Your Future Under Obama...

Your Healthcare. Nationalized, government-run healthcare is rationed healthcare, as the first responsibility of the bureaucracy is to itself, and not to the patient. The money will first be spent on staff, facilities and public relations, and if there's any left over, the resulting "care" will be doled out in thimbles.

If you doubt what I've just written, then read this. The government, particularly the Obama Administration, changes the definition of what is and isn't considered "healthcare" as it suits it's political purposes. What makes you think it wouldn't, should it find it necessary to do so, use the healthcare system it creates as a political tool/weapon, too?

Your Finances and Freedoms. Have you noticed the tendency for every department of government, no matter how insignificant it may seem, eventually gets an Enforcement division? This whole thing is not about the government being able to keep wealth inside this country -- it's about the government being able to take your wealth the very second Washington finds that necessary, and intimidating those who might protest.

Need I say more?

Where's Jared Loughner When You Need Him?

Oh, right...he's already in jail for shooting a congresscritter.

Maybe we ought to be giving him a fucking medal, instead? He seems to have had the right idea, but maybe just picked the wrong target.

(Before I get an avalanche of faux-outraged e-mails from Libtards:  no, I'm not advocating that someone actually shoot a member of Congress, or making fun of Gabby Giffords and the other victims of that particular crime. I'm asking a rhetorical question in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. Get a fucking sense of humor, and unbunch your friggin' panties, you ninnies!)

The Washington Post identifies 35 Congressdouches who used their power to benefit themselves. And just in case that didn't make you sick, the Post then goes on to tell you how members of Congress use their power to benefit their relatives.

A Pox on Both Their Houses...

Democraticans and Republicrats, and why they both suck. Angelo Codevilla is very quickly working his way into my Personal Olympus with Dr. Hanson and Mark Steyn. This was posted a month ago, but the Spectator is posting it again, and should probably do so for the rest of eternity.


It's a bit long, but you'd better damn-well read it! Definitely worth the time.

It's Only Racist When....?

It's a brotha or sistah on the receiving end. Pay attention, Whitey; we don't want to have to explain this to you again.

Quote of the Day: I'm not a racist...I think the White Half of Obama Sucks, Too.

The Gub'mint Can't Do Shit...

...So why does it believe that it should extend It's reach into every nook and cranny of our lives? And when I say "It", I don't mean to say the government is a living, breathing, thinking organism, so much as it is a Five Star Cluster Fuck of the Insane, the Criminally Stupid, the Otherwise-Unemployable, and the "We'd-Have-Been-Better-off-as-a-Society-if-your- Mother-Had-Swallowed-You-Or-Daddy-Just-Shot-His-Load-into-The-Bathroom-Sink".

I should think this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway; this government is fat, bloated, bureaucratic, creaking, plodding, clueless, out of touch, expensive, unresponsive, and packed to the gills with the worst douchebags able to squeak through a third-grade-reading-level Civil Service exam, as to be totally useless.

This government can't even order toilet paper without 100 hours of Congressional debate (so that even the retard back-benchers can get 30 seconds of face time), a battle royale between the talking heads of each party, complete with a demonization of both sides by their opponents, sixteen Potemkin Teleprompter Plays by The Chosen One on how AIG wrecked the toilet paper market, and the New Department of Anal Cleansing Instruments Czar empowered to make up regulations that affect your ass crack without Congressional debate or approval, the defend you against Big Charmin. Keith Olbermann needs to have an on-air aneurysm over the plight of those who can't afford the two-ply and have to make do with the thin single-sheet that very quickly disintegrates and leaves behind a multitude of small, paper balls which attract fecal matter and become the embarrassing and uncomfortable Dingleberries, that will have to be covered under ObamaCare.

And by the time it's all over, the Government will have worked out some new law that promises "free" TP to every filthy tush in America...by 2021...and requires a tax on "The Rich", a class now defined as anyone who has at least 30-cents and a bottlecap in his pocket (Naturally, Congress will exempt itself from the TP tax). By the time the government actually purchases the TP from the mill in Congressman X's district, which happens to be the company in Which Senator Y Owns Substantial Stock, they will have underestimated the real need by at least half, and paid three times the going rate.

And they would have gotten stuff even worse than the One-Ply-Dingleberry-Wonder, and which probably scratched like sandpaper, and give half the people who used it tumors.

We know that's how it works. This government can't help but to fuck up the simplest of things, because it is generally run, from top to bottom, by the biggest Fuck-ups in America.

So,when I read that the government can't count,and the people they hired to count for them are a bunch of crooks, I'm not surprised.

When we observe that the President of the United States is basically out of step with two thirds of the country, but still takes a victory lap for something he hasn't done, or worse, for something he's fucked up even more, I'm not surprised.

Don't be at all shocked when the government decides it has the right and responsibility to feed your children whatever the fuck it deems appropriate, and your little tyke winds up in the hospital getting his stomach pumped.

