BloggeRhythms 11/14/2013

Today’s major item is quite simple and now defines the incumbent’s entire presidency, as well as his character in general.

 

Due to enormous pressure from just about every direction, the incumbent has finally admitted by his actions that he lied to the American people when selling his health care tax. And what that sets up is the ploy trial lawyers use to discredit witnesses they catch in untruths, by asking: “We know you were lying then. Are you lying now too?”

 

Consequently, going forward from now this kind of taint doesn’t go away, regardless, whereas the suspicion of falsehoods will always remain. And the only thing left to determine is the ultimate loss to come from the damage, which I believe will be huge for the whole Dem party.

 

In the meantime though, although the structure of the health care tax has now taken a significant hit, other substantial governmental mismanagement is taking place that should not go by unnoticed. 

 

Fox News reports that: “Officials working on healthcare.gov told a House Panel Wednesday they were unsure of how much it would cost to fix the site, after $600 million has already been spent.”

 

So, while the law itself is under fire, almost two thirds of a billion dollars have been spent on a website that doesn’t function properly, and will likely take a similar amount of taxpayer’s funds to fix.

 

And in the meantime, also according to Fox: “Environmental Protection Agency Director Gina McCarthy will be questioned by a House panel today about the agency’s 6,000 proposals for new regulations. This comes as a new AP investigation has revealed the EPA’s proposed regulations are not only overreaching but its push for ethanol production may be harming the environment as well.”

 

Well, we all now know some of the the disasters woven into the 2700 pages of the failing health care tax, and the troubles arising each time a new page is turned. But what on earth could possibly be contained in 6000 new environmental proposals? And how many more pages are in each of those? And lastly, who in the world has enough time to think up and write this stuff?

 

Which brings me to another example of our government at work, also from Fox: “Transportation Security Administration boss John Pistole faces questions from House investigators today over a new Government Accountability Office report that shows the agency wasted up to $1 billion on a failed behavioral profiling initiative.”

 

So, I guess it really doesn’t mater what the subject is, or what issues are involved, especially regarding the current administration. Once you bring in the government two things are unequivocally certain. There’s absolutely no chance of things going right and the costs to taxpayer’s of the wastes and mistakes will be in the stratosphere.

 

That’s it for today folks

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/14/2013

As most readers already know, when addressing Obamacare yesterday Bill Clinton said, “I personally believe even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.”

Clinton’s comment had my mind doing handstands, because I couldn’t figure out why he made it. Neither Clinton ever says or does anything that doesn’t benefit them personally, and therefore I was totally confounded, because I couldn’t see where Bill’s gain was. And then it finally hit me.

The only thing that makes sense is that he’s certain that in one way or another, the law will be changed because of political pressure, taxpayer revolt, Congressional action, or perhaps simply relenting by the incumbent himself. But, no matter how it implodes, Slick Willy wants to be on the record as the first of his party to be publicly adamant, maintain the legend of his political acumen, and then figure how to profit from it if he hasn't already. 

However, even if Willy truly believes the law should be changed and folks are allowed to keep plans they like, its now too late to push the toothpaste back into the tube because insurers have all changed their program configurations to comply with the health tax as now written.

Chris Stirewalt of Fox News.com put it this way: “Millions of Americans are facing a Dec. 15 deadline for the entire federal government to be able to operate a single Web site or else they and their loved ones might lose their health coverage.

Team Obama built the law wrong in 2009 and 2010 and then couldn’t figure out how in the span of three years to build the Web site on which the law depends. But now they can fix it all in a month. Got it.

Obama can’t do what Clinton suggests because if he did, the flaking mortar that holds together the law would start to fall out altogether. If America does not endure the coming crash, health insurance cannot be transformed in a historic, monumental, Obamian way.

Clinton, on the other hand, knows that America won’t be very forgiving about people who crash the insurance system on purpose. If Obama doesn’t relent he might not end up with changes to the law but with republicans winning two wave elections and replacing ObamaCare with whatever the boys in the lab at AEI are brewing up.

In his interview Tuesday, Clinton defended the health care law as a whole, but explained how the broken promise on health coverage can hurt young people. He relayed the story of a young man who said his individual market plan was canceled and replaced with one whose premiums were twice as high. Though his deductibles and co-pays were lower, that savings is only realized if he gets sick, Clinton explained.”

