn syrup variety when you can buy some true authentic Mexican Coke complete with good old sugar cane...... the way God sweetens life...........

Who did he vote for? #101

Meet Glenn Taylor, alleged scout leader.

Why is Glenn in the news? Just watch the video.



But there's more to Glenn than just the ability to move boulders. He's disabled to boot. Or at least that's what he claiming to the government.......


A Boy Scout leader who came under fire for pushing over an ancient boulder in a national park filed a suit last month claiming he was suffering permanent “disability” and “impairment” from an auto accident four years ago.

Glenn Taylor initially faced scrutiny after a video of him pushing over a Jurassic era rock formation in the Goblin Valley State Park in Utah went viral.

Taylor, a Boy Scout leader, told ABC News that he should have handled the incident differently but thought the boulder was dangerous and thought it would be safer to push it over.

“The Boy Scouts didn’t teach me to do this,” Taylor told ABC News. “Would I do it again? Yes, with a ranger standing there. That’s what we should have done.”

Charges Possible For Toppled Ancient Utah Rock

However Taylor is now facing additional scrutiny after it was revealed that he filed a suit claiming he endured “great pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of life” stemming from a 2009 car accident, according to ABC News affiliate KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah.

So in the last election did Glenn here vote for Romney or Obama?

More.....

giving liberals what they want........ again

Throughout the government shutdown, Democrats, who knew Republicans wouldn’t be able to delay Obamacare, routinely said, “It’s settled law.” President Obama was re-elected, they say – though he said almost nothing about Obamacare during the campaign, and what he did say amounted to platitudes he knew were false. And the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional.

The debate was over, progressives crowed. It was going to happen. Soon they will be eating crow, and Republicans have to position themselves smartly and strategically now to make sure that crow is served up to them on a silver platter.

The roll out of Obamacare has been a disaster that makes “New Coke” look like the iPad. The website rarely works, and when it does, it sends incorrect information to insurers. And when young and healthy people do sign up, they discover they’re going to be paying exponentially more for insurance to subsidize premiums for wealthy retirees.

That last one should stick in the craw of everyone under 35. They will be paying thousands of dollars per year more so retirees who technically have no income but own their homes and are living off savings and investments – which don’t count as income when it comes to subsidies for the “poor.” And they will be paying for this until they reach 65 and go on Medicare, at which point still younger people will be subsidizing them.

In short: Obamacare is a massive wealth “spreading” from the young and struggling to the old and well off.

more..................

giving liberals what they asked for

As I've noted hundreds of times on this blog. The only people who ultimately hurt from increased government regulation and taxes are the people who have no ability to pass the costs along to others.

Increase the price of electricity, businesses simply increase their prices. Poor people ultimately get stuck with the tab.

So again, I'm not a conservative for me but for those who can't absorb the costs of increased government.

So one of the unfortunate side effects of conservative politics is saving liberals from their own stupidity.

All that is the back drop to the degree from the school of Hard Knocks young people are going to get from their support of the Obamaunists...............

But he adds that "I did not think it would be nutty to tie entitlements to the debt ceiling because there's a massive long-term problem. And this president, despite what he says, has shown time and time again that he needs a gun at his head to negotiate in good faith. All this talk about, 'I won't negotiate with a gun at my head.' OK, you've been president for five years."

His voice rising now, Mr. Druckenmiller pounds his fist on the conference table. "Show me, President Obama, when the period was when you initiated budget discussions without a gun at your head."

Which brings him back to his thieving generation. For three decades until 2010, Mr. Druckenmiller ran the hedge fund he founded, Duquesne Capital. Now retired from managing other people's money, he looks after his own assets, which Forbes magazine recently estimated at $2.9 billion. And he wonders why in five years the massively indebted U.S. government will begin sending him a Social Security check for $3,500 each month. Because he earned it?

"I didn't earn it," he responds, while pointing to a bar chart that is part of his college presentation. Drawing on research by Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, it shows the generational wealth transfer that benefits oldsters at the expense of the young.

While many seniors believe they are simply drawing out the "savings" they were forced to deposit into Social Security and Medicare, they are actually drawing out much more, especially relative to later generations. 

That's because politicians have voted to award the seniors ever more generous benefits. As a result, while today's 65-year-olds will receive on average net lifetime benefits of $327,400, children born now will suffer net lifetime losses of $420,600 as they struggle to pay the bills of aging Americans.

One of the great ironies of the Obama presidency is that it has been a disaster for the young people who form the core of his political coalition. High unemployment is paired with exploding debt that they will have to finance whenever they eventually find jobs.

Are the kids finally figuring out that the Obama economy is a lousy deal for them? "No, I don't sense that," says Mr. Druckenmiller, who is a registered independent. "But one of my points is neither party should own your vote. And once they know they own your vote, you're not going to get any action on this particular issue."