You should know that the obvious reason why kids are fat is beyond the mental capacity of the typical government douchebag to comprehend; it is because they sit around all day playing video games and screwing with Facebook and YouTube. Maybe if government would stop teaching them how to engage in anal sex, and hire a fucking gym teacher, they wouldn't be so round, and we wouldn't need an expensive new "program" to feed kids rotten vegetables at gourmet prices.

It should come as no surprise that the people who brought you the Fannie and Freddie debacle, the Mortgage Bailout Program Which Failed Spectacularly, who have recklessly spent billions of tax payer dollars ensuring that complete deadbeats can keep a house paid for by someone else's money long after they should have been out on the street, and which devastated residential neighborhoods with an explosion of foreclosures, should suddenly decide that it knows everything about planning the perfect, Potemkin Neighborhood.

Because, you know, everything HUD does works out perfectly.

November can't come soon enough!

Signs o' The Times...

Unfortunately, they tend to say "For Sale", "Going out of Business Sale", or are an advertisement for the local Real Estate Agent hoping to lease empty, or soon-to-be empty, space.

This past fortnight has seen a rash of small businesses, many of which had been staples of the local community, close their doors. That's terrible, especially when these business owners spent, in some cases, decades growing their businesses and their reputations in the community, and now it's all over for them. Or is it? I know a few of them, and we've been talking, and some of it is simply fascinating.

Two small businessmen of my acquaintance that have recently closed shop have told me that business was actually pretty good despite the bad economy (one ran a delicatessen, and the other a dry cleaners), and that what really caused them pull up stakes was their rising rents. One man told me that no sooner did the real estate market head south in 2008 than his landlord was already trying to renegotiate the lease he had just signed, so as to double his rent to $14,000 a month on a storefront where two generations of his family had worked for near on 30 years.

When he refused to renegotiate (he did have a signed contract, after all), the landlord took him to court over nuisance issues just to try to get him out of the building, but the Deli Owner ran the clock out, and when his lease finally expired this past spring, he finally left. Whether or not he re-opens in a different location is questionable, because the local commercial real estate situation is,as they both tell me, "absolutely crazy".

My dry cleaner friend is going to re-open elsewhere, but he informs me that the leasing situation makes this somewhat problematic; despite having more retail space added to Staten Island in the last five years before the recession than in the previous decade -- and with much of that new construction sitting empty -- some landlords are actually raising their rents, not lowering them. My buddy says that this tells him that the landlords probably financed all of that recent construction with high-interest/variable-rate loans, confident they could fill the space at high-enough rents to turn a profit. Now, they're stuck with empty space and a ballooning monthly mortgage payment, not to mention tax assessments that reflect the formerly-inflated values of the properties they own. They are so deep underwater as to be drowning. They can't afford to drop rents, and they're simply praying they find someone stupid and desperate enough to pay these inflated rates.

He's also under the impression that we're talking about a very few landlords who own the majority of the properties, doing business behind a variety of real-estate companies/concerns. That the guy who owns 123 Main Street as Mr. X Property Management, is probably the same guy who owns 678 Main Street, as Nosepicking Dimwits and Company, and you can tell two locations have the same landlord when the rents on both pretty much rise at the same rate, at the same time, despite the sticker in the window identifying the management company.

Mr.Dry Cleaner also expects to see a whole lot more"For Lease" signs at the end of the year, because many of these leases will expire on December 31st -- and no one is going to pay rates that are much higher than they are now. There's been some folks forced out of business by the bad economy, but maybe there are just as many being forced out of business by their over-mortgaged landlords, he reckons.

So, I took a look around because while there have been a lot of closings lately, there's also some new stuff opening around here, too. What's that all about? And then I started to take note of what had closed, and what was opening.

On the Closed side, we have perhaps the biggest Bridal shop on Staten Island. In fact, "shop" is probably the wrong term to use. This was a Wedding Emporium, something on the order of 6-8,000 square feet of nothing but wedding dresses and wedding crap, and if that wasn't impressive enough, the local paper which lamented it's closing reported that the recent renovations made to that building cost just over $2 million. That shop didn't go out of business because no one's getting married (although I'm fairly certain they were selling fewer-and-fewer $5,000 wedding gowns to brain-dead Schifoozas who want to wear the same dress they saw on their favorite episode of Real Housewives of Bensonhurst), they went out of business because they couldn't afford to pay for the renovations they made, which makes you wonder how they financed it tobegin with? A second mortgage on the first-and-second homes, now less-valuable then they were two years ago? Most likely.

Then there's the Yarn/Knitting/Fabric Store which never seemed to have any clientele at all, but somehow stayed open for 20+ years. When I say "no clientele", I mean that I never saw anyone go into or out of the place in two decades, that I can recall. You would think that in a recession, knitting supplies would be in demand as people start saving money by making/repairing more of their own clothing. Having the ability to knit a cardigan is about to become a skill on par with hunting caribou, or smelting iron from surface deposits in Post-Obama "Recovery" America. But there's the knitting store, Out-of-Business.

