This radical redefinition of 1/6th of the American economy puts the lie to the idea that Obama and the Democrat leaders in Congress are not seeking to push the country into socialism. No serious thinker can reasonably say that this pronounced leftward shove, against the wishes of the American people, is anything but a gigantic step toward a European-style social democracy.
I have no doubt that this is what many of Obama’s voters were looking for when they poured their hopes and dreams and wishes for free stuff at the expense of others into the empty suit that is Barack Obama. Call it leveling the playing field or social justice or helping out the poor or whatever polite fiction you like to use, this unread horror story of a health care bill is the single largest entitlement package created since the Great Depression. No social program, once enacted, has ever been repealed. Hence, ObamaCare is here to stay, whether we like it or not.
This is a victory for people who feel that they’re owed a living. It’s a victory for people who lack the integrity to donate to charity, instead demanding your money at gunpoint: the government at the Great Dispenser of Social Justice. It’s a victory for the Hope and Change crowd whose thinking never reaches past the depth of a bumper sticker. It’s a victory for those whose work is not valued by society at large, let alone private industry, and instead rely upon the requirement of subsidy to hold a job (or get health insurance). It’s a victory for individuals who buy $8.00 lattes and own Sean John clothes, but won’t change their lifestyles to accommodate the cost of health insurance.
It may be that this is a victory for you. If it is, you’ve given up the luxury of being treated like an adult. You’ve made me and everyone else responsible for your health choices. If you’re overweight, it’s now my business. Do you smoke? Do drugs? Snowboard? Have unprotected sex with strangers? You’ve now involved me in that. Now that Government, and by small extension the American taxpayer, is the one paying for your health care, you’ve kind of infantilized yourself.
Grow the fuck up. Take some fucking responsibility for yourself. You’re an embarrassment. You’re the tyranny the Founding Fathers fought to free us from. You’re the antithesis of the can-do spirit that made America the world’s last great hope.
It follows that the thinkers, politicians and citizens who advance conservative ideas must be dupes, quacks or hired guns selling stories they know to be a sham. In this spirit, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman regularly dismisses conservative arguments not simply as incorrect, but as lies. Writing last summer, Krugman pondered the duplicity he found evident in 35 years’ worth of Wall Street Journal editorial writers: “What do these people really believe? I mean, they’re not stupid — life would be a lot easier if they were. So they know they’re not telling the truth. But they obviously believe that their dishonesty serves a higher truth. . . . The question is, what is that higher truth?”
In Krugman’s world, there is no need to take seriously the arguments of “these people” — only to plumb the depths of their errors and imagine hidden motives.
I’m not certain what’s worse: the idea that the American people (and anyone to the right of the New York Times’s editorial page) are just too stupid to understand the unqualified benefits of socialized medicine and the slow eradication of the free market, or we do understand, and because we’re backward and evil and hateful we resist these things and don’t want anyone else to have them.
There’s no real difference of opinion, you see: there’s what’s good for you (the Democrat-run government’s prescription for the country’s well being), and there’s everything else (”Teabaggers,” Republicans, Jesusland, and the rest of flyover country). The American Left may want to consider the idea that we have heard what you have to say, we do understand it, and we still reject it.
To expand a little on Obama’s recent talk with House Republicans, it was amazing to me that the most partisan, divisive President elected since Andrew Jackson had the gall to complain that his policies were failing because of partisan Republican obstructionism. It showed an unbelievable lack of self-regard, which I suppose should not be considered unusual in a man who, in a recent speech, felt it necessary to inform the listeners that one of his supporters who died of breast cancer was buried in an Obama T-shirt. You’re not just wrong: you’re stupid and/or evil and wrong.
Don’t insult our intelligence. Don’t call us “teabaggers” and expect us to want to work with you on policies that we think are destructive. And don’t accuse us of blind obstructionism in one breath, and in the next attack our motives as racist, fear-motivated, or just plain greedy. Get over yourselves.
Disappointed liberals will, of course, blame it all on Democrat Martha Coakley’s campaign. And while she certainly made severalmistakes, that tells only part of the story. After all, the president himself showed up to support Coakley and make fun of Brown’s truck. That should’ve helped significantly.
It didn’t. It’s not all Coakley. It’s time for the left to consider that the American electorate is refusing the socialist agenda promulgated by Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. If a Republican can win a senate seat in Democrat-run Massachusetts, it’s time to consider that the voters are unhappy with the status quo and it’s time for some change from the Hopenchange we’ve endured the past year.
