Going Postal On Health Care

So President Obama was addressing a town hall and in trying to address claims that a government plan will drive private insurers out of the market he admitted that the government doesn't do things as well as private industry. Specifically he said that UPS and FedEx do a better job than the USPS.



Here is my question. If the government plan isn't going to be subsidized by tax money, as he appears to be claiming here, how is it going to provide health insurance to people who can't afford it now? That is the whole point of this thing isn't it? To provide health insurance to people who can't afford it? The money has to come from somewhere. If not from the people being insured and not from taxes, where is the money going to come from? Surely they aren't going to charge other people astronomically high premiums to subsidize those who can't pay. That would make the government plan a lot more expensive than any private insurance and so destroy it's competitiveness.

There's only one way the government can come up with the money to provide insurance to the 47 million uninsured. They've got to use taxes to subsidize the insurance. There's no other place for the government to get the money. The second the government plan is subsidized by tax dollars there will be no way for private insurers to compete. Private insurers have to make a profit or they will go bankrupt and out of business. The government doesn't have to make a profit because they can just seize the money they need through taxes. Which means the government can seriously undercut private insurers prices driving them out of business.

Obama vs. School Vouchers

With a $3,600,000,000,000 budget President Obama couldn't find $18,000,000 to fund the DC School Voucher program?

Are we having fun yet?

How do you cause thousands of New Yorkers to panic for no reason at all? If you're the White House Military Office you approve a photo op in which a 747 buzzes the Statue of Liberty while tailed by a fighter escort and when you inform the local authorities of what you're doing you tell them the mission is classified and they're not allowed to warn anyone ahead of time. For some odd reason this made people think the city was facing 9/11 Part 2 resulting in widespread panic with people deciding on their own to evacuate the area while flooding 911 with phone calls.

And the Democrats think President Bush was stupid?

The Teleprompter Behind The Curtain

For 8 years the left insisted that President Bush wasn't smart enough to have won the election and that he was just a puppet for someone else, Dick Cheney being the most likely option but other sinister cabals also being in consideration. Now blogger iowahawk reveals who is pulling President Obama's strings. Pay no attention to the teleprompter behind the curtain...

Change You Can Believe In

I've said it before and I'll say it again. When it comes to politics the only change I can believe in is no change at all.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

The National Newspaper Publishers Association has named Barack Obama the Newsmaker of the Year and will be presenting him with an award at the White House. The press award ceremony has been closed to the press. One wonders how long Obama will stand around the State Dining Room wondering where the people who were going to present him with the reward are.

Obama vs. Wounded Vets

Here's a story that ought to get your blood boiling. Obama, that champion of government provided universal health care, has decided that the government shouldn't be picking up the tab for the medical treatment of our soldiers who have been wounded in combat. The service these men and women have performed for this country takes a back seat to generating more money for the government to spend. It is outrageous and yet not surprising coming, as it does, from the party that has long looked down upon those who voluntarily serve in the military.

Thought For The Day

If Republicans are the party of big business and Democrats are the party of the little guys, why does Obamanomics largely consist of using the threat of force to confiscate money, i.e. taxes, from the little guys and turn it over to giant corporations so they can buy French luxury jets and sponsor golf tournaments and rock concerts with it?

I Pledge

President Obama's call for people to serve their communities has led liberals to suddenly discover their civic spirit. The most notable example of this is the "I Pledge" video produced by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. It is 4 minutes of C- and D-list celebrities pledging to do such substantive things as to smile (Be sure to pace yourself, Demi. Wouldn't want to pull a muscle.) and laugh more.

MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

As might be expected, the video induced a lot of eye rolling on my part.

Things came to a head for me when a friend announced on Facebook that they were answering President Obama's call to serve. I had to strongly resist the urge to ask, "What do you want? A cookie?"

I have to wonder what was stopping these people from serving before now. You see, I've been doing volunteer work for my church for years. I didn't need the President to ask me to serve. All I needed was to know that the church had a need that I could fill even though it meant stepping outside my comfort zone and doing something I really didn't want to do. I can think of other ways I'd much rather be spending my time but the need has to be met so I do what I can instead of what I want.