A small printer's shop has also closed, although the Dog Grooming and Antique businesses that flank it are apparently doing a decent trade. A few hair salons have closed (which is no great loss, considering there's at least 15 more within a 20 block radius), a large health food store went under, too. The Leather/Luggage shop, gone. So too was closed the Christian Gift Shop, which just goes to prove that it doesn't matter how much you pray, when it comes to money the Lord hardly ever giveth but doth taketh away faster than you can say "Glow-in-the-Dark-velvet-Jesus".

I've also noticed that just about all of the local banks have turned off/removed their "Courtesy Clocks" which give passers-by the time and temperature. When banks are belt-tightening...

But, on the Opened Side of the ledger, something weird is happening.

A new Bakery opened this past winter, just down the block from one of the more popular and revered bakers on this island. Business is such that it stays open until 9 pm, on most nights.

Two Discount Stores (Mostly household goods/children's clothes) have moved into the neighborhood, and so has a new Fresh Fruit/Vegetable shop. Last spring, a new comedy club opened up in the old Lane Theatre which had alternated between "flash-in-the-pan-flavor-of-the-week Guido Hangout" and "Abandoned" for years. A great deal of renovations were done on the building, and business looks decent on most weekends. Most of the more popular restaurants on the main drag do pretty well on weekends, although weekday nights are pretty slow. Three new restaurants (two pizzerias and a Japanese restaurant) opened up within the last 18 months, and are still here. We're about to get a new Yogurtberry opening up any day now, and a relocated Dance Studio moved in last summer, shares the same newly-renovated commercial building on the main artery. A recent report in the local paper says that one of the major Big Box stores is not only staying in it's current location, it's going to open a second location not a mile further up the road. The Day Spas and Korean Nail joints which litter the landscape are busy everyday, with a steady stream of gum-snapping Middle-class housewives running in and out for fish pedicures and European skin peels.

What to make of all this? What does this say about the economy, in general?

Damned if I know, but it appears as those who have cash on hand are doing well or holding their own, and those who lived and died by credit are up Shit's Creek without a paddle. And when you stop to consider that if there one thing that's harder to get than a blowjob in a convent, it's credit, then it's no wonder.

Of course, the Credit Crisis would have been much less severe if a) Banks that received TARP money had done what they were supposed to have done with that money -- get the bad loans off their books -- instead of what they actually did -- shore up their stock prices, buy up their weakened competitors, pay their Executives exorbitant bonuses, and b) if the Federal Government hadn't had sucked up $787 billion for a Stimulus Bill which is two lies for the price of one, but then again, "The Keeping Dangerous and Useless Democratic Party Allies Rolling in Someone Else's Money Bill" wouldn't have worked.

And now the same douchebags who took $1.5 trillion dollars off the credit markets between TARP and Stimulus -- just at the time where that money would have been useful to help with recovery -- are about to inflict a new round of "Financial Reforms" on the Nation which will involve making a Corporate Bailout next to a Constitutional Right. Citibank's ability to fuck up and be saved, and Planned Parenthood's ability to give a 13-year old a We-Won't-Tell-Your-Parents-Late-Term-Abortion is being paid for by the Print Shops, Knitting Barns, Health food stores, and Bridal Shops of Staten Islanders, and many others.

That's not Financial Reform, Mr. Obama. That's a reward for bad behavior that will guarantee a repeat performance.

There's Nothing More Disgusting Than...

...Listening to Nancy Pelosi quote Thomas Jefferson, and get the context so incredibly wrong as to make your head spin. Jefferson was a thinker and a patriot, while Nancy Pelosi is an unreformed, troglodytic communist. One is worthy of praise and respect, the other should be torn to pieces by rabid dogs on Pay-per-View.

....Watching Barack Obama take a victory lap for something he didn't even do. It's become known as ObamaCare, but the monstrosity that was passed last night was the creation of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and several hundred lobbyists. Once again, Barack Obama takes credit for other peoples work -- a habit that decades of Affirmative Action have probably instilled in him as the right and proper thing to do.

...Seeing the smug look on Al Sharpton's face. Sharpton and his ilk supported ObamaCare because it was simply one more "program" which will put some brothas and sistahs to what appears to be work in government service, where they'll never be evaluated according to the their actual skills and talent, nor ever expected to actually produce anything of value. In the meantime, a few more of the recipient classes will survive cancer at Whitey's expense (Reparations), and billions in Taxpayer dollars will be showered (and wasted) upon the Inner Cities in the name of "Health" "Care", where the greatest health problems are gang-related gunshot wounds, drug addiction, domestic violence, out-of-control bastardy and malt liquor. If there's ever a provisions herein the government can force someone to undergo a painful and experimental treatment, I nominate the "Reverend" for it.

...Than watching the "democratic leadership" of the House of Representatives, including the token minorities, parade before the cameras, each taking a bow for helping to bring the demise of the United States of America, and Capitalism, one step closer. They should congratulate themselves in this sense: from now on, as long as any vestige of this piece of shit manages to survive, no political argument in this country will ever again be fought on the basis of right-of-center political theory. In five years, the great mass of the American public (the 50% who don't pay taxes) will come to "depend" upon this program, and it'll become part of the furniture, like Social Security and Medicare.