And that’s the flaw in the whole system. Because no young folks ever evasion themselves getting ill, so why pay for something they’ve no use for? Which is why the tax is a law devised by out of touch morons believing the market's populated by fools.

But if nothing else, the incumbent’s probably quite happy that the health tax debacle is keeping most other news out of the headlines, such as this item from CNSNews.com. 

 

Ali Meyer reports that; “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September the labor force participation rate was 63.2 percent, but in October it dropped to 62.8 percent—the lowest it has been since February 1978, when Jimmy Carter was president.”

And even worse for the whole Dem party, newsbusters.org reports in its blogs/noel-sheppard column that “The new prime time lineup at Fox News continues to demolish its competition.

Last week, FNC almost doubled the combined viewers of CNN and MSNBC from 8PM to 11PM. During this time period, FNC averaged 2.1 million total viewers and 376k in the important demographic of folks aged 25 to 54. MSNBC had 716k and 202k respectively while CNN brought in 433k and 146k.

For the week, only ESPN brought in more cable viewers than FNC in prime time.

TVNewser reports that this was Fox's second-best week of the year only bested by the week of the Boston Marathon bombing.”

So, not only are the Dem’s getting slammed by their leader whose popularity’s dwindling by the minute, the news outlets depended upon to deliver their leftist slant are losing viewers faster than he is. Which means, I guess, that reality’s finally beginning to sink in and rational folks want their country back again.

That’s it for today folks.

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/12/2013

Today’s news is mostly a continuation of the debacle regarding the failed rollout of the incumbent's health care tax. Not really worth writing about.

Instead, I found an item on Drudge, headlined “UN drafts dire report on global warming”

The text begins, “Climate change will disrupt not only the natural world but also society, posing risks to the world's economy and the food and water supply and contributing to violent conflict, an international panel of scientists says.” 

 

The warnings in a report drafted by the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been distributed to governments around the world for review, and “could change before it is released in March.”

"We see a wide range of impacts that have already occurred ... on people, ecosystems and economies," said Chris Field, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and co-chairman of the group writing the report. "Looking into the future, we see increasing risks that are more pervasive and more severe with greater amounts of climate change."

The crux of the report, “describes a planet in peril as a result of the human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution, where glaciers are shrinking and plants and animals have shifted their ranges in response to rising temperatures. As global warming continues through the 21st century, many species will face greater risk of extinction, marine life will shift toward the poles and seawater will grow more acidic, the report says.

By 2100, hundreds of millions of people in coastal areas will be flooded or displaced by rising sea levels. The arid subtropics will have less fresh water, leading to more competition for resources.”

I then did some web surfing and found that according to Christine Dell'Amore of National Geographic News, “a colder Antarctica may contribute to a rise in sea levels. Colder temperatures mean less snow on the ice sheets, which makes more water stay in the ocean, he pointed out.

Overall, loss of polar ice has contributed about 11.1 millimeters (0.03 feet) to global sea levels since 1992, research shows. Sea levels are rising at a rate of 3.2 millimeters a year.”

Now, if you consider the size of sea level rise since 1992, it will take eons for the increase to have any real impact. But even so. Since rises in sea levels are caused by both rising and falling temperatures, folks on the coasts are going to get wet no matter what happens climatically.

In  the meantime however, while scientists argue vehemently on both sides of the global warming subject, and billions upon are spent on the issue, Mother Nature jumped into the picture herself this morning.   

Anthony Sagliani, Meteorologist at Accuweather.com, reports that: “With the start of astronomical winter still a little over a month away, it will feel a lot more like December than November across a large part of the Northeast into midweek.

A bitter cold air mass that has been building across Canada has become dislodged from the Arctic, and the bulk of this air will sweep across the northeastern United States starting on Tuesday.

The coldest temperatures will be on Tuesday and Wednesday as the winterlike chill spills into the Northeast behind an arctic cold front.”

So, once again, while credentialed experts in various aspects of science spend billons upon billions to study, examine, review and dissect information and hypotheses, expounding on what the future will bear regarding weather, if you really want to know what to expect climate-wise…open the window and stick your head out. 

That's it for today folks.

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/11/2013

An article on politico.com today, presents some thoughts from Democrat strategist James Carville who claims that “in some ways, the falling poll numbers are overblown, and Obama’s record speaks for itself."

