Pelosi-care Facts

As per Politico:
Length: 1,990 pages

Number of words: Approx 400,000

Cost per word: $2,200,000.

In the unfortunate case you are under the assumption that this bill is to benefit the world, try this little number from the Washington Times on for size:

"House Democrats blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony of their health-care bill Thursday morning, allowing only pre-approved visitors whose names appeared on lists to enter the event at the West side of the Capitol....

The West side of the Capitol — the area where President Barack Obama was inaugurated — is traditionally open to the public. But the entrances were blocked off Thursday morning by metal fences, with Capitol police officers standing next to staff members holding clipboards with lists of approved attendees."

This is no longer politics, this is no longer another step towards liberalism. This is another stride on the road to serfdom.

Failings of Power

A. The democrats own the White House.

B. The democrats own the House of Representatives.

C. The democrats own the Senate.

D. The democrats want to pass a national health care destruction bill.

Given all of the above, why have we been arguing about this nonsense for the past 4 months?

Because it is a disaster of a concept, a failure of legislation, and an appallingly bad deal for Americans.

Regardless, this bill could be passed with the power they now possess.

Yet, it hasn't.

I think this is the result of their knowledge of the travesty contained in these numerous documents, and are unwilling to foist it upon the American people without the umbrella of bi-partisanship, under which they can cower at election time and point to these bills as the best option we had available. This may truly be a case where one individual on the House Floor can determine the disaster we will face.

Never give into evil, republicans of the house.

Never aide the destruction of wealth, republicans of the Senate.

Never loose the hope of a conservative philosophy, my friends.

History hinges on the actions of individuals.

'The Incredible Bread Machine'

"Billions were spent, but the net effect was not to spur recovery but to retard it, for the State can inject into the economy only what it has first taken out, either openly through taxes or surreptitiously through inflation. When government spends, the economy drinks its own blood and,in the end, is weakened accordingly."

-Page 52, The Incredible Bread Machine

Your Childrens Tax Dollars at Work

Ways & Means Committee: "According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted. Only North Dakota has seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus. While President Obama claimed the result of his stimulus bill would be the creation of 3.5 million jobs, the Nation has already lost a total of 2.7 million – a difference of 6.2 million jobs."

The worst part about all this is...

...Did we expect anything different?

No.

...Did we proceed regardless?

Yes.

There is no denying the realities of atrocious government policy, and this is but the beginning.
Thank you Bush and Clinton and Bush and Obama for your train wreck economic policies and contemptible spending of my money.

A Real Solution

Conservative arguments against President Obama are becoming increasingly silly. They oppose Obama rescuing businesses despite all the jobs on the line, they’re against government taking control of health care from soulless insurance companies, and they oppose increased taxes on energy consumption despite the sorry state of the environment. And why do they oppose these most sensible actions? Because of their irrational, brain-dead obsession with liberty.

Of course, everyone likes freedom — to a point — but there are a number of loud, stupid Americans who just take it to ridiculous extremes. They hoard their freedoms like greedy little dwarfs hoarding gold when they have little actual use for most of it. People need rules and order and guidance, but they hardly ever need liberty.

Liberty doesn’t feed your family. Liberty doesn’t heal you when you’re sick. Liberty doesn’t educate your children. A strong government can do all those things, but apparently that’s against liberty. Thus these freedom-obsessed conservatives ignorantly rail against it like Bible-thumpers do against science, when they should realize it’s not their enemy; it’s their superior.

Just look at this ludicrous debate over health care reform. Of course the government should provide health care for everyone; how obvious can anything be? The government has the money and smart people working for everyone’s interests to make sure all get health care, so why would anyone be against that? Because apparently people aren’t “free” to make their health care choices for themselves. How is that freedom worth anything when people go without? Real freedom is not having to worry about health care, and that’s what you get when you have the government take it over. Yes, you’ll have little control over who gets what kind of care, but some people will just have to suffer some for the betterment of the whole. The advantage of having the government in control is that it makes sure the fewest number suffer, and those that do aren’t particularly important.

Simple logic like this, though, is like water off a duck’s back to the tea baggers. They scream about their money being taken, but what exactly were they going to spend it on? Beer hats? NASCAR tickets? Cheetos?

Oh, yes, that’s freedom worth preserving. But the more money the government has, the more control it can take over businesses and, thus, the economy. Then job creation lies in the hands of government — which looks out for its citizens — instead of in the hands of uncaring corporations out to make a buck off the misery of others. But apparently many Americans like being preyed upon by heartless corporations because that’s “liberty.” Well, if that’s liberty, no wonder so many progressive-minded people don’t want to participate.