...Waking up in a country in which those who contribute nothing to society save crime, sloth, disease, destruction of the cities and schools, who are an economic millstone tied around the necks of the productive classes, who do not pay taxes, do not produce any useful goods or services, and who create nothing of any value whatsoever, are given far more attention, and afforded noble and protected status, by a body of self-interested little parasites with titles liek Senator or Congressman.

...The Narrative, which began five seconds after the "Historic Vote" of Obama as Lazarus, or the Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, of the all-knowing, all-powerful Great Leader who orchestrated the Greatest Thing Ever. If there's anything one can take solace from in this Morning of Mourning, it is that if there were anyone left who still believed in the ideal of an impartial press, it has been shattered completely and utterly by the events of yesterday. The two year campaign to get you to love Big Brother came full-circle last night. If we're ever lining up people to shoot in this country (maybe as one of those medical reforms that'll save us that non-existant $1 trillion, you know), the Press should be the first ones to get the treatment. Keith Olbermann should be the first of the first.

...James Clyburn comparing ObamaCare to the Civil Rights Act. I'm up to here with the idea that everything in America is a matter of Civil Rights, especially when that idea is advanced by people who wouldn't know a Civil Right if one walked up to them and kicked them in the balls. I'm especially sick and tired of being lectured on Civil Rights by black men with no talent or intelligence who have gamed the system that the Civil Rights movement created for their own personal enrichment, continually fighting battles that have already been won, and keeping their own people in a state of infantile ignorance and savagery. The sooner the James Clyburns, Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons and so forth of this society are gone, the sooner Black Americans can join the rest of us in the 21st century. Sanctimonious, affirmative-action hypocrites can kiss my ass, Congressman.

If you're disgusted too, let me know what you think....

And on the Seventh Day...

...He Created Steyn.

This has to be read to be believed.

Charlie Rangel: Busted...

Charlie Rangel was pronounced guilty...of something....but still got a pass from his friends on the House Ethics Committee (which never met a gross abuse of power by a democrat that it couldn't find a way to justify it). But, the damage is done: Charlie Rangel has finally been exposed for what he is: a tax cheat, a moocher, a liar, a criminal. The unfortunate part is that in the district Rangel represents, no one reads newspapers (I doubt many can read at all) and no one bails out on a Brother unless there's some money in it, so he is probably a safe re-election bet.

But, the Marginalization of Charlie Rangel has begun. Even his fellow dems are calling for his head as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. The only person who will dump Charlie faster for personal gain than his constituents would definitely be Nancy Pelosi. You have to marvel at the democrats (small 'd' intentional) though: the offenses Charlie has committed are somehow severe enough to warrant punishment, the loss of his chairmanship, but not enough to have him tossed from office altogether. Amazing how that happens, isn't it? But, perhaps I'm not so finely versed in the art of politics (bullshit), and it's subtle nuances (vote-buying) as they are.

This is shaping up to be a good week for NY State, politically. Charlie is finally busted, then
Our Blind (in more ways than one) and Accidental Governor, David Paterson, is eschewing an election bid after being involved (allegedly) in the intimidation of a former girlfriend of one of his trusted aides so that she would not file for a restraining order against the lout. Unfortunately, the asshole won't do the right thing and quit. It's amazing that he's had the time to harass this woman considering that it's also alleged that he was screwing the hired help in broom closets, snorting coke every fifteen minutes, and sending the State Police out to do all sorts of errands, inane and slimy and of questionable legality.

Allegedly.

There's now a supposedly-fire-and-brimstone-small-government-republican who wants to jump into the race for governor now, which is something good; before your choice would have been limited to strictly Patterson (bad) and Andrew Cuomo (vomit-inducingly bad). Neither man could lead a three year old to the crapper, and both are so besotted by the filth of New York advocacy politics, that either one would have been an unmitigated disaster of Obama-like proportions. The other 49 states might get together, taken a vote and demanded that NY saw itself off the continent if either of these guys gets into the Governor's Mansion. Paterson is there solely by accident -- Andrew Cuomo used to play Matchbox cars in the foyer. Perhaps if this guy (The Republican, and sorry, but I can't be bothered to look up his name right now) can breathe without mechanical assistance and has 20/20 vision-with-corrective-lenses, he might actually win.

It's a sad commentary that in retrospect, it's apparent that David Paterson couldn't hold Elliot Spitzer's socks. You have to be really bad to evoke a backhanded compliment on Spitzer's behalf like that.

The other day during the Toyota Inquisit....errr..."Hearings", Representative Adolphus Towns, one of the dumbest members of Congress, showed himself to be a fully-bought-and-paid-for shill of the UAW and Government Motors. And he did it on national television, too.He's another one who's career might have been over, if only the people he supposedly represents were capable of tying their own shoes without a government program. But now his stupidity is on public record and will achieve YouTube immortality, at least.