The Democrat party no longer has a supermajority in the Senate. It’s not going to be as easy as it was to continue to use the American people as guinea pigs in the largest social experiment in recent decades. Time will tell if the Brown upset becomes the bellwether for more Democrat politicians losing their seats, but for now, the U.S. can breathe a short sigh of relief.
I got the message below from Ted Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, and I wanted to make sure you saw it.
Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy’s term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican.
It would be bad enough to lose this seat — and Democrats’ sixtieth vote in the Senate — right before the final health care reform vote. But it would be even worse for the decisive “no” vote to come from Ted Kennedy’s old seat.
It’s nice to see that they’ve decided to thrust aside even the pretense of civility. Honesty from a politician, it’s like hen’s teeth.
We went to see Avatar at the local IMAX 3-D theater yesterday.
The 3-D experience was quite remarkable. I’d read about people feeling nauseous upon seeing it, but all I experienced was a mild headache and eyestrain from the effects. I still prefer 2-D, though, and won’t be seeing any other 3-D movies for some time; it’s not worth it.
Overall, the story was extremely pedestrian; what was amazing about it was that writer-director James Cameron managed to include every cliché imaginable to the plot, from hoary old anti-corporate diatribes from the 1970’s to the anti-war platitudes still spat out today.
He starts off with a hearty dash of contempt for independent contractors (mercenaries), portraying them as violent psychopaths. This negative stereotype is embodied in the scarred Colonel Miles Quaritch, ably played by a scenery-chewing Stephen Lang. I love a good bad guy, so I was rooting for him through the entire film, despite the one-dimensional nature of his character. From there you have the evil, rapacious capitalist (Giovanni Ribisi); the maverick, military-hating scientist (Sigourney Weaver); the initially cynical but eventually true-believing protagonist (Sam Worthington); the sexy, wise native girl (Zoe Saldana); the even wiser tribal chieftain (Wes Studi); and a cast of other, even more forgettable characters.
The action takes place on the Eden-like moon called (originally) Pandora. There, the natives (the Na’vi), who are ten feet tall, Smurf-colored, with long ponytails and four fingers on each hand, live out their Rousseau-like existence in pure harmony with nature. This harmony is about to be shattered by the arrival of the Evil Corporation that wants to rip the mineral wealth (a rock called unobtanium – hee hee hee) right out of the moon’s very bones. To do this, they upload scientists and other eggheads into cloned Na’vi bodies who are supposed to negotiate mineral rights. Sam Worthington’s character, through various adventures and coincidences, becomes a very popular Na’vi and goes native. The Evil Corporation can’t wait for negotiations to bear fruit, so they attack the Na’vi. It gets even more predictable from there. One thing I found amusing was that the Evil Corporation is capable of interstellar flight, mind transfer, and regeneration of spinal tissue, but their answer to destroying a large landmark is to fly really close to it and drop a gigantic pallet of shrink-wrapped bombs while soldiers with gas masks run around shooting everything. Nobody considered the idea of a military satellite armed with lasers or a cruise missile.
The effects are pretty nice but they looked mostly cartoonish to me, especially the characters. CGI’s nice and all, but the technology still isn’t quite there yet. The combat sequences were fun. The flora and fauna were nice to look at. It obviously took a long time to put together.
James Cameron obviously hates the military. He used 9/11 style imagery to depict the destruction of Na’vi trees, and had the Evil Mercenaries use terms like “preemptive war” and “shock and awe”. I’m not sure if it means that the Na’vi (the good guys, mind) are supposed to be like al Qaeda fighting the U.S. Army, or Saddam’s Republican Guard fighting the U.S. Marines, or just plain old American Indians fighting cowboys. For my part, I’m pretty damned sick of the left-wing diarrhea shooting out of Hollywood tarted up as courage and speaking truth to power. If capitalism and the military are so offensive, perhaps Cameron should donate his box office take to America’s enemies in the Middle East. I wish I hadn’t donated my money to this clown, and I feel dirty for having done so. I won’t do it again.
This movie gets a rating of one Na’vi thong out of five.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation. During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for up holding the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups.
He didn’t really say that, did he? I mean, let’s see what he actually said:
They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one.