Read the whole thing...........

Help Wanted

Computer techs needed to fix the Obamacare website. Experience is not necessary. However, donations to Obama For America are a requirement. Salary starts at $635 million.

ATF Fights Cigarette Smuggling by Smuggling Cigarettes! Don't Cops Have ...

Tea Party intelligence

So Tea Party member have more scientific knowledge than others.

That's apparently a surprise to the study's conductor.

I’ve got to confess, though, I found this result surprising. As I pushed the button to run the analysis on my computer, I fully expected I’d be shown a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension.

But then again, I don’t know a single person who identifies with the Tea Party.  All my impressions come from watching cable tv — & I don’t watch Fox News very often — and reading the “paper” (New York Times daily, plus a variety of politics-focused internet sites like Huffington Post & Politico).  

I’m a little embarrassed, but mainly I’m just glad that I no longer hold this particular mistaken view.

All it takes for a Tea Partier to excel over others is to understand the law of gravity, the law of supply and demand, that a 2% increase isn't a "cut" and that you should probably read a bill before you actually pass it.

Pretty hardcore type stuff.

More.....

Ed Schultz Attacks War Veteran: "Don't Call Me Sir!!" - October 17, 2013

What food stamps can buy for you.........

So you're indigent and hungry.

Fortunately for you, we have compassion and give you these things called food stamps to pay for something to eat. And to take away the stigma of being poor and indigent, we even give you a card that looks like a credit card.

But hey, there is nothing like salving that hunger pain like buying a big 'ole Red Bull.

Seriously. How disgusting is it that the Red Bull people are even advertising that their product is EBT eligible. They obviously know that idiots with EBT cards represent a significant market segment. Why else would they advertise this?

On another note. How much stimulation does a poor person need to sit on their ass?

When good guys have guns too................

Thomas Piccard.


Do you know who he is?

Why isn't the name Thomas Piccard plastered all over every news organization across the US.

Because, unlike every other spree killer in the US, this guy was confronted by good guys with guns.

As a result, people lived through his attack instead of being mowed down like a row of autumn corn stalks.

BTW, here's who Thomas Piccard is.................

One day before Thomas Piccard used an assault rifle and a handgun to pepper Wheeling's Federal Building with more than 20 rounds Wednesday, the retired Wheeling police officer told a neighbor he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger identified 55-year-old Piccard as the man who opened fire on the Federal Building at 2:43 p.m. Wednesday, striking and shattering multiple windows before a responding city officer shot and killed him. A motive for the shooting remains unclear.

Robert Orgovan has lived across the street from Piccard at Presidential Estates in Bridgeport since Piccard moved into a mobile home there about a year ago. Orgovan first met him a few years ago, when Piccard was living at Booker T. Washington Apartment on Chapline Street in Wheeling.

I wonder how many times Piers Morgan has mentioned his name?

More......

Conservatism - Saving liberals from themselves..........

I've said from the beginnings of this blog that I'm not a conservative for me, I'm a conservative for the least of us.

But don't take my word for it, take Tavis Smiiley's............

PBS host Tavis Smiley isn’t a thrill-up-his-leg cheerleader of President Obama — he’s criticized Obama in the past.

But in a chat with Sean Hannity, Smiley doesn’t hold back when asked if black Americans are doing better financially five years into the Obama presidency:

“Let me answer your question very forthrightly,” Smiley responds during Thursday’s show. “No, they are not. The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category. On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.”

More.....

Somebody need to pay for my 15 kids

What the hell am I thinking.....

.........I should love Obamacare. It's the best thing to happen to my business since the earned income credit came to being.

But don't take my word for it. Take H&R Block's...........

Nothing says quality health care like talking to your neighborhood tax professional.

Charlestown - Forced Busing

It's become popular to accuse republicans of being racists since they object so vehemently to the sitting president.

But seriously, the most racist attacks in this country's history came from democrats.

Watch this video of Boston busing riots in the 1970's. This area has probably voted democrat since the beginning of time.

Life in "Progress" State - CA edition

California has been the source of much innovation, from agribusiness and oil to fashion and the digital world. Historically much richer than the rest of the country, it was also the birthplace, along with Levittown, of the mass-produced suburb, freeways, much of our modern entrepreneurial culture, and of course mass entertainment. For most of a century, for both better and worse, California has defined progress, not only for America but for the world.

So how's all that "progress" working out? It doesn't sound much like "progress" to me.............

As late as the 80s, California was democratic in a fundamental sense, a place for outsiders and, increasingly, immigrants—roughly 60 percent of the population was considered middle class. Now, instead of a land of opportunity, California has become increasingly feudal. According to recent census estimates,  the state suffers some of the highest levels of inequality in the country. By some estimates, the state’s level of inequality compares with that of such global models as  the Dominican Republic, Gambia, and the Republic of the Congo.