Now, if we could only do something about the other embarrassments in this state, we might be cookin' with gas:

Kirsten Gillibrand: the Placeholder Senator need to be the Replaceable Senator, perhaps even the Disposable Senator. I would like very much to say something nice about Gillibrand, but I'm not certain "Chuck Schumer's Boot-licking Ventriloquist Dummy...with Tits" is quite nice enough. I would compare her to something less substantial, like a hole in the air, but if I did, she'd probably turn that into some campaign about the Ozone Layer (she might actually be that shallow), and then she'd have to team up with Van Jones again in a sort of 9/11-Truther-Mandingo-Kabuki Theatre, and that's an act no one around here wants to see ever again.

Chuck Schumer: I mean, what else could I say about Chuckie that I haven't said before? He reminds me of something I occasionally pick up on my shoe in the gutter, only you can usually scrape that off. Chuck Schumer is like a dose of herpes: he's omnipresent, you regret the entire sordid episode that brought it about, it itches like hell, and you wish that you could kill the bitch that gave it to you. I heard once that Chuck Schumer had an asshole transplant, but that the asshole soon rejected him. I'm lead to understand that Mrs. Schumer is the only living being with two assholes: her own, and the one she married. Chuck Schumer is like an asshole, in that he stinks, he's full of shit, and you really don't want to hear from it all that often.

But, maybe I'm being unfair to assholes? Chuck Schumer's only real talent is getting Chuck Schumer's face on television. No matter how trivial the issue, get Chuck on your side, and he'll get himself some airtime. He won't necessarily fix your problem, but he'll make sure he makes the rounds on Sunday mornings. When Chuck Schumer finally shuffles off this mortal coil, I suggest we hold a ticker-tape parade in honor of the tumor, disease, malady or drunk-driver that finally ended his miserable existence.

If we got rid of this bunch of morons as quickly as possible, the rest of the morons who govern at the federal and state level here might actually be on notice, and we could really clean the nest of State Representatives that choke their girlfriends and use their power to avoid prosecution, or who collect money under the auspices of a charity and then steal it, treat their personal staff like slaves, even going as far as to physically assault them, the both-sides-of-the-fence lawyers who write laws without a thought given to conflicts of interest, the race-baiters, the Welfare Queen Crusaders, the Fake-Reverends-with-an-axe-to-grind, the $35,000-a-year State Legislator who somehow owns a million-dollar townhouse, the Networkers, the Insiders, The Fix-It-Men.

Flush 'em all out, and start clean. I'm not saying that telling people what they already knew about Charlie Rangel (that he's a crooked bastard) is going to do it, but it might be a really good start.

Update: That "Fire-and-Brimstone" republican turns out to be none other than Rick Lazio, Designated Loser. I call him "designated loser" because Lazio is the guy the NY GOP always taps at the very last minute to get run over by a democratic opponent. It's happened to him twice already, with one of those losses to Hillary Clinton (when you can't beat an obviously-opportunistic, carpetbagging harridan in a crusty, black pantsuit, and saddled with baggage-- i.e. a nearly-impeached, disbarred, and confessed adlterer/perjurer in Bill Clinton -- then you must really suck). Do you mean to tell me that in the entire NY GOP apparatus, there is not a single individual who might stand for governor, and the only candidate they can manage is Rick Lazio, Professional Loser?

If that's the case, then we might as well swear Andrew Cuomo in tonight. Maybe we can get lucky and some Tea Party asshole who isn't either a 9/11 Troofer or a God, Guns and Gays Bible Thumper could emerge as a decent alternative.

Bloomberg Hands Out $2 Million in Bonuses...to Campaign Hacks...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg hands out $2.1 million in bonuses for winning an illegal third term.

This is why rich people should be excluded from running for public office. The man spent $108 million to beat a third-rate democratic party hack who had all the charm of an ingrown toenail, and all the smarts of a garden slug...by only 4.4 points. Then he hands out bonuses on top of it? Apparently, the way to get rich working for Michael Bloomberg is to be just barely-adequate.

You'd think if you had $110 million bucks laying around, you'd have something better to do with it then run for Mayor of New York City.... just so you could tell people what to eat. The sooner this shithead is out of office, the better off we'll all be. Michael Bloomberg is a monomaniacal control freak -- which probably served him well as a businessman -- but as a politician it places him just slightly to the right Chairman Mao. All that's missing is the Little Red Book of Bloomberg which tells you what to eat, how to eat it, how much salt you can put on it, what you can throw in your trash, what you can't throw in your trash, how you should throw out your trash, where you can or can't walk and on what days,where you can and can't drive and on what days, and explains his entire rationale for taxing tobacco products until crack becomes a less-expensive alternative while the City give frees instruction on how to properly inject heroin...with free needles in the bargain. Somehow, both are supposed to be for the betterment of public health in a way which is only ever partially explained, and even then, it's always sabout money, and nothing but money.

Yes, pass a law I say: you can't have a million bucks in the bank and run for public office. The number of millionaire "public servants" in this (New York) state simply boggles the mind, and considering we're supposed to be governed by people with enough financial acumen to accrue such personal fortunes (supposedly legally), you wonder why it is this city and state are almost always perpetually broke -- even in the years when Wall Street was making record profits. It's typical liberal (that's small-l liberal) economics: they know how to balance their own checkbooks with the greatest of care and strict adherence to the rules of rational mathematics, but the public purse exists to be abused like a $20 whore.