Most of the civilized world has moved beyond this uncompromising view of “freedom” — if they were ever foolish enough to adopt it in the first place. Can you think of any other country that would permit its citizens to have guns like America does? Of course not; that’s beyond moronic. People know freedom is a dangerous, scary thing, and you have to be careful how much you tolerate. People can’t be free to have items that could be used to hurt others; dangerous things like that should only be permissible for those the government considers worthy of possessing them. The U.S. still doesn’t understand this — in fact, it has in recent years allowed even more freedom to own weaponry to the point that even Democrats can’t discuss the basic, common sense measure of firearm confiscation — and that’s why it is a mockery to decent, civilized nations.

This isn’t to say freedom is a bad thing. I think we can all agree that people should have unlimited freedom to do whatever weird sex stuff they like. Also, people should have the liberty to use mind-altering drugs. We should also have freedom of speech, but that ought to be limited by common sense. College campuses are a good example: they allow all sorts of progressive-minded speech and ban what they consider to be dangerous or hateful speech. That’s a perfectly fine standard, as long as we have the right people in charge making those decisions. That’s why it’s much more important than freedom to make sure we have the right people in government.

So what would be optimal in this country if we stopped the mindless liberty worship? I suggest slavery. Yes, I know it has a long awful history, but think about it. With slavery, everyone is guaranteed a job. Slaves get food and shelter. And we can make sure all needs are met by forcing people to take the jobs they are best suited for.

Slavery is true freedom, because it is freedom from want and worry. It may have been a horrible thing when racist southerners were doing it, but think of how great it could be if benevolent liberals looking out for the good of all were in charge. I would say it is, in fact, the ultimate progressive ideal.

But how are we going to sell slavery to people when they don’t even want a public option?

-Frank J. Flemming '

I don't often repost an entire column, but this is one that needs to be read in it's entirety.

2" Pocket Knife = 20 Day School Suspension

Fox News: "A 17-year-old Eagle Scout in upstate New York has been barred from stepping foot on school grounds for 20 days — for keeping a 2-inch pocketknife locked in a survival kit in his car.

Matthew Whalen, a senior at Lansingburgh Senior High School, says he follows the Boy Scout motto and is always prepared

...
Whalen said he doesn't know who might have said he was carrying a knife, but he was open with school officials.

"And they said, 'Do you own a knife?' I said, 'Yes, I'm a soldier and an Eagle Scout — I own a knife.'

"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'

"And they asked me to show it to them. I didn't realize it was going to be a problem. I knew it wasn't illegal — my police chief grandfather gave the knife to me."

Whalen said he took school administrators to his car because he thought their fears would be allayed when they saw it was just a 2-inch knife.

"They thought I had a dagger in my car or something like that, so I thought yeah, I'd show it to them," Whalen said.

"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended.""

Its things like this that make me feel like a prematurely grumpy old man.

I'm an eagle scout. At any given time, you are likely to find at least one pocket knife on me, today, 2. Saturday, I had 3 on me.

I have my Leatherman Charge AL, which I love dearly. Been through fire and ice and heaven and hell with me, and is a toolbox on the hip any day of the week.

I have my Victorinox Recruit, a small swiss army knife that does wonders, and is eminently pockitable.

I have my Shrade jack knife, an amazingly durable jack knife I picked up at one of the middle-of-no-where gas stations that are unique to a texas road trip.

At many times, I have had these in situations where people recoil in shock and horror at the presence of sharp steel blade safely folded away. I don't understand it, and I don't understand how a young man with a 2'' blade in his car is any threat to anyone in a school.

Knives don't hurt people, people hurt people.

(Cross posted at Grumpy Old Men Blog)

Who says this?

"What has Obama done to deserve this prize? The jury put store on his hope for a nuclear arms-free world, forgetting his role in perpetuating his battalions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his decision to install new military bases in Colombia
...
"For the first time, we are witnessing an award with the nominee having done nothing to deserve it: rewarding someone for a wish that is very far from becoming reality."

Answer, in the comments!

Mountain Moonshine Cache

WRAL.com:"State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents seized 929 gallons of moonshine Wednesday and arrested a Wilkesboro man, authorities said Friday.

Roger Lee Nance, of 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, was charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor, possession of non-tax-paid liquor for the purpose of selling, and possession of equipment and ingredients intended for the use in the manufacture of an alcoholic beverage."

I think the man should be given a medal for perseverance and benefiting the common good, not arrested and thrown in chain with the fines of the almighty Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms administration raining down upon his head.