Archive for September, 2009

I’d be worried about the future of this country if I believed that Americans were really as stupid as Democrats believe we are. I take some comfort in knowing that their low opinion of our collective IQs says more about their stupidity than ours. Besides, insulting our intelligence is the one thing of which they excel, so it’s something you learn to live with, I guess.

Their latest gambit is one part TV infomercial marketing, and one part Orwellian newspeak. Senate Democrats, dissatisfied with the phrase, “cap and trade,” are rebranding their tax on greenhouse gases into “pollution reduction and investment,” a new slogan they hope will be more effective. Whatever. It’s still basically a tax on air.

Supporters of the green legislation (entitled “The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act”), are hoping the makeover will better reflect what they see are the selling points of the global warming bill: national security, new jobs, and technical innovation. Fancy new words—same old con job.

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Democratic congressman Patrick Kennedy spoke to roughly 75 people gathered at a private health-care forum last Saturday morning in Providence RI. He implied that the opposition to national health care could turn to violence. Let’s take another look:

“It’s a terrible thing when people think that in order to get their point across they have to go to the edge of violent rhetoric [challenge the liberal status quo] and attack people personally [demand accountability].”

“…when they go and stoop to the level of the vitriolic rhetoric [insist on honest answers] that we’ve seen this debate turn up, it’s very, I think, dangerous to the fabric of our country [harmful to our statist agenda].”

“Some people can see through TV ratings [buy into liberal media spin] and right-wing talk show hosts that just try to create some theater [make salient points critical to the Obama administration], but unfortunately, there are some that can’t see through it [aren’t gullible enough to fall for our crap].”

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Last week, ACORN filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the makers of the now notorious hidden-camera video that showed two employees giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute. Their complaints are downright comical.

Let’s begin with Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, the two not-quite-bright employees who were fired after the absurd affair went public. They claim that they’ve suffered “extreme emotional distress with attendant physical symptoms and injury to their reputations.” Well, yeah, anyone with a normal conscience would feel bad after getting caught. Is there a problem here? The lawsuit also claims that the video damaged ACORN’s reputation. Again, the problem is…? I think you just file this under “Duh” and move on.

But ACORN is apparently as stubborn as they are stupid. Filing a lawsuit against the people who exposed their ridiculous misbehavior isn’t going to win them any friends in Congress. It’s certainly not going to restore their government funding. Moreover, the case has been reported to be full of holes, making a favorable judgment unlikely at best. So what are they thinking? Not much, evidently. That’s why they’re in this bungled mess in the first place.

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Can we be honest here? Let’s all just admit that anarchists are really just leftists who throw rocks and break windows. They’re the wingnut faction of the radical left–a mish-mash of disgruntled activists who resent the fact that no one has handed them a piece of the pie.

The news reports coming from Pittsburgh on the G20 protests reveal the same old gathering of usual suspects: anti-globalists, anti-war activists, anti-capitalists, and anti just about anything you can think of. Basically it’s senior sneak day for the chronically unemployable.

Hey everybody, the $787 billion economic recovery package is indeed stimulating growth–in the federal government. Never mind that the federal government is the nation’s largest employer. And for the moment let’s ignore the fact that this amounts to over 1.8 million employees. It’s being reported today that various federal agencies have increased their ranks by more than 25,000 since December 2008. If you’re a statist that loves the soft tyranny of American big government, this must be good news. For those of us who enjoy old fashioned American liberty, it’s an out of control abomination.

I hope I’m just being paranoid, but I’m getting the feeling that there are people out there who believe that everyone should be working for the govenment; people who have no problem with the idea of our nation turning into one big public sector. Hey, easier to control. And easier to influence too. When your paycheck comes from Uncle Sam, and he has the power to hire and fire you, it just might sway your vote. The government becomes your number one special interest.

The private sector, on the other hand, is a vast collection of diverse special interests that can be cumbersome to monitor and difficult to predict. Free-market private enterprise is complex. It’s what makes totalitarian systems so attractive to some–it’s so simple, clean, and trouble free. Trouble free until you realize that you’ve become a faceless government drone serving the state at its behest and pleasure.

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President Obama could take some advice from famous poker player Amarillo Slim: “Look around the table. If you don’t see a sucker, get up, because you’re the sucker.” During the President’s first address to the U.N. General Assembly today, he was met with hearty applause. Oh yes, they like Obama. They like him the same way a bunch of poker playing card sharks like an unsuspecting sucker sitting across the table.

While Obama no doubt sees himself as a magnanimous world leader, the rest of the Assembly sees a high-rolling pigeon, about to be taken to the cleaners. If our president were a savvy card player, he’d be able to see beyond their diplomatic platitudes. Underneath those economic programs, climate change initiatives, and demands for international justice, lies a more practical goal: Money and political concessions, neither of which are necessarily in America’s best interests.

Unfortunately, Obama is a naive amateur when it comes to the high stakes nature of international relations. But he’ll stay at the table, arrogantly confident that he’s holding a winning hand of conciliation and appeasement. Meanwhile, the tyrants and dictators of the world will smile, and say “Deal the cards chump.”

The misguided do-gooders are at it again. The FDA announced today that a “ban on cigarettes with flavors characterizing fruit, candy, or clove” goes immediately into effect. Now, I don’t want to get into the bad science, misleading statistics, and faulty reasoning that go into all of this. The deal is done. And you can’t argue with a smiley-face Nazi once they’re convinced that you’re not capable of having a choice in the matter.

By the way, the FDA invites you government zealots to become part of the Tobacco Flavor Police. You don’t get a badge, or a whistle, or anything, but the FDA does recommend that vigilant citizens report information of possible violations directly to the FDA. It’s your tax dollars diligently at work.

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In the Obama administration’s continuing effort to give Americans what they don’t want, now there’s S. 673, the so-called “Newspaper Revitalization Act.” According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the bill would “give [media] outlets tax deals if they were to restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations.” In other words, newspaper companies would have to become non-profit organizations.

Just what we need—Newspapers that the public doesn’t read, funded by the taxpayers who choose not to read them. And better still, the news organizations wouldn’t have to worry about turning a profit. Sort of like NPR in print.  Now there’s a robust business model.

President Obama defended the plan, saying that good journalism is “critical to the health of our democracy.” If only we had some.

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