I'm going to heat up some tar, and fetch me some feathers...

Now You Know How We Got This F***ed Up...

No, nothing wrong with this at all. No abuse of power by the state at all....

These people really have no shame.

Update: City governments need the money for programs like this. (H/T to ClosetConservative)

A New Year's Resolution...

Judicial Watch lists the 10 most corrupt politicians of 2009. I wonder how many are up for re-election in 2010 and 2012?

Can we make a resolution, one and all, that when these criminals come up for re-election, that none of them gets your vote?

The country needs to be saved by us, the citizens, exercising common sense and good judgement because our so-called "leaders" are devoid of either. Make these your priorities in the coming mid-term elections:

1. Re-establish the power of The Governed over The Government,
2. Say NO to graft, dishonesty, and stupidity.
3. Hold President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to their pledges on Transparency and Ethics. We want all bills on the Internet five days before any voting takes place, we want to know what gets said in closed-door ethics hearings, we want up-and-down votes when called for, we want debates --we have the right to know what you're doing before you do it.
4. Say NO to a government take-over of 1/6 of the US Economy with a policy crafted in the Senate Men's Room in the dark of night. We want the government out of our financial institutions and GM, as soon as possible. No more bailouts, ever.
5. Pray for and support our troops, urge our leadership to fight the Islamonazis, and bring them all home victorious and safe.
6. Put Chris Dodd and Charlie Rangel in prison, where they belong, Tar-and-feather Barney Frank (he might enjoy certain jailhouse activities a just a wee too much), chip in to buy John Kerry a personality, please give to the John Ensign I-Can't-Stop-Cheating-On-My-Wife-Fund -- he has an ex-paramour to bribe into silence.
7. Demand lower taxes and less government interference in your personal lives.
8. Keeps your eyes and ears open for Muslims Terrorists, since Homeland Security ain't.
9. Dispel the rumor that a Congresscritter can go through life anonymously -- keep in touch with your Congressional Delegates and let them know you care, you're watching -- you pay taxes and you vote.
10. Find like-minded people, form your own Tea Parties, and get involved in discussions of local politics and political action. Don't wait for the Republican or Democratic Party to do anything for you, because they won't if they believe they can get away with it. Make yourself heard, and your presence felt.

Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Play Fair...

My old employer, Citigroup, is back in the news today. Another story comes out telling you just what a bunch of malicious pricks our corporate officers are, just in case you'd forgotten the previous days' story.

You can read about the scam perpetrated on the American taxpayer by your government and Citigroup here.

Don't be surprised at how crooked and dishonest these people are. After all, these are the same folks who made a promotional video screaming about how they (Citigroup's Smith-Barney investment unit) were the only financial house to turn a profit on 9/11. It can't get much lower than that.

They can continue to deny that video exists, but I saw it...every day for a week. And I can find you hundreds, if not thousands, of other Citi employees who saw it, too.

The next time Wall Street comes begging for money, folks, tell them to go phuck themselves. These are the slimiest people this side of Congress.

Editorial Note: It's nice to know the Obama Administration is busily lowering corporate taxes so that Citi and WellsFargo and others can 'survive' without paying back the money they were given at the same time they are castigating these people as 'fat cats' on Oprah. If that wasn't bad enough, Congress threatens massive tax increases on the middle class in order to pay for both those bailouts, and this stupid Healthcare legislation -- which we apparently must have, but no one can be bothered to read or explain what's in the bill.

We are saddled with the worst political class in history. They are retarded, they are corrupt, they are a danger to this country and it's citizens. Mid-term elections cannot come soon enough.

Saving MSgt. Grisham...

JammieWearingFool posts this about an American soldier being bullied by the schoolboard in Huntsville, Alabama.

It seems that Master Sergeant C.J. Grisham (apparently a very popular military blogger, although, honestly, I never heard of him) got into hot water by simply asking a question at a PTA Meeting about some proposed school uniforms for local schoolchildren (his own included).

The question was: "How much will they (the uniforms) cost?"

At which point, it's alleged that the school administrators went completely apeshit, had him tossed from the meeting and then made some trouble with Grisham's commanders, telling them they believed that he has PTSD and may constitute a danger to the school. (I wonder if the Huntsville School System would be so hot to label MSGt Grisham a lunatic if he were a Muslim? Would they make pointed remarks about AIDS if he were gay? I rather doubt it, the pussies wouldn't have the nerve!).

I have suffered horribly from PTSD in my lifetime, and it's not a joke. Real PTSD sufferers deal with ignorance, fear, discrimination and misinformation every day which affects their interactions with society, their relationships, their employment and ultimately, other aspects of their health. We're not crazy, and when you use PTSD as a pejorative, to imply dangerous intent, to slander a man who simply asked you a relevant question that you didn't want to answer, then you have committed an act of the basest prejudice and slander against those of us who actually do have PTSD.