In six months time, I'll bet that most, if not all, of these celebrities will have forgotten their pledges and moved on to whatever the latest cause du jour is. This is not to say that all celebrities only care about the needy when the cameras are on. Just the ones in this video. Others, like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, dedicate a lot of time and money to helping those less fortunate than themselves and, like myself, they didn't need the President to ask them to serve. Whatever else I may think of Pitt and Jolie, I have to respect the obvious dedication they have to the causes they support.

As for my friend, well, he's my friend so I'm naturally inclined to expect the best from him but we'll just have to wait and see if he sticks with it. If he was serving because he wanted to serve I would have faith that he'd keep up with it but as it is, he's just caught up in the moment so we'll see.

For many liberals this is obviously just a chance to make themselves feel good about themselves by reinforcing how much they care without actually putting themselves out. (Still smiling, Demi?) Clearly the pledge to serve didn't include policing their trash after the inauguration.

The comments on that video are rather enlightening as to the liberal mindset. Lots of people saying it was okay to litter because someone else, mainly the government, would clean the mess up. (Way to take responsibility, guys! Obama would be so proud of you.) One whines that they couldn't pick up trash because they weren't allowed to bring backpacks to carry it in. (If you were able to carry the trash in, you were able to carry the trash out.) Another notes that there's so much trash because the Washington Post told people to bring a newspaper to stand on so their feet didn't freeze. (Kudos to the Post for figuring out a way to increase their January circulation numbers but that doesn't explain why people couldn't bend over and pick up their newspapers when they were done standing on them.)

It really comes as no surprise to me that studies have found that while liberals talk a lot about helping those in need, it's actually conservatives that are the main donors of time and money to charity. Wanting the government to take care of the problem, as liberals do, is the ultimate form of passing the buck. They don't have to do anything because it's someone else's problem. Conservatives don't have that luxury. They know that if they don't do what they can to help out, no one else will either so they do what they can to get the job done.

Me? I pledge to keep on doing what I've been doing all along.

“I’m a lawyer, you idiot!”

It seems some liberals are starting to experience buyer's remorse when it comes to Barack Obama. Ever since he got the Democrat nomination sewn up he's been flip flopping his way to the political center and they're none too happy about it. I find the whole thing rather amusing since it reminds me of one of my favorite western comedies, Rustler's Rhapsody.

For those not familiar with Rustler's Rhapsody it came out in the mid-80s. At the time, I thought the trailer was hilarious but when I saw it in the theater I hated it. One of those cases where all the good bits had been in the trailer. Yet in years to come I'd occasionally run across it on television and with time it started to grow on me. It starred Tom Berenger as Rex O'Herlihan, a hero in the style of the singing cowboys from the 30s and 40s who found himself in a modern movie, and he was aware he was in a movie, with modern sensibilities. Amusingly enough the movie probably couldn't be made today, 20 years later, without significant changes because the villain of the piece, wonderfully played by Andy Griffith, is a politically incorrect gay caricature. Modern sensibilities being what they are and all that.

Anyway, that's not what reminds me of the current situation with Obama. No, what reminds me of BO is Bob Barber, a lawyer turned professional good guy who is brought in by Colonel Ticonderoga (Griffith) to face down Rex. When the inevitable gunfight occurs, Bob shoots Rex in the arm. Now it should probably be noted that up until this point, Rex has only shot people in their gun hands. This is what good guys do in the movies he comes from. So when Bob shoots him in the arm it prompts the realization that Bob isn't a good guy at all. To this Bob responds, "I'm a lawyer, you idiot!"

Barack Obama is a lawyer. He's also a politician. He's based his campaign around a vague phrase that could mean just about anything. Are people really surprised that he acted like a liberal when he needed liberal votes and now that he's got them he's headed for the center because he needs those votes too? If you wanted an honest politician with principles who would say what he means and mean what he says, you should have nominated Dennis Kucinich. As far as I can tell, he and Ron Paul are the only two people running for President willing to take an actual stand on the positions. Maybe that's why people consider them to be a couple of unelectable kooks.