Any fan of Cookie Monster on Sesame Street knows that “C” is for cookie.
But at the Obama White House, “A” may be for acorn — as in acorn cookies served at Monday’s annual Christmas party.
The chocolate cookies shaped like an acorn were quite a hit with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
“I didn’t expect to see such stark symbolism,” King said in an e-mail.
That’s the Obamessiah’s big “fuck you” to anyone concerned with voter fraud and people getting government money to advise other people on how to properly run a criminal enterprise. That’s the respect he has for us.
President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to “stop trying to frighten the American people” even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that Obama made the admonition during a bipartisan meeting at the White House on Wednesday, producing a chart to show Republicans that “things are a lot better.”
That’s the Obamessiah’s big “fuck you” to the Republicans. He got elected on promises of bipartisanship, but has so far failed to live up to that promise. And now he’d like the opposition party to just bend over, grab its ankles, and enjoy it.
Barack Obama’s trip to Oslo to pick up his Nobel peace award is in danger of being overshadowed by a row over the cancellation of a series of events normally attended by the prizewinner.
Norwegians are incensed over what they view as his shabby response to the prize by cutting short his visit.
The White House has cancelled many of the events peace prize laureates traditionally submit to, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children’s event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel peace centre.
He has also turned down a lunch invitation from the King of Norway.
That’s the Obamessiah’s big “fuck you” to the Nobel Committee. Anyone with the hubris to accept such a prize after having done so little in his life to earn it would automatically assume that the Nobel Peace Prize is his just due. Here’s a boilerplate speech: be happy you got that.
President Barack Obama recently called Rep. John Conyers Jr. to express his frustrations with the Judiciary Committee chairman’s criticism.
In an interview with The Hill, Conyers said his opinions of Obama’s policies on healthcare reform and the war in Afghanistan have not sat well with the president.
According to the lawmaker, the president picked up the phone several weeks ago to find out why Conyers was “demeaning” him.
That’s the Obamessiah’s big “fuck you” to anyone who criticizes his policies. In Obamaworld, criticism=insult. Why can’t he just eat his waffle?
It’d be great if we had a president who, um, acted presidential.
President Barack Obama asked for a full review of how a Virginia couple vying for a spot in the cast of a reality-TV show was able to crash Tuesday’s state dinner for the prime minister of India, a White House official said Friday.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan issued a rare apology, saying the service took full responsibility for the episode and was “deeply concerned and embarrassed.”
White House aides added a new wrinkle Friday, saying the couple was photographed with Mr. Obama on the receiving line. They also had their pictures taken with Vice President Joe Biden.
But it’s okay. They went through a metal detector!
[Secret Service spokesman] Mr. Mackin said that at one checkpoint, procedures weren’t followed and invitations received insufficient scrutiny. But he said the Secret Service doesn’t believe the Salahis posed a security risk, given the layers of security they did pass through, including magnetometers and the presence of armed officers inside the White House, on the grounds and in the tent where the formal dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took place.
I take it, then, that the diners ate off of paper plates and used plastic sporks to cut roasted potato dumplings and green curry prawns. Otherwise, the Salahis posed a security risk, and a pretty significant one.
I don’t think that the Salahis should be unduly punished or censured for crashing the party. President Obama has spent his first year in office acting like a celebrity, so it’s no surprise that he’s being treated like one by his constituents. Isn’t that what people do at Hollywood parties: crash them?
There are many reasons why many people hate Sarah Palin. I suspect that the vast majority of people who voted for Obama dislike Palin. I think that the reasons for this are very simple: Palin is everything Obama is not. She believes wholeheartedly and unapologetically in American exceptionalism; she is wholly self-made and lifted herself by her own bootstraps; she has actual executive experience; she hunts, fishes, and engages in the sorts of rough-and-tumble outdoor activities that the left fears and loathes in equal measure (like shooting firearms); and her life is an open book. She does not put on airs. She is who she is. Add to this the fact that the left despises pro-life women and holds traditional values in utter contempt, and this disgusting outpouring of hatred for Palin shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Or, you could just kind of go the Martha Stewart route: Sarah Palin is a dangerous person but I wouldn’t read anything of hers if you paid me. That way, you don’t have to do any of the hard work of actually researching, reading, and investigating before forming an opinion. Like most of the people that really do hate her and think she said she could see Russia from her house.
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