My guess is that the School Board is set to make a killing on the uniforms, money that will then be wasted giving these assholes an undeserved raise, or perhaps sponsoring another series of those courses that teach first graders to use condoms, demonstrate homosexual acts, or show them how to perform fellatio on a tapir. That seems to be what Public Schools do with all the stolen or otherwise extorted taxpayer money that comes their way.

The quickest way to get to the bottom of this is to follow the money. Always.

Shame on the Huntsville, Ala. School Board. If any of those pantywaist, skirt-wearin' scumbags were within range, I'd punch them all in the mouth, both for maligning a parent who simply wanted information he should have been entitled to, and then insulting and maligning a lot of people who happen to have a mental condition they never wanted nor asked for.

So now an American Soldier needs help to defend himself against his own local government. A defense fund/help center for MSGT Grisham can be found here. The man's career may be adversely affected because some petty tyrants in the Huntsville. Ala. School System probably have something to hide.

I'm also going to give the Hunstville, Ala. School Board a piece of my (diseased) mind regarding their callous attitude towards the mentally ill. Add them to the long list of people in this country who have no sense of shame and an inflated sense of importance.

Update: According to the above post, the uniforms cost $400 each. No wonder they didn't want to talk about it! You have to figure there's a spring and winter uniform, and a smart parent buys at least two in case they get torn, dirty, and so forth. $1600 for school uniforms....

Here's the website for the Huntsville City School system. Let them know how you feel.

Extra: Master Sergeant Grisham will be reunited with his children at Fort Hood tomorrow. Please, please, please give whatever you can to the link above so that a good and honorable man may defend his rights, and his reputation.

The People Get the Government They Deserve...

The United States is saddled with perhaps the worst political class it has ever seen in it's entire history. I submit as examples:

This elected moron, this elected idiot, and this elected scumbag.

(H/T to Powerline, NRO and Whizbang, respectively).

Doesn't convince you? Add these names to the list:

Ted Kennedy (Thankfully deceased), Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Henry Waxman,
John Kerry, Kent Conrad , Howard Dean, John Edwards, Barbara Boxer, Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Chuckie Schumer, Maxine Waters, Harry Reid, Robert Byrd, and of course, Barack Obama.

You've hardly seen such a collection of out-of-touch, obnoxious, snivelling, privileged, narcissistic, imperious ne'er-do-wells and talentless hacks this side of a Hollywood red carpet.

It's becomes painfully obvious with each passing day that the people we have elected to 'serve' this country haven't got a clue. They obviously don't understand economics. They surely do not read history (or, if they do, they read a particular kind of history which is concerned with distorting the truth so as to deny American Exceptionalism in every way). They certainly are unable to tell the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. What they do seem to know is how to continue to get themselves elected.

Which is no mean feat when you consider that a quarter of the population consists of nose-picking morons, and another quarter simply exists to extract whatever it can from people with more talent and industry, and therefore, more money than themselves. This is a rather easy lot to manipulate for votes. These political repeat-offenders also hide behind "the laws" which they have passed (and exempted themselves from, when they don't simply ignore them) which regulate political speech, the flow of money into politics, and the rules governing the use of the media which they dressed up as Campaign Finance Reform (three lies, same great, crap-like flavor).

So, don't be surprised that when the country is in dire straits that the people who fucked it up, and benefited from it, are exceedingly reluctant to un-fuck it. Don't be surprised that when the country is reeling from economic crisis, simultaneous wars, and crippling debt, that 'leaders' of this kind take their eyes off the ball (a common charge against GWB) and go off on tangents which are directly related to their own prospects for re-election.

Is it really necessary to 'reform' (nationalize) health care right now? Couldn't 'Cap and Trade' (the Put America out of Business, Permanently Act) wait until we actually know what a Cap is and have something to Trade? Is it really necessary when our men and women are in the field, in a shooting fight with the enemies not just of the United States, but of civilization itself, to go around arguing the merits of releasing terrorists, telegraphing our strategy, and apologizing to the guilty?

No, none of it is necessary. These are all battles that could wait for another day, for a time after the immediate needs and worries of the American people have been addressed. The last administration was accused of being clueless and rudderless, and you could make the case that in some areas this was, sadly, all too true. However, this administration makes the last one look positively grand by comparison. Say what you will about GWB and Dick Cheney, they could at least get things done so long as it didn't involve a Cat 5 hurricane and a Third-World Nation disguised as an American city.

There are few parallels in history with which to contrast the absolute insanity and stupidity which characterizes our current political class and situation. The one that leaps immediately to mind is the collection of confused nonentities which ruled Great Britain and France in the 1930's, prior to the outbreak of War in Europe. A disorganized, grabasstic bunch who operated in confusion and diffusion, unable to make informed moral choices based on principle and logic. This muddle led to Hitler beginning a war that would kill perhaps 50 million, left France utterly defeated, Britain bankrupt, Germany covered in rubble, and the Soviet Union ascendant.