At the same time, the Golden State now suffers the highest level of poverty in the country—23.5 percent compared to 16 percent nationally—worse than long-term hard luck cases like Mississippi. It is also now home to roughly one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients, almost three times its proportion of the nation’s population.

Like medieval serfs, increasing numbers of Californians are downwardly mobile, and doing worse than their parents: native born Latinos actually have shorter lifespans than their parents, according to one recent report. Nor are things expected to get better any time soon. According to a recent Hoover Institution survey, most Californians expect their incomes to stagnate in the coming six months, a sense widely shared among the young, whites, Latinos, females, and the less educated.

Some of these trends can be found nationwide, but they have become pronounced and are metastasizing more quickly in the Golden State. As late as the 80s, the state was about as egalitarian as the rest of the country. Now, for the first time in decades, the middle class is a minority, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

More............

Conservatism - Saving liberals from themelves

The one thing that sucks most about being a conservative is that most of what we believe benefits liberals more than ourselves.

For instance, forget about the unintended consequences of Obamacare, how about the in your face law of supply and demand, gravity type truth people were predicting about Obamacare before it even became law......

People like Marilynn Gray-Raine.

The 64-year-old Danville artist, who survived breast cancer, has purchased health insurance for herself for decades. She watched her Anthem Blue Cross monthly premiums rise from $317 in 2005 to $1,298 in 2013. But she found out last week from the Covered California site that her payments will drop to about $795 a month.

But people with no pre-existing conditions like Vinson, a 60-year-old retired teacher, and Waschura, a 52-year-old self-employed engineer, are making up the difference.

"I was laughing at Boehner -- until the mail came today," 

Waschura said, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, who is leading the Republican charge to defund Obamacare.
"I really don't like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family's pocket each year, that's otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy."

Both Vinson and Waschura have adjusted gross incomes greater than four times the federal poverty level -- the cutoff for a tax credit. And while both said they anticipated their rates would go up, they didn't realize they would rise so much.

 "Of course, I want people to have health care," Vinson said. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."

No shit Sherlock. How do liberals get off thinking they're smarter than conservatives when they can't even make this small step ion logic?

 more.......

Seems like a perfect solution

So Bob Geldof a member of the Branch Gorevidian church of Manmade Global Warming believes the human faith will reach its demise.................

Bob Geldof has claimed that the Earth as we know it could end by 2030 thanks to the ravages of climate change.

The campaigner and former Boomtown Rats singer said the human race could soon be extinct at the One Young World summit in Johannesburg.

"The world can decide in a fit of madness to kill itself," he said, according to the Telegraph. "Sometimes progress may not be possible."

"We're in a very fraught time," he continued, warning the 8,000 international delegates: "There will be a mass extinction event. That could happen on your watch. The signs are that it will happen and soon."

The conference – a networking and debate event for young people from 190 countries – featured speeches from high profile 'counsellors'. Former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan and business mogul Richard Branson also took to the stage, but none appeared to match Mr Geldof for urgency.

This is the thing that blows my mind about your average Branch Gorevidian is that they cannot seem to appreciate the meaning of what they think is true regarding the future.

For instance, let's assume that the global warming continues to the point that the human race is wiped out. If that is true, then wouldn't it be safe to assume that with no humans on earth there won't be anyone to drive those disgusting SUVs on the road or run those carbon spewing coal plants around the world.

If there's no one around to kick out the carbon, the world will begin healing itself. And without humans, the dolphins will be able to have the whole place to themselves.

And isn't that a great place to be?

More.......

Who did he vote for? #610

Meet Reggie Chance.

Why is Reggie in the news?

A defiant motorcyclist caught on video smashing an SUV window with his helmet after a wild chase in upper Manhattan gave the middle finger to reporters in court Sunday.

Reginald (Reggie) Chance, 37, was in Manhattan Criminal Court facing assault and gang assault charges in the brutal beating of Alexian Lien when he flipped off reporters with both middle fingers moments before he appeared in front of a judge.

Chance is the rider wearing a black leather jacket, in the viral video of the Sept. 29 chase, who violently smashes the driver’s window with his helmet, the criminal complaint alleges.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/beatdown-suspect-shows-class-act-rude-gesture-suv-attack-arraignment-article-1.1478038#ixzz2h3a1XFDo

So in the last election, was this guy a Romney or an Obama supporter?

Day 5 of the apocalypse

So yesterday was another non eventful day without non-essential government services.

I was able to hit the gym, run my honey-do list without interference, and eat a nice meal with a good bottle of wine.

All without having to whip out a cross bow to catch my game.