 

He went on to say, “I think we can stop putting the nails in the coffin here. We can admit that there’s some real, deep, fundamental problems with this president. But I think we’re throwing the dirt here too soon. The deficit is dropping as a percentage of GDP faster than any time since World War II. He saved the auto industry. Health care costs are flattening better than any time in the last 20 years. Teenage pregnancy is at an all-time low.”

I mention this because it typifies Democrat spin to the nth degree. 

 

The deficit’s dropping so quickly because Republicans fought for, and achieved, a budgeting sequester. Had they not, unbridled Dem spending would still be spiraling through the roof. The auto industry’s building plants all over the world, except here, and the GM bailout alone cost U.S. taxpayers $9.7 billion as of Sept. 30, according to figures released in an October report to Congress. 

 

As far as health care cost goes, Lucia Graves, a staff correspondent for National Journal, reports that according to the Harvard Business Review in November: "In 1980, the national expenditure on health care in the United States was just over 9% of Gross Domestic Product. Today it accounts for nearly twice that — close to 18%.… Health insurance premiums rose four and half times faster than the rate of inflation over the same period.”

Then, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website, “The teen birth rate has declined almost continuously over the past 20 years. In 1991, the U.S. teen birth rate was 61.8 births for every 1,000 adolescent females, compared with 29.4 births for every 1,000 adolescent females in 2012. Still the U.S. teen birth rate is higher than that of many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.

Which means the rate was dropping for fifteen years before the incumbent ever showed up, and is continuing to do so on it’s own.

So, maybe Mr. Carville ought to do his homework before he throws out selected statistics. But if he did, neither he nor his incumbent friend would have a leg to stand on, which would mean that both of them would have to do something they’re just about incapable of. They'd have to shut up.

However, it occurred to me after reading the actual facts as opposed to Carville’s distortions, that the incumbent’s a lot like Chauncey Gardiner, the role Peter Sellers played in the film, “Being There."  

As described in Wikipedia: “Chance (Peter Sellers) is a middle-aged man who lives in the townhouse of an old, wealthy man in Washington, D.C. He is simple-minded and has lived there his whole life, tending the garden. Other than gardening, his knowledge is derived entirely from what he sees on television. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave and discovers the outside world for the first time.

Chance wanders aimlessly, wearing his former employer's expensive clothes. He passes by a TV shop and sees himself captured by a camera in the shop window. Entranced, he steps backward off the sidewalk and is struck by a chauffeured car owned by Ben Rand, an elderly business mogul. In the back seat of the car sits Rand's wife Eve.

Eve brings Chance to their home to recover. Drinking alcohol for the first time in the car ride home, Chance coughs as he tells Eve his name. Eve mishears "Chance the Gardener" as "Chauncey Gardiner". Judging from Chance's appearance and manners, Rand assumes that Chance is an upper class, highly-educated businessman. Chance's style and seemingly-insightful ways embody the qualities Rand admires. Chance's simplistic utterances about gardens are interpreted as allegorical statements about business and the state of the economy.

Rand is also a confidant and adviser of the U.S. President, whom he introduces to "Chauncey". The president interprets Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons as economic and political advice. Chance, as Chauncey Gardiner, quickly rises to national public prominence."

So, other than Chance being only a trusted advisor and not actually president himself, there’s still a significant amount of similarity here if you think about it.

However, in spite of the preceding, the incumbent might have accomplished something in the Middle-East that’s never been done in more than five thousand years. 

According to Chris Stirewalt, digital politics editor for Fox News, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to try to stave off the U.S.-led effort to strike a deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium. Netanyahu told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that it’s an opinion held by many of America’s allies in the region: “There are many Arab leaders in the region who are saying this is a very bad deal… And you know when you have the Arabs and the Israelis speaking in one voice, it doesn't happen very often, I think it's worth paying attention to it.” 

Therefore, if Israel and its fiercest enemies work together to defeat Iran, when the smoke clears, we might find all these age old foes becoming friends. And therefore, in one fell swoop and likely a nuclear holocaust, whoever's still standing together in the rubble later will have the incumbent to thank for their friendship. 

That’s it for today folks.

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/10/2013

Two articles today, shed great light on why the administration, and especially the incumbent, destruct, destroy or severely set back every issue they touch. And in most cases, the reason can only be total incapability to perform the required functions of office, or dishonesty at the highest level.