I don't mean to imply that we're headed for a Third World War; it's not as dire as all that. I only point out that the War was in part the result of stupid policies promulgated by stupid men and that the end result was foreseeable. That the men who advanced those stupid policies in 1936-39 were willfully blind to those policies logical outcomes says as much about their obstinacy and idiocy -- and their ideology -- as it does about their prescience and leadership.

We're saddled with just such a bunch. It would be funny if the consequences of such appalling leadership were not so difficult to avoid.

Dodd and Conrad Cleared by Ethics Committee...

Two Senators at the heart of mortgage scandals wherein they've received preferential treatment from providers while the industry they were supposed to watch began the process of implosion, have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Senate Ethics Committee (three lies for the price of one).

Chris Dodd has promised, for over a year, to release the documents pertinent to this investigation, and has not. I'm not certain what Conrad has done, if anything, to even defend himself against the allegations. I don't know if either man is actually guilty as charged, and frankly, don't give a shit; that's a matter for a criminal court, but there's a more important principle at stake here -- how can we trust Congress when it can't, obviously, police itself? How could we have expected any other outcome from the Senate Ethics Committee?

Neither of these men should be re-elected. Both should be prosecuted, if there's evidence of a crime.

Just Say NO!

Re: the Obama Band-Aids-and-Eyedrops-for-Everyone "plan". I use the convention "The Plan", because according to whom you speak to, there is one (any one of seventeen or so Congressional proposals), or there isn't (none of these Congressional proposals has been debated or voted upon...yet), or, "The Plan" is not truly the President's, but rather belongs to Congress (ownership of "The Plan" changes between the Executive and Legislative branches, depending upon how beneficial/toxic/utilitarian claim of ownership is at any given instant).

Bottom line: this is not a health care "Plan". It will not provide "insurance" (as we understand the term today) to anyone, since for the majority of people it will claim to cover it will be "free" (i.e. paid for by other people, the so-called "Rich). Those who receive this "insurance" will then have to just deal with the destruction of their personal liberties as the government which now keeps them alive exercises it's "right" to then interfere with every personal decision they make, from whether or not to have that extra doughnut, to whether or not they go hang-gliding.

Once you give the government the responsibility for your health, you have given them the means by which they will direct your life.

As for these Town hall Meetings on the subject, there are two things which are painfully obvious:

a) Our elected class is clueless. They have lost touch with the very people they're supposed to be representing. The sense of entitlement and the arrogance they all seem to display is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. I predict at least half of these mediocrities will be shown the door in 2010 (the other half were elected by people too stupid to know any better).

b) People are pissed off. And this time, it has very little to do with politics, per se: the people are beginning to wise up to point a. It's not about democrat and republican, it's about finally becoming aware of what these assholes are doing while we aren't watching. The recent fertilization of both speed and massive price tags exhibited by this combination of Congress and President is simply frightening.

Update: Now The Administration is now in full-scale-sale mode. Before, they were selling health care as a 'right' that a decent society owed to all of it's citizens. Since that was laughable on it's face (most of the people who would be covered under Obamacare were either illegal immigrants or people who could afford their own insurance, but are too cheap to pony up), they have resorted to the tried-and-true class warfare mantra: now the "Public Option" is necessary in order to artificially lower the price of actual insurance to create competition, so that The Disadvantaged can play on a level field with The Rich.

I would laugh if it weren't so stupid.

Update-Update: From the Chicago Tribune:

"In his news conference, Obama was asked if Americans would "have to give up anything in order for this [reform] to happen?" His answer: Basically, not much: "They’re going to have to give up paying for things that don’t make them healthier."

Huh?

From Bloomberg (April 29), via Mickey Kaus:

"April 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said his grandmother’s hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a "sustainable model" for health care."

And they say they'll be no Death Squads?

Chris Dodd has Prostate Cancer...Conveniently.

First, let me begin by saying I'm not pleased by Senator Dodd's announcement of cancer. I'm not completely heartless, and I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone. Even an alleged crook. I will say this: it's highly inappropriate that Farrah Fawcett is taken from us by incurable cancer of the ass, while a man for whom such a fate would be entirely appropriate, is instead afflicted in way which -- thanks to modern medical technology that will disappear under Obamacare -- is little more than a nuisance.

Senator Dodd's announcement was rather convenient. He's about to be nailed to the wall over allegations of accepting sweetheart mortgage deals from the biggest loser in the mortgage crisis, and running Senatorial interference to help protect both his benefactor, and the the industry as a whole. The records released (thus far), the Senator's own behavior in trying to defend himself from the allegations, and the testimony of a witness, all would seem to indicate that the Senator is guilty as charged. That democrats on the Senate Ethics Committee have been dragging their feet on the investigation into Dodd's activities, speaks even louder of complicity in something possibly illegal. The attempt to garner some sympathy, in the hopes of mercy when the guillotine is hanging by a thread, Senator, is an obvious tactic.

I hope the Senator recovers from his cancer. But I also hope that no one believes that Dodd's illness is a fair excuse to drop the investigation into his potential crimes. I then hope he spends some time in jail, if required.

By the way; we're still waiting to see the documents, Senator.