 

In one case,  Fox News/politics reports that ”President Obama's courting of top U.S. executives this week to help get the Republican-controlled House to pass immigration reform is furthering the divide among conservatives, with a top GOP senator and others suggesting corporate America is lending its support with hopes of getting more access to low-cost immigrant labor.”

 

Fox goes on to note that: “The president said before the White House meeting Tuesday that he and others who support comprehensive immigration reform passed in the Senate know the “politics are challenging” in the House and that they “want to make it as easy as possible” for Speaker John Boehner to get enough votes for passage. However, that McDonald's Don Thompson and Marriott’s Arne Sorenson, whose companies depend on low-skilled inexpensive labor, were among those at the meeting has raised questions from some conservatives, especially at a time when millions of Americans remain out of work.”

 

So, here we have the incumbent courting major employers to seek their help in pressuring Republicans to soften their stance on immigration, thereby giving these same employers a greater supply of low cost workers.

 

Yet, at the exact same time he appears somewhere else with a totally different story.  

 

According to Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post on November 7th: “President Barack Obama is throwing his support behind congressional Democrats' proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 and peg it to inflation, more than a dollar higher than the $9 proposal he made in his State of the Union address in February.

 

A White House official confirmed to Huff Post Thursday that the administration backs the legislation introduced earlier this year by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). The Hill reported Thursday that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the White House was willing to get onboard with the measure.

 

"The President has long supported raising the minimum wage so hardworking Americans can have a decent wage for a day’s works to support their families and make ends meet, and he supports the Harkin/Miller bill that accomplishes this important goal," the White House official said in an email.”

 

Therefore, while welcoming major employers to the White House to cajole them into pressing for immigration reform on the premise that they'd have more low cost laborers to employ, he simultaneously threw his support behind proposed Democrat legislation that would increase those very same costs by 35%, whereas the minimum wage is now $7.50.  

 

Now, it’s clearly understandable that this kind of double-dealing worked for half a century in Chicago, where politicians and thugs are interchangeable and of the same ilk. But the issues the incumbent’s dealing with now don’t only affect a single city, even a large one, they apply to the entire U.S. 

 

And I guess that’s really the hub of the problem. Because the issues plaguing the greatest industrialized nation on earth are being mismanaged by a small time guy who thinks that hustling Chicago’s  2.715 million people is the same as the additional 311 million more he’s supposed to be responsible for now. But, obviously, he really can’t handle this big a job well at all.

 

That’s it for today folks

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/9/2013

Checking Facebook this morning, a posting from Rush got me laughing: “I think Obama probably said to the mullahs in Tehran, "If you like your nuclear program, you can keep your nuclear program," and he meant it when he said it to them.”

 

I then read an article concerning the current state of the incumbent’s so-called “legacy.

 

Written by Ben Geman of The Hill online via Drudge, the column begins: “President Obama has a chance to craft a second-term legacy on climate change even as the rest of his agenda runs aground in Congress.”

 

The author points out that, “Gun control legislation is dead; immigration reform is on life support; and reaching a fiscal deal with Republicans appears to be a long shot. To make matters worse, what was supposed to be his signature first-term achievement — ObamaCare — is suffering from a disastrous rollout.”

 

Mr. Geman then continues with, “But there’s one thing that’s going right for Obama: Executive action on climate change is moving full-speed ahead at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He may be able to do more through climate change [rules] because the EPA has the authority,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill on Thursday. The most far-reaching piece of Obama’s climate plan is carbon emission standards for the nation’s fleet of existing power plants, by far the largest single source of industrial carbon emissions. The EPA is also writing standards for new plants.”

 

It’s then noted that, “One problem facing Obama is that some of the new EPA regulations might not be settled by the time he leaves office.”

 

As I read the preceding, the same thought's occurred that has throughout this entire administration to date. Everything touched so far has been a huge disaster, from the economy’s reversal, to foreign oil dependency, to relinquishment of control of foreign policy, to immigration, to job losses, shrinking GDP, welfare roll’s explosion, education’s continuing slide and lately, the crumbling health care system due to poorly designed new taxation. And then, this writer, Ben Geman, thinks the day can be saved by concentrating on an issue that doesn’t even exist; climate change.

 

So, if this is how Dem’s really think, I guess there’s no surprise whatsoever as to why the nation’s in its present horrendous condition. 

 

But there is good news for the rest of us folks, because the article points out later that, according to Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer, “[Administrative actions] don’t have the same kind of impact in defining a president as big legislative accomplishments and they are more susceptible to being overturned. The next president can change them. That’s always the problem.”

 

As for me, I’ve got to bet that the odds of a Republican winning the presidency next time around are huge, provided they just sit back, keep quiet and let Dem’s continue to destroy themselves. And what that means is, Professor Zelizer’s absolutely correct, the climate change fiction will finally be dead in it’s tracks.  

 

And as far as Republicans and Independents are concerned, the numbers keep getting better for them, as illustrated by Pew this week, also via Drudge: PEEEEEWWWW-  Second Term Slide Continues

 

That's it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 11/8/2013

While it couldn’t be clearer that government's incapable of operating the health care system and doomed to colossal failure, an item on FoxNews.com this morning confirms the point beyond all argument. 

Fox reports that: “The Internal Revenue Service issued $4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds last year to people using stolen identities, with some of the money going to addresses in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ireland. according to a Treasury report released Thursday. 

 

The IRS sent a total of 655 tax refunds to a single address in Lithuania, and 343 refunds went to a lone address in Shanghai.

In the U.S., more fraudulent returns went to Miami than any other city. Other top destinations were Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston.

The IRS has stepped up efforts to fight identity theft, but thieves are getting more aggressive, said the report by J. Russell George, Treasury's inspector general for tax administration. Last year, the IRS stopped more than $12 billion in fraudulent refunds from going to identity thieves, compared with $8 billion the year before.”

So, here’s a department that has only one responsibility, has been performing that same task since inception in 1862, 151 years ago, and still does an unacceptable job fraught with mistakes. Consequently, why would any rationale human being place them in charge of a new entity as critically important as citizen’s health care?

Because, although 4 billion dollars is a huge sum, it’s still only money, but incompetence, incapability and gross ineptitude in health care administration costs people's well-being and lives. 

At the same time, the House may be preparing to set the program back even further, simultaneously creating a major problem for Harry Reid.

Fox notes that “Sens. Joe Manchin., D-W.Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., are teaming up on legislation that delays the penalty for uninsured Americans who don’t enroll in ObamaCare. Manchin said, “So far, the federal healthcare exchanges have failed, and we must deliver a better product.” The House is set to vote on a bill allowing Americans who like their health care plans to keep them by authorizing insurance companies to continue to offer plans already canceled by ObamaCare regulations.”

And as far as Harry Reid goes, this would put him in a tough corner. Because if that bill got to the Senate, would he still demean and curse proposed legislation regarding citizen's health concerns? Logic of course says no, but that takes brains. So in Reid's case,  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

If restructuring takes place, however, revenues are likely to decrease. Lower cost plans will shrink gross revenue, making it almost certain that economic models won’t work. That, in turn, will cause havoc for insurers depended upon to make the tax plan feasible. Which is another reason that government should stay away from things they clearly don’t understand.

Then there’s this story from washingtontimes.com, that illustrates perfectly, what kind of deceptive fabricators politicians really are. 

Reportedly, “Nearly half of Congress promised to share federal workers’ pain during the partial government shutdown by forsaking pay — but now that the shutdown is over and employees got paid, many lawmakers say they deserve their own checks.

David Williams president of the Taxpayer's Protection Alliance, said members of Congress are using technicalities to try to “wiggle out” of promises to the American people.

Some of the lawmakers said their vow to forgo pay was good only for as long as the shutdown lasted. When the shutdown ended after 16 days, they said, they had done their jobs and were entitled to their money.
 

People across the country, when they heard their member of Congress said they would be returning their pay during shutdown, that’s what they heard and what they expected,” Mr. Williams said. “For Congress to even try to backtrack on that just reduces the amount of trust people have in Congress, if that’s even possible.”

Members of Congress, who make $174,000 a year, were paid Sept. 30 and Oct. 30, so even those who said they were rejecting their salaries never missed a check because the shutdown lasted from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16.”

Maybe that’s why a CBS News poll shows just a nine percent job approval rating for Members of Congress, with 85 percent disapproving, while 70.9 percent also believe the nation’s on the wrong track. For some reason though, 21.8 percent think the job being done is fine. I wonder who they are? 

That's it for today folks